President will attend Olympics' opening
Friday, July 4, 2008
| WASHINGTON - President Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing, the White House said yesterday. The announcement quashed any talk of a presidential boycott over China's violent crackdown after antigovernment riots in Tibet.
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Independent studies
Friday, July 4, 2008
| CLARKSBURG, Md. - Historian James Heintze can tick off colorful accounts of how the nation has celebrated the Fourth of July over the years: In the 19th century, cannons fired, church bells sounded, and fireworks exploded.
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Aided suicide roils Germany
Friday, July 4, 2008
| BERLIN - Bettina Schardt knew that the combination of drugs she drank in the living room of her home in Wuerzburg last week would kill her, and she died alone.
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Some defy fire evacuations to save property
Friday, July 4, 2008
| BIG SUR, Calif. - An explosive wildfire ravaged the hillsides above this scenic coastal community yesterday, leaving the popular tourist region mostly deserted ahead of the holiday weekend.
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McCain praises Mexican drug fight, U.S. aid
Friday, July 4, 2008
| MEXICO CITY - Ending a three-day trip to Colombia and Mexico, John McCain praised Mexican drug-fighting efforts yesterday and hailed a U.S. aid package for security forces here as a key step forward in bilateral relations.
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Hedge-fund scammer begins serving sentence
Friday, July 4, 2008
| NEW YORK - A hedge-fund cheat who tried to fake his death and spent nearly a month as a fugitive told a judge yesterday that he really did try to commit suicide while on the run, saying he thought it would be better to do himself in than turn himself in.
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Pope backs sainthood for Belgian
Friday, July 4, 2008
| VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI yesterday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of a 19th-century Belgian priest who ministered to leprosy patients in Hawaii, opening the way for sainthood.
| Discuss
Probe finds more passport snoops
Friday, July 4, 2008
| WASHINGTON - An internal State Department investigative report suggests that employees may have been snooping on the passport records of celebrities far more than previously disclosed. It urges new steps to secure the files.
| Discuss
As hostages, life kept getting worse
Friday, July 4, 2008
| BOGOTA, Colombia - A meal was rice and beans. Bed was the ground under a patched plastic tarp. They bathed in rivers, and when they were not chained by the neck to trees, they were forced on long marches to new hideouts under the jungle canopy.
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Italy, citing crime, targets Gypsies
Friday, July 4, 2008
| ROME - Italian authorities have started fingerprinting tens of thousands of Gypsies living in nomad camps across the country - adults and children alike - brushing aside accusations of racism by human-rights advocates and international organizations.
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With Iraq quieter, leader to travel abroad
Friday, July 4, 2008
| BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister plans trips to Europe and the Persian Gulf this month, apparently hoping improved security at home will pay dividends in greater international support - including from a country that did not back the U.S. invasion.
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Three Americans In Good Condition
Friday, July 4, 2008
| The three U.S. hostages rescued from Colombian rebels are in good condition and undergoing the transition back to normal life, military officials said yesterday.
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Olmert proposes demolishing homes of attackers' kin
Friday, July 4, 2008
| JERUSALEM - A day after a Palestinian construction worker's deadly rampage in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday called for reviving the practice of demolishing the homes of attackers' families, and his chief deputy proposed cutting some Arab neighborhoods off from the rest of the city.
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Rent by charter school probed
Friday, July 4, 2008
| The Philadelphia Academy Charter School has been paying nearly $67,000 a month in rent to an independent nonprofit that is now a focus of an expanding federal criminal investigation, according to records and interviews.
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In Colombia, McCain talks up trade deals
Thursday, July 3, 2008
| CARTAGENA, Colombia - John McCain hailed the economic benefits of free trade to Colombians yesterday, raising the possibility of an eventual hemisphere-wide agreement even though a weak economy at home has soured many U.S. voters on trade agreements.
| Discuss
Fugitive in hedge-fund scam surrenders
Thursday, July 3, 2008
| SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - A hedge-fund swindler who set off a national manhunt when he faked his suicide the day he was supposed to report to prison surrendered to small-town police in Massachusetts yesterday after hiding out for three weeks in his recreational vehicle.
