"Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Morning Papers - It's Origins
San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/
Deferred futures
Why young adults can't hang on to what they earn
Strapped
Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead
By Tamara Draut
DOUBLEDAY; 277 PAGES; $22.95
If your child is in her 20s or 30s, there's a good chance you're wondering why she hasn't settled into a stable career, married or bought a house. It frustrates you to watch her lurch from job to job, endlessly retool in grad school and throw away money on overpriced rentals. Why can't she get serious?
But if you're that child, Tamara Draut offers comfort, and ammunition for your next dinner with your parents. In her convincing, impressively researched call to arms, "Strapped," she explains why your genteel temp gig masquerading as a job won't cover your outrageous housing costs, oppressive credit card bills, outsize health care premiums and payments on your five-figure student loan. And she gets that, with your boyfriend in the same boat, it'll be years before the two of you can swing marriage or the white picket fence.
"Today, most young adults are holding tight to the armrests, desperately trying and hoping to avoid a major crash during these first ten years," she writes.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/15/RVG40GI9M71.DTL
Cronkite: Time for U.S. to Leave Iraq
Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he'd say the same thing today about Iraq.
"It's my belief that we should get out now," Cronkite said in a meeting with reporters.
Now 89, the television journalist once known as "the most trusted man in America" has been off the "CBS Evening News" for nearly a quarter-century. He's still a CBS News employee, although he does little for them.
Cronkite said one of his proudest moments came at the end of a 1968 documentary he made following a visit to Vietnam during the Tet offensive. Urged by his boss to briefly set aside his objectivity to give his view of the situation, Cronkite said the war was unwinnable and that the U.S. should exit.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/01/15/entertainment/e154744S99.DTL
Officer dragged, suspect held after wild chase
A San Francisco police officer underwent surgery Saturday after he was dragged by a suspect's car following a double shooting in the Mission District that led to a wild chase across much of the city, authorities said.
Police arrested a 23-year-old San Francisco man on suspicion of attempted murder of the police officer and almost 20 other alleged crimes.
"This was a pretty major incident," said police Sgt. Neville Gittens.
The injured officer was identified as Craig Leong, a five-year veteran of the department who works at the Southern Station, said Officer Terrye Ivy. He had surgery Saturday afternoon for major leg injuries, Gittens said. The injuries are not life-threatening.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/15/BAG3PGNM951.DTL
The Boston Globe
Boston's Year in Pictures
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/year_in_review/2005/gallery/2005_year_in_review/
Sago Mine victims remembered at service
BUCKHANNON, W.Va. --The 12 miners who died together beneath the West Virginia hills were remembered Sunday as men who loved their families, God, NASCAR, and a good laugh.
"I'm sure there was a prayer meeting goin' on in that ol' coal mine the other evening like we've never seen before," Pastor Wease Day told more than 1,800 people gathered at the memorial service at the West Virginia Wesleyan College chapel.
"I can hear Jim Bennett hollerin' 'Boys you need the Lord in your life.' And I can hear (George) Junior Hamner say 'Does anybody got any cards? Let's play a round.' I can hear them now," said Day, whose Sago Baptist Church became the center for families and others who gathered to await word of their loved ones after an explosion in the Sago Mine.
Bennett, 61, and Hamner, 54, were among the 12 miners who died after a Jan. 2 explosion as they reopened the mine following a holiday break. Investigators have yet to re-enter the mine to determine what went wrong. The blast killed one miner immediately and spread carbon monoxide that slowly killed the 11 others as they waited 260 feet below ground for rescue.
The only survivor, Randal McCloy Jr., 26, remained in a coma Sunday at West Virginia University's Ruby Memorial Hospital.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/01/15/community_remembers_12_sago_mine_victims/
Finsbury Park mosque tries to move on
By Tariq Panja, Associated Press Writer January 15, 2006
LONDON --The Finsbury Park mosque stood idle and empty for months after it was raided by anti-terror police and its former preacher was arrested on charges of inciting murder and stirring racial hatred.
Today, its prayer rooms are packed. Pakistanis, Somalis, Algerians and Kurds spill into the stairwells during Friday prayers. Hundreds of pairs of shoes fill wooden racks taller than most worshippers.
As Abu Hamza al-Masri is tried in London's Central Criminal Court, attendees say they are gratified by their mosque's recovery, but worried it will never escape association with its one-eyed, hook-handed former leader.
"They only know it as the 'Abu Hamza' mosque," said Karim Ahmed, 22, as he attended Friday prayers at the building in north London.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/01/15/finsbury_park_mosque_tries_to_move_on/
Analysts: Growing deficit hobbles economy
By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer January 15, 2006
WASHINGTON --Like a person packing on pounds, the United States keeps adding to its flabby budget deficits, endangering the nation's economic health and the pocketbooks of ordinary Americans. Here's the worry: Persistent deficits will lead to higher borrowing costs for consumers and companies, slowing economic activity.
As Uncle Sam seeks to borrow ever more to finance those deficits, rates on Treasury securities would rise to entice investors. That would push up other interest rates, such as home mortgages, many auto loans, some home equity lines of credit and some credit cards.
"That's the pocketbook risk to the American consumer," said Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com, an online financial service.
For businesses, rates on corporate bonds would climb. It would become more expensive to borrow to pay for new plants and equipment and other capital investments.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/01/15/analysts_growing_deficit_hobbles_economy/
Flu virus resistant to 2 drugs, CDC says
ATLANTA --The government, for the first time, is urging doctors not to prescribe two antiviral drugs commonly used to fight influenza after discovering that the predominant strain of the virus has built up high levels of resistance to them at alarming speed.
A whopping 91 percent of virus samples tested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this flu season proved resistant to rimantadine and amantadine, a huge increase since last year, when only 11 percent were.
The discovery adds to worries about how to fight bird flu should it start spreading among people. Health officials had hoped to conserve use of two newer antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, because they show activity against bird flu, unlike the older drugs.
Now, because of the resistance issue, the newer drugs are being recommended for ordinary flu, increasing the chances that resistance will develop more rapidly to them, too, as they become more commonly used.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2006/01/14/cdc_flu_virus_resistant_to_two_drugs/
Cancer researcher admits to faking data
By Mattias Karen, Associated Press Writer January 14, 2006
STOCKHOLM, Sweden --A Norwegian cancer researcher has admitted fabricating data published in a renowned international medical journal, officials in Norway said Saturday.
The researcher at Norway's Comprehensive Cancer Center, who was not identified, used faked patient data in an article on oral cancer published in the October 2005 issue of The Lancet, Britain's leading medical journal, said Stein Vaaler, strategy director for the cancer center.
The article claimed that a certain kind of drug decreased the risk of getting oral cancer and referred to results seen in patients in two national databases, Vaaler said in an interview.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/01/14/cancer_researcher_admits_to_faking_data/
Poll: DeLay losing support in own district
January 15, 2006
HOUSTON --Barely one of every five of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's constituents would vote for him if the election were held now, according to a newspaper poll released Saturday.
The Republican congressman, who lost his leadership post because of felony money laundering charges against him, trailed Democratic rival and former congressman Nick Lampson in his southeastern Texas district, according to the poll of 560 registered voters conducted for the Houston Chronicle.
In polling conducted Tuesday through Thursday, 22 percent of respondents said they would vote for DeLay, 30 percent chose Lampson and 11 percent favored Republican-turned-independent former congressman Steve Stockman.
Lampson's campaign manager, Mike Malaise, said the poll suggests that "people in the district want a congressman who will make headlines for the right reasons."
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/us_house/articles/2006/01/15/poll_delay_losing_support_in_own_district/
Rep. Ney to temporarily cede panel chair
By David Hammer, Associated Press Writer January 15, 2006
WASHINGTON --Rep Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican implicated in a lobbying corruption investigation, will step aside temporarily as chairman of the House Administration Committee, his spokesman said Sunday.
He said the congressman needed a few days to think about the decision after word got out Friday that he was in negotiations with House Speaker Dennis Hastert to relinquish the post.
"Congressman Ney continues to believe he will be vindicated and he hasn't done anything wrong," spokesman Brian Walsh said Sunday.
Ney is at the center of the Justice Department's ongoing corruption probe and was identified by lobbyist Jack Abramoff in his guilty plea earlier this month.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/01/15/rep_ney_to_temporarily_cede_panel_chair/
Low registration in U.S. for Mexican vote
SAN ANTONIO --A fraction of the eligible voters registered for their first chance to vote by absentee ballot in Mexico's presidential election, authorities said Sunday.
Voting advocates said the low registration demonstrated a need for fundamental changes to the program, but election officials called it a good first step toward greater democracy.
"If this very same information had been out there for nine months, the turnout would have been different," said Pilar Alvarez of the Federal Electoral Institute, the independent government agency which oversees elections in Mexico.
The expatriate voting law was passed last summer by Mexico's Congress, and allows citizens abroad to vote in the July 2 presidential election. Citizens were given until Sunday to apply for an absentee ballot.
But of an estimated 4 million eligible voters worldwide, Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute said only about 18,600 participated.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/01/15/low_registration_in_us_for_mexican_vote/
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Feinstein demands Rumsfeld explain UCSC spying
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, wants an explanation about reports of Pentagon spying at UC Santa Cruz as well as other surveillance of U.S. citizens.
Feinstein wrote Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in a letter dated Tuesday asking him to explain the practices and authority of the Counter Intelligence Field Activity in collecting information in the course of its domestic investigations.
In December, NBS news aired a string of reports based on Pentagon documents that listed 1,500 "suspicious" activities during a 10-month period. NBC interviewed experts who said the Pentagon had overstepped its bounds in collecting information in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. One of the incidents that caught the eyes and ears of the agency was an April 5 protest against military recruiters at a job fair at UC Santa Cruz.
That protest led to the job fair getting shut down temporarily and the injury of a UC Santa Cruz staffer.
The military recruiters left the fair.
"What Department of Defense components are authorized to collect or maintain information on U.S. Persons on U.S. territory without court approval?" Feinstein wrote. "Under what circumstances are Department of Defense components authorized to collect, report, maintain, database, analyze, fuse or otherwise handle information concerning U.S. Persons engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment?"
Feinstein asked Rumsfeld to respond to her letter by Jan. 31.
About 200 students showed up at the military recruitment protest last spring. The incident was one of many anti-war protests listed in the document and posted on the NBC news Web site.
UC Santa Cruz student Josh Sonnenfeld, a member of the group Students Against the War that organized the protest, said Feinstein was on the right track.
"It's nice to hear Feinstein is asking some important questions to Rumsfeld and the Department of Defense," he said.
Feinstein's letter said her staff had met with Pentagon personnel who confirmed that a report on student protests had been written.
Last month, U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, said he was "shocked" and "appalled" by the matter and would be looking for answers about it from the Department of Defense when its budget comes up for review.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/cgi-bin/p/psafe/psafe.cgi?
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/January/13/local/stories/12local.htm
...Meanwhile in Pakistan
Pakistanis Condemn Purported CIA Attack
By Riaz Khan / Associated Press
DAMADOLA, Pakistan - Pakistani officials on Saturday angrily condemned a purported CIA airstrike meant to target al-Qaida's No. 2 man, saying he wasn't there and "innocent civilians" were among at least 17 men, women and children killed in a village near the Afghan border.
Thousands of tribesmen staged protests and a mob set fire to the office of a U.S.-backed aid agency as Pakistan's people and government showed increasing frustration over a recent series of suspected U.S. attacks along the frontier that appear aimed at Islamic militants.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5519
'Zawahiri' strike sparks protest
BBC
A missile strike apparently targeting al-Qaeda's deputy leader in a village in Pakistan has prompted Islamabad to protest to its American allies. Ayman al-Zawahiri was not in the village on the border with Afghanistan, Pakistan officials said. But the attack left at least 18 local people dead.
The US military has denied knowledge of the attack, which US media reported had been carried out by the CIA.
But Islamabad condemned the strike and called the US ambassador to complain.
Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a news conference the Pakistani government wanted "to assure the people we will not allow such incidents to reoccur".
He said he did not know whether Zawahiri had been in the area at the time.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5524
Zawahri missed dinner that prompted U.S. strike
By Zeeshan Haider / Reuters
ISLAMABAD, Jan 15 - A dinner invitation to al Qaeda's second-in-command triggered a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan's tribal region but Ayman al-Zawahri failed to show up, Pakistani intelligence officials said on Sunday. Pakistan condemned Friday's strike, which killed at least 18 people, including women and children, and summoned U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker to protest. Thousands of local tribesmen also rallied near the scene, chanting anti-American slogans.
The Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that foreigners had been near the village of Damadola in the Bajaur region bordering Afghanistan and were the probable target.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5528
Pakistanis Protest Nationwide Over Strike
By Riaz Khan / Associated Press
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader was invited to dinner marking an Islamic holiday at the Pakistani border village struck by a purported CIA airstrike, but he did not show up, intelligence officials said Sunday.
The two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press that this could explain why Friday's predawn attack missed its apparent target, Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant.
Al-Zawahri sent some aides to the dinner instead and investigators were trying to determine whether they had been in any of the three houses that were destroyed in the missile strike that killed at least 17 people, one of the officials said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5533
Pictures
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sm/events/wl/081401pakistan/p:1
Residents oppose proposed building moratorium
By Frank Donze / Times-Picayune
Sending messages tinged with confusion, frustration, anger and a dark sense of humor, hundreds of displaced New Orleans residents who trekked to City Hall Saturday for a public meeting on the city's rebuilding stuck to a common theme: No one can tell them where they can or cannot live.
The high anxiety evident among the crowd of 500-plus that jammed the council chambers appeared to be a product of a controversial recommendation handed down this week by Mayor Ray Nagin's Bring New Orleans Back Commission, which said some flood-ravaged neighborhoods may have to prove their viability before rebuilding is allowed.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5532
Saddam judge submits resignation
BAGHDAD (AFP) - The judge presiding over the Iraqi tribunal trying deposed dictator Saddam Hussein has submitted his resignation after criticism over his running of the court, an official close to the tribunal said.
"Judge Rizkar Mohammed Amin submitted his resignation shortly before the Eid Al-Adha (Muslim holiday on January 10) and efforts are under way to try to get him to change his mind," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The judge wants to resign because of strong criticism by politicians at the way he has allowed Saddam and his seven co-defendants to speak out in court and disrupt proceedings, the official said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5529
Army raises enlistment age
If you're under 40, Uncle Sam may just want you
By Mark-Alexander Pieper / Pacific Sunday News
On the heels of one of its worst recruiting years, the U.S. Army will increase the age limit for active duty enlistees from 34 to 39.
Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Pereira, the local Army Recruiting Station manager, said he received an e-mail from the U.S. Army Recruiting Office on Thursday informing him that the Army will now accept recruits up to age of 39.
Pereira said the e-mail letter to Army recruiters did not explain the reason behind the change, but he said he was happy to hear about it.
Last fiscal year, the Army missed its nationwide recruitment goal by 7,000 enlistees -- its largest margin since 1979, according to the Department of Defense Web site.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5531
Military flyover for MLK march in San Antonio causes a rift
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO - A military flyover planned for San Antonio's annual march to honor Martin Luther King Jr. has caused a rift among participants and prompted some to call for a boycott of the event.
Two fighter jets from Randolph Air Force Base are scheduled to pass over a section of the three-mile march Monday. Organizers said the display is meant to be patriotic and an honor to King in a city with a strong military presence.
But opponents of the flyover said the gesture represents support for the war in Iraq and runs counter to the beliefs of King and his work.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5530
The States Step In As Medicare Falters
Seniors Being Turned Away, Overcharged Under New Prescription Drug Program
By Ceci Connolly / Washington Post
Two weeks into the new Medicare prescription drug program, many of the nation's sickest and poorest elderly and disabled people are being turned away or overcharged at pharmacies, prompting more than a dozen states to declare health emergencies and pay for their life-saving medicines.
Computer glitches, overloaded telephone lines and poorly trained pharmacists are being blamed for mix-ups that have resulted in the worst of unintended consequences: As many as 6.4 million low-income seniors, who until Dec. 31 received their medications free, suddenly find themselves navigating an insurance maze of large deductibles, co-payments and outright denial of coverage.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5526
A Protest, a Spy Program and a Campus in an Uproar
By Sarah Kershaw / New York Times
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The protest was carefully orchestrated, planned for weeks by Students Against War during Friday evening meetings in a small classroom on the University of California campus here.
So when the military recruiters arrived for the job fair, held in an old dining hall last April 5 - a now fateful day for a scandalized university - the students had their two-way radios in position, their cyclists checking the traffic as hundreds of demonstrators marched up the hilly roads of this campus on the Central Coast and a dozen moles stationed inside the building, reporting by cellphone to the growing crowd outside.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5527
UCSC Students Protest Military Recruiters At Job Fair
KSBW-TV
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- University of California, Santa Cruz, students staged an impromptu protest against military recruiters at a job fair Tuesday.
About 50 students blocked the entrance to the Stevenson Event Center, where an annual career fair was being held. Students said they were angry that military recruiters were taking part in the event.
Because the students made so much noise, the recruiters left early, Action News reported.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=2124
Kim Apparently in China's South
Reuters
GUANGZHOU, China, Jan. 13 -- Tight security around a five-star hotel in southern China on Friday fed speculation North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was visiting as diplomatic efforts to restart talks on the North's nuclear program gathered pace.
Hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police swarmed in and around the opulent White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, putting up roadblocks leading to the hotel. Passersby and bystanders were turned away.
In the early evening, two of the city's most luxurious sightseeing ferries -- "The Pearl of the Flower City" and "The Information Times," named after a local paper -- cruised slowly down the Pearl River, with Kim rumored to be aboard. Police cars lined roads on both sides of the river.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5525
President Merkel is more than likely concerned about the 'rendition' of Germans and whether to not they are at Gitmo. Rendition as a word is nearly alien to the language of the USA and it's press.
Bush Says Gitmo Is 'Necessary'
(CBS/AP) At a joint White House news conference, President Bush rejected a plea by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be shut down. He called the four-year-old camp "a necessary part of protecting the American people."
It was one of the few disagreements the two leaders voiced after their White House meeting. It was the German leader's first visit to the United States since taking office last November.
On Guantanamo, Merkel said she raised the issue with Mr. Bush, and she described it as one of the differences between the United States and Germany. Germany opposed the war in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5522
Big Easy: Who can rebuild?
A report issued by the city this week would make it tougher for some homeowners to start over.
By Kris Axtman / Christian Science Monitor
HOUSTON – Ever since hurricane Katrina washed much of New Orleans away, where to allow rebuilding has been Question No. 1. After months of emotionally exhaustive waiting and wondering, homeowners in the most devastated parts of the city now know the answer: They'll have to wait until late June to rebuild - and, even then, it's not certain their property will be safe from public seizure.
