Fortress Europe Fights Immigration Helicopters, boats, and planes were sent by EU member states to control the Southeast European costal border. But the new anti-immigration operation does not stop there: they work hand in hand with three Senegalese patrol boats and one plane. Their mission is clear: scan the coasts of Mauritania, Senegal, and Cap Verde, intercept "cuyucos," small fishing boats that can carry up to 50 to 70 people, and take their passengers home safe and sound. Operation Hera II conducted by the European border agency Frontex, cost four million euros, 80 percent of which is paid by the EU. World Press

The Death of the Dead Sea The Dead Sea has fallen more than 20 meters over the past 40 years. Studies by scientists at the University of Jordan have shown that the sea now drops one meter in depth each year. World Press Review

Iraq a 'catastrophic blunder The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, having made such a catastrophic foreign and security policy blunder, are now trapped in a dilemma of their own making," he said. The Sydney Morning Herald

The Worst Congress Ever There is very little that sums up the record of the U.S. Congress in the Bush years better than a half-mad boy-addict put in charge of a federal commission on child exploitation. After all, if a hairy-necked, raincoat-clad freak like Rep. Mark Foley can get himself named co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, one can only wonder: What the hell else is going on in the corridors of Capitol Hill these days? The Rolling Stone

Legendary underground New York club closes after 30 years Described in 1975 by music magazine NME as ‘a toilet, an impossibly scuzzy little club’ and by its own admission ‘a small, dirty, beer-soaked, dark pit,’ CBGBs nonetheless earned a reputation as sacred ground for the punk generation. Khaleej Times