And can you believe these people took a “summer recess?” I guess they are modeling after the U.S. Our congress is in session a total of (I believe this is correct) 71 days a year.

September 6, 2006

BY ELENA BECATOROS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq’s parliament reopened Tuesday after a summer recess and voted to extend a state of emergency for a month because of unrelenting sectarian violence, while its president predicted bloodshed will be quelled by the end of next year.

Read more here

NASA Postpones Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis After Discovering Problems With Fuel Cell

SETH BORENSTEINAP Science Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL Sep 6, 2006 (AP)- NASA postponed the launch of space shuttle Atlantis by another day after discovering problems with a fuel cell early Wednesday.

Fueling the shuttle never got underway before one of three cells providing electricity malfunctioned. The space agency planned to further examine the problem and try again Thursday.

The shuttle, which is on a construction mission to the international space station, was already delayed by the Columbia shuttle accident, continued safety problems after Discovery’s flight in 2005, a lightning strike in August and the threat of Tropical Storm Ernesto.

If Atlantis doesn’t get in the air this week, the next chance probably won’t come until late October.

The shuttle was to deliver a 35,000-pound, $372 million addition to the half-built international space station during an 11-day mission. Four astronauts will take three spacewalks to resume construction on the orbiting lab, the first such work in 3 1/2 years after the Columbia disintegrated while returning to Earth.

This mission to deliver two girders crucial to the space station’s continued expansion must be done before the final 14 shuttle flights.

More here

That NASA… sure are on top of things!

September 06, 2006 6:20 AM

ABC News

Brian Ross Reports:

The government of Pakistan today denied it would allow Osama bin Laden to avoid capture under terms of a peace agreement it signed with Taliban leaders in the country’s North Waziristan area.

“If he is in Pakistan, today or any time later, he will be taken into custody and brought to justice,” the Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Mahmud Ali Durrani, said in a statement.

The ambassador said a Pakistani military spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan, had been “grossly misquoted” when he told ABC News Tuesday that bin Laden would not be taken into custody “as long as one is being like a peaceful citizen.” The comments were recorded in a telephone interview with ABC News.

Full article here

Well, NOW I can sleep better…

BILL BLAKEMORE and CLAYTON SANDELL
ABC News

Sept. 6, 2006 - Summer at the North Pole may be gorgeous, but the news from there is devastating again this year.

“The land of the polar bear” - where in fact there is no land, only frozen sea surface - is melting.

America’s “summer air conditioner” - the vast fields of sea ice that constantly rotate around the North Pole and feed cooling winds that sweep down to the lower 48 - is continuing to shrink back this summer.

It is the effect of global warming occurring far faster than scientists predicted just a few years ago.

The refreezing of sea ice during the long, dark polar night of winter is also reportedly declining sharply.

Scientists believe this is all due not only to higher average temperatures of the air but also to the water, contributing to an Arctic that could be ice-free in summer far sooner than predicted only a year ago.

“It’s continuing the pattern of extreme sea-ice loss,” Mark Serreze of the National Snow and Ice Data Center said to ABC News. “What we’re seeing in 2006 is way below the average ice extent over the 20 years ending in 2000.”

There are still three weeks to go before the Arctic’s “summer sea ice minimum,” and already experts at the data center can see the bad news - and you can, too, at “Figure 2″ when you click here.

That light-blue line snaking down and hugging the dotted line? It’s bad news.

More…

When you see this happening, right before your very eyes, how can you doubt global warming?

Sorry I’m late with this information! The World Can’t Wait organization is holding meetings nationwide today/tonight to prepare for a major demonstration on October 5th.

In every city where World Can-t Wait has organization, and in many cities where it doesn-t yet, people will gather simultaneously at 7pm on Thursday September 7 to get organized. They-ll hear from leaders of the movement, and meet others in their area ready to organize for a day of mass protest exactly 4 weeks later.

For a list of meeting places in your area, go here

Cool!!

Google is expanding its controversial Google News service with a searchable archive that spans articles from the past 200 years.
The Google News Archive Search, which launched today, will allow consumers to find articles on historical events of interest - such as the England 1966 World Cup win or President Kennedy’s assassination - that were written at the time.

Article here