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Palestinian kills 3 in Jerusalem during rampage
Thursday, July 3, 2008
| JERUSALEM - A Palestinian man driving a construction vehicle went on a rampage in downtown Jerusalem yesterday, crushing cars, overturning a bus, and killing three people.
| Discuss
Big Sur evacuated
Thursday, July 3, 2008
| BIG SUR, Calif. - Authorities ordered most of the remaining residents of this scenic coastal community to leave yesterday because an out-of-control wildfire, one of hundreds in California, had jumped a fire line and was threatening more homes.
| Discuss
S. Korean autoworkers strike to protest beef imports
Thursday, July 3, 2008
| SEOUL, South Korea - Tens of thousands of South Korean autoworkers went on strike yesterday to oppose imports of U.S. beef and the pro-business policies of President Lee Myung Bak, joining antigovernment demonstrations that have raged for weeks.
| Discuss
FBI could start looking up citizens without cause soon
Thursday, July 3, 2008
| WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is considering letting the FBI investigate Americans without any evidence of wrongdoing, relying instead on a terrorist profile that could single out Muslims, Arabs, or other racial and ethnic groups.
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FBI seeks living culprits of infamous '46 lynchings
Thursday, July 3, 2008
| MONROE, Ga. - Federal and state agents swarmed the backyard of a modest white house in rural northeast Georgia this week in search of clues that could be linked to living suspects involved in four unsolved 1946 lynchings.
| Discuss
Hezbollah confirms Israel swap
Thursday, July 3, 2008
| BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah's leader yesterday confirmed for the first time that his Iranian-backed group would hand over two captured Israeli soldiers and information on a missing Israeli airman in exchange for five Lebanese prisoners in Israel.
| Discuss
Flooded areas face mosquito explosion
Thursday, July 3, 2008
| CHICAGO - First came the floods. Now the mosquitoes.
An explosion of pesky insects is pestering cleanup crews and just about anyone venturing outside in the waterlogged Midwest.
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Obama urges voluntary service to country
Thursday, July 3, 2008
| COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Continuing to press values themes, Sen. Barack Obama exhorted Americans yesterday "to step into the strong currents of history" and volunteer for service to their country, pledging to dramatically expand opportunities for those accepting his challenge.
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Clearing the record
Thursday, July 3, 2008
| An article yesterday about quick sales of some local homes gave an incorrect job title for home-seller Robyn Goldman. She is chief operating officer of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania.
| Discuss
Gas lines raise frustration in Iraq
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| BAGHDAD - Frustrated Iraqis trying to fill up their cars faced miles-long gas lines in temperatures soaring above 100 degrees yesterday - a stark reminder that a country with one of the world's largest oil reserves still has major difficulties delivering fuel to its people.
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Israel warns Hamas on attacks
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Palestinian extremists yesterday that Israel would respond with force if attacks from the Gaza Strip persisted in defiance of a recent truce.
| Discuss
'Double jeopardy' claimed in case of ex-Khmer aide
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Lawyers for the former Khmer Rouge foreign minister told Cambodia's genocide tribunal yesterday that its case against him violated "double jeopardy" principles because he already had been convicted of crimes against humanity and pardoned.
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Major design change set for WTC transit hub
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| NEW YORK - The World Trade Center's owner yesterday announced a major design change to its multibillion-dollar transit hub, a day after concluding that most projects at ground zero were behind schedule and over budget.
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McCain in Colombia sends message home
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| CARTAGENA, Colombia - Sen. John McCain's trip here yesterday was part of an unusual three-day presidential-campaign swing to Latin America with a dual message for voters back home.
| Discuss
As Games near, China targets locusts
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| BEIJING - Two days after announcing the mobilization of 10,000 workers to clear blue-green algae from Olympic sailing waters, officials said yesterday that more than 33,000 exterminators have been dispatched to battle a locust infestation in northern China in hopes of preventing a potentially disastrous migration to Beijing during next month's Games.
| Discuss
Report shows slow pace of change in Iraq
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| WASHINGTON - No matter who is elected president in November, his foreign-policy team will have to deal with one of the most frustrating realities in Iraq: the slow pace with which the government in Baghdad operates.
| Discuss
Videos: Mexico police get practice in torture
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| MEXICO CITY - Videos showing Leon city police practicing torture techniques on a fellow officer and dragging another through vomit at the instruction of an adviser from a U.S. security company created an uproar yesterday in Mexico, which has struggled to eliminate torture in law enforcement.
| Discuss
FDA widens salmonella vegetable hunt
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| WASHINGTON - Adding to tomato confusion, the government is about to start testing numerous other types of fresh produce in the hunt for the source of the nation's record salmonella outbreak - even as it insists tomatoes remain the leading suspect.
