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Major Quake Likely in Middle East, Survey Finds Kate Ravilious for National Geographic News July 26, 2007 In A.D. 551, a massive earthquake devastated the coast of Phoenicia, now Lebanon. The disaster is well-documented, but scientists had struggled over the years to locate the earthquake fault. Now a new underwater survey has uncovered the fault and shown that it moves approximately every 1,500 years—which means a disaster is due any day now. "It is just a matter of time before a destructive tsunami hits this region again," said Iain Stewart, an earthquake expert at the University of Plymouth in the...

Leave of absence for major who disappeared Officer serving at Manas said she was kidnapped HENDERSON, N.C. — The Air Force officer who disappeared in Kyrgyzstan in September and reappeared three days later will take a leave of absence from the military to spend time with her husband, her mother said Tuesday. Maj. Jill Metzger talks with family members in September 2006 after arriving at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. Metzger's mother said the major will start an 18-month leave from the military to spend more time with her husband. A Moody spokesman said he could not discuss Metzger's status....

LONDON - A study has determined that men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer are nearly twenty-five times as likely to die from the disease as men who are prostate-cancer free. This conclusion was reached after a team of researchers had carefully recorded the causes of death of more than 300,000 men.

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2007 – More than 7,000 servicemembers will deploy to Iraq in the coming months, including two units that will not have been back at their home stations for the year they expected when they returned home from their last deployments, Defense Department officials said today. The rotations will enable commanders in Iraq to maintain 20 brigade combat teams in the theater through the end of August, officials said. The 3,500 soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y., will return to Iraq 47 days before their one-year stateside “dwell break” is finished. The...

Major climate change report looks set to alarm 11:54 29 January 2007 NewScientist.com news service Catherine Brahic The most important report on the science of climate change for six years is set for release on Friday 2 February, and leaks suggest it will be an alarming read. The minimum predicted temperature and sea level rises will jump, according to media reports, while the blame will be pinned firmly on greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Its leading line is expected to be "there is a 90% chance humans are responsible for climate change", mostly due to the burning of fossil...

A major snowstorm blew across Colorado toward the Plains on Wednesday, canceling hundreds of airline flights for holiday travelers and shutting down major highways in parts of four states. The National Weather Service posted blizzard warnings for most of eastern Colorado and adjoining sections of Nebraska and Kansas. A day earlier, the storm had pummeled New Mexico with up to a foot of snow. Two feet of snow was possible in the foothills just west of Denver, with 2 to 3 feet a possibility farther north. Up to 20 inches could accumulate on the Plains of eastern Colorado and wind...

Remembering the fallen By Michelle Malkin   ·   December 14, 2006 11:00 AM Maj. Megan McClung was an American Girl. She was the highest-ranking female officer killed in Iraq last week. Watch this video. You will not forget her. (More about Maj. McClung in the OC Register.) Thanks to Ken Noland for pointing us to the memorial video and to the terrific website, Digital Imagery and Video Distribution System , which serves as the public affairs arm for the Third Army and Central Command. Army Capt. Travis Patriquin was killed alongside Maj. McClung. Mike Fumento's memorial is here. Matt at Blackfive...

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into the disappearance of U.S. Air Force Maj. Jill Metzger, who went missing for three days last month in Kyrgyzstan. FBI officials told FOX News that Metzger's disappearance is being investigated by the FBI, and the center of the investigation appears to be the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. At the time of her disappearance, Metzer was newly married and on temporary assignment at a U.S. base in Kyrgyzstan. Metzger claims that while shopping at the TSUM department store for souvenirs before a scheduled...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican archeologists have made the most significant Aztec find in decades, unearthing a 15th century altar and a huge stone slab at a ruined temple in the throbbing heart of Mexico City. The works were uncovered last weekend at the Aztec empire's main Templo Mayor temple, near the central Zocalo square, which was used for worship and human sacrifice. It was the most meaningful find since electricity workers stumbled upon an eight-tonne carving of an Aztec goddess at the same site in 1978. "It is a very important discovery, the biggest we have made in 28...

MANAS AIR FORCE BASE, Kyrgyzstan — Before the major went missing, airmen posted in this former Soviet republic had the best of both worlds. They went hiking and horseback riding in the mountains and were driven to town for shopping and dining. All while getting “imminent fire” pay and performing a mission in support of the Afghanistan campaign. But since the mysterious three-day disappearance of Maj. Jill Metzger, the horses are riderless, the shops unvisited — and the troops disgruntled. For the first extended period since Americans built the base in 2001, because of Metzger’s experience and her alleged abduction,...

