Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/31/2011

A hazardous materials alert was issued at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois today after several employees encountered a suspicious package in the mailroom of the base post office, and became ill. The affected people were sent to a hospital, a decontamination unit was set up, and extensive tests were conducted. As far as the experts could determine, no harmful substances were present in the environment. The cause of the illness is unknown.

Meanwhile, entry to an amusement park in Rye, New York was blocked off after a brawl arose when Muslim visitors objected to the park’s “no headgear” policy, which had denied women in hijab access to certain rides. Large numbers of police were summoned to quell the disturbance.

In other news, the Italian oil giant ENI says its natural gas pipeline from Libya to Italy will reopen in mid-October. Elsewhere in Libya, large numbers of Tuareg tribesmen fled across the border to Algeria after being targeted by the rebels. They were suspected of having sympathies with the Gaddafi regime, or even of being mercenaries.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to American Delight, C. Cantoni, Diana West, Egghead, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JP, Kitman, Nilk, Rembrandt, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.