December 19, 2005.
Plane Crash in Florida.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Morning Papers - continued ...
Sydney Morning Herald
Terror suspect 'met Osama'
A man accused of being a member of a terrorist organisation had trained with al-Qaeda and met Osama bin Laden shortly before the September 11 attacks in the US, a court has been told.
Shane Kent, 28, who is charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation, applied along with Amer Haddara, 26, who is facing the same charge, for bail in the Melbourne Magistrates Court today.
Kent, of the Melbourne suburb of Meadow Heights, and Haddara, of suburban Yarraville, are two of 10 Victorian men charged after raids in Melbourne and Sydney last month.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/terror-suspect-met-osama/2005/12/20/1135032012529.html
Widow wins sperm battle
A 36-year-old woman has won a seven-year legal battle to use her dead husband's sperm to get pregnant.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal today gave the woman permission to use the sperm as part of IVF treatment in NSW.
The woman, referred to as YZ, was living with her husband in the ACT when he died in a car accident in Victoria in July 1998.
She successfully won a court order to extract and freeze a sperm sample from her husband the day after the fatal accident.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/widow-wins-sperm-battle/2005/12/20/1135032005726.html
Four stung by deadly irukandji
Four people have been stung by potentially deadly irukandji jellyfish off central Queensland within the last few days.
Surf Lifesaving Queensland's spokesman for the Wide Bay-Capricorn region Craig Holden said today the people were stung by the tiny jellyfish at Agnes Water beach, which has been closed as a precautionary measure.
Mr Holden said reopening the beach, which was closed following a similar jellyfish problem four years ago, would be considered as a day-to-day proposition.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/four-stung-by-deadly-irukandji/2005/12/20/1135031998954.html
Shipwrecked pair survive 11 days on diet of willpower and urine
AN AUSTRALIAN skipper and his New Zealander first mate survived 11 days in a storm-battered life raft with no food or water - and were forced to drink their own urine - after their yacht sank off Vietnam.
Mark Wesley Smith and Steven John Freeman recounted yesterday how they clung desperately to their life raft as storms flipped it over and over for days on end.
They ate nothing for 11 days, licked rainwater off the raft and were forced to drink their urine.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/shipwrecked-pair-survive-11-days-on-raft/2005/12/19/1134840796240.html
UK gay couples take their vows
The United Kingdom's first gay couple to win legal recognition under a new British civil partnership law drove past anti-homosexual protesters to make their marriage-style vows inside Belfast City Hall.
Northern Ireland woman Grainne Close and her American partner, Shannon Sickels, walked hand in hand from a black taxi for a 20-minute ceremony that featured an exchange of matching platinum rings and a recording of Dolly Parton's Touch Your Woman.
"We just want to say that this is a very privileged position we are in this morning, and for us this is about making a choice," said Close, 32, who wore a black tuxedo.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/uk-gay-couples-take-their-vows/2005/12/20/1134840823623.html
Critics on the wrong track over racism
December 20, 2005
Page 1 of 2
Criminals caused the Cronulla riots, not failed multiculturalism, writes Gerard Henderson.
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IT'S not John Howard's fault. And Geoffrey Blainey does not have the solution. Since the civil disorder on Sydney's southern beaches over the past couple of weeks, there has been a tendency in some sections of the community to blame the Prime Minister for Sydney's discontents.
This view has found expression among some left-wing activists along with some letter writers, commentators, journalists and cartoonists. On occasions, the critique has had a bipartisan angle, with the Opposition Leader, Kim Beazley, and former NSW Labor premier Bob Carr copping some of the blame. The suggestion is that Australia's political leaders have either ignited latent racism or allowed a racist climate to endure.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/critics-on-the-wrong-track-over-racism/2005/12/19/1134840796093.html
Beaches now safe: Iemma
Return to your beaches, NSW Premier Morris Iemma urged residents of southern Sydney and other NSW cities today.
After asking people in NSW to stay away from some of the state's best known beaches at the weekend in case of violence, Mr Iemma today declared beaches safe and called on beachgoers to return to the sand.
Mr Iemma said today police now believed the threat of unrest at beaches in southern Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle had passed.
"The intelligence and the security assessments are such that people are encouraged to return to normal business," he told reporters.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/beaches-now-safe-iemma/2005/12/19/1134840765876.html
More Aussies facing poverty: charities
Charities nationwide are reporting record appeals for help this Christmas with more and more Australian households facing a slide into poverty.
St Vincent de Paul Society social policy national director John Falzon said the need for charity would continue to balloon as the federal government pushes ahead with its workplace and welfare reforms.
"We at Vinnies have experienced an increased demand not only for presents and food for the Christmas season but even with the day-to-day expenses such as prescriptions, doctors' visits, school excursions and electricity bills," Dr Falzon said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/More-Aussies-facing-poverty-charities/2005/12/19/1134840782459.html
Revealed: the true cost of late-life IVF
IN VITRO fertilisation is three to seven times less cost effective for women aged over 42 than for younger women, but older women account for only a small percentage of IVF costs, according to a study.
The direct health care cost of non-donor IVF for each live birth is, on average, $24,809 for women aged 30 and under. But the cost jumps to $97,884 for women aged 40-plus and to $182,794 for those 42 years and older, a University of NSW report has found.
"The study did find it is more costly for older women because of the natural decline in a woman's fertility … but older age groups make up a smaller percentage of the women who apply for IVF," said one of the report's authors, Georgina Chambers, a researcher at the university.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/revealed-the-true-cost-of-latelife-ivf/2005/12/18/1134840742434.html
Rape counselling offered online
AN ONLINE rape counselling service will be launched in Sydney today. In what is said to be a world first, the NSW Rape Crisis Centre will provide one-on-one counselling in real time to sexual assault victims who log onto its website.
December and January are peak months for sexual assault, with the centre usually recording a 20 to 30 per cent increase in calls, said the centre's manager, Karen Willis.
For some, assaults happened at work parties or other social functions; for others, the prospect of facing the perpetrator "across the Christmas table" prompted them to seek support.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/rape-counselling-offered-online/2005/12/18/1134840742448.html
Air New Zealand to cut 110 jobs
Air New Zealand will lay off 110 workers, and more than 500 other jobs may also go, following a decision to outsource heavy maintenance of its wide body aero-engines.
The airline plans to outsource the underperforming business from next year, in a move expected to save $NZ53 million ($49 million) in costs.
Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said the decision came after 18 months of talks, and the state of the business was bleak.
"Volumes in this business are low and falling," Mr Fyfe said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/air-new-zealand-to-cut-110-jobs/2005/12/19/1134840773261.html
Bad times could become worse
A rough year for Evans & Tate.
Photo: James Brickwood
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By Scott Rochfort
December 19, 2005
MARGARET River winemaker Evans & Tate has had a wretched year - and could face a worse one if its convertible note holders do not pass a resolution this Friday which will quarantine the company from the effect of new accounting standards.
Under International Financial Reporting Standards, which come into effect on January 1, the $20-odd million of convertible notes on issue by Evans & Tate will no longer be treated as equity but as debt.
This would result in the already debt-ridden company breaching its debt convenants and expose it to being "wound up" by creditors.
Jitters over this week's meeting pushed the winemaker's shares to a new low of 21.5c last Friday. Helped by the $49.8 million full-year loss posted in August, Evans & Tate shares have fallen 80 per cent since mid-January.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/bad-times-could-become-worse/2005/12/18/1134840742138.html
Qantas says Roo's in top shape
By Julian Lee
December 19, 2005
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Qantas claims its brand is the healthiest in its 85-year history and that Australians still call the Flying Kangaroo "home".
Despite negative press in the past year and increased competition from Virgin Blue and Emirates, everything is just fine at Qantas, says executive general manager, John Borghetti.
Far from weakening the Qantas brand, he said, the arrival of its low-cost stablemate Jetstar had actually strengthened it.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/qantas-says-roos-in-top-shape/2005/12/18/1134840742150.html
U.S. teacher sexpidemic spreading across planet
Long list of American rapists
joined by female Australians
Posted: December 14, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Joe Kovacs
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Bridget Nolan (courtesy Australian Broadcasting Corp.)
The seeming U.S. epidemic of cases involving female teachers raping or molesting their students has been "sexported" Down Under, as Australia is experiencing a similar rash of cases.
Bridget Mary Nolan, 24, of Adelaide, Australia, is facing a possible seven-year prison term after admitting to three counts of sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old student in late July.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47895
"The victim ... and his family are the subject of a lot of scrutiny by members of the school community and (the) town community in which they live," prosecutor Elizabeth Griffith told a court hearing.
"The victim has ... been teased and bullied and pointed out within the school community as somebody who might have been involved with the teacher."
Meanwhile, another woman teacher is facing charges for allegedly seducing one of her own 15-year-old students.
Natalina D'Addario, a 36-year-old languages instructor from the Melbourne area is accused of beginning a sexual relationship with the teen in May.
Police say they engaged in oral sex on six occasions through July off school grounds. The affair reportedly came to a close in September when the boy notified his assistant principal of the liaisons.
These two cases are the latest in a series of Australian women having illicit relations with their male students.
According to the Australian, Cindy Leanne Howell, a female teacher's aide, was sentenced last month to at least two and a half years for preying on a 15-year-old boy; Sarah Jayne Vercoe was sentenced to four years for a series of sex offenses against five boys in Tasmania; and Karen Ellis of Victoria was jailed in May after pleading guilty to six charges of sexual penetration of a child under 16.
The Australian incidents are hauntingly reminiscent of the flood of cases reported in the United States and elsewhere.
Among the most well-known is the case of Debra Lafave, a 26-year-old reading teacher in Florida accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy in her classroom, car and at home. Her plea deal sparing her jail time and giving her just house arrest was thrown out last week and her trial is now slated for April 10.
Other cases collected from news reports by WND and iGossip include:
Adrianne Hockett: Accused of having sex with a 16-year-old special-needs student in a Houston apartment she rented for the get-togethers. The boy has testified the pair would "have sex, drink beer and smoke weed."
