Free Republic

Ahmed Adnan Hashim proudly shows off a container of Nu-Nu brand yogurt, produced at the factory he manages with his brother, Qahetan, in Bada, a small town south of Baghdad. Soldiers recently delivered two industrial generators donated by a factory in Iskandariyah to help the dairy plant stay on its feet. Photo by Sgt. David Turner. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Ahmed Adnan Hashim is passionate about yogurt. He’s passionate about cheese and cream and the other products produced at the Nu-Nu factory in Bada, a small town in northern Babil province. With his brother, Qahetan, managing the factory, Nu-Nu...

A factory worker with a reputation for not getting along with co-workers went on a shooting spree at a Kentucky plastics plant early today after getting into an argument with his supervisor, police told ABC News. The gunman killed five other employees before shooting himself to death, police said. A seventh person who was wounded is listed in critical condition.

FENGCHENG, China — As a reward for winning an Olympic gold medal in flatwater canoeing four years ago, Yang Wenjun — the son of peasant rice farmers — was handed the deed to a three-bedroom apartment here in a neighborhood called Sunny City. The local government bought and decorated it, hanging giant scrolls in the living room that announce in Mandarin: “Yang Wenjun won gold in the Olympics. It brings good luck here.” But his mother, Nie Chunhua, said Yang had been anything but lucky. She wiped away tears with hands dark and swollen from farming. “If I had better...

BAGHDAD – An Iraqi citizen’s tip led Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers to a weapons cache in the New Baghdad district of eastern Baghdad May 16. After receiving a tip about an explosively formed projectile-making operation in a Kamaliyah bakery at approximately 2 p.m., Soldiers from 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, cordoned off the suspected building. Criminals attacked the Soldiers with small-arms fire but were driven off by MND-B Soldiers returning fire. Soldiers from another platoon rushed to the scene to provide additional security. The search operation continued and the MND-B Soldiers found a cache including two explosively...

Navy Capt. John Dillender (right), economics and industrial advisor for Baghdad 5 Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, which operates north of the Iraqi capital with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, mimics the sanding technique used by a furniture factory worker near Taji, Iraq Nov. 11. The Henning, Tenn. native helped facilitate (200) pieces of furniture purchased from the State Company for Furniture Industry-Baghdad to be delivered to area schools. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Shejal Pulivarti, 1st BCT, 1st Cav. Div. PAO. CAMP TAJI — The State Company for Furniture Industry-Baghdad, located near Taji, recently filled its first...

A Soldier from 1st Platoon, Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis, Wash., holds up a 12-inch copper plate (the largest size found in Iraq) used to pierce armored vehicles when fired from an explosively formed projectile (EFP). The plate was part of a large EFP cache recently discovered in a home in Husseiniyah. Photo by SSgt. Russell Bassett, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. BAGHDAD — A Concerned Local Citizen (CLC) led Coalition forces to a home Wednesday where explosively formed penetrators (EFP) and improvised explosive...

HAWR RAJAB - Coalition Forces destroyed a suspected improvised explosive device factory in Hawr Ratab, south of Baghdad, Aug. 9. Paratroopers of Troop C, 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, made the discovery while conducting searches of two buildings in the area. The search was based on intelligence from a suspected insurgent detained the day before.      The searches uncovered about 1,000 pounds of white powder in bags, a blue barrel full of the white powder, pressure plate initiators and switches.      All of these materials are known components of homemade explosives used to...

U.S. Army Spc. Marquis Dawkins, an infantryman assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, surveys more than 120 five-gallon cans of nitric acid, a component used to make bombs, discovered at a bomb-making “factory” in Baghdad’s East Rashid District Monday. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ben Washburn, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers seized a bomb-making factory along with a large weapons cache while on patrol in eastern Rashid District here Monday.Troops from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment and Company A, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry,...

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2007 – Coalition forces nabbed more than 50 suspects and dismantled a bomb factory in Iraq over the past few days. During operations today, coalition forces northwest of Taji detained seven suspects with reported ties to foreign-fighter facilitation. In Ramadi, troops nabbed four other suspects with alleged ties to al Qaeda. Early this morning in Mosul, coalition forces captured a former paramilitary leader who allegedly is responsible for setting up al Qaeda terrorist training camps in Iraq and Syria, military officials said. Coalition forces discovered a large car-bomb factory during operations in northern Baghdad today. The...

