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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations and the New York City Fire Department have conducted their first joint exercise - tackling a mock explosion and fire in the 39-story U.N. headquarters building, a U.N. spokesman said Monday. In Sunday's drill, 26 vehicles and 150 firefighters responded to the hypothetical explosion on the 26th floor and a subsequent fire that included two possible casualties, spokesman Fred Eckhard said. The U.N. headquarters building overlooking Manhattan's East River was reported to be a terrorist target following the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. The New York landmark was evacuated after the...

UPI Hears... Egyptians were first puzzled and then mostly not amused recently to see a man-sized ear of corn strolling through the streets of central Cairo. Inside was Jason Baker of Detroit, Mich., Middle Eastern representative of the U.S. animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Across his polyster yellow costume was a sign that read: "Middle East peace starts with breakfast, go vegetarian." He handed out  leaflets in English and Arabic linking world peace with the end to cruelty against animals and advocating vegetarianism. The general reaction to Baker's leaflets was that with more than 40...

The IDF yesterday unveiled what it called the safest tank in the world: its next generation, Israeli-built Merkava IV, which has been nine years in development. IDF generals said the improved, larger tank will digitalize the modern battlefield, and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said it will boost deterrence. The first of the 65-ton tanks is expected to be deployed next year, with the first full battalion planned for 2004. It will replace the aging, US-made M-60 "Patton" tanks. It was a special day for the IDF yesterday, as three of the new tanks were rolled out in a ceremony at...

w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m WHAT IT MEANS: Politically, Arafat is a dead man walking Yasser Arafat, the seemingly immortal leader of the Palestinian national movement, was politically assassinated Monday by President George W. Bush. His role as Israel's prospective partner in any future diplomatic process was effectively snuffed out by a stern-sounding American president, delivering his verdict on two years of violent intifada and his recipe for a turnabout towards peace in this war-torn region. Bush's verdict: Arafat is the guilty party. "Today,"...

                Humanity's 'footprint' bigger than Earth                Published 6/24/2002 6:48 PM                 OAKLAND, Calif., June 24 (UPI) -- Humanity's use of Earth's resources has exceeded the planet's capacity                 since the 1980s, researchers conclude in a new study released Monday.                 The study, which examines resource use from 1961 to 1999, employed a relatively simple calculation.                 Researchers added up the total area globally available for growing crops, grazing animals, harvesting                 timber, accommodating infrastructure, absorbing carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels and marine                 fishing. Then they calculated the human demand for each activity and compared it to the...

Interview with GATA's, Bill MurphyMonday, June 24, 2002 Interview with Bill Murphy of GATA, conducted by Ragnar Danneskjold, editor - Planetgold.com. E-mail Ragnar for questions or to suggest an interview at Ragnar@Planetgold.com Planetgold: Today, Planetgold is pleased to interview Bill Murphy, of The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (www.GATA.org). Planetgold: The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee was organized in January 1999 as a Delaware corporation to advocate and undertake litigation against illegal collusion to control the price and supply of certain financial securities, particularly securities involving gold. The committee arose from essays by Bill Murphy, a financial commentator, and by Chris Powell,...

It is something of a tradition at Princeton, as elsewhere, for men to make lists of women. In "This Side of Paradise," Amory Blaine is asked by a roommate about the girls who send him letters, and Amory, as Fitzgerald put it, "named them off": "There's Marylyn DeWitt—she's pretty, got a car of her own and that's damn convenient; there's Sally Weatherby—she's getting too fat; there's Myra St. Claire, she's an old flame, easy to kiss if you like it." These were Minnesota flames. There were no women at Princeton when Amory was there, just before the First World War,...

  Liddy Facing $5.1M Defamation SuitWatergate Conspirator G. Gordon Liddy Returns to Court to Face Defamation Claim The Associated Press B A L T I M O R E, June 24 — Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy returned to court Monday to defend himself against a $5.1 million defamation lawsuit. Ida "Maxie" Wells, 53, sued Liddy in 1997 after he publicly accused her of operating a call-girl ring while working as a secretary for the Democratic National Committee. Jurors deadlocked on the claim last year and a new trial was ordered. The lawsuit centers on Liddy's contention that burglars who...

BELLEVUE, Wash. - Internet activist Bennett Haselton has made a name for himself by helping minors disable filtering programs designed to block Web sites their parents deem offensive or pornographic. His Peacefire.org site offers free downloads and detailed methods for circumventing filtering software that critics say also inevitably blocks out a range of useful, even beneficial, Internet content. Yet while Haselton's crusade, launched six years ago while he was a college student, has made him a hero among some Web-savvy minors, he's something of a supervillain to filtering advocates. "He's being totally irresponsible," said Marc Kanter, marketing director for Santa...

Borders Blur, Balance Tilts When Politics is Involved The law states that political districts need to maintain populations within a certain percentage of each other. Now the time has come for redistricting to keep this balance intact. Unfortunately when Politics is involved suddenly the lines of borders become blurred. The problem is that playing politics often causes issues to come to a stand still and forces courts to become involved. When lines are crossed either by political bodies or by the courts themselves, it's the people who pay the price. In my opinion lines were crossed when the courts tried...

