Judge Orders La. School District to Stop Bible Giveaways

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge ordered a public school system to stop allowing in-school Bible giveaways, saying the practice violates the First Amendment separation of church and state.
"Distribution of Bibles is a religious activity without a secular purpose" and amounts to school board promotion of Christianity, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier ruled in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana against the Tangipahoa Parish School Board.
As requested by both sides, Barbier made a summary judgment based only on the written briefs — something judges may do only if the law is absolutely clear.
Defense attorney Christopher M. Moody said late Tuesday that the school board decided to appeal the ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal.

World Food Program warns of 'silent tsunami' of hunger

LONDON (AP) - Ration cards. Genetically modified crops. The end of pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap supermarkets.

These possible solutions to the first global food crisis since World War II—which the World Food Program says already threatens 20 million of the poorest children—are complex and controversial. And they may not even solve the problem as demand continues to soar.

A "silent tsunami" of hunger is sweeping the world's most desperate nations, said Josette Sheeran, the WFP's executive director, speaking Tuesday at a London summit on the crisis.
The skyrocketing cost of food staples, stoked by rising fuel prices, unpredictable weather and demand from India and China, has already sparked sometimes violent protests across the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

Sam's Club, Costco Limit Rice Purchases

Costco Exec: Rising Rice Demand in U.S. May Be Driven by Food Shortage News NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc's Sam's Club warehouse division said on Wednesday it is limiting sales of Jasmine, Basmati and long grain white rice "due to recent supply and demand trends." The news came as rice prices surged, with U.S. rice futures hitting an all-time high Wednesday on worries about supply shortages. On Tuesday, Costco Wholesale Corp, the largest U.S. warehouse club operator, said it has seen increased demand for items like rice and flour as customers, worried about global food shortages and rising prices, stock up.

Food crisis: rationing introduced in bid to protect rice supplies

World rice price hits record high

Global rice shortage sparks panic

Food crisis needs aid on scale of tsunami to avert famine

US rice sets new high on supply fears; wheat sags

India predicts record grain harvest but experts say not enough

Food crisis can’t wait

Effort to Rein In Fannie, Freddie Gains Steam

China fund raises global spending power

China down to 12 days of coal stocks

Oil prices pause within sight of 120 dollars

N. Koreans Were Taped At Secret Syrian Reactor

A video taken inside a secret Syrian facility last summer convinced the Israeli government and the Bush administration that North Korea was helping to construct a reactor similar to one that produces plutonium for North Korea's nuclear arsenal, according to senior U.S. officials who said it would be shared with lawmakers today. The officials said the video of the remote site, code-named Al Kibar by the Syrians, shows North Koreans inside. It played a pivotal role in Israel's decision to bomb the facility late at night last Sept. 6...

Evidence on Syrian Nuke Project Today

U.S. thinks N.Korea aided Syria on plutonium program

Information on Syrian nuke reactor to be revealed 'soon'

'Syria must cut ties with terror'

NYC Is Getting a New High-Tech Defense Perimeter. Let's Hope It Works

At the southernmost end of Brooklyn, just off Dead Horse Bay, there's a weather-beaten helipad where the New York Police Department keeps a gray unmarked twin-engine Bell 412 helicopter. Detective Brendan Galligan ushers me aboard. "We don't really let people see this," he says. We climb in behind the pilot and find ourselves facing a console with three screens: One shows a map of the city; another, an interface for checking license plates and addresses; and the third, the view from a gyro-stabilized L-3 Wescam camera attached to the...

Operation Sudden Impact: Training for martial law in USA?

FBI: Interrogation tactics might be illegal

"Mobsters without borders" are global threat: U.S

All eyes on IP video surveillance

9 people detained as Germans raid Islamic centers

Russian Navy conducts tactical missile drill in Barents Sea

MOSCOW, April 23 (RIA Novosti) -- The nuclear powered missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy of Russia's Northern Fleet has completed a missile firing exercise in the Barents Sea, a Navy spokesman said on Wednesday. "The live fire exercise was carried out as part of a tactical drill at a test site in the Barents Sea," Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said. He said, in particular, the battle-cruiser...

West asks Russia to revoke move on Georgia regions

Russia embraces its church, distancing western faiths

Scientists: Even Bigger Quake Could Hit Midwest

The magnitude 5.2 earthquake that rocked the Midwest on Friday was felt from Kansas to Georgia, and aftershocks could continue for months at this strange seismic zone at the nation's center and even trigger another big quake, a geophysicist said. The quake occurred on a northern extension of the New Madrid fault, about 6 miles north of Mt. Carmel, Ill. The New Madrid fault was responsible for devastating quakes in the Mississippi Valley in 1811 and 1812. So the Friday quake and its aftershocks likely are raising the blood pressure...

Strong earthquake startles Brazilians

Magnitude 5.5 Earthquake Strikes Vanuatu in Pacific, USGS Says

Scientists find two new earthquake faults in Western Washington

SEATTLE -- New earthquake maps for Washington State show there could be some violent shaking from south of Olympia to the Canadian border. Washingtonians know they live on shaky ground. Sometimes violently shaking ground. But scientists had some nasty surprises up their sleeves Wednesday. They found two new fault lines - one near Port Angeles; the other near Bellingham.

Volcanic Eruption Of 1600 Caused Global Disruption

ScienceDaily (Apr. 23, 2008) — The 1600 eruption of Huaynaputina in Peru had a global impact on human society, according to a new study of contemporary records by geologists at UC Davis. The eruption is known to have put a large amount of sulfur into the atmosphere, and tree ring studies show that 1601 was a cold year, but no one had looked at the agricultural and social impacts, said Ken Verosub...

Giant Undersea Volcano Found Off Iceland

Australian drought has global impact

THE effects of Australia's drought are being felt around the world as a global food shortage is partly blamed on low crop yields. Record grain prices and a downturn in production yesterday prompted the United Nations World Food Program to describe the crisis as a "silent tsunami" that could affect more than 100 million. Australia is among the top five rice exporters in the world, providing the food staple to millions of people.

Drought the biggest threat to Prairie provinces

Sun cycles seen not key to recent global warming