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CAMP TAJI — Coalition forces thwarted an al-Qaeda plot to destroy the Huda Girls’ School in Tarmiyah, said U.S. military officials Thursday. As reconstruction efforts for school systems in Iraq continued, al-Qaeda extremists targeted the Huda Girls’ School in Tarmiyah twice in the past month using improvised explosive devices and building explosives into the school house. "[It was a] sophisticated and premeditated attempt to inflict massive casualties on our most innocent victims," said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesman. Recently, the al-Qaeda plan to destroy the school was disrupted when Soldiers of 2nd “Stallion”...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military offered a mixed message Wednesday about whether it embraced one of its own programs that reportedly paid a consulting firm and Iraqi newspapers to plant favorable stories about the war and the rebuilding effort. Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman in Iraq, said the program is "an important part of countering misinformation in the news by insurgents." A spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, however, called a report detailing the program troubling if true and said he was looking into the matter. "This is a military program initiated with the Multi-National Force to...

DUMAGUETE CITY—The Philippine National Police is looking into the possibility of stamping out the marijuana problem by replacing marijuana plantations with another addictive but equally lucrative substance—coffee. PNP Deputy Director General Ricardo de Leon, commander of the anti-illegal drug operations task force, said they are studying what coffee varieties would grow in areas formerly planted to marijuana. “Marijuana is so toxic that after the soil is planted to it, no other crop can grow there,” De Leon told reporters Friday while on a visit to this city and Negros Oriental, where he was provincial commander of the defunct Philippine Constabulary-Integrated...

Millions 'wasted' planting trees that reduce water By Charles Clover, Environment Editor (Filed: 29/07/2005) Millions of pounds in overseas aid are wasted every year planting trees in dry countries in the belief that they help attract rainfall and act as storage for water, scientists said yesterday. In fact, forests usually increase evaporation and help to reduce the amount of water available for human consumption or growing crops, according to a four-year study. Research on water catchments on three continents says it is "a myth" that trees always increase the availability of water. Even the cloud forests of tropical Costa Rica...

NFL planting trees in Detroit to offset Super Bowl emissions The Associated Press DETROIT — The National Football League says it plans to plant acres of trees in metropolitan Detroit to offset carbon emissions caused by traffic generated by next year's Super Bowl. NFL environmental director Jack Groh says he will visit Detroit this spring to meet with the host committee, foresters and community groups about the tree planting. It will be similar to what the NFL sponsored at this year's Super Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla. "We have talked with the host committee and they're very excited about the possibility...

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!--mobile-->Zoning bible to alter face of city June 4, 2002BY FRAN SPIELMAN CITY HALL REPORTER Developers respond to possible changes BY DAVID ROEDER BUSINESS REPORTER The power to tax has been called the power to destroy. But in Chicago, the power to zone can be just as lethal. By producing a densely written ordinance and drawing new lines on musty maps, City Hall can transfer millions of dollars in land value, enriching some investors while leaving others in the cold. Zoning is a public policy decision about what to build where. If it's ill-advised, neighborhoods suffer. Developers and community groups,...