Morning Papers - Understand the Beginning

A Surviving Sri Lanken Child

Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle_Do"

In History

…on January 9,…

...1793…Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first piloted balloon ascent in America while President George Washington looked on.

...1914, born Gypsy Rose Lee, American entertainer (1914).

...1929: The Seeing Eye started in Nashville, Tennessee, to train guide dogs for the blind.

...1941, born Joan Baez, American professional folksinger, who is also known for her active political involvement. Born in Staten Island, New York, she studied at Boston University, but left school to sing in Boston coffee houses. Her clear soprano voice and simple, effective guitar accompaniments created a distinctive style that became increasingly popular after her Newport Folk Festival appearance in 1959 and her recording debut in 1960. Baez worked for civil rights during the antiwar movement, and for human rights in Southeast Asia, both through her singing and by founding Humanitas, an international human rights organization, and the Institute for the Study of Non-Violence. Baez wrote two autobiographies, Daybreak (1968) and And a Voice to Sing With (1987).

...1951: The United Nations headquarters open.

Jailed Journalists

Mugabe tightens press regulations

HARARE - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has enacted changes to media laws that will see unlicensed journalists jailed for up to two years, the government gazette announced.

http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,1785110-6078-0,00.html

Children of imprisoned Cuban dissidents treated on Three Kings Day
BY NANCY SAN MARTIN
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT) - Cuban children whose fathers have languished in prison for 21 months as part of a government crackdown against dissidents, gathered at a Havana home Saturday to receive toys as part of a Three Kings holiday tradition.

...
Pollan, wife of jailed independent journalist Hector Maseda Gutierrez, said all 53 children of dissidents across the island received gifts paid for with a donation by the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/10599689.htm

Reuters

Oleic Acid Key to Olive Oil's Anti-Cancer Effect
Sun Jan 9, 2005 09:59 PM ET

By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered why eating a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits, vegetables and particularly olive oil can help to protect women from developing breast cancer.
The key is oleic acid, the main component of olive oil.

http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=7275234

What garantees go along with policing the use of these monies and what constitutes reforms in Palestine?

Bush Reaches Out to Palestinians After Vote
Sun Jan 9, 2005 05:56 PM
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush said on Sunday that the United States stands ready to help the new Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as he faces up to critical post-election challenges combating militants and carrying out reform.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=7274445

The Japan Times

Dozens of English teachers still missing
40 employees of Nova chain unaccounted for in tsunami-hit region
By KANAKO TAKAHARA
Staff writer
More than 40 English-language teachers working in Japan who may have been in areas hit by the Indian Ocean tsunamis on Dec. 26 were still unaccounted for as of Saturday.

http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050109a2.htm

The New York Times

Saving Jewish Children, but at What Cost?
By ELAINE SCIOLINO and JASON HOROWITZ
Published: January 9, 2005

PARIS, Jan. 8 - In October 1946, just a year after the defeat of the Nazis, the Vatican weighed in on one of the most painful episodes of the postwar era: the refusal to allow Jewish children who had been sheltered by Catholics during the war to return to their own families and communities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/international/09vatican.html?oref=login

The Pentagon has every reason to be proud.

Tsunami Tests U.S. Forces' Logistics, but Gives Pentagon a Chance to Show a Human Face
By THOM SHANKER and JAMES BROOKE
Published: January 9, 2005

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 - The huge American relief operation in the Indian Ocean carries risks for the Pentagon but also rewards, employing combat resources at a time the armed forces are stretched thin, but putting forth an image of an American military that is as caring and efficient in saving lives as it is violent and efficient in slaying adversaries.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/international/worldspecial4/09military.html

Astronauts Express Confidence in Safety of Planned Mission
By STEFANO S. COLEDAN
Published: January 8, 2005

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Jan. 7 - The seven astronauts of the Discovery, the space shuttle that NASA hopes to launch this spring in the first flight since the Columbia disaster two years ago, said Friday that they were eager to return to orbit and resume the nation's human spaceflight program.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/08/national/08shuttle.html

Bush's Drug Videos Broke Law, Accountability Office Decides
By JOHN FILES
Published: January 7, 2005

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 - The Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said on Thursday that the Bush administration violated federal law by producing and distributing television news segments about the effects of drug use among young people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/07/national/07drug.html

Tsunami's Ripples, Unnoticed, Washed Along Atlantic Coast
By ANDREW C. REVKIN

The tsunami that ravaged countries all around the Indian Ocean also hit the eastern United States, though only the tide gauges noticed.

A tide gauge at Atlantic City recorded the passage of a "train" of waves, just under nine inches from crest to trough, 32 hours after the earthquake struck off Sumatra's west coast on Dec. 26, said Dr. Alexander B. Rabinovich of the Canadian Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, British Columbia. A gauge at Port Canaveral, Fla., recorded 13.4-inch waves 24 minutes later.
Dr. Rabinovich has been spearheading an international effort to chart the course of the fading ripples from the devastating tsunami set off by the earthquake.

The tsunami was so powerful that it swept around the world over the next 36 hours, with its last residual waves perceptibly jostling tide gauges from Russia's remote northeastern Pacific waters to the North Atlantic, scientists said yesterday.
The tsunami ripples would have been imperceptible to Floridians, mingled among the other sloshing of waters there, but were clearly discernible in the data, Dr. Rabinovich said. Other Atlantic gauges detected the waves in Bermuda and the Virgin Islands, he said.

The evidence of the tsunami's passage in the Atlantic is particularly significant, seismologists and oceanographers said, because data on how quake-generated waves move there are scant compared with information available for the Pacific.
The newly discovered records of the Atlantic waves from the Sumatran earthquake should help improve computer simulations of tsunami behavior in the Atlantic, said Dr. Vasily V. Titov, a tsunami expert who works for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle. Such simulations can help scientists predict where tsunamis generated in the Atlantic might strike, he said.

The signal of the tsunami's quiet journey once it left the Indian Ocean was detected almost immediately in the Pacific Ocean, where 90 percent of tsunamis occur and tide gauges are specifically designed to catch trains of waves generated by underwater earthquakes, scientists said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/07/international/worldspecial4/07waves.html?pagewanted=print&position=

The Cheney Observer

Halliburton to Pump Iranian Oil !

Halliburton wins drilling tender in Iran
* The company insists it is not illegal for it to work in Tehran
TEHRAN: US oil services company Halliburton, whose operations in Iran have come under investigation by US authorities, has won a tender to drill a huge Iranian gas field, an official said on Sunday.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_10-1-2005_pg4_17

Trucker's body found
The Halliburton worker was missing since April.
Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. - The body of a civilian truck driver missing since April has been found near the place where his convoy was ambushed in Iraq nine months ago.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/10602365.htm

Mardi Gras reunion planned by family of missing truck driver
GARRY MITCHELL
Associated Press
MOBILE, Ala. - The family of a Mobile truck driver missing in Iraq since April hopes government officials will step up efforts to find him now that the body of a co-worker has been recovered from a shallow grave.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/10599200.htm

American Halliburton wins South Pars tender
TEHRAN, Jan. 9 (MNA) – Managing Director of Pars Oil and Gas Co. (POGC), Akbar Torkan, said that the American Halliburton Company will surely win the tender for development of South Pars phases 9 and 10.
Halliburton is the first American company ever participated in Iran’s oil and gas sector since the 1979’s Islamic Revolution.

http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=146979

China chases a global oil presence
By Richard McGregor, Enid Tsui and Andrew Yeh
Published: January 10 2005 02:00 Last updated: January 10 2005 02:00
The mooted takeover bid by China National Offshore Oil Corp, the country's third-largest oil and gas group, for Unocal shows little is off limits for ambitious Chinese companies in their search for secure resources.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/64867b0a-62ac-11d9-8e5d-00000e2511c8.html

Stuart Petroleum's record results
January 10, 2005 - 2:30PM

Adelaide-based Stuart Petroleum said it registered record oil production from the Cooper Basin last month.
Stuart Petroleum chief executive officer Tino Guglielmo said the company's share of oil production from the basin in South Australia in December was 82,000 barrels - a 34 per cent increase from November.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Business/Stuart-Petroleums-record-resultss/2005/01/10/1105206028789.html

Reliance to sign Oman agreement
MUSCAT: Oman has granted India's Reliance Industries an offshore oil exploration concession with large reserve potential, a newspaper reported yesterday.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=100967&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=27296

White House paid US journalist, Democrats charge illegal propaganda

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A conservative black commentator has admitted to taking public money to promote President George W. Bush's education plan, which Democrats called illegal propaganda.

Television and radio personality Armstrong Williams told CNN that he took 240,000 dollars to flog Bush's No Child Left Behind plan.
"I used bad judgement," he said. "I apologize to my audience."

He said that because he owned a public relations company, he was not bound by journalistic ethics.
Anyway, he said, Bush's school reform matched his own conservative views.

The scandal broke in Friday's USA Today, and enraged the Democratic Party, which called this a case of "Bush wasting taxpayer's money for political propaganda."

"We believe that the act of bribing journalists to bias their news in favor of government policy undermines the integrity of our democracy," said a group of opposition Democrats headed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Reid and the Democrats called on the White House to refund the public moneys.

