The Rooster

October 25, 2005.

The Blue Ridge Parkway of Western North Carolina.

October 25, 2005.

Western North Carolina, Blue Ridge Parkway.

October 25, 2005.

Western North Carolina.

October 25, 2005. Western North Carolina. 

October 25, 2005. Western North Carolina. 

October 25, 2005.

Blizzard on the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina.

Caption :: Craggy Gardens. Strong wind, snow, and very low visibility. We were lucky, half hour later the Parkway had been shut down.

Morning Papers - It's Origins

Rooster "Cock Will Doodle When Due"

"Oak He Doe $he"

History

1659 William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, two Quakers who came from England in 1656 to escape religious persecution, are hanged in Massachusetts for their religious beliefs.

1728 Captain James Cook born, British explorer and navigator, famous for his three voyages of exploration in the South Pacific Ocean and the coastal waters of North America. Although Cook is best known as the discoverer of the Hawaiian Islands (see Hawaii), his greatest achievements were the broad scope of his exploration and his detailed, careful documentation of his discoveries.

1891 Charles H. Garvin, the first Black physician to be commissioned during WWI, is born in Jacksonville, FL.

1904 The New York subway system opens for business.

1919 U.S, Senator Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts, first since Reconstruction era, is born in Washington, D.C.

1941 Ernest Everett Just, an African American biologist and educator who pioneered investigations into the fertilization of the egg, sperm, and the structure of the developing cell, dies in Washington, D.C.

1954 U.S. Air Force appoints its first Black General, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. He will become the United State's first Black three-star general.

1962 American dramatist Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is first performed at the Billy Rose Theater in New York City.

1994 The U.S. prison population tops one million for the first time in American history.

1997 After a record drop in the Dow Jones index, Wall Street cuts off trading for the first time.

Missing in Action

1965 MOORE DENNIS A. LITTLETON CO 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1966 JOHNSON DALE A. ELIZABETHTON TN
1967 BLACK JON D. JOHNSON CITY TN 02/16/68 RELEASED BORN 1938
1967 CONNER LORENZA CARTERSVILLE GA
1967 FLYNN JOHN P. CLEVELAND OH 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV " DECEASED MARCH 5, 1997"
1967 STIRM ROBERT L. SAN FRANCISCO CA 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV " ""BOB"" ALIVE AND WELL 98"
1967 TEMPERLY RUSSELL E. BOSTON MA 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1968 EDMUNDS ROBERT CLIFTON JR RICHMOND VA REMAINS RETURNED 06/88
1969 HERRICK JAMES W. PANDORA IA
1972 ANDERSON EVELYN QUINCY MI NOT ON OFFICIAL DIA LIST REM RET 11/72
1972 KOSIN BEATRICE FORT WASHAKIE WY NOT ON OFFICIAL DIA LIST. REPORTED DIC
1972 MATTIX SAMUEL A. CENTRALIA WA 03/28/73 RELEASED BY PL
1972 OPPEL LLOYD D. CANADA 03/28/73 RELEASED BY PL ALIVE 99


The Jerusalem Post

IAF kills Jihad leader and 6 others in targeted Gaza strike
By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN AND JPOST STAFF
Israel resumed its policy of targeted interceptions Thursday, striking a top Islamic Jihad field commander in Gaza's Jabalya refugee camp and killing at least six other Palestinians.
Military sources confirmed that an aircraft fired a rocket into a vehicle in Gaza, saying that the target was Shadi Mehana, the senior Islamic Jihad commander in the northern Gaza Strip. The army said he was behind the renewal of Kassam rocket attacks since Israel pulled out of Gaza in August.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540616276&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull


Analysis: Abbas's dilemma
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
The Hadera suicide bombing caught Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in the midst of a severe political crisis that culminated on Wednesday with a stormy session of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah.
Yet Abbas seems to be facing an even bigger challenge. The events of the past few days have shown that many of the militiamen belonging to his ruling Fatah party are operating openly together with Islamic Jihad in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Islamic Jihad operative Luai Sa'di, who was killed in an IDF operation in Tulkarm earlier this week, had been working closely with Fatah gunmen in the area.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1129540608375&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Spare us the lectures
Even today, as the victims of the Hadera bombing are buried, Israel's government is sure to be criticized for the way it protects its citizens. It will doubtlessly be told that it brought this tragedy upon itself, and that it must assume a passive posture if it is to avoid further bloodshed.
We have heard this all before, on countless occasions.
At times like this, there is always a chorus that pops up to lecture our leaders with the kind of advice that has proven, time and again, to be fatal. First they mourn the "regrettable loss of life" and bemoan the fact that "calm has been shattered." Then comes the familiar call for Israeli restraint, as if such restraint will prevent, rather than invite, the next attack.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1129540608959&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Israel: Remove Iran from the UN
By JPOST STAFF AND AP
Leaders from all across the world responded harshly Thursday to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call to "wipe Israel off the map".
Ahmadinejad also directed his wrath at countries like Egypt and Jordan which have formal relations with Israel, and other Islamic countries moving toward accommodation.
"Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury," he said at a "World without Zionism" conference.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon instructed Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman to take action in order to remove Iran from the international organization. Sharon was prompted into action by Vice Premier Shimon Peres, who sent a missive in which he wrote, "It is inconceivable that the head of a nation that is a member at the UN would call for genocide. His call stands against the UN charter and constitutes a crime against humanity."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540610545&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Visit Israel
This week Israelis were out in force in the nation's parks and tourist attractions, as always during the Succot holiday. Also this week, the country enjoyed a less familiar, but very welcome, feeling of hotels filled to capacity with returning tourists.
The annual conference of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem alone, for example, brought four thousand pilgrims from 70 countries. On the whole, tourism is up 41 percent over the first eight months of this year.
The tourism ministry predicts that the 2005 total will reach 1.8 million tourists.
This is more than twice the number of tourists who came in 2002, at the height of the Palestinian terror offensive, but still short of the 2.4 million peak reached in 2000.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540590318&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


BBC News

Iraq scandal taints 2,000 firms

Paul Volcker delivered the findings of his final report
More than 2,000 firms linked to the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq were involved in making illicit payments to the Iraqi government, a report says.
It found Saddam Hussein received $1.8bn (£1bn) from firms including Daimler Chrysler and Volvo, and it also named individuals said to have benefited.
Some of those issued denials or declined to comment at this stage.
The report said the firms would not necessarily have known about the bribes and surcharges.
Paul Volcker, who led the inquiry, said corruption would not have been so pervasive had there been better discipline by UN management and he emphasised the need for wide-ranging UN reforms.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4382820.stm


Report on Programme Manipulation - This pdf is an introduction to the 683 page report.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/27_10_05_summary.pdf


The Gulf News

World blasts 'sickening' Iranian comments

Agencies
London: Britain’s Foreign Office said it is planning to protest “sickening” comments made by Iran’s president calling for Israel to be “wiped off the map”.
The move follows a wave of harsh condemnation worldwide for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech, which also praised attacks on Israel.
"This is the 21st century. We cannot tolerate comments of such hatred, such anti-Semitism, such intolerance," said Canada’s Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=188980


Terror suspects roam free in Iran - report
Reuters
Berlin:
Iran is permitting around 25 high-ranking Al Qaida members to roam free in the country's capital, including three sons of Osama Bin Laden, a German monthly magazine reported yesterday.
Citing information from unnamed Western intelligence sources, the magazine Cicero said in a preview of an article appearing in its November edition that the individuals in question are from Egypt, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Europe.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=188888


FAO sees imminent bird flu threat in Middle East and Africa

Gulf News Web report
Washington & London: The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation says birds could carry the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus into the Middle East and East Africa within weeks.
After the confirmed outbreaks of avian influenza in Romania and Turkey, the risk of bird flu spreading to the Middle East and African countries has markedly increased, FAO warned.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/BirdFluNF.asp?ArticleID=188965


Oman free from bird flu, says ministry official

Staff Report
Muscat: Oman, like other GCC states, is not affected by the avian flu, a top official at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said in a statement.
"Oman and all other GCC states are free from bird flu," said Khalfan Bin Saleh Al Naabi, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/BirdFluNF.asp?ArticleID=188879


UN aid plea raised to $550m

Reuters
Geneva : The United Nations almost doubled its emergency aid request for quake-stricken Pakistan to $550 million (Dh2,020 million) yesterday as aid workers warned that thousands of survivors faced death from exposure and disease.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the need for funding was more critical than ever as the Himalayan winter approached, and asked governments and private individuals to make donations.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=188938


A plan to salvage Syria

By Duraid Al Baik, Foreign Editor
The past five troubling years for the regime in Syria may well lead the nation towards a serious climax.
Syrians are feeling the heat following the publication of Detlev Mehlis's report last Friday and, for the first time in their modern history, they are finding that the cards in their hands do not allow them to stay in the game.
Two senior officers from the ruling military core were named by the UN International Independent Investigation Commission as suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, the most serious allegation against Syria since President Bashar Al Assad assumed power in July 2000.
Syria started encountering problems in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was the regime's strongest ally.
Syrian politicians tried to replace the vacuum left by the demise of the Soviet Union with Russia, China, France and Britain in a bid to counter the US-Israeli alliance against the country.
But this did not work. Even France ditched its former colony a few months ago and supported the UN resolution 1559 that called for withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon and disarmament of all militia forces in the country.
The declining trend for Syria as a regional political player started after the death of former president Hafez Al Assad in June 2000. Although, Bashar Al Assad initiated a number of positive reforms internally, the regime committed blunders on the regional stage.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=188998


The Daily Star - Lebanon

Iraqi Shiites clash with Sunni insurgents near Baghdad
Politicians race to finalize their slates for the December parliamentary elections
Friday, October 28, 2005
At least 21 Shiite militia fighters and two policemen were killed in clashes with Sunni insurgents near Baghdad, in a flare-up likely to fuel mistrust between Iraq's two main religious sects. The clashes came hours after Iraq's ruling Shiite Islamist parties struck a last-minute deal to patch up differences and agreed to register as a united bloc for December 15 polls where they face a new Sunni Arab alliance.
On the diplomatic front, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari began a landmark visit to Jordan to boost once close political and economic ties between the two neighbors.
Militiamen from Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army called for police backup as they mounted an operation to recover a comrade being held in Al-Khazaliyya, but the group was caught in an ambush, an Interior Ministry source said.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=19664


Darfur rebels to hold key reconciliation meeting ahead of peace talks
Friday, October 28, 2005
CAIRO: The main rebel group in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region said Thursday it had finalized preparations for the convening of its delayed key reconciliation conference and it would open on Friday.
"We have completed all arrangements for the conference," organizer for the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) conference, Ibrahim Ahmad Ibrahim, told AFP.
He said the conference, aimed at reconciling the group's feuding factions ahead of a new round of peace talks with the government next month, will take place in Darfur.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=19643


Abbas: Stop giving excuses to Israel
World leaders condemn Palestinian suicide bombing
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Thursday, October 27, 2005
A Palestinian bomber killed five people in a crowded market in an Israeli coastal city, only hours after President Mahmoud Abbas vowed to crack down on militants taking the law into their own hands and harming national interests.
Fallout from the blast was swift. Israel cancelled a meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian transport ministers and Washington said the Palestinian Authority must to rein in militants and dismantle Hamas.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it was avenging Israel's killing of a top West Bank commander on Monday.
The bomber blew up in front of a sandwich stand in the main outdoor market in Hadera. Medics said five people were killed and 30 wounded in the blast, which blew out shop windows and shattered nearby parked cars.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=19636


Kuwait's five-month revenues surpass expectations by 17 percent
OFFICIAL FIGURES SUGGEST $45 BILLION BY FISCAL YEAR-END
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Friday, October 28, 2005
KUWAIT: OPEC member Kuwait is on track to boast record-high revenues after the Finance Ministry reported a sharp rise in earnings in the first five months of the current fiscal year. Figures posted on the ministry's Web site show that by the end of August, the fifth month of the 2005/06 fiscal year, Kuwait earned 5.36 billion dinars ($18.4 billion) due to soaring oil prices and higher output. The figure is 17 percent higher than budget estimates for the whole year of $15.7 billion.
The state budget for the current fiscal year, which runs between April 2005 and March 2006, estimates spending at $24.7 billion, leaving a projected deficit of $9 billion.
Revenues have increased sharply on the back of strong oil prices which have crossed $50 a barrel for Kuwaiti crude. Oil income was calculated in the budget at a conservative price of $21 a barrel.
Official figures show that actual oil income in the first five months reached $17.3 billion while non-oil revenues were $1.1 billion.
Spending in the same period was $6.1 billion or just under a quarter of projected spending for the whole year.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=19645


Syria ill-equipped to combat sanctions
Growing international isolation already damaging state-controlled economy
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Thursday, October 27, 2005
DAMASCUS: Syria looks set to escape immediate UN sanctions over Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri's murder but its growing international isolation is already damaging the fragile state-controlled economy.
A U.S.-French draft resolution at the UN Security Council calls for sanctions against Syrian individuals suspected of involvement in Hariri's assassination in a massive Beirut bomb blast on February 14 that also cost 20 other lives.
It would slap travel bans on these individuals and freeze their assets, while economic sanctions against Syria itself are unlikely to be adopted in a final text.
A spokesman for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow, as a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, would do "everything necessary" to prevent sanctions being imposed against Damascus.
But a Western diplomat posted in the Syrian capital warned that even targeted sanctions rather than an all-out embargo would damage confidence in the Syrian economy.
"Who would want to invest in a country which has been punished by the international community," the diplomat said, asking not to be named.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=19620


