The Guardian unlimited
Two-minute silence for July 7 victims
Mark Oliver and agencies
Friday July 7, 2006
Britain today marked the first anniversary of the July 7 London bombings with a national two-minute silence.
It was one of a series of events taking place today to commemorate the victims of the suicide attacks on three tube trains and a bus.
Across the country, people stopped to observe the silence at midday, remembering the 52 people who died and the 700 injured.
Hundreds of Londoners gathered to take part in the tribute at the sites of the four explosions.
At King's Cross, where 26 people died in a Piccadilly line train seconds after it left the station, one of the busiest parts of the capital became still. Buses pulled over to the side of the road, and other traffic stopped.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,,1814861,00.html
Berlusconi and Mills to face trial
Staff and agencies
Friday July 7, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
The former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was ordered today to stand trial following an investigation into alleged fraud in the purchase of movie and television rights at Mediaset, his media empire.
David Mills, the estranged husband of the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, will also have to stand trial for his part in the alleged fraud, the Apcom news agency said.
Mr Mills tonight said that he was "absolutely baffled" by today's decision as he had understood that he had been cleared by the trial judge, Fabio Paparella.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,,1815571,00.html
Crowds gather to see chunk fall off Eiger
John Hooper
Friday July 7, 2006
A vast chunk of Europe's most ill-famed mountain threatens to break loose and crash down in the next few days, a geologist monitoring the situation told the Guardian on Friday.
Hans-Rudolf Keusen said 2m cubic metres of the Eiger in the Bernese Alps, Switzerland - twice the volume of the Empire State Building - was rapidly working its way loose. He said the mountain appeared to have cracked open as an indirect result of global warming.
There was no danger to human beings. "There aren't any houses underneath, so no one is going to end up getting a rock on the head," Mr Keusen said.
http://travel.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1815404,00.html
Minister says Israel will swap Palestinian prisoners for soldier
Conal Urquhart in Gaza City
Friday July 7, 2006
The Guardian
An Israeli minister said Israel was prepared to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the freedom of an Israeli soldier held captive for almost two weeks.
It was the first public admission that Israel was willing to contemplate a prisoner exchange to free Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was captured during a raid on Israeli positions near Gaza on June 25.
Avi Dichter, the minister of public security, told a conference today: "The release of the soldier Gilad Shalit is a must ... Israel will need to, after some time, release prisoners as a reciprocal gesture. Israel knows how to do this. Israel has done this more than once in the past."
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, told reporters Israel had agreed to withdraw from Gaza and free some prisoners in return for Cpl Shalit's freedom.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1815563,00.html
North Korea forfeits aid after missile launches
Staff and agencies
Friday July 7, 2006
South Korean ministers today announced they were halting food aid to North Korea and the Japanese government threatened "severe measures" following the communist regime's missile tests earlier this week.
Shoichi Nakagawa, Japan's minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, also suggested the Pyongyang government should repay rice aid worth 7bn yen (£33m) provided in 1995 as a 30-year loan.
"I feel sorry for the people who are starving but we have absolutely no plans to provide food aid to North Korea," he said. "We should also take measures as severe as possible on [North Korean] imports and exports to step up the pressure."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/korea/article/0,,1815375,00.html
Scare over salmonella in chocolate widens
· Other food firms bought Cadbury's base ingredient
· Company now agrees to clean all production lines
Felicity Lawrence and James Meikle
Friday July 7, 2006
The alert over Cadbury products contaminated with salmonella widened yesterday as it emerged other food companies bought chocolate crumb from the Herefordshire factory at the heart of the crisis.
After a meeting with the authorities in London yesterday, it also emerged Cadbury has only now agreed to a comprehensive cleaning of all the production lines at the Marlbrook plant concerned.
It first discovered it had a salmonella problem at the site in January this year, although the authorities believe that previous outbreaks in 2002 at its other factories may be traced back to Herefordshire. Cadbury only admitted to the contamination after an alert from the Health Protection Agency about an unusual rise in human cases of Salmonella montevideo. It agreed to recall more than 1m bars of seven types of chocolate brands that had tested positive two weeks ago.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,1814626,00.html
Guantánamo inmate tells of worsening conditions
Associated Press
Friday July 7, 2006
An Australian terror suspect being held at Guantánamo Bay today told relatives that conditions at the prison camp had worsened.
