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At least 700 Taliban fighters have crossed from Pakistan into Afghanistan to reinforce guerrillas attacking a key dam, a major source of electricity and irrigation, a provincial governor said on Monday. "We have got confirmed reports that they are Pakistani, Uzbek and Chechen nationals and have sneaked in," Helmand Governor Asadullah Wafa told Reuters by telephone. The Kajaki dam has seen major fighting in recent weeks between the Taliban and NATO forces, mainly British and Dutch. NATO-led troops have been conducting operations in the area for several months to allow reconstruction on the dam and the power transmission lines to...

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, Feb 12 (Reuters) - At least 700 Taliban fighters have crossed from Pakistan into Afghanistan to destroy a key dam, a major source of electricity, a provincial governor said on Monday. "We have got confirmed reports that they are Pakistani, Uzbek and Chechen nationals and have sneaked in," Helmand Governor Asadullah Wafa told Reuters by telephone. The dam, Kajaki, has seen major fighting in recent weeks between the Taliban and NATO forces.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2006 – More than 140 Afghan laborers are currently working to complete local dam and building construction projects worth a total of nearly half a million dollars, according to Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news releases. More than 90 Afghan workers are helping to build a water-retention dam on a natural waterway near the village of Rawza in Ghazni district, Ghazni province. Work on the $200,000 concrete dam began July 25, but much of the work was redone because of heavy rain and flooding that month. Work on the more than 45-foot-high dam is 25 percent complete. The...

Ancient Hittite dam inaugurated after 32 centuries Wednesday, September 20, 2006 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News A Hittite-era dam located in the central Anatolian province of Çorum and believed to be one of the oldest in the world to have survived to date has been restored and is once again serving as a source of irrigation for local residents. The dam, located at the Alacahöyük archaeological site, was built by the Hittites in 1240 B.C. The dam's inauguration was marked with a ceremony over the weekend attended by Professor Aykut Çýnaroðlu, who heads the team excavating Alacahöyük, Ankara University Rector...

Turkey has begun building a major dam, despite criticism that the project will ruin an ancient archaeological site and displace thousands of people. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan led a ceremony to begin work on the Ilisu dam in the south-eastern Turkey. Turkey says the $1.55bn (£800m) project will help irrigate vast areas of farmland and provide vital energy. Critics argue that it will destroy ruins and artefacts at the Hasankeyf site dating back thousands of years. Some 4,000 protesters held an overnight vigil near the dam site on the River Tigris, about 45km (28 miles) north of the Syrian...

BALAD, Iraq, July 16, 2006 – Civil affairs soldiers are here working to ensure local Iraqis have the strong foundation needed to rebuild and sustain their government long after the coalition leaves Iraq. Army Capt. Philip Zapien, civil affairs team leader for 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers, finds himself wearing many different hats these days. The majority of his civil affairs team has been tasked to help another unit, leaving Zapien with just a couple of soldiers to complete missions. Though short-staffed, Zapien is determined to...

Enormous new dam fails in Brazil 10 July 2006 From New Scientist Print Edition. GIANT cracks have opened in one of the world's tallest dams, just months after completion. The cracks appeared after a tunnel collapsed on 20 June beneath the 200-metre-high Campos Novos dam in southern Brazil, and the reservoir rapidly emptied. At one point, 4000 cubic metres of water (more than enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool) were rushing downstream every second towards a second dam on the river Canoas. "If this had happened during the rainy season, and the two reservoirs had been full, water would...

DOCTRINE OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST Spir Dynamics 827 4/17/96; Eph 284-286 5/11/86; Rev 11/3/82; 1 Jn 11/11/81 A. Definition and Description. 1. While our Lord did some bleeding on the cross, He didn't bleed to death, nor does His literal human blood have anything to do with the phrase found throughout the New Testament, "the blood of Christ." 2. Even Greek lexicons recognize this principle when defining the word HAIMA, the Greek word for blood. a. The Arndt and Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon, p.22, under HAIMA in the paragraph describing the figurative use of the blood of Christ, says, "blood...

China completed construction of the world's largest dam Saturday in Three Gorges area, central China's Hubei Province, signifying accomplishment of the major structure of the mammoth Three Gorges water control project aiming to tame the flood-prone Yangtze River, the nation's longest. At 2:00 on Saturday afternoon, the final concrete was poured for the 2,309-meter-long, 185-meter-high main wall of the Three Gorges Dam, which by then began to have capacity of holding water. The concrete placement of the Dam's main section was completed 10 months ahead of the schedule, which will enable the Dam to start its role in power...

