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Melbourne: Tried everything but can’t seem to get rid of your post-marriage love handles? Well, don’t question your determination for the failed plan, for the real culprit behind all weight worries is your hubby. Yes, you heard it right. According to health experts, a husband is more of a hindrance than help in a wife's battle with the bulge. "For some women, marriage definitely can be fattening," the Courier Mail quoted Dr Brian Steadman, a leading British authority on nutrition, as saying. "It's hard enough for them to stick to good eating habits when they're single, but they can find...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi citizens are taking back their streets from extremists by taking security into their own hands. The Iraqi Security Volunteer program, an Iraqi project funded by the government of Iraq, allows volunteers from local communities to protect their own neighborhoods. The ISVs receive a three-day training program at Coalition Outpost War Eagle where they learn some basic vehicle checks and how to conduct themselves on the streets, as well as weapons training with an AK-47. “When you have local citizens patrolling their own streets, they have a sincere interest in keeping it safe,” said 1st Lt. John Suh,...

Source: University of Chicago Press Journals Date: October 4, 2007 When Taking A Long Time Is Seen As A Good Thing Science Daily — Consumers often use the length of time a service takes as a measure of its quality. The longer a session lasts, the better the value. Indeed, a new study shows that this holds true even when judging something primarily by its duration can backfire -- for example when a longer exercise program is actually less effective than a shorter regimen or for a lock-picking service. In a series of real-world and lab studies, the researchers reveal...

Iraqis Take the Lead Army troops excel during joint cordon, search operation. By Staff Sgt. Jon Cupp1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs ATH THA' ALBA, Iraq, March 15, 2007 -- When troops from the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Military Transition Team, and soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, pulled up to the site where they teamed with Iraqi army soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division (Mechanized), the Iraqi troops had already dismounted their vehicles and were ready to take down suspected insurgents. "Working with the IA...

FALLUJAH -- The war in Iraq is changing gears and taking a new direction; the battles are now fought by Iraqi forces with Coalition assistance. Coalition forces are working on a daily basis with Iraqi Security Forces on patrols, as well as conducting operations in support of ISF. The Iraqi Army’s 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, patrolled its area of operation recently to gather intelligence for future operations. The IA was supported by a fire team of Marines from a Military Transition Team during the patrol. “We did a dismounted patrol and headed south to one of...

On September 29,2006 at 11:30 AM, Mr. Yousuf N. Shaikh & Mr. Kamel H. Fotough came to my office to introduce themselves to me as the new neighbors. These two gentlemen informed me that they had purchased the adjacent house along with the 11-acre tract of land from the Sacco family on 09/22/06. They asked that I remove my cattle from this 11-acre tract & remove my electrical fence. They said they were going to use the existing house as a community center. Children would be coming to play on the grounds, and as an engineer, Mr. Fotough felt it...

Scientists bid to take Neanderthal DNA sample KARL MANSFIELD SCIENTISTS are attempting to extract DNA for the first time from the fossilised bones thought to be of a Neanderthal man who roamed Britain 35,000 years ago. Experts plan to use a tooth from an upper jaw to establish whether the closest relative of modern humans lived on the British Isles later than it was once thought. The fragment of an upper jaw, which was found in 1926 at Kent's Cavern in Devon, was originally thought to be human, but experts now think it could date back even further. Chris Stringer,...

USC should forfeit the 2004 national crown after reports that Reggie Bush and his family appear to have accepted financial benefits from prospective agents. LOS ANGELES – The would-be agents who provided the house, the money for the tricked-out car, the luxury hotel rooms and the tens of thousands in cash used to roll right into the Southern California locker room after the game, right past security, to meet and greet the triumphant Trojans. The marketing agent who provided the cash allowance, the plane flights, the limo rides and the designer suits used to hang around Trojan practices, filed paperwork...

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (Sept. 7) - A bartender who last week was left a $10,000 tip by a regular customer now has more than the excitement of the offer: she has the cash. Cindy Kienow received a check Tuesday from Applebee's franchise owner JS Ventures Inc. for about $6,300, her share of the tip after taxes. The customer gave Kienow the hefty tip Aug. 27 on a $26 meal. But since he paid by credit card, the restaurant wanted to make sure it was a valid charge before giving Kienow the money. "I've had a lot of fun," Kienow said of...

