Morning Papers

Michael Moore Today
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Michael Moore wins another round in libel case

By John Flesher / Associated Press
TRAVERSE CITY -- Filmmaker Michael Moore won another round Tuesday in a court battle with the brother of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio sided with a Michigan-based federal judge who in 2005 threw out James Nichols’ suit accusing Moore of libeling and defaming him in the Oscar-winning movie, “Bowling for Columbine.”
Nichols, a Sanilac County soybean farmer, contended statements in the 2002 film could lead viewers to believe he was involved in the bombing. He also claimed the film invaded his privacy and inflicted emotional distress.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9239


AWOL soldier faces less than a year in military prison
KRIS-TV
FORT HOOD, Texas -- An Army soldier faces less than a year in a military prison for fleeing before his second deployment to Iraq.
In a plea deal that caps his punishment at 10 months, Spc. Mark Wilkerson pleaded guilty to desertion and missing troop movement after the military decided last month that he would be court-martialed. He is to be sentenced by a judge Thursday.
Wilkerson, 23, surrendered at Fort Hood in August, about a year and a half after failing to return from an approved two-week leave. Since then he has worked in an office at the Central Texas Army post and has been allowed to leave after initially being confined to the post, although he was never in a cell, he said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9253


U.S. helicopter shot down near Baghdad
By Sinan Salaheddin / Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. helicopter was shot down and crashed north of Baghdad on Wednesday, the military said after initially stating that the chopper made a "hard landing." All aboard were safely evacuated by a second helicopter.
At least seven U.S. helicopters have crashed or been forced down under hostile fire since Jan. 20. Military officials have said that militants are increasingly targeting helicopters amid the buildup of U.S. troops in Baghdad, firing simultaneously with an assortment of weapons from different directions.
The military has also detected another deadly insurgent tactic in recent weeks — the spreading of toxic chlorine gas by combining it with explosives.
In Washington, two Pentagon officials said the tactic has been used at least three times since Jan. 28, when a truck carrying explosives and a chlorine tank blew up in Anbar province west of Baghdad. More than a dozen people were reported killed.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9247


Cheney slams Iraq plan advocated by Dems
By Terence Hunt / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday harshly criticized the Iraq strategy advocated by Democratic leaders in Congress, saying their approach would "validate the al-Qaida strategy." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fired back that Cheney's remarks were out of bounds.
The speaker said she tried to complain about Cheney to President Bush but could not reach him.
"You cannot say as the president of the United States, 'I welcome disagreement in a time of war,' and then have the vice president of the United States go out of the country and mischaracterize a position of the speaker of the House and in a manner that says that person in that position of authority is acting against the national security of our country," the speaker said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9247


Denmark to Withdraw From Iraq
Associated Press
COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Denmark is considering boosting its contingent in Afghanistan by 200 troops to 600, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday.
Earlier, the government presented plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. Fogh Rasmussen said no firm decision had been taken on the Danish troops serving under NATO command in Afghanistan, "but we cannot exclude that we will go from the present 400 to 600."
The prime minister said Wednesday that his country will withdraw its 460-member contingent from southern Iraq by August and transfer security responsibilities to Iraqi forces, and that the decision had been made in conjunction with the Iraqi government and Britain, under whose command the Danish forces are serving near Basra.
Fogh Rasmussen said Denmark would replace the troops with surveillance helicopters and civilian advisers to help the Iraqi government's reconstruction efforts.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9248


Blair to announce Iraq withdrawal plan
By Thomas Wagner / Associated Press
LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce on Wednesday a new timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, with 1,500 to return home in several weeks, the BBC reported.
Blair will also tell the House of Commons during his regular weekly appearance that a total of about 3,000 British soldiers will have left southern Iraq by the end of 2007, if the security there is sufficient, the British Broadcasting Corp. said, quoting government officials who weren't further identified.
The announcement comes even as President Bush implements an increase of 21,000 more troops for Iraq.
But Blair said Sunday that Washington had not put pressure on London to maintain its troop numbers. The BBC said Blair was not expected to say when the rest of Britain's forces would leave Iraq. Britain currently has about 7,100 soldiers there.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9238


Veteran's anti-war broadside posted on his barn
By Eric Parry / Eagle-Tribune
CHESTER, MA - Bruce Juchniewicz doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve, he wears it on a barn written in white letters.
It's because he knows what war can do to a person that he decided to post the message "Stop The War" in bold letters with an American flag on the side of his red barn, a statement visible to anyone traveling through Chester on Route 102.
"It's just the way I feel," the Vietnam veteran said, sitting in his Colonial home, built in 1812. "With every war there's more veterans."
As a veteran himself, Juchniewicz is worried about the next generation of soldiers returning from war.
Since returning from Vietnam in 1972 after serving as a rescue swimmer and helicopter crew chief with the Navy, Juchniewicz's life has been plagued with insomnia and post traumatic stress disorder, he said. He's worried that the president and U.S. military leaders don't consider how much war can affect the lives of returning troops.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9246


