Saturday, October 27, 2007
Greater evaporation as a result of global warming
Warning signs today
Greater evaporation as a result of global warming
could increase the risk of wildfires.
The 1999-2002 national drought was one of the three most extensive droughts in the last 40 years
Warming may have lead to the increased drought frequency that the West has experienced over the last 30 years.
The 2006 wildland fire season set new records in both the number of reported fires as well as acres burned. Close to 100,000 fires were reported and nearly 10 million acres burned, 125 percent above the 10-year average.
If warming continues to exacerbate wildfire seasons, it could be costly. Fire-fighting expenditures have consistently totaled upwards of $1 billion per year.
FEMA blasted for 'news' conference (click here)
Agency employees, not reporters, asked questions at the event. Homeland Security calls the lapse 'offensive and inexcusable.'
By Jordy Yager, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer October 27, 2007
WASHINGTON — No one had any hard questions for the deputy administrator of FEMA, an agency deeply tarnished by its delayed action after Hurricane Katrina, when he held a news conference Tuesday to talk about the California wildfires."Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?" someone asked....
California Wildfires Cause Air Pollution (click here)
It appears that the Southern California wildfires have caused quite a bit of damage to the air quality as much of the air is now polluted and actually quite dangerous.
Health officials are urging that the elderly and people who have breathing problems to stay inside due to the polluted air caused from the falling ash of the fires.
Over 12 fires still rage on in California as the South Coast Air Quality Management District continues to get calls asking what they should do about the immense amount of pollution.
Soot particles have caused the air quality to go way down to unhealthy levels.
Agency spokesman Sam Atwood stated "Our answer is to use common sense. If you can see smoke or falling ash, that means it's time to start curtailing your outdoor activity."
Hospitals are expected to be seeing morme and more people come in with breathing problems in the coming days.
Health experts are stating that the most dangerous aspects of the wildfire are the fine particles which the eye cannot see. These can get into the lungs and cause diseases such as asthma to worsten.
Morning Papers - continued...
San Francisco Chronicle
THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FIRES
CLIMATE CHANGE: Hotter world may fan flames
Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The risk of catastrophic wildfires like those sweeping through Southern California will increase all over the state as the world heats up, forests dry out and weather patterns shift, forestry experts said Wednesday.
The 16 wind-blown fires that forced the largest mass evacuation in California history may or may not be the result of climate change, but studies have shown that the hot drought conditions that fed the flames are becoming more common.
"Fires are burning hotter and bigger, becoming more damaging and dangerous to people and to property," U.S. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell said. "Each year the fire season comes earlier and lasts longer."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/25/MNUUSVEFP.DTL
Face of foreclosure crisis - Chinese-speaking Parkinson's sufferer
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Hong Zhang Lin lost his home in Oakland's Fruitvale District in a foreclosure auction this month.
The 44-year-old former construction worker, who is disabled by Parkinson's disease, can barely believe it. He's not a subprime borrower, he has a huge amount of equity in the home, and he has made all his mortgage payments on time. The four-bedroom house, which Lin and his two brothers bought in 1992, is worth about $500,000; he only owes $94,000 on the mortgage.
But he evidently stopped making the $135 monthly payments on a $20,000 home-equity loan. The loan was with the bank division of Countrywide Financial, the same lender that carries his primary mortgage. Countrywide initiated foreclosure proceedings and sold the house to investors for a bargain price of $190,300 at an Oct. 2 auction on the Alameda County Courthouse steps.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/BULNT0E7A.DTL
Congressman slams slow deployment of air tankers
Tom Chorneau, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Saturday, October 27, 2007
(10-27) 04:00 PDT Sacramento --
- Perhaps the most proficient firefighting tool in the nation's arsenal is the C-130 cargo plane, specially fitted to carry and disperse 3,000 gallons of fire retardant liquid.
But none of the six C-130 planes owned by the military and outfitted for firefighting began flying missions over this week's destructive Southern California fires until two days after the blazes started - and after crews flew hundreds or thousands of miles from stations in Colorado, Wyoming and North Carolina.
Firefighting experts said high winds on Sunday and Monday were the main reason the big planes weren't summoned sooner, but federal and state officials asked Friday why at least some of the aircraft were not stationed closer to California given that it has some of the nation's worst wildfires.
"We need to know why those C-130s were located so far from California and so far from the front lines," U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach (Orange County), said. "The Boy Scouts motto is, 'Be prepared' - the bureaucracy is going to be held accountable for not being prepared if it turns out that life and property was lost as a result."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/MNF1T1QV1.DTL
Foreclosures in Bay Area, statewide hit record highs in 3rd quarter
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Lenders foreclosed on a record 3,242 Bay Area homes in the third quarter - a 622 percent increase from the same time last year - and there's no sign of relief ahead, according to a real estate report Friday.
Statewide, foreclosure activity hit all-time highs for the quarter. Bank repossessions were up more than 600 percent, and late notices were 2.7 times higher than a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Services, a research firm in La Jolla (San Diego County).
Most ominously, the report showed that default notices, the first step in the foreclosure process, were growing more rapidly in the state and Bay Area compared with last year and earlier this year.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/MNODT1L4R.DTL&tsp=1
Bay Area facing lifestyle changes to achieve greenhouse gas goals
Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
The Bay Area might need smaller houses, higher gas taxes and tolls on busy roads and congested business districts if it is to meet the state's goals for the reduction of greenhouse gases, transportation and land use officials said Friday.
The good news, however, is that a new poll shows that many Bay Area residents are ready to take those steps if it means a better future for the state and world.
Setting goals is significant, leaders with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments told a crowd of 800 at a conference at the Oakland Convention Center. But making the lifestyle changes to meet them is far more challenging.
"The challenge for us is, are we going to be able to walk the talk?" said Henry Gardner, executive director of the association. "We've been talking for a long time about focused growth, smart growth, but there has not been a lot of smart walk."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/27/MNBBT1SFF.DTL
Thousands "die" in anti-war protest on Market St. in SF
Jim Doyle,Susan Sward, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, October 27, 2007
(10-27) 14:20 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- On cue from a bullhorn's blast, thousands of protesters fell to the pavement on Market Street today in a symbolic "die-in" as part of a nationwide protest staged in 11 cites against the war in Iraq.
For about three minutes the demonstrators lay on the ground, representing what organizers said were more than 1 million Iraqis killed since the war began in 2003. Then the marchers got up and resumed their march from San Francisco's Civic Center to Dolores Park for a rally.
March organizers put their number at 30,000 - old, young, workers, students, religious leaders. Police declined to give a formal estimate, but onlookers said the demonstrators definitely numbered far more than 10,000. They filled up Market Street for several blocks, shouting that U.S. troops should be brought home and carrying banners decrying the war.
At the head of the marchers was a band of Native American drummers who pounded a steady beat as protesters chanted, "No more war!"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/MNJHT0ULT.DTL&tsp=1
Come see our giant toxic stew!
1,500 miles wide, floating in the Pacific, made of all your plastic crap. Bring the kids!
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Friday, October 26, 2007
Because nothing makes you feel better about being a living, breathing, plastic-licking human on this planet today than the thought of a massive, eternal, slowly swirling vortex of noxious garbage the size of a continent and the shape of death itself, just floating out there in the middle of the Pacific ocean, mocking life, humanity, God. Mmm, gloomy.
Have you heard? Did you see? It's called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (or Pacific Trash Vortex, among other awesome nicknames) and it's a staggering phenomenon indeed and after reading up on it, I fully believe we must now revise our master list. Because surely this thing must be one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the grand sociocultural melting pot of our time. Except for the fact that it's, you know, revolting.
http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/
Bay Area needs to rethink rules on land use, zoning
Joseph Perkins
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The Association of Bay Area Governments projects that the nine-county Bay Area region will add nearly 1.5 million residents by 2030. That population growth will not be attributable to a wave of foreign immigration, nor to an influx of newcomers from other regions of the state or the country.
In fact, much of the region's burgeoning population will be homegrown - the children (and grandchildren) of those of us who already live here.
The question is: How and where is the Bay Area going to house its additional 1.5 million residents?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/21/INGMSRICU.DTL
Astronauts Open Up New Station Addition
By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
(10-27) 12:18 PDT Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP) --
Astronauts swung open the door to their new space station addition Saturday and floated into the spacious and sparkling white room, formally christening it Harmony.
Even though it looked immaculate inside, international space station commander Peggy Whitson and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli — the first to enter — wore surgical masks and goggles to protect themselves from any dirty stowaways, like dust, lint or crumbs.
The air inside the school bus-size chamber was immediately tested, and Whitson later reported there wasn't much debris inside at all.
Harmony was named by schoolchildren in America but made in Italy, and Nespoli proudly noted that as he bobbed up and down in the 24-foot-long, 14-foot-diameter chamber that was delivered by shuttle Discovery.
"It's a pleasure to be here in this very beautiful piece of hardware," he said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/25/national/a014341D83.DTL&tsp=1
Weather Improves at California Fires
By GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
(10-27) 13:25 PDT Lake Arrowhead, Calif. (AP) --
Firefighters battled stubborn wildfires across Southern California on Saturday, but cloudy skies scattering occasional raindrops brought a welcome improvement in conditions.
Tropical moisture flowing from the south replaced the hot, dry Santa Ana winds that roared in a week earlier and spread fires over more than a half-million acres, destroying more than 2,300 structures, including 1,700 homes.
The number of deaths directly attributed to the fires officially rose to seven. Officials confirmed that the flames killed four suspected illegal immigrants whose charred bodies were found near the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday, said Jose Alvarez, a public information officer for San Diego County emergency services. Identification of the victims was continuing.
Although more than a dozen blazes were surrounded, containment of nine other blazes ranged from 97 percent to just 25 percent. More than 21,000 structures were considered threatened, and more than 15,000 firefighters were on the lines, the state Office of Emergency Services said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/25/national/a010416D51.DTL
Feds Strike ID Deal Over NY Licenses
By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
(10-27) 14:03 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
The Bush administration and New York cut a deal Saturday to create a new generation of super-secure driver's licenses for U.S. citizens, but also allow illegal immigrants to get a version.
New York is the fourth state to reach an agreement on federally approved secure licenses, after Arizona, Vermont and Washington. The issue is pressing for border states, where new and tighter rules are soon to go into effect for crossings.
The Arizona deal announced in August does not contemplate issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, said Jeanine L'Ecuyer, a spokeswoman for Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/27/national/w094814D54.DTL
2 children drown in their backyard swimming pool
Henry K. Lee,Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, October 27, 2007
An Antioch woman who left her two young children playing alone in the backyard Friday returned after a few minutes to find the siblings had gotten past a security fence and drowned in the family's swimming pool, authorities said.
Three-year-old Victor Cano and his 22-month-old sister, Adamari Cano, were pulled from the pool on the 1100 block of East 13th Street about 12:35 p.m., authorities said. They were taken to Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch, where they were pronounced dead.
Authorities said the children had been playing in the backyard when their mother, 21-year-old Daniela Espinosa, went inside to use the restroom. When she came out several minutes later, she could not see the children, then realized they were in the pool, authorities said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/BAJGT1NH7.DTL
Exhibitionist expo acts as a warm-up for Exotic Erotic Ball
John Koopman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
The exposition hall of the Cow Palace is darkly lit, and thumping rock music makes plastic soda cups vibrate as they sit on tabletops.
A woman at a booth gets up and strikes a sexy pose, prompting a platoon of photographers to gather like hungry sharks going after a wounded seal. Photo flashes illuminate the booth like a lightning storm. Soon, she tires of the pose and sits back down. The photographers slowly back away and wait for another impromptu show. Here or at another booth. As long as there's a woman who is prepared to show skin.
