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BOGOTA, Colombia - A western Colombian city councilman wants to require everyone in town 14 or older to carry a condom to prevent pregnancy and disease, outraging local priests. William Pena, a councilman in Tulua, said Wednesday he will present a formal proposal to force all men and women _ even those just visiting _ to always carry at least one condom. Those caught empty-pocketed could pay a fine of $180 or take a safe sex course, he said. "Sexual relations are going on constantly," Pena told The Associated Press by telephone. "If you carry a condom, chances are you'll...

Washington, D.C. 'Out of Iraq' Town Hall Meeting This Saturday Thu Jan 5, 11:07 AM ET To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor Contact: Karen Bradley, 202-669-3927; or Christine Yorty, 703-447-6726 News Advisory: WHO: -- David Swanson, moderator, co-founder, After Downing Street -- Allan J. Lichtman, history professor, American University -- Lila Rajiva, author of Abu Ghraib and the Media, The Language of Empire -- Cliff Kindy, Christian Peacemaker Teams -- Kevin Zeese, peace activist, Democracy Rising -- D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (invited) WHAT: Out of Iraq Town Meeting WHEN: 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 7 WHERE: Washington, D.C....

AAMJIWNAANG FIRST NATION, Canada (Dec. 18) - Growing up with smokestacks on the horizon, Ada Lockridge never thought much about the pollution that came out of them. She never worried about the oil slicks in Talfourd Creek, the acrid odors that wafted in on the shifting winds or even the air-raid siren behind her house whose shrill wail meant "go inside and shut the windows." Now Lockridge worries all the time. A budding environmental activist, she recently made a simple but shocking discovery: There are two girls born in her small community for every boy. A sex ratio so out...

China Town Sealed After Police Shootings By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer Fri Dec 9, 6:40 PM ET BEIJING - Armed with guns and shields, hundreds of riot police sealed off a southern Chinese village after fatally shooting demonstrators and searched for the protest organizers, villagers said Friday. Although security forces often use tear gas and truncheons to disperse demonstrators, it is extremely rare for them to fire into a crowd — as they did in putting down pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 near Tiananmen Square. Hundreds, if not thousands, were killed. During the demonstration Tuesday in Dongzhou, a village in...

U.S. Army Spc. Aaron A. Ebbert (left), radio telephone operator, 3rd Platoon, Company B, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, Fort Richardson, Alaska, and 1st Lt. Anthony E. Cerullo, platoon leader, 3rd Plt., call in a report to their higher headquarters during a patrol Oct. 21, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq. More Photos New Soldiers in Town Provide Security They smile at the Iraqi citizens on the streets, but at the same time they will kick the doors in on the insurgents who plan to spread upheaval. By Spc. Jeremy D. CrispMulti-National Corps - Iraq Public Affairs Office MOSUL, Iraq, Nov....

An Iraqi soldier assigned to 1st Battalion, 4th Public Order Brigade, paints over graffiti in Horajeb, Nov. 15, 2005. Iraqi and America forces worked together to clean up a school and deliver supplies to the community. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Dan Balda Iraqi Security Forces Paint the Town Clean Soldiers cover up graffiti on school walls and bring supplies to students. By U.S. Army Spc. Dan Balda 4th Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 21, 2005 — Armed with paint rollers and paint cans, Iraqi troops assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Public Order Brigade...

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Oct. 28, 2005 – The compound within the 10-foot-tall mud walls resembles a basic training-meets-OK Corral ghost town. Barbed wire is snarled around posts low to the dirt, a concrete tunnel keeps vermin out of the sun, and small ramps and stairs to nowhere stand like monoliths. This place is known as Tarnak Farms, a deserted al Qaeda training outpost just outside Kandahar Airfield that was bombed at the beginning of the global war on terror. If the site appears familiar to some, it should be. Released al Qaeda training videos featured anti-coalition militia training there. It...

AR RAMADI, Iraq (March 28, 2005) -- Bellows from the 7-ton's diesel exhaust echoed off of brick buildings lining the narrow streets. Corporal James P. Kohler Jr. and his fellow squad members sit cramped in the big rig's bed singing halfhearted Marine Corps' cadences trying to relieve nervous tension as they traveled to their destination. It was late; close to 10 p.m. They knew nothing good was out at that hour and that is why they're there. The 21-year-old Grandterrace, Calif., native and the other Marines with 2nd Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, spent a night on...

