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6/16/2008 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Twelve Airmen working together for the past nine months at the remote Iraqi Military Training Base of Kirkush, located in the Diyala Province just over 10 miles from the Iranian border, are hoping to work themselves out of a job. As the only Americans living among thousands of Iraqi Soldiers and trainees, their objective has been to work with the leadership at the base to improve operational and logistical processes. "We're here to train and advise the Iraqi Army. Our goal is to put ourselves out of a job," said Master Sgt....

QAHIRA, Iraq, Feb. 20, 2008 – Citizens in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Qahira play a large role in securing their backyard through local checkpoints. Army Lt. Col Michael Pemrick, deputy commander of the 4th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team in Multinational Division Baghdad, greets Sons of Iraq members at a neighborhood checkpoint while on a patrol in Baghdad’s Qahira neighborhood, Feb. 14, 2008. Pemrick talked to the group members about their security operations in the area. Photo by Pfc. April Campbell, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Lt. Col. Michael Pemrick, deputy commander of the...

Beijing buys into leading Australian banks By Tim Johnston Friday, January 4, 2008 SYDNEY: The Chinese state body responsible for managing the country's massive foreign reserves is starting to diversify its holdings, buying up stakes in three Australian retail banks during the past two months. Australian bankers say that a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which controls more than $1.4 trillion in assets, has bought minority stakes of less than 1 percent in ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank. The SAFE purchases were first reported in the Australian press in late...

Children mass in the doorway of their Zaidon, Iraq, classroom Oct. 22 after receiving school supplies from Iraqi Police and Marines from Company I, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6. The supply run served the dual purpose of both helping schoolchildren by providing much-needed pens, pencils and bookbags, in addition to introducing the city's new mayor, Iraqi Police Lt. Col. Ishmael, to the people. “The relationship between us and the IPs is absolutely critical. Lt. Col. Ishamel established the IPs, and they have made it possible for the kids to come back to school after four...

Soldiers, Local Leaders Create a Place for Kids’ Play Children in the Tisin neighborhood of Kirkuk, Iraq, have a safe playground at which to play, courtesy of their local government leaders and U.S. and Iraqi soldiers. By Sgt. Mike Alberts 3rd Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs KIRKUK, Iraq, Sept. 27, 2007 — The children here show no shortage of energy or imagination. On any given day, some play soccer in dirt alleys; others noisily run among parked cars playing in an Iraqi equivalent of “tag.” What the children in Tisin, an ethnically mixed neighborhood in northwest Kirkuk, lacked was...

U.S. Marines with Viking Red Section, Mobile Assault Platoon, Regimental Combat Team 2, observe an Iraqi personal security detachment fire AK-47 rifles on a firing range at Camp Gannon. The Iraqis are training to be personal security officers for local judges. Viking Red Marines Train Iraqis to Keep Judges Safe Troops employ visual cues to bridge language barrier. By Cpl. Eric C. Schwartz 2nd Marine Division CAMP GANNON, Husaybah, Iraq, Aug. 31, 2007 — It’s not news to read that politicians, famous athletes and even entertainers have bodyguards protecting them from dangerous people, but in Iraq, their judges need...

SUMMARY: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is amending the regulations relating to the unlawful hiring or continued employment of unauthorized aliens. The amended regulation describes the legal obligations of an employer, under current immigration law, when the employer receives a no-match letter from the Social Security Administration or receives a letter regarding employment verification forms from the Department of Homeland Security. It also describes ``safe-harbor'' procedures that the employer can follow in response to such a letter and thereby be certain that the Department of Homeland Security will not use the letter as any part of an allegation that the...

AMERICA'S RETIREMENT FUNDS are a good-news, bad-news story. The biggest corporate pension funds are nearly fully funded for the first time in years. But the bad news is state and municipal pension plans face an unfunded liability of upwards of $1 trillion. And the worse news is the public sector has an additional unfunded liability half again as big for other post-retirement expenses such as health care, a staggering $1.5 trillion. First, the good news from the private sector. The 100 largest corporate defined-benefit plans were nearly 100% funded on average in 2006, according to an annual survey by Seattle...

KHAN DARI — On March 25, three improvised explosive devices went off here. Soldiers from Company E, 2nd “Lancer” Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment entered the village in an attempt to find the assailants. “We know if we can continue getting information from anyone who can help us clean out insurgents here and find weapons caches, we’re making this a safer place down the line for the [citizens of the community],” said Staff Sgt. William Stone, a squad leader from the regiment. “All the people here say the same thing, they want our help, they want safety and they want the...

  Lancer Troops Work to Make Streets Safe for Iraqis After three improvised explosive devices detonated, patrols make villagers feel safer. By Staff Sgt. Jon Cupp 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Calvary Divison KHAN DARI, Iraq, March 29, 2007 — Making the streets safer for Iraqi civilians in their area of operations has been one of the main goals for troopers from the 2nd "Lancer" Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. After three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) detonated, including one that injured two children near a school here March 25, soldiers were out gathering information March 26 to help catch those...