House of Representatives Democrats lined up behind Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to sign a letter to Bush that said: "We ask you to publicly renounce the use of covert propaganda to influence public opinion."

The Washington Post and the New York Times also reported Friday that the General Accountability Office had found that an anti-marijuana television spot violated the law by not revealing that an actor in the message was not really a journalist.

In May, the GAO, the investigative office of Congress, found the Department of Health and Human Services similarly violated the law with a spot promoting a Bush health care policy.

Bechtel and Lockheed in frame as Labour plots nuclear sell-off
By Jason Nissé
09 January 2005
The Government is to enter detailed talks to sell British Nuclear Group, the main operating subsidiary of BNFL, as part of the first stage of a break-up of the troubled nuclear fuels group.

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=598954

Big Dig job botched by contractor short cuts
By Casey Ross
Saturday, January 8, 2005
The Big Dig contractor that built an Interstate 93 tunnel section plagued by leaks and defective wall panels spent $45 million more than the original price to complete the job and did not use a specialized subcontractor to ensure quality work, according to construction documents and sources.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=62467

The Boston Globe

Death toll passes 150,000 in tsunami disaster; massive feeding program announced
By Jocelyn Gecker, AP January 8, 2005
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Rescue workers pulled thousands more rotting corpses from the mud and debris of flattened towns along the Sumatran coast Saturday, two weeks after surging walls of water caused unprecedented destruction on the shores of the Indian Ocean. The death toll in 11 countries passed 150,000.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/01/08/death_toll_passes_150000_in_tsunami_disaster_massive_feeding_program_announced/

The Chicago Tribune

Hundreds of Vehicles Stuck in Calif. Snow
By PAUL CHAVEZ
Associated Press Writer
January 8, 2005, 7:35 PM CST
LOS ANGELES -- As many as 200 vehicles got stuck in deep snow early Saturday in the San Bernardino Mountains as the latest in a series of storms struck California. The storms quickly moved eastward, closing all three major highways over the Sierra Nevada.
Up to 10 feet was expected over the weekend at the Sierra's higher elevations, according to the National Weather Service.
Snow piled up 3 to 4 feet deep along a 15-mile stretch of highway between the Snow Valley ski resort and Big Bear dam, said Tracey Martinez, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County fire department.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-storm-rdp,1,6257511,print.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Wal-Mart greeter sacked over photo
Items compiled from Tribune news services
Published January 8, 2005
MUSCATINE, IOWA -- A Wal-Mart greeter was sacked for apparently showing too much of his friendly side to customers.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0501080168jan08,1,1247168.story?coll=chi-business-hed

Mysterious jet tied to torture flights
Is shadowy firm front for CIA?
By John Crewdson
Tribune senior correspondent
Published January 8, 2005
PORTLAND, Ore. -- The first question is: Where is Leonard T. Bayard? The next question is: Who is Leonard T. Bayard? But the most important question may be: Does Leonard T. Bayard even exist?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0501080192jan08,1,1921181.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Julia Roberts Buys Land From Rumsfeld
By Associated Press
Published January 7, 2005, 7:04 PM CST
NEW YORK -- With newly born twins, it looks like Julia Roberts needs some extra space. The actress has bought 32 acres of Taos, N.M., real estate from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, People magazine reports.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-ap-people-roberts,1,6060808.story?coll=chi-news-hed

John Kerry Meets With Syrian President
By ALBERT AJI
Associated Press Writer
Published January 8, 2005, 7:22 PM CST
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry met Saturday with Syria's president and said he was hopeful that strained U.S.-Syrian relations could be improved, provided Washington seized "a moment of opportunity" in the Middle East.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-mideast-kerry,1,5930918.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Virus Sickens 116 on Caribbean Cruise
By Associated Press
Published January 8, 2005, 10:39 AM CST
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Nearly 120 passengers and crew members became sick with a stomach virus aboard a ship that returned to port Saturday after a five-day Caribbean cruise, Royal Caribbean International officials said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/sns-ap-brf-sick-cruise,1,3560960.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Obesity Under the Microscope

Obesity

American Obesity Association

Here you will find what we think is the most comprehensive site on obesity and overweight on the Internet. Obesity is not a simple condition of eating too much. It is now recognized that obesity is a serious, chronic disease. No human condition — not race, religion, gender, ethnicity or disease state — compares to obesity in prevalence and prejudice, mortality and morbidity, sickness and stigma.

http://www.obesity.org/

Council to fight obesity in kids
By Ashleigh Wallace
awallace@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
07 January 2005
A series of activities aimed at tackling obesity in children are due to take place in leisure centres across Belfast.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=598680

Overweight and Obesity

NEW

Overweight and Obesity
State Programs
Find out what 's happening in the different funded state programs.

In the United States, obesity has risen at an epidemic rate during the past 20 years. One of the national health objectives for the year 2010 is to reduce the prevalence of obesity among adults to less than 15%. Research indicates that the situation is worsening rather than improving.
The following topics provide information about overweight and obesity.

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/

Competing in the 'Obesity Olympics'
Athletes, Trainers Team Up With Families to Tackle Weight Problems

"20/20" paired up the Lechner family with an Olympic trainer, a dietitian and gold medal gymnast Paul Hamm to battle their obesity problem. (ABC News)

Jan. 7, 2005 — Between work and kids and school activities, American families are juggling a lot these days. With diet and exercise often getting lost in the mix of our increasingly harried lives, obesity has become a major health problem for Americans.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/PersonalBest/story?id=390178&page=1

Obesity On-Line

Medical Benefits of Modest Weight Loss
Modest weight loss, of as little as 5% of initial body weight, can improve many of the concurrent medical complications associated with obesity, and prevent the development of new obesity-related illnesses. This talk reviews the data from studies that evaluated the effects of modest weight loss on obesity-related medical complications.

http://www.obesityonline.org/site/index.cfm

The Miami Herald

HYATT is practicing segregation. They don't want to identify themselves with a trendy ethnic hotel.

Hyatt keeps name off trendy hotel
The soon-to-open Hotel Victor will have everything cool on South Beach: chilly vodka bar, coed sauna -- even a 'vibe' manager. (Shhh, it's a Hyatt.)
BY DOUGLAS HANKS III
dhanks@herald.com
Hyatt has hired a vibe manager, put a DJ in the dining room, stocked the lobby aquarium with iridescent jellyfish and done just about everything possible to create an ultra-hip hotel in South Beach.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10595206.htm

Trucker, load of nickels vanish
Police said a Miami tractor-trailer driver hauling $180,000 worth of nickels for the Federal Reserve has disappeared -- along with the money.
BY LISA ARTHUR AND DAVID OVALLE
larthur@herald.com
Angel Ricardo Mendoza -- last known address, Miami -- picked up his cargo at the Federal Reserve in East Rutherford, N.J., on Dec. 17.: A tractor-trailer loaded with $180,000 worth of nickels. That's 3.6 million nickels; 45,000 pounds of nickels; 900 50-pound bags of nickels. Destination: a Federal Reserve facility in New Orleans.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10595205.htm

The Sun Sentinel

Wives of jailed dissidents hand out presents from Miami group
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
The Associated Press
Posted January 8 2005, 4:56 PM EST
HAVANA -- Wives of jailed Cuban dissidents held a holiday party Saturday for the children of political prisoners, handing out gifts bought by a politically powerful exile group in Miami.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-0108cubandissidents,0,5751565.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Catholics Share Jewish Artifacts
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
Posted January 8 2005
Of the many achievements of Pope John Paul II's papacy, perhaps the one that will endure the longest is the reconciliation he has fostered between the Roman Catholic Church and Judaism. Now relations between the two religions are about to get even warmer.
A delegation of about 160 rabbis, cantors and Jewish lay people is to meet with the pope on Jan. 18 to thank him for the goodwill he has spent much of his papacy promoting. The latest example is an agreement by the Vatican to lend priceless Jewish artifacts owned by the church to Israel.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-edittdpopejan08,0,4949010.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial

The Sun Sentinel

Jailed Colombian drug kingpins seek deal to protect family members
By Dan Molinski
Associated Press Writer
Posted January 9 2005, 2:54 PM EST
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Two aging founders of Colombia's once-dominant Cali drug cartel have offered U.S. prosecutors a deal to keep them and their succcessor behind bars for 10 years if other relatives can be spared, the respected Colombian magazine Semana reported Sunday.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-kingpin09,0,3509487.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

The Los Angeles Times

Snow Strands Hundreds In Big Bear As Storm Pelts California
January 6, 2005
Weather Forecast
Times Headlines
From Associated Press
Deep snow stranded as many as 200 vehicles Saturday in the San Bernardino Mountains as the latest in a series of storms struck California, and more heavy snow shut down a pair of highways in the Sierra Nevada.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rain9jan09,0,7942443.story?coll=la-home-headlines

First Wave of Storm Drenches Southland

By Eric Malnic and Seema Mehta, Times Staff Writers
The Pacific Ocean storm that lashed Southern California with rain and snow Friday was expected to intensify tonight and Sunday, posing an increasing threat of floods and mudslides.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rain8jan08,1,167781.story?coll=la-home-headlines

L.A. Limits Height of Retaining Walls
The City Council votes to cap hillside barriers at 12 feet. Owners of canyon lots say the ordinance will make it hard to develop their properties.
By Bob Pool and Jessica Garrison
Times Staff Writers
January 8, 2005
Los Angeles officials on Friday banned tall retaining walls that dot the city's canyon communities from Woodland Hills to Mount Washington, with critics calling the massive bulkheads "the hillside strangler."
City Council members said the oversized concrete walls that loom over neighboring homes are wrecking the rustic feel of the city's canyons and hillsides.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wall8jan08,1,6874560,print.story?coll=la-headlines-california

UN to Feed 2 Million Tsunami Vicitims Daily
WHO reports no major disease outbreaks in refugee camps as toll rises above 150,000.