| Discuss
Iraqi insurgents allegedly trained by Hezbollah
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| BAGHDAD - Hezbollah instructors trained Shiite militiamen at remote camps in southern Iraq until three months ago, when they slipped across the border to Iran - presumably to continue instruction on Iranian soil, according to two Shiite lawmakers and a top army officer.
| Discuss
U.S. officials' dinner invite leads to Beijing clampdown
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| BEIJING - Several human-rights lawyers were detained and later put under house arrest by China's security officials to prevent them from attending a dinner hosted Sunday by two members of the U.S. Congress.
| Discuss
Testing guidelines eased for 6 states
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| WASHINGTON - Six states are getting the OK to write their own prescriptions for ailing schools under the Bush administration's signature education law.
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Nice digs: Pa. event boosts McCain coffers
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
| Sen. John McCain picked up $1.5 million for his campaign and the Republican Party during a cocktail reception Monday night in an air-conditioned tent on the grounds of a Bryn Mawr estate.
| Discuss
Blinded in war, but still serving
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| FORT BRAGG, N.C. - When Capt. Ivan Castro joined the Army, he set goals: to jump out of planes, kick in doors, and lead soldiers into combat. He achieved them all. Then the mortar round landed five feet away, blasting away his sight.
| Discuss
McCain: Pa. tough, winnable
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| Sen. John McCain acknowledged yesterday that it would be difficult for him to carry Democratic-trending Pennsylvania this fall, but the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said he was confident he could do so by convincing voters he can right the economy.
| Discuss
Algae invade Olympic boating location
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| BEIJING - To host the Olympic sailing events, the Chinese port city of Qingdao moved a massive boat yard, relocated industries, and spent about $850 million on transport links, parks, pollution controls and coastal green belts.
| Discuss
Tensions mounting as Games close in
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| BEIIJING - Senior leaders urged local officials to deal more quickly with festering social tensions that might tarnish the Olympic Games, as censors tried to snuff out all news about a weekend riot in southern China.
| Discuss
Firefighters must pick their battles
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| SAN FRANCISCO - With hundreds of wildfires raging across remote, rugged parts of California for a second week, fire officials have been forced to strategically choose which to fight and which to leave to burn for weeks or even months.
| Discuss
Wall by wall, security rises
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| BAGHDAD - The Iraqi capital hasn't been this quiet in years. But the respite from bloodshed comes at a high price.
| Discuss
Fujimori not linked to killings, ex-aide testifies
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| LIMA, Peru - A former Peruvian spymaster whose misdeeds contributed to the collapse of Alberto Fujimori's government eight years ago told a top court yesterday that the former president had nothing to do with two death-squad massacres he is accused of authorizing.
| Discuss
Director suggests overhaul of plan for WTC site
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| NEW YORK - The chief of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the World Trade Center, yesterday proposed scrapping the schedule and budget for the rebuilding of the site of the Sept. 11 attacks, saying that nearly every project is delayed and over budget and that previous estimates are unrealistic.
| Discuss
Rendell gets education increase in budget
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| Governor Rendell's proposed 2008-09 education budget sought to create a predictable and long-term education funding system for Pennsylvania that would take the first step toward increasing state funding for school districts by $2.6 billion over the next six years.
| Discuss
Price for soldier high, Hamas says
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas extremists holding an Israeli soldier said yesterday that they would stick to their tough demands in negotiations over his release, emboldened by the high price Israel is paying in a planned prisoner swap with Hezbollah.
| Discuss
Hackers add Soviet logos to Web sites
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| VILNIUS, Lithuania - Unidentified hackers broke into several hundred Lithuanian Web sites over the weekend, plastering them with communist symbols, government officials said yesterday.
| Discuss
Gun deaths at home are often suicides
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| ATLANTA - The Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves.
| Discuss
Clearing the record
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| An article yesterday about picking a vice presidential candidate misstated what happened to Spiro Agnew after he resigned from the vice presidency in 1973. He pleaded no contest to tax evasion and received a suspended sentence; he never went to prison.
| Discuss
Obama, Bill Clinton have a talk by phone
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| WASHINGTON - The silence has been broken. Sen. Barack Obama yesterday asked former President Bill Clinton to campaign for him. It was the first conversation between the two since the end of the heated Democratic primary early last month.
| Discuss
Santorum and Wofford join for global cause
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| Rick Santorum and Harris Wofford, combatants in a bitter and high-profile U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania during the 1990s, are joining together in common cause.
