March 19, 2006.
Three years of corruption, entering it's fourth.
Bush lies. People die.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Operation Bring the Troops Home. Code word: "Drop Bush" on his head !
March 19, 2006.
Three years of corruption, entering it's fourth.
Bush lies. People die.
Operation Swarmer
March 19, 2006.
A woman stands in front of a house destroyed during a US and Iraqi air raid, north of Baghdad. US and Iraqi forces launched a massive airborne operation involving over 50 aircraft and more than 1,500 troops, the military said in a statement.
Dallas Morning News
The problems were extensive. People were very lucky.
Too much, too fast
Woman swept away by raging Turtle Creek
12:00 AM CST on Monday, March 20, 2006
By HOLLY HACKER and TONY HARTZEL / The Dallas Morning News
Thunderstorms pounded the Dallas-Fort Worth area Sunday, causing flash flooding in streets, streams and yards. At least one person died Sunday after being swept away in rushing waters.
Photos by DARON DEAN/DMNA Mockingbird Lane driver wasn't the only Dallas motorist who needed police help Sunday. Officers responded to hundreds of rain-related calls.
The National Weather Service in Fort Worth reported that about 7 inches of rain fell Sunday in Arlington, and more than 6 inches fell near downtown Dallas. A late-morning storm moved from Johnson County into Tarrant and Dallas counties, dumping rain at the rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour.
One woman died after being swept away in the swollen Turtle Creek near Wycliff Avenue.
According to witnesses, the woman, who was in a convertible with a friend, stopped on Wycliff Avenue at Turtle Creek Boulevard. The two got out of the car because the creek was rising quickly.
One woman kept slipping as the two tried to get to safety, said Sam Cathey, who witnessed the incident.
"The other woman tried to help, but she couldn't make it because the water was rushing. She lost her footing and went down the embankment," Mr. Cathey said.
At that point, both women drifted down the creek but they were able to grab a tree and hold on for several moments, Mr. Cathey said.
Witnesses and rescuers reached one of the women, but the fast water didn't let them get close enough to the other.
"She slipped off the tree and went screaming all the way to here," he said, while recounting the incident on the Avondale Avenue bridge. "It was horrible."
When Mr. Cathey first saw the women, the water was as high as the top of the car's wheels, but the water came very fast. By the time rescuers arrived, the water was up to the vehicle's windshield.
The second woman was pulled out of the water. She was listed in fair condition at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
Dallas Fire-Rescue found the body of a woman in her mid-20s about 5:45 p.m. Sunday in the 2900 block of Cedar Springs Road. It was less than a mile from where the woman was swept away.
Rescue crews had another unconfirmed report of a body in Turtle Creek, but searches were called off because of darkness Sunday evening. Crews will resume the search Monday morning.
Ordinarily Turtle Creek is calm, Mr. Cathey said, but the banks spread 20 to 30 feet on each side.
Dallas police officers and firefighters responded to hundreds of accidents and calls about high water. They evacuated homes in West Dallas because of rising waters, estimated at up to 5 feet high.
The rain is expected to stop midmorning today, with the sun coming out this afternoon and warming things up into the low 70s.
Though Sunday's official total at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport fell short of the record for March 19, the weekend rain put the Dallas-Fort Worth area well above its normal rainfall levels. Before Sunday, the area had received almost 7 inches of rain in 2006, an inch above normal, said meteorologist Dan Dixon of the weather service.
White Rock area
On Sunday afternoon, Dallas Fire-Rescue sent five swift water rescue boats to save passengers of four vehicles stuck in rushing water on Peavy Road near White Rock Lake. When crews arrived, some of the vehicles had started to drift, said battalion Chief Greg Stoy.
Nearby homeowners on Creekmere Drive and Tipperary Drive were faced with flooded homes.
"The current was so strong, the motorboats couldn't keep up with it," Chief Stoy said.
The crews had to inch themselves forward, moving an anchored emergency line.
Signs on Peavy Road warned drivers of high water. It had receded by 4:30 p.m. but left a blanket of mud and debris on the road.
In less than four hours Sunday afternoon, Dallas police received about 250 calls about people in danger. The department's first shift of employees was held over to help. The department also called in a SWAT unit to assist with the call load. Most of the calls came from the central and northeast parts of town, Cpl. Max Geron said. Police recommended that people stay home.
Dallas Fire-Rescue recorded 200 calls above normal between 7 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday, Lt. Joel Lavender said. In many cases, crews helped drivers whose cars were stalled or trapped by water.
Still, the weekend's traffic and accidents were not as bad as they have been on rainy days in the past, he said.
"Fortunately, it came over the weekend, and there was enough advance warning so individuals could make precautions as far as the weather is concerned," Lt. Lavender said.
Sunday night, the rain started to erode a retaining wall downstream from the White Rock Lake spillway near Garland Road. The overflow started to erode part of the parking lot next to the spillway, Dallas police Sgt. Gil Cerda said.
Barricades were placed near the wall, and engineering officials will assess structural damage this morning, Sgt. Cerda said.
Floodwaters forced police to close part of White Rock Trail on Sunday afternoon, but not before two people in their car were trapped briefly in the high-rising water.
"The water came in real fast and moved the car," Faye Kpandeyenge said.
Mrs. Kpandeyenge, who friends say works at a nearby assisted-living facility, made it out of the vehicle with a few bumps and bruises. "We just swam out," she said.
Flooding made it difficult for other workers at the facility to get to work Sunday afternoon.
"We're trying to figure out how we can go. We're stuck here," said Mavis Franklin, who works at an adjacent Alzheimer's facility. "This is a surprise. I did not expect it to be this bad."
Around the city
The roof on the DFW Gun Range in the Love Field area collapsed under the weight of water. Employees say that about 2 p.m. Sunday, they heard what sounded like thunder when the roof began to fail, causing an exterior brick wall to give way. The wall fell on cars parked outside the building in the 1600 block of Mockingbird Lane.
About 10 people were in the gun range and protected by a wooden structure during the incident. One person, who was outside, suffered a minor cut to the head.
Dallas Love Field reported about 6.9 inches of rain on Sunday through 10 p.m.
High waters approached the front porches of homes on Springbranch Drive and Clearhurst Drive in Lake Highlands.
A Lowe's hardware store at Inwood Road and Forest Lane sold out of small water pumps.
High water forced the closure of the Dallas North Tollway for almost five hours Sunday as the road became impassable around Mockingbird Lane, said North Texas Tollway Authority spokeswoman Donna Huerta.
Safety concerns prompted crews to close the road from Northwest Highway to downtown Dallas from 2:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. American Airlines Center officials notified patrons at the NCAA basketball tournament to consider alternate routes home or waiting for traffic to clear.
Maintenance crews have checked all drains on the tollway at Mockingbird, but they will be watching the road closely for any new flooding into this morning, Ms. Huerta said.
Trouble on I-35E
Interstate 35E service roads near Market Center Boulevard became impassible. Some drivers abandoned their vehicles in the water, which covered curbs. Other motorists meandered around them, slowly moving through the flooded area.
By the time a quilt show ended at Market Hall on Sunday afternoon, patrons had to wade to their cars. Many treaded through knee-deep water to find their vehicles stuck in the water.
Medieval Times, the restaurant that features jousting knights on horseback, had to cancel its 5 p.m. show, for which more than 800 people had reserved seats. The restaurant is off I-35E at the Market Center exit. "There was no way for anybody to get into the parking lot," manager Ivan Jasso said.
The portion of Oak Lawn Avenue under Harry Hines was also badly flooded, covering abandoned cars. Firefighters blocked the entrance to that portion of Oak Lawn.
Drivers heading east on Fitzhugh Avenue past Avondale Avenue had to turn around and head back. Once they came over a hill, they quickly saw that Turtle Creek had flooded the roadway and trapped an SUV.
In many neighborhoods, including along the DART blue rail line, yards sprouted small lakes from all the rain.
Suburban storms
Some roads in Rowlett, Garland and Sachse were also closed by water.
In Collin County, Wylie spokesman Mark Witter said officials participated in nine rescues. He said the people rescued were in vehicles in low-lying areas near Lake Ray Hubbard. Most of these were in the southeast part of town, but some were outside the city limits, he said. No one was injured.
Mr. Witter said a shelter would be opened if needed. Both Wylie's and the county's emergency operation center were opened.
Celina police Cpl. Phil Ryan marveled at the amount of rain that fell in Collin County, but he said he knew of no major problems there.
"We have a lot of creeks out here ... luckily they were so low," he said. "I think we're OK."
Rising waters in Arlington forced some evacuations. Forecasters expected the West Fork of the Trinity River in Grand Prairie would rise about one foot above flood stage on Sunday evening. It's the highest crest at that point in more than 56 years.
The weather service also said the Trinity River would crest nearly four feet above flood stage after midnight.
'No normal in Texas'
Only days earlier, firefighters battled wildfires in the Texas Panhandle exacerbated by dry conditions.
"There is no normal in Texas. It's basically extremes," said Ted Ryan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. "We were in a drought, and now we have rain."
"We do see thunderstorms in the springtime. This is not necessarily unusual," Mr. Ryan said. "It's not going to happen every year, but this does happen in Texas quite often."
The calls that came into Dallas police included the following:
• Dallas County Sheriff's Sgt. Darrell Watson said a single-car accident prompted authorities to close several lanes on westbound Interstate 20, but most reports involved flooding, not accidents.
• About 2:30 a.m. Sunday, a pickup on westbound LBJ Freeway at Hillcrest Road in North Dallas lost traction and landed on its side.
• A couple hours later on the same highway, a car ended up on its roof near Ferguson Road in Garland. Police said no one was hurt.
• Dallas police said they had received at least four reports of vehicles stalled in high water, including one in the 2800 block of Shorecrest Drive near Bachman Lake in Northwest Dallas.
• A large tree fell across several lanes of West Colorado Boulevard in Oak Cliff on Sunday morning, and city workers were out with chainsaws trying to clear the debris.
Staff writers Brandon Formby, Stella M. Chávez, Jon Nielsen, Marissa Alanis and David Renfrow contributed to this report, which contains material from The Associated Press and WFAA-TV (Channel 8)
.
