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At least three possible tornadoes hit central Oklahoma early Saturday in a prelude to what forecasters warned could be a day of "life-threatening" storms in the nation's midsection. No injuries were immediately reported. Department of Emergency Management official Michelann Ooten said the possible tornadoes were reported west and north of Oklahoma City. One was spotted near Piedmont, a small town where a twister last May killed several people. The National Weather Service was working to confirm the reports. Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Brown told The Associated Press the storms were fairly weak but still damaged some homes. A tornado that...

The federal government can require tobacco companies to “reserve significant packaging space” for anti-smoking warnings and graphic images on their cigarette labels, a three-judge appellate panel ruled Monday. “We return to where we began — the lack of consumer awareness of tobacco’s serious health risks resulting from the decades-long deception by tobacco companies,” Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati wrote in a ruling that was unanimous in some sections and 2-1 in others. Current tobacco-label warnings do not effectively inform consumers on these health risks, even though they include “the undisputed fact...

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- In the wake of the April 27 tornadoes, veteran television meteorologist James Spann is questioning whether too frequent tornado warnings are causing people to ignore them. "I firmly believe apathy and complacency due to a high false alarm ratio over the years led to inaction in many cases that could have cost lives," Spann wrote in a wide-ranging blog post that has generated debate among weather watchers and fellow meteorologists.

These are 600 year old coastline markers in Japan “High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants,’’ the stone slab reads. “Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build any homes below this point.’’

Egyptian intelligence warned American officials about a week before Sept. 11 that Osama bin Laden's network was in the advance stages of executing a significant operation against an American target, it will be reported on Tuesday (in the NY TIMES)... MORE... A senior U.S. intelligence official denied the warning was received...

A second wave of swine flu may strike later this year, ministers warned yesterday. As hopes rose that the worst of the outbreak is over Health Secretary Alan Johnson said the tally of 18 cases in the Britain was likely to rise. US health officials last night claimed the outbreak was not as deadly as first thought and the disease is peaking in Mexico. But as three new British cases emerged over the weekend, Mr Johnson said: "At the moment all the evidence is that we can confine it, contain it, and treat it effectively. "But with pandemics you get...

WTNT85 KNHC 032031 TCVAT5 FIVE WATCH/WARNING BREAKPOINTS/ADVISORY NUMBER 1 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL052008 400 PM CDT SUN AUG 3 2008 .TROPICAL DEPRESSION FIVE LAZ054-059-065-066-067-068-069-040300- /O.NEW.KNHC.TR.W.1005.080803T2100Z-000000T0000Z/ 400 PM CDT SUN AUG 3 2008 INTRACOASTAL-CITY-LA 29.62N 92.04W MOUTH-MISSISSIPPI-RIVER-LA 29.12N 89.10W $$ LAZ051-052-TXZ200-213-214-215-235-236-237-238-040300- /O.NEW.KNHC.TR.A.1005.080803T2100Z-000000T0000Z/ 400 PM CDT SUN AUG 3 2008 PORT-OCONNOR-TX 28.39N 96.41W INTRACOASTAL-CITY-LA 29.62N 92.04W $$ ATTN...WFO...HGX...LIX...LCH...

- Ahmed Khalifan Ghailani, a/k/a "Foopie," is a diminutive Tanzanian with an Uzbeki wife, six children and a deep hatred of America and Western culture in general. A devout Muslim who plays a mean game of soccer but never learned to drive a car, Ghailani is also believed to be a key al Qaeda player who U.S. agents think is involved in a percolating terror plot aimed at disrupting America's upcoming elections. He had a $25 million price on his head as the FBI's No. 7 most-wanted terrorist - the same amount as the bounty for the capture of Osama...

Liberal fascism sounds like an oxymoron – or a term for conservatives to insult liberals. Actually, it was coined by a socialist writer, none other than the respected and influential left-winger H.G. Wells, who in 1931 called on fellow progressives to become "liberal fascists" and "enlightened Nazis." Really. His words, indeed, fit a much larger pattern of fusing socialism with fascism: Mussolini was a leading socialist figure who, during World War I, turned away from internationalism in favor of Italian nationalism and called the blend Fascism. Likewise, Hitler headed the National Socialist German Workers Party. These facts jar because they...

A label on a small tractor that warns, "Danger: Avoid Death," has been chosen as the nation's most obvious warning label in M-LAW's annual Wacky Warning Label Contest.The Wacky Warning Label Contest, now in its eleventh year, is conducted by Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch, M-LAW, to reveal how lawsuits, and fear of lawsuits, have driven the proliferation of common-sense warnings on U.S. products.