David Hicks said he had not been told about a landmark US court ruling that cancelled his proposed military trial, his lawyer, David McLeod, said.
Mr McLeod, who sat in on the two-hour call, said 31-year-old Mr Hicks sounded "very, very depressed". It was only the fourth conversation he has been allowed to have with his family since arriving at Guantánamo in early 2002.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,1814907,00.html
Reid agrees British hacker can be deported for US trial
· American prosecutors say £375,000 damage caused
· Defence claims UFO 'nerd' may face Guantánamo jail internment
Bobbie Johnson, technology correspondent
Friday July 7, 2006
The Guardian
A Briton accused of hacking into the Pentagon's computers is to be extradited to the US, the Home Office has confirmed. Gary McKinnon, from north London, stands accused of what American prosecutors call the "biggest military hack of all time", and potentially faces a sentence of 70 years if found guilty.
The decision over his future had been left to the discretion of the home secretary, John Reid, after a lengthy hearing at Bow Street magistrates court. Lawyers defending Mr McKinnon had claimed that the 40-year-old might even face the prospect of a military tribunal and potential internment in Guantánamo Bay as a so-called enemy of the state.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1814821,00.html
Baccalaureate pupil numbers rising, survey finds
Catherine Jones
Friday July 7, 2006
EducationGuardian.co.uk
More British pupils are choosing to take the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma instead of A-levels, with the numbers set to further increase, new figures show.
And this week the University and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) has further championed the IB by including it in its tariff for the first time.
A survey of admissions officers commissioned by ACS International Schools, published today, showed that two-thirds of admissions officers had reported an increase in the number of IB candidate applications and three out of four surveyed expected this figure to increase.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/1419education/story/0,,1815324,00.html
The New York Times
London Solemn on Anniversary of Bombings
By ALAN COWELL
Published: July 7, 2006
LONDON, July 7 – Much of London fell silent on Friday as Britons observed two minutes silence to mourn the 52 people killed on subway trains and a bus by four bombers exactly one year ago on July 7, 2005.
The commemoration was overshadowed in part by a video, aired on Al Jazeera Arabic television on Thursday purporting to show one of the attackers warning in a last testament that "what you have witnessed now is only the beginning."
The theme was echoed today by London's police chief, Sir Ian Blair, who told the BBC that the threat of a new attack had "palpably increased" since July last year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/world/europe/07cnd-london.html?hp&ex=1152331200&en=2295d400e040bdf8&ei=5094&partner=homepage
London Bomber Outlines Motives in Video
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 7, 2006
Filed at 3:34 p.m. ET
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- One of the four suicide bombers who attacked London a year ago appeared on an Internet video Friday accusing his country of declaring war on Islam and oppressing Muslims in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq and Chechnya.
''For the non-Muslims in Britain, you may wonder what you have done to deserve this,'' Shehzad Tanweer told Britons on the tape, an excerpt of which was broadcast on the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera on Thursday.
Britons continue to oppress ''our mothers and children, brothers and sisters from the east to the west in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq and Chechnya,'' he said, speaking with a thick north English accent.
''Your government has openly support for the genocide of more than 150,000 innocent Muslims in Fallujah,'' he said, referring to the west Iraqi town where U.S. forces fought Islamic militants for several weeks.
''You have openly declared war on Islam,'' he added.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Britain-Bombings-Tanweer.html
For Gay Rights Movement, a Key Setback
By PATRICK HEALY
Published: July 7, 2006
When Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage in November 2003, gay rights advocates imagined a chain reaction that would shake marriage laws until same-sex couples across the nation had the legal right to wed.
Nowhere did gay marriage seem like a natural fit more than New York, where the Stonewall uprising of 1969 provided inspiration for the gay rights movement and where a history of spirited progressivism had led some gay couples to envision their own weddings someday.