Amber Jennings, 31: Initially charged with having sex with a 16-year-old, the counts against the Sturbridge, Mass., woman were reduced to a single charge of disseminating harmful materials to a minor. She reportedly admitted e-mailing naked photos of herself to a former student.
Amber Marshall, 23: Northwest Indiana woman allegedly had sexual contact, including intercourse, with several students, and turned herself into authorities, telling police she knew what she did was illegal.
Amira Sa'Si, 30: Clayton County, Ga., woman remarked she didn't think her relationship was inappropriate based on her Internet research, learning the Peach State's age of consent is 16.
Amy Gail Lilley, 36: Inverness, Fla., woman charged with an alleged relationship with a 15-year-old girl.
Angela Stellwag, 24: Delran, N.J., woman accused of having sex in her apartment with a 14-year-old boy she met in school.
Beth Raymond, 31: Private-school employee from Pownal, Maine, charged with risk of injury to a minor and second-degree sexual assault of a juvenile male.
Bethany Sherrill, 24: Daughter-in-law of school-board president is charged with molesting a middle school student when he was 14.
Carol Flannigan, 50: Boca Raton, Fla., music teacher reportedly slept with 11-year-old former student, and also had a simultaneous sexual relationship with the boy's father.
Celeste Emerick, 32: Police in Huber Heights, Ohio, say she hosted a party where students were shown porn.
Christina Gallagher, 26: Jersey City, N.J., woman ordered to pay more than $1,000 in fines, sentenced to a lifetime registration as a convicted sex offender and ordered to attend therapy for having sex with a 17-year-old student.
Deanna Bobo, 37: Arkansas teacher allegedly had sex twice with a 14-year-old boy in his own bed while his parents were not home.
Donna Carr Galloway, 33: Married mother of two found naked in a car with a 17-year-old student.
Elisa Kawasaki, 25: Officials say ex-biology teacher had sexual relations with a 16-year-old student on up to 20 different occasions.
Elizabeth Miklosovic, 36: Grand Rapids, Mich., woman pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female student she "married" in a pagan ritual.
Elizabeth Stow, 26: Woman from Fresno, Calif., area convicted of having sex with three of her students was sentenced to nine years, but the judge suspended that sentence and gave her one year, possibly on house arrest, as well as faces five years probation.
Ellen Garfield, 43: Former student says teacher took him into an empty classroom where she worked, partially disrobed, and coaxed him into having sex with her in 1998. Garfield was acquitted of all charges in September of this year.
Emily Morris, 28: Alabama woman faced a possible 20-year sentence, but received one year in jail for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old student.
Erica Rutters, 29: York, Pa., woman allegedly wrote erotic messages to a 17-year-old student and had sexual intercourse with him four times in her apartment.
Georgianne Harrell, 24: Sylvester, Ga., woman charged with performing oral sex on a 9-year-old boy, allowing students to gaze down her blouse and slashing her wrists with glass in front of her students. She pleaded not guilty.
Gwen Ann Cardozo, 33: Colorado woman charged with having sex with a 17-year-old male student.
Heather Ingram, 30: Mathematics, science and business teacher in British Columbia had sex with a 17-year-old student.
Janelle Marie Bird, 24: Accused of having a two-year affair with a 15-year-old student from East Hill Christian School, in Pensacola, Fla.
Jaymee Wallace, 28: Basketball coach in Tampa, Fla., charged with having an 18-month lesbian relationship with a student.
Joan Marie Sladky, 28: Redwood City, Calif., woman sentenced to six months in county jail for having sex with a 16-year-old student after pleading no contest to four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation and penetration with a foreign object.
Katherine Tew, 30: Married English teacher from Greenville, N.C., arrested for having sex with a 17-year-old student.
Kathy White, 39: Charged with having sex with a 17-year-old student in Lumberton, Texas. Victim alleges: "She just started grabbing me and hormones were on and it just happened."
Kelly Lynn Dalecki, 28: Woman from St. Augustine, Fla., pleaded no contest to charges she had sex with a 13-year-old boy.
Kristen Margrif, 27: Michigan woman accused of having sex with a 16-year-old male student in her car or at his summer workplace.
Kristi Dance Oakes, 32: Former Tennessee high-school teacher allegedly had sex with a 16-year-old boy who was in her biology class the previous year.
Lakina Stutts, 40: School-bus driver admitted to cops she had sex with a 14-year-old student in her home and in a car outside the boy's home.
Laura-Anne Brownlee, 26: Former music mistress at a top private school in Belfast, N. Ireland, was sentenced on six charges of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
Laura Lynn Findlay, 30: Middle-school band teacher in Buena Vista Township, Mich., charged with having sex with at least 5 students, one as young as 14.
Margaret De Barraicua, 30: Sacramento, Calif., area woman arrested after police found her having sex with a 16-year-old male student in her car while the woman's toddler was strapped into a seat in the back.
Maria Saco, 28: Passaic, N.J., woman sentenced to a year in jail for an intimate relationship with a teen student who was 14 when they first met.
Mary Kay Letourneau, 34: Des Moines, Wash., woman did prison time after having an affair with a sixth-grade student, and had two children by him. The couple recently married.
Melissa Michelle Deel, 32: Bristol, Tenn., woman pleaded guilty to crossing the state line into Virginia to have oral sex with a 13-year-old male student.
Michelle Kush, 29: Ohio woman allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old boy several times during summer break.
Nicola Prentice, 22: British woman from Sheffield, England, given a 12-month suspended jail sentence after she seduced a 16-year-old student and began a 19-month affair.
Nicole Andrea Barnhart, 35: Reportedly told police she loves the 16-year-old boy with whom she was allegedly having sex.
Nicole Pomerleau, 31: High-school English teacher in Charlotte, N.C., accused of having a sexual relationship with her 16-year-old student.
Pamela Smart, 22: Media-services director at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, N.Y., had convinced her 15-year-old lover to murder her husband. The Nicole Kidman film "To Die For" is based on her story.
Pamela Turner, 27: Former model and beauty-pageant contestant accused of having a three-month sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy.
Rachelle Vantucci, 32: Ex-substitute teacher in western New York admitted having sex with a 16-year-old boy.
Rebecca Boicelli, 33: Redwood City, Calif., woman gave birth to a baby last year and DNA test results gave prosecutors enough evidence to prove the father is Boicelli's former student, who was 16 at the time of conception.
Rhianna Ellis, 24: New York City teacher who allegedly had a 10-month affair with an 18-year-old, and allgedly gave birth to his baby.
Robin Gialanella, 26: Elementary teacher in Toms River, N.J., engaged in kissing, and inappropriate conduct and conversations with two sixth-grade boys, ages 11 and 12. She was sentenced to 364 days in jail.
Robin Winkis, 29: York, Pa., woman allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old boy after giving him alcohol.
Samantha Solomon, 29: Fired after school bosses learned she was having sex with a teenage boy. She denies the charges.
Sandra "Beth" Geisel, 42: Albany, N.Y., woman was fired from her job at an private all-boys school after police in found her in a parked car with a 17-year-old. She pleaded guilty to a single count of rape and was sentenced to six months in jail.
Shelley Allen, 35: East Texas teacher's aide accused of sexual assault and faces a possible 20 years behind bars.
Shelley White, 24: Geography teacher in Britain had been engaged to be married before she kissed a 15-year-old student on at least three occasions. She avoided jail, but received 12 months community service.
Stephanie Burleson: Volleyball coach and teacher at Floresville High School in Texas six years ago, pleaded guilty to all charges for molesting a 16-year-old female student. She was sentenced to 10 years probation, and required to register as a sex offender.
Susan Eble, 35: Former teacher's aide is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy.
Tara Lynn Crisp, 29: Police allege she had sex with a student at least three times beginning when he was 14.
Toni Lynn Woods, 37: The Braxton County, W.Va., woman confessed to having sexual intercourse with three juveniles a total of four times and oral sex with one of those juveniles and another juvenile a total of four times. She resigned.
If you'd like to sound off on this issue, please take part in the WorldNetDaily poll.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47895
The Gulf News
Iran nuclear plant may pose risk to Gulf region
By Jumana Al Tamimi, GCC & Middle East Editor
Abu Dhabi: Gulf countries expressed serious concerns over Iran's nuclear programme and called on the Islamic Republic to provide guarantees against "any radioactive leakage," UAE Foreign Minister Rashid Abdullah said on Monday.
"We are asking for guarantees to protect ourselves," he told a press conference held at the end of the Fahd Summit in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
"We are asking Iran to join the [international] early warning agreement to alert us in case of any leakage, God forbid," he added in reference to the agreement, which was signed by all GCC states and which calls upon signed countries to notify others in case of nuclear radioactive leakage.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/United_Arab_Emirates/10006201.html
GCC fears Iran nuclear activities
By Jumana Al Tamimi, GCC and Middle East Editor, and Samir Salama, Bureau Chief
Abu Dhabi: Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council concluded their 26th summit here on Monday, calling for a Middle East, including the Gulf region, free from weapons of mass destruction and urged Iran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"We have a legitimate fear" of Iran's nuclear programme, Rashid Abdullah, UAE Foreign Minister, told reporters at a press conference with Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah, Secretary General of the GCC.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/United_Arab_Emirates/10006187.html
Jordanian kidnapped in Baghdad
Agencies
Baghdad: An employee from the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad was taken hostage after leaving his home on Tuesday.
Police say that three cars pulled up outside Jordanian Mahmoud Saedat’s house and seized him in a southern district of Baghdad.
Saedat has been a driver for the embassy for the past four years.
It is not yet clear what the man’s role at the Jordanian embassy was and an official said that diplomats had no information on the incident.
Al Qaida in Iraq abducted the Egyptian envoy and two Algerian diplomats and they were killed in July.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10006211.html
Defence lawyer says Saddam believes he was betrayed
AP
London: A lawyer for Saddam Hussain said the deposed Iraqi leader believes someone tipped off US forces to his whereabouts, resulting in his capture from a spider hole near his hometown of Tikrit, a newspaper reported on Monday.
The Sun quoted former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark as giving Saddam's view of his capture two years ago.