"This was on my top 100 to-do list for life," said one of the photographers, an amateur picture-taker from Oakland. "Unfortunately, it only comes around once a year."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/BA9OT22DS.DTL
SAN FRANCISCO
Shooting near Cow Palace injures 2 people
Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
San Francisco police were searching for four suspects after a late-night shooting near the Cow Palace that left two people injured.
Police responded to a call of shots fired around 10:30 p.m. Friday and discovered a male in his 30s who had been shot in the 100 block of Castillo Street in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood. Police found another shooting victim a block away near Geneva Avenue and Pueblo Street.
Details about the victims and their conditions were not immediately available.
Police said they were searching for four shooters.
Friday marked the first night of the Exotic Erotic Ball, the yearly party at the Cow Palace, just blocks away from the shootings. Rapper Snoop Dogg also was scheduled to perform late Friday evening as part of a benefit concert to raise funds for a nonprofit foundation, the Healing Circle Soul Support Group, made up of families who have lost loved ones to violence.
E-mail Cecilia M. Vega at cvega@sfchronicle.com.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/BA2GT25IA.DTL
Weekend events in San Francisco to close streets, reroute bus lines
Chronicle Staff Report
Saturday, October 27, 2007
A host of events ranging from a peace march to Halloween celebrations will slow traffic and force Muni to reroute transit lines in San Francisco this weekend.
A large anti-war demonstration will begin at 11 a.m. today at Civic Center Plaza and head to Dolores Park around 12:30 p.m. The march will proceed along Grove Street, Van Ness Avenue, Market Street and Dolores Street, and will end at Dolores Park.
Motorists will be detoured around the march and streets will be reopened as soon as participants have passed. Eight transit lines will also be rerouted: the F-Market, 6-Parnassus, 21-Hayes, 22-Fillmore, 26-Valencia, 33-Stanyan, 47-Van Ness and 49-Van Ness.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/BAIDT180V.DTL
Golden Gate Bridge directors reject sponsorship proposals
Jonathan Curiel, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
After two months of public debate about a plan to bring corporate advertising to the Golden Gate Bridge, district officials voted Friday to scuttle the idea.
The plan, which would have allowed "discrete" corporate logos in visitor areas of the bridge, outraged critics, who called it "crass commercialism" and a "degrading" of the historic span.
Supporters said the proposal would have raised much-needed revenue for the district - more than $3 million a year - and might have staved off a future toll increase.
The original proposal, announced in August, called for advertising from three to five "lead partners" on signage, trash cans and other parts of the bridge's south side visitors' area.
In response to public outcry, the plan's architects created two alternatives that were revealed Friday: One would have limited the advertising to five locations on the south side of the bridge and the number of lead corporate advertisers to two; the second would have limited corporate advertising to a bridge "recognition wall."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/BAIPT1MHO.DTL
Bruce Springsteen, back in true form
Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Bruce Springsteen apparently feels like being Bruce Springsteen again.
With his new No. 1 album, "Magic," reaching back for the sound of his glory days, his first tour in five years with that old gang of his, the E Street Band, feels less like a reconvening than a picking up where they left off.
"This is the Oakland Coliseum," said Springsteen in his first of two sold-out shows Thursday at what is now called Oracle Arena. "Isn't that what they used to call it?"
The first time Springsteen worked the room it was indeed called the Oakland Coliseum Arena and he had just released "The River," the album from his past that his new record most resembles. It is no coincidence that he followed the rousing, anthemic concert opener, "Radio Nowhere," the first track on the new album, with "The Ties That Bind," the song that opened "The River."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/DD3TT0V4K.DTL
American kids, dumber than dirt
Warning: The next generation might just be the biggest pile of idiots in U.S. history
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
I have this ongoing discussion with a longtime reader who also just so happens to be a longtime Oakland high school teacher, a wonderful guy who's seen generations of teens come and generations go and who has a delightful poetic sensibility and quirky outlook on his life and his family and his beloved teaching career.
And he often writes to me in response to something I might've written about the youth of today, anything where I comment on the various nefarious factors shaping their minds and their perspectives and whether or not, say, EMFs and junk food and cell phones are melting their brains and what can be done and just how bad it might all be.
His response: It is not bad at all. It's absolutely horrifying.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/10/24/notes102407.DTL
continued...
THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FIRES
CLIMATE CHANGE: Hotter world may fan flames
Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The risk of catastrophic wildfires like those sweeping through Southern California will increase all over the state as the world heats up, forests dry out and weather patterns shift, forestry experts said Wednesday.
The 16 wind-blown fires that forced the largest mass evacuation in California history may or may not be the result of climate change, but studies have shown that the hot drought conditions that fed the flames are becoming more common.
"Fires are burning hotter and bigger, becoming more damaging and dangerous to people and to property," U.S. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell said. "Each year the fire season comes earlier and lasts longer."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/25/MNUUSVEFP.DTL
Face of foreclosure crisis - Chinese-speaking Parkinson's sufferer
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Hong Zhang Lin lost his home in Oakland's Fruitvale District in a foreclosure auction this month.
The 44-year-old former construction worker, who is disabled by Parkinson's disease, can barely believe it. He's not a subprime borrower, he has a huge amount of equity in the home, and he has made all his mortgage payments on time. The four-bedroom house, which Lin and his two brothers bought in 1992, is worth about $500,000; he only owes $94,000 on the mortgage.
But he evidently stopped making the $135 monthly payments on a $20,000 home-equity loan. The loan was with the bank division of Countrywide Financial, the same lender that carries his primary mortgage. Countrywide initiated foreclosure proceedings and sold the house to investors for a bargain price of $190,300 at an Oct. 2 auction on the Alameda County Courthouse steps.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/BULNT0E7A.DTL
Congressman slams slow deployment of air tankers
Tom Chorneau, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Saturday, October 27, 2007
(10-27) 04:00 PDT Sacramento --
- Perhaps the most proficient firefighting tool in the nation's arsenal is the C-130 cargo plane, specially fitted to carry and disperse 3,000 gallons of fire retardant liquid.
But none of the six C-130 planes owned by the military and outfitted for firefighting began flying missions over this week's destructive Southern California fires until two days after the blazes started - and after crews flew hundreds or thousands of miles from stations in Colorado, Wyoming and North Carolina.
Firefighting experts said high winds on Sunday and Monday were the main reason the big planes weren't summoned sooner, but federal and state officials asked Friday why at least some of the aircraft were not stationed closer to California given that it has some of the nation's worst wildfires.
"We need to know why those C-130s were located so far from California and so far from the front lines," U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach (Orange County), said. "The Boy Scouts motto is, 'Be prepared' - the bureaucracy is going to be held accountable for not being prepared if it turns out that life and property was lost as a result."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/MNF1T1QV1.DTL
Foreclosures in Bay Area, statewide hit record highs in 3rd quarter
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Lenders foreclosed on a record 3,242 Bay Area homes in the third quarter - a 622 percent increase from the same time last year - and there's no sign of relief ahead, according to a real estate report Friday.
Statewide, foreclosure activity hit all-time highs for the quarter. Bank repossessions were up more than 600 percent, and late notices were 2.7 times higher than a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Services, a research firm in La Jolla (San Diego County).
Most ominously, the report showed that default notices, the first step in the foreclosure process, were growing more rapidly in the state and Bay Area compared with last year and earlier this year.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/MNODT1L4R.DTL&tsp=1
Bay Area facing lifestyle changes to achieve greenhouse gas goals
Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
The Bay Area might need smaller houses, higher gas taxes and tolls on busy roads and congested business districts if it is to meet the state's goals for the reduction of greenhouse gases, transportation and land use officials said Friday.
The good news, however, is that a new poll shows that many Bay Area residents are ready to take those steps if it means a better future for the state and world.
Setting goals is significant, leaders with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments told a crowd of 800 at a conference at the Oakland Convention Center. But making the lifestyle changes to meet them is far more challenging.
"The challenge for us is, are we going to be able to walk the talk?" said Henry Gardner, executive director of the association. "We've been talking for a long time about focused growth, smart growth, but there has not been a lot of smart walk."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/27/MNBBT1SFF.DTL
Thousands "die" in anti-war protest on Market St. in SF
Jim Doyle,Susan Sward, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, October 27, 2007
(10-27) 14:20 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- On cue from a bullhorn's blast, thousands of protesters fell to the pavement on Market Street today in a symbolic "die-in" as part of a nationwide protest staged in 11 cites against the war in Iraq.
For about three minutes the demonstrators lay on the ground, representing what organizers said were more than 1 million Iraqis killed since the war began in 2003. Then the marchers got up and resumed their march from San Francisco's Civic Center to Dolores Park for a rally.
March organizers put their number at 30,000 - old, young, workers, students, religious leaders. Police declined to give a formal estimate, but onlookers said the demonstrators definitely numbered far more than 10,000. They filled up Market Street for several blocks, shouting that U.S. troops should be brought home and carrying banners decrying the war.
At the head of the marchers was a band of Native American drummers who pounded a steady beat as protesters chanted, "No more war!"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/MNJHT0ULT.DTL&tsp=1
Come see our giant toxic stew!
1,500 miles wide, floating in the Pacific, made of all your plastic crap. Bring the kids!
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Friday, October 26, 2007
Because nothing makes you feel better about being a living, breathing, plastic-licking human on this planet today than the thought of a massive, eternal, slowly swirling vortex of noxious garbage the size of a continent and the shape of death itself, just floating out there in the middle of the Pacific ocean, mocking life, humanity, God. Mmm, gloomy.
Have you heard? Did you see? It's called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (or Pacific Trash Vortex, among other awesome nicknames) and it's a staggering phenomenon indeed and after reading up on it, I fully believe we must now revise our master list. Because surely this thing must be one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the grand sociocultural melting pot of our time. Except for the fact that it's, you know, revolting.
http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/
Bay Area needs to rethink rules on land use, zoning
Joseph Perkins
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The Association of Bay Area Governments projects that the nine-county Bay Area region will add nearly 1.5 million residents by 2030. That population growth will not be attributable to a wave of foreign immigration, nor to an influx of newcomers from other regions of the state or the country.
In fact, much of the region's burgeoning population will be homegrown - the children (and grandchildren) of those of us who already live here.
The question is: How and where is the Bay Area going to house its additional 1.5 million residents?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/21/INGMSRICU.DTL
Astronauts Open Up New Station Addition
By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
(10-27) 12:18 PDT Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP) --
Astronauts swung open the door to their new space station addition Saturday and floated into the spacious and sparkling white room, formally christening it Harmony.
Even though it looked immaculate inside, international space station commander Peggy Whitson and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli — the first to enter — wore surgical masks and goggles to protect themselves from any dirty stowaways, like dust, lint or crumbs.
The air inside the school bus-size chamber was immediately tested, and Whitson later reported there wasn't much debris inside at all.
Harmony was named by schoolchildren in America but made in Italy, and Nespoli proudly noted that as he bobbed up and down in the 24-foot-long, 14-foot-diameter chamber that was delivered by shuttle Discovery.
"It's a pleasure to be here in this very beautiful piece of hardware," he said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/25/national/a014341D83.DTL&tsp=1
Weather Improves at California Fires
By GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
(10-27) 13:25 PDT Lake Arrowhead, Calif. (AP) --
Firefighters battled stubborn wildfires across Southern California on Saturday, but cloudy skies scattering occasional raindrops brought a welcome improvement in conditions.
Tropical moisture flowing from the south replaced the hot, dry Santa Ana winds that roared in a week earlier and spread fires over more than a half-million acres, destroying more than 2,300 structures, including 1,700 homes.
The number of deaths directly attributed to the fires officially rose to seven. Officials confirmed that the flames killed four suspected illegal immigrants whose charred bodies were found near the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday, said Jose Alvarez, a public information officer for San Diego County emergency services. Identification of the victims was continuing.
