The Boston Globe
If and when in Iraq
June 28, 2005
WHEN SECRETARY of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday that it would be a mistake to set a timetable for a military withdrawal from Iraq because that would send a ''lifeline to terrorists," he mixed a reasonable conclusion with a misleading rationale.
. . . On the Iraqi side, the fact that Sunni tribal leaders arranged the secret talks indicates that those powerful stakeholders now believe it suits their interests to end the mayhem and resort to politics to protect their position.
The moment is approaching when it may make sense for both Americans and Iraqis to agree on a timetable for withdrawal.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/06/28/if_and_when_in_iraq/
R.I. may allow medical marijuana
Veto-proof vote expected today
By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff June 28, 2005
Rhode Island is poised to become the 11th state in the nation to permit the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, with the divisive proposal expected to win final passage today and reach the governor's desk tomorrow.
Governor Donald L. Carcieri has said he will probably veto the bill, but supporters say they have the votes needed to override his veto.
The legislation advance at a critical juncture in the battle over the issue. Three weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled that medicinal marijuana users can be prosecuted under federal law, even if their home states allow use of the drug. Last week, federal drug agents raided medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Northern California and arrested nearly two-dozen people.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2005/06/28/ri_may_allow_medical_marijuana/
Audit questions $1.4b in Halliburton bills
Expenses at issue from Iraq contracts
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff June 28, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Internal Pentagon audits have flagged about $1.4 billion in expenses submitted by Halliburton Co. for services the firm is providing in Iraq, charges that include $45 cases of soda, $100-per-bag laundry service, and several months preparing at least 10,000 daily meals for a US military base that the troops did not need and ultimately went to waste, according to a report released yesterday by congressional Democrats.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2005/06/28/audit_questions_14b_in_halliburton_bills/
Shellfish growers eligible for some federal emergency assistance
June 27, 2005
WASHINGTON --Shellfish growers will now be eligible to receive some emergency federal assistance to help them get through the toxic red tide outbreak.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday approved a request to provide assistance to the shellfish growers under the federal Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance program.
The shellfish growers had previously been denied Small Business Administration loans because they are considered farmers, not fishermen.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/06/27/shellfish_growers_eligible_for_some_federal_emergency_assistance/
Some ranchers shy during cattle auction
By Betsy Blaney, Associated Press Writer June 28, 2005
TULIA, Texas --Rancher Kevin Crooks lost about $1 million in the year following the country's first case of mad cow 18 months ago. He really doesn't want that to happen again.
If he'd had cattle big enough to sell at the Tulia Livestock Auction on Monday, he wouldn't have brought any. "I took my lumps last time," Crooks said. "It took all my profit. I basically did everything that year for free."
The auction was the first opportunity to see how live cattle sales in Texas were affected by last week's announcement of a second case of mad cow in the country, apparently the first in a U.S.-born animal. The Holstein in the country's first case in December 2003 was from a Canadian herd.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/06/28/some_ranchers_shy_during_cattle_auction/
Penalty phase begins in Fresno murders
By Juliana Barbassa, Associated Press Writer June 28, 2005
FRESNO, Calif. --Marcus Wesson's fate is in the hands of jurors who already convicted him of murdering nine of his children and now must decide whether he should be sentenced to death for the crimes.
Deliberations in the penalty phase of Wesson's trial began Monday after his defense attorney gave a final plea to save his client's life.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/06/28/penalty_phase_begins_in_fresno_murders/
Italy Judge sentences 11 in Parmalat case
By Clara Ferreira-Marques and Emilio Parodi June 28, 2005
MILAN (Reuters) - A Milan judge sentenced 10 former Parmalat executives and a lawyer to jail on Tuesday in the first guilty ruling over the 14-billion-euro ($17 billion) collapse of Italy's biggest listed food group, judicial sources said.
Judge Cesare Tacconi sentenced the 11 men, including Fausto Tonna, one of Parmalat founder Calisto Tanzi's closest associates, to up to two and a half years in jail for crimes including market rigging and obstructing regulators.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/06/28/italy_judge_sentences_11_in_parmalat_case/
France to host nuclear fusion project
By Guy Faulconbridge June 28, 2005
MOSCOW (Reuters) - France is to host the world's first nuclear fusion reactor, the project's multinational partners agreed on Tuesday, bringing closer a technology backers say could one day provide the world with endless cheap energy.
France beat off a rival bid from Japan to host the 10-billion-euro ($12.18 billion) experimental reactor at Cadarache in the south of the country, according to an agreement signed by the partners after a meeting in Moscow.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/06/28/france_wins_bid_for_nuclear_fusion_project/
Shell investors to end dual listed model
By Tom Bergin and Anna Mudeva June 28, 2005
LONDON/THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Royal Dutch/Shell shareholders gathered on Tuesday and are expected to end a century of history when they vote later in the day on scrapping the group's dual-listed structure.