From Associated Press
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Two weeks after a tsunami slammed into coastlines around the Indian Ocean, thousands of bodies were still being pulled out of the mud in remote villages, as the official death toll from the catastrophe rose above 150,000.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-010805tsunami-wr,0,5736450.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Preacher Pleads Not Guilty in 1964 Slayings
Edgar Ray Killen, now 79, is the only person ever to be charged with murder in the killing of three young civil rights workers in Mississippi
By Ellen Barry, Times Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA, Miss. — Edgar Ray Killen wears bifocals now. His neck is loose and ropy, and he is bald except for a fuzz at the back of his skull. At 79, he is freckled with age, and leans in because he has trouble hearing.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-civilrights8jan08,0,4613244.story?coll=la-home-nation

The War Against Rumsfeld
By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Rich Lowry, David Rivkin is a Washington attorney who served in various legal and policy positions in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Rich Lowry is the editor of National Review.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rivkin7jan07,0,1759538.story

Chips off the old block
Santa Monica preservationists rally as more vintage residences face the wrecking ball.

By Darrell Satzman, Special to The Times
Rick SORDINI looked about as relaxed as someone who is likely to be evicted soon can look.

http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/la-re-bungalows9jan09,0,2879404.story?coll=la-home-realestate

Yellowstone prowl
When the temperature plummets and snow blankets the landscape, humans retreat and wildlife emerges in this northern U.S. park. It's the best time to see the reserve's inhabitants in their element.

By Rosemary McClure, Times Staff Writer
We were searching for villains. Legendary bad guys that huff and puff and blow houses down. Evildoers who frighten boys named Peter and girls named Little Red Riding Hood. Fiends in sheep's clothing.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-yellowstone9jan09,0,3114785.story?coll=la-home-travel

The State, Columbia, South Carolina

Lingering chlorine prolongs evacuation
Thousands wait for workers to clean up deadly chemicals
By RICK BRUNDRETT
Staff Writer
AIKEN — Thousands of Graniteville residents faced being kept from their mill town homes for a third day — and possibly longer — as authorities worked around-the-clock to remove toxic chlorine after Thursday’s railroad crash.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/10595811.htm

Tracks in Columbia worry residents
Miles of railroad tracks go through heavily populated areas of city
By SAMMY FRETWELL
Staff Writer
Not long after learning of Thursday’s tragic train wreck in Graniteville, Bob Amundson wondered about the toxic chemicals that trains carry past his Columbia neighborhood every day.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/10595770.htm

Railroad offering help to residents
Big companies plan how to react to crises, experts say
By BEN WERNER
Staff Writer
Working from an assistance center inside Aiken’s First Presbyterian Church, Norfolk Southern Corp. officials are providing financial assistance to displaced residents and trying to answer health questions.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/10595804.htm

Leak hit firefighters where they live
Several volunteers seriously hurt as train crash site was no more than 400 feet from fire station
By RODDIE BURRIS
Staff Writer
AIKEN — Some volunteer firefighters nearly gave their lives answering the call of a fire alarm in Thursday’s train crash.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/10595809.htm

Expert offers alternate crash causes
Vandalism, faulty switch possible in deadly train wreck
By SAMMY FRETWELL
Staff Writer
Railroad consultant Robert Halstead examined the switching mechanism on the spur at the Avondale Mills site weeks before Thursday’s train crash in Graniteville. He offered additional possible reasons Friday for the tragic wreck: vandalism or a faulty switching mechanism.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/10595795.htm

THE VICTIMS
Read about the eight men on page A5:

Steven Bagby, 38

Tony DeLoach, NA

John Laird, 24

Fred “Rusty” Ruyston III, 41

Christopher Seeling, 28

Willie Shealey, 43

Allen Frazier, 58

Joseph Stone, NA

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/10595667.htm

Seattle Post Intelligencer

Ruling favors rails-to-trails plan over Sammamish homeowners
By GORDY HOLT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The East Lake Sammamish rails-to-trails project appears headed back to the rail bed it started on six years ago and not onto the rails-to-trails-to-curbside detour some lakeside homeowners envision.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/207100_sammamish08.html

Asia quake impacts Va. well-water levels
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RICHMOND, Va. -- The South Asian earthquake that spawned deadly tsunami waves also shifted water levels by at least 3 feet in a geologically sensitive Virginia well some 9,600 miles away from the epicenter, researchers say.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=BRF%20Tsunami%20Well%20Water

Experts weigh economic harm from tsunami
By WILLIAM FOREMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Passengers, wearing surgical masks to protect themselves from severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, move through an almost empty departure hall, in this April 12, 2003 file photo at Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok international airport. Two of nature's most powerful forces, a monster earthquake and a massive tsunami, teamed up in southern Asia to cause death, human misery and destruction on a scale rarely seen before. But when the total economic damage is tallied up, many analysts and economists say that harm done to the region's economies won't even begin to come close to the financial havoc caused by the mysterious little virus that triggered the global SARS outbreak in 2003. (AP Photo/Anat Givon, File)

HONG KONG -- Two of nature's most powerful forces - a monster earthquake and a massive tsunami - teamed up in southern Asia to cause death, human misery and destruction on a scale rarely seen before.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/apbiz_story.asp?category=1310&slug=Asia%20Tsunami%20vs%2E%20SARS

Deaths reported after quakes, tsunamis
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

At least 150,627 people are reported dead in southern Asia and eastern Africa, most killed by massive tsunamis that smashed coastlines following an earthquake on Dec. 26.

Death tolls by country:

- Indonesia: 104,055

- Sri Lanka: 30,718

- India: 10,012

- Thailand: 5,291

- Somalia: 298

- Myanmar: 90

- Maldives: 82

- Malaysia: 68

- Tanzania: 10

- Bangladesh: 2

- Kenya: 1

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20Deaths%20by%20Country


Tsunami damages endangered sea turtles
By RUNGRAWEE C. PINYORAT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PHUKET, Thailand -- Endangered sea turtles were also casualties of the tsunami, with the monster waves possibly hastening their extinction, a marine expert said Saturday.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Tsunami%20Endangered%20Turtles

AP poll: 3 in 10 in U.S. gave tsunami aid
By WILL LESTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Three in 10 Americans say they have donated to the victims of the South Asia tsunami, an Associated Press poll found. The total of private donation is rapidly approaching the $350 million pledged by the government as private citizens made many of their donations online.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Tsunami%20Donations%20Poll

U.S. Marines begin tsunami relief
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HIKKADUWA, Sri Lanka -- Lt. Col. Edmund Bowen is a seasoned Marine who has served in the Persian Gulf and Somalia. But he now finds himself playing the role of peacetime aid worker in Sri Lanka's tsunami-ravaged regions.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20US%20Marines

Sri Lanka tells Annan not to visit rebels
By SHIMALI SENANAYAKE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka on Saturday asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan not to visit disaster-stricken areas controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels, forcing the United Nations into a political situation it had hoped to avoid.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20Annan

Indonesia tries to curb child trafficking
By ALI KOTARUMALOS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesia said Saturday it was monitoring its borders to prevent child traffickers from smuggling young victims of the tsunami out of the country, and it will set up centers inside refugee camps to care for children and reunite them with their families.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20Child%20Trafficking

Skirmishes raise security fears in Sumatra
By CHRIS BRUMMITT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Indonesia's military has stepped up patrols for separatist rebels in tsunami-stricken northern Sumatra island after isolated skirmishes in recent days raised fears the conflict could hamper the relief effort.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20Security

Shots heard near Indonesia's U.N. building
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Suspected rebels fired shots early Sunday at the home of a top police official near the United Nations' relief headquarters in the tsunami-ravaged Indonesian city of Banda Aceh, officials said. No casualties were reported.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20Indonesia%20Gunfire

11 killed in Pakistan sectarian violence
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A Shiite Muslim cleric was ambushed Saturday as he drove through the once serene Himalayan tourist destination of Gilgit, setting off a rampage of sectarian violence and arson that left at least 11 people dead, including a family of six that was burned alive in its home.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Sectarian%20Violence

Michael Moore Today

At the People's Choice Awards, "The country belongs to all of us…."

