Nizar Rayyan, a considered successor of Hammas founder Ahmed Yassin [wiki], has been killed January 1, 2009 after an Israeli airstrike targeted his house at the Jabalya Palestinian refugee camp in the northern Gaza. Together with him were several of his family members according to Xinhua. Nizar Rayyan (pictured above), Hamas's political-military liaison, is the most senior Hamas leader to be killed since the death of Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi [wiki] in April 2004, BBC noted.
Illustrative photo via Javno.com
The United States launched an airstrike in Southern Somalia to target a "known" terrorist suspect affiliated with East African al Qaeda operations early Monday. Three missiles reportedly fired from military planes hit a town near Dhoobley held by Islamic extremists. Dhoobley's District Commissioner Ali Nur Ali Dherre told CNN, the strike destroyed two houses -- killing three women and three children, and wounding another 20 people. The operation was confirmed by the Pentagon officials but yet to determine if the mission was successful or not.
AP Photo/Bill Haber
USS New York (United States Ship New York, LPD-21), the fifth ship in the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock was christened by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England's wife Dotty who smashing a bottle of champagne against it (picture below) in a ceremony attending by thousands held at the base of Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in Avondale, Louisiana on Saturday March 1st.
The amphibious assault ship, the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of New York, was partially built with scrap steel from the World Trade Centre as a floating monument to the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
George Pataki, the then-New York Governor, asked the Navy to commemorate the disaster by reviving the name New York, which required an exception to Navy policy of assigning state names only to nuclear submarines.
The billion-dollar, 25,000-ton vessel, which can carry a crew of about 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines, is 684 feet long, 105 feet wide.
The warship's bow stem, which contains 7.5 tons of steel from the site, bore a shield with two gray bars to symbolize the twin towers and a banner over that declaring "Never Forget," a slogan among New Yorkers.
Photo credit: Tiffini M. Jones
Along with the steel from one of the worst terrorist attacks in the U.S., it also survived one of the nation's worst natural disasters: Hurricane Katrina.
USS New York's prospective commanding officer is Cmdr. F. Curtis Jones, a native New Yorker, and the ship is expected to be commissioned in New York City in September 2009.
September 11th Families' Association president Lee Ielpi (his firefighter son died at the WTC) said, "[The ship won't be used for war] unless you bother us.....This ship, as it cuts through the water, is going to send a ripple. That ripple will say, 'We cherish our freedom.'"
Apparently , Rep. Vito Fossella, R-N.Y., was aggressive, "If the USS New York has to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, PCO Jones and his crew ... have my full support."
Source: AP
US$1.2 Billion Monster: B-2 Stealth Bomber
A B-2 stealth bomber crashed Saturday morning at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam, a U.S. Pacific island territory 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii. Both pilots ejected safely and were in good condition. A board of officers will investigate the accident.
A slightly expensive B2 Bomber has crashed in Guam this morning. The B2 Bomber has a hefty sticker price of $1.2 Billion and that doesn't include the radio and A/C! The newer B2's have the Sirius Satellite radio built in it but they just don't get good reception in Baghdad. For those missions you'll want to use the CD player or get an iPod attachment.
The 2 pilots of the B2 Bomber were able to eject safely after the flying wedge crashed shortly after takeoff from its base at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. However, with a loss of $1.2 Billion we expect they'll have some questions to answer.
According to the Postchronicle, the aircraft was taking off with three others on their last flight out of Guam after a four-month deployment, part of a continuous U.S. bomber presence in the western Pacific
AFP report:
A Close-up of B-2 Bomber
The stealth crash is the first for the B-2 bomber, a radar evading long range bomber developed by Northrop Grumman that first saw combat in the 1999 air war over Kosovo. It can fly more than 6,000 miles (~11,000km) before refueling while carrying 40,000 pounds of conventional or nuclear weapons.
B-2's bombs dropping exercise off Pt. Mugu in the Pacific Ocean in 1994.
B-2 Bomber is operated exclusively by the United States Air Force. All 21 B-2's are stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base under the command of the 509th Bomb Wing and its two bomb squadrons, the 13th and 393rd. (B-2 Stealth Bomber pictures via NRI and Wikipedia)
Today December 7th is the Pearl Harbor Day!
On the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan's Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the United States Pacific Fleet base at Hawaii's Pearl Harbor during a pre-emptive military strike.
Two aerial attack waves, totalling 350 aircraft, were launched from six aircraft carriers with the intent to destroy the United States Pacific Fleet.
The attack that wrecked numerous warships and hundreds of aircrafts, and killed nearly 2500 made the United States enter World War II, which finally led USA drop two atom bombs in Japan some year later and brought the end of the war.
Below is an old Pearl Harbor Attack documentary!
Check out Wikipiedia for detailed info on Attack on Pearl Harbor. Tags: