Saturday, October 20, 2007
Thousands flee fighting in eastern Congo
By Joe Bavier October 20, 2007
GOMA, Congo (Reuters) - Thousands of civilians fled renewed fighting between Tutsi-dominated rebels, army troops and pro-government militia in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, the U.N. peacekeeping mission said.
Clashes erupted before dawn on Saturday in the town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border as the Mai Mai militia tried to wrest the key supply route from rebels loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda.
Government troops, meanwhile, battled Nkunda's forces in the nearby town of Bukima, to the west of Bunagana, officials at the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUC) said.
"It was fairly serious. The fighting started early this morning and ended late this afternoon," said Major P.K. Tiwari, MONUC military spokesman in North Kivu, adding it was still unclear who had attacked first.
Villagers from Bunagana and nearby settlements of Jomba, Runyoni and Bweza poured into Rutshuru, the government-held local administrative seat, around 8 a.m. (0600 GMT).
"What I saw was horrendous. It was raining. They didn't know where to go. Three women gave birth while they were fleeing," said Sylvie Van Den Wildenberg, MONUC spokeswoman in North Kivu.
"The humanitarian consequences of whatever is happening there are very serious."
Around 370,000 people have already fled fighting between government soldiers, Nkunda loyalists, local militias and Rwandan Hutu rebels since the beginning of the year.
Congo's army has been battling Nkunda since August when his men abandoned a January peace deal and pulled out of government brigades. Nkunda led around 4,000 soldiers into the bush in 2004, saying he would protect Congo's Tutsi minority.
He accuses the government of supporting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan rebel group including ex-Hutu militia and Rwandan soldiers responsible for that country's 1994 genocide. Congo denies this.
Nkunda's military spokesman Major Seraphin Mirindi said the rebels had been attacked on Saturday by FDLR fighters.
"They attacked us. Now our clean-up operations are under way. We're pushing them back, and they are losing many men," he told Reuters by telephone.
The head of the local Mai-Mai militia, which has carried out operations with the FDLR against Nkunda, said his forces near Bunagana had come under attack around 3 a.m. (0100 GMT).
Mai Mai leader, General Kasereka Kabamba, said his fighters had taken control of Bunagana, but U.N. officials denied this.
Following historic elections last year, President Joseph Kabila promised to pacify Congo's troubled east. In a press conference in North Kivu's provincial capital Goma on Wednesday, he said the army had received a green light to begin preparing military operations to disarm Nkunda's fighters.
GOMA, Congo (Reuters) - Thousands of civilians fled renewed fighting between Tutsi-dominated rebels, army troops and pro-government militia in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, the U.N. peacekeeping mission said.
Clashes erupted before dawn on Saturday in the town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border as the Mai Mai militia tried to wrest the key supply route from rebels loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda.
Government troops, meanwhile, battled Nkunda's forces in the nearby town of Bukima, to the west of Bunagana, officials at the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUC) said.
"It was fairly serious. The fighting started early this morning and ended late this afternoon," said Major P.K. Tiwari, MONUC military spokesman in North Kivu, adding it was still unclear who had attacked first.
Villagers from Bunagana and nearby settlements of Jomba, Runyoni and Bweza poured into Rutshuru, the government-held local administrative seat, around 8 a.m. (0600 GMT).
"What I saw was horrendous. It was raining. They didn't know where to go. Three women gave birth while they were fleeing," said Sylvie Van Den Wildenberg, MONUC spokeswoman in North Kivu.
"The humanitarian consequences of whatever is happening there are very serious."
Around 370,000 people have already fled fighting between government soldiers, Nkunda loyalists, local militias and Rwandan Hutu rebels since the beginning of the year.
Congo's army has been battling Nkunda since August when his men abandoned a January peace deal and pulled out of government brigades. Nkunda led around 4,000 soldiers into the bush in 2004, saying he would protect Congo's Tutsi minority.
He accuses the government of supporting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan rebel group including ex-Hutu militia and Rwandan soldiers responsible for that country's 1994 genocide. Congo denies this.
Nkunda's military spokesman Major Seraphin Mirindi said the rebels had been attacked on Saturday by FDLR fighters.
"They attacked us. Now our clean-up operations are under way. We're pushing them back, and they are losing many men," he told Reuters by telephone.
The head of the local Mai-Mai militia, which has carried out operations with the FDLR against Nkunda, said his forces near Bunagana had come under attack around 3 a.m. (0100 GMT).
Mai Mai leader, General Kasereka Kabamba, said his fighters had taken control of Bunagana, but U.N. officials denied this.
Following historic elections last year, President Joseph Kabila promised to pacify Congo's troubled east. In a press conference in North Kivu's provincial capital Goma on Wednesday, he said the army had received a green light to begin preparing military operations to disarm Nkunda's fighters.
6 die in storms in Midwest, Wash. state
By Tim Martin, Associated Press Writer October 20, 2007
WILLIAMSTON, Mich. --A couple spending their first night in a new house were among at least six people killed as unusually severe October storms destroyed homes, downed trees and knocked out power in several states, authorities said Friday.
The thunderstorms, some spawning tornadoes and high winds, destroyed homes in Michigan and Indiana and collapsed a trailer in Kentucky as they struck Thursday and early Friday.
In Washington state, where one person died, a floating bridge buffeted by powerful wind was closed, and tens of thousands of homes and businesses lost electricity.
The bodies of Duane Bentley and Susan Bentley, both in their 50s, were recovered Friday morning, hours after tornadoes, strong winds and oversized hail pushed through much of Michigan, overturning vehicles and destroying homes.
The Bentleys' home was ripped off its foundation and sent into a nearby pond in Ingham County's Locke Township, near Lansing, police said.
A 29-year-old man was killed when strong wind collapsed his home around him in Kalkaska County.
In Millington Township, a 14-month-old boy in a crib escaped injury after apparently being tossed about 40 feet by a tornado that destroyed a home early Friday, fire officials said.
A neighbor found the baby under a pile of debris, still in the crib.
"Sometimes miracles happen," firefighter Dan Detgen said.
National Weather Service officials in Gaylord believe as many as four tornadoes, plus a water spout over an area lake, may have touched down in Kalkaska, Cheboygan, Alpena and Mio. Tornadoes were confirmed in eight Michigan counties, and weather service crews were still evaluating the damage in some areas.
"This is extremely rare," said David Lawrence, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Gaylord. "When you're this deep into the month of October, it's a very rare event."
A line of thunderstorms that rumbled through Kentucky produced several tornadoes, smashing mobile homes and injuring at least 11 people in Owensboro. The most serious injury was a broken leg, said Richard Payne, Daviess County director of emergency management.
The storms forced officials to briefly close the Glover Cary Bridge, which carries traffic across the Ohio River between Indiana and Kentucky. A Kentucky Transportation Cabinet inspector was called to check the structure following an apparent tornado, but no damage was found, cabinet spokesman Keith Todd said.
In Indiana, authorities declared a state of emergency after a tornado hit Nappanee, about 20 miles southeast of South Bend. Police said five people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries and 200 to 250 buildings were damaged, half of them severely. Among the businesses damaged there were three recreation vehicle plants that are among the city's largest employers.
In rural northeastern Missouri, the state Highway Patrol said Kent Ensor, 44, and Kristy Secrease, 25, had sought refuge in Secrease's mobile home in Monroe County as a tornado approached. Their bodies were found about 400 feet from where the home had been.
The mobile home's frame was found three-quarters of a mile away, with debris as far as two miles away. The National Weather Service said the storm traveled a mile and had winds as high as 135 mph.
A tornado in Pensacola, Fla., sent mall shoppers and children at the Greater Little Rock Baptist Church's daycare center running for safety just before the twister hit Thursday morning, said Escambia County sheriff's spokesman Glenn Austin.
In western Washington, where wind gusts reached 66 mph Thursday, a woman was injured when the top of a tree hit her in the head in Kent, fire officials said. A Seattle police patrol boat, responding to an emergency call of a kite boarder being dragged north on Lake Washington, found a 44-year-old man floating face down off Kirkland on the east side of the lake, police said.
The wind resulted in a three-hour precautionary closure of State Route 104 across Hood Canal, which separates the Kitsap and Olympia peninsulas.
------
Associated Press writers David Aguilar and David Runk in Detroit, Alan Scher Zagier in Paris, Mo., Melissa Nelson in Pensacola, Fla., and Tom Coyne in Nappanee, Ind., contributed to this report.
WILLIAMSTON, Mich. --A couple spending their first night in a new house were among at least six people killed as unusually severe October storms destroyed homes, downed trees and knocked out power in several states, authorities said Friday.
The thunderstorms, some spawning tornadoes and high winds, destroyed homes in Michigan and Indiana and collapsed a trailer in Kentucky as they struck Thursday and early Friday.
In Washington state, where one person died, a floating bridge buffeted by powerful wind was closed, and tens of thousands of homes and businesses lost electricity.
The bodies of Duane Bentley and Susan Bentley, both in their 50s, were recovered Friday morning, hours after tornadoes, strong winds and oversized hail pushed through much of Michigan, overturning vehicles and destroying homes.
The Bentleys' home was ripped off its foundation and sent into a nearby pond in Ingham County's Locke Township, near Lansing, police said.
A 29-year-old man was killed when strong wind collapsed his home around him in Kalkaska County.
In Millington Township, a 14-month-old boy in a crib escaped injury after apparently being tossed about 40 feet by a tornado that destroyed a home early Friday, fire officials said.
A neighbor found the baby under a pile of debris, still in the crib.
"Sometimes miracles happen," firefighter Dan Detgen said.
National Weather Service officials in Gaylord believe as many as four tornadoes, plus a water spout over an area lake, may have touched down in Kalkaska, Cheboygan, Alpena and Mio. Tornadoes were confirmed in eight Michigan counties, and weather service crews were still evaluating the damage in some areas.
"This is extremely rare," said David Lawrence, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Gaylord. "When you're this deep into the month of October, it's a very rare event."
A line of thunderstorms that rumbled through Kentucky produced several tornadoes, smashing mobile homes and injuring at least 11 people in Owensboro. The most serious injury was a broken leg, said Richard Payne, Daviess County director of emergency management.
The storms forced officials to briefly close the Glover Cary Bridge, which carries traffic across the Ohio River between Indiana and Kentucky. A Kentucky Transportation Cabinet inspector was called to check the structure following an apparent tornado, but no damage was found, cabinet spokesman Keith Todd said.
In Indiana, authorities declared a state of emergency after a tornado hit Nappanee, about 20 miles southeast of South Bend. Police said five people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries and 200 to 250 buildings were damaged, half of them severely. Among the businesses damaged there were three recreation vehicle plants that are among the city's largest employers.
In rural northeastern Missouri, the state Highway Patrol said Kent Ensor, 44, and Kristy Secrease, 25, had sought refuge in Secrease's mobile home in Monroe County as a tornado approached. Their bodies were found about 400 feet from where the home had been.
The mobile home's frame was found three-quarters of a mile away, with debris as far as two miles away. The National Weather Service said the storm traveled a mile and had winds as high as 135 mph.
A tornado in Pensacola, Fla., sent mall shoppers and children at the Greater Little Rock Baptist Church's daycare center running for safety just before the twister hit Thursday morning, said Escambia County sheriff's spokesman Glenn Austin.
In western Washington, where wind gusts reached 66 mph Thursday, a woman was injured when the top of a tree hit her in the head in Kent, fire officials said. A Seattle police patrol boat, responding to an emergency call of a kite boarder being dragged north on Lake Washington, found a 44-year-old man floating face down off Kirkland on the east side of the lake, police said.
The wind resulted in a three-hour precautionary closure of State Route 104 across Hood Canal, which separates the Kitsap and Olympia peninsulas.
------
Associated Press writers David Aguilar and David Runk in Detroit, Alan Scher Zagier in Paris, Mo., Melissa Nelson in Pensacola, Fla., and Tom Coyne in Nappanee, Ind., contributed to this report.
The Boston Globe
South scrambles to cope with drought
Water supply in Atlanta less than 90 days
By Greg Bluestein, Associated Press
October 20, 2007
ATLANTA - With the South in the grip of a drought and its largest city holding less than a 90-day supply of water, officials are scrambling to deal with the worst-case scenario: What if Atlanta's faucets really do go dry?
No real backup plan exists. And there are no quick fixes among suggested solutions, which include piping water in from rivers in neighboring states, building more regional reservoirs, setting up a statewide recycling system, or even desalinating water from the Atlantic Ocean.
"It's amazing that things have come to this," said Ray Wiedman, owner of an Atlanta landscaping business.
"Everybody knew the growth was coming. We haven't had a plan for all the people coming here?"
Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia seems to be pinning his hopes on a two-pronged approach: urging water conservation and reducing water flowing out of federally controlled lakes.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/20/south_scrambles_to_cope_with_drought/
Cold drug ban for children is advised
FDA panel says those under 6 aren't helped
By Gardiner Harris, New York Times News Service
October 20, 2007
SILVER SPRING, Md. - A Food and Drug Administration panel of advisers voted yesterday to ban scores of popular over-the-counter cough and cold products intended for children under the age of 6 because they have not been shown to work and can cause injuries.
If put into practice, the vote could transform pharmacy shelves and change the way many parents cope with the myriad colds caught by young children every year. The vote was taken a week after major manufacturers agreed to withdraw more than a dozen cough and cold products labeled for use for babies.
But there are reasons to suspect that further changes, if they come, will not be immediate.
The panel voted unanimously to ban these products for use in children under 2, but its vote to ban them in children ages 2 to 5 was 13 to 9. The FDA usually follows the advice of its independent expert panels, but the closer the vote the more likely the agency is to ignore the advice.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/20/cold_drug_ban_for_children_is_advised/
New R.I. report raises questions on clergy abuse
Diocese says vague cases behind rise; AG concerned
Ann Hagan Webb (right) of Wellesley, who is a sexual abuse survivor, spoke yesterday during a press conference in Providence held by BishopAccountability.org. (STEW MILNE FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff October 20, 2007
Between 1971 and 2007, 125 priests in Rhode Island were accused of sexual assault or sexual misconduct, including 95 accused of child molestation or sexual assault of a minor, according to a court document filed by Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/new_ri_report_raises_questions_on_clergy_abuse/
Ashland grapples with crime surge
Sense of safety in suburbs under attack
By Keith O'Brien, Globe Staff October 20, 2007
ASHLAND - Halloween decorations dangle from the trees in anticipation of trick-or-treaters. Tricycles sit near porches. And the residents of the Presidents Row condominium complex in Ashland, where every building is named for a former president, say it is quiet here. It is suburbia.