Antiwar protesters bring message to Kennedy's Pawtucket office
By Tom Mooney / Providence Journal
PAWTUCKET — Jacque Amoureux, whose brother served with the Marines in Iraq, and Stephany Kern of Westerly, whose son died there, were among 20 war protesters who converged on the Pawtucket office of U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy yesterday demanding that he publicly support withholding money for the war effort.
While Kennedy’s opposition to escalating the war has been appreciated, said Amoureux, a 30-year-old graduate student at Brown University, “we’re particularly perplexed why Kennedy isn’t more strongly supporting defunding the war.
“We have to apply some pressure on him to be straighter with us about what he thinks.”
Amoureux and Kern are members of the Rhode Island chapter of Military Families Speak Out, who say they will be making the same demand on U.S. Rep. James Langevin this week.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9245


Iraq war protesters target Democrats
By Jo Mannies / St. Louis Post-Dispatch
For the past three weeks, waves of anti-war protests, sit-ins and arrests have become almost routine for Rep. Russ Carnahan's district office in Brentwood.
And the local band of activists behind the disturbances is just getting warmed up. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., appears to be their next target — on Tuesday, the group launched a sit-in at her downtown office. Four were arrested, released and fined $75 apiece.
The demonstrations are part of a national eight-week campaign, called The Occupation Project-, that has been organized by a coalition of anti-war groups out to cut off funding for the Iraq war.
But instead of picketing officials who support the war, the protesters primarily are targeting Democratic members of Congress seen as most sympathetic to their cause.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9244


G I Rights Hotline

http://girights.objector.org/


McCain: Roe v. Wade should be overturned
Associated Press
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, looking to improve his standing with the party’s conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.
”I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned,” the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.
McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who ”strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench.”
The landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade gave women the right to choose an abortion to terminate a pregnancy. The Supreme Court has narrowly upheld the decision, with the presence of an increasing number of more conservative justices on the court raising the possibility that abortion rights would be limited.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9235



I-Team: Army Recruiters Follow-UpJim Osman / CBS 3
PHILADELPHIA - While the British are pulling troops out, we are sending thousands of additional men and women to Iraq. Earlier this month, a CBS 3 I-Team investigation first exposed exactly how some local recruiters may be trying to enlist new soldiers.
Because of our initial report, the Army has opened its own investigation into potential recruiting abuses.
In a rare interview, a former recruiter steps forward to tell his story to Investigative Reporter Jim Osman.
As a former Marine, Chris Dugan went to malls and local high schools to recruit new enlistees.
"If I recruited someone - that would count towards points that would help me become a sergeant before I get out of the marine corps. So I'm willing to manipulate the truth for these people," said Dugan.



The Australian

Navy tries to turn back 85 boatpeople
Cath Hart
February 23, 2007
AUSTRALIAN authorities tried to turn 85 Sri Lankan asylum-seekers in an unseaworthy vessel back to sea after intercepting them off the West Australian coast this week.
The asylum-seekers, all men, are now aboard the former Gulf War navy vessel HMAS Success in international waters about 50 nautical miles off Christmas Island.
They remain in limbo while they are in international waters because they must reach Christmas Island if they want to make claims for asylum, which would be dealt with by Australia's offshore processing system.
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship last night confirmed the boat, thought to have been sailed from Indonesia by people-smugglers, was intercepted by Success on Tuesday off Christmas Island.
Labor last night questioned new Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews's handling of the case, in particular the lengthy delay between intercepting the boat and releasing details to the public.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21272550-601,00.html


Mark Steyn: Blair is right on troops
Eighty per cent of the violence in Iraq takes place within 50km of Baghdad