Although more than a dozen blazes were surrounded, containment of nine other blazes ranged from 97 percent to just 25 percent. More than 21,000 structures were considered threatened, and more than 15,000 firefighters were on the lines, the state Office of Emergency Services said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/25/national/a010416D51.DTL
Feds Strike ID Deal Over NY Licenses
By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
(10-27) 14:03 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
The Bush administration and New York cut a deal Saturday to create a new generation of super-secure driver's licenses for U.S. citizens, but also allow illegal immigrants to get a version.
New York is the fourth state to reach an agreement on federally approved secure licenses, after Arizona, Vermont and Washington. The issue is pressing for border states, where new and tighter rules are soon to go into effect for crossings.
The Arizona deal announced in August does not contemplate issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, said Jeanine L'Ecuyer, a spokeswoman for Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/27/national/w094814D54.DTL
2 children drown in their backyard swimming pool
Henry K. Lee,Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, October 27, 2007
An Antioch woman who left her two young children playing alone in the backyard Friday returned after a few minutes to find the siblings had gotten past a security fence and drowned in the family's swimming pool, authorities said.
Three-year-old Victor Cano and his 22-month-old sister, Adamari Cano, were pulled from the pool on the 1100 block of East 13th Street about 12:35 p.m., authorities said. They were taken to Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch, where they were pronounced dead.
Authorities said the children had been playing in the backyard when their mother, 21-year-old Daniela Espinosa, went inside to use the restroom. When she came out several minutes later, she could not see the children, then realized they were in the pool, authorities said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/BAJGT1NH7.DTL
Exhibitionist expo acts as a warm-up for Exotic Erotic Ball
John Koopman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
The exposition hall of the Cow Palace is darkly lit, and thumping rock music makes plastic soda cups vibrate as they sit on tabletops.
A woman at a booth gets up and strikes a sexy pose, prompting a platoon of photographers to gather like hungry sharks going after a wounded seal. Photo flashes illuminate the booth like a lightning storm. Soon, she tires of the pose and sits back down. The photographers slowly back away and wait for another impromptu show. Here or at another booth. As long as there's a woman who is prepared to show skin.
"This was on my top 100 to-do list for life," said one of the photographers, an amateur picture-taker from Oakland. "Unfortunately, it only comes around once a year."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/BA9OT22DS.DTL
SAN FRANCISCO
Shooting near Cow Palace injures 2 people
Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
San Francisco police were searching for four suspects after a late-night shooting near the Cow Palace that left two people injured.
Police responded to a call of shots fired around 10:30 p.m. Friday and discovered a male in his 30s who had been shot in the 100 block of Castillo Street in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood. Police found another shooting victim a block away near Geneva Avenue and Pueblo Street.
Details about the victims and their conditions were not immediately available.
Police said they were searching for four shooters.
Friday marked the first night of the Exotic Erotic Ball, the yearly party at the Cow Palace, just blocks away from the shootings. Rapper Snoop Dogg also was scheduled to perform late Friday evening as part of a benefit concert to raise funds for a nonprofit foundation, the Healing Circle Soul Support Group, made up of families who have lost loved ones to violence.
E-mail Cecilia M. Vega at cvega@sfchronicle.com.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/BA2GT25IA.DTL
Weekend events in San Francisco to close streets, reroute bus lines
Chronicle Staff Report
Saturday, October 27, 2007
A host of events ranging from a peace march to Halloween celebrations will slow traffic and force Muni to reroute transit lines in San Francisco this weekend.
A large anti-war demonstration will begin at 11 a.m. today at Civic Center Plaza and head to Dolores Park around 12:30 p.m. The march will proceed along Grove Street, Van Ness Avenue, Market Street and Dolores Street, and will end at Dolores Park.
Motorists will be detoured around the march and streets will be reopened as soon as participants have passed. Eight transit lines will also be rerouted: the F-Market, 6-Parnassus, 21-Hayes, 22-Fillmore, 26-Valencia, 33-Stanyan, 47-Van Ness and 49-Van Ness.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/BAIDT180V.DTL
Golden Gate Bridge directors reject sponsorship proposals
Jonathan Curiel, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007
After two months of public debate about a plan to bring corporate advertising to the Golden Gate Bridge, district officials voted Friday to scuttle the idea.
The plan, which would have allowed "discrete" corporate logos in visitor areas of the bridge, outraged critics, who called it "crass commercialism" and a "degrading" of the historic span.
Supporters said the proposal would have raised much-needed revenue for the district - more than $3 million a year - and might have staved off a future toll increase.
The original proposal, announced in August, called for advertising from three to five "lead partners" on signage, trash cans and other parts of the bridge's south side visitors' area.
In response to public outcry, the plan's architects created two alternatives that were revealed Friday: One would have limited the advertising to five locations on the south side of the bridge and the number of lead corporate advertisers to two; the second would have limited corporate advertising to a bridge "recognition wall."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/BAIPT1MHO.DTL
Bruce Springsteen, back in true form
Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Bruce Springsteen apparently feels like being Bruce Springsteen again.
With his new No. 1 album, "Magic," reaching back for the sound of his glory days, his first tour in five years with that old gang of his, the E Street Band, feels less like a reconvening than a picking up where they left off.
"This is the Oakland Coliseum," said Springsteen in his first of two sold-out shows Thursday at what is now called Oracle Arena. "Isn't that what they used to call it?"
The first time Springsteen worked the room it was indeed called the Oakland Coliseum Arena and he had just released "The River," the album from his past that his new record most resembles. It is no coincidence that he followed the rousing, anthemic concert opener, "Radio Nowhere," the first track on the new album, with "The Ties That Bind," the song that opened "The River."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/DD3TT0V4K.DTL
American kids, dumber than dirt
Warning: The next generation might just be the biggest pile of idiots in U.S. history
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
I have this ongoing discussion with a longtime reader who also just so happens to be a longtime Oakland high school teacher, a wonderful guy who's seen generations of teens come and generations go and who has a delightful poetic sensibility and quirky outlook on his life and his family and his beloved teaching career.
And he often writes to me in response to something I might've written about the youth of today, anything where I comment on the various nefarious factors shaping their minds and their perspectives and whether or not, say, EMFs and junk food and cell phones are melting their brains and what can be done and just how bad it might all be.
His response: It is not bad at all. It's absolutely horrifying.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/10/24/notes102407.DTL
continued...
Morning Papers - continued...
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
9/11 Hero Needs a "Miracle"
Sheriff set to sell home October 30th
October 21st, 2007 12:34 am
Barnegat man's work at WTC leaves him ill, facing foreclosure
By Emily Previti / Press of Atlantic City
BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP, NJ - Charles Giles has endured failing health, mounting medical bills and limitations to life as he knew it before Sept. 11, 2001.
Soon, he might add homelessness to the list.
When Giles, then an EMT, responded to the disaster scene at the World Trade Center more than six years ago, he didn't think it would later cost him his home.
But days of inhaling fumes at the site continue to provoke health problems that have prevented Giles from working. The problems were compounded by unanswered medical claims.
Family hardships that began with cutting out cable TV have culminated in their home's foreclosure in March and impending sheriff's sale Oct. 30.
Ocean County sheriff's records show Giles appealed the sale and that the sheriff's office twice delayed the sale originally set for Aug. 21. Judge Fred A. Buczynski pushed the date from Sept. 18 to Oct. 30.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10451
"I feel like I let my family down." -- 9/11 first responder Charles Giles Don't Let the Giles Family go Homeless:
CONTACT US
We’re here to help you find the assistance you need.
For the address and phone number of our nearest Financial Center, use our Branch Locator.
For assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, please call 800-WACHOVIA (800-922-4684), or contact us via email.
For specific products and services, you can find address, telephone, email, and fax information here:
http://www.wachovia.com/helpcenter/page/0,,2357,00.html
Information on
Representative Jim Saxton
of Congressional District number 3 of New Jersey
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/newmemberbio.cgi?lang=&member=NJ03&site=ctc&address=&city=&state=NJ&zipcode=&plusfour=
Make Sure Your Rep. Supports H.R. 676
"Which congressional district am I in?"
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/what-can-i-do/boxscore/index.php?action=print
TODAY, Saturday, October 27th:
All Out Against the War
CLiCK here and enter your address to find out.
Today, Saturday, October 27, in 11 regional centers and other locations around the country, our voices will ring out loud and clear. The war and occupation in Iraq must end, and it must end now!
http://www.oct27.org/
Monday, October 22nd, 2007
SAVE NEW ORLEANS (by ending the Occupation of Iraq)!
New Orleans is hosting an anti war demonstration on October 27th, in conjunction with the UFPJ national day of action. Here in south Louisiana, we say, SAVE NEW ORLEANS by ending the Occupation of Iraq!
We say, that the Occupation of Iraq spreads hatred of our country to every corner of the world, and it spreads intolerance in the form of racism, from Jena to Fallujah, and back.
Do you want to help New Orleans, the city that the U.S. government has abandoned? Do you want to help save our nation? Then join us in New Orleans on October 27th, and be heard in the streets, as we tell the government that from genocide to Jena, the madness must stop NOW. Join us, as we demand and end to the Occupation NOW! Demand that we must end racism NOW! Our money must be spent here. We can not export "democracy" if we don't even practice it here at home.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=931
Old friends roll out the welcome mat
October 27th, 2007 4:44 pm
Thousands Of Anti-War Protesters Rally In Union Square
NY1
Anti-war protesters hit the streets Saturday with the message "bring the troops home."
Organizers say tens of thousands of people marched from Union Square to Foley Square in Manhattan this afternoon to demand an end to the war in Iraq, and to call on the Bush administration to bring the troops safely home.
"We stepped into a country that we have no business being in at this point and we need to get out," said one protester. "We have lost too many of our people and they have lost so much."
"New Yorkers are against it. The youth is against it. If this government is really for the people, then they need to hear the people and the people want this war to end," said another protester.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10491
Anti-War Protests
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sm/events/wl/031806antiwar/p:1
Thousands assemble for anti-war march
Updating coverage of Saturday's anti-war march and rally
By Gerry Smith Tribune staff reporter
4:09 PM CDT, October 27, 2007
Among the thousands of protesters who left the park and marched down Ashland was Leonore Lee, 65, of Milwaukee, who said, "This is power to the people. It shows our solidarity and makes me love this country even more."
But as the protesters descended on Federal Plaza, they were met by more than 20 counter-protesters, who were waving American flags and holdings signs reading, "You keep fighting there, we've got your back here."
Beverly Perlson, 50, of Oak Lawn, said her son was on his fourth deployment in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-071027march,1,4830024.story?track=rss
Thousands "die" in anti-war protest on Market St. in SF
Jim Doyle,Susan Sward, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, October 27, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/MNJHT0ULT.DTL&feed=rss.news
Anti-War Rally Takes Over Lake Eola Saturday
POSTED: 1:01 pm EDT October 27, 2007
UPDATED: 1:29 pm EDT October 27, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Marchers for peace take to the streets of Orlando Saturday.
They demanded an end to the war in Iraq, WESH 2 News reported.
"Push forward this new movement to end the war, to end the horrible policies of the Bush administration that are corrupting our civil liberties, that are making America unsafe and we're coming together as this massive statewide entity that will not stand for this anymore," rally organizer Matt DeVlieger said.
http://www.wesh.com/news/14438472/detail.html?rss=orl&psp=news
Anti-War Protests
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/wl/031806antiwar/im:/071027/480/47aee6c7c29748b8b73ea42eab5a7c67;_ylt=AsFmaGaYYSy1WCn0unkFm0pgWscF
I MET A MAN. I was riding a bus yesterday. I sat behind the driver. He was a very nice guy that liked to talk while driving. I am not sure how the topic of September 11th came up but it did. He stated he was a bus drive in New York City for 10 years. He was at Ground Zero when the first plane had struck. "Yeah, I was there." he said. "I had stopped the bus like I always did every morning and walked across the street to get some breakfast when all of a sudden there was debris every place. I walked outside to be met with police officers who told us to walk out and directed our movements. He never let me move the bus and is was destroyed when the building collapsed."
