| More than 18 mln Hindus celebrate at Ganges
ALLAHABAD, India (Reuters) - More than 18 million Hindus, from naked holy men waving swords to the poor and frail pilgrims, jumped into the waters of India's sacred Ganges river on Friday in the holiest and biggest day of an ancient festival. As dawn broke, multitudes of people who spent the winter night on the river bank in northern Allahabad city took the cold plunge to the shrieks of prayers and chants to Hindu Gods. Friday's bathing is the most important day of the six-week Ardh Kumbh Mela, or Half-Pitcher festival, which kicked off on January 3 and is the world's largest religious gathering. Millions of Hindus believe a dip in the river during the festival and particularly on this day, when planetary alignments are said to be most favourable, would wash away their sins and rid them the earthy cycle of life and death..
ADT Unveils Custom Home Gold Service to Cater Exclusively to the ...
BOCA RATON, Fla., Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- ADT Security Services, a unit of Tyco Fire & Security, today announced the introduction of its ADT Custom Home Gold Service platform aimed at providing affluent homeowners with one-on-one, customized security and automation products and services to meet the demands of their lifestyle and home environment. In addition to customized traditional security services such as burglary, fire, smoke and carbon monoxide alarm systems and services, ADT Custom Home Gold Service includes a selection of home automation offerings including full video services that allow homeowners to look in and record video of their home remotely from anywhere in the world. "For many years, ADT has been helping our commercial customers meld emerging technologies into their security applications," said John Koch, president of ADT North America.
Bush's call for troop surge not expected to affect Bliss
Although the troop "surge" President Bush is expected to announced today isn't expected to have much impact on Fort Bliss, a showdown is looming between the president and the new Democratic majority in Congress that is likely to lead to a timetable for bringing troops home from Iraq, one expert said Tuesday. Many believe the only leverage the United States has to force Iraq to deal with political problems at the root of sectarian violence is to set a timetable for withdrawal. And the president may have to endorse some type of timetable to gain public support for his plan, said Jeffrey McCausland, director for national security affairs with Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, a Washington, D.C., law firm. As many as 20,000 additional troops will be put on alert for a gradual increase, with the first wave headed for Iraq before the end of the month, according to an anonymous source quoted Monday by the Associated Press.
News from the Pacific Northwest
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Five Native members of the Washington state Legislature took office Jan. 8, giving the state one of the greatest numbers of Native state legislators in the United States.
Oklahoma has 18, Alaska and Montana each have nine, and New Mexico has six, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Claudia Kauffman, Nez Perce, was the first Native woman elected to the state Senate in Washington history on Nov. 7. She is a Democrat representing Kent. She was named to the following committees: Consumer Protection and Housing; Early Learning and K - 12 Education; Economic Development, Trade and Management; and Transportation.
Kauffman has co-sponsored 49 bills, many of them related to education and transportation. One bill would require simple-majority votes to approve school levies and bond measures; another would establish a first peoples' language, culture and history certification program.
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