Czech archaeologists excavate Ancient Greek town flattened by Bohemian Celts [20-09-2005] By Pavla Horakova Listen 16kb/s ~ 32kb/s For twelve years, Czech archaeologists have been helping their Bulgarian colleagues in the excavations of an Ancient Greek market town in central Bulgaria. The twelve years of work has yielded valuable results, including a hoard of coins, and discovered a surprising connection between the ancient town and the Czech Lands. PistirosThe river port of Pistiros was founded in the 5th century BC by a local Thracian ruler. From the excavations we know that wine from Greece was imported to the town in...

Panic in Krakatoa town By Sebastien Berger, South East Asia Correspondent (Filed: 18/05/2005) Thousands of people fled an Indonesian town yesterday fearing a second Karakatoa disaster. Word spread in Bandar Lampung, destroyed by the volcano in 1883, that the volcano's successor had erupted and triggered a tsunami along the Sumatran coast. Only daybreak revealed that Anak Krakatau, or Child of Krakatoa, was not exploding. Fears of disaster in Sumatra remain high after the Boxing Day tsunami and the Nias earthquake in March.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Residents of a small Australian town are up in arms over a family who decided to fly a Nazi flag in their backyard because the colourful banner amused their four-month-old daughter, local media reported. Darren Mackay and Jenni Duncombe, from Mannering Park in New South Wales state, say they bought the swastika-bearing flag at a local market for 10 dollars (7.80 US) "as a bit of fun" and did not realise its significance until neighbours began complaining, Sydney's Daily Telegraph reported. The couple now refuse to haul the flag down, with Duncombe quoted as saying her four-month-old...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Sunni guerrillas took at least 60 people hostage in an Iraqi town near Baghdad on Friday and threatened to kill them unless Shi'ites left the area, a Shi'ite official quoted residents as saying. The hostage-taking and three successive days of bombings which killed at least 34 people suggested insurgents had regrouped after a lull in violence since Jan. 30 elections. "People from the town called me begging the Iraqi government to save their relatives who are hostages. They told me there are at least 60 hostages," the official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters in...

ANGERS, France (AP) - This town in western France, known for its medieval castle and Cointreau liqueur, now has a new, more sordid reputation - as the home of a pedophilia ring where parents allegedly raped, abused and pimped children and even babies. Sixty-six people have gone on trial this week, but some residents still apparently refuse to accept that such crimes could be perpetrated in their midst. "I've heard people say to me, 'But you know, these children were used to it.' It's the horror of horror," said Deputy Mayor Michelle Moreau. The trial's second day Friday was devoted...

Bogota, Feb 1 (EFE).- The mayor of a northern Colombian town was wounded in the buttocks when a pistol in his pocket accidentally discharged while he was taking down his pants to use the toilet at a small general store, the local press reported Tuesday. Rafael Augusto Galan, mayor of Ramiriqui, was recovering in a hospital in the provincial capital of Tunja following the embarassing mishap Monday.

Indian town sees evidence of ancient tsunamiOnce-powerful city on same spot 'swallowed by the sea' Gautam Singh / APThis ancient Thirupallavaneeswaram Temple is one of the few remnants of ancient Poompuhar, which was a thriving capital city until it was "swallowed by the sea" more than 1,500 years ago.The Associated Press Updated: 2:33 p.m. ET Jan. 14, 2005POOMPUHAR, India - For generations, the people of Poompuhar have spoken of the days when their sleepy fishing town was the capital of a powerful kingdom, and traders came from Rome, Greece and Egypt to deal in pearls and silk. .

After Boy Is Killed by Boulder, Va. Residents Cite Disregard for Safety APPALACHIA, Va. It hurled like a cannonball into Dennis and Cindy Davidson's house, right through the wall of the bedroom and onto the bed where 3-year-old Jeremy was sleeping. The huge boulder continued its path, crashing through a closet before finally stopping at the foot of 8-year-old Zachary's bed. Zachary would be fine. Jeremy was crushed to death. A bulldozer operator widening a road at a strip mining operation atop Black Mountain had unknowingly dislodged the half-ton boulder that August night. And now, more than four months...

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in Iran: The Invisible Revolution. During the U.S. presidential campaign, debate over Iran policy received unprecedented attention. The reasons are multifold. With Iran on the verge of developing both nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile capability, Washington policymakers can no longer ignore the Iranian threat, especially when confidants of Supreme Leader Ali Khomenei lead televised chants of "American will be annihilated," as Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati did last June. American concern over a nuclear Iran is multifold. The danger is not necessarily that Iran would conduct a nuclear first strike, although former president Ali Akbar...

