US Death Rate Down in Iraq Since January Elections
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The rate of U.S. deaths in the Iraq war has fallen sharply since the historic January elections as American military leaders tout progress against the insurgency but warn of a long road ahead.
March is on pace for the lowest monthly U.S. military death toll in 13 months, and the rate of American fatalities has fallen by about 50 percent since the parliamentary elections in which millions of Iraqis defied insurgents to cast ballots.
Inclination to appoint a Sunni minister of defense in Iraq, scores of gunmen killedIraq, Politics, 3/24/2005
Heavy losses were inflicted on gunmen in Iraq as 86 of them were killed in a violent battle to the west of Tikrit city, to the north of Baghdad, and they thereby lost the largest number in their lines in a single day since the Falluja fighting in November 2004.A statement by the American- Iraqi military coordination said that Iraqi special forces supported by American land and air forces killed the gunmen in an attack against a training camp including foreigners in al-Helweh area near al-Tharthar lake.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Oak-He-Doe-$he"
March 23….
1775: In a speech to the Virginia convention, Patrick Henry utters the immortal words "Give me liberty or give me death."
1919: Benito Mussolini founds the right wing Fascist Party in Italy.
1925: Tennessee bans the teaching of evolution in schools; teacher John Scopes ignores the ban and is later prosecuted in the so-called "Monkey Trial."
1929, born Sir Roger Bannister British physician and the first athlete in history to run a mile in less than 4 min. Born in Harrow, England, he was educated at the University of Oxford and at Saint Mary's Hospital Medical School.
1956, Pakistan declared itself a republic.
1983: President Ronald Reagan announces plans for developing a space-based defense system that becomes known as "Star Wars."
1983: Retired dentist Barney B. Clark dies 112 days after receiving the first artificial heart.
1996: Lee Teng-hui becomes Taiwan's first democratically elected president.
Missing in Action
1961 BAILEY LAWRENCE ROBERT ALBUQUERQUE NM 08/15/62 RELEASED ALIVE IN 98
1961 BANKOWSKI ALFONS A. STAMFORD CT KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH
1961 GARSIDE FREDERICK T. PLYMOUTH MA KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 NOV 91
1961 MAGEE RALPH WAYNE PORT SULPHUR LA KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 NOV 91
1961 MATTESON GLENN DALLAS TX KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 NOV 91
1961 SAMPSON LESLIE V. RICHEY MT KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 NOV 91
1961 WEITKAMP EDGAR WILKEN YORK PA KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH
1961 WESTON OSCAR B. JR. NORFOLK VA KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH
1966 CLARK DONALD E. JR. LYNCHBURG VI 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1966 DAWSON CLYDE DUANE FOND DU LAC WI 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1966 HEWITT SAMUEL EUGENE WALKERTON IN
1966 TAPP JOHN B. HARRODSBURG KY
1968 FRANKS IAN J. NEW YORK NY
1969 DAVIS ROBERT C. BURLINGTON NJ REMAINS RETURNED 94-95 IDENTIFIED 10/30/96
1969 WIDDIS JAMES W. NEWARK NJ REMAINS RETURNED 94-95 IDENTIFIED 10/30/96
1972 JACKSON JAMES T. HIALEAH FL
1972 PIKE DENNIS S. BAGDAD AZ
1972 WHITT JAMES E. PENFIELD IL
1975 MARTIN EARL 07/75 RELEASED FROM SAIGON
March 24…
1882, German scientist Robert Koch announces that he has discovered the bacillus that causes tuberculosis.
1883, long-distance phone service was inaugurated between Chicago and New York.
1874, born Magician Harry Houdini.
1905, author Jules Verne died in Amiens, France, at the age of 77.
1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Tydings-McDuffie Act, granting future independence to the Philippines.
1944, in occupied Rome, the Nazis executed more than 300 civilians in reprisal for an attack by Italian partisans the day before that killed 32 German soldiers.
1958, Elvis Presley, the "King of Rock and Roll," enters the U.S. Army for two years.
1976, the president of Argentina, Isabel Peron, was deposed by her country's military.
1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and began leaking 11 million gallons of crude oil.
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/RefPages/RefMedia.aspx?refid=461538361&artrefid=761568901&pn=3&sec=-1
Missing in Action
1966 BUSH ROBERT E. HAMDEN CT REMAINS RETURNED 12/15/88
1967 ELLISON JOHN C. LAYTON UT
1967 HALLBERG ROGER C. PALO ALTO CA
1967 PLOWMAN JAMES E. PEBBLE BEACH CA
1967 STEWART JACK T. WASHINGTON DC
1969 ARROYO-BAEZ GERASINO MAUNARO PR "08/24/72 DIC, ON PRG DIC LIST REMAINS RET 03/85"
1969 BOWERS RICHARD L. LAKE MILLS WI DIED IN ESCAPE ON CAPTURE DAY
1970 BORONSKI JOHN A. WARE MA SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1970 BECERRA RUDY M. RICHMOND TX SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1970 GANOE BERMAN JR. BELLEVIEW FL SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1970 HOSKEN JOHN C. CHAGRIN FALLS OH SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1970 HARNED GARY A. SPRINGBORO PA SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1970 O'DONNELL MICHAEL D. SPRINGFIELD IL SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1970 POOL JERRY L. FREEPORT IL SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1971 BUTCHER JACK M. ANN ARBOR MI 03/28/73 RELEASED BY PL ALIVE IN 98
1971 BECKWITH HARRY M. FLINT MI
continued...
"Oak-He-Doe-$he"
March 23….
1775: In a speech to the Virginia convention, Patrick Henry utters the immortal words "Give me liberty or give me death."
1919: Benito Mussolini founds the right wing Fascist Party in Italy.
1925: Tennessee bans the teaching of evolution in schools; teacher John Scopes ignores the ban and is later prosecuted in the so-called "Monkey Trial."
1929, born Sir Roger Bannister British physician and the first athlete in history to run a mile in less than 4 min. Born in Harrow, England, he was educated at the University of Oxford and at Saint Mary's Hospital Medical School.
1956, Pakistan declared itself a republic.
1983: President Ronald Reagan announces plans for developing a space-based defense system that becomes known as "Star Wars."
1983: Retired dentist Barney B. Clark dies 112 days after receiving the first artificial heart.
1996: Lee Teng-hui becomes Taiwan's first democratically elected president.
Missing in Action
1961 BAILEY LAWRENCE ROBERT ALBUQUERQUE NM 08/15/62 RELEASED ALIVE IN 98
1961 BANKOWSKI ALFONS A. STAMFORD CT KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH
1961 GARSIDE FREDERICK T. PLYMOUTH MA KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 NOV 91
1961 MAGEE RALPH WAYNE PORT SULPHUR LA KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 NOV 91
1961 MATTESON GLENN DALLAS TX KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 NOV 91
1961 SAMPSON LESLIE V. RICHEY MT KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 NOV 91
1961 WEITKAMP EDGAR WILKEN YORK PA KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH
1961 WESTON OSCAR B. JR. NORFOLK VA KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH
1966 CLARK DONALD E. JR. LYNCHBURG VI 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1966 DAWSON CLYDE DUANE FOND DU LAC WI 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1966 HEWITT SAMUEL EUGENE WALKERTON IN
1966 TAPP JOHN B. HARRODSBURG KY
1968 FRANKS IAN J. NEW YORK NY
1969 DAVIS ROBERT C. BURLINGTON NJ REMAINS RETURNED 94-95 IDENTIFIED 10/30/96
1969 WIDDIS JAMES W. NEWARK NJ REMAINS RETURNED 94-95 IDENTIFIED 10/30/96
1972 JACKSON JAMES T. HIALEAH FL
1972 PIKE DENNIS S. BAGDAD AZ
1972 WHITT JAMES E. PENFIELD IL
1975 MARTIN EARL 07/75 RELEASED FROM SAIGON
March 24…
1882, German scientist Robert Koch announces that he has discovered the bacillus that causes tuberculosis.
1883, long-distance phone service was inaugurated between Chicago and New York.
1874, born Magician Harry Houdini.
1905, author Jules Verne died in Amiens, France, at the age of 77.
1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Tydings-McDuffie Act, granting future independence to the Philippines.
1944, in occupied Rome, the Nazis executed more than 300 civilians in reprisal for an attack by Italian partisans the day before that killed 32 German soldiers.
1958, Elvis Presley, the "King of Rock and Roll," enters the U.S. Army for two years.
1976, the president of Argentina, Isabel Peron, was deposed by her country's military.
1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and began leaking 11 million gallons of crude oil.
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/RefPages/RefMedia.aspx?refid=461538361&artrefid=761568901&pn=3&sec=-1
Missing in Action
1966 BUSH ROBERT E. HAMDEN CT REMAINS RETURNED 12/15/88
1967 ELLISON JOHN C. LAYTON UT
1967 HALLBERG ROGER C. PALO ALTO CA
1967 PLOWMAN JAMES E. PEBBLE BEACH CA
1967 STEWART JACK T. WASHINGTON DC
1969 ARROYO-BAEZ GERASINO MAUNARO PR "08/24/72 DIC, ON PRG DIC LIST REMAINS RET 03/85"
1969 BOWERS RICHARD L. LAKE MILLS WI DIED IN ESCAPE ON CAPTURE DAY
1970 BORONSKI JOHN A. WARE MA SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1970 BECERRA RUDY M. RICHMOND TX SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1970 GANOE BERMAN JR. BELLEVIEW FL SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1970 HOSKEN JOHN C. CHAGRIN FALLS OH SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1970 HARNED GARY A. SPRINGBORO PA SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1970 O'DONNELL MICHAEL D. SPRINGFIELD IL SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1970 POOL JERRY L. FREEPORT IL SAR SAYS SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1971 BUTCHER JACK M. ANN ARBOR MI 03/28/73 RELEASED BY PL ALIVE IN 98
1971 BECKWITH HARRY M. FLINT MI
continued...
Morning Papers - continued...
Haaretz
PM to meet Lapid in bid to win Shinui support in budget vote
By Haaretz Service
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Shinui chairman Yosef Lapid were slated to meet Saturday evening at Sharon's Sycamore Ranch in the Negev to discuss the 2005 state budget.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/556164.html
PA, U.S. officials discuss plan to expand Maaleh Adumim
By Haaretz Staff and Agencies
Senior Palestinian officials on Thursday asked visiting United States envoys to help block the expansion of Ma'aleh Adumim, warning that the planned construction would cut off East Jerusalem - the Palestinians' intended capital - from territory they seek for a future state.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/556494.html
Our Purim Gallery
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PurimGallery.jhtml?groupId=35
Annan delays release of UN inquiry on Hariri killing
By Reuters and Haaretz Service
UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to delay for at least a few hours the release of a UN report into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a spokesman said on Thursday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/556630.html
The Jerusalem Post
Slight change in tone of UN rights body toward Israel
By HERB KEINON
South African jurist John Dugard in UN
As usual, the report on the territories commissioned by the UN Commission on Human Rights and presented in Geneva this week slammed Israel for alleged human rights violations, while nary wagging a finger at the Palestinians
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111634308459
Annan: We must define terrorism
By HERB KEINON AND AP
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan unveils his new report and list of reforms, titled, "In Larger Freedom: Towards Security, Development and Human Rights for All," at the General Assembly at U.N. headquarters
Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged world leaders Monday to adopt the boldest changes to the United Nations in its 60-year history, including defining terrorism as an attack on all civilians, saying they were essential to tackle global threats in the 21st century.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111375278445
UN housing chief vague on future of Gaza assets
By HERB KEINON
Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the visiting head of the UN agency charged with promoting sustainable urban planning, was noncommittal on whether she thinks the Palestinian Authority should use settlements evacuated by Israel to permanently house Palestinian refugees.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111461690529
Drop in terror alerts from Nablus
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Since the four way summit at Sharm E Sheikh there has been a sharp decrease in terror warnings stemming from the Nablus area, with no alerts generating from the city in the past three weeks a senior IDF commander said Thursday. Once considered the capital of terror, so far this year a total of 13 alerts were received compared with 32 for the same period last year.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111634308798
Maon Farm keeps police busy
By YAAKOV KATZ
Police do not seem to have one day of rest from the settlers of the Maon Farm outpost in the southern Hebron hills. On Thursday, settlers from the settlement clashed with left-wing activists who were escorting Palestinian children to school on a road nearby.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111634309004
Poly-Esther
By JUDITH CANTOR
For Gabriella Lev, author, adapter, and actress in Theater Company Jerusalem's production of Esther, the story of Purim is more than a retelling of the victory of the Jews over the machinations of Haman. It is a story about the temporality of life and fate, about the Holocaust and its continuing effects on our lives today, about history and current events.