A warning on a small tractor that reads "Danger: Avoid Death" has been chosen as the nation's wackiest warning label by an anti-lawsuit group.The Wacky Warning Label Contest, now in its 11th year, is conducted by Novi-based Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch as part of an effort to show the effects of lawsuits on warning labels. Kevin Soave of Farmington Hills, a Detroit suburb, won the $500 grand prize for submitting the winning label. The $250 second place was given to Carrianne, Jacob and Robby Turin of Greensburg, Pa., for a label they found on an iron-on T-shirt transfer that warns:...

The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party received warnings that Hsu had a bad record with money as early as June of this year, several sources report, but did nothing to distance themselves from the Hillraiser. Jack Cassidy, a California businessman who recognized Hsu as a shady character, sent messages imploring Democrats to avoid Hsu, to no avail: Hillary Clinton's campaign couldn't explain yesterday why it blew off warnings about felon-turned-fund-raiser Norman Hsu - and the Daily News learned FBI agents are collecting e-mail evidence in the widening scandal. Clinton was forced Monday to give back a whopping $850,000...

Genuine warnings written on military equipment and publications:“Aim towards the Enemy.” -Instruction printed on US Rocket Launcher “When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend.” -U.S. Army “Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground.” U.S.A.F.Ammo Troop “If the enemy is in range, so are you.” -Infantry Journal “A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what’s left of your unit.” -Army’s magazine of preventive maintenance. “It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over...

This is a guest column by NY attorney (and fellow Anthrax researcher) Ross Getman. Ross has long believed the anthrax mailings were planned and carried out by al-Qaeda.

I had a "sort of premonition" about 9/11 - the day before - and talked myself into being "sensible". Here we are-almost 5 years later-and I've been having that feeling again.

First Rail Line Into Tibet Opens With Environmental Warnings LHASA, Tibet, July 6, 2006 (ENS) - With the opening of the new railway line through the Tibetan Plateau on Saturday, and the increased number of travelers expected to visit the area as a result, WWF and its wildlife trafficking monitoring arm, TRAFFIC, are calling for conservation measures to protect the world's largest and highest plateau. Billed as the highest railway in the world, the final stretch of the Qinghai-Tibet rail line opened Saturday, running over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from central China to the Tibetan capital Lhasa. Environmental groups are...

...TENNESSEE AND OHIO VALLEYS/LOWER MS VALLEY... MAJOR TORNADO OUTBREAK IS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY ACROSS THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AND SRN OH VALLEY. AS THE AFTERNOON CONTINUES...IN ADDITION TO THE DAMAGING STORMS ACROSS TN AND KY...NUMEROUS TORNADIC STORMS WITH A POTENTIAL FOR STRONG TO VIOLENT TORNADOES WILL INITIATE NEAR THE MS RIVER AND TRACK ENEWD ACROSS THE HIGH RISK AREA. WATER VAPOR IMAGERY CURRENTLY SHOWS A POTENT UPPER-LOW OVER THE CNTRL PLAINS WITH AN ASSOCIATED 90 KT MID-LEVEL JET PUNCHING ENEWD ACROSS THE MID-MS VALLEY REGION. THE JET IS ENHANCING LIFT AND VERTICAL SHEAR ACROSS KY AND TN WHERE NUMEROUS SUPERCELL STORMS ARE...

WASHINGTON - A south Texas rancher, Texas sheriffs, an Arizona district attorney and other law enforcement representatives urged Senate committee members Wednesday to heed their warning: The porous southern border of the United States is a national security risk. Witnesses told Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, at a hearing on border violence that without cooperation from Mexico, combined with federal support from the United States, the situation at the border will continue to deteriorate. Cornyn focused the hearing on recent reports of Mexican military incursions into the United States, increasing border violence...

DETROIT - A warning that consumers shouldn't use a heat gun that produces temperatures of 1,000 degrees as a hairdryer has won an anti-lawsuit group's award for the wackiest label of the year. The Wacky Warning Label Contest, in its ninth year, is conducted by Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch as part of an effort to show the effects of lawsuits on warning labels. "When judges see it as their job to dismiss cases that are rooted in frivolous theories, we'll see fewer wacky labels and more fairness in the courts," said Robert B. Dorigo Jones, the group's president. The $500...

NEW ORLEANS - Engineers responsible for monitoring the levees that failed following Hurricane Katrina were never told that canal water had been pooling in yards beside a flood wall months before the storm, an Army Corps of Engineers manager said Friday. Residents living along the 17th Street Canal told The Times-Picayune newspaper in an article published Friday that they had complained to the city Sewerage and Water Board nearly a year ago about water pooling in their yards. City workers came out and concluded environmental testing was needed to determine if water was seeping through the levee, said Beth LeBlanc,...