August 22, 2006. Religious day A man sits amid the tombs in a cemetery in the holy city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, on Aug. 22, as Shiites celebrate their yearly "al-Isra wal Meraj" religious day during which they visit their dead.Insurgency profile ebbs in wake of sectarian strifehttp://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/15377125.htmJEFFREY FLEISHMAN
Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi insurgency remains a potent threat to U.S. forces, but in the months since the death of its flamboyant symbol, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the insurgency's aura has been eclipsed by the widening sectarian fighting between Shiites and Sunnis, American and Iraqi officials say.
The insurgency has increased its use of roadside bombs against U.S. and Iraqi forces since al-Zarqawi's death in June, and in some ways is stronger than when he was alive. But it lacks the mix of media savvy and spectacular explosions that the former leader of al-Qaida in Iraq used to inflate the image of the insurgency beyond its military capabilities.
These days U.S. forces and ordinary Iraqis increasingly are transfixed by the danger of a full-blown civil war. Sectarian killings in July accounted for most of the nation's nearly 3,500 deaths, the highest monthly toll since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. An ongoing joint military offensive against death squads and sectarian militias in Baghdad, the capital, is viewed as key to bringing stability to the nation.
August 21, 2006. Oldest man Emiliano Mercado Del Toro sits as his great niece Dolores Martinez helps put on his old U.S. Army veteran hat, and her son Arturo looks on, in preparation for his 115th birthday party, at Del Toro's home in Isabela, Puerto Rico, on Aug. 21. Mercado, born on Aug. 21, 1891 and certified the oldest man in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, is also the oldest living veteran. He didn't see action because, called up in 1918, he was two months into U.S. Army training when World War I ended Nov. 11, 1918. He was married three times but never had children.Death of a supercentenarian http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/29/opinion/edage.phpOn Sunday, the oldest woman in the world died at age 116 in an Ecuadorian hospital. Her name was María Esther de Capovilla, and she was born in September 1889. We are all aware that there will be an end to our lives, but Capovilla's death is a reminder of how absolute the boundary of human longevity really is. The body has its own term limits, a point at which the warranty expires and something furls up inside you. The woman who succeeds Capovilla as the oldest woman on earth is also 116, and the oldest person on record died at 122.Sonny Hendricks, an Amerindian, is Guyana's oldest man (click 0n)Wednesday, August 9th 2006
Dear Editor,
Minister Bibi Shadick must be highly commended for her visit and gift to the 110 year old Mathilda Lewis to whom I also tender congratulations and sincere best wishes. While that lady is Guy-ana's oldest woman, this country's oldest man is the 106-year-old Sonny Hendricks, an Amerindian who resides with his 65 year-old widowed daughter, Ethel Primus, at Lethem in the Rupununi District.
In 1954, when there was an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in Brazil, he assisted in the erection of several miles of barbed wire fence, along our western border with Brazil, to prevent our cattle from being affected with that disease.
At his farm at Moco Moco village, in 1955, Sonny Hendricks accepted Govern-ment's invitation and became the first person to successfully cultivate rice in the hinterland of this country.
As there was no sawmill or chain saw available in the Rupununi District while I was stationed there as a Public Works Department officer from 1954 to 1959, Sonny Hendricks with saw pit and gang saws, was the sole supplier of all sawn lumber for the construction of all government building that were being constructed at Lethem, St Ignatius, Good Hope and Annai at that time.
Today, at 106-years-old, he still manages to cultivate a little kitchen garden to assist with the normal old age pension he receives from Govern-ment. Could anything better be done for him?
Yours faithfully,
Rockcliffe Patrick Pitt
Editor's note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Minister Shadick for her information.
August 30, 2006. 1040z. For as brief, as noted in this view, as the storm touched the Guff waters there wasn't enough velocity to continue on a northwest path. It would seem as though, and gratefully, so far this season the Gulf Coast is safe. Besides the flooding occuring now, the fun and games will be when Ernesto hits the Atlantic and whether the water is warm enough to bring a tropical depression back to life as a significant storm.Two Deaths Blamed On Ernesto http://www.wftv.com/news/9759654/detail.htmlPOSTED: 11:34 pm EDT August 29, 2006
UPDATED: 11:51 pm EDT August 29, 2006
MIAMI, Fla. -- Accidents on rain-slickened expressways killed at least two people in South Florida, Tuesday.
Authorities say a motorcyclist was killed near Boca Raton after losing control and being struck by two other vehicles.
Florida Highway Patrol says a Miami woman died after the car in which she was riding crashed during a squall spawned by Tropical Storm Ernesto.Ernesto kills at least two in Haiti, but lets most of the Caribbean off easyhttp://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20060829T230000-0500_112276_OBS_ERNESTO_KILLS_AT_LEAST_TWO_IN_HAITI__BUT_LETS_MOST_OF_THE_CARIBBEAN_OFF_EASY.aspAPWednesday, August 30, 2006
CAMAGUEY, Cuba (AP) - Tropical Storm Ernesto killed at least two people in Haiti, but otherwise let the Caribbean off relatively easy before heading north for Florida yesterday.
Tens of thousands of people evacuated before Ernesto drenched eastern Cuba began returning home yesterday morning as the storm pulled away from the island's northern coast. They were grateful to find houses still standing and belongings dry after the storm turned out to be relatively tame.
IRAQ-JORDAN: Border closed with Iraq, refugees refused entry
AMMAN, 21 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - The Jordan-Iraqi border at Karama closed on Monday and remains so after 89 Palestinian refugees from Iraq, including 42 children, tried to enter Jordan, according to the UNs refugee agency in Amman, UNHCR.
Yara Sharif, a senior public information assistant at UNHCR said the group of refugees reached the Jordanian border on Sunday and
tried to enter, but were denied permission by the government, which said they did not have proper documents.
"Recently, there have been outbursts of sectarian violence in Iraq, so there is a strong fear that if nothing is done to improve their
situation, others will leave the capital and head towards the border area, making things worse," Sharif said.
The group was accompanied by two members of an international NGO and is now in the "No-man's Land" area.
A refugee camp used to be located at that site, established after the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, to cope with people fleeing the country. But it was closed after all 743 refugees were transferred to Ruweished, a nearby camp, in May 2005.
Ruweished, located 69 km from the Iraqi border, is the closest town to the border and is scheduled to close in September.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52339&SelectRegion=Middle_East
The Jordan News
Amman, Riyadh renew support for Lebanese gov’t
King, Mubarak discuss Mideast issues
King Abdullah talks Wednesday to Saudi King Abdullah upon arrival in Jeddah (Photo by Yousef Allan)
AMMAN (JT) — King Abdullah and Saudi King Abdullah on Wednesday reiterated their support for Lebanon to overcome war repercussions, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
At a Jeddah meeting, the two leaders also renewed their backing for Lebanese government efforts to fully control the country, calling on all Lebanese to safeguard their national unity. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is heading to the Middle East to try to promote support for the UN resolution that led to the fragile Israeli-Hizbollah ceasefire. Annan plans to visit the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and will likely go to Syria and Iran as well, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. Urging a unified Arab stand to effectively tackle regional challenges, King Abdullah and the Saudi monarch agreed on the need for ensuring peace and stability in the Middle East, according to Petra.