"Because the Megilla combines both immediacy and eternity, Purim means something different every time we read it," says Lev. "And every year, we call on Esther, the eternal feminine goddess, to work her magic, to perform a miracle, to save us."
For Lev, performing Esther serves as a meeting place for the disparate elements of her own life, as the child of Holocaust survivors growing up in Australia, as a Jew who studies ancient texts, as a feminist, as an actress.
But the story, she believes, has significance for all Jews, she says.
"The story of Purim is a fairy tale, a myth, but it lies deep in the consciousness of our people. The connection between the Megilla and the Holocaust cannot be coincidental. Haman called to... the Jews, and that is what Hitler did.
"The implications are complex, maybe frightening. Perhaps we Jews see ourselves so strongly as victims that we cannot identify as victors.
Perhaps that is why it is easier for some Israelis to identify with the suffering of the Palestinians than with the suffering of our own people. We must be careful how we use power, but we must also be willing to take power. Those are the lessons of the Megilla of Esther, and those are the lessons of our history."
Esther is a personalized interpretation of the Megilla, says Lev, referring to the rabbinical literary opus of sermons, stories, parables, and commentaries on the Bible, created over the centuries to provide insight and depth to the sparsely written biblical narrative.
But as she performs Esther for an eighth season, she notes that her interpretations and midrashim are changing.
"When I first performed, the play was charged with feminist anger. I challenged the audiences to know more about Esther, who, like so many women, was part of history, but never part of its telling.
Today, the script remains the same, but the anger is simply not there any more."
Women, she observes, are reclaiming their role in history. Now, she views the play as a call for balance. "We must acknowledge all of the different sides of ourselves. In each of us, there is a king, a queen, a Jew, and yes, a Haman, an aggressor."
In Esther, as in all of TCJ's productions, Lev calls on the audience to engage in a feminine interpretation. "This, too, is part of the balance that we must achieve. Women are not only the reflection of men's feminine side, they have their own perspectives, just as men do. Taken together, we reach a fuller reading."
By using theater, TCJ makes the ancient texts more accessible to modern audiences, inviting them in to a "close reading" that brings the text close to their lives.
"We call on the audience to engage in dialogue with the text of the Megilla," Lev says. "We must do so with modesty, these are the greatest works that civilization has produced. But we must not be overwhelmed, either, or afraid to question. It is the dialogue that has kept our culture alive."
Gabriella Lev will be performing Esther at Beit Shmuel on March 22 and 23 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets available at the box office.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull%26cid=1111030175225
Purim costumes go over the top
By ELIANA SCHONWALD AND YAAKOV KATZ
Besides the familiar Queen Esther and Haman costumes worn for Purim, children have been seen around the country wearing more shocking outfits – including Palestinian suicide bombers and even concentration camp inmates.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111548530773
continued...
PM to meet Lapid in bid to win Shinui support in budget vote
By Haaretz Service
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Shinui chairman Yosef Lapid were slated to meet Saturday evening at Sharon's Sycamore Ranch in the Negev to discuss the 2005 state budget.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/556164.html
PA, U.S. officials discuss plan to expand Maaleh Adumim
By Haaretz Staff and Agencies
Senior Palestinian officials on Thursday asked visiting United States envoys to help block the expansion of Ma'aleh Adumim, warning that the planned construction would cut off East Jerusalem - the Palestinians' intended capital - from territory they seek for a future state.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/556494.html
Our Purim Gallery
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PurimGallery.jhtml?groupId=35
Annan delays release of UN inquiry on Hariri killing
By Reuters and Haaretz Service
UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to delay for at least a few hours the release of a UN report into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a spokesman said on Thursday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/556630.html
The Jerusalem Post
Slight change in tone of UN rights body toward Israel
By HERB KEINON
South African jurist John Dugard in UN
As usual, the report on the territories commissioned by the UN Commission on Human Rights and presented in Geneva this week slammed Israel for alleged human rights violations, while nary wagging a finger at the Palestinians
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111634308459
Annan: We must define terrorism
By HERB KEINON AND AP
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan unveils his new report and list of reforms, titled, "In Larger Freedom: Towards Security, Development and Human Rights for All," at the General Assembly at U.N. headquarters
Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged world leaders Monday to adopt the boldest changes to the United Nations in its 60-year history, including defining terrorism as an attack on all civilians, saying they were essential to tackle global threats in the 21st century.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111375278445
UN housing chief vague on future of Gaza assets
By HERB KEINON
Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the visiting head of the UN agency charged with promoting sustainable urban planning, was noncommittal on whether she thinks the Palestinian Authority should use settlements evacuated by Israel to permanently house Palestinian refugees.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111461690529
Drop in terror alerts from Nablus
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Since the four way summit at Sharm E Sheikh there has been a sharp decrease in terror warnings stemming from the Nablus area, with no alerts generating from the city in the past three weeks a senior IDF commander said Thursday. Once considered the capital of terror, so far this year a total of 13 alerts were received compared with 32 for the same period last year.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111634308798
Maon Farm keeps police busy
By YAAKOV KATZ
Police do not seem to have one day of rest from the settlers of the Maon Farm outpost in the southern Hebron hills. On Thursday, settlers from the settlement clashed with left-wing activists who were escorting Palestinian children to school on a road nearby.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111634309004
Poly-Esther
By JUDITH CANTOR
For Gabriella Lev, author, adapter, and actress in Theater Company Jerusalem's production of Esther, the story of Purim is more than a retelling of the victory of the Jews over the machinations of Haman. It is a story about the temporality of life and fate, about the Holocaust and its continuing effects on our lives today, about history and current events.
"Because the Megilla combines both immediacy and eternity, Purim means something different every time we read it," says Lev. "And every year, we call on Esther, the eternal feminine goddess, to work her magic, to perform a miracle, to save us."
For Lev, performing Esther serves as a meeting place for the disparate elements of her own life, as the child of Holocaust survivors growing up in Australia, as a Jew who studies ancient texts, as a feminist, as an actress.
But the story, she believes, has significance for all Jews, she says.
"The story of Purim is a fairy tale, a myth, but it lies deep in the consciousness of our people. The connection between the Megilla and the Holocaust cannot be coincidental. Haman called to... the Jews, and that is what Hitler did.
"The implications are complex, maybe frightening. Perhaps we Jews see ourselves so strongly as victims that we cannot identify as victors.
Perhaps that is why it is easier for some Israelis to identify with the suffering of the Palestinians than with the suffering of our own people. We must be careful how we use power, but we must also be willing to take power. Those are the lessons of the Megilla of Esther, and those are the lessons of our history."
Esther is a personalized interpretation of the Megilla, says Lev, referring to the rabbinical literary opus of sermons, stories, parables, and commentaries on the Bible, created over the centuries to provide insight and depth to the sparsely written biblical narrative.
But as she performs Esther for an eighth season, she notes that her interpretations and midrashim are changing.
"When I first performed, the play was charged with feminist anger. I challenged the audiences to know more about Esther, who, like so many women, was part of history, but never part of its telling.
Today, the script remains the same, but the anger is simply not there any more."
Women, she observes, are reclaiming their role in history. Now, she views the play as a call for balance. "We must acknowledge all of the different sides of ourselves. In each of us, there is a king, a queen, a Jew, and yes, a Haman, an aggressor."
In Esther, as in all of TCJ's productions, Lev calls on the audience to engage in a feminine interpretation. "This, too, is part of the balance that we must achieve. Women are not only the reflection of men's feminine side, they have their own perspectives, just as men do. Taken together, we reach a fuller reading."
By using theater, TCJ makes the ancient texts more accessible to modern audiences, inviting them in to a "close reading" that brings the text close to their lives.
"We call on the audience to engage in dialogue with the text of the Megilla," Lev says. "We must do so with modesty, these are the greatest works that civilization has produced. But we must not be overwhelmed, either, or afraid to question. It is the dialogue that has kept our culture alive."
Gabriella Lev will be performing Esther at Beit Shmuel on March 22 and 23 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets available at the box office.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull%26cid=1111030175225
Purim costumes go over the top
By ELIANA SCHONWALD AND YAAKOV KATZ
Besides the familiar Queen Esther and Haman costumes worn for Purim, children have been seen around the country wearing more shocking outfits – including Palestinian suicide bombers and even concentration camp inmates.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111548530773
continued...
Morning Papers - continued...
Los Angeles Times
Nearly Half of Blacks, Latinos Drop Out, School Study Shows
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-graduate24mar24,0,6137422.story?coll=la-home-local
Explosion Rocks Texas Oil Refinery
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-032405refinery_lat,0,966128.story?coll=la-home-headlines
She Seems to Be Perfectly Happy
Sorenstam has won her last four tournaments, going into first LPGA major of the year, and new single status means she might play more.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lpga24mar24,0,1120817.story?coll=la-home-sports
Red Lake Reservation Readies Burial Rituals
Community mourns the loss of 10 of its own as concern for survivors, victims' families grows.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-shooting24mar24,0,177404.story?coll=la-home-nation
A Ray of Hope for Solar
How strange that solar energy remains a rarity in a state with such dependable sunshine, which beats down, wasted, on our rooftops. New legislation backed by the governor fixes gaps that plagued previous solar-construction bills and provides the first real chance for new-home solar to get off the ground.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-solar24mar24,0,1065833.story
The Sydney Morning Herald
Blast at refinery causes price rise
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Blast-at-refinery-causes-price-rise/2005/03/24/1111525296090.html?oneclick=true
A BP Oil official said 14 people died and 100 were injured in a massive explosion at the company's Texas City petrochemical refinery today.
The cause of the blast was not immediately known but it sparked a fire that was put out a few hours later, and workers were searching the rubble for survivors or bodies.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Oil-refinery-blast-death-toll-14-BP/2005/03/24/1111525254114.html
Terror suspects on loose, warns spy chief
March 24, 2005
Potential terrorists are on the loose in Australia because there is not enough evidence against them to take legal action, the nation's top spy said yesterday.
ASIO Director-General Dennis Richardson told the LAWAsia conference on the Gold Coast that fewer than one in 10 people known to be involved with terrorist groups in Australia was ever likely to face court.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Anti-Terror-Watch/Terror-suspects-on-loose-warns-spy-chief/2005/03/23/1111525211160.html
Wild weather prompts 900 calls for help
Wild weather lashed Sydney and surrounding areas today, with strong winds bringing down trees and power lines and heavy rain causing flooding.
State Emergency Service (SES) spokesman Phil Campbell said 924 calls for help had been received, mostly for water in houses caused by blocked gutters and spot flooding.
"There have been over 200 emergency workers on the road responding to leaks, fallen trees, trees blocking driveways and spot flooding," he said.
"We are still expecting some rain and gusting winds
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Wild-weather-prompts-900-calls-for-help/2005/03/23/1111525220144.html
Pill reduces breast cancer in high-risk women
By Nassim Khadem
March 24, 2005
Taking the pill at an early age can reduce the chances of breast cancer for women with a high genetic risk of developing the disease, Australian research shows.
The study of 2000 Australian women aged under 40 strengthens medical belief that the pill, far from having harmful side effects, actually protects women from cancer.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Pill-reduces-breast-cancer-in-highrisk-women/2005/03/23/1111525229088.html
Blair vows to keep the faith, but not US-style
March 24, 2005
The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, chose a meeting of evangelical Christians in south London to declare his opposition to US-style religious politics in British public life.
Mr Blair, battered by Conservative tabloid pressures on abortion, insisted on Tuesday: "I do not want to end up with an American style of politics, with us all going out there beating our chest about our faith.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Blair-vows-to-keep-the-faith-but-not-USstyle/2005/03/23/1111525229983.html
Blast kills two as crisis in Lebanon deepens
March 24, 2005
Lebanese Christian opposition leaders blamed the country's Syrian-backed security agencies yesterday for a series of bomb attacks, the latest of which killed two people in the Christian heartland north of Beirut.
The two were killed and five wounded early yesterday when a bomb ripped through a shopping centre in the coastal town of Kaslik, 20 kilometres north of the capital.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Middle-East-Conflict/Blast-kills-two-as-crisis-in-Lebanon-deepens/2005/03/23/1111525228865.html
'Healer' jailed for sex abuse with potatoes
March 24, 2005 - 1:22PM
A Maori healer who used traditional indigenous practices to treat patients has been jailed for three and a half years for sexually violating two patients with potatoes.