Blue blue town Published: Nov 12, 2004 Election"s aftermath leaves Democrats down in the dumps and looking for ways to cope with four more years of W. By ANNE BLYTHE AND MATT DEES, STAFF WRITERS TVs have been off. Some of the political commentary is too much to take. Radios are tuned to music, not talk. Newspapers with front-page pictures of President Bush either go straight into recycling bins or get flipped over quickly to hide what die-hard Democrats and Anybody-But-Bush fans commonly refer to as “that smug mug.” Sure, 11 days have passed since 59 million Americans cast ballots...

ALAPAHA, Ga. - Residents of this small farming town gathered Saturday to celebrate Hogzilla, a 12-foot-long wild pig that was supposedly shot by a hunting guide last summer and quickly grew into a worldwide legend. The festival comes five months after the 1,000-pound hog was killed when it wandered out of swamps along the nearby Alapaha River, a haven for swine that escape pig farms and start living off the land. The prodigious porker was remembered with a hog-calling contest and a greased-pig chase, as well as a float featuring a life-size replica of Hogzilla. "Everybody is happy, smiling, excited....

SAN ANSELMO, Calif. (AP) - A downtown property owner protesting President Bush's re-election raised a furor in this small Northern California town when he placed an upside down American flag on his two-story building. Ford Greene has stirred anger previously with controversial signs, including one before Tuesday's election that read "Take the thug out," an apparent reference to defeating Bush. After the election, he replaced it with an upside down American flag, prompting more than a dozen angry telephone calls to San Anselmo Town Hall and the police department. "It's a First Amendment right, but he feels the U.S. is...

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) - Step by small step, life is returning to normal in this town hardest hit by Hurricane Charley. Things as simple as making a cell phone call or having a cold beer in a neighborhood pub are helping residents cope with the massive cleanup and repair efforts. That can be an important development in the recovery process. "I've heard people that have lost everything and they celebrate simple things like they have a dial tone or their cell phone chirped for the first time," said Craig Fugate, the state's emergency management director. "Businesses are coming back...

Prehistoric Desert Town Found in Western Sahara Thu Aug 19, 2004 01:52 PM ET RABAT (Reuters) - The remains of a prehistoric town believed to date back 15,000 years and belong to an ancient Berber civilization have been discovered in Western Sahara, Moroccan state media said on Thursday. A team of Moroccan scientists stumbled across the sand-covered ruins of the town Arghilas deep in the desert of the Morocco-administered territory. The remains of a place of worship, houses and a necropolis, as well as columns and rock engravings depicting animals, were found at the site near the town of Aousserd...

Friday, June 11, 2004 By Marion O’MaraViking ‘town’ is Ireland’s equivalent of Pompeii IT’S likely to be some weeks yet before Minister for the Environment Martin Cullen announces recommendations for dealing with and possibly preserving what historians are now describing as Ireland’s first town. The discovery of the Viking settlement, at Woodstown, five miles from the city, which is believed to date back to the mid-9th century, was made as preparatory work got underway on the city’s €300m by-pass. The site, located close to the River Suir, is 1.5 km long by 0.5 km wide and so far up to...

19 Palestinians killed as Israeli tanks roll into border town By Patrick Bishop in Gaza (Filed: 19/05/2004) The inhabitants of Rafah last night were counting the cost of an Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip that left at least 19 Palestinians dead. Tanks and troops pushed into the southern border town early yesterday at the start of an operation to crush militants and blow up tunnels which the Israelis say are used to smuggle in weapons from neighbouring Egypt. Israeli tanks enter Rafah sparking clashes in the street that left several Palestinians dead By daybreak they had taken over the...

An American town is being renamed after a cocktail for two weeks this month. According to Ananova, the Richland section of Buena Vista in New Jersey is already into the first week with its new name Mojito. The move comes after Bacardi donated 5,000 dollars to the town. However, Mayor Mayor Chuck Chiarello and Township Committee members had consulted residents before officials could give the go-ahead with the change. The mayor said that he had received positive feedback from the people. The Mojito cocktail has become popular over the last five years, especially after a character in the TV sitcom...

<p>TAKOMA PARK, Md. — On the northeast border of the District of Columbia lies a little town that time forgot, except for when it finds itself in the headlines for a brand of activism reminiscent of the 1970s.</p> <p>Takoma Park (search) is an eclectic community of 17,000 that is known to long-time residents as the "People's Republic of Takoma Park."</p>

“The Free Town Project intends to take over a Town in New Hampshire by moving in enough Free State Project members to outvote the Authoritarians and Statists in the Town and remove excess regulation such as Zoning (if it currently exists), Planning, Mandatory Recycling, and Building Code Enforcement. We also intend to ensure that the Town Police are never allowed to waste valuable Town resources (taken from the residents as Taxes, AT THE POINT OF A GUN) to oppress our residents by the investigation or enforcement of violations of Mandatory Schooling Laws or other Victimless Crime Laws.” “Problem is, approximately...

