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CAPE CANAVERAL -- John Young, who walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle mission, is retiring from NASA this month at 74 years old. The Orlando native first flew to space in 1965 on a Gemini mission with the late Gus Grissom. In 1972, he walked on the moon in the next-to-last Apollo flight. Almost a decade later, Young and pilot Bob Crippen took Columbia on its maiden voyage. The National Air and Space Museum in Washington plans a special celebration in Young's honor on Tuesday.

The Metropolitan Police's hi tech weapons scanner had an early outing in the London Borough of Lewisham last night, as the culmination of a week-long series of anti gun crime operations in the Borough. Friday's swoop also identified a radical new use for the Millenium Dome, although the scanner itself seems not to have detected any guns. A BBC report tells us that police boarded 20 police vans and two London buses at the Dome, then swooped on a pub, a barber's shop and a take-away. Although the BBC says 700 officers were involved, The Register's abacus suggests that total...

24-hour camera surveillance in city is part of bigger plan Financed by homeland security grants, new network aimed at fighting terrorists as much as drug dealers By Doug Donovan Sun Staff June 10, 2004 From the Inner Harbor to the Bay Bridge, local and state homeland security authorities are beginning to build a regional network of 24-hour surveillance cameras that will first go live this summer in Baltimore. The closed-circuit video surveillance system of public spaces will begin in the Inner Harbor by summer's end, and a $2 million federal grant accepted by the city yesterday will expand the cameras...

Shanghai. (Interfax-China) - China will install a special surveillance system for all Internet cafes nationwide by the end of 2004, according to an official statement from China's Ministry of Culture (MOC). Once installed, this new surveillance system will require all Internet cafes customers to enter personal information, such as name, age, and their national citizen identification number, before they are allowed to log onto the Internet. New supervisory centers will also be set up around the country to monitor the online activities of Internet cafe customers. To date, Sichuan, Guangxi, Hubei, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi provinces have already completed installing this...

HISD may promote failing students to cut dropouts By JASON SPENCER and JO ANN ZUÑIGA Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Houston high school students who've failed core subjects such as English or math would get to move on to the next grade under a proposal HISD trustees are considering as part of the district's effort to reduce its dropout rate. Dropping the core course requirement puts the Houston Independent School District at odds with other Harris County school systems and urban Texas districts, including one that says it is addressing its dropout problems in other ways. Promoting students who meet HISD's...

Some senators have taken offense to building a fence around the U.S. Capitol. Federal security planners are reviving a proposal to fence-in the Capitol and congressional office buildings to thwart potential terrorist attacks. The Washington Post reports that Capitol Police Chief Terry Gainer Wednesday said his department has been directed to develop a plan and a cost estimate for construction. And he said the fence could cost $15 to $50 million. Gainer spoke during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the legislative branch. Senators objected to the barrier, calling it an offense to a world-famous symbol of American...

"Uncover the stories and secrets behind some of America's best-known and -loved products. With John Ratzenberger as your guide, you know he won't leave any factoid unrevealed!"

AIRCRAFT-SPACE SYSTEMS-MISSILES Important! Important! Please fill out and mail this card within 10 days of purchase.Thank you for purchasing a McDonnell Douglas military aircraft. In order to protect your new investment, please take a few moments to fill out the warranty registration card below. Answering the survey questions is not required, but the information will help us to develop new products that best meet your needs and desires. 1. _Mr. _Mrs. _Ms. _Miss _Lt. _Gen. _Comrade _Classified _Other First Name: Initial: Last Name: Password: Code Name: Latitude-Longitude-Altitude: 2. Which model aircraft did you purchase? _F-14 Tomcat _F-15 Eagle _F-16...

Reuters Reuters Summit-FCC's Martin ponders indecency on pay TV, radio Wednesday February 25, 6:31 pm ET By Jeremy Pelofsky NEW YORK, Feb 25 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators should consider whether radio and television services carried by cable and satellite must adhere to indecency standards, Federal Communications Commissioner Kevin Martin said on Wednesday. Pressure has been building in recent months to address the growing coarseness on television and radio, with some lawmakers and regulators pondering whether the limits on over-the-air broadcasts can be applied to cable and satellite services.Rest of article at link

WASHINGTON -- The government will order airlines to provide background information on passengers for a new security system that aims to keep dangerous people off planes, Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson said Monday. Hutchinson said he wants to begin testing the system this spring. It could be fully operational by summer, according to spokesman Dennis Murphy. Hutchinson said building the system is a Homeland Security Department priority. "The information that is given by a passenger to the airlines is important for us to have -- in terms of name, address, date of birth -- so we can properly assure the...

After Representatives from the anti-smoking campaign do their song and dance for the children of South Park Elementary, the boys take up the nasty habit.