They also discussed the Palestinian issue and Iraq as well as bilateral issues.
Reiterating that the Palestinian cause was the core issue in the Middle East conflicts, the two kings urged permanent solution based on international legitimacy and the peace initiative Arab leaders adopted in their Beirut summit in 2002.
The Arab Peace Initiative offers peace and normal relations to Israel in return for the Jewish state’s withdrawal from territories occupied after the 1967 war, as well as an agreed solution to the refugee problem and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
King Abdullah and the Saudi king yesterday urged unified efforts to revive the peace process, which should lead to a just and comprehensive peace in the region.
On Iraq, the two leaders renewed their support for government efforts to establish peace and stability.
At the bilateral level, the two sides agreed to bolster their relations, particularly in economic fields.
King Abdullah arrived yesterday in Saudi Arabia from Baku, where he held talks with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev on bilateral ties and regional developments. On Tuesday, the King discussed Middle East issues with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad.
Meanwhile, the Monarch and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak reviewed over the telephone developments in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, Petra said.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/homenews/homenews1.htm
Rove must be hard at work.
Saddam’s trial adjourned until September 11
Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein looks on Wednesday during the third day of his trial (Reuters photo by Daniel Berehulak)
BAGHDAD (AP) — Kurds on Wednesday told of entire families killed in chemical weapons attacks against their villages in the 1980s, saying survivors plunged their faces into milk to end the pain from the blinding gas or fled into the hills on mules as military helicopters fired on them.
After hours of grim testimony in the genocide trial of Saddam Hussein, Chief Judge Abdullah Amiri adjourned until Septtmber 11 to consider defence appeals over the legitimacy of the tribunal.
Four survivors took the stand on the third day of proceedings against Saddam and six co-defendants over the Anfal campaign.
The offensive levelled hundreds of villages — many of them pounded by chemical weapons — with their residents herded into prison camps where many of the men disappeared and were executed, according to prosecutors.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news2.htm
Interjected as a CNN and Rove 'cone of probability.'
CNN's Pilgrim uncritically repeated Rove's dubious claim that warrantless wiretapping "might have prevented September 11th"
Summary: CNN's Kitty Pilgrim uncritically repeated White House senior adviser Karl Rove's dubious claim that the Bush administration's warrantless domestic wiretapping program "might have prevented" the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In fact, the Bush administration had information on two of the 9-11 hijackers more than a year before the attacks occurred, and according to the 9-11 Commission and congressional investigators, it was primarily bureaucratic problems -- rather than a lack of information -- that resulted in their escaping detection.
But as Media Matters documented when an August 24 Associated Press article also uncritically repeated Rove's assertion that there might have been a "different outcome" if the administration "could have done that [warrantless wiretapping] before 9/11," the Bush administration had information on two of the 9-11 hijackers more than a year before the attacks occurred, and according to the 9-11 Commission and congressional investigators, it was primarily bureaucratic problems -- rather than a lack of information -- that resulted in their escaping detection.
PILGRIM: But first these headlines.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the so-called morning-after pill for sale without a prescription. Now, the Plan B emergency contraceptive will now be available over the counter to consumers 18 years of age and older.
Presidential adviser Karl Rove -- criticizing a federal judge's decision to block the warrantless wiretapping program -- Rove says a similar program might have prevented September 11th.
And the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis today arrived at the Kennedy Space Center to prepare for Sunday's launch. The six-person crew will build an addition onto the International Space Station.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200608250011
Assad says UN troops on border with Lebanon ‘hostile’ move
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's President Bashar Assad was quoted in a TV interview Wednesday as saying that he would consider the deployment of international troops along the Lebanon-Syria border a hostile move towards his country.
“First, this means creating hostile conditions between Syria and Lebanon,” Assad told Dubai Television, according to excerpts released by the TV station ahead of the interview's airing late Wednesday. “Second, it is a hostile move towards Syria and naturally it will create problems.” Assad did not elaborate on that point in the excerpts. But in Finland, that country's foreign minister, after meeting with his Syrian counterpart, said Damascus threatened to close its border with Lebanon if UN peacekeepers were deployed there.
“They will close their borders for all traffic in case UN troops will be deployed along the Lebanon-Syria border,” Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said after meeting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem in Helsinki.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news5.htm
Syria, Israel in showdown over UN force mandate
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria hotly opposed deployment of an international force along its border to prevent arms shipments to Hizbollah, and Israel on Wednesday called the situation in Lebanon “explosive”, as the ceasefire was shaken by artillery shells and explosions that killed three Lebanese soldiers and an Israeli.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora asked the US to help lift an Israeli blockade on his country's coast and airport — something Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said would not happen until UN troops deployed along the Lebanon-Syria border to block the flow of weapons.
Hizbollah's vast arsenal of rockets and other weapons, much of which is believed to originate in Iran, reaches the fighters across the Syrian border.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news1.htm
Lebanese oil slick hits ancient Phoenician port
By Gideon Long
Reuters
BYBLOS — The Lebanese port of Byblos has survived the Romans, the Crusades and the armies of Alexander the Great but now it faces a 21st century menace, brought to its shores on a tide of war — oil pollution.
A slick caused by Israel's bombardment of a power plant last month during its conflict with Hizbollah fighters has spewed a black tide along a 140-km stretch of the coastline.
Few places have been hit harder than Byblos, which dates back 7,000 years and lies 35km north of Beirut.
Thick black oil laps against the ancient stone wall of the harbour under the shadow of a 13th century watchtower. Workers use a mechanical digger to scoop it from the water and dump it into plastic tanks on the quayside.
From here it is taken to Beirut to be mixed with gravel and stone to make building material. Much of it will be used to patch up roads blown apart by Israeli bombs during the war, which ended with a United Nations-backed truce on August 14.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news6.htm
Lebanon oil spill threatens migrant birds and marine life
By Hala Kilani
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Toxic oil covering the sea-bed, black oil-covered beaches where endangered loggerhead turtles nest, dead algae on rocky shores normally feeding fish and other organisms — these are some of the first findings of a mission led by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to assess the impact of the Lebanese oil spill on species and coastal ecosystems. The oil spill followed the bombing of a power plant south of Beirut in mid-July.
The IUCN mission found that the coastal and marine environment along the Lebanese shoreline is heavily affected by the oil spill. The mission was called by the Lebanese Ministry of Environment and involved IUCN expert commissions and members. Examination of mousse slicks taken from the shoreline north of the Jiyyeh power plant have found toxic substances such as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).
“This is a particular risk to marine organisms,” says Rick Steiner, an oil expert and member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental and Economic Social Policy.
Steiner, who worked on the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, explained that PAHs provoke cancer; they can accumulate in organs and cause long-term impacts such as the sudden collapse of fish populations years after contamination, as happened in Alaska.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/features/features1.htm
Injustice lingers in Tunisia, Arab model of women’s rights
By Bouazza Ben Bouazza
The Associated Press
TUNIS — In a country praised as a standard-bearer of women's rights in the Muslim world, Basma Hammami says the women in her family have been victims of lingering injustice.