E-mail hhacker@dallasnews.com and thartzel@dallasnews.com
Too much, too fast
Woman swept away by raging Turtle Creek
12:00 AM CST on Monday, March 20, 2006
By HOLLY HACKER and TONY HARTZEL / The Dallas Morning News
Thunderstorms pounded the Dallas-Fort Worth area Sunday, causing flash flooding in streets, streams and yards. At least one person died Sunday after being swept away in rushing waters.
Photos by DARON DEAN/DMNA Mockingbird Lane driver wasn't the only Dallas motorist who needed police help Sunday. Officers responded to hundreds of rain-related calls.
The National Weather Service in Fort Worth reported that about 7 inches of rain fell Sunday in Arlington, and more than 6 inches fell near downtown Dallas. A late-morning storm moved from Johnson County into Tarrant and Dallas counties, dumping rain at the rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour.
One woman died after being swept away in the swollen Turtle Creek near Wycliff Avenue.
According to witnesses, the woman, who was in a convertible with a friend, stopped on Wycliff Avenue at Turtle Creek Boulevard. The two got out of the car because the creek was rising quickly.
One woman kept slipping as the two tried to get to safety, said Sam Cathey, who witnessed the incident.
"The other woman tried to help, but she couldn't make it because the water was rushing. She lost her footing and went down the embankment," Mr. Cathey said.
At that point, both women drifted down the creek but they were able to grab a tree and hold on for several moments, Mr. Cathey said.
Witnesses and rescuers reached one of the women, but the fast water didn't let them get close enough to the other.
"She slipped off the tree and went screaming all the way to here," he said, while recounting the incident on the Avondale Avenue bridge. "It was horrible."
When Mr. Cathey first saw the women, the water was as high as the top of the car's wheels, but the water came very fast. By the time rescuers arrived, the water was up to the vehicle's windshield.
The second woman was pulled out of the water. She was listed in fair condition at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
Dallas Fire-Rescue found the body of a woman in her mid-20s about 5:45 p.m. Sunday in the 2900 block of Cedar Springs Road. It was less than a mile from where the woman was swept away.
Rescue crews had another unconfirmed report of a body in Turtle Creek, but searches were called off because of darkness Sunday evening. Crews will resume the search Monday morning.
Ordinarily Turtle Creek is calm, Mr. Cathey said, but the banks spread 20 to 30 feet on each side.
Dallas police officers and firefighters responded to hundreds of accidents and calls about high water. They evacuated homes in West Dallas because of rising waters, estimated at up to 5 feet high.
The rain is expected to stop midmorning today, with the sun coming out this afternoon and warming things up into the low 70s.
Though Sunday's official total at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport fell short of the record for March 19, the weekend rain put the Dallas-Fort Worth area well above its normal rainfall levels. Before Sunday, the area had received almost 7 inches of rain in 2006, an inch above normal, said meteorologist Dan Dixon of the weather service.
White Rock area
On Sunday afternoon, Dallas Fire-Rescue sent five swift water rescue boats to save passengers of four vehicles stuck in rushing water on Peavy Road near White Rock Lake. When crews arrived, some of the vehicles had started to drift, said battalion Chief Greg Stoy.
Nearby homeowners on Creekmere Drive and Tipperary Drive were faced with flooded homes.
"The current was so strong, the motorboats couldn't keep up with it," Chief Stoy said.
The crews had to inch themselves forward, moving an anchored emergency line.
Signs on Peavy Road warned drivers of high water. It had receded by 4:30 p.m. but left a blanket of mud and debris on the road.
In less than four hours Sunday afternoon, Dallas police received about 250 calls about people in danger. The department's first shift of employees was held over to help. The department also called in a SWAT unit to assist with the call load. Most of the calls came from the central and northeast parts of town, Cpl. Max Geron said. Police recommended that people stay home.
Dallas Fire-Rescue recorded 200 calls above normal between 7 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday, Lt. Joel Lavender said. In many cases, crews helped drivers whose cars were stalled or trapped by water.
Still, the weekend's traffic and accidents were not as bad as they have been on rainy days in the past, he said.
"Fortunately, it came over the weekend, and there was enough advance warning so individuals could make precautions as far as the weather is concerned," Lt. Lavender said.
Sunday night, the rain started to erode a retaining wall downstream from the White Rock Lake spillway near Garland Road. The overflow started to erode part of the parking lot next to the spillway, Dallas police Sgt. Gil Cerda said.
Barricades were placed near the wall, and engineering officials will assess structural damage this morning, Sgt. Cerda said.
Floodwaters forced police to close part of White Rock Trail on Sunday afternoon, but not before two people in their car were trapped briefly in the high-rising water.
"The water came in real fast and moved the car," Faye Kpandeyenge said.
Mrs. Kpandeyenge, who friends say works at a nearby assisted-living facility, made it out of the vehicle with a few bumps and bruises. "We just swam out," she said.
Flooding made it difficult for other workers at the facility to get to work Sunday afternoon.
"We're trying to figure out how we can go. We're stuck here," said Mavis Franklin, who works at an adjacent Alzheimer's facility. "This is a surprise. I did not expect it to be this bad."
Around the city
The roof on the DFW Gun Range in the Love Field area collapsed under the weight of water. Employees say that about 2 p.m. Sunday, they heard what sounded like thunder when the roof began to fail, causing an exterior brick wall to give way. The wall fell on cars parked outside the building in the 1600 block of Mockingbird Lane.
About 10 people were in the gun range and protected by a wooden structure during the incident. One person, who was outside, suffered a minor cut to the head.
Dallas Love Field reported about 6.9 inches of rain on Sunday through 10 p.m.
High waters approached the front porches of homes on Springbranch Drive and Clearhurst Drive in Lake Highlands.
A Lowe's hardware store at Inwood Road and Forest Lane sold out of small water pumps.
High water forced the closure of the Dallas North Tollway for almost five hours Sunday as the road became impassable around Mockingbird Lane, said North Texas Tollway Authority spokeswoman Donna Huerta.
Safety concerns prompted crews to close the road from Northwest Highway to downtown Dallas from 2:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. American Airlines Center officials notified patrons at the NCAA basketball tournament to consider alternate routes home or waiting for traffic to clear.
Maintenance crews have checked all drains on the tollway at Mockingbird, but they will be watching the road closely for any new flooding into this morning, Ms. Huerta said.
Trouble on I-35E
Interstate 35E service roads near Market Center Boulevard became impassible. Some drivers abandoned their vehicles in the water, which covered curbs. Other motorists meandered around them, slowly moving through the flooded area.
By the time a quilt show ended at Market Hall on Sunday afternoon, patrons had to wade to their cars. Many treaded through knee-deep water to find their vehicles stuck in the water.
Medieval Times, the restaurant that features jousting knights on horseback, had to cancel its 5 p.m. show, for which more than 800 people had reserved seats. The restaurant is off I-35E at the Market Center exit. "There was no way for anybody to get into the parking lot," manager Ivan Jasso said.
The portion of Oak Lawn Avenue under Harry Hines was also badly flooded, covering abandoned cars. Firefighters blocked the entrance to that portion of Oak Lawn.
Drivers heading east on Fitzhugh Avenue past Avondale Avenue had to turn around and head back. Once they came over a hill, they quickly saw that Turtle Creek had flooded the roadway and trapped an SUV.
In many neighborhoods, including along the DART blue rail line, yards sprouted small lakes from all the rain.
Suburban storms
Some roads in Rowlett, Garland and Sachse were also closed by water.
In Collin County, Wylie spokesman Mark Witter said officials participated in nine rescues. He said the people rescued were in vehicles in low-lying areas near Lake Ray Hubbard. Most of these were in the southeast part of town, but some were outside the city limits, he said. No one was injured.
Mr. Witter said a shelter would be opened if needed. Both Wylie's and the county's emergency operation center were opened.
Celina police Cpl. Phil Ryan marveled at the amount of rain that fell in Collin County, but he said he knew of no major problems there.
"We have a lot of creeks out here ... luckily they were so low," he said. "I think we're OK."
Rising waters in Arlington forced some evacuations. Forecasters expected the West Fork of the Trinity River in Grand Prairie would rise about one foot above flood stage on Sunday evening. It's the highest crest at that point in more than 56 years.
The weather service also said the Trinity River would crest nearly four feet above flood stage after midnight.
'No normal in Texas'
Only days earlier, firefighters battled wildfires in the Texas Panhandle exacerbated by dry conditions.
"There is no normal in Texas. It's basically extremes," said Ted Ryan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. "We were in a drought, and now we have rain."
"We do see thunderstorms in the springtime. This is not necessarily unusual," Mr. Ryan said. "It's not going to happen every year, but this does happen in Texas quite often."
The calls that came into Dallas police included the following:
• Dallas County Sheriff's Sgt. Darrell Watson said a single-car accident prompted authorities to close several lanes on westbound Interstate 20, but most reports involved flooding, not accidents.
• About 2:30 a.m. Sunday, a pickup on westbound LBJ Freeway at Hillcrest Road in North Dallas lost traction and landed on its side.
• A couple hours later on the same highway, a car ended up on its roof near Ferguson Road in Garland. Police said no one was hurt.
• Dallas police said they had received at least four reports of vehicles stalled in high water, including one in the 2800 block of Shorecrest Drive near Bachman Lake in Northwest Dallas.
• A large tree fell across several lanes of West Colorado Boulevard in Oak Cliff on Sunday morning, and city workers were out with chainsaws trying to clear the debris.
Staff writers Brandon Formby, Stella M. Chávez, Jon Nielsen, Marissa Alanis and David Renfrow contributed to this report, which contains material from The Associated Press and WFAA-TV (Channel 8)
.
E-mail hhacker@dallasnews.com and thartzel@dallasnews.com
Morning Papers - continued ...
New York Times
Cyclone Larry Lashes Northeast Australia
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 20, 2006
Filed at 6:15 a.m. ET
Dave Hunt/EPA
Children climb on a fallen tree in Cairns, Australia, in the aftermath of Cyclone Larry which passed through the region Monday.
CAIRNS, Australia (AP) -- The most powerful storm to hit Australia in decades laid waste to its northeastern coast on Monday, mowing down sugar and banana plantations and leaving possibly thousands of people homeless. But there were no reports of serious injuries, reflecting the preparedness of residents in the storm-prone region.
About a dozen people were treated at regional hospitals for minor cuts and abrasions, said Jim Guthrie, a spokesman for the state of Queensland's health department. Many people had taken shelter before the storm, or hunkered down in their homes.
