06 April 2003 Military News

Transient-alert team keeps flightline running AFPN 06 Apr 2003 -- The flightline is a busy place and no one knows that better than the people who keep it all running smoothly at one forward-deployed location.

ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS VOA 06 Apr 2003 -- Three Palestinians have been reported killed and 15 more wounded during Israeli army raids in the Gaza Strip.
AFGHAN U-N / SECURITY VOA 06 Apr 2003 -- The United Nations has decided to lift travel restrictions on its staff in southern Afghanistan, after local authorities stepped up security in the violence-hit region.
BANDA ACEH / MOB VOA 06 Apr 2003 -- In Indonesia's northern province of Aceh, a mob set fire to an office belonging to international peace monitors from the Henri Dunant Center. The H-D-C brokered the historic peace deal between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels.
ISRAEL / PALESTINIAN TRIAL VOA 06 Apr 2003 -- The trial of Marwan Barghouti, the highest Palestinian official to be charged in an Israeli criminal court, opened Sunday in Tel Aviv.

VFA-201 wins reserve Battle 'E' Navy NewStand 06 Apr 2003 -- Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 201, currently deployed aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), is the 2002 winner of the Commander, Air Wing 20 Noel Davis Award, the Reserve aviation Battle "E."
USS Estocin Decommissioned Navy NewStand 06 Apr 2003 -- In a ceremony held April 4 at Naval Station Mayport, the crew of USS Estocin (FFG 15) lowered the stars and stripes one last time and decommissioned the ship in preparation for her transfer to the government of Turkey.
Two billion pounds and counting USAFE 06 Apr 2003 -- It weights well over two billion pounds, is four rows deep and more than a quarter mile long. This gigantic line of pallets on the flight line here is a prime example of how busy the U.S. military component here has been.
Personnel data system upgrade smooth, uneventful AFPN 06 Apr 2003 -- One week before the end of March, in the middle of a war, the military personnel data system underwent a major database upgrade -- and nobody noticed.

FRANCE/MUSLIM COUNCIL VOA 06 Apr 2003 -- Islamic leaders are electing France's first official council representing the country's estimated five-million Muslims. The body has been a subject of years of debate, and the notion remains deeply controversial.
CHINA SARS VOA 06 Apr 2003 -- China's Health Ministry says the number of SARS deaths and infections has risen in the country, killing a foreigner for the first time. Officials say the dead Finnish man brought the illness with him from Thailand.