Yesterday's court ruling against gay marriage was more than a legal rebuke, then — it came as a shocking insult to gay rights groups. Leaders said they were stunned by both the rejection and the decision's language, which they saw as expressing more concern for the children of heterosexual couples than for the children of gay couples. They also took exception to the ruling's description of homosexuality as a preference rather than an orientation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/nyregion/07gays.html?ei=5094&en=c2a63bf5dad8cae5&hp=&ex=1152331200&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1152279528-4JcFsNWqpKEFoe2sPVjObQ
President Has a Smooth Ride on 'Larry King Live'
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
Published: July 7, 2006
Two kinds of celebrities go on "Larry King Live" on CNN: those with something to sell and those with something to hide.
Al Gore and Brandon Routh, the young star of the newly released "Superman Returns," recently appeared on the show to promote their new movies. The second category includes guests like Star Jones Reynolds, Mary Kay Letourneau, and, right after his indictment in 2004, Kenneth L. Lay of Enron. "Larry King Live" is the first stop in any damage control operation — a chance to explain oneself to the least contentious journalist in the land.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/washington/07teevee.html?hp&ex=1152331200&en=edca849fb9e7e86a&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Algerian Tells of Dark Odyssey in U.S. Hands
By CRAIG S. SMITH and SOUAD MEKHENNET
Published: July 7, 2006
ALGIERS — Two years ago, a motley collection of prisoners spent night after night repeating their telephone numbers to one another from within the dark and dirty cells where they were being held in Afghanistan. Anyone who got out, they said they agreed, would use the numbers to contact the families of the others to let them know that they were still alive.
At least two of those men are now free and, thanks to the memorization exercise, are back in touch with each other.
The case of one of them, Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen who was held as part of the United States' antiterrorism rendition program, was revealed last year, and German and American officials have acknowledged that he was erroneously detained by the United States. But the tale of the other, an Algerian named Laid Saidi, has never been told before, and it carries a new set of allegations against America's secret detention program.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/world/africa/07algeria.html?hp&ex=1152331200&en=ab93f08dc9973987&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Fewer New Jobs Added in June Than Expected
By JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: July 7, 2006
Job growth last month was tepid, the Labor Department reported today, with fewer new jobs added than economists had expected. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.6 percent.
Employment Situation Report (pdf)
The Labor Department reported that the United States economy added 121,000 non-farm jobs in June, based on seasonally adjusted figures. Economists say at least 150,000 new jobs are needed each month just to keep pace with the natural growth of the work force.
Forecasters had predicted a figure closer to 175,000 for June, or even higher, especially after a survey released Wednesday by Automatic Data Processing, a major payroll-services company, showed a rise of 368,000 jobs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/business/07cnd-jobs.html?ei=5094&en=df9d39c637b926e2&hp=&ex=1152331200&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1152280101-hB4u2EIGFv0AVFqO1XkCBA
Border Fight Focuses on Water, Not Immigration
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: July 7, 2006
CALEXICO, Calif. — For more than 100 years, as their names imply, Calexico and its much larger sister city, Mexicali, south of the border, have embraced each other with a bonhomie born of mutual need and satisfaction in the infernal desert.
The pedestrian gate into Mexico clangs ceaselessly as Mexicans lug back bulging bags from Wal-Mart and 99 Cent Stores in Calexico. The line into the United States slogs along, steady but slower, through an air-conditioned foyer as men and women trudge off to work and, during the school year, children wear the universal face that greets the coming day.
Now, the ties that bind Calexico and Mexicali are being tested as a 20-year dispute over the rights to water leaking into Mexico from a canal on the American side is reaching a peak. Though the raging debate over illegal immigration in the United States has not upset border relations here, some say the fight over water could affect the number of Mexicans who try to cross here illegally.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/us/07border.html
FBI Mueller's strategy against terrorists is dangerous.
I'll be happy to tell you why. It's dangerous not just to Americans under suspicion or others outside the USA, but, to the aveage citizen and I am not talking 'false arrest' that will become as big a plight as extraordinary rendition.
To begin with this is Representative King's baby. Lots of money spent so there needs to be some kind of 'outcome' he can pander to voters with. That's to start. This is primarily a political stunt as far as I am concerned. It may be to try to sell New York back to the top of the funding of Homeland Security, but, this isn't the way to do it. Additional and dedicated federal taxes is the way to support the needs of 'NATIOANL Security.' That aside:
In this article:
Plotters Sought to Bomb New York Tunnel
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-security [...]
...there is absolutely no concrete reason to believe this Lebanese citizen was capable of carrying out an attack against the USA or New York tunnels. All there is and Mueller states it, or his representatives do,...