Russia may be Europe's 'sick man,' but it does still matter
By Richard N. Haass
Commentary by
Friday, October 28, 2005
At first glance, Russia bears many of the hallmarks of a great power. It possesses a large arsenal of nuclear weapons, a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, enormous reserves of oil and other minerals, a recent record of robust economic growth, and more territory than any other country, despite being only three-fourths the size of the former Soviet Union.
Closer inspection, however, reveals a different Russia. Much of its wealth reflects the increased value of energy, not productive economic activity. Russia's armed forces are able to project little in the way of usable military might. The country's population now numbers less than Pakistan's and is declining by 500,000 people per year, leaving large portions of its vast land mass mostly uninhabited. Male life expectancy is now less than 60 years, owing to alcoholism, crime, drugs, disease and a dreadful public health system.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=19640


Reworking 'The Simpsons' for the Arab world
Made in America, assembled in Egypt, 'Al-Shamshoons' is a culturally adapted version of the hit cartoon
By Vivian Salama
Special to The Daily Star
Friday, October 28, 2005
CAIRO: As with any family moving to the Arab world from the West, "The Simpsons" quickly discovered they'd need to make some adaptations to their lives if they were to connect with the natives. First, they would change their names - the family now called Al-Shamshoons; the father, once Homer, now goes by Omar; his mischievous son Bart, now Badr.
There would be fundamental changes to their lifestyles as well. Omar, once a fan of tossing back a few beers with friends, now goes to the club or the ahwa (coffee shop) and sips on sodas and juice. The list goes on. Donuts have been replaced by kakh (Arabic cookies); bacon is done away with altogether as it is against Islam; and the kids, once a rowdy bunch of conniving delinquents, are still just as cunning but mind their manners with their parents a bit more.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=19638


The Scotsman

US soldier's own obituary speaks for 2,000 dead
RUSS BYNUM AND ELLIOTT MINOR
AS GEORGE Alexander became the 2,000th member of the United States military to die since the invasion of Iraq, a poignant reminder of the daily fears and horrors faced by those in the front line has come to light in the form of a self-penned obituary by an infantryman who foresaw his own death.
The movingly honest records of James Kinlow will have a particular resonance with ordinary Americans because he was not a professional soldier, but a part-timer - a member of the National Guard whose numbers have accounted for a quarter of US military deaths since the invasion of 2003.
These soldiers come from every section of American society, and some have startling stories to tell of how the conflict has shaped their world: none more so than this infantryman.
During his 18 years in the Georgia National Guard, James Kinlow settled into a peaceful, small-town life focused more on being a citizen than a soldier. He worked in a timber yard and drove a freight truck, married his high-school sweetheart, Daphanie, and supported the local football team. The part-time soldiers he trained with every month included friends and former teachers….

… Jones had just six days to grieve. On 30 July, his patrol struck another roadside bomb. He and three others died.
"David did say it was really hard to go back out. But they went," his wife said. "That's what courage is: you know what can happen and you go anyway."

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2150852005


Executive gloss fails to cover up stalling economy
DAVID BLACK
DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR
SCOTLAND'S economy is experiencing its highest annual growth rate in four years, but will probably lag behind the rest of the UK at least until 2007, according to a raft of economic data published yesterday.
Second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures from the Scottish Executive showed the Scottish economy recovering from a dip in the previous quarter to catch up with UK growth.
But the gloss was taken off the data by a more downbeat view from the Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI), the economic think-tank at Strathclyde University. In its latest quarterly commentary, out yesterday, it predicted that, by the end of 2005, Scotland will have experienced "somewhat weaker growth compared to 2004".

http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2151492005


Shell pumps up profit despite storms in US
SCOTT REID
BUSINESS EDITOR
OIL major Royal Dutch Shell today beat City forecasts with a sharp rise in underlying profits as soaring oil prices more than compensated for production losses due to storms in the United States.
The world's third-largest listed oil firm by market value said its current cost of supply (CCS) net profit, which strips out gains from rises in the value of fuel inventories, leapt 68 per cent to just over £4.1 billion.
Excluding one-off items, Shell's "clean" earnings for the third quarter came in at almost £3.3bn, well ahead of analysts' expectations. Investors tend to focus on the clean CCS figure, considering it the best measure of the company's underlying health.

http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2154162005


Brown eyes tax windfall from North Sea
IAIN DEY
CITY EDITOR
GORDON Brown is believed to be plotting a back-handed tax hike on the North Sea oil industry, through a new simplification of the fiscal regime that will be announced with next month's pre-budget report.
Fears have been mounting for several months that the Chancellor will use the record crude prices as an excuse to extract an additional windfall from the industry. He has already taken an extra £1.1bn in revenue from the sector this year to help feed the yawning chasm in the public finances.

http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=181&id=2131422005


Chinese growth boosts whisky exports
COLIN DONALD
BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT
BOOMING exports to China helped half-year figures for worldwide sales of Scotch whisky shatter the £1 billion barrier for the first time since 2007, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said yesterday.
Figures released by the industry group showed the overall value of exports rising 3 per cent on the same period of last year to £1.011bn, with global volumes growing by 2 per cent to 429 million bottles, an increase of nine million bottles.

http://business.scotsman.com/agriculture.cfm?id=2151672005

Sapling site is top of the crops
SCOTLAND's first energy crop plantation in Dalkeith is set to be a model for new sites across the country.
Cathy Jamieson, MSP for Carrick Cumnock and Doon Valley, visited the 30-hectare Chesters Wood Energy Crop Nursery, which has more than 900,000 energy crop saplings. She said: "We need to investigate new ways of producing energy.
I was delighted to see the first of what I hope will be many more energy crop plantations in Scotland."

http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=605&id=2123552005

Bus stop solar power
Solar panels are to be installed at 110 bus stops in Edinburgh at a cost of £220,000.
It is hoped it will be cheaper than laying power cables to light them.

http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=605&id=2115192005

continued ...

October 25, 2005.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

October 25, 2005.

Rockport, Massachusetts. Nothing like having a seaside home.

October 25, 2005. Rockport, Massachusetts. "Nor'easter" 

Morning Papers - continued

Michael Moore Today

Bush Abandons Push for Miers Nomination
By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent 20 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Under withering attack from conservatives,
President Bush abandoned his push to put loyalist Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court and promised a quick replacement Thursday. Democrats accused him of bowing to the "radical right wing of the Republican Party."
The White House said Miers had withdrawn because of senators' demands to see internal documents related to her role as counsel to the president. But politics played a larger role: Bush's conservative backers had doubts about her ideological purity, and Democrats had little incentive to help the nominee or the embattled GOP president.
"Let's move on," said Republican Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record) of Mississippi. "In a month, who will remember the name Harriet Miers?"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051027/ap_on_go_su_co/miers_withdraws


Kerry calls for Bush to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq
By James Kuhnhenn / Knight Ridder
WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kerry called Wednesday for President Bush to withdraw 20,000 U.S. troops from Iraq over the Christmas holidays.
Ultimately, Kerry said, as certain benchmarks of progress are attained in coming months, the United States should be able to bring all troops home by the end of next year.
He made it clear that he thinks the U.S. troop presence is inflaming the violence.
"The insurgency will not be defeated unless our troop levels are drawn down," Kerry, D-Mass., said in a speech at Georgetown University.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4665


Mother of slain US soldier arrested in Iraq war protest
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US police arrested Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a US soldier killed in Iraq who has become a prominent war opponent, along with two dozen people for demonstrating without authoritization in front of the White House.
Sheehan and the other protestors staged a "die-in" in front of the the White House, lying on the ground to symbolize US soldiers killed in Iraq.
Several dozen sympathizers applauded as Sheehan and others were taken away, while counter-protestors booed the group.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4669


Sunni Ambush Kills 14 Al-Sadr Militiamen
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni Arab militants killed 14 Shiite militiamen and a policeman Thursday in a clash southeast of Baghdad — another sign of rising tensions among
Iraq's rival ethnic and religious communities. The U.S. military reported three more American soldiers died in combat.
The Shiite-Sunni fighting occurred after police and militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr raided a house in Nahrawan, 15 miles southeast of the capital, to free a militiaman taken hostage by Sunni militants, according to Amer al-Husseini, an aide to al-Sadr.
After freeing the hostage and capturing two militants, the Shiite militiamen were ambushed by the Sunnis on their way out of the religiously mixed town, al-Husseini said. Police Lt. Thair Mahmoud said 14 others — 12 militiamen and two policemen — were wounded.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051027/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq


October 26
A Message from Cindy Sheehan
"If you believe in what you are doing, give me your stiffest sentence. If you don't, then resign." -- Gandhi
Yesterday, started off with a "bang" when we went to Arlington Cemetery to lay a wreath in the section where the Iraq War dead are buried. In our group yesterday morning were 3 other members of Gold Star Families for Peace. Juan Torres was with us and his son, Juan, was murdered in Afghanistan.
First of all, I was followed all morning by the Park Police. I guess because I am a very dangerous subversive. I would never hurt a flea, but what I am dangerous to is the lies and corruption of our government.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=529


How you can help
HomeFromIraqNow.org is doing something that no other campaign has done before. We are using the ballot initiative process - direct grassroots democracy - to allow people to vote on the war in Iraq. And we're doing it over the Internet.
Our first step is to get our initiative on the ballot in Massachusetts. To do that, we need to have 100,000 signatures of Massachusetts voters in our hands by November 15, 2005. Here's what you can do to make this happen:
Send us your signature
If you are registered to vote in Massachusetts, send us your signature!

http://www.homefromiraqnow.org/help


Rosa Parks' body will lie in repose at Lincoln Memorial
DETROIT (AP) -- The body of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks will lie in repose at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington as part of the series of events that will allow the public to pay tribute to her.
The public will be able to pay their respects in the memorial's rotunda Sunday from 6 p.m. to midnight, Karen Dumas, a spokeswoman for the Rosa & Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, said Wednesday night.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4670


Tuskegee march to pay tribute to Rosa Parks
By Samira Jafari / Associated Press
TUSKEGEE — More than 200 students, residents, ministers and dignitaries linked arms and marched through Tuskegee on Wednesday to pay tribute to civil rights activist Rosa Parks, a native of the town who died Monday.
City officials made it a priority to share Parks' significance with the younger members of the audience.
"She accomplished more than those of us that stand up or attempt to stand up just by sitting down," said Jesse Upshaw, chair of the Macon County Commission.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4671


Michigan woman fired for missing work after seeing husband off to war
CALEDONIA, Mich. (AP) — A woman who took an unpaid leave of absence from work to see her husband off to war has been fired after failing to show up for her part-time receptionist job the day following his departure.
"It was a shock," said Suzette Boler, a 40-year-old mother of three and grandmother of three. "I was hurt. I felt abandoned by people I thought cared for me. I sat down on the floor and cried for probably two hours."
Officials at her former workplace, Benefit Management Administrators Inc., confirmed that Boler was dismissed when she didn't report to work the day after she said goodbye to her husband of 22 years.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4673


Doubts Raised on Saudi Vow for More Oil
By Jeff Gerth / The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 - Last spring, the White House publicly embraced plans by Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production capacity significantly. But privately, some officials and others advising the government are skeptical about some of those Saudi forecasts.
The United States relies on a few producers to maintain enough spare capacity to keep prices and markets stable, even during war or disaster. As oil prices have climbed over the last few years amid surging demand and tight supplies, the Bush administration has looked to the Persian Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, to pump extra oil.
But doubts about Saudi Arabia's assurances of how much it can expand capacity - and for how long - have been raised in a secret intelligence report and in a separate analysis by a leading government oil adviser, according to a federal government official and the oil expert.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4672


Rove Aide's Name Appears in Two Washington Inquiries
By Anne E. Kornblut / The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 - At the nexus of two high-profile investigations roiling the nation's capital is an unlikely - and largely anonymous - figure known for fiercely safeguarding her bosses.
Susan B. Ralston, 38, has worked as an assistant and side-by-side adviser to Karl Rove since 2001, helping manage his e-mail, meetings and phone calls from her perch near his office in the West Wing. That has made her an important witness in the C.I.A. leak investigation, as the special prosecutor has sought to determine whether Mr. Rove misled investigators about his contacts with reporters about Valerie Wilson, the undercover operative whose identity was made public in 2003.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4674


The Miami Herald

Death toll climbs; frustration mounts over lack of basics
Weeks of waiting may be in store for some without electricity, especially in hard-hit Broward. Rumor and anxiety created long lines at gasoline stations.
By TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE, WANDA J. DeMARZO, JOHN DORSCHNER AND SCOTT HIAASEN
shiaasen@herald.com
It was another day of tedium and anxiety Wednesday for the millions still without power. Phones remained largely inoperable, and panic set in as gas stations went empty.
The statewide death toll climbed to 10.
In Broward, more than 93 percent of customers who lost power remained in the dark Wednesday evening and the darkness could continue until Nov. 22, FPL officials warned again.
By 8 p.m., just 60,700 customers were back online -- and 802,100 remained without power.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13005126.htm

