WASHINGTON, D.C.

Defying Bush, Senate votes to add 20,000 Army troops

Defying the Bush administration, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to add 20,000 troops to an Army stretched thin by the war in Iraq and other commitments around the world.

The 93-4 vote in the Republican-led Senate — following a similar action by the House — reflected the anxieties lawmakers have been hearing from families of service personnel whose tours in Iraq keep getting extended and whose return to civilian life is repeatedly postponed.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the lack of troops at the end of major combat in Iraq cost the military an opportunity to stop the violence that continues today.

LAS VEGAS

Drought beats Dust Bowl, could be worst in 500 years

The drought gripping the West could be the biggest in 500 years, with effects in the Colorado River basin considerably worse than during the Dust Bowl years, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey said Thursday.

“That we can now say with confidence,” said Robert Webb, lead author of the new fact sheet. “Now I’m completely convinced.”

The Colorado River has been in a drought for an entire decade, cutting an important source of water for millions of people across the West, including Southern California.

Environmental groups said the report reinforced the need to figure out a better way to manage the Colorado River before reservoirs run dry.

JERUSALEM

Israel proposing digging deep trench between Gaza, Egypt

Israel published a bid Thursday for an 80-foot-deep, 2 1/2-mile-long trench between Egypt and Gaza aimed at blocking arms smuggling once Israel withdraws from the coastal strip next year.

The trench would cost millions, and military officials said it remained unclear whether more Palestinian homes would have to be demolished to make room for it.

Israel has razed hundreds of Gaza homes in recent years, including in a large offensive last month, to expose smuggling tunnels. In the Rafah refugee camp on the border with Egypt, the demolitions have displaced more than 13,000 Palestinians.

Palestinian officials denounced the trench plan, saying Israel was trying to choke Gaza on all sides. “Ditches and canals in Gaza, that’s how you turn the Palestinians into prisoners in their own cities,” said Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat.

Austria

U.N. agency claims evidence of new Iran nuclear cover-up

The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency has information Iran may be engaging in a new nuclear cover-up near a military facility outside Tehran, diplomats said Thursday as the agency’s board prepared to rebuke Iran for hindering an international probe.

The agency was looking at intelligence that Iran was razing parts of a restricted area next to a military complex in a Tehran suburb, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity.

Satellite photos showed that several buildings had been destroyed and topsoil had been removed at Lavizan Shiyan, one diplomat said.