I asked why he wasn't in New York City anymore. He stated, "I couldn't stay. It was too much trauma. To many reminders. It was very stressful for me after that day. I was covered in that white dust just like everyone else and I have breathing problems. I use inhalers and see my doctor regularly. They say that will eventually kill me, so I take real good care of myself."
I departed the bus and wished him well. It's strange how so many years have gone by and there are still vivid images that come to mind when conversation turns toward those days. Those terrible days. What is even more unbelievable is that the country has become so misdirected with people willing to propagate an illegal war while the people that caused so much damage to the USA that day roam free in Pakistan with returned alliance of tribal Taliban.
The injustice of September 11th continues to rack this country, while politics as usual dominate the front pages of our media. I don't understand how people of this nation have been so grossly disaffected and the one true war we were supposed to fight has been sidelined for an oil war. It's criminal. I'm sorry, but, the Republican agenda for this country is corrupt to the core and I won't ignore that fact.
October 27th, 2007 3:38 pm
Friends Come To The Aid Of 9/11 First Responder
NBC10
BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- A fundraiser was held Friday night to help a man who used to make a living helping others.
The Jersey Shore resident was one of the first responders to the attacks at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. But as NBC 10’s Doug Shimell explained, these days, he's in need of a helping hand himself.
"This is not about me. This is about all the 9/11 first responders and rescue workers. Those of us that are sick and dying. We just want our dignity,” Charlie Giles said.
Giles, a former N.Y. EMT, can't work due to lung problems caused by the dust and debris at ground zero. The 9/11 Victims’ Fund hasn't paid his medical bills and his Barnegat Township, N.J., home is in foreclosure. For those reasons, colleagues and local officials went to work to help Giles out. It has become a rescue mission for the rescuer.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=10490
Charlie Giles Slideshow
http://www.nbc10.com/slideshow/news/14438578/detail.html
October 21st, 2007 12:34 am
Barnegat man's work at WTC leaves him ill, facing foreclosure
By Emily Previti / Press of Atlantic City
BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP, NJ - Charles Giles has endured failing health, mounting medical bills and limitations to life as he knew it before Sept. 11, 2001.
Soon, he might add homelessness to the list.
When Giles, then an EMT, responded to the disaster scene at the World Trade Center more than six years ago, he didn't think it would later cost him his home.
But days of inhaling fumes at the site continue to provoke health problems that have prevented Giles from working. The problems were compounded by unanswered medical claims.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10451
Tell them to do something !
Information on
Representative Jim Saxton
of Congressional District number 3 of New Jersey
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/newmemberbio.cgi?lang=&member=NJ03&site=ctc&address=&city=&state=NJ&zipcode=&plusfour=
October 21st, 2007 12:34 am
Barnegat man's work at WTC leaves him ill, facing foreclosure
By Emily Previti / Press of Atlantic City
BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP, NJ - Charles Giles has endured failing health, mounting medical bills and limitations to life as he knew it before Sept. 11, 2001.
Soon, he might add homelessness to the list.
When Giles, then an EMT, responded to the disaster scene at the World Trade Center more than six years ago, he didn't think it would later cost him his home.
But days of inhaling fumes at the site continue to provoke health problems that have prevented Giles from working. The problems were compounded by unanswered medical claims.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10451
October 26th, 2007 8:28 pm
US peace activist barred again from entering Canada
Associated Press
OTTAWA: A U.S. peace activist who has been barred from Canada after past arrests for anti-war activities put her on an FBI crime database was denied entry again Thursday, despite having an invitation from several members of Parliament.
Retired U.S. Army Col. Ann Wright was to speak at an anti-war news conference at the invitation of the left-leaning Parliament members, who sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week advising him that they had invited Wright and another activist.
But while other passengers passed through Customs at Ottawa's airport, Wright was held back and told to return to the U.S.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10488
October 26th, 2007 2:28 pm
Bush says he'll veto health bill again
By David Espo / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush accused Democratic lawmakers on Friday of wasting time by passing legislation to expand children's health coverage, knowing that he would veto it again. At the same time, he criticized Congress for failing to approve spending bills to keep the government running.
Bush said Congress had "set a record they should not be proud of: October 26 is the latest date in 20 years that Congress has failed to get a single annual appropriations bill to the president's desk."
He also complained that Congress had failed to pass a permanent extension of a moratorium on state and local taxes on Internet access, and that the Senate had not yet confirmed Michael Mukasey as attorney general. Further, he chided Congress for failing to approve more money for Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10483
October 26th, 2007 6:43 pm
Bush touts Cuban life after Castro
By Ben Feller / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush, trying to loosen Fidel Castro's nearly half-century hold on power, blistered Cuba's communist regime Wednesday and challenged allies to help foster a democratic uprising or risk the shame of staying silent.
Bush's first major address on Cuba in four years offered no change in U.S. policy and only modest proposals that even he acknowledged would likely be rejected by the island's rulers. With Raul Castro running Cuba on his ailing brother's behalf, it was unclear whether Bush's latest effort would have any effect.
Still, Bush seemed emboldened by even the possibility of regime change in Cuba. An ailing Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since July 2006.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10485
October 26th, 2007 6:50 pm
Cuba accuses Bush of inciting violence with speech
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba on Wednesday accused U.S. President George W. Bush of encouraging violent uprising against its communist government with a speech in which Bush urged Cubans to push for democratic change.
"You will never force us to our knees," Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said in response to Bush's speech, which came 15 months after ailing leader Fidel Castro handed over power to his brother.
Bush said he would maintain sanctions against Cuba and called on Cuban military and police officers to join efforts to open Cuba to multi-party democracy, saying liberty was more important that stability.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10486
October 26th, 2007 1:39 pm
UN issues 'final wake-up call' on population and environment
By James Kanter / International Herald Tribune
PARIS: The human population is living far beyond its means and inflicting damage on the environment that could pass points of no return, according to a major report issued Thursday by the United Nations.
Climate change, the rate of extinction of species and the challenge of feeding a growing population are among the threats putting humanity at risk, the UN Environment Program said in its fourth Global Environmental Outlook since 1997.
"The human population is now so large that the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available at current consumption patterns," Achim Steiner, the executive director of the program, said in a telephone interview. Efficient use of resources and reducing waste now are "among the greatest challenges at the beginning of 21st century," he said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10481
October 26th, 2007 1:56 pm
Report: Primates in danger of extinction
By Michael Casey / Associated Press
BANGKOK, Thailand - Almost a third of all apes, monkeys and other primates are in danger of extinction because of rampant habitat destruction, the commercial sale of their meat and the trade in illegal wildlife, a report released Friday said.
Of the world's 394 primate species, 114 are classified as threatened with extinction by the World Conservation Union.
The report by Conservation International and the International Primatological Society in Hainan, China, focuses on the plight of the 25 most endangered primates, including China's Hainan gibbon, of which only 17 remain.
"You could fit all the surviving members of the 25 species in a single football stadium; that's how few of them remain on Earth today," said Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation International.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10482
October 24th, 2007 8:14 pm
Ill-Equipped Soldiers Opt for "Search and Avoid"
By Dahr Jamail / IPS
WATERTOWN, New York, Oct 24 - Iraq war veterans now stationed at a base here say that morale among U.S. soldiers in the country is so poor, many are simply parking their Humvees and pretending to be on patrol, a practice dubbed "search and avoid" missions.
Phil Aliff is an active duty soldier with the 10th Mountain Division stationed at Fort Drum in upstate New York. He served nearly one year in Iraq from August 2005 to July 2006, in the areas of Abu Ghraib and Fallujah, both west of Baghdad.
"Morale was incredibly low," said Aliff, adding that he joined the military because he was raised in a poor family by a single mother and had few other prospects. "Most men in my platoon in Iraq were just in from combat tours in Afghanistan."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10476
continued...
Da Vinci's Last Supper gets scrutinized by the entire world wide web at 16 billion pixels (click here)
A high-resolution image of Da Vinci's Last Supper will soon be posted on the internet by an Italian technology firm, allowing art lovers and conspiracy theorists alike to scrutinise it from their own computers.
The digital imaging firm, called HAL9000 after the killer computer in Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey", will post the 16-17 giga pixel image on its website (www.haltadefinizione.com) on Saturday.
Located in a former monks' dining hall adjacent to a church in Milan, the 500-year-old mural by Leonardo Da Vinci depicts Jesus Christ when he predicts that one of his apostles will betray him....
The digital imaging firm, called HAL9000 after the killer computer in Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey", will post the 16-17 giga pixel image on its website (www.haltadefinizione.com) on Saturday.
Located in a former monks' dining hall adjacent to a church in Milan, the 500-year-old mural by Leonardo Da Vinci depicts Jesus Christ when he predicts that one of his apostles will betray him....
Standing for the reversal of deadly climate trends and human induced global warming IS THE MORAL STAND everyone should be taking. Those opposed it that reality are immoral and have an Anti-Life Agenda.
Linda Morris, Religious Affairs Reporter
October 25, 2007
AUSTRALIA'S most prominent religious sceptic of climate change, the Catholic Archbishop George Pell, was out of step within his church and the global Christian community on global warming, a leading Anglican environmentalist says.
The head of the Anglican Church's international body on the environment, George Browning, said Dr Pell's position on global warming defied scientific consensus and theological imperatives to protect the Earth and its future generations. It also made no sense and would be proven a mistake.
Bishop Browning's stance came as the Australian Anglican church prepared to adopt its strongest position yet on climate change, committing 23 dioceses to initiatives reducing their carbon footprint.
But Dr Pell said last night he had every right to be sceptical about extravagant claims of impending man-made climatic catastrophes. "There are many measures which are good for the environment, which we should pursue," he said.
"We need to be able talk freely about this and about the uncertainties around climate change. Invoking the authority of some scientific experts to shut down debate is not good for science, the environment, for people here and in the developing world or for the people of tomorrow.
"My task as a Christian leader is to engage with reality, to contribute to debate on important issues, to open people's minds, and to point out when the emperor is wearing few or no clothes.
"Radical environmentalists are more than up to the task of moralising their own agenda and imposing it on people through fear. They don't need church leaders to help them with this, although it is a very effective way of further muting Christian witness. Church leaders in particular should be allergic to nonsense."
Bishop Browning supported warnings that climate change refugees would, in the future, pose a bigger threat to world security than terrorism by triggering massive population shifts.
He also warned Australia had to dump the "language of drought" because it offered false hope to farmers by implying that after drought would come flood and a return to normal farming life. The warming of the planet had triggered irreversible climate changes that warranted fundamental changes in farming and investment practices.
Bishop Browning took issue with Dr Pell's Easter message this year at which the cardinal said Jesus had nothing to say on global warming. He told the Anglican synod meeting in Canberra yesterday he had written to Dr Pell after the Easter message because he found his statement "almost unbelievable".
AUSTRALIA'S most prominent religious sceptic of climate change, the Catholic Archbishop George Pell, was out of step within his church and the global Christian community on global warming, a leading Anglican environmentalist says.
The head of the Anglican Church's international body on the environment, George Browning, said Dr Pell's position on global warming defied scientific consensus and theological imperatives to protect the Earth and its future generations. It also made no sense and would be proven a mistake.
Bishop Browning's stance came as the Australian Anglican church prepared to adopt its strongest position yet on climate change, committing 23 dioceses to initiatives reducing their carbon footprint.