The controversial guidelines in the land-use report issued this week by the mayor's Bring New Orleans Back Commission are putting new strain on residents who bore the brunt of the storm. And it's raising again the sensitive question of whether the city's poor are getting short shrift in post-Katrina recovery efforts.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5508
In New Orleans, Bush Speaks With Optimism but Sees Little of Ruin
By Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Time
NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 12 - President Bush made his first trip here in three months on Thursday and declared that New Orleans was "a heck of a place to bring your family" and that it had "some of the greatest food in the world and some wonderful fun."
Mr. Bush spent his brief visit in a meeting with political and business leaders on the edge of the Garden District, the grand neighborhood largely untouched by the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina, and saw little devastation. He did not go into the city's hardest-hit areas or to Jackson Square, where several hundred girls from the Academy of the Sacred Heart staged a protest demanding stronger levees.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5510
WATCHING THE WATCHERS
Not Your Mother's Al Gore
It sounds as if Al Gore is about to deliver what could be not just one of the more significant speeches of his political career but an essential challenge to the embattled presidency of George W. Bush.
In a major address slated for delivery Monday in Washington, the former Vice President is expected to argue that the Bush administration has created a "Constitutional crisis" by acting without the authorization of the Congress and the courts to spy on Americans and otherwise abuse basic liberties.
Feinstein Demands an Explanation: Why is Rumsfeld Spying on California College Students?
"What Department of Defense components are authorized to collect or maintain information on U.S. Persons on U.S. territory without court approval?" Feinstein wrote. "Under what circumstances are Department of Defense components authorized to collect, report, maintain, database, analyze, fuse or otherwise handle information concerning U.S. Persons engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment?"
Harvard Law School Professors Challenge George's Excuse for Snooping Around On Americans
In particular, the law professors took issue with two of the administration’s claims—that the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) implicitly authorized domestic spying and that a prohibition on domestic spying without a warrant impinges upon the president’s authority as commander-in-chief. In addition, the professors argued that the spying program could violate the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=583
City clerk certifies troop withdrawal petitions
By Joan Kent / La Crosse Tribune
Petitions calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq have been certified by the La Crosse city clerk and could be considered by the council in January.
City Clerk Teri Lehrke said the petitions submitted by the group Bring Them Home Now on Nov. 23 had 2,423 valid signatures, more than the required 2,352, but needed some changes to meet state regulations.
Group member Jessica Thill submitted the revamped petitions Monday, and Lehrke said she certified them Wednesday morning.
State law requires the council consider the petitions within 30 days of certification, so Lehrke said she plans to ask Mayor Mark Johnsrud to include it in January council business.
“Whether it goes to the council in January or February, we are thrilled,” Thill said. “It is a relief to know that we have been successful in our attempt to get it before the council. Now we start working on some voter education plans.”
If the council does not approve the resolution, it would become a public referendum on the April general election ballot.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5251
An Urgent Appeal: Please Release Our Friends in Iraq
Four members of Christian Peacemaker Teams were taken this past Saturday, November 26, in Baghdad, Iraq. They are not spies, nor do they work in the service of any government. They are people who have dedicated their lives to fighting against war and have clearly and publicly opposed the invasion and occupation of Iraq. They are people of faith, but they are not missionaries. They have deep respect for the Islamic faith and for the right of Iraqis to self-determination.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/freethecpt
Below 36 North Latitude = Wild Fires
Wildfires postpone tanker relocation
It’s likely to be summer before the U. S. Forest Service shifts its air-tanker base from the Fort Smith Regional Airport to Fayetteville.
The opening of the airtanker base at Drake Field in Fayetteville has been delayed because the service has been too busy fighting January forest fires in Oklahoma and Arkansas, said Cheryl Chatham, a spokesman for the U. S. Forest Service office at Hot Springs.
The shift was to occur in the fall last year, and then in the late spring this year, Chatham said.
When the construction at Fayetteville is complete, Drake Field will have one of 75 airtanker bases in the United States to provide temporary homes for the 16 air tankers flown for the forest service to fight fires, said Kathy Allred, air-tanker program manager for the forest service.
Most of the available planes are now stationed in Ardmore, Okla., and at Fort Smith to assist with firefighting in the region, Allred said.
Even after the tanker base is finished, it’s likely to have aerial retardant planes such as the P-3 Orion stationed on site only during the late winter and spring. That’s when the southeastern U. S. has the highest probability of forest fires, Allred said. In most years, that’s from late February to the end of May, Allred said.
Having the planes in Fort Smith and Ardmore in January is unusual, Allred said.
The forest service explored long-term options in 2001 for tanker bases and evaluated five airports. They were Drake Field, the Fort Smith airport, the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill, Mena Intermountain Airport and Hot Springs Municipal Airport.
The forest service decided that Drake Field provided the best combination of fast response times to forest fires, highway proximity and the airport facilities needed to support the base, Chatham said.
Among Drake Field’s advantages over Fort Smith was its proximity to the Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri, said Johnny Lindsey, a fire management and aviation officer for the U. S. Forest Service in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
A base in Fayetteville puts the plane within a 100-mile radius, or 20-minute flight, of portions of the Ouachita, Ozark-St. Francis and Mark Twain national forests.
Among Fayetteville’s other advantages is its low number of other flights. The airport had been the center for commercial flights in Northwest Arkansas, but the airport eventually lost all of its commercial service to the regional airport that opened in 1998 in Highfill.
The P-3 Orion cargo plane, which is the plane most likely to be at Fayetteville once the base is complete, has a two-person crew. It can carry 3, 000 gallons of fire retardant.
The planes fly 140 mph and 150 feet above the tallest trees as they drop the red retardant in 1, 000-foot stretches across a burning forest, Allred said.
Once a call for plane help is sought, the goal is to get the aerial retardant plane in the air within 20 minutes, Lindsey said.
For the city of Fayetteville, there’s an economic advantage to having the forest service base and aerial retardant planes.
Since 2002, the Forest Service has paid $ 2, 347 a month to lease 12 acres at the airport, said James Nicholson, the airport’s financial coordinator. The 12 acres are east of the airport’s runway and south of its control tower.
Once the plane arrives, the airport can expect more revenue because more fuel will be sold. While a private company sells fuel at the airport, the company must pay the airport 10 cents for each gallon sold, Nicholson said.
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/142634/
Firefighters brace for wild weekend
From Staff Reports
Sapulpa firefighters are bracing for another round of grass fires following a weekend forecast of high winds and no rain.
Assistant Fire Chief Bob Selsor said grass fire runs during the past few days had been slow, but the weekend forecast of 30 mph winds likely will have fire crews jumping.
Grass fires driven by high winds destroyed at least 20 homes and forced hundreds of evacuations throughout the state Thursday despite snowfall earlier in the week.
The worst fires raged in southern Oklahoma near Ratliff City after burning through the homes overnight and west of Marlow, said Michelle Finch, fire information officer for the Oklahoma Forestry Department.
Firefighters were counting on four aircraft dropping fire retardant on the area Friday morning.
"We plan to put up air support again at first light and try to get a handle on it," Finch said, "and we'll rotate other firefighters in to give those who?ve been there a chance to rest."
As many as 18,406 acres burned statewide on Thursday and at least 11 fires were reported, said Cliff Eppler, an information officer for the state?s fire response center. There were no reports of injuries, officials said.
In a group of towns about an hour's drive south of Oklahoma City, authorities evacuated more than 750 homes in Tatums, Fox, Clemscott and Graham, sending residents who needed shelters to gymnasiums in neighboring towns, officials said. Windy conditions were contributing to the spread of the fires, and shifting winds increased the danger.
"The conditions in Oklahoma now are so extremely dry it's hard for me to believe that anybody would not be aware of it," said fire information officer Richard Reuse.
There is little if any chance of precipitation in the seven-day forecast, according to National Weather Service meteorologist John Pike. He said the fire danger will remain high through at least Tuesday.
"We're supposed to be in winter, but it doesn't look like any winter weather is coming," Pike said.
In Oklahoma alone, grass fires have destroyed more than 220 homes and businesses and killed two people since Nov. 1. Wildfires have also menaced Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.
In northern Texas, firefighters were battling a blaze that had consumed at least 4,000 acres and was threatening eight homes about 100 miles west of Dallas, the Texas Forest Service said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.sapulpadailyherald.com/homepage/local_story_013115722.html?keyword=leadpicturestory
Texas wild horses now threatened by drought, fires
Updated: Jan 9, 2006 3:59pm
Drought and high fire warnings across Texas have a local wild horse rescue group worried. Directors are trying to figure out how to keep their horse adoption program in Franklin going.
The non-profit group takes in wild mustangs from across the country. The effort helps relieve over-grazing in western states.
But the lack of grazing here in Central Texas is one of several problems brought on by the recent drought and grass fires.
The dry, barren conditions throughout Central Texas have left little to offer livestock. It's a problem that worries wild horse foundation director Ray Field: "Their graze is down because of the drought. Now we're introducing them to commercial-grown hay."
But that hay is hard to come by these days. Local ranchers are looking for it in other states.
If they are able to find hay, they're paying bundles for it, thanks to high demand and soaring fuel prices.
Quenching the wild horses' thirst has also presented a challenge.
The drought has brought watering hole levels way down.
The high-fire warnings also have the Franklin-based foundation concerned. Recent grass fires have come within a few miles of the ranch. And Field is worried the next one could overtake his place: "If you look at the ground here, the horses have grazed it down. But the fire would hit here and within an hour, would consume this 110 acres of land. "
Last year, the foundation found homes for more than 1200 horses. But current weather conditions won't allow field to take in many more. He's waiting on rain and relying on Central Texans to help the group this winter: "They've really looked into their pockets and hearts and said, you know, 'I've got an extra five bucks here I can afford to give a month'".
If you'd like to help, visit the foundation's web site: http://www.wildhorsefoundation.org
STORY BY CHRISTINE WINTER
http://www.kcentv.com/news/c-article.php?cid=1&nid=8824
Wildfire threat undiminished on Sunday
North Texas firefighters were bracing for another day of dangerous conditions on Sunday with gusty winds and low humidity increasing the chances for wildfires.
A large fire estimated at 2,500 acres was burning Sunday afternoon along the Stevens-Palo Pinto County line.
The fire—one mile wide and three miles long—threatened 12 homes in Stevens County and 50 homes in Palo Pinto County. Residents were evacuated as a precaution, but officials said most were vacation homes and not currently occupied.
This fire started along U.S. 180 and spread to the northeast. Possum Kingdon State Park was closed as a result.
On Saturday, wildfires blackened parts of Parker County for the second day in a row. Firefighters were able to bring the flames under control near Poolville on Friday, but the fire rekindled on Saturday afternoon.
At least two aircraft were brought in to fight the fresh fire, helping ground-based crews. A barn was burned before fire crews were able to tame the flames.
The National Weather Service issued another Red Flag fire warning for most of North Central Texas on Sunday between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. The forecast is calling for southerly winds gusting to 35 mph with continued low humidity.
According to radar images, it did rain in parts of drought-stricken North Texas on Saturday night—but you would never know it.
"It is so dry down at the surface that this precipitation is actually evaporating before having a chance to hit the ground," explained WFAA-TV (Channel 8) meteorologist Steve McCauley.
McCauley said it would remain cloudy, windy and warm in North Texas on Sunday and Monday, but that an area east of Dallas could see some showers and thunderstorms on Monday.
The state has set up a hotline to report arson fires: 877-434-7345. The number was being posted on highway message signs in North Texas.
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/wfaa060115_wz_firedanger.4c9c2dd.html
Wildfires scorch grazing pastures
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Angela K. Brown
Associated Press
Carbon, Texas - When Gayla Stacy stands on her front porch and gazes at the 160 acres of fields around her, all she sees is black.
Wildfires that swept through two weeks ago scorched grazing land for her family's 150-head of cattle and burned the grass that the Stacys sell as hay. The flames also destroyed their barn, 150 rolls of hay and most of their farm equipment.
"We've worked 35 years to get what we've got, and we're glad our house didn't burn, but it still hurts," said Stacy, 53. "It's knocked a big hole in our livelihood."
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1137241872151740.xml&coll=2
The Times-Picayune
I see no mention of the Netherlands trip here. The people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are being lead without complete information.
http://www.nola.com/
I believe the new maps will be valuable but in a limited fashion until the impact of a draft according to Netherland's standards is realized. I believe it is too early to make wide ranging decisions until the potential for protection of the city is definitely known. I also believe this is a 'push' to change the focus of 'Rebuilding New Orleans' in a way that will achieve the goal Bush has to bury the problem. I believe the Louisiana legislators need a chance to formulate a plan for the Gulf Coast as it will impact their economy, since they have made their fact finding trip to the Netherlands.
New flood maps will likely steer rebuilding
But FEMA says it's still too soon to guess what they will look like
Sunday, January 15, 2006
By Gordon Russell and James Varney
Staff writers
The new federal flood maps for New Orleans scheduled to be released this year will provide critical information for residents trying to decide whether -- or how high -- to rebuild their damaged homes, members of Mayor Ray Nagin's Bring New Orleans Back commission say.
The maps also could drive new building codes and standards that try to minimize future flood damage, should city leaders decide to adopt them quickly.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/113730870342020.xml
continued …
http://www.sfgate.com/
Deferred futures
Why young adults can't hang on to what they earn
Strapped
Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead
By Tamara Draut
DOUBLEDAY; 277 PAGES; $22.95
If your child is in her 20s or 30s, there's a good chance you're wondering why she hasn't settled into a stable career, married or bought a house. It frustrates you to watch her lurch from job to job, endlessly retool in grad school and throw away money on overpriced rentals. Why can't she get serious?
But if you're that child, Tamara Draut offers comfort, and ammunition for your next dinner with your parents. In her convincing, impressively researched call to arms, "Strapped," she explains why your genteel temp gig masquerading as a job won't cover your outrageous housing costs, oppressive credit card bills, outsize health care premiums and payments on your five-figure student loan. And she gets that, with your boyfriend in the same boat, it'll be years before the two of you can swing marriage or the white picket fence.
"Today, most young adults are holding tight to the armrests, desperately trying and hoping to avoid a major crash during these first ten years," she writes.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/15/RVG40GI9M71.DTL
Cronkite: Time for U.S. to Leave Iraq
Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he'd say the same thing today about Iraq.
"It's my belief that we should get out now," Cronkite said in a meeting with reporters.
Now 89, the television journalist once known as "the most trusted man in America" has been off the "CBS Evening News" for nearly a quarter-century. He's still a CBS News employee, although he does little for them.
Cronkite said one of his proudest moments came at the end of a 1968 documentary he made following a visit to Vietnam during the Tet offensive. Urged by his boss to briefly set aside his objectivity to give his view of the situation, Cronkite said the war was unwinnable and that the U.S. should exit.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/01/15/entertainment/e154744S99.DTL
Officer dragged, suspect held after wild chase
A San Francisco police officer underwent surgery Saturday after he was dragged by a suspect's car following a double shooting in the Mission District that led to a wild chase across much of the city, authorities said.
Police arrested a 23-year-old San Francisco man on suspicion of attempted murder of the police officer and almost 20 other alleged crimes.
"This was a pretty major incident," said police Sgt. Neville Gittens.
The injured officer was identified as Craig Leong, a five-year veteran of the department who works at the Southern Station, said Officer Terrye Ivy. He had surgery Saturday afternoon for major leg injuries, Gittens said. The injuries are not life-threatening.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/15/BAG3PGNM951.DTL
The Boston Globe
Boston's Year in Pictures
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/year_in_review/2005/gallery/2005_year_in_review/
Sago Mine victims remembered at service
BUCKHANNON, W.Va. --The 12 miners who died together beneath the West Virginia hills were remembered Sunday as men who loved their families, God, NASCAR, and a good laugh.
"I'm sure there was a prayer meeting goin' on in that ol' coal mine the other evening like we've never seen before," Pastor Wease Day told more than 1,800 people gathered at the memorial service at the West Virginia Wesleyan College chapel.
"I can hear Jim Bennett hollerin' 'Boys you need the Lord in your life.' And I can hear (George) Junior Hamner say 'Does anybody got any cards? Let's play a round.' I can hear them now," said Day, whose Sago Baptist Church became the center for families and others who gathered to await word of their loved ones after an explosion in the Sago Mine.
Bennett, 61, and Hamner, 54, were among the 12 miners who died after a Jan. 2 explosion as they reopened the mine following a holiday break. Investigators have yet to re-enter the mine to determine what went wrong. The blast killed one miner immediately and spread carbon monoxide that slowly killed the 11 others as they waited 260 feet below ground for rescue.
The only survivor, Randal McCloy Jr., 26, remained in a coma Sunday at West Virginia University's Ruby Memorial Hospital.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/01/15/community_remembers_12_sago_mine_victims/
Finsbury Park mosque tries to move on
By Tariq Panja, Associated Press Writer January 15, 2006
LONDON --The Finsbury Park mosque stood idle and empty for months after it was raided by anti-terror police and its former preacher was arrested on charges of inciting murder and stirring racial hatred.
Today, its prayer rooms are packed. Pakistanis, Somalis, Algerians and Kurds spill into the stairwells during Friday prayers. Hundreds of pairs of shoes fill wooden racks taller than most worshippers.
As Abu Hamza al-Masri is tried in London's Central Criminal Court, attendees say they are gratified by their mosque's recovery, but worried it will never escape association with its one-eyed, hook-handed former leader.
"They only know it as the 'Abu Hamza' mosque," said Karim Ahmed, 22, as he attended Friday prayers at the building in north London.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/01/15/finsbury_park_mosque_tries_to_move_on/
Analysts: Growing deficit hobbles economy
By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer January 15, 2006
WASHINGTON --Like a person packing on pounds, the United States keeps adding to its flabby budget deficits, endangering the nation's economic health and the pocketbooks of ordinary Americans. Here's the worry: Persistent deficits will lead to higher borrowing costs for consumers and companies, slowing economic activity.
As Uncle Sam seeks to borrow ever more to finance those deficits, rates on Treasury securities would rise to entice investors. That would push up other interest rates, such as home mortgages, many auto loans, some home equity lines of credit and some credit cards.
"That's the pocketbook risk to the American consumer," said Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com, an online financial service.
For businesses, rates on corporate bonds would climb. It would become more expensive to borrow to pay for new plants and equipment and other capital investments.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/01/15/analysts_growing_deficit_hobbles_economy/
Flu virus resistant to 2 drugs, CDC says
ATLANTA --The government, for the first time, is urging doctors not to prescribe two antiviral drugs commonly used to fight influenza after discovering that the predominant strain of the virus has built up high levels of resistance to them at alarming speed.
A whopping 91 percent of virus samples tested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this flu season proved resistant to rimantadine and amantadine, a huge increase since last year, when only 11 percent were.
The discovery adds to worries about how to fight bird flu should it start spreading among people. Health officials had hoped to conserve use of two newer antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, because they show activity against bird flu, unlike the older drugs.