"Saddam thinks he was gassed in the tunnel," the newspaper quoted Clark as saying. "He tried to get to the exit of the tunnel. But he did not have time to get away. He told us he spent maybe minutes in this tunnel - not hours or days.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10006172.html
Early Iraq election results show Shiite strength
Reuters
Baghdad: Early results from the count of votes in more than half Iraq's regions, including Baghdad, confirmed a strong showing for the ruling Shiite Islamist Alliance, figures from the Electoral Commission showed on Monday.
The Alliance won 58 per cent of the vote in the capital, the biggest of 18 provinces and accounting for 59 of the 230 parliamentary seats allocated among the regions. A further 45 seats will be allocated according to shares of the national vote.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10006145.html
Women break ground in politics
By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: Women's representation on the national boards of Bahrain's political societies is at its highest level ever, a study has revealed.
Women today hold 21 board seats in the 15 political societies, or 16 per cent, compared to 139 men. The figure is an unprecedented one in the male-dominated sector of politics.
According to the study based on the list of names released by the political formations in the kingdom, Islamic societies are faring unexpectedly well, with eight women holding board seats.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Bahrain/10006039.html
Billionaires can help poor millions
It is a tired cliché India is a land of contrasts. But with a growing number of Indians joining the worldwide billionaire club, while many of their compatriots scrabble out a meagre existence, there is more than a little truth in the old saying.
According to Forbes, at least seven new Indians made the list, bringing the total to 27 billionaires from the subcontinent worth $106 billion.
There is little question that the nation is on its way towards becoming one of the major global powerhouses. Stories abound about the burgeoning Indian middle class, the power of outsourcing and the drive towards plush shopping malls.
http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/editorial_opinion/world/10005842.html
The mother of all ironies
By Adel Safty, Special to Gulf News
I argued in my previous column that the rumours of the premature death of irony were grossly exaggerated and that irony was alive.
The issue of immoral use of banned weapons, used to justify the Iraq war, was ironically turned against the US with the accusation that US troops used white phosphorous against Iraqi civilians. The Bush administration also claimed it had waged war to make Iraq a democratic beacon in the Middle East.
Recent revelations, however, subjected such claims to ironic discredit. The Pentagon recently admitted it had been bribing Iraqi and Arab journalists to write positive stories about the American occupation of Iraq.
http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/region/10005815.html
Is Lebanon heading for a catastrophe?
By Patrick Seale, Special to Gulf News
Located at the storm-centre of the Middle East, Lebanon is in danger of succumbing to a lethal combination of internal, regional and international conflicts. Will this small and vulnerable country sink once more into chaos?
At the heart of the problem lies Lebanon's umbilical, love-hate relationship with its Syrian neighbour. When Syria comes under great pressure as is at present the case the repercussions in Lebanon are immediate.
What are the danger signals? First and foremost is the unprecedented spate of murders and attempted murders of prominent politicians and media personalities, following the assassination of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, last February. These killings have created an atmosphere of panic.
http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/region/10005816.html
Iran nuclear plan 'not worrisome'
By Jumana Al Tamimi, GCC & Middle East Editor
Abu Dhabi: Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary General Abdul Rahman Hamad Al Attiyah said on Sunday that the GCC countries are not concerned over Iran's nuclear programme, if it is limited only to peaceful applications.
However, he continued, "if it was otherwise, I personally believe, than that the issue is not justified, and it cannot be left as it is because it affects the international peace and security", he responded to a question by Gulf News.
"We have confidence in Iran, but we don't want to see the Iranian nuclear reactor, which is closer to our coasts than the distance between it and Tehran, as a cause of danger to us", Al Attiyah told a small group of journalists in Abu Dhabi on the sidelines of "Fahd Summit".
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/United_Arab_Emirates/10005979.html
Chronology of earthquakes in Iran
Staff Report
The following is a chronology of some of the major earthquakes in Iran in the past three decades:
April 10, 1972 - 5,347 people were killed when an earthquake with a radius of more than 250 miles struck southern Iran around Ghir Karzin. The quake measured 7.1 on the Richter scale.
March 22, 1977 - 167 people were killed when an earthquake struck the southeastern coastal region around the town of Bandar Abbas. It measured 7 on the Richter scale.
April 6/7, 1977 - 352 people were killed when an earthquake struck Isfahan province. It measured 6.5 on the Richter Scale.
December 21, 1977 - An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale struck the town of Zarand in Kerman Province, killing 521 people.
September 16, 1978 - 15,000 people were killed by an earthquake which measured between 7.5 and 7.9 on the Richter scale. It levelled the town of Tabas and many other villages.
January 16, 1979 - An earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale struck Khorasan province, killing 199 people.
November 14, 1979 - An earthquake struck eastern Iran measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale. It hit a string of villages in Khorasan province, killing at least 385 people.
June 11, 1981 - 1,027 people were killed and more than 800 injured. It measured 6.8 on the Richter scale. The town of Golbaf, 800 km (500 miles) southeast of Tehran, was destroyed.
June 21, 1990 - 35,000 died and 100,000 were injured when an earthquake, which registered 7.7 on the Richter scale, devastated the Caspian regions of Gilan and Zanjan. Some 500,000 were made homeless.
February 28, 1997 - A quake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale killed about 1,000 people in northwestern Iran.
May 10, 1997 - A quake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale killed 1,560 people in rural areas of eastern Iran near the Afghan border.
June 22, 2002 - An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale razed dozens of villages in north Iran's Qazvin province killing 229.
Deember 26, 2003 - An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale strikes the city of Bam, 1,000 km (600 miles) southeast of Tehran. 30,948 were killed in the quake.
February 21, 2005 - An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale hits Zarand village in Kerman province, about 700 km (440 miles) southeast of Tehran, killing 612 people.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10000856.html
Ten killed as quake strikes Iran
Agencies
Tehran: A powerful earthquake measuring at least 5.9 on the Richter scale struck Qeshim island off Iran's southern coast, killing at least ten people and damaging four villages.
The main hospital on Qeshim was full of wounded people.
"The hospital is full of wounded and those accompanying them. The hospital lacks basic facilities," an IRNA (Iran national news agency) bulletin read.
IRNA said that marketplaces in the island's capital Qeshim City were shaken to the ground and that the villages of Tonban, Gavarzin and Khaledi have been badly hit.
State television said the tremor struck at 1:30pm (1000 GMT) and was centred close to the Qeshim Island near Bandar Abbas city.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10000851.html
Iran quake: reader's experiences
Staff Report
Dubai: Gulfnews.com readers share their experiences of the tremors which shook the UAE on Sunday afternoon.
Did you feel the tremors?
Was your building evacuated?
How did you react?
Email your experiences to write2tabloid@gulfnews.com
Sunday afternoon happened to be a deja-vu of a 1980 earthquake I experienced in Athens which measured 5.8 on the Richter scale. Those tremors lasted more than 60 seconds - the longest 60 seconds of my entire life. The wall in my living room cracked all across and opened diagonally by about half a metre. I had a clear view of the street outside. That doomed February scarred me for ever. Two month later I relocated to UAE.
Eve
Sharjah
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/United_Arab_Emirates/10000855.html
Ten killed in fresh Baghdad violence
Agencies
Baghdad: Ten Iraqis, including five police officers, have been killed in attacks in Baghdad and north of the capital, medical and security sources said Sunday.
The US command also reported the death of a Marine from a non-hostile wound.
Since Thursday's peaceful voting, Iraqi officials have reopened border crossings on Saturday, except on the frontier with Syria.
Dhiab Hamad Al Hamdani and his son Munah were shot in Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, police Colonel Shirzad Mofari said.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10005780.html
Jordan court hands second death penalty against Al Zarqawi
Agencies
Amman: Jordan's state security court on Sunday handed Al Qaida's leader in Iraq Abu Musab Al Zarqawi his second death penalty in absentia, for a failed suicide bombing on the Jordanian-Iraqi border a year ago.
His two accomplices in the December 2004 plot were also given the death sentence.
Jordanian-born Al Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq where he has a US bounty of $25 million on his head, has also been sentenced to death by the state security court for the October 2002 murder of a US diplomat in Amman.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Jordan/10005783.html
Ariel Sharon leaves hospital
Agencies
Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was discharged from hospital on Tuesday, two days after the 77-year-old suffered a minor stroke.
"I must hurry to return to work so that we can move forward," Sharon told reporters as he left Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital.
Sharon was admitted to hospital after suffering a stroke on Sunday evening while being driven from his official residence in Jerusalem to his ranch in the southern Negev desert.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10006216.html
The Boston Globe
Periwinkle snails harming La. marshes
December 19, 2005
NEW ORLEANS --There are plenty of culprits from which to choose in assigning blame for the destruction of Louisiana's marshes: oil companies that carved wetlands to tatters with their exploratory canals, levees that hemmed in the nourishing waters of the Mississippi River, burrowing nutria that left marshes exposed to grass-killing saltwater.
Now, the state's dwindling coastline must deal with another nemesis: the marble-sized periwinkle snail.
Researchers from Brown and Louisiana State universities added it to the list after witnessing millions of the snails chomping their way through drought-weakened marshlands across the Gulf of Mexico and up the eastern seaboard. Over the past six years, the snails have left in their wake thousands of acres of bare mud flats where there were once thriving wetlands.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/12/19/periwinkle_snails_harming_la_marshes/
New York City transit workers strike
By Sara Kugler, Associated Press Writer December 20, 2005
NEW YORK --The city's transit union called a strike Tuesday morning after failing to reach a deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority following days of bitter labor talks.
The decision ensured that New York would be thrown into chaos by the height of the morning rush hour.
"This contract between the MTA and the Transport Workers Union should have been a no-brainer," union president Roger Toussaint said at a news conference announcing the strike. "Sadly that has not been the case."
MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow called the strike "a slap in the face" to all New Yorkers and said state lawyers will immediately head to court in seeking to block the walkout.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/12/20/strike_deadline_passes_in_ny_transit_talks/
Bush bypassed compliant court on wiretapping
Warrants rarely denied
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff December 20, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The court that authorizes wiretaps on terrorism suspects had not rejected a government request for a warrant in its 22-year existence to 2001, when President Bush issued an order allowing agents to wiretap citizens without judicial approval.