More than 70 percent of South Florida still without power
BY JOHN DORSCHNER
jdorschner@herald.com
More than a third of all homes darkened by Wilma had power restored as of 10 a.m. today, and considerable progress is starting to be made in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Florida Power & Light announced Thursday morning.
A third of Miami-Dade -- 344,200 homes out of 956,500 affected by the hurricane -- had come back -- double Wednesday's numbers.
The situation in Broward too had improved considerably, but the area's restoration efforts still lagged considerably behind other areas. As of 10 a.m., 19.4 percent of homes there had been restored -- 167,800 of 862,800.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13011479.htm


Dead man in carbon monoxide incident identified
By WANDA J. DEMARZO
wdemarzo@herald.com
One person is dead and nine -- including three fire-rescue workers -- have been transported to the hospital after they were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes in Deerfield Beach.
Cloves Jose Dos Santos, 48, was declared dead in the incident.
All the other victims were transported to North Broward Medical Center in Pompano Beach.
Rescue workers believe that a generator in the back of a house at 170 Northwest 44th Street caused the accident.
Broward Sheriff's Office deputies found a generator on the back patio. It was not operating when they found it, but all the victims had symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning consistent with an improperly ventilated, gas-powered electricity generator.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13011225.htm

Cursing, fighting as quest for gas in Dade frazzles nerves
The hunt for gasoline ruled the day across South Florida as thousands of motorists formed tension-filled lines that sometimes stretched for miles.
BY NICOLE WHITE, CAROLINA ZAMORA AND OSCAR CORRAL
ocorral@herald.com
In South Florida on Wednesday, one mission reigned: Find gas.
The evidence stretched for miles across roadways as people desperate for a few drops of unleaded lined up outside gas stations -- whether they were open or not.
Curse words spewed. Tempers flared. Punches

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13005267.htm


Wealthy spared hurricane's worst
Despite the close landfall of Hurricane Wilma, Naples saw relatively little damage, with the exception of broken water lines.
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD
ebolstad@herald.com
NAPLES - Linda Hoban cleared palm fronds Wednesday with her golden retrievers frolicking around her. She wore diamond stud earrings, Versace sunglasses and a coral-and-peach striped featherweight cashmere sweater to ward off the low 60s chill of the unseasonably cool October morning.
''I don't want it to sit there,'' Hoban said of the fronds, scattered across the vast lawn of a neighbor's home on Gulf Shore Drive in Naples and within view of her home across the street. ``If everybody picked up their little spot in the street, it would be fine.''
Insulated by wealth and privilege -- and the luxury of new housing built to exacting construction standards -- Naples and its millionaires carried an air of satisfaction just 48 hours after the storm.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13005367.htm


Cash is king during power outages
Area banks said they had plenty of cash on hand to service South Florida's post-storm cash-based economy. Branch locations are opening and ATMs are coming on line with power restoration.
BY MONICA HATCHER
mhatcher@herald.com
The good, old-fashioned greenback is making a comeback in South Florida.
Knocked powerless by Hurricane Wilma, scores of grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, and other retail outlets are operating on a cash-only basis. People are pulling the almighty dollar from their wallets again, instead of the almighty credit card, and heading en masse to the nearest ATM, which needs electricity to spit out 10s and 20s.
It's an unusual scenario in a society long-sold on the convenience of plastic. But banks in South Florida said they were ready to handle the largely cashed-based economy in the potentially powerless weeks ahead.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13005624.htm


Bush abandons push for Miers nomination
TERENCE HUNT
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Under withering attack from conservatives, President Bush abandoned his push to put loyalist Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court and promised a quick replacement Thursday. Democrats accused him of bowing to the "radical right wing of the Republican Party."
The White House said Miers had withdrawn because of senators' demands to see internal documents related to her role as counsel to the president. But politics played a larger role: Bush's conservative backers had doubts about her ideological purity, and Democrats had little incentive to help the nominee or the embattled GOP president.
"Let's move on," said Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi. "In a month, who will remember the name Harriet Miers?"

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13010797.htm


Wilma harms Mexico's economic forecast
Hurricane Wilma's slow trek over the Yucatan Peninsula did enough damage to prompt experts to lower Mexico's annual gross domestic product forecast.
BY BENEDICT MANDER
Financial Times
MEXICO CITY - The paralysis of Mexico's world famous tourist resorts on the Yucatan peninsula caused by the devastating passage of Hurricane Wilma may slow the country's economic growth in 2005 by up to a quarter of a percentage point.
The region, which accounts for 35 percent of Mexico's income from tourism, will take at least three to four months to recover, according to hotel owners.
Local government officials estimate that 98 percent of the tourist infrastructure and 75 percent of the population of the state of Quintana Roo, which includes the resorts of Cancún, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Isla Mujeres, has been damaged.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13005628.htm


Clarify state death law
OUR OPINION: EXECUTION SHOULD REQUIRE UNANIMOUS VOTES BY JURIES
Among the 39 states that use the death penalty, Florida is the only one that requires a simple majority of jurors to vote to impose execution. All the other states require a unanimous jury vote to put someone on Death Row. To protect the integrity of Florida's death penalty laws and make sure that they are administered as fairly as possible, the Florida Supreme Court has asked the Legislature to act to require the unanimous vote. At least two South Florida legislators agree with the court and, commendably, are acting on its request.
Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, and Rep. Jack Seiler, D-Wilton Manors, have asked legislative staff to craft a bill proposal. The Legislature should follow up and adopt the unanimous-vote provision in the 2006 session.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13012445.htm


The death penalty
OUR OPINION: PATRIOT ACT DEVELOPING DECIDEDLY UN-AMERICAN TILT
In the name of fighting terror, some lawmakers have gone overboard with amendments to the U.S.A. Patriot Act. For example, U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, would let federal prosecutors shop for another jury if the first panel deadlocked on a death sentence. The very notion is absurd -- jury shopping for death -- and the amendment should be stripped from the Patriot Act reauthorization bill.
Rep. Carter's measure would allow prosecutors to empanel a second jury and argue for death if at least one person on the original jury voted for the death penalty. Thus, an 11-1 vote recommending life in prison instead of death could be rejected in order to empanel another jury to give the prosecutorone more chance to win a death sentence. This measure would do little to actually help fight terrorism. Yet it would undermine a feature that strengthens U.S. jurisprudence and makes our system an international model.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13012442.htm


The Pakistan Times

Winter poses Perils: UN doubles aid for Pakistan Quake Victims

By Margrate Miglena - PakistanTimes.net Foreign Correspondent
GENEVA (Switzerland): Taking an instant and serious notice of the awful plight of Quake victims in Pakistan, the United Nations Wednesday almost doubled its appeal target for the South Asia earthquake to 580 US dollars.
More resources are urgently needed to save the lives of more than three million people in remote mountain villages who lack food and shelter in Pakistan as well as in diverse vicinities of Azad Kashmir, most of which are still inaccessible, the UN said.
Speaking at the Donors’ Conference in Geneva, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Wednesday that a "winter without pity" was looming for survivors.

http://pakistantimes.net/2005/10/27/top.htm


Biggest NATO airlift arrives Pakistan as UNHCR steps up relief Work
By Aziz Malik - PakistanTimes.net Federal Bureau chief
ISLAMABAD: The largest NATO airlift of UNHCR relief
supplies to date arrived here Wednesday, carrying 87 tonnes of relief items to supplement supplies for Pakistan’s earthquake survivors.
The Boeing 747 flight touched down at Islamabad’s Chaklala military airbase, bringing 42 pallets of tents, blankets and stoves from UNHCR’s warehouse in southern Turkey.
The now-daily Boeing 747 arrivals will boost the speed of aid delivery, complementing the ongoing C-130 NATO flights that started on October-19.
The supplies are being rushed to earthquake victims in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province and Azad Kashmir.

http://pakistantimes.net/2005/10/27/top3.htm


Tents supplied to 98 % homeless in NW Pakistan
Pakistan Times National News Desk
BALAKOT: Pakistan Army said relief operations have geared up in the earthquake-affected territories and tents were provided to 98 percent quake homeless in Balakot and Kaghan Valley.
In-charge Army relief camp in Balakot Col. Saeed talking with Geo said Pak Army’s relief operations have geared up in Balakot and Kaghan Valley, while the troops will also reach to the un-accessed areas within next 48 hours.
He said the army has established relief camps in the area and provided relief items, while relief goods also being dispatched to other quake-hit territories in the forward area.
He said the army was providing full security to the NGOs working in the affected areas and guides them about relief needs of different areas in routine daily meetings.●

http://pakistantimes.net/2005/10/27/national2.htm


Clinton to introduce Pakistan's Mukhtar Mai in US
By Khalida Mazhar - PakistanTimes.net Foreign Correspondent
WASHINGTON (US): Mukhtar Mai, who arrived in Chicago Sunday night is all set to travel to New York in the next few days to accept the ‘Woman of the Year’ award from Glamour magazine.
Former US President Bill Clinton will introduce her to the star-studded event at Lincoln Centre on November-2.
Mukhtar Mai said on Wednesday that she would donate $5,000 of the $20,000 prize for earthquake relief, while the rest would be spent to expand the two schools she runs for girls in Meerwala, a remote village in southern Punjab.
“I’ve gained a lot of strength from building the school. I would not be alive today if I had not gained this strength, and I have more faith in Pakistan because of this,” she said.

http://pakistantimes.net/2005/10/27/top7.htm


Quake may have shifted thousands of Kashmir Landmines
Pakistan Times Kashmir Desk
SRINAGAR (IHK): The devastating October-8 earthquake may have shifted thousands of landmines planted by Indian and Pakistani troops along the Line of Control [LoC] in the Himalayan State of Jammu & Kashmir, a group warned on Friday.
“We are very concerned,” said Shafaat Hussain of Global Green Peace, a non-governmental organisation that has worked since 1998 to persuade India and Pakistan to de-mine the are.
“There are thousands of mines out there threatening to take human lives.” Hussain said that areas along the the LoC, are “heavily mined” on both sides.
“As the earthquake triggered massive landslides along the Line of Control, it must have surely relocated these mines,” said Hussain.
“We are told that respective armies do keep a proper map of the planted mines, but those maps will not help, given the devastation.”
India's Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Vijay Batra played down the risk. “Landmines were planted along the LoC and army posts some 58 years ago. “Wherever a bit of damage has taken place to the minefields due to landslides, it is not affecting the civilians as no mines have drifted or shifted towards civilian areas,” he contended.
Yet, the Red Cross says that in the heat of war, mines are often not mapped or monitored and can shift depending on the weather and soil type, sometimes travelling kilometres if washed out by heavy rain.●

http://pakistantimes.net/2005/10/27/kashmir1.htm


Pakistan's National Assembly Kashmir Committee visits AJK
Pakistan Times National News Desk
MUZAFFARABAD (AJK): National Assembly’s Kashmir Committee delegation visited the quake-hit areas in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
The seven-member delegation of the Committee led by its Chairman, Hamid Nasir Chatta also met here AJK Prime Minister, Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan and exchanged views on the relief works underway for quake-stricken people.
The delegation comprised of Hamid Nasir Chatta, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Liaquat Baloch, Mushahid Hussain Syed, senator Moheem Khan Baloch, Shirin Rahman and Professor Mohammad Saeed Siddiqui.
The Kashmir Committee delegation later left for district Bagh after taking a round of the devastated areas here.●

http://pakistantimes.net/2005/10/27/national4.htm


Geologists arrive in Battgram to hold seismic survey in NW Pakistan
Pakistan Times National News Desk
BATTGRAM: A team of two experts from the Geological Survey of Pakistan Tuesday reached Battgram for seismic survey of the Allai valley.
Two experts from the Geological Survey of Pakistan Naseer Ali Khan and Abdul Majid have been taken to Battgram this morning to hold seismic survey of the Allai valley, higher military sources told a private TV Channel.
The people of the area had reported various government departments about aftershocks and emission of blue smoke from the mountains and constant blasts.
The government decided to hold a survey after these reports.
The geologists will submit their report to the government of Pakistan today, sources added.

http://pakistantimes.net/2005/10/27/national3.htm

The Washington Post

Tropical Storm Alpha Kills 26 in Haiti, Dominican Republic
Reuters
Thursday, October 27, 2005; Page A05
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Oct. 26 -- Tropical Storm Alpha brought torrential rains that killed 26 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic this week, days after Hurricane Wilma also caused death and destruction in the countries, officials said Wednesday.
Alpha, the 22nd named tropical cyclone of the Atlantic hurricane season, drenched the two countries, which share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, on Monday and caused flash floods that swept away people, houses and animals.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/26/AR2005102602163.html


Presidents Past Inspire Bush's Damage Control
By Peter Baker and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Page A01
Facing a convergence of crises threatening his administration, President Bush and his team are devising plans to salvage the remainder of his presidency by applying the lessons of past two-term chief executives and refocusing attention on the president's larger economic and foreign policy goals.
Rarely has a president confronted as many damaging developments that could all come to a head in this week. A special counsel appears poised to indict one or more administration officials within days. Pressure is building on Bush from within his own party to withdraw the faltering Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers. And any day the death toll of U.S. troops in Iraq will pass the symbolically important 2,000 mark.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/24/AR2005102402000.html