Now, because of the resistance issue, the newer drugs are being recommended for ordinary flu, increasing the chances that resistance will develop more rapidly to them, too, as they become more commonly used.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2006/01/14/cdc_flu_virus_resistant_to_two_drugs/
Cancer researcher admits to faking data
By Mattias Karen, Associated Press Writer January 14, 2006
STOCKHOLM, Sweden --A Norwegian cancer researcher has admitted fabricating data published in a renowned international medical journal, officials in Norway said Saturday.
The researcher at Norway's Comprehensive Cancer Center, who was not identified, used faked patient data in an article on oral cancer published in the October 2005 issue of The Lancet, Britain's leading medical journal, said Stein Vaaler, strategy director for the cancer center.
The article claimed that a certain kind of drug decreased the risk of getting oral cancer and referred to results seen in patients in two national databases, Vaaler said in an interview.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/01/14/cancer_researcher_admits_to_faking_data/
Poll: DeLay losing support in own district
January 15, 2006
HOUSTON --Barely one of every five of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's constituents would vote for him if the election were held now, according to a newspaper poll released Saturday.
The Republican congressman, who lost his leadership post because of felony money laundering charges against him, trailed Democratic rival and former congressman Nick Lampson in his southeastern Texas district, according to the poll of 560 registered voters conducted for the Houston Chronicle.
In polling conducted Tuesday through Thursday, 22 percent of respondents said they would vote for DeLay, 30 percent chose Lampson and 11 percent favored Republican-turned-independent former congressman Steve Stockman.
Lampson's campaign manager, Mike Malaise, said the poll suggests that "people in the district want a congressman who will make headlines for the right reasons."
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/us_house/articles/2006/01/15/poll_delay_losing_support_in_own_district/
Rep. Ney to temporarily cede panel chair
By David Hammer, Associated Press Writer January 15, 2006
WASHINGTON --Rep Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican implicated in a lobbying corruption investigation, will step aside temporarily as chairman of the House Administration Committee, his spokesman said Sunday.
He said the congressman needed a few days to think about the decision after word got out Friday that he was in negotiations with House Speaker Dennis Hastert to relinquish the post.
"Congressman Ney continues to believe he will be vindicated and he hasn't done anything wrong," spokesman Brian Walsh said Sunday.
Ney is at the center of the Justice Department's ongoing corruption probe and was identified by lobbyist Jack Abramoff in his guilty plea earlier this month.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/01/15/rep_ney_to_temporarily_cede_panel_chair/
Low registration in U.S. for Mexican vote
SAN ANTONIO --A fraction of the eligible voters registered for their first chance to vote by absentee ballot in Mexico's presidential election, authorities said Sunday.
Voting advocates said the low registration demonstrated a need for fundamental changes to the program, but election officials called it a good first step toward greater democracy.
"If this very same information had been out there for nine months, the turnout would have been different," said Pilar Alvarez of the Federal Electoral Institute, the independent government agency which oversees elections in Mexico.
The expatriate voting law was passed last summer by Mexico's Congress, and allows citizens abroad to vote in the July 2 presidential election. Citizens were given until Sunday to apply for an absentee ballot.
But of an estimated 4 million eligible voters worldwide, Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute said only about 18,600 participated.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/01/15/low_registration_in_us_for_mexican_vote/
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Feinstein demands Rumsfeld explain UCSC spying
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, wants an explanation about reports of Pentagon spying at UC Santa Cruz as well as other surveillance of U.S. citizens.
Feinstein wrote Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in a letter dated Tuesday asking him to explain the practices and authority of the Counter Intelligence Field Activity in collecting information in the course of its domestic investigations.
In December, NBS news aired a string of reports based on Pentagon documents that listed 1,500 "suspicious" activities during a 10-month period. NBC interviewed experts who said the Pentagon had overstepped its bounds in collecting information in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. One of the incidents that caught the eyes and ears of the agency was an April 5 protest against military recruiters at a job fair at UC Santa Cruz.
That protest led to the job fair getting shut down temporarily and the injury of a UC Santa Cruz staffer.
The military recruiters left the fair.
"What Department of Defense components are authorized to collect or maintain information on U.S. Persons on U.S. territory without court approval?" Feinstein wrote. "Under what circumstances are Department of Defense components authorized to collect, report, maintain, database, analyze, fuse or otherwise handle information concerning U.S. Persons engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment?"
Feinstein asked Rumsfeld to respond to her letter by Jan. 31.
About 200 students showed up at the military recruitment protest last spring. The incident was one of many anti-war protests listed in the document and posted on the NBC news Web site.
UC Santa Cruz student Josh Sonnenfeld, a member of the group Students Against the War that organized the protest, said Feinstein was on the right track.
"It's nice to hear Feinstein is asking some important questions to Rumsfeld and the Department of Defense," he said.
Feinstein's letter said her staff had met with Pentagon personnel who confirmed that a report on student protests had been written.
Last month, U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, said he was "shocked" and "appalled" by the matter and would be looking for answers about it from the Department of Defense when its budget comes up for review.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/cgi-bin/p/psafe/psafe.cgi?
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/January/13/local/stories/12local.htm
...Meanwhile in Pakistan
Pakistanis Condemn Purported CIA Attack
By Riaz Khan / Associated Press
DAMADOLA, Pakistan - Pakistani officials on Saturday angrily condemned a purported CIA airstrike meant to target al-Qaida's No. 2 man, saying he wasn't there and "innocent civilians" were among at least 17 men, women and children killed in a village near the Afghan border.
Thousands of tribesmen staged protests and a mob set fire to the office of a U.S.-backed aid agency as Pakistan's people and government showed increasing frustration over a recent series of suspected U.S. attacks along the frontier that appear aimed at Islamic militants.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5519
'Zawahiri' strike sparks protest
BBC
A missile strike apparently targeting al-Qaeda's deputy leader in a village in Pakistan has prompted Islamabad to protest to its American allies. Ayman al-Zawahiri was not in the village on the border with Afghanistan, Pakistan officials said. But the attack left at least 18 local people dead.
The US military has denied knowledge of the attack, which US media reported had been carried out by the CIA.
But Islamabad condemned the strike and called the US ambassador to complain.
Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a news conference the Pakistani government wanted "to assure the people we will not allow such incidents to reoccur".
He said he did not know whether Zawahiri had been in the area at the time.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5524
Zawahri missed dinner that prompted U.S. strike
By Zeeshan Haider / Reuters
ISLAMABAD, Jan 15 - A dinner invitation to al Qaeda's second-in-command triggered a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan's tribal region but Ayman al-Zawahri failed to show up, Pakistani intelligence officials said on Sunday. Pakistan condemned Friday's strike, which killed at least 18 people, including women and children, and summoned U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker to protest. Thousands of local tribesmen also rallied near the scene, chanting anti-American slogans.
The Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that foreigners had been near the village of Damadola in the Bajaur region bordering Afghanistan and were the probable target.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5528
Pakistanis Protest Nationwide Over Strike
By Riaz Khan / Associated Press
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader was invited to dinner marking an Islamic holiday at the Pakistani border village struck by a purported CIA airstrike, but he did not show up, intelligence officials said Sunday.
The two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press that this could explain why Friday's predawn attack missed its apparent target, Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant.
Al-Zawahri sent some aides to the dinner instead and investigators were trying to determine whether they had been in any of the three houses that were destroyed in the missile strike that killed at least 17 people, one of the officials said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5533
Pictures
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sm/events/wl/081401pakistan/p:1
Residents oppose proposed building moratorium
By Frank Donze / Times-Picayune
Sending messages tinged with confusion, frustration, anger and a dark sense of humor, hundreds of displaced New Orleans residents who trekked to City Hall Saturday for a public meeting on the city's rebuilding stuck to a common theme: No one can tell them where they can or cannot live.
The high anxiety evident among the crowd of 500-plus that jammed the council chambers appeared to be a product of a controversial recommendation handed down this week by Mayor Ray Nagin's Bring New Orleans Back Commission, which said some flood-ravaged neighborhoods may have to prove their viability before rebuilding is allowed.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5532
Saddam judge submits resignation
BAGHDAD (AFP) - The judge presiding over the Iraqi tribunal trying deposed dictator Saddam Hussein has submitted his resignation after criticism over his running of the court, an official close to the tribunal said.
"Judge Rizkar Mohammed Amin submitted his resignation shortly before the Eid Al-Adha (Muslim holiday on January 10) and efforts are under way to try to get him to change his mind," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The judge wants to resign because of strong criticism by politicians at the way he has allowed Saddam and his seven co-defendants to speak out in court and disrupt proceedings, the official said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5529
Army raises enlistment age
If you're under 40, Uncle Sam may just want you
By Mark-Alexander Pieper / Pacific Sunday News
On the heels of one of its worst recruiting years, the U.S. Army will increase the age limit for active duty enlistees from 34 to 39.
Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Pereira, the local Army Recruiting Station manager, said he received an e-mail from the U.S. Army Recruiting Office on Thursday informing him that the Army will now accept recruits up to age of 39.
Pereira said the e-mail letter to Army recruiters did not explain the reason behind the change, but he said he was happy to hear about it.
Last fiscal year, the Army missed its nationwide recruitment goal by 7,000 enlistees -- its largest margin since 1979, according to the Department of Defense Web site.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5531
Military flyover for MLK march in San Antonio causes a rift
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO - A military flyover planned for San Antonio's annual march to honor Martin Luther King Jr. has caused a rift among participants and prompted some to call for a boycott of the event.
Two fighter jets from Randolph Air Force Base are scheduled to pass over a section of the three-mile march Monday. Organizers said the display is meant to be patriotic and an honor to King in a city with a strong military presence.
But opponents of the flyover said the gesture represents support for the war in Iraq and runs counter to the beliefs of King and his work.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5530
The States Step In As Medicare Falters
Seniors Being Turned Away, Overcharged Under New Prescription Drug Program
By Ceci Connolly / Washington Post
Two weeks into the new Medicare prescription drug program, many of the nation's sickest and poorest elderly and disabled people are being turned away or overcharged at pharmacies, prompting more than a dozen states to declare health emergencies and pay for their life-saving medicines.
Computer glitches, overloaded telephone lines and poorly trained pharmacists are being blamed for mix-ups that have resulted in the worst of unintended consequences: As many as 6.4 million low-income seniors, who until Dec. 31 received their medications free, suddenly find themselves navigating an insurance maze of large deductibles, co-payments and outright denial of coverage.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5526
A Protest, a Spy Program and a Campus in an Uproar
By Sarah Kershaw / New York Times
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The protest was carefully orchestrated, planned for weeks by Students Against War during Friday evening meetings in a small classroom on the University of California campus here.
So when the military recruiters arrived for the job fair, held in an old dining hall last April 5 - a now fateful day for a scandalized university - the students had their two-way radios in position, their cyclists checking the traffic as hundreds of demonstrators marched up the hilly roads of this campus on the Central Coast and a dozen moles stationed inside the building, reporting by cellphone to the growing crowd outside.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5527
UCSC Students Protest Military Recruiters At Job Fair
KSBW-TV
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- University of California, Santa Cruz, students staged an impromptu protest against military recruiters at a job fair Tuesday.
About 50 students blocked the entrance to the Stevenson Event Center, where an annual career fair was being held. Students said they were angry that military recruiters were taking part in the event.
Because the students made so much noise, the recruiters left early, Action News reported.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=2124
Kim Apparently in China's South
Reuters
GUANGZHOU, China, Jan. 13 -- Tight security around a five-star hotel in southern China on Friday fed speculation North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was visiting as diplomatic efforts to restart talks on the North's nuclear program gathered pace.
Hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police swarmed in and around the opulent White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, putting up roadblocks leading to the hotel. Passersby and bystanders were turned away.
In the early evening, two of the city's most luxurious sightseeing ferries -- "The Pearl of the Flower City" and "The Information Times," named after a local paper -- cruised slowly down the Pearl River, with Kim rumored to be aboard. Police cars lined roads on both sides of the river.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5525
President Merkel is more than likely concerned about the 'rendition' of Germans and whether to not they are at Gitmo. Rendition as a word is nearly alien to the language of the USA and it's press.
Bush Says Gitmo Is 'Necessary'
(CBS/AP) At a joint White House news conference, President Bush rejected a plea by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be shut down. He called the four-year-old camp "a necessary part of protecting the American people."
It was one of the few disagreements the two leaders voiced after their White House meeting. It was the German leader's first visit to the United States since taking office last November.
On Guantanamo, Merkel said she raised the issue with Mr. Bush, and she described it as one of the differences between the United States and Germany. Germany opposed the war in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5522
Big Easy: Who can rebuild?
A report issued by the city this week would make it tougher for some homeowners to start over.
By Kris Axtman / Christian Science Monitor
HOUSTON – Ever since hurricane Katrina washed much of New Orleans away, where to allow rebuilding has been Question No. 1. After months of emotionally exhaustive waiting and wondering, homeowners in the most devastated parts of the city now know the answer: They'll have to wait until late June to rebuild - and, even then, it's not certain their property will be safe from public seizure.
The controversial guidelines in the land-use report issued this week by the mayor's Bring New Orleans Back Commission are putting new strain on residents who bore the brunt of the storm. And it's raising again the sensitive question of whether the city's poor are getting short shrift in post-Katrina recovery efforts.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5508
In New Orleans, Bush Speaks With Optimism but Sees Little of Ruin
By Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Time
NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 12 - President Bush made his first trip here in three months on Thursday and declared that New Orleans was "a heck of a place to bring your family" and that it had "some of the greatest food in the world and some wonderful fun."
Mr. Bush spent his brief visit in a meeting with political and business leaders on the edge of the Garden District, the grand neighborhood largely untouched by the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina, and saw little devastation. He did not go into the city's hardest-hit areas or to Jackson Square, where several hundred girls from the Academy of the Sacred Heart staged a protest demanding stronger levees.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5510
WATCHING THE WATCHERS
Not Your Mother's Al Gore
It sounds as if Al Gore is about to deliver what could be not just one of the more significant speeches of his political career but an essential challenge to the embattled presidency of George W. Bush.
In a major address slated for delivery Monday in Washington, the former Vice President is expected to argue that the Bush administration has created a "Constitutional crisis" by acting without the authorization of the Congress and the courts to spy on Americans and otherwise abuse basic liberties.
Feinstein Demands an Explanation: Why is Rumsfeld Spying on California College Students?
"What Department of Defense components are authorized to collect or maintain information on U.S. Persons on U.S. territory without court approval?" Feinstein wrote. "Under what circumstances are Department of Defense components authorized to collect, report, maintain, database, analyze, fuse or otherwise handle information concerning U.S. Persons engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment?"
Harvard Law School Professors Challenge George's Excuse for Snooping Around On Americans
In particular, the law professors took issue with two of the administration’s claims—that the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) implicitly authorized domestic spying and that a prohibition on domestic spying without a warrant impinges upon the president’s authority as commander-in-chief. In addition, the professors argued that the spying program could violate the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=583
City clerk certifies troop withdrawal petitions
By Joan Kent / La Crosse Tribune
Petitions calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq have been certified by the La Crosse city clerk and could be considered by the council in January.
City Clerk Teri Lehrke said the petitions submitted by the group Bring Them Home Now on Nov. 23 had 2,423 valid signatures, more than the required 2,352, but needed some changes to meet state regulations.
Group member Jessica Thill submitted the revamped petitions Monday, and Lehrke said she certified them Wednesday morning.
State law requires the council consider the petitions within 30 days of certification, so Lehrke said she plans to ask Mayor Mark Johnsrud to include it in January council business.
“Whether it goes to the council in January or February, we are thrilled,” Thill said. “It is a relief to know that we have been successful in our attempt to get it before the council. Now we start working on some voter education plans.”
If the council does not approve the resolution, it would become a public referendum on the April general election ballot.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5251
An Urgent Appeal: Please Release Our Friends in Iraq
Four members of Christian Peacemaker Teams were taken this past Saturday, November 26, in Baghdad, Iraq. They are not spies, nor do they work in the service of any government. They are people who have dedicated their lives to fighting against war and have clearly and publicly opposed the invasion and occupation of Iraq. They are people of faith, but they are not missionaries. They have deep respect for the Islamic faith and for the right of Iraqis to self-determination.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/freethecpt
Below 36 North Latitude = Wild Fires
Wildfires postpone tanker relocation
It’s likely to be summer before the U. S. Forest Service shifts its air-tanker base from the Fort Smith Regional Airport to Fayetteville.
The opening of the airtanker base at Drake Field in Fayetteville has been delayed because the service has been too busy fighting January forest fires in Oklahoma and Arkansas, said Cheryl Chatham, a spokesman for the U. S. Forest Service office at Hot Springs.
The shift was to occur in the fall last year, and then in the late spring this year, Chatham said.
When the construction at Fayetteville is complete, Drake Field will have one of 75 airtanker bases in the United States to provide temporary homes for the 16 air tankers flown for the forest service to fight fires, said Kathy Allred, air-tanker program manager for the forest service.
Most of the available planes are now stationed in Ardmore, Okla., and at Fort Smith to assist with firefighting in the region, Allred said.
Even after the tanker base is finished, it’s likely to have aerial retardant planes such as the P-3 Orion stationed on site only during the late winter and spring. That’s when the southeastern U. S. has the highest probability of forest fires, Allred said. In most years, that’s from late February to the end of May, Allred said.
Having the planes in Fort Smith and Ardmore in January is unusual, Allred said.
The forest service explored long-term options in 2001 for tanker bases and evaluated five airports. They were Drake Field, the Fort Smith airport, the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill, Mena Intermountain Airport and Hot Springs Municipal Airport.
The forest service decided that Drake Field provided the best combination of fast response times to forest fires, highway proximity and the airport facilities needed to support the base, Chatham said.
Among Drake Field’s advantages over Fort Smith was its proximity to the Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri, said Johnny Lindsey, a fire management and aviation officer for the U. S. Forest Service in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
A base in Fayetteville puts the plane within a 100-mile radius, or 20-minute flight, of portions of the Ouachita, Ozark-St. Francis and Mark Twain national forests.
Among Fayetteville’s other advantages is its low number of other flights. The airport had been the center for commercial flights in Northwest Arkansas, but the airport eventually lost all of its commercial service to the regional airport that opened in 1998 in Highfill.
The P-3 Orion cargo plane, which is the plane most likely to be at Fayetteville once the base is complete, has a two-person crew. It can carry 3, 000 gallons of fire retardant.
The planes fly 140 mph and 150 feet above the tallest trees as they drop the red retardant in 1, 000-foot stretches across a burning forest, Allred said.
Once a call for plane help is sought, the goal is to get the aerial retardant plane in the air within 20 minutes, Lindsey said.
For the city of Fayetteville, there’s an economic advantage to having the forest service base and aerial retardant planes.
Since 2002, the Forest Service has paid $ 2, 347 a month to lease 12 acres at the airport, said James Nicholson, the airport’s financial coordinator. The 12 acres are east of the airport’s runway and south of its control tower.