Bush's actions surprised many lawyers familiar with the court's workings, because federal law allows the US attorney general to authorize wiretaps without waiting for a warrant, as long as federal agents later present evidence to a judge.
Bush and his advisers have argued that the need for rapid monitoring of international telephone calls involving terrorism suspects had justified his decision to allow agents to bypass the surveillance law.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/12/20/bush_bypassed_compliant_court_on_wiretapping/
Heavy crowd expected at Williams funeral
By Paul Chavez, Associated Press Writer December 20, 2005
LOS ANGELES --Few condemned inmates have generated as much public support as Stanley Tookie Williams -- and so much post-execution attention. His final send-off promises to be no different.
A funeral normally reserved for a dignitary or religious leader was scheduled for Tuesday, almost exactly a week after Williams was executed by lethal injection for murdering four people during a pair of 1979 robberies.
Among those expected to attend were the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who visited Williams shortly before his death; Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan; and hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg.
The service was to include a five-minute video tribute by documentary filmmaker Jonathan Stack and speeches by motivational guru Tony Robbins and actor Jamie Foxx, who portrayed Williams in the TV movie "Redemption: The Stanley Tookie Williams Story."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/12/20/heavy_crowd_expected_at_williams_funeral/\
Families gathered for tragic new of crash
By Denise Kalette, Associated Press Writer December 20, 2005
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. --Never again will Sabrina Dean braid her cousins' hair. Never again will her husband, Barto, crack jokes with his nephew, 16-year-old Adrian Jones.
The couple and their infant daughter died Monday when a Chalk's Ocean Airways plane carrying 20 people crashed into the water near Miami Beach. Nineteen bodies had been recovered as of Tuesday morning.
Boats and helicopters searched the waters where the plane went down near Government Cut channel, used by ships traveling from the Atlantic to the Port of Miami. Bodies encased in black bags were taken from rescue crafts.
Throughout the evening, shocked relatives streamed to the Miami Beach Police Department to learn details of the crash and meet with grief counselors and clergymen. Some, like Jones, sat on the steps outside, trying to absorb the loss.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/12/20/families_gathered_for_tragic_new_of_crash/
One of three teens convicted in beating is granted a new trial
December 20, 2005
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. --One of three Springfield teenagers, who had been found guilty in the beating death of a high school senior, has been granted a new trial.
Hampden Superior Court Judge C. Brian McDonald, who presided over the trial, ordered Timothy X. Rudd, 19, of Springfield to report to probation officers daily and ordered a hearing for Jan. 4 to set a new trial date. In the meantime, Rudd was allowed to go home.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/12/20/one_of_three_teens_convicted_in_beating_is_granted_a_new_trial/
Record fine levied against former GOP candidate
By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer December 20, 2005
BOSTON --A former candidate for lieutenant governor and one-time chairman of the state Republican Party has agreed to pay the largest campaign finance fine in state history, prosecutors said Monday.
It's the second time James W. Rappaport has been fined for failing to fully disclose expenditures from his personal account during his failed 2002 run for lieutenant governor.
Rappaport, a real estate developer who lost the Republican nomination to Kerry Healey, has agreed to pay $60,000 in fines, according to Attorney General Tom Reilly, a Democratic candidate for governor.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/12/20/record_fine_levied_against_former_gop_candidate/
Horse racing eliminated from Three County Fair
December 20, 2005
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. --There will be no horse racing at the Three County Fair next year for the first time in 150 years because competition from casinos and the state lottery has cut into racing profits to the point that it is no longer financially viable, fair president Alan Jacque said.
Racing began at the Three County Fair in 1856 and continued through this year without interruption, according to fair officials.
Harness racing was the main event at the fair until 1943, when the switch to thoroughbred racing was made.
Tracks throughout the region have lost betting customers to casinos and other legalized forms of gambling, Three County Fair general manager Bruce Shallcross said on Monday.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/12/20/horse_racing_eliminated_from_three_county_fair/
ACLU says FBI misuses terror powers
By Ted Bridis, Associated Press Writer December 20, 2005
WASHINGTON --The American Civil Liberties Union accused the FBI of misusing terrorism investigators to monitor some domestic political organizations, despite apparently disparate views within the FBI whether some groups supported or committed violent acts.
Citing hundreds of pages of heavily-censored documents it obtained from the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act, lawyers for the ACLU described this disputed use of terrorism resources as the latest illustration of intensified surveillance aimed toward Americans.
"Using labels like domestic terrorists to describe peaceful protest activity can chill robust political debate in this country," ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner said in New York. The ACLU said it will publish the FBI reports it obtained on its Web site Tuesday.
In one case, government records show the FBI launched a terrorism investigation of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Norfolk, Va., despite acknowledgment by one FBI official that, "The FBI does not consider PETA a terrorist organization."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/12/20/aclu_says_fbi_misuses_terror_powers/
Germany frees jailed Hizbollah member to Lebanon
December 20, 2005
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Germany has secretly released a Hizbollah member jailed for life for killing a U.S. Navy diver and returned him to Lebanon despite an extradition request from the United States, Lebanese political sources said on Tuesday.
They said Mohammad Ali Hammadi, convicted of killing Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem during the 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight to Beirut and sentenced to life without parole, was flown back to Beirut last week.
Diplomatic sources in Germany confirmed Hammadi's release.
Hammadi was captured in 1987 and all attempts to have him exchanged with German hostages held in Lebanon in the late 1980s and early 1990s failed. Hammadi's brother, Abdul-Hadi, was a senior security official of Hizbollah at the time.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/12/20/germany_frees_jailed_hizbollah_member_to_lebanon/
Morgan Stanley expands in UK with Lloyds card deal
LONDON (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley has paid a 175 million pound ($308.7 million) premium for the Goldfish credit card business of UK bank Lloyds TSB, expanding a business the U.S. bank had once looked to shed.
Morgan Stanley said on Tuesday the deal would expand its UK credit card business significantly, adding 800 million pounds worth of balances to its existing 1.5 billion pound book of business and increasing its accounts by 47 percent to over 2.3 million.
Morgan Stanley paid a 22 percent premium to the unit's 800 million pounds of net balances, a higher price than some recent credit card deals in the United States and above the 14 percent premium Lloyds paid for a 70 percent stake in Goldfish in 2003.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/12/20/morgan_stanley_buys_lloyds_card_unit/
Failed Beagle 2 probe "found" on Mars - scientist
LONDON (Reuters) - The scientist behind the lost 2003 Beagle 2 mission to Mars said on Tuesday the craft may have been spotted in NASA pictures which indicate the project very nearly worked.
Beagle 2, named after the ship Charles Darwin sailed in when he formulated his theory of evolution, was built by British scientists for about 50 million pounds ($90 million) and taken to Mars aboard the European Space Agency's orbiter Mars Express.
It was due to land in a crater on the red planet in a bouncing ball of airbags and begin looking for signs of life on Christmas Day, 2003. But it lost contact with Earth once it separated from the mother ship in mid-December.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/12/20/failed_beagle_2_probe_found_on_mars___scientist/
Wyoming launches cloud-seeding project
By Bob Moen, Associated Press Writer December 20, 2005
CHEYENNE, Wyo. --Wyoming is embarking on an $8.8 million, five-year cloud-seeding project that aims to bolster mountain snowpack, and possibly yield proof of whether cloud seeding actually works.
"Hopefully in Wyoming, we'll find evidence for that to be a viable tool in water resource management," said Dan Breed, project scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a federally funded research center based in Boulder, Colo.
The state is paying the center $1.9 million to monitor and evaluate the Wyoming project.
"In a lot of the other programs, the evaluation part has been more ad hoc or not planned into it," Breed said. In addition, he said, the Wyoming project will last for five years, while most others are conducted year to year.
"The Wyoming program is very unique with the amount of science that's being employed," said project manager Barry Lawrence of the Wyoming Water Development Commission. "The scientists are involved throughout the process."
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/12/20/wyoming_launches_cloud_seeding_project/
Ambitions for victory
December 20, 2005
PRESIDENT BUSH, less confrontational toward his critics than usual, defended the war in Iraq Sunday night as essential to victory in the struggle against terror. The Iraq campaign is far from won, yet in Baghdad, Vice President Cheney suggested that American troops would be pulled back into a few locations next year. The American people deserve to know whether the object in Iraq is total victory or a gradual withdrawal to allow the Iraqis to determine their own destiny.
''To retreat before victory would be an act of recklessness and dishonor, and I will not allow it," Bush said Sunday night. He was even more emphatic in a speech last Wednesday. ''Their [the terrorists'] stated objective is to drive the United States and coalition forces out of the Middle East so they can gain control of Iraq and use that country as a base from which to launch attacks against America, overthrow moderate governments in the Middle East, and establish a totalitarian Islamic empire that stretches from Spain to Indonesia," he said.
The US force level in Iraq is inadequate to prevail against a foe of this magnitude. If the stakes were really this high, Bush would be justified in reinforcing the 160,000 troops there and fighting until the terrorists are vanquished, just as the United States did against Japan and Germany in World War II.
The situation in Iraq is not as apocalyptic as the president portrays it. The conflict is more like an incipient, three-sided civil war, with the United States as a barely tolerated intruder.
Perhaps the Iraqis will sort it out for themselves. The relative peace with which elections were conducted last week offers hope, as Bush pointed out Sunday night. But it will take much bargaining and major concessions for the Iraqis to form a durable government that can defeat the insurgents.
RELATED STORY: Bush hails Iraqi vote, raps critics
Bush's speeches and his press conference yesterday are part of a public relations campaign to blunt the calls of some Democrats, notably Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania, for a quick troop pullout. The administration considers that defeatist, but there is a sense in Washington that Bush has a sub rosa plan to draw down troop levels over the next year. ''As these achievements [by Iraqis] come, it should require fewer American troops to accomplish our mission," Bush said Sunday night.
In a rare Clinton-esque moment, Bush had empathetic words for domestic opponents of the war. ''Yet," he added, ''now there are only two options before our country: victory or defeat." Bush prefers moral clarity, something history does not always provide. The challenge for Bush is to manage a gradual withdrawal from Iraq even if the outcome there is uncertain
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/12/20/ambitions_for_victory/
continued ...