Sending Christopher Tuaupiki, 64, to prison, a judge in the High Court in the North Island city of Hamilton told him it was "sad that a good reputation had been shattered" when he was found guilty on five sex charges after a week-long trial, the Waikato Times newspaper reported.
During the trial, a 38-year-old widow gave evidence that Tuaupiki told her to lie on a bed naked and rubbed a raw potato "in circular motions everywhere" to remove a curse he blamed for her son seeing the ghosts of his dead father and grandparents.
The other woman, who consulted him as a tribal elder to ask her about Maori ancestors, said he gave her similar treatment, saying the potato would cure her breast cancer and liver disease.
Doctor's tests showed the 49-year-old did not have those illnesses.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Potato-pervert-jailed/2005/03/24/1111525270309.html
Chief judge hits back at court critics
By Michael Pelly, Legal Reporter
March 25, 2005
The judicial system is being undermined by lawyers who talk to the media, attorneys-general who do not defend the courts and "superficial and inappropriate performance indicators", the nation's top judge says.
The Chief Justice of the High Court, Murray Gleeson, said also that judges would soon "respond swiftly" to ill-informed criticism and attacks on individual officers.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Chief-judge-hits-back-at-court-critics/2005/03/24/1111525295865.html
The Boston Globe
Final appeal in Schiavo case
Parents ask Supreme Court to restore tube
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff March 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The parents of Terri Schiavo, the severely brain- damaged woman who has been slowly dying since her feeding tube was removed Friday, appealed last night to the US Supreme Court to have the tube reinserted.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2005/03/24/final_plea_nears_for_schiavo/
Reservation where 10 died has long known pain
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff March 24, 2005
RED LAKE, Minn. -- The television inside a weathered ranch house replayed familiar footage about the deadly shooting rampage that has stunned the Red Lake Indian Reservation -- scenes with wailing ambulances, grieving students, and grim-faced tribal leaders.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/03/24/reservation_where_10_died_has_long_known_pain/
Fugitive murderer held after 20 years on the lam
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer March 24, 2005
BOSTON -- A fugitive on the lam for the past two decades who lived a double life as an activist poet in Chicago pleaded innocent Thursday to a charge of escaping from prison and was ordered held without bail.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/03/24/fugitive_murderer_held_after_20_years_on_the_lam/
Pentagon eyes change at Hanscom
Ideas include turning site over to developer
By Bryan Bender and Matt Viser, Globe Staff And Globe Correspondent March 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- One of several ideas the Pentagon is considering for Hanscom Air Force Base is to turn it over to a private developer, then rent space on the sprawling site in Bedford, allowing the military to continue working on its cutting-edge technologies, according to top armed forces consultants and officials familiar with Pentagon deliberations on base closings.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/03/24/pentagon_eyes_change_at_hanscom/
Woman convicted of cruelty gets back two horses
March 24, 2005
BENNINGTON, N.H. -- The state veterinarian says he cannot understand why a judge returned two horses to a woman convicted of animal cruelty.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2005/03/24/woman_convicted_of_cruelty_gets_back_two_horses/
DeLay goes on offense in ethics battle
By Larry Margasak, Associated Press Writer March 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay often plays defense in public in his fight against allegations of ethical misconduct, saying he didn't know about specific fund-raising practices under investigation in Texas or groups in Washington that paid for his travel.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/03/24/delay_goes_on_offense_in_ethics_battle/
Bobby Fischer, on Way to Iceland, Says Feels Great
By Kim McLaughlin March 24, 2005
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Chess legend Bobby Fischer made a brief stop-over in Denmark on Thursday on his way from Tokyo to Iceland, which granted him citizenship earlier this week enabling him to avoid deportation to the United States.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/03/24/bobby_fischer_on_way_to_iceland_says_feels_great/
Arab League seeks Israeli concessions
By Barry Schweid, AP Diplomatic Writer March 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Dismissing a U.S. overture, the Arab League's chief envoy on Thursday ruled out Arab diplomatic relations with Israel unless it comes to term with the Palestinians.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/03/24/arab_league_seeks_israeli_concessions_1111689240/
Kyrgyzstan opposition facing next move
By Bagila Bukharbayeva, Associated Press Writer March 24, 2005
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- Shattered glass littered the floors, furniture and portraits of the president tumbled out the windows, and the young men who seized Kyrgyzstan's government headquarters Thursday took a break to divvy up packages of crackers they'd ripped out of a carton.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/03/24/kyrgyzstan_opposition_facing_next_move/
The Moscow Times
Fischer Assails Russia Over Chechnya
GENEVA --German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called on Russia on Tuesday to investigate human rights violations committed by its security forces in Chechnya.
In a speech to the UN Commission on Human Rights, he also voiced concern at "whippings, torture and the death penalty" in Iran, and at prolonged administrative detentions and executions in China.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/03/23/014.html
Kyrgyz president reportedly flees capital
Thursday, March 24, 2005 Updated at 9:44 AM EST
Associated Press
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan — Protesters stormed the presidential compound in Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, seizing control of the seat of power after clashing with riot police during a large opposition rally. President Askar Akayev reportedly fled to Russia.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050324.w2kryg0324/BNStory/International/
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Scientists recover preserved soft tissue from ancient dinosaur
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- For more than a century, the study of dinosaurs has been limited to fossilized bones. Now, researchers have recovered 70 million-year-old soft tissue, including what may be blood vessels and cells, from a Tyrannosaurus rex in Montana.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/apwest_story.asp?category=6600&slug=WST%20T%20Rex%20Tissues
San Juans disaster was narrowly averted
Captain in collision had health, alcohol ills
By ERIC NALDER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
It was about as close to a disastrous oil spill as you can get without having one -- and it happened in the San Juan Islands.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/oiltankers/217351_polarpuget24.html
Radio Beat: Local stations are tuning into podcasting
By BILL VIRGIN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
How do you listen to your favorite radio programs? And when?
The traditional answers were: On a radio receiving an over-the-air signal, and whenever the station decided to broadcast the program.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/217244_radiocolumn24.html
Radio Beat: Local stations are tuning into podcasting
By BILL VIRGIN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
How do you listen to your favorite radio programs? And when?
The traditional answers were: On a radio receiving an over-the-air signal, and whenever the station decided to broadcast the program.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/217244_radiocolumn24.html
State Supreme Court sides with news media in defamation case
By REBECCA COOK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- In a case that raised concerns about courts becoming "super-editors," the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a businessman can't sue a Spokane television reporter for omitting facts that might have made him look better in a critical story.
Defamation by omission is possible, the court said, but just because someone doesn't like a story doesn't mean it's defamatory.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20SCOW%20Defamation%20Ruling
Scientists confident of Yucca Mountain
By GEORGE F. WILL
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
YUCCA MOUNTAIN, Nev. -- Driving northwest into the desolate vastness of the Nevada Test Site where the nation's nuclear arsenal was tested, a spindly tower, outlined against a ridgeline, rises 1,527 feet out of the desert. That is the approximate height at which the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima. The tower was used to study radiation effects on life at different elevations.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/217266_will24.html
Capitol Watch: Expand civil rights
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
A nearly 30-year effort to expand state civil rights protection should clear its penultimate legislative hurdle Thursday, as a Senate committee takes the vote to send the measure to the floor.
House Bill 1515 already has passed the House of Representatives and was heard yesterday in the Senate's Financial Institutions, Housing and Consumer Protection Committee. The committee chairwoman, Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park, said she expects a committee vote on the bill as early as today. The legislation would add sexual orientation to the list of illegal bases for discrimination under state law. The current list includes race, color, creed, national origin, sex and disability. The bill carries an exemption to the state law for sharing, renting or subleasing property in which one lives.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/217258_civiled.asp
continued...
Nearly Half of Blacks, Latinos Drop Out, School Study Shows
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-graduate24mar24,0,6137422.story?coll=la-home-local
Explosion Rocks Texas Oil Refinery
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-032405refinery_lat,0,966128.story?coll=la-home-headlines
She Seems to Be Perfectly Happy
Sorenstam has won her last four tournaments, going into first LPGA major of the year, and new single status means she might play more.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lpga24mar24,0,1120817.story?coll=la-home-sports
Red Lake Reservation Readies Burial Rituals
Community mourns the loss of 10 of its own as concern for survivors, victims' families grows.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-shooting24mar24,0,177404.story?coll=la-home-nation
A Ray of Hope for Solar
How strange that solar energy remains a rarity in a state with such dependable sunshine, which beats down, wasted, on our rooftops. New legislation backed by the governor fixes gaps that plagued previous solar-construction bills and provides the first real chance for new-home solar to get off the ground.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-solar24mar24,0,1065833.story
The Sydney Morning Herald
Blast at refinery causes price rise
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Blast-at-refinery-causes-price-rise/2005/03/24/1111525296090.html?oneclick=true
A BP Oil official said 14 people died and 100 were injured in a massive explosion at the company's Texas City petrochemical refinery today.
The cause of the blast was not immediately known but it sparked a fire that was put out a few hours later, and workers were searching the rubble for survivors or bodies.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Oil-refinery-blast-death-toll-14-BP/2005/03/24/1111525254114.html
Terror suspects on loose, warns spy chief
March 24, 2005
Potential terrorists are on the loose in Australia because there is not enough evidence against them to take legal action, the nation's top spy said yesterday.
ASIO Director-General Dennis Richardson told the LAWAsia conference on the Gold Coast that fewer than one in 10 people known to be involved with terrorist groups in Australia was ever likely to face court.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Anti-Terror-Watch/Terror-suspects-on-loose-warns-spy-chief/2005/03/23/1111525211160.html
Wild weather prompts 900 calls for help
Wild weather lashed Sydney and surrounding areas today, with strong winds bringing down trees and power lines and heavy rain causing flooding.
State Emergency Service (SES) spokesman Phil Campbell said 924 calls for help had been received, mostly for water in houses caused by blocked gutters and spot flooding.
"There have been over 200 emergency workers on the road responding to leaks, fallen trees, trees blocking driveways and spot flooding," he said.
"We are still expecting some rain and gusting winds
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Wild-weather-prompts-900-calls-for-help/2005/03/23/1111525220144.html
Pill reduces breast cancer in high-risk women
By Nassim Khadem
March 24, 2005
Taking the pill at an early age can reduce the chances of breast cancer for women with a high genetic risk of developing the disease, Australian research shows.
The study of 2000 Australian women aged under 40 strengthens medical belief that the pill, far from having harmful side effects, actually protects women from cancer.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Pill-reduces-breast-cancer-in-highrisk-women/2005/03/23/1111525229088.html
Blair vows to keep the faith, but not US-style
March 24, 2005
The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, chose a meeting of evangelical Christians in south London to declare his opposition to US-style religious politics in British public life.
Mr Blair, battered by Conservative tabloid pressures on abortion, insisted on Tuesday: "I do not want to end up with an American style of politics, with us all going out there beating our chest about our faith.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Blair-vows-to-keep-the-faith-but-not-USstyle/2005/03/23/1111525229983.html
Blast kills two as crisis in Lebanon deepens
March 24, 2005
Lebanese Christian opposition leaders blamed the country's Syrian-backed security agencies yesterday for a series of bomb attacks, the latest of which killed two people in the Christian heartland north of Beirut.
The two were killed and five wounded early yesterday when a bomb ripped through a shopping centre in the coastal town of Kaslik, 20 kilometres north of the capital.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Middle-East-Conflict/Blast-kills-two-as-crisis-in-Lebanon-deepens/2005/03/23/1111525228865.html
'Healer' jailed for sex abuse with potatoes
March 24, 2005 - 1:22PM
A Maori healer who used traditional indigenous practices to treat patients has been jailed for three and a half years for sexually violating two patients with potatoes.
Sending Christopher Tuaupiki, 64, to prison, a judge in the High Court in the North Island city of Hamilton told him it was "sad that a good reputation had been shattered" when he was found guilty on five sex charges after a week-long trial, the Waikato Times newspaper reported.
During the trial, a 38-year-old widow gave evidence that Tuaupiki told her to lie on a bed naked and rubbed a raw potato "in circular motions everywhere" to remove a curse he blamed for her son seeing the ghosts of his dead father and grandparents.
The other woman, who consulted him as a tribal elder to ask her about Maori ancestors, said he gave her similar treatment, saying the potato would cure her breast cancer and liver disease.
Doctor's tests showed the 49-year-old did not have those illnesses.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Potato-pervert-jailed/2005/03/24/1111525270309.html
Chief judge hits back at court critics
By Michael Pelly, Legal Reporter
March 25, 2005
The judicial system is being undermined by lawyers who talk to the media, attorneys-general who do not defend the courts and "superficial and inappropriate performance indicators", the nation's top judge says.