ACCORDING to my dictionary, the word "ally" comes from the Old French. Very Old French, I'd say. For the New French, the word has a largely postmodern definition of "duplicitous charmer who undermines you at every opportunity".
For the less enthusiastically obstructive NATO members, "ally" means "wealthy country with no military capability that requires years of diplomatic wooing and black-tie banquets in order to agree to a token contribution of 23.08 troops." Incidentally, that 23.08 isn't artistic licence on my part. The 2004 NATO summit in Turkey was presented as a triumph of multilateral co-operation because the 26 members agreed to contribute between them an additional 600 troops and three helicopters to the Afghan mission. That's 23.08 troops and a ninth of a helicopter per ally. In fairness, Turkey chipped in the three helicopters single-handed, though the deal required them to return to Ankara after three months.
And these days troops is something of an elastic term, too. In Norwegian, it means "fighting men who are prepared to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Americans, as long as they don't have to do any fighting and there are at least two provinces between their shoulders and the American ones". That's to say, Norway is "participating" in Afghanistan, but, because its troops are "not sufficiently trained to take part in combat", they've been mainly back at the barracks manning the photocopier or staging amateur performances of Peer Gynt for the amusement of US special forces who like nothing better than to unwind with five acts of Ibsen after a hard day hunting the Taliban.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21269819-601,00.html



Cheney brings out the hate in peaceniks
ABOUT 350 anti-Iraq war protesters last night formed a hostile welcome committee for US Vice-President Dick Cheney, clashing with police outside Sydney's Town Hall as they ignored calls for peaceful protests.
Mounted police officers and members of the riot squad scuffled with protesters in scenes reminiscent of violent anti-globalisation protests at the G20 summit in Melbourne last year.
The crowd, led by members of the Stop The War Coalition, marched down George Street - one of Sydney's main streets - without permission from police, who cited traffic concerns for the decision.
The clashes occurred when protesters attempted to break through the wall of police officers. Ten protesters were arrested.
Road closures to ensure Mr Cheney's motorcade received a green-light corridor on one of several secret routes also caused traffic chaos in parts of the city hours before his arrival last night.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21272553-601,00.html


The New Zealand Herald

Cyclone rips down Mozambique prison as 600 inmates escape
11:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
By Steve Bloomfield
Children stand in front of their flooded house in Caia in Sofala province in north-central Mozambique. Photo / Reuters
At least four people and died and scores have been injured after a cyclone ripped through central Mozambique yesterday.
Winds reached 170mph as Cyclone Favio powered its way through homes and hotels in the tourist town of Vilanculos.
Authorities in Zimbabwe were last night warning residents that the cyclone, now downgraded to a tropical storm, would hit low lying areas in the east of the country over the weekend.
The cyclone destroyed thousands of homes in Mozambique, also hitting hospitals and schools.
Electricity pylons were ripped up, trees uprooted and fields full of crops such as cassava and maize were washed away.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10425595



Why everyone loves Bill Clinton
11:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
By Andrew Buncombe
WASHINGTON - When you are there, in person, you get an idea of what all the fuss and bother is about.
When you see how he effortlessly connects with an audience, somehow making it appear he is speaking to each and every one of them individually, you understand why people will pay good money to listen to Bill Clinton.
Take for example the Democratic Party convention in the summer of 2004 in Boston. Knowing that Clinton's oratorical skills would drown those of the presidential candidate John Kerry, officials made sure the two men addressed the party faithful on different days.
It made no difference; despite Senator Kerry's valiant efforts - "I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty" - it was Clinton's speech, and that of the then unknown Barack Obama, that people remembered.
Or how about that October, just two months after he had undergone quadruple heart by-pass surgery, when Clinton stumped for Mr Kerry in Philadelphia in the final days of the election campaign.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10425600


Fire threatens Piha Homes
6:34PM Saturday February 24, 2007
A woman runs for safety as a fire breaks out in the Auckland suburb of Piha. Photo / Dean Purcell
A fire that was heading towards three houses at Piha Beach, west of Auckland, is now under control.
Witnesses say smoke was blanketing the beach as the fire raged through a vacant paddock towards three homes.
Homeowners were forced to evacuate, and scramble to get their belongings out.
The fire is now virtually out, and people are starting to take their things back inside.
It’s believed the fire has started in the paddock, next to a holiday park, and was fuelled by tinder-dry vegetation and fanned by a strong easterly breeze.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10425625



Prison staff criticise managers for relationship
5:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
By Derek Cheng
The manager of Rimutaka Prison is having a relationship with the jail's crime prevention manager which is deterring prison staff from exposing their allegedly corrupt colleagues, prison officers say.
The relationship is between the acting prison manager, Chris Smith, and the prison's crime prevention manager Rachel Sayers. The couple declined to comment.
Four Rimutaka Corrections officers, who between them have worked at the prison for 37 years, told the Herald they feel uncomfortable bringing information to Ms Sayers because of the relationship.
The officers, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals, had little faith in the prison management. "[Ms Sayers] is someone you are supposed to be able to report to in confidence and in secrecy," said one officer.
Current and former staff have criticised the management for failing to adequately act in the face of corruption allegations.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10425579