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2007 – A garment factory in Najaf, Iraq, will start supplying clothes to U.S. and international retailers in a few months, a senior U.S. official said in Baghdad yesterday. The Najaf facility is “one of the most state-of-the-art clothing factories I’ve seen,” Paul A. Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of defense for business transformation, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. “It will be providing garments to American and international retail beginning this summer.” The Najaf factory is but one of several economic success stories occurring across Iraq today, said Brinkley, who has been busy showing off the...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2007 – Tips that led to the discovery of a bomb-making factory in western Iraq demonstrate that the Iraqi people are fed up with terrorists operating in their midst and stepping forward to help remove them, military officials in Baghdad told reporters today. Officials from 3rd Brigade, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, briefed reporters about a search for weapons caches that ultimately led to the bomb factory Feb. 20 in Gharmah, about 10 miles east of Fallujah. Army Capt. Matt Gregory, commander of Company A, described the materials uncovered during the raid: blasting...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military warned Thursday that insurgents are adopting new tactics in a campaign to spread panic after troops uncovered a car bomb factory with propane tanks and chlorine cylinders — possible ingredients for more chemical attacks following three explosions involving chlorine. Those blasts and a recent spate of attacks against helicopters have raised fears that insurgents are trying to develop new ways to confront U.S. and Iraqi forces. Any increase in chemical bombings could complicate the Baghdad security crackdown, now in its second week. Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 American commander in Iraq, said...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16, 2007 – Coalition forces destroyed a munitions factory, detained two suspects and found scores of weapons in operations around Iraq over the past three days. Coalition forces cordoned off an area in Salman Pak, Iraq, and conducted a controlled detonation of an improvised-explosive-device factory. U.S. Army photo  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Coalition forces destroyed an al Qaeda in Iraq improvised explosive device factory yesterday during a controlled detonation in Salman Pak. While searching the factory, coalition forces found a large amount of IED-making material, including 1,000 pounds of various types of explosives. An explosive...

BEIRUT: A lucrative contract to supply dairy products to United Nations peacekeepers in South Lebanon may have motivated the destruction of Lebanon's largest dairy farm, Liban Lait said Tuesday. The Bekaa-based factory had been providing the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) with milk and yogurt since it out-bid an Israeli firm in 2001, but has been inoperational since six precision-guided bombs targeted the dairy's processing plant on July 19.  "The Israelis knew the outcome of conflict and they knew that they would be asking for 15,000 troops to be stationed at the border," Liban Lait's marketing manager, Mark...

July 28, 2006 Chinese Workers Protest at Factory Making Toys for McDonald’s By JIM YARDLEY BEIJING, July 27 — A violent protest erupted last weekend at a factory in southern China that makes toys for McDonald’s and other international companies, a rights group said Thursday, and the local police were called to the scene to restore order. China Labor Watch, a New York-based labor rights group, described in a news release a riot by more than 1,000 workers protesting low pay and poor living conditions at the factory in the industrial city of Dongguan. However, a distributor for the factory...

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2006 – Based on tips, coalition forces located and killed six terrorists, detained three and destroyed a safe house and multiple weapons caches in Ramadi during a search May 17 for a wanted terrorist known as the "Prince of IEDs," military officials in Baghdad reported today. During a search in Ramadi May 17 for a wanted terrorist known as the "Prince of IEDs," coalition forces seized a civilian pickup truck filled with weapons, including machine guns, one rocket-propelled grenade launch tube, six RPG rounds, a suicide vest, an AK-47 assault rifle and a DSHKA heavy machine...

Release A060507i BAGHDAD, Iraq – An explosion occurred in the basement of the Sheik Abdel Kader mosque at approximately 6 p.m. May 7 in Rusafa, a neighborhood of east Baghdad . According to the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Division the bomb exploded in the basement of the mosque causing a fire. The Iraqi fire department responded and began suppressing the fire when firefighters noticed an improvised explosive device inside the mosque. The Iraqi police explosive ordinance disposal team arrived at the mosque to clear the holy site of bombs and bomb making materials. The team dismantled six IEDs....