The Chief Justice of the High Court, Murray Gleeson, said also that judges would soon "respond swiftly" to ill-informed criticism and attacks on individual officers.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Chief-judge-hits-back-at-court-critics/2005/03/24/1111525295865.html
The Boston Globe
Final appeal in Schiavo case
Parents ask Supreme Court to restore tube
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff March 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The parents of Terri Schiavo, the severely brain- damaged woman who has been slowly dying since her feeding tube was removed Friday, appealed last night to the US Supreme Court to have the tube reinserted.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2005/03/24/final_plea_nears_for_schiavo/
Reservation where 10 died has long known pain
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff March 24, 2005
RED LAKE, Minn. -- The television inside a weathered ranch house replayed familiar footage about the deadly shooting rampage that has stunned the Red Lake Indian Reservation -- scenes with wailing ambulances, grieving students, and grim-faced tribal leaders.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/03/24/reservation_where_10_died_has_long_known_pain/
Fugitive murderer held after 20 years on the lam
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer March 24, 2005
BOSTON -- A fugitive on the lam for the past two decades who lived a double life as an activist poet in Chicago pleaded innocent Thursday to a charge of escaping from prison and was ordered held without bail.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/03/24/fugitive_murderer_held_after_20_years_on_the_lam/
Pentagon eyes change at Hanscom
Ideas include turning site over to developer
By Bryan Bender and Matt Viser, Globe Staff And Globe Correspondent March 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- One of several ideas the Pentagon is considering for Hanscom Air Force Base is to turn it over to a private developer, then rent space on the sprawling site in Bedford, allowing the military to continue working on its cutting-edge technologies, according to top armed forces consultants and officials familiar with Pentagon deliberations on base closings.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/03/24/pentagon_eyes_change_at_hanscom/
Woman convicted of cruelty gets back two horses
March 24, 2005
BENNINGTON, N.H. -- The state veterinarian says he cannot understand why a judge returned two horses to a woman convicted of animal cruelty.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2005/03/24/woman_convicted_of_cruelty_gets_back_two_horses/
DeLay goes on offense in ethics battle
By Larry Margasak, Associated Press Writer March 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay often plays defense in public in his fight against allegations of ethical misconduct, saying he didn't know about specific fund-raising practices under investigation in Texas or groups in Washington that paid for his travel.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/03/24/delay_goes_on_offense_in_ethics_battle/
Bobby Fischer, on Way to Iceland, Says Feels Great
By Kim McLaughlin March 24, 2005
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Chess legend Bobby Fischer made a brief stop-over in Denmark on Thursday on his way from Tokyo to Iceland, which granted him citizenship earlier this week enabling him to avoid deportation to the United States.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/03/24/bobby_fischer_on_way_to_iceland_says_feels_great/
Arab League seeks Israeli concessions
By Barry Schweid, AP Diplomatic Writer March 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Dismissing a U.S. overture, the Arab League's chief envoy on Thursday ruled out Arab diplomatic relations with Israel unless it comes to term with the Palestinians.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/03/24/arab_league_seeks_israeli_concessions_1111689240/
Kyrgyzstan opposition facing next move
By Bagila Bukharbayeva, Associated Press Writer March 24, 2005
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- Shattered glass littered the floors, furniture and portraits of the president tumbled out the windows, and the young men who seized Kyrgyzstan's government headquarters Thursday took a break to divvy up packages of crackers they'd ripped out of a carton.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/03/24/kyrgyzstan_opposition_facing_next_move/
The Moscow Times
Fischer Assails Russia Over Chechnya
GENEVA --German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called on Russia on Tuesday to investigate human rights violations committed by its security forces in Chechnya.
In a speech to the UN Commission on Human Rights, he also voiced concern at "whippings, torture and the death penalty" in Iran, and at prolonged administrative detentions and executions in China.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/03/23/014.html
Kyrgyz president reportedly flees capital
Thursday, March 24, 2005 Updated at 9:44 AM EST
Associated Press
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan — Protesters stormed the presidential compound in Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, seizing control of the seat of power after clashing with riot police during a large opposition rally. President Askar Akayev reportedly fled to Russia.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050324.w2kryg0324/BNStory/International/
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Scientists recover preserved soft tissue from ancient dinosaur
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- For more than a century, the study of dinosaurs has been limited to fossilized bones. Now, researchers have recovered 70 million-year-old soft tissue, including what may be blood vessels and cells, from a Tyrannosaurus rex in Montana.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/apwest_story.asp?category=6600&slug=WST%20T%20Rex%20Tissues
San Juans disaster was narrowly averted
Captain in collision had health, alcohol ills
By ERIC NALDER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
It was about as close to a disastrous oil spill as you can get without having one -- and it happened in the San Juan Islands.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/oiltankers/217351_polarpuget24.html
Radio Beat: Local stations are tuning into podcasting
By BILL VIRGIN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
How do you listen to your favorite radio programs? And when?
The traditional answers were: On a radio receiving an over-the-air signal, and whenever the station decided to broadcast the program.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/217244_radiocolumn24.html
Radio Beat: Local stations are tuning into podcasting
By BILL VIRGIN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
How do you listen to your favorite radio programs? And when?
The traditional answers were: On a radio receiving an over-the-air signal, and whenever the station decided to broadcast the program.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/217244_radiocolumn24.html
State Supreme Court sides with news media in defamation case
By REBECCA COOK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- In a case that raised concerns about courts becoming "super-editors," the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a businessman can't sue a Spokane television reporter for omitting facts that might have made him look better in a critical story.
Defamation by omission is possible, the court said, but just because someone doesn't like a story doesn't mean it's defamatory.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20SCOW%20Defamation%20Ruling
Scientists confident of Yucca Mountain
By GEORGE F. WILL
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
YUCCA MOUNTAIN, Nev. -- Driving northwest into the desolate vastness of the Nevada Test Site where the nation's nuclear arsenal was tested, a spindly tower, outlined against a ridgeline, rises 1,527 feet out of the desert. That is the approximate height at which the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima. The tower was used to study radiation effects on life at different elevations.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/217266_will24.html
Capitol Watch: Expand civil rights
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
A nearly 30-year effort to expand state civil rights protection should clear its penultimate legislative hurdle Thursday, as a Senate committee takes the vote to send the measure to the floor.
House Bill 1515 already has passed the House of Representatives and was heard yesterday in the Senate's Financial Institutions, Housing and Consumer Protection Committee. The committee chairwoman, Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park, said she expects a committee vote on the bill as early as today. The legislation would add sexual orientation to the list of illegal bases for discrimination under state law. The current list includes race, color, creed, national origin, sex and disability. The bill carries an exemption to the state law for sharing, renting or subleasing property in which one lives.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/217258_civiled.asp
continued...
Morning Papers - continued...
Globe and mail
14 die in Texas refinery blast
Texas City, Tex. — All but one of the 1,800 or so oil refinery workers at the BP plant here have been accounted for after an overnight search following a thunderous blast that killed 14 and injured more than 100, officials said Thursday.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050323.wbp0323/BNStory/International/
Harper accuses Liberals of secret Kyoto agenda
Ottawa — Conservative Leader Stephen Harper accused the Liberals yesterday of harbouring a hidden agenda when he was asked about a controversial environmental clause slipped into an omnibus budget-implementation bill to be introduced today.
"We'll take a look at what it is and we'll evaluate it accordingly," Mr. Harper said after a weekly meeting of the Conservative caucus.
"We'll not support something that we don't believe is in the national interest, especially if it doesn't come clean on what the government's plans actually are on Kyoto."
The clause, which was added to the bill at the behest of Environment Minister Stéphane Dion but was not included in the budget papers, would remove the word "toxic" from the explanation of what substances are covered under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. That would allow greenhouse gases, which are not technically toxic, to be regulated by the act and could mean large fines for emitters -- something the Conservatives have labelled a "backdoor carbon tax."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050324.wxbudge24/BNStory/National/
The Miami Herald
Protect the panther
OUR OPINION: PUNISH THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR FLAWED HABITAT REPORT
The Florida panther is having enough trouble holding on to its habitat without flawed research from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that puts it in further peril.
Yet Fish and Wildlife officials conceded this week to faulty assumptions in writing a report on panthers' habitat, putting the panther population at risk. Despite a promising breeding program, the panther is losing habitat to development, which adversely affects its ability to survive. The agency's research is vital to helping officials determine how best to protect one of the world's rarest animals.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11215338.htm
A vestige of Jim Crow
OUR OPINION: LEGISLATURE SHOULD EXPUNGE ACTIVISTS' ARREST RECORDS
In the fervent fight for equality in the 1960s, ordinary people sacrificed their freedom, and sometimes their lives, to secure civil rights for African Americans. Onerous Jim Crow laws guaranteed that blacks were denied the right to vote, use public facilities or have equal access to education.
Ultimately the fight was successful. Racist laws fell under the force of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts. But 40 years later, vestiges of this dark era still haunt many who fought on the hostile front lines. Former activists who were arrested for staging sit-ins at segregated lunch counters or peaceful marches are stunned to find that they have criminal records for defying Jim Crow laws.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11215336.htm
Practicing medicine without a brain
BY RICHARD COHEN
cohenr@washpost.com
Sen. Bill Frist last week watched a videotape of Terri Schiavo made by her parents in 2001. He did this in his capacity as Senate majority leader and as a renowned physician. In both roles, he performed miserably. As a senator, he showed himself to be an unscrupulous opportunist. As a physician, he was guilty of practicing medicine without a brain.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11215369.htm
Accused beachside purse snatcher turns himself in
By Herald staff reports
browardnews@herald.com
A man who investigators say used a tourist's stolen credit card to buy nearly $900 worth of electronics, gift cards, liquor and groceries has turned himself in to the Broward Sheriff's Office.
Frank Monte III, 34, turned himself in to BSO Wednesday night, less than a week after his face was seen on TV and in the newspapers as a wanted man, BSO said.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11220696.htm>
9 indicted in Medicaid fraud
BY JOHN DORSCHNER
jdorschner@herald.com
Nine persons in Miami and Savannah, Ga., have been charged in a widespread scheme to defraud Florida Medicaid of millions of dollars, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist announced Thursday.
The allegations involve Florida physicians ordering pharmaceutical treatments for Medicaid patients with AIDS or hemophilia. Pharmacies controlled by the accused then sent the drugs to the doctors who allegedly directed them to other area pharmacies or a company called Bio-Med Plus, the indictment says.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11220975.htm
The Moscow Times
Protests Move to the Kyrgyz Capital
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- Kyrgyzstan's new hard-line interior minister warned on Wednesday that force could be used to restore order, and riot police violently broke up an opposition rally in the capital, Bishkek, sending a signal that authorities were determined to prevent protests from spreading north.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/03/24/001.html
Russia Says Sweden Is Soft on Terror
STOCKHOLM -- The Foreign Ministry accused Sweden on Wednesday for being soft on terrorism, after a car belonging to the Russian Embassy in Stockholm was set ablaze and a group protesting Moscow's involvement in Chechnya claimed responsibility.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/03/24/011.html
Israel Cautious But Handover Goes On
By Amy Teibel
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM -- Israel's defense minister warned Wednesday that the handover of additional West Bank towns to Palestinian control would require greater effort by Palestinian police to disarm militants, but stopped short of halting the process.
Also on Wednesday, opponents of an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip suffered a setback when a key religious figure stood by his refusal to support a national referendum on the pullout, despite intense pressure from hard-line legislators. Holding a referendum would delay and possibly scuttle the pullout, set for this summer.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/03/24/253.html
Putin Will Visit Israel in a Historic First
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM -- President Vladimir Putin will make a historic visit to Israel at the end of April as a guest of the Israeli president, Israeli officials said. The trip will be the first visit by a Russian or Soviet leader to Israel.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/03/24/014.html
Putin Visits Kostroma for a Spot of Culture
By Oksana Yablokova
Staff Writer
KOSTROMA -- President Vladimir Putin made a whistle-stop tour of the ancient city of Kostroma on Wednesday, where he chatted with local theater actors and teenage amateur craftsmen, kissed a precious Orthodox icon and held a brainstorming meeting with the State Council and his advisers on the state of Russian culture.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/03/24/002.html
continued...
14 die in Texas refinery blast
Texas City, Tex. — All but one of the 1,800 or so oil refinery workers at the BP plant here have been accounted for after an overnight search following a thunderous blast that killed 14 and injured more than 100, officials said Thursday.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050323.wbp0323/BNStory/International/
Harper accuses Liberals of secret Kyoto agenda
Ottawa — Conservative Leader Stephen Harper accused the Liberals yesterday of harbouring a hidden agenda when he was asked about a controversial environmental clause slipped into an omnibus budget-implementation bill to be introduced today.