Once the plane arrives, the airport can expect more revenue because more fuel will be sold. While a private company sells fuel at the airport, the company must pay the airport 10 cents for each gallon sold, Nicholson said.
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/142634/
Firefighters brace for wild weekend
From Staff Reports
Sapulpa firefighters are bracing for another round of grass fires following a weekend forecast of high winds and no rain.
Assistant Fire Chief Bob Selsor said grass fire runs during the past few days had been slow, but the weekend forecast of 30 mph winds likely will have fire crews jumping.
Grass fires driven by high winds destroyed at least 20 homes and forced hundreds of evacuations throughout the state Thursday despite snowfall earlier in the week.
The worst fires raged in southern Oklahoma near Ratliff City after burning through the homes overnight and west of Marlow, said Michelle Finch, fire information officer for the Oklahoma Forestry Department.
Firefighters were counting on four aircraft dropping fire retardant on the area Friday morning.
"We plan to put up air support again at first light and try to get a handle on it," Finch said, "and we'll rotate other firefighters in to give those who?ve been there a chance to rest."
As many as 18,406 acres burned statewide on Thursday and at least 11 fires were reported, said Cliff Eppler, an information officer for the state?s fire response center. There were no reports of injuries, officials said.
In a group of towns about an hour's drive south of Oklahoma City, authorities evacuated more than 750 homes in Tatums, Fox, Clemscott and Graham, sending residents who needed shelters to gymnasiums in neighboring towns, officials said. Windy conditions were contributing to the spread of the fires, and shifting winds increased the danger.
"The conditions in Oklahoma now are so extremely dry it's hard for me to believe that anybody would not be aware of it," said fire information officer Richard Reuse.
There is little if any chance of precipitation in the seven-day forecast, according to National Weather Service meteorologist John Pike. He said the fire danger will remain high through at least Tuesday.
"We're supposed to be in winter, but it doesn't look like any winter weather is coming," Pike said.
In Oklahoma alone, grass fires have destroyed more than 220 homes and businesses and killed two people since Nov. 1. Wildfires have also menaced Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.
In northern Texas, firefighters were battling a blaze that had consumed at least 4,000 acres and was threatening eight homes about 100 miles west of Dallas, the Texas Forest Service said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.sapulpadailyherald.com/homepage/local_story_013115722.html?keyword=leadpicturestory
Texas wild horses now threatened by drought, fires
Updated: Jan 9, 2006 3:59pm
Drought and high fire warnings across Texas have a local wild horse rescue group worried. Directors are trying to figure out how to keep their horse adoption program in Franklin going.
The non-profit group takes in wild mustangs from across the country. The effort helps relieve over-grazing in western states.
But the lack of grazing here in Central Texas is one of several problems brought on by the recent drought and grass fires.
The dry, barren conditions throughout Central Texas have left little to offer livestock. It's a problem that worries wild horse foundation director Ray Field: "Their graze is down because of the drought. Now we're introducing them to commercial-grown hay."
But that hay is hard to come by these days. Local ranchers are looking for it in other states.
If they are able to find hay, they're paying bundles for it, thanks to high demand and soaring fuel prices.
Quenching the wild horses' thirst has also presented a challenge.
The drought has brought watering hole levels way down.
The high-fire warnings also have the Franklin-based foundation concerned. Recent grass fires have come within a few miles of the ranch. And Field is worried the next one could overtake his place: "If you look at the ground here, the horses have grazed it down. But the fire would hit here and within an hour, would consume this 110 acres of land. "
Last year, the foundation found homes for more than 1200 horses. But current weather conditions won't allow field to take in many more. He's waiting on rain and relying on Central Texans to help the group this winter: "They've really looked into their pockets and hearts and said, you know, 'I've got an extra five bucks here I can afford to give a month'".
If you'd like to help, visit the foundation's web site: http://www.wildhorsefoundation.org
STORY BY CHRISTINE WINTER
http://www.kcentv.com/news/c-article.php?cid=1&nid=8824
Wildfire threat undiminished on Sunday
North Texas firefighters were bracing for another day of dangerous conditions on Sunday with gusty winds and low humidity increasing the chances for wildfires.
A large fire estimated at 2,500 acres was burning Sunday afternoon along the Stevens-Palo Pinto County line.
The fire—one mile wide and three miles long—threatened 12 homes in Stevens County and 50 homes in Palo Pinto County. Residents were evacuated as a precaution, but officials said most were vacation homes and not currently occupied.
This fire started along U.S. 180 and spread to the northeast. Possum Kingdon State Park was closed as a result.
On Saturday, wildfires blackened parts of Parker County for the second day in a row. Firefighters were able to bring the flames under control near Poolville on Friday, but the fire rekindled on Saturday afternoon.
At least two aircraft were brought in to fight the fresh fire, helping ground-based crews. A barn was burned before fire crews were able to tame the flames.
The National Weather Service issued another Red Flag fire warning for most of North Central Texas on Sunday between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. The forecast is calling for southerly winds gusting to 35 mph with continued low humidity.
According to radar images, it did rain in parts of drought-stricken North Texas on Saturday night—but you would never know it.
"It is so dry down at the surface that this precipitation is actually evaporating before having a chance to hit the ground," explained WFAA-TV (Channel 8) meteorologist Steve McCauley.
McCauley said it would remain cloudy, windy and warm in North Texas on Sunday and Monday, but that an area east of Dallas could see some showers and thunderstorms on Monday.
The state has set up a hotline to report arson fires: 877-434-7345. The number was being posted on highway message signs in North Texas.
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/wfaa060115_wz_firedanger.4c9c2dd.html
Wildfires scorch grazing pastures
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Angela K. Brown
Associated Press
Carbon, Texas - When Gayla Stacy stands on her front porch and gazes at the 160 acres of fields around her, all she sees is black.
Wildfires that swept through two weeks ago scorched grazing land for her family's 150-head of cattle and burned the grass that the Stacys sell as hay. The flames also destroyed their barn, 150 rolls of hay and most of their farm equipment.
"We've worked 35 years to get what we've got, and we're glad our house didn't burn, but it still hurts," said Stacy, 53. "It's knocked a big hole in our livelihood."
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1137241872151740.xml&coll=2
The Times-Picayune
I see no mention of the Netherlands trip here. The people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are being lead without complete information.
http://www.nola.com/
I believe the new maps will be valuable but in a limited fashion until the impact of a draft according to Netherland's standards is realized. I believe it is too early to make wide ranging decisions until the potential for protection of the city is definitely known. I also believe this is a 'push' to change the focus of 'Rebuilding New Orleans' in a way that will achieve the goal Bush has to bury the problem. I believe the Louisiana legislators need a chance to formulate a plan for the Gulf Coast as it will impact their economy, since they have made their fact finding trip to the Netherlands.
New flood maps will likely steer rebuilding
But FEMA says it's still too soon to guess what they will look like
Sunday, January 15, 2006
By Gordon Russell and James Varney
Staff writers
The new federal flood maps for New Orleans scheduled to be released this year will provide critical information for residents trying to decide whether -- or how high -- to rebuild their damaged homes, members of Mayor Ray Nagin's Bring New Orleans Back commission say.
The maps also could drive new building codes and standards that try to minimize future flood damage, should city leaders decide to adopt them quickly.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/113730870342020.xml
continued …
The Netherlands has a nice lifestyle for it's citizens and a tourism industry as well.
January 9, 2006.
A Pleasure Horse and an enjoyable ride in Winterwijk, Netherlands.
The Netherlands and Louisiana
By GERARD SHIELDSAdvocate
Washington bureau
Published: Jan 15, 2006
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS -- Mention the Netherlands and most people reference the old picture of the little boy with his finger in the dike holding back the flood waters.
My, how times have changed.
Last week, the Dutch hosted a contingent of 50 local, state and federal officials from Louisiana, showing off their nation’s comprehensive system of steel barriers, concrete dams, dikes, sand dunes and pumps.
But, as Louisiana Secretary of Transportation and Development Johnny Bradberry noted at the conclusion of the three-day visit, it wasn’t the colossal public works projects that were most impressive. Most impressive was the government’s commitment and will to protect its people.
Like Louisiana, the Dutch suffered a horrible storm and flood in 1953 that claimed 1,800 people. From that moment on, the nation pledged that a similar disaster would never happen again.
It formed a commission, the Delta Commission, to come up with a storm-protection plan. In 1957, the nation passed legislation embarking on a 50-year plan to provide the necessary storm protection to back up its pledge.
For Jaap Schoof, the government has lived up to that commitment. Schoof is the curator of The 1953 Flood Museum and a survivor of the devastation. Today, he takes solace in the fact that the government has gone to great lengths to ensure no similar disasters will occur. “We are safe enough,” he said.
Getting that kind of commitment from the U.S. government is the challenge for Louisiana’s political leaders. To employ the Dutch system — 50 times stronger than current New Orleans protection —would cost $18 billion today in the United States.
So far, the will and commitment that the Dutch display are lacking from the U.S. government. Heck, the state just received $2.9 billion to bring its levees up to the protection standards they were supposed to be before Hurricane Katrina hit. And the state has failed to get the federal government to commit to providing protections for a Category 5 hurricane, although an $8 million study has been approved.
That Donald Powell, the federal coordinator for Gulf coast rebuilding, didn’t make the Netherlands trip was unfortunate. As the representative of President Bush, Powell should find his way over to the nation to get a feel for that federal will and commitment that is necessary in Louisiana. His chief of staff, Andrew Stirling, seemed to walk away a believer.
“It’s an impressive system,” Stirling said. “We have a lot to learn from this.”
But is the American public, the Congress and President Bush willing to help a small corner of the country that lives below sea level?U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., recognizes the challenge.
Vitter realizes that in the Netherlands, water control is a chief priority because without it, 70 percent of the country would be flooded. In America, the government would be protecting 1 percent to 2 percent of the U.S. population.
Vitter and others in the Louisiana delegation are convinced that the solution to supporting coastal protection and fighting erosion is securing a steady stream of funding. They propose that 25 percent to 50 percent of the gas and oil royalties that pass through Louisiana be given to Gulf Coast states, which amounts to up to $3 billion a year.
The price to restore the state’s wetlands has been set at $14 billion.
Some members of the Louisiana delegation believe that Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco should play hardball with the federal government when it soon comes time to renew oil and gas leases on federal lands in the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico.
Asked last week if she was willing to challenge the White House on it, Blanco smiled wryly.
“Sometimes you volunteer people in a way they want to become volunteers,” Blanco said.
Vitter acknowledges that, practically speaking, the White House isn’t going to be willing to part with $3 billion going into the federal treasury each year. It is going to be up to Louisiana politicians to convince them otherwise.
Adam Sharp, an aide to U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., helped coordinate the Netherlands excursion. Sharp said Dutch officials have made the necessary commitment with the memory of the disastrous flood of 1953 lingering.“They said ‘never again,’” Sharp said.
Morning Papers - continued
The Jerusalem Post
Sharon undergoing tracheostomy
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH AND AP
Talkbacks for this article: 1
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon underwent the surgical insertion of a tracheostomy tube to "help doctors wean him" from his respirator on Sunday night.
Sharon has been on the respirator since he suffered a massive stroke January 4.
A tracheostomy involves making a small hole in the windpipe while the patient is under general anesthesia and attaching a ventilator to it, rather than to a mask over his face.
Doctors said last week that Sharon might have to undergo the procedure because the plastic tube currently connecting the prime minister's windpipe with the respirator will start to cause him damage if it remains in for too long.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361085326&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Olmert to be acting PM until elections
By AP AND JPOST.COM STAFF
Talkbacks for this article: 4
Attorney General Meni Mazuz on Sunday told Ehud Olmert to continue serving as acting prime minister as long as Ariel Sharon lies ill in the hospital, presumably through the March 28 elections.
Mazuz has decided to continue defining Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who remains in a coma after a severe stroke on January 4, as temporarily incapacitated.
If Mazuz were to declare Sharon permanently incapacitated, then government ministers would have to choose an acting prime minister within 100 days of Olmert's January 4 takeover from Sharon.
A declaration of permanent incapacitation would be irreversible.
A Justice Ministry spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment on the media reports.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361081686&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Olmert wants to disperse ministries
By HERB KEINON
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to appoint between one to four new ministers from the ranks of Kadima MKs by next Sunday to take some of the 15 ministerial portfolios off his shoulders.
Attorney General Menahem Mazuz ruled Sunday that Olmert would not be able to appoint former Labor MKs Shimon Peres, Haim Ramon and Dalia Itzik to these portfolios, because according to law, if an MK quits his party he can not become a minister during that same Knesset term.
The same law does not apply to former Likud MKs who left Likud to join Kadima, because since one-third of the Likud MKs bolted for Kadima, the party is considered to have split, and those one-third who left the mother-party are eligible for ministerial posts.
Among the leading Kadima MKs to
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361085801&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Police shut down Hamas offices in east Jerusalem
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, AP, AND JPOST STAFF
Talkbacks for this article: 5
The Israel police and the Shin Bet raided offices linked to the Hamas near Nablus Road in east Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon.
An organization called Wifadah was discovered to have been channeling funds to Hamas, to be used for the group's election campaign in east Jerusalem.
Following Sunday's raid, the police declared the premises at Damascus Gate closed for a period of 15 days. Detectives detained for questioning four activists who ran the office.
Among those detained was Mohamed Abu Tir, who holds the top place on Hamas' electoral list in Jerusalem and is considered second in the Hamas heirarchy.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361083107&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
US to cut funding if Hamas elected
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH AND JPOST STAFF
Talkbacks for this article: 40
A new public opinion poll published on Saturday showed the ruling Fatah party and Hamas running a close race ahead of parliamentary elections slated for January 25.
Security sources in the American government warned that the US will cut funding to the Palestinian Authority if Hamas representatives would be elected to official positions in the new government that was expected to form.
According to Israel Radio, the warning came following a meeting between PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and US representatives David Welch and Elliot Abrams.
Welch and Abrams also met with Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier in the day, in the presence of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's aides Dov Weisglass and Shalom Tourjeman. This was Olmert's first meeting with these representatives since he took the role of acting prime minister some 10 days ago. Olmert was also scheduled to meet with US President George Bush in the near future.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1136361077792&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Why Palestinians are voting for Hamas
By DAVID HOROVITZ
Talkbacks for this article: 4
A multimillion-dollar reconstruction project, funded in large part by the Japanese government, has changed the face of what was Yasser Arafat's embattled Mukata headquarters complex in Ramallah.
Crumpled buildings have been cleared away. The once sandbag-protected entrance to the stairway leading up to Arafat's quarters is now pristine and easily accessible. Building work at what the sign individualistically calls the "Mousoleum of President Yasir Arafat complete with prayer hall" is in full swing, alongside the guarded area where the "rais" lies buried beneath a large Palestinian flag. Mahmoud Abbas's mustachioed portrait now gazes down from the archway leading to the prefab quarters of the security detachment. Half-a-dozen dark Mercedes are parked nearby.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1136361071223&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Report: IAF trained for Iran attack
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Talkbacks for this article: 15
IAF pilots have completed their mission training and fighter jets have been prepared for an Israeli attack on Iran, the British Sunday Times reported.
The article reported that "the elite 69 strategic F-15 I squadron" had been equipped with weapons that will be tested in combat for the first time, and that two missile submarines were on standby: one in the Persian Gulf and the second in Haifa Bay.
The Times also said that special IDF forces would be helicoptered into Iran to take out targets that could not be destroyed in an air strike.
Iran's nuclear facilities, according to the newspaper report, are widely dispersed at some 40 underground sites throughout Iran, which would make any attack by Israel - or any other nation - exponentially more difficult that Israel's successful attack on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981.
Col. [res] Ze'ev Raz, the former IAF pilot who led the Osirak mission, was quoted by the Times as saying, "What we now have is a lot of targets, which makes the operation much more difficult."
Raz believes an aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities is possible. There are many things that the IAF has done over the past few years that the public is not aware of, and it has made many important advances in mid-air refueling. Israel can strike the Iranian nuclear program, Raz said on Israel's Channel 1 TV's Politika program last week.
Former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Uzi Dayan said last week that if Iran gets nuclear weapons, then so would terror organizations, like Hizbullah. "Israel needs to be ready to act on a military option," Dayan said. "Without getting into details, Israel is capable of doing these things."
When Dayan was head of the National Security Agency, he advised the government not to allow a situation in which Israel, and the world now finds itself, with a radical regime in Tehran on the verge of attaining nuclear weapons. Dayan laid much of the blame on the United States, which allowed this to happen. "The military option does exist, but only if the international community works together. The government that arises in Israel after the elections will have to deal with this issue," he said.
Shabtai Shoval, a former operative in the Israeli intelligence community, who wrote a book that Iran will reach nuclear weapons capability by 2009, says that covert action, for example by the Mossad, is the most interesting option, but would still not stop Tehran's push for nuclear weapons.
Dr. Reuven Pedatzur, a senior lecturer at the Strategic Studies Program at Tel Aviv University, believes Israel would be making a "disastrous strategic error" if it embarked on a full-scale attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. "The military option is not relevant, we simply don't have the right amount of intelligence and information; many of the targets are buried deep under ground.
Only if the Americans decide to do it, then that option is possible," Pedatzur said last week. Pedatzur added that the day Iran gets a nuclear weapon, Israel will have no choice but to abandon its policy of nuclear ambiguity.
Amir Mizroch contributed to this report.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361083662&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The Tehran Times
German official calls sanctions on Iran a "very dangerous path"
BERLIN (Reuters) -- Imposing economic sanctions against Iran to persuade it to relinquish its nuclear program would be a "very dangerous path", German deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler told German radio, according to a summary of his comments released on Saturday.
He said sanctions would hurt both sides and that he favored imposing travel restrictions on Iranian politicians as a more effective way of exerting pressure on Tehran.
He said travel restrictions would have "an extraordinarily unpleasant impact," according to the summary of the interview, which is due to be broadcast on Sunday.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=1/15/2006&Cat=2&Num=010
Interview with Gernot Erler, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, on the radio station
"Deutschlandfunk", 16 December 2005 (excerpts)
Question: There's a pattern behind these verbal attacks: the Holocaust is a myth; the myth of the massacre of Jews is considered more important in the West than God, religions and the prophets. These are the words of President Ahmadinejad of Iran who, in a speech he made in the provinces, called once more for Israel to be moved to Europe, the US, Canada or Alaska. Naturally, the West is outraged and shocked, while Israel is alarmed. What should be done? The German Bundestag is debating this issue today […]. Has the Federal Foreign Office already invited the Iranian President or at least the Iranian Ambassador in Berlin to visit a concentration camp or the Holocaust Memorial?
Answer: That's yesterday's suggestion. However, the Federal Foreign Office summoned the Iranian chargé d'affaires and informed him in no uncertain terms how scandalous the Iranian President's provocation is. That was the diplomatic step taken. The Federal Foreign Minister, as well as the Chancellor, have also expressed very clear views on this matter.