But Dr Pell said last night he had every right to be sceptical about extravagant claims of impending man-made climatic catastrophes. "There are many measures which are good for the environment, which we should pursue," he said.
"We need to be able talk freely about this and about the uncertainties around climate change. Invoking the authority of some scientific experts to shut down debate is not good for science, the environment, for people here and in the developing world or for the people of tomorrow.
"My task as a Christian leader is to engage with reality, to contribute to debate on important issues, to open people's minds, and to point out when the emperor is wearing few or no clothes.
"Radical environmentalists are more than up to the task of moralising their own agenda and imposing it on people through fear. They don't need church leaders to help them with this, although it is a very effective way of further muting Christian witness. Church leaders in particular should be allergic to nonsense."
Bishop Browning supported warnings that climate change refugees would, in the future, pose a bigger threat to world security than terrorism by triggering massive population shifts.
He also warned Australia had to dump the "language of drought" because it offered false hope to farmers by implying that after drought would come flood and a return to normal farming life. The warming of the planet had triggered irreversible climate changes that warranted fundamental changes in farming and investment practices.
Bishop Browning took issue with Dr Pell's Easter message this year at which the cardinal said Jesus had nothing to say on global warming. He told the Anglican synod meeting in Canberra yesterday he had written to Dr Pell after the Easter message because he found his statement "almost unbelievable".
Deadline set for Kyoto successor (click here)
October 26, 2007
Advertisement
THE world's most influential environment ministers have endorsed finalising a successor to the Kyoto Protocol by 2009, laying down a plan for December's negotiations in Bali to design new measures to combat global warming.
Meeting in the Indonesian city of Bogor yesterday, more than 40 nations agreed tougher action was required to address climate change and produce a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
Australia and the United States came under pressure during the meeting for failing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and commit to binding emission reduction targets.
The head of the United Nations Climate Secretariat, Yvo de Boer, said both nations had indicated a willingness to negotiate and make commitments on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but the details - including if they would be legally binding - were unclear.
Australia was represented by its ambassador to the UN, Robert Hill. Canberra is lobbying to extend emission targets to developing countries not covered by the Kyoto Protocol.
Mark Forbes
October 26, 2007
Advertisement
THE world's most influential environment ministers have endorsed finalising a successor to the Kyoto Protocol by 2009, laying down a plan for December's negotiations in Bali to design new measures to combat global warming.
Meeting in the Indonesian city of Bogor yesterday, more than 40 nations agreed tougher action was required to address climate change and produce a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
Australia and the United States came under pressure during the meeting for failing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and commit to binding emission reduction targets.
The head of the United Nations Climate Secretariat, Yvo de Boer, said both nations had indicated a willingness to negotiate and make commitments on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but the details - including if they would be legally binding - were unclear.
Australia was represented by its ambassador to the UN, Robert Hill. Canberra is lobbying to extend emission targets to developing countries not covered by the Kyoto Protocol.
Mark Forbes
Morning Papers - continued...
Sydney Morning Herald
Village cops battering as freak twister pays a visit
Trail of destruction ... the tornado blew the walls out of St Matthew's Anglican Church.
Advertisement
Heath Gilmore and Manuel Mitternacht
October 28, 2007
A FREAK tornado with winds up to 150 kmh that tore through a northern NSW village was one of the rarest weather events to happen in a populated area of Australia.
Storm chaser Jimmy Deguara, who relocated from Sydney to the Far North Coast for the storm season, recorded the devastation.
The tornado rampaged through the village of Dunoon after clipping nearby Lismore, causing millions of dollars in damage.
Destructive twisters are more commonly associated with the Midwest of the United States, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said yesterday, and rarely seen by Australians.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/freak-tornado-hits-nsw/2007/10/27/1192941400158.html
Howard targets Afghan shirkers
Frank Walker
October 28, 2007
Advertisement
PRIME Minister John Howard yesterday urged NATO countries to get more involved in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
His move came after the Taliban shot and killed Australian SAS Sergeant Matthew Locke in the southern Afghan province of Oruzgan.
Nine hundred Australians are in the province, where fighting has been the most fierce, and two soldiers have been killed in two weeks.
Mr Howard made a surprisingly bitter attack against NATO countries, saying they were not involved in the "heavy lifting" in the battle against the Taliban.
He said the Taliban was targeting Australian, American, Canadian, British and Dutch troops.
"These are the countries doing the heavy lifting," Mr Howard said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/howard-targets-taliban/2007/10/27/1192941401756.html
Fires contained but the damage is done
October 28, 2007
FIREFIGHTERS say they're making progress against California's wildfires but about 22,000 homes remain threatened by the blazes that have killed at least nine people, gutted 1800 properties and caused over $1billion of damage.
Cooler temperatures and calmer winds have allowed firefighters to contain most of the 23 fires that erupted last week.
They've triggered the evacuation of more than half a million people - the biggest mass evacuation in Californian history.
With diminished winds, an aerial armada of helicopters and tanker planes has been able to fly non-stop, dropping water and fire retardants
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/us-fires-cause-1bn-damages/2007/10/27/1192941401771.html
Cot crusader lashes Australia
Maxine Frith
October 28, 2007
AUSTRALIA'S medical establishment is under fire for its attitude towards pregnancy and labour.
British childbirth guru Sheila Kitzinger MBE will launch an attack on the nation's high caesarean rate and low levels of home birth at a conference in Sydney this week.
The author of more than 20 books - including The Complete Book Of Pregnancy And Childbirth - accuses Australian obstetricians of ignoring women's needs in favour of their own protection and profits.
In an interview with The Sun-Herald, she said Australia was lagging behind other countries, which are moving to less hospital-based models of childbirth.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cot-crusader-lashes-australia/2007/10/27/1192941404609.html
Four year old swims with whale
2007-10-27 12:10:33
After seeing a Beluga Whale at an aquarium, a four year old Chinese boy asked his grandmother if he could swim with it.(01:16)
http://media.smh.com.au/?category=Breaking%20News&rid=32738
Timberlake donates $100,000 to Irwin zoo
October 28, 2007
Your browser does not support iframes. To visit the page follow this link
US pop star Justin Timberlake has kicked off the Australian leg of his world tour at Brisbane's Boondall Entertainment Centre by making a $100,000 donation to the Irwin family's Australia Zoo.
Performing hit singles from his latest Future Sex/Love Sounds album and his first offering Justified, the multi-award winning artist stopped the show and his screaming fans tonight to make a serious point.
He told the crowd he had taken a private tour of the world famous Queensland wildlife park during his last visit to the country and had been very impressed by Australia's love of its animals.
"And when I came here last time, it really hit me ... I said to myself 'what can I do?'
"So what I did was 50 cents from every ticket sold on the Australian tour goes to Wildlife Warriors."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/timberlake-donates-100k-to-irwin-zoo/2007/10/27/1192941405283.html
Motorists driving on dangerous medication
Maxine Firth
October 28, 2007
ONE-QUARTER of NSW drivers have taken prescription and over-the-counter drugs and then got behind the wheel, despite warnings that the medication could seriously impair their ability to drive, research has found.
Drivers are risking their lives and the lives of others by ignoring vital warnings on the labels of a range of common medicines, insurers say.
A survey of more than 2000 Australians - conducted by a market research company for the AAMI insurance firm - found 22 per cent of NSW drivers had driven while taking legal drugs that carried clear warnings about side effects such as drowsiness, confusion and vision changes.
Many admitted knowing the result might be dangerous, even fatal.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/motorists-driving-on-dangerous-medication/2007/10/27/1192941400188.html
We said our brave son was invincible
Heath Gilmore
October 28, 2007
THE father of Matthew Locke, the Special Air Services soldier who was killed in action in Afghanistan, left his NSW property last night to make the long journey to Perth to comfort the dead soldier's wife and son.
Norm Locke will wait with his daughter-in-law Leigh Ann and 12-year-old grandson Keegan at Perth for the arrival of Sergeant Locke's body.
The soldier died after being shot in the chest in a firefight with Taliban extremists in Oruzgan province on Thursday. He was the second Australian casualty this month. A roadside bomb killed trooper David Pearce on October 8.
Mr Locke's wife, Jan, who has never flown, will wait until the funeral arrangements are made for her son before she travels to Perth.
Speaking from Bellingen on the Mid North Coast yesterday, Mr Locke said he always thought his youngest son, who had been awarded the Medal for Gallantry for courage under fire, was invincible.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/we-said-our-brave-son-was-invincible/2007/10/27/1192941401753.html
Afghan force is insufficient, US general says
October 28, 2007
NATO is taking a risk by not sending enough troops to Afghanistan and restrictions on deployment of some countries' soldiers hampers operations, NATO's commander in Afghanistan said on Saturday.
Afghanistan has seen an increase in violence this year, with more clashes with Taliban insurgents and more suicide bombings, killing as many as 5,000 people since January.
While the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) claims significant battlefield successes against the Taliban, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has led calls for NATO nations to send more soldiers and allow them to do more.
ISAF commander General Dan McNeill said NATO countries had not even sent troops already promised.
"NATO agreed last year to a force level here ... it prescribed a minimum force ... that force has not been filled yet. On that basis alone, I think, no, I don't have enough force here," he told Reuters in an interview.
"We are taking a certain amount of risk by having an unfilled force," he said.
Many of the 37 nations contributing troops impose tight restrictions, known as caveats, barring them from offensive operations or from deployment in the more dangerous south.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/afghan-force-is-insufficient-us-general-says/2007/10/28/1192941410405.html
Duke's heart alert
October 28, 2007
PRINCE PHILIP has a heart condition and aides are on constant watch to take him to hospital if he becomes dizzy or breathless.
A senior royal official reportedly told the Evening Standard: "The Duke of Edinburgh has lived with a heart condition for years for which he takes medication.
"Those who work close to him are informed of the symptoms and if he shows any sign of them he is to be taken straight to see a specialist."
Buckingham Palace refused to comment on claims that the 86-year-old Prince has been suffering from a heart condition for 15 years.
"We never comment on the health matters of the royal family," a Palace spokeswoman said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/dukes-heart-alert/2007/10/27/1192941401777.html
Most deadly job in world's most dangerous place
October 28, 2007
Lives on the line ... a British bomb disposal operator in Iraq.
Photo: Reuters
Chris Hunter says he sleeps well. For four months in Iraq he did what he calls "the most dangerous job in the world, in the most dangerous place in the world" but, meeting him now, you would scarcely believe he hadn't taken up his alternative career choice and become a restaurateur.
Bomb disposal experts are known in the army as "Felix" because they are like cats with nine lives, and Hunter is certainly a cool cat. He has written his memoirs, Eight Lives Down, under an assumed name and he lives under tight security for fear of reprisals from jihadists who have much to pay him back for, yet he claims that his only worry is how to pay his mortgage on the house near Hay-on-Wye, on the England-Wales border.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/deadliest-job-in-the-world/2007/10/27/1192941405279.html
A smack on the wrist
Miranda Devine
October 28, 2007
JUST as the United Nations was warning Australia to prepare for a flood of heroin after bumper poppy crops in Burma and Afghanistan, the NSW Police Force went soft on petty crime. Great timing.
NSW Premier Morris Iemma last week announced that police would start issuing on-the-spot fines for such offences as shoplifting, minor fraud or theft, possession of stolen goods, offensive conduct or unlawfully entering a vehicle.
These crimes will be treated with as much gravity as a traffic ticket, with a criminal infringement notice (CIN) carrying a fine from $150 to $350.