"We'll take a look at what it is and we'll evaluate it accordingly," Mr. Harper said after a weekly meeting of the Conservative caucus.
"We'll not support something that we don't believe is in the national interest, especially if it doesn't come clean on what the government's plans actually are on Kyoto."
The clause, which was added to the bill at the behest of Environment Minister Stéphane Dion but was not included in the budget papers, would remove the word "toxic" from the explanation of what substances are covered under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. That would allow greenhouse gases, which are not technically toxic, to be regulated by the act and could mean large fines for emitters -- something the Conservatives have labelled a "backdoor carbon tax."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050324.wxbudge24/BNStory/National/
The Miami Herald
Protect the panther
OUR OPINION: PUNISH THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR FLAWED HABITAT REPORT
The Florida panther is having enough trouble holding on to its habitat without flawed research from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that puts it in further peril.
Yet Fish and Wildlife officials conceded this week to faulty assumptions in writing a report on panthers' habitat, putting the panther population at risk. Despite a promising breeding program, the panther is losing habitat to development, which adversely affects its ability to survive. The agency's research is vital to helping officials determine how best to protect one of the world's rarest animals.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11215338.htm
A vestige of Jim Crow
OUR OPINION: LEGISLATURE SHOULD EXPUNGE ACTIVISTS' ARREST RECORDS
In the fervent fight for equality in the 1960s, ordinary people sacrificed their freedom, and sometimes their lives, to secure civil rights for African Americans. Onerous Jim Crow laws guaranteed that blacks were denied the right to vote, use public facilities or have equal access to education.
Ultimately the fight was successful. Racist laws fell under the force of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts. But 40 years later, vestiges of this dark era still haunt many who fought on the hostile front lines. Former activists who were arrested for staging sit-ins at segregated lunch counters or peaceful marches are stunned to find that they have criminal records for defying Jim Crow laws.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11215336.htm
Practicing medicine without a brain
BY RICHARD COHEN
cohenr@washpost.com
Sen. Bill Frist last week watched a videotape of Terri Schiavo made by her parents in 2001. He did this in his capacity as Senate majority leader and as a renowned physician. In both roles, he performed miserably. As a senator, he showed himself to be an unscrupulous opportunist. As a physician, he was guilty of practicing medicine without a brain.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11215369.htm
Accused beachside purse snatcher turns himself in
By Herald staff reports
browardnews@herald.com
A man who investigators say used a tourist's stolen credit card to buy nearly $900 worth of electronics, gift cards, liquor and groceries has turned himself in to the Broward Sheriff's Office.
Frank Monte III, 34, turned himself in to BSO Wednesday night, less than a week after his face was seen on TV and in the newspapers as a wanted man, BSO said.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11220696.htm>
9 indicted in Medicaid fraud
BY JOHN DORSCHNER
jdorschner@herald.com
Nine persons in Miami and Savannah, Ga., have been charged in a widespread scheme to defraud Florida Medicaid of millions of dollars, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist announced Thursday.
The allegations involve Florida physicians ordering pharmaceutical treatments for Medicaid patients with AIDS or hemophilia. Pharmacies controlled by the accused then sent the drugs to the doctors who allegedly directed them to other area pharmacies or a company called Bio-Med Plus, the indictment says.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11220975.htm
The Moscow Times
Protests Move to the Kyrgyz Capital
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- Kyrgyzstan's new hard-line interior minister warned on Wednesday that force could be used to restore order, and riot police violently broke up an opposition rally in the capital, Bishkek, sending a signal that authorities were determined to prevent protests from spreading north.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/03/24/001.html
Russia Says Sweden Is Soft on Terror
STOCKHOLM -- The Foreign Ministry accused Sweden on Wednesday for being soft on terrorism, after a car belonging to the Russian Embassy in Stockholm was set ablaze and a group protesting Moscow's involvement in Chechnya claimed responsibility.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/03/24/011.html
Israel Cautious But Handover Goes On
By Amy Teibel
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM -- Israel's defense minister warned Wednesday that the handover of additional West Bank towns to Palestinian control would require greater effort by Palestinian police to disarm militants, but stopped short of halting the process.
Also on Wednesday, opponents of an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip suffered a setback when a key religious figure stood by his refusal to support a national referendum on the pullout, despite intense pressure from hard-line legislators. Holding a referendum would delay and possibly scuttle the pullout, set for this summer.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/03/24/253.html
Putin Will Visit Israel in a Historic First
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM -- President Vladimir Putin will make a historic visit to Israel at the end of April as a guest of the Israeli president, Israeli officials said. The trip will be the first visit by a Russian or Soviet leader to Israel.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/03/24/014.html
Putin Visits Kostroma for a Spot of Culture
By Oksana Yablokova
Staff Writer
KOSTROMA -- President Vladimir Putin made a whistle-stop tour of the ancient city of Kostroma on Wednesday, where he chatted with local theater actors and teenage amateur craftsmen, kissed a precious Orthodox icon and held a brainstorming meeting with the State Council and his advisers on the state of Russian culture.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/03/24/002.html
continued...
Morning Papers - continued...
Jailed Journalists
CUBA:
PRINT PAGE
IFEX MEMBERS DEMAND FREEDOM FOR JAILED JOURNALISTS
Two years after the Cuban government launched a crackdown on freedom of expression by arresting dozens of dissidents and journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF), Human Rights Watch and the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) are focusing attention on the plight of more than 20 journalists who remain behind bars.
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/65535/
President pardons jailed editor
Country/Topic: YemenDate: 23 March 2005Source: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Person(s): Abdelkarim al-KhaiwaniTarget(s): editor(s) , newspaper(s) Type(s) of violation(s): charged , imprisoned , suspended Urgency: Bulletin
(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a CPJ press release:
Yemen: President Pardons Jailed Editor
New York, March 23, 2005 - The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today's presidential pardon of a Yemeni editor who was jailed for nearly seven months for publishing opinion articles that strongly criticized the government.
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/65532/
Yemen: President pardons jailed editor
New York, March 23, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today's presidential pardon of a Yemeni editor who was jailed for nearly seven months for publishing opinion articles that strongly criticized the government.
http://www.cpj.org/news/2005/Yemen23mar05na.html
The Belfast Telegraph
Murder victim's sisters say no to election
By Chris Thornton
24 March 2005
A sister of Robert McCartney said today that the murdered man's family has ruled out running in the upcoming local and Westminster elections.
Paula McCartney, who had considered running for Belfast City Council to highlight the cover-up of her brother's murder, said the family has decided that the election could distract from their campaign.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=623313
Cheney defends UN choice of Bolton
By Rupert Cornwell
24 March 2005
Dick Cheney, America's Vice-President has made clear what has been almost universally suspected - that President George Bush's recent diplomatic appointments are intended to push his agenda of promoting freedom and democracy around the world.
In an interview yesterday with the Washington Post, Mr Cheney said the choice of John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations was intended to shake up the world body. The fact that Mr Bolton, a neoconservative arch hawk, had strongly criticised the UN in the past would give him "a great deal more credibility" there, said Mr Cheney.
(WHAT'S THE MATTER DICK losing a grip on Halliburton, Iraq?)
The US was host country of, and the biggest contributor to, the UN, whose long-term success "depends, I think, on the continued support of the US and the American people". A lot needed to be done at the UN, Mr Cheney added. "A great many Americans" were unhappy with its performance.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=623181
Natural gas in pipeline for more ulster towns after move on licences
By Robin Morton, Business Correspondent
rmorton@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
24 March 2005
The prospect of natural gas being supplied to towns beyond the greater Belfast area moved a step closer today.
Ofreg announced that it was granting towns gas licences to Bord Gais Eireann (Northern Ireland).
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business/story.jsp?story=623258
Oracle in major Belfast move
By Paul Dykes
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
23 March 2005
Oracle, one of the biggest enterprise software companies in the world, is setting up a customer services operation in Belfast.
The £1.1m investment by Oracle Corporation will provide services to its customers in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
Invest Northern Ireland is providing £250,000 in support of the investment.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business/story.jsp?story=622903
Ulster farmers' fury over OFT report
By Michael Drake
mdrake@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
23 March 2005
Northern Ireland farmers expressed anger today over an Office of Fair Trading report which has found supermarkets treat their suppliers fairly.
Ulster Farmers Union deputy president Kenneth Sharkey said the OFT had missed an opportunity to create a fairer trading environment between supermarkets and their suppliers.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business/story.jsp?story=622902
Warning of £12bn tax hike after election
By Paul Dykes
bustel@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
23 March 2005
A leading firm of international business advisers has identified a potential £12bn post-election tax hike that will hit Northern Ireland.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has studied the small print in last week's Budget, and is warning that tax increases of £8bn to £12bn could be required to balance the books.
PwC calculates that the March 16 Budget raised about £265m for the Government, in contrast to the pre-election Budget of 2001 in which Gordon Brown managed to find about £3.6bn in pre-election sweeteners
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business/story.jsp?story=622901
Michael Moore Today
Gun Violence in Iraq,
Gun Violence Here at Home
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Details Emerge About School Shooting in Minnesota
Monica Davey and Christine Hauser / New York Times
RED LAKE, Minn., March 22 -Sixteen-year old Jeff Weise wore a bulletproof vest and a police holster when he opened fire on students taking cover in a classroom and gunned down others who were fleeing in corridors during a 10-minute shooting spree at an Indian reservation school on Monday, the authorities said today.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1915
After Signing Schiavo Law, Bush Says 'It Is Wisest to Always Err on the Side of Life'
By Anne E. Kornblut / New York Times
TUCSON, March 21 - After a private bill-signing ceremony in the middle of the night, President Bush made a public case for helping Terri Schiavo on Monday, praising Congress for sending him the legislation that allowed federal courts to intervene.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1916
March 22nd, 2005 9:29 pm
UA Young Democrat banned from forum
Arizona Daily Wildcat
A UA student was banned from attending President Bush's Social Security forum at the Tucson Convention Center yesterday.
UA Young Democrat Steven Gerner, a political science and pre-pharmacy sophomore, said he and three other Young Democrats had been waiting in line with their tickets for about 40 minutes when a staff member approached him and asked to read his T-shirt.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1918
Huddled masses reach 10 million.
Study: Undocumented population tops 10 million
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/21/undocumented.immigrants.ap/index.html
Republicans See Issue As Way To Do Right, Stoke Electoral Base
By KEITH EPSTEIN and WILLIAM MARCH wmarch@tampatrib.com
Published: Mar 22, 2005
WASHINGTON - The urgency in Washington last weekend wasn't just about Terri Schiavo. It also was about politics.
As hundreds of congressmen and President Bush cut short vacations to intervene, they also hoped to broaden the party's hold on power.
Republicans acknowledged the goal of using the Schiavo case as ammunition against Democrats, particularly Florida Sen. Bill Nelson.
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBV50RML6E.html
In Texas, Critics Question Bush's 'Life' Culture
By REUTERS
Published: March 22, 2005
Filed at 6:32 p.m. ET
HOUSTON (Reuters) - President Bush's intervention for Terry Schiavo has opened old wounds in Texas where death penalty opponents say his words of support for a ``culture of life'' ring hollow after so many executions during his time as governor of the state.
Bush said he stepped into the Schiavo case because the United States should have ``a presumption in favor of life,'' but there were 152 executions in Texas during his administration, including some in which the convict's guilt was in doubt, critics said.
``It's hypocrisy at a thousand levels,'' said University of Houston law professor and death penalty defense attorney David Dow.
``I saw many, many cases where there was substantial doubt about whether someone was guilty or whether the death penalty was the appropriate sentence, but he never said anything,'' said David Atwood, head of the Texas Coalition Against the Death Penalty. ``I really can't say he cares about life.''
``We all recognize there is a difference between an innocent person and someone who has committed a heinous crime, but to say one life is important and one isn't, that's politics,'' Atwood said.
Bush has defended the high number of executions by saying he was confident everyone put to death in Texas was guilty because they had had a fair hearing in the courts he believed capital punishment was a deterrent to crime.
He interrupted a Texas vacation and flew to Washington to sign an emergency law passed by Congress on Monday that forced a review of the Schiavo case in federal court.
Schiavo, 41, has been in a vegetative state since a heart attack in 1990. Last week, a Florida court, at her husband's request, ordered the removal of the feeding tube keeping her alive, but her parents argued it should stay in place.