Q: President Ahmadinejad should actually be arrested on charges of inciting hatred and violence if he enters Germany, shouldn't he?
A: That's why a motion sponsored by all parties in the Bundestag is being discussed during today's debate on human rights. And the parties will state their standpoints in all clarity.
Q: Have the President's remarks … put Iran on the "axis of evil"?
A: This "axis of evil" is an attempt, as it were, to exclude a country from the international community. The question is whether that is the right solution at this point in time. We know that many Iranians don't agree with their President and are fully aware that he's trying to raise his domestic profile… He is appealing here to the masses. What makes this so dangerous is that he is not only appealing to the masses in Iran but also to a broader public in the Arab world. It is high time for these states to react. I am genuinely concerned that the Arab states have been so reluctant to respond to date, even those which do recognize Israel's right to exist, for example Egypt and Jordan. They are afraid that Ahmadinejad's remarks will strike a chord among their own population and haven't found the courage to categorically condemn this provocation.
Q: Isn't the Iranian President simply saying out loud what many Arab leaders think?
A: I fear that he is saying out loud what is certainly in the minds of poor sections of the population, in the minds of those who have few prospects for the future and are looking for someone to blame for their problems. It is therefore vital that political leaders who know that this is an extremely dangerous development because it is completely unpredictable, e.g. in terms of the reactions in the case of Israel, whose existence is threatened once again, now use their authority and resolutely stand up to such a trend. For the first Arab voices have been heard applauding this attempt to infringe upon Israel's right to exist, this denial of Israel's right to exist… It is therefore to be feared that a process with unpredictable consequences has been set in motion.
Q: There will be an all-party Bundestag resolution today. Apparently the EU summit has also now presented a draft statement condemning of the Iranian President's remarks ... Is that enough? Can we respond to these verbal attacks with mere words?
A: The problem is that if, for example, we take other steps, such as suspending or even breaking off diplomatic relations – this would of course also be conceivable – then that would put another goal further out of reach, namely that of negotiating an end to Iran's nuclear programmes, in so far as they produce weapons-grade plutonium… We are about to resume talks with Iran. Another meeting between … Britain, France and Germany, which are negotiating on behalf of the EU, with the deputy chairman of Iran's National Security Council is due to take place on 21 December… This issue is so important that it has to be taken into consideration when deciding what steps to take in response to the outrageous remarks made by Ahmadinejad.
Q: Is there any point to the talks on 21 December now that Ahmadinejad himself has said that Tehran has absolutely no intention of abandoning any part of its programme?
A: Precisely this contradiction is very typical of the current situation in Iran. On the one side we hear the tough comments in public … on the other side … there are again signs that they are after all prepared to overcome the deadlock in the negotiations. It is not so easy for the international community to find the right response.
Q: Nevertheless, shouldn't we stop German companies which exported goods to the tune of 3.6 billion euro last year to Iran? For in theory there is a danger that key components for the country's nuclear or armaments programme could be supplied indirectly in this way, thus indirectly threatening Israel once more?
A: Both our external trade regulations as well as the rules on arms exports, which also govern the trade in so-called dual-use goods, that is to say goods which can be used for either civilian or military purposes, provide for extremely tight controls. The relevant regulations in Germany are tougher and more restrictive than in any other European state.
Q: Would you rule out a trade embargo?
A: Of course I do not rule that out. At least I wouldn't say that our economic interests are so important that we can't even talk about such a measure. At the moment I can't see what could move us to impose a sanction of this kind. However, should we have to weigh up between Israel's right of existence and to integrity on one side and German trade interests on the other, then it is clear how we would decide.
Q: Demands are now being made, for example, to exclude Iran from the World Cup […]. What do you think of that?
A: My response to that would be that maybe there is another solution. Instead of excluding Iran from the World Cup we could perhaps, if the issue is still so pressing then, take advantage of this event to make it clear to Iranian guests at every opportunity, to everyone with whom we have a chance to speak, how much Iran has isolated itself, to what extent it has laid itself open to international criticism, indeed is excluding itself from the international community. Such an event, where we will have more contact with Iranians than usual, would provide a good opportunity to get our message across. […]
published: 16.12.2005
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/ausgabe_archiv?archiv_id=7940
German Ex-Minister Under Fire Over CIA Abduction
Germany's former interior minister, Otto Schily, is facing pressure by opposition politicians to reveal his knowledge about the abduction of a German national by the US intelligence service.
Greens parliamentarian Volker Beck said that Schily, who left office Nov. 22, should tell the legislature what he knew about the abduction.
"We will question the government on this and push for a clarification," Beck said.
According to a report published by The Washington Post -- and contrary to Berlin's claims --the former German government had been informed about at least one case of a CIA abduction of a terror suspect.
A CIA plane that was allegedly used for transporting terror suspects
In May last year, Daniel Coats, the then United States ambassador in Berlin, told Schily that Khaled el-Masri -- a German citizen -- had been wrongfully held by the CIA but would soon be released, according to the report.
El-Masri was abducted by the American intelligence agency in 2003 and spent 5 months in a prison in Afghanistan.
German public prosecutors such as Eberhard Beyer have started to look into the case of Khaled el-Masri, issuing arrest warrants against 22 people allegedly involved in the
abduction.
"These agents were operating on German soil which automatically means they committed their crimes under German jurisdiction," Beyer said. "That is why we've started legal investigations on grounds of coercion and deprivation of liberty rights."
Schily, a Social Democrat, has so far not commented on the case. A spokeswoman for the interior ministry, which is now led by conservative Wolfgang Schäuble, said she could not speak for the previous regime.
Will Rice talk in Berlin?
Gernot Erler
Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler (SPD) said he understood that governments do not want to reveal details about the fight against terror, but added that the public has a right to "at least know what the legal situation was and whether national and international laws were adhered to."
In an interview with public broadcaster RBB, Erler added that expected US officials to inform their German counterparts about allegations regarding secret CIA flights transporting terror suspects across German air space. The United States airbase in Frankfurt allegedly was the hub of clandestine CIA operations, which have triggered a public outcry in Europe.
But Erler said it wasn't clear whether such information would become available during US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Berlin late Monday and Tuesday.
Hadley denies allegations
In an interview for CNN on Sunday, US national security advisor Stephen Hadley gave a first impression of the type of answer Europeans can expect.
"The terrorists threaten all of us," he said. "This is a threat really to the civilized world. We need to cooperate together to deal with this terrorist threat. That cooperation is characterized by three things: One, we comply with US constitution, US laws and US treaty obligations. Secondly, we respect the sovereignty of those countries with whom we are cooperating, and three -- we do not move people around the world so that they can be tortured."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is trying to get German-US relations back on a more friendly footing, has said that she believes the Americans will clear up the case.
"The new German government will do everything in its power to work for close, genuine and trusting relations with the United States," she said. "That's why I'm also fully convinced that the American administration will do everything to dispel European concern and clear up allegations of illegal CIA activities as quickly as possible."
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1801715,00.html
Opposition to Iran’s nuclear program is medieval: president
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN – President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said here on Saturday that civilized Iran does not need nuclear weapons.
“We are a civilized and ancient nation, and a nation that has culture and logic does not need nuclear weapons,” Ahmadinejad told reporters at a news conference.
Nuclear weapons are sought by people who intend to solve everything through force and bullying, he underlined.
“Unfortunately, today people face rulers who think they have more rights than other nations because their arsenals are stocked with nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.”
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Charter and the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), all member states have the right to gain access to nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes and no pretexts can be used to infringe on these rights, even inspections, he pointed out.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=1/15/2006&Cat=2&Num=011
Destroying the global village to save it
By Hamid Golpira
Once upon a time in the Vietnam War, it was reported that a U.S. soldier had said: “It was necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.”
The fact that some researchers say that no soldier ever really said it and that a journalist fabricated the quote is irrelevant. “Destroying the village to save it” entered the popular culture as a catchphrase that defined the zeitgeist.
Now there is a so-called war on terrorism that is supposed to save civilization, apparently by destroying it.
Yes, the self-proclaimed defenders of “freedom” seem determined to destroy civilization in order to save it.
What else can we call it?
When the cultural heritage of the world is plundered from the Baghdad Museum and Iraq’s ancient sites are irrevocably damaged in the very cradle of civilization while occupation troops watch and do nothing, when there is a new classification of prisoner called “unlawful combatants”, when these “unlawful combatants” are held in extrajudicial detention in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and secret prisons in Eastern Europe, when U.S. officials and their allies say that international law and the Geneva Conventions are not applicable in the treatment of these prisoners, isn’t this destroying civilization in order to save it?
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=1/15/2006&Cat=14&Num=001
Students stage anti-U.S. protest in Lebanon
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese riot police fired smoke grenades and sprayed water on Saturday to disperse dozens of students protesting against the visit of senior U.S. diplomats to Beirut.
The protest turned nasty when security forces tried to clear protesters who gathered outside the government headquarters ahead of a visit by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch.
Some of the protesters, waving Lebanese flags and carrying placards protesting against U.S. influence in Lebanon and the Middle East, pelted police with stones.
"Welch is not welcome in Lebanon," one placard read.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=1/15/2006&Cat=4&Num=024
The Washington Post
40,000 Customers Lose Power in Windstorm
By Martin Weil and Fredrick Kunkle
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, January 15, 2006; Page C13
Electricity was knocked out to more than 40,000 homes and businesses in the Washington region yesterday as winds gusted to more than 50 mph and the first snow of the new year fell in a number of spots.
Seasons appeared to shift in the course of a single day, as temperatures plunged within hours from the springlike 60s to more wintry readings in the 30s, and wind chills made conditions seem even harsher.
Thunderstorms, more common in spring and summer, raked parts of the area early yesterday. Winds connected with those storms damaged buildings in Warrenton, in Fauquier County, according to reports made to the National Weather Service.
"Just a huge roar came through," M. Scott Taylor, chief of the Warrenton Volunteer Fire Company, said last night. "There was actually enough wind to move a dumpster about seven feet from muddy grass onto pavement. There's actually a trail imprint where the skids are on the bottom in the mud."
More than 2,500 homes and businesses in Fauquier were without electricity for part of yesterday, according to Dominion Virginia Power.
In all, about 35,000 customers were without power in the Northern Virginia area at 9:30 p.m., the utility said.
In Maryland, the largest number of outages at that hour appeared to be in Montgomery County, where the figure was more than 4,400, according to Pepco.
Earlier, in Anne Arundel County, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. said more than 2,000 homes were affected. BGE also reported about 1,000 homes and businesses in the dark in Howard County.
Pepco said fewer than 100 D.C. customers lost power.
Some of the day's biggest gusts were reported at Reagan National Airport, where a peak gust of 54 mph was reported about 3 p.m. and a similar gust of 53 mph was reported at 9.
The Weather Service said the fierce winds were the result of a form of atmospheric imbalance created by a low-pressure system off the New Jersey and New England coasts and a high-pressure system that was arriving from the west.
The contrasts in pressure help produce strong winds.
The Weather Service issued a high-wind warning yesterday afternoon for the Washington area as the gusts persisted, felling trees, snapping branches and flinging clouds of grit through city streets.
Winds are expected to diminish today, although they will remain strong.
A tornado of minimal size was reported in King and Queen County, Va.
Light snow, not enough to stick, fell late in the day at many places in the area, including Leesburg, Dulles International Airport and National Airport.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011401404.html
Tide of Sentiment Shifts in Water War
Traditional Favoritism to Agricultural Interests Is Challenged as Demand Increases
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 15, 2006; A03
BIG SKY, Mont. -- A hundred years after the city of Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley farmers battled neighboring Owens Valley for control over water from the Owens River, there's a new kind of water war in the West.
From Montana to Arizona to California and beyond, alliances of environmentalists, fishermen and city dwellers are challenging the West's traditional water barons -- farmers and ranchers -- who have long controlled the increasingly scarce resource.
The West largely depends on its rivers and snowmelt for its water supply, and a combination of recent urban growth and prolonged drought has resulted in demand greatly outstripping supply. Under longstanding federal and state policies reinforced by farmers' historic political clout, agriculture has laid claim to about 80 percent of those scant resources -- at rock-bottom prices -- on the grounds that water is critical to the survival of crops and livestock.
Now, however, other users are arguing that this system is unfair, uneconomical and a threat to many delicate ecosystems, and not only in the West.
Farmers typically pay less for their water than nearby cities: In California's Central Valley, they get their water from the federal government at below-market prices, a subsidy that amounts to $416 million a year, according to the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization. And unlike cities getting the same water, farmers are paying back the cost of the region's giant irrigation system without interest.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011400820_pf.html
Looking Over Jordan
The conclusion of an epic trilogy shows the civil rights movement both succeeding and fraying.
Reviewed by James T. Patterson
Sunday, January 15, 2006; Page BW03
AT CANAAN'S EDGE
America in the King Years 1965-68
Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965 (AP)
By Taylor Branch
Simon & Schuster. 1,039 pp. $35
In At Canaan's Edge, Taylor Branch offers a moving and panoramic view of America during the last three years of the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. To get a feel for the book's scope, take, for example, Branch's juxtaposition of the streams of events that were rushing together in January, 1966, 40 years ago this month.
One such episode took place on a numbingly cold day in Chicago, where King dramatized his forthcoming battle against poverty and racial injustice by moving into a third-floor walk-up in a rundown black neighborhood. A bare dirt floor graced the entry to the tenement. "The smell of urine," his wife, Coretta, recalled, "was overpowering. We were told that this was because the door was always open, and drunks came in off the street to use the hallway as a toilet."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/12/AR2006011201688.html
Hussein Judge Is Said To Quit
Conflicting Reports Follow Complaints, Political Pressure
By Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 15, 2006; Page A24
BAGHDAD, Jan. 14 -- The chief judge presiding over the trial of Saddam Hussein submitted his resignation last week after coming under public criticism for the way he was handling the courtroom, another judge involved in the case said Saturday.
For two days, rumors have circulated that Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin had resigned. Two other judges told news agencies that he had not. But Hussein Mussawi, a judge involved with the case, said Amin had quit after all.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011400995.html
Italians Rally for Abortion Rights, Gay Unions
Rallies, Denounced by Church, Government Ministers, Fuel Election Debate
By Frances D'Emilio
Associated Press
Sunday, January 15, 2006; Page A22
ROME, Jan. 14 -- Tens of thousands of women marched through Milan on Saturday to demand that Italy keep its liberal abortion law intact while gays rallied in Rome to push for legal recognition for homosexual couples.
Both topics have become issues in Italy's election campaign, and the Roman Catholic Church and ministers in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government were scathing in denouncing the rallies.
"These demonstrators are really nauseating," said Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli, a member of the right-wing Northern League, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. "Family is a serious thing, based on love between a man and a woman."
Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione, who is close to the Vatican, told reporters that people's energy should be spent on what he called pro-family efforts such as finding jobs and housing.
"These are the political problems you should put the spotlight on, because without children, Italy dies," Buttiglione said.
The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, denounced as "provocations" efforts to give legal recognition to unmarried couples "independent of whether the partners are of different or the same sex." A program on Vatican Radio described the gay rights rally in Piazza Farnese as "ideological sexuality."
Police estimated 1,000 people attended the rally in Rome to lobby for legal recognition for both gay and unmarried heterosexual couples. An estimated 50,000 people joined in the abortion rights march.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011401028.html?nav=hcmodule
The New Zealand Herald
Crackdown on China train ticket scam
15.01.06 5.00pm
XIAN - Police in CHina have paraded illegal train ticket dealers during a public sentence at the Xian Railway Station.
They have launched campaigns to crack down on illegal selling of train tickets, theft, robbery and other crimes around the station.
The operation coincides with the Spring Festival travel season, one of the busiest periods of the year, starting from today.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363783
Row over sex offenders in UK schools
15.01.06 5.00pm
LONDON - A political storm triggered after a British minister admitted he had cleared a registered sex offender to work as a teacher gathered pace on Saturday after a newspaper reported a number of similar cases.
The Times said there were several instances of sex offenders working in schools despite government assurances earlier this week that such men are barred from working with children.
The report came after Kim Howells, a former junior education minister and now at the Foreign Office, said on Thursday he had cleared a man cautioned by police for viewing child pornography on the internet to work as a teacher in "good faith" after reading the file and seeking advice.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363781
Old, blind, infirm - and fit for execution
16.01.06
By Andrew Gumbel
LOS ANGELES - Clarence Ray Allen is 75, legally blind, nearly deaf and crippled. This week he will be executed by the State of California after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denied him clemency.
Although Allen still has an appeal pending before the Supreme Court, the Governor's decision increases the likelihood he will be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday night (NZ time), a day after he turns 76.
Scwarzenegger ruled the oldest prisoner on Death Row will not be spared, saying a murderer is still a murderer whatever his health. The decision, was denounced as an affront to human dignity by campaigners.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363847
Communist Party wary of Mao milestones
16.01.06
BEIJING - China's Communist Party vigilantly guards its history, but in 2006 the country must navigate a cascade of traumatic anniversaries of Mao Zedong's rule that may provoke debate over its censored past.
Forty years ago, in May 1966, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, the mass campaign that spiralled into a decade of violence and repression.
The 30th anniversary of Mao's death is September 9.
Then there is the October 6 arrest of the Gang of Four, marking the party's renunciation of the Cultural Revolution in 1976.
And there is the Tangshan earthquake, which 30 years ago on July 28 levelled the city in north China, killing at least 240,000 and laying bare the country's weakness and isolation after decades of political campaigns.
Today the Communist Party still strictly guards the country's archives of those times and restricts books about the Cultural Revolution.
Party scholars said they expected few new works to make it past censors.
"The central leadership doesn't worry about history for its own sake, but they don't want to look like they're encouraging doubts about the party when there are already enough doubts," said one Beijing researcher whose study of the Cultural Revolution has been blocked for years.
But Zhang Guangyou, a retired reporter who witnessed many key episodes of the Cultural Revolution, said recalling those years may help China change for the better.
"History offers lessons we all need to remember, and leaders who remember the past will understand how much we need more reform, more change," Zhang told Reuters.
Zhang, 75, worked as a reporter for the official Xinhua news agency for much of the Cultural Revolution, when Mao summoned the country into frenzied, often violent struggle against "capitalist roader" officials accused of betraying the revolution.
Hundreds of thousands died in purges and bouts of warfare, including Mao's one-time designated successor, Liu Shaoqi, who died in prison.
Zhang has written memoirs of his reporting, but does not think the manuscripts will be published this year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363813
Farmer burns school in China
16.01.06 5.20am
A farmer in eastern China threw a flaming petrol-filled bottle into a classroom, injuring 24 people, before committing suicide. Li Guosheng forced his way into the Anhui province school, threw the bottle into the class and jumped out a third-storey window. Police say the motive was unknown.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10363844
Polygamy gets political tick in Chechnya
16.01.06
GROZNY - Russia's idiosyncratic loyalist strongman in Chechnya has said he wants to legalise polygamy and allow men to take up to four wives because there aren't enough males to go around after more than a decade of war.
Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's acting Prime Minister, said that the number of women in Chechnya was 9 to 18 per cent higher than the number of men, and argued that polygamy was a practical way of replenishing the republic's war-ravaged population.
"I think that it is necessary because we are at war. It is very important for the Chechen people. Shariah law allows this, it does not run counter to it. Therefore, each man who can provide for four wives should do it."
Chechnya, a largely Muslim republic, has been embroiled in a brutal on-off war of secession from Russia since 1994.
Human rights group Memorial estimates that 75,000 Russian and Chechen civilians have died since then, most of them men.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363801
British MPs to face phone-tapping
16.01.06
LONDON - Tony Blair is preparing to scrap a 40-year ban on tapping MPs' telephones, despite fierce Cabinet opposition, it is reported.
He is expected to formally announce to the Commons within weeks that MPs can no longer be sure that the security services and others will not intercept their communications.
Until now, successive Administrations have pledged that there should be no tapping "whatsoever" of MPs' phones, and that they would be told if it was necessary to breach the ban.
But that convention is to be abandoned in an expansion of MI5 powers following the London bombings.
MPs should be treated in the same way as other citizens and will be given the same safeguards against wrongful tapping, the Prime Minister will say.
The decision provoked a furious row in the Cabinet just before Christmas, when the Secretary of State for Defence, John Reid, surprised other ministers by voicing his opposition.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363802
Greenpeace deny 'prolonging whales' suffering' claims
14.01.06 1.00pm
Greenpeace has denied claims by Japanese officials that protesters are increasing whales' suffering in order to obtain "bloody footage" for their PR campaign.
New Zealander Phil Lloyd, a crew member on one of two Greenpeace ships shadowing a Japanese "scientific whaling" fleet in the Southern Ocean, said protesters were confident their actions had prevented a lot of hunting, The Dominion Post reported.
He believed 242 minke whales had been caught 40 days into the 100-day hunt -- far short of Japan's target of 935 minkes and 10 fin whales.
Japan's Far Seas Fisheries Division deputy director Hideki Moronuki, earlier told Reuters the protest was slowing down the hunt, which was necessary to "study" ages and breeding patterns.
"If the harassment continues, there may be some effect," he said.
But when later contacted by The Dominion Post, he denied there were any progress targets for the catch.
Meanwhile, Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research said Greenpeace was prolonging the time taken for whales to die.
Director-general Hiroshi Hatanaka said without Greenpeace interference, 52 per cent of the whales would die instantly, and the rest in less than two minutes.
"The point is that Greenpeace knows that if they harass the catcher boats they can get the bloody footage required for their PR campaign."
New Zealand has ordered its Air Force Orion surveillance fleet to widen its brief from monitoring fishing vessels to keeping tabs on the situation but has stopped short of agreeing to Green Party and conservation group calls to send a navy frigate to the area.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363696
Gay cowboys denied an Aussie show
16.01.06
Parts of north and central Queensland won't be seeing the controversial cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain.
The film - banned in two cinemas in the US because of its tale of gay cowboy love - won't be seen in Townsville or Rockhampton because of its "limited release" status.
The snub has angered gay activists, who say many could relate to the gay character played by Australian actor Heath Ledger.
Townsville-based Colin Edwards said: "We have gay property owners, jackaroos, jillaroos. They really do exist and they really do fall in love."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363789
Former Saddam frontman gravely ill
14.01.06
Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz may have only weeks to live, his lawyer said on Thursday after visiting the man who was once the public face of Saddam Hussein's Government overseas.
Aziz, a tough, eloquent and loyal spokesman for Saddam and now in his late sixties, was jailed after the 2003 invasion of Iraq but no formal charges have been brought against him.
"He is suffering from high blood pressure and he cannot walk properly. He is being given 13 pills a day for his blood pressure, diabetes and other illnesses to prevent strokes," his lawyer said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363624
NZ firm acquires rights to map tool
16.01.06
Wellington-based technology company Surveylab, which last year attracted $2 million from venture capital company No. 8 Ventures, has licensed American military technology which merges a handheld computer with global positioning capability.
Set up three years ago by engineer Leon Toorenburg and businessman Rex Nicholls to make "Ike" - a handheld recorder for use by the military - Surveylab has bought rights to a sophisticated device created by the US Army Construction Engineering Research Lab in Champaign, Illinois.
The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette says the hand-held apparatus for mobile mapping and expedited reporting - or HAMMER - can be used to assess and record damage to infrastructure like roads, bridges, sewers and dams.
The hand-held iPaq computer has GPS capability, a digital camera, compass, laser distance meter, inclinometer (to measure slope) and geographic information system or GIS mapping software.
The information collected with the device can easily be incorporated in a database, tied to a map, and turned into a report. It has two kinds of wireless capability, plus wired connections so its contents can be moved into a laptop, or sent to a portable printer, other HAMMERS, or the internet.
"Things that used to take you days or weeks to generate a report are now done at the end of the day with the push of a button," said CERL researcher Tad Britt, who used one in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Some of the devices are being used in Iraq and Afghanistan to lay out Army camps and record environmental conditions to assess damage and liability from US operations, but they could also be used on the battlefield for surveying troop movement and supply routes or minefields.
Britt, an archaeologist, has also used it in that field. He said there was a civilian market for the system in real estate management, civil engineering and surveying. It could also be used for "homeland security", say, to study access points at facilities like airports.
CERL started developing the system to map archaeological data at military construction sites and found that Surveylab, with eight staff, had done something similar with its Ike (I Know Everything) device which takes photographs and simultaneously labels them with a GPS position so that they can be downloaded on to a GIS map.
Surveylab has sold Ikes for use in Canada, US, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Africa, Europe, Asia, India, and Australia, as well as NZ, and is negotiating a major sale to the NZ Defence Force.
Company chief executive Andy Nicoll said it was setting up a sales operation in the US.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10363819
Secret file on spying found in PM papers
16.01.06
By Derek Cheng and NZPA
The Government will look into how a top-secret report, which should have been tracked and carefully monitored, found its way into a box of archives left by former Prime Minister David Lange.
The document indicated that the United States had threatened to spy on New Zealand in the wake of its anti-nuclear stance.
The report, by the Government Communications Security Bureau, was among the private papers retained by Mr Lange, who died in August.
Duty Minister Jim Anderton last night said such a confidential report should have been closely monitored by intelligence officials and handed straight back after Mr Lange read it.
"There was a failure of the system somewhere. It's 20 years or so ago ... but there are lessons to be learnt and that should be learnt," he said.
"Officials will look at the circumstances surrounding the presence of the report in the archives ... [and] how that paper was handled."
He said the contents of the archived box - including cheque butts and other miscellaneous material - suggested that the report had not been deliberately misplaced.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10363868
Frogs heading dinosaur's way
14.01.06
Global warming has triggered the extinction of hundreds of species of frogs and toads.
Scientists believe they have found the first clear proof that global warming has caused outbreaks of an infectious disease that is wiping out entire populations of amphibians.
The dramatic demise of the 6000 species of amphibians was first identified in 1990 and one theory for the loss was the spread of a devastating skin infection caused by a fungus.
A study by an international team of researchers has now linked the spread of a species of chytrid fungus with a rise in tropical temperatures associated with global warming.
The scientists believe that the average temperatures of many tropical highland regions, which are rich in endemic species of frogs and toads, have shifted to become perfect for the growth of the fungus.
Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa of the University of Alberta in Canada, one of the authors of the study published in Nature this week, said that the analysis firmly links climate change with the rapid demise of many frogs and toads.
"There is absolutely a linkage between global warming and this disease, they go hand in hand," Professor Sanchez-Azofeifa said. "With this increase in temperature, the fungus has been able to increase its niche and wipe out large populations of amphibians in the Americas."
The dramatic loss of amphibians - frogs, toads, newts and salamanders - has led to about a third of them, some 1856 species, being officially classified as threatened. Hundreds more are on the brink of extinction.
Alan Pounds of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve in Costa Rica and the lead author of the Nature study, said that the average air temperatures in the region are responsible for the spread of the fungus.
"Disease is the bullet killing frogs, but climate change is pulling the trigger. Global warming is wreaking havoc on amphibians, and will cause staggering losses of biodiversity if we don't do something fast," he said.
The study found that between 1975 and 2000, average air temperatures for the tropics increased by 0.18C per decade - triple the average rate of warming for the 20th century. Most "extinctions" - when the species was last sighted - occurred in unusually warm years.
The likelihood of this association being chance was less than one in a thousand.
Professor Pounds said that rising temperatures enhance cloud cover over tropical mountains leading to cooler days and warmer nights, both of which favour the growth of the fungus.
The discovery helps to overcome a paradox that puzzled scientists for warmer air temperatures should not favour the spread of the fungus, which thrives best in cooler, damper conditions. It was known that the fungus kills frogs mostly in cool highland regions or during winter months, implying that low temperatures make it more deadly. The study, however, found that the fungus is vulnerable to extremes in temperature and anything that moderates these extremes - such as more frequent mists and clouds in warmer weather - can unleash it.
"This new study ... should give us cause for concern about human health in a warmer world," said Professor Andrew Blaustein, a zoologist at Oregon State University.
"As global change is occurring at an unprecedented pace, we should expect many other [animals] from ants to zebras to be confronted with similar challenges."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=000A43D1-390C-13C7-ACFA83027AF1002A
Waikato uni tests on map could change world history
16.01.06
Researchers at Waikato University are conducting tests on the paper and ink used for a Chinese map which indicates that a Chinese eunuch discovered America.
The copy of a map made in 1763, of a map dated 1418 - to be made public in Beijing today - may show that Admiral Zheng He discovered America more than 70 years before Christopher Columbus, the Economist reported.
If the tests and authentication by other experts showed the map - with a clear depiction of the Americas, New Zealand, Australia, Americas, Africa and Europe - to be genuine, it would overturn centuries of European teaching. Traditional histories record that Columbus found the New World in 1492, Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 and Magellan set off to circumnavigate the world in 1519.
Gunnar Thompson, a researcher of ancient maps and early explorers, said if the map was genuine it would revolutionise thinking about 15th-century world history.
Results of the mass spectrography analysis at Waikato University to date the materials on which the map was copied is due to be announced next month, but will only be direct evidence of the paper and inks used in the copy.
Five Chinese academic experts on ancient charts have noted that the 1418 map puts together information that was available piecemeal in China from earlier nautical maps, going back to the 13th century and Kublai Khan, who was himself an explorer, the Economist said.
The naval fleets of Zheng He roamed the oceans between 1405 and 1435, and his exploits - well documented in Chinese history - were recorded in a 1418 book called The Marvellous Visions of the Star Raft.
The copy of the map will be unveiled in Beijing today and at Britain's National Maritime Museum in Greenwich on Wednesday. Six Chinese characters in the upper right-hand corner of the map say this is a "general chart of the integrated world". In the lower left-hand corner is a note that says the chart was drawn by Mo Yi Tong, imitating a world chart made in 1418 which showed the barbarians paying tribute to the Ming emperor, Zhu Di.
The copyist differentiated between what he took from the original from what he added himself.
The copy of the map was bought from a small Shanghai dealer in 2001 by Liu Gang, an eminent Chinese lawyer who collects maps.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10363864
Chris de Freitas: Keep a weather eye on climate change
16.01.06
Sizzling 2005 takes fourth place in record books" announced the Herald headline. The national daily temperature was on average 13.1C, the report said, making last year the fourth-hottest year nationally since climate records began in the 1860s. It was topped only by 1971, 1998 and 1999.
But the fine print shows that the averages for these four hottest years differ by a maximum of two-tenths of a degree, and 1971 was only one-tenth of a degree warmer than last year. These amounts are well within the error margin for the data.
The statistics could be re-interpreted to show that the hottest year was 1998, with an average temperature of 13.3C, so you could say that since 1998 there has been cooling. This approach to interpreting climate statistics is what climatologists call data-picking, as in cherry-picking.
Climate is about statistics and the opportunity for new records to be set increases with time because the instrument record of climate is seldom more than about 100 years. In identifying patterns of climate change and variability through statistical averages, return periods and probabilities of occurrence, this is a minute fragment.
Climate scientist and statistician Douglas Hoyt points out that because the probability of establishing a new weather record never drops to zero, every year some region will establish a new rainfall, storm, temperature or other climate record.
Even in the warmest years some locations will set a new monthly mean low-temperature record. Even in the coolest years some locations will have periods of record warmth.
For example, even though last year was one of the warmest globally, Somalia experienced its "first ever" snowfall in May and China entered its coldest winter in 20 years.
It is important to keep in mind is that climate statistics are mathematical constructs.
They are no more than human inventions, the meaning of which is often misunderstood.
For example, it is false to assume that a 100-year heatwave, flood or storm will occur or be exceeded every 100 years. In fact, there is a high probability (63 per cent) of a 100-year event occurring more than once in a given 100-year period.
Moreover, there is a small but significant likelihood that two or more floods that are more serious than a 100-year flood will occur in a given 20-year period.
An example is the two major floods in Greymouth during 1988, where a 13-year and a 36-year flood occurred in the same year.
There is the worry that whatever the statistical norm for climate may be, this will change as climate changes.
Scientists advising the Government's Climate Change Project say most regions are likely to face more varied rainfall patterns through the century and floods will become four times more frequent because rainfall is likely to become more intense.
On the other hand, a great deal of research which, taken together, suggests that extreme climate events may become less frequent and less severe.
American researchers Karl and Easterling report the results of climate models that suggest temperatures in the future will be confined to a tighter range, on average.
The researchers found that most of the increase in global temperatures so far has been occurring during the winter and at night.
If these forecasts are correct, variability in the data will shrink more and reduce the occurrence of extreme hot and cold spells, but only on average.
* Dr Chris de Freitas is an Associate Professor in the School of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Auckland.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=0000A5D8-D4CE-13C9-8FCC83027AF10107
Global warming set to accelerate
16.01.06
LONDON - Global warming is set to accelerate alarmingly because of a sharp jump in carbon dioxide levels.
Preliminary figures show that levels of the gas - the main cause of climate change - have risen abruptly in the past four years. Scientists fear that warming is entering a new phase, and may accelerate further.
But a summit of the most polluting countries, convened by the Bush Administration, last week refused to set targets for reducing their carbon dioxide emissions.
Set up in competition to the Kyoto Protocol, the Sydney summit, attended by the US, Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea, instead pledged to develop cleaner technologies - which some experts believe will not arrive in time.
Through most of the past 50 years, levels of the gas rose by an average of 1.3 parts per million a year. But unpublished figures for the first 10 months of this year show a rise of 2.2ppm.
Scientists believe this may be the first evidence that climate change is starting to produce itself, as rising temperatures so alter natural systems that the Earth itself releases more gas, driving the thermometer ever higher
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=0002306F-DE68-13C9-8FCC83027AF10107
continued …
Sharon undergoing tracheostomy
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH AND AP
Talkbacks for this article: 1
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon underwent the surgical insertion of a tracheostomy tube to "help doctors wean him" from his respirator on Sunday night.
Sharon has been on the respirator since he suffered a massive stroke January 4.
A tracheostomy involves making a small hole in the windpipe while the patient is under general anesthesia and attaching a ventilator to it, rather than to a mask over his face.
Doctors said last week that Sharon might have to undergo the procedure because the plastic tube currently connecting the prime minister's windpipe with the respirator will start to cause him damage if it remains in for too long.
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Olmert to be acting PM until elections
By AP AND JPOST.COM STAFF
Talkbacks for this article: 4
Attorney General Meni Mazuz on Sunday told Ehud Olmert to continue serving as acting prime minister as long as Ariel Sharon lies ill in the hospital, presumably through the March 28 elections.
Mazuz has decided to continue defining Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who remains in a coma after a severe stroke on January 4, as temporarily incapacitated.
If Mazuz were to declare Sharon permanently incapacitated, then government ministers would have to choose an acting prime minister within 100 days of Olmert's January 4 takeover from Sharon.
A declaration of permanent incapacitation would be irreversible.
A Justice Ministry spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment on the media reports.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361081686&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Olmert wants to disperse ministries
By HERB KEINON
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to appoint between one to four new ministers from the ranks of Kadima MKs by next Sunday to take some of the 15 ministerial portfolios off his shoulders.
Attorney General Menahem Mazuz ruled Sunday that Olmert would not be able to appoint former Labor MKs Shimon Peres, Haim Ramon and Dalia Itzik to these portfolios, because according to law, if an MK quits his party he can not become a minister during that same Knesset term.
The same law does not apply to former Likud MKs who left Likud to join Kadima, because since one-third of the Likud MKs bolted for Kadima, the party is considered to have split, and those one-third who left the mother-party are eligible for ministerial posts.
Among the leading Kadima MKs to
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361085801&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Police shut down Hamas offices in east Jerusalem
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, AP, AND JPOST STAFF
Talkbacks for this article: 5
The Israel police and the Shin Bet raided offices linked to the Hamas near Nablus Road in east Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon.
An organization called Wifadah was discovered to have been channeling funds to Hamas, to be used for the group's election campaign in east Jerusalem.
Following Sunday's raid, the police declared the premises at Damascus Gate closed for a period of 15 days. Detectives detained for questioning four activists who ran the office.
Among those detained was Mohamed Abu Tir, who holds the top place on Hamas' electoral list in Jerusalem and is considered second in the Hamas heirarchy.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361083107&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
US to cut funding if Hamas elected
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH AND JPOST STAFF
Talkbacks for this article: 40
A new public opinion poll published on Saturday showed the ruling Fatah party and Hamas running a close race ahead of parliamentary elections slated for January 25.
Security sources in the American government warned that the US will cut funding to the Palestinian Authority if Hamas representatives would be elected to official positions in the new government that was expected to form.
According to Israel Radio, the warning came following a meeting between PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and US representatives David Welch and Elliot Abrams.
Welch and Abrams also met with Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier in the day, in the presence of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's aides Dov Weisglass and Shalom Tourjeman. This was Olmert's first meeting with these representatives since he took the role of acting prime minister some 10 days ago. Olmert was also scheduled to meet with US President George Bush in the near future.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1136361077792&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Why Palestinians are voting for Hamas
By DAVID HOROVITZ
Talkbacks for this article: 4
A multimillion-dollar reconstruction project, funded in large part by the Japanese government, has changed the face of what was Yasser Arafat's embattled Mukata headquarters complex in Ramallah.
Crumpled buildings have been cleared away. The once sandbag-protected entrance to the stairway leading up to Arafat's quarters is now pristine and easily accessible. Building work at what the sign individualistically calls the "Mousoleum of President Yasir Arafat complete with prayer hall" is in full swing, alongside the guarded area where the "rais" lies buried beneath a large Palestinian flag. Mahmoud Abbas's mustachioed portrait now gazes down from the archway leading to the prefab quarters of the security detachment. Half-a-dozen dark Mercedes are parked nearby.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1136361071223&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Report: IAF trained for Iran attack
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Talkbacks for this article: 15
IAF pilots have completed their mission training and fighter jets have been prepared for an Israeli attack on Iran, the British Sunday Times reported.