Iraqi Soldiers Take the Lead Two battalions of the Iraqi Army assume responsibility of security for the majority of Kirkuk Province. By U.S. Army Spc. Michael Alberts 1st Brigade Combat Team, (Air Assault) KIRKUK, Iraq, Sept. 1, 2006 -- Soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division transferred responsibility of security for the majority of the Kirkuk Province to two battalions of the Iraqi Army during a ceremony at an Iraqi military compound just outside of Kirkuk, Aug. 31. “With this ceremony, we complete the transfer of security responsibilities from our friends, the Coalition Forces, to our...

Education Minister (Labor) Yuli Tamir announced her decision on Monday to fund long school days at kindergartens in public schools – but not in the hareidi preschool system. Tamir told the Knesset Education Committee that the public school system would take priority over non-governmental education associations, most of which are hareidi Orthodox schools. United Torah Judaism (UTJ) Knesset member Rabbi Moshe Gafne responded angrily to the decision, accusing Tamir of declaring “war against the hareidi Orthodox education system.” “The former education minister didn’t do this, [Meretz education ministers Shulamit] Aloni and [Yossi] Sarid didn’t do this,” noted Gafne. He asked...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, Aug. 24, 2006 -- Seeking a unified province free from terrorism and sectarian violence, leaders of groups in Babil came together Aug. 20 in Hillah, Iraq, to reconcile and denounce sectarian violence. Tribal sheik leaders from the Babil province sign an oath in Hillah, Iraq, Aug. 20, declaring their pledge to work hand-in-hand with all sheiks and leaders from the province, regardless of religion or affiliation. The reconciliation conference was organized by Iraqi Maj. Gen. Qais Hamza, Babil provincial police chief, in an effort to unify the province and make a commitment to stop...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2006 -- Two military relief agencies received a total of $30,000 here yesterday, the proceeds of a July clay shooting event in New York. John O'Connor (center), president of the Pawling Mountain Club, presents a check to Retired Sgt. Maj. Steve Broadway (left), of Army Emergency Relief. John Alexander, a representative of the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, looks at the check he just received. O'Connor's club sponsored the Pawling Mountain Invitational sporting clay event, which raised about $30,000 in donations for the two organizations. Photo by Samantha L. Quigley  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The...

Take a holiday, companies tell worried American workaholics By Harry Mount in New York (Filed: 21/08/2006) Americans, who are already the hardest workers in the Western world, are taking fewer holidays than they have done for almost 30 years, a survey says. In a country where most employees only get two weeks off a year plus 10 public holidays, many people are now so ambitious or so terrified of losing their jobs that they have to be forced to take their meagre allowance. According to the Conference Board, a private research group, 40 per cent of American workers are taking...

Conservative state lawmakers are targeting what they see as left-leaning university professors, pushing a series of bills in recent and upcoming sessions designed to ensure that students are not unduly influenced by professors' beliefs. The push has raised concerns among the academic community about academic freedom, with many worried the push will put legislators and administrators in charge of the college classroom. Conservative lawmakers have floated or are planning a host of proposals that would restrict what students can be required ----

Iraqi soldiers from the 7th Iraqi Army Division conduct a cordon and search for weapons caches at Al Anbar University in Ramadi, Iraq, BAGHDAD -- As further evidence to the continued progress of Iraqi security forces, the 4th Iraqi Army Division will officially assume the lead for security operations Aug. 8 in most of Salah ad Din and Kirkuk provinces, previously controlled by units from the 101st Airborne Division. The handover of forward operating bases and security lead demonstrates the progress being made by the Iraqi security forces, reiterates successes, and highlights the progress of the legitimate Iraqi government...

Iraqi soldiers track down and detain terrorists based on citizens’ information. American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, July 23, 2006 — Better-trained and more confident Iraqi troops increasingly are taking the fight to the terrorists, and U.S. troops are securing better and more actionable intelligence, thanks to their daily, long-standing efforts on behalf of the Iraqi people, U.S. military officials reported this week. Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, killed five terrorists, wounded 13, and detained 47 during a two-hour firefight in Mahmudiyah South on July 21 ‘They heard the cry for help from the Iraqi...