``In cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life,'' said Bush, who has spoken often of creating a ``culture of life'' by limiting such things as abortion and stem cell research.
Death penalty opponents said Bush did not give the same presumption to death row inmates in Texas, where he used his power to grant an execution stay only once while governor from 1995 to 2000.
In 2000, the state set a U.S. record with 40 executions, including that of Gary Graham, whose guilt was hotly contested and became an international controversy.
``In the face of pretty substantial evidence that Gary Graham was not a murderer, George Bush didn't say anything about a 'culture of life,''' Dow said.
Legal experts say Bush has not been totally consistent on the ``right-to-die'' issue because in 1999 he signed a Texas law similar to the Florida law under which a judge ordered the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube.
The Texas law allows for life support to be stopped under certain circumstances at the request of a family member or other appropriate surrogate.
``If this case had been in Texas the same thing would have happened as happened in Florida,'' said John Robertson, professor at the University of Texas law school and author of a book on bioethics called ``The Rights of the Critically Ill.''
But, he said, Bush's support of the emergency bill for Schiavo was not ``a direct contradiction'' of the Texas law.
``He's saying he thought it was good enough from the state's perspective at the time, and now he's saying there may be cases that might need a second look,'' he said.
Diane Clemens, head of the Houston-based Justice for All victims' rights group, said death penalty opponents were not making legitimate comparisons.
``This woman is an innocent, brain-damaged individual who has harmed no one. Killers are convicted murderers who have harmed many people. They have had a fair process,'' she said.
``They have had the very process these people would try and deny Schiavo -- and that is a request for life at the federal level, in the federal courts.''
On Monday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president's decision was based on principle, not politics.
``It (Schiavo case) is a complex case, where serious questions and significant doubts have been raised,'' he said. ``And the president is always going to stand on the side of defending life.''
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-rights-schiavo-texas.html
Some consider measure censorship of professors
By Lisa Petrillo / Union-Tribune
SAN MARCOS – Do California's 2 million public college students need Sen. Bill Morrow to protect them from their professors' politics?
That was the debate yesterday at California State University San Marcos, where 300 students gathered to hear Morrow, a Republican state senator from Oceanside, defend his proposed academic "bill of rights" – his second effort to legislate what professors could discuss in their classrooms.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1940
Rumsfeld Questions Venezuela on Rifles
By John J. Lumpkin / Associated Press
MANAUS, Brazil - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Wednesday criticized Venezuela's reported efforts to purchase 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles from Russia, suggesting that Venezuela's possession of so many weapons would threaten the hemisphere.
Harsh accusations and increasing animosity have marked the relationship between the United States and Venezuela. Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, has warned that he will cut off shipments of his country's oil to the United States if the Bush administration supports an attempt to force him from office.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1936
Monday, March 21st, 2005
Cost of Iraq War
Cost of the War in Iraq:
$158,219,118,491
Compared to the cost of:
PRE-SCHOOL KIDS' HEALTH PUBLIC EDUCATION COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS PUBLIC HOUSING WORLD HUNGER AIDS EPIDEMIC WORLD IMMUNIZATION
http://costofwar.com/
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Critics: Republicans have deserted core principles
By Dick Polman / Knight Ridder
In the beginning, the architects of conservatism proclaimed their antigovernment creed.
Barry Goldwater said in 1964, "I fear Washington and centralized government more than I do Moscow." Ronald Reagan said in 1975, "The basis of conservatism is a desire for less governmental interference, or less centralized authority." And Newt Gingrich vowed in 1994 that a Republican Congress would hasten "the end of government that is too big, too intrusive."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1939
continued...
CUBA:
PRINT PAGE
IFEX MEMBERS DEMAND FREEDOM FOR JAILED JOURNALISTS
Two years after the Cuban government launched a crackdown on freedom of expression by arresting dozens of dissidents and journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF), Human Rights Watch and the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) are focusing attention on the plight of more than 20 journalists who remain behind bars.
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/65535/
President pardons jailed editor
Country/Topic: YemenDate: 23 March 2005Source: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Person(s): Abdelkarim al-KhaiwaniTarget(s): editor(s) , newspaper(s) Type(s) of violation(s): charged , imprisoned , suspended Urgency: Bulletin
(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a CPJ press release:
Yemen: President Pardons Jailed Editor
New York, March 23, 2005 - The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today's presidential pardon of a Yemeni editor who was jailed for nearly seven months for publishing opinion articles that strongly criticized the government.
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/65532/
Yemen: President pardons jailed editor
New York, March 23, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today's presidential pardon of a Yemeni editor who was jailed for nearly seven months for publishing opinion articles that strongly criticized the government.
http://www.cpj.org/news/2005/Yemen23mar05na.html
The Belfast Telegraph
Murder victim's sisters say no to election
By Chris Thornton
24 March 2005
A sister of Robert McCartney said today that the murdered man's family has ruled out running in the upcoming local and Westminster elections.
Paula McCartney, who had considered running for Belfast City Council to highlight the cover-up of her brother's murder, said the family has decided that the election could distract from their campaign.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=623313
Cheney defends UN choice of Bolton
By Rupert Cornwell
24 March 2005
Dick Cheney, America's Vice-President has made clear what has been almost universally suspected - that President George Bush's recent diplomatic appointments are intended to push his agenda of promoting freedom and democracy around the world.
In an interview yesterday with the Washington Post, Mr Cheney said the choice of John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations was intended to shake up the world body. The fact that Mr Bolton, a neoconservative arch hawk, had strongly criticised the UN in the past would give him "a great deal more credibility" there, said Mr Cheney.
(WHAT'S THE MATTER DICK losing a grip on Halliburton, Iraq?)
The US was host country of, and the biggest contributor to, the UN, whose long-term success "depends, I think, on the continued support of the US and the American people". A lot needed to be done at the UN, Mr Cheney added. "A great many Americans" were unhappy with its performance.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=623181
Natural gas in pipeline for more ulster towns after move on licences
By Robin Morton, Business Correspondent
rmorton@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
24 March 2005
The prospect of natural gas being supplied to towns beyond the greater Belfast area moved a step closer today.
Ofreg announced that it was granting towns gas licences to Bord Gais Eireann (Northern Ireland).
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business/story.jsp?story=623258
Oracle in major Belfast move
By Paul Dykes
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
23 March 2005
Oracle, one of the biggest enterprise software companies in the world, is setting up a customer services operation in Belfast.
The £1.1m investment by Oracle Corporation will provide services to its customers in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
Invest Northern Ireland is providing £250,000 in support of the investment.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business/story.jsp?story=622903
Ulster farmers' fury over OFT report
By Michael Drake
mdrake@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
23 March 2005
Northern Ireland farmers expressed anger today over an Office of Fair Trading report which has found supermarkets treat their suppliers fairly.
Ulster Farmers Union deputy president Kenneth Sharkey said the OFT had missed an opportunity to create a fairer trading environment between supermarkets and their suppliers.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business/story.jsp?story=622902
Warning of £12bn tax hike after election
By Paul Dykes
bustel@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
23 March 2005
A leading firm of international business advisers has identified a potential £12bn post-election tax hike that will hit Northern Ireland.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has studied the small print in last week's Budget, and is warning that tax increases of £8bn to £12bn could be required to balance the books.
PwC calculates that the March 16 Budget raised about £265m for the Government, in contrast to the pre-election Budget of 2001 in which Gordon Brown managed to find about £3.6bn in pre-election sweeteners
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business/story.jsp?story=622901
Michael Moore Today
Gun Violence in Iraq,
Gun Violence Here at Home
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Details Emerge About School Shooting in Minnesota
Monica Davey and Christine Hauser / New York Times
RED LAKE, Minn., March 22 -Sixteen-year old Jeff Weise wore a bulletproof vest and a police holster when he opened fire on students taking cover in a classroom and gunned down others who were fleeing in corridors during a 10-minute shooting spree at an Indian reservation school on Monday, the authorities said today.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1915
After Signing Schiavo Law, Bush Says 'It Is Wisest to Always Err on the Side of Life'
By Anne E. Kornblut / New York Times
TUCSON, March 21 - After a private bill-signing ceremony in the middle of the night, President Bush made a public case for helping Terri Schiavo on Monday, praising Congress for sending him the legislation that allowed federal courts to intervene.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1916
March 22nd, 2005 9:29 pm
UA Young Democrat banned from forum
Arizona Daily Wildcat
A UA student was banned from attending President Bush's Social Security forum at the Tucson Convention Center yesterday.
UA Young Democrat Steven Gerner, a political science and pre-pharmacy sophomore, said he and three other Young Democrats had been waiting in line with their tickets for about 40 minutes when a staff member approached him and asked to read his T-shirt.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1918
Huddled masses reach 10 million.
Study: Undocumented population tops 10 million
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/21/undocumented.immigrants.ap/index.html
Republicans See Issue As Way To Do Right, Stoke Electoral Base
By KEITH EPSTEIN and WILLIAM MARCH wmarch@tampatrib.com
Published: Mar 22, 2005
WASHINGTON - The urgency in Washington last weekend wasn't just about Terri Schiavo. It also was about politics.
As hundreds of congressmen and President Bush cut short vacations to intervene, they also hoped to broaden the party's hold on power.
Republicans acknowledged the goal of using the Schiavo case as ammunition against Democrats, particularly Florida Sen. Bill Nelson.
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBV50RML6E.html
In Texas, Critics Question Bush's 'Life' Culture
By REUTERS
Published: March 22, 2005
Filed at 6:32 p.m. ET
HOUSTON (Reuters) - President Bush's intervention for Terry Schiavo has opened old wounds in Texas where death penalty opponents say his words of support for a ``culture of life'' ring hollow after so many executions during his time as governor of the state.
Bush said he stepped into the Schiavo case because the United States should have ``a presumption in favor of life,'' but there were 152 executions in Texas during his administration, including some in which the convict's guilt was in doubt, critics said.
``It's hypocrisy at a thousand levels,'' said University of Houston law professor and death penalty defense attorney David Dow.
``I saw many, many cases where there was substantial doubt about whether someone was guilty or whether the death penalty was the appropriate sentence, but he never said anything,'' said David Atwood, head of the Texas Coalition Against the Death Penalty. ``I really can't say he cares about life.''
``We all recognize there is a difference between an innocent person and someone who has committed a heinous crime, but to say one life is important and one isn't, that's politics,'' Atwood said.
Bush has defended the high number of executions by saying he was confident everyone put to death in Texas was guilty because they had had a fair hearing in the courts he believed capital punishment was a deterrent to crime.
He interrupted a Texas vacation and flew to Washington to sign an emergency law passed by Congress on Monday that forced a review of the Schiavo case in federal court.
Schiavo, 41, has been in a vegetative state since a heart attack in 1990. Last week, a Florida court, at her husband's request, ordered the removal of the feeding tube keeping her alive, but her parents argued it should stay in place.
``In cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life,'' said Bush, who has spoken often of creating a ``culture of life'' by limiting such things as abortion and stem cell research.
Death penalty opponents said Bush did not give the same presumption to death row inmates in Texas, where he used his power to grant an execution stay only once while governor from 1995 to 2000.
In 2000, the state set a U.S. record with 40 executions, including that of Gary Graham, whose guilt was hotly contested and became an international controversy.
``In the face of pretty substantial evidence that Gary Graham was not a murderer, George Bush didn't say anything about a 'culture of life,''' Dow said.
Legal experts say Bush has not been totally consistent on the ``right-to-die'' issue because in 1999 he signed a Texas law similar to the Florida law under which a judge ordered the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube.
The Texas law allows for life support to be stopped under certain circumstances at the request of a family member or other appropriate surrogate.
``If this case had been in Texas the same thing would have happened as happened in Florida,'' said John Robertson, professor at the University of Texas law school and author of a book on bioethics called ``The Rights of the Critically Ill.''
But, he said, Bush's support of the emergency bill for Schiavo was not ``a direct contradiction'' of the Texas law.
``He's saying he thought it was good enough from the state's perspective at the time, and now he's saying there may be cases that might need a second look,'' he said.
Diane Clemens, head of the Houston-based Justice for All victims' rights group, said death penalty opponents were not making legitimate comparisons.
``This woman is an innocent, brain-damaged individual who has harmed no one. Killers are convicted murderers who have harmed many people. They have had a fair process,'' she said.
``They have had the very process these people would try and deny Schiavo -- and that is a request for life at the federal level, in the federal courts.''
On Monday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president's decision was based on principle, not politics.
``It (Schiavo case) is a complex case, where serious questions and significant doubts have been raised,'' he said. ``And the president is always going to stand on the side of defending life.''