Grand Jury Hears Summary of Case On CIA Leak Probe
Decision on Charges May Come Friday
By Carol D. Leonnig and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 27, 2005; Page A01
The prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation presented a summary of his case to a federal grand jury yesterday and is expected to announce a final decision on charges in the two-year-long probe tomorrow, according to people familiar with the case.
Even as Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald wrapped up his case, the legal team of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has been engaged in a furious effort to convince the prosecutor that Rove did not commit perjury during the course of the investigation, according to people close to the aide. The sources, who indicated that the effort intensified in recent weeks, said Rove still did not know last night whether he would be indicted.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/26/AR2005102600532.html?sub=AR


AOL Hires Cheney Daughter
By Yuki Noguchi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 27, 2005; Page D05
America Online Inc. hired Mary Cheney, the 36-year-old daughter of Vice President Cheney, to offer advice on building up Web site businesses, a company spokesman said yesterday.
Cheney starts the job later this year and will work primarily with longtime AOL executive Ted Leonsis, who as president of AOL's Audience Business focuses on increasing viewership of its Web sites, said Nicholas Graham, a spokesman for the Dulles-based company. He declined to disclose additional details about her position.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/26/AR2005102602339.html


Buenos Aires Herald

Torture ‘a matter of debate’
US ambassador makes security and safety of society a priority in controversial issue.
"(Torture) is an issue that a democratic society should debate and it is up to the representatives of the people in Congress to decide on it," said Gutiérrez in a radio interview.
"The question is this: what if a terrorist has information that could save the lives of thousands and does not want to speak up? There are some people who believe those methods should be used to save lives," added the ambassador, referring to torture techniques.
"I know it is a debate that does not sound very Christian and elegant," he acknowledged. "Torture is inhuman and degrading, but sometimes these moral issues crop up and a democratic society has to debate them."
Led by Vice-President Dick Cheney, the George Bush administration is reportedly floating a proposal to exclude overseas clandestine counterterrorism operations by agencies other than the Pentagon from a Senate-approved ban on torturing detainees in US custody. The bill, drafted by Republican Senator John McCain, now stands before the House

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/the_world/note.jsp?idContent=219559&hideIntro=true


US anti-war rallies to bring troops home
Anti-war activists said their movement was rapidly growing in strength and now spoke for a majority in the United States who now thought Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003 was a mistake.
"We’re seeing rapid changes in public opinion in favour of ending the war and bringing back the troops and it’s beginning to be reflected in Congress," said Phyllis Bennis of the anti-war Institute for Policy Studies.
"The anti-war position is no longer held exclusively for activists. It is beginning to give voice to the majority in this country," she said.
The death on Saturday of a soldier wounded in combat in Samarra, Iraq, on October 17 pushed the toll to 2,000. More than 15,000 US troops have also been wounded in combat in the war that began March 200

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/the_world/note.jsp?idContent=219564&hideIntro=true


First human case outside Asia?
"These three people who all travelled to Thailand had visited a bird zoo where they had come into contact with birds," French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand said of the tourists who had since returned home to the Indian Ocean island of Reunion. "Initial tests resulted positive," he said, but further results would only be ready today.
In Europe, Croatia confirmed H5N1 had killed swans found dead by a pond there last week, taking further into Europe the lethal strain that surfaced in South Korea two years ago and has since spread to Turkey, Romania and Russia. Germany and Greece were also testing dead birds.
Britain said an imported parrot that died of H5N1 might not have been the only bird in quarantine to have had the virus, and others were being tested.

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/the_world/note.jsp?idContent=219569&hideIntro=true



Journalism at Risk, For those that take the profession seriously and not as a tool and extension of government.

Reporting on press freedom
20/10/2005 15:24 - (SA)
Paris - Press freedom is being eroded in parts of the Western world, failing to advance in Iraq, but making progress in states emerging from repression, the watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported on Thursday.
Its 2005 annual press freedom index again puts North Korea at the bottom of the list in 167th position, while Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland share top spot.
The top 10 countries are all European. New Zealand (12), Trinidad and Tobago (12), Benin (25) and South Korea (34) are the highest-ranked countries in other continents.
The Paris-based watchdog reports that Middle Eastern countries (Iran 164, Iraq 157, Saudi Arabia 154, Syria 145) are among states where journalists have the toughest time and where government repression or armed groups prevent the media from operating freely.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1820204,00.html


US Senate Committee considers measures to protect journalists
Washington: In the wake of imprisonment of a New York Times reporter who refused to reveal her source, the US lawmakers are considering legislation that would legally protect journalists from revealing their confidential sources.
The legislation is getting overwhelming attention in the Senate here after a New York Times reporter Judith Miller chose to go to prison rather than reveal her source with federal prosecutors investigating the disclosure of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame's identity.
According to media reports here, President George W Bush's top political adviser Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Lewis Libby are at the center of a federal investigation into who leaked the identity of Ms Plame, whose diplomat husband Joseph Wilson challenged the administration's pre-war intelligence on Iraq.

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=38230


Journalists walk off job
October 27, 2005
STAFF at The Sydney Morning Herald have walked off the job tonight to protest a plan to axe 68 jobs.
More than 250 workers tonight "overwhelming" voted to go on strike at least until tomorrow morning.
Earlier this week the newspaper's publisher, John Fairfax Holdings, said it would cut 7.5 per cent of its staff across its major publications - the SMH, The Age and the Australian Financial Review.
Fairfax said under the $100 million cost cutting plan, it would target staff for redundancy if they failed to volunteer.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17056394%255E1702,00.html


International News Safety Institute

Two US soldiers killed in Iraq
Updated at 06h12 GMT
BAGHDAD, Oct 27 (AFP) - Two US soldiers were killed by a makeshift bomb in eastern Baghdad, the military said Thursday.
"Two Task Force Baghdad Soldiers were killed Wednesday when their convoy struck an improvised explosive device in east Baghdad," a statement said.
The death brought to 2,003 US military losses in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, according to an AFP tally based on the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count website (icasualties.org).
However, the official Pentagon count, last updated on Wednesday, remained at 1,994 military personnel killed and more than 15,000 wounded since the start of the war.

http://www.newssafety.com/english/english/topics/journalisme/051027061227.3rc6qi15.html


Need for new world laws to protect journalists? Better reporting makes journalists safer?
Top newsmen debate safety

The world needed new global laws to protect journalists from killers who silenced open reporting and escaped justice, a major meeting on news safety heard.
A panel of top journalists, gathered in New York to discuss the rising toll of journalists killed for doing their jobs, heard there was a need for governments and news organisations to act to defend free reporting.
Journalists themselves could help by raising their standards and attracting more respect, speakers said.
The panel discussion, entitled “Finding Solutions for Journalist Safety”, was the latest in a series of safety discussions supported by the International News Safety Institute as part of its global inquiry into journalist deaths. It was moderated by John Roberts, Chief White House Correspondent for CBS News.

http://www.newssafety.com/aboutus/documents/New%20York%20Debate.doc


Rumsfeld to address reporters' safety in Iraq
September 29, 2005 By Alan Elsner
WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - A senior Republican lawmaker won a commitment on Thursday from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to address concerns about the increased detentions and accidental shootings by U.S. forces of reporters trying to cover the Iraq conflict.
Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Senate armed services committee , raised the issue at a hearing with Rumsfeld and top U.S. generals after receiving letters from Reuters and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and a telephone call from Paul Steiger, CPJ chairman and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal.
"I raised the question of the safety of the press in Iraq and their ability to carry out the very important function of reporting to the American people," Warner told reporters after the hearing.

http://www.newssafety.com/stories/reuters/rumsfeld30.htm


I THOUGHT AFGHANISTAN HAD FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

Afghanistan: Editor's Arrest On Blasphemy Charges Highlights Difficulties Facing Journalists
By Golnaz Esfandiari
The arrest of the editor in chief of an Afghan women's magazine is causing concern and fear among journalists in the country. Ali Mohaqiq Nasab ran the respected monthly magazine called "Women's Rights" (Hoquq-e Zan). He was arrested earlier this month for publishing articles deemed blasphemous and anti-Islamic. His arrest has been condemned by organizations defending press freedoms inside Afghanistan and also by international media rights groups, such as Reporters Without Borders and the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Prague, 20 October 2005 (RFE/RL) -- One of the stories published in "Women's Rights" questioned the harsh punishment under Shari'a law for women found guilty of adultery, such as stoning. Another article argued that giving up Islam is not a crime.

The magazine's editor, Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, was arrested on 1 October following a complaint made to the Supreme Court by a religious adviser to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/10/DFA1A44F-C89B-49A8-9F42-9F6ABCF83EDB.html


FROM BBC MONITORING SERVICE
Afghan journalist said killed in "pre-meditated attack"
Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website
Kabul, 24 October: Journalists in the southeastern Province of Khost on Monday [24 October] condemned the killing of a radio journalist in a roadside bomb explosion [on 22 October].
They also stressed the need for fair treatment of Haqooq-i-Zan magazine Editor Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, who was handed down a sentence of two years in jail for publishing blasphemous articles.
The Khost Independent Union of Journalists flayed the killing of the Solh-i-Paigham (Voice of Peace) radio reporter Maiwand, who lost his life while accompanying Afghan National Army soldiers in the countryside.
At a meeting, chaired by Mohammad Ghafoor Mehdi, the reporters claimed Maiwand was deliberately killed in a pre-meditated attack. They urged the government to track down the culprits and bring them to justice as soon as possible.
The journalists accused the government of maltreating the jailed editor of the Haqooq-i-Zan magazine. They demanded that the judiciary be manned by professionally competent and qualified people.
Source: Pajhwok Afghan News website, Kabul, in English 1130 gmt 24 Oct 05

http://www.newssafety.com/stories/bbc/afghanistan24.htm


FROM BBC MONITORING SERVICE
Taleban fighters seek leader's permission to kill Afghan, Western journalists
Some 100 Taleban supporters in various provinces of Afghanistan have signed an open letter addressed to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taleban leader, seeking his permission to kill Afghan and Western journalists in the wake of the recent arrest of the Taleban spokesman in Pakistan.
"We resolutely demand that we should be given the permission to kill all domestic and foreign workers of the Western media," the letter said.
The letter - a copy of which was published by the Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press - also calls on staff of Western media outlets to use their influence to ensure the release of Taleban Spokesman Latifollah Hakimi from the "claws of their masters".

http://www.newssafety.com/stories/bbc/afghan13.htm


IFJ urges authorities to fast track inquiry into missing reporter
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is concerned for the safety of abducted Berita Sore reporter, Elyuddin Telaumbanua, after two months of police investigations have failed to make any progress.
Telaumbanua was reported missing on August 22 after he failed to make contact with his editors while on assignment in the district of Teluk Dalam, in Southern Nias.
The IFJ, a global organisation representing over 500,000 journalists in more than 110 countries, is concerned that police investigations have stalled and hold grave concerns for Teaumbanua's life.
The IFJ has written to the Indonesian Head of Police calling for a rapid and thorough investigation into Telaumbanua's abduction to ensure that justice prevails.
"The IFJ calls on the Indonesian Government to instruct the appropriate authorities to fast track the injury into Telaumbanua's disappearance, as any delay in this case could be a matter of life and death," said IFJ president Christopher Warren.

http://www.newssafety.com/stories/ifj/indonesia24.htm


Ewen MacAskill, Angelique Chrisafis and Ian Prior in Dublin
Friday October 21, 2005
Rory Carroll, the Guardian journalist kidnapped in Baghdad on Wednesday, was freed last night after 36 hours in captivity in a dark underground cell.
Carroll phoned the Guardian to confirm that his captors, whom he described as Shia opportunists, had released him into the hands of the Iraqi government.
The end came when one of his captors received a mobile phone call and unbolted the door to the cell, telling him he was free to go. "He put me in the boot of his car and drove me alone and dropped me in the middle of Baghdad," Carroll said.
Last night he was under the protection of the Iraqi government in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

http://www.newssafety.com/stories/guardian/iraq21.htm


Freed journalist wants to stay in Iraq
21.10.05 1.00pm
BAGHDAD - Irish journalist Rory Carroll, freed on Thursday after 36 hours in the hands of Baghdad kidnappers, said he wanted to go on reporting on Iraq.
"The next move is unclear but I would like to report on Iraq in the future," the 33-year-old correspondent for London's Guardian said shortly after his release.
He said he did not know who was responsible for snatching him on Wednesday. Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi was present when he was released after a day-and-a-half in darkness.
"I don't know who took me," Carroll said. "I was released about an hour ago. I'm fine. I was treated reasonably well," he added.
"I spent the last 36 hours in the dark. I was released into the hands of Dr Chalabi."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10351371


Four held over kidnap of Guardian journalist
Ewen MacAskill and Vikram Dodd
Friday October 21, 2005
Iraqi police have arrested four men in connection with the kidnapping of the Guardian journalist Rory Carroll in Baghdad. The police are looking for a further four suspects.
Carroll, 33, who has been on assignment in Iraq for nine months, was freed on Thursday night after being held for 36 hours. He is due to fly back to his family's home in Dublin tomorrow.
The Iraqi police have seldom been proactive in hostage situations. But diplomats praised them for following a trail that started with the head of the family who Carroll interviewed in Sadr City. The trail led to a group of men who visited the home during the interview.
Carroll was released unharmed after intensive diplomatic negotiations behind the scenes. The Irish foreign minister, Dermot Ahern, disclosed today that his government had been helped by the British, French and Italian governments. Although Carroll is an Irish citizen, the Irish government, which opposed the war, has no diplomatic presence in Baghdad.

http://www.newssafety.com/stories/guardian/iraq21b.htm


Chinese traffic police beat editor of party paper over report
Text of report by Minnie Chan entitled: "Police beat editor of party paper over report", published by Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post website on 22 October
Dozens of traffic policemen stormed a party newspaper office in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, and beat up an editor because they were dissatisfied with a report about unreasonable traffic licence charges.
Wu Xianghu, a deputy editor at the Taizhou Evening News, was taken to the city's No1 People's Hospital on Thursday [20 October] afternoon to be treated for severe injuries suffered in the beating, a newspaper employee confirmed yesterday.
"Mr Wu is still in the hospital and weak after receiving medical treatment," said Yang Nengyong .

http://www.newssafety.com/stories/bbc/china22.htm

continued …

A Floridian's Moment !