Girl loses finger to flesh-eating bug
Email this storyPrint this story 5:00PM Saturday February 24, 2007
Flesh-eating disease necrotising fasciitis has claimed the finger of a five-year-old Invercargill girl.
The Southland Times reported today that Leilani Pennicott spent five weeks in an induced coma in Auckland's Starship Hospital last October after a needle became embedded in her hand.
She had an operation to remove the needle but was admitted to Southland Hospital two days after returning home, having contracted necrotising fasciitis. She was convulsing and lapsed into unconsciousness.
Doctors operated but when Leilani did not respond to treatment, she was flown to Auckland's Starship Hospital.
Her mother, Alana Pennicott, told the newspaper she thought her daughter was a "goner".
"I was bawling my eyes out ... knowing two elderly people had died from the disease about the same time she was in hospital was quite scary," Ms Pennicott said.
Her daughter pulled through and was recovering well, although there were fears she may lose more fingers as a result of the disease.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10425615



Fame game takes some getting used to for Lonelygirl
5:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
By Juliet Rowan
Jessica Rose shot to fame as LonelyGirl15 but has now scored a role starring with Lindsay Lohan in I Know Who Killed Me.
Jessica Rose may have been named Forbes magazine's top "Web Celeb", but the New Zealand-raised teenager is just getting to grips with being recognised on the streets of Los Angeles.
"I'm a very private person so I almost feel embarrassed if someone recognises me," the 19-year-old told the Weekend Herald.
"I'm really awkward, I guess. I really don't know what to say. I'm not quite good at that yet."
That could all soon change with Rose cast in a psychological thriller, I Know Who Killed Me, alongside Hollywood starlet Lindsay Lohan. Twenty-year-old Lohan, who appears in Robert Altman's final film, A Prairie Home Companion, now screening in New Zealand, is regular tabloid fodder.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10425576



Britain confirms sending more troops to Afghanistan
Email this storyPrint this story 2:15PM Saturday February 24, 2007
By Sophie Walker and Paul Majendie
UK Defence Secretary Des Browne. Photo / Reuters
LONDON - Britain has decided to send a fresh wave of troops to Afghanistan before an expected spring offensive by the Taleban, which reacted by threatening to step up suicide bomb attacks on Nato forces.
UK Defence Secretary Des Browne said in a statement today that the government took its decision after failing to persuade other Nato members to send reinforcements to Helmand province, the southern region where a Taleban insurgency flared last year.
"We have decided that it is right for the UK to provide some additional forces for the Southern Region," Browne said.
Taleban commander Mullah Dadullah told Britain's Channel 4 News the Taleban would carry out more suicide attacks on Nato forces.
"The suicide bombers are countless," he said in an interview recorded on the Afghan-Pakistan border. "Hundreds of suicide bombers have already registered their names, hundreds more are waiting."
"More troops means more will be killed, and that would make us happy; we're happy for them to come."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10425609



UN watchdog head to visit North Korea
11:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
Mohamed ElBaradei
VIENNA - The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, said today he would visit North Korea after receiving an invitation from the government there to discuss the freeze of North Korean nuclear facilities.
"According to the letter, they would like to improve and normalise the relationship with the agency and hope to go back to being a member of the agency," ElBaradei told reporters in Vienna after meeting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
North Korea agreed on February 13 to take steps towards nuclear disarmament in exchange for US$300 ($430.53) million in aid under a deal US President George W Bush hailed as the best chance to get it to scrap its atomic weapons programme.
The landmark agreement, reached four months after Pyongyang stunned the world with its first nuclear test, requires the secretive communist state to shut down the reactor at the heart of its nuclear ambitions and allow international inspections.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10425599



Nice vs Vice: Ethical investing pays over long term
5:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
By Adam Bennett
When it comes to choosing investments, New Zealanders appear more concerned with returns than righteousness.
For direct investors, as long as there is good information available about companies, investment decisions can be guided directly by their conscience as far as they want them to.
But most New Zealanders' investments - including superannuation savings - are managed on their behalf by fund managers.
Their attempts to set up socially responsible investment (SRI) funds have so far either foundered or are continuing at a crawl.
Among New Zealand's top five fund managers, there's only one retail investment fund, provided by Asteron, which operates under an SRI basis.
Another, operated by Tower, is no longer accepting funds and is in the process of being wound down.
Socially responsible investments among the wholesale managed funds are also limited, comprising mainly particular mandates requested by clients such as churches or charities with sufficient funds to make their tailormade portfolios viable for the manager.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10425558