| Discuss
Afghanistan deadlier than Iraq
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
| KABUL, Afghanistan - Militants killed more U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan than in Iraq last month, as they did in May.
| Discuss
Mugabe begins sixth term; rival calls it 'self-delusion'
Monday, June 30, 2008
| HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's longtime ruler Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president for a sixth term yesterday after a widely discredited runoff in which he was the only candidate. His main rival dismissed the inauguration as "an exercise in self-delusion."
| Discuss
China opposes sanctions on Zimbabwe
Monday, June 30, 2008
| BEIJING - A U.S.-led push to punish Zimbabwe ran into resistance yesterday from China, which can veto U.N. penalties sought against its African ally over President Robert Mugabe's claim to reelection.
| Discuss
Military offense targets Khyber
Monday, June 30, 2008
| PESHAWAR, Pakistan - When government troops pushed their way into a local warlord's stronghold just outside one of Pakistan's major cities over the weekend, what they found followed a familiar pattern.
| Discuss
A marital theme in San Francisco.
Monday, June 30, 2008
| SAN FRANCISCO - A lesbian motorcycle group dressed in bridal veils and wedding gowns lent a matrimonial touch to San Francisco's gay-pride parade yesterday as revelers celebrated their newfound freedom to marry.
| Discuss
Israel to release convict in killings, get 2 bodies
Monday, June 30, 2008
| JERUSALEM - The Israeli government agreed yesterday to free a Lebanese gunman convicted in one of the grisliest attacks in the country's history in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah guerrillas.
| Discuss
No relief seen from wildfires
Monday, June 30, 2008
| SAN FRANCISCO - Firefighters made slow progress yesterday against more than a thousand wildfires burning throughout Northern California, but forecasters said dangerous fire conditions would not relent anytime soon.
| Discuss
Billy Graham, son visited by McCain
Monday, June 30, 2008
| MONTREAT, N.C. - Sen. John McCain met yesterday with evangelist Billy Graham and his son, Franklin, at the family's mountaintop retreat.
| Discuss
Iraq: Probe U.S. troops' killing role
Monday, June 30, 2008
| BAGHDAD - Infuriated by the recent shooting deaths of four civilians by U.S. soldiers, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has decided to appoint a judge to hear evidence in the cases, a close aide said yesterday.
| Discuss
Obama and McCain court Hispanic vote
Monday, June 30, 2008
| WASHINGTON - Presidential rivals John McCain and Barack Obama vied over the weekend for the support of Hispanics, courting a pivotal constituency by vowing to revamp immigration policy.
| Discuss
Choosing a No. 2: The ins and outs
Monday, June 30, 2008
| The sight of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton together in Unity, N.H., is sure to refuel the endless guessing game over who will occupy the second spots on the major-party tickets.
| Discuss
Iran warns it would hit Israel if attacked, report says
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| TEHRAN, Iran - The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned that Tehran would respond to an attack against it by barraging Israel with missiles and controlling a key oil passageway in the Persian Gulf, said a newspaper report published yesterday.
| Discuss
Sweet music from the barrio
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| SAN SEBASTIAN DE LOS REYES, Venezuela - A violin case slung over her shoulder, 10-year-old Daniela Fagundez trudges home along a row of muddy yards where chickens scratch among banana trees and laundry hangs drying on wire fences.
| Discuss
Lawsuit reopening could cost U.S. billions
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| WASHINGTON - Lawmakers budgeted just $100 million for damages when they reopened the government's discrimination settlement with black farmers. They probably should have handed over a blank check.
| Discuss
Deadly storm leaves Omaha in the dark
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| OMAHA, Neb. - Nebraska's largest city struggled yesterday to restore power to thousands of residents a day after a severe storm damaged homes, uprooted trees, and killed two people in a neighboring community.
| Discuss
Valiant effort for naught
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| WINFIELD, Mo. - A makeshift barrier holding back the Mississippi River failed early yesterday, swamping the low-lying part of the small community of Winfield and ending a valiant but ultimately doomed battle against the surging river.
| Discuss
Wildfire smoke creates pollution risk in Calif.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Hundreds of lightning-sparked wildfires have turned the air of Northern California into an unhealthy stew of smoke and ash, forcing the cancellation of athletic events and other outdoor activities.