But in recent weeks, teenagers began hanging out on a rock wall in the complex, often disturbing residents late into the night. And earlier this month, three teenagers attacked a 22-year-old man, slashing him with serrated kitchen knives.
The attack, which the victim survived, has shocked many Ashland residents, specifically because one of the suspects is alleged to be a member of the Bloods street gang. But it is also emblematic of how life has changed in many small communities these days and specifically in Ashland, population 16,120, where arrests were up 62 percent between 2000 and 2006 and are on pace to reach a 10-year high in 2007.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/ashland_grapples_with_crime_surge/
Judge says illegal immigrant should receive workers compensation
October 20, 2007
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --A judge has issued a preliminary order awarding workers' compensation to an illegal Mexican immigrant who slashed his face to the bone with a chain saw.
Edgar Velasquez was deported last year before he could pursue his case against William J. Gorman Jr., owner of Billy G's Tree Care in Warwick.
The 22-year-old Velasquez alleges Gorman called authorities to have him arrested so he could avoid liability.
But Velasquez was able to attend hearings after he was allowed back into the country on a humanitarian visa.
The judge ordered Gorman to pay medical costs that so far approach $17,000.
If the lawyers file for a trial within five days, the award could be increased, affirmed or reversed. Otherwise, the judgment is final.
Velasquez's attorney said he would pursue a trial to seek more money.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2007/10/20/judge_says_illegal_immigrant_should_receive_workers_compensation/
Evangelical Christians remain wary of top GOP candidates
Crucial voting bloc appears divided
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff October 20, 2007
WASHINGTON - John Ayers, a 77-year-old retiree, stood outside the cavernous hall where Republican presidential candidates yesterday were courting more than 2,000 evangelical Christians. Several candidates addressed the Values Voter Summit, even though a key organizer, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, has said he could never vote for them.
"We are in a quandary," Ayers said. "We don't know what to do."
One candidate that Ayers likes, US Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado, is barely a blip in the polls. Another candidate aligned with Christian conservatives, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, dropped out of the race yesterday because of lack of support and money. Yet the four highest-polling candidates - Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson - give many evangelicals pause.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/20/evangelical_christians_remain_wary_of_top_gop_candidates/
New R.I. report raises questions on clergy abuse
Diocese says vague cases behind rise; AG concerned
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff October 20, 2007
Between 1971 and 2007, 125 priests in Rhode Island were accused of sexual assault or sexual misconduct, including 95 accused of child molestation or sexual assault of a minor, according to a court document filed by Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/new_ri_report_raises_questions_on_clergy_abuse/
Patrick frustrated by slow pace of progress
Many priorities stall in first year
By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff October 20, 2007
It looked like a done deal the day it was announced. At an international biotechnology conference in South Boston last May, Governor Deval Patrick proposed investing more than $1 billion in the industry, a colossal initiative intended to secure the state's position as a global leader in the field. Alongside him stood Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, a tableau that seemed to ensure its success.
More than five months later, the bill hasn't even had a hearing on Beacon Hill; the first one is scheduled for later this month.
House leaders cite a number of reasons for the delays: Patrick did not file the bill until mid-July; the House and Senate spent six weeks debating whether to break it up or send it to a single committee; and there are differences between the governor and House leaders over crucial details.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/patrick_frustrated_by_slow_pace_of_progress/
Winchester sports team is checked for MRSA
Football player recovering amid staph-infection scare
By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff October 20, 2007
The 85 members of the Winchester High School football team endured a different kind of exercise this week: A trainer checked them for the pimples, bumps, and boils that can be the harbinger of a dangerous bacterial infection.
One of their teammates had come down with an infection caused by a germ called methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, and school administrators wanted to make sure none of the other players had caught it.
"Everybody was checked, and there was no one else who had it," said Tom Gwin, Winchester High's principal. "We have to take it very seriously."
It was evidence of a problem decades in the making that has seized the public's attention and prompted schools in Massachusetts and across the nation to inspect students and scrub walls and tables.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/winchester_sports_team_is_checked_for_mrsa/
Mass., N.H. weren't ready for rumble
October 20, 2007
The rumble enveloped Littleton, Mass., and dozens of nearby towns at 1:23 a.m. yesterday, a grating noise that witnesses said sounded like a truck crashing, a lumbering freight train, or a 747 buzzing 100 feet from the ground. As windows rattled and floors vibrated, people sat up in bed, dogs barked, and weary baseball fans awoke on couches with their televisions still flickering, wondering if the Red Sox had won.
"I thought, oh, my God, the furnace blew," said Ann Carey, 64, who was jarred from sleep in her Westford bedroom.
It was a 2.5-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter near Littleton Common. No injuries or damage were reported, but it rattled homes from Milton to Hollis, N.H. Another minor temblor shook the Merrimack Valley earlier this month.
The emergency switchboard lit up at the Littleton police station with reports of explosions and accidents on Interstate 495. "We had two people working the phones, and we still couldn't keep up," said Sergeant Robert Romilly.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/mass_nh_werent_ready_for_rumble/
Burglars strike Cape DA's home twice in past year
By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff
October 20, 2007
The home of Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe has been burglarized twice within the past year, and in one instance, the thief reportedly made off with O'Keefe's gun.
O'Keefe confirmed the burglaries to the Globe but would not address details, including a report that his gun had been stolen.
"It's unfortunate house breaks take place, and I'm sure that the police are working hard to solve those particular breaks," O'Keefe said.
"And there were several of them that occurred in several different homes. They're upsetting to people who are the victims of those things."
"I'm not going to comment about mine," the district attorney added about the break-ins. "Mine are no more or less important than anybody else's. It's just an unfortunate thing that occurs."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/burglars_strike_cape_das_home_twice_in_past_year/
Maine fisherman, boat owner face $510,000 in federal fines
By Associated Press
October 20, 2007
ROCKLAND, Maine - The captain of a Maine fishing boat and the vessel's owner face $510,000 in fines for allegedly breaking federal commercial fishing reporting laws.
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration alleges that Daniel Fill, 43, of Sedgwick, failed to report about 15 million pounds of herring that he caught in the Gulf of Maine from June 1 to late August.
The herring fishery operates under a quota system, with each boat allocated a certain percentage of the overall catch, federal officials said. Boat captains are required to report their catches every week and to keep daily logs detailing catch information.
NOAA issued the fine last week and suspended his fishing license for two years. Fill is prohibited from holding any federal fishing permits during that time, said Mark Oswell, a NOAA spokesman in Silver Spring, Md.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/maine_fisherman_boat_owner_face_510000_in_federal_fines/
Former Calif. gang member gets 126 years
October 20, 2007
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --A former gang member convicted in a jewelry heist that resembled robberies he described in his memoir has been sentenced to 126 years in prison.
Colton Simpson, 41, declined to speak during Friday's sentencing hearing and showed no reaction when Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson III issued the sentence.
Simpson, who has previous felony convictions, was sentenced under the state's three strikes law. He was found guilty of robbery, burglary and grand theft for his role in a 2003 heist at a Robinsons-May Co. department store jewelry counter in Temecula.
Simpson was accused of being the mastermind and getaway car driver. Two unidentified men, who were not prosecuted, were accused of entering the store and actually pulling off the heist.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/20/former_calif_gang_member_gets_126_years/
2nd-grader suspended for drawing of gun
October 20, 2007
DENNIS TOWNSHIP, N.J. --A second-grader's drawing of a stick figure shooting a gun earned him a one-day school suspension.
Kyle Walker, 7, was suspended last week for violating Dennis Township Primary School's zero-tolerance policy on guns, the boy's mother, Shirley McDevitt, told The Press of Atlantic City.
Kyle gave the picture to another child on the school bus, and that child's parents complained about it to school officials, McDevitt said. Her son told her the drawing was of a water gun, she said.
A photocopy of the picture provided by McDevitt showed two stick figures with one pointing a crude-looking gun at the other, the newspaper said. What appeared to be the word "me" was written above the shooter, with another name scribbled above the other figure.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/20/2nd_grader_suspended_for_drawing_of_gun/
J.K. Rowling outs Hogwarts character
By Hillel Italie, AP National Writer October 20, 2007
NEW YORK --Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall.
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2007/10/20/jk_rowling_outs_hogwarts_character/?p1=MEWell_Pos1
60 educators disciplined, more than a third for sexual misconduct
By Jay Lindsay, Associated Press Writer
October 20, 2007
BOSTON --More than 60 educators were disciplined or dismissed during a five-year period in Massachusetts for ethical or criminal offenses, including more than a third who were accused of sexual misconduct ranging from sex harassment to child rape, according to a review of records by The Associated Press.
Many of the sexual misconduct cases made headlines, such as the teacher who sent naked photos to a student.
But other cases were prosecuted with little fanfare, or schools chose to keep the cases quiet. A North Middlesex teacher, for example, was caught nearly naked with a student, but school officials did not release those details to protect her privacy.
Records of sexual misconduct can be found in districts, or with the courts if the cases are criminal, but the records often aren't in plain sight, said attorney Dean Pickett, vice chairman of the National Council of School Attorneys.
"It takes someone saying, 'I think I need to know why John Doe won't be teaching any more,'" Pickett said.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/10/20/60_educators_disciplined_more_than_a_third_for_sexual_misconduct_1192899901/
Gambling in Massachusetts
Editorials and columns on the prospect of casinos in the Bay State
As Governor Deval Patrick and other Massachusetts officials consider a push for expanded gambling in the state, op-ed columnists and the Globe's editorial board weigh in on the issue.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/gambling_mass/
After the Karachi bombing
October 20, 2007
THE SUICIDE bombing directed against Pakistan's former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, on her return home Thursday after eight years in exile illuminates the destructive forces threatening to tear that country apart. In the aftermath of the atrocity, it falls to Bhutto and other temperate political leaders in Pakistan to rally all democratic forces against the violence of Islamist militants and in favor of the rule of law.
Rival party leaders have expressed their sympathy to Bhutto, who came home to lead her Pakistan People's Party in parliamentary elections to be held by mid-January. It remains for those disparate parties to unite in condemnation of both jihadist terrorism and military dictatorship, and to demand free, fair, and transparent parliamentary elections.
The victims of the attack on Bhutto's homecoming procession were among more than a million Pakistanis who were in the streets, not solely to cheer the leader of one party, but to demonstrate their yearning for a return to genuine democracy. Paradoxically, there may be a better chance now than before the bombing to restore civilian democracy. But that chance may be missed unless Bhutto and her civilian political rivals cooperate.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/10/20/after_the_karachi_bombing/
Gore's warnings present clear choice
October 20, 2007
BJORN LOMBORG'S Oct. 13 op-ed "An inconvenient Peace Prize" misrepresents Al Gore's statements and misconstrues the findings of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Lomborg writes that Gore, in his film, warns audiences "to expect 20-foot sea-level rises over this century." This is untrue. Gore correctly says that Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets are each equivalent to 20 feet of sea level. He then suggests what would happen "if Greenland broke up and melted or if half of Greenland and half of West Antarctica broke up and melted." Even the IPCC-projected 2-foot rise in sea level by 2100 would wreak havoc in coastal cities worldwide.
Glacial instabilities are causing earthquakes on Greenland. The area of summer Arctic sea ice, which decreased 1 percent per year over the past three decades, shrunk a shocking 20 percent this year.
We have a clear choice: Use climate science to guide us toward actions that minimize adverse impacts of climate change, or be seduced into inaction by distortions such as those of Mr. Lomborg.
If a panel of prominent physicians diagnosed a deadly disease and advised urgent treatment, while a statistician counseled, "Don't worry, be happy," whose recommendation would you follow?
JAMES J. McCARTHY
Cambridge
The writer, a professor of biological oceanography at Harvard, cochaired the 2001 IPCC working group that assessed impacts of climate change.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2007/10/20/gores_warnings_present_clear_choice/
Women, science, and gender bias
By Cathy Young
October 20, 2007
THE DEBATE over women's place in science, which proved to be the downfall of Harvard President Lawrence Summers after he suggested that male preeminence in the field could be due at least partly to biological traits and personal choices, remains a lightning rod for controversy. Earlier this month, the subject was tackled in two different symposiums - one at Harvard, the other at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based right-of-center think tank.
Both events focused on the National Academy of Sciences report issued last fall by an almost all-female NAS committee. The report takes the position that any existing cognitive gender differences are irrelevant to success in science and engineering, and that women in these fields continue to be held back by pervasive gender biases and institutional barriers. This viewpoint was summed up at the Harvard symposium by one of the report's coauthors, Maria Zuber, professor of geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/10/20/women_science_and_gender_bias/
Richardson gives candid answers in N.H.
By Holly Ramer, Associated Press Writer
October 20, 2007
NORTH HAMPTON, N.H. --Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson realizes his position on illegal immigration costs him votes, but he says he's determined to "accept it and do the right thing."
The New Mexico governor applied that same attitude to a range of issues Saturday, giving candid answers to voters gathered at a supporter's home.
When a woman urged him to forget corn-based ethanol and focus only on other potential renewable fuel sources, Richardson refused. When a man asked him to support raising taxes on gasoline, Richardson again said no.
"I think the middle class has been hit enough, and I think there are better ways to do it," he said, saying he prefers tax incentives for companies that develop renewable energy sources and other measures.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/20/richardson_gives_candid_answers_in_nh/
continued...
South scrambles to cope with drought
Water supply in Atlanta less than 90 days
By Greg Bluestein, Associated Press
October 20, 2007
ATLANTA - With the South in the grip of a drought and its largest city holding less than a 90-day supply of water, officials are scrambling to deal with the worst-case scenario: What if Atlanta's faucets really do go dry?
No real backup plan exists. And there are no quick fixes among suggested solutions, which include piping water in from rivers in neighboring states, building more regional reservoirs, setting up a statewide recycling system, or even desalinating water from the Atlantic Ocean.
"It's amazing that things have come to this," said Ray Wiedman, owner of an Atlanta landscaping business.
"Everybody knew the growth was coming. We haven't had a plan for all the people coming here?"
Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia seems to be pinning his hopes on a two-pronged approach: urging water conservation and reducing water flowing out of federally controlled lakes.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/20/south_scrambles_to_cope_with_drought/
Cold drug ban for children is advised
FDA panel says those under 6 aren't helped
By Gardiner Harris, New York Times News Service
October 20, 2007
SILVER SPRING, Md. - A Food and Drug Administration panel of advisers voted yesterday to ban scores of popular over-the-counter cough and cold products intended for children under the age of 6 because they have not been shown to work and can cause injuries.
If put into practice, the vote could transform pharmacy shelves and change the way many parents cope with the myriad colds caught by young children every year. The vote was taken a week after major manufacturers agreed to withdraw more than a dozen cough and cold products labeled for use for babies.
But there are reasons to suspect that further changes, if they come, will not be immediate.
The panel voted unanimously to ban these products for use in children under 2, but its vote to ban them in children ages 2 to 5 was 13 to 9. The FDA usually follows the advice of its independent expert panels, but the closer the vote the more likely the agency is to ignore the advice.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/20/cold_drug_ban_for_children_is_advised/
New R.I. report raises questions on clergy abuse
Diocese says vague cases behind rise; AG concerned
Ann Hagan Webb (right) of Wellesley, who is a sexual abuse survivor, spoke yesterday during a press conference in Providence held by BishopAccountability.org. (STEW MILNE FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff October 20, 2007
Between 1971 and 2007, 125 priests in Rhode Island were accused of sexual assault or sexual misconduct, including 95 accused of child molestation or sexual assault of a minor, according to a court document filed by Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/new_ri_report_raises_questions_on_clergy_abuse/
Ashland grapples with crime surge
Sense of safety in suburbs under attack
By Keith O'Brien, Globe Staff October 20, 2007
ASHLAND - Halloween decorations dangle from the trees in anticipation of trick-or-treaters. Tricycles sit near porches. And the residents of the Presidents Row condominium complex in Ashland, where every building is named for a former president, say it is quiet here. It is suburbia.
But in recent weeks, teenagers began hanging out on a rock wall in the complex, often disturbing residents late into the night. And earlier this month, three teenagers attacked a 22-year-old man, slashing him with serrated kitchen knives.
The attack, which the victim survived, has shocked many Ashland residents, specifically because one of the suspects is alleged to be a member of the Bloods street gang. But it is also emblematic of how life has changed in many small communities these days and specifically in Ashland, population 16,120, where arrests were up 62 percent between 2000 and 2006 and are on pace to reach a 10-year high in 2007.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/ashland_grapples_with_crime_surge/
Judge says illegal immigrant should receive workers compensation
October 20, 2007
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --A judge has issued a preliminary order awarding workers' compensation to an illegal Mexican immigrant who slashed his face to the bone with a chain saw.
Edgar Velasquez was deported last year before he could pursue his case against William J. Gorman Jr., owner of Billy G's Tree Care in Warwick.
The 22-year-old Velasquez alleges Gorman called authorities to have him arrested so he could avoid liability.
But Velasquez was able to attend hearings after he was allowed back into the country on a humanitarian visa.
The judge ordered Gorman to pay medical costs that so far approach $17,000.
If the lawyers file for a trial within five days, the award could be increased, affirmed or reversed. Otherwise, the judgment is final.
Velasquez's attorney said he would pursue a trial to seek more money.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2007/10/20/judge_says_illegal_immigrant_should_receive_workers_compensation/
Evangelical Christians remain wary of top GOP candidates
Crucial voting bloc appears divided
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff October 20, 2007
WASHINGTON - John Ayers, a 77-year-old retiree, stood outside the cavernous hall where Republican presidential candidates yesterday were courting more than 2,000 evangelical Christians. Several candidates addressed the Values Voter Summit, even though a key organizer, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, has said he could never vote for them.
"We are in a quandary," Ayers said. "We don't know what to do."
One candidate that Ayers likes, US Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado, is barely a blip in the polls. Another candidate aligned with Christian conservatives, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, dropped out of the race yesterday because of lack of support and money. Yet the four highest-polling candidates - Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson - give many evangelicals pause.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/20/evangelical_christians_remain_wary_of_top_gop_candidates/
New R.I. report raises questions on clergy abuse
Diocese says vague cases behind rise; AG concerned
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff October 20, 2007
Between 1971 and 2007, 125 priests in Rhode Island were accused of sexual assault or sexual misconduct, including 95 accused of child molestation or sexual assault of a minor, according to a court document filed by Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/new_ri_report_raises_questions_on_clergy_abuse/
Patrick frustrated by slow pace of progress
Many priorities stall in first year
By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff October 20, 2007
It looked like a done deal the day it was announced. At an international biotechnology conference in South Boston last May, Governor Deval Patrick proposed investing more than $1 billion in the industry, a colossal initiative intended to secure the state's position as a global leader in the field. Alongside him stood Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, a tableau that seemed to ensure its success.
More than five months later, the bill hasn't even had a hearing on Beacon Hill; the first one is scheduled for later this month.
House leaders cite a number of reasons for the delays: Patrick did not file the bill until mid-July; the House and Senate spent six weeks debating whether to break it up or send it to a single committee; and there are differences between the governor and House leaders over crucial details.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/patrick_frustrated_by_slow_pace_of_progress/
Winchester sports team is checked for MRSA
Football player recovering amid staph-infection scare
By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff October 20, 2007
The 85 members of the Winchester High School football team endured a different kind of exercise this week: A trainer checked them for the pimples, bumps, and boils that can be the harbinger of a dangerous bacterial infection.
One of their teammates had come down with an infection caused by a germ called methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, and school administrators wanted to make sure none of the other players had caught it.
"Everybody was checked, and there was no one else who had it," said Tom Gwin, Winchester High's principal. "We have to take it very seriously."
It was evidence of a problem decades in the making that has seized the public's attention and prompted schools in Massachusetts and across the nation to inspect students and scrub walls and tables.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/winchester_sports_team_is_checked_for_mrsa/
Mass., N.H. weren't ready for rumble
October 20, 2007
The rumble enveloped Littleton, Mass., and dozens of nearby towns at 1:23 a.m. yesterday, a grating noise that witnesses said sounded like a truck crashing, a lumbering freight train, or a 747 buzzing 100 feet from the ground. As windows rattled and floors vibrated, people sat up in bed, dogs barked, and weary baseball fans awoke on couches with their televisions still flickering, wondering if the Red Sox had won.
"I thought, oh, my God, the furnace blew," said Ann Carey, 64, who was jarred from sleep in her Westford bedroom.
It was a 2.5-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter near Littleton Common. No injuries or damage were reported, but it rattled homes from Milton to Hollis, N.H. Another minor temblor shook the Merrimack Valley earlier this month.
The emergency switchboard lit up at the Littleton police station with reports of explosions and accidents on Interstate 495. "We had two people working the phones, and we still couldn't keep up," said Sergeant Robert Romilly.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/mass_nh_werent_ready_for_rumble/
Burglars strike Cape DA's home twice in past year
By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff
October 20, 2007
The home of Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe has been burglarized twice within the past year, and in one instance, the thief reportedly made off with O'Keefe's gun.
O'Keefe confirmed the burglaries to the Globe but would not address details, including a report that his gun had been stolen.
"It's unfortunate house breaks take place, and I'm sure that the police are working hard to solve those particular breaks," O'Keefe said.
"And there were several of them that occurred in several different homes. They're upsetting to people who are the victims of those things."
"I'm not going to comment about mine," the district attorney added about the break-ins. "Mine are no more or less important than anybody else's. It's just an unfortunate thing that occurs."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/burglars_strike_cape_das_home_twice_in_past_year/
Maine fisherman, boat owner face $510,000 in federal fines
By Associated Press
October 20, 2007
ROCKLAND, Maine - The captain of a Maine fishing boat and the vessel's owner face $510,000 in fines for allegedly breaking federal commercial fishing reporting laws.
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration alleges that Daniel Fill, 43, of Sedgwick, failed to report about 15 million pounds of herring that he caught in the Gulf of Maine from June 1 to late August.
The herring fishery operates under a quota system, with each boat allocated a certain percentage of the overall catch, federal officials said. Boat captains are required to report their catches every week and to keep daily logs detailing catch information.
NOAA issued the fine last week and suspended his fishing license for two years. Fill is prohibited from holding any federal fishing permits during that time, said Mark Oswell, a NOAA spokesman in Silver Spring, Md.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/maine_fisherman_boat_owner_face_510000_in_federal_fines/
Former Calif. gang member gets 126 years
October 20, 2007
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --A former gang member convicted in a jewelry heist that resembled robberies he described in his memoir has been sentenced to 126 years in prison.
Colton Simpson, 41, declined to speak during Friday's sentencing hearing and showed no reaction when Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson III issued the sentence.
Simpson, who has previous felony convictions, was sentenced under the state's three strikes law. He was found guilty of robbery, burglary and grand theft for his role in a 2003 heist at a Robinsons-May Co. department store jewelry counter in Temecula.
Simpson was accused of being the mastermind and getaway car driver. Two unidentified men, who were not prosecuted, were accused of entering the store and actually pulling off the heist.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/20/former_calif_gang_member_gets_126_years/
2nd-grader suspended for drawing of gun
October 20, 2007
DENNIS TOWNSHIP, N.J. --A second-grader's drawing of a stick figure shooting a gun earned him a one-day school suspension.
Kyle Walker, 7, was suspended last week for violating Dennis Township Primary School's zero-tolerance policy on guns, the boy's mother, Shirley McDevitt, told The Press of Atlantic City.
Kyle gave the picture to another child on the school bus, and that child's parents complained about it to school officials, McDevitt said. Her son told her the drawing was of a water gun, she said.
A photocopy of the picture provided by McDevitt showed two stick figures with one pointing a crude-looking gun at the other, the newspaper said. What appeared to be the word "me" was written above the shooter, with another name scribbled above the other figure.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/20/2nd_grader_suspended_for_drawing_of_gun/
J.K. Rowling outs Hogwarts character
By Hillel Italie, AP National Writer October 20, 2007
NEW YORK --Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall.
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2007/10/20/jk_rowling_outs_hogwarts_character/?p1=MEWell_Pos1
60 educators disciplined, more than a third for sexual misconduct
By Jay Lindsay, Associated Press Writer
October 20, 2007
BOSTON --More than 60 educators were disciplined or dismissed during a five-year period in Massachusetts for ethical or criminal offenses, including more than a third who were accused of sexual misconduct ranging from sex harassment to child rape, according to a review of records by The Associated Press.
Many of the sexual misconduct cases made headlines, such as the teacher who sent naked photos to a student.
But other cases were prosecuted with little fanfare, or schools chose to keep the cases quiet. A North Middlesex teacher, for example, was caught nearly naked with a student, but school officials did not release those details to protect her privacy.
Records of sexual misconduct can be found in districts, or with the courts if the cases are criminal, but the records often aren't in plain sight, said attorney Dean Pickett, vice chairman of the National Council of School Attorneys.
"It takes someone saying, 'I think I need to know why John Doe won't be teaching any more,'" Pickett said.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/10/20/60_educators_disciplined_more_than_a_third_for_sexual_misconduct_1192899901/
Gambling in Massachusetts
Editorials and columns on the prospect of casinos in the Bay State
As Governor Deval Patrick and other Massachusetts officials consider a push for expanded gambling in the state, op-ed columnists and the Globe's editorial board weigh in on the issue.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/gambling_mass/
After the Karachi bombing
October 20, 2007
THE SUICIDE bombing directed against Pakistan's former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, on her return home Thursday after eight years in exile illuminates the destructive forces threatening to tear that country apart. In the aftermath of the atrocity, it falls to Bhutto and other temperate political leaders in Pakistan to rally all democratic forces against the violence of Islamist militants and in favor of the rule of law.
Rival party leaders have expressed their sympathy to Bhutto, who came home to lead her Pakistan People's Party in parliamentary elections to be held by mid-January. It remains for those disparate parties to unite in condemnation of both jihadist terrorism and military dictatorship, and to demand free, fair, and transparent parliamentary elections.
The victims of the attack on Bhutto's homecoming procession were among more than a million Pakistanis who were in the streets, not solely to cheer the leader of one party, but to demonstrate their yearning for a return to genuine democracy. Paradoxically, there may be a better chance now than before the bombing to restore civilian democracy. But that chance may be missed unless Bhutto and her civilian political rivals cooperate.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/10/20/after_the_karachi_bombing/
Gore's warnings present clear choice
October 20, 2007
BJORN LOMBORG'S Oct. 13 op-ed "An inconvenient Peace Prize" misrepresents Al Gore's statements and misconstrues the findings of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Lomborg writes that Gore, in his film, warns audiences "to expect 20-foot sea-level rises over this century." This is untrue. Gore correctly says that Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets are each equivalent to 20 feet of sea level. He then suggests what would happen "if Greenland broke up and melted or if half of Greenland and half of West Antarctica broke up and melted." Even the IPCC-projected 2-foot rise in sea level by 2100 would wreak havoc in coastal cities worldwide.
Glacial instabilities are causing earthquakes on Greenland. The area of summer Arctic sea ice, which decreased 1 percent per year over the past three decades, shrunk a shocking 20 percent this year.
We have a clear choice: Use climate science to guide us toward actions that minimize adverse impacts of climate change, or be seduced into inaction by distortions such as those of Mr. Lomborg.
If a panel of prominent physicians diagnosed a deadly disease and advised urgent treatment, while a statistician counseled, "Don't worry, be happy," whose recommendation would you follow?
JAMES J. McCARTHY
Cambridge
The writer, a professor of biological oceanography at Harvard, cochaired the 2001 IPCC working group that assessed impacts of climate change.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2007/10/20/gores_warnings_present_clear_choice/
Women, science, and gender bias
By Cathy Young
October 20, 2007
THE DEBATE over women's place in science, which proved to be the downfall of Harvard President Lawrence Summers after he suggested that male preeminence in the field could be due at least partly to biological traits and personal choices, remains a lightning rod for controversy. Earlier this month, the subject was tackled in two different symposiums - one at Harvard, the other at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based right-of-center think tank.
