Marine who vanished in Iraq leaves hospital

Marine who vanishedin Iraq leaves hospital
BERLIN -- A U.S. Marine who disappeared in Iraq and turned up in Lebanon nearly three weeks later said today that he was in good health and "excited to be going home" as he left a U.S. military hospital in Germany.
In his first public comments since vanishing June 20 from his base near the troubled city of Fallujah, Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun said he was happy to have completed his debriefing by specialists, according to a statement read to The Associated Press by hospital spokeswoman Marie Shaw.
"The people here at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center have treated me very well, but I am excited to be going home," Hassoun said.
Hassoun left the hospital in western Germany shortly after noon and asked that the statement be distributed.
Hassoun reappeared Thursday at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, and it remains unclear how he made the 500-mile journey.
Report: Lack of planninghampered rescue crews
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Emergency crews who responded to a nightclub fire that killed 100 people were hampered by an inadequate disaster-response plan that made them woefully unprepared for a disaster of that magnitude, a report released Tuesday found.
The lack of planning was so extreme that the Warwick fire battalion chief instructed fire department employees "to use the Yellow Pages and ask private ambulance companies to respond with as many ambulances as possible," the report said.
Although the report describes several problems that affected rescue crews, the analysis said those difficulties did not affect survival rates at The Station nightclub in West Warwick.
"We believe that no lives were lost as a result of these issues that we raised," said Grant Peterson, vice president of Titan Corp., the consulting company asked to evaluate the state's response to the February 2003 fire.
The report notes that most of those who died were killed within minutes after the blaze began. The fire spread through the club when onstage fireworks ignited soundproofing foam during a performance by the 1980s rock band Great White. More than 200 people were injured in what was the nation's fourth-deadliest nightclub fire. Among those killed was Ty Longley, a guitarist for Great White and a Sharon, Pa., native.
3 children survive sinkingof boat off Australia
SYDNEY, Australia -- Three children survived for six days on shellfish, coconut milk and fruit on a small island after swimming away from their overturned boat in waters off Australia's northeastern tip.
Ellis Tamwoy, 15, her sister, Norita, 10, and brother Stephen, 12, were recovering from their ordeal today on their home island of Badu, an Australian island in the Torres Strait.
But while their story of survival raised spirits in their remote indigenous community, hope of recovering the rest of the family -- Haley Tamwoy, his wife Lisa and their 3-year-old son Clarence -- was fading after rescuers called off the search for them.
The family set off July 6 for a birthday party Thursday Island when their 16-foot aluminum boat capsized, the children's aunt, Wendy Phineasa, said. Their boat sank in choppy waters, but they were not reported missing until the weekend.
California wildfires
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Crews prepared for another day of 100-degree temperatures as wildfires raged out of control in three southern California counties.
About 17,000 acres of brush and forest burned in Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego counties. No homes were destroyed but dozens were evacuated since the first fire erupted Sunday.
More than 80 homes were evacuated in the Lake Hughes area of the Angeles National Forest. The fire, which destroyed an outbuilding and motor home, was 35 percent contained.
Exposed passenger
MINNEAPOLIS -- Daryl Miller didn't make it through airport security because he couldn't keep his pants on.
Airport police said a security screener was waving a metal-detecting wand over Miller's pants area Friday when Miller pulled his shorts down to his ankles. He wasn't wearing any underwear.
Miller then said, "There, how do you like your job," thus ending the screening, according to the police report. He was charged with indecent exposure and released on $300 bail.
"We've never had anybody do that before," said airport police Lt. Matt Christenson. "But it's not abnormal for people to become frustrated with the screening process."
Associated Press