Her maternal grandfather, a wealthy landowner, left his entire estate to his only son at the expense of six daughters. He did not want the land going to heirs who would not carry on the family name, said Hammami, 33.
As Tunisia celebrates the 50th anniversary of a revolutionary law that gave women some of the same rights as men, many women's rights advocates warn that the 1956 text needs urgent updating, especially on inheritance law.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news8.htm
Editorial:
End the wrangling
The diplomatic wrangling over Iran’s nuclear programme is yet again reaching a crescendo. With an Aug. 31 deadline for Iran to suspend its nuclear enrichment programme looming, noises are being made by the various UN Security Council members about what may or may not happen once that deadline passes and depending on Iran’s actions.
Sensibly, both China and Russia are urging diplomacy at all costs. Western powers are more bellicose, and France was the latest to threaten financial sanctions should Iran fail to comply. Significantly, the US has yet to rule out military action.
Iran, meanwhile, is playing for time. Its standing in the region has significantly improved as a result both of the US-led invasion of Iraq and Israel’s failed attempt at bringing Hizbollah to heel. Furthermore, flush with money from high oil prices, Tehran perhaps believes it can afford to stall.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/opinion/opinion1.htm
Defendants claim confessions extracted under torture
One defendant showed the court bruises he claimed were inflicted by security services
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN — Five men charged with plotting a prison breakout and possessing illegal weapons testified before the State Security Court on Wednesday that their earlier confessions were extracted under torture.
The prosecution claims that Azmi Jaiousi, the mastermind behind an Al Qaeda plot to launch chemical attacks in the Kingdom, and Mohammad Kutkut, both inmates at Swaqa Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre, plotted the alleged escape shortly before Kutkut’s release in November 2005.
Another four men are being tried in absentia on the same charges.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/homenews/homenews7.htm
Lawmakers debate draft anti-terrorism law
Islamist and independent MPs expressed concern that the draft bill may be used to suppress ‘peaceful’ political activities
By Mohammad Ben Hussein
AMMAN — Parliamentarians Wednesday continued debating the controversial anti-terrorism law in a session that saw Islamic Action Front (IAF) deputies end their boycott of the Lower House.
As yesterday’s session proceeded, lawmakers crossed swords with the government over the temporary credit information law for the second consecutive session.
Parliamentarians demanded that the government provide further clarification on the proposed bill, with several lawmakers casting doubt on whether an article of the law dealing with the establishment of a firm specialised in credit information gathering “was constitutional.”
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/homenews/homenews6.htm
Going to school — a right not to be ignored
By Bill Frelick
The first day of school is a special day in the lives of children, but yesterday tens of thousands of kids in Jordan spent it at home. They are foreigners — mostly Iraqis — whom the government has not allowed to enrol because they lack residence permits.
At least 500,000 Iraqis live in Jordan, most having fled the turmoil in their country. Although the government has generally been tolerant towards Iraqis, the price of this tolerance has been to ignore their presence. This means not acknowledging that most Iraqis are refugees who need at least temporary protection.
Some 60,000 Iraqi children attended Jordanian schools last year, according to officials, who said they crowded classrooms and strained resources. The large numbers of Iraqis in Jordan, including children, undoubtedly put great strains on schools, health clinics and other social services that struggle to meet the needs of Jordanian citizens.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/opinion/opinion5.htm
First day of class means a Royal visit for one school
A schoolboy at Al Jiza School receives a new backpack from Her Majesty Queen Rania on the first day of the class (Photo by Nasser Ayoub)
AMMAN (JT) — Schools across the country started their new academic year today after the summer holiday; students at Al Jiza Secondary School for Girls had the added surprise of finding Her Majesty Queen Rania on their campus.
The Queen visited the school on Wednesday to welcome back the students and teachers and to offer her support for the upcoming year. She joined a group of teachers for a conversation about their expectations for this year, and commended their efforts and achievements under sometimes challenging circumstances.
Teachers, she said, play an important role in shaping students’ characters and help the community in overcoming obstacles and challenges in Jordan’s impoverished areas.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/homenews/homenews4.htm
New award created for distinguished students
AMMAN (Petra) — In a letter addressed to the country’s 1.6 million schoolchildren at the beginning of the new academic year on Wednesday, His Majesty King Abdullah said he instructed the Ministry of Education to create an award for distinguished students.
In the letter, which was read in the country’s some 5,600 schools, King Abdullah said the award is designed to encourage innovation and critical thinking and will be granted to top students at the governorate level.
Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khalid Touqan, who read the letter yesterday at the Asmaa Bent Abi Baker Basic School in Ain Al Basha, said a committee will be formed soon to set the conditions and criteria for the award.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/homenews/homenews5.htm
Annan says hopes to soon double UN troops in Lebanon
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) — UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday said he hoped to soon double to 5,000 the number of UN troops in southern Lebanon and urged Israel and Hizbollah to swiftly end rows blocking a permanent ceasefire.
Annan said he would ask Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in talks on Wednesday to lift Israel's air and sea blockade of Lebanon, imposed at the start of the war nearly seven weeks ago.
Speaking after meeting Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz following a visit to Lebanon, Annan said Israel had committed most violations of a two-week-old truce that ended the war.
Annan is in the region to secure full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brought about the truce and calls for deployment of 15,000 UN peacekeepers by November 4.
"My hopes are that with the French deployment moving forward and with the Italians beginning on Friday, that we should be able to double relatively quickly the 2,500 men we have on the ground and move up to 5,000 so that the Israelis can withdraw," Annan said.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news1.htm
Toll in clashes between Iraqi forces, Shiite fighters rises to 73
Iraqi women queue Tuesday for up to five hours to buy kerosene in the populous Baghdad district of Sadr City as Prime Minister Nuri Maliki declared that a four-month-old fuel shortage was over (AFP photo by Ahmad Al Rubaye)
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister issued a fresh call Tuesday for armed groups to be dissolved after his office raised the death toll in fighting between government forces and Shiite fighters to 73.
Although calm prevailed in the Shiite city of Diwaniyah, the 23 soldiers and 50 fighters the government said were killed was significantly higher than the total death toll of 40 people that officials had reported on Monday.
Diwaniyah's streets were quiet, but an explosion at an oil pipeline south of the city left at least 27 people dead.
The cause of the blast was unclear, but locals have been siphoning off fuel from the pipeline for years, officials said.
In the capital, Iraqi police found the bodies of 27 people who had apparently been tortured and shot before being dumped in three locations in Baghdad, police said.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news3.htm
Iraqis weigh new burden —fighting flab
By Aseel Kami
Reuters
BAGHDAD — Starved of entertainment in their violence-racked city, many Baghdad residents are turning to food as one of their few remaining pleasures, and paying the price as they pile on the pounds.
Anecdotal evidence suggests many are eating out of boredom or stress, but Iraqis, not traditionally a nation of calorie counters, have an unhealthy, oil-soaked diet that combined with a lack of exercise makes gaining weight all too easy.
Baghdad residents complain that exercising is difficult in a city where raging sectarian and insurgent violence killed more than 3,000 people in July alone, kidnappings are common, power cuts frequent and fuel shortages chronic.