The article reported that "the elite 69 strategic F-15 I squadron" had been equipped with weapons that will be tested in combat for the first time, and that two missile submarines were on standby: one in the Persian Gulf and the second in Haifa Bay.
The Times also said that special IDF forces would be helicoptered into Iran to take out targets that could not be destroyed in an air strike.
Iran's nuclear facilities, according to the newspaper report, are widely dispersed at some 40 underground sites throughout Iran, which would make any attack by Israel - or any other nation - exponentially more difficult that Israel's successful attack on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981.
Col. [res] Ze'ev Raz, the former IAF pilot who led the Osirak mission, was quoted by the Times as saying, "What we now have is a lot of targets, which makes the operation much more difficult."
Raz believes an aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities is possible. There are many things that the IAF has done over the past few years that the public is not aware of, and it has made many important advances in mid-air refueling. Israel can strike the Iranian nuclear program, Raz said on Israel's Channel 1 TV's Politika program last week.
Former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Uzi Dayan said last week that if Iran gets nuclear weapons, then so would terror organizations, like Hizbullah. "Israel needs to be ready to act on a military option," Dayan said. "Without getting into details, Israel is capable of doing these things."
When Dayan was head of the National Security Agency, he advised the government not to allow a situation in which Israel, and the world now finds itself, with a radical regime in Tehran on the verge of attaining nuclear weapons. Dayan laid much of the blame on the United States, which allowed this to happen. "The military option does exist, but only if the international community works together. The government that arises in Israel after the elections will have to deal with this issue," he said.
Shabtai Shoval, a former operative in the Israeli intelligence community, who wrote a book that Iran will reach nuclear weapons capability by 2009, says that covert action, for example by the Mossad, is the most interesting option, but would still not stop Tehran's push for nuclear weapons.
Dr. Reuven Pedatzur, a senior lecturer at the Strategic Studies Program at Tel Aviv University, believes Israel would be making a "disastrous strategic error" if it embarked on a full-scale attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. "The military option is not relevant, we simply don't have the right amount of intelligence and information; many of the targets are buried deep under ground.
Only if the Americans decide to do it, then that option is possible," Pedatzur said last week. Pedatzur added that the day Iran gets a nuclear weapon, Israel will have no choice but to abandon its policy of nuclear ambiguity.
Amir Mizroch contributed to this report.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361083662&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The Tehran Times
German official calls sanctions on Iran a "very dangerous path"
BERLIN (Reuters) -- Imposing economic sanctions against Iran to persuade it to relinquish its nuclear program would be a "very dangerous path", German deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler told German radio, according to a summary of his comments released on Saturday.
He said sanctions would hurt both sides and that he favored imposing travel restrictions on Iranian politicians as a more effective way of exerting pressure on Tehran.
He said travel restrictions would have "an extraordinarily unpleasant impact," according to the summary of the interview, which is due to be broadcast on Sunday.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=1/15/2006&Cat=2&Num=010
Interview with Gernot Erler, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, on the radio station
"Deutschlandfunk", 16 December 2005 (excerpts)
Question: There's a pattern behind these verbal attacks: the Holocaust is a myth; the myth of the massacre of Jews is considered more important in the West than God, religions and the prophets. These are the words of President Ahmadinejad of Iran who, in a speech he made in the provinces, called once more for Israel to be moved to Europe, the US, Canada or Alaska. Naturally, the West is outraged and shocked, while Israel is alarmed. What should be done? The German Bundestag is debating this issue today […]. Has the Federal Foreign Office already invited the Iranian President or at least the Iranian Ambassador in Berlin to visit a concentration camp or the Holocaust Memorial?
Answer: That's yesterday's suggestion. However, the Federal Foreign Office summoned the Iranian chargé d'affaires and informed him in no uncertain terms how scandalous the Iranian President's provocation is. That was the diplomatic step taken. The Federal Foreign Minister, as well as the Chancellor, have also expressed very clear views on this matter.
Q: President Ahmadinejad should actually be arrested on charges of inciting hatred and violence if he enters Germany, shouldn't he?
A: That's why a motion sponsored by all parties in the Bundestag is being discussed during today's debate on human rights. And the parties will state their standpoints in all clarity.
Q: Have the President's remarks … put Iran on the "axis of evil"?
A: This "axis of evil" is an attempt, as it were, to exclude a country from the international community. The question is whether that is the right solution at this point in time. We know that many Iranians don't agree with their President and are fully aware that he's trying to raise his domestic profile… He is appealing here to the masses. What makes this so dangerous is that he is not only appealing to the masses in Iran but also to a broader public in the Arab world. It is high time for these states to react. I am genuinely concerned that the Arab states have been so reluctant to respond to date, even those which do recognize Israel's right to exist, for example Egypt and Jordan. They are afraid that Ahmadinejad's remarks will strike a chord among their own population and haven't found the courage to categorically condemn this provocation.
Q: Isn't the Iranian President simply saying out loud what many Arab leaders think?
A: I fear that he is saying out loud what is certainly in the minds of poor sections of the population, in the minds of those who have few prospects for the future and are looking for someone to blame for their problems. It is therefore vital that political leaders who know that this is an extremely dangerous development because it is completely unpredictable, e.g. in terms of the reactions in the case of Israel, whose existence is threatened once again, now use their authority and resolutely stand up to such a trend. For the first Arab voices have been heard applauding this attempt to infringe upon Israel's right to exist, this denial of Israel's right to exist… It is therefore to be feared that a process with unpredictable consequences has been set in motion.
Q: There will be an all-party Bundestag resolution today. Apparently the EU summit has also now presented a draft statement condemning of the Iranian President's remarks ... Is that enough? Can we respond to these verbal attacks with mere words?
A: The problem is that if, for example, we take other steps, such as suspending or even breaking off diplomatic relations – this would of course also be conceivable – then that would put another goal further out of reach, namely that of negotiating an end to Iran's nuclear programmes, in so far as they produce weapons-grade plutonium… We are about to resume talks with Iran. Another meeting between … Britain, France and Germany, which are negotiating on behalf of the EU, with the deputy chairman of Iran's National Security Council is due to take place on 21 December… This issue is so important that it has to be taken into consideration when deciding what steps to take in response to the outrageous remarks made by Ahmadinejad.
Q: Is there any point to the talks on 21 December now that Ahmadinejad himself has said that Tehran has absolutely no intention of abandoning any part of its programme?
A: Precisely this contradiction is very typical of the current situation in Iran. On the one side we hear the tough comments in public … on the other side … there are again signs that they are after all prepared to overcome the deadlock in the negotiations. It is not so easy for the international community to find the right response.
Q: Nevertheless, shouldn't we stop German companies which exported goods to the tune of 3.6 billion euro last year to Iran? For in theory there is a danger that key components for the country's nuclear or armaments programme could be supplied indirectly in this way, thus indirectly threatening Israel once more?
A: Both our external trade regulations as well as the rules on arms exports, which also govern the trade in so-called dual-use goods, that is to say goods which can be used for either civilian or military purposes, provide for extremely tight controls. The relevant regulations in Germany are tougher and more restrictive than in any other European state.
Q: Would you rule out a trade embargo?
A: Of course I do not rule that out. At least I wouldn't say that our economic interests are so important that we can't even talk about such a measure. At the moment I can't see what could move us to impose a sanction of this kind. However, should we have to weigh up between Israel's right of existence and to integrity on one side and German trade interests on the other, then it is clear how we would decide.
Q: Demands are now being made, for example, to exclude Iran from the World Cup […]. What do you think of that?
A: My response to that would be that maybe there is another solution. Instead of excluding Iran from the World Cup we could perhaps, if the issue is still so pressing then, take advantage of this event to make it clear to Iranian guests at every opportunity, to everyone with whom we have a chance to speak, how much Iran has isolated itself, to what extent it has laid itself open to international criticism, indeed is excluding itself from the international community. Such an event, where we will have more contact with Iranians than usual, would provide a good opportunity to get our message across. […]
published: 16.12.2005
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/ausgabe_archiv?archiv_id=7940
German Ex-Minister Under Fire Over CIA Abduction
Germany's former interior minister, Otto Schily, is facing pressure by opposition politicians to reveal his knowledge about the abduction of a German national by the US intelligence service.
Greens parliamentarian Volker Beck said that Schily, who left office Nov. 22, should tell the legislature what he knew about the abduction.
"We will question the government on this and push for a clarification," Beck said.
According to a report published by The Washington Post -- and contrary to Berlin's claims --the former German government had been informed about at least one case of a CIA abduction of a terror suspect.
A CIA plane that was allegedly used for transporting terror suspects
In May last year, Daniel Coats, the then United States ambassador in Berlin, told Schily that Khaled el-Masri -- a German citizen -- had been wrongfully held by the CIA but would soon be released, according to the report.
El-Masri was abducted by the American intelligence agency in 2003 and spent 5 months in a prison in Afghanistan.
German public prosecutors such as Eberhard Beyer have started to look into the case of Khaled el-Masri, issuing arrest warrants against 22 people allegedly involved in the
abduction.
"These agents were operating on German soil which automatically means they committed their crimes under German jurisdiction," Beyer said. "That is why we've started legal investigations on grounds of coercion and deprivation of liberty rights."
Schily, a Social Democrat, has so far not commented on the case. A spokeswoman for the interior ministry, which is now led by conservative Wolfgang Schäuble, said she could not speak for the previous regime.
Will Rice talk in Berlin?
Gernot Erler
Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler (SPD) said he understood that governments do not want to reveal details about the fight against terror, but added that the public has a right to "at least know what the legal situation was and whether national and international laws were adhered to."
In an interview with public broadcaster RBB, Erler added that expected US officials to inform their German counterparts about allegations regarding secret CIA flights transporting terror suspects across German air space. The United States airbase in Frankfurt allegedly was the hub of clandestine CIA operations, which have triggered a public outcry in Europe.
But Erler said it wasn't clear whether such information would become available during US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Berlin late Monday and Tuesday.
Hadley denies allegations
In an interview for CNN on Sunday, US national security advisor Stephen Hadley gave a first impression of the type of answer Europeans can expect.
"The terrorists threaten all of us," he said. "This is a threat really to the civilized world. We need to cooperate together to deal with this terrorist threat. That cooperation is characterized by three things: One, we comply with US constitution, US laws and US treaty obligations. Secondly, we respect the sovereignty of those countries with whom we are cooperating, and three -- we do not move people around the world so that they can be tortured."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is trying to get German-US relations back on a more friendly footing, has said that she believes the Americans will clear up the case.
"The new German government will do everything in its power to work for close, genuine and trusting relations with the United States," she said. "That's why I'm also fully convinced that the American administration will do everything to dispel European concern and clear up allegations of illegal CIA activities as quickly as possible."
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1801715,00.html
Opposition to Iran’s nuclear program is medieval: president
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN – President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said here on Saturday that civilized Iran does not need nuclear weapons.
“We are a civilized and ancient nation, and a nation that has culture and logic does not need nuclear weapons,” Ahmadinejad told reporters at a news conference.
Nuclear weapons are sought by people who intend to solve everything through force and bullying, he underlined.
“Unfortunately, today people face rulers who think they have more rights than other nations because their arsenals are stocked with nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.”
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Charter and the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), all member states have the right to gain access to nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes and no pretexts can be used to infringe on these rights, even inspections, he pointed out.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=1/15/2006&Cat=2&Num=011
Destroying the global village to save it
By Hamid Golpira
Once upon a time in the Vietnam War, it was reported that a U.S. soldier had said: “It was necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.”
The fact that some researchers say that no soldier ever really said it and that a journalist fabricated the quote is irrelevant. “Destroying the village to save it” entered the popular culture as a catchphrase that defined the zeitgeist.
Now there is a so-called war on terrorism that is supposed to save civilization, apparently by destroying it.
Yes, the self-proclaimed defenders of “freedom” seem determined to destroy civilization in order to save it.
What else can we call it?
When the cultural heritage of the world is plundered from the Baghdad Museum and Iraq’s ancient sites are irrevocably damaged in the very cradle of civilization while occupation troops watch and do nothing, when there is a new classification of prisoner called “unlawful combatants”, when these “unlawful combatants” are held in extrajudicial detention in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and secret prisons in Eastern Europe, when U.S. officials and their allies say that international law and the Geneva Conventions are not applicable in the treatment of these prisoners, isn’t this destroying civilization in order to save it?
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=1/15/2006&Cat=14&Num=001
Students stage anti-U.S. protest in Lebanon
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese riot police fired smoke grenades and sprayed water on Saturday to disperse dozens of students protesting against the visit of senior U.S. diplomats to Beirut.
The protest turned nasty when security forces tried to clear protesters who gathered outside the government headquarters ahead of a visit by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch.
Some of the protesters, waving Lebanese flags and carrying placards protesting against U.S. influence in Lebanon and the Middle East, pelted police with stones.
"Welch is not welcome in Lebanon," one placard read.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=1/15/2006&Cat=4&Num=024
The Washington Post
40,000 Customers Lose Power in Windstorm
By Martin Weil and Fredrick Kunkle
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, January 15, 2006; Page C13
Electricity was knocked out to more than 40,000 homes and businesses in the Washington region yesterday as winds gusted to more than 50 mph and the first snow of the new year fell in a number of spots.
Seasons appeared to shift in the course of a single day, as temperatures plunged within hours from the springlike 60s to more wintry readings in the 30s, and wind chills made conditions seem even harsher.
Thunderstorms, more common in spring and summer, raked parts of the area early yesterday. Winds connected with those storms damaged buildings in Warrenton, in Fauquier County, according to reports made to the National Weather Service.
"Just a huge roar came through," M. Scott Taylor, chief of the Warrenton Volunteer Fire Company, said last night. "There was actually enough wind to move a dumpster about seven feet from muddy grass onto pavement. There's actually a trail imprint where the skids are on the bottom in the mud."
More than 2,500 homes and businesses in Fauquier were without electricity for part of yesterday, according to Dominion Virginia Power.
In all, about 35,000 customers were without power in the Northern Virginia area at 9:30 p.m., the utility said.
In Maryland, the largest number of outages at that hour appeared to be in Montgomery County, where the figure was more than 4,400, according to Pepco.
Earlier, in Anne Arundel County, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. said more than 2,000 homes were affected. BGE also reported about 1,000 homes and businesses in the dark in Howard County.
Pepco said fewer than 100 D.C. customers lost power.
Some of the day's biggest gusts were reported at Reagan National Airport, where a peak gust of 54 mph was reported about 3 p.m. and a similar gust of 53 mph was reported at 9.
The Weather Service said the fierce winds were the result of a form of atmospheric imbalance created by a low-pressure system off the New Jersey and New England coasts and a high-pressure system that was arriving from the west.
The contrasts in pressure help produce strong winds.
The Weather Service issued a high-wind warning yesterday afternoon for the Washington area as the gusts persisted, felling trees, snapping branches and flinging clouds of grit through city streets.
Winds are expected to diminish today, although they will remain strong.
A tornado of minimal size was reported in King and Queen County, Va.
Light snow, not enough to stick, fell late in the day at many places in the area, including Leesburg, Dulles International Airport and National Airport.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011401404.html
Tide of Sentiment Shifts in Water War
Traditional Favoritism to Agricultural Interests Is Challenged as Demand Increases
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 15, 2006; A03
BIG SKY, Mont. -- A hundred years after the city of Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley farmers battled neighboring Owens Valley for control over water from the Owens River, there's a new kind of water war in the West.
From Montana to Arizona to California and beyond, alliances of environmentalists, fishermen and city dwellers are challenging the West's traditional water barons -- farmers and ranchers -- who have long controlled the increasingly scarce resource.
The West largely depends on its rivers and snowmelt for its water supply, and a combination of recent urban growth and prolonged drought has resulted in demand greatly outstripping supply. Under longstanding federal and state policies reinforced by farmers' historic political clout, agriculture has laid claim to about 80 percent of those scant resources -- at rock-bottom prices -- on the grounds that water is critical to the survival of crops and livestock.
Now, however, other users are arguing that this system is unfair, uneconomical and a threat to many delicate ecosystems, and not only in the West.
Farmers typically pay less for their water than nearby cities: In California's Central Valley, they get their water from the federal government at below-market prices, a subsidy that amounts to $416 million a year, according to the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization. And unlike cities getting the same water, farmers are paying back the cost of the region's giant irrigation system without interest.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011400820_pf.html
Looking Over Jordan
The conclusion of an epic trilogy shows the civil rights movement both succeeding and fraying.
Reviewed by James T. Patterson
Sunday, January 15, 2006; Page BW03
AT CANAAN'S EDGE
America in the King Years 1965-68
Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965 (AP)
By Taylor Branch
Simon & Schuster. 1,039 pp. $35
In At Canaan's Edge, Taylor Branch offers a moving and panoramic view of America during the last three years of the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. To get a feel for the book's scope, take, for example, Branch's juxtaposition of the streams of events that were rushing together in January, 1966, 40 years ago this month.
One such episode took place on a numbingly cold day in Chicago, where King dramatized his forthcoming battle against poverty and racial injustice by moving into a third-floor walk-up in a rundown black neighborhood. A bare dirt floor graced the entry to the tenement. "The smell of urine," his wife, Coretta, recalled, "was overpowering. We were told that this was because the door was always open, and drunks came in off the street to use the hallway as a toilet."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/12/AR2006011201688.html
Hussein Judge Is Said To Quit
Conflicting Reports Follow Complaints, Political Pressure
By Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 15, 2006; Page A24
BAGHDAD, Jan. 14 -- The chief judge presiding over the trial of Saddam Hussein submitted his resignation last week after coming under public criticism for the way he was handling the courtroom, another judge involved in the case said Saturday.
For two days, rumors have circulated that Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin had resigned. Two other judges told news agencies that he had not. But Hussein Mussawi, a judge involved with the case, said Amin had quit after all.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011400995.html
Italians Rally for Abortion Rights, Gay Unions
Rallies, Denounced by Church, Government Ministers, Fuel Election Debate
By Frances D'Emilio
Associated Press
Sunday, January 15, 2006; Page A22
ROME, Jan. 14 -- Tens of thousands of women marched through Milan on Saturday to demand that Italy keep its liberal abortion law intact while gays rallied in Rome to push for legal recognition for homosexual couples.
Both topics have become issues in Italy's election campaign, and the Roman Catholic Church and ministers in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government were scathing in denouncing the rallies.
"These demonstrators are really nauseating," said Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli, a member of the right-wing Northern League, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. "Family is a serious thing, based on love between a man and a woman."
Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione, who is close to the Vatican, told reporters that people's energy should be spent on what he called pro-family efforts such as finding jobs and housing.
"These are the political problems you should put the spotlight on, because without children, Italy dies," Buttiglione said.