Manufacturing growth cooled slightly in March, but a pickup in raw material costs and other solid economic reports out Monday show bolstered views of more rate hikes. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index fell 1.5 points to 55.2, short of views and dragged down by slower growth in new orders and jobs. Separately, the Commerce Department said construction spending jumped 0.8% in February from January's upwardly revised level thanks to home building. Pending home sales slid in February but from a revised January, said a third report.

Following up .. prayers for all .. they mentioned Unison Industries.

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, Dec. 23, 2005) – An Iraqi citizen provided a tip to Soldiers of the 7th Cavalry about a home in east Baghdad Dec. 22 that was being used as a factory to make improvised rocket-launchers. Elements of 3rd squadron, 7th Cavalry, raided the home and discovered 15 rocket-launchers were in the process of being built and one 57 millimeter rocket was competed and ready to be fired. No one was present in the home at the time of the raid. “It is encouraging that the Iraqi citizens are continuing to choose the side of the new...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23, 2005 – Two Task Force Baghdad soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in Baghdad today, military officials reported. The names of the soldiers are being withheld pending notification of their families. In other news from Iraq, soldiers of the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry, discovered a rocket factory and captured three suspected terrorists in two separate operations. A local citizen identified an eastern Baghdad home being used to make improvised rocket launchers. Soldiers raided the home Dec. 22 and discovered 15 rocket launchers were in the process of being built. One 57 mm...

Serbian Factory Bombed By NATO To Make Arms For US Company Agence France-Presse Wed, 19 Oct 2005, 08:12 RSS Printer Friendly E-Mail This Page Discussions Belgrade: A Serbian factory bombed by NATO in 1999 is to make arms for US weapons manufacturer Remington in a contract worth 3.2 million dollars (2.6 million euros), a report said Tuesday. Zastava Arms of Serbia and Remington signed the agreement in Kragujevac, 120 kilometers (72 miles) west of Belgrade, for the supply of the weapons in 2006, the private Beta news agency reported. The arms would be sold under the joint brand name "Remington-Zastava"...

Iraqi Army troops searched and cleared by the building; U.S. soldiers then entered the cleared building and identified the bomb-making materials. By 2nd Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 25, 2005 — An Iraqi Army raid on a suspected bomb-making factory in Baghdad resulted in the detention of 10 suspected terrorists Oct. 20. The 10 suspects were working in the facility when they were detained. They are now being processed by the Iraqi judicial system. The Iraqi Army set up an outer cordon around the building and launched the raid at midday. Within minutes, the entire building...

A relative of mine, immediately after graduating from college, went to work for a bank. Even though he had a university degree, he was assigned the job of repossessing cars. We kidded him a lot about that. He eventually ended up a vice president, but his entry into the banking industry was about as low as you can get, and we never let him forget it. In similar fashion, the Enterprise car-rental firm goes to college campuses to recruit management trainees, but among the first jobs these trainees handle is washing and cleaning cars coming off rental. When I moved...

The word "reinvent" is a dumb term, having an overtone of redundancy. After all, when you have invented something, it exists. You can revise it or change it, but you can't "reinvent" it after you have already invented it. I never heard the term when I first entered the workforce. But somewhere in the 1970s or so, corporate executives-began using the word, and using it a lot. Then as now, the nation had its usual economic ups and downs, but suddenly after one downturn, our nation was heavily laden with companies that had reinvented themselves. What happened is that after...

Orders to U.S. factories posted the best increase in three months in August as the manufacturing sector showed strength in the face of surging energy prices. The Commerce Department reported that orders rose by 2.5 percent to $395.2 billion, led by strong demand for computers and other electronic products. The increase followed a 2.5 percent drop in July which had fed worries that manufacturing, an energy-intensive sector of the economy, could falter as crude oil prices climbed to record levels. However, the August rebound and a big jump in September in a closely watched gauge of manufacturing sentiment should ease...

DATA IS FROM THE COMMERCE DEPARTMENT...HERE IS THE AP REPORT: WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Commerce Department reports that orders to U.S. factories for manufactured goods rose 2.5 percent in August, the best showing in three months. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Orders to U.S. factories posted the best increase in three months in August as the manufacturing sector showed strength in the face of surging energy prices. The Commerce Department reported that orders rose by 2.5 percent to $395.2 billion, led by strong demand for computers and other electronic products. The increase followed a 2.5 percent drop in July which had fed...