“During Saddam’s time I used to go to the market, visit friends or just go walking in the district, but I’m too afraid to do that now,” said Nada, 33, a chemist whose weight seesawed before the war but is now an average of 7kg overweight.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news8.htm
Physical fitness award winners honoured
By Roufan Nahhas
AMMAN — Winners of the King Abdullah II Award for Physical Fitness were honoured at a ceremony held at Al Hussein Sports City on Tuesday.
His Majesty King Abdullah, who acted as patron at the event, presented 32 gold medals to students who achieved high marks during the evaluation stages.
The Monarch also honoured schools that won first place and members of the Award Central Committee.
Some 12,000 students from 148 schools took part in this Royal initiative, which seeks to encourage youth to become more physically active and lead healthier lifestyles.
The students, aged between 10-15, participated in several programmes and activities, including curl-ups, shuttle run, push-ups, sit and reach, and endurance run/walks.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/sports/sports1new.htm
Sudan rebuffs US envoy plea for Darfur
KHARTOUM (AFP) — Sudanese President Omar Bashir rebuffed a plea from Washington's top Africa envoy Tuesday to allow a UN peacekeeping force in strife-torn Darfur, after forcing her to extend her visit to secure a meeting at all.
The one concession Bashir did make to Jendayi Frazer, the US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, was an undertaking to consider the case of a Pulitzer-winning US journalist detained in the western region "from a humanitarian point of view”. Frazer had brought with her an invitation from US President George W. Bush to meet him on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next month, Bashir's spokesman Majoub Fadl Badri said after the talks. "The president reiterated the Sudanese government's position rejecting the replacement of the African Union force with a UN one," Badri said.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news5.htm
Agreement with Sudan means increased medical cooperation
At least 15 Sudanese patients will receive free care annually
By Mohammad Ghazal
AMMAN — Local hospitals can expect increased cooperation with Sudanese medical personnel following a recent visit by a delegation from the African country.
Under an agreement signed during the visit, Sudanese medical workers will be dispatched to Jordan for training, and delegations will be exchanged between both countries, President of the Private Hospital Society Fawzi Hammouri said on Tuesday.
He added that representatives from private hospitals in the Kingdom discussed with the Sudanese health authorities the prospect of establishing Jordanian hospitals in Sudan.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese health ministry stressed its keenness to increase the number of patients treated in Jordanian hospitals, Hammouri told The Jordan Times.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/homenews/homenews3.htm
The basics of citizen diplomacy
By Tamar Miller
CAMBRIDGE — At the beginning of the 2nd Intifada in 2000, there were simultaneous protests in Harvard Yard. On the steps of the library stood 50 MIT and Harvard members of the Arab Students Associations. Each wore black, silently holding signs with the names of the first 50 casualties in Palestine. On the opposite side of the yard, a rally was under way supporting Israel for suffering yet another round of violence.
I grew up an Orthodox Jew, spend a good deal of time in Jerusalem and identify deeply with my people. But with whom would I stand? Why were there separate rallies? In the end, I stood awkwardly in the middle holding a small sign that read: “I support life for Israelis and Palestinians.”
Six years later, as people are wounded beyond recognition and dying beyond hope in Lebanon and Israel, I would rather not argue historical grievances, compare traumas, nor let my imagination run riot with messianic yearning. My temporarily defeated spirit wants to do away with public conversations that define Israel’s war with Hizbollah as one between us vs. them.
At the core, most of us want to live in dignity and security. For the few pathologically evil people, there is little hope of repair. There are, however, many more of us than them and I cannot believe that war is inevitable. My aching heart knows that citizen diplomacy, among Christians, Jews and Muslims anywhere, would have helped limit the consequences of hate and fear by drying up the sea of sympathy around those who believe in violence. Framing the conflict in terms of us vs. them frustrates, if not completely kills, imaginative solutions.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/opinion/opinion3.htm
The New York Times
First Source of C.I.A. Leak Admits Role, Lawyer Says
By NEIL A. LEWISPublished: August 30, 2006
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 — Richard L. Armitage, a former deputy secretary of state, has acknowledged that he was the person whose conversation with a columnist in 2003 prompted a long, politically laden criminal investigation in what became known as the C.I.A. leak case, a lawyer involved in the case said on Tuesday.
Mr. Armitage did not return calls for comment. But the lawyer and other associates of Mr. Armitage have said he has confirmed that he was the initial and primary source for the columnist, Robert D. Novak, whose column of July 14, 2003, identified Valerie Wilson as a Central Intelligence Agency officer.
The identification of Mr. Armitage as the original leaker to Mr. Novak ends what has been a tantalizing mystery. In recent months, however, Mr. Armitage’s role had become clear to many, and it was recently reported by Newsweek magazine and The Washington Post.
In the accounts by the lawyer and associates, Mr. Armitage disclosed casually to Mr. Novak that Ms. Wilson worked for the C.I.A. at the end of an interview in his State Department office. Mr. Armitage knew that, the accounts continue, because he had seen a written memorandum by Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/washington/30armitage.html?hp&ex=1156996800&en=a6e9275f2042ee8c&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Israeli Leader Rebuffs Annan on Blockade
By WARREN HOGE and JOHN O’NEIL
Published: August 30, 2006
JERUSALEM, Aug. 30 — Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, today rebuffed a request from United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan for even a partial lifting of the seven-week old blockade of Lebanon.
Hostilities in the Mideast
Go to Complete Coverage »Mr. Annan told reporters in an interview Tuesday night that while he would prefer that Israel completely lift its blockade of air, sea and land traffic into Lebanon, imposed to prevent the smuggling of arms to Hezbollah, he would ask Mr. Olmert to at least allow Beirut’s airport to resume normal operations.
But Mr. Olmert rejected that idea today. In doing so, he made reference to Mr. Annan’s previous insistence that all parties to the United Nations-brokered cease-fire abide by all of its provisions.
The resolution, Mr. Olmert said, “is not a smorgasbord. It’s not a buffet. It’s a one-time meal.’’
Therefore, he said, Israel cannot lift the blockade on one part of Lebanon but not others.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/world/middleeast/31diplocnd.html?hp&ex=1156996800&en=953d2d08481bad7a&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Naguib Mahfouz, First Writer in Arabic to Win Nobel Prize, Dies at 94
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
Published: August 30, 2006
Naguib Mahfouz, the Egyptian playwright and screenwriter who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature and was widely regarded as the Arab world’s foremost novelist, died today, Reuters and The Associated Press reported. He was 94.
Mr. Mahfouz had been hospitalized and in declining health since suffering a head injury in a fall at his home in July, the agencies reported, citing Dr. Hossam Mowafi, who supervised Mr. Mahfouz’s treatment and who announced his death.
Mr. Mahfouz’s city was teeming Cairo, and his characters were its most ordinary people: civil servants and bureaucrats, grocers, shopkeepers, poor retirees, petty thieves and prostitutes, peasants and women brutalized by tradition, a people caught in the upheavals of a nation struggling through the 20th century.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/books/31mahfouzcnd.html?hp&ex=1156996800&en=1cdcb8bf489280a6&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Census Reports Slight Increase in ’05 Incomes
By RICK LYMANPublished: August 30, 2006
The nation’s median household income rose slightly faster than inflation last year for the first time in six years, the Census Bureau reported yesterday.