The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, denounced as "provocations" efforts to give legal recognition to unmarried couples "independent of whether the partners are of different or the same sex." A program on Vatican Radio described the gay rights rally in Piazza Farnese as "ideological sexuality."
Police estimated 1,000 people attended the rally in Rome to lobby for legal recognition for both gay and unmarried heterosexual couples. An estimated 50,000 people joined in the abortion rights march.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011401028.html?nav=hcmodule
The New Zealand Herald
Crackdown on China train ticket scam
15.01.06 5.00pm
XIAN - Police in CHina have paraded illegal train ticket dealers during a public sentence at the Xian Railway Station.
They have launched campaigns to crack down on illegal selling of train tickets, theft, robbery and other crimes around the station.
The operation coincides with the Spring Festival travel season, one of the busiest periods of the year, starting from today.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363783
Row over sex offenders in UK schools
15.01.06 5.00pm
LONDON - A political storm triggered after a British minister admitted he had cleared a registered sex offender to work as a teacher gathered pace on Saturday after a newspaper reported a number of similar cases.
The Times said there were several instances of sex offenders working in schools despite government assurances earlier this week that such men are barred from working with children.
The report came after Kim Howells, a former junior education minister and now at the Foreign Office, said on Thursday he had cleared a man cautioned by police for viewing child pornography on the internet to work as a teacher in "good faith" after reading the file and seeking advice.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363781
Old, blind, infirm - and fit for execution
16.01.06
By Andrew Gumbel
LOS ANGELES - Clarence Ray Allen is 75, legally blind, nearly deaf and crippled. This week he will be executed by the State of California after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denied him clemency.
Although Allen still has an appeal pending before the Supreme Court, the Governor's decision increases the likelihood he will be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday night (NZ time), a day after he turns 76.
Scwarzenegger ruled the oldest prisoner on Death Row will not be spared, saying a murderer is still a murderer whatever his health. The decision, was denounced as an affront to human dignity by campaigners.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363847
Communist Party wary of Mao milestones
16.01.06
BEIJING - China's Communist Party vigilantly guards its history, but in 2006 the country must navigate a cascade of traumatic anniversaries of Mao Zedong's rule that may provoke debate over its censored past.
Forty years ago, in May 1966, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, the mass campaign that spiralled into a decade of violence and repression.
The 30th anniversary of Mao's death is September 9.
Then there is the October 6 arrest of the Gang of Four, marking the party's renunciation of the Cultural Revolution in 1976.
And there is the Tangshan earthquake, which 30 years ago on July 28 levelled the city in north China, killing at least 240,000 and laying bare the country's weakness and isolation after decades of political campaigns.
Today the Communist Party still strictly guards the country's archives of those times and restricts books about the Cultural Revolution.
Party scholars said they expected few new works to make it past censors.
"The central leadership doesn't worry about history for its own sake, but they don't want to look like they're encouraging doubts about the party when there are already enough doubts," said one Beijing researcher whose study of the Cultural Revolution has been blocked for years.
But Zhang Guangyou, a retired reporter who witnessed many key episodes of the Cultural Revolution, said recalling those years may help China change for the better.
"History offers lessons we all need to remember, and leaders who remember the past will understand how much we need more reform, more change," Zhang told Reuters.
Zhang, 75, worked as a reporter for the official Xinhua news agency for much of the Cultural Revolution, when Mao summoned the country into frenzied, often violent struggle against "capitalist roader" officials accused of betraying the revolution.
Hundreds of thousands died in purges and bouts of warfare, including Mao's one-time designated successor, Liu Shaoqi, who died in prison.
Zhang has written memoirs of his reporting, but does not think the manuscripts will be published this year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363813
Farmer burns school in China
16.01.06 5.20am
A farmer in eastern China threw a flaming petrol-filled bottle into a classroom, injuring 24 people, before committing suicide. Li Guosheng forced his way into the Anhui province school, threw the bottle into the class and jumped out a third-storey window. Police say the motive was unknown.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10363844
Polygamy gets political tick in Chechnya
16.01.06
GROZNY - Russia's idiosyncratic loyalist strongman in Chechnya has said he wants to legalise polygamy and allow men to take up to four wives because there aren't enough males to go around after more than a decade of war.
Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's acting Prime Minister, said that the number of women in Chechnya was 9 to 18 per cent higher than the number of men, and argued that polygamy was a practical way of replenishing the republic's war-ravaged population.
"I think that it is necessary because we are at war. It is very important for the Chechen people. Shariah law allows this, it does not run counter to it. Therefore, each man who can provide for four wives should do it."
Chechnya, a largely Muslim republic, has been embroiled in a brutal on-off war of secession from Russia since 1994.
Human rights group Memorial estimates that 75,000 Russian and Chechen civilians have died since then, most of them men.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363801
British MPs to face phone-tapping
16.01.06
LONDON - Tony Blair is preparing to scrap a 40-year ban on tapping MPs' telephones, despite fierce Cabinet opposition, it is reported.
He is expected to formally announce to the Commons within weeks that MPs can no longer be sure that the security services and others will not intercept their communications.
Until now, successive Administrations have pledged that there should be no tapping "whatsoever" of MPs' phones, and that they would be told if it was necessary to breach the ban.
But that convention is to be abandoned in an expansion of MI5 powers following the London bombings.
MPs should be treated in the same way as other citizens and will be given the same safeguards against wrongful tapping, the Prime Minister will say.
The decision provoked a furious row in the Cabinet just before Christmas, when the Secretary of State for Defence, John Reid, surprised other ministers by voicing his opposition.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363802
Greenpeace deny 'prolonging whales' suffering' claims
14.01.06 1.00pm
Greenpeace has denied claims by Japanese officials that protesters are increasing whales' suffering in order to obtain "bloody footage" for their PR campaign.
New Zealander Phil Lloyd, a crew member on one of two Greenpeace ships shadowing a Japanese "scientific whaling" fleet in the Southern Ocean, said protesters were confident their actions had prevented a lot of hunting, The Dominion Post reported.
He believed 242 minke whales had been caught 40 days into the 100-day hunt -- far short of Japan's target of 935 minkes and 10 fin whales.
Japan's Far Seas Fisheries Division deputy director Hideki Moronuki, earlier told Reuters the protest was slowing down the hunt, which was necessary to "study" ages and breeding patterns.
"If the harassment continues, there may be some effect," he said.
But when later contacted by The Dominion Post, he denied there were any progress targets for the catch.
Meanwhile, Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research said Greenpeace was prolonging the time taken for whales to die.
Director-general Hiroshi Hatanaka said without Greenpeace interference, 52 per cent of the whales would die instantly, and the rest in less than two minutes.
"The point is that Greenpeace knows that if they harass the catcher boats they can get the bloody footage required for their PR campaign."
New Zealand has ordered its Air Force Orion surveillance fleet to widen its brief from monitoring fishing vessels to keeping tabs on the situation but has stopped short of agreeing to Green Party and conservation group calls to send a navy frigate to the area.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363696
Gay cowboys denied an Aussie show
16.01.06
Parts of north and central Queensland won't be seeing the controversial cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain.
The film - banned in two cinemas in the US because of its tale of gay cowboy love - won't be seen in Townsville or Rockhampton because of its "limited release" status.
The snub has angered gay activists, who say many could relate to the gay character played by Australian actor Heath Ledger.
Townsville-based Colin Edwards said: "We have gay property owners, jackaroos, jillaroos. They really do exist and they really do fall in love."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363789
Former Saddam frontman gravely ill
14.01.06
Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz may have only weeks to live, his lawyer said on Thursday after visiting the man who was once the public face of Saddam Hussein's Government overseas.
Aziz, a tough, eloquent and loyal spokesman for Saddam and now in his late sixties, was jailed after the 2003 invasion of Iraq but no formal charges have been brought against him.
"He is suffering from high blood pressure and he cannot walk properly. He is being given 13 pills a day for his blood pressure, diabetes and other illnesses to prevent strokes," his lawyer said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10363624
NZ firm acquires rights to map tool
16.01.06
Wellington-based technology company Surveylab, which last year attracted $2 million from venture capital company No. 8 Ventures, has licensed American military technology which merges a handheld computer with global positioning capability.
Set up three years ago by engineer Leon Toorenburg and businessman Rex Nicholls to make "Ike" - a handheld recorder for use by the military - Surveylab has bought rights to a sophisticated device created by the US Army Construction Engineering Research Lab in Champaign, Illinois.
The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette says the hand-held apparatus for mobile mapping and expedited reporting - or HAMMER - can be used to assess and record damage to infrastructure like roads, bridges, sewers and dams.
The hand-held iPaq computer has GPS capability, a digital camera, compass, laser distance meter, inclinometer (to measure slope) and geographic information system or GIS mapping software.
The information collected with the device can easily be incorporated in a database, tied to a map, and turned into a report. It has two kinds of wireless capability, plus wired connections so its contents can be moved into a laptop, or sent to a portable printer, other HAMMERS, or the internet.
"Things that used to take you days or weeks to generate a report are now done at the end of the day with the push of a button," said CERL researcher Tad Britt, who used one in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Some of the devices are being used in Iraq and Afghanistan to lay out Army camps and record environmental conditions to assess damage and liability from US operations, but they could also be used on the battlefield for surveying troop movement and supply routes or minefields.
Britt, an archaeologist, has also used it in that field. He said there was a civilian market for the system in real estate management, civil engineering and surveying. It could also be used for "homeland security", say, to study access points at facilities like airports.
CERL started developing the system to map archaeological data at military construction sites and found that Surveylab, with eight staff, had done something similar with its Ike (I Know Everything) device which takes photographs and simultaneously labels them with a GPS position so that they can be downloaded on to a GIS map.
Surveylab has sold Ikes for use in Canada, US, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Africa, Europe, Asia, India, and Australia, as well as NZ, and is negotiating a major sale to the NZ Defence Force.
Company chief executive Andy Nicoll said it was setting up a sales operation in the US.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10363819
Secret file on spying found in PM papers
16.01.06
By Derek Cheng and NZPA
The Government will look into how a top-secret report, which should have been tracked and carefully monitored, found its way into a box of archives left by former Prime Minister David Lange.
The document indicated that the United States had threatened to spy on New Zealand in the wake of its anti-nuclear stance.
The report, by the Government Communications Security Bureau, was among the private papers retained by Mr Lange, who died in August.
Duty Minister Jim Anderton last night said such a confidential report should have been closely monitored by intelligence officials and handed straight back after Mr Lange read it.
"There was a failure of the system somewhere. It's 20 years or so ago ... but there are lessons to be learnt and that should be learnt," he said.
"Officials will look at the circumstances surrounding the presence of the report in the archives ... [and] how that paper was handled."
He said the contents of the archived box - including cheque butts and other miscellaneous material - suggested that the report had not been deliberately misplaced.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10363868
Frogs heading dinosaur's way
14.01.06
Global warming has triggered the extinction of hundreds of species of frogs and toads.
Scientists believe they have found the first clear proof that global warming has caused outbreaks of an infectious disease that is wiping out entire populations of amphibians.
The dramatic demise of the 6000 species of amphibians was first identified in 1990 and one theory for the loss was the spread of a devastating skin infection caused by a fungus.
A study by an international team of researchers has now linked the spread of a species of chytrid fungus with a rise in tropical temperatures associated with global warming.
The scientists believe that the average temperatures of many tropical highland regions, which are rich in endemic species of frogs and toads, have shifted to become perfect for the growth of the fungus.
Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa of the University of Alberta in Canada, one of the authors of the study published in Nature this week, said that the analysis firmly links climate change with the rapid demise of many frogs and toads.
"There is absolutely a linkage between global warming and this disease, they go hand in hand," Professor Sanchez-Azofeifa said. "With this increase in temperature, the fungus has been able to increase its niche and wipe out large populations of amphibians in the Americas."
The dramatic loss of amphibians - frogs, toads, newts and salamanders - has led to about a third of them, some 1856 species, being officially classified as threatened. Hundreds more are on the brink of extinction.
Alan Pounds of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve in Costa Rica and the lead author of the Nature study, said that the average air temperatures in the region are responsible for the spread of the fungus.
"Disease is the bullet killing frogs, but climate change is pulling the trigger. Global warming is wreaking havoc on amphibians, and will cause staggering losses of biodiversity if we don't do something fast," he said.
The study found that between 1975 and 2000, average air temperatures for the tropics increased by 0.18C per decade - triple the average rate of warming for the 20th century. Most "extinctions" - when the species was last sighted - occurred in unusually warm years.
The likelihood of this association being chance was less than one in a thousand.
Professor Pounds said that rising temperatures enhance cloud cover over tropical mountains leading to cooler days and warmer nights, both of which favour the growth of the fungus.
The discovery helps to overcome a paradox that puzzled scientists for warmer air temperatures should not favour the spread of the fungus, which thrives best in cooler, damper conditions. It was known that the fungus kills frogs mostly in cool highland regions or during winter months, implying that low temperatures make it more deadly. The study, however, found that the fungus is vulnerable to extremes in temperature and anything that moderates these extremes - such as more frequent mists and clouds in warmer weather - can unleash it.
"This new study ... should give us cause for concern about human health in a warmer world," said Professor Andrew Blaustein, a zoologist at Oregon State University.
"As global change is occurring at an unprecedented pace, we should expect many other [animals] from ants to zebras to be confronted with similar challenges."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=000A43D1-390C-13C7-ACFA83027AF1002A
Waikato uni tests on map could change world history
16.01.06
Researchers at Waikato University are conducting tests on the paper and ink used for a Chinese map which indicates that a Chinese eunuch discovered America.
The copy of a map made in 1763, of a map dated 1418 - to be made public in Beijing today - may show that Admiral Zheng He discovered America more than 70 years before Christopher Columbus, the Economist reported.
If the tests and authentication by other experts showed the map - with a clear depiction of the Americas, New Zealand, Australia, Americas, Africa and Europe - to be genuine, it would overturn centuries of European teaching. Traditional histories record that Columbus found the New World in 1492, Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 and Magellan set off to circumnavigate the world in 1519.
Gunnar Thompson, a researcher of ancient maps and early explorers, said if the map was genuine it would revolutionise thinking about 15th-century world history.
Results of the mass spectrography analysis at Waikato University to date the materials on which the map was copied is due to be announced next month, but will only be direct evidence of the paper and inks used in the copy.
Five Chinese academic experts on ancient charts have noted that the 1418 map puts together information that was available piecemeal in China from earlier nautical maps, going back to the 13th century and Kublai Khan, who was himself an explorer, the Economist said.
The naval fleets of Zheng He roamed the oceans between 1405 and 1435, and his exploits - well documented in Chinese history - were recorded in a 1418 book called The Marvellous Visions of the Star Raft.
The copy of the map will be unveiled in Beijing today and at Britain's National Maritime Museum in Greenwich on Wednesday. Six Chinese characters in the upper right-hand corner of the map say this is a "general chart of the integrated world". In the lower left-hand corner is a note that says the chart was drawn by Mo Yi Tong, imitating a world chart made in 1418 which showed the barbarians paying tribute to the Ming emperor, Zhu Di.
The copyist differentiated between what he took from the original from what he added himself.
The copy of the map was bought from a small Shanghai dealer in 2001 by Liu Gang, an eminent Chinese lawyer who collects maps.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10363864
Chris de Freitas: Keep a weather eye on climate change
16.01.06
Sizzling 2005 takes fourth place in record books" announced the Herald headline. The national daily temperature was on average 13.1C, the report said, making last year the fourth-hottest year nationally since climate records began in the 1860s. It was topped only by 1971, 1998 and 1999.
But the fine print shows that the averages for these four hottest years differ by a maximum of two-tenths of a degree, and 1971 was only one-tenth of a degree warmer than last year. These amounts are well within the error margin for the data.
The statistics could be re-interpreted to show that the hottest year was 1998, with an average temperature of 13.3C, so you could say that since 1998 there has been cooling. This approach to interpreting climate statistics is what climatologists call data-picking, as in cherry-picking.
Climate is about statistics and the opportunity for new records to be set increases with time because the instrument record of climate is seldom more than about 100 years. In identifying patterns of climate change and variability through statistical averages, return periods and probabilities of occurrence, this is a minute fragment.
Climate scientist and statistician Douglas Hoyt points out that because the probability of establishing a new weather record never drops to zero, every year some region will establish a new rainfall, storm, temperature or other climate record.
Even in the warmest years some locations will set a new monthly mean low-temperature record. Even in the coolest years some locations will have periods of record warmth.
For example, even though last year was one of the warmest globally, Somalia experienced its "first ever" snowfall in May and China entered its coldest winter in 20 years.
It is important to keep in mind is that climate statistics are mathematical constructs.
They are no more than human inventions, the meaning of which is often misunderstood.
For example, it is false to assume that a 100-year heatwave, flood or storm will occur or be exceeded every 100 years. In fact, there is a high probability (63 per cent) of a 100-year event occurring more than once in a given 100-year period.
Moreover, there is a small but significant likelihood that two or more floods that are more serious than a 100-year flood will occur in a given 20-year period.
An example is the two major floods in Greymouth during 1988, where a 13-year and a 36-year flood occurred in the same year.
There is the worry that whatever the statistical norm for climate may be, this will change as climate changes.
Scientists advising the Government's Climate Change Project say most regions are likely to face more varied rainfall patterns through the century and floods will become four times more frequent because rainfall is likely to become more intense.
On the other hand, a great deal of research which, taken together, suggests that extreme climate events may become less frequent and less severe.
American researchers Karl and Easterling report the results of climate models that suggest temperatures in the future will be confined to a tighter range, on average.
The researchers found that most of the increase in global temperatures so far has been occurring during the winter and at night.
If these forecasts are correct, variability in the data will shrink more and reduce the occurrence of extreme hot and cold spells, but only on average.
* Dr Chris de Freitas is an Associate Professor in the School of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Auckland.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=0000A5D8-D4CE-13C9-8FCC83027AF10107
Global warming set to accelerate
16.01.06
LONDON - Global warming is set to accelerate alarmingly because of a sharp jump in carbon dioxide levels.
Preliminary figures show that levels of the gas - the main cause of climate change - have risen abruptly in the past four years. Scientists fear that warming is entering a new phase, and may accelerate further.
But a summit of the most polluting countries, convened by the Bush Administration, last week refused to set targets for reducing their carbon dioxide emissions.
Set up in competition to the Kyoto Protocol, the Sydney summit, attended by the US, Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea, instead pledged to develop cleaner technologies - which some experts believe will not arrive in time.
Through most of the past 50 years, levels of the gas rose by an average of 1.3 parts per million a year. But unpublished figures for the first 10 months of this year show a rise of 2.2ppm.
Scientists believe this may be the first evidence that climate change is starting to produce itself, as rising temperatures so alter natural systems that the Earth itself releases more gas, driving the thermometer ever higher
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=0002306F-DE68-13C9-8FCC83027AF10107
continued …
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