"...FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in a statement released in Washington: ``At this time we have no indication of any imminent threat to the New York transportation system or anywhere else in the U.S.''..."
"...The Daily News quoted a counterterrorism source as saying officials were alarmed because the plotters allegedly got a pledge of financial and tactical support from Jordanian associates of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq before he was killed last month. The paper said it was not clear if any cash or assistance was delivered...."
"...But it said some experts did not consider the plan feasible because the tunnel was protected by concrete and cast-iron steel and even if the tunnel cracked, the Wall Street district would not flood because it was above the level of the river...."
NOW. This to me is crying 'wolf' one too many times. If the FBI continues in this vein, picking up everyone whom screams terrorist plot on the internet and in the halls of poverty of the USA; without any concrete evidence the plot was feasible, even funding, bank transfers of suspects of extraordinary amounts indicating cooperation to make 'the plot' occur then ON A REGULAR basis the FBI will be wasting their assets on 'jokes' rather than on the real danger.
After the arrests of seven Black homeless men in Miami, every serious terrorist is now doing business through encription. If they are serious, they aren't that stupid. If the FBI continues to harass people by what they say rather than by sincere evidence they're going to make a serious mistake.
Mueller's FBI needs to do serious work and not a lazy man's job !!
Plotters Sought to Bomb New York Tunnel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A plot to bomb New York's Holland Tunnel in an effort to flood the Wall Street financial district has been uncovered by the FBI, with a suspect arrested in Lebanon, New York's Daily News reported on Friday.
Lebanon confirmed on Friday it had arrested a suspect in connection with a plot to bomb a tunnel in New York, a government source said.
Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican and chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said he had argued strenuously against recent cuts in security funding for New York because of exactly such plots.
``There is a lot to what was in today's Daily News story, but that's really all I can confirm about it,'' he told CNN. ``I also confirm that there are significant ongoing plots against the city of New York's mass transit system.''
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-security-tunnel-report.html
Ex-Soldier's Case Now Goes to Grand Jury
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 7, 2006
Filed at 3:03 p.m. ET
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- The case of a former Army private charged with slaying and raping an Iraqi woman and killing her family will be presented to a grand jury this month.
Steven D. Green, 21, entered a plea of not guilty through his public defenders Thursday. He also waived a detention hearing and a preliminary hearing, and agreed that his case would be prosecuted in the Western District of Kentucky.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Butler said the case would be presented before a grand jury sometime in mid-July, probably in Paducah.
U.S. Magistrate Judge James Moyer set an arraignment date of Aug. 8 in Paducah for Green, who was arrested Friday by FBI agents in Marion, N.C.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Ex-Soldier-Charged-Trial.html?hp&ex=1152331200&en=7c8904883db1d418&ei=5094&partner=homepage
S. Korea Pledges to Talk Soon With North
Filed at 3:35 p.m. ET
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea said Friday it would withhold food and fertilizer shipments to impoverished North Korea until the missile crisis is resolved, even as it pledged to hold high-level talks with the communist regime next week.
Meanwhile, a top U.S. envoy agreed with China to coordinate strategy on the North.
It remained unclear whether North Korea was planning to fire more missiles. South Korean officials said another long-range missile may be at a launch site, but the latest intelligence showed no signs the reclusive regime was getting ready for more tests.
Pyongyang triggered an international furor Wednesday when it test-fired seven missiles that plunged into the Sea of Japan without causing damage or injury.
Japan and the United States have led an effort for the U.N. to impose sanctions, but China and Russia have called for softer measures. On Friday, Japan circulated a draft resolution that would order countries to ''take those steps necessary'' to keep the North from acquiring items that could be used for its missile program. Diplomats said it could be put to a vote Saturday.
Phttp://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-NKorea-Missiles.html
Computer Stolen From Mont. Health Office
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 7, 2006
Filed at 3:39 p.m. ET
HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- A state government computer was stolen during a July Fourth break-in at the offices of a drug dependency program, and officials were trying to determine Friday when it contained sensitive information.
Top officials in state government were unaware Friday morning that the Public Health and Human Services computer, assigned to a state chemical dependancy program officer, had disappeared.