''This is far north Queensland and most people live with cyclones year in, year out. They do take precautions,'' he said. ''We've come out of it extremely well.''
Cyclone Larry crashed ashore about 60 miles south of Cairns as a Category 5 storm, packing winds of up to 180 mph.
Cairns is a popular jumping-off point for visits to the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral system which runs parallel to the coast for more than 1,400 miles. Authorities said it was too early to assess possible damage to the reef, visited by nearly two million tourists each year.
In Innisfail, a farming town of 8,500 that was hardest hit, Mayor Neil Clarke estimated that thousands were left homeless. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. the airport was being cleared to house people in tents. More than 50,000 people were without power.
''It looks like an atomic bomb hit the place,'' he said.
The storm was so bad at its height overnight that police were unable to venture out and help terrified residents who called to say the winds had ripped roofs off buildings and destroyed their homes. As emergency services fanned out across the region later to assess the damage, they encountered scenes of devastation.
''The damage to dwellings is very extensive,'' Prime Minister John Howard told the Nine Network from Melbourne. ''Thank heavens it does not appear as though there have been any very serious injuries.''
Howard said he would visit the stricken region in coming days and the government would provide aid to homeless families. He said he was confident the cyclone would not cause the kind of chaos seen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina last year.
''Australians are very good at responding to these things because everybody pitches in without restraint,'' he told reporters.
The main street of Innisfail was littered with the mangled remains of corrugated tin and iron roofs and shredded fronds from beach side palm trees. Queensland state leader Peter Beattie said more than half the homes in the town were damaged.
''Some have been flattened, roofs have been taken off,'' he told Macquarie Radio. ''The property damage has been immense.''
The storm also devastated banana and sugar cane plantations, the region's economic mainstay. Officials said damage would run into hundreds of millions of dollars.
Des Hensler, an Innisfail resident, took shelter by himself in a church, with water up to his ankles. ''I don't get scared much, but this is something to make any man tremble in his boots,'' he told the Seven television network.
Australia's military said it would send a medical team to the region. Helicopters would conduct low-level damage assessment flights.
State Disaster Coordination Center spokesman Peter Rekers warned residents to stay on their guard for deadly animals stirred up by the storm.
''Most of the casualties and deaths resulting from cyclones happen after the storm has passed,'' he warned. ''Keep your kids away from flooded drains, be aware of snakes and crocodiles. Those guys will have had a bad night too.''
The storm was the most powerful to hit Australia since Christmas Eve in 1974, when Cyclone Tracy destroyed the northern city of Darwin, killing 65 people.
------
On the Net:
Brisbane Tropical Cyclone Warning Center: http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/qld/cyclone/
Flooding in Texas Kills 1
(Flooding is going to occur when severe rains follows severe drought. The plants that hold the soil are dead so there will erosion as well. Plants require a lot of water. When rain occurs the roots soak up the water. Some of the water is used but most is evaporated into the air and creates humidity. It is that humidity that produces weather, etc. Plants are vital to a healthy planet. They can't exist for long without rain. )
DALLAS, March 19 — More than five inches of rain fell Sunday in parts of North Texas, causing high-rising floodwaters that killed at least one person, officials said.
A woman's body was recovered from Turtle Creek, where officials believed her car was swept into the water, said Senior Cpl. Max Geron of the police department.
Officials evacuated several homes in west Dallas because of rising floodwaters, Corporal Geron said. At least two rescues were reported in Arlington.
The storms were expected to continue through early Monday.
Rumor, Fear and Fatigue Hinder Final Push to End Polio
By CELIA W. DUGGER
and DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: March 20, 2006
BAREILLY, India — The cry went up the moment the polio vaccination team was spotted — "Hide your children!
Amit Bhargava for The New York Times
On returning home from school in New Delhi, Amitkumar removed the braces that keep his polio-withered legs straight.
On the Brink: Polio
A Fragile Immunity
Articles in this series will deal with five diseases — polio, guinea worm, measles, blinding trachoma and lymphatic filariasis — that are extinct in the developed world but stubbornly persistent in some poor nations. As the diseases hover on the brink of eradication, doctors and scientists face daunting obstacles as they struggle to finish the job.
In Nigeria, Aminu Ahmed is the president of the Kano State Polio Victims Association. He builds hand-cranked tricycles for other polio victims. His youngest child, Omar, 2, was born shortly before Kano's conservative Muslim government stopped its polio vaccinations. Now Omar has polio, too.
Some families slammed doors on the two volunteers going house to house with polio drops in this teeming city's decrepit maze of lanes, saying that they feared the vaccine would sicken or sterilize their children, or simply that they were fed up with the long drive to eradicate polio.
"We have a lot of other problems, and you don't care about those," shouted one woman from behind a locked door. "All you have is drops. My children get other diseases, and we don't get help."
Nearly 18 years ago, in what they described as a "gift from the 20th century to the 21st," public health officials and volunteers around the world committed themselves to eliminating polio from the planet by the year 2000.
Since then, some two billion children have been vaccinated, cutting incidence of the disease more than 99 percent and saving some five million from paralysis or death, the World Health Organization estimates.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/international/asia/20polio.html?hp&ex=1142917200&en=cbaeaec9c4369c17&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Plight Deepens for Black Men, Studies Warn
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: March 20, 2006
BALTIMORE — Black men in the United States face a far more dire situation than is portrayed by common employment and education statistics, a flurry of new scholarly studies warn, and it has worsened in recent years even as an economic boom and a welfare overhaul have brought gains to black women and other groups.
Focusing more closely than ever on the life patterns of young black men, the new studies, by experts at Columbia, Princeton, Harvard and other institutions, show that the huge pool of poorly educated black men are becoming ever more disconnected from the mainstream society, and to a far greater degree than comparable white or Hispanic men.
Especially in the country's inner cities, the studies show, finishing high school is the exception, legal work is scarcer than ever and prison is almost routine, with incarceration rates climbing for blacks even as urban crime rates have declined.
Although the problems afflicting poor black men have been known for decades, the new data paint a more extensive and sobering picture of the challenges they face.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/national/20blackmen.html?hp&ex=1142917200&en=6ca3ed1b3c6b74ca&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Behind Louisiana Aid Package, a Change of Heart by One Man
By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: March 20, 2006
Louisiana was in a foul mood on the February day that President Bush's Gulf Coast rebuilding coordinator, Donald E. Powell, stood before an audience of fellow bankers in Baton Rouge.
Mr. Powell changed his mind after taking a personal tour of the region.
Two weeks before, the administration had rejected Louisiana's housing recovery plan. Mr. Powell's own idea of housing aid excluded thousands of homeowners, many of them poor, who lived in the flood plain but did not have flood insurance when Hurricane Katrina hit.
Asked about those who had counted on federally built levees to protect them, Mr. Powell, a wealthy man from the dry Texas Panhandle, noted that he had been responsible enough to buy flood insurance for his home in Amarillo.
The members of the Louisiana Bankers Association were not won over. Nor was The Advocate, Baton Rouge's newspaper, which demanded Mr. Powell's dismissal, calling him a "flint-souled" bean counter whose only concern was "guarding the money."
Those with a more charitable view, Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, among them, complained that he lacked the authority to be effective, and some critics wondered if he was simply another presidential crony.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/national/nationalspecial/20powell.html?hp&ex=1142917200&en=8f0d52d85ab643ad&ei=5094&partner=homepage
The Road to Nowhere
It seems insane that the National Park Service would even think of spending $600 million on a road that few people want and nobody needs — especially when the service has barely enough money to keep up appearances. But that could happen unless the Interior Department musters the courage to resist Representative Charles Taylor of North Carolina.
Mr. Taylor, who says a new road would stimulate the local economy, runs the subcommittee that controls the Interior Department's budget. For that reason, neither the park service nor Interior's outgoing secretary, Gale Norton, has publicly criticized the idea. But there is more at stake here than pleasing one's paymaster. The road would not only blow a hole in the department's budget; it would also leave a scar on one of the most popular national parks.
At issue is a 30-mile road proposed for the north side of Fontana Lake on the eastern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. The road was promised to the residents of Swain County in 1943 when the Tennessee Valley Authority built a major hydroelectric dam, creating the lake and flooding out an existing road. After a fitful start in the 1960's, the road was abandoned for environmental and budgetary reasons.
Those reasons still apply. The road, including three big bridges, each the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, would breach an unbroken tract of national forest, destroy wildlife habitat and poison hundreds of miles of streams. Its estimated cost of $604 million — up 40 percent from only a year ago — is three times the annual roads budget for the entire national park system, which is already suffering from a big repair backlog.
There is no pressing need for the project. Swain County has other roads. The road's opponents include Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, and Swain County's own commissioners. There is broad agreement that restitution of some sort is due the residents of the region, and that the spirit if not the letter of the original agreement should be honored. A cash settlement of $52 million has been proposed.
As Mr. Taylor has noted, this will not generate the jobs and income that the road project would. But it's fair, and it won't do lasting damage. Interior should endorse the settlement. The department's neutrality serves only to keep alive an idea that makes even less sense now than it did in 1943.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/opinion/20mon3.html
Cinderella Now Lingers Longer at the N.C.A.A.'s March Dance
By PETE THAMEL
Published: March 20, 2006
SALT LAKE CITY, March 19 — When George Mason defeated the defending national champion North Carolina Tar Heels on Sunday, the upset capped four of the most harried days in the history of the N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/sports/ncaabasketball/20hoops.html
Why Do So Few Women Reach the Top of Big Law Firms?
By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN
Published: March 19, 2006
HUNDREDS of feet above Manhattan, the reception area of Proskauer Rose's headquarters boasts all of the muscular, streamlined ornamentation that symbolizes authority and power in a big city law firm — modern art, contemporary furniture, white marble floors, high ceilings and stunning views. The background music floating about this particular stage set is composed of the steady, reassuring cadences of talented, ambitious lawyers greeting their
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/business/yourmoney/19law.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Weekends With Dad, Courtesy of D.S.L.