Both events focused on the National Academy of Sciences report issued last fall by an almost all-female NAS committee. The report takes the position that any existing cognitive gender differences are irrelevant to success in science and engineering, and that women in these fields continue to be held back by pervasive gender biases and institutional barriers. This viewpoint was summed up at the Harvard symposium by one of the report's coauthors, Maria Zuber, professor of geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/10/20/women_science_and_gender_bias/
Richardson gives candid answers in N.H.
By Holly Ramer, Associated Press Writer
October 20, 2007
NORTH HAMPTON, N.H. --Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson realizes his position on illegal immigration costs him votes, but he says he's determined to "accept it and do the right thing."
The New Mexico governor applied that same attitude to a range of issues Saturday, giving candid answers to voters gathered at a supporter's home.
When a woman urged him to forget corn-based ethanol and focus only on other potential renewable fuel sources, Richardson refused. When a man asked him to support raising taxes on gasoline, Richardson again said no.
"I think the middle class has been hit enough, and I think there are better ways to do it," he said, saying he prefers tax incentives for companies that develop renewable energy sources and other measures.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/20/richardson_gives_candid_answers_in_nh/
continued...
I would think when a link to The New York Times shows up in a Chinese Paper; an editor would consider that a huge apology and extension of cooperation
China’s coal-fired economy is growing so rapidly that it could become the world’s No. 1 producer of heat-trapping gases by this year. China derives 68 percent of its energy from coal; this mine is in Ningxia Province.
China, a third world nation, has a Climate Change plan. Does the USA? I didn't think so.
At the above link is an article from The China Daily. Within that article is a link to one the New York Times printed regarding the Chinese plan. I think they trust media that leans to the left enough to be honest. I thought that was interesting. The New York Times need not complain so much about China.
The American news media needs to complain loudly about the current and corrupt Republican administration. It's the only LAZY administration on the planet in regard to climate change, pollution from coal fired plants, mercury pollution from American smokestakes of it's fisheries and air quality, raising standards of arsenic in water and allowing SUVs with low miles per gallon standards. LAZY. The Bush leadership in the USA for seven consecutive years can only be described with one work other than corrupt and criminal and that is LAZY.
In the video below a very candid and honest assessment of the circumstances in China is revealed. To me, China is still a developing nation. It's needs are huge considering it cares for 1.3 billion people.
China is not perfect, but, neither is the USA. In the face of any reality that China is a third world nation struggling to change it's energy resources, control it's pollution and expand it's services to all the people of that nation, while seeing all the people are fed; it's really an indictment of the USA for doing NOTHING regarding Human Induced Global Warming.
When realizing the monies that China has spent and the work hours that have gone into a project like The Three Gorges Dam, it is very, very difficult to point a finger and call China a nation that doesn't care about it's people. It's come a long way in the past ten years and it has that much further to go, however, one is talking about a country WILLING to move aggressively into the next decades with advancements to match those they have already accomplished.
It is completely obvious with over three times the people the USA has, the Chinese government cares about it's people and tries to seek solutions for their problems. Lask week in the news media of China it was noted it will have health coverage for all it's people in the near future. I don't know about anyone else, but, as a third world nation, China is doing a remarkable job at moving forward to first world status. And Bush INSISTS the Human Induced Global Warming problem belongs to whom exactly?
The American news media needs to complain loudly about the current and corrupt Republican administration. It's the only LAZY administration on the planet in regard to climate change, pollution from coal fired plants, mercury pollution from American smokestakes of it's fisheries and air quality, raising standards of arsenic in water and allowing SUVs with low miles per gallon standards. LAZY. The Bush leadership in the USA for seven consecutive years can only be described with one work other than corrupt and criminal and that is LAZY.
In the video below a very candid and honest assessment of the circumstances in China is revealed. To me, China is still a developing nation. It's needs are huge considering it cares for 1.3 billion people.
China is not perfect, but, neither is the USA. In the face of any reality that China is a third world nation struggling to change it's energy resources, control it's pollution and expand it's services to all the people of that nation, while seeing all the people are fed; it's really an indictment of the USA for doing NOTHING regarding Human Induced Global Warming.
When realizing the monies that China has spent and the work hours that have gone into a project like The Three Gorges Dam, it is very, very difficult to point a finger and call China a nation that doesn't care about it's people. It's come a long way in the past ten years and it has that much further to go, however, one is talking about a country WILLING to move aggressively into the next decades with advancements to match those they have already accomplished.
It is completely obvious with over three times the people the USA has, the Chinese government cares about it's people and tries to seek solutions for their problems. Lask week in the news media of China it was noted it will have health coverage for all it's people in the near future. I don't know about anyone else, but, as a third world nation, China is doing a remarkable job at moving forward to first world status. And Bush INSISTS the Human Induced Global Warming problem belongs to whom exactly?
Beijing's clear-air bid may yield environmental gold
5:00AM Thursday October 18, 2007
By Peter Huck
One of the intriguing questions sinologists might ponder this week, as the Chinese Communist Party holds its party congress, is if climate change is on the agenda.
Given the shadowy world of Chinese politics, it is hard to know. "The Communist Party is at an odd junction right now," says Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. "They're very divided about exactly how much more of this full-steam-ahead economic development they can do without reining some of it in."
For China's extraordinary progress has bequeathed a monstrous legacy of environmental degradation.
Last week China's state media admitted that the massive Three Gorges Dam, a showpiece engineering feat on the Yangtze River, threatens "environmental catastrophe," necessitating the evacuation of four million people.
This blow is hardly welcome as the world's media focuses on next year's Olympics. But therein, believes Garrett, lies an eco-opportunity for President Hu Jintao....
By Peter Huck
One of the intriguing questions sinologists might ponder this week, as the Chinese Communist Party holds its party congress, is if climate change is on the agenda.
Given the shadowy world of Chinese politics, it is hard to know. "The Communist Party is at an odd junction right now," says Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. "They're very divided about exactly how much more of this full-steam-ahead economic development they can do without reining some of it in."
For China's extraordinary progress has bequeathed a monstrous legacy of environmental degradation.
Last week China's state media admitted that the massive Three Gorges Dam, a showpiece engineering feat on the Yangtze River, threatens "environmental catastrophe," necessitating the evacuation of four million people.
This blow is hardly welcome as the world's media focuses on next year's Olympics. But therein, believes Garrett, lies an eco-opportunity for President Hu Jintao....
Morning Papers - continued...
Sydney Morning Herald
Plame memoir bags Bush boys
Anne Davies Herald Correspondent in Washington
October 20, 2007
IT IS the spy scandal that continues to dog the White House even though many of its key players, like Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, are already fading into history.
Four years after her CIA cover was blown in a newspaper column - allegedly at the behest of the White House - Valerie Plame, America's "Jane Bond", is about to get even.
Her memoir will be published on Monday, and the White House can expect to be in the firing line. She takes aim at staffers - notably President George Bush's former chief of staff, Rove, and Vice-President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Libby - as well as the journalists involved in leaking her name into the public domain.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/plame-memoir-bags-bush-boys/2007/10/19/1192301044786.html
Workers sue over horse flu outbreak
Frank Walker
October 21, 2007
THOUSANDS of horse industry workers will be included in a planned class action suing the Federal Government for hundreds of millions of dollars in losses because of the horse flu outbreak.
Lawyers representing several horse associations said they were building a case against the Federal Government's Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service based on alleged negligence for failing to prevent the outbreak.
A law firm planning a class action, Clinch Neville Long Letherbarrow, is collecting details of financial losses from a range of people in the horse industry.
"They include vets, saddlers, riding schools, instructors, farriers, equestrian associations, suppliers and breeders," said a partner in the firm, Matthew Hourn.
"Tens of thousands of people lost their income.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/workers-sue-over-horse-flu/2007/10/20/1192301100160.html
Air sickness
Matthew Benns
October 21, 2007
FLIGHT crews have been overcome by toxic fumes on Australian jets, the latest on a Qantas flight from Los Angeles to Auckland.
Senior pilots warn that crew and regular passengers could suffer serious long-term illnesses unless the aviation industry admits jet airliners worldwide have a critical design flaw.
A Qantas flight engineer was off work for a week after inhaling toxic fumes on the flight deck of a Boeing 747 flying from Los Angeles to Auckland in July. WorkCover in NSW issued an improvement order telling the airline to address the problem.
But The Sun-Herald can reveal it was not a one-off incident, and that flight crews fear there would be "a disaster" if both pilots were overcome by fumes during a flight.
Australian & International Pilots Association general manager Peter Somerville said: "People don't need to stop flying but there is a problem and it needs to be fixed."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/toxic-fumes-permeate-cabins/2007/10/20/1192301100075.html
Backpack backdown
Lost sales … Zebra Crossing Club hopes its plush toy backpacks will be big sellers this Christmas, despite 'copycat' versions briefly appearing on Kmart shelves.
Photo: Rebecca Hallas
Heath Gilmore
October 21, 2007
RETAIL giant Kmart has been forced to recall and destroy thousands of toy animal backpacks and trolleys after it was accused by a small local business of ripping off its designs.
Owners of the Zebra Crossing Club brand, Paul Iorlano and Micha Nangami, were hoping their Backpack Buddies and Wheelie Friends designs, with detachable plush toy, would be big sellers this Christmas.
But in July Kmart began advertising its new plush fabric Animal Backpack Buddy and Travel Buddy trolley - almost $15 cheaper than the Zebra Crossing Club products. The Melbourne-based designers feared financial ruin. The pair, who have a trademark registration on the products, hired trademark lawyer Trevor Choy.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/kmart-recalls-toy-bags/2007/10/20/1192301100115.html
Sun-loving migrants heading our way
Hannah Edwards Environment Reporter
October 21, 2007
CANE toads and dangerous marine stingers are among an army of animals migrating south to Sydney to enjoy rising temperatures brought on by climate change.
Warm-climate species already here include the green sea turtle, several types of butterfly and moth, an unusual cockroach and a cicada.
Australian Museum naturalist Martyn Robinson warned that unwelcome species, such as the destructive cane toad, might arrive in the near future.
At the same time, many local insects and animals that find Sydney too warm are heading south. The red-crowned toadlet, the blackbird, sparrow and European wasp are now rarely seen.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sunloving-migrants-heading-our-way/2007/10/20/1192301100096.html
Private firms chasing $10bn in unpaid tax
Frank Walker
October 21, 2007
THE Australian Tax Office has for the first time hired private debt collectors to try to gather $10.1 billion in unpaid taxes.
It will spend $42 million of taxpayers' money to pay the approved debt collection firms.
Most of the outstanding debt has been built up by companies rather than individuals.
The debt collectors will also be calling on bosses who have failed to pay $299 million in workers' superannuation contributions.
The move comes after a three-month trial last year in which debt collection firm Dun & Bradstreet managed to haul in $21 million in unpaid taxes. It was paid a $220,000 fee.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/private-firms-chasing-10bn-in-unpaid-tax/2007/10/20/1192301100157.html
Google brings up result in the billions
Jessica Guynn in San Francisco
October 20, 2007
GOOGLE outgoogled itself in the third quarter. With the market counting on an aeronautic financial performance from the internet search leader, Google turned on the afterburners and surpassed even the most bullish expectations that have propelled the stock price into rarefied air.
With a market value just shy of $US200 billion ($224 billion), Google on Thursday edged past Cisco as Silicon Valley's most valuable company.
Google's profit jumped 46 per cent to $US1.07 billion on a 57 per cent rise in revenue to $US4.23 billion, propelled by simple text ads on web pages.
"It's an amazing business performance for a company of that magnitude to sustain those levels of growth," Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, said. "We always look for balance and we are looking very hard to find something negative to say about this quarter, but it's very difficult. Google improved on all fronts we were hoping it would improve on."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/google-brings-up-result-in-the-billions/2007/10/19/1192301043412.html
Rising grain prices put a dent in fuel revolution
EVENTS in the Middle East this week should have guaranteed towns such as Condobolin a thriving role in the biofuels revolution.
Turkey's determination to go after Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq spooked markets and saw the global oil price reach record highs of nearly $US90 ($101) a barrel.
That's more than twice the price at which an ethanol industry was supposed to be a viable concern in Australia.
But this week Oaklands, Coleambally and Condobolin in NSW, and Swan Hill just over the Murray River in Victoria, were dealing with news that proposed Agri Energy ethanol plants had been put indefinitely on hold.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/rising-grain-prices-put-a-dent-in-fuel-revolution/2007/10/19/1192301043371.html
Sugar cane country goes green
The practice of burning sugar cane before harvest is being fazed out in favour of green harvesting.
Sugarcane Country - The Burn Goes Green
http://www.smh.com.au/multimedia/2007/national/canefarmers/index.html
US asks court to dismiss rendition lawsuit
October 20, 2007 - 12:21PM
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The US government has asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit against a unit of Boeing that charges the firm helped fly suspects abroad to secret prisons.
"Allowing plaintiffs' claims to proceed would risk the disclosure of highly classified information concerning the alleged 'intelligence activities, sources, and methods' of the CIA," said the filing, signed by Acting Assistant Attorney-General Jeffrey Bucholtz.
The American Civil Liberties Union first filed a complaint in May accusing Jeppesen Dataplan Inc of providing flight and logistical support to at least 15 aircraft on 70 "extraordinary-rendition" flights.
The complaint to the US District Court for the Northern District of California alleged Jeppesen "falsified flight plans to European air traffic control authorities to avoid public scrutiny of CIA flights".
The ACLU filed the suit on behalf of five men who say the CIA had them flown to foreign prisons for interrogations and torture.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/us-seeks-to-squash-rendition-lawsuit/2007/10/20/1192301086138.html
Market plays follow-the-leader, lands in red
THE Australian stockmarket ended the week in the red, with losses in all sectors after a slight dip on Wall Street overnight.
At the close, the benchmark ASX 200 index was down by 61.4 points at 6706.3 and the All Ordinaries 57.7 points lower at 6723.3. For the week, the ASX 200 was down by 42.6 points compared with last Friday's close.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange the December share price index contract lost 91 points to 6730 on a volume of 22,458 contracts.
A dealer with CMC Markets, Matt Wacher, said the market had followed a weak lead from the US. "The US markets provided little lead overnight, and for the second day in a row local investors looked to the Asian region for direction and followed Asian markets lower."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/market-plays-followtheleader-lands-in-red/2007/10/19/1192301043377.html
Skype goes mobile
Asher Moses
October 19, 2007 - 12:40PM
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Skype is preparing to launch its own branded mobile phone in conjunction with the 3 mobile network as early as this month.