When sleep returns without visions of hurricanes and vortices dancing in their heads. 

Australia's Moment !

The anticipated win of Makybe Diva. 

The Chicago White Sox Moment !

Bud Sellig the Baseball Commissioner presents the World Series Trophy to Jerry Reinsdorf, owner, Ken Williams, general manager and manager Ozzie Guillen of the Chicago White Sox. 

Morning Papers - continued ...

Chicago Sun Times

Oz good as it gets
October 27, 2005
BY DOUG PADILLA Staff Reporter
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HOUSTON -- The White Sox will bring a championship back to 35th Street for the first time in 88 years, and this one will be a worldly affair.
The four-game World Series sweep was not just toasted on the South Side, it was celebrated in Tokyo, Caracas and Havana. There was reason for hugs and handshakes in the Dominican Republic, home to five Sox players. Even the Netherlands can feel good about this one because trainer Herm Schneider was born there and is a veteran of 26 previous seasons, all void of titles.
Venezuela's Freddy Garcia reached down and showed just why he's considered a big-game pitcher as he paced the 1-0 victory Wednesday over the Houston Astros with seven scoreless innings. His outing could've been dedicated to all the great Sox pitchers who never finished a season on top with the club.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/worldseries/cst-spt-sox27.html


A once-in-a-lifetime celebration
October 27, 2005
BY ANDREW HERRMANN AND CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporters
Scott Podsednik described this year's White Sox as "25 guys pulling on the same rope.''
True enough -- but the speedy left fielder was a few million short on the count.
Fans, too, were pulling for the team, of course. And they were pulling for friends and family -- some who left this Earth without ever hearing the words World Champion and White Sox in the same breath.
They pulled for the buddies with whom they had their first beer (a Falstaff?) at Comiskey Park, or the date they split the churro with, or maybe the Old Man who taught them that a double play is 6-4-3 on the scorecard.
But they were also pulling for themselves.
Sports divert us from the routines of life -- the drudgeries of the 49th floor cubicle of the Sears Tower and the miseries of navigating the Ike. A double off the wall offers a coherence and clarity in a complicated 1040-form world.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/worldseries/cst-nws-soxwin27.html


'We haven't experienced this in forever'
October 27, 2005
BY SHAMUS TOOMEY, CHRIS FUSCO, CHERYL L. REED AND SCOTT FORNEK Staff Reporters
White Sox fans never stopped believin,' and Wednesday night it was time to kick back and hold on to the feelin.'
"Thank God," said Danny Humanicki, 37, of Franklin Park, as he cried tears of joy outside a bar near Cellular Field. "You always dream about it ... and when it happens, you feel like a baby."
It's a feelin' Chicago hasn't felt for 88 years -- two World Wars and 15 presidents ago. It's been so long since a Chicago team won the World Series that the last time around the mayor was a Republican.
And with the Sox winning their fourth game against Houston, Chicagoans from the South Side to the North Side were ready to party like it was 1917.
"In Chicago, we haven't experienced this in forever," said Kirk Vucsko, a 44-year-old salesman from Evergreen Park.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/worldseries/cst-nws-fanwin27.html


Long wait makes sweep in Series that much sweeter
October 27, 2005
The tension might have been more than any of us wanted to endure, and the thought of the White Sox losing any World Series games is unacceptable. But now that's it's over and the good guys won -- did they ever! -- wouldn't you have liked the fall classic to last longer? Didn't you want to bask in this stupendous season for a few more days? For long-suffering Sox fans, this was nirvana. For Chicagoans who have waited you know how long for this, it was manna from heaven and everything else good from above.
When all is said and done, who knows how the experts will rank the 2005 Chicago White Sox. Before last night's nail-biting defeat of the Houston Astros, a decent bunch you have to feel a bit sorry for, an ESPN analyst was heard comparing the South Siders to the best of the recent New York Yankees teams. But the Sox could well be Rodney Dangerfielded by posterity, lacking as they did any marquee superstars or flashy 20-game-winning studs and drawing such negligible Nielsen ratings.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/commentary/cst-edt-edits27.html


15th Daley cabinet member leaves
October 27, 2005
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Mayor Daley's revolving door took another turn Wednesday -- this time carrying $149,364-a-year Aviation Commissioner John Roberson, whose name turned up on a list of cooperating witnesses in the federal investigation of City Hall corruption.
Roberson becomes the 15th Daley cabinet member to leave or be shown the door in recent months in a housecleaning triggered by the Hired Truck, city hiring and minority contracting scandals.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-hare27.html


Foie gras proponent's restaurant vandalized
October 27, 2005
BY JANET RAUSA FULLER Staff Reporter
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A day after speaking out against the city's proposed ban on foie gras, chef Didier Durand arrived at his River North bistro Wednesday to an unwelcome sight: a shattered window splattered with a liquid resembling blood and busted-up flower boxes strewn on the sidewalk.
Police say Cyrano's Bistrot and Wine Bar at 546 N. Wells was vandalized between 11 p.m. Tuesday and 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Durand, who had spoken at a City Council committee meeting Tuesday about the proposed ban, suspects animal rights activists are behind the damage. The Health Committee voted in favor of the ban.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-foiegras27.html


Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Sox on top of the world
By Mark Gonzales
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 27, 2005, 12:47 AM CDT
HOUSTON -- The White Sox completed their incredible conquest Wednesday night, eliminating the final demons that haunted the franchise since their last World Series title in 1917.
They completed their stunning run in a manner that mirrored their amazingly successful season, riding the pitching of Freddy Garcia and the bullpen to a 1-0 victory over Houston and completing a four-game sweep of the 2005 World Series.
"In sports, I haven't had a greater feeling," said general manager Ken Williams, whose transformation of a franchise to an emphasis on pitching and defense was rewarded greatly in the final game.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/cs-051026soxgamer,1,6398672.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true


Philly.com

Newsmakers Janet sets it straight: 'I do not have a child'
By Annette John-Hall
Inquirer Staff Writer
Janet Jackson says she is not a mother. In a terse statement released yesterday, the 39-year-old singer denied a former brother-in-law's claim that she has a "secret" 18-year-old daughter with singer James DeBarge.
"I do not have a child and all allegations saying so are false," Jackson said in a statement released to the syndicated Access Hollywood TV show.
Since Friday, when Young DeBarge, Jackson's former brother-in-law, made the charge on New York's WQHT-FM ("Hot 97") radio, everybody's been buzzing about what was for many years repeated as an urban legend.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/13005851.htm


The Philadelphia Inquirer

Holocaust land claim prevails in Germany
By Troy Graham
Inquirer Staff Writer
The highest court in Germany on Tuesday upheld the claim of a South Jersey great-grandmother to a valuable parcel of real estate plundered nearly 70 years ago by the Nazis.
Barbara Principe of Newfield, Gloucester County, and other heirs to the Wertheim department store fortune should start seeing the first of their compensation by early next year, Matthias Druba, the family's Berlin lawyer, said in a telephone interview yesterday.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13005924.htm


Gene mapping gets even more detailed
Scientists say they have isolated a million points that vary among people. The work could fine-tune disease treatments.
By Faye Flam
Inquirer Staff Writer
We are all 99.9 percent genetically identical, but scientists are rapidly mapping out that critical 0.1 percent that makes us different. Yesterday an international consortium announced it had isolated a million spots on the human genome that tend to vary from person to person - the first phase of a project called HapMap.
The project promises to predict who is more likely to suffer from common ailments such as diabetes, arthritis, heart disease and some cancers. Eventually, the knowledge gained from HapMap could lead to new therapies that better target the root causes of these illnesses.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13005927.htm


Serving his country and gays
An Overbrook native agitates for acceptance.
By Alfred Lubrano
Inquirer Staff Writer
In Baghdad, they know him by the code name "Princess Leia."
As an agent for the State Department's diplomatic security service, Overbrook's own T.J. Lunardi is a gay patriot trained to crack a man's bones with his tapered fingers.
Most recently charged with protecting U.S. embassy officials in Iraq, Lunardi, 28, is home now, awaiting reassignment to Berlin. Sporting tattoos that say "queer" and "eternal hostility," Lunardi is an inside agitator, a guy pledged to flag and country but determined to effect change within the U.S. government for the gay cause.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13005848.htm


The dogged prosecutor roiling D.C.
Friends and foes call leak probe vintage Fitzgerald.
By Shannon McCaffrey
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - While an undergraduate at Amherst College, Patrick Fitzgerald spent his summers as a doorman at luxury apartment buildings on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
He wasn't always treated well by the elite who lived there, and it made an impression on the future prosecutor. Fitzgerald isn't in awe of the rich and the powerful, friends say.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13005925.htm


Palestinian bomber kills five Israelis
The man blew himself up at a crowded market. Islamic Jihad said it was an act of vengeance.
By Aron Heller
Associated Press
HADERA, Israel - The bloodied body of a man in his 50s lay on the ground among scattered fruits and mangled metal shards. High above the open-air market, a section of a falafel stand's metal roof hung from a eucalyptus tree.
It was the deadliest attack in Israel in more than three months and had an immediate effect on the rapidly eroding relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
A 20-year-old Palestinian blacksmith blew himself up at the falafel stand in the central Israeli town of Hadera yesterday, killing five Israelis, wounding more than 30, and destroying a section of the open-air market.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13005928.htm


Editorial Counting Votes and Bodies The promise and peril of Iraq
Two milestones occurred Tuesday in Iraq. The Independent Electoral Commission announced, after investigating fraud accusations, that voters in last week's referendum narrowly adopted a constitution. Also on Tuesday, the number of U.S. military deaths since the 2003 invasion of Iraq reached 2,000. One estimate places the number of Iraqis killed during that period at 30,000.
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines milestone as "a significant point in development." Both the referendum and the body count were important points, to be sure. But the Bush administration needs to be careful about how it characterizes the significance of each.
The sharpest significance rests in the coffins of American soldiers who have died in the campaign to oust Saddam and secure Iraq.
With each explosion that shakes that nation and claims lives, U.S. public sentiment darkens toward our military presence there and President Bush's leadership of it.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13005940.htm


Fla. is washing its hands of the poor
Froma Harrop
is a columnist for the Providence Journal
Let's get something straight right now. Few government programs are "unsustainable." A program is sustainable if government chooses to sustain it. Governments keep programs afloat by giving them money.
So when Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says his state's Medicaid program is "unsustainable," what he really means is that he doesn't want to find the money to cover its growing costs.
Bush has a radical plan to curb medical benefits for low-income Floridians - but it was not forced on him by matters beyond his control.
Florida does not tax its rich people. Governing magazine ranks it near bottom nationally for adequacy of revenues and tax fairness. Florida's long coastline is virtually paved in gold, yet the state has no personal income tax. More than 76 percent of its revenues come from sales taxes, which hit lower-income people hardest.
There was a proposal to make Florida's sales taxes less regressive. It would have applied a sales tax to the fees charged by lawyers, accountants and other advisers to the upper crust. Jeb Bush opposed it.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/13005942.htm


Light rail's success defies the doubters
By Donald Nigro
The NJ Transit Camden-Trenton River Line, up and running for about a year and a half, continues to increase in popularity. Ridership is up 29 percent from last year, with more than 6,000 passengers a day. This is helped in no small part by the line's low fares and the region's ever-increasing gasoline prices.
Unsupported fears of the River Line during the 1990s have proved wrong: It is clear that trains are not running over children, tying up traffic, or providing transportation for burglars.
The line, however, is spurring the revitalization of communities, increasing property values, and combating automobile congestion. This is no surprise for those aware of the capabilities of passenger rail service.
The planning of the River Line does have a dubious history. Before its conception, much consideration and study was given to rail lines running from Philadelphia to Glassboro and Mount Holly. These lines would have been much more heavily used than the River Line. Ridership was projected at 20,220 for a Glassboro line and 18,910 for a line to Mount Holly.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/opinion/local1/13007746.htm