Ukraine's president is pushing forward with the state's takeover of a major steel factory despite fierce opposition from its current owners. President Viktor Yushchenko is giving prosecutors three days to transfer the Nikopol ferro-alloy plant's shares back into the state's hands. A group led by Viktor Pinchuk, son-in-law of former president Leonid Kuchma, is fighting the state's ruling. Mass rallies in support of the group were held at the plant this week. The plant was sold in 2003 to Mr Pinchuk, but courts have since ruled the sale illegal. The move follows a pledge by President Viktor Yushchenko to review...

SHANGHAI, China (AP) - Farmers angry over pollution attacked a pharmaceutical plant in eastern China, a factory official and a news report said Tuesday, in the latest rural clash sparked by disputes over corruption, pollution and other problems. Protests that began July 4 have forced a halt to production at the Jinxing Pharmaceutical plant in Xinchang, a town about 125 miles south of Shanghai, according to its director's secretary, Xu Xiaoming. He said several hundred protesters were involved. Xu said local farmers were angry over pollution, but he would not give any other details of what prompted the protest. The...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. factories saw orders rise by 2.9 percent in May, the best showing in 14 months, with most of the strength reflecting robust demand for airplanes and parts. The sizable advance came after 0.7 percent increases registered in both March and April, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. While the pickup in May was welcome, the latest snapshot of manufacturing activity showed that improvements across various sectors were uneven. New bookings for machinery and computers fell in May. Orders for cars and primary metals, including steel, were flat. But demand for airplanes, household appliances and furniture all...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - One week after Kansas City-based Interstate Bakeries Corp. announced Wednesday it was consolidating its Florida profit center and cutting 600 jobs, the company said it plans to close its Charlotte, N.C., plant, and cut an additional 950 positions. Interstate Bakeries, best known for its Wonder and Hostess brands, is one of the largest wholesale baking companies in the country. It has eliminated 2,200 jobs from its 32,000-member work force since declaring bankruptcy in September. The company said its moves in the Mid-Atlantic region are part of an effort to drop unprofitable products and routes, and streamline...

Iran's Main Automobile Manufacturing Facility On Fire SMCCDI (Information Service) Mar 1, 2005 A massive fire of undermined origin is ravaging the Iran-Khodro factory, at this time (21:00 IR local time), which is the main car manufacturing and assembly plant for the country and located near the capital. The fire is of an undetermined origin, however, it is believed an arsonist started the fire, following months of worker discontent. It has been reported that most employees have not been paid in many months and working conditions were abominable. The huge fire can be seen from kilometers away and most of...

DETROIT -- A stray dog was found with a human leg in its mouth on Detroit's east side Tuesday afternoon. The remains may belong to Jalona Stafford, 19, whose body was found burned and dismembered inside an abandoned pickle factory last week, WDIV-TV reported. Neighbors said the dog was carrying a leg with the thigh attached to it, the station reported. "A dog was carrying the leg. He had to be chased," said Thelma Davis, who witnessed the animal coming from the building. Stafford was last seen by her family on the morning of Feb. 13 as she prepared to...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

OHIO I note this morning that recent polls of registered voters show Kerry with a rather significant lead in Ohio, one of the battleground states. Ohio has a depressed manufacturing economy. Somehow this is George Bush's fault. It doesn't matter that the recession started during Clinton's watch. The collapse of the dot.com economy is not to be considered in the equation, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 play no role. It's all Bush's fault. This is harsh language, but accurate. What we have in Ohio is a significant portion of the electorate that cannot accept any personal responsibility for their...

The financially troubled L.E. Smith Glass Co., one of the last hand-molded glass factories in the United States, abruptly ceased production this week after talks between a potential buyer and a major lender failed. The specialty glass maker, whose customers included Martha Stewart and the retailer Williams Sonoma, had operated in Mount Pleasant since 1907. Martin Noonan, L.E. Smith's Boston-based president, blamed a poor economy and import competition for the company's problems. Both he and the lender, Sky Financial, said they were seeking another buyer. The factory's retail store will remain open for at least the near future, said Tim...

Factories Operate Near 20-Year High 20 minutes ago By Eric Burroughs NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. factories boomed at close to a 20-year high in February, according to a survey released on Monday that also suggested a turnaround in hiring may be on the horizon after a three-year struggle. The Institute for Supply Management said its monthly manufacturing index fell to 61.4 in February from January's two-decade high of 63.6, showing the ninth straight month of expansion in the sector that makes up less than a fifth of the U.S. economy. Even though the index fell below the 62.0 level...