Helena Police Chief Troy McGee said a burglar broke in over the holiday. A state worker who went into the building that day noticed a skylight had been broken and called police.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Computer-Stolen.html
Blackwater Backs Dropping Extortion Case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 7, 2006
Filed at 3:07 p.m. ET
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) -- A former Blackwater USA employee said Friday an addiction to prescription pain killers led her to try to extort $1 million from the security company by threatening to leak information about the killings of four contractors in Iraq.
Laura Holdren-Nowacki, 35, of Moyock, made the admission in a statement released after she pleaded not guilty to one count of extortion.
District Attorney Frank Parrish said outside of court that, at Blackwater's request, he will ask Monday for the charge to be dropped.
Holdren-Nowacki said she suffered from ''significant depression and severe migraine headaches'' and had taken significantly larger doses of prescription medicine because of her pain.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Blackwater-Extortion.html
Stocks Plunge in Late Afternoon Trading
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 7, 2006
Filed at 3:19 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- Corporate profit warnings and record oil prices overshadowed a benign jobs creation report and sent stocks sharply lower Friday as investors worried that the economy was cooling too quickly. The Dow Jones industrials shed 152 points, though the losses on the other major indexes were more modest.
The Labor Department reported just 121,000 new jobs in May, short of the 175,000 economists expected. With the unemployment rate steady at 4.6 percent, the report was exactly what Wall Street had hoped for -- low unemployment, but modest job growth that won't spark a sharp increase in consumer demand, which could foreshadow inflation and interest rate hikes.
However, with 3M Co. warning of lower-than-expected earnings, investors grew concerned that slower economic growth, while good for keeping rates steady, could cut into corporate profits. However, few other companies have warned the markets about falling profits, analysts noted.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Wall-Street.html
For Thrift, Port Authority Will Build 9/11 Shrine
By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: July 7, 2006
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey agreed yesterday to take over construction of the World Trade Center memorial and museum. The move is expected to make the tortuous development process more efficient and less expensive.
"It appears that we're the party best suited to do that," said Anthony R. Coscia, the chairman of the authority, after the board approved an agreement with New York State, City Hall, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.
Three hours later, the foundation announced that it was back in the fund-raising business with a national television, radio and print campaign. Solicitations were suspended this spring as the cost of the memorial soared.
"We must all share the responsibility of building a memorial," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said, acknowledging — with obvious reluctance — that he was one of the anonymous donors who had already contributed to the foundation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/nyregion/07memorial.html
New AIDS Pill to Treat People in Poor Countries
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: July 6, 2006
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first 3-in-1 antiretroviral pill for use by the American-sponsored plan for AIDS treatment, something that the White House's acting global AIDS coordinator said yesterday should greatly improve treatment for AIDS patients in poor countries.
Although it is not yet clear how much money it will save, having patients take only one pill twice a day "should facilitate better therapies and better adherence," said the coordinator, Dr. Mark R. Dybul.
The agency posted the approval of the drug on its Web site on Friday evening. It approved the 3-in-1 pill, made by an Indian generic drug company, for patients in countries helped by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/world/06aids.html
Child Study Finds Failures to Detect Flu
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 6, 2006
Doctors fail to diagnose the flu in a vast majority of young children suffering from it, depriving them of medicines that could shorten their illness and keep them from spreading it to others, a study suggests.
The research, being published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that flu infections were missed in four of every five preschoolers treated for symptoms at a doctor's office or an emergency room and in about three-quarters of those who were hospitalized.
"Many of the children did not have a test performed, and few of the children were sent home with a specific diagnosis of influenza," said Dr. Katherine Anne Poehling, a pediatrician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who led the government-financed study.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/health/06flu.html
Feeling Boyish, in Shorts or a Suit
NOW that men are more in touch with their feminine sides, the rest of us feel free, if not compelled, to snigger at them. The French spring men's shows, which ended Tuesday, served up athletic shirts and shorts, but a few determined designers showed pearls and eye-catching lace. It was like watching a soccer ball bounce off Byron's head.
Ann Demeulemeester's slithery lace and eyelet shirts may have been Byron as conceivably worn by Mick Jagger, who, with the Rolling Stones, resumes his latest world tour in Milan next week. Ms. Demeulemeester's fine collection, with its emphasis on a kind of dandy-rock tailoring ("Has she been in Tokyo lately?" an editor said midshow), caught a dressy mood lurking behind the sports mania.