The phone is codenamed "white phone" and BusinessWeek reported it would launch in Australia, Britain, Italy and Hong Kong "by late October".
A spokeswoman for 3 in Australia confirmed it was working with a leading internet communications company "to produce an exciting new product to make free internet calls completely mobile".
She would not give any further details but said the product would "close the gap between internet communications and mobile calling and is something you won't see from any other operator".
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/skype-goes-mobile/2007/10/19/1192301008633.html
Suiteness and light
In a sun-drenched city tower Julietta Jameson finds a Sydney address to impress.
THE LAST time my niece came from country Western Australia to visit me with her family, it did not go so well. I live in the tiniest of one-bedroom apartments, with no room for more than one visitor at a time, two at a push. So the foursome that was my niece, nephew, brother and his wife needed to sleep elsewhere.
I put them up in a nearby motel that I saw as cheap and cheerful. It was on the bus route, in a quiet neighbourhood, with panoramic coastal views. It also had a fabulous 1960s Hollywood charm, with its red neon sign, palm trees and kidney-shaped pool.
At least, I thought it did. That charm was clearly lost on my 10-year-old niece, who did not consider the place up to standard. (She wasn't alone. It's since been demolished for apartments.)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/short-breaks/a-sydney-address-to-impress/2007/10/11/1191696064076.html
Father's road death crumbled son, court told
THE son of an 83-year-old Sydney war veteran "crumbled" after his father was killed by another pedestrian who had shoved him out of his way.
Robert Narramore died after falling into the path of a passing car when he was pushed aside by Craig William Wheatley on a footpath in September last year.
At a sentencing hearing in the NSW Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Virginia Bell was told Robert Narramore jnr had been deeply affected since receiving the first call about the tragedy in Riverwood. "From being able to handle the everyday stresses of life and work, there is now a little bottle of pills sitting on the shelf," his wife, Joan, wrote of him.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/19/1192301045417.html
Global fury over Puerto Rico pet massacre
October 19, 2007 - 12:31PM
The fury over the massacre of dozens of seized dogs and cats in Puerto Rico has gone global.
Thousands of people from Puerto Rico and around the world have signed an online petition calling on the governor of the U.S. Caribbean territory to ensure those who hurled some 80 pets off a highway bridge last week are brought to justice.
Nadia Donato, a 39-year-old New Yorker, said Wednesday an Associated Press story that appeared Friday about the slaughter of the dogs and cats drove her to tears — and to launch the petition drive.
A local activist
http://www.smh.com.au/news/pets/fury-over-us-pet-massacre/2007/10/19/1192301008079.html
Heads roll over nuke error
IN its first explicit confirmation that nuclear-armed missiles were erroneously flown across the United States, the US Air Force has called the episode an "unacceptable mistake" and a safety and security breach that had never happened before.
"We are making all appropriate changes to ensure this has a minimal chance of ever happening again," Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said.
He spoke at a Pentagon news conference after Defence Secretary Robert Gates was briefed on the results of the air force's investigation into the August 29-30 incident, which is regarded as one of the worst known breaches of nuclear weapons-handling procedures in decades. Appearing with Mr Wynne was Major-General Richard Newton, the air force deputy chief of staff for operations, who attributed the episode to an "unprecedented string of procedural errors".
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/heads-roll-over-nuke-error/2007/10/20/1192301098964.html
Iraqi dilemma over Turkey
TURKEY'S decision to send troops across Iraq's border in pursuit of Kurdish guerillas presents Iraq's leaders with a problem.
On one hand, Iraq wants a cordial relationship with Turkey, a powerhouse in the region and a counterweight to the competing pulls of Iran and Saudi Arabia.
But Iraq has been unable to do much to halt the rebels' activities because its central government must rely on its ethnic Kurdish minority - that lives in the region where the guerillas are active - to take a stand against them.
The Qandil Mountains region near the Turkish border - one of the most rugged areas in the Middle East - has never been fully under any government control.
Iraq's Kurdish region has been semi-autonomous since 1991 and controls its own military, which also patrols the border with Turkey. The ethnic Kurds are reluctant to fight the rebels, who are primarily from Turkey and speak Turkish, because it means fighting brother Kurds with whom they are generally sympathetic.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/iraqi-dilemma-over-turkey/2007/10/19/1192301044798.html
Inequality soars even as China's poverty plunges
John Garnaut and Maya Li in Beijing
October 20, 2007
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THE number of people living in poverty has fallen below 1 billion for the first time since measurements began, and the one-third decline since 1981 is almost entirely due to a rising China.
China explains why the world is on track to meet the World Bank's millennium development goal of halving the number of people on less than $US1 a day by 2015, Martin Ravallion, the director of the World Bank's Development Research Group, told a poverty conference in Beijing this week. "We've never seen anything like it," he said.
A Stockholm University professor, Peter Svedberg, said the number of stunted and underweight Chinese children had halved in the 10 years to 2002.
Figures and analysis released at the conference, co-hosted by the International Food Policy Research Institute, shows poverty is rapidly becoming a South Asian and African problem.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/inequality-soars-even-as-chinas-poverty-plunges/2007/10/19/1192301044792.html
US search engines 'hijacked' in China
October 19, 2007 - 5:10PM
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US internet search engines in China were being hijacked and directed to Chinese-owned Baidu, analysts said Wednesday, speculating that the move was in retaliation for Washington's award to Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Analysts at Search Engine Roundtable, a website focusing on Internet search, said Chinese users trying to search on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft websites were being directed to the Chinese search engine.
Google confirmed the blocking of its Chinese search engine and Microsoft said it was looking into the matter.
"It seems like China is fed up with the US, so as a way to fight back, they redirected virtually all search traffic from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to Baidu, the Chinese based search engine," analysts Danny Sullivan and Barry Schwartz wrote at Search Engine Roundtable.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/us-search-engines-hijacked-in-china/2007/10/19/1192301035610.html
Bombings by Taliban soar
WASHINGTON: Afghanistan's Defence Minister has asked for more money and equipment to fight rising Taliban violence as his US counterpart, Robert Gates, criticised NATO allies for failing to deliver promised aid.
Abdul Rahim Wardak said suicide bombings were up 50 per cent from a year ago and that the Afghan Army needed more troops and equipment.
"We have achieved a great deal with limited manpower and old weapons and equipment," General Wardak said on Thursday after meeting Mr Gates, the US Defence Secretary, at the Pentagon.
"Imagine what we could do with better equipment and additional help."
Despite six years of war in Afghanistan, the Taliban regained strength last year and has stepped up attacks on US, Afghan and NATO forces this year. NATO forces have also begun to intercept convoys of bomb technology coming into Afghanistan from Iran, NATO and US military officials say.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bombings-by-taliban-soar/2007/10/19/1192301044804.html
Rome or Bangkok? Sydney's reputation depends on the answer
Scooters. They're spreading like nits in a kindy. At the lights there's always one or two now. Guy in a suit. Tiny girl in heels. Off they dart like they've done something wrong.
And so, as a city we face a difficult choice. What kind of scooter city do we want to become? Do we want to be Rome or Bangkok?
Sydney was never a scooter city. The scooter stood out in Sydney traffic like someone in socks and sandals on the Corso. It was wrong. What kind of vehicle was that for Australian conditions? How could you tow a boat or a van or hit the ton on the Hume on one of those things? A scooter had all the cachet of a Gogomobile with none of the wit.
There were some mods with furry jackets and a mirror fetish roaming the streets in the hope of a ska band. Occasionally someone would be inspired by a trip abroad and they would become scooter advocates for a moment. It was much like the sari and the sarong - what seemed brilliant in Goa or Kuta just didn't fit here.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/rome-or-bangkok-sydneys-reputation-depends-on-the-answer/2007/10/19/1192301044262.html
Bit of a fabulous obsession, darling, with all the chiffon and ageing execs
Why does anyone read the social pages? Why stir up confused feelings of rage, boredom and jealousy? And yet people do. I am one of them. Like many people, I might happen to just glance, almost accidentally, at these pages over breakfast on Sunday.
Like being drawn to a car accident or a nasty wound, something about the heady circuit of shop openings and cook-book launches fascinates, something about the talk of "fashion supremos", "top execs" and "marketing honchos" in their "threads" draws me in, despite the self-disgust that comes with being a gawker.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/bit-of-a-fabulous-obsession-darling-with-all-the-chiffon-andageing-execs/2007/10/19/1192301044253.html
New Zealand Herald
Pygmies stand tall over logging
5:00AM Tuesday October 16, 2007
By Jonathan Brown
Forty million people in the Congo, including 600,000 pygmies, depend on the rainforests for survival. Photo / Reuters
The rumble of giant machinery heralds the arrival of loggers deep in the heart of the Congo rainforest. For the pygmy tribes who have inhabited this thick jungle for millennia, the sound of the advancing column is the sound of encroaching hunger and the loss of a way of life stretching back hundreds of generations.
"They bring with them huge machines which go deep into the forest and make noise which frightens all the game animals away," says Adrian Sinafasi, the man seeking to alert the outside world to the plight of central Africa's pygmies. "When the loggers arrive, they bring many workers who are needed to fell the trees. They also need to eat and start hunting but, rather than use traditional weapons in the right season, they hunt with firearms and don't care about seasons or how much food they take."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10470039
Biofuels are coming, ready or not
5:00AM Monday October 15, 2007
By Angela Gregory
Why are we asking this now?
New Zealand's fuel companies are expected to start selling biofuels from 2008 as part of the Government's policy to fight climate change and reduce our dependence on imported transport fuels. Biofuels will have to account for at least 3.4 per cent of total fuel sales by 2012. Oil companies have not revealed exactly how they will meet the targets but they could introduce bioethanol petrol blends for 91 or higher octane petrol or biodiesel.
What is biofuel?
Fuels that can be produced from or are made up of a renewable material of plant or animal origin. Those used in transport are typically bioethanol and biodiesel blends. Bioethanol is made from sugar and starch products while biodiesel is produced from vegetable oil or animal fats.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10469825
6 big ideas to change face of the Earth
5:00AM Saturday October 13, 2007
By Robin McKie and Juliette Jowit
Endless treaties to cut carbon emissions and halt global warming have failed to turn the tide of pollution. Now coming into focus are the ultimate technological fixes: schemes that will span our planet and involve scientists in reshaping our world to save it from global warming.
Yet only a few years ago, such projects - giant space mirrors, flotillas of artificial cloud makers and ocean fertilisation programmes - were dismissed as the stuff of science fiction.
Today many engineers and researchers - fearful of the rate at which our planet is warming - say geo-engineering projects are now mankind's only hope of saving itself from the impact of climate change.
A major report and a new exhibition at the Science Museum in London, starting next week, will resurrect the debate.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10469553
War threat a deliberate 'wind up' claims activist
5:00AM Sunday October 21, 2007
By Stephen Cook
Anti-terror police have been accused of falling victim to a well-organised hoax designed to ambush a year-long investigation into alleged paramilitary operations around the country.
Self-styled activist Jamie Lockett - one of 17 people arrested as part of nationwide police raids on suspected weapons training camps - is claiming incriminating text and phone messages were sent deliberately to wind up police who had been bugging his phone.
Lockett and his network of supporters are also claiming the men seen in surveillance photographs at a training camp in the Ureweras are actually members of the New Zealand Army, who were on a training exercise at the time.
Police allege Lockett attended the camp around the time the photographs were taken, but supporters say an entry in his work diary shows he was in Auckland on that date.
Several of Lockett's associates have
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10471147
New wind warning for Harbour Bridge
5:00AM Sunday October 21, 2007
By Jared Savage
Heavy trucks should be banned completely from the Auckland Harbour Bridge clip-on lanes in high winds, according to an official engineering report - despite earlier assurances from Transit that no such measures were necessary.
Extreme winds have emerged as a potentially greater risk than previously thought by Transit, and a recent report from Beca Infrastructure recommended further tunnel wind testing in Australia.
The June report also said more strengthening work was needed to cater for potential contact between the main truss bridge and the clip-on extensions.
"It can be confirmed that heavy traffic must be restricted on the extensions in high winds.
"Under peak traffic loading, the box girder touches down on the truss bridge, requiring local strengthening of both the box girders and truss bridge."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10471131
Pain at the pumps as petrol prices increase
5:00AM Sunday October 21, 2007
By Alice Hudson
Thousands of holiday makers heading away for the long weekend were hit hard in the pocket at the fuel pumps yesterday, by which time all fuel retailers had bowed to pressure and hiked prices.
BP had led the way on Wednesday, upping prices for 91 octane by 3 cents a litre to 163.9c. Diesel rose to 116.9c.
By yesterday, as queues of cars waited for a turn at the pumps, the remainder of the big four had settled on the slightly more affordable, but still comparatively expensive rate of 160.9c per litre for 91 octane and 113.9c for diesel.
Caltex spokeswoman Sharon Buckland had earlier told the New Zealand Herald the company tried to avoid putting up prices to coincide with the long weekend.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10471159
Air force colonels sacked after nuclear bombs flown over US
9:10AM Sunday October 21, 2007
By Stephen Foley
NEW YORK - The US Air Force has disciplined 70 service personnel after nuclear warheads capable of unleashing the equivalent of 10 Hiroshima bombs were mistakenly flown across the US.
A Pentagon investigation found that air and ground crews took a "lackadaisical" approach to vital safety checks put in place during the Cold War.
In the incident on 30 August, a B-52 bomber took off from the remote Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota with 12 cruise missiles that were being taken out of commission and scheduled for burial at the opposite end of the country at a Louisiana air base.
The warheads on the decommissioned missiles should have been replaced with dummies of the same weight, but personnel failed to notice that six of the 12 were fully operational nuclear warheads.
The 1,770km flight was the first time in 40 years that nuclear bombs have been flown over US territory without top-level authorisation, and the terrifying mistake was not discovered for 36 hours.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10471183
Kidnapped Colombian dog found days after shootout
5:10PM Saturday October 20, 2007
BOGOTA - A kidnapped Colombian dog held for $350,000 ($NZ470,873) ransom was recovered on Friday after his abductors dropped him off at a veterinarian's office, saying he needed a bath.
When no one came to pick up the German shepherd after it was washed, the office called police who said they identified the canine as Aldo de Fescol, snatched last month from his home in a rich Bogota neighborhood while his owners were away.
