Saboteurs hit Iranian oil pipelinesSaboteurs using three home-made bombs have halted crude transfers from five onshore wells in Iran's restive southwestern province of Khuzestan, the student agency ISNA reported Saturday.
"The evidence indicates that the incidents on Thursday were sabotage," a security official from the provincial governor-general's office, Gholamreza Shariati, was quoted as saying.
After undergoing two days of repair, the pipelines were reported to be back in service, ISNA said.
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CIA: Bomber tape 'appears genuine'The latest al Qaeda videotape, aired on the Arabic channel Al-Jazeera on Thursday, appears genuine in that the two speakers are who they claim to be, CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said Friday.
The tape includes statements by the terror group's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and by a man Al-Jazeera called one of the July 7 London suicide bombers, Mohammed Sidique Khan.
Intelligence officials said that while the tape suggests there is some type of connection between al... (more)
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Homeland Security won't let Red Cross deliver foodAs the National Guard delivered food to the New Orleans convention center yesterday, American Red Cross officials said that federal emergency management authorities would not allow them to do the same.
Other relief agencies say the area is so damaged and dangerous that they doubted they could conduct mass feeding there now.
"The Homeland Security Department has requested and continues to request that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans," said Renit... (more)
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Nero (And His Cabinet) Fiddle While Rome BurnsThe tragedy in New Orleans is undoubtedly one of the worst the people of this nation have ever faced. A once bastion of freedom is now underwater in a cocktail of toxic waste. Little children are being raped, mass murder is being committed, and people just like you and I are dying.
Amidst all this chaos, how do "our" government "officials" respond? Do they drop everything and work to help the country they swore an oath to defend? Do they immediately commit themselves to helpin... (more)
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Narrow escape from Martial LawA true story about last minute escape from flooded city of new orleans from a friend via email
Trapped in the city.
Sorry for the mass e-mail, it is the only way to
get word to you all. We are safe in Baton Rouge.
We got through the hurricane just fine where we
were, in the French Quarter. (The Quarter and
Marigny are dry, with mostly intact houses, just
a lot of cosmetic damage and tree limbs.)
We were going to stay,... (more)
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Their mission, simply, is to turn New Orleans into a police state — to "regain the city,"Forty-four troops pressed together in their truck, swaying as one at every bump and turn like reeds in a river.
As they plunged into the dark water engulfing the business district of New Orleans, their wake pushed the body of a woman onto the steps of the Superdome. The floodwater had ripped her pants down to her knees. She was facedown in the muck, a red ribbon still tied neatly around her graying hair.
The troops, members of an elite Special Response Team from the... (more)
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Shoot to killUS TROOPS have been ordered to shoot to kill to stop the anarchy that has overtaken hurricane-devastated New Orleans.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said the 300 troopers from the Arkansas National Guard had been authorised to open fire on "hoodlums" who terrorised the flooded city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
"These troops are fresh back from Iraq, well trained, experienced, battle tested, and under my orders to restore order in the streets," Ms Blanco sai... (more)
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Army deployed in London A little discussed element of the shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station has been the role played by the British army. It must have come as a shock to many to learn that soldiers from the Special Reconnaisance Regiment were involved in the operation. This unit was set up in April to combat terrorism and it was the first time that it has been engaged actively.
The regiment was formed from 14th Intelligence Company known as "14 Int" of the De... (more)
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Warnings to Beef Up New Orleans' '60s-Era Levees Unheeded Officials at the Army Corps of Engineers knew it for years, and emergency managers and hurricane experts issued dire warnings: The hurricane levees surrounding the New Orleans area were built to withstand only a relatively weak Category 3 hurricane -- not anything like Hurricane Katrina, a Category 4 mega-storm.
So it was no surprise that the system failed when Katrina's storm surge topped levees in the 17th Street and London Avenue drainage canals in New Orleans, broke through t... (more)
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Clinton, Bush slashed spending on leveesWhile the Bush administration is sure to get most of the heat for cuts in proposed expenditures to maintain and upgrade New Orleans flood control system, the Clinton administration repeatedly cut congressional allocations for the projects and the recommendations on spending by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Most of the attention to date has focused on the fact that last year the Army Corps of Engineers sought $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans, while the Wh... (more)
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New Orleans had many warnings: Just a year ago, Hurricane Ivan caused disaster plan reviewA year ago, New Orleans reviewed its hurricane disaster plans after Hurricane Ivan gave the city a major scare forcing the evacuation of nearly 1 million people from the area.
What happened last September bears striking similarities to the problems encountered before Hurricane Katrina struck. The only difference was Ivan missed the city.
There were hours-long traffic jams. Those who had money fled, while the poor stayed. The warnings were the same: Forecasters predi... (more)
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Condi Returns to D.C. After Bloggers and 'Post' Expose VacationAll day Thursday, from the New York Post to several popular blogs, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice came under attack and ridicule for having fun in Manhattan while New Orleans sank and exploded in violence. By nightfall, she had cut short her vacation and returned to her post in Washington.
The Post started it with an early morning Page Six item about Rice playing tennis with Monica Seles at a court near New York's Grand Central. Then Drudge revealed that she had attended a Bro... (more)
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Across U.S., Outrage at ResponseThere was anger: David Vitter, Louisiana's freshman Republican senator, gave the federal government an F on Friday for its handling of the whirlwind after the storm. And Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland and the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, declared, "We cannot allow it to be said that the difference between those who lived and those who died" amounted to "nothing more than poverty, age or skin color."