Sydney Morning Herald

Eye on the Diva
October 27, 2005 - 1:42PM
Trainer Lee Freedman said there was still no decision on whether Makybe Diva would run in Tuesday's Melbourne Cup despite her pleasing work-out this morning.
Glen Boss rode the mare at Freedman's Mornington Peninsula property, and told waiting reporters he was happy with her work.
However, Freedman told radio station Sport 927 that people were getting ahead of themselves and that he would use every bit of time to make sure the mare was right.
He said he would take things day by day and, if she was to run in the Cup, factors such as the weather would come into consideration.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/horseracing/eye-on-the-diva/2005/10/27/1130382512026.html


Bring on the Diva, says Weld
By Craig Young
October 27, 2005
Two-time Melbourne Cup-winning Irish trainer Dermot Weld believes Makybe Diva should run in next Tuesday's big race. Brian Mayfield-Smith, who ended legendary trainer Tommy Smith's 33-year reign as premier trainer in Sydney, does not.
Weld was the first non-Australasian trainer to snare the Melbourne Cup when the great Vintage Crop took it back to Ireland in 1993. Nine years later Weld returned and won it with Media Puzzle.
This time Weld is hoping Vinnie Roe can go one better than last year when the stallion repelled all but Makybe Diva, which made it successive Melbourne Cups.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/horseracing/bring-on-the-diva-says-weld/2005/10/26/1130302841633.html


Hanging plea: no exceptions, says Singapore
October 27, 2005 - 1:53PM
Singapore's top envoy says a bid for clemency by an Australian man on death row had been given fair hearing and the Government could not make an exception.
Former Melbourne salesman, Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, was caught with 396 grams of heroin strapped to his body and in his hand luggage at Singapore's Changi airport in 2002.
He is expected to be executed in the next four to six weeks.
Joseph Koh, Singapore's high commissioner to Australia, said today Nguyen's plea for clemency had been dealt with fairly.
"He was given a fair hearing throughout the legal process and his appeal for clemency was carefully considered," Mr Koh said in a statement.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hanging-plea-no-exceptions-says-singapore/2005/10/27/1130382512377.html


Bird flu aid to be tackled in Geneva summit
October 27, 2005 - 11:20AM
Officials from all over the world will meet in Geneva in early November to discuss setting up a global fund to tackle the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus, a senior World Bank official said.
Jim Adams, the World Bank's chief for operations policy and country services, said the meeting - on November 7 to November 9 - would try to coordinate a global response to the H5N1 strain and identify shortcomings in veterinary and health systems.
"The intention is then to be prepared to go out more aggressively to raise some money to deal with those gaps," Adams told Reuters.
He said the trust fund would require initial donations of between $US300 million ($394.17 million) to $US500 million ($656.94 million) to help countries set up programs to deal with the risk of a pandemic of bird flu, which experts fear could eventually mutate enough to become transmissible among humans.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bird-flu-aid-to-be-tackled-in-geneva-summit/2005/10/27/1130367986201.html


Microsoft chief promises tough battle against Google
October 27, 2005 - 2:58PM
Microsoft chief Bill Gates has promised an aggressive push into the fast-growing market for internet searches in the coming years, taking aim at archrival Google despite recent setbacks for the world's No. 1 software giant.
Making his first trip to Israel on Wednesday, Gates also said the vibrant local high-tech sector would play an important role in the global marketplace and pledged to strengthen co-operation with the country.
He offered $US1.4 million ($1.8 million), a relatively small sum, for local start-ups and pledged to connect tens of thousands of Israeli children to the internet.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-chief-promises-tough-battle-against-google/2005/10/27/1130382515508.html


Google gunning for eBay, Craigslist?
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - 12:47 PM
While we were all hyperventilating over the Australian launch of iTunes (self included), something potentially much more profound was being primed for launch by the guys at Google.
In a nutshell, Google looks like it's preparing the world for a new service which allows people to upload various types of content and then make it searchable.
Called Google Base (as in database), the service made a brief appearance at http://base.google.com/ before disappearing.
But that was long enough for Google watchers to grab screen shots of the site and launch a flurry of speculative posts about the purpose and impact of the new offering.
Google confirmed the service in an email to the SearchEngineWatch blog:

http://blogs.smh.com.au/newsblog/archives//002796.html


School orders students to remove blogs
Newark, New Jersey
October 27, 2005 - 10:45AM
A Roman Catholic high school has ordered its students to remove their online diaries from the internet, citing a threat from cyberpredators.
Students at Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta appear to be heeding a directive from the principal, the Reverend Kieran McHugh.
McHugh told them in an assembly earlier this month to remove any personal journals they might have or risk suspension. Websites popular with teens include myspace.com and xanga.com.
Officials with the Diocese of Paterson say the directive is a matter of safety, not censorship. No one had been disciplined yet, diocesan spokeswoman Marianna Thompson said

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking/school-orders-students-to-remove-blogs/2005/10/27/1130367980065.html


Bush under a spell: cabal, cabal less toil but trouble, systems burn and dissent bubbles
October 27, 2005
Disaster is the result when a select few make decisions for the President, writes Lawrence B. Wilkerson.
IN PRESIDENT George Bush's first term, some of the most important decisions about US national security - including vital decisions about postwar Iraq - were made by a secretive, little-known cabal. It was made up of a very small group of people led by the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, and the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.
But I believe the decisions of this cabal were sometimes made with the full and witting support of the President, and sometimes with something less. More often than not, the then national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was simply steamrolled by this cabal.
Its insular and secret workings were efficient and swift - not unlike the decision-making one would associate with a dictatorship. This furtive process was camouflaged neatly by the dysfunction and inefficiency of the formal decision-making process, where decisions, if they were reached at all, had to wend their way through the bureaucracy with its dissenters, obstructionists and "guardians of the turf".

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/bush-under-a-spell-cabal-cabal-less-toil-but-trouble-systemsburn-and-dissent-bubbles/2005/10/26/1130302836884.html


Climbing the stairway to basic social norms
October 27, 2005
After decades of failed welfare policies, the tide has turned for Aborigines, Miranda Devine.
FOR some well-meaning white people, the solution to entrenched Aboriginal deprivation is more taxpayer money and some vague concept of "reconciliation" for which they will walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge at least once.
But after 30 years of failed socialist welfare policies, the tide has turned. Aboriginal leaders, most notably Noel Pearson, are preaching heresy to those progressives who have laid claim to being Aborigines' greatest champions. They are talking about concepts of mutual obligation, smashing welfare dependency, encouraging mobility of young people, land reform and, most controversially, about rebuilding moral capital in their broken-down communities.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/climbing-the-stairway-to-basic-social-norms/2005/10/26/1130302836875.html


Iraq - milestones and millstones
October 27, 2005
Iraq has just passed three historic markers on its perilous journey to an uncertain future - the opening of the trial of Saddam Hussein, the positive result of its constitutional referendum and the death of the 2000th American soldier since the war began in March 2003. The grim statistical reminder of the price in blood the US is paying for the ill-conceived invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq comes at a bad time for George Bush. The US President is under fire over several domestic scandals and blunders - his inadequate response to the New Orleans hurricane disaster, his controversial nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, and an investigation into the "outing" of a former CIA agent which could destroy senior administration officials. Now the symbolic impact of the 2000th US fatality in an increasingly unpopular war - combined with the latest suicide bombings in Baghdad - could further undermine his sagging approval ratings.
Understandably, Mr Bush seized on the constitutional referendum result as a hopeful development on the credit side of the Iraqi ledger. Fair enough, too. In a ravaged country whose streets are among the most dangerous on Earth, a voter turnout of 63 per cent is remarkable. So is the fact that so many voters were from the alienated Sunni minority, most of whom boycotted last January's elections. Washington, London and the Iraqi interim government can claim that the overall 79-21 per cent vote for the constitution was an overwhelming endorsement.

http://www.smh.com.au/editorial/index.html


The Australian

Sit-down cash stops flowing
Patricia Karvelas
October 27, 2005
THE era of "sit-down" money for Aborigines in remote communities has ended, with Centrelink officers telling indigenous people those who do not work will lose their handouts.
Eight communities have been told in the past month they have to change or face the same penalties as the rest of the community: loss of dole payments.
Until now, about 8000 indigenous people have been exempt from mutual obligation programs because they live in areas where there is no locally accessible labour market program or education and training facilities.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17049192%255E601,00.html


Howard fights regional racism charge
By Lawrence Bartlett
October 27, 2005
PRIME Minister John Howard today fended off suggestions of racism as a row over work visas for impoverished Pacific islanders ended a 16-nation summit on a sour note.
Told at a news conference that Papua New Guinea's Foreign Minister Rabbie Namaliu had accused Australia of having one law for Europeans and Americans and another for Pacific islanders, Mr Howard hit back.
"He misunderstands the crucial difference between backpackers coming to Australia and the sort of thing he wants.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17053887%255E1702,00.html


Qantas asked to bring Aussies home if bird flu strikes
Adam Cresswell and Katharine Murphy
October 27, 2005
AUSTRALIANS stranded in countries affected by bird flu will be flown home on specially commissioned Qantas flights if a global pandemic breaks out, under a deal being negotiated by the Howard Government.
Amid rising international concern at the possibility bird flu might jump to humans, Health Minister Tony Abbott yesterday provided new details of Australia's plan to tackle an outbreak.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17049189%255E601,00.html


Australia may help out with vaccine
Katharine Murphy and Dennis Shanahan
October 27, 2005
AUSTRALIA could consider giving up some of its stockpile of anti-viral drugs to neighbours at risk of a major bird flu outbreak.
Senior pandemic and disaster management co-ordinators from across APEC's 21 member economies will gather in Brisbane next Monday and Tuesday to test the region's preparedness for managing an avian flu pandemic.
A senior government official said yesterday the issue of Australia making some of its drug stockpile available to other economies was likely to be discussed at next week's meeting.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17048922%255E601,00.html


Tony Abbott: Back of the flu queue
October 27, 2005
OVER the past few weeks, as awareness of the possibility of a very severe pandemic has finally seeped into Australians' collective consciousness, complacency has given way to intense media interest and some public alarm.
Six months ago, the challenge was to alert people to a frightening possibility. Now, the challenge is to reassure them that a severe pandemic remains just a possibility, not a certainty, nor even a probability in the next few years, and that health authorities are doing everything they reasonably can to guard against the risk. Then, the public needed to know that infectious disease had not entirely lost its capacity to kill. Now, what's needed is a sense of proportion, even for worst-case scenarios.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17044556%255E7583,00.html


Sharon vows new offensive
By Matthew Tostevin in Jerusalem
October 27, 2005
ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed an open-ended offensive against Palestinian militants and Israeli aircraft struck the Gaza Strip on Thursday after a suicide bomber killed five Israelis.
The bombing on Wednesday in the coastal city of Hadera dealt a serious blow to an eight-month-old truce and international hopes for a revival of peacemaking after Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last month.
Mr Sharon said there could be no advance towards peace for now because of the "absolute failure of the Palestinian Authority in the fight against terrorism" as he promised to launch a major military operation.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17057220%255E1702,00.html


Wipe out Israel: Iran hardliner
October 27, 2005
TEHRAN: Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called yesterday for Israel to be "wiped off the map".
"The establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world," Mr Ahmadinejad told a conference in Tehran titled The World without Zionism.
"The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny," he said.
"The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17048254%255E601,00.html


Iran leader's words 'sickening'
October 27, 2005
EUROPEAN leaders have condemned statements by the Iranian President calling for Israel to be destroyed.
Speaking in the Iranian capital Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel should be "wiped off the map", the official IRNA news agency reported.
Support for the Palestinian cause is a central pillar of the Islamic Republic which officially refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist.
"Israel must be wiped off the map," Ahmadinejad told a conference called "The World without Zionism", attended by some 3,000 conservative students who chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17051351%255E601,00.html


Iran 'lets al-Qaeda roam free'
From correspondents in Berlin
October 27, 2005
IRAN is permitting around 25 high-ranking al-Qaeda members to roam free in the country's capital, including three sons of Osama bin Laden, a German monthly magazine reports.
Citing information from unnamed Western intelligence sources, the magazine Cicero said in a preview of an article appearing in its November edition that the individuals in question are from Egypt, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Europe.
They are living in houses belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the report said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17050611%255E601,00.html


Afghanistan bomb attack kills policeman
From correspondents in Kandahar
October 27, 2005
A BOMB fixed to a bicycle exploded in Afghanistan's volatile southern city of Kandahar on Thursday, killing a policeman and wounding two civilians, police said.
The explosives were detonated by remote-control as a police vehicle drove past, a police officer named only Amanullah said at the site of the blast in central Kandahar.
"One policeman was killed and two passers-by were wounded in the explosion, detonated remotely by the enemies of Afghanistan," the officer said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17056398%255E1702,00.html


1 killed, 8 wounded in Iraq blast
From correspondents in Baghdad
October 27, 2005
AN Iraqi was killed and eight others wounded early today by a suicide car bomb in central Iraq, security and hospital sources said.
"A suicide car bomb exploded as a US patrol passed by in Karrada, killing a civilian and wounding several others," an interior ministry source said.
The Ibn Nafiss hospital received eight wounded following the blast, a medical source said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17053155%255E1702,00.html