No ransom was paid, police said.
Aldo was in healthy condition but two of his kidnappers were wounded in a Tuesday shootout with police who ambushed them at a fake meeting staged to pay the extortion money.
The abductors tried to pressure the family by sending a proof of life video with a note saying, "This is how your dog cries at night."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10471082
Blair emerges as candidate for 'President of Europe'
4:00PM Saturday October 20, 2007
By Andrew Grice
Tony Blair has emerged as a possible candidate for "President of Europe", a new post created by the treaty approved by EU leaders at their Lisbon summit.
The former prime minister's name was put in the frame yesterday by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, who described Mr Blair as "a very remarkable man - the most European of all Britons."
He added: "To think of him would be a good idea."
The treaty scraps the current system under which one country holds the EU's rotating presidency for six months.
It will be replaced by the appointment of a President, who will chair EU meetings, drive through its agenda and serve for two-and-a-half years.
Gordon Brown said: "Tony Blair would be a great candidate for any significant international job."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10471080
Guns still have stranglehold on US despite mass shootings
5:00AM Saturday October 20, 2007
A gun in a US home is 22 times more likely to be used in an accidental shooting, a murder or a suicide than in self-defence against an attack. Photo / Reuters
Shirley Katz is not afraid to fight for her rights. Last week the schoolteacher, 44, went to court in her home town of Medford, Oregon, to protest at her working conditions. Specifically she is outraged she cannot carry a handgun into class. "I know it is my right to carry that gun," she said.
Katz was in court in the week someone else took a gun to school in America. Asa Coon, 14, walked the corridors of his school in Cleveland Ohio, a gun in each hand, shooting two teachers and two students. Then he killed himself. Coon's attempted massacre made headlines.
But a more bloody rampage, the murder of six young partygoers by policeman Tyler Peterson in Crandon, Wisconsin, got less attention, even in the New York Times - America's newspaper of record - which buried it deep inside the paper.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10470960
Elephants see red as a risky colour
5:00AM Saturday October 20, 2007
Elephants are very intelligent animals. Photo / Reuters
Elephants mourn their dead and engage in long-distance communication using barely audible, low-frequency growls. Now they have been shown to be able to distinguish between different human tribes based on the smell and colour of their clothing.
It is believed to be the first time that any wild animal has been found to have the ability to categorise different sub-groups within the same species depending on the potential threat that they pose.
A study of elephants in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya has found that they react differently to members of the Maasai, cattle-herding pastoralists whose young men sometimes spear elephants to prove their virility, and the Kamba, who are village-dwelling farmers who pose little threat to them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10470952
Nobel prize-winning scientist suspended
8:15AM Saturday October 20, 2007
Prominent New York scientific institution the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory suspended Nobel Prize-winning geneticist Dr James Watson yesterday over racially insensitive comments he was quoted as making in a newspaper interview.
Last weekend the Sunday Times newspaper printed an interview in which Watson was quoted as saying he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10470963
Scared faces warning
7:15AM Monday October 15, 2007
Happy faces make less of an impression on the brain than fearful ones, new research has shown.
Tests showed the brain becomes aware of a scared face faster than it does one that is smiling. The reaction is thought to be an instinct that evolved as a "threat radar" millions of years ago.
Psychologist Dr David Zald, from Vanderbilt University in Nashville in the US, who co-led the study, said: "There are reasons to believe that the brain has evolved mechanisms to detect things in the environment that signal threat. One of those signals is a look of fear.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10469889
Nearly half of smokers want ban on advertising
12:37PM Monday October 15, 2007
By Craig Borley
Almost half of New Zealand's smokers believe point-of-sale cigarette displays should be banned, a Cancer Society survey has found.
However, Dunedin Green MP Metiria Turei believes there is little chance the displays will be outlawed, as the two major political parties are unlikely to back such a proposal.
Speaking after a Cancer Society of New Zealand survey showed 46 per cent of smokers had tried to quit in the past year, and 45 per cent believed point-of-sale advertising made quitting difficult, Mrs Turei said only the Green Party and Maori Party were likely supporters of the societys call to ban the displays.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10470415
Norovirus outbreak in Christchurch
12:50PM Saturday October 13, 2007
The Norovirus genome under a microscope.
An outbreak of norovirus is continuing to put pressure on hospital services in Christchurch.
Four wards at Princess Margaret Hospital are closed to new admissions, along with another two at Christchurch Hospital and one more at Burwood Hospital.
Canterbury District Health Board says it has the virus contained, but needs people to stay away from the Emergency Department unless they have a genuine emergency.
Communications Manager Michele Hider says there is a lot of norovirus in the community at the moment.
It is a severe form of gastroenteritis, the symptoms of which include stomach pain, diarrhea and vomiting.
Ms Hider says shutting wards off to deal with the cases they have means less space or even no space for new patients.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10469692
Dolphins flown to Dubai resort
5:00AM Friday October 19, 2007
Two jet airliners carrying 28 live dolphins have left the Solomon Islands bound for Dubai, despite protests from environmental groups and threats to boycott Solomons tuna.
The dolphins were loaded by staff of the Marine Mammal Education Centre and Exporters, a company run by Canadian Chris Porter.
Director Robert Satu said the dolphins would be looked after with "great care" on their 30-hour flight to Dubai, and the export would pave the way for more lucrative shipments.
The sale was worth more than $1.2 million.
The dolphins are going to Dubai's new Palm Atlantis resort hotel, partly owned by ruling elites in the United Arab Emirates.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10470811
Britain to claim part of Antarctica
9:21AM Thursday October 18, 2007
By Kate Kelland
LONDON - The British government plans to submit a claim to the United Nations to extend its Antarctic territory by a million square kilometres, the foreign office has said.
The claim is one of five territorial requests planned by the country ahead of a May 2009 deadline and covers a vast area of the seabed around British Antarctica near the south pole, a spokeswoman said.
"We are one of many coastal states who are submitting various claims," she said.
She said the four other claims would be for Atlantic seabed territory around South Georgia and the Falkland Islands and also around Ascension Island in the South Atlantic, near the Bay of Biscay in the North Atlantic, and in the Hatton-Rockall basin off Scotland's coast.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10470635
Climate hope lies in forests
5:00AM Thursday October 18, 2007
By Nick Mathiason
Industrial clearance of rainforests accounts for 20 per cent of greenhouse gases. Every second of each day a portion of jungle the size of a football pitch is destroyed. As timber is carted off for export, giant agribusinesses often move in. And so spins the nightmare cycle: a growing release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which in turn alters weather patterns and destroys delicate ecosystems.
Climate-change economists believe that slowing the speed of rainforest destruction is the most cost-effective way to fight global warming. In his British Treasury report into the economics of climate change last year, Nicholas Stern said US$5 billion ($6.6 billion) a year was needed to provide rainforest nations with funds to ensure what remained was kept intact. But many people say Stern is unduly optimistic and put the real price at US$15 billion ($20 billion).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10470521
continued...
Plame memoir bags Bush boys
Anne Davies Herald Correspondent in Washington
October 20, 2007
IT IS the spy scandal that continues to dog the White House even though many of its key players, like Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, are already fading into history.
Four years after her CIA cover was blown in a newspaper column - allegedly at the behest of the White House - Valerie Plame, America's "Jane Bond", is about to get even.
Her memoir will be published on Monday, and the White House can expect to be in the firing line. She takes aim at staffers - notably President George Bush's former chief of staff, Rove, and Vice-President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Libby - as well as the journalists involved in leaking her name into the public domain.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/plame-memoir-bags-bush-boys/2007/10/19/1192301044786.html
Workers sue over horse flu outbreak
Frank Walker
October 21, 2007
THOUSANDS of horse industry workers will be included in a planned class action suing the Federal Government for hundreds of millions of dollars in losses because of the horse flu outbreak.
Lawyers representing several horse associations said they were building a case against the Federal Government's Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service based on alleged negligence for failing to prevent the outbreak.
A law firm planning a class action, Clinch Neville Long Letherbarrow, is collecting details of financial losses from a range of people in the horse industry.
"They include vets, saddlers, riding schools, instructors, farriers, equestrian associations, suppliers and breeders," said a partner in the firm, Matthew Hourn.
"Tens of thousands of people lost their income.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/workers-sue-over-horse-flu/2007/10/20/1192301100160.html
Air sickness
Matthew Benns
October 21, 2007
FLIGHT crews have been overcome by toxic fumes on Australian jets, the latest on a Qantas flight from Los Angeles to Auckland.
Senior pilots warn that crew and regular passengers could suffer serious long-term illnesses unless the aviation industry admits jet airliners worldwide have a critical design flaw.
A Qantas flight engineer was off work for a week after inhaling toxic fumes on the flight deck of a Boeing 747 flying from Los Angeles to Auckland in July. WorkCover in NSW issued an improvement order telling the airline to address the problem.
But The Sun-Herald can reveal it was not a one-off incident, and that flight crews fear there would be "a disaster" if both pilots were overcome by fumes during a flight.
Australian & International Pilots Association general manager Peter Somerville said: "People don't need to stop flying but there is a problem and it needs to be fixed."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/toxic-fumes-permeate-cabins/2007/10/20/1192301100075.html
Backpack backdown
Lost sales … Zebra Crossing Club hopes its plush toy backpacks will be big sellers this Christmas, despite 'copycat' versions briefly appearing on Kmart shelves.
Photo: Rebecca Hallas
Heath Gilmore
October 21, 2007
RETAIL giant Kmart has been forced to recall and destroy thousands of toy animal backpacks and trolleys after it was accused by a small local business of ripping off its designs.
Owners of the Zebra Crossing Club brand, Paul Iorlano and Micha Nangami, were hoping their Backpack Buddies and Wheelie Friends designs, with detachable plush toy, would be big sellers this Christmas.
But in July Kmart began advertising its new plush fabric Animal Backpack Buddy and Travel Buddy trolley - almost $15 cheaper than the Zebra Crossing Club products. The Melbourne-based designers feared financial ruin. The pair, who have a trademark registration on the products, hired trademark lawyer Trevor Choy.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/kmart-recalls-toy-bags/2007/10/20/1192301100115.html
Sun-loving migrants heading our way
Hannah Edwards Environment Reporter
October 21, 2007
CANE toads and dangerous marine stingers are among an army of animals migrating south to Sydney to enjoy rising temperatures brought on by climate change.
Warm-climate species already here include the green sea turtle, several types of butterfly and moth, an unusual cockroach and a cicada.
Australian Museum naturalist Martyn Robinson warned that unwelcome species, such as the destructive cane toad, might arrive in the near future.
At the same time, many local insects and animals that find Sydney too warm are heading south. The red-crowned toadlet, the blackbird, sparrow and European wasp are now rarely seen.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sunloving-migrants-heading-our-way/2007/10/20/1192301100096.html
Private firms chasing $10bn in unpaid tax
Frank Walker
October 21, 2007
THE Australian Tax Office has for the first time hired private debt collectors to try to gather $10.1 billion in unpaid taxes.
It will spend $42 million of taxpayers' money to pay the approved debt collection firms.
Most of the outstanding debt has been built up by companies rather than individuals.
The debt collectors will also be calling on bosses who have failed to pay $299 million in workers' superannuation contributions.
The move comes after a three-month trial last year in which debt collection firm Dun & Bradstreet managed to haul in $21 million in unpaid taxes. It was paid a $220,000 fee.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/private-firms-chasing-10bn-in-unpaid-tax/2007/10/20/1192301100157.html
Google brings up result in the billions
Jessica Guynn in San Francisco
October 20, 2007
GOOGLE outgoogled itself in the third quarter. With the market counting on an aeronautic financial performance from the internet search leader, Google turned on the afterburners and surpassed even the most bullish expectations that have propelled the stock price into rarefied air.
With a market value just shy of $US200 billion ($224 billion), Google on Thursday edged past Cisco as Silicon Valley's most valuable company.
Google's profit jumped 46 per cent to $US1.07 billion on a 57 per cent rise in revenue to $US4.23 billion, propelled by simple text ads on web pages.
"It's an amazing business performance for a company of that magnitude to sustain those levels of growth," Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, said. "We always look for balance and we are looking very hard to find something negative to say about this quarter, but it's very difficult. Google improved on all fronts we were hoping it would improve on."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/google-brings-up-result-in-the-billions/2007/10/19/1192301043412.html
Rising grain prices put a dent in fuel revolution
EVENTS in the Middle East this week should have guaranteed towns such as Condobolin a thriving role in the biofuels revolution.
Turkey's determination to go after Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq spooked markets and saw the global oil price reach record highs of nearly $US90 ($101) a barrel.
That's more than twice the price at which an ethanol industry was supposed to be a viable concern in Australia.
But this week Oaklands, Coleambally and Condobolin in NSW, and Swan Hill just over the Murray River in Victoria, were dealing with news that proposed Agri Energy ethanol plants had been put indefinitely on hold.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/rising-grain-prices-put-a-dent-in-fuel-revolution/2007/10/19/1192301043371.html
Sugar cane country goes green
The practice of burning sugar cane before harvest is being fazed out in favour of green harvesting.
Sugarcane Country - The Burn Goes Green
http://www.smh.com.au/multimedia/2007/national/canefarmers/index.html
US asks court to dismiss rendition lawsuit
October 20, 2007 - 12:21PM
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The US government has asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit against a unit of Boeing that charges the firm helped fly suspects abroad to secret prisons.
"Allowing plaintiffs' claims to proceed would risk the disclosure of highly classified information concerning the alleged 'intelligence activities, sources, and methods' of the CIA," said the filing, signed by Acting Assistant Attorney-General Jeffrey Bucholtz.
The American Civil Liberties Union first filed a complaint in May accusing Jeppesen Dataplan Inc of providing flight and logistical support to at least 15 aircraft on 70 "extraordinary-rendition" flights.
The complaint to the US District Court for the Northern District of California alleged Jeppesen "falsified flight plans to European air traffic control authorities to avoid public scrutiny of CIA flights".
The ACLU filed the suit on behalf of five men who say the CIA had them flown to foreign prisons for interrogations and torture.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/us-seeks-to-squash-rendition-lawsuit/2007/10/20/1192301086138.html
Market plays follow-the-leader, lands in red
THE Australian stockmarket ended the week in the red, with losses in all sectors after a slight dip on Wall Street overnight.