The rise, however, had little to do with bigger paychecks — in fact, both men and women earned less in 2005 than 2004. Rather, census officials said, more family members were taking jobs to make ends meet, and some people made more money from investments and other sources beyond wages.
The glimmer of improvement came after years in which the economy slogged through the bursting of the 1990’s stock market boom, a brief economic downturn, the aftershocks from the 2001 terrorist attacks, a series of corporate scandals and growing evidence of a deepening divide between rich and poor.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/us/30census.html?hp&ex=1156996800&en=de6cc2b1c1d89d60&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Women Suddenly Scarce Among Justices’ Clerks
By LINDA GREENHOUSEPublished: August 30, 2006
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 — Everyone knows that with the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the number of female Supreme Court justices fell by half. The talk of the court this summer, with the arrival of the new crop of law clerks, is that the number of female clerks has fallen even more sharply.
With the 2006 Election Guide, you can analyze over 500 races for the Senate, House and governor seats and paint the political map yourself.
Just under 50 percent of new law school graduates in 2005 were women. Yet women account for only 7 of the 37 law clerkships for the new term, the first time the number has been in the single digits since 1994, when there were 4,000 fewer women among the country’s new law school graduates than there are today.
Last year at this time, there were 14 female clerks, including one, Ann E. O’Connell, who was hired by William H. Rehnquist, the chief justice who died before the term began. His successor, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., then hired Ms. O’Connell.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who joined the court in January, hired Hannah Smith, who had clerked for him on the appeals court where he had previously served. So by the end of the term, and counting Ms. O’Connell twice, there were 16 women among the 43 law clerks hired by last term’s justices.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/washington/30scotus.html?hp&ex=1156996800&en=f7897a410e22d170&ei=5094&partner=homepage
U.S. Seeks Bigger China Role in I.M.F.
By STEVEN R. WEISMANPublished: August 30, 2006
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 — In an effort to gain Chinese cooperation on international economic issues, the Bush administration is pushing for China and other developing nations to get more power in the global institution that has played a central role in easing myriad financial crises since the end of World War II.
But the American-led effort to increase influence at the International Monetary Fund for China — and for South Korea, Turkey and Mexico, as well — is being resisted by several countries in Europe, which would lose power to those who would be gaining it.
Administration officials argue that the I.M.F. has to be restructured to reflect the strength of fast-growing countries in Asia, Latin America and parts of Europe so these countries have more of a stake in a 60-year-old international system that oversees potential problems from the huge global flows of currency and capital.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/washington/30trade.html
GDP Increased Slightly in Spring
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 30, 2006
Filed at 10:21 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economy grew at a 2.9 percent annual rate in the spring -- better than first estimated but nowhere near the brisk pace logged in the winter, another sign of slowing business growth. Inflation marched higher.
The latest snapshot of economic activity, released by the Commerce Department Wednesday, showed that gross domestic product in the April-to-June quarter increased slightly more than the 2.5 percent pace first reported a month ago. That upgrade mostly reflected an improvement in the country's trade picture and stronger inventory building by businesses.
The upward revision, though, didn't change the big picture of the economy: In the spring, it slowed sharply from the first quarter's 5.6 percent pace, the strongest growth spurt in 2 1/2 years, as consumers and businesses tightened the belt.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Economy.html
Google Chief Joins the Board of Apple
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
Published: August 30, 2006
By Bloomberg News
Apple Computer said yesterday that the chief executive of Google, Eric Schmidt, was joining its board.
Mr. Schmidt was elected to the board at a meeting yesterday, Apple said. Mr. Schmidt, 51, came to Google from Novell in 2001.
The announcement signals closer professional ties between Apple’s chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, and Mr. Schmidt, who oversaw Google’s rise to become the most-used Internet search engine. Before Novell, Mr. Schmidt was chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems.
Other Apple directors include Mr. Jobs; former Vice President Al Gore; Arthur Levinson, chief executive of Genentech; and Mickey Drexler, chief executive of the J. Crew Group.
While Apple started as a computer company and Google as a search engine, the companies are beginning to compete in markets like online video. Google also has a feature that lets users search for songs and links them to online music stores, including the Apple iTunes site.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/technology/30apple.html
Storm Fears Touch Off a Scramble for Insurance
THE BUCK STOPS HERE In Suffolk County, owners of houses near the water, like these on the Atlantic in West Hampton Dunes and Hampton Bays, are finding that insurance rates are rising and policies are not being renewed.
By JEFF VANDAMPublished: August 27, 2006
WHEN Dr. Terry Karnovsky, a dentist who practices in Queens, and his wife, Lois, moved to East Hampton, N.Y., three years ago from Tenafly, N.J., they insured their new house with the Chubb Group, the same company they had been using for years. When Chubb wrote up their new policy, the Karnovskys saw that their premiums had doubled. But the price appeared standard for the area, and everything seemed fine — until this year.
COULD IT HAPPEN AGAIN? The devastating 1938 hurricane left this house in Long Beach, on the south shore of Long Island, in ruins.
Suddenly, as has happened in many coastal areas around the region, the Karnovskys found that Chubb was unwilling to renew their coverage. Though they did not live right on the water — they are at least a half mile from it, actually — the Karnovskys got a letter about three months ago from Chubb citing storm predictions for the Northeast as reason.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/27/realestate/27cov.html
For an Iraq Cut in 3, Cast a Wary Glance at Kurdistan
ELEGY Kurds gathered to honor their dead under Saddam Hussein as his trial began. More Photos »
THE Kurdish policeman’s mother died in 1988 when a boulder crushed her as she fled to Iran after the aerial bombardment of their village. His older brother had been killed earlier, in combat with Saddam Hussein’s troops.
“But I don’t just hate Saddam,” the policeman, Lt. Ismail Ibrahim Said, 29, said in this mountain town’s station house before the start last week of Mr. Hussein’s trial on the charge of genocide against the Kurdish minority. “I see it in the new government of Iraq. When they have power, they’ll oppress us like Saddam did.”
The policeman’s sentiments, widely shared across the autonomous Kurdish homeland, reflect a lack of will among many Iraqis to forge a unified nation, and could herald the breakup of the country into three self-governing regions. As Iraq writhes in the grip of Sunni-versus-Shiite violence, a de facto partitioning is taking place. Parts of the country are coming to look more and more like Iraqi Kurdistan, with homogenous armed regions becoming the norm.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/27/weekinreview/27wong.html
The New Zealand Herald
The 'mild' winter that wasn't
11.00am Wednesday August 30, 2006
Niwa said it would probably be a mild winter, but with the chilly season officially on its way out next week experience suggests it wasn't.
The country has shivered through record snows in Canterbury, waded through floods in Coromandel, Otago and Wairarapa, been battered by gale force winds in Auckland, Taranaki and Waikato and dodged land slips in Wellington, Hawke's Bay and nearly everywhere else.
The wild weather kicked off early with heavy rain drenching parts of Otago in late April. Rivers broke their banks, roads and bridges were washed out, and motorists were stranded in their cars overnight.