| Discuss
Protests against shrine turn violent in India
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| SRINAGAR, India - Tens of thousands of demonstrators paralyzed cities in Indian-controlled Kashmir yesterday with protests against what they claim is a government plan to build Hindu settlements to change the religious balance in the Muslim-majority region.
| Discuss
A New Jersey Property-Tax Primer
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| Unlike in Pennsylvania, where reassessments are conducted by counties, the task in New Jersey falls under the purview of individual municipalities.
| Discuss
Kosovo's hard-line Serbs create own parliament
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| MITROVICA, Kosovo - Kosovo's hard-line Serb leaders formed their own parliament yesterday, ignoring Kosovo's declaration of independence and defying its United Nations administrators.
| Discuss
Rice assures South Koreans that beef from U.S. is safe
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| SEOUL, South Korea - America's chief diplomat found herself vouching for the purity of U.S. cattle yesterday, wading into a bitter trade dispute that for South Koreans has eclipsed the long-running drama over North Korea's nuclear activity and threatened the government of President Lee Myung-bak.
| Discuss
Al-Qaeda group says Iraqi blast was its doing
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| BAGHDAD - An al-Qaeda front organization claimed responsibility yesterday for a suicide bombing that killed more than 20 people - including three Marines - as the U.S. military stepped up pressure on extremists in northern Iraq.
| Discuss
Carnivals feel pinch of economy
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| HAMILTON, N.D. - In the heyday of the Pembina County Fair, about two dozen carnival rides filled up the fairground midway. The Ferris Wheel. The Tilt-a-Whirl. The Octopus.
| Discuss
McCain cites Iraq progress
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| WASHINGTON - Appearing together in solidarity, Republican Sen. John McCain and Iraq's president said yesterday that the war-ravaged country is making significant, but fragile, progress.
| Discuss
Militants killed in Afghan battle
Sunday, June 29, 2008
| KABUL, Afghanistan - Troops fought gun battles and called in air strikes against insurgents in southern Afghanistan, killing 32 militants, the U.S.-led coalition said yesterday. Attacks elsewhere killed five workers for a construction firm and a police officer, while a British soldier died when his vehicle overturned.
| Discuss
Clinton, Obama join forces against GOP
Saturday, June 28, 2008
| UNITY, N.H. - Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton embraced, praised each other and locked hands in unity yesterday, hoping to persuade legions of still-skeptical Clinton backers to rally around her onetime rival.
| Discuss
Zimbabwe voters are forced into charade
Saturday, June 28, 2008
| HARARE, Zimbabwe - Roaming bands of government supporters heckled, harassed or threatened people into voting in a runoff election yesterday in which President Robert Mugabe was the only candidate, ensuring he will remain in power despite international condemnation of the balloting as a sham.
| Discuss
In antinuclear display, N. Korea destroys part of plutonium plant
Saturday, June 28, 2008
| KYOTO, Japan - North Korea dynamited the dirty gray cooling tower at its deactivated Yongbyon nuclear facility yesterday, a made-for-TV event intended to show the United States and the world that it is serious about abandoning its nuclear-weapons program.
| Discuss
Dentist gets jail in theft of corpses
Saturday, June 28, 2008
| NEW YORK - The mastermind behind a multimillion-dollar scheme to loot hundreds of corpses and sell bone and tissue for transplants was sentenced yesterday to 18 to 54 years in prison after apologizing to the grieving survivors.
| Discuss
McCain makes pitch to GM autoworkers
Saturday, June 28, 2008
| LORDSTOWN, Ohio - Republican Sen. John McCain yesterday told autoworkers in an economically depressed area of Ohio that he supported the free-trade agreements that many of them believe cost jobs, but that he also backed government investment to help produce the electric cars of the future.
| Discuss
Muskrat causes a levee to fail
Saturday, June 28, 2008
| WINFIELD, Mo. - A heroic effort by hundreds of townspeople, volunteers and national guardsmen to hold back the Mississippi River failed yesterday - undone by a burrowing muskrat.
| Discuss
Israel holds Gaza blockade as extremists fire mortars
Saturday, June 28, 2008
| JERUSALEM - Israel refused yesterday to fully open crossings with the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian extremists attacked Israel with mortars, further testing an already-fragile truce.
| Discuss
Armed militants threaten strategic city in Pakistan
Saturday, June 28, 2008
| PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Heavily armed Islamic militants have massed on the outskirts of Peshawar, the strategic provincial capital in northwest Pakistan, and the Pakistani government has dramatically stepped up security around the city amid fears that it could fall.
| Discuss
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