January 9th, 2005 8:09 pm
Troops Kill 8 Iraqis After Convoy Bombed
By Bassem Mroue / Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. troops opened fire near a checkpoint after their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb, and a hospital official said Sunday at least eight people were killed in the second mistaken American attack in two days to have deadly results.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=898

Letter From Election Chief In Ohio Sought Illegal Funds
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 8 -- The state's chief elections officer, accused of mishandling the presidential vote in November, sent a fundraising letter for his 2006 gubernatorial campaign that was accompanied by a request for illegal contributions.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=897

U.S., Owner Dispute House Bombing Deaths
By Nick Wadhams / Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The United States military said it dropped a 500-pound bomb on the wrong house outside the northern city of Mosul on Saturday, killing five people. The man who owned the house said the bomb killed 14 people, and an Associated Press photographer said seven of them were children.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=895

‘The Salvador Option’; The Pentagon may put Special-Forces-led assassination or kidnapping teams in Iraq
By Michael Hirsh and John Barry / Newsweek
Jan. 8 - What to do about the deepening quagmire of Iraq? The Pentagon’s latest approach is being called "the Salvador option"—and the fact that it is being discussed at all is a measure of just how worried Donald Rumsfeld really is. "What everyone agrees is that we can’t just go on as we are," one senior military officer told NEWSWEEK. "We have to find a way to take the offensive against the insurgents. Right now, we are playing defense. And we are losing." Last November’s operation in Fallujah, most analysts agree, succeeded less in breaking "the back" of the insurgency—as Marine Gen. John Sattler optimistically declared at the time—than in spreading it out.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=896

end for today

Banda Aceh, Before and After the December 26, 2004 Tsunami 

Bush: The perfect candidate for . . . Iraq

Gonzalez On Justice


The reasons for Bush to become president of Iraq:

• The United States is already on Bush autopilot; his agenda is safe in the hands of Dick Cheney, who wrote a lot of the playbook anyway.

• Karl Rove is getting bored and needs a real challenge, and Iraqi campaigning makes the rhetorical phrase ''political bloodletting'' real.

• Bush could wear his ''mission accomplished'' flight suit all the time.

• Iraq is running out of its own politicians.

• Short campaigns mean less time to be caught in tongue-twisting contradictions.

• Bush can institute his Social Security reforms without carping from the elderly voters' lobby or economists -- Iraqis may not live long enough anyway.

• It guarantees that the United States gets exactly the kind of leadership it wants in Baghdad.

• As a Texan, he'll fit right into a country that has more guns than cars.

• Iraq has a crying need for someone who knows the ``awl bidness.''

• The climate is more like Texas' than D.C.'s.

• Many Iraqi people, too, speak English with an accent.

• Unmarried daughters have to live at home and stay out of trouble.

• Thanks to Saddam Hussein's precedent, no problem defying international treaties.

• Bush could find himself signing a death warrant for Hussein, the guy who ``tried to kill my dad.''

• No alcohol.

• No term limits.

• Iraqis love faith-based initiatives.

FROM "The Australian"

Under interrogationWashington
correspondent Roy EcclestonJanuary 08, 2005

IT was supposed to be just a few bad apples and largely limited to Iraq but a spate of new internal memos from the FBI has provided fresh accusations that the abuse of US prisoners in the "war on terror" has been systematic and sanctioned.The memos also suggest the harsh techniques - "tantamount to torture", according to the International Committee for the Red Cross - were often used at Guantanamo Bay, where two alleged Australian al-Qa'ida members - David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib - are in custody.

Habib, through his lawyers, made detailed claims this week that he was brutally tortured in Egypt after being transferred there by the US in October 2001, following his capture in Pakistan.

The US allegedly "rendered" him to Egypt because it wanted interrogators there to do their dirty work. Habib says he was subject to electric shocks, beatings and threats of drowning over six months before being shipped to Guantanamo.

The US denies it has such a policy, which would be illegal under international law. Increasingly though, America faces accusations it no longer relies on others to do the torture.

Reports of American troops brutalising captives have badly damaged the US's image. This week a dozen of the US's most senior retired military officers pointed the finger of blame at George W. Bush's top legal adviser Alberto Gonzales who appeared yesterday at a torrid Senate committee hearing considering whether to confirm his appointment as attorney-general.

The officers included several former top military judges, regional commanders-in-chief, and General John Shalikashvili who was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in the 1990s. They didn't blame Gonzales exclusively for the problem but argued he was a prime cause of it.

Citing legal advice Gonzales gave Bush after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the officers said Gonzales "appears to have played a significant role in shaping US detention and interrogation operations in Afghanistan, Iraq [and] Guantanamo Bay".

Their chief concern was Gonzales's memo to Bush on January 25, 2002 advising that the Geneva Conventions didn't apply to the war in Afghanistan. The war on terrorism, he wrote, presented "a new paradigm [that] renders obsolete Geneva's protections".

The former military officers said they were especially troubled because the White House decision to depart from the Geneva Conventions went "hand in hand with the decision to relax the definition of torture and to alter interrogation doctrine accordingly".

That was a reference to a memo from the Justice Department in August 2002 advising Bush that torture of al-Qa'ida terrorists might be justified in some cases.

The memo was drawn up on Gonzales's instructions after the CIA, seeking more aggressive methods to extract information from a senior al-Qa'ida terrorist, wanted to know how far it could go within the law.

The result was a legal ruling that defined torture so narrowly it would allow everything short of the pain experienced in serious physical injury, organ failure or even death. Only mental pain that lasted months or years qualified as torture, it argued.

Gonzales's role in the "torture memo" has been unclear. The Washington Post said this week he had chaired the meetings considering the memo. At least one meeting included a detailed description of the interrogation methods the CIA wanted to use, the paper said.
These included open-hand slapping, the threat of live burial and "waterboarding" described as strapping a prisoner to a board with his feet above his head, wrapping the face in wet towels and dripping water on to the head.

Testing on US troops "proved to produce an unbearable sensation of drowning," said the Post.
Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday he still believed the Geneva Convention didn't apply to al-Qa'ida, and should not. But he said he would never support torture.

Still, he did admit he had supported the legal position taken in the original torture memo. Today he says he supports a different definition of torture, after the Department of Justice suddenly revised its policy last month to say pain did not need to be severe to constitute torture.
But critics say the damage had already been done. Gonzales's advice that prisoners did not have Geneva protections, coupled with the "torture memo", led to a range of new "permissive" interrogation methods for the CIA and military.

Gonzales rejected that line, saying it was a lack of supervision and training that led to "confusion" by some interrogators about what was permissible, and not his legal advice.
He also pointed out that Bush early on explicitly ordered that all prisoners be treated humanely as if they did have the protections of the Geneva Convention.

Yet in the eyes of US military interrogators, the legal rulings stripped prisoners of some of their historic protections and opened the door to harsher treatment.

Geoffrey Miller, the general who ran Guantanamo before moving to Iraq where he was accused of implementing similar methods at Abu Ghraib, has denied any abusive interrogations were used.

A stack of FBI memos obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union paints a different picture.
"Top government officials can no longer hide from public scrutiny by pointing the finger at a few low-ranking soldiers," says Anthony Romero, the director of the ACLU.

"Mr Gonzales bears much of the responsibility for creating the legal framework and permissive atmosphere that led to the torture and abuse at Guantanamo and elsewhere."

The FBI documents started to emerge in early December. One FBI agent called the interrogation methods at Guantanamo "torture techniques".

Another FBI official wrote to his bosses in May 2003 of a sharp exchange with Miller about what the FBI saw as ineffective and aggressive interrogations.

"Both sides agreed the bureau has its way of doing things and the DOD has their marching orders from SecDef," the memo said, referring to the Department of Defence and the Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld.

"Although the two techniques differed drastically, both generals believed they had a job to do."
There was much the FBI saw and did not like. In August last year, an FBI agent reported seeing a prisoner in an interview room with loud music and strobe lights, "with an Israeli flag draped around him".

An FBI agent also reported that at different times he entered rooms in which the air-conditioning had either been turned up so high that the prisoner was shaking with cold, or that it had been turned off to make it "unbearably hot".

Gonzales denies his memos created a "permissive environment" for interrogators, although he admits some were confused about what they could do. If there was harsh treatment it was because "there wasn't adequate supervision".

The US had never condoned torture, he said, and sounded sceptical about the accuracy of the FBI allegations about Guantanamo - claims that didn't jell with his experience and information.
But in The New York Times last week, reporter Neil Lewis quoted a range of former Guantanamo intelligence officers and interrogators, all anonymously, detailing other examples of techniques they used at the base.

One in six inmates were said to suffer the harsh treatment, and the justification given was that interrogators had great flexibility in extracting information "because the Geneva Conventions did not apply at the base".

According to his critics, the absence of the Geneva protections was thanks largely to Alberto Gonzales - the man who will be America's top law officer.

The Turning Point for President Vladimir Putin

The Beslan Dead

The capture of the school at Beslan by Chechan extremists was also marked by a bus explosion in Moscow and the downing of two Russian Aircraft. Each plane was carrying about 80 people that resulted in all dying from the crash. The crashes of the Russian aircraft were caused by two women who padded their bras with explosives committing suicide. It was later discovered in a manifest list that the women were Chechen rebels.

The bus bombing in Moscow resulted in dead and was caused by Chechen rebels committing suicide in trying to achieve a goal.