Similarly, Marc Jacobs's polished collection of hibiscus-print trousers, piqué jackets and silvery brogues for Louis Vuitton displayed an understanding of the feral heart of the LV consumer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/fashion/06PARIS.html
New Zealand Herald
Powerful typhoon nears southern Japan
3.40pm Friday July 7, 2006
TOKYO - A powerful typhoon was nearing Japan's southern island chain of Okinawa today and was likely to bring strong winds and torrential rain to the area later, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.
Typhoon Ewiniar, meaning "storm god" in the Chuuk language of Micronesia, was south of Okinawa and moving slowly north-northwest early on Friday local time, bringing with it winds of up to 160km per hour, the agency said.
It warned of heavy rain and flooding in parts of Okinawa. The storm was forecast to weaken slightly and move across the southern part of South Korea over the weekend, the agency said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10390215
N Korea missile 'aimed at area off Hawaii'
1.00pm Friday July 7, 2006
TOKYO- A North Korean missile launched on Wednesday was aimed at an area of the ocean close to Hawaii, a Japanese newspaper has reported.
Experts estimated the Taepodong-2 ballistic missile to have a range of up to 6000 km (3730 miles), putting Alaska within its reach.
Wednesday's launch apparently failed shortly after take-off and the missile landed in the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan, a few hundred kilometres from the launch pad.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10390199
Video links bombings to al Qaeda
Saturday July 8, 2006
By Ian Herbert
LONDON - A video by Shehzad Tanweer, right-hand man to the lead London suicide bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan, has lent new weight to the theory that al Qaeda was behind the London bombings.
Tanweer's last testament, like Khan's last September, features an accompanying statement from Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second-in-command, bears the stamp of al Qaeda's video production company and includes a contribution by American Adam Gadahn, widely believed to be running the group's propaganda operation.
But it is also possible al Qaeda has appropriated Tanweer's video as a publicity stunt.
Though it probably helped train the London bombers, no evidence points to a controlling al Qaeda mastermind behind the blasts, which occurred a year ago.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10390258
A blueprint for Australian jihad
Saturday July 8, 2006
By Greg Ansley
Four years ago a bearded Frenchman known as Salahudin arrived a training camp deep in the Himalayas run by the fundamentalist terror group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, fighting to unite Indian Muslims in a new Islamic state spanning Kashmir and Pakistan.
Salahudin, it is alleged, was the man now identified as Willie Brigitte.
It was Brigitte who would later lead Australian spycatchers to Faheem Khalid Lodhi, a Pakistani-born Australian citizen facing a possible life sentence for planning jihad in Sydney.
Next Thursday Lodhi will be sentenced on three charges of terrorism.
His conviction is the first under the wave of new laws that followed the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, and the subsequent bombs in Bali.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10390247
Protests a turning point in the history of New Zealand
Saturday July 8, 2006
By Ruth Hill
When police in visored helmets and swinging batons, ran on to the field at Hamilton's Rugby Park, something came unstuck in New Zealand's self-image as an open, tolerant society.
Anti-apartheid protester John Minto says it felt "alien".
"It was clear we had crossed some sort of line ...
"Police were no longer a neutral party, they were determined to see the tour proceed - conflict was inevitable."
The protesters, led by Hart (Halt All Racist Tours), thought the tour would be cancelled following massive demonstrations around the country and international pressure.
But the Government refused to call it off. Some critics accused Prime Minister Rob Muldoon of making a calculated decision ahead of the general election to back the 1981 tour and curry favour in marginal rural seats, where pro-tour feeling was strongest.
The Springboks arrived on July 19, 1981, and for the next 56 dramatic days, New Zealand headlined news bulletins around the world.
In scenes reminiscent of South Africa itself, protesters clashed with police and enraged rugby fans; rugby grounds resembled war zones, barbwired and barricaded.
During the final test match at Eden Park, Auckland, a low-flying light plane disrupted the match by dropping flour-bombs on the pitch. (Pilot Marx Jones served six months' jail for the stunt.)