In early May, more rain caused land slips which closed the Napier-Gisborne and Napier-Taupo roads.
The outlook seemed to be clearing on June 6, when the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) said it was likely to be a mild winter.
Instead, it would be the coldest June since 1972, with an average temperature of 7.3C. In Canterbury and North Otago the mercury dropped to -10C on nine days.
On June 12, Cantabrians woke up to the deepest snowfall they'd had since 1945, cutting power to more than 10,000 homes -- some of them for up to 18 days. And on June 22, another heavy dumping of snow across the central North Island closed all but one significant route between Auckland and Wellington.
July provided some respite from the plummeting temperatures -- it was 0.8C warmer than June -- but freezing cold snows were replaced with torrential downpours in many areas.
Rainfall was twice normal levels in Wairarapa, and 1-1/2 times normal in Wellington, Wanganui and King Country, causing widespread disruptions.
Slips blocked a crucial route between Hutt Valley and Wellington on July 5, and four houses were evacuated when the Ruamahanga River in South Wairarapa threatened to burst its banks.
On July 9 Mangamahu, a small town north of Wanganui, was cut off completely when a bridge over the Mangawhero River collapsed after heavy rains.
Not everybody bore the full force of the weather. Auckland, Hamilton and Dunedin all basked in the sunniest June on record. Auckland also had half its normal levels of rainfall in July, as did Coromandel and Central Otago. Northland and North Otago had a mere quarter of their normal levels.
Niwa scientists are quick to point out that they never said it was certain to be a mild winter.
"It may sound a bit like playing with words but what we said was it was likely to be mild," says Dr David Wratt of Niwa's National Climate Centre in Wellington.
Global weather
The Climate Centre uses computer models to simulate the global weather system. They run a number of different models several times, making small changes to each run, and average out the results to come up with the weather odds.
This winter they ran about nine models, says Dr Wratt, between 10 and 15 times each. Based on the results from these, they found there was a 50 per cent chance of a mild winter.
"But we also saw ... there was a 30 per cent chance of it getting very wet. So what actually happened was we got hit by the 30 per cent rather than the 50," he says.
"It makes our lives a bit miserable to tell you the truth, because we know the simple summaries we have to put out as press releases, some of the time will be wrong. And people will come back and criticise us. I won't say it's like being a politician, but there are certain jobs where it goes with the territory."
Dr Wratt says in fact it wasn't an exceptionally bad winter overall -- no matter how atrocious the weather might have seemed.
"There were certainly some places where the weather was very unusual, but not necessarily for the country as a whole."
But Insurance Council chief executive Chris Ryan says it was one of the most financially damaging winters New Zealand has seen in decades.
"The insurance payouts would conservatively be in the hundreds of millions of dollars ... It's been very long, very wet and very destructive."
He says one of the biggest concerns for the Insurance Council is the number of people who don't have insurance -- up to a third of some small communities.
According to Dr Jim Renwick, Dr Wratt's colleague at the National Climate Centre, people may have been caught off guard by this winter's severity because it bucked a warming trend.
"Over the last ten years or so we've had a predominance of warm winters. Maybe this winter has seemed that much colder because we've got un-used to having cold winters," he said.
In early August Niwa issued their forecast for a mild spring, saying it's likely to be warmer than average, and less windy. New Zealanders will have to wait and see.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10398812
Teenage prisoner separation part of 2004 deal
Wednesday August 30, 2006
By Mike Houlahan
All teenage inmates were meant to be kept separate from adults under the terms of a 2004 government contract revealed yesterday as fallout from the prison van murder of Liam Ashley intensified.
The contract between security firm Chubb and the Department of Corrections said those under 20 were to be divided from adults - a higher safety margin than the law and Corrections regulations, which set the benchmark at 18, where practicable.
Liam, 17, was attacked last Thursday while being driven from the North Shore District Court to the Auckland Central Remand Prison. He died the next day.
A man appeared in court yesterday charged with his murder.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10398771
Chilling evidence over Liam Ashley death
4.30pm Wednesday August 30, 2006
Chilling evidence has been given about the fatal injuries teenager Liam Ashley suffered inside the back of a prison van.
An inmate in the same van has described what is alleged to have happened on the trip to Auckland Central Remand Prison last Thursday.
Harmeet Singh told a court this afternoon that he heard banging coming from the compartment next to him in which Liam, 17, and the accused were sitting.
Upon arrival at the prison, Mr Singh described seeing a guard pulling Liam Ashley out of the van.
He said Ashley was shaking and covered in blood, while the accused allegedly shouted: "I have done enough damage, you cannot save him."
Name suppression of the accused, a 25-year-old North Shore man, will continue indefinitely.
Liam's funeral was due to be held today and his family issued a statement saying he was "Our Gorgeous Boy" and that they were very proud of him.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10398840
Another prison van attack investigated
11.10am Wednesday August 30, 2006
Wellington police are investigating an alleged attack on a prisoner being transported from Rimutaka Prison to a court appearance in Porirua.
The transportation of prisoners is already in the spotlight after Auckland teenager Liam Ashley died from injuries he received when he was set upon by fellow prisoners in the back of a van.
In the Wellington case, police say charges have been laid after a 29-year-old was allegedly assaulted by another prisoner in a police court escort van last Friday.
There were eight adult prisoners in the van and police say others may also be charged in relation to the same incident. They say the victim was treated for cuts and bruising.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10398813
Sudden prison death investigated
11.35am Wednesday August 30, 2006
Police are investigating the sudden death of a man at Auckland Central Remand Prison.
They said the death was not suspicious.
The 37-year-old man's body was found in his cell at 6.30am by prison staff.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10398818
Decision could free hundreds of inmates
10.00am Wednesday August 30, 2006
A Court of Appeal ruling that the Parole Board has been making decisions on the wrong legal basis could open the floodgates to other prisoners seeking parole, rehearings, or compensation, says Christchurch lawyer Michael Starling.
Yesterday's court decision centred on whether the board could refuse parole or home detention for reasons of general deterrence to send a message to the community about the likely consequences of offending.
In what it said was a "closely balanced" decision, the court said the board's paramount concern with community safety did not allow it to take into account considerations of general deterrence.
Mr Starling, who took the case to the court, told the Dominion Post hundreds of prisoners could be affected.
As well as wanting their freedom, some could also sue for damages for being held in prison too long, he said.
It was likely that quite a few people had spent a year or two longer in prison than they should have.
The board's spokeswoman told the newspaper the decision clarified an uncertain area and would help the board in future.
It would be up to individual offenders to seek an early rehearing if they think they were refused parole or home detention for reasons of general deterrence.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10398799
Coroner rejects Army's view of fatal Unimog crash
Wednesday August 30, 2006
By Jarrod Booker
A coroner has rejected findings by the Army that a Unimog truck crash that killed two soldiers was probably caused by driver inattention.
Christchurch coroner Richard McElrea also found that the Unimog driver, Private Sean Dougherty, could have survived the August 2004 crash had rescuers got to him sooner.
Private Dougherty, 29, and Private Daniel Kairua, 22, died after the Unimog they were travelling in left a narrow snow-covered shingle road on Banks Peninsula, near Christchurch, and rolled 120m down a hillside.