UK troops take Taleban strongholdSaturday, 15 July 2006, 16:52 GMT 17:52 UK British forces were backed by US and Canadian troops British troops in Afghanistan have undertaken their biggest operation since the fall of the Taleban in 2001. Three hundred soldiers - backed by hundreds of American and Canadian troops - have taken control of Sangin in the southern province of Helmand. Six British troops have been killed in or near the town in recent weeks. Military chiefs earlier defended their decision to call in US planes to drop 500lb bombs on Taleban fighters in the nearby town of Nawzad....

Hardline cleric takes charge of Somali militiamen By Mike Pflanz, East Africa Correspondent (Filed: 26/06/2006) Islamic militia in control of much of southern Somalia yesterday appointed a hardline cleric on Washington's most wanted list as its supreme leader. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys was named as the head of the Islamic Courts Union's "consultation committee", replacing the more moderate Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. Mr Ahmed, a former teacher who led the alliance in taking control of Mogadishu earlier this month, is being given a lesser role. Mr Aweys's elevation raises doubts about a deal negotiated last week with the interim government, based...

Several Border Patrol agents were fired upon Wednesday evening in Nogales while responding to a call about a vehicle that was entering the country without going through a port of entry, an official said Thursday. Around 7 p.m. Border Patrol agents responded to a report of a silver Mercedes sport utility vehicle driving through the desert in Nogales, said Jesus Rodriguez, a spokesman for the agency's Tucson Sector. As the agents neared the SUV, they were fired upon, he said. One patrol vehicle took rounds to the windshield and the body. The agent in that vehicle fired back as did...

British take on Taliban in five days of Afghan fire-fights By Isambard Wilkinson in Kabul (Filed: 23/05/2006) British troops have engaged in fire-fights with Taliban insurgents for the first time since deploying in Afghanistan, it emerged yesterday. A senior British officer in Kabul said more than 100 soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade helped Afghan soldiers and police fight off attacks by hundreds of Taliban fighters over the past five days in the southern Helmand province. It was also disclosed that recently commissioned British Apache helicopters have been involved in combat operations for the first time ever. "They fired at...

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2006 – More than 1,000 families and friends of servicemembers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq gathered near the Washington Monument for "A Time of Remembrance" today. The event, initiated by the White House Commission on Remembrance, was designed to remember America's heroes, military and civilian, who have lost their lives in defense of the nation's freedom. It also served as a tribute to the families, whom speaker Marine Gen. Peter Pace called "the heroes here today who do not even think about themselves as heroes." "Somehow, we hope that days like today, we can tell these wonderful...

Neandertals take out their small blades Bruce Bower From San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the Paleoanthropology Society and Society for American Archaeology meeting Excavations of Neandertal artifacts at two caves in northern Spain have yielded an unexpected discovery—a trove of thin, double-edged stone blades that researchers usually regard as the work of Stone Age people who lived much later. In 2005, Federico Bernaldo de Quiros of the University of Léon in Spain and his coworkers unearthed small stone blades, which they called bladelets, lying amid larger, characteristic Neandertal stone implements in a cave called El Castillo. All the finds came...

Iraqi Police have trained more like para-military forces than conventional police officers. U.S. Police Transition Teams continue to work with Iraqi police officers, training them in police techniques such as handcuffing and making arrests to help prepare the IPs for their conventional role. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Brent Williams   High-Res Image Iraqi Police Take the Lead in Baghdad The Iraqi Police Force fights a faceless enemy but demonstrates daily the ability to rapidly respond to terrorist and criminal activity. By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Brent Williams 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 21, 2006...

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2006 – It's time for the U.N. Security Council to take action against Iran following its announcement yesterday that it has enriched uranium, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today. "The Security Council will need to take into consideration this move by Iran and that it will be time when it reconvenes on this case for strong steps to make certain that we maintain the credibility of the international community on this issue," Rice said before a meeting with Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo here. The enrichment of uranium is in direct violation of the...

