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NASA officials to make historic trip to China 21:05 22 September 2006 NewScientist.com news service Kelly Young A group of NASA officials is about to begin a historic trip to China in an effort to establish preliminary ties between the Chinese and US space programmes. "No NASA administrator has been to China," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said after the recent launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. "We have never had any significant discussions with China about space." China joined the space elite when it became the third nation to launch its own crewed rocket in 2003 (see Confident China joins...

Camp Pendleton Marines Make Final Preparations for DeploymentBy Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Aug. 25, 2006 -- Just three weeks before they deploy for six months as U.S. Central Command’s theater reserve force, Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit here say they’re ready to get on with the mission despite pulls at their heartstrings over leaving home. Marine Corps Sgt. Bobby Savicke, motor transportation mechanic, retrieves his tool cart from a storage unit to inspect vehicles in preparation for an upcoming deployment at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Aug. 23. This will be Savicke’s second “float” with...

The U.S. Marines rationed him two beers a day. It's a detail Ken Kurkowski remembered about serving in Vietnam. He recalled war protesters spitting on him at the San Francisco airport and barely escaping death when his tank exploded. The veteran poured everything -- the bloodshed, the wild nights, the letters to his girlfriend -- onto 106 pages. Within a year, the Library of Congress will make his memoir a piece of American history. Congress launched the Veterans History Project in 2000. It collects oral and written histories, photos and video interviews from veterans, Red Cross workers, United Service Organizations...

Soldiers of Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, search a home in the city of Samarra, Iraq, during a night raid as they look for Samarra’s most wanted insurgents. U.S Army photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika Soldiers Make Streets Safer in Samarra Since December 2005, Bravo Company has been making the streets ofSamarra safer by capturing hundreds of suspected anti-Iraqi forces. By Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika 133rd Mobile Public Affairs SAMARRA, Iraq, July 11, 2006 -- Texas historians think of the Alamo to be the last stand, for...

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2006 – Two coalition soldiers were killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan yesterday, and the Taliban falsely claimed to have killed nine U.S. soldiers today, military officials reported. One coalition soldier was killed in Helmand province defending a combat logistics patrol from attacking Taliban extremists. The other soldier was killed while engaging enemy forces in Kunar province. "Our thoughts and prayers extend to the families and comrades of our soldiers who sacrificed their lives today executing their mission and defending their fellow teammates," Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76 said....

Ex-soldier fights to make Japan remember its past By Colin Joyce in Tokyo (Filed: 07/06/2006) Japan's amnesia over its militarist past is being challenged by a compelling documentary film which suggests that the Japanese army breached the terms of surrender in 1945 by leaving soldiers to fight on in China. The Ants, to be released next month, records the struggle of the Japanese veteran Waichi Okumura to put atrocities on record and to tell the story of the forgotten soldiers left behind in China. Now 81, Mr Okumura revisited Shanxi province where he fought, including a pilgrimage to the place...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Computer server maker Sun Microsystems Inc., whose revenue has declined four years in a row, said Wednesday it planned to cut 4,000 to 5,000 jobs in an effort to return to consistent profitability. The cuts, which will reduce Sun's 37,500-person work force by 11 percent to 13 percent over the next six months, will cost Santa Clara-based Sun from $340 million to $500 million over the next several quarters, the company said. Sun executives expect the plan, which also includes selling real estate and exiting leases, to save the company from $480 million to $590 million, once...

ALGONA, Iowa - While much of the world fumes over escalating fuel prices, a small company in north central Iowa is quietly hoping to make gasoline obsolete as an engine fuel. Research at the Hydrogen Engine Center Inc. is done in an early 1900s red brick armory at the Kossuth County fairgrounds. There, a clean six-cylinder engine that looks like it could have been pulled from a Ford pickup has been running for 110 hours, not quite half the 300 hours it must continuously run for certification. The company, led by a retired Ford Motor Co. engineer, hopes to meet...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Army News Service, May 17, 2006) – Morale, Welfare and Recreation patrons will be hard-pressed to beat the cost of an Australian vacation purchased through their Information, Ticket and Reservation office. A five-night stay in Sydney or Melbourne is available for $838 per person based on double occupancy. The “G’Day Good Deal” packages include three- or four-star accommodations for five nights, round-trip airfare from Los Angeles or San Francisco aboard Qantas Airways and a 15-hour calling card that can be used to dial the United States. Taxes and surcharges are not included in the base price. “Normally, when...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, May 1, 2006) – For only the second time at the Iraqi Military Academy Al Rustamiyah, a class of newly commissioned lieutenants graduated the 12-month Officer Basic Course April 26. The class of 158 Iraqi officers – twice as many as the first class – will now attend specific branch training before being assigned to units throughout the country. The year-long course included detailed instruction on such basic soldiering skills as weaponry, small-unit tactics, communications and decision-making. The primary goal, according to academy leaders, was to prepare the officers to function effectively as small-unit leaders...