Nice vs Vice: 'People will continue to drink ... smoke ... gamble'
5:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
By Adam Bennett
Dan Ahrens thinks tobacco is a "horrible product", he hopes his child will never smoke and he thinks firearms should be outlawed.
Yet the Texan has no qualms about encouraging clients to put money into tobacco and arms companies, as well as gambling and alcohol stocks.
As manager of the Vice Fund he oversaw about US$48 million ($68 million) in investments in companies that ran casinos, sold beer and cigarettes, and made weapons.
"An investment is not an endorsement and people who think it is are fooling themselves. Tobacco, for instance, is a horrible product and I hope my child will not smoke some day. But it is legal, and people who want to smoke should be allowed to smoke," he told the Business Herald.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10425560



Hedge funds buy Sainsbury on hopes of Marks & Spencer bid
5:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
LONDON - Hedge funds are buying stakes in J. Sainsbury, Britain's third-largest supermarket owner, on expectations of a bid by Marks & Spencer, sources say.
Activist hedge fund Polygon said in a regulatory filing yesterday it had raised its Sainsbury stake to 1.75 per cent from the 1.5 per cent it declared on Monday.
Polygon was not immediately available to comment, but sources said that fund and others were buying Sainsbury shares because they believed clothes and food retailer M&S could launch a multi-billion-pound offer.
"We are expecting an M&S bid. We're all in here for the same reason," one of the sources said. "People are still buying."
Sainsbury emerged as bid target on February 2 when three private equity firms - CVC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Blackstone Group - also joined the party, sources said this month.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10425464



NZ banks doing better job than those in Australia, say customers
5:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
New Zealand's five major banks are outpacing Australia's top four in customer satisfaction, a regular survey says.
Research organisation Roy Morgan said in the second half of last year, satisfaction with the five major banks was 78.4 per cent.
This compared with the average 69.6 per cent rating achieved by the big four Australian banks - ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), National Australia Bank (NAB) and Westpac.
Roy Morgan said the difference between the two countries was particularly stark when comparing the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (66.5 per cent) and New Zealand's ASB Bank (83.4 per cent).
New Zealand's major banks are all Australian-owned. ANZ and National Bank is owned by ANZ, ASB by CBA, BNZ owned by NAB and Westpac in both countries.
Among the New Zealand banks, ASB was the top-rated, with an 83.4 per cent satisfaction level.
It was followed by the National Bank at 82.6 per cent, the BNZ at 80 per cent, the ANZ at 74.1 per cent, and Westpac at 72.3 per cent.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10425556



Air NZ confirms direct link to Vancouver
Email this storyPrint this story 3:07PM Friday February 23, 2007
Air New Zealand said today it would open a direct link from Auckland to Vancouver in November.
Group general manager international Ed Sims said Canada had always been an extremely popular destination for New Zealanders.
The route would significantly grow tourism numbers between the two countries which already sees 46,000 Canadians visit New Zealand and 16,000 New Zealanders visit Canada annually, he said.
The reinstatement of the Vancouver link restores a route canned in the 90s.
The services will initially operate three times a week between November and March to coincide with the peak travel season between the two destinations, as Canadians escape winter and New Zealand skiers head to the Canadian slopes.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10425385



Microsoft ordered to pay $2b damages
5:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
Microsoft infringed audio patents held by Alcatel-Lucent and should pay US$1.52 billion ($2.15 billion) in damages, a US federal jury has found.
The No 1 software maker said yesterday it planned first to ask the trial judge to knock down the ruling and would appeal if necessary. It said the verdict was unsupported by the law and that it had already licensed the technology in question from Germany's Fraunhofer.
Telecommunications hardware and software firm Alcatel-Lucent had accused Microsoft of infringing patents related to standards used for playing MP3 digital music files.
One analyst said the decision means Alcatel-Lucent might seek payments from providers of software and hardware that support MP3 files, including Apple's iPod and iTunes.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10425544



Apple and Cisco resolve dispute over iPhone
9:00AM Friday February 23, 2007
NEW YORK - Network equipment maker Cisco Systems and computing giant Apple said today they had reached an agreement that allows both to use the "iPhone" name, after Cisco sued the iPod maker for using it for a new multimedia phone.
No further terms of the agreement were disclosed.
In a joint statement, they said both companies are free to use the "iPhone" trademark on their products throughout the world, and each side will dismiss any pending actions regarding the trademark.
In addition, Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities to work together in the areas of security, and consumer and institutional communications.
Cisco sued Apple for trademark infringement in January after Apple unveiled its long-awaited multimedia phone called the iPhone, a name claimed by the network equipment maker.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10425391