BAGHDAD, April 11, 2006 – The 6th Iraqi Army Division's military police frequently patrol the streets of Baghdad in light-utility vehicles that offer no more protection than a standard pickup truck. But thanks to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, MPs are getting a new, professional look this year. The 6th Iraqi Army Division's military police company received four Polish army vehicles in March as part of an initiative by the Iraqi Defense Ministry to provide updated equipment to soldiers. The Dzik-3s are a huge upgrade from the light utility vehicles the MPs have used since the start of the...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan, March 13, 2006 – The 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division - known as the Spartans - assumed authority for the coalition's Regional Command East from the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in a ceremony here today. Army Col. John W. Nicholson Jr. of Task Force Spartan took responsibility for coalition forces in the region's 11 eastern provinces from Army Col. Patrick J. Donahue of Task Force Devil. Civil and military leaders, servicemembers, base employees, contractors and visitors attended the ceremony. Gov. Marijadeen Patan of Khowst province, Afghan National Army Gen. Mohammad Achram...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2006 – Iraqi security forces are leaning forward to provide security in areas of sectarian strife prompted by this week's terrorist bombing of a prominent Shiite religious shrine, a U.S. military official said here today. "Iraqis are in the lead; coalition forces are prepared to support as required," DoD spokesman Army Lt. Col. Barry Venable said. The world-famed Golden Mosque, a Shiite religious shrine located in Samarra, Iraq, was bombed Feb. 22. The mosque's golden dome was blown off in the explosion, which touched off a round of Sunni-Shiite discord across the country. Some Shiites have accused...

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jason Simmons and Spc. Daniel Meyer scan the banks of the Euphrates River looking for terrorist activity, Feb. 16, 2006. Simmons and Meyer are assigned as scouts with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. U.S. Army photo by Cpl. Michael Molinaro U.S. Soliders Take to Water to Combat Terrorists U.S. troops employ innovative tactics to thwart counterinsurgency operations. By U.S. Army Cpl. Michael Molinaro 2nd Brigade Combat Team ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq, Feb. 22, 2006 — Some of them are tankers, some of them are infantryman. But...

Soldiers in first platoon "Choppin' Charlie" Company, captured a sniper near Samarra, Iraq, Monday. Some of the soldiers involved pictured left to right: Sgt Jimmy Sutton, Spc. Juan Villanueva, Cpl. Jason Kugler, Pvt. First Class Michael George, First Lt. Richard Hawkins, Pvt. First Class Jeffery Walker, Pvt. First Class Rick Monnig and Spc. Joseph Vanhook. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Cassandra Groce Soldiers Take Out Snipers in Salah Ad Din Rakkasan platoon kills one sniper and detains another while on patrol. By Pfc. Cassandra Groce 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment SAMARRA, Iraq, Jan. 18, 2006 — One sniper was...

1/11/2006 - ALI BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Reality is often at odds with expectations when Airmen deploy. This difference can be extreme when the mission is to provide military training to a recent enemy. But several Airmen near the end of six-month deployments as advisory support team instructors say they would rather stay here than go home after their experiences. During their deployment they have had a chance to directly shape the future of the world, learn about and gain respect for a different culture, meet men they now call brothers and solidify their instinctive belief that the U.S. Air...

TIKRIT, Iraq (Army News Service, Jan. 9, 2005) -- The 101st Airborne Division’s “Rakkasan” brigade assumed control of operations in the Salah Ad Din Province in a ceremony Jan. 5 at Forwarding Operating Base Speicher as Soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division prepared to head home. Various Iraqi officials attended the ceremony, including Lt. Gen Abdel Aziz, Iraqi Army 4th division commander, and Humad Mumood Shugti governor of Salah Ad Din. The ceremony opened with the Iraqi national anthem and the United States national anthem played by the 101st Army Band. The ceremony passed authority at FOB Speicher to the...

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Army News Service, Jan. 5, 2006) -- Even for a city known by many as "military city USA," the welcome ceremony for the Soldier Heroes of the upcoming "All-American Bowl" football game stood out as one they'll very likely never to forget. Close to 80 Soldiers, who will represent the Army in this Saturday's premiere high school football contest, were honored with a fanfare celebration at the Sheraton Gunter Hotel in San Antonio. With the U.S. Army Field Band's "Brass Quintet" providing a musical background, each of the Soldier "heroes" were introduced to the cheering crowd outside...

