BOMB: Bus explosion kills 10 in Philippines

 

Police remove a passenger from a bus after an explosion on the Philippines southern island of Mindanao on October 21, 2010.

Manila, Philippines (CNN) -- At least 10 people were killed Thursday when a bomb blew up on a bus in the southern Philippines, police said.

The incident occurred Thursday morning on the Kabacan-Matalam national highway in the town of Matalam in North Cotabato, on the island of Mindanao -- in the largely Muslim south.

The state-run Philippines News Agency reported 30 injuries, and Gil Meneses, the regional police director, told CNN that nine of them were serious.

Meneses said police think the bombing was orchestrated by Al-Khobar, a splinter group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which carries out such attacks for money.

There have been previous attacks on buses, killing or injuring dozens for extortion. Al-Khobar and other militants have been blamed for the previous strikes.

Citing police, the news agency reported that Moro militants carried out the act after one of its officials was arrested recently.

Three unidentified men boarded the bus along the highway in Kabacan and left in Matalam, authorities said.

Minutes later, an improvised explosive device, that police say was fashioned from a mortar cartridge and triggered by a mobile phone, detonated.

The bus conductor was among those instantly killed, Meneses said.

The province of North Cotabato is just to the east of Maguindanao, the site of some of the worst politically motivated violence in recent Philippine history.

In November 2009, at least 57 people were killed when their convoy was ambushed in Maguindanao. The former mayor of the province is accused of plotting the deaths to thwart a political rival.

Maguindanao is part of an autonomous region in predominantly Muslim Mindanao, which was set up in the 1990s to quell armed uprisings by people seeking an independent Muslim homeland in the Philippines, a predominantly Christian country.




Resource From: CNN

Hoover Dam bridge is America's newest wonder

The Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge rises 890 feet above the Colorado River

It stands like a sentinel, watching in the wind over one of America's most treasured landmarks, the Hoover Dam.

When the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge opens to traffic later this week, it is expected to become an instant tourist attraction while providing a quicker, safer drive between Phoenix and Las Vegas.


The Hoover Dam bypass bridge is a study in superlatives:

• The highest and longest arched concrete bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

• The second-highest bridge of any kind in the United States and 14th in the world.

• The world's tallest concrete columns of their kind.

But what sets the bridge apart most of all is the setting.

It is perched 890 feet above the turquoise Colorado River, wedged between rock cliffs that form Black Canyon, with commanding views of Hoover Dam and Lake Mead.

The four-lane bridge near Boulder City, Nev., was dedicated Thursday, just two weeks after the 75th anniversary of the dam's opening ceremony. It's a bridge whose future seemed always to be in doubt.

The first study recommending a bypass was written in 1968, and over the years, 27 more studies followed. Yet it wasn't until March 2001 that the Federal Highway Administration approved the plan.

Full funding would materialize only after Arizona, Nevada and various federal agencies agreed to split the cost. The deal hinged on the states lending part of the money, knowing complete funding was years off.

Victor Mendez took over as director of the Arizona Department of Transportation in 2001 and faced the difficult task of drumming up support for the state's contribution.

"Clearly, in my mind, I felt we were going to build this project," said Mendez, who now runs the Federal Highway Administration.

The terrorist attacks in September of that year quickly made it clear that Hoover Dam wasn't just a traffic bottleneck and safety hazard but also a target.

Commercial traffic was immediately banned from U.S. 93 across Hoover Dam, forcing a 75-mile detour. The urgency to build the bridge accelerated.

Work on the $114 million bridge started on Valentine's Day 2005.

The bridge and the new stretches of U.S. 93 leading to it will open to traffic this week. Combined, the projects came in within the $240 million budget.

Attending the dedication Thursday were Mendez and his boss, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, along with members of the Tillman and O'Callaghan families.

Congress had designated the name of the bridge in a 2004 transportation bill. It honors two people from the states that the bridge connects. Pat Tillman is the Arizona Cardinals linebacker who joined the U.S. Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and was killed by friendly fire during combat in Afghanistan. Mike O'Callaghan was a two-term Nevada governor and decorated Korean War veteran.

A public celebration was held Saturday.

"The view is spectacular," said Mike Hoover, a 62-year-old from Phoenix whose father's name is Herbert Hoover. "The view is spectacular. People are really going to enjoy this."

Denver resident Mike Capps, 64, has relatives in Kingman, Ariz., and visits them often. "We've been watching this bridge being built for the last eight years," he said. "We made the trip just for this. Just to be a part of it."

Views from cars crossing the dam will be partly obscured by a barrier. But pedestrians are allowed to cross on the upstream side. From there, they can look straight down through the railing at the rocks and river far below.

They also get a new perspective on the dam.

Studies from 2001 showed a motorist will save an average of 17 minutes when crossing from one side of the canyon to the other. On busy holiday weekends, the time savings could be more because the bridge eliminates tourist travel congestion and security checkpoints that have caused two-hour delays at the dam.

For Mendez, the project is a model and an advertisement to lawmakers reluctant to spend more money on public works.

"This bridge is a unique accomplishment for the nation," he said. "This is the kind of smarts and attitude we need to bring more of these projects in and put more people back to work."

As the bridge rose, the 1,200 workers and 300 engineers on the project found inspiration a quarter-mile upstream.

"If any one of us had a day when we felt tired or rundown or in doubt, working in the shadow of that dam really helped," project manager Dave Zanetell said.

"Hoover Dam was the greatest engineering accomplishment in our nation's history," he said. "We had an opportunity to be as great for our generation."

Resource from: USA Today!

Winter to slam Northwest as South stays warm and dry

Mark Jordan digs out following a blizzard that hit the nation's capital in February. Forecasters says a repeat of last year's Mid-Atlantic "Snowmageddon" isn't expected.

Another winter of weather extremes appears to be in store for the USA.

The Pacific Northwest should see a wetter and colder winter than average, while most of the southern tier stays mild and dry, federal government scientists announced in their winter forecast on Thursday.

The dominant climate factor expected to affect the USA this winter is La Nina, a periodic cooling of tropical Pacific Ocean water that affects weather patterns across the USA and around the world.

"La Nina is in place and will strengthen and persist through the winter months, giving us a better understanding of what to expect between December and February," says Mike Halpert, deputy director of the Climate Prediction Center.

The forecast from the center covers the months of December, January and February, which is known as "meteorological" winter.

In the Pacific and interior Northwest, the cold, wet winter will help replenish water resources and winter recreation, the climate center reports, but could also lead to greater flooding and avalanche concerns.

The lack of precipitation and unusual warmth for most of the southern USA could exacerbate drought conditions and also spark wildfires from southern California to Florida. "The story of this winter is likely to be the dry conditions across the South," says Halpert.

The outlook does not forecast where and when snowstorms may hit or total seasonal snowfall accumulations. Snow forecasts depend on winter storms, which usually can't be predicted more than a few days in advance.



However, the Mid-Atlantic region isn't likely to see a repeat of last winter's colossal snow totals, reports Halpert, as the main winter storm track appears to be closer to the Ohio Valley region. Washington, D.C., which averages 15 inches of snow a winter, received a record 56 inches in the winter of 2009-10.

Resource from: USA today