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KARMAH, Iraq, Sept. 14, 2007 — Marines with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, started operations in a cluster of villages north of Karmah, Iraq, in one of the last insurgent staging grounds in Anbar Province, Sept. 7. "Most of it was just … talking to people, gathering intelligence on the local area, the local leadership, what the insurgents tend to do, their habits and how they react when we come out." Cpl. Matthew L. Hathaway Squad leader for third platoon “(This area has) been a place we thought as definitely having the most enemy,...

Swedish researchers have joined Danish colleagues in an attempt to establish Denmark's claims to parts of the Arctic region. The expedition follows the planting of a flag on the underwater Lomonosov Ridge by a Russian expedition last week. The expedition, led by Swedish icebreaker Oden, set off from Norway on Sunday. It is being led jointly by Martin Jakobsson of Stockholm University and Christian Marcussen of the Geological Survey of Denmark. The Danes claim that the ridge is on the same continental shelf as Greenland, which is a Danish territory. They hope that the expedition will prove the country's claim...

SHARQOT — In a moment reminiscent of the first triumphant days of the Iraq war, American Soldiers walked through a crowd of cheering Iraqi children. On a dirt road in the village of Sharqot, the children whistled loudly for the Soldiers, then, remarkably, broke into applause. Surprised, 1st Lt. Michael E. Havey Jr. beamed at the cheering crowd. “That was pretty monumental,” said Havey, platoon leader of 3rd platoon, Battery A, 5th Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment. “(Before) they wouldn’t even give us a wave.” Territory for Soldiers of 5-82 FA, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, out of...

Eleven U.S. firms - ranging from telecommunication to a major hotel operator - have signed up to participate in next month's business mission to American Samoa, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Interior. ASG and DOI's Office of Insular Affairs are banking on this business conference to attract new industries that would help diversify the local economy instead of only one major industry, the canneries. "ASG is prepared to work with anyone interested in setting up operations in American Samoa," a government official said early this week. DOI's deputy assistant secretary for Insular Area, Papali'i David B. Cohen cautioned American...

CAMP HABBINYAH, Iraq, June 7, 2006 — The 1st Iraqi Army Division officially assumed control of territory in the vicinity of Habbaniyah, June 2. In a ceremony with the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 110th Infantry Regiment, the 1st Iraqi Army has taken the lead and will operate in the area. The Iraqi unit is now responsible for planning and executing their own operations in Habbaniyah, Iraq, located between the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. "Working side by side with the Iraqi Army was a great experience for my soldiers. This transfer is another step to a free Iraq." U.S. Army...

Wednesday May 24, 9:44 AM Chinese warships trained weapons on Japan's SDF aircraft: Pentagon (Kyodo) _ Chinese warships trained weapons on Japanese surveillance aircraft monitoring a disputed Chinese gas field in the East China Sea in a weapons drill last fall, the U.S. Defense Department said Tuesday in an annual report on China's military capabilities. The Pentagon said in the 50-page report that the incident was one of the key developments over the past year underscoring China's continuing activities to build up and modernize its military beyond its interests over Taiwan to secure its interests deeper into the Pacific. The...

Tuesday April 25, 6:06 PM Koizumi says China, S. Korea will regret not holding summit talks (Kyodo) _ Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday he thinks China and South Korea will come to regret their refusal to hold summit talks with Japan, as a result of his visits to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine. "There must come a time when they will regret they have said they do not want to hold summit talks due to this issue," Koizumi told reporters, reiterating that he "cannot understand" the positions of Beijing and Seoul. The premier made the remarks when asked on the...

Stakes Rise in Japan-S. Korea Island Flap By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 55 minutes ago Japan defied South Korean protests Wednesday and dispatched two ships to begin a maritime survey near disputed islets between the two nations, raising the stakes in the territorial standoff. South Korea earlier had dispatched a flotilla of patrol boats to guard the territory, held by Seoul but claimed by Tokyo. Two Japanese survey vessels left Sakaiminato on Wednesday, headed for the islands, said Yuzuru Kubota, a coast guard official in the port city on Japan's west coast. But he said the ships...

Friday April 14, 8:23 PM 3RD LD: Seoul demands Tokyo cancel survey near disputed islets (Kyodo) _ (EDS: ADDING QUOTES FROM S. KOREAN FOREIGN AND TRADE MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, VICE MINISTER) South Korea on Friday demanded that Japan cancel a planned maritime survey near South Korean-administered islets called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan. "Japan will have to immediately retract its illicit plan masquerading as a survey," Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry spokesman Choo Kyu Ho said in a statement, according to Yonhap News Agency. Choo said South Korea will take all necessary measures against a premeditated provocation by...

“If such statements are made by foreign politicians, the Ukrainian foreign ministry should, no doubt, react to them. I can only imagine, what reaction of Romania would be, if something like this was said by our politicians in a Bucharest university,” Ukrainian MP, leader of the Ukrainian Freedom Unity Oleg Tyagnybok told a REGNUM correspondent about statements of the Romanian president about the past of Bukovina. On February 3, Romanian President Traian Basescu stated at a meeting with students and staff of Chernigov University (Ukraine) and members of the local Romanian community that Chernovtsy and Kishinev are two cities that...

SEVEN thousand furious Kilkenny people have penned letters to Waterford City Council warning it to keep its hands off their land. The letters, petitions and coupons from the Kilkenny People Newspaper and statements of anger were delivered to City Hall in Waterford yesterday by a delegation led by Kilkenny-based Fine Gael TD Phil Hogan and Fianna Fáil councillor Bobby Aylward. A further 600 submissions, the bulk of which oppose the extension, have been logged by City Hall officials. Under the extension proposal, 5,000 acres, 20 townlands and about 5,000 people would now find themselves living in a suburb of Waterford...

According to Ephraim Halevy, former chief of Israel's Mossad intelligence service and current national security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, plans have been made for a substantial U.S. military presence in the Middle East lasting decades. “The U.S. campaign in Iraq was perceived [in the Middle East and Washington] as a signal of long-term American commitment to do whatever is required and to ‘stay in the neighborhood’ for as long as needed,” commented Halevy in a lengthy op-ed column carried by the April 24 issue of Ha’aretz. High-ranking U.S. policymakers have “raised the idea of establishing an American...

China indignant at Japan's move on disputed islands www.chinaview.cn 2005-05-19 19:12:12 BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhuanet) -- China Thursday expressed anger with several Japanese citizens' registration of permanent addresses on the Diaoyu Islands, saying that China "will never accept" any of Japan's unilateral moves on the islands. The Japanese government announced Tuesday that 18 Japanese citizens have registered permanent addresses on the islands, a group of islets in the East China Sea. Asked to comment on the issue, Kong said China's stance on the Diaoyu Islands was "clear and consistent." "I reiterate that the Diaoyu and surrounding islands have been parts...

TOKYO — Yukio Edano, chief of the Constitution Research Committee of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, proposed Sunday to deploy Self-Defense Forces troops to the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea to avoid invasion by other countries. "The Senkaku Islands are effectively controlled by Japan. I believe the SDF should be stationed there so other countries will not be able to invade them," he told a TV news show. The Senkakus, about 400 kilometers west of Okinawa Prefecture's capital Naha, are controlled by Japan and also claimed by China and Taiwan.

Argentina protests at Falklands link to EU By Seamus Mirodan in Buenos Aires (Filed: 30/04/2005) Argentina has voiced outrage at the inclusion of the Falkland Islands as British territory in the draft EU constitution. "We are perturbed, we reject this thoroughly, but it is not a new issue and we will have to fight about it for years to come," said foreign minister, Rafael Bielsa. Argentina has complained to Brussels and ordered its ambassadors in the 25 EU capitals to issue protests. London wants to see the Falklands permanently lodged in an annexe to the EU constitution as part of...

Tokyo governor to visit southern islets amid dispute with China Tokyo's governor plans to visit a rocky outcrop south of the Japanese capital next month amid questions from China about the validity of Japan's claim of sovereignty over the islets and the surrounding seas. China says Okinotorishima, a pair of islets about 1,730 kilometers (1,070 miles) southwest of Tokyo, are only rocks _ not an island governed by rules of sovereignty _ and therefore can't be used by Japan to extend its economic zone while preventing Beijing from exploiting natural resources in the surrounding Pacific Ocean area. Governor Shintaro Ishihara...

Thursday April 14, 7:23 PMJapan considers posting soldiers to protect embassies abroad in wake of China violenceJapan's foreign minister urged China on Thursday to denounce a recent spate of anti-Japanese riots, and said Tokyo is considering posting its own military personnel abroad to protect its embassies. Protesters last weekend threw stones and broke windows at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing in a flare-up over Japanese textbooks that critics say downplay Tokyo's wartime aggression. Chinese officials said Japan was to blame for the outbreak. But Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, who heads to Beijing for talks on Sunday, suggested in Parliament on...

China website highlights early DPRK-China tensions China-NK relations by Michael Rank If you're a Great Leader it can feel a little uncomfortable having another Great Leader on your doorstep, and a very interesting report in Chinese highlights intense rivalry between Mao Zedong and Kim Il-sung in the 1950s and 60s. This short report says North Korea took part in “underground activities” against China's Korean minority after the Korean war in order to instill in them a “fatherland concept and ideology of the leader”, telling them their fatherland was the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and their leader was General Kim...

What We Propose. The Expansionist Party ("XP") advocates reannexation of the Philippines, a former U.S. colony, to the United States, but this time as up to three States of the Union: Luzon, Mindanao (the two largest islands, in the far north and south respectively) and the Visayas (the islands in between). We feel this is the only thing certain to secure both political and social democracy for the archipelago and set its people on the road to fairly distributed prosperity. We also believe the Philippines can help restore perspective and purpose to a U.S. that has lost sight of its...

OK girls and boys, please help me. I have two 10 year old cats living with me. A friend with a problem is asking me to take his two cats (five year olds) to live with mine in our house.I am begging you for any advice on this!I have two floors in the house, but you all know cats, the smell will be there. They will know. How is the best way to deal with this?The cats are coming here in about 36 hours.Please tell me what you may know on this matter!I've has cats all my 58 years, but...