By LYNETTE CLEMETSON
Published: March 19, 2006
WITH work and the school week behind them, Charles A. Mason III and his daughter, Arielle, who live more than 1,500 miles apart, prepared for their scheduled weekend visit. There was no packing involved, no plane tickets, no car rides or drop-offs. All it took was some instant messaging on their home computers and a little fidgeting in front of their respective Webcams, and father and daughter were chatting, playing checkers and practicing multiplication tables.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/fashion/sundaystyles/19CUSTODY.html
Hamas, Failing to Find Partners, Proposes Cabinet
Mohammed Abed/Agence France-Presse-Getty Images
Flags of Hamas and the smaller Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine waved together in Gaza City on Friday, but the P.F.L.P. opted out of a coalition, and Hamas presented its own cabinet lineup Sunday.
By GREG MYRE
Published: March 20, 2006
JERUSALEM, March 19 — Hamas delivered its proposed cabinet list to the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, on Sunday night. Hamas is expected to control the most important government ministries after weeks of negotiations failed to persuade other Palestinian parties to join its government.
Ismail Haniya, the Hamas leader and prime minister-designate, presented the lineup to Mr. Abbas at a meeting in Gaza City. Pressed by reporters, Mr. Abbas declined to say whether he would give his approval, though aides said he was likely to do so. He said he would convene the Palestinian legislature, in which the militant Islamic Hamas has an absolute majority, for a vote of confidence on the cabinet.
"I pray to God to help us," Mr. Abbas said. "The task is not easy, neither for us nor for the new government."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/international/middleeast/20mideast.html
BBC
Cyclone batters Australian coast
Emergency workers were forced to stay away despite residents' pleas
A powerful tropical cyclone has hit Australia's north-east coast, packing winds of up to 290km/h (180mph).
Tropical Cyclone Larry smashed into Queensland at Innisfail, about 100km (62 miles) south of Cairns - forcing thousands to evacuate their homes.
Queensland state Premier Peter Beattie declared a state of emergency, saying it was the "worst cyclone in decades".
Three people have been reported injured so far and up to 50,000 homes are without power, according to officials.
The storm was initially a category five - the strongest possible - but was downgraded to a category four shortly after it crossed the coastline.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4823580.stm
CIA renditions strain Europe goodwill
By Gordon Corera
BBC security correspondent
Extraordinary rendition is now part of the CIA's tactics
It was just before midday on 17 February in 2003 when the quiet of a suburban street in Milan was momentarily disturbed.
The bearded man in a tunic was walking down Via Guerzoni when he was approached by two men speaking Italian. One asked for his papers.
Once they confirmed his identity, he was bundled into a white van.
This was a so-called extraordinary rendition - a term referring to the abduction of terrorist suspects and their removal to countries other than the US for imprisonment and interrogation.
The man taken was a radical Egyptian cleric Abu Omar. Those thought to be responsible, the CIA.
Abu Omar was believed to have been flown from an American airbase at Aviano in Italy, to Germany and then on to Egypt.
Torture claims
In 2004, he was briefly released, and phoned his relatives and friends back home.
A friend with whom Abu Omar was in contact later gave a statement to the police in which he claims the cleric was subjected to torture.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4822374.stm
US attacks UN official on 'jails'
Arbour said she welcomed Rice's strong anti-torture stance
Washington has rebuked UN human rights commissioner Louise Arbour for criticising its anti-terror tactics as the alleged secret jails row goes on.
Ms Arbour said reports the US was using secret overseas sites to interrogate suspects harmed its moral authority and she wanted to inspect any such centres.
The US said it was inappropriate and illegitimate for her to question US conduct on the basis of media reports.
The issue is dogging a European tour by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"Lots of human rights... can be set aside temporarily... but not the right to life and not the protection against torture."
Louise Arbour
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
She will meet Nato foreign ministers on Thursday for formal talks but at a dinner on Wednesday the jails allegation reportedly already surfaced.
"There were a number of frank interventions, always respectful of Condoleezza Rice as a person," a source briefed on the dinner was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
On Wednesday, Ms Rice said American interrogators were bound by an international convention banning the use of torture, regardless of whether they were working in the US or abroad.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4508892.stm
US captures 13 Somali 'pirates'
The US warships were patrolling the seas off Somalia
Thirteen suspected pirates involved in clashes with the US Navy off the Somali coast on Saturday have been captured, a spokesman for the men says.
Saleban Aadan Barqad told the BBC that his men were protecting fishing stocks from foreign vessels when they were attacked by the Americans.
The group has demanded that the United States release the men.
On Saturday, the US Navy reported an exchange of fire between two of its ships and the suspected pirates.
One person was killed and five wounded in the incident, which happened early on Saturday as the ships were conducting maritime security operations, reports say.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4822722.stm
Rabbi calls for 'UN of religions'
By Danny Wood
BBC News, Seville
Metzger spoke at the opening of the three-day conference
The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, has called for the creation of a world body with representatives from the major religious groups.
Rabbi Metzger was addressing the International Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace in Seville, Spain.
He called for the formation of a "United Nations of religious groups".
The Imam of Gaza, Imad al-Faluji, said politicians lied but religious leaders had a different objective - to work towards a higher good.
The imams and rabbis at this conference, which opened on Sunday, say the world is in crisis and it is time they acted to restore justice, respect and peace.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4800194.stm
Talabani hopeful on US-Iran talks
Mr Talabani says civil war in Iraq is a low risk
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has welcomed the prospect of talks between the US and Iran over Iraq.
He rejected comments that civil war is already raging in Iraq, but said it had come close after the destruction of a Shia shrine in Samarra last month.
He also told the BBC he is optimistic a new government can be formed within two weeks - or four at the most.
He said all parties had reached agreement on many points which would also diminish the threat of civil war.
However, Mr Talabani said another incident like Samarra would be dangerous and would lead to more bloodshed.
But he said he believed the risk was currently low.
Mr Talabani's comments contrast sharply with those of the former interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi.
"."We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more - if this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is
Iyad Allawi
Former Iraq PM
Mr Allawi told the BBC Iraq was already in the grip of a civil war that could tear it apart, although Iraq had not got to the point of no return.
The UK and US have repeatedly denied Iraq is facing a civil war, but Mr Allawi suggested there was no other way to describe the sectarian violence.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4823194.stm
Indonesia mine shut after attack
By Tim Johnston
BBC, Jakarta
The world's largest gold producer, US company Newmont, has suspended operations at a mine in Indonesia, after an attack on an exploration camp.
A group of about 50 unidentified people razed the camp on the island of Sumbawa on Sunday.
Nobody was injured in the incident as operators were warned of the attack and evacuated the camp's 200 residents.
The attack comes against a background of rising anger at Western mining and energy interests in Indonesia.
'Fine line'
Last week four security officers were killed in the province of Papua by protesters demanding the closure of another gold mine owned by US giant Freeport McMoRan.
There have also been demonstrations in Java against a decision to make the American Exxon Mobil company the operator of an oil and gas field owned jointly with Indonesia's state energy company.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4823842.stm
USA Today
Powerful tropical storm lashes northeastern Australia
SYDNEY (AP) — A powerful tropical cyclone ripped the roofs off buildings and uprooted trees in northeastern Australia, tearing across the region on Monday with devastating winds that pinned emergency workers inside despite pleas from terrified residents.
This satellite image shows cyclone Larry over northeastern Australia on Sunday.
Bureau of Meteorology
With winds up to 180 mph at its height, Tropical Cyclone Larry smashed into the coastal community of Innisfail, about 60 miles south of Cairns, a popular jumping-off point for the Great Barrier Reef, sending hundreds of tourists and residents fleeing for higher ground.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2006-03-19-cyclone-australia_x.htm
Second human bird flu case found in Egypt
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt reported its second human case of avian flu Sunday, and Israel continued its slaughter of hundreds of thousands of birds while waiting to learn if the disease had spread to poultry there.
Egyptian farmers collect dead chickens to be disposed at the village of Noqbas, north of Cairo, Sunday.
By Nasser Nasser, AP
A 30-year-old Egyptian who worked on a chicken farm in the province of Qalyoubiya was the second person infected by the virus in Egypt, the Health Ministry said Sunday.
The man, identified as Mohammed Bahaaeddin Abdel-Menem, was recovering in the hospital after being admitted Thursday with a fever, Deputy Health Minister Nasser el-Sayyed said.
Ibrahim al-Gazzar, a cousin of the latest victim, said he doubted that other villagers were educated enough to seek medical treatment. "They would think it was a normal flu — that will be a disaster."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-03-19-bird-flu_x.htm
Afghan man prosecuted for converting
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan man who allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death, a judge said Sunday.
The defendant, Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family went to the police and accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada told Associated Press in an interview. Such a conversion would violate the country's Islamic laws.
Rahman, who is believed to be 41, was charged with rejecting Islam when his trial started last week, the judge said.
During the hearing, the defendant allegedly confessed that he converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago when he was 25 and working as a medical aid worker for Afghan refugees in neighboring Pakistan, Mawlavezada said.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2006-03-19-convert_x.htm
9 young hikers killed, 2 missing in Colombia mudslide
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A mudslide swept down on a scouting expedition in central Colombia, killing nine young hikers and leaving two others missing, authorities said Sunday. The scouts had just been bathing and practicing knots when they were carried away, survivors said.
The Colombian scouts, ranging in age from 12 to 19, were on an expedition Saturday with two guides near the snowcapped Nevado del Ruiz volcano close to their home city of Manizales, said German Salgado, regional president of the Scouting Association of Colombia.
The scouts were in a boulder-filled canyon when heavy rains caused the Chinchina river to rise several feet, sending down a crushing load of earth and rock that swept away the scouts as they were bathing and practicing knots.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-03-19-colombia-mudslide_x.htm
Grenade blast cripples Iraq vet's memory
By Russ Bynum, Associated Press Writer
RICHMOND HILL, Ga. — His 3-year-old son Nicholas' first steps, the first time Liam, his newborn, smiled — Staff Sgt. Douglas Piper lived to see them. Then his scarred memory erased even those precious moments.
Staff Sgt. Douglas Piper holds his acrylic prosthetic eye.
By Stephen Morton, AP
"I can't remember what they did yesterday," Piper says. "Sometimes, I can't remember what I did yesterday. The days are broken."
Iraq left the 30-year-old Piper in his own personal fog of war, one in which remembering the moments and days since April 2003 can be as confusing a puzzle as predicting his civilian future.