Despite bombs, boats and rubber bullets, dozens of sea lions are continuing to kill salmon near the Bonneville Dam. This month, biologists are trying one last time to scare off the problem sea lions, but if that doesn't work, they may try to kill them. Sea lions could kill as much as 10 percent of this spring's salmon run and biologists say if they cannot get the problem solved soon, the situation could get ugly. The problem is that the salmon are disappearing. An estimated 8,000 salmon will be lost this spring at Bonneville Dam. "The difficult part about it...

About 100 homes were being evacuated Wednesday morning as a small earthen dam in Calaveras County weakened by an overnight thunderstorm threatened to break. Showers and thunderstorms dumped up to four inches of rain over the past 24 hours around the La Contenta golf course near Valley Springs, said Angus Barkhuff, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. A 12-foot-high dam at the golf course was weakened by the storms and crews from the Calaveras County Sheriff's Department began evacuating nearby homes threatened by the dam overnight. If the dam fails, water will drain into a smaller pond...

Tucked into the folds of the gigantic state infrastructure bond lawmakers were grappling with into the evening Monday is money aimed at buying and removing dams on the Klamath River. It is the first sign that money would be available from the state to grease the skids in negotiations between the dam owner and the fleet of sometimes conflicting parties that have a stake in using the river or restoring its debilitated fish runs. Tribes, environmental groups, fishermen, farmers and agencies have been meeting every two weeks to hash out a settlement that could involve decommissioning Pacificorp's dams and removing...

Honolulu (AP) -- A dam burst on the island of Kauai on Tuesday, and seven people were missing, the Coast Guard said.

WASHINGTON — A broad question - whether a Maine agency has the authority to regulate the quality of water released from dams - was subjected to a series of narrow observations Tuesday by members of the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice David Souter asked, for example, whether moving a spoonful of water from one part of a river to another would constitute a discharge and trigger government regulations. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg observed that putting food through a processor changed it, perhaps like the turbines of a dam churning water. "What you get out is quite different from what you put...

Tempting fate: A torrent of doubtsProject backers expect electricity, water and flood protection, but critics call it pie-in-the-skyBy Matt Weiser -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, February 19, 2006 American taxpayers have had an unsteady relationship with the Auburn dam: $400 million spent so far on a dam that was never built; another $30 million through the end of this year to restore the former construction site; and now $1 million more to study whether to build the dam after all. Since Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans, Auburn dam supporters have rallied behind the project anew, suggesting...

The Presumpscot River, one of Maine's first industrial waterways, will be at the center of high stakes U.S. Supreme Court arguments Tuesday that could alter the fate of dams and rivers nationwide. An attorney for S.D. Warren in Westbrook hopes to persuade the nation's highest court that Maine has no authority to impose environmental rules on five of its hydro dams along the Presumpscot. Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe will argue the other side: States have a clear right to protect their rivers. S.D. Warren's challenge taps into the national dilemma over dams, which offer renewable, domestically produced energy but...

Tide of opinion turns against Venice dam By Hilary Clarke in Venice (Filed: 29/01/2006) A multi-billion pound project to stop Venice disappearing under water is itself in danger of sinking under the weight of opposition from the city's mayor and the European Commission. Brussels is concerned about the impact the £2.9 billion Moses dam project could have on the environment, while Venice's own council believes the cash would be better spent on maintaining buildings. Water levels in Venice have risen by 32in since the 18th century, when Canaletto painted the lagoon city. Its tourist centre, St Mark's Square, floods more...

<p>The former number two official in Saddam Hussein's Iraqi air force claims the former Iraqi dictator moved weapons of mass destruction from Iraq to Syria in the months preceding the current Iraq war.</p>

GIVEN THE PASTING PRESIDENT BUSH has taken over the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, one might have assumed the president's critics were in agreement about how to prevent such disasters. But for years now, the left has been deeply ambivalent about the most logical and time-tested mitigator against the threat of city-wide and regional floods: dams.How could dams, embraced by everyone from beavers to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, be a source of contention? Ask the environmentalists. Their campaign against dams has gained influence and stalled, decommissioned, or otherwise limited the construction of many dams and levees, including one project that could...

HADITHA DAM, Iraq (Dec. 21, 2005) -- Iraq’s infrastructure is a constant target for terrorist attacks throughout the country. This is no different at the Haditha Dam, which is the power source for many cities in Iraq. Keeping the massive dam and more than 1,000 Marines operating here safe for the past five months is 150 Azerbaijani Army soldiers. Located on the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan is the host country of the guardian soldiers who left their country in July to spend six months supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They worked alongside the Marines with 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment and 3rd...