Scientists make water run uphill By Roland Pease BBC science correspondent Watch the drop move Physicists have made water run uphill quite literally under its own steam. The droplets propel themselves over metal sheets scored with a carefully designed array of grooves. The US scientists did the experiment to demonstrate how the random motion of water molecules in hot steam could be channelled into a directed force. But the team, writing in Physical Review Letters, believes the effect may be useful in driving coolants through overheating computer microchips. The physics at work here has been witnessed by all of us...

PHOENIX - Siding with public sentiment over prosecutors, Gov. Janet Napolitano signed legislation Monday to make it easier for those who kill others to claim self-defense. The action on SB 1145 came despite a plea from the association that represents prosecutors from around the state who urged her to reject the measure because of provisions that would put new requirements on them to convict those who say they had no choice but to shoot another person. But gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L'Ecuyer said Napolitano received more than 1,200 e-mail messages in the last 24 hours urging her to sign the...

Clinton 'will make tens of millions' working for funds tycoon By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 24/04/2006) Bill Clinton stands to make "tens of millions" of dollars by working for a billionaire friend who made his fortune in supermarkets. The former president will share in the profits of investment funds run by Ron Burkle. In return, he offers Mr Burkle advice and lends his reputation to the funds. He has no day-to-day role and has invested little of his own money. Bill Clinton: troubled history with personal investments There is no suggestion that Mr Clinton is doing anything wrong but...

Bill Would Make Every Md. Business Offer Health CareMar 16th - 9:01am By NICHOLAS SOHR Capital News Service ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Conjuring up images of the fierce, partisan fight over the Wal-Mart bill that raged in the opening days of this year's General Assembly session, a Prince George's County lawmaker has introduced legislation that would require every business in the state to provide employee health care. The bill, sponsored by Delegate James W. Hubbard, D-Prince George's, would force businesses with fewer than 10,000 employees to put at least 4.5 percent of their payrolls toward health benefits for their workers, or...

BALAD, Iraq (Army News Service, March 10, 2006) – Soldiers walked through the streets of Balad March 4, but in a capacity they don’t always have the chance to experience; handing out soccer balls to children. “It’s really just to come down and energize ourselves because everything outside of the town is fairly high-risk and it’s not as uplifting,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Martindale, commander, 1-8 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers. The battalion has been operating in this region west of Baghdad to root out anti-Iraqi forces. This is...

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2006 – U.S. military reserve forces are better trained and at a higher state of readiness than they've ever been as they continue to take on their new operational role in the war on terror, senior reserve-component leaders said here today. "We've all been to the battlefield; we've all been out to see our people, and I have to tell you, they are the best of the best. We have never had a fighting force like we have today," said Army Command Sgt. Maj. Lawrence W. Holland, senior enlisted advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary...

8,000-year-old drill to make fire found in Zhejiang www.chinaview.cn 2006-02-21 17:54:57 BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese archaeologists said that parts of an instrument to make fire, dating back to 8,000 years ago, have been found in east China's Zhejiang Province. The relics, made of bones and wood, were discovered at the Kuahuqiao Relics Site in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang Province, according to Qianjiang Evening News. Liu Zhiqing, a retired professor from Zhejiang University, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that the relics were part of an instrument to drill wood to get fire. Some relics in strange shapes were unearthed...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2006 – Rebalancing the types of brigades being added to the National Guard will make that component more effective in its two-fold mission and will contribute to the overall capability of the Army, the secretary of the Army said here today. In a Pentagon press briefing, Francis J. Harvey stressed that the National Guard will not be reduced in size, but will simply have different kinds of units added to it. The initial plan for the transformation of the Guard called for the number of brigade combat teams to be increased from 15 to 34, Harvey said....

Both Iraqi Lt. Col. Salam (left) and Col. Adel (right) get soaked with water by Iraqi Brigadier Sata after their historic solo flight in Bell Jet Ranger helicopter at Taji late December 2005. Photos courtesy of Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq Coalition Air Force Transition Team Iraqi Helicopter Pilots Make Iraqi Air Force History Before making their historic flight, the Iraqi pilots were required to complete classroom hours and instructor-pilot guided flight time. By U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Mark Woodbury Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq TAJI, Iraq, Jan. 17, 2006 — Two Iraqi pilots made Iraqi Air Force history when...

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...