Another passenger, Private Martyn Berry, survived but was badly hurt.
It is one of five Unimog accidents in seven years in which soldiers have been killed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10398744
Kurdish rebels warn of 'hell' in Turkey
12.00pm Wednesday August 30, 2006
ANTALYA, Turkey - A Kurdish rebel group has threatened to turn Turkey into "hell" after a two-day bombing spree which killed three people and wounded dozens of others at popular tourist resorts.
The Kurdish Liberation Hawks (TAK) said it bombed a busy shopping area in the coastal resort Antalya yesterday, killing three people and wounding dozens, including European tourists.
The blast followed four bombs in the Mediterranean resort of Marmaris and in Istanbul that wounded 27 people.
"We vow to turn the monstrous TC (Turkish Republic) into hell ... with our warriors who have pledged revenge," TAK said in a statement on its website. It was not immediately possible to verify its authenticity.
TAK and the larger outlawed hardline separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) oppose Ankara's policies on the Kurdish region. The PKK, which TAK says it broke with 18 months ago, took up arms in 1984 with the aim of creating a homeland in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.
Pasted from <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10398821
Bomb blasts rock Turkish resorts
Wednesday August 30, 2006
ISTANBUL - Security has been tightened on Turkey's Mediterranean and Aegean coasts as police hunt those responsible for a series of bombings in popular tourist spots.
Police are seeking two suspects over an explosion in the resort town of Antalya that left three dead and wounded at least 20 yesterday. The blast came hours after at least 27 people were wounded when bombs exploded in Istanbul and the resort of Marmaris.
A Kurdish militant group linked to the banned PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) claimed it carried out the blasts.
"We had warned before, Turkey is not a safe country. Tourists should not come to Turkey," said the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (Tak) website.
Police said they had arrested a man in Izmir accused of being involved in a failed plot to bomb the western coastal town. The Turkish state news agency said the man was from the (PKK) separatist group.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10398742
Ambush and bombs kill 20 in rising Afghan violence
1.00pm Wednesday August 30, 2006
KABUL - US-led forces in Afghanistan killed 18 suspected Taleban, the military said today, while two Afghans died in a suicide bombing of a NATO convoy - part of the worst violence since the fall of the Taleban 5 years ago.
Police said a car bomber attacked the NATO convoy on Tuesday in the country's volatile south between Kandahar airport, a major foreign military base, and the city.
NATO said in a later statement two civilians were killed and a third injured, but none of its soldiers was hurt,
In Kabul, a roadside bomb exploded on Tuesday as a French military patrol passed, but police said there were no casualties.
In the clash with Taleban fighters, the US-led coalition said its troops killed at least 18 suspected Taleban after an ambush in Uruzgan province on Monday involving machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10398831
Explosion kills 29 petrol scavengers in Iraq
7.20am Wednesday August 30, 2006
DIWANIYA, Iraq - At least 29 people were killed when a blast ripped through scavengers siphoning petrol from pools around a breach in a disused pipeline in central Iraq late on Monday, health officials said.
Dozens more were missing and may have been killed.
A reporter at the rural site near Diwaniya, 180km south of Baghdad, saw 15 charred and mutilated bodies, including that of a boy. The explosion wounded 26 people, who were taken to area hospitals with severe burns.
"Some of the wounded have burns in 75 per cent of their bodies," Hamid Jaafi, a health official in Diwaniya told Reuters, adding the death toll is expected to climb.
He said relatives had reported between 30 and 40 people missing after the explosion, pushing the possible death toll to about 70, although that could not be confirmed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10398774
Government takes Iraqi town
Wednesday August 30, 2006
BAGHDAD - Government forces regained control of a southern city yesterday as Shiite militiamen loyal to a powerful cleric withdrew from the streets after hours of intense fighting that killed at least 40 people.
But the cleric's office in a Sunni town was attacked by mortars, grenades and a bomb, leaving two people dead, officials said.
In the southern city of Diwaniyah, which had witnessed hours of fighting, leaders of the tribes to which the dead combatants belonged held reconciliation talks to prevent retaliatory attacks, police said.
At least 25 Iraqi soldiers, 10 civilians and five militiamen were killed, and 75 people were wounded in one of the worst fighting seen in recent months between Shiite militiamen and Government forces.
In a separate incident near Diwaniyah, an explosion killed at least 15 people who were siphoning petrol from pools formed around a breach in a disused fuel pipeline.
A Reuters reporter at the rural site counted 15 charred bodies, including that of a boy.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10398736
Venezuela's Chavez to visit Syria
11.20pm Tuesday August 29, 2006
KUALA LUMPUR - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday he would leave for Syria later in the day in a trip likely to rankle Washington, which charges the Arab nation with sponsoring terrorism.
"Now I can say we are taking off in a few hours for the Arab Republic of Syria," Chavez, speaking through an interpreter, told a group of businessmen in Kuala Lumpur.
He arrived in Malaysia on Sunday for a three-day visit to cement bilateral business ties. Chavez is a harsh critic of US foreign and trade policies.
The Bush administration and British Prime Minister Tony Blair accuse Syria of backing militant groups in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon and of stoking recent violence in the Middle East.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10398706
Field: I've done nothing wrong
UPDATED 1.45pm Wednesday August 30, 2006
Embattled Labour MP Taito Phillip Field says he has done nothing illegal and intends to remain as Labour MP for Mangere.
Mr Field said he had never taken bribes, had official documents altered, or asked for cheap labour in return for services.
Many of the recent allegations had already been investigated and he had nothing to conceal, Mr Field said.
"I have nothing to hide and would again co-operate fully with any appropriate investigation. I should not, however, be expected to keep responding to unsubstantiated accusations through the media," Mr Field said in a statement.
The MP said he had made "mistakes" but was innocent of any criminal or fraudulent wrongdoing.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10398828
Paralympic runner reunited with missing leg
1.00pm Wednesday August 30, 2006
New Zealand Paralympic athlete Kate Horan and her missing leg have been reunited.
The 100m runner was not allowed to take the $10,000 leg on the plane between London and Amsterdam, where she is competing in the world Paralympic championships, because of restrictions stemming from recent terrorist threats.
Horan said the leg was put in temporary storage with a huge backlog of other luggage and at one stage it appeared she wouldn't get it back in time for the competition, which starts on Monday.
"It was eight days that I hadn't been able to train, so I was getting more and more annoyed," Horan told Radio Live today.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10398806
Taupo landscape could hold key to life on Mars
1.00pm Wednesday August 30, 2006
Geothermal environments near Taupo could help scientists discover if there was ever life on Mars.
Ancient hot springs are believed to have occurred on Mars, and these extreme environments are thought to be a likely place to have hosted microbial life.
This means the studies of University of Auckland PhD Geology student Bridget Lynne into silica rock transformation at the geothermal site Orakei Korako, north of Taupo, have extraterrestrial significance.
Ms Lynne spent two years at Orakei Korako studying the formation and transformation of silica rocks placed inside a fumarole, an acidic steam vent of approximately 95C.