Google shuts down Cyfswatch website
12:10PM Thursday February 22, 2007
By Simon Collins
The now pulled Cyfswatch site
Google has shut down the controversial Cyfswatch website because of threats posted on the blog site yesterday against Green MP Sue Bradford.
Google spokeswoman Victoria Grand said the US-based giant had previously censored postings that breached its terms of service but had now closed the site permanently because of "repeat violations".
She said Google investigated the site when the New Zealand Ministry of Social Development first complained about it last month, and again after the ministry lodged a new complaint about the postings threatening Ms Bradford yesterday.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10425243



Everything being done to bring Hicks to trial, says Cheney
2:15PM Saturday February 24, 2007
SYDNEY - US Vice-President Dick Cheney says everything is being done by his government to have Australian terror suspect David Hicks brought to trial as soon as possible.
Mr Cheney was speaking to reporters after holding talks in Sydney with Prime Minister John Howard.
During the one-hour meeting Mr Howard stressed Australia's disappointment at how Hicks had spent five years being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba without having gone to trial.
Mr Cheney said Hicks had now been charged and the US Defence Department was now deciding whether a military commission would be convened to try Hicks.
"Mr Hicks is near the head of the queue," Mr Cheney said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10425608



Cheney praises China but suspects its aims
5:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
By Caren Bohan
Protesters shout their opposition to the Iraq war and their opposition to Australian David Hicks being held at Guantanamo Bay. Photo / Reuters
AUSTRALIA - United States Vice-President Dick Cheney says he is concerned about China's military build-up and also whether North Korea will follow through on its commitments in a nuclear deal.
On a visit to Australia, Cheney - one of Washington's firmest allies over the Iraq war - also emphasised the importance of coalition forces remaining in Iraq until it had stabilised.
"The notion that free countries can turn our backs on what happens in places like Afghanistan or Iraq or any other possible safe haven for terrorists is an option that we simply cannot indulge," Cheney said yesterday.
"If our coalition withdrew before Iraqis could defend themselves, radical factions would battle for dominance of the country," he said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10425503



Police officers nabbed for killings by their GPS system
5:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
Jose Adolfo Gutierrez. Photo / Reuters
GUATEMALA - Four Guatemalan policemen were arrested yesterday in the murder of three Salvadoran politicians after being linked to the crime by a global positioning system in their vehicle, the Government said.
Luis Herrera, head of a special police unit charged with investigating organised crime, was captured after the GPS receiver in his police truck revealed he had been at the scene of the kidnapping and the site where the bodies were found, authorities said.
Herrera, Jose Adolfo Gutierrez and two others from the unit, were filmed by traffic cameras as they intercepted a car carrying the three members of the Guatemala-based Central American regional parliament and their driver.
The detained policemen "obviously" did not know the GPS was in their vehicle when they carried out the killings, police chief Erwin Sperisen said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10425495



Pentagon calls off bunker blast plan
Email this storyPrint this story 6:15AM Saturday February 24, 2007
The Pentagon has cancelled plans to detonate a 700-tonne explosive charge in the Nevada desert in order to gather data for use in developing weapons capable of destroying deeply buried bunkers.
The planned experiment, which would have sent a mushroom-like cloud 3000m into the air, drew legal action and protests from Nevada residents.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10425506



Tiger kills child after flash fright
Email this storyPrint this story 5:15AM Saturday February 24, 2007
A 6-year-old girl was mauled to death by a performing tiger at a zoo in China as she was being photographed with the animal.
The animal lunged at the girl's head when a flashbulb went off as the child was being photographed at the Kunming Zoo in Yunnan province.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10425505



Child trampled as horses run wild
Email this storyPrint this story 7:15AM Saturday February 24, 2007
Rodeo parade spectators watched in horror yesterday as a 5-year-old was thrown off her mount and trampled by an out-of-control team of horses pulling a wagon in Tucson, Arizona.
She later died.
Two other girls riding beside her managed to get out of the way.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10425507



Egypt blogger jailed for insulting Islam
3:15PM Friday February 23, 2007
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt - An Egyptian blogger was convicted for insulting Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday and sentenced to four years in jail over his writings on the internet.
Abdel Karim Suleiman, a former law student in his early 20s, was the first blogger to stand trial in Egypt for his internet writings. He has been in custody since November over eight articles he wrote on his blog (www.rezgar.com/debat) since 2004.
Suleiman, a Muslim and a liberal, has not denied writing the articles but said they merely represented his own views.
- REUTERS