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq, March 22, 2007 – The terrorist is quiet during the search, letting Army Sgt. Harold Corey pat him down all along one side. But when Corey gets to his right hip, the terrorist shoves at him. It’s less than a second before Wandor’s huge mouthful of teeth is clamped around the terrorist’s arm and Corey is out of danger, telling the dog “away!” to make him release the man’s arm. Army Chief Warrant Officer Julio Hall, a supply systems technician with the 210th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), is...

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 26, 2007 – In the long war on terrorism, it takes a network to defeat a network, a senior Defense Department official said today at the 18th annual Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Symposium here. Mark Kimmitt, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Near East and South Asian affairs, said al Qaeda and its associates operate within a “full-spectrum network” that extends beyond the physical battlefield into the virtual and financial worlds. “It has the ability to use the virtual and physical network, all tied together in this center of gravity of this radical Islamist ideology,”...

Cheap, safe drug kills most cancers What makes cancer cells different - and how to kill them ? New Scientist has received an unprecedented amount of interest in this story from readers. If you would like up-to-date information on any plans for clinical trials of DCA in patients with cancer, or would like to donate towards a fund for such trials, please visit the site set up by the University of Alberta and the Alberta Cancer Board. We will also follow events closely and will report any progress as it happens. It sounds almost too good to be true: a...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, 2007 – During ongoing operations south of Balad Ruz, Iraq, soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army, with support from coalition forces, continue to target specific terrorist cells that use the area as a safe haven. The current operations began Jan. 4, with a combined air and ground assault into the outskirts of Turki village. Iraqi army and coalition force soldiers established mobile and stationary positions along possible escape routes to isolate the area and facilitate searching the area for weapon supplies, bomb-making material and terrorists. "The terrorists believe we will not attack them in...

Pfc. Jason Ferris, a gunner for 1st Platoon, Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery, 2ndBrigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, pulls security in the turret for his platoon during a mission in Baghdad Nov.26. Photo by Pfc. Shea Butler, 7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.CAMP LIBERTY -- A group of Soldiers stand in line for lunch as they jokingly make fun of one another, like good friends do, until they get a call on the radio - ‘An improvised explosive device has been found.’ Before the voice in the radio can finish, the Soldiers take off in a sprint toward...

Summertime," goes that wonderful old song by the Gershwins, "and the livin' is easy." Well, it used to be, anyway. This past one seemed fraught with peril, as they usually do, these days, for parents. Allergies, skin cancer, air pollution, injuries, drownings, heat stroke, West Nile virus ... oh my. Gone are the golden afternoons of my own childhood, when I left the house without a hat, or sun screen, to noodle about on my bike (without a helmet) and play hide-and-seek in the bushes (without benefit of mosquito repellant or pedophile spray) and invariably stayed out until supper (which...

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday that the foiled plot in Britain to blow up jetliners over the Atlantic is evidence the U.S. could be fighting terrorists for years to come. "America is safer than it has been, yet it is not yet safe," Bush told reporters at the National Counterterrorism Center just outside Washington. "The enemy has got an advantage when it comes to attacking our homeland: they got to be right one time and we got to be right 100 percent of the time to protect the American people." The counterterrorism center is located at an undisclosed site...

U.S. Army Spc. Alejandro Perez, a Longbow Apache armament specialist assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, and Sgt. Kris Woodburn, a Longbow Apache helicopter mechanic assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, remove a Hellfire missile from a Longbow Apache helicopter as Spc. Eben Gonzales, an Apache mechanic assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, observes. Ammunition that is maintained at the Combat Aviation Brigade’s Ammo Transfer Holding Point eventually finds it way onto the brigade’s attack helicopters. U.S. Army...

HADITHA, Iraq (July 7, 2006) -- In Iraq, a country where temperatures often soar above 110 degrees and terrain is mostly fine grains of sand, Cpl. Derek Metallo never thought he’d find himself patrolling Al Anbar province in a boat when he arrived three months ago. Metallo, a 27-year-old Marine reservist from Jacksonville, Fla., is part of a team of Marines who patrol the Euphrates River by boat, providing security to the Haditha Dam – one of the country’s largest sources of electrical power and home to the Hawaii-based 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment’s headquarters. The dam provides electricity to...

HABBANIYAH, Iraq (June 12, 2006) -- The enemy snipers hit their targets- but it yielded them no results. In less than a week’s time, Sgt. Joshua S. Adams and Pfc. Jason Hanson, of D Company, 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion were hit by sniper shots. But the enemy had little effect because both were left with only minor injuries thanks to their small-arms protective inserts, or SAPI, plates. While working in support of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, to complete counterinsurgency and humanitarian operations in the town of Habbaniyah, Hanson was the lead man on a patrol looking for roadside...