Shell hopes the unification of its Dutch and British parent companies, planned for July 20, will help streamline its management structure, whose complexity was blamed for a damaging reserves overbooking scandal last year.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/06/28/shell_investors_to_end_dual_listed_model/
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
High Point
Poll: Disapproval of Bush at high point
(CNN) -- The number of Americans disapproving of President Bush's job performance has risen to the highest level of his presidency, according to the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday.
According to the poll, 53 percent of respondents said they disapproved of Bush's performance, compared to 45 percent who approved.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3148
Americans Not Eating What White House is Serving
Poll: Optimism on Iraq Is Premature
Most Americans Dispute White House Assessment of Weakened Insurgency, Post-ABC Survey Finds
By Richard Morin / Washington Post
A majority of Americans reject claims by the Bush administration that the insurgency in Iraq is weakening and are divided on whether victory over the insurgents will have a major impact on terrorism elsewhere in the world, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Barely one in five Americans -- 22 percent -- say they believe that the insurgency is getting weaker while 24 percent believe it is strengthening. More than half -- 53 percent -- say resistance to U.S. and Iraqi government forces has not changed.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3139
W. Do Little
Some in G.O.P. Call on Bush to Focus on Governing
By Richard W. Stevenson / New York Times
WASHINGTON, June 26 - President Bush and his hard-charging political team, which seemed to make all the right moves in winning re-election last year, have stumbled when it comes to governing in a second term, many Republicans say, leaving the White House scrambling to get back on track.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3141
General admits to secret air war
By Michael Smith / Sunday Times
THE American general who commanded allied air forces during the Iraq war appears to have admitted in a briefing to American and British officers that coalition aircraft waged a secret air war against Iraq from the middle of 2002, nine months before the invasion began.
Addressing a briefing on lessons learnt from the Iraq war Lieutenant-General Michael Moseley said that in 2002 and early 2003 allied aircraft flew 21,736 sorties, dropping more than 600 bombs on 391 “carefully selected targets” before the war officially started.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3144
Some in G.O.P. Call on Bush to Focus on Governing
By Richard W. Stevenson / New York Times
WASHINGTON, June 26 - President Bush and his hard-charging political team, which seemed to make all the right moves in winning re-election last year, have stumbled when it comes to governing in a second term, many Republicans say, leaving the White House scrambling to get back on track.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3141
U.S. Talks With Iraqi Insurgents Confirmed
Goal Is Sunnis' Political Inclusion, Rumsfeld Says
By Dana Priest / Washington Post
The U.S. military in Iraq has been holding face-to-face meetings with some Iraqi leaders of the insurgency there, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the U.S. commander in charge of Iraq confirmed yesterday.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3138
Army Recruits Quickly Abused in Training
By Dylan T. Lovan / Associated Press
FORT KNOX, Ky. - The recruits of Echo Company stumbled off the bus for basic training at Fort Knox to the screams of red-faced drill instructors. That much was expected. But it got worse from there.
Echo Company's top drill instructor seized a recruit by the back of the neck and threw him to the ground. Other soldiers were poked, grabbed or cursed.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3147
Army National Guard enlists job agency
By Lisa Chiu / Seattle Times
Faced with nationwide recruitment challenges, the Army National Guard has partnered with Labor Ready, a provider of temporary jobs for unskilled workers, in the hopes the Tacoma-based company's 700 branches across the nation can help boost the dwindling number of recruits.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3132
Rumsfeld In His Last Throes?; "Insurgencies tend to go on five, six, eight, 10, 12 years..."
Rumsfeld: Iraq Insurgency Could Last Years
By Douglass K. Daniel / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Insurgencies can go on for years, but the violence ravaging Iraq will eventually be quelled by homegrown forces rather than U.S. and other foreign troops, and negotiation rather than military action, U.S. officials said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3134
The Washington Post
Logging Limits
Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page A14
AS EARLY AS today, the Senate will have the opportunity to rectify a mistake made by the House this spring, and to pass an amendment limiting taxpayer subsidies for logging in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. Although a similar amendment passed the House last year, it was dropped from the final version of the annual Interior Department spending legislation. This year, opponents managed to use procedural tricks to prevent a vote from taking place in the House at all. Now the Senate is to vote on a similar amendment, co-sponsored by Sens. John E. Sununu (R-N.H.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.).
It is no accident that this amendment enjoys bipartisan support, because it makes sense on both environmental and economic grounds. Logging is not only destructive in the Tongass, an extraordinarily pristine temperate rain forest, but it is highly unprofitable. Last year, the U.S. Forest Service spent $49 million on subsidizing logging in the Tongass, and received about $800,000 in profit. This is a business that exists only because of the political clout of Alaskan members of Congress, and it provides little benefit to anyone other than some 300 Alaskans who live off the government's largess.