There was shock at the slow respons... (more)
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Footage shows bombers not 'duped'
For many, the most disturbing aspect of Mohammsd Sidique Khan's pre-suicide bombing video message was that it was delivered in a Yorkshire accent. But the tape will be the subject of intense analysis to glean information about the July 7 attacks and those connected to the four suicide bombers.
The analysis will be carried out by members of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch and the Special Branch, MI5 and experts from GCHQ. Details will be passed on to the US an... (more)
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Al-Qaeda may have more film of London bombersAL-QAEDA is reported to have more home-made film from the July 7 bombers.
The additional footage is believed to include the gang’s leader, Mohammad Siddique Khan, directly confessing to the attacks on London which killed 56 people. Another of the cell, Shehzad Tanweer is also said to appear, according to a source involved in obtaining the film for the Arab satellite channel, Al-Jazeera.
Police and intelligence experts who were yesterday studying the material, ... (more)
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Charles Clarke: 'Big brother's here now'Home Secretary Charles Clarke last night tried to breathe new life into his bid to introduce national identity cards and declared: "Big Brother society is already here and my job is to control it."
He told the EDP that the argument that cards would infringe civil liberties was "ridiculous" - and promised to present new proposals about the cost and make-up of the ID cards "within a couple of weeks".
He attacked the "Big Brother state" accusation head-on, insisting: "... (more)
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EU dismisses military threat against IranThe European Union reiterated that it wants to resume nuclear talks with Iran, denying that anybody was threatening military action against the Islamic state.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, speaking after hosting a two-day meeting with his EU counterparts, said leaders will study closely a report to be published this weekend by the UN nuclear watchdog into Iran's nuclear plans, AFP reported.
The United States suspects that the Islamic republic is trying to de... (more)
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Popular Science: New Orleans named as Prime target Months ago It takes Scott Kiser only a split second to name the one city in the U.S., and probably the world, that would sustain the most catastrophic damage from a category-5 hurricane. "New Orleans," says Kiser, a tropical-cyclone program manager for the National Weather Service. "Because the city is below sea level—with the Mississippi River on one side and Lake Pontchartrain on the other—it is a hydrologic nightmare." The worst problem, he explains, would be a storm surge, a phenomenon in ... (more)
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The modern rules of advertising?Men are tired of their portrayal in advertising, according to a new book by Michael Buerk. But images of men behaving stupidly is not the only cliche which irritates writer John Camm.
Dad in muddy boots walking blithely across a kitchen floor just cleaned by an exasperated mum who just gives a frustrated but loving smile to her giggly children, who cry out: "Da-a-ad!".
Just one advertising cliche, and just one where no-one behaves like people really do.
... (more)
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Ex-officials say weakened FEMA botched responseGovernment disaster officials had an action plan if a major hurricane hit New Orleans. They simply didn't execute it when Hurricane Katrina struck.
Thirteen months before Katrina hit New Orleans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill that Ronald Castleman, then the regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, called "a very good exercise."
More than a million residents were "evacuated" in the table-top scenario as 120 ... (more)
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The questions a shocked America is asking its PresidentWhy has it taken George Bush five days to get to New Orleans?
President Bush was on holiday in Texas when Katrina struck. He then spent Monday on a pre-arranged political fundraising tour of California and Arizona, which he did not cancel or curtail. On Tuesday he surveyed the hurricane damage - but only from the flight deck of Air Force One, prompting criticism that he was too detached from the suffering on the ground. He didn't give a speech until Tuesday afternoon - 36 h... (more)
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Lobbying against AmericaThere's no denying both political parties in Congress are now owned lock, stock and barrel by corporate interests. Our nation's elected officials in Washington have formed a partnership with the corporate supremacists and special interest groups in an effort to drive profits to the bottom line of U.S. multinationals at the expense of hard-working Americans.
Congress over the past few months has all-too-willingly approved corporate-friendly -- and often corporate-written -- transpo... (more)
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The big disconnect on New Orleans: The official version; then there's the in-the-trenches versionDiverging views of a crumbling New Orleans emerged Thursday, with statements by some federal officials in contradiction with grittier, more desperate views from the streets. By late Friday response to those stranded in the city was more visible.
But the conflicting views on Thursday came within hours, sometimes minutes of each of each other, as reflected in CNN's transcripts. The speakers include Michael Brown, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Homeland Security Di... (more)
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Marsha J. Evans, President and CEO of the American Red Cross Salary for year ending 06/30/03 was $651,957American National Red Cross
emergency relief
Washington, DC
http://www.redcross.org
Top Person: Marsha Evans
Top Salary:* $651,957
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Top Salvation Army Commissioner salary: $13,000 per year plus housing -- President of the United Way: $375,000 base salary plus benefits -- Red Cross President: $450,000 plus benefits.Christmas is the time of the year when we give the most to charity. Perhaps it is because it is a joyful season, and our hearts are open. Perhaps it is because as we look back over the year about to end, we realize how richly God has blessed us. Perhaps the reason is something as pragmatic as tax deductions. Whatever our motivation, it is essential, more than ever, that we be able to trust the charity to which we give our hard-earned dollars.
If we have learned anything since 9/11... (more)
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