Three years ago, in the war's first month, Piper became one of the now more than 17,000 U.S. troops wounded in action. A grenade blast in Baghdad mangled his right eye, collapsed his right eardrum and slammed his brain against the inside of his skull.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-19-postwar-fog_x.htm
Motion to censure president deserves backing of the people
Thank God that at least Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has the guts to do what's needed: censure President Bush for his authorization of the National Security Agency to monitor, without a warrant, international calls and e-mails of people inside the USA when one party may be linked to terrorism ("Feingold seeks censure of Bush," News, March 13, News, Tuesday).
President Bush knew the law, and he could have gone to Congress to get it revised if he found it unworkable. Instead, he couldn't even be bothered to do that.
We moan, fulminate or snicker, but this president won't be shamed into better behavior. He must be brought back forcefully to the rule of law. Our congressional lawmakers are the people who must do this, but they apparently need much more pressure from us to do so.
I pray that my fellow citizens of both parties will urge their senators to stand up with Sen. Feingold and hold this president accountable.
Peggy Datz, Berkeley, Calif.
'Silly' resolution
As further evidence of just how loopy the Democrats have become, I offer Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold's silly motion to censure President Bush for authorizing wiretaps that never offered Bush an ounce of personal gain, and therefore must have been done for the good of the nation.
Leading Democrats know Feingold has backed their party into a corner they can't afford to be in. Many in the Democratic Party are already dealing with a horrid reputation for being weak on national security issues — a big part of the reason they can't win most important elections anymore.
I don't know what is simmering in the cheese vats in Wisconsin these days that is causing folks to elect flakes like Feingold, but whatever it is, I'm glad it's not on my menu.
Mark Overholser, St. Paul Park, Minn.
Consider impeachment
Major kudos to Russ Feingold for taking a bold action against a president and administration that feel the laws do not apply to them.
What kind of opposition party sits back and merely gives lip service to illegal executive branch operations? It is no wonder the Democrats are wallowing in the cellar.
We have three more years of this president and his administration. Every day I wait in dread to hear the newest skewed, deceitful angle taken by these power-mongers.
If I were a member of Congress, I'd stand in the Capitol and shout to the people, much like Jimmy Stewart rails against corruption in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and I'd demand this president and vice president be impeached for crimes against the Constitution.
Patricia Green, Columbia, Mo.
Dems are fault finders
Just once, I'd like to see a liberal Democrat stand for something positive. Instead, here's Sen. Russ Feingold demonstrating the true colors of the left.
As part of the "I hate everything to do with President Bush" crowd, Feingold is now throwing around such terms as "censure" for no other purpose than to show the American people that he and his fellow liberals have contempt for the president.
If Bush says, "black," I'd bet the house Feingold and his political-left supporters would say "white." National security doesn't matter to the left because if Bush is for it, people like Feingold will find reason to be against it.
Ed Zak, New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
Democrats should unite
I am disappointed in Senate Democrats who are running from Russ Feingold's motion to censure the president.
It is not the time for Democrats to pander to swing voters, nor is it the time to be cowed by this power-hungry administration. Now is the time to stand up for the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law.
The president broke the law when he authorized illegal, warrantless wiretapping. There should be consequences. Admittedly, censure would be little more than a slap on the wrist. But it's a start.
Edward Possing, South Milwaukee, Wis.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-03-19-letters-censure_x.htm
National weather maps
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wrain.htm
continued …
Morning Papers - concluding
Sydney Morning Herald
Larry 'flattens' Innisfail houses
There have been early, unconfirmed, reports of casualties and some people are feared missing in the wake of one of the most powerful cyclones to ever hit Queensland.
"We have reports of fairly major structural damage around the Innisfail area, one from Silkwood which is to the south of Innisfail, and we've had reports of some casualties at Cairns hospital, some 20 or so," weather bureau forecaster Jonty Hall told AAP.
"There's also some reports of a few people missing as well."
The nurse manager at Cairns Base hospital said there had been no casualties treated up to about 10am. A spokesperson at Innisfail hospital had no reports of casualties at 11am.
Cyclone Larry made landfall at the small town of Innisfail, about 100km south of Cairns, as a category five storm, about 4am.
Innisfail's mayor, Neil Clarke, told smh.com.au that he and staff at the shire council have been manning a disaster management centre in Innisfail, where they have been since yesterday afternoon. "I got about two hours sleep, I think, between midnight and 3am," he said.
He said the cyclone hit Innisfail, population 8000, about 4am, causing widespread damage. They were now dealing with the second half of the storm.
"We're still right in the middle of the cyclone, the eye passed immediately over Innisfail, it went quiet for about 45-minutes, and now we've got the second half ... with not only extreme wind conditions, but it's blowing all of the debris that was created with the first half of the cyclone, and all of the debris is flying around and smashing into everything else."
Mayor Clarke said he and his staff were unable to leave their building. "It's far too dangerous, we've got two people leaning on our main access door into the building to stop that blowing in."
There had been hundreds of calls and damage to "thousands" of houses but no reports of injury or loss of life as yet. "I have no doubt there will be injuries, I'm hoping there won't be loss of life."
"I've spoken to the Premier this morning, I've spoken to the [State] Minister for Emergency Services, the Premier has spoken to the Prime Minister and they are well and truly aware that we will need all the help that we can get - not only in the short term but in the long term."
The cyclone slammed into Ravenshoe, south-west of Cairns, about 10am, the town's mayor, Anne Portess, told smh.com.au.
"It's going crazy - it's a cacophany, there's just these different levels of roaring," she said.
"My walls are shaking furiously right now, the wind roars, the house is shaking, the roof is shaking. I'm not happy.
"But I live in a new house I'm just worried about those out bush who don't have legal dwellings.
"People living in things like tin sheds or caravans this will really test them."
"There's driving rains, you can't see out the windows, and the wind's going in every direction - the winds sounds like a train coming in the distance," she said.
"I'm not going anywhere and [the emergency services] would be mad to go out in this.
"The SES is telling people if they've got a roof or a car then sit there and ride it out, don't go anywhere.
"There's no power and the phone's off, we've got no phone contact except mobile phones, and the ABC went down.
"There was a siren about an hour ago but we haven't heard of anything serious happening yet.
"We've had this kind of thing before and we've just bunkered down."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/larry-flattens-innisfail-houses/2006/03/20/1142703252564.html
Second cyclone 'not yet a threat'
A second cyclone has formed behind Tropical Cyclone Larry but is not yet posing a threat to the far north Queensland coast.
The Queensland Bureau of Meteorology says Tropical Cyclone Wati is near Vanuatu and moving west, south-west at about 13 knots.
It is currently located about 2000km east of Townsville.
It is intensifying and moving in the same direction at Cyclone Larry which is currently battering the state's far north coast.
"It's certainly of no immediate threat to the Queensland coast," a bureau spokesman told ABC radio.
"But it does look like following a similar path to Larry in the next few days."
Larry crossed the coast this morning as a maximum category five storm, with wind gusts reaching 290kph.
Despite being downgraded to a category four, forecasters warn the far north region probably has not yet seen the strongest winds.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/second-cyclone-not-yet-a-threat/2006/03/20/1142703251287.html
'One in three' roofs gone
Downed trees in front of a house in cyclone-hit Innisfail.
Photo: Sky News
By Dylan Welch and David Braithwaite
March 20, 2006 - 3:51PM
Page 1 of 2 Single page
One in three houses have lost their roofs and at least 14 people have been hurt in the coastal region where Tropical Cyclone Larry made landfall.
More than half of the houses and buildings in the small town of Innisfail, about 100km south of Cairns, suffered major damage when the category five storm hit about 4am, said Sergeant Gary Burkin of Innisfail police.
The cyclone has now been downgraded to level three.
"There's some buildings that have totally collapsed," Sergeant Burkin said. "It's greater than 50 per cent [damage] for housing and buildings."
About a third of houses at Innisfail - which has a population of about 8000 - had lost their roofs, said Queensland Counter Disaster and Rescue Services (CDRS) executive director Frank Pagano.
There have been 14 casualties reported, including a fractured leg, a fractured ankle as well as minor cuts and abrasions, across Mareeba, Atherton, Innisfail and Babinda, said North Queensland health service's Jim Guthrie.
By At 3pm Cairns Base Hospital had not admitted anyone injured by the cyclone.
No serious injuries had been reported at any northern Queensland hospitals.
Hospitals at Innisfail, Babinda and Atherton suffered minor damage from the galeforce winds, with tiles being torn from roofs, windows broken and some power failures. All were operating on emergency power.
Cairns had escaped relatively unscathed, but the region south of Cairns, including Innisfail, appeared to have copped the brunt of the cyclone.
"We went for a drive this morning and I'd say every second building is damaged some completely, some minor," said Johnstone Shire's State Emergency Service manager, Alan Green.
"Some have all their roofs gone, some have walls gone, awnings are gone out the front.
"Trees are in all sorts of directions that I can't understand how they got like that. I couldn't even say the damage bill at this stage but it would be very significant."
Local volunteers had been inundated with calls for assistance, he said.
Prime Minister John Howard committed Blackhawk choppers and other military equipment to the disaster recovery effort.
"If any military assets are needed, they will be readily available.
"This is certainly a very fearful and challenging time for the people of far north Queensland and I want them to know that their fellow Australians are with them," he said.
"Fortunately, the big army establishment at Townsville, the Lavarack Barracks ... is not all that far away," he said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/one-in-three-roofs-gone/2006/03/20/1142703252564.html
Cyclone devastates Australia's banana crop
Cyclone Larry has devastated Australia's banana industry, destroying fruit worth $300 million and leaving up to 4,000 people out of work.
Australians now face a shortage of bananas and likely price rises after the cyclone tore through the heart of the nation's biggest growing region.
Queensland produces about 95 per cent of Australia's bananas.
The Australian Banana Growers Council said the storm had wrecked the industry, ruining 200,000 tonnes of fruit.
"The banana crop in north Queensland has been decimated, probably between 90 and 100 per cent of the total crop is on the ground," council president Patrick Leahy said.
"Innisfail and Tully took the brunt of it, a large section of the industry on the tablelands is knocked out and the only section that seems to have come away with less damage is the Kennedy area.
"That means better than 80 per cent of the total Australian crop is on the ground."
Mr Leahy said with total production estimated to be worth $380 million and $400 million for the year, the cyclone had destroyed as much as $350 million in produce.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/thousands-of-jobs-gone-with-bananas/2006/03/20/1142703270076.html
Cyclone downgraded as it heads West
March 20, 2006 - 3:12PM
Towns inland of Innisfail on the north Queensland coast are bracing for the impact of Tropical Cyclone Larry.