Saudi Arabia: Desert Mirage In the days following 9/11, America received a wake-up call from not only her enemies but from her allies too. Saudi Arabia has come under scrutiny because 15 of the 19 hijackers are Saudi nationals, recruited by the terrorist organization Al Qaeda.

TO ALL TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEM PARTICIPANTS SUBJECT: TSUNAMI WATCH BULLETIN - INITIAL BULLETIN NUMBER 1 WEST COAST AND ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS ISSUED 09/25/2003 AT 2003 UTC ...A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE COASTAL AREAS FROM KODIAK, AK. TO ATTU, AK., INCLUSIVE... ...AT THIS TIME, THIS BULLETIN IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY FOR OTHER AREAS OF CALIFORNIA, OREGON, WASHINGTON, BRITISH COLUMBIA, AND ALASKA... EARTHQUAKE DATA: PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE: 8.0 LOCATION: 42.1N 143.6E - HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION TIME: 1150 ADT 09/25/2003 1250 PDT 09/25/2003 1950 UTC 09/25/2003 EVALUATION: IT IS NOT KNOWN /REPEAT NOT KNOWN/ IF A TSUNAMI EXISTS, BUT A...

Retired basketball star David Robinson to become a minister (San Antonio-AP) -- Basketball star David Robinson, who retired from the San Antonio Spurs after leading them to this year's N-B-A championship, will reportedly become a minister at his longtime church. The Reverend Max Lucado told worshipers at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio that Robinson will become a "minister at large," adding that he and Robinson may teach a weekly Bible study together. Lucado told the San Antonio Express-News that Robinson "is a great teacher and a great builder." During the Spurs' title run, Robinson said that he was considering...

James Michener Reflecting on lives lost, lives saved in 1945 A LETTER TO A PACIFIC VETERAN Saturday, August 16, 2003 The following letter was written in October of 1995 by author James Michener to Austin attorney Martin Allday. Allday, former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, was wounded in action on Okinawa in 1945. In October 1995, Michener, also a Pacific veteran, wrote Allday a letter about President Truman's decision to use atomic weapons to end World War II. Michener asked Allday not ro publish the letter until after Michener's death. Michener died in 1997.: I'm glad you spoke...

Ashcroft tour to plug terror bill WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft is hitting the road to rally support for the Victory Act, which would further expand his powers to go after Al Qaeda and narcoterrorists, the Daily News has learned. Ashcroft will starting pushing the Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act later this month in a 10-day, 20-state Victory tour that includes a stop in New York. But the nation's top cop is facing tough opposition from critics on both the right and left, who fear Ashcroft is eroding civil rights. The Justice Department's reach was vastly increased...

Arnold Garcia Jr. They don't make leaders like Ike these days AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Friday, June 6, 2003 Somewhere in the middle of the trainer's remarks about leadership, it occurred to me that the ultimate test of management skill is getting people to walk into bullets. And that made me think of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Behind that farm boy smile was a determined, fiery-tempered leader who didn't hesitate to break eggs to make omelettes. Plucked from military obscurity, Eisenhower rode a rocket toward the top of the chain of command during World War II, and afterward, he just kept going. Historians...

May 8, 2003, 10:17PM Lawmaker urges end to manned shuttles Barton says NASA should scrap remaining spacecraft or use them crewless By PATTY REINERT Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau THE INVESTIGATION WASHINGTON -- With 14 astronauts losing their lives in the past 20 years, the nation's remaining space shuttles no longer can be considered safe enough to fly with people aboard, a Texas congressman said Thursday. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, said that after the Challenger and Columbia disasters, the risk is too great. The shuttle either should be scrapped altogether, he said, or modified to serve as an unmanned...

Smoke from south of the border graying much of Texas' skies By Hannah Lobel ASSOCIATED PRESS Wednesday, May 7, 2003 DALLAS — Smoke from agricultural fires in Mexico and Central America has spread across the eastern two-thirds of the state, sparking an influx of asthmatic children to hospitals from Mission to Austin and graying skies as far north as Dallas. Some of the fires — burned to wipe out old crops or clear rain forest for farmland — have burned out of control this year because of an unusually dry dry season. Persistent southeasterly winds are picking up the smoke,...

Poland Admits Iraq Combat Role After News Photos Mon March 24, 2003 01:10 PM ET By Douglas Busvine WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland admitted on Monday that its elite GROM commando unit had taken part in the U.S.-led attack on Iraq after the soldiers posed for a Reuters news photographer. The Defense Ministry had denied that GROM (Thunder) special forces were involved in combat, but on Monday it confirmed their participation after dailies splashed photographs of the soldiers in the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, where U.S.-led troops are battling pockets of Iraqi resistance. Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski refused, however, to...