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-rights-schiavo-texas.html
Some consider measure censorship of professors
By Lisa Petrillo / Union-Tribune
SAN MARCOS – Do California's 2 million public college students need Sen. Bill Morrow to protect them from their professors' politics?
That was the debate yesterday at California State University San Marcos, where 300 students gathered to hear Morrow, a Republican state senator from Oceanside, defend his proposed academic "bill of rights" – his second effort to legislate what professors could discuss in their classrooms.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1940
Rumsfeld Questions Venezuela on Rifles
By John J. Lumpkin / Associated Press
MANAUS, Brazil - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Wednesday criticized Venezuela's reported efforts to purchase 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles from Russia, suggesting that Venezuela's possession of so many weapons would threaten the hemisphere.
Harsh accusations and increasing animosity have marked the relationship between the United States and Venezuela. Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, has warned that he will cut off shipments of his country's oil to the United States if the Bush administration supports an attempt to force him from office.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1936
Monday, March 21st, 2005
Cost of Iraq War
Cost of the War in Iraq:
$158,219,118,491
Compared to the cost of:
PRE-SCHOOL KIDS' HEALTH PUBLIC EDUCATION COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS PUBLIC HOUSING WORLD HUNGER AIDS EPIDEMIC WORLD IMMUNIZATION
http://costofwar.com/
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Critics: Republicans have deserted core principles
By Dick Polman / Knight Ridder
In the beginning, the architects of conservatism proclaimed their antigovernment creed.
Barry Goldwater said in 1964, "I fear Washington and centralized government more than I do Moscow." Ronald Reagan said in 1975, "The basis of conservatism is a desire for less governmental interference, or less centralized authority." And Newt Gingrich vowed in 1994 that a Republican Congress would hasten "the end of government that is too big, too intrusive."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1939
continued...
Morning Papers - continued...
Syria Times
Arab Summit opens in Algiers ...President discusses developments, summit agenda with leaders
The 17th Arab Summit resumed its deliberations yesterday evening with a closed-door session in the presence of President Bashar al-Assad, a number of Arab kings, presidents and emirs, heads of government and representatives of the Arab states, and the Arab League Secretary-General.
SyriaTimes
first
23-3-2005
summary: The 17th Arab Summit resumed its deliberations yesterday evening with a closed-door session in the presence of President Bashar al-Assad, a number of Arab kings, presidents and emirs, heads of government and representatives of the Arab states, and the Arab League Secretary-General.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050323045401
Syria condemns Qatar bombing
Syria has strongly condemned the criminal terrorist act which hit Qatar last Saturday.
SyriaTimes
first
23-3-2005
summary: Syria has strongly condemned the criminal terrorist act which hit Qatar last Saturday.
An official source has confirmed to SANA Syriaصs backing to brotherly Qatar and its solidarity with it, wishing Qatar continuing security and prosperity.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050323045255
Sit-in in Lebanon against Israeli aggression
Palestinian groups and Lebanese national parties yesterday staged a sit-in at the Palestinian refugees camp of Ein-Hellweh, southern Lebanon, protesting against the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.
SyriaTimes
first
23-3-2005
summary: Palestinian groups and Lebanese national parties yesterday staged a sit-in at the Palestinian refugees camp of Ein-Hellweh, southern Lebanon, protesting against the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050323045230
Demonstration in Cairo against normalization with Israel
Thousands of Egyptian students demonstrated yesterday against the normalization of relations with Israel during the Arab Summit in Algeria.
SyriaTimes
first
23-3-2005
summary: Thousands of Egyptian students demonstrated yesterday against the normalization of relations with Israel during the Arab Summit in Algeria.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050323045157
Israel`s new settler plans risk peace efforts
Israel plans to build 3,500 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to cement its hold on Jerusalem, government sources said on Monday, drawing Palestinian warnings that peace efforts were at risk.
SyriaTimes
first
22-3-2005
summary: Israel plans to build 3,500 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to cement its hold on Jerusalem, government sources said on Monday, drawing Palestinian warnings that peace efforts were at risk.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050322072344
Putin urges Israel to back Arab peace initiatives
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged Israel to back the Middle East peace initiatives pushed by Arab leaders gathering in Algeria for a two-day summit, his office said.
SyriaTimes
first
23-3-2005
summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged Israel to back the Middle East peace initiatives pushed by Arab leaders gathering in Algeria for a two-day summit, his office said.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050323045130
Syria-Russia summit opens today
President Bashar al-Assad and his wife arrived in Moscow evening on a state visit to Russia.
SyriaTimes
first
25-1-2005
summary: President Bashar al-Assad and his wife arrived in Moscow evening on a state visit to Russia.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050125160415
US Marine killed in western Iraq, parliament to form govt
A US Marine was killed in action on Monday in Iraq`s western Anbar province, the stronghold of the "insurgency", the American military said on Tuesday.
SyriaTimes
first
23-3-2005
summary: A US Marine was killed in action on Monday in Iraq`s western Anbar province, the stronghold of the "insurgency", the American military said on Tuesday.
Since the US-led invasion two years ago, at least "1,515" US military and Pentagon personnel have lost their lives in Iraq.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050323045058
Syria keen to maintain Lebanons sovereignty, says al-Shara
Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara stressed Syria is the most careful about Lebanonصs freedom, sovereignty and independence.
SyriaTimes
first
22-3-2005
summary: Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara stressed Syria is the most careful about Lebanonصs freedom, sovereignty and independence.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050322072542
Annan: Syrian steps in Lebanon making progress
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan believed that the Syrian steps taken by Syria with regard to Lebanon are making a progress.
SyriaTimes
first
22-3-2005
summary: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan believed that the Syrian steps taken by Syria with regard to Lebanon are making a progress.
In a press conference at the UN headquarters, Annan said that progress is made and Syria had committed to fully withdraw from Lebanon. The UN will work with Syria in this respect, he added.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050322072420
Iran, EU sticking to positions in nuclear talks: Rowhani
Iran and European Union officials are sticking to their positions on key questions in negotiations on the Islamic republic`s nuclear programme which were underway on Saturday in Paris, a top Iranian official said.
SyriaTimes
first
7-11-2004
summary: Iran and European Union officials are sticking to their positions on key questions in negotiations on the Islamic republic`s nuclear programme which were underway on Saturday in Paris, a top Iranian official said.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20041107042959
Erdogan to Syria on Wednesday
Turkeys Prime Minister Rajab Tayyib Erdogan will arrive in Syria on Wednesday on a two day official visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri.
SyriaTimes
first
20-12-2004
summary: Turkeys Prime Minister Rajab Tayyib Erdogan will arrive in Syria on Wednesday on a two day official visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri.
Erdogan is due to hold talks with Syrian officials on consolidating cooperation between Syria and Turkey in all fields. The talks will also deal with the latest developments in the region.
Erdogan will be accompanied by an official and technical delegation.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20041220055836
The World According to Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart confirms plans to build a ‘Supercenter' in Mount Vernon
By BEVERLY CRICHFIELD, Staff Writer
Matt Wallis / Skagit Valley Herald
Shoppers head into the Wal-Mart store Friday afternoon off of College Way in Mount Vernon. Wal-Mart officials have confirmed plans to build a new Wal-Mart Supercenter on the west side of Interstate 5 in Mount Vernon.
MOUNT VERNON - Wal-Mart officials confirmed for the first time Friday the company's plans to build a 204,000-square-foot "Supercenter" on 30 acres on the west side of Interstate 5 - just about a quarter of a mile away from the retailer's current store.
Wal-Mart spokesman Eric Berger said the 127,300-square-foot Mount Vernon discount store off College Way consistently has strong sales and is exceeding capacity at its current location.
http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com/articles/2005/03/13/news/news01.txt
Wal-Mart wouldn't dismay neighbors
Talks under way: Developer hopes to bring Supercenter to Hamilton Mill Road.
By REBECCA McCARTHY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/14/05
Having a Wal-Mart Supercenter on Hamilton Mill Road next to his subdivision is the least of Troy Brandon's worries. He's more concerned about the 290 townhouses going in across the road and the round-the-clock traffic the residents will generate.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/0305/14walmart.html?UrAuth=`NbNUObNZUbTTUWUXUTUZT[U\UWUcU]UZU\U]UcTYWVVZV
Camel pokes nose under Wal-Mart tent
by Brien Poffenberger
There is a move underway in Annapolis to impose on businesses the cost of providing health insurance to all Marylanders.
And supporters are making a clever argument. Sponsors and proponents - socially conscious, if misguided - have co-opted the support of cynical commercial interests and are using the language of unfair business practices to achieve their ends.
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=106775&format=html
Champions Tour Notebook: Wal-Mart extends First Tee Open sponsorship
Plus, the Schwab Cup leader will stand out each week, two stars are out after surgery, and the charity of the year is selected.
By PGA.com news services
03.13.2005 08:49 am (EST)
Wal-Mart has agreed to extend its title sponsor of the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach through 2007, tournament officials have announced. The second edition of the Champions Tour event that pairs seniors with amateur junior players, will be played Sept. 2-4 on Pebble Beach Golf Links and Del Monte Golf Course.
http://www.pga.com/news/tours/champions/notebook031305.cfm
Krispy Kreme to close Wal-Mart stores
• Fin
MAR. 23 4:46 P.M. ET Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. is scrapping its test of bakery stores in Wal-Mart stores.
The beleaguered Winston-Salem, N.C., doughnut maker will close five outlets in Wal-Mart stores around the United States as of Sunday, and the sixth in April, according to a company spokeswoman.
"It was a test, and we've made a decision right now that the concept is not viable, but we're going to continue our great relationship with Wal-Mart with our wholesale business," spokeswoman Amy Hughes said Wednesday.
More than 500 Wal-Mart stores carry doughnuts made in Krispy Kreme's own factory-style stores as part of its wholesale business.
A representative for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said the retailer doesn't comment on relationships with tenants or suppliers.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D890U7FG2.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down
Wal-Mart growing globally
By Staff
Home Textiles Today -- 3/23/2005 11:50:00 AM
NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores has plans to add 55 million square feet of new space at a cost of $14 billion, executives said during the company’s presentation on Wal-Mart International at the Merrill Lynch Retailing Leaders conference.
According to Jay Fitzsimmons, senior vice president of finance and treasurer, Wal-Mart International currently has a 28.9 percent growth rate, expanding from 10 stores outside the United States in 1993 to 1,603 international stores in 2005. Currently, he said Wal-Mart has 5,708 total stores around the world, 3,702 of them in this country.
"We believe that there are a number of countries we currently operate in where we can grow tremendously," added Fitzsimmons, citing the examples of Brazil and China. Wal-Mart only operates 44 stores in China, but plans to dramatically grow this number.
http://www.hometextilestoday.com/index.asp?layout=story&articleid=CA512558&webzine=htt&publication=htt§ion=Retailing+News
Unions team up to take on Wal-Mart
By ANNE HOWLAND, Ottawa Sun
Two of Canada's largest unions are taking direct aim at Wal-Mart as they prepare to release a study tomorrow on the "abuse" of the right to freedom of association. Freedom of association includes the right to join a union, bargain collectively and withhold services by going on strike.
"Wal-Mart is the biggest employer in the world and has a deplorable track record of respecting workers' rights," James Clancy, national president of the National Union of Public and General Employees, told the Sun yesterday.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/OttawaSun/Business/2005/03/23/969679-sun.html
The Daily Star
Sharon overcomes key hurdle to Gaza pullout plan
Israel seals borders for holiday
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday headed for victory in his battle to force the budget through Parliament and safeguard his Gaza pullout plan, after sidelining MPs desperate to halt the evacuation. In another development, Israel banned the entry of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza during the Jewish state's Purim holiday celebrations this week, despite new peace moves with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=13681
Arab summit closes steering clear of controversial issues
Delegates endorse rehashed Middle East peace plan but Palestinian and Israeli leaders quickly reject it
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Arab leaders steered clear of the region's most contentious issues, wrapping up a summit in Algiers Wednesday with a re-hashed Middle East peace plan that Israel and Palestinian groups swiftly rejected. A communique read out at the session said peace was the "strategic option" of Arab countries to settle the conflict with the Jewish state.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=13701
Jordan denies anti-Syrian and Iranian remarks
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Thursday, March 24, 2005
AMMAN: Jordan denied Wednesday reports by Israeli newspapers that King Abdullah II had made stinging attacks against Iran, Syria and Lebanon's Hizbullah movement. That denial was corroborated by a Jewish-American leader before whose organization the king allegedly made the remarks.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=13684
Libyan leader grabs Arab summit limelight
Gadhafi calls Palestinians and Israelis 'idiots,' leaving his audience in fits of laughter
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Arab league Summit
ALGIERS: Maverick Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Wednesday upstaged the final session of the Arab summit with an unscheduled address describing Israel and the Palestinians as "idiots," leaving his audience in fits of laughter.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=13682
Thousands of Yemenis protest against sales tax
Demonstrators say new taxation will put unnecessary burden on people
Thursday, March 24, 2005
The following report was produced by Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
SANA: Thousands of citizens and businessmen have been protesting on the streets of several Yemeni cities against a sales tax to be enforced in July 2005. It is part of economic reforms recommended by the World Bank, which locals say will severely affect the purchasing power of the poor. The demonstrations, which took place in various governorates simultaneously, were a public outcry at the 10 percent tax on basic commodities, leaving more than 50 percent of the population economically vulnerable, according to experts.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=13688
continued...
