Yemen's Military Continues Advances Against Al Qaeda

After multiple successes earlier this week, Yemen's military continues it's gains.

The army moved into the town of Shuqra on Friday, the third city this week that they've taken back from Al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda had taken the towns, and others over the past year.

Things have changed though as Saudi Arabia began putting money into paying for US training for the Yemeni troops.

Saudi Arabia and the US were both concerned by the gains Al Qaeda had been enjoying, in their ally.

Parts of Yemen are still under Al Qaeda's power, but thousands of Yemeni troops are working hard to eliminate their presence.

Obama Halting Deportations

President Obama today announced that he plans on halting the deportations of nearly one million illegal immigrants.

His new presidential note, gives immunity to illegal immigrants who are currently under thirty, were under sixteen when brought to the US, have lived here for at least five years and graduated high school, and not have any felonies.

Very few have come out in support of Obama's move, even most Democrats have backed away from the issue, for now.

Many opponents of the move are pointing out the blatant circumvention of Congress, and therefore illegal nature of such a move.

Congress has repeatedly voted no on the so called dream act which would give immunity to many illegal immigrants.

Other opponents question how Obama can justify the move, whilst at the same time millions of citizens are out of work.

Even some illegal immigrant activists are wary of the move, noting that it is really only a memo, not an actual executive order.

They worry that it is simply just another empty promise from the Democrat party, in an effort to gain votes and support.

Hispanics voted nearly two to one for Obama, in 2008; but since then have becoming increasingly critical of his administration's lack of work towards any kind of immigration reform.

It is important to note that not all illegal immigrants come from Latino countries; they come from all over the world, of all different races and ethnicity.

Cain Throws Perfect Game

On Wednesday Matt Cain, of the San Fransisco Giants, forever put himself in the books.

He threw the twenty-second perfect game in baseball's history, and the first for the Giants.

With one hundred and twenty-five pitches, he managed a career high fourteen strike outs.

The game was saved on two occasions by great catches from his outfield.

In the sixth, left fielder Melky Cabrera made a leaping catch at the wall, and then in the seventh right fielder Gregor Blanco made a diving catch.

This was the second perfect game of the season, a feat which has only been done twice before; in the 2009 season, and then way back in 1880.

It also marked the fifth no hitter of the season.

Obama Skips on Food Bill

Obama is really regretting this mistake.

On Tuesday he compared Republicans to people who order the most expensive stuff, "and then, just as you're sitting down, they leave, and accuse you of running up the tab".

The analogy truly didn't make a lot of sense then, but then again, consider the source.

But then Obama made it even better.

Wednesday he took four guests out for lunch, and then he and the group left, without paying the bill.

The White House paid off the bill about an hour later, but the damage was done, as the word had reached the press.

Obama's face painting was shown to be directly into a mirror.

Saudi Arabian Women Petition to Drive

Over six hundred women in Saudi Arabia have signed a petition to King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz.

The petition asks the king to make a law allowing women the right to get a driver's license and drive vehicles.


King Abdullah will receive the petition on Sunday, and many expect him to allow it.


Aziz is thanked, in the petition, for previously granting voting rights to women.

Women will get their first votes in the 2015 local elections.

Spanish Miners Launch Rockets at Police

Miners in Spain have been striking for over three weeks now.

They have been protesting austerity cuts that the government has begun.

Over the last few weeks they've clashed with police and the Spanish Civil Guard.

At times, police have used rubber bullets and tear gas to force rioting miners to back down.

But now things have escalated as the miners began launching home made rockets at the police lines.

So far no one has been seriously hurt, but things are becoming increasingly dangerous, with talks of bringing in the military to end the strike.

Remembering: The 49th Parallel

In 1818 British and US delegates agreed upon a border from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains, along the forty-ninth parallel.

They further agreed that the Oregon territory would be a jointly occupied area, shared by the two countries.

But by the early 1840s Oregon was filling up with US citizens and pressure was rising.

In the 1844 election, James K. Polk ran and won on a ticket of promising to deliver the fifty-fourth parallel as a border for the west, or he would fight.

Luckily very few wanted a third war between Britain and the US, so negotiations started again.

On June 15, 1846 the two countries agreed upon the extension of the border along the forty-ninth parallel, all the way to the Strait of Georgia.

The border between the US and Canada was now secure all along its length. It has almost ever since been the longest unmilitarilized border in the world.

High Park Fire Jumps Containment

Thursday saw the High Park Fire, in Colorado, jump containment lines and grow to over 52,000 acres.

Firefighters had been using Highway 14 as one of the containment lines, but embers crossed and the fire gained a foothold to the north of the lines.

The spread caused eighty more homes to be sent evacuation notices.

So far the fire has killed one and  destroyed one hundred and eighteen structures, many of which were homes.

Over 1,200 personnel are now fighting the fire, many from out of state, with that number expected to be 1,500 by the end of Friday.

Despite the jump, total containment is up to around fifteen percent.

The fire was started by lightning, Saturday morning, and is the largest in the country. It is nearing Colorado state records.

Remembering: The Bear Flag Republic

By 1846 the scene in California was extremely tense.

Most of the population, of the northern most part of Mexico, was made up of citizens from the United States.

The situation became even worse with rumors of war between the US and Mexico, over whether Texas could join the US.

In the spring of 1846, John C. Freemont, an officer in the US Army, began encouraging Californians to form militias and prepare for rebellion.

It is unknown if he did so on his own initiative, or under orders.

Either way, his encouragement worked, and on June 14, 1864 the revolt began bloodlessly.

The next day a flag was designed, and California was declared an independent country.

After the militias won a few small battles with Mexican forces, Freemont took command of their troops.

Rebellion spread, gaining more and more cities, but on July 7, a separate group of US troops raised the US flag over California territory.

The Bear Flaggers ultimate goal had been to join the US, and so they ended their own government to join the US as a territory.

In 1850 California would join the US as a state, bringing the Bear Flag with them.

Remembering: Old Stars and Stripes

On June 14, 1777 the Continental Congress approved a flag for the fledgling United States.

It was based on the Grand Union flag, which had been originally made by Betsy Ross.

Legend is that George Washington asked her to make it, to his specifications.

The flag was made with thirteen stripes and thirteen stars to represent each of the colonies.

At first, each time a state joined the country a star and a stripe were added.

It was in 1818 that Congress added a law that changed it to changing just the stars, and the amount of stripes was reset to thirteen to represent the original colonies.

Now, June 14 is known as flag day, in the US.