At the close, the benchmark ASX 200 index was down by 61.4 points at 6706.3 and the All Ordinaries 57.7 points lower at 6723.3. For the week, the ASX 200 was down by 42.6 points compared with last Friday's close.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange the December share price index contract lost 91 points to 6730 on a volume of 22,458 contracts.
A dealer with CMC Markets, Matt Wacher, said the market had followed a weak lead from the US. "The US markets provided little lead overnight, and for the second day in a row local investors looked to the Asian region for direction and followed Asian markets lower."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/market-plays-followtheleader-lands-in-red/2007/10/19/1192301043377.html
Skype goes mobile
Asher Moses
October 19, 2007 - 12:40PM
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Skype is preparing to launch its own branded mobile phone in conjunction with the 3 mobile network as early as this month.
The phone is codenamed "white phone" and BusinessWeek reported it would launch in Australia, Britain, Italy and Hong Kong "by late October".
A spokeswoman for 3 in Australia confirmed it was working with a leading internet communications company "to produce an exciting new product to make free internet calls completely mobile".
She would not give any further details but said the product would "close the gap between internet communications and mobile calling and is something you won't see from any other operator".
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/skype-goes-mobile/2007/10/19/1192301008633.html
Suiteness and light
In a sun-drenched city tower Julietta Jameson finds a Sydney address to impress.
THE LAST time my niece came from country Western Australia to visit me with her family, it did not go so well. I live in the tiniest of one-bedroom apartments, with no room for more than one visitor at a time, two at a push. So the foursome that was my niece, nephew, brother and his wife needed to sleep elsewhere.
I put them up in a nearby motel that I saw as cheap and cheerful. It was on the bus route, in a quiet neighbourhood, with panoramic coastal views. It also had a fabulous 1960s Hollywood charm, with its red neon sign, palm trees and kidney-shaped pool.
At least, I thought it did. That charm was clearly lost on my 10-year-old niece, who did not consider the place up to standard. (She wasn't alone. It's since been demolished for apartments.)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/short-breaks/a-sydney-address-to-impress/2007/10/11/1191696064076.html
Father's road death crumbled son, court told
THE son of an 83-year-old Sydney war veteran "crumbled" after his father was killed by another pedestrian who had shoved him out of his way.
Robert Narramore died after falling into the path of a passing car when he was pushed aside by Craig William Wheatley on a footpath in September last year.
At a sentencing hearing in the NSW Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Virginia Bell was told Robert Narramore jnr had been deeply affected since receiving the first call about the tragedy in Riverwood. "From being able to handle the everyday stresses of life and work, there is now a little bottle of pills sitting on the shelf," his wife, Joan, wrote of him.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/19/1192301045417.html
Global fury over Puerto Rico pet massacre
October 19, 2007 - 12:31PM
The fury over the massacre of dozens of seized dogs and cats in Puerto Rico has gone global.
Thousands of people from Puerto Rico and around the world have signed an online petition calling on the governor of the U.S. Caribbean territory to ensure those who hurled some 80 pets off a highway bridge last week are brought to justice.
Nadia Donato, a 39-year-old New Yorker, said Wednesday an Associated Press story that appeared Friday about the slaughter of the dogs and cats drove her to tears — and to launch the petition drive.
A local activist
http://www.smh.com.au/news/pets/fury-over-us-pet-massacre/2007/10/19/1192301008079.html
Heads roll over nuke error
IN its first explicit confirmation that nuclear-armed missiles were erroneously flown across the United States, the US Air Force has called the episode an "unacceptable mistake" and a safety and security breach that had never happened before.
"We are making all appropriate changes to ensure this has a minimal chance of ever happening again," Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said.
He spoke at a Pentagon news conference after Defence Secretary Robert Gates was briefed on the results of the air force's investigation into the August 29-30 incident, which is regarded as one of the worst known breaches of nuclear weapons-handling procedures in decades. Appearing with Mr Wynne was Major-General Richard Newton, the air force deputy chief of staff for operations, who attributed the episode to an "unprecedented string of procedural errors".
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/heads-roll-over-nuke-error/2007/10/20/1192301098964.html
Iraqi dilemma over Turkey
TURKEY'S decision to send troops across Iraq's border in pursuit of Kurdish guerillas presents Iraq's leaders with a problem.
On one hand, Iraq wants a cordial relationship with Turkey, a powerhouse in the region and a counterweight to the competing pulls of Iran and Saudi Arabia.
But Iraq has been unable to do much to halt the rebels' activities because its central government must rely on its ethnic Kurdish minority - that lives in the region where the guerillas are active - to take a stand against them.
The Qandil Mountains region near the Turkish border - one of the most rugged areas in the Middle East - has never been fully under any government control.
Iraq's Kurdish region has been semi-autonomous since 1991 and controls its own military, which also patrols the border with Turkey. The ethnic Kurds are reluctant to fight the rebels, who are primarily from Turkey and speak Turkish, because it means fighting brother Kurds with whom they are generally sympathetic.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/iraqi-dilemma-over-turkey/2007/10/19/1192301044798.html
Inequality soars even as China's poverty plunges
John Garnaut and Maya Li in Beijing
October 20, 2007
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THE number of people living in poverty has fallen below 1 billion for the first time since measurements began, and the one-third decline since 1981 is almost entirely due to a rising China.
China explains why the world is on track to meet the World Bank's millennium development goal of halving the number of people on less than $US1 a day by 2015, Martin Ravallion, the director of the World Bank's Development Research Group, told a poverty conference in Beijing this week. "We've never seen anything like it," he said.
A Stockholm University professor, Peter Svedberg, said the number of stunted and underweight Chinese children had halved in the 10 years to 2002.
Figures and analysis released at the conference, co-hosted by the International Food Policy Research Institute, shows poverty is rapidly becoming a South Asian and African problem.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/inequality-soars-even-as-chinas-poverty-plunges/2007/10/19/1192301044792.html
US search engines 'hijacked' in China
October 19, 2007 - 5:10PM
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US internet search engines in China were being hijacked and directed to Chinese-owned Baidu, analysts said Wednesday, speculating that the move was in retaliation for Washington's award to Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Analysts at Search Engine Roundtable, a website focusing on Internet search, said Chinese users trying to search on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft websites were being directed to the Chinese search engine.
Google confirmed the blocking of its Chinese search engine and Microsoft said it was looking into the matter.
"It seems like China is fed up with the US, so as a way to fight back, they redirected virtually all search traffic from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to Baidu, the Chinese based search engine," analysts Danny Sullivan and Barry Schwartz wrote at Search Engine Roundtable.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/us-search-engines-hijacked-in-china/2007/10/19/1192301035610.html
Bombings by Taliban soar
WASHINGTON: Afghanistan's Defence Minister has asked for more money and equipment to fight rising Taliban violence as his US counterpart, Robert Gates, criticised NATO allies for failing to deliver promised aid.
Abdul Rahim Wardak said suicide bombings were up 50 per cent from a year ago and that the Afghan Army needed more troops and equipment.
"We have achieved a great deal with limited manpower and old weapons and equipment," General Wardak said on Thursday after meeting Mr Gates, the US Defence Secretary, at the Pentagon.
"Imagine what we could do with better equipment and additional help."
Despite six years of war in Afghanistan, the Taliban regained strength last year and has stepped up attacks on US, Afghan and NATO forces this year. NATO forces have also begun to intercept convoys of bomb technology coming into Afghanistan from Iran, NATO and US military officials say.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bombings-by-taliban-soar/2007/10/19/1192301044804.html
Rome or Bangkok? Sydney's reputation depends on the answer
Scooters. They're spreading like nits in a kindy. At the lights there's always one or two now. Guy in a suit. Tiny girl in heels. Off they dart like they've done something wrong.
And so, as a city we face a difficult choice. What kind of scooter city do we want to become? Do we want to be Rome or Bangkok?
Sydney was never a scooter city. The scooter stood out in Sydney traffic like someone in socks and sandals on the Corso. It was wrong. What kind of vehicle was that for Australian conditions? How could you tow a boat or a van or hit the ton on the Hume on one of those things? A scooter had all the cachet of a Gogomobile with none of the wit.
There were some mods with furry jackets and a mirror fetish roaming the streets in the hope of a ska band. Occasionally someone would be inspired by a trip abroad and they would become scooter advocates for a moment. It was much like the sari and the sarong - what seemed brilliant in Goa or Kuta just didn't fit here.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/rome-or-bangkok-sydneys-reputation-depends-on-the-answer/2007/10/19/1192301044262.html
Bit of a fabulous obsession, darling, with all the chiffon and ageing execs
Why does anyone read the social pages? Why stir up confused feelings of rage, boredom and jealousy? And yet people do. I am one of them. Like many people, I might happen to just glance, almost accidentally, at these pages over breakfast on Sunday.
Like being drawn to a car accident or a nasty wound, something about the heady circuit of shop openings and cook-book launches fascinates, something about the talk of "fashion supremos", "top execs" and "marketing honchos" in their "threads" draws me in, despite the self-disgust that comes with being a gawker.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/bit-of-a-fabulous-obsession-darling-with-all-the-chiffon-andageing-execs/2007/10/19/1192301044253.html
New Zealand Herald
Pygmies stand tall over logging
5:00AM Tuesday October 16, 2007
By Jonathan Brown
Forty million people in the Congo, including 600,000 pygmies, depend on the rainforests for survival. Photo / Reuters
The rumble of giant machinery heralds the arrival of loggers deep in the heart of the Congo rainforest. For the pygmy tribes who have inhabited this thick jungle for millennia, the sound of the advancing column is the sound of encroaching hunger and the loss of a way of life stretching back hundreds of generations.
"They bring with them huge machines which go deep into the forest and make noise which frightens all the game animals away," says Adrian Sinafasi, the man seeking to alert the outside world to the plight of central Africa's pygmies. "When the loggers arrive, they bring many workers who are needed to fell the trees. They also need to eat and start hunting but, rather than use traditional weapons in the right season, they hunt with firearms and don't care about seasons or how much food they take."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10470039
Biofuels are coming, ready or not
5:00AM Monday October 15, 2007
By Angela Gregory
Why are we asking this now?
New Zealand's fuel companies are expected to start selling biofuels from 2008 as part of the Government's policy to fight climate change and reduce our dependence on imported transport fuels. Biofuels will have to account for at least 3.4 per cent of total fuel sales by 2012. Oil companies have not revealed exactly how they will meet the targets but they could introduce bioethanol petrol blends for 91 or higher octane petrol or biodiesel.
What is biofuel?
Fuels that can be produced from or are made up of a renewable material of plant or animal origin. Those used in transport are typically bioethanol and biodiesel blends. Bioethanol is made from sugar and starch products while biodiesel is produced from vegetable oil or animal fats.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10469825
6 big ideas to change face of the Earth
5:00AM Saturday October 13, 2007
By Robin McKie and Juliette Jowit
Endless treaties to cut carbon emissions and halt global warming have failed to turn the tide of pollution. Now coming into focus are the ultimate technological fixes: schemes that will span our planet and involve scientists in reshaping our world to save it from global warming.
Yet only a few years ago, such projects - giant space mirrors, flotillas of artificial cloud makers and ocean fertilisation programmes - were dismissed as the stuff of science fiction.
Today many engineers and researchers - fearful of the rate at which our planet is warming - say geo-engineering projects are now mankind's only hope of saving itself from the impact of climate change.
A major report and a new exhibition at the Science Museum in London, starting next week, will resurrect the debate.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10469553
War threat a deliberate 'wind up' claims activist
5:00AM Sunday October 21, 2007
By Stephen Cook
Anti-terror police have been accused of falling victim to a well-organised hoax designed to ambush a year-long investigation into alleged paramilitary operations around the country.
Self-styled activist Jamie Lockett - one of 17 people arrested as part of nationwide police raids on suspected weapons training camps - is claiming incriminating text and phone messages were sent deliberately to wind up police who had been bugging his phone.
Lockett and his network of supporters are also claiming the men seen in surveillance photographs at a training camp in the Ureweras are actually members of the New Zealand Army, who were on a training exercise at the time.
Police allege Lockett attended the camp around the time the photographs were taken, but supporters say an entry in his work diary shows he was in Auckland on that date.
Several of Lockett's associates have
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10471147
New wind warning for Harbour Bridge
5:00AM Sunday October 21, 2007
By Jared Savage
Heavy trucks should be banned completely from the Auckland Harbour Bridge clip-on lanes in high winds, according to an official engineering report - despite earlier assurances from Transit that no such measures were necessary.
Extreme winds have emerged as a potentially greater risk than previously thought by Transit, and a recent report from Beca Infrastructure recommended further tunnel wind testing in Australia.
The June report also said more strengthening work was needed to cater for potential contact between the main truss bridge and the clip-on extensions.
"It can be confirmed that heavy traffic must be restricted on the extensions in high winds.
"Under peak traffic loading, the box girder touches down on the truss bridge, requiring local strengthening of both the box girders and truss bridge."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10471131
Pain at the pumps as petrol prices increase
5:00AM Sunday October 21, 2007
By Alice Hudson
Thousands of holiday makers heading away for the long weekend were hit hard in the pocket at the fuel pumps yesterday, by which time all fuel retailers had bowed to pressure and hiked prices.
BP had led the way on Wednesday, upping prices for 91 octane by 3 cents a litre to 163.9c. Diesel rose to 116.9c.
By yesterday, as queues of cars waited for a turn at the pumps, the remainder of the big four had settled on the slightly more affordable, but still comparatively expensive rate of 160.9c per litre for 91 octane and 113.9c for diesel.
Caltex spokeswoman Sharon Buckland had earlier told the New Zealand Herald the company tried to avoid putting up prices to coincide with the long weekend.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10471159
Air force colonels sacked after nuclear bombs flown over US
9:10AM Sunday October 21, 2007
By Stephen Foley
NEW YORK - The US Air Force has disciplined 70 service personnel after nuclear warheads capable of unleashing the equivalent of 10 Hiroshima bombs were mistakenly flown across the US.
A Pentagon investigation found that air and ground crews took a "lackadaisical" approach to vital safety checks put in place during the Cold War.
In the incident on 30 August, a B-52 bomber took off from the remote Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota with 12 cruise missiles that were being taken out of commission and scheduled for burial at the opposite end of the country at a Louisiana air base.