A friend of mine, who happens to be of the hippie persuasion, ran up to me with a big grin on her face. "Did you hear the news?" she asked.This friend is a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, so she loves to squawk about animal rights. She gets a thrill out of protesting zoos, circuses and other kinds of diversions, and she is a diehard vegan. Her shenanigans make for great comic relief, and her newest soapbox is no exception.Apparently PETA has petitioned the town of Rodeo, Calif., to change its name because the word "rodeo"...

US sacks police chief and sends more troops to restore calm in oil town By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad 07 October 2003 US forces have sacked the police chief in the northern Iraqi town of Baiji and sent in troops to restore calm. Soldiers were guarding the office of the mayor and the local police headquarters, which were gutted by fire after protests. Bradley fighting vehicles and several tanks were also stationed in the town. Over the weekend, about 300 US-appointed Iraqi police fled the town for an American base near by. They rejected orders from US officers to return...

<p>DINUBA -- In this agricultural town in the San Joaquin Valley, where a 225,000-gallon water tower looms as the local landmark, there are some loyalties that transcend small-town differences and party politics.</p> <p>There is the hometown -- first and foremost -- and the pride people here share in their famous sons and daughters.</p>

BARTOW, Fla. (AP) -- Stray chickens are now fair game in the central Florida town of Bartow. City commissioners approved an ordinance last week to strip the fowls of protection under the city's status as a bird sanctuary, allowing the wandering birds to be captured and exiled from the city. The city will hire someone to capture stray chickens, and they will be held for three days to give time for people to claim ownership. If they are not claimed, they will be handed over to someone outside the city. The city's code enforcement board had been receiving rising complaints...

US forces raid flashpoint town Falluja has seen many clashes between US troops and Iraqis US forces in Iraq have mounted a big operation to try to rein in the activities of militiamen still loyal to the ousted Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein. About 1,300 soldiers from the US army's 3rd Infantry Division backed by tanks and helicopters raided the town of Falluja, west of Baghdad. The troops were acting on intelligence that Iraqi militia fighters are based in the town and that weapons are being stockpiled there for use against US forces. But three hours later they withdrew having made...

Fresh troops to target Saddam's home town as hunt continues By John Lichfield 10 April 2003 Even before fighting ends in Baghdad, American forces are turning their attention to Tikrit, 110 miles to the north – Saddam Hussein's home town and the likely last bastion of resistance of his regime. Despite Kurdish claims yesterday that President Saddam has escaped from the capital to take refuge in the town, some US commanders suggested that they were in no hurry to surround or capture Tikrit. Air attacks were reported yesterday on Republican Guard units in and around the town but US military...

2103: British troops move into southern town of al-Zubayr.

A SCOTTISH archaeological expedition, operating on a shoestring budget, has uncovered an ancient Egyptian city, buried by the sands of time. The expedition, which scrapes together £10,000 a year to maintain its dig near Memphis, the ancient Pharaonic capital, has written a new page of Egypt’s history. For the newly-discovered town, situated near the necropolis of Saqqara, 15 miles from Cairo, is almost certainly where the workmen who built the pyramids lived with their families. The presence of large temples, some nearly 200ft square, a number of tombs and the mix of large and small dwellings indicate a place...

Let's be up front about the ultimate responsibility for children -- it lies with parents. I don't want to give the impression that I disagree with that. However, here's the issue. We have a local opportunity to have our own village gain control of our local schools rather than have them run by the county seat which is about 25 miles away from us. I personally think that local people will care more for their own children than will someone miles away. My question is this: "Is local control of children MORE biblical than is regional control?" I really solicit...

<p>It began with a plan to drain Pensacola Bay, and ended with a hurricane. In between was 30 years of struggle to colonize Santa Rosa Island.</p> <p>Today the site lies peacefully under a blanket of white sand. Low-lying dunes and typical barrier island vegetation give no hint at what's underneath, and the sound of waves crashing on the Gulf of Mexico shoreline is easily heard. But about two feet down lie what should be extremely well-preserved remains of the third Spanish settlement in Pensacola.</p>

A few minutes ago the fire entered the west part of town with several houses on fire..pray UPDATES BEING POSTED HERE