Colorado: Mayor loses recall election

Mayor Koleen Brooks, a former stripper accused of baring her breasts in a bar and mishandling her job, was ousted by a landslide vote in a recall election Tuesday.

The final tally to recall the mayor 339-176, or a margin of 66 percent to 34 percent.

Brooks said she wasn’t disappointed over losing the position after a contentious year in office.

“It probably just saved me 10 years on my life,” she said.

Brooks, 37, was elected mayor last April. Zoning changes are the stated reason for the recall, but people are also angry about Brooks’ actions  allegedly baring her breasts in a bar and telling reporters she smoked pot. She also faces criminal charges for faking an attack.

Florida: Intense hurricanes expected

Because the tropical Atlantic has fallen into a new era of intense hurricane activity, the upcoming season should be an active one, last well into October and pose a serious threat to the United States, government scientists warned on Tuesday.

While they did not predict an exact number of hurricanes, researchers for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Orlando say the climatic ingredients are in place for intense hurricane development. They say it should be busier than an average season, which has eight to 11 named storms, including five to seven hurricanes.

But their greater concern is there could be three or more major hurricanes, with winds greater than 110 mph, or about double the normal number of intense storms. While major hurricanes account for only 20 percent of the landfalls, they cause about 80 percent of the damage.

Puerto Rico: Bombing resumes on Vieques

Thuds from inert shells shook Vieques island Tuesday as Navy ships deployed for a second day of exercises at the U.S. military’s prized Caribbean bombing range, which it says is critical for troops facing combat in the war against terrorism.

The exercises, opposed by a protest movement that has lost strength since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, continued as a Puerto Rican court considered an appeal by Vieques Mayor Damaso Serrano, who wants a court to order a halt to the maneuvers on the outlying Puerto Rican island.

Serrano is appealing a decision from the District Court in the eastern city of Fajardo, which decided to move the case to a U.S. Federal Court.

“We are now a nation fighting a war against terrorism … American military personnel are being injured or killed on the battlefield of Afghanistan,” the Navy said in its court motion. “The Battle Group has no alternative … other than Vieques, at which to conduct this critical combat training.”

Pakistan: More Arabs, Afghans arrested

Police raided more suspected al-Qaida hide-outs, arresting 16 people in an ongoing crackdown against Osama bin Laden’s terror network in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday.

Officials said none of the 16 were believed to be major figures in the terrorist network. However, one suspect told interrogators that Taliban and al-Qaida fighters were regrouping near the Afghan village of Ziruk in Paktika province, about 20 miles from the Pakistani border.