Arab Summit opens in Algiers ...President discusses developments, summit agenda with leaders
The 17th Arab Summit resumed its deliberations yesterday evening with a closed-door session in the presence of President Bashar al-Assad, a number of Arab kings, presidents and emirs, heads of government and representatives of the Arab states, and the Arab League Secretary-General.
SyriaTimes
first
23-3-2005
summary: The 17th Arab Summit resumed its deliberations yesterday evening with a closed-door session in the presence of President Bashar al-Assad, a number of Arab kings, presidents and emirs, heads of government and representatives of the Arab states, and the Arab League Secretary-General.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050323045401
Syria condemns Qatar bombing
Syria has strongly condemned the criminal terrorist act which hit Qatar last Saturday.
SyriaTimes
first
23-3-2005
summary: Syria has strongly condemned the criminal terrorist act which hit Qatar last Saturday.
An official source has confirmed to SANA Syriaصs backing to brotherly Qatar and its solidarity with it, wishing Qatar continuing security and prosperity.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050323045255
Sit-in in Lebanon against Israeli aggression
Palestinian groups and Lebanese national parties yesterday staged a sit-in at the Palestinian refugees camp of Ein-Hellweh, southern Lebanon, protesting against the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.
SyriaTimes
first
23-3-2005
summary: Palestinian groups and Lebanese national parties yesterday staged a sit-in at the Palestinian refugees camp of Ein-Hellweh, southern Lebanon, protesting against the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050323045230
Demonstration in Cairo against normalization with Israel
Thousands of Egyptian students demonstrated yesterday against the normalization of relations with Israel during the Arab Summit in Algeria.
SyriaTimes
first
23-3-2005
summary: Thousands of Egyptian students demonstrated yesterday against the normalization of relations with Israel during the Arab Summit in Algeria.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050323045157
Israel`s new settler plans risk peace efforts
Israel plans to build 3,500 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to cement its hold on Jerusalem, government sources said on Monday, drawing Palestinian warnings that peace efforts were at risk.
SyriaTimes
first
22-3-2005
summary: Israel plans to build 3,500 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to cement its hold on Jerusalem, government sources said on Monday, drawing Palestinian warnings that peace efforts were at risk.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050322072344
Putin urges Israel to back Arab peace initiatives
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged Israel to back the Middle East peace initiatives pushed by Arab leaders gathering in Algeria for a two-day summit, his office said.
SyriaTimes
first
23-3-2005
summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged Israel to back the Middle East peace initiatives pushed by Arab leaders gathering in Algeria for a two-day summit, his office said.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050323045130
Syria-Russia summit opens today
President Bashar al-Assad and his wife arrived in Moscow evening on a state visit to Russia.
SyriaTimes
first
25-1-2005
summary: President Bashar al-Assad and his wife arrived in Moscow evening on a state visit to Russia.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050125160415
US Marine killed in western Iraq, parliament to form govt
A US Marine was killed in action on Monday in Iraq`s western Anbar province, the stronghold of the "insurgency", the American military said on Tuesday.
SyriaTimes
first
23-3-2005
summary: A US Marine was killed in action on Monday in Iraq`s western Anbar province, the stronghold of the "insurgency", the American military said on Tuesday.
Since the US-led invasion two years ago, at least "1,515" US military and Pentagon personnel have lost their lives in Iraq.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050323045058
Syria keen to maintain Lebanons sovereignty, says al-Shara
Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara stressed Syria is the most careful about Lebanonصs freedom, sovereignty and independence.
SyriaTimes
first
22-3-2005
summary: Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara stressed Syria is the most careful about Lebanonصs freedom, sovereignty and independence.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050322072542
Annan: Syrian steps in Lebanon making progress
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan believed that the Syrian steps taken by Syria with regard to Lebanon are making a progress.
SyriaTimes
first
22-3-2005
summary: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan believed that the Syrian steps taken by Syria with regard to Lebanon are making a progress.
In a press conference at the UN headquarters, Annan said that progress is made and Syria had committed to fully withdraw from Lebanon. The UN will work with Syria in this respect, he added.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050322072420
Iran, EU sticking to positions in nuclear talks: Rowhani
Iran and European Union officials are sticking to their positions on key questions in negotiations on the Islamic republic`s nuclear programme which were underway on Saturday in Paris, a top Iranian official said.
SyriaTimes
first
7-11-2004
summary: Iran and European Union officials are sticking to their positions on key questions in negotiations on the Islamic republic`s nuclear programme which were underway on Saturday in Paris, a top Iranian official said.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20041107042959
Erdogan to Syria on Wednesday
Turkeys Prime Minister Rajab Tayyib Erdogan will arrive in Syria on Wednesday on a two day official visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri.
SyriaTimes
first
20-12-2004
summary: Turkeys Prime Minister Rajab Tayyib Erdogan will arrive in Syria on Wednesday on a two day official visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri.
Erdogan is due to hold talks with Syrian officials on consolidating cooperation between Syria and Turkey in all fields. The talks will also deal with the latest developments in the region.
Erdogan will be accompanied by an official and technical delegation.
http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20041220055836
The World According to Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart confirms plans to build a ‘Supercenter' in Mount Vernon
By BEVERLY CRICHFIELD, Staff Writer
Matt Wallis / Skagit Valley Herald
Shoppers head into the Wal-Mart store Friday afternoon off of College Way in Mount Vernon. Wal-Mart officials have confirmed plans to build a new Wal-Mart Supercenter on the west side of Interstate 5 in Mount Vernon.
MOUNT VERNON - Wal-Mart officials confirmed for the first time Friday the company's plans to build a 204,000-square-foot "Supercenter" on 30 acres on the west side of Interstate 5 - just about a quarter of a mile away from the retailer's current store.
Wal-Mart spokesman Eric Berger said the 127,300-square-foot Mount Vernon discount store off College Way consistently has strong sales and is exceeding capacity at its current location.
http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com/articles/2005/03/13/news/news01.txt
Wal-Mart wouldn't dismay neighbors
Talks under way: Developer hopes to bring Supercenter to Hamilton Mill Road.
By REBECCA McCARTHY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/14/05
Having a Wal-Mart Supercenter on Hamilton Mill Road next to his subdivision is the least of Troy Brandon's worries. He's more concerned about the 290 townhouses going in across the road and the round-the-clock traffic the residents will generate.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/0305/14walmart.html?UrAuth=`NbNUObNZUbTTUWUXUTUZT[U\UWUcU]UZU\U]UcTYWVVZV
Camel pokes nose under Wal-Mart tent
by Brien Poffenberger
There is a move underway in Annapolis to impose on businesses the cost of providing health insurance to all Marylanders.
And supporters are making a clever argument. Sponsors and proponents - socially conscious, if misguided - have co-opted the support of cynical commercial interests and are using the language of unfair business practices to achieve their ends.
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=106775&format=html
Champions Tour Notebook: Wal-Mart extends First Tee Open sponsorship
Plus, the Schwab Cup leader will stand out each week, two stars are out after surgery, and the charity of the year is selected.
By PGA.com news services
03.13.2005 08:49 am (EST)
Wal-Mart has agreed to extend its title sponsor of the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach through 2007, tournament officials have announced. The second edition of the Champions Tour event that pairs seniors with amateur junior players, will be played Sept. 2-4 on Pebble Beach Golf Links and Del Monte Golf Course.
http://www.pga.com/news/tours/champions/notebook031305.cfm
Krispy Kreme to close Wal-Mart stores
• Fin
MAR. 23 4:46 P.M. ET Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. is scrapping its test of bakery stores in Wal-Mart stores.
The beleaguered Winston-Salem, N.C., doughnut maker will close five outlets in Wal-Mart stores around the United States as of Sunday, and the sixth in April, according to a company spokeswoman.
"It was a test, and we've made a decision right now that the concept is not viable, but we're going to continue our great relationship with Wal-Mart with our wholesale business," spokeswoman Amy Hughes said Wednesday.
More than 500 Wal-Mart stores carry doughnuts made in Krispy Kreme's own factory-style stores as part of its wholesale business.
A representative for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said the retailer doesn't comment on relationships with tenants or suppliers.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D890U7FG2.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down
Wal-Mart growing globally
By Staff
Home Textiles Today -- 3/23/2005 11:50:00 AM
NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores has plans to add 55 million square feet of new space at a cost of $14 billion, executives said during the company’s presentation on Wal-Mart International at the Merrill Lynch Retailing Leaders conference.
According to Jay Fitzsimmons, senior vice president of finance and treasurer, Wal-Mart International currently has a 28.9 percent growth rate, expanding from 10 stores outside the United States in 1993 to 1,603 international stores in 2005. Currently, he said Wal-Mart has 5,708 total stores around the world, 3,702 of them in this country.
"We believe that there are a number of countries we currently operate in where we can grow tremendously," added Fitzsimmons, citing the examples of Brazil and China. Wal-Mart only operates 44 stores in China, but plans to dramatically grow this number.
http://www.hometextilestoday.com/index.asp?layout=story&articleid=CA512558&webzine=htt&publication=htt§ion=Retailing+News
Unions team up to take on Wal-Mart
By ANNE HOWLAND, Ottawa Sun
Two of Canada's largest unions are taking direct aim at Wal-Mart as they prepare to release a study tomorrow on the "abuse" of the right to freedom of association. Freedom of association includes the right to join a union, bargain collectively and withhold services by going on strike.
"Wal-Mart is the biggest employer in the world and has a deplorable track record of respecting workers' rights," James Clancy, national president of the National Union of Public and General Employees, told the Sun yesterday.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/OttawaSun/Business/2005/03/23/969679-sun.html
The Daily Star
Sharon overcomes key hurdle to Gaza pullout plan
Israel seals borders for holiday
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday headed for victory in his battle to force the budget through Parliament and safeguard his Gaza pullout plan, after sidelining MPs desperate to halt the evacuation. In another development, Israel banned the entry of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza during the Jewish state's Purim holiday celebrations this week, despite new peace moves with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=13681
Arab summit closes steering clear of controversial issues
Delegates endorse rehashed Middle East peace plan but Palestinian and Israeli leaders quickly reject it
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Arab leaders steered clear of the region's most contentious issues, wrapping up a summit in Algiers Wednesday with a re-hashed Middle East peace plan that Israel and Palestinian groups swiftly rejected. A communique read out at the session said peace was the "strategic option" of Arab countries to settle the conflict with the Jewish state.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=13701
Jordan denies anti-Syrian and Iranian remarks
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Thursday, March 24, 2005
AMMAN: Jordan denied Wednesday reports by Israeli newspapers that King Abdullah II had made stinging attacks against Iran, Syria and Lebanon's Hizbullah movement. That denial was corroborated by a Jewish-American leader before whose organization the king allegedly made the remarks.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=13684
Libyan leader grabs Arab summit limelight
Gadhafi calls Palestinians and Israelis 'idiots,' leaving his audience in fits of laughter
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Arab league Summit
ALGIERS: Maverick Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Wednesday upstaged the final session of the Arab summit with an unscheduled address describing Israel and the Palestinians as "idiots," leaving his audience in fits of laughter.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=13682
Thousands of Yemenis protest against sales tax
Demonstrators say new taxation will put unnecessary burden on people
Thursday, March 24, 2005
The following report was produced by Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
SANA: Thousands of citizens and businessmen have been protesting on the streets of several Yemeni cities against a sales tax to be enforced in July 2005. It is part of economic reforms recommended by the World Bank, which locals say will severely affect the purchasing power of the poor. The demonstrations, which took place in various governorates simultaneously, were a public outcry at the 10 percent tax on basic commodities, leaving more than 50 percent of the population economically vulnerable, according to experts.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=13688
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