The goal of the kidnappers at Beslan were Chechan rebels who held everyone, women, teachers and children at gun point while they bobby-trapped the gymnasium where the rebels would not only hold the hostages but begin to kill them one by one. The explosives the rebels were using proved to be more than they could handle and spontaeously ignited the gymnasium on fire sending all those that could to run for their lives. The result was the death of every rebel and over 300 innocent people including many schoolchildren who were attending their first day of school. The Russian military was at the school at the time and were helpless to save all the victims.

It was later realized the Chechen rebels had levels of drugs in their systems and a majority were not Chechens but Uzbeks. At the time of this tragedy an Uzbeck warlord in Afghanistan was enjoying wealth through the drug trade, hence, giving a rise to a great deal of valid suspicion regarding the source of the funding for these terrorists as well as the source of the drugs to be found in their bodies at the time of death. Along with that suspicion rises the reality that the USA has done grossly little in over three years to stop the drug economy enjoyed in Afghanistan. This raising questions of 'intent' for the lack of action by the USA in Afghanistan which the International Community overwhelming supported as well as the invasion of Iraq which was never supported by the International Community. What lies in the geography of the region and questionable purpose of a false agenda by Bush/Cheney is the Caspian Sea which appeared in The Cheney Energy Report.

President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was faced with a situtation of safety for Russia as well as Chechnya and began to close the 'openness' of Russia to secure it's sovereignty. Included in that was a trend in Russia that was giving overwhelming power to Oligarchs who were able to purchase their own mlitary equipment including combat jets, included in this was a the tycoon of Yukos who violated Russian tax laws while running for president. To attempt to appear to place President Putin in a wrong posture, the Western Media resenting the 'closing' of Russia for reasons of political sovereignty and wanting to promote Western capitalism has created scenariios whereby Russia is being cast in the role of 'Evil Empire.' Nothing could be further from the truth.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has approved a measure to join Kyoto Protocol that was then voted in favor by the Dumas. One of the precepts of Kyoto is to reduce deadly Greenhouse Gases including Carbon Dioxide, CO2. An understanding of reducing CO2 is preventing the causes of war. With that in mind, President Putin took a very visible role in the Ukraine elections wanting to stem any chance of a civil war between two segments of Ukraine society that don't even speak the same language.

The result of all these issues as of late is a society in Russia a bit, but, only a bit disgruntled with their president, Vladimir Putin.
...................................................

Gateway to Russia

06 January 2005 15:48
Italian companies to bid for YUKOS assets

Italian companies will bid for YUKOS assets if they are allowed, Italian Industry Minister Antonio Marzano told journalists in Abu Dhabi, Reuters reported.

Biopharmaceuticals: Morozov versus Alzheimer

One Russian company hopes to win a victory over incurable illness by starting with distribution, proceeding to production and, finally, by learning how to make new medications

Gazeta

Putin asserts control after school siege

Текст: Reuters Фото: Reuters
President Vladimir Putin ordered sweeping changes to Russia's political system on Monday to help combat terrorism, but immediately drew accusations of exploiting this month's bloody school siege to boost his power.
The Kremlin leader, speaking in the wake of the hostage crisis in Beslan, told top officials he wanted a new election law to limit the number of political parties and to have full control over nominating regional leaders.

Kommersant

Denying the Mileage

In 2004, the presidential elections were to become the main event in the sphere of home politics. However, the September tragedy in Beslan not only overshadowed all other events but actually made Vladimir Putin admit that the majority of the reforms implemented by him during the first four years in power were a failure.

The 2004 presidential elections promised to be epochal not just because of Putin's victory (even his opponents had no doubts about it) but also as an important landmark in the country's development. If in the course of his first term in office Putin had to keep in mind that he would have to be re-elected for the second term, after March 14, 2004 he could launch radical reforms and did not have to worry about the rating as many experts thought. Those reforms would have made possible the long-awaited leap in Russia.

YUKOS head Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested, and on December 19, 2004, YUKOS's main production unit, Yuganskneftegaz, was sold to a Gapzrom subsidiary.

YUKOS affair. And all the business records achieved have for the most part been dismal.

It's hard to go wrong by saying that nothing that happened in Russia in the last quarter of 2004 was more important than the development of the YUKOS affair. The YUKOS affair in itself expanded to scales that were hard to even imagine previously. At the time the merger of the oil assets of Gazprom and Rosneft into one Gazprom subsidiary (the St. Petersburg company OOO Gazpromneft) was announced at a meeting of President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov in September 2004, it formally had no relation whatsoever to the YUKOS affair. The president, the prime minister, and many liberal and conservative politicians in the cabinet of ministers in the fall of 2004 spouted a lot of reassuring claims to the public that there was no connection between the formation of Gazpromneft and the problems of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his company. And only someone who had finally stopped believing in the bureaucrats' honesty could have said at the time: “They're lying”.

Today, however reluctantly, the number of people who believe that for the sake of certain objectives (whether political, economic, state, private, or mystical is unimportant), the president of Russia is capable of deliberately lying in public is increasing. You can explain this however you like, but at the present time Gazpromneft is ready to absorb not only Rosneft, but also Yuganskneftegas. The new oil company will be Russia's largest: by early 2005, it will be producing nearly 30 percent of Russia's oil.

Hard Times in High Places

Everyone was expecting political and economic stabilization to continue in 2004. It worked out with politics – the regime has become even more centralized. But things went less smoothly with the economy. While the liberals are searching for the elixir of growth, the enforcers are forming supermonopolies. The crisis at the top is plain to see.

Tempted by Revolution
Created: 07.12.2004 18:28 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:28 MSK
The colossal assets and funds set to fall under the control of Kremlin-appointed managers will soon stir up as much popular hatred as that felt towards influential tycoons, known as ’oligarchs’.

Only Two Russians Missing in Tsunami-Hit Thailand

Moscow News

Among the Russian citizens who were in Thailand during the tsunami, only two people remain missing.

The list of the Russian citizens missing in Thailand provided by the Russian Foreign Ministry includes two people, Nina Martynova and Alexander Martynov. All others who were earlier considered missing have already connected the ministry headquarters and said they were fine, Interfax reported.

Two people are confirmed dead in the tsunami, Oksana Lipuntsova and her six-year-old son Artyom.

Two planes of the Russian Emergency Ministry are planning to take off to Thailand and India with humanitarian aid.

Relatives Protest Arrests of Leftist Radicals
Created: 27.12.2004 18:05 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:29 MSK
Relatives and friends of members of the National Bolshevik party held a rally near the office of the Prosecutor General’s Office on Monday. 39 members of the party were detained after an invasion of the presidential administration’s office on Dec. 14. They are charged with vandalism and forced seizure of power, and could face up to 20 years in prison.

Hundreds Protest U.S. Double Standards for Terrorists at Moscow Embassy
Created: 10.09.2004 18:28 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:28 MSK
At least 700 people gathered Thursday across from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to protest what has been called “double standards” regarding Chechen separatists that Moscow calls terrorists, and to demand the extradition of Chechen separatist emissary Ilyas Akhmadov, who has been granted refugee status in the United States.

THERE IS A STARK difference between the results by the Chechans and that of the Orange Party in the Ukraine. The Ukraine elections were supported by their judiciary as well as their legislature and there were no deaths. I will not address the espionage to undermine President Elect Viktor Yashencko as that is another matter and not one that includes Russia or President Putin. The Chechens sought to overthrow the Russian influence by violence. There was no saying that type of regime would continue in such a manner either.

The Bush administration's actions in both circumstances was the same: They pointed a finger at Putin seeking decention by the International Community to justify a war with Russia regardless the reason. Why? Because as in Iraq the agenda of this administration is not to defeat al Qaeda but to find oil and control it regardless the sovereignty of the country.

On the other hand, President Vladimir Putin seeks to exert control over sovereignty to insure peaceful elections as well as secured borders for Russia to prevent more tragedy in the way of terrorist infiltration and influence.

I don't know about anyone else or about all the complaining over economics but below is a picture of the new President Elect of the Ukraine, his family and a pier. It is all looking pretty good to me.

Viktor Yashencko, The President-Elect of The Ukraine and Mikhail Saakashvili, The President of Georgia with family on a ski vacation. 

