Operations
Other Conflicts
Defense Policy / Programs
News Reports

Current Operations

• Florida Guard's Red Horse unit deploys ACCNS 02 Apr 2003 -- Cheryl Beckman knew this day would come. In her heart and mind she knew it was inescapable. She and her family had been preparing for it months in advance. Yet, it didn't resonate until today.

Other Conflicts

• Annan proposes new UN mission to guide peace process in Côte d'Ivoire UN News Centre 02 Apr 2003 -- As the various factions in Côte d'Ivoire grapple with the challenges of rebuilding their nation in the aftermath of sixth months of conflict, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed the creation of a new United Nations mission in the country to help smooth progress towards implementation of a crucial power-sharing peace accord.
• UN refugee agency reports more Liberians fleeing fighting cross into Guinea UN News Centre 02 Apr 2003 -- With refugees still trickling in to Guinea from a weekend of violence in north-eastern Liberia, the United Nations refugee agency has begun to transfer more than 7,000 newly arrived Liberians from the border region to safer inland camps.
• Accord offers Congolese people best chance for peace and reconciliation - Annan UN News Centre 02 Apr 2003 -- In an agreement hailed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan as offering the best chance for the Congolese people to restore peace after nearly five years of civil war, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and representatives of rebel factions today gave final approval to the creation of a comprehensive power-sharing administration and new constitution.
• SUDAN / TALKS VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- Sudanese President Umar al Bashir today (Wednesday) held a rare meeting with rebel leader John Garang in the Kenyan capital.The two men expressed hope that they will find a solution to their 20-year-old conflict by June.
• SRI LANKA / WORLD BANK VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- The World Bank has announced an 800-million-dollar aid package for Sri Lanka. The money will be used to rebuild areas of the country devastated by two decades of civil war.
• IVORY COAST / GOVERNMENT VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- Rebels in Ivory Coast have agreed to accept the nine cabinet posts they were offered in a deal to end a six-month civil war in the West African country.
• C-A-R-GOVERNMENT VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- The Central African Republic's new government, named this week following last month's military coup, pledges to return the country to democratic rule. Despite international condemnation of the March 15th coup, many Central Africans say they supported the use of force to bring about a change of government.
• D-R-C / PEACE VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- An agreement to end years of fighting and bring democratic elections to the Democratic Republic of Congo has been signed in South Africa. But the signing ceremony was marred by the absence of the president of Congo.

Defense Policy / Programs

• White House Press Briefing White House 02 Apr 2003
• Wing prepares for CV-22 training AFPN 02 Apr 2003 -- With two CV-22 simulators on board here, 58th Special Operations Wing workers are making strides toward setting up training for the new aircraft.
• Advanced scopes give engine mechanics an edge AFPN 02 Apr 2003 -- New digital borescopes are allowing mechanics here to more efficiently and accurately inspect aircraft engines getting aircraft back in warfighters' hands quicker.
• NSWC Port Hueneme Welcomes New Self Defense Test Ship Navy NewStand 02 Apr 2003 -- In a wharf-side ceremony March 27, the decommissioned USS Paul F. Foster (DD 964) was turned over to Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division as the Navy's new Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS).
• After seven months of training... "Charlie" heads home USMC 02 Apr 2003 -- Marines from C Battery, 1st Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division will complete their required training on Okinawa and head back to their home base at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii within the next two weeks.
• Camp Garcia Closes; AFWTF, VC-8 to Disestablish Navy NewStand 02 Apr 2003 -- With the cessation of exercises on the Vieques Naval Training Range, the primary facilities on Roosevelt Roads directly related to that training have been ordered to disestablish.
• Delta rocket takes GPS satellite into orbit AFSPC 02 Apr 2003 -- A Delta II, carrying a Global Positioning System satellite, launches from Cape Canaveral, Fla., March 31.
• Airmen keep base operational amidst blizzard AFSPC 02 Apr 2003 -- My story begins at Buckley March 18. The snow fell for three days and was 40 inches deep in spots.
• Court rules in favor of Air Force on training initiative ACCNS 02 Apr 2003 -- The Northern District Court of Texas published opinions in favor of the Air Force on the related cases of Davis Mountains Trans-Pecos Heritage Association and Buster Welch March 24.
• NAVAIR demonstrates successful airborne control of UAV NAVAIR 02 Apr 2003 -- Achieving an historic milestone for naval aviation, the "Hairy Buffalo," NAVAIR's flying Network Centric Warfare (NCW) laboratory, successfully demonstrated airborne control of an Aerolight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) March 31, at Webster Field in St. Inigoes, MD.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 02 Apr 2003
• SHAPE News Summary Analysis SHAPE 02 Apr 2003
• $25 Million Fund Supports Democracy in Southeastern Europe Washington File 02 Apr 2003 -- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation have announced a $25 million initiative to support good governance in Southeastern Europe.
• CDC Provides Answers on Newly Emerging Respiratory Illness Washington File 02 Apr 2003 -- The World Health Organization (WHO) April 2 recommended that persons traveling to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Guangdong Province, China consider postponing all but essential travel. A WHO press release says the newly revised caution on travel is intended to help in the prevention of further spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, beyond these two areas of China where it has proven the most virulent.
• UN fund for torture victims appeals for more donations UN News Centre 02 Apr 2003 -- Having reached less than one-tenth of its annual target for funding in the first quarter of the year, a United Nations trust fund for victims of torture appealed today for donations to help it reach its minimum goal of $13 million for 2003.
• CUBA/DISSIDENTS VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- Political dissident leaders in Havana say Cuba's communist government will begin summary trials on Thursday for more than 70 dissidents and independent journalists who were arrested in a government crackdown in March. Prosecutors may seek life sentences for some of the dissidents who are accused of plotting with the United States to undermine the government of Cuban President Fidel Castro.
• U-S-TURKMENISTAN RIGHTS VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- The United States has welcomed the release of an environmental activist in Turkmenistan who had been sentenced to three years' imprisonment last month for illegally leaving the central Asian country and concealing a plot against its authoritarian president, Saparmurat Niyazov.
• US / SARS VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- U-S health officials say evidence is growing that a previously unknown coronavirus is causing the new form of pneumonia, called SARS, spreading globally from China. The officials would like tissue samples from Chinese SARS patients to help confirm the virus.
• ASIA PNEUMONIA FEARS VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- Hong Kong is gripped by fear as the number of people affected by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, continues to rise. People move around the territory wearing surgical face masks, and the slightest rumor sends residents into panic.
• W-H-O-SARS WARNING VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- The World Health Organization, in a rare move, has issued a warning against traveling to Hong Kong and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong because of a deadly outbreak of a mysterious flu-like illness called SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
• ASIA PNEUMONIA CHINA VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- China's government has revealed a dozen more deaths from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, mostly in the southern Chinese province thought to have spawned the flu-like illness. The deaths boost the global toll for the fast-spreading disease to more than 60.
• TURKMENISTAN / ACTIVIST VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- The president of Turkmenistan has pardoned an environmental activist whose jailing last month sparked an outcry from human rights groups. The activist was sentenced to three years in prison for concealing a criminal act -- prosecutors charged he knew in advance of an alleged assassination attempt against President Saparmurad Niyazov.
• ASIA PNEUMONIA/REGION VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- Preventative measures against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, were stepped up throughout Asia Wednesday, on the fringes of the disease's epicenter in Hong Kong and Southern China.
• ASIA PNEUMONIA VOA 02 Apr 2003 -- The World Health Organization has issued its sternest travel advisory since the start of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak. It cautioned travelers to avoid Hong Kong and southern China, which together account for more than two-thirds of the world's 18-hundred SARS cases.