For former Cabramatta whistleblower and detective sergeant Tim Priest, it's a sickening case of deja vu. A similar system of on-the-spot fines, known as field court attendance notices (CANs), was used in Cabramatta in the late 1990s for drug offences.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/miranda-devine/a-smack-on-the-wrist/2007/10/27/1192941405414.html
Google algorithm tweak spooks WWW
Darren Rowse, a full-time blogger from Melbourne who also runs the b5media blog network, noticed the PageRank of a number of his sites drop significantly.
Photo: Paul Jones
Asher Moses
October 26, 2007 - 2:14PM
In the brave new world of online media, fortunes can be won and lost on the whim of Google's key search algorithm.
And when, without warning, Google tweaked that mathematical formula this week, there was panic on the world wide web.
Swarms of bloggers and webmasters of major sites like Washingtonpost.com, Forbes.com, Engadget.com and SFGate.com noticed a downgrading in their PageRank, Google's measure of a web page's value.
A site's PageRank impacts not only its ranking in Google search results but also the price it can charge advertisers. A drop in ranking can have serious financial consequences, especially for smaller operators.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/google-algorithm-tweak-spooks-www/2007/10/26/1192941308334.html
New Qantas chairman brands Heathrow 'appalling'
Advertisement
Incoming Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford took a parting shot at London's Heathrow airport as he prepared to leave the city he has called home for the best part of a decade and return to Australia.
Reflecting on his time in London at an Australian Business lunch today, Mr Clifford added his voice to heavy criticism levelled at Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, which is beset by delays and congestion.
"I have to say, I think Heathrow is appalling," Mr Clifford said.
"I hope Terminal 5 will make a difference, but it's not about the physical infrastructure, it's about how you manage it."
Heathrow has come under fire for the dilapidated state of its infrastructure, overcrowding, long security queues and lost luggage.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/new-qantas-chairman-brands-heathrow-appalling/2007/10/26/1192941292302.html
Our right-minded friends storm the exits
Mike Carlton
October 27, 2007
Advertisement
The Prime Minister's curious facial twitch during the not-so-great debate on Sunday evening set the radio talkback phone lines ringing on Monday. Some people called it a spasm. Others thought he'd been about to drop from a heart attack.
If you missed it, you can catch a replay on YouTube. Type in "John Howard spasm" and up it comes. His face contorts in a weird grimace, eyelids batting, lips chomping furiously. His hands grip the lectern for support. One contributor has unkindly added some rap music.
To me, it looked as if he'd swallowed a blowfly, although it might have been a nervous reaction to a prickly question he was being asked about al-Qaeda and Iraq. Or perhaps it was the sudden realisation that the Channel Nine Worm, manipulated by the treacherous Ray Martin's hand-picked studio audience of trade union thugs, was almost certainly nose-diving towards the carpet in lounge rooms around the nation. It was not a good look.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/our-rightminded-friends-storm-the-exits/2007/10/26/1192941334031.html
You Tube Video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3445956553847641929&q=John+Howard+spasm%22&total=5&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
Howard's 'Old Man' Face Twitch
Mon, 10/22/2007 - 16:09 — Mr. Speaker
John Howard lost control of his face during the great debate against Kevin Rudd. Medical advisors to the PM have come to the consensus that his brain is deteriorating at an alarming rate; mainly due to his extremely old age. Watch for yourself as a question about Iraq sends Old Man Howard into a brain-face spasm:
http://www.john-howard-is-too-old.com/
Warning: focus groups are addictive - just ask them
Annabel Crabb
October 27, 2007
All politicians rely to some extent on focus groups. Why not? It's the simplest and most effective way to gauge popular opinion; you get your pollster to pay a bunch of folk 50 bucks each to sit in a room with some limp sandwiches and say what they think of you. You never have to meet them and they never know it's you who's asking.
At first it's an experimental thing; you might convene a series of focus groups to help sharpen your plans for transport reform, or health care. After a while, though, focus groups can get addictive. When things are going well they're like an organised series of overheard compliments, and who doesn't like to hear that stuff?
When tough times come, the urge gets worse; it becomes a nasty, scratching compulsion as you comb through them over and over, desperately scanning the transcripts for the seeds of salvation.
The Prime Minister had some strong words to say about focus groups on Tuesday, during an interview with 2GB's Ray Hadley.
"There's one thing I will not do is, I'm not going to sit down with a focus group and work out what I've got to say," John Howard said. "I've always said what I believe. Sometimes your listeners have agreed with me, sometimes they've violently disagreed with me. But they know what I stand for, they know what I believe in, they know what kind of Australia I want and I'm not going to muck around with focus groups and body language experts and gurus and all these other things …"
Now there are many nice things that can be said about the Prime Minister. He is courteous, in the main. He is an excellent father, by all accounts. He knows how to hug.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/warning-focus-groups-are-addictive--just-ask-them/2007/10/26/1192941334038.html
Facebook security loophole warning
Daniel Dasey
October 28, 2007 - 12:24AM
USERS of the networking website Facebook are exposing themselves to identity theft and embarrassment because of security loopholes that allow personal information to be accessed, experts warn.
Facebook profile holders are helping the thieves by posting sensitive information such as phone numbers online, then allowing strangers to join their online friendship networks.
A Sydney conference last week advised users of the networking site - which is regularly visited by 1.5 million Australians - to reconsider their approach.
"If someone is motivated to launch an [identity theft] attack against an individual, it's been made easier by these networking sites and aggregating sites," said Keith B. White, security services director for the global computer firm Alcatel-Lucent.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/28/1192941408684.html
New Zealand Herald
'Swirly' winds before fatal crash - survivor
5:00AM Sunday October 28, 2007
By Michelle Coursey and Nicola Shepheard
Aleisha O'Reilly dreamed of being a top pilot.
At just 21, Aleisha O'Reilly was destined to become one of New Zealand's top female pilots - but her love of flying has cost the flight instructor her life.
The aviation community has been left to mourn one of its brightest young stars after O'Reilly's Cessna 152 crashed in the Urewera National Park during a routine training flight on Friday.
Her co-pilot, 19-year-old student Chris Slee, miraculously survived the impact and indicated "swirly" winds may have contributed to the crash.
The plane, nicknamed Kid, with O'Reilly at the controls, plunged into dense bush in a gully near Ruatahuna, north-west of Lake Waikaremoana, around 5pm. Slee sustained injuries to his ankle, a broken finger and a swollen eye, but managed to stumble across 500m of steep terrain to a nearby road, where he was taken by car to the Papuera Marae. He was later airlifted to Rotorua Hospital, where he remained yesterday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10472534
Charred bodies bring California wildfire toll to 12
3:50PM Friday October 26, 2007
California fires have now killed 10. Photo / Reuters
Los Angeles - Border patrol agents have discovered four charred bodies in rugged mountains near the Mexican border, bringing the probable death toll from California's wildfires to 12, even as firefighters gained the upper hand in their five-day battle.
Agents found the badly burned remains, thought to be three males and a female, at the bottom of a rocky ravine in the mountains east of San Diego, about 5km from the Mexican border.
Together with two other burned bodies found earlier Thursday in a house in San Diego county, the discovery doubled the probable death toll from the fires. At least 60 people have been injured.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10472241
Congo floods kill 30
8:50AM Saturday October 27, 2007
KINSHASA - Floods, landslides and falling power lines killed 30 people during a night of heavy rain in Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling and dilapidated capital Kinshasa, a government ministry said.
Rains started late on Thursday local time and continued into Friday, causing floods that cut off roads, destroyed bridges and triggered landslides in the city of at least six million people.
"Until now, the toll is at 30 identified dead. Others are wounded. Some houses are damaged. Many were completely destroyed," said Saleh Kinyongo, spokesman for Congo's Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
He said some victims were electrocuted when power cables fell into standing water during the storm. Others were crushed when their homes collapsed during landslides.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10472449
Killer bug sweeps Auckland Hospital
5:00AM Sunday October 28, 2007
By Rebecca Milne
Auckland Hospital is on high alert. Photo / James Madelin
Patients have been infected and hundreds more could be at risk from a killer superbug that has swept through Auckland Hospital.
Anxious hospital bosses were last night trying to downplay the threat, saying no one had died as "a direct result" of contracting the extremely rare superbug. But the Herald on Sunday can confirm a 62-year-old female patient who died last week from what has been described as "excess bleeding" had been infected with the bug. However, it is unlikely the bug was the reason she died.
In a statement, Auckland District Health Board chief medical officer David Sage said patients who had been treated for Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) had died, but VRE "had no real part to play in their death".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10472538
1000 march on jail over police raids
5:00AM Sunday October 28, 2007
Police attempts to gather evidence under the Terrorism Suppression Act have angered Maori. Photo / Michael Craig
Up to 1000 people, including politicians, joined activists yesterday in a march to Auckland's Mt Eden Prison to protest against recent police raids.
A bus filled with people from Tuhoe arrived especially for the march, one of 13 organised in centres around the country.
Seventeen people were arrested under the Firearms Act and the Terrorism Suppression Act on October 15 following raids in Auckland, Wellington, Palmerston North, Hamilton, Christchurch, Whakatane and Ruatoki, 20km south of Whakatane.
The raids were the culmination of a year-long investigation into weapons training camps alleged to have been held in the Urewera country, and netted a haul of weapons.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10472511
Lack of sleep may trigger fight mode
5:00AM Saturday October 27, 2007
A few nights without sleep can not only make people tired and emotional, but may actually put the brain into a primitive "fight or flight" state, researchers say.
Brain images of otherwise healthy men and women showed two full days without sleep seemed to rewire their brains, redirecting activity from the calming and rational prefrontal cortex to the "fear centre" - the amygdala.
"It's almost as though, without sleep, the brain had reverted back to more primitive patterns of activity, in that it was unable to put emotional experiences into context and produce controlled, appropriate responses," said Dr Matthew Walker of the University of California, Berkeley, who led the study.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10472308
Standing by my man was the right move: Hillary
5:00AM Sunday October 28, 2007
Applause from Bill Clinton as wife Hillary hugs daughter Chelsea at Hillary's 60th birthday bash. Photo / Reuters
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says it has been worth it to stand by her man, Bill Clinton, despite the marital challenges they have faced.
Their marriage was rocked in 1998 when it was revealed President Bill Clinton had had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, which set off an extended drama that led to his impeachment and a failed attempt to remove him from office.
New York senator Hillary Clinton, 60 last Friday, talked about life with Bill in an interview with Essence magazine.
Many have wondered why she stood by Clinton, who has also been accused of sexual improprieties by other women.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10472503
Chad catches French adoption group
5:15AM Saturday October 27, 2007
Police in Chad arrested nine French people as they prepared to fly more than 100 children to France to have them adopted.
They included the head of a group called Zoe's Ark, which said this year that it intended to bring orphans from the Darfur region for adoption.
Chad's Interior Minister said Chadian children were among the 103 infants, aged between 3 and 8. He said not all of them were orphans.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10472337
Bad weather and sequels keep cinemas buzzing
5:00AM Saturday October 27, 2007
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter.
It was the summer of'69, as the Bryan Adams song goes. Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight paced the streets of New York in Midnight Cowboy, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda took to the road in Easy Rider, and cinema audiences lapped it up in droves.
Fast forward to the summer of 2007 and, for the first time in nearly 40 years, British cinema attendance has returned to the same level.
A combination of bad weather and blockbuster sequels - from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to The Bourne Ultimatum - has lured people back to the movies.
Figures from the trade body, the Film Distributors' Association, show 50.8 million visits to UK cinemas between June and August - an increase of 27 per cent from the same period in 2006 and an increase of 44 per cent compared with 2000.
The last time British cinemas saw such a high attendance was in 1969, when 50.4 million people visited in the summer months and 215 million over the whole year.
British film-going reached a peak in 1946, with 1.6 billion cinema visits.