Terror suspect 'met Osama'
A man accused of being a member of a terrorist organisation had trained with al-Qaeda and met Osama bin Laden shortly before the September 11 attacks in the US, a court has been told.
Shane Kent, 28, who is charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation, applied along with Amer Haddara, 26, who is facing the same charge, for bail in the Melbourne Magistrates Court today.
Kent, of the Melbourne suburb of Meadow Heights, and Haddara, of suburban Yarraville, are two of 10 Victorian men charged after raids in Melbourne and Sydney last month.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/terror-suspect-met-osama/2005/12/20/1135032012529.html
Widow wins sperm battle
A 36-year-old woman has won a seven-year legal battle to use her dead husband's sperm to get pregnant.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal today gave the woman permission to use the sperm as part of IVF treatment in NSW.
The woman, referred to as YZ, was living with her husband in the ACT when he died in a car accident in Victoria in July 1998.
She successfully won a court order to extract and freeze a sperm sample from her husband the day after the fatal accident.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/widow-wins-sperm-battle/2005/12/20/1135032005726.html
Four stung by deadly irukandji
Four people have been stung by potentially deadly irukandji jellyfish off central Queensland within the last few days.
Surf Lifesaving Queensland's spokesman for the Wide Bay-Capricorn region Craig Holden said today the people were stung by the tiny jellyfish at Agnes Water beach, which has been closed as a precautionary measure.
Mr Holden said reopening the beach, which was closed following a similar jellyfish problem four years ago, would be considered as a day-to-day proposition.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/four-stung-by-deadly-irukandji/2005/12/20/1135031998954.html
Shipwrecked pair survive 11 days on diet of willpower and urine
AN AUSTRALIAN skipper and his New Zealander first mate survived 11 days in a storm-battered life raft with no food or water - and were forced to drink their own urine - after their yacht sank off Vietnam.
Mark Wesley Smith and Steven John Freeman recounted yesterday how they clung desperately to their life raft as storms flipped it over and over for days on end.
They ate nothing for 11 days, licked rainwater off the raft and were forced to drink their urine.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/shipwrecked-pair-survive-11-days-on-raft/2005/12/19/1134840796240.html
UK gay couples take their vows
The United Kingdom's first gay couple to win legal recognition under a new British civil partnership law drove past anti-homosexual protesters to make their marriage-style vows inside Belfast City Hall.
Northern Ireland woman Grainne Close and her American partner, Shannon Sickels, walked hand in hand from a black taxi for a 20-minute ceremony that featured an exchange of matching platinum rings and a recording of Dolly Parton's Touch Your Woman.
"We just want to say that this is a very privileged position we are in this morning, and for us this is about making a choice," said Close, 32, who wore a black tuxedo.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/uk-gay-couples-take-their-vows/2005/12/20/1134840823623.html
Critics on the wrong track over racism
December 20, 2005
Page 1 of 2
Criminals caused the Cronulla riots, not failed multiculturalism, writes Gerard Henderson.
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IT'S not John Howard's fault. And Geoffrey Blainey does not have the solution. Since the civil disorder on Sydney's southern beaches over the past couple of weeks, there has been a tendency in some sections of the community to blame the Prime Minister for Sydney's discontents.
This view has found expression among some left-wing activists along with some letter writers, commentators, journalists and cartoonists. On occasions, the critique has had a bipartisan angle, with the Opposition Leader, Kim Beazley, and former NSW Labor premier Bob Carr copping some of the blame. The suggestion is that Australia's political leaders have either ignited latent racism or allowed a racist climate to endure.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/critics-on-the-wrong-track-over-racism/2005/12/19/1134840796093.html
Beaches now safe: Iemma
Return to your beaches, NSW Premier Morris Iemma urged residents of southern Sydney and other NSW cities today.
After asking people in NSW to stay away from some of the state's best known beaches at the weekend in case of violence, Mr Iemma today declared beaches safe and called on beachgoers to return to the sand.
Mr Iemma said today police now believed the threat of unrest at beaches in southern Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle had passed.
"The intelligence and the security assessments are such that people are encouraged to return to normal business," he told reporters.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/beaches-now-safe-iemma/2005/12/19/1134840765876.html
More Aussies facing poverty: charities
Charities nationwide are reporting record appeals for help this Christmas with more and more Australian households facing a slide into poverty.
St Vincent de Paul Society social policy national director John Falzon said the need for charity would continue to balloon as the federal government pushes ahead with its workplace and welfare reforms.
"We at Vinnies have experienced an increased demand not only for presents and food for the Christmas season but even with the day-to-day expenses such as prescriptions, doctors' visits, school excursions and electricity bills," Dr Falzon said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/More-Aussies-facing-poverty-charities/2005/12/19/1134840782459.html
Revealed: the true cost of late-life IVF
IN VITRO fertilisation is three to seven times less cost effective for women aged over 42 than for younger women, but older women account for only a small percentage of IVF costs, according to a study.
The direct health care cost of non-donor IVF for each live birth is, on average, $24,809 for women aged 30 and under. But the cost jumps to $97,884 for women aged 40-plus and to $182,794 for those 42 years and older, a University of NSW report has found.
"The study did find it is more costly for older women because of the natural decline in a woman's fertility … but older age groups make up a smaller percentage of the women who apply for IVF," said one of the report's authors, Georgina Chambers, a researcher at the university.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/revealed-the-true-cost-of-latelife-ivf/2005/12/18/1134840742434.html
Rape counselling offered online
AN ONLINE rape counselling service will be launched in Sydney today. In what is said to be a world first, the NSW Rape Crisis Centre will provide one-on-one counselling in real time to sexual assault victims who log onto its website.
December and January are peak months for sexual assault, with the centre usually recording a 20 to 30 per cent increase in calls, said the centre's manager, Karen Willis.
For some, assaults happened at work parties or other social functions; for others, the prospect of facing the perpetrator "across the Christmas table" prompted them to seek support.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/rape-counselling-offered-online/2005/12/18/1134840742448.html
Air New Zealand to cut 110 jobs
Air New Zealand will lay off 110 workers, and more than 500 other jobs may also go, following a decision to outsource heavy maintenance of its wide body aero-engines.
The airline plans to outsource the underperforming business from next year, in a move expected to save $NZ53 million ($49 million) in costs.
Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said the decision came after 18 months of talks, and the state of the business was bleak.
"Volumes in this business are low and falling," Mr Fyfe said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/air-new-zealand-to-cut-110-jobs/2005/12/19/1134840773261.html
Bad times could become worse
A rough year for Evans & Tate.
Photo: James Brickwood
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By Scott Rochfort
December 19, 2005
MARGARET River winemaker Evans & Tate has had a wretched year - and could face a worse one if its convertible note holders do not pass a resolution this Friday which will quarantine the company from the effect of new accounting standards.
Under International Financial Reporting Standards, which come into effect on January 1, the $20-odd million of convertible notes on issue by Evans & Tate will no longer be treated as equity but as debt.
This would result in the already debt-ridden company breaching its debt convenants and expose it to being "wound up" by creditors.
Jitters over this week's meeting pushed the winemaker's shares to a new low of 21.5c last Friday. Helped by the $49.8 million full-year loss posted in August, Evans & Tate shares have fallen 80 per cent since mid-January.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/bad-times-could-become-worse/2005/12/18/1134840742138.html
Qantas says Roo's in top shape
By Julian Lee
December 19, 2005
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Qantas claims its brand is the healthiest in its 85-year history and that Australians still call the Flying Kangaroo "home".
Despite negative press in the past year and increased competition from Virgin Blue and Emirates, everything is just fine at Qantas, says executive general manager, John Borghetti.
Far from weakening the Qantas brand, he said, the arrival of its low-cost stablemate Jetstar had actually strengthened it.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/qantas-says-roos-in-top-shape/2005/12/18/1134840742150.html
U.S. teacher sexpidemic spreading across planet
Long list of American rapists
joined by female Australians
Posted: December 14, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Joe Kovacs
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Bridget Nolan (courtesy Australian Broadcasting Corp.)
The seeming U.S. epidemic of cases involving female teachers raping or molesting their students has been "sexported" Down Under, as Australia is experiencing a similar rash of cases.
Bridget Mary Nolan, 24, of Adelaide, Australia, is facing a possible seven-year prison term after admitting to three counts of sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old student in late July.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47895
"The victim ... and his family are the subject of a lot of scrutiny by members of the school community and (the) town community in which they live," prosecutor Elizabeth Griffith told a court hearing.
"The victim has ... been teased and bullied and pointed out within the school community as somebody who might have been involved with the teacher."
Meanwhile, another woman teacher is facing charges for allegedly seducing one of her own 15-year-old students.
Natalina D'Addario, a 36-year-old languages instructor from the Melbourne area is accused of beginning a sexual relationship with the teen in May.
Police say they engaged in oral sex on six occasions through July off school grounds. The affair reportedly came to a close in September when the boy notified his assistant principal of the liaisons.
These two cases are the latest in a series of Australian women having illicit relations with their male students.
According to the Australian, Cindy Leanne Howell, a female teacher's aide, was sentenced last month to at least two and a half years for preying on a 15-year-old boy; Sarah Jayne Vercoe was sentenced to four years for a series of sex offenses against five boys in Tasmania; and Karen Ellis of Victoria was jailed in May after pleading guilty to six charges of sexual penetration of a child under 16.
The Australian incidents are hauntingly reminiscent of the flood of cases reported in the United States and elsewhere.
Among the most well-known is the case of Debra Lafave, a 26-year-old reading teacher in Florida accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy in her classroom, car and at home. Her plea deal sparing her jail time and giving her just house arrest was thrown out last week and her trial is now slated for April 10.
Other cases collected from news reports by WND and iGossip include:
Adrianne Hockett: Accused of having sex with a 16-year-old special-needs student in a Houston apartment she rented for the get-togethers. The boy has testified the pair would "have sex, drink beer and smoke weed."