What secrets did Japan's ancient emperors take to the grave? And will we ever know? 01/05/2006 By HIROSHI MATSUBARA, Staff Writer This is the fourth in a series on issues and topics facing Japan's imperial family. A new challenge is being mounted that may eventually put the Imperial Household Agency in something of a tight corner. Academics have long called on the agency to open imperial tombs to full inspection to resolve riddles of Japan's ancient past and put to rest lingering doubts about the authenticity of some of the final resting places of emperors. All this time, the agency,...

12/28/2005 - BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- A-10 Thunderbolt IIs continue taking the fight to the enemy by providing close air support to U.S. and coalition forces participating in Operation Enduring Freedom. Shortly after deploying in September to this base at the foot of the Hindu Kush mountains from Davis-Monthan Air Base, Ariz., the 354th Fighter Squadron “Bulldogs” began making history. “Our A-10s have provided non-stop presence and lethal firepower since we arrived,” said the squadron commander Lt. Col. Martha McSally. “From ensuring the success of Afghanistan’s first-ever provincial elections on Sept. 18 to the first seating of an...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2005 – As Iraqi security forces grow and develop increased combat capabilities, U.S. forces will shift from a focus on combat operations to a focus on supporting the Iraqis as they take the lead in operations, two Defense Department officials said at a Pentagon news briefing today. American units already are partnering with Iraqi units, helping them with training, logistics, and other combat support operations, said Marine Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, operations director on the Joint Staff. This partnering will continue, with an increased focus on developing the Iraqis' combat support capabilities so they eventually will...

FALLBROOK ---- "The Nutcracker" is a gently orchestrated, soft-stepping ballet, and this weekend, a few good men will trade their guns and combat boots for roles in the fanciful tale ---- despite some initial teasing from their comrades.

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, Dec. 16, 2005) -- Millions of Iraqi citizens flocked to the polls Dec. 15 to vote under the new Iraqi Constitution, giving birth to a Middle East democracy. Gen. George W. Casey, Multi National Force-Iraq commanding general, said Iraq's transition into democracy "has not come about by accident or coincidence, but by shear will power and the determination of the Iraqi people.” Even Saddam loyalists, who turned their backs on January's election, have done an about-face and encouraged fellow Sunnis to vote in the Parliamentary elections, according to news reports. Some Sunnis went so far as...

The United States does not want to remove Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf from power as Washington fears that the South Asian country would fall into the hands of extremists, according to a former consultant to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. "If Musharraf falls, mullahs will take over," the ex-FBI consultant, Paul L Williams, said at a seminar in New York, adding, "However, he will be gone by next year." The half-day seminar was organised by Indian American Intellectuals Forum headed by Hindu leader Narain Kataria. According to Dr Williams, Muslim extremism presented a huge threat to humanity. "The threat...

Should hip hop take the rap for rioting? (Filed: 08/12/2005) French politicians have called for legal action to be taken against hip hop musicians in the wake of the French riots. Joe Muggs reports The waves of riots that swept across France this year have had an unexpected consequence for the French music industry. Urban violence: hip hop has been blamed for the Paris riots Last week, 200 politicians backed a petition by MP François Grosdidier calling for legal action against several hip hop musicians for their aggressive lyrics. Although prime minister Dominique de Villepin immediately dismissed the idea, it...

ABOARD THE U.S.S. PELELIU (Dec. 6, 2005) -- One Marine sought the road less traveled while the other sought the path to self discovery. Both found that their road was one in the same, and it began at the yellow footprints. Lance Cpl. Ryan J. Heist, operations clerk, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Camp Pendleton, never set out to be a Marine. Heist grew up in affluence, a self-described privileged kid who had everything handed to him right up until he joined the Marine Corps. Lance Cpl. Christopher K. Morgan-Riess, tactical data network specialist, 11th MEU, came from an upper-middle class...

An Iraqi police officer (right) prepares to hand out supplies to local Iraqi schoolchildren during a humanitarian aid mission to their school in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 20, 2005. U.S. soldiers from the 108th Military Police Company, 16th Military Police Brigade, Fort Bragg, N.C., assisted with the delivery of the material. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Matthew Clifton Iraqi Police Take Lead in Neighborhood Visit U.S. soldiers assist Iraqi police to establish improved community relations between the Iraqi police and the Iraqi civilians they protect. By U.S. Army Pfc. Matthew Clifton Multinational Corps-Iraq BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 5, 2005 — U.S. soldiers...