- Independent
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10472302
Cool weather brings relief to California (+video)
9:10AM Saturday October 27, 2007
By Adam Tanner
SAN DIEGO - Cool, damp weather has moved into Southern California from the Pacific Ocean, boosting efforts to beat down stubborn wildfires, while weary families return to hundreds of homes burned to rubble.
After six days of relentless blazes from Los Angeles to the Mexican border, most of the raging fires had either been doused or brought under relative control as the emergency turned to the long business of recovery.
At the height of the fires, some 500,000 people were evacuated from their homes. But on Friday, the few hundred remaining in the largest emergency shelter - San Diego's Qualcomm sports stadium - were being moved to several smaller centres. The stadium, which at one time had housed and fed more than 10,000 people, was due to close Friday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10472453
G-strings out of favour with Kiwi women
5:00AM Sunday October 28, 2007
By Alice Hudson
G-strings like the one held by Carly Holland have lost popularity. Photo / Getty Images
Hate to break it to you guys, but the Kiwi gal's obsession with the G-string appears to be well and truly over.
Where five years ago G-strings produced by major brands Jockey Woman, Holeproof, Bonds and Berlei had a 35 per cent share of the lucrative women's underwear market, that figure has now fallen to just 5 per cent.
And, according to at least one underwear firm, it's a downward trend that's set to continue - at least in the short term.
So if G-strings are out, what's the new fad in women's briefs?
According to top New Zealand underwear retailers, sleek and seamless boy-shorts - made of innovative and eco-friendly fabrics - are now replacing the once well-loved "gee".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10472525
continued...
Village cops battering as freak twister pays a visit
Trail of destruction ... the tornado blew the walls out of St Matthew's Anglican Church.
Advertisement
Heath Gilmore and Manuel Mitternacht
October 28, 2007
A FREAK tornado with winds up to 150 kmh that tore through a northern NSW village was one of the rarest weather events to happen in a populated area of Australia.
Storm chaser Jimmy Deguara, who relocated from Sydney to the Far North Coast for the storm season, recorded the devastation.
The tornado rampaged through the village of Dunoon after clipping nearby Lismore, causing millions of dollars in damage.
Destructive twisters are more commonly associated with the Midwest of the United States, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said yesterday, and rarely seen by Australians.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/freak-tornado-hits-nsw/2007/10/27/1192941400158.html
Howard targets Afghan shirkers
Frank Walker
October 28, 2007
Advertisement
PRIME Minister John Howard yesterday urged NATO countries to get more involved in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
His move came after the Taliban shot and killed Australian SAS Sergeant Matthew Locke in the southern Afghan province of Oruzgan.
Nine hundred Australians are in the province, where fighting has been the most fierce, and two soldiers have been killed in two weeks.
Mr Howard made a surprisingly bitter attack against NATO countries, saying they were not involved in the "heavy lifting" in the battle against the Taliban.
He said the Taliban was targeting Australian, American, Canadian, British and Dutch troops.
"These are the countries doing the heavy lifting," Mr Howard said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/howard-targets-taliban/2007/10/27/1192941401756.html
Fires contained but the damage is done
October 28, 2007
FIREFIGHTERS say they're making progress against California's wildfires but about 22,000 homes remain threatened by the blazes that have killed at least nine people, gutted 1800 properties and caused over $1billion of damage.
Cooler temperatures and calmer winds have allowed firefighters to contain most of the 23 fires that erupted last week.
They've triggered the evacuation of more than half a million people - the biggest mass evacuation in Californian history.
With diminished winds, an aerial armada of helicopters and tanker planes has been able to fly non-stop, dropping water and fire retardants
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/us-fires-cause-1bn-damages/2007/10/27/1192941401771.html
Cot crusader lashes Australia
Maxine Frith
October 28, 2007
AUSTRALIA'S medical establishment is under fire for its attitude towards pregnancy and labour.
British childbirth guru Sheila Kitzinger MBE will launch an attack on the nation's high caesarean rate and low levels of home birth at a conference in Sydney this week.
The author of more than 20 books - including The Complete Book Of Pregnancy And Childbirth - accuses Australian obstetricians of ignoring women's needs in favour of their own protection and profits.
In an interview with The Sun-Herald, she said Australia was lagging behind other countries, which are moving to less hospital-based models of childbirth.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cot-crusader-lashes-australia/2007/10/27/1192941404609.html
Four year old swims with whale
2007-10-27 12:10:33
After seeing a Beluga Whale at an aquarium, a four year old Chinese boy asked his grandmother if he could swim with it.(01:16)
http://media.smh.com.au/?category=Breaking%20News&rid=32738
Timberlake donates $100,000 to Irwin zoo
October 28, 2007
Your browser does not support iframes. To visit the page follow this link
US pop star Justin Timberlake has kicked off the Australian leg of his world tour at Brisbane's Boondall Entertainment Centre by making a $100,000 donation to the Irwin family's Australia Zoo.
Performing hit singles from his latest Future Sex/Love Sounds album and his first offering Justified, the multi-award winning artist stopped the show and his screaming fans tonight to make a serious point.
He told the crowd he had taken a private tour of the world famous Queensland wildlife park during his last visit to the country and had been very impressed by Australia's love of its animals.
"And when I came here last time, it really hit me ... I said to myself 'what can I do?'
"So what I did was 50 cents from every ticket sold on the Australian tour goes to Wildlife Warriors."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/timberlake-donates-100k-to-irwin-zoo/2007/10/27/1192941405283.html
Motorists driving on dangerous medication
Maxine Firth
October 28, 2007
ONE-QUARTER of NSW drivers have taken prescription and over-the-counter drugs and then got behind the wheel, despite warnings that the medication could seriously impair their ability to drive, research has found.
Drivers are risking their lives and the lives of others by ignoring vital warnings on the labels of a range of common medicines, insurers say.
A survey of more than 2000 Australians - conducted by a market research company for the AAMI insurance firm - found 22 per cent of NSW drivers had driven while taking legal drugs that carried clear warnings about side effects such as drowsiness, confusion and vision changes.
Many admitted knowing the result might be dangerous, even fatal.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/motorists-driving-on-dangerous-medication/2007/10/27/1192941400188.html
We said our brave son was invincible
Heath Gilmore
October 28, 2007
THE father of Matthew Locke, the Special Air Services soldier who was killed in action in Afghanistan, left his NSW property last night to make the long journey to Perth to comfort the dead soldier's wife and son.
Norm Locke will wait with his daughter-in-law Leigh Ann and 12-year-old grandson Keegan at Perth for the arrival of Sergeant Locke's body.
The soldier died after being shot in the chest in a firefight with Taliban extremists in Oruzgan province on Thursday. He was the second Australian casualty this month. A roadside bomb killed trooper David Pearce on October 8.
Mr Locke's wife, Jan, who has never flown, will wait until the funeral arrangements are made for her son before she travels to Perth.
Speaking from Bellingen on the Mid North Coast yesterday, Mr Locke said he always thought his youngest son, who had been awarded the Medal for Gallantry for courage under fire, was invincible.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/we-said-our-brave-son-was-invincible/2007/10/27/1192941401753.html
Afghan force is insufficient, US general says
October 28, 2007
NATO is taking a risk by not sending enough troops to Afghanistan and restrictions on deployment of some countries' soldiers hampers operations, NATO's commander in Afghanistan said on Saturday.
Afghanistan has seen an increase in violence this year, with more clashes with Taliban insurgents and more suicide bombings, killing as many as 5,000 people since January.
While the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) claims significant battlefield successes against the Taliban, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has led calls for NATO nations to send more soldiers and allow them to do more.
ISAF commander General Dan McNeill said NATO countries had not even sent troops already promised.
"NATO agreed last year to a force level here ... it prescribed a minimum force ... that force has not been filled yet. On that basis alone, I think, no, I don't have enough force here," he told Reuters in an interview.
"We are taking a certain amount of risk by having an unfilled force," he said.
Many of the 37 nations contributing troops impose tight restrictions, known as caveats, barring them from offensive operations or from deployment in the more dangerous south.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/afghan-force-is-insufficient-us-general-says/2007/10/28/1192941410405.html
Duke's heart alert
October 28, 2007
PRINCE PHILIP has a heart condition and aides are on constant watch to take him to hospital if he becomes dizzy or breathless.
A senior royal official reportedly told the Evening Standard: "The Duke of Edinburgh has lived with a heart condition for years for which he takes medication.
"Those who work close to him are informed of the symptoms and if he shows any sign of them he is to be taken straight to see a specialist."
Buckingham Palace refused to comment on claims that the 86-year-old Prince has been suffering from a heart condition for 15 years.
"We never comment on the health matters of the royal family," a Palace spokeswoman said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/dukes-heart-alert/2007/10/27/1192941401777.html
Most deadly job in world's most dangerous place
October 28, 2007
Lives on the line ... a British bomb disposal operator in Iraq.
Photo: Reuters
Chris Hunter says he sleeps well. For four months in Iraq he did what he calls "the most dangerous job in the world, in the most dangerous place in the world" but, meeting him now, you would scarcely believe he hadn't taken up his alternative career choice and become a restaurateur.
Bomb disposal experts are known in the army as "Felix" because they are like cats with nine lives, and Hunter is certainly a cool cat. He has written his memoirs, Eight Lives Down, under an assumed name and he lives under tight security for fear of reprisals from jihadists who have much to pay him back for, yet he claims that his only worry is how to pay his mortgage on the house near Hay-on-Wye, on the England-Wales border.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/deadliest-job-in-the-world/2007/10/27/1192941405279.html
A smack on the wrist
Miranda Devine
October 28, 2007
JUST as the United Nations was warning Australia to prepare for a flood of heroin after bumper poppy crops in Burma and Afghanistan, the NSW Police Force went soft on petty crime. Great timing.
NSW Premier Morris Iemma last week announced that police would start issuing on-the-spot fines for such offences as shoplifting, minor fraud or theft, possession of stolen goods, offensive conduct or unlawfully entering a vehicle.
These crimes will be treated with as much gravity as a traffic ticket, with a criminal infringement notice (CIN) carrying a fine from $150 to $350.
For former Cabramatta whistleblower and detective sergeant Tim Priest, it's a sickening case of deja vu. A similar system of on-the-spot fines, known as field court attendance notices (CANs), was used in Cabramatta in the late 1990s for drug offences.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/miranda-devine/a-smack-on-the-wrist/2007/10/27/1192941405414.html
Google algorithm tweak spooks WWW
Darren Rowse, a full-time blogger from Melbourne who also runs the b5media blog network, noticed the PageRank of a number of his sites drop significantly.
Photo: Paul Jones
Asher Moses
October 26, 2007 - 2:14PM
In the brave new world of online media, fortunes can be won and lost on the whim of Google's key search algorithm.
And when, without warning, Google tweaked that mathematical formula this week, there was panic on the world wide web.
Swarms of bloggers and webmasters of major sites like Washingtonpost.com, Forbes.com, Engadget.com and SFGate.com noticed a downgrading in their PageRank, Google's measure of a web page's value.
A site's PageRank impacts not only its ranking in Google search results but also the price it can charge advertisers. A drop in ranking can have serious financial consequences, especially for smaller operators.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/google-algorithm-tweak-spooks-www/2007/10/26/1192941308334.html
New Qantas chairman brands Heathrow 'appalling'
Advertisement
Incoming Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford took a parting shot at London's Heathrow airport as he prepared to leave the city he has called home for the best part of a decade and return to Australia.
Reflecting on his time in London at an Australian Business lunch today, Mr Clifford added his voice to heavy criticism levelled at Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, which is beset by delays and congestion.
"I have to say, I think Heathrow is appalling," Mr Clifford said.
"I hope Terminal 5 will make a difference, but it's not about the physical infrastructure, it's about how you manage it."