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10425437


Designs from Islamic artists streets ahead of West
5:00AM Saturday February 24, 2007
ISLAM - Islamic artists were exploiting a mathematical principle to decorate buildings with complicated patterns of tiles more than 500 years before its discovery in the West.
The decorative tilework that adorns some medieval Islamic buildings has been found to use basic geometric shapes that form a complex and highly intricate tiling pattern which does not repeat itself.
In modern mathematics the principal of non-repeating patterns on a flat surface is known as quasicrystal geometry. The most famous example is known as Penrose tiling, after the Oxford mathematician Roger Penrose who was thought to have discovered it 30 years ago.
But two American mathematicians believe that near-perfect quasicrystal geometry was practised by Islamic scholars earlier than the 15th century when it was used to decorate the walls of important buildings.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10425493



Mother rots in Saudi jail as in-laws try to force divorce
5:00AM Monday February 19, 2007
By Daniel Howden
DAMMAN - Fatima al-Timani is near the end of her sixth month in prison in the Saudi town of Damman. Her only crime is to refuse to be separated from the man to whom she had been happily married for four years and with whom she has two children.
Fatima is the latest victim of a growing practice of forced divorce, where relatives have used hardline Islamic courts to dissolve matches against the will of the married couple.
The plight of 34-year-old Fatima, who was pregnant when court proceedings began in 2005 and is now in prison with her 1-year-old son, Suleiman, has drawn widespread public sympathy.
She is forbidden to see her husband, Mansour al-Timani. He now looks after their 2-year-old son, Noha, who has been allowed only occasional visits to his mother.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10424611



Anne Frank's family sought US visa, letters show
3:15PM Thursday February 15, 2007
By Tom Hals
NEW YORK - The father of Anne Frank, the Jewish girl whose diaries of life hiding from the Nazis became world famous, sought money and help obtaining a US visa from a wealthy New York friend in hopes of escaping Europe, according to documents released today.
Frank asked for US$5000 ($7222) from college friend Nathan Strauss Jr, whose father at the time owned Macy's department store, as he tried to escape Holland with his wife, mother-in-law and daughters Margot and Anne, according documents from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City.
"This is the first concrete evidence that he did actually pursue the possibility of escape from Holland," said David Engel, a New York University professor.
A YIVO volunteer discovered the correspondence among the millions of documents in its archives in mid-2005, but the institute had to resolve copyright issues before putting them on display.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10424170

continued ...

This is a cervix without any threat of cancer. No virus. No cancer. I didn't recall a cervix was an erotic sex object

 

If you click on the title of this entry it will take you to a discussion of cervical cancer in the USA and how every state in the union is performing in preventing it with the 'ancient' art of Pap Smears.

Why is it that society begrudges women a life? It's just amazing to have an entire state take a huge backward leap in time to allow cancer deaths. If one clicks on the title of the entry below and look for Texas you will find a state that ranks among the poorest in performance in protecting women. THE POOREST PERFORMER.

Now, to realize the level of poor performance in the entire nation with only four states, Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina and Massachusetts receiving a 'VERY GOOD' rating (There are no EXCELLANT ratings. None.) is to realize how important this vaccine is for a happy and care free life. No more Pap Smears if proven in time to be very effective. No more chances of death. Care free. Is there something wrong with a woman having a carefree life? I guess in Texas there is.

To be complete about this issue there are some side effects:

HPV Vaccine's Side Effects Come To Light (click on)

Kim Mulvihill, M.D.
Reporting

(CBS 5) SAN FRANCISCO Federal health officials presented new data Wednesday on the adverse reactions of a vaccine for human papilloma virus that also works to prevent some cancer in women.

The vaccine, Gardasil, acts to prevent cervical cancer by blocking certain strains of the human papilloma virus.

Hundreds of thousands of girls and young women have gotten at least one dose of Gardasil since the FDA approved it last June.

Dr. Barbara Moscicki is a pediatrician at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center and has studied Gardasil. The vaccine represents a breakthrough, says Dr. Moscicki, and that "this vaccine is so exciting that we can actually make a huge change in cancers worldwide."

Now, there's new information about the three-dose vaccine's adverse side effects.

The Centers for Disease Control collected more than 500 complaints since the vaccine's approval last June, including: soreness at the injection site, fainting or dizziness and fever or nausea.
And, while Gardasil is considered safe, the vaccine is still surrounded by controversy.

Dr. Moscicki said, "We need to make the vaccine better than it is. It still only protects against 70 percent of invasive cancers. It doesn't protect 100 percent, and isn't that what we would like?"

There's also a concern brewing over making the vaccine mandatory for 11- and 12-year-old girls in order to attend school.

At least 20 states are considering it, including California. Critics complain the action preempts parental choice and may promote promiscuity.

One mother in San Francisco told CBS 5 HealthWatch that she's "very much for abstinence. I think that should be emphasized much more because with abstinence you have no need for the drugs and no exposure to the virus and I think that really does solve the problem."