Larry "still poses a threat to life and property" across the southwestern Atherton Tablelands and west to Normanton, reported the bureau of meteorology at 2pm.
The cyclone was expected to continue moving west at 25 to 30 km/h, the bureau said.
Winds were gusting up to 180 km/h across the tablelands and there was a danger of flooding in coastal rivers and streams between Innisfail and Townsville.
However, the cyclone was weakening on its inland route and was expected to be downgraded to a tropical low tomorrow as it moved into the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Larry was downgraded to category three about 11am when it was tracking about 65km south-west of Mareeba, inland from Cairns.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cyclone-downgraded-as-it-heads-west/2006/03/20/1142703257234.html
Time to rise with Japan's sun
A good relationship with Tokyo will serve us better than being a US surrogate, warns Paul Sheehan.
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JAPANESE weddings are very democratic. Everyone gives a speech. There's a lot of emotion on or near the surface in Japan, despite myths to the contrary. When Tomoe Ito married James Croak in Tokyo last week, she broke down during her speech. Her mother spoke, and broke down. Her aunt spoke, and broke down. Her sister-in-law spoke, and broke down. Even when my wife spoke, she broke down. (My wife is a team player.)
Great wedding. Great week. Great country. Japan is not too hard. Japan is not too expensive. It is the global economic power we take for granted. And it is about to become more important in your life, and more important in the world. The Japanese people are sitting on a money mountain, $8 trillion in dormant savings, and the world's second-largest economy is about to re-emerge after a long, hard winter - 15 years of deflation, rolling recessions and rising unemployment.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/paul-sheehan/time-to-rise-with-japans-sun/2006/03/19/1142703218087.html
New Zealand Herald
Cyclone Larry lashes North Queensland coast
20.03.06 11.30am - UPDATE
BRISBANE - Destructive Cyclone Larry is continuing to batter the far north Queensland coast.
Authorities say cane farming town Innisfail, which has borne the brunt of the storm, will be plunged into financial ruin in the wake of the destructive cyclone.
The cyclone hit as a maximum category five this morning, with wind gusts reaching 290kph. It has since been downgraded to a four.
Innisfail, south of Cairns, has borne the brunt of Larry destruction, but Cairns has also been significantly affected.
Despite the downgrade, forecasters have warned the far north region has probably not yet seen the strongest winds.
"We have reports of fairly major structural damage around Innisfail area, one from Silkwood which is to the south of Innisfail, and we've had reports of some casualties at Cairns hospital, some 20 or so," weather bureau forecaster Jonty Hall said.
"There's also some reports of a few people missing as well."
A Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said she could not confirm reports of people being taken to hospital.
"We are just putting all our contingencies in place," she said.
"We are making sure people are calm and talking to them on the phones through out communications centres.
Johnstone Shire Council deputy mayor George Pervan said the cyclone had torn through the sugar cane and banana crops, causing extensive damage.
"The crops are all gone, bananas are all flattened, cane's flattened. It'll kill us for 12 or 18 months," Mr Pervan said.
"It'll kill us completely.
"They were expecting a good price for the cane this year, they were getting a good price for bananas.
"(We're expecting) a lot of problems, massive problems."
He said Larry was much worse than the category three Cyclone Winifred, which struck south of Innisfail in February 1986, causing widespread destruction.
"Winifred was nothing compared to this, nothing at all," he said from his Innisfail home.
"There's been plenty of damage. There's roofs gone off, at our place ... we're just off the river and there's damage everywhere. It's unbelievable.
"It's pouring rain. It's very scary.
"You can't even move out of the yard here, there's trees right up the road, powerlines everywhere and the only safe place is (to stay indoors) until the rain stops."
When Winifred struck, it destroyed 50 homes and damaged hundreds of others as well as larger buildings.
Three people were killed, 20 injured, and the town suffered severe sugar cane, fruit and vegetable crop losses.
Total estimated costs were $A325 ($NZ376.2) million.
To add to the region's concern, a second cyclone, Wati, has formed behind Larry but was today near Vanuatu, still days away from hitting the Australian coast.
Meanwhile, passengers booked on the Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Cairns tomorrow morning will not know for some time if they will leave as expected.
Air New Zealand spokesman David Jamieson says the decision to fly into Cairns obviously depends on the weather, but he says there is the added complication of possible damage to the airport and navigational beacons on the ground.
Mr Jamieson says the situation is being monitored and a decision on whether the flight will leave will be made in time to advise passengers.
North Queensland supermarkets had earlier been cleaned out as residents prepared for the storm. Hot FM's Rod Difflack is in Townsville and says many has filled up with fuel and emptied the shelves of bottled water and batteries for portable radios. .
- AAP, NEWSTALK ZB
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10373507
Howard promises rapid aid to cyclone-stricken areas
20.03.06 1.20pm
MELBOURNE - Australian Prime Minister John Howard says the federal government and the military will do everything possible to help victims of Cyclone Larry, which hit far north Queensland this morning.
Mr Howard said he had spoken with Queensland Premier Peter Beattie last night, and they had agreed to work together on the relief effort.
"If any military assets are needed, they will be readily available," Mr Howard told reporters in Melbourne.
He said that could include the use of helicopters.
"This is certainly a very fearful and challenging time for the people of far north Queensland and I want them to know that their fellow Australians are with them," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10373552
Rescued DoC rangers set out again for volcano island
20.03.06
By Errol Kiong
The five conservation rangers evacuated from Raoul Island after a volcanic explosion believed to have claimed the life of their colleague are heading back to the island.
Jim Livingstone, Morgan Cox, Melanie Nelson, Evan Ward and Lynda McGrory-Ward are returning to help recovery operations and to assess the damage from Friday morning's eruption. Their colleague, Mark Kearney, 33, is feared dead after being caught in the eruption.
The five were joined by three colleagues, including Raoul Island programme manager Mike Ambrose, on board the RV Braveheart, which left Tauranga for the island at 9.30pm on Saturday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10373492
Hamas presents Palestinian cabinet to Abbas
20.03.06
GAZA - Hamas presented its cabinet to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday after the Islamic militant group failed to persuade any rival factions to join a government Israel and the United States have pledged to shun.
Hamas's plan to appoint party loyalists to top ministerial posts, in the absence of coalition partners, was an early signal of the success of Israeli and US efforts to isolate the Palestinian election victor sworn to Israel's destruction.
Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh gave the Hamas cabinet list to Abbas in Gaza as reporters looked on.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10373527
Milosevic daughter denounces 'political' funeral
20.03.06 10.20am
BELGRADE - Slobodan Milosevic's daughter has denounced the former Serbian president's funeral, saying his Socialist Party had hijacked it for political ends.
Socialist officials and other prominent supporters made a succession of fiery speeches at a gathering of tens of thousands of people in Belgrade on Saturday before Milosevic's coffin was taken to the provincial town of Pozarevac for burial.
Milosevic's son was quoted in the Belgrade daily Press as saying the funeral was "terrible" and had been turned into a political rally but he later denied making the comments, although he admitted he had spoken to a reporter from the paper.
Some Serbian media saw the funeral as the final act of an era marked by the Balkan wars of the 1990s in which at least 150,000 people were killed and millions forced from their homes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10373524
Trainee Australian terrorist
20.03.06 8.20am
Australian terror suspect David Hicks has admitted weapons and guerrilla warfare training with British Islamic extremists, including shoe-bomber Richard Reid. The British Government made the claim to Hicks' lawyers last year, the Age said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10373461
Turning vegetarian can help you lose weight
18.03.06
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON - If you want to keep the weight down, switch to a meat-free diet, scientists said this week.
Researchers studied the eating habits of 22,000 people over five years and found all put on a few kilos but meat eaters who changed to a vegetarian or vegan diet gained the least.
"Contrary to current popular views that a diet low in carbohydrates and high in protein keeps weight down, we found that the lowest weight gain came in people with high intake of carbohydrates and low intake of protein," said Professor Tim Key.
The research compared weight gain among meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans, who eat no animal products.
The research, published in the International Journal of Obesity, showed that on average people gained 2kg over five years. None of the volunteers was overweight.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10373208
The Australian
Monster cyclone threatens far north
THOUSANDS of Queenslanders were evacuating their homes last night as one of the most severe cyclones in decades bore down on the state's north.
Tropical Cyclone Larry, a category-four storm gusting up to 280km/h, was surging towards the coast between Cairns and Townsville.
The Bureau of Meteorology last night warned that it was likely to intensify into a category-five cyclone before hitting the coast south of Innisfail between 7.30am and 8.00am today.
If it is upgraded, the storm could unleash greater fury than Cyclone Tracy, the category-four storm that killed 64 people and destroyed most of Darwin in 1974.
Mandatory evacuations were enforced in numerous low-lying coastal areas, including in the Johnstone and Cardwell shires south of Cairns.
In addition to the evacuation of island resorts in the path of the cyclone, emergency authorities also warned residents in low-lying areas between Cairns and Townsville to "seriously consider" leaving.
Premier Peter Beattie made a disaster declaration, giving local governments the power to enforce the mandatory evacuations.
Disaster co-ordination centres were activated in Cairns and Townsville while the state Government sent response teams from Brisbane in readiness for the expected gale force winds and flooding.
Petrol stations recorded a spike in business with residents filling up their tanks to drive south or inland, while supermarkets were inundated by people stocking up.
Schools in the hardest hit areas will be closed today while flights to Townsville and Cairns have been cancelled.
Tens of thousands of residents spent yesterday preparing their homes. Elaine Spicer sandbagged the front of her home at Machans Beach, north of Cairns.
"Last cyclone, the water came down our drive and into our backyard," she said. "You can't be too careful."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18528806%255E601,00.html
The XVIII Commonwealth Games
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/index/0,20671,cwgames%5E%5ETEXT,00.html
Ah, McCann you've done it again
Chip Le Grand
March 20, 2006
THE greatest battle any marathon runner fights is with the voice inside their head. This is the voice that says you can't win, that you can't make another surge, that you can't run another step.
Within the shadow of the MCG, this voice told Kerryn McCann she would have to be happy with a silver medal.
How to silence that voice is something every marathon runner must discover. When a heat-stricken Kate Smyth teetered across the finish line in seventh place, her body temperature having reached 41C, her battle had been reduced to just a few centimetres.