Morning Papers - to understand the source download PDF

Preserving the Rights of the Dead - Forensic Teams in Thialand wearing Personal Protective Equipment working with bodies in Dry Ice


The Bangkok Post

Mining lakes last hope for victim's kin
KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI
Phangnga _ The search operation for tsunami victims has ended in many wave-struck areas in Takua Pa district in this ravaged province, but not at Ban Nam Khem, where hundreds of corpses are believed to still lie at the bottom of two old mining lakes.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/08Jan2005_news05.php


Tax cuts okayed for donations to private entities
YUWADEE TUNYASIRI ACHATTHAYA CHUENNIRUN
The Revenue Department has been told to approve tax reductions for donations made through private channels to tsunami victims.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/08Jan2005_news01.php

The games young people play
What teenagers really think of their growing reputation for bad behaviour
Story by PANITA SRIYABHAND
Sex. Drugs. Rock and roll. Cigarettes. Alcohol. Online game addiction. Pornographic Web sites. Violence. Crime. Extravagance.
Thai teenagers are said to have embraced all of these vices, and the problem seems to be getting worse, according to the mass of research, studies and polls undertaken on teen culture and behaviour over the past few years.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/en/Outlook/08Jan2005_out01.php

A really cool mountain trip

The peak of Doi Pha Hom Pok overlooks valleys and the Burma border.
Doi Pha Hom Pok in the northern district of Fang is easy to reach, pleasant to visit
Story by THANIN WEERADET Photos by SEKSAN SUKHUM
Among popular mountains in the North, Doi Pha Hom Pok in Fang of Chiang Mai is one one of the easiest to reach, with a camping ground over 1,500 metres above sea level accessible by four-wheel drive vehicle or pickup.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/en/060105_Horizons/06Jan2005_hori10.php

FISHERMEN FEEL CUT ADRIFT
Rawai villagers say they've been overlooked in favour of big-ticket tourism concerns
Story by POST REPORTERS
Walk around Phuket these days, and one is confronted by any number of incongruous sights, signals of an unusual calm after the storm. The empty beer bars of Patong beach. Abandoned motorcycles and cars left roadside. The ominously high signs of mud on a restaurant or hotel wall, signs of the sheer depth that the waters reached on that Sunday morning.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/08Jan2005_biz57.php

Phuket cruise service operator sees need for diversification
BUSRIN TREERAPONGPICHIT
Phuket _ On any normal day, Rassada Harbour would be crowded with tourists awaiting to hop a boat for a day jaunt to the Maya or Phi Phi islands.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/08Jan2005_biz58.php

Construction materials prices capped
PHUSADEE ARUNMAS
Prices of construction materials sold in the six southern tsunami-stricken provinces will be frozen for at least six months and some will even be cut by 5% to 15% to help ease the burden on the victims of the disaster, according to the Internal Trade Department.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/08Jan2005_biz59.php

Orphans just want a hug
Ask for nothing other than parents' return
ACHADTAYA CHUENNIRAN
Phuket _ While many children plead with parents for toys or sweets as Children's Day gifts, tsunami orphans beg for the embrace of their loved ones.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/08Jan2005_news06.php

US shrimp duties may be reviewed
Tsunami impact on Thailand, India cited
PHUSADEE ARUNMAS and AGENCIES
The United States has hinted that it might review shrimp anti-dumping penalties for Thailand and India, citing concerns about the possible impact of the tsunami on the shrimping industries of Thailand and India.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/08Jan2005_biz56.php

The Washington Post

Reservists May Face Longer Tours of Duty

By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 7, 2005; Page A01
Army leaders are considering seeking a change in Pentagon policy that would allow for longer and more frequent call-ups of some reservists to meet the demands of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, a senior Army official said yesterday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54604-2005Jan6.html?sub=AR

Nine U.S. Troops Are Killed in Iraq

Martial Law Extended Through Election
By Karl Vick
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, January 7, 2005; Page A01
BAGHDAD, Jan. 7 -- Seven U.S. soldiers were killed when a massive roadside bomb exploded under an armored vehicle in Baghdad and two Marines were killed in Anbar province on Thursday, the military said. It was the deadliest day for U.S. forces in Iraq since a suicide bomber struck a mess hall Dec. 21.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54035-2005Jan6.html

Gonzales Defends His White House Record

Nominee Questioned On Detainee Policies
By Dan Eggen and R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 7, 2005; Page A01
Attorney general nominee Alberto R. Gonzales strongly defended his tenure as White House counsel yesterday, including his conclusion that the protections of the Geneva Conventions do not apply to alleged terrorists, and he suggested that the United States should consider renegotiating the international treaties to better wage its war on terrorism.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54607-2005Jan6.html

Abu Ghraib Abuse Figure Faces Trial Today in Texas

By T.A. Badger
Associated Press
Friday, January 7, 2005; Page A12
FORT HOOD, Tex., Jan. 6 -- Barring a last-minute plea bargain, an Army reservist pictured in some of the photographs of Iraqi inmates being sexually humiliated at the Abu Ghraib prison on Friday will become the first soldier tried in the scandal.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54507-2005Jan6.html

As Hybrid Cars Multiply, So Do Carpooling Gripes

By Steven Ginsberg and Carol Morello
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 7, 2005; Page A01
A surge in the number of hybrid vehicles has left carpool lanes nearly as congested as the regular lanes they are intended to relieve, a Virginia transportation task force said yesterday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54561-2005Jan6.html

'Mississippi Burning' Case Reopened; 1 Man Arrested

By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 7, 2005; Page A01
Mississippi delved into its troubled past late yesterday as sheriff's deputies arrested an 80-year-old reputed Ku Klux Klan member on charges of killing three young voting rights workers in 1964 in one of the most notorious crimes of the civil rights era.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54572-2005Jan6.html?sub=AR

Reputed Klansman pleads innocent to murder charges in 1964 slaying of civil rights workers
By Shelia Byrd, Associated Press, 1/7/2005 13:37

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) Reputed Ku Klux Klan member Edgar Ray Killen responded loudly with ''not guilty'' three times Friday as he was arraigned on murder charges in the slayings of three civil rights workers more than 40 years ago. The prosecutor said he was the only person indicted in the case.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/007/nation/Reputed_Klansman_pleads_innoce:.shtml


Coats, Skis and Winter Colds Banished by a Warm Spell

By Daniel de Vise and Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 7, 2005; Page B01
Ski resort operators in Virginia and Maryland are watching their snow melt. Bags of salt and sand are sitting on hardware store shelves. Firewood, at the moment, is serving a purely decorative purpose.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54578-2005Jan6.html

In Sri Lanka, a New Wave Of Pain

Doctor Tries to Ease Mental Devastation
By Neely Tucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 7, 2005; Page A01
BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka -- Ganesan is a rare man in Sri Lanka.
He is a father, husband, and the only psychiatrist for 1.3 million of the world's most traumatized people. His roving practice along this island nation's eastern shore stretches over 150 miles, all of it devastated by last week's tsunami.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54603-2005Jan6.html

Damage Is Tied to Ocean Floor

Tsunami Hit Hardest in Areas East, West of Quake Epicenter
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 7, 2005; Page A14

Along the shores of Sri Lanka, the tsunami that has killed more than 140,000 people first appeared as a rapidly rising tide -- a phenomenon more akin to a quickly filling bathtub than a bona fide wave.

To the east, on the Thai islands of Phuket and Phi Phi, the same tsunami made landfall as a train of intense, cresting waves that washed ashore with brutal impact.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54530-2005Jan6.html

The Daily (Sri Lanka)

http://www.dailynews.lk/

GOOD. I am proud of my country. Wonderful !!

US committed to rebuild Sri Lanka
by Manjula Fernando
The visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday joint efforts on the relief front could be elevated to a political effort to achieve lasting peace.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/08/new01.html

Annan, Wolfensohn to tour tsunami-hit areas
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived in Colombo yesterday evening for a tour of areas battered by the December 26 tsunamis.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/08/new02.html

Canadian Prime Minister to visit Lanka
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin will visit areas stricken by the tsunami disaster in Thailand and Sri Lanka later this month, an official said.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/08/new03.html

Irish FM to visit Sri Lanka
Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said Friday he would visit Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka to assess humanitarian aid needs and priorities following the tsunami disaster.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/08/new19.html

President's Office special bank account
Those wishing to donate funds towards the rehabilitation of tsunami victims and the restoration of property can forward their contributions to the special President's Fund for Disaster Relief current account at the People's Bank Headquarters, the Presidential Secretariat announced yesterday.
The account number is 204 100 190 136245.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/08/new11.html

Camp management streamlined
The management of the camps established to temporarily house the Internally Displaced Persons has now been streamlined.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/08/new12.html

Government as a caring entity
Amid deepening public concern over the safety and well being of the child victims of the current devastation, it is encouraging to learn that the Government is losing no time in putting in place all essential measures to contain to the maximum the dangers they may confront.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/08/editorial.html

The Boston Globe

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN A Presidential Candidate by the name of Gerry Brown said the same thing. ONLY. He didn't see anyone contributing more or less than anyone else above a certain income tax bracket. Gerry Brown ran on the promise to standardize the Tax Code by removing ALL loopholes to replace it with a 14% flat tax.

President Bush pushing for overhaul of U.S. tax code

By Jennifer Loven, Associated Press, 1/7/2005 12:17

WASHINGTON (AP) President Bush on Friday called streamlining and reforming the U.S. tax code an ''essential task for our country,'' but offered few hints of how he intends to get it done.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/007/wash/President_Bush_pushing_for_ove:.shtml


The Japan Times

Japan to do all it can to help, says Koizumi
JAKARTA (Kyodo) Japan will do all it can to help the survivors of last week's tsunami disaster in Southern Asia, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday, offering a debt moratorium for the affected countries and grants of up to $500 million.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050107a1.htm>

Japan needs to train Iraqi officials to be self-reliant, diplomat says
By KANAKO TAKAHARA
Staff writer
Japan should help to train Iraqi engineers and local administrative officials who will play key roles in rebuilding the nation, according to a Foreign Ministry official who heads Japan's diplomatic office in the southern Iraq city of Samawah.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050106f1.htm

Musharraf's penchant to stay in charge
By FARHAN BOKHARI
ISLAMABAD -- The prospect that Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf -- who seized power in a bloodless coup five years ago -- will remain head of the military looms as a major setback in the political outlook for South Asia's second-largest nuclear-armed country.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted.pl5?eo20050107fb.htm

Also troublesome is Pakistan's deep involvement in the rebuilding of an entire city in the area of devastation of the Indian Ocean, in particular Sri Lanka. I find especially troubling the reality that Pakistan has so much wrong within it's own society. However, it is admirable to see a Muslim Nation step forward to clearly desire to help in a compassionate way. I am afraid Mr. Musharraf's past will serve to be a nemesis for him but one he earned in his rise to power. I find this admirable but at the same time worrisome to realize al Qaeda might find a deadly haven with the innocent civilians of Sri Lanka.