7 killed in Thai raids
From correspondents in Bangkok
October 27, 2005
FIVE villagers and two militants were killed overnight in Muslim southern Thailand when insurgents launched about 50 raids on remote villages in the restive region.
The Thai army said most of the attacks targeted members of civilian guards created by the government to provide emergency security against militants. "The attacks came at around 7pm to 8pm while all the men were praying at mosques. They left shotguns with their families at home," Colonel Acra Tiprote of the southern Army command said.
"We are hunting for the suspects with lots of help from villagers, both Buddhists and Muslims."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17053156%255E1702,00.html


Clinton urges solar power in Oz
October 27, 2005
FORMER US president Bill Clinton has urged Australia to make more use of solar energy to reduce greenhouse gases and global warming.
"Australia could generate enormous amounts of power from solar energy," Clinton said from the US in a video interview with former NSW premier Bob Carr at a Sydney leadership conference.
"Once you pay for the initial installations, it's essentially free."
The former president said he installed solar panels on the Clinton Library in the US which he said would pay for themselves inside two years.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17051715%255E1702,00.html


New Zealand Herald

Asian drug gangs use students as mules
28.10.05
By Helen Tunnah
Students from China are being used by organised crime to bring drugs into New Zealand, with an estimated $90 million of methamphetamine ingredients seized at borders in the last financial year.
And Customs says the booming number of seizures involving the ingredients is straining resources.
Of the 525 individual seizures of ingredients or precursors, such as pseudoephedrine tablets, made in 2004-2005, 98 per cent originated in China.
About 80 per cent of the people involved were short-stay students.
Customs' manager of drug investigations, Simon Williamson, said the involvement of a small number of students impacted on the reputation of the mainly law-abiding students coming here from China.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10352417


Bollard tightens screws by boosting interest rate
28.10.05
By Brian Fallow
Reserve Bank chief Alan Bollard yesterday followed through on his threat to raise interest rates in a bid to cool a "relentless" housing market.
He raised the official cash rate from 6.75 to 7 per cent and warned that further tightening of the screws could be ruled out only when he saw "a noticeable moderation in housing and consumer spending".
The money markets now rate as better than 50:50 the odds of a further rise on December 8.
Banks last night were holding floating mortgage rates steady but any move will push them beyond 9 per cent.
The official cash rate is the highest among developed countries, which helps to keep the NZ dollar high, hurting the export sector as well as pushing up the cost of business overdrafts.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10352420


21 million Americans have diabetes
28.10.05 5.20am
Nearly 21 million Americans have diabetes, most of them the type-2 variety associated with poor diet, too little exercise and being overweight, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday.
This represents about 7 per cent of the population - and more than 6 million of these people do not know they have the condition, the CDC said.
"Another 41 million people are estimated to have pre-diabetes, a condition that increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes - the most common form of the disease - as well as heart disease and stroke," the CDC said in a statement.
Diabetes is a lack of control of glucose, or blood sugar. Type-1 diabetes, or juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune condition in which the body mistakenly destroys the pancreatic cells that make insulin. It affects an estimated 2 million Americans.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352405


102-year-old scares off home intruder
28.10.05 4.00am
A 102-year-old man startled an intruder at his North Shore home when he reached for his Zimmer frame next to his bed, police said.
The man was woken by the intruder while in bed. The intruder bolted.
The break-in was on Saturday, October 15.
Police say the man is now seriously ill in hospital, but his condition is not related to the incident.
Tools

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10352403


Israel and New Zealand friends again
28.10.05 5.00am
Israel and New Zealand have formally drawn a line under a thorny diplomatic standoff, with New Zealand ambassador Jan Henderson presenting her credentials to Israel's top diplomat in Jerusalem.
"This is a return to normalisation of relations," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said.
The ceremony came four months after the two countries restored diplomatic relations frozen by Wellington as part of the fallout over the conviction of two alleged Israeli spies for fraudulently trying to obtain New Zealand passports.
Tools

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10352395


Sharon vows broad offensive after bombing
28.10.05
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed an open-ended offensive against Palestinian militants and Israeli aircraft struck the Gaza Strip after a suicide bomber killed five Israelis.
The bombing in the coastal city of Hadera dealt a serious blow to an eight-month-old truce and international hopes for a revival of peacemaking after Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last month.
Sharon said there could be no advance toward peace for now because of the "absolute failure of the Palestinian Authority in the fight against terrorism" as he promised to launch a major military operation.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352418


Pacific leaders agree to regional plan
28.10.05
By Maggie Tait
Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday she is pleased Pacific leaders have agreed to a regional plan she promoted to improve co-operation between small nations.
"A Pacific Plan has been adopted in its entirety and the leaders see that as a good path ahead," she told reporters after returning to Port Moresby following the Pacific Forum retreat on an island.
She also announced a raft of funding pledges from helping to combat Aids through to improving justice systems.
Topics raised at the forum included Aids, preparing for bird flu, immigration and trade deals.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352379


$12m to fight Aids in Islands
28.10.05
By Angela Gregory
Prime Minister Helen Clark has pledged $12 million towards fighting the spread of HIV/Aids in the Pacific region, as a conference in Auckland called for strong political leadership on the issue.
Clark made the announcement yesterday at the annual Pacific Forum meeting of the region's leaders in Papua New Guinea.
The $12 million package of support over the next three years will be targeted towards the Pacific regional HIV/Aids strategy and other initiatives.
In Auckland the Pacific Forum's social policy adviser Dr Helen Tavola told a conference that political leaders had been warned in 2002 they needed to show real leadership on the HIV/Aids issue because of the high potential risks to the region.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352378


Annan says quake shows need for global fund
27.10.05 1.00pm
GENEVA - Pakistan's scramble for earthquake aid shows the need for a permanent global fund to rush relief to disaster sites at a moment's notice, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.
The Global Emergency Fund, already approved by world leaders at a UN summit in mid-September, will go before the 191-member General Assembly for final ratification in mid-November. The UN expects it to be operational by early 2006.
Annan, in Geneva to lead a fund-raising drive for victims of the Pakistan quake, said the way the international community still raised money for disaster relief -- always after the fact -- led to critical delays that cost lives and left some hotspots overlooked.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352270


Girl dies in China bird flu village, paper says
27.10.05 4.00pm
HONG KONG - A 12-year-old girl died after suffering flu-like symptoms in a village in central China where the mainland's third outbreak of bird flu in a week has been confirmed, the South China Morning Post said on Thursday.
He Yin and her 10-year-old brother fell ill about a week ago after eating a sick chicken that had died, the Hong Kong-based Post said, quoting their father, He Tieguang.
"We had dead chickens before and nobody has ever got sick because of that. So I thought it's okay," her father was quoted as saying.
So far there was no evidence linking her death to the outbreak of bird flu in the village in Hunan province and none of the adults in her family had shown any flu symptoms, the paper said. Doctors told her family she had died from fever.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352286


Global officials to meet on bird flu fund
27.10.05 2.20pm
By Lesley Wroughton
WASHINGTON - Officials from all over the globe will meet in Geneva in early November to discuss setting up a global fund to tackle the threat of the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus, a senior World Bank official said.
Jim Adams, the World Bank's vice president for operations policy and country services, said the meeting -- on November 7 to November 9 -- would try to co-ordinate a global response to the H5N1 strain and identify shortcomings in veterinary and health systems.
"The intention is then to be prepared to go out more aggressively to raise some money to deal with those gaps," Adams said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352276


Altruism lacking in chimpanzees
28.10.05
LONDON - Chimpanzees share many traits with humans but altruism, it seems, is not one of them.
Although chimps live in social groups and co-operate and hunt together, when it comes to helping non-related group members, they don't put up with any monkey business.
When given the opportunity to help themselves and other chimps they often choose the selfish option.
"This is the first experiment to show that chimps don't share the same concern for the welfare of others as do humans, who routinely donate blood ... volunteer for military duty and perform other acts that benefit perfect strangers," said Joan Silk, an anthropologist at UCLA in the United States.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352318


Breathalyser may catch bombers
28.10.05
United States scientists have developed a breathalyser based on drink-drive devices that can catch would-be bombers.
The minute chemical traces were exhaled by anyone who handled explosive material.
The new portable device can detect traces of explosive including TNT, dynamite and C-4 in the breath. Inventor Michael Phillips, from Menssana Research in New Jersey, told New Scientist it was originally intended for medical diagnosis and used to detect lung cancer.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352320


Smoking pot not a major cancer risk
27.10.05 3.20pm
NEW YORK - Although both marijuana and tobacco smoke are packed with cancer-causing chemicals, other qualities of marijuana seem to keep it from promoting lung cancer, according to a new report.
The difference rests in the often opposing actions of the nicotine in tobacco and the active ingredient, THC, in marijuana, says Dr Robert Melamede of the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.
He reviewed the scientific evidence supporting this contention in a recent issue of Harm Reduction Journal.
Whereas nicotine has several effects that promote lung and other types of cancer, THC acts in ways that counter the cancer-causing chemicals in marijuana smoke, Melamede explained in an interview with Reuters Health.
"THC turns down the carcinogenic potential," he said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352266


Nelson Mandela reborn as a comic book hero
28.10.05
By Karla Adam
Nelson Mandela may not spin webs like Spiderman or dodge bullets like Batman but, for most South Africans, he is far more of a hero.
Now, his struggle against white domination is the subject of a series of comic books designed to re-awaken young South Africans to the history of their black population.
When Nic Buchanan decided to tell the tale of his country's most famous hero, he decided to enlist the help of young animators.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352402


US team stand by scrapper
28.10.05
By Jarrod Booker
Cycling star Hayden Roulston may be penalised but will get another chance with the world's top professional team after his third conviction for fighting in two years.
Roulston, 24, feared he may be dropped from the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team in the United States after he was convicted of disorderly behaviour for throwing punches in a brawl outside a Timaru bar 12 days ago.
The Discovery Channel team, featuring world cycling supremo Lance Armstrong, had warned Roulston not to get into trouble again after he punched two people while out celebrating his inclusion in the New Zealand Olympic team last year, according to his lawyer Jared Bell.
In the Ashburton District Court this week, Mr Bell said Roulston believed the latest conviction would "almost certainly spell the end of his involvement with that team".

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10352312


Privates on parade for Prince Harry
28.10.05
LONDON - Britain's Prince Harry was forced to drop his trousers during a military parade to prove he did not have his girlfriend's name tattooed on his royal rear, a British newspaper has reported.
The 21-year-old son of Prince Charles is halfway through his British Army officer training course at the elite Sandhurst academy.
The Sun, Britain's biggest-selling daily, said Harry, third in line to the throne, was ordered to bare his bum after rumours spread he'd had blonde, Zimbawean-born girlfriend Chelsy Davy's name inked on.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352416

continued ...

New Dehli, India's White Tiger now has a smoke free zoo.

This is "Minah" and her three brand new tiger cubs at the Johor Zoo.

Tiger, tigers and more tigers.

Caption :: The Potter Zoo, 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue in Lansing has three new tiger cubs.

Morning Papers - concluding

Zoos

Johor Zoo greets birth of three lion cubs
BY OLIVIA LEE
JOHOR BARU: The Johor Zoo welcomed three new members to its growing family when an African lioness gave birth to three cubs on Tuesday morning.
Zoo manager Zakaria Razali said the cubs were healthy and made up African lions Tumba and Minah's third batch of cubs.
Tumba and Minah have been “residents” of the zoo since 2003.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/10/27/nation/12442632&sec=nation


Wellington Zoo Prepares for Huge Kids Party
Thursday, 27 October 2005, 11:51 am
Press Release: Wellington Zoo
Media Photo Opportunity
27 October 2005
Wellington Zoo Prepares for Huge Kids Party
Hundreds of children will be celebrating their youth at Wellington Zoo this Sunday 30 October as part of a national Children’s Day celebration, announced Wellington Zoo Events Co-ordinator, Marina Greco today.
Held annually, Children’s Day celebrations practise five key messages of giving time, praise and encouragement, listening and talking, love and affection and new experiences.
“Children’s Day is the biggest day of the year for Wellington Zoo and we’re going all out to give kids a fun time, lots of action and, at the same time, telling our conservation stories,” says Marina.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0510/S00185.htm


Ash Borer Invades Toledo Zoo
October 26, 2005 - Trees that provide important shade for animals are being cut down, because of the beetle infestation.
The emerald ash borer beetle has killed millions of trees in Michigan and Northwest Ohio. Now it's moved in on some of Toledo's most prized habitat. The Zoo's director of horticulture, Nancy Bucher, says the exotic beetles are causing a particularly challenging problem for them, because so many of the animals depend on the shade of the ash trees.
Using pesticides isn't an option, because the chemicals could harm the animals. The Zoo's already cut down two trees infested by the beetles, and the insects have been found on two others. If all 16 ash trees are affected, it could cost the Zoo up to $100,000 to cut them down and replace them with new shade trees.
"It may be next year when we start planting some replacements that we think are the most important. Then just seeing how the trees do for the next couple years," said Bucher.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=local&id=3574309


French trio tested for bird flu after Thai zoo trip
Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:38 PM ET
By Brian Rhoads
BEIJING (Reuters) - China said a fresh outbreak of bird flu was free of any human infections, but three people on a French island off Africa were being tested on Wednesday in what were thought to be the first suspected human cases outside Asia.
"These three people who all traveled to Thailand have visited a bird zoo where they had come into contact with birds," French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand said of the tourists who were now back home on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion.
"Initial tests have been done there and these came out positive," he said, but fuller results would only be ready on Thursday. "For the moment, these are only suspected bird flu cases. Nothing is confirmed."