<p>Since 2001, the United States has lost 2.8 million manufacturing jobs. Hello! Is anybody listening? This is a crisis. Our house is on fire, and few in Congress are paying attention. And, at the rate things are going, the only jobs even college graduates will be able to get will be in the service industry. That's political lingo for flipping hamburgers.</p>

This might be the reason why we keep shipping jobs overseas... Our factories are full of laid-off workers and factory owners are tired of paying through the nose to meet EPA standards and regulations. The Slinky Factory is a good example. The owner of the Slinky Factory cautions "Watch your steps!" See more than 270 cartoons on all subjects for kids of all ages!

(IsraelNN.com) A large Islamic Jihad bomb-making factory was uncovered in PA-controlled Shechem today in the ongoing IDF counter-terrorism operation. Among the items contained in the facility were large quantities of metallic bolts, shrapnel, and chemicals and fertilizer used in the manufacture of bombs.

The lead, breaking story on Cleveland local news is that officials at Parma's GM plant just south of Cleveland had a power anomaly which is now believed to be the initial source of the trouble on the Lake Erie Loop.

Looking for Signposts on the Roadmap to Peace By Andrew L. Jaffee, August 10, 2003 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Hamas supporters are upset because Israelis are defending themselves. The Associated Press (AP) reported today that: Clamoring for revenge, thousands of Hamas supporters Saturday buried two militants killed in an Israeli raid, and a senior Palestinian official urged the United States to intervene to prevent the unraveling of a six-week-old truce. The militants and an Israeli soldier were killed Friday when troops raided a bomb lab in a West Bank refugee camp, sparking a gunbattle. A Palestinian stone-thrower also was killed by troops....

NASHVILLE -- Astronomers have peered through a secretive cloak of dust to find five exploded stars in a region of space believed to be among the most energetic in the universe. They're calling it a supernova factory, the first of its kind ever witnessed. The supernovae, forged at the intersection of two merging galaxies, help confirm a long-held theoretical expectation that galaxy collisions generate episodes of intense star birth and rapid death. Astronomers call these merging objects starbirth galaxies, and they are thought to be a primary driving force of cosmic evolution. The work represents an initial step toward a...

The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is affirming a ruling that threw out a lawsuit by the survivors of a fatal plant shooting in Goshen. The suit was filed against the city and the police department by two survivors of the shooting and the wife of one of the survivors. It stemmed from the December 2001 shooting at Nu-Wood Decorative Millwork Employee Robert Wissman killed a plant manager and wounded six other workers before taking his own life. The suit claimed that the city failed to prevent the shooting. When plant workers called police to report a threat from...

(17:35) The Jerusalem Post's Caroline B. Glick, on the road to Baghdad with the US 3rd Infantry, reports it has captured what could be the first chemical weapons plant uncovered since the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. forces searching through the Shah-e-Kot valley in eastern Afghanistan (news - web sites) have found what appears to be an explosives factory abandoned by Taliban and al-Qaida fighters, a military spokesman said Friday. The site contained explosives and equipment to make more, as well as medical supplies, said Navy Cmdr. Dan Keesee of U.S. Central Command in Florida. Keesee could not say whether the factory was in a cave or in buildings. It was found on March 13. No evidence of chemical or biological weapons research or production was found at the site, Keesee said. Keesee...

AL-TAJI, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq has denied US reports that a warehouse for foodstuffs just north of Baghdad was secretly producing biological weapons.Iraqi authorities organised a visit for journalists accredited in Baghdad to the facility, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) northwest of the capital, to see for themselves.Trade Minister Mohammad Mehdi Saleh explained on site that the facility in question was indeed a warehouse used by his ministry to stock foodstuffs.The Washington Times daily reported on August 14 that a US spy satellite had photographed some 60 trucks moving about at a facility once called the Al-Taji Single Cell Protein...

<p>The Calabasas Hills-based company said it found listeria monocytogenes in one batch of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake sold to the Olive Garden Italian restaurant chain.</p> <p>The Olive Garden chain is owned by Darden Restaurants Inc. of Orlando, Fla.</p> <p>The batch could have been served in as many as 19 Olive Garden restaurants in Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, the Cheesecake Factory said.</p>