Pakistan eager to reconstruct township
The Government of Pakistan has decided to reconstruct a whole township or a village in Sri Lanka destroyed by the recent tsunami, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar said. He met Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pro; W.A. Wiswa Warnapala at the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/06/new15.html

The Seattle Post Intelligencer

Dead voted in governor's race
King County investigating 'ghost voter' cases
By PHUONG CAT LE AND MICHELLE NICOLOSI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS
At least eight people who died well before the November general election were credited with voting in King County, raising new questions about the integrity of the vote total in the narrow governor's race, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer review has found.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/206969_dead07.html

Ever wonder what kind of impact Climate Change has on YOUR neighborhood? Wonder no more.

In Greenwood, there's a sinking feeling
Neighborhood built on a bog descends -- literally -- as water is drained away
By KERY MURAKAMI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The Greenwood neighborhood is sinking.
Seriously.
The phenomenon is causing sidewalks to crack, streets to buckle and thousands of dollars of damage to homes along the way.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/206911_greenwood07.html

Wal-Mart worker fired over semi-nude photo
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MUSCATINE, Iowa -- A Wal-Mart greeter was sacked for apparently showing too much of his friendly side to customers.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=BRF%20Wal%20Mart%20Greeter

Sept. 11 Web site has personal photos
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- Personal photos found in the ruins of the World Trade Center could be making their way back to victims' families, thanks to a Web site being launched this month.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Attacks%20Photo%20Archive

Sept. 11 survivors tormented by tsunami
By SARA KUGLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW YORK -- In their new nightmares, swirls of water sweep them away - like the tsunami, but also like the grief and shock that engulfed them after they lost loved ones on Sept. 11.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Tsunami%20All%20Over%20Again

Banda Aceh mosque hosts Friday prayers
By CHRIS BRUMMITT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Acehnese man shield themselves from the tropical sun with their prayer rug after performing prayers at Baiturrahman mosque for the first time since the Dec. 26 tsunami struck, in the center of Banda Aceh, Sumatra island, Indonesia, Friday, Jan. 7, 2005. The death toll of the quake-triggered tidal wave is feared to be up to 100,000 people in Indonesia alone. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- The main mosque in this devastated Sumatran city reopened for Friday prayers after being used as a makeshift morgue for tsunami victims, and the preacher said the disaster may have been punishment from Allah for "forgetting him and his teachings."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20Friday%20Prayers

U.S. finds no sign of missing reporter
By NATHALIE SCHUCK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PARIS -- U.S. forces in Iraq said Friday they are not holding a missing French reporter last seen leaving her Baghdad hotel two days ago, raising concern that she was kidnapped. France's president suggested it was irresponsible to dispatch journalists to Iraq.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iraq%20Reporter%20Missing

Education Department paid journalist
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration paid a prominent black journalist to promote President Bush's education law and give Education Secretary Rod Paige media time, records show.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1151&slug=Bush%20Journalist

Dem lays out case against Bush's Ohio win
By MALIA RULON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Harvey Wasserman, senior editor of freepress.org, speaks to the media about the lawsuit against President Bush on the presidential election results from the state of Ohio, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2005, in Washington. Wasserman, along with 50 other people from Ohio have come to Washington to constitutionally challenge the election results of Ohio. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

WASHINGTON -- The senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee protested President Bush's re-election Wednesday with a new report claiming serious election irregularities and "significant disenfranchisement" of voters in Ohio.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apelection_story.asp?category=1131&slug=Electoral%20College%20Ohio

Warm weather causes rare winter allergies
By DANIEL YEE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA -- A warm spell in the Southeast that has brought people out in shorts and T-shirts in January has also given rise to a fair-weather phenomenon: allergy attacks.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1500&slug=Early%20Allergies

Australian claims torture in Egypt
By MERAIAH FOLEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SYDNEY, Australia -- An Australian terror suspect detained in Pakistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks alleges he was transferred by U.S. authorities to Egypt, where he says he was tortured with beatings, electric shocks and nearly drowned while being interrogated.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apaa_story.asp?category=1106&slug=Australian%20Torture

Canada sets up vote for Iraqi expatriates
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TORONTO -- Canadian officials are preparing polling stations for Iraqi expatriates in Canada to vote in their homeland's elections scheduled for later this month.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apcanada_story.asp?category=1101&slug=Canada%20Iraq%20Vote


New Strait Times

http://www.nst.com.my/

I think the Sri Lankan government needs to 'evaluate' and 'test' the fish brought in for consumption on a daily basis to 'prove' is is safe. In other words, a mini-USDA designation that indicates fish for sale is safe. There is a lot of disease in the oceans with so many decomposing bodies in the oceans as well as RUN-OFF from the contaminated beaches. It is better to be safe than sorry. Not every fish has to be tested but certainly a 'sample' from each catch.

Most Sri Lankans say 'no' to eating fish
Koh Lay Chin reporting from Sri Lanka
Jan 6:

GALLE, Thurs. - Imagine not eating fish for a year.
Many Sri Lankans say they will not touch fish for a long time despite the Government's assertion that fish is safe for consumption.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/National/NST32201413.txt/Article/indexb_html

We need a new color wristband for the victims of the Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Yellow, pink and blue wristbands take over the American schoolyards
Philip pulls up the sleeve of his oversized sweatshirt to show his forearm, covered with a dozen rubber wristbands, yellow, pink, light blue or green that he sells in the schoolyard of his high school in a suburb of Washington.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/AfpNews/200501080442231105130543.76/indexb_html

continued...

Buddist Monks in Phuket 

Morning Papers - concluding

Thialand. A search for the missing turns into mediation at their loss.


Sydney Morning Herald

Search became a meditation in letting go

Joe Berman came to the devastation of Phi Phi island in search of solace, and to find something more than his son's body to take home. The visit gave expression to a father's goodbye, and a father's hope that seeing where his child died would provide some kind of peace.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/01/07/1104832309243.html?oneclick=true

Rising tension over aid bottleneck
By Matthew Moore in Banda Aceh and Tom Allard in Jakarta
January 8, 2005

Flight delays at Banda Aceh airport, the main distribution point for aid in Indonesia, are hampering the huge relief effort 11 days after the tsunami struck.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Asia-Tsunami/Rising-tension-over-aid-bottleneck/2005/01/07/1104832311045.html

Head-on train crash kills 14 in Italy
January 8, 2005 - 6:14AM

A passenger train collided with a freight train in northern Italy on Friday in heavy fog, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens, rescue officials said. The head-on crash turned several cars into a wreck of buckled metal.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Headon-train-crash-kills-14-in-Italys/2005/01/08/1104832329681.html


Scandal-hit oil exec gets severance pay
January 8, 2005 - 6:54AM

The Royal Dutch/Shell Group says it gave a STG520,000 ($A1.3 million) severance package to its former finance chief, who quit with two other senior executives last year in the wake of the company's oil reserves scandal.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Scandalhit-oil-exec-gets-severance-pays/2005/01/08/1104832331872.html

Three-bus collision kills 25 in Bolivia
January 8, 2005 - 7:44AM

Three buses have crashed on a highway in Bolivia, killing 25 people and injuring at least 50.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Threebus-collision-kills-25-in-Bolivias/2005/01/08/1104832333300.html

Head-on train crash kills 14 in Italy
January 8, 2005 - 6:14AM

A passenger train collided with a freight train in northern Italy on Friday in heavy fog, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens, rescue officials said. The head-on crash turned several cars into a wreck of buckled metal.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Headon-train-crash-kills-14-in-Italys/2005/01/08/1104832329681.html

Israelis bring skills at identifying bodies
January 8, 2005

They are "the team that sleeps with the dead" - Orthodox Jewish forensic workers who have matched body parts to identities after countless suicide bombings and scenes of carnage in Israel.
Now in Thailand, they have only one way to describe the aftermath of the tsunami: a disaster of biblical proportions.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Asia-Tsunami/Israelis-bring-skills-at-identifying-bodies/2005/01/07/1104832310176.html

The Jerusalem Post

Jewish group builds a 'Noah's Ark' for Thai fishermen
By THE ASSOCIATED PREss
MINNEAPOLIS
Perry Witkin was intrigued.
The small business owner and president of Minneapolis-based Nechama: Jewish Response to Disaster, a volunteer group that helps people in Minnesota and western Wisconsin recover from floods and tornadoes, heard about a project to replace fishermen's boats lost or damaged in the tsunamis in Thailand.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1104895134810


The Coke Report Guatemala:
Thursday, 6 January 2005, 11:58 am
Column: Council on Hemispheric Affairs
The Coke Report Guatemala: The Crown Prince of Central America’s Drug Trafficking
• By land, sea and air, Guatemala funnels drugs into the U.S.
• Today, Central America is the key link to the Colombian drug nexus.
• The region’s economy would dry up if the drug trafficking ban were upheld.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0501/S00043.htm

People Choice Awards, January 9, 2005 - Be there or Be Square !!