If the theme of Anne Sumers' campaign could be summed up in a few words, they might be: "I'm just like Marge." Marge, of course, is the woman Sumers is trying to succeed in Congress: retiring Rep. Marge S. Roukema, who has represented the 5th District for 22 years. Roukema is a Republican, and Sumers is a Democrat, but Sumers says that in this case, voters need to look beyond party labels. "I think Marge is great," said Sumers, an ophthalmologist from Upper Saddle River who clearly is trying to tap into the base of moderate and liberal Republican voters...

U.S. Hosted Islamic Website Coaches Muslims How To Pass Through Customs Just a few weeks ago, Bush Country posted an article from one of our writers, Jeremy Reynalds in which Jeremy noted there were numerous U.S. based ISP's hosting terrorist websites.  These sites were not only providing information to terrorist, but were actually asking for donations and provided a Bank Account number in Palestine to transfer the money to.    Just the other day I went to one of the sites Jeremy identified and noticed that they were still up and running!  Not only that, but they were providing, among...

Press Statement on Smallpox, Flu and Tetanus Vaccines for Children By Louis Z. Cooper, M.D., President, American Academy of Pediatrics For Release: June 21, 2002 "Yesterday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made several vaccine decisions of importance to all parents. The decisions were based on input from the American Academy of Pediatrics and other specialists in immunization and public health.Smallpox vaccine is not being recommended for the general public, including infants, children and teenagers. The Academy agrees with the ACIP conclusion that exposing our patients to the severe side effects...

Jun. 25, 2002Sharon: Massive assault on Hamas underway in GazaBy GIL HOFFMAN AND MARGOT DUDKEVITCHIsrael is preparing a massive assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday, hours after IAF helicopters fired rockets at a car in Rafah's Abu Sneneh neighborhood that killed Hamas military leader Yasser Sa'id Mahmud Rizik, 29, his deputy, and four others. "We are preparing massive operations against Hamas in Gaza, which began with the events of this morning," Sharon told the Likud faction. Sharon said that after recent terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, the Meggido Junction, and Itamar, the cabinet...

CITY OF OLIVIA ORDINANCE NO. 269 AN ORDINANCE PROHIBITING DISCHARGES INTO THE SANITARY SEWER SYSTEM AND TO PROVIDE FOR INSPECTION OF PROPERTY TO DETERMINE ILLEGAL CONNECTIONS TO THE SANITARY SEWER SYSTEM AND TO PROVIDE A SURCHARGE FOR NON-COMPLIANCE WITH INSPECTION AND CONNECTION REQUIREMENTS. WHEREAS, the City Council of Olivia, Minnesota finds that the discharge of water from any surface, groundwater sump pump, roofs, yards, lawns, streets, alleys, footing tile, or other natural precipitation into the sanitary sewer contributes to the flooding and overloading of the sanitary sewer system. Such overloading of the sanitary sewer system may result in sewage flowing...

June 24, 2002Solemnity of the Nativity of John the BaptistMass During the Day Psalm: Monday Week 29 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Reading II Gospel Reading IIs 49:1-6 Hear me, O coastlandslisten, O distant peoples.The LORD called me from birth,from my mother's womb he gave me my name.He made of me a sharp-edged swordand concealed me in the shadow of his arm.He made me a polished arrow,in his quiver he hid me.You are my servant, he said to me,Israel, through whom I show my glory. Though I thought I had toiled in vain,and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,yet my reward...

South Florida county grapples with spate of recent terrorist ties By Ken Thomas, Associated Press June 24, 2002 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Jose Padilla, accused of conspiring to explode a "dirty bomb" in the United States, worked at a suburban Taco Bell and discovered Islam here. Two young Pakistani immigrants from nearby Hollywood allegedly hatched a plan to attack South Florida power plants and a National Guard Armory. And several of the Sept. 11 hijackers roamed the area's libraries, gyms and beachfront motels. They all made their home — at least temporarily — in South Florida's Broward County, leading...

MOSCOW, June 24 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday called it "dangerous and a mistake" to remove Yasser Arafat from the Palestinian leadership because "it would lead to a radicalization of Palestinian society." Speaking at a wide-ranging news conference in the Kremlin Monday, Putin differed from U.S. President George Bush who a few hours later called for "new and different Palestinian leadership" to bring peace to the region. But Putin, who said he was very concerned with the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, warned that Arafat should not be sidelined. "It would be dangerous and a mistake to...

W A S H I N G T O N, June 24 — Sen. John McCain vowed Monday to block confirmation of all Bush administration nominations until a replacement is installed for a lame duck Federal Election Commission member who helped approve controversial campaign fund-raising rules. In a letter to Senate leaders, the Arizona Republican pledged to object to action on "any nominee" unless Ellen Weintraub is confirmed by early August or President Bush agrees to bypass the Senate and make the appointment on his own.Weintraub is in line to replace Karl Sandstrom as one of three Democratic members on...