Amber Jennings, 31: Initially charged with having sex with a 16-year-old, the counts against the Sturbridge, Mass., woman were reduced to a single charge of disseminating harmful materials to a minor. She reportedly admitted e-mailing naked photos of herself to a former student.
Amber Marshall, 23: Northwest Indiana woman allegedly had sexual contact, including intercourse, with several students, and turned herself into authorities, telling police she knew what she did was illegal.
Amira Sa'Si, 30: Clayton County, Ga., woman remarked she didn't think her relationship was inappropriate based on her Internet research, learning the Peach State's age of consent is 16.
Amy Gail Lilley, 36: Inverness, Fla., woman charged with an alleged relationship with a 15-year-old girl.
Angela Stellwag, 24: Delran, N.J., woman accused of having sex in her apartment with a 14-year-old boy she met in school.
Beth Raymond, 31: Private-school employee from Pownal, Maine, charged with risk of injury to a minor and second-degree sexual assault of a juvenile male.
Bethany Sherrill, 24: Daughter-in-law of school-board president is charged with molesting a middle school student when he was 14.
Carol Flannigan, 50: Boca Raton, Fla., music teacher reportedly slept with 11-year-old former student, and also had a simultaneous sexual relationship with the boy's father.
Celeste Emerick, 32: Police in Huber Heights, Ohio, say she hosted a party where students were shown porn.
Christina Gallagher, 26: Jersey City, N.J., woman ordered to pay more than $1,000 in fines, sentenced to a lifetime registration as a convicted sex offender and ordered to attend therapy for having sex with a 17-year-old student.
Deanna Bobo, 37: Arkansas teacher allegedly had sex twice with a 14-year-old boy in his own bed while his parents were not home.
Donna Carr Galloway, 33: Married mother of two found naked in a car with a 17-year-old student.
Elisa Kawasaki, 25: Officials say ex-biology teacher had sexual relations with a 16-year-old student on up to 20 different occasions.
Elizabeth Miklosovic, 36: Grand Rapids, Mich., woman pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female student she "married" in a pagan ritual.
Elizabeth Stow, 26: Woman from Fresno, Calif., area convicted of having sex with three of her students was sentenced to nine years, but the judge suspended that sentence and gave her one year, possibly on house arrest, as well as faces five years probation.
Ellen Garfield, 43: Former student says teacher took him into an empty classroom where she worked, partially disrobed, and coaxed him into having sex with her in 1998. Garfield was acquitted of all charges in September of this year.
Emily Morris, 28: Alabama woman faced a possible 20-year sentence, but received one year in jail for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old student.
Erica Rutters, 29: York, Pa., woman allegedly wrote erotic messages to a 17-year-old student and had sexual intercourse with him four times in her apartment.
Georgianne Harrell, 24: Sylvester, Ga., woman charged with performing oral sex on a 9-year-old boy, allowing students to gaze down her blouse and slashing her wrists with glass in front of her students. She pleaded not guilty.
Gwen Ann Cardozo, 33: Colorado woman charged with having sex with a 17-year-old male student.
Heather Ingram, 30: Mathematics, science and business teacher in British Columbia had sex with a 17-year-old student.
Janelle Marie Bird, 24: Accused of having a two-year affair with a 15-year-old student from East Hill Christian School, in Pensacola, Fla.
Jaymee Wallace, 28: Basketball coach in Tampa, Fla., charged with having an 18-month lesbian relationship with a student.
Joan Marie Sladky, 28: Redwood City, Calif., woman sentenced to six months in county jail for having sex with a 16-year-old student after pleading no contest to four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation and penetration with a foreign object.
Katherine Tew, 30: Married English teacher from Greenville, N.C., arrested for having sex with a 17-year-old student.
Kathy White, 39: Charged with having sex with a 17-year-old student in Lumberton, Texas. Victim alleges: "She just started grabbing me and hormones were on and it just happened."
Kelly Lynn Dalecki, 28: Woman from St. Augustine, Fla., pleaded no contest to charges she had sex with a 13-year-old boy.
Kristen Margrif, 27: Michigan woman accused of having sex with a 16-year-old male student in her car or at his summer workplace.
Kristi Dance Oakes, 32: Former Tennessee high-school teacher allegedly had sex with a 16-year-old boy who was in her biology class the previous year.
Lakina Stutts, 40: School-bus driver admitted to cops she had sex with a 14-year-old student in her home and in a car outside the boy's home.
Laura-Anne Brownlee, 26: Former music mistress at a top private school in Belfast, N. Ireland, was sentenced on six charges of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
Laura Lynn Findlay, 30: Middle-school band teacher in Buena Vista Township, Mich., charged with having sex with at least 5 students, one as young as 14.
Margaret De Barraicua, 30: Sacramento, Calif., area woman arrested after police found her having sex with a 16-year-old male student in her car while the woman's toddler was strapped into a seat in the back.
Maria Saco, 28: Passaic, N.J., woman sentenced to a year in jail for an intimate relationship with a teen student who was 14 when they first met.
Mary Kay Letourneau, 34: Des Moines, Wash., woman did prison time after having an affair with a sixth-grade student, and had two children by him. The couple recently married.
Melissa Michelle Deel, 32: Bristol, Tenn., woman pleaded guilty to crossing the state line into Virginia to have oral sex with a 13-year-old male student.
Michelle Kush, 29: Ohio woman allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old boy several times during summer break.
Nicola Prentice, 22: British woman from Sheffield, England, given a 12-month suspended jail sentence after she seduced a 16-year-old student and began a 19-month affair.
Nicole Andrea Barnhart, 35: Reportedly told police she loves the 16-year-old boy with whom she was allegedly having sex.
Nicole Pomerleau, 31: High-school English teacher in Charlotte, N.C., accused of having a sexual relationship with her 16-year-old student.
Pamela Smart, 22: Media-services director at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, N.Y., had convinced her 15-year-old lover to murder her husband. The Nicole Kidman film "To Die For" is based on her story.
Pamela Turner, 27: Former model and beauty-pageant contestant accused of having a three-month sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy.
Rachelle Vantucci, 32: Ex-substitute teacher in western New York admitted having sex with a 16-year-old boy.
Rebecca Boicelli, 33: Redwood City, Calif., woman gave birth to a baby last year and DNA test results gave prosecutors enough evidence to prove the father is Boicelli's former student, who was 16 at the time of conception.
Rhianna Ellis, 24: New York City teacher who allegedly had a 10-month affair with an 18-year-old, and allgedly gave birth to his baby.
Robin Gialanella, 26: Elementary teacher in Toms River, N.J., engaged in kissing, and inappropriate conduct and conversations with two sixth-grade boys, ages 11 and 12. She was sentenced to 364 days in jail.
Robin Winkis, 29: York, Pa., woman allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old boy after giving him alcohol.
Samantha Solomon, 29: Fired after school bosses learned she was having sex with a teenage boy. She denies the charges.
Sandra "Beth" Geisel, 42: Albany, N.Y., woman was fired from her job at an private all-boys school after police in found her in a parked car with a 17-year-old. She pleaded guilty to a single count of rape and was sentenced to six months in jail.
Shelley Allen, 35: East Texas teacher's aide accused of sexual assault and faces a possible 20 years behind bars.
Shelley White, 24: Geography teacher in Britain had been engaged to be married before she kissed a 15-year-old student on at least three occasions. She avoided jail, but received 12 months community service.
Stephanie Burleson: Volleyball coach and teacher at Floresville High School in Texas six years ago, pleaded guilty to all charges for molesting a 16-year-old female student. She was sentenced to 10 years probation, and required to register as a sex offender.
Susan Eble, 35: Former teacher's aide is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy.
Tara Lynn Crisp, 29: Police allege she had sex with a student at least three times beginning when he was 14.
Toni Lynn Woods, 37: The Braxton County, W.Va., woman confessed to having sexual intercourse with three juveniles a total of four times and oral sex with one of those juveniles and another juvenile a total of four times. She resigned.
If you'd like to sound off on this issue, please take part in the WorldNetDaily poll.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47895
The Gulf News
Iran nuclear plant may pose risk to Gulf region
By Jumana Al Tamimi, GCC & Middle East Editor
Abu Dhabi: Gulf countries expressed serious concerns over Iran's nuclear programme and called on the Islamic Republic to provide guarantees against "any radioactive leakage," UAE Foreign Minister Rashid Abdullah said on Monday.
"We are asking for guarantees to protect ourselves," he told a press conference held at the end of the Fahd Summit in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
"We are asking Iran to join the [international] early warning agreement to alert us in case of any leakage, God forbid," he added in reference to the agreement, which was signed by all GCC states and which calls upon signed countries to notify others in case of nuclear radioactive leakage.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/United_Arab_Emirates/10006201.html
GCC fears Iran nuclear activities
By Jumana Al Tamimi, GCC and Middle East Editor, and Samir Salama, Bureau Chief
Abu Dhabi: Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council concluded their 26th summit here on Monday, calling for a Middle East, including the Gulf region, free from weapons of mass destruction and urged Iran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"We have a legitimate fear" of Iran's nuclear programme, Rashid Abdullah, UAE Foreign Minister, told reporters at a press conference with Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah, Secretary General of the GCC.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/United_Arab_Emirates/10006187.html
Jordanian kidnapped in Baghdad
Agencies
Baghdad: An employee from the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad was taken hostage after leaving his home on Tuesday.
Police say that three cars pulled up outside Jordanian Mahmoud Saedat’s house and seized him in a southern district of Baghdad.
Saedat has been a driver for the embassy for the past four years.
It is not yet clear what the man’s role at the Jordanian embassy was and an official said that diplomats had no information on the incident.
Al Qaida in Iraq abducted the Egyptian envoy and two Algerian diplomats and they were killed in July.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10006211.html
Defence lawyer says Saddam believes he was betrayed
AP
London: A lawyer for Saddam Hussain said the deposed Iraqi leader believes someone tipped off US forces to his whereabouts, resulting in his capture from a spider hole near his hometown of Tikrit, a newspaper reported on Monday.
The Sun quoted former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark as giving Saddam's view of his capture two years ago.