Public confidence in the police was battered when riot police were filmed beating unarmed "clowns" and bare-headed protesters at a sit-down.
The repercussions were even felt within Robben Island Prison, where future South African president Nelson Mandela and other prominent African National Congress (ANC) leaders were imprisoned.
Mandela was quoted as saying that "the sun shone through the dark corridors of the cells" when he heard about the protests in New Zealand.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10390269
Tongan prince and princess killed in car crash
UPDATED 1.30pm Friday July 7, 2006
A Tongan prince and princess have been killed in a car crash in San Francisco, local media have reported.
Matangi Tonga said HRH Prince Tu'ipelehake - a nephew of the King of Tonga - Princess Kaimana and their driver Vinisia Hefa died after a teenage driver hit their car at Menlo Park near Palo Alto.
It quoted Tonga's Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Vainga Tone, as saying the government was waiting for an autopsy report before making an official announcement.
"We haven't got confirmation from the Consul General because the coroner is still working on the autopsy and they need time to identify the fingerprints. But if it is true, it is very sad news indeed," Mr Tone told the website.
The Associated Press news agency in San Francisco said California authorities had confirmed that two members of the Tongan royal family were killed in a car crash near Palo Alto.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10390171
Tongans worldwide mourn lost royals
Saturday July 8, 2006
By Angela Gregory
Tongans all over the world reacted with shock and grief as word spread yesterday of the deaths of two of Tonga's most popular royals in a car smash in San Francisco.
Prince Tu'ipelehake, nephew of the King, and his wife Princess Kaimana died after the sport utility vehicle they were travelling in was hit by a teenager racing a Mustang at 9pm on Wednesday (4pm on Thursday, New Zealand time).
Their Tongan driver, Vinisia Hefa of East Palo Alto, was also killed in the collision at Menlo Park, about 50km south of San Francisco.
The Associated Press reported that Edith Delgado, 18, appeared to have been racing a black Cadillac Escalade in her white Ford Mustang at between 130km/h and 160km/h when she attempted to pass the Tongans' red Ford Explorer.
Delgado struck the driver's door and the vehicle flipped several times before stopping on its roof.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10390311
Philippines to obtain Vietnam War-era helicopters
6.20am Friday July 7, 2006
The Philippines military will soon obtain 26 Vietnam War-era United States helicopters as it attempts to wipe out an insurgency, an Air Force spokesman said.
At least six of the UH-1H helicopters will arrive this month and the other 20 by the end of the year.
Six have been refurbished at the expense of the Philippines Government and the rest were donated by the US.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10390112
Beijing high and dry for Olympics
5.20am Friday July 7, 2006
Beijing may divert water from the Yellow River to guarantee supply during the 2008 Olympics, as the world's driest major city ponders how to slake the thirst of 2.5 million extra people.
Beijing would need an extra 5.75 million cu m of water, the Beijing News said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10390111
Report backs organ harvest claim
Saturday July 8, 2006
CHINA - A respected Canadian human rights lawyer and a former Canadian Cabinet member have lent their weight to charges that China has been killing Falun Gong dissidents so it can use their organs.
The two men - lawyer David Matas, and David Kilgour, former secretary of state for Asia and the Pacific - spent two months investigating the accusations, which China has regularly denied.
"It is simply inescapable that this is going on," Kilgour said.
The pair provided transcripts of phone calls placed in Chinese to detention centres and organ transplant clinics in which officials said organs from Falun Gong practitioners could be made available for speedy use. Some of the calls were placed on behalf of the Falun Gong by people inquiring about whether they could get organ transplants.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10390255
Report backs organ harvest claim
Saturday July 8, 2006
CHINA - A respected Canadian human rights lawyer and a former Canadian Cabinet member have lent their weight to charges that China has been killing Falun Gong dissidents so it can use their organs.
The two men - lawyer David Matas, and David Kilgour, former secretary of state for Asia and the Pacific - spent two months investigating the accusations, which China has regularly denied.
"It is simply inescapable that this is going on," Kilgour said.
The pair provided transcripts of phone calls placed in Chinese to detention centres and organ transplant clinics in which officials said organs from Falun Gong practitioners could be made available for speedy use. Some of the calls were placed on behalf of the Falun Gong by people inquiring about whether they could get organ transplants.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10390255
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