Heathrow has come under fire for the dilapidated state of its infrastructure, overcrowding, long security queues and lost luggage.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/new-qantas-chairman-brands-heathrow-appalling/2007/10/26/1192941292302.html
Our right-minded friends storm the exits
Mike Carlton
October 27, 2007
Advertisement
The Prime Minister's curious facial twitch during the not-so-great debate on Sunday evening set the radio talkback phone lines ringing on Monday. Some people called it a spasm. Others thought he'd been about to drop from a heart attack.
If you missed it, you can catch a replay on YouTube. Type in "John Howard spasm" and up it comes. His face contorts in a weird grimace, eyelids batting, lips chomping furiously. His hands grip the lectern for support. One contributor has unkindly added some rap music.
To me, it looked as if he'd swallowed a blowfly, although it might have been a nervous reaction to a prickly question he was being asked about al-Qaeda and Iraq. Or perhaps it was the sudden realisation that the Channel Nine Worm, manipulated by the treacherous Ray Martin's hand-picked studio audience of trade union thugs, was almost certainly nose-diving towards the carpet in lounge rooms around the nation. It was not a good look.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/our-rightminded-friends-storm-the-exits/2007/10/26/1192941334031.html
You Tube Video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3445956553847641929&q=John+Howard+spasm%22&total=5&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
Howard's 'Old Man' Face Twitch
Mon, 10/22/2007 - 16:09 — Mr. Speaker
John Howard lost control of his face during the great debate against Kevin Rudd. Medical advisors to the PM have come to the consensus that his brain is deteriorating at an alarming rate; mainly due to his extremely old age. Watch for yourself as a question about Iraq sends Old Man Howard into a brain-face spasm:
http://www.john-howard-is-too-old.com/
Warning: focus groups are addictive - just ask them
Annabel Crabb
October 27, 2007
All politicians rely to some extent on focus groups. Why not? It's the simplest and most effective way to gauge popular opinion; you get your pollster to pay a bunch of folk 50 bucks each to sit in a room with some limp sandwiches and say what they think of you. You never have to meet them and they never know it's you who's asking.
At first it's an experimental thing; you might convene a series of focus groups to help sharpen your plans for transport reform, or health care. After a while, though, focus groups can get addictive. When things are going well they're like an organised series of overheard compliments, and who doesn't like to hear that stuff?
When tough times come, the urge gets worse; it becomes a nasty, scratching compulsion as you comb through them over and over, desperately scanning the transcripts for the seeds of salvation.
The Prime Minister had some strong words to say about focus groups on Tuesday, during an interview with 2GB's Ray Hadley.
"There's one thing I will not do is, I'm not going to sit down with a focus group and work out what I've got to say," John Howard said. "I've always said what I believe. Sometimes your listeners have agreed with me, sometimes they've violently disagreed with me. But they know what I stand for, they know what I believe in, they know what kind of Australia I want and I'm not going to muck around with focus groups and body language experts and gurus and all these other things …"
Now there are many nice things that can be said about the Prime Minister. He is courteous, in the main. He is an excellent father, by all accounts. He knows how to hug.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/warning-focus-groups-are-addictive--just-ask-them/2007/10/26/1192941334038.html
Facebook security loophole warning
Daniel Dasey
October 28, 2007 - 12:24AM
USERS of the networking website Facebook are exposing themselves to identity theft and embarrassment because of security loopholes that allow personal information to be accessed, experts warn.
Facebook profile holders are helping the thieves by posting sensitive information such as phone numbers online, then allowing strangers to join their online friendship networks.
A Sydney conference last week advised users of the networking site - which is regularly visited by 1.5 million Australians - to reconsider their approach.
"If someone is motivated to launch an [identity theft] attack against an individual, it's been made easier by these networking sites and aggregating sites," said Keith B. White, security services director for the global computer firm Alcatel-Lucent.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/28/1192941408684.html
New Zealand Herald
'Swirly' winds before fatal crash - survivor
5:00AM Sunday October 28, 2007
By Michelle Coursey and Nicola Shepheard
Aleisha O'Reilly dreamed of being a top pilot.
At just 21, Aleisha O'Reilly was destined to become one of New Zealand's top female pilots - but her love of flying has cost the flight instructor her life.
The aviation community has been left to mourn one of its brightest young stars after O'Reilly's Cessna 152 crashed in the Urewera National Park during a routine training flight on Friday.
Her co-pilot, 19-year-old student Chris Slee, miraculously survived the impact and indicated "swirly" winds may have contributed to the crash.
The plane, nicknamed Kid, with O'Reilly at the controls, plunged into dense bush in a gully near Ruatahuna, north-west of Lake Waikaremoana, around 5pm. Slee sustained injuries to his ankle, a broken finger and a swollen eye, but managed to stumble across 500m of steep terrain to a nearby road, where he was taken by car to the Papuera Marae. He was later airlifted to Rotorua Hospital, where he remained yesterday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10472534
Charred bodies bring California wildfire toll to 12
3:50PM Friday October 26, 2007
California fires have now killed 10. Photo / Reuters
Los Angeles - Border patrol agents have discovered four charred bodies in rugged mountains near the Mexican border, bringing the probable death toll from California's wildfires to 12, even as firefighters gained the upper hand in their five-day battle.
Agents found the badly burned remains, thought to be three males and a female, at the bottom of a rocky ravine in the mountains east of San Diego, about 5km from the Mexican border.
Together with two other burned bodies found earlier Thursday in a house in San Diego county, the discovery doubled the probable death toll from the fires. At least 60 people have been injured.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10472241
Congo floods kill 30
8:50AM Saturday October 27, 2007
KINSHASA - Floods, landslides and falling power lines killed 30 people during a night of heavy rain in Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling and dilapidated capital Kinshasa, a government ministry said.
Rains started late on Thursday local time and continued into Friday, causing floods that cut off roads, destroyed bridges and triggered landslides in the city of at least six million people.
"Until now, the toll is at 30 identified dead. Others are wounded. Some houses are damaged. Many were completely destroyed," said Saleh Kinyongo, spokesman for Congo's Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
He said some victims were electrocuted when power cables fell into standing water during the storm. Others were crushed when their homes collapsed during landslides.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10472449
Killer bug sweeps Auckland Hospital
5:00AM Sunday October 28, 2007
By Rebecca Milne
Auckland Hospital is on high alert. Photo / James Madelin
Patients have been infected and hundreds more could be at risk from a killer superbug that has swept through Auckland Hospital.
Anxious hospital bosses were last night trying to downplay the threat, saying no one had died as "a direct result" of contracting the extremely rare superbug. But the Herald on Sunday can confirm a 62-year-old female patient who died last week from what has been described as "excess bleeding" had been infected with the bug. However, it is unlikely the bug was the reason she died.
In a statement, Auckland District Health Board chief medical officer David Sage said patients who had been treated for Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) had died, but VRE "had no real part to play in their death".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10472538
1000 march on jail over police raids
5:00AM Sunday October 28, 2007
Police attempts to gather evidence under the Terrorism Suppression Act have angered Maori. Photo / Michael Craig
Up to 1000 people, including politicians, joined activists yesterday in a march to Auckland's Mt Eden Prison to protest against recent police raids.
A bus filled with people from Tuhoe arrived especially for the march, one of 13 organised in centres around the country.
Seventeen people were arrested under the Firearms Act and the Terrorism Suppression Act on October 15 following raids in Auckland, Wellington, Palmerston North, Hamilton, Christchurch, Whakatane and Ruatoki, 20km south of Whakatane.
The raids were the culmination of a year-long investigation into weapons training camps alleged to have been held in the Urewera country, and netted a haul of weapons.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10472511
Lack of sleep may trigger fight mode
5:00AM Saturday October 27, 2007
A few nights without sleep can not only make people tired and emotional, but may actually put the brain into a primitive "fight or flight" state, researchers say.
Brain images of otherwise healthy men and women showed two full days without sleep seemed to rewire their brains, redirecting activity from the calming and rational prefrontal cortex to the "fear centre" - the amygdala.
"It's almost as though, without sleep, the brain had reverted back to more primitive patterns of activity, in that it was unable to put emotional experiences into context and produce controlled, appropriate responses," said Dr Matthew Walker of the University of California, Berkeley, who led the study.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10472308
Standing by my man was the right move: Hillary
5:00AM Sunday October 28, 2007
Applause from Bill Clinton as wife Hillary hugs daughter Chelsea at Hillary's 60th birthday bash. Photo / Reuters
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says it has been worth it to stand by her man, Bill Clinton, despite the marital challenges they have faced.
Their marriage was rocked in 1998 when it was revealed President Bill Clinton had had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, which set off an extended drama that led to his impeachment and a failed attempt to remove him from office.
New York senator Hillary Clinton, 60 last Friday, talked about life with Bill in an interview with Essence magazine.
Many have wondered why she stood by Clinton, who has also been accused of sexual improprieties by other women.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10472503
Chad catches French adoption group
5:15AM Saturday October 27, 2007
Police in Chad arrested nine French people as they prepared to fly more than 100 children to France to have them adopted.
They included the head of a group called Zoe's Ark, which said this year that it intended to bring orphans from the Darfur region for adoption.
Chad's Interior Minister said Chadian children were among the 103 infants, aged between 3 and 8. He said not all of them were orphans.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10472337
Bad weather and sequels keep cinemas buzzing
5:00AM Saturday October 27, 2007
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter.
It was the summer of'69, as the Bryan Adams song goes. Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight paced the streets of New York in Midnight Cowboy, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda took to the road in Easy Rider, and cinema audiences lapped it up in droves.
Fast forward to the summer of 2007 and, for the first time in nearly 40 years, British cinema attendance has returned to the same level.
A combination of bad weather and blockbuster sequels - from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to The Bourne Ultimatum - has lured people back to the movies.
Figures from the trade body, the Film Distributors' Association, show 50.8 million visits to UK cinemas between June and August - an increase of 27 per cent from the same period in 2006 and an increase of 44 per cent compared with 2000.
The last time British cinemas saw such a high attendance was in 1969, when 50.4 million people visited in the summer months and 215 million over the whole year.
British film-going reached a peak in 1946, with 1.6 billion cinema visits.
- Independent
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10472302
Cool weather brings relief to California (+video)
9:10AM Saturday October 27, 2007
By Adam Tanner
SAN DIEGO - Cool, damp weather has moved into Southern California from the Pacific Ocean, boosting efforts to beat down stubborn wildfires, while weary families return to hundreds of homes burned to rubble.
After six days of relentless blazes from Los Angeles to the Mexican border, most of the raging fires had either been doused or brought under relative control as the emergency turned to the long business of recovery.
At the height of the fires, some 500,000 people were evacuated from their homes. But on Friday, the few hundred remaining in the largest emergency shelter - San Diego's Qualcomm sports stadium - were being moved to several smaller centres. The stadium, which at one time had housed and fed more than 10,000 people, was due to close Friday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10472453
G-strings out of favour with Kiwi women
5:00AM Sunday October 28, 2007
By Alice Hudson
G-strings like the one held by Carly Holland have lost popularity. Photo / Getty Images
Hate to break it to you guys, but the Kiwi gal's obsession with the G-string appears to be well and truly over.
Where five years ago G-strings produced by major brands Jockey Woman, Holeproof, Bonds and Berlei had a 35 per cent share of the lucrative women's underwear market, that figure has now fallen to just 5 per cent.
And, according to at least one underwear firm, it's a downward trend that's set to continue - at least in the short term.
So if G-strings are out, what's the new fad in women's briefs?
According to top New Zealand underwear retailers, sleek and seamless boy-shorts - made of innovative and eco-friendly fabrics - are now replacing the once well-loved "gee".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10472525
continued...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)