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The U.S. Coast Guard has scuttled a plan to fire live ammunition into Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes following a tidal wave of protest from environmental groups and others. But the plan is not dead. A Coast Guard spokesman said Monday that officials would re-examine the proposal and look into other ways to allow live-fire training on and off the Great Lakes. The Coast Guard wanted to establish 34 zones on the Great Lakes, four on Lake Erie, where crews could practice machine gun firing two or three times a year, for two to six hours at a...

(2006-11-15) — Sen. Carl Levin, soon to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today said that reducing U.S. troop levels in Iraq is the best way to train Iraqi soldiers, since they’ll have to defend weakened U.S. garrisons from insurgents emboldened by the American retreat. “Iraqi troops need to get more fighting experience,” said Sen. Levin at a hearing on Capitol Hill. “By having them guard U.S. bases as we redeploy our troops from the country, they’ll gain confidence and skill.” The Michigan Democrat said an immediate phased withdrawal of U.S. troops would also bring more insurgents out...

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TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has renewed calls on Muslims to rally to the defence of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah in its war against Israel, state television reported. "Today it is the entire Muslim community's duty to defend Hezbollah," Khamenei told a meeting Tuesday to mark the anniversary of the birth of the Shiites' first Imam, Ali. Iran helped to create and arm Hezbollah in 1982 in response to Israel's invasion of Lebanon, and Tehran stands accused by the United States and Israel of fomenting chaos in the region by channelling weapons to the guerrillas....

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration on Saturday defended his proposal requiring drug companies to give discounts to up to five million uninsured, low-income residents within five years or face state sanctions. California Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe said the Republican governor's election-year plan was better than Democratic bills he has vetoed the last two years. Schwarzenegger has unsuccessfully pushed a voluntary plan since taking office, and the one he formally announced Saturday gives drug companies five years to comply on their own terms - with a stick at the end if they don't, Belshe said at a Capitol news...

Top editors from the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, responding to criticism over publishing stories about a government program that tracked millions of financial records in search of terrorists, on Saturday defended their decisions to publish government secrets. "We weight the merits of publishing against the risks of publishing," wrote Dean Baquet, Los Angeles Times editor, and Bill Keller, New York Times executive editor, in an op-ed piece that ran in both newspapers. "There is no magic formula, no neat metric for either the public's interest or the dangers of publishing sensitive information," the piece continued. "We...

In a public relations push punctuated by a continual stream of roaring jet aircraft, the Marine Corps opened Miramar Air Station yesterday to bolster its campaign against the notion of a civilian airfield. “Joint use is fundamentally incompatible with what we do,” said Maj. Gen. Michael R. Lehnert, commander of Marine Corps Installations West. “It's simply a function of physics, and you cannot repeal the laws of physics.” The air base conducted a guided tour for reporters three days before the expected vote by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority board on a future replacement for Lindbergh Field. Despite...

AL BASRA OIL TERMINAL, Iraq, May 2, 2006 – It looks like a scene from the movie "Waterworld" here off the Iraqi coast. More than a thousand meters of catwalks tie the Al Basra Oil Terminal together miles off the shore of Iraq in the Northern Arabian Gulf. The Iraqi facility pumps oil into waiting supertankers. U.S. Navy and Iraqi marines guard the facility. Photo by Jim Garamone   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Two oil terminals - this one and the Khawr al Amaya a few kilometers away - rise from the sea, miles out of sight...

Rice doctrine advocates 'soft power' to defend US By Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 17/03/2006) The long-awaited new United States national security strategy unveiled yesterday will almost certainly come to be known as the Condoleezza Rice doctrine. It is assertive yet nuanced, reflecting the shift in US foreign policy since she became secretary of state last year. Condoleezza Rice on board the Port Royal The 49-page document pays homage to its revolutionary September 2002 predecessor which unveiled to a wary world Washington's new- found belief in pre-emption and the abandonment of America's Cold War policy of deterrence. It has a...

In the wake of two especially brutal attacks in Australia, ocean-lovers can try a new invention to ward off the toothy terrors This year got off to a bad start in Australia, which had its first fatality in January when 21-year-old Sarah Whiley died from shock and blood loss after being savaged by up to three bull sharks while swimming off a Queensland beach. A short time after, Bernie Williams was mauled on the elbow by a Great White, diving not far from Perth. The animal then proceeded to stalk him while he hid in a crevice on the ocean...