Most of the time, anti-environmentalists derive satisfaction from lampooning environmentalists as starry-eyed dreamers who can't add up columns of figures. Here is a case in which the numbers are on the side of the environmentalists. If Senate Republicans can't defeat this measure, that will reveal something about the "pro-enterprise, pro-market" claims of their party.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701424.html?nav=hcmodule
China Scolds U.S. for Blocking Israeli Arms Sale
By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page A08
BEIJING, June 27 -- Accusing the Bush administration of "carping" and "outside interference," China issued a sharp complaint Monday after Israel cancelled a controversial Israeli-Chinese arms deal under pressure from the United States.
The Israeli decision halted the sale of drone aircraft capable of seeking out radar installations. It was the result of a U.S. campaign to block China from obtaining advanced military technology that could be used against Taiwan and U.S. forces supporting the island in any confrontation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062700351.html
From Memos, Insights Into Ally's Doubts On Iraq War
British Advisers Foresaw Variety of Risks, Problems
By Glenn Frankel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page A01
LONDON -- In the spring of 2002, two weeks before British Prime Minister Tony Blair journeyed to Crawford, Tex., to meet with President Bush at his ranch about the escalating confrontation with Iraq, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw sounded a prescient warning.
"The rewards from your visit to Crawford will be few," Straw wrote in a March 25 memo to Blair stamped "Secret and Personal." "The risks are high, both for you and for the Government."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701584.html
Pakistan Supreme Court Orders Re-Arrest of Men in High-Profile Rape Case
By Sadaqat Jan
The Associated Press
Tuesday, June 28, 2005; 4:47 AM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered 13 suspects in a high-profile gang-rape case re-arrested Tuesday and overturned lower court rulings that had acquitted them, court officials and a lawyer in the case said.
The ruling came a day after the victim, Mukhtar Mai, appealed the acquittals in a dramatic appearance at the court. The decision cast aside a series of conflicting rulings by several lower courts that had drawn international condemnation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062800158.html
Racial Disparities Found in Pinpointing Mental Illness
By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page A01
Last of three articles
John Zeber recently examined one of the nation's largest databases of psychiatric cases to evaluate how doctors diagnose schizophrenia, a disorder that often portends years of powerful brain-altering drugs, social ostracism and forced hospitalizations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701496.html
Social Network's Healing Power Is Borne Out in Poorer Nations
By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 27, 2005; Page A01
RAIPUR RANI, India -- Second of three articles
Psychiatrist Naren Wig crossed an open sewer, skirted a pond and, in the dusty haze of afternoon, saw something miraculous.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/26/AR2005062601091.html?nav=hcmodule
NASA: Risk of Ice Striking Shuttle Low
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
The Associated Press
Sunday, June 26, 2005; 5:22 AM
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA officials believe the risk of potentially lethal pieces of ice flying off the external fuel tank and striking the space shuttle is low enough to proceed with plans for a mid-July launch of Discovery.
The conclusion came after a Friday meeting of NASA managers and engineers who have spent the past six weeks running millions of computer simulations and testing various ways ice might strike the orbiter. The launch window opens July 13.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/26/AR2005062600229.html?nav=hcmodule
John T. Walton, 58; Heir to Wal-Mart Fortune
By Martin Weil and Michael Barbaro
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page B06
John T. Walton, who as an heir to the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. retail fortune was ranked as one of the world's richest people, died yesterday in Grand Teton National Park when the ultralight airplane he was flying crashed. He was 58.
Mr. Walton, whose wealth was placed in the many billions of dollars, was a philanthropist, a decorated Vietnam veteran and an experienced aviator who once worked as a crop-duster.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701471.html
Air Force Names Rabbi As Adviser On Religion
Associated Press
Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Page A03
DENVER, June 27 -- A rabbi who retired as one of the military's top chaplains was appointed by the Air Force on Monday to help carry out recommendations of a task force that investigated complaints of religious intolerance at the Air Force Academy.
Arnold E. Resnicoff was named special assistant to acting Air Force Secretary Michael L. Dominguez and chief of staff for values and vision.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701479.html
The New Zealand Herald
Halliburton Iraq deals described as contract abuse
28.06.05 1.00pm
WASHINGTON - A top US Army procurement official said Halliburton's deals in Iraq were the worst example of contract abuse she had seen as Pentagon auditors flagged over US$1 billion ($1.42 billion) of potential overcharges by the Texas-based firm.
Bunny Greenhouse, the Army Corps of Engineers' top contracting official-turned whistle-blower, said in testimony at a hearing by Democrats on Capitol Hill that "every aspect" of Halliburton's oil contract in Iraq had been under the control of the Office of the Secretary of Defence.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10333138
US plans to resume plutonium 238 production says report
28.06.05
The United States plans to produce highly radioactive plutonium 238 for the first time since the Cold War, The New York Times has reported.
