Rooster "Crowing"
"Okeydoke"
History
1580 Battle of Alcantara, Spain defeats Portugal
1609 Galileo demonstrates his 1st telescope to Venetian lawmakers
1804 Alice Meynell becomes 1st woman jockey (England)
1825 Uruguay declares independence from Brazil (National Day)
1830 Belgium revolts against Netherlands
1835 NY Sun publishes Moon hoax story about John Herschel
1862 Secretary of War authorizes Gen Rufus Saxton to arm 5,000 slaves
1862 The Secretary of War authorizes General Rufus Saxton to arm up
to five thousand slaves.
1864 Combination rail & ferry service available from SF to Alameda
1886 Kentucky State College (now University), chartered in May, 1886 as
the State Normal School for Colored Persons and only the second
state-supported institution of higher learning in Kentucky, is