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The House has passed a bill that lets residents use deadly force to defend their homes, businesses and vehicles against attackers without fear of being prosecuted or sued.

Hamas vows to defend itself after three die in Israeli air strike By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem (Filed: 06/02/2006) Hamas reacted angrily yesterday to the first Israeli air strikes on Gaza since the Islamist group won the Palestinian election, vowing that it would never give up the right to "self-defence". The missile raids - in retaliation for a rocket fired from Gaza that injured three Israelis, including a baby - were a setback for international efforts to persuade Hamas to recognise Israel and give up its armed struggle. Palestinians gather around the wreckage of a car destroyed after being targeted...

Iran races to defend nuclear facilities By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent and Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 25/01/2006) Iran is racing to dig a network of tunnels and upgrade its air defences to protect its nuclear facilities from possible attacks by America or Israel, it was reported yesterday. Israel this week issued thinly-veiled warnings that it has drawn up plans for pre-emptive strikes against Iran. The United States insists it will not take the military option "off the table". Seeking to avoid a repeat of Israel's 1981 air raid on Osiraq, Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah...

Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh arrived in Moscow Monday. The main subject of his negotiations is the upcoming discussion of Iran’s nuclear program by the IAEA. Moscow has more or less decided to support Tehran during the decisive voting at IAEA in a week — support which could cause the Kremlin a lot of problems. This is extremely important for the new Iranian authorities. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad swept to victory during July’s presidential elections in Iran. However, until now he has been a very obscure figure in the political arena. Tehran’s foreign partners have only been able to judge the character...

Iraqi, U.S. Soldiers Keeping Sadr Streets Safe Travelling through the streets and alleys of Sadr City, U.S. troops search for signs of terrorist groups, and get acquainted with the neighborhoods. By U.S. Army Spc. Ben Brody 2nd Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs SADR CITY, Iraq, Aug. 24, 2005 - U.S. and Iraqi Army soldiers now patrol Sadr City, and the result is safer streets in what was once a hotly-contested area. After a change in their area of operations, troops from Company B, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division got to know their new...

9/11 Commissioners Defend Intel Omission By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 59 minutes ago WASHINGTON - The leaders of the 9/11 commission late Friday disputed a congressman's criticism that the panel did not adequately investigate a claim that four hijackers were identified as al-Qaida members more than a year before the attacks. In a joint statement, former commission chairman Thomas Kean and vice chairman Lee Hamilton said a military official who made the claim had no documentation to back it up. And they said only 9/11 ringleader Mohamed Atta was identified to them and not three additional hijackers...

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2005 – A Pentagon report detailing the readiness of Iraqi security forces should not be interpreted to mean that Iraqis aren't meeting expectations, a military official in Baghdad said today. In a briefing from Baghdad, Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Alston, spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said the report -- which shows that the majority of Iraqi forces aren't ready to operate independently -- should be assessed using all the facts and the history of the situation. "The reality is, we've been building an army from scratch for the past year under combat conditions," he said. "These...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Fresno police on Tuesday defended their arrest of an 11-year-old girl on a felony assault charge for throwing a rock at a neighborhood boy who had pelted her with a water balloon. The department released more details, color photos and a testimonial from Fresno's mayor. "This incident has been distorted and misrepresented," Mayor Alan Autry said in a statement. "In Fresno we love our children too much to treat this like it was just a childhood dispute, when in fact the consequences could have been tragic." Police said an Associated Press story last week should have...

Panama General strike to defend social security By Jorge Martín On Tuesday September 23 a 24-hour warning general strike called by the National Front brought Panama to a standstill. It was called in protest against attacks on welfare. The National Front is an umbrella organisation that brings together the main trade unions and social organisations in the country, including the National Independent United Trade Union Confederation (CoNUSI), the National Council of Organised Workers (CoNATO), and the unions of building workers (SUNTRACS), social security workers, teachers and others. This latest warning general strike was the highest point in the mass movement...

We cannot stand by any longer and let our soldiers give their lives for freedom and democracy when we're exercising neither here in The United States of America. We can fight and win wars on many fronts, but if we can't take care of business here at home, none of the others even count. When we have men and women on the battlefield trying to protect our country, and we're sitting back and letting it go to "hell in a hand basket," we ought to be ashamed. Soldiers should not be fighting for our freedoms when we're throwing them down...