The Jakarta Post

Indonesian police find cache of 60 bombs in sectarian violence-hit town
JAKARTA (AFP): Police in a sectarian violence-hit town on Indonesia's Sulawesi island say they have found a cache of 60 home-made bombs and two home-made firearms.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20050107103126&irec=10

Indonesian government revises down death toll to 101,318
JAKARTA (AFP): The Indonesian government revised down the death toll from last month's earthquake and tsunami disaster to 101,318 on Friday after a counting error was discovered, the social affairs ministry said.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20050107184230&irec=0

Birth Control and Abortion

You had to know at some point this administration was going to classify abortion with the death penalty. WELL. Here it is !!!

Death penalty bills bring abortion into spotlight
01/07/2005
By NIKI SULLIVAN / Associated Press

Sponsors of competing bills that would make people who kill pregnant women subject to the death penalty are clashing over how to classify an unborn child.

And those who favor abortion rights say one of the bills is actually aimed at chipping away at those rights.

A bill sponsored by Democrats, many of whom have opposed capital punishment in the past, would toughen penalties for violent crime against a pregnant woman, and could result in the death penalty for murder. Currently only aggravated murder cases can result in the death penalty.

http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D87EUSI00.html

Top KCPE Pupil Dies After Abortion

The East African Standard (Nairobi)
January 7, 2005
Posted to the web January 6, 2005
Nairobi
The tragedy of backstreet abortions returned to haunt Kenyans when a top KCPE girl died in the hands of a quack on Monday.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200501060686.html

Democrats No Closer to Choosing Chairman, Abortion Still Contentious
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 7, 2005

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Leading Democrats are still no closer to choosing a new chairman and abortion continues to be a controversial issue in the race to become the next head of the DNC.

http://www.lifenews.com/nat1091.html

Fewer Women Using Birth Control

1/7/05- Women may have more contraceptive choices than ever, but at the same time, fewer women are using them. One member of Planned Parenthood says the cost of birth control may be to blame.
A study by the National Center for Health Statistics revealed that more women are avoiding birth control pills over the last 7 years. The report did not say whether the drop in contraceptive use is leading to more unwanted pregnancies.

http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=2778616&nav=0RbQUwAy

Consumer Reports Rates Condoms

United Press International
Consumer Reports magazine says in its February issue some of Planned Parenthood's condoms don't rise to the level of other condoms. The publication's Guide to Contraception, which evaluates 23 kinds of latex condoms, pans Planned Parenthood's Assorted Colors and Honeydew models as weak and prone to failing.
CR's highest-rated models are the Durex Extra Sensitive Lubricated Latex, the Durex Performax Lubricated, Lifestyles Classic Collection Ultra Sensitive Lubricated, TheyFit Lubricated, Trojan Extended Pleasure Climax Control Lubricant, Trojan Non-Lubricated and Trojan Ultra Pleasure Spermicidal Lubricant.

http://www.wokr13.tv/business/story.aspx?content_id=18EAA6C0-6C2F-4CCB-884D-4D7E381D1A4F

Planned Parenthood tests its condoms after low quality score

Jesse Westbrook
Bloomberg News
Jan. 7, 2005 11:05 AM
Planned Parenthood is testing two styles of condoms distributed at its clinics after Consumer Reports rated the prophylactics the worst of 23 brands evaluated.

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0107condoms07-ON.html

China to outlaw selective abortion

From correspondents in Beijing
07jan05
CHINA is to outlaw the selective abortion of female foetuses to correct an imbalance in the ratio of boys to girls that has grown since a one-child policy was introduced more than 20 years ago.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11878139%5E1702,00.html

Parents Defend Michigan Teen Accused of "Baseball Bat" Abortion

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 7, 2005
Mount Clemens, MI (LifeNews.com) -- The parents of a teenager who allowed her boyfriend to beat her with a miniature baseball bat to cause an abortion are defending the teenager who is responsible. Meanwhile, the charges against him are in dispute and his attorney is using the case to call for no more laws limiting abortion.

http://www.lifenews.com/state828.html

Concluding...

Morning Papers - concluded

The building West Pacific Equatorial Heat

The West Pacific Equatorial Heat is being pulled by the South Pole Vortex into the melting Antarctica Ice Cap.


Michael Moore Today

Ahhhhh…….Michael Moore !!!!

http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/guests/

Bush's Approval Rating Falls in AP Poll

By Will Lester / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush is entering his second term with the lowest approval ratings of any recent two-term president, even as he talks about an ambitious agenda of change, an Associated Press poll finds.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=881

Thank You, Senator Boxer!

Thank you to Senator Barbara Boxer for standing up with Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones and challenging the results of Ohio's presidential vote, setting us on the path to true transparency in our national election system!

We'd also like to thank Representative John Conyers for all his hard work.

Thanks to the following 31 Representatives for voting 'yes' on the objection:

Corrine Brown, FL

Julia Carson, IN

William Clay Jr., MO

James E. Clyburn, SC

John Conyers Jr., MI

Danny Davis, IL

Lane Evans, IL

Sam Farr, CA

Bob Filner, CA

Raul Grijalva, AZ

Doc Hastings, WA

Maurice Hinchey, NY

Jesse Jackson Jr, IL

Sheila Jackson Lee, TX

Eddie Bernice Johnson, TX

Stephanie Tubbs Jones, OH

Carolyn Kilpatrick, MI

Dennis Kucinich, OH

Barbara Lee, CA

John Lewis, GA

Ed Markey, MA

Cynthia McKinney, GA

John Olver, MA

Major Owens, NY

Frank Pallone JR, NJ

Donald M. Payne, NJ

Jan Schakowsky, IL

Bennie Thompson, Miss.

Maxine Waters, CA

Diane Watson, CA

Lynn Woolsey, CA

Presidential election results have not been challenged this way since 1877, following the disputed election contest between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden.

TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS (video coming shortly):
Wednesday, December 8, 2004 - Washington, D.C.

U.S.REPRESENTATIVE JOHN CONYERS (D-MI) AND DEMOCRAT MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE HOLD A FORUM ON VOTING IRREGULARITIES IN OHIO

SPEAKER: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE JOHN CONYERS (D-MI), RANKING MEMBER

Reverend Jesse Jackson, founder, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, civil rights activist, counselor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a distinguished civil rights leader:
I'm here today to speak up for students and young people who turned out in force, despite county officials who often tried to deter and deny them polling places on campuses.

Therefore, a legal complaint should be filed, asserting a violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The voting procedures in Ohio resulted in disparate impact on minority voters.

But far too many are being far too silent and passive in the face of this challenge to democracy.
The attorney general is charged with the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, and must use the resources of its office to enforce equal protection provisions. Silence is betrayal.

For the tremendous legislative work led by Lyndon Johnson in 1965, and also the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., for the blood of Goodman (ph), Swerner (ph) and Cheney (ph), Malla Louitsa (ph), Red Gambers (ph), and the (inaudible) pain and humiliation endured by Faney Lou Hamer (ph), I continue to urge the Kerry campaign, the DNC, the Democratic Party, those who depend upon the vote of African-Americans, Latinos, people of color, and the young, those that profess to have love for freedom and dignity of any party, to join us.

I urge the Congress to act before Michael Moore comes back, exposes their violation and their capitulation again.
Why, 34 days before certification of Ohio's vote -- 34 days -- yet we keep hearing a clean election without problems.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=872

"Torture!" vs. "Nonsense!"
An Australian official says he stood by and watched as American agents tortured a terror suspect.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php

The New Zealand Herald

Blake spirit beats killer wave
25-year-old Philip Blake (left) at first thought the tsunami was the wake of a huge ship.

08.01.05
By JULIET ROWAN

A remarkable display of seamanship saved a young kinsman of Sir Peter Blake in the Asian tsunami.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=9005964

Reporters Without Borders condemns treatment of cyberjournalists and bloggers

08.01.05

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the mistreatment in prison of cyberdissidents and webloggers after an Iranian committee report concluded that public confessions by two of them were obtained under duress.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=9005867

The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:

Antarctica

Scott Base

Snow

0.0°

Updated Saturday 08 Jan 9:59AM

The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) is:

28 °F / -2 °C
PARTLY CLOUDY

Humidity:
86%

Dew Point:
25 °F / -4 °C

Wind:
NORTHEAST WINDS AROUND 10 MPH

Pressure:
30.15 in / 1021 hPa

Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers

UV:
0 out of 12

Clouds (AGL):
Clear -

Satellite of Vortex Over Glacier Bay Below

Vortex over Glacier Bay National Park 1.7.05

end