Sometimes another, stronger voice emerges to say you can win. Sometimes you just need to be pig-headed enough to ignore it.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18526065%255E5002980,00.html
Bloomberg
Australia's Queensland Hit by Strongest Cyclone in 30 Years
March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Cyclone Larry, the worst storm in more than 30 years to hit Australia, struck Queensland's northeast coast, flattening houses and cutting power in the tourist region that has the Great Barrier Reef off its coast.
The category-five cyclone, with maximum wind gusts up to 250 kilometers (175 miles) an hour, crossed the coast near Innisfail, south of the city of Cairns, early today, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie declared the area a natural disaster zone after the storm uprooted trees, blew roofs off houses and destroyed sugar and banana plantations.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aj_5cwcmZ7q4&refer=asia
continued ...
Larry 'flattens' Innisfail houses
There have been early, unconfirmed, reports of casualties and some people are feared missing in the wake of one of the most powerful cyclones to ever hit Queensland.
"We have reports of fairly major structural damage around the Innisfail area, one from Silkwood which is to the south of Innisfail, and we've had reports of some casualties at Cairns hospital, some 20 or so," weather bureau forecaster Jonty Hall told AAP.
"There's also some reports of a few people missing as well."
The nurse manager at Cairns Base hospital said there had been no casualties treated up to about 10am. A spokesperson at Innisfail hospital had no reports of casualties at 11am.
Cyclone Larry made landfall at the small town of Innisfail, about 100km south of Cairns, as a category five storm, about 4am.
Innisfail's mayor, Neil Clarke, told smh.com.au that he and staff at the shire council have been manning a disaster management centre in Innisfail, where they have been since yesterday afternoon. "I got about two hours sleep, I think, between midnight and 3am," he said.
He said the cyclone hit Innisfail, population 8000, about 4am, causing widespread damage. They were now dealing with the second half of the storm.
"We're still right in the middle of the cyclone, the eye passed immediately over Innisfail, it went quiet for about 45-minutes, and now we've got the second half ... with not only extreme wind conditions, but it's blowing all of the debris that was created with the first half of the cyclone, and all of the debris is flying around and smashing into everything else."
Mayor Clarke said he and his staff were unable to leave their building. "It's far too dangerous, we've got two people leaning on our main access door into the building to stop that blowing in."
There had been hundreds of calls and damage to "thousands" of houses but no reports of injury or loss of life as yet. "I have no doubt there will be injuries, I'm hoping there won't be loss of life."
"I've spoken to the Premier this morning, I've spoken to the [State] Minister for Emergency Services, the Premier has spoken to the Prime Minister and they are well and truly aware that we will need all the help that we can get - not only in the short term but in the long term."
The cyclone slammed into Ravenshoe, south-west of Cairns, about 10am, the town's mayor, Anne Portess, told smh.com.au.
"It's going crazy - it's a cacophany, there's just these different levels of roaring," she said.
"My walls are shaking furiously right now, the wind roars, the house is shaking, the roof is shaking. I'm not happy.
"But I live in a new house I'm just worried about those out bush who don't have legal dwellings.
"People living in things like tin sheds or caravans this will really test them."
"There's driving rains, you can't see out the windows, and the wind's going in every direction - the winds sounds like a train coming in the distance," she said.
"I'm not going anywhere and [the emergency services] would be mad to go out in this.
"The SES is telling people if they've got a roof or a car then sit there and ride it out, don't go anywhere.
"There's no power and the phone's off, we've got no phone contact except mobile phones, and the ABC went down.
"There was a siren about an hour ago but we haven't heard of anything serious happening yet.
"We've had this kind of thing before and we've just bunkered down."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/larry-flattens-innisfail-houses/2006/03/20/1142703252564.html
Second cyclone 'not yet a threat'
A second cyclone has formed behind Tropical Cyclone Larry but is not yet posing a threat to the far north Queensland coast.
The Queensland Bureau of Meteorology says Tropical Cyclone Wati is near Vanuatu and moving west, south-west at about 13 knots.
It is currently located about 2000km east of Townsville.
It is intensifying and moving in the same direction at Cyclone Larry which is currently battering the state's far north coast.
"It's certainly of no immediate threat to the Queensland coast," a bureau spokesman told ABC radio.
"But it does look like following a similar path to Larry in the next few days."
Larry crossed the coast this morning as a maximum category five storm, with wind gusts reaching 290kph.
Despite being downgraded to a category four, forecasters warn the far north region probably has not yet seen the strongest winds.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/second-cyclone-not-yet-a-threat/2006/03/20/1142703251287.html
'One in three' roofs gone
Downed trees in front of a house in cyclone-hit Innisfail.
Photo: Sky News
By Dylan Welch and David Braithwaite
March 20, 2006 - 3:51PM
Page 1 of 2 Single page
One in three houses have lost their roofs and at least 14 people have been hurt in the coastal region where Tropical Cyclone Larry made landfall.
More than half of the houses and buildings in the small town of Innisfail, about 100km south of Cairns, suffered major damage when the category five storm hit about 4am, said Sergeant Gary Burkin of Innisfail police.
The cyclone has now been downgraded to level three.
"There's some buildings that have totally collapsed," Sergeant Burkin said. "It's greater than 50 per cent [damage] for housing and buildings."
About a third of houses at Innisfail - which has a population of about 8000 - had lost their roofs, said Queensland Counter Disaster and Rescue Services (CDRS) executive director Frank Pagano.
There have been 14 casualties reported, including a fractured leg, a fractured ankle as well as minor cuts and abrasions, across Mareeba, Atherton, Innisfail and Babinda, said North Queensland health service's Jim Guthrie.
By At 3pm Cairns Base Hospital had not admitted anyone injured by the cyclone.
No serious injuries had been reported at any northern Queensland hospitals.
Hospitals at Innisfail, Babinda and Atherton suffered minor damage from the galeforce winds, with tiles being torn from roofs, windows broken and some power failures. All were operating on emergency power.
Cairns had escaped relatively unscathed, but the region south of Cairns, including Innisfail, appeared to have copped the brunt of the cyclone.
"We went for a drive this morning and I'd say every second building is damaged some completely, some minor," said Johnstone Shire's State Emergency Service manager, Alan Green.
"Some have all their roofs gone, some have walls gone, awnings are gone out the front.
"Trees are in all sorts of directions that I can't understand how they got like that. I couldn't even say the damage bill at this stage but it would be very significant."
Local volunteers had been inundated with calls for assistance, he said.
Prime Minister John Howard committed Blackhawk choppers and other military equipment to the disaster recovery effort.
"If any military assets are needed, they will be readily available.
"This is certainly a very fearful and challenging time for the people of far north Queensland and I want them to know that their fellow Australians are with them," he said.
"Fortunately, the big army establishment at Townsville, the Lavarack Barracks ... is not all that far away," he said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/one-in-three-roofs-gone/2006/03/20/1142703252564.html
Cyclone devastates Australia's banana crop
Cyclone Larry has devastated Australia's banana industry, destroying fruit worth $300 million and leaving up to 4,000 people out of work.
Australians now face a shortage of bananas and likely price rises after the cyclone tore through the heart of the nation's biggest growing region.
Queensland produces about 95 per cent of Australia's bananas.
The Australian Banana Growers Council said the storm had wrecked the industry, ruining 200,000 tonnes of fruit.
"The banana crop in north Queensland has been decimated, probably between 90 and 100 per cent of the total crop is on the ground," council president Patrick Leahy said.
"Innisfail and Tully took the brunt of it, a large section of the industry on the tablelands is knocked out and the only section that seems to have come away with less damage is the Kennedy area.
"That means better than 80 per cent of the total Australian crop is on the ground."
Mr Leahy said with total production estimated to be worth $380 million and $400 million for the year, the cyclone had destroyed as much as $350 million in produce.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/thousands-of-jobs-gone-with-bananas/2006/03/20/1142703270076.html
Cyclone downgraded as it heads West
March 20, 2006 - 3:12PM
Towns inland of Innisfail on the north Queensland coast are bracing for the impact of Tropical Cyclone Larry.
Larry "still poses a threat to life and property" across the southwestern Atherton Tablelands and west to Normanton, reported the bureau of meteorology at 2pm.
The cyclone was expected to continue moving west at 25 to 30 km/h, the bureau said.
Winds were gusting up to 180 km/h across the tablelands and there was a danger of flooding in coastal rivers and streams between Innisfail and Townsville.
However, the cyclone was weakening on its inland route and was expected to be downgraded to a tropical low tomorrow as it moved into the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Larry was downgraded to category three about 11am when it was tracking about 65km south-west of Mareeba, inland from Cairns.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cyclone-downgraded-as-it-heads-west/2006/03/20/1142703257234.html
Time to rise with Japan's sun
A good relationship with Tokyo will serve us better than being a US surrogate, warns Paul Sheehan.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
JAPANESE weddings are very democratic. Everyone gives a speech. There's a lot of emotion on or near the surface in Japan, despite myths to the contrary. When Tomoe Ito married James Croak in Tokyo last week, she broke down during her speech. Her mother spoke, and broke down. Her aunt spoke, and broke down. Her sister-in-law spoke, and broke down. Even when my wife spoke, she broke down. (My wife is a team player.)
Great wedding. Great week. Great country. Japan is not too hard. Japan is not too expensive. It is the global economic power we take for granted. And it is about to become more important in your life, and more important in the world. The Japanese people are sitting on a money mountain, $8 trillion in dormant savings, and the world's second-largest economy is about to re-emerge after a long, hard winter - 15 years of deflation, rolling recessions and rising unemployment.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/paul-sheehan/time-to-rise-with-japans-sun/2006/03/19/1142703218087.html
New Zealand Herald
Cyclone Larry lashes North Queensland coast
20.03.06 11.30am - UPDATE
BRISBANE - Destructive Cyclone Larry is continuing to batter the far north Queensland coast.
Authorities say cane farming town Innisfail, which has borne the brunt of the storm, will be plunged into financial ruin in the wake of the destructive cyclone.
The cyclone hit as a maximum category five this morning, with wind gusts reaching 290kph. It has since been downgraded to a four.
Innisfail, south of Cairns, has borne the brunt of Larry destruction, but Cairns has also been significantly affected.