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-10-26T213844Z_01_YUE450860_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIRDFLU-WRAP.xml&archived=False


Zoo turns bird park
Sulaiman Jaafar
KUALA KRAI, KELANTAN, Tues.
Residents here are disappointed with the State Government’s decision to shut down the town’s main landmark, the Kuala Krai Zoo, last June.
Since then, the zoo has undergone renovation and will open as a bird park in time for Hari Raya.
Guchil State Assemblyman Dr Shamsul Ikhwan Ashaari Azmi said the people were unhappy with the move as the zoo had been part of their lives since 1961.
It was then located behind the district court before moving to the present 6.8-hectare site, near the district hospital, in 1985.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/National/20051026081319/Article/indexb_html


Tiger cubs frolick for public at zoo
By FREDRICKA PAUL
The State News

The Potter Park Zoo, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave. in Lansing, has three new Siberian tiger cubs. The cubs have been on view for the public for only a week. "They are playful for short periods of time, but they sleep a lot," said Jan Brigham, a zookeeper at Potter Park. The cubs were hand raised and bottle fed, but "we didn't want to make pets out of them," said Brigham.

JEANA-DEE ALLEN · The State News
The Potter Park Zoo, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave. in Lansing, has three new Siberian tiger cubs. The cubs have been on view for the public for only a week. "They are playful for short periods of time, but they sleep a lot," said Jan Brigham, a zookeeper at Potter Park. The cubs were hand raised and bottle fed, but "we didn't want to make pets out of them," said Brigham.
Three of Potter Park Zoo's newest arrivals can finally come out to play.
The Amur, or Siberian tiger cubs were allowed outside on Oct. 20 for the first time since they were born.
The cubs, Zakhar and his two sisters Mifhka and Kumara, were born in March and have had some health difficulties in their young lives.
Zoo Director Gerald Brady said that the cubs' mother, Kendra, was sick and the cubs had to be taken away from her.
"We had to hand raise them. They had an exotic feline virus and they were very, very sick also," Brady said.

http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=32636


Severe damage could close Naples Zoo for two months
By Laura Layden (Contact)
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
The Naples Zoo will never be the same.
The landmark zoo and its historic gardens took a hit from Hurricane Charley last year. But that was nothing compared to Hurricane Wilma.
The damage from Wilma is so severe that the zoo could be closed for two months, while zoo staff clean up the mess and make it safe again for visitors.
"If we're open by Christmas I'll be happy," said David Tetzlaff, zoo director, during a media tour Tuesday.
He looked weary after days of little rest.
Wilma packed a powerful punch. It uprooted trees, split branches, knocked down fences and ruined exhibits at the zoo.

http://stormedition.naplesnews.com/news/2005/oct/26/severe_damage_could_close_naples_zoo_two_months/


Zoo Boo 2005
It's that time of year again!
Zoo Boo!
The Rio Grande Zoo celebrates it's annual Zoo Boo from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29.
Admission is free for up to four children in costume accompanied by one paying adult.
This event is sponsored by the City of Albuquerque, KASA-Fox-2, Univision Radio and the Range-FM.
Zoo Boo offers a safe alternative to traditional door-to-door Halloween activities.
Zoo Boo sponsor booths will be located throughout the zoo along the main walkways and trick-or-treat maps will be distributed to guide you through the zoo for trick-or-treating.
Besides treats, there will also be a Haunted House from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., a costume contest, costume parades, dancers, children's activities, games and an all-new Scary-oke! contest and much, much more!
KASA.com will be there taking Zoo Boo photos you will be able to view on the KASA.com website shortly after the event!

http://www.kasa.com/Global/story.asp?S=4026117&nav=29KH


A grand day for Zoo as US beckons
Ros Snowdon
Deputy City Editor
ZOO DIGITAL, the company that makes interactive DVDs for programmes such as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and blockbuster films such as Madagascar, has signed a deal to make an interactive DVD game to link up with the new Wallace & Gromit blockbuster The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Zoo said the agreement was highly significant for the company as it marks the first time that a Zoo product has been published in the US.
Ian Stewart, Zoo's chief executive, said: "The Wallace & Gromit game is a landmark product for Zoo. Not only is it the world's first and most complex non-quiz interactive DVD game, but also because it marks the first time that Zoo has broken into the US market."
He added that following the release of the game the group hopes to agree further licensing deals in the North American market.
Yesterday's news follows an announcement earlier this month that Zoo has signed a deal with Walt Disney Pictures.

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1299&ArticleID=1231369


Japanese zoo proves to be a great crowd-pleaser
By KYOKO HASEGAWA
ASAHIYAMA, Japan - Surrounded by a crowd of admirers, 24-year-old Jack has no idea how close his home came to being shut down a decade ago as he dangles from a rope, scratching his shaggy red fur.
The orangutan plays happily at a zoo in northern Japan that was saved from the brink of closure and redesigned as a playground for animals that is now the country’s top wildlife attraction.
Dozens of visitors crowd around the cage of Jack, his 13-year-old mate Rian and their infant Momo as they clamber up a 17-meter (56-feet) pole designed to recreate the feel of a tree in the wild.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=20039


Monster zoo would give us (en)closure
HELEN MARTIN
THE young Iraqi man being interviewed on Channel 4 News was absolutely clear about what he thought should happen to Saddam Hussein.
Hanging, shooting, beheading or any other gruesome death the state might entertain simply wasn't good enough.
That would be too easy on Saddam. The people of Iraq, especially those who lost loved ones under his cruel regime, wanted more. Saddam had to suffer for a long time and endure, not the physical torture he so often imposed on others, but ritual humiliation - which would arguably be harder to bear for the arrogant dictator who still believes himself president.
The young man's suggestion was that Saddam be placed in a zoo.

http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=2137012005


Tk 140m project for Dhaka Zoo uplift
10/25/2005
Authorities of the Dhaka Zoo have taken up a Tk 140 million (14 crore) project for its further development and to make it more attractive, reports BDNEWS.
Zoo sources said allocation of fund for the purpose has already been sought from the concerned ministry.
It is expected that if the project is implemented the earnings of the Zoo will be doubled.
Dhaka Zoo Curator Mofizur Rahman told the news agency that a meeting with the finance ministry had been held to discuss the allocation.
He expressed the hope that the livestock ministry would allocate the money very soon.
The project will include procurement of attractive animals, construction of walkway, setting up a zoo institute, introduction of zoo education, setting up restaurants and a theme park.

http://financialexpress-bd.com/index3.asp?cnd=10/25/2005&section_id=3&newsid=4890&spcl=no


Zoo fans get educated on wolves
FELICIA HUNTER, Correspondent
BRIDGEPORT — In horror films, the image of a howling wolf can signal doom. But families visiting Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo Saturday discovered they had little to fear from the large canine.
"They've had a bad rap for a lot of years," said Tracy Benham, a volunteer coordinator at the zoo. "They do not attack people. They're very shy."
Benham, along with zoo docents Kristen Johnson and James Punteney, were conducting the first day of the zoo's Wolf Awareness Weekend. For three hours, visitors learned about the zoo's six wolves through discussions and observation, crafts, an ongoing video and rubber models and plaster casts of wolf skulls and paws.
Held annually, the event is being sponsored by Defenders of Wildlife, an animal conservation organization headquartered in Washington, D.C.

http://connpost.com/news/ci_3144080


At the zoo, new baby makes 7
The new baby elephant born Tuesday at the Indianapolis Zoo brings the herd size to seven.
Kubwa, 29, is the baby's mother. The other elephant cows are Ivory, about 23 years old, who is pregnant and due in September; Tombi, about 28; and Sophi, the grande dame at 38.
Ajani, now 5, was born to Ivory and is a bull. In March, Indianapolis welcomed Maclean, a 20-year-old bull on loan from a central Florida zoo for about five years. He is Ajani's father, but the conception was achieved through artificial insemination.
Here are more details about the new baby and Kubwa:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051023/NEWS01/510230464


Delhi Zoo becomes a smoke-free zone
Bindu Shajan Perappadan
FOR THEIR SAKE: A smoke-free zone is expected to give zoo inmates a more natural environment. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan
NEW DELHI: The Capital's National Zoological Park or Delhi Zoo as it is popularly known has declared itself a smoke-free zone.
Though the move comes much after sanctuaries and other reserved areas in the country have done so, it is expected to give animals housed in the Zoo a more natural environment and allow visitors to enjoy a pollution-free green patch.

http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/24/stories/2005102412250100.htm


Mysore zoo inundated; wall collapses
DH News Service Mysore:
A wall collapsed and rain water gushed into the zoo, flooding several animal enclosures. But no damage has been caused to any animal in the zoo.
The century-old Chamarajendra Zoological Garden witnessed a flash flood, following overflowing of water from the nearby Karanje lake due to heavy rains that lashed Mysore on Saturday evening.
Rain water gushed into the zoo and inundated several of the animal enclosures.
Such was the impact of the overflowing water that a compound facing the lake on the Chamundi Hills side collapsed, creating panic among zoo authorities.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/oct242005/index20201420051023.asp


Mysore zoo flooded, animals safe
Abinanth Kumar
[ Monday, October 24, 2005 12:47:28 am
TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
MYSORE: Animals at the century-old Mysore zoo escaped death by the skin of their teeth when a neighbouring lake breached and its water flooded the zoo area on Saturday night. There was no sabbatical on Sunday at Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens.
Thanks to the overflowing Karanji Lake, water gushed into Anjaneya Temple located between the lake and zoo. Eight-foot-wide walls which are a bulwark for the Indian bison enclosure came crashing down. Before the zoo staff could gather its wits, the zoo was flooded.
In no time, water from the bison enclosure cracked the compound abutting the elephant enclosure, reducing the "walkthrough" reptiles' area into a pond.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1272436.cms


Even small zoos getting a neck up with interactivity
10/25/2005
Families are lining up on weekends to feed a long-necked furry friend at Chausuyama Zoo in Nagano city.
And when a mom holds her tot up to feed the giraffe, dad dutifully snaps away with his cellphone camera.
It's a new scene at the zoo, which like others have been hurting for visitors and trying just about anything-from more interaction with the animals to later hours-to bring the crowds back to the cash-strapped enterprises.
Since March, the Chausuyama Zoo has been focusing on experience-oriented events for visitors, such as pony rides and photo sessions with owls.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200510250112.html


Get A Scare At The Pittsburgh Zoo Boo
Oct 22, 2005 9:54 pm US/Eastern
Pittsburgh (KDKA) If you want a taste of Halloween early, it might not be a bad idea to head to the Pittsburgh Zoo this weekend.
The annual Zoo Boo is going on this weekend, Oct. 21-23 and Oct. 28-30 from 6pm to 9pm.
This year, the event will feature strolling entertainment and a new lay-out.
Families can safely trick-or-treat at candy stations along the Ghost Path, and even get a spooky hairdo at the PPG Aquaraium’s Monster Splash.
Admission is $6 per person; $3 for zoo members.

http://kdka.com/local/local_story_295154032.html


Zoo puts all its animals within reach
By JAMES HART
The Kansas City Star
If you’ve ever wanted to touch a zebra, this could be your big chance.
The Hedrick Educational Petting Zoo of Nickerson, Kan., has set up shop at the American Royal, and it’s unlike just about any petting zoo around. Forget the bunny rabbits. The cast list includes kangaroos, an emu, a camel and a few animals you might not have heard of — like the nilgai, a kind of antelope from India.
And a zebra. All of them waiting to be touched, and perhaps fed. (Petting zoos, of course, are just about the only entertainment venue that encourages the audience to touch the performers.)

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/12967454.htm


Zoo accepting plant donations
As the forecast noses toward a freeze, you may have plants that you'd like to see in a good home rather than blackened to mush. If so, give the Sedgwick County Zoo a call. It's accepting plants to keep in greenhouses for the winter for use around the zoo next year.
The zoo propagates some plants, and large ficus and hibiscus trees can be used in the winter holding barn for perching birds. Both big and small plants are accepted, and all donations are tax-deductible.
If you have a question about whether the zoo would want your plants, or if you would like to arrange for the zoo horticulture staff to pick up your donation, call Pete Logsdon at 266-8313 and leave a message with your name and number, and the type of plant donation.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/living/home/gardening/12965430.htm

concluding ...

Brookfield Zoo Wind Chime

October 27, 2005. 9:00 AM gmt.

The continent is getting hot very quickly.

Morning Papers - concluded.

The weather in Antarctica is not recorded today.

Scott Base
--
--
Updated Thursday 27 Oct 9:59PM

The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:

34 °F / 1 °C
Overcast

PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES WITH PATCHY FOG CONTINUING THROUGH 8 AM.VARIABLE WINDS LESS THAN 15 MPH.

Windchill:
30 °F / -1 °C

Humidity:
87%

Dew Point:
30 °F / -1 °C

Wind:
5 mph / 7 km/h from the North

Pressure:
29.77 in / 1008 hPa

Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers

UV:
0 out of 16

Clouds:
Overcast 300 ft / 91 m
(Above Ground Level)

end