The warheads on the decommissioned missiles should have been replaced with dummies of the same weight, but personnel failed to notice that six of the 12 were fully operational nuclear warheads.
The 1,770km flight was the first time in 40 years that nuclear bombs have been flown over US territory without top-level authorisation, and the terrifying mistake was not discovered for 36 hours.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10471183
Kidnapped Colombian dog found days after shootout
5:10PM Saturday October 20, 2007
BOGOTA - A kidnapped Colombian dog held for $350,000 ($NZ470,873) ransom was recovered on Friday after his abductors dropped him off at a veterinarian's office, saying he needed a bath.
When no one came to pick up the German shepherd after it was washed, the office called police who said they identified the canine as Aldo de Fescol, snatched last month from his home in a rich Bogota neighborhood while his owners were away.
No ransom was paid, police said.
Aldo was in healthy condition but two of his kidnappers were wounded in a Tuesday shootout with police who ambushed them at a fake meeting staged to pay the extortion money.
The abductors tried to pressure the family by sending a proof of life video with a note saying, "This is how your dog cries at night."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10471082
Blair emerges as candidate for 'President of Europe'
4:00PM Saturday October 20, 2007
By Andrew Grice
Tony Blair has emerged as a possible candidate for "President of Europe", a new post created by the treaty approved by EU leaders at their Lisbon summit.
The former prime minister's name was put in the frame yesterday by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, who described Mr Blair as "a very remarkable man - the most European of all Britons."
He added: "To think of him would be a good idea."
The treaty scraps the current system under which one country holds the EU's rotating presidency for six months.
It will be replaced by the appointment of a President, who will chair EU meetings, drive through its agenda and serve for two-and-a-half years.
Gordon Brown said: "Tony Blair would be a great candidate for any significant international job."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10471080
Guns still have stranglehold on US despite mass shootings
5:00AM Saturday October 20, 2007
A gun in a US home is 22 times more likely to be used in an accidental shooting, a murder or a suicide than in self-defence against an attack. Photo / Reuters
Shirley Katz is not afraid to fight for her rights. Last week the schoolteacher, 44, went to court in her home town of Medford, Oregon, to protest at her working conditions. Specifically she is outraged she cannot carry a handgun into class. "I know it is my right to carry that gun," she said.
Katz was in court in the week someone else took a gun to school in America. Asa Coon, 14, walked the corridors of his school in Cleveland Ohio, a gun in each hand, shooting two teachers and two students. Then he killed himself. Coon's attempted massacre made headlines.
But a more bloody rampage, the murder of six young partygoers by policeman Tyler Peterson in Crandon, Wisconsin, got less attention, even in the New York Times - America's newspaper of record - which buried it deep inside the paper.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10470960
Elephants see red as a risky colour
5:00AM Saturday October 20, 2007
Elephants are very intelligent animals. Photo / Reuters
Elephants mourn their dead and engage in long-distance communication using barely audible, low-frequency growls. Now they have been shown to be able to distinguish between different human tribes based on the smell and colour of their clothing.
It is believed to be the first time that any wild animal has been found to have the ability to categorise different sub-groups within the same species depending on the potential threat that they pose.
A study of elephants in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya has found that they react differently to members of the Maasai, cattle-herding pastoralists whose young men sometimes spear elephants to prove their virility, and the Kamba, who are village-dwelling farmers who pose little threat to them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10470952
Nobel prize-winning scientist suspended
8:15AM Saturday October 20, 2007
Prominent New York scientific institution the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory suspended Nobel Prize-winning geneticist Dr James Watson yesterday over racially insensitive comments he was quoted as making in a newspaper interview.
Last weekend the Sunday Times newspaper printed an interview in which Watson was quoted as saying he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10470963
Scared faces warning
7:15AM Monday October 15, 2007
Happy faces make less of an impression on the brain than fearful ones, new research has shown.
Tests showed the brain becomes aware of a scared face faster than it does one that is smiling. The reaction is thought to be an instinct that evolved as a "threat radar" millions of years ago.
Psychologist Dr David Zald, from Vanderbilt University in Nashville in the US, who co-led the study, said: "There are reasons to believe that the brain has evolved mechanisms to detect things in the environment that signal threat. One of those signals is a look of fear.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10469889
Nearly half of smokers want ban on advertising
12:37PM Monday October 15, 2007
By Craig Borley
Almost half of New Zealand's smokers believe point-of-sale cigarette displays should be banned, a Cancer Society survey has found.
However, Dunedin Green MP Metiria Turei believes there is little chance the displays will be outlawed, as the two major political parties are unlikely to back such a proposal.
Speaking after a Cancer Society of New Zealand survey showed 46 per cent of smokers had tried to quit in the past year, and 45 per cent believed point-of-sale advertising made quitting difficult, Mrs Turei said only the Green Party and Maori Party were likely supporters of the societys call to ban the displays.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10470415
Norovirus outbreak in Christchurch
12:50PM Saturday October 13, 2007
The Norovirus genome under a microscope.
An outbreak of norovirus is continuing to put pressure on hospital services in Christchurch.
Four wards at Princess Margaret Hospital are closed to new admissions, along with another two at Christchurch Hospital and one more at Burwood Hospital.
Canterbury District Health Board says it has the virus contained, but needs people to stay away from the Emergency Department unless they have a genuine emergency.
Communications Manager Michele Hider says there is a lot of norovirus in the community at the moment.
It is a severe form of gastroenteritis, the symptoms of which include stomach pain, diarrhea and vomiting.
Ms Hider says shutting wards off to deal with the cases they have means less space or even no space for new patients.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10469692
Dolphins flown to Dubai resort
5:00AM Friday October 19, 2007
Two jet airliners carrying 28 live dolphins have left the Solomon Islands bound for Dubai, despite protests from environmental groups and threats to boycott Solomons tuna.
The dolphins were loaded by staff of the Marine Mammal Education Centre and Exporters, a company run by Canadian Chris Porter.
Director Robert Satu said the dolphins would be looked after with "great care" on their 30-hour flight to Dubai, and the export would pave the way for more lucrative shipments.
The sale was worth more than $1.2 million.
The dolphins are going to Dubai's new Palm Atlantis resort hotel, partly owned by ruling elites in the United Arab Emirates.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10470811
Britain to claim part of Antarctica
9:21AM Thursday October 18, 2007
By Kate Kelland
LONDON - The British government plans to submit a claim to the United Nations to extend its Antarctic territory by a million square kilometres, the foreign office has said.
The claim is one of five territorial requests planned by the country ahead of a May 2009 deadline and covers a vast area of the seabed around British Antarctica near the south pole, a spokeswoman said.
"We are one of many coastal states who are submitting various claims," she said.
She said the four other claims would be for Atlantic seabed territory around South Georgia and the Falkland Islands and also around Ascension Island in the South Atlantic, near the Bay of Biscay in the North Atlantic, and in the Hatton-Rockall basin off Scotland's coast.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10470635
Climate hope lies in forests
5:00AM Thursday October 18, 2007
By Nick Mathiason
Industrial clearance of rainforests accounts for 20 per cent of greenhouse gases. Every second of each day a portion of jungle the size of a football pitch is destroyed. As timber is carted off for export, giant agribusinesses often move in. And so spins the nightmare cycle: a growing release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which in turn alters weather patterns and destroys delicate ecosystems.
Climate-change economists believe that slowing the speed of rainforest destruction is the most cost-effective way to fight global warming. In his British Treasury report into the economics of climate change last year, Nicholas Stern said US$5 billion ($6.6 billion) a year was needed to provide rainforest nations with funds to ensure what remained was kept intact. But many people say Stern is unduly optimistic and put the real price at US$15 billion ($20 billion).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10470521
continued...
In 2005 the Northern and Western Hemisphere, where the highest concentrations of CO2 exists, experienced three high velocity storms, of which the most devastating was the first titled Katrina. As a result the troposphere was less hot while the oceans warmed. The capacity for the North West Troposphere to dissipate heat into the oceans is waning due to loss of tropospheric water vapor and the melting within the Arctic Circle has accelerated.
Turkey looks to US - click on title for the view of 'the concerned'
When does the killing stop for these people? When will oil become unimportant? It's ONLY oil.
Turkey expects the United States to take urgent action against Kurdish rebels hiding in northern Iraq, its prime minister said, in comments suggesting Ankara hopes to avoid a Turkish military operation in the region.
Turkey's parliament this week authorised troops to cross the mountainous border into northern Iraq to track down rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who use the region as a base from which to attack Turkish targets.
"We expect the coalition forces in Iraq, above all the Americans, to take steps in the current situation," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told Turkish television late on Friday.
"These steps must be taken to ensure we get good results in the fight against the terrorist organisation in northern Iraq."
"We expect things from the United States rather than from Iraq," he said. The Baghdad government has little clout in the mainly Kurdish autonomous region of the north....
What's Next for Kurdistan? (click here)
A question every American politician needs to address.
By Christopher HitchensPosted Monday, June 4, 2007, at 11:19 AM ET
A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter
I chanced last week to run into a senior staff member of UNAMI, which is the little-known (and somehow not very reassuring) acronym for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. You could read acres of news from that country as it undergoes everything that the death squads of the parties of God can inflict on a society, without ever being reminded that coalition forces are applying a U.N. mandate for the reconstruction and democratization of Iraq. The assaults by the Baathists and the Bin Ladenists on the U.N. presence have been especially vicious: The U.N. headquarters in Baghdad were utterly demolished by military-grade explosives three years ago, murdering among others the heroic Sergio Vieira de Mello, a senior U.N. peacemaker who was explicitly targeted by the Islamists for his role in overseeing the independence of "Christian" East Timor from "Muslim" Indonesia....
The Bush Administration is consenting to an extension and expansion of the war when there should be Peace Summits
Terrorism war guise for minority crackdown -report
20 Mar 2007 18:42:33 GMT
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, March 20 (Reuters) - Pakistan, Turkey and Israel are using the U.S.-led war on terrorism as an excuse to crack down on minority groups, a rights group said on Tuesday.
A study by Minority Rights Group International also found that minority peoples living on the front lines for the war on terrorism were among the world's most-threatened, with Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan ranking in a global top 10.
"Some governments around the world are pinning their hopes on the fact that if they are allies with the United States then it will allow them to do certain things against minority communities within their own borders," Ishbel Matheson, spokeswoman for the London-based advocacy group, said.
"I think that is completely unacceptable and the United States should be alive to it and condemn it, unfortunately I don't think that's what they do," she told a news conference.
The group's report "State of the World's Minorities 2007" singled out Pakistan, Turkey and Israel for "intensified repression of particular ethnic communities in 2006."
It ranked Pakistan No. 8 on a list of countries where minorities are most under threat and said Islamabad oppressed groups including Ahmadis, Hindus, Baluchis, Mohhajirs, Pashtuns and Sindhis.
Turkey came in at number 39 for its treatment of Kurds and Roma, while Israel was ranked 54 for its behavior toward Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and Israeli Palestinians.
"U.S. allies have managed to barter their support for the war on terror in return for having their human-rights record ignored," Mark Lattimer, the director of Minority Rights Group International, said in a statement.
"The debate continues to rage about whether the 'war on terror' has made the world a safer place for the West, but it has certainly made it a much more dangerous place for minorities," he said.
The report said the war of terrorism had also given rise to Islamophobia throughout Europe, with some governments adopting laws that curb the rights of all citizens but particularly target Muslim communities, leaving them feeling increasingly "intimidated and persecuted."...
20 Mar 2007 18:42:33 GMT
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, March 20 (Reuters) - Pakistan, Turkey and Israel are using the U.S.-led war on terrorism as an excuse to crack down on minority groups, a rights group said on Tuesday.
A study by Minority Rights Group International also found that minority peoples living on the front lines for the war on terrorism were among the world's most-threatened, with Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan ranking in a global top 10.
"Some governments around the world are pinning their hopes on the fact that if they are allies with the United States then it will allow them to do certain things against minority communities within their own borders," Ishbel Matheson, spokeswoman for the London-based advocacy group, said.
"I think that is completely unacceptable and the United States should be alive to it and condemn it, unfortunately I don't think that's what they do," she told a news conference.
The group's report "State of the World's Minorities 2007" singled out Pakistan, Turkey and Israel for "intensified repression of particular ethnic communities in 2006."
It ranked Pakistan No. 8 on a list of countries where minorities are most under threat and said Islamabad oppressed groups including Ahmadis, Hindus, Baluchis, Mohhajirs, Pashtuns and Sindhis.
Turkey came in at number 39 for its treatment of Kurds and Roma, while Israel was ranked 54 for its behavior toward Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and Israeli Palestinians.
"U.S. allies have managed to barter their support for the war on terror in return for having their human-rights record ignored," Mark Lattimer, the director of Minority Rights Group International, said in a statement.
"The debate continues to rage about whether the 'war on terror' has made the world a safer place for the West, but it has certainly made it a much more dangerous place for minorities," he said.
The report said the war of terrorism had also given rise to Islamophobia throughout Europe, with some governments adopting laws that curb the rights of all citizens but particularly target Muslim communities, leaving them feeling increasingly "intimidated and persecuted."...
The Emblem of Turkey, Kurdish Problem
Turkey has committed to ONLY a one year war with Northern Iraq to stop PKK. I thought timelines gave 'the wrong' signal to the enemy??????
Bhutto lists bomb suspects (click here)
...Ms Bhutto said she had sent President Pervez Musharraf the names of three people she accused of involvement in Thursday's blast, which ripped through a crowd of hundreds of thousands who welcomed her back to Karachi.
"I have shared the names with General Musharraf and one of the people is someone that they are [already] watching," Ms Bhutto told the BBC, but refused to give their names.
Ms Bhutto, 54, she did not believe that the "state or Government" were involved in the attack, but sources in her Pakistan People's Party said the list included senior army officials....
Micheal Bloomberg didn't 'Write Off" the Union's Complaints as frivilous !
Competition for Emergency Networks
SEWELL CHAN (NYT)
Published: May 10, 2006
Two companies, Northrop Grumman and Motorola, will install competing wireless networks in Lower Manhattan to enable police officers and firefighters to download maps, building plans and information from criminal databases under a six-month, $2.7 million pilot project, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced yesterday. The networks will also be shared with city safety inspectors and maintenance workers and will create high-speed links to existing city databases and emergency-response systems. After a 12-week demonstration, the city will either select one network or cancel both and start over.
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