Despite the downgrade, forecasters have warned the far north region has probably not yet seen the strongest winds.
"We have reports of fairly major structural damage around Innisfail area, one from Silkwood which is to the south of Innisfail, and we've had reports of some casualties at Cairns hospital, some 20 or so," weather bureau forecaster Jonty Hall said.
"There's also some reports of a few people missing as well."
A Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said she could not confirm reports of people being taken to hospital.
"We are just putting all our contingencies in place," she said.
"We are making sure people are calm and talking to them on the phones through out communications centres.
Johnstone Shire Council deputy mayor George Pervan said the cyclone had torn through the sugar cane and banana crops, causing extensive damage.
"The crops are all gone, bananas are all flattened, cane's flattened. It'll kill us for 12 or 18 months," Mr Pervan said.
"It'll kill us completely.
"They were expecting a good price for the cane this year, they were getting a good price for bananas.
"(We're expecting) a lot of problems, massive problems."
He said Larry was much worse than the category three Cyclone Winifred, which struck south of Innisfail in February 1986, causing widespread destruction.
"Winifred was nothing compared to this, nothing at all," he said from his Innisfail home.
"There's been plenty of damage. There's roofs gone off, at our place ... we're just off the river and there's damage everywhere. It's unbelievable.
"It's pouring rain. It's very scary.
"You can't even move out of the yard here, there's trees right up the road, powerlines everywhere and the only safe place is (to stay indoors) until the rain stops."
When Winifred struck, it destroyed 50 homes and damaged hundreds of others as well as larger buildings.
Three people were killed, 20 injured, and the town suffered severe sugar cane, fruit and vegetable crop losses.
Total estimated costs were $A325 ($NZ376.2) million.
To add to the region's concern, a second cyclone, Wati, has formed behind Larry but was today near Vanuatu, still days away from hitting the Australian coast.
Meanwhile, passengers booked on the Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Cairns tomorrow morning will not know for some time if they will leave as expected.
Air New Zealand spokesman David Jamieson says the decision to fly into Cairns obviously depends on the weather, but he says there is the added complication of possible damage to the airport and navigational beacons on the ground.
Mr Jamieson says the situation is being monitored and a decision on whether the flight will leave will be made in time to advise passengers.
North Queensland supermarkets had earlier been cleaned out as residents prepared for the storm. Hot FM's Rod Difflack is in Townsville and says many has filled up with fuel and emptied the shelves of bottled water and batteries for portable radios. .
- AAP, NEWSTALK ZB
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10373507
Howard promises rapid aid to cyclone-stricken areas
20.03.06 1.20pm
MELBOURNE - Australian Prime Minister John Howard says the federal government and the military will do everything possible to help victims of Cyclone Larry, which hit far north Queensland this morning.
Mr Howard said he had spoken with Queensland Premier Peter Beattie last night, and they had agreed to work together on the relief effort.
"If any military assets are needed, they will be readily available," Mr Howard told reporters in Melbourne.
He said that could include the use of helicopters.
"This is certainly a very fearful and challenging time for the people of far north Queensland and I want them to know that their fellow Australians are with them," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10373552
Rescued DoC rangers set out again for volcano island
20.03.06
By Errol Kiong
The five conservation rangers evacuated from Raoul Island after a volcanic explosion believed to have claimed the life of their colleague are heading back to the island.
Jim Livingstone, Morgan Cox, Melanie Nelson, Evan Ward and Lynda McGrory-Ward are returning to help recovery operations and to assess the damage from Friday morning's eruption. Their colleague, Mark Kearney, 33, is feared dead after being caught in the eruption.
The five were joined by three colleagues, including Raoul Island programme manager Mike Ambrose, on board the RV Braveheart, which left Tauranga for the island at 9.30pm on Saturday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10373492
Hamas presents Palestinian cabinet to Abbas
20.03.06
GAZA - Hamas presented its cabinet to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday after the Islamic militant group failed to persuade any rival factions to join a government Israel and the United States have pledged to shun.
Hamas's plan to appoint party loyalists to top ministerial posts, in the absence of coalition partners, was an early signal of the success of Israeli and US efforts to isolate the Palestinian election victor sworn to Israel's destruction.
Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh gave the Hamas cabinet list to Abbas in Gaza as reporters looked on.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10373527
Milosevic daughter denounces 'political' funeral
20.03.06 10.20am
BELGRADE - Slobodan Milosevic's daughter has denounced the former Serbian president's funeral, saying his Socialist Party had hijacked it for political ends.
Socialist officials and other prominent supporters made a succession of fiery speeches at a gathering of tens of thousands of people in Belgrade on Saturday before Milosevic's coffin was taken to the provincial town of Pozarevac for burial.
Milosevic's son was quoted in the Belgrade daily Press as saying the funeral was "terrible" and had been turned into a political rally but he later denied making the comments, although he admitted he had spoken to a reporter from the paper.
Some Serbian media saw the funeral as the final act of an era marked by the Balkan wars of the 1990s in which at least 150,000 people were killed and millions forced from their homes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10373524
Trainee Australian terrorist
20.03.06 8.20am
Australian terror suspect David Hicks has admitted weapons and guerrilla warfare training with British Islamic extremists, including shoe-bomber Richard Reid. The British Government made the claim to Hicks' lawyers last year, the Age said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10373461
Turning vegetarian can help you lose weight
18.03.06
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON - If you want to keep the weight down, switch to a meat-free diet, scientists said this week.
Researchers studied the eating habits of 22,000 people over five years and found all put on a few kilos but meat eaters who changed to a vegetarian or vegan diet gained the least.
"Contrary to current popular views that a diet low in carbohydrates and high in protein keeps weight down, we found that the lowest weight gain came in people with high intake of carbohydrates and low intake of protein," said Professor Tim Key.
The research compared weight gain among meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans, who eat no animal products.
The research, published in the International Journal of Obesity, showed that on average people gained 2kg over five years. None of the volunteers was overweight.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10373208
The Australian
Monster cyclone threatens far north
THOUSANDS of Queenslanders were evacuating their homes last night as one of the most severe cyclones in decades bore down on the state's north.
Tropical Cyclone Larry, a category-four storm gusting up to 280km/h, was surging towards the coast between Cairns and Townsville.
The Bureau of Meteorology last night warned that it was likely to intensify into a category-five cyclone before hitting the coast south of Innisfail between 7.30am and 8.00am today.
If it is upgraded, the storm could unleash greater fury than Cyclone Tracy, the category-four storm that killed 64 people and destroyed most of Darwin in 1974.
Mandatory evacuations were enforced in numerous low-lying coastal areas, including in the Johnstone and Cardwell shires south of Cairns.
In addition to the evacuation of island resorts in the path of the cyclone, emergency authorities also warned residents in low-lying areas between Cairns and Townsville to "seriously consider" leaving.
Premier Peter Beattie made a disaster declaration, giving local governments the power to enforce the mandatory evacuations.
Disaster co-ordination centres were activated in Cairns and Townsville while the state Government sent response teams from Brisbane in readiness for the expected gale force winds and flooding.
Petrol stations recorded a spike in business with residents filling up their tanks to drive south or inland, while supermarkets were inundated by people stocking up.
Schools in the hardest hit areas will be closed today while flights to Townsville and Cairns have been cancelled.
Tens of thousands of residents spent yesterday preparing their homes. Elaine Spicer sandbagged the front of her home at Machans Beach, north of Cairns.
"Last cyclone, the water came down our drive and into our backyard," she said. "You can't be too careful."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18528806%255E601,00.html
The XVIII Commonwealth Games
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/index/0,20671,cwgames%5E%5ETEXT,00.html
Ah, McCann you've done it again
Chip Le Grand
March 20, 2006
THE greatest battle any marathon runner fights is with the voice inside their head. This is the voice that says you can't win, that you can't make another surge, that you can't run another step.
Within the shadow of the MCG, this voice told Kerryn McCann she would have to be happy with a silver medal.
How to silence that voice is something every marathon runner must discover. When a heat-stricken Kate Smyth teetered across the finish line in seventh place, her body temperature having reached 41C, her battle had been reduced to just a few centimetres.
Sometimes another, stronger voice emerges to say you can win. Sometimes you just need to be pig-headed enough to ignore it.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18526065%255E5002980,00.html
Bloomberg
Australia's Queensland Hit by Strongest Cyclone in 30 Years
March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Cyclone Larry, the worst storm in more than 30 years to hit Australia, struck Queensland's northeast coast, flattening houses and cutting power in the tourist region that has the Great Barrier Reef off its coast.
The category-five cyclone, with maximum wind gusts up to 250 kilometers (175 miles) an hour, crossed the coast near Innisfail, south of the city of Cairns, early today, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie declared the area a natural disaster zone after the storm uprooted trees, blew roofs off houses and destroyed sugar and banana plantations.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aj_5cwcmZ7q4&refer=asia
continued ...
Morning Papers - concluding
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Cloudy
-22.0°
Updated Monday 20 Mar 8:59AM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
32 °F / 0 °C
Overcast
Humidity:
87%
Dew Point:
28 °F / -2 °C
Wind:
5 mph / 7 km/h from the NNW
Pressure:
29.84 in / 1010 hPa
Windchill:
28 °F / -2 °C
Visibility:
8.0 miles / 12.9 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Scattered Clouds 2400 ft / 731 m
Mostly Cloudy 3700 ft / 1127 m
Overcast 4300 ft / 1310 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
Scott Base
Cloudy
-22.0°
Updated Monday 20 Mar 8:59AM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
32 °F / 0 °C
Overcast
Humidity:
87%
Dew Point:
28 °F / -2 °C
Wind:
5 mph / 7 km/h from the NNW
Pressure:
29.84 in / 1010 hPa
Windchill:
28 °F / -2 °C
Visibility:
8.0 miles / 12.9 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Scattered Clouds 2400 ft / 731 m
Mostly Cloudy 3700 ft / 1127 m
Overcast 4300 ft / 1310 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
Click on to animate. Thank you.
March 20, 2006.
A cold wind blows as autumn approaches. Heat of the southern hemisphere today has come off the ice continent and is concentrated in the equatorial regions where cyclones are causing deaths in Australia. The only consolation is that The Great Barriar Reef, while taking a beating, probably has saved North Queensland a greater strom surge keeping in mind Australia is an island in the middle of a vast and dynamic ocean.
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