The silica deposited in sites such as these coats, entombs and fossilises the microbes living in the area. The silica transforms over time, eventually becoming quartz.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10398815
US air marshals sentenced in cocaine plot
11.40am Wednesday August 30, 2006
HOUSTON - A US air marshal was sentenced to more than seven years in prison, and another to nine years for a plot to smuggle cocaine by using their positions to clear airport security, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Shawn Ray Nguyen, 38, and Burlie Sholar, 33, got 87 months and 108 months, respectively, from US District Judge Kenneth Hoyt after they earlier pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess and distribute cocaine and to bribery.
They were arrested in a February sting operation in which they agreed to carry 15kg of cocaine on a flight from Houston to Las Vegas, Nevada for US$75,000 ($118,000).
Officials said they set up the sting after an informant told them Nguyen, a former US drug agent who lives in Houston, had been involved in drug trafficking.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10398819
UK charges three more suspects in airline bomb probe
10.20am Wednesday August 30, 2006
LONDON - Three British Muslims arrested during an investigation into an alleged plot to blow up US-bound airliners have been charged with conspiracy to murder and commit acts of terrorism, police said today.
Mohammed Yasar Gulzar, Mohammed Shamin Udin, 35, and Nabeel Hussain, 22, brought to 15 the number of people charged in connection with the plot and to 11 those facing the most serious charges of conspiracy to murder and planning acts of terrorism.
The 11 are all accused of plotting to smuggle parts of home-made bombs onto planes, then build the bombs and detonate them.
British police announced on August 10 they had thwarted a plot to blow up several US-bound airliners over the Atlantic by smuggling liquid explosives on to flights.
All three men charged are due to appear at a magistrates' court in central London on Wednesday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10398805
London voted world's best city for public transport
8.00am Wednesday August 30, 2006
LONDON - It will be news for most Londoners accustomed to being packed on underground trains or facing long waits for buses, but the capital has been voted the best city in the world for public transport.
One-quarter of international travellers picked London as the easiest city to get around, ahead of New York (16 per cent) and Paris (12 per cent). Los Angeles came bottom in the survey by TripAdvisor.
But London's public transport is also considered to be the most expensive, according to the survey.
Nearly a quarter of the 2,000 respondents, and 62 per cent of Britons polled, voted London transport the most expensive.
London cabbies topped the poll as being the best, while New York, Mexico City and Paris were considered to have the world's worst taxis.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10398780
One in eight Americans in poverty
8.00am Wednesday August 30, 2006
WASHINGTON - In the world's biggest economy one in eight Americans and almost one in four blacks lived in poverty last year, the United States Census Bureau said today, releasing a figure virtually unchanged from 2004.
The survey also showed 15.9 per cent of the population, or 46.6 million, had no health insurance, up from 15.6 per cent in 2004 and the fifth increase in a row.
It was the first year since President George W Bush took office in 2001 that the poverty rate did not increase. As in past years, the figures showed poverty especially concentrated among blacks and Hispanics.
In all, some 37 million Americans lived below the poverty line, defined as having an annual income below around US$10,000 ($15,876) for an individual or US$20,000 for a family of four.
The last decline in poverty was in 2000, the final year of Bill Clinton's presidency, when it fell to 11.3 per cent.
"It shows that we are spending more money than ever on anti-poverty programmes and we haven't done anything to reduce poverty," said Michael Tanner of CATO Institute, a free market think tank in Washington.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10398779
Investigation into marketing of 'light' and 'mild' cigarettes
Wednesday August 30, 2006
By Anne Beston and NZPA
The anti-smoking lobby is elated the Commerce Commission has launched an investigation into whether use of the terms "light" and "mild" on cigarettes breaches the Fair Trading Act.
Commission spokeswoman Jacqui Martin said the probe would assess complaints received from anti-smoking groups and the public.
Once the information was analysed, guidelines for the inquiry would be set down.
Anti-smoking groups welcomed the decision. ASH spokeswoman Becky Freeman said she was hopeful New Zealand would follow Australia in banning the terms.
"There is no such thing as cancer-lite," she said. "The commission has a duty to ensure businesses are truthful with their customers and that simply isn't happening."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10398759
Auckland Airport rolls back the Bluecoats
Wednesday August 30, 2006
By Maggie McNaughton
Dozens of Auckland Airport's elderly volunteer helpers, known as Bluecoats, have been given their marching orders because of an over-supply of willing workers.
The Bluecoats, who are also known as hospitality ambassadors, have assisted travellers and answered queries at the airport for more than 11 years.
One elderly Bluecoat, who didn't want to be named, said yesterday that she felt "devastated" she had been relieved of her duties.
"Some of the men, in particular, were very upset when they were told."
She said it was a privilege to be able to greet and help people who arrived at the airport.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10398749
Catching the fish is the easy part in Pacific
Wednesday August 30, 2006
By Angela Gregory
In a recent speech, Foreign Minister Winston Peters referred to the saying that if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, but if you give him the means to fish he can feed himself forever. "One might argue that the Pacific has been given too many fish and not enough effort has gone into providing the means to fish."
Peters was using this as an analogy, to outline challenges facing the region if it wishes to improve its lot and increase trade opportunities - to fish both literally and figuratively.
Despite some successes, the region is known for being littered with the "bones of failed projects" - home-grown schemes aiming to capitalise on the rich marine resources.
Tuna is the Pacific's major common resource - an estimated US$2 billion ($3.12 billion) is harvested annually in the region….
… "Last year they were complaining there was no tuna."
Some tuna catches may have already peaked in the region.
Matthew Hooper, senior international adviser for New Zealand's Ministry of Fisheries, says Pacific fisheries are at a critical stage.
In other parts of the globe tuna is already overfished. In the Pacific, skipjack and albacore stocks are healthy, but big eye and yellow fin tuna are possibly being fished to their limits.
"There is a risk of fishing them to the point where it is very hard to bring the levels up again."
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, established in 2004, will seek deals between its Pacific and distant-water fishing members to start a long-term process to control the catch.
Tuna migrate through the economic zones of 22 states and territories, which requires regional management, but there is tension with sovereign rights.
While the commission sets overall catch and effort limits, it can't dictate how coastal states go about managing fisheries in their zones.
In December, the commission resolved that all states limit purse seine fishing effort to 2004 levels and capped longline catches of big eye tuna for some members. But some countries try to get round such measures and illegal fishing is a problem.
Thinking small may prove a simpler option.
Dr Timothy Pickering, who teaches in the School of Marine Studies at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, says farming freshwater prawns and marine shrimps has great potential in the Pacific.
"They don't have to make huge profits to have a big impact on empty pockets."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10398677
Annan hopes to double UN troops in Lebanon
Wednesday August 30, 2006
JERUSALEM - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today said he hoped to soon double to 5,000 the number of UN troops in southern Lebanon and urged Israel and Hizbollah to swiftly end rows blocking a permanent ceasefire.
Annan said he would ask Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in talks on Wednesday to lift Israel's air and sea blockade of Lebanon, imposed at the start of the war nearly seven weeks ago.
Speaking after meeting Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz following a visit to Lebanon, Annan said Israel had committed most violations of a two-week-old truce that ended the war.
Annan is in the region to secure full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brought about the truce and calls for deployment of 15,000 UN peacekeepers by November 4.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10398785continued …
