BETHLEHEM -- A train tanker car holding 22,000 gallons of highly explosive methanol caught fire at the CSX rail yard in Selkirk Thursday night, prompting an evacuation of about 50 homes. The tanker car had been near about 25 others containing methanol -- and some cars also contained the flammable ethanol -- but the flames did not spread, police said. The blaze started shortly after 7 p.m and was under control by 10 p.m., police said.
Homes within a half-mile radius were evacuated as a precaution, said Lt. Tom Heffernan of the Bethlehem Police Department. "If that (car) exploded it could cause the others to," he said, noting it was concerns of vapors, not fire, that convinced authorities to evacuate homes. "If it's inhaled, it's a toxic fume," he said. The Bethlehem Town Hall was opened to residents displaced by the fire but only one person took advantage of the offer, according to police. South Albany Road in Selkirk was closed to traffic as firefighters worked, as were several other smaller roads.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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Warya Kanie, 39, an Iraqi Kurd, came to Australia about three years ago with his young daughter as part of the humanitarian refugee program to join his three brothers, who were already living in Adelaide.
Mr Kanie, who had divorced his wife, was living in a housing trust apartment on unemployment benefits and receiving additional benefits as a single father. A member of the Australian Iraqi community, who spoke to The Weekend Australian on condition of anonymity, said Mr Kanie was a Sunni and "had extremist views".
Mr Kanie left Adelaide about seven months ago, after gaining Australian citizenship, telling his family that he was going to look for a new wife in Iraq. But he allegedly told a friend that he was leaving Australian "to go on jihad".
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http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21017088-2,00.html
Tehran Admits Building Underground Atomic Deposits
Tehran, 5 Jan. - The president of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Reza Aghazadeh, admitted Friday that Iran has built underground tunnels to use as deposits for nuclear material. "Right now we have 250 tons of Uf6 (the gas obtained by treating mineral uranium, which is transformed into enriched uranium by inserting it in centrifuges connected to a cascade) deposited in a network of underground tunnels which can't be found anywhere else in the world," he said.
"Each month we put new material and machines worth millions of dollars in these tunnels, as well as in our nuclear installations," Aghazadeh added.
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Somalia: Kenyans Arrest Somali MPs Opposed To Ethiopian Military Intervention
Mogadishu, 5 Jan. - Police in Kenya have arrested 10 Somali parliamentarians critical of their government's decision to seek the aid of Ethiopian troops to drive Islamists out of the capital Mogadishu, a Somali radio station reported Friday. According to Radio Shabelle it is not clear why the MPs who were visiting the Kenyan capital Nairobi where they were detained following a police raid at their hotel.
Radio Shabelle also said it was unable to confirm if one of those arrested was Somali parliamentary speaker, Sherif Hassan, who in recent weeks ahead of the Ethiopian military operation had attempted to negotiate with the Union of Islamic Courts, provoking the ire of Somali premier Mohammed Gedi.
Ethiopian troops backed by fighters loyal to the Somalia's transitional government led by Gedi occupied Mogadishu last week.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.373815342&par=0