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- A Kyrgyz police official said Monday that a servicewoman from North Carolina who reappeared in mysterious circumstances after going missing for three days gave confused accounts of her absence and refused further statements after consulting with the U.S. Embassy. Air Force Maj. Jill Metzger, who had been stationed at the U.S. base outside the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, disappeared last Tuesday while taking part in a military shopping excursion in the city. She resurfaced Friday night when she knocked on the door of a house in Kant, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) outside Bishkek, and claimed she had...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006 -- U.S. Air Force special investigators and Kyrgyz authorities are continuing search efforts to locate an Air Force officer missing since Sept 5, officials said. Maj. Jill Metzger, personnel chief at the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing, was last seen by a group of her coworkers at the Zum shopping center in the capital city of Bishkek. “We will not rest until we find Major Metzger,” said Col. Joel “Scott” Reese, the wing’s commander. “She is an extremely valuable member of our warfighting team, and we are doing everything in our power to locate and return her...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (NNS) -- The 354th Civil Affairs Brigade (CAB), the first civil affairs brigade in Iraq made up primarily of Sailors, completed its first four months here, Aug. 16, as the primary administrative controlling manager for civil affairs units throughout Iraq. During the first months of its year-long deployment to Baghdad, the 354 CAB coordinated and ensured the successful completion of numerous community-oriented projects. Among the active-duty individual augmentees and Reservists called upon to deploy with the unit, more than 75 percent of the brigade headquarters is Navy. Army Col. Vernon Harris, 354th CAB's commander, said working in a...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 11, 2006 – Foreign observers of the U.S. military often say what puts it above other militaries is the quality of the noncommissioned officer corps. Many other nations want the same for themselves. The Afghan National Army is learning from Western military trainers who stress the central role of NCOs in a world-class military. Afghan army Chief of Staff Gen. Bismullah Khan stressed the role of NCOs in the new military by recently appointing the nation's first sergeant major of the army, Roshan Safi. Senior American NCOs say the appointment is crucial to developing an NCO corps...

British to lead major assault on Taliban By Neil Tweedie (Filed: 12/08/2006) British troops in southern Afghanistan are to lead a new offensive against the Taliban in an attempt to regain the initiative after weeks of intense fighting. The plan will involve the use of mobile forces such as the Paras to attack insurgents in their strongholds, rather than defending fixed points. Lt Gen David Richards, the British officer commanding the Nato force in the country, said yesterday that 10,000 troops would be involved in the campaign, which would last at least three months. British, Canadian and other Nato troops...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel and Hezbollah fought bloody ground battles and exchanged fierce air and missile strikes Friday — including bombing raids that severed Lebanon's last major supply link with Syria and the outside world, and the guerrillas' deepest rocket attack inside Israel to date. Loud explosions resounded in Beirut early Saturday as Israeli warplanes renewed their onslaught, carrying out several strikes on southern suburbs, local media said. Israeli helicopters, meanwhile, attacked suspected Hezbollah positions in the southern city of Tyre, according to residents. After days of desultory diplomacy, Washington said it was near agreement with France on a U.N....

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian officials often say that places with the greatest troubles offer their country the best opportunities. Iranian influence in Iraq has surged since the U.S.-led invasion three years ago. Its reach into Afghanistan continues to grow. And now, the war in Lebanon could make Iran an even more important player in the Islamic world even as its militant Shiite Arab client, Hezbollah, gets pounded by Israel. "Iran sees itself more than just the moral father of Hezbollah. Iran seeks to become a major force across the region as a counterbalance to America and Israel," said Ahmad Bakhshaiesh,...

Iraqi police recruits head toward their sleeping quarters after going through orientation at Forward Operating Base Duke on July 2. Iraqi police recruits go through a two-week training course called the crucible, which is conducted by the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment and civilian contractors. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Katrina Beeler) BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi national security advisor announced the recent killing of several al-Qaida terrorist group leaders and the capture of others during a press conference here yesterday. Calling it “a major blow to al-Qaida in Iraq,” Dr. Mouwafak al-Rubaie said...

FORT BLISS, Texas (Army News Service, June 9, 2006) – Sixteen Afghan pilots, crew chiefs and flight engineers graduated the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy today at Fort Bliss, Texas. The first Afghan aviators to graduate the academy, they will use their new knowledge to help combat narcoterrorists in Afghanistan. “This is a great day for the people of Afghanistan and for the people of the United States,” said Richard J. Douglas, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics. “This sets the stage for what you have accomplished here at Fort Bliss …by helping President Hamid Karzi’s efforts to suppress...