"Saddam thinks he was gassed in the tunnel," the newspaper quoted Clark as saying. "He tried to get to the exit of the tunnel. But he did not have time to get away. He told us he spent maybe minutes in this tunnel - not hours or days.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10006172.html
Early Iraq election results show Shiite strength
Reuters
Baghdad: Early results from the count of votes in more than half Iraq's regions, including Baghdad, confirmed a strong showing for the ruling Shiite Islamist Alliance, figures from the Electoral Commission showed on Monday.
The Alliance won 58 per cent of the vote in the capital, the biggest of 18 provinces and accounting for 59 of the 230 parliamentary seats allocated among the regions. A further 45 seats will be allocated according to shares of the national vote.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10006145.html
Women break ground in politics
By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: Women's representation on the national boards of Bahrain's political societies is at its highest level ever, a study has revealed.
Women today hold 21 board seats in the 15 political societies, or 16 per cent, compared to 139 men. The figure is an unprecedented one in the male-dominated sector of politics.
According to the study based on the list of names released by the political formations in the kingdom, Islamic societies are faring unexpectedly well, with eight women holding board seats.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Bahrain/10006039.html
Billionaires can help poor millions
It is a tired cliché India is a land of contrasts. But with a growing number of Indians joining the worldwide billionaire club, while many of their compatriots scrabble out a meagre existence, there is more than a little truth in the old saying.
According to Forbes, at least seven new Indians made the list, bringing the total to 27 billionaires from the subcontinent worth $106 billion.
There is little question that the nation is on its way towards becoming one of the major global powerhouses. Stories abound about the burgeoning Indian middle class, the power of outsourcing and the drive towards plush shopping malls.
http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/editorial_opinion/world/10005842.html
The mother of all ironies
By Adel Safty, Special to Gulf News
I argued in my previous column that the rumours of the premature death of irony were grossly exaggerated and that irony was alive.
The issue of immoral use of banned weapons, used to justify the Iraq war, was ironically turned against the US with the accusation that US troops used white phosphorous against Iraqi civilians. The Bush administration also claimed it had waged war to make Iraq a democratic beacon in the Middle East.
Recent revelations, however, subjected such claims to ironic discredit. The Pentagon recently admitted it had been bribing Iraqi and Arab journalists to write positive stories about the American occupation of Iraq.
http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/region/10005815.html
Is Lebanon heading for a catastrophe?
By Patrick Seale, Special to Gulf News
Located at the storm-centre of the Middle East, Lebanon is in danger of succumbing to a lethal combination of internal, regional and international conflicts. Will this small and vulnerable country sink once more into chaos?
At the heart of the problem lies Lebanon's umbilical, love-hate relationship with its Syrian neighbour. When Syria comes under great pressure as is at present the case the repercussions in Lebanon are immediate.
What are the danger signals? First and foremost is the unprecedented spate of murders and attempted murders of prominent politicians and media personalities, following the assassination of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, last February. These killings have created an atmosphere of panic.
http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/region/10005816.html
Iran nuclear plan 'not worrisome'
By Jumana Al Tamimi, GCC & Middle East Editor
Abu Dhabi: Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary General Abdul Rahman Hamad Al Attiyah said on Sunday that the GCC countries are not concerned over Iran's nuclear programme, if it is limited only to peaceful applications.
However, he continued, "if it was otherwise, I personally believe, than that the issue is not justified, and it cannot be left as it is because it affects the international peace and security", he responded to a question by Gulf News.
"We have confidence in Iran, but we don't want to see the Iranian nuclear reactor, which is closer to our coasts than the distance between it and Tehran, as a cause of danger to us", Al Attiyah told a small group of journalists in Abu Dhabi on the sidelines of "Fahd Summit".
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/United_Arab_Emirates/10005979.html
Chronology of earthquakes in Iran
Staff Report
The following is a chronology of some of the major earthquakes in Iran in the past three decades:
April 10, 1972 - 5,347 people were killed when an earthquake with a radius of more than 250 miles struck southern Iran around Ghir Karzin. The quake measured 7.1 on the Richter scale.
March 22, 1977 - 167 people were killed when an earthquake struck the southeastern coastal region around the town of Bandar Abbas. It measured 7 on the Richter scale.
April 6/7, 1977 - 352 people were killed when an earthquake struck Isfahan province. It measured 6.5 on the Richter Scale.
December 21, 1977 - An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale struck the town of Zarand in Kerman Province, killing 521 people.
September 16, 1978 - 15,000 people were killed by an earthquake which measured between 7.5 and 7.9 on the Richter scale. It levelled the town of Tabas and many other villages.
January 16, 1979 - An earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale struck Khorasan province, killing 199 people.
November 14, 1979 - An earthquake struck eastern Iran measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale. It hit a string of villages in Khorasan province, killing at least 385 people.
June 11, 1981 - 1,027 people were killed and more than 800 injured. It measured 6.8 on the Richter scale. The town of Golbaf, 800 km (500 miles) southeast of Tehran, was destroyed.
June 21, 1990 - 35,000 died and 100,000 were injured when an earthquake, which registered 7.7 on the Richter scale, devastated the Caspian regions of Gilan and Zanjan. Some 500,000 were made homeless.
February 28, 1997 - A quake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale killed about 1,000 people in northwestern Iran.
May 10, 1997 - A quake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale killed 1,560 people in rural areas of eastern Iran near the Afghan border.
June 22, 2002 - An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale razed dozens of villages in north Iran's Qazvin province killing 229.
Deember 26, 2003 - An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale strikes the city of Bam, 1,000 km (600 miles) southeast of Tehran. 30,948 were killed in the quake.
February 21, 2005 - An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale hits Zarand village in Kerman province, about 700 km (440 miles) southeast of Tehran, killing 612 people.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10000856.html
Ten killed as quake strikes Iran
Agencies
Tehran: A powerful earthquake measuring at least 5.9 on the Richter scale struck Qeshim island off Iran's southern coast, killing at least ten people and damaging four villages.
The main hospital on Qeshim was full of wounded people.
"The hospital is full of wounded and those accompanying them. The hospital lacks basic facilities," an IRNA (Iran national news agency) bulletin read.
IRNA said that marketplaces in the island's capital Qeshim City were shaken to the ground and that the villages of Tonban, Gavarzin and Khaledi have been badly hit.
State television said the tremor struck at 1:30pm (1000 GMT) and was centred close to the Qeshim Island near Bandar Abbas city.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10000851.html
Iran quake: reader's experiences
Staff Report
Dubai: Gulfnews.com readers share their experiences of the tremors which shook the UAE on Sunday afternoon.
Did you feel the tremors?
Was your building evacuated?
How did you react?
Email your experiences to write2tabloid@gulfnews.com
Sunday afternoon happened to be a deja-vu of a 1980 earthquake I experienced in Athens which measured 5.8 on the Richter scale. Those tremors lasted more than 60 seconds - the longest 60 seconds of my entire life. The wall in my living room cracked all across and opened diagonally by about half a metre. I had a clear view of the street outside. That doomed February scarred me for ever. Two month later I relocated to UAE.
Eve
Sharjah
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/United_Arab_Emirates/10000855.html
Ten killed in fresh Baghdad violence
Agencies
Baghdad: Ten Iraqis, including five police officers, have been killed in attacks in Baghdad and north of the capital, medical and security sources said Sunday.
The US command also reported the death of a Marine from a non-hostile wound.
Since Thursday's peaceful voting, Iraqi officials have reopened border crossings on Saturday, except on the frontier with Syria.
Dhiab Hamad Al Hamdani and his son Munah were shot in Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, police Colonel Shirzad Mofari said.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10005780.html
Jordan court hands second death penalty against Al Zarqawi
Agencies
Amman: Jordan's state security court on Sunday handed Al Qaida's leader in Iraq Abu Musab Al Zarqawi his second death penalty in absentia, for a failed suicide bombing on the Jordanian-Iraqi border a year ago.
His two accomplices in the December 2004 plot were also given the death sentence.
Jordanian-born Al Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq where he has a US bounty of $25 million on his head, has also been sentenced to death by the state security court for the October 2002 murder of a US diplomat in Amman.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Jordan/10005783.html
Ariel Sharon leaves hospital
Agencies
Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was discharged from hospital on Tuesday, two days after the 77-year-old suffered a minor stroke.
"I must hurry to return to work so that we can move forward," Sharon told reporters as he left Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital.
Sharon was admitted to hospital after suffering a stroke on Sunday evening while being driven from his official residence in Jerusalem to his ranch in the southern Negev desert.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10006216.html
The Boston Globe
Periwinkle snails harming La. marshes
December 19, 2005
NEW ORLEANS --There are plenty of culprits from which to choose in assigning blame for the destruction of Louisiana's marshes: oil companies that carved wetlands to tatters with their exploratory canals, levees that hemmed in the nourishing waters of the Mississippi River, burrowing nutria that left marshes exposed to grass-killing saltwater.
Now, the state's dwindling coastline must deal with another nemesis: the marble-sized periwinkle snail.
Researchers from Brown and Louisiana State universities added it to the list after witnessing millions of the snails chomping their way through drought-weakened marshlands across the Gulf of Mexico and up the eastern seaboard. Over the past six years, the snails have left in their wake thousands of acres of bare mud flats where there were once thriving wetlands.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/12/19/periwinkle_snails_harming_la_marshes/
New York City transit workers strike
By Sara Kugler, Associated Press Writer December 20, 2005
NEW YORK --The city's transit union called a strike Tuesday morning after failing to reach a deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority following days of bitter labor talks.
The decision ensured that New York would be thrown into chaos by the height of the morning rush hour.
"This contract between the MTA and the Transport Workers Union should have been a no-brainer," union president Roger Toussaint said at a news conference announcing the strike. "Sadly that has not been the case."
MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow called the strike "a slap in the face" to all New Yorkers and said state lawyers will immediately head to court in seeking to block the walkout.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/12/20/strike_deadline_passes_in_ny_transit_talks/
Bush bypassed compliant court on wiretapping
Warrants rarely denied
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff December 20, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The court that authorizes wiretaps on terrorism suspects had not rejected a government request for a warrant in its 22-year existence to 2001, when President Bush issued an order allowing agents to wiretap citizens without judicial approval.