However, 44 percent of teens in a recent survey report they've already had intercourse or oral sex by the end of 10th grade, and that young girls who have sex too soon face a risk that a vaccine can't prevent.

Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Feisher, a psychologist at the UCSF, conducted the survey and says girls are reporting more negative consequences about having sex before they are emotionally ready, and that they are "feeling guilty, feeling bad about themselves and being used."

As for the California legislation that would make the vaccine mandatory for school girls, it's too early to tell if it's going to become law.

However, it's clearly time for parents to have an honest and frank talk with their teens about sex.

THERE IS absolutely no reason for women to shy away from receiving this vaccine. I wish Merck would find a way to allow all women of all ages to receive it nationwide. I feel that strongly about this vaccine.

For as long as I have been a liberated woman and realized cervical cancer is caused from a virus I have always felt this society was discounting an opportunity to save the lives of women. It feels good to have a company take an interest in a disease as horrible as cervical cancer and develope a long needed and 'justified' vaccine.

Cervical cancer is a horrible death. There is no reason for it. In an age of profiteers and little 'profit' for vaccines, it is reassuring that Merck has a product that reached for a high moral purpose and achieved it. I am pleased they are profitting from it and wish they would use those profits to do more vital research.

Governor Perry and every governor that reached out to protect women from such a deadly disease are great people and I applaud them. You just don't know how long I have waited for this and advocated for it. It's wonderful affirmation that American cares about their girls and women.

Quite frankly, there is no BAD time to talk about sex with adolescents. The less mystery and the more they have self esteem that includes their developing sexuality the sooner they accept their responsibility toward it.

Merck might want to develop an infant vaccine so there doesn't have to be a discussion of sex, but, then the extremists would find another reason to reject it.

We need a federal mandate to vaccinate all girls with this vaccine, no different than the meningitis vaccine (click on).

The Christian extremists are putting their children in harms' way. This is a matter of the federal government doing it's job. I don't mean to victimize anyone here, but, everyone is aware of the issue with blood transfusions and Jehovah's Witness. When it comes to children there is not a hospital around, worth it's salt, that won't take control and save a child's life in the face of parent protests. This is the same thing. We just need to get on with it. I am surprised at the negligence toward their children's health these educated people are showing.

Mandate it !

Save lives.

This is a cervix without the opportunity to be vaccinated

 

There are dearly few issues I agree with Governor Perry of Texas, but, vaccinating young women in prevention of cervical cancer is prudent to a healthy America.

Do you how long women in this country have suffered with cervical cancer and the anticipation of 'POSITIVE' Pap Tests. This is a backward as a state legislature can be. The federal government needs to mandate HPV for school enrollment including Charter and Private Schools.

Perry's HPV vaccine order is rescinded (click on)

Web Posted: 02/21/2007 06:13 PM CST

Janet Elliott
Express-News Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - The House Public Health Committee today voted to rescind an executive order issued by Gov. Rick Perry requiring pre-teen girls to be vaccinated against a virus that causes cervical cancer.
The committee vote was 6-3. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.

More than 90 House members signed on to House Bill 1098 by Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton. It would reverse Gov. Rick Perry's Feb. 2 order mandating that girls be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus before entering sixth-grade next year.

Bonnen introduced his bill shortly after Perry issued the order, and it is on a fast-track to the Senate, where similar legislation has been filed.

The committee heard six hours of sometimes emotional testimony Monday night about HPV, a sexually transmitted virus linked to most cervical cancers. Texas physicians and even some cervical cancer patients offered differing views on whether the vaccine should be required or simply encouraged for girls before they become sexually active.

The only vaccine approved for HPV is Merck's Gardasil. The pharmaceutical giant on Tuesday abandoned its lobbying push to get laws pass ed in states requiring the shots for school enrollment.

Company officials said they didn't want the widely publicized lobbying campaign to be a distraction in making the first-ever vaccine against cancer widely available.

Perry's order would make Texas the first state to mandate the shots. Parents could fill out a form to opt out their daughters.

Bonnen has said that he believes it would be better to improve access to health care so that women can get annual P ap smears to detect abnormal cells that could be an early indicator of cervical cancer.

``I don't see the urgency in mandating a vaccine that's in the infancy of this phenomenal new research and technology to protect our lives,'' Bonnen said.

Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, who has filed a bill to require the vaccine, said that Pap smears don't catch all of cervical cancers.

``The bottom line is the vaccine is going to protect young girls. This is something that incubates for 10 years,'' Farrar said.
Another bill, H ouse Bill 1397 by Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, would require the Texas Department of State Health Services to develop a public education plan about HPV. It also was passed by the committee on a 9-0 vote.