Rice will take tough line with Europe on 'prison plane' flights By Philip Sherwell and Kim Willsher in Paris (Filed: 04/12/2005) Condoleezza Rice, the United States Secretary of State, will urge European governments to back off in the continuing row over alleged secret terrorist detention camps in Eastern Europe and clandestine CIA "prison plane" flights. Dr Rice, who begins a four-country European tour tomorrow, is preparing a "robust" defence of American treatment of terror suspects, as Washington belatedly comes out fighting on the controversy, senior European diplomats told the Sunday Telegraph. Condoleezza Rice: No apologies for tactics Although Dr Rice...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2005 – Troops from the Iraqi army's 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 7th Division, killed a man Nov. 29 after he tried to take a soldier's weapon near Ramadi, Iraq, military officials reported. Soldiers fired on the military-aged man after he refused to open his trunk during a vehicle search and went for a soldier's weapon. Iraqi and coalition forces detained several insurgents and seized weapons caches Nov. 29 during operations throughout Iraq. Iraqi police detained three men fleeing the scene of a rocket attack on a high school near Musayyib. Near Rawah, an ineffective would-be suicide car...

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — With the debate over a military pullout growing increasingly bitter back home, President Bush said Saturday that he is determined to keep troops in Iraq until the mission is complete. "We will never back down and we will never give in and we will never expect less than complete victory," Bush said during a quick layover at this military installation that is home to the primary U.S. Air Force unit in Korea. "We will defeat the enemy in Iraq." The president, wearing a brown leather bomber jacket with a patch that said "Commander in...

WANTED SAMUEL "MACHINE GUN SAMMY" ALITO is WANTED for: -Voting to strike down the 1986 federal machine gun ban. In the 1996 case U.S. v. Rybar, Judge Alito was the lone dissenter in the decision upholding the conviction of a gun dealer who sold illegal machine guns at a Pennsylvania gun show. Possession of an unusual and extremely restrictive view of Congressional regulatory power. Alito (also called "Scalito" by his associates because of his similarity to conservative Judge Antonin Scalia) is known to possess views that could imperil virtually every federal law that regulates firearms, ammunitions, and explosives. Known consortion...

State may take over New Orleans' schools NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Budget woes, poor test scores and the effect of Hurricane Katrina have Louisiana officials talking about taking New Orleans schools under the state's wing. Gov. Kathleen Blanco gave her support to legislation Tuesday to put schools that don't meet the state average on scores under state control, The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Blanco said the state should take "responsibility for that city's failing schools," and recommended a charter school model as one way of doing so. The Orleans Parish School Board voted Friday to set up some...

MOSUL, Iraq (Army News Service, Nov. 1, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed two terrorists, wounded three, detained 11 suspected terrorists, and seized weapons caches in northern Iraq Oct. 28-31. Soldiers from Task Force Freedom were engaged with rocket-propelled-grenade and small-arms fire before returning fire and killing two terrorists. The Soldiers searched a vehicle, discovering AK-47s, a machine gun, hand grenades, and ammunition. Soldiers seize three caches Soldiers from the 503rd Military Police seized a cache consisting of rolls of detonation cord, numerous rounds of rocket-propelled grenade and mortar rounds, a mortar tube, an improvised rocket launching...

PRETORIA, South Africa - South Africa's government is for the first time moving to seize land from a white farmer, saying Thursday that negotiations to buy the property to hand over to black claimants were taking too long. Blessing Mphela, a land restitution commissioner, said at a news conference that the seizure was a last resort, but he added that land transfers to redress the abuses of the apartheid era must speed up. The government has repeatedly said it would rely on negotiated sales to shift agricultural land ownership rather than emulate Zimbabwe's seizures of white-owned farms, which many experts...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With much of the city emptied by Hurricane Katrina, some opportunists took advantage of the situation by looting stores. snip... Denise Bollinger, a tourist from Philadelphia, stood outside and snapped pictures in amazement. "It's downtown Baghdad," the housewife said. "It's insane. I've wanted to come here for 10 years. I thought this was a sophisticated city. I guess not." snip... Around the corner on Canal Street, the main thoroughfare in the central business district, people sloshed headlong through hip-deep water as looters ripped open the steel gates on the front of several clothing and jewelry stores....