Bush's actions surprised many lawyers familiar with the court's workings, because federal law allows the US attorney general to authorize wiretaps without waiting for a warrant, as long as federal agents later present evidence to a judge.
Bush and his advisers have argued that the need for rapid monitoring of international telephone calls involving terrorism suspects had justified his decision to allow agents to bypass the surveillance law.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/12/20/bush_bypassed_compliant_court_on_wiretapping/
Heavy crowd expected at Williams funeral
By Paul Chavez, Associated Press Writer December 20, 2005
LOS ANGELES --Few condemned inmates have generated as much public support as Stanley Tookie Williams -- and so much post-execution attention. His final send-off promises to be no different.
A funeral normally reserved for a dignitary or religious leader was scheduled for Tuesday, almost exactly a week after Williams was executed by lethal injection for murdering four people during a pair of 1979 robberies.
Among those expected to attend were the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who visited Williams shortly before his death; Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan; and hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg.
The service was to include a five-minute video tribute by documentary filmmaker Jonathan Stack and speeches by motivational guru Tony Robbins and actor Jamie Foxx, who portrayed Williams in the TV movie "Redemption: The Stanley Tookie Williams Story."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/12/20/heavy_crowd_expected_at_williams_funeral/\
Families gathered for tragic new of crash
By Denise Kalette, Associated Press Writer December 20, 2005
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. --Never again will Sabrina Dean braid her cousins' hair. Never again will her husband, Barto, crack jokes with his nephew, 16-year-old Adrian Jones.
The couple and their infant daughter died Monday when a Chalk's Ocean Airways plane carrying 20 people crashed into the water near Miami Beach. Nineteen bodies had been recovered as of Tuesday morning.
Boats and helicopters searched the waters where the plane went down near Government Cut channel, used by ships traveling from the Atlantic to the Port of Miami. Bodies encased in black bags were taken from rescue crafts.
Throughout the evening, shocked relatives streamed to the Miami Beach Police Department to learn details of the crash and meet with grief counselors and clergymen. Some, like Jones, sat on the steps outside, trying to absorb the loss.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/12/20/families_gathered_for_tragic_new_of_crash/
One of three teens convicted in beating is granted a new trial
December 20, 2005
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. --One of three Springfield teenagers, who had been found guilty in the beating death of a high school senior, has been granted a new trial.
Hampden Superior Court Judge C. Brian McDonald, who presided over the trial, ordered Timothy X. Rudd, 19, of Springfield to report to probation officers daily and ordered a hearing for Jan. 4 to set a new trial date. In the meantime, Rudd was allowed to go home.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/12/20/one_of_three_teens_convicted_in_beating_is_granted_a_new_trial/
Record fine levied against former GOP candidate
By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer December 20, 2005
BOSTON --A former candidate for lieutenant governor and one-time chairman of the state Republican Party has agreed to pay the largest campaign finance fine in state history, prosecutors said Monday.
It's the second time James W. Rappaport has been fined for failing to fully disclose expenditures from his personal account during his failed 2002 run for lieutenant governor.
Rappaport, a real estate developer who lost the Republican nomination to Kerry Healey, has agreed to pay $60,000 in fines, according to Attorney General Tom Reilly, a Democratic candidate for governor.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/12/20/record_fine_levied_against_former_gop_candidate/
Horse racing eliminated from Three County Fair
December 20, 2005
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. --There will be no horse racing at the Three County Fair next year for the first time in 150 years because competition from casinos and the state lottery has cut into racing profits to the point that it is no longer financially viable, fair president Alan Jacque said.
Racing began at the Three County Fair in 1856 and continued through this year without interruption, according to fair officials.
Harness racing was the main event at the fair until 1943, when the switch to thoroughbred racing was made.
Tracks throughout the region have lost betting customers to casinos and other legalized forms of gambling, Three County Fair general manager Bruce Shallcross said on Monday.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/12/20/horse_racing_eliminated_from_three_county_fair/
ACLU says FBI misuses terror powers
By Ted Bridis, Associated Press Writer December 20, 2005
WASHINGTON --The American Civil Liberties Union accused the FBI of misusing terrorism investigators to monitor some domestic political organizations, despite apparently disparate views within the FBI whether some groups supported or committed violent acts.
Citing hundreds of pages of heavily-censored documents it obtained from the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act, lawyers for the ACLU described this disputed use of terrorism resources as the latest illustration of intensified surveillance aimed toward Americans.
"Using labels like domestic terrorists to describe peaceful protest activity can chill robust political debate in this country," ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner said in New York. The ACLU said it will publish the FBI reports it obtained on its Web site Tuesday.
In one case, government records show the FBI launched a terrorism investigation of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Norfolk, Va., despite acknowledgment by one FBI official that, "The FBI does not consider PETA a terrorist organization."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/12/20/aclu_says_fbi_misuses_terror_powers/
Germany frees jailed Hizbollah member to Lebanon
December 20, 2005
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Germany has secretly released a Hizbollah member jailed for life for killing a U.S. Navy diver and returned him to Lebanon despite an extradition request from the United States, Lebanese political sources said on Tuesday.
They said Mohammad Ali Hammadi, convicted of killing Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem during the 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight to Beirut and sentenced to life without parole, was flown back to Beirut last week.
Diplomatic sources in Germany confirmed Hammadi's release.
Hammadi was captured in 1987 and all attempts to have him exchanged with German hostages held in Lebanon in the late 1980s and early 1990s failed. Hammadi's brother, Abdul-Hadi, was a senior security official of Hizbollah at the time.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/12/20/germany_frees_jailed_hizbollah_member_to_lebanon/
Morgan Stanley expands in UK with Lloyds card deal
LONDON (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley has paid a 175 million pound ($308.7 million) premium for the Goldfish credit card business of UK bank Lloyds TSB
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley paid a 22 percent premium to the unit's 800 million pounds of net balances, a higher price than some recent credit card deals in the United States and above the 14 percent premium Lloyds paid for a 70 percent stake in Goldfish in 2003.
Failed Beagle 2 probe "found" on Mars - scientist
LONDON (Reuters) - The scientist behind the lost 2003 Beagle 2 mission to Mars said on Tuesday the craft may have been spotted in NASA pictures which indicate the project very nearly worked.
Beagle 2, named after the ship Charles Darwin sailed in when he formulated his theory of evolution, was built by British scientists for about 50 million pounds ($90 million) and taken to Mars aboard the European Space Agency's orbiter Mars Express.
It was due to land in a crater on the red planet in a bouncing ball of airbags and begin looking for signs of life on Christmas Day, 2003. But it lost contact with Earth once it separated from the mother ship in mid-December.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/12/20/failed_beagle_2_probe_found_on_mars___scientist/
Wyoming launches cloud-seeding project
By Bob Moen, Associated Press Writer December 20, 2005
CHEYENNE, Wyo. --Wyoming is embarking on an $8.8 million, five-year cloud-seeding project that aims to bolster mountain snowpack, and possibly yield proof of whether cloud seeding actually works.
"Hopefully in Wyoming, we'll find evidence for that to be a viable tool in water resource management," said Dan Breed, project scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a federally funded research center based in Boulder, Colo.
The state is paying the center $1.9 million to monitor and evaluate the Wyoming project.
"In a lot of the other programs, the evaluation part has been more ad hoc or not planned into it," Breed said. In addition, he said, the Wyoming project will last for five years, while most others are conducted year to year.
"The Wyoming program is very unique with the amount of science that's being employed," said project manager Barry Lawrence of the Wyoming Water Development Commission. "The scientists are involved throughout the process."
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/12/20/wyoming_launches_cloud_seeding_project/
Ambitions for victory
December 20, 2005
PRESIDENT BUSH, less confrontational toward his critics than usual, defended the war in Iraq Sunday night as essential to victory in the struggle against terror. The Iraq campaign is far from won, yet in Baghdad, Vice President Cheney suggested that American troops would be pulled back into a few locations next year. The American people deserve to know whether the object in Iraq is total victory or a gradual withdrawal to allow the Iraqis to determine their own destiny.
''To retreat before victory would be an act of recklessness and dishonor, and I will not allow it," Bush said Sunday night. He was even more emphatic in a speech last Wednesday. ''Their [the terrorists'] stated objective is to drive the United States and coalition forces out of the Middle East so they can gain control of Iraq and use that country as a base from which to launch attacks against America, overthrow moderate governments in the Middle East, and establish a totalitarian Islamic empire that stretches from Spain to Indonesia," he said.
The US force level in Iraq is inadequate to prevail against a foe of this magnitude. If the stakes were really this high, Bush would be justified in reinforcing the 160,000 troops there and fighting until the terrorists are vanquished, just as the United States did against Japan and Germany in World War II.
The situation in Iraq is not as apocalyptic as the president portrays it. The conflict is more like an incipient, three-sided civil war, with the United States as a barely tolerated intruder.
Perhaps the Iraqis will sort it out for themselves. The relative peace with which elections were conducted last week offers hope, as Bush pointed out Sunday night. But it will take much bargaining and major concessions for the Iraqis to form a durable government that can defeat the insurgents.
RELATED STORY: Bush hails Iraqi vote, raps critics
Bush's speeches and his press conference yesterday are part of a public relations campaign to blunt the calls of some Democrats, notably Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania, for a quick troop pullout. The administration considers that defeatist, but there is a sense in Washington that Bush has a sub rosa plan to draw down troop levels over the next year. ''As these achievements [by Iraqis] come, it should require fewer American troops to accomplish our mission," Bush said Sunday night.
In a rare Clinton-esque moment, Bush had empathetic words for domestic opponents of the war. ''Yet," he added, ''now there are only two options before our country: victory or defeat." Bush prefers moral clarity, something history does not always provide. The challenge for Bush is to manage a gradual withdrawal from Iraq even if the outcome there is uncertain
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/12/20/ambitions_for_victory/
continued ...
Global Warming. There is no other name for this severe and bad weather.
December 19, 2005.
Portland, Oregon.
The ice is melting. No Ice Age is on the way.
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