The newspaper quoted project managers as saying most, if not all, of the new plutonium was intended for secret missions. The officials would not disclose details, but the newspaper said the plutonium in the past powered espionage devices.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10333063
Italy eyes extradition of CIA-led kidnappers
28.06.05 1.00pm
ROME - Italy plans to seek the extradition of 13 CIA-led agents for the abduction of a radical Muslim cleric who was flown to Egypt and said he was tortured in prison there, a judicial source said.
The source, who declined to be named, said Italian prosecutors were considering treating the suspects as common fugitives and issuing an international request for their extradition to Italy.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10333143
Iranian court orders man to be blinded
28.06.05 1.00pm
By Angus McDowall
TEHRAN - An Iranian court has sentenced a man to have his eyes surgically removed for a crime he committed as a teenager 12 years ago.
Amnesty International has condemned the sentence, reported in the Iranian daily Etemaad, but local human rights groups say these unusual punishments are hardly ever executed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10333148
Emperor travels to honour Saipan war dead
28.06.05
SAIPAN - Japanese Emperor Akihito headed for the site of one of World War II's most decisive battles to pay tribute to those who died in a conflict that still haunts Tokyo's ties with Asian neighbours more than 60 years later.
The journey to the United States territory of Saipan - the first by Akihito outside Japan to mourn war dead - coincides with a chill in Tokyo's ties with China and South Korea, where many feel Japan has not owned up to its wartime atrocities.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10333057
UK continues Zimbabwe asylum seeker deportation
28.06.05 1.00pm
By Andrew Grice
Tony Blair was under mounting pressure last night to re-impose a moratorium on deporting failed asylum-seekers back to Zimbabwe.
The Government was accused of ignoring the brutal crackdown by Robert Mugabe's regime against his political opponents and putting lives at risk after it blocked demands for a halt to deportations.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10333131
Cricketers say they will tour Zimbabwe despite worries
Heath Mills
28.06.05 4.00pm
By Colin Marshall
New Zealand's cricketers remain certain they will be touring trouble-plagued Zimbabwe in August but say they will be discussing ways to stop themselves being used as pawns of the Robert Mugabe-led regime.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10333164
Three PNG police jailed for murder of boy
28.06.05 4.00pm
PORT MORESBY - Three policemen in Papua New Guinea have each been sentenced to 25 years in jail with hard labour for the murder of a 16-year-old boy in 2001.
Sergeant John Winamba and Constables Paul Gabi and Blassius Bana were jailed by Justice Moses Jalina in the National Court in Wewak, East Sepik Province, PNG's The National newspaper reported today.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10333167
Corby the star in a soap opera that's lost the plot
28.06.05
by Greg Ansley
CANBERRA - The high drama that has been the trial and upcoming appeal of 27-year-old convicted drug-smuggler Schapelle Corby continues to weave ever more complex plots as the former Gold Coast trainee beauty therapist struggles to convince an Indonesian court she is innocent.
In storylines more akin to the television soaps that Australia digests and exports with unremitting voracity, Corby and her family have fired and rehired her Indonesian legal team, split acrimoniously from her original Australian lawyer and her millionaire white knight, swapped angry accusations of profiteering, and seen her Australian QCs slug into their Indonesian counterparts with allegations of bribery.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10333055
Former hostage Wood a sick man
28.06.05
He may be celebrating his freedom, but former hostage Douglas Wood is a sick man who believes his 47-day ordeal has also cost him A$2 million ($2.2 million) in lost contracts.
The Australian engineer, rescued from his Iraqi captors a fortnight ago, revealed yesterday that he is suffering from numerous illnesses and may lose his eyesight.
The 63-year-old Wood said that since being freed he had been diagnosed with diabetes, malnutrition and the eye disease glaucoma.
He confirmed his rescue had more to do with luck than any negotiations on his behalf.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10333041
Apology opens door for Israeli minister to visit NZ
28.06.05
Israel's Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom could pay a visit to New Zealand now the diplomatic freeze caused by the spy scandal has ended.
It is understood Mr Shalom or the Foreign Ministry's Director-General, Ron Prosser, will make the trip to mark the end of the freeze imposed by the New Zealand Government.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10333039
Ex-Israeli soldier guilty of killing British student
28.06.05 1.20pm
By Eric Silver
A former Israeli soldier was found guilty by a military court in Israel yesterday of shooting dead the British student Tom Hurndall while he acted as a "human shield" in the Gaza Strip.
Mr Hurndall's father, Anthony Hurndall, welcomed the outcome of the family's long-running quest for justice but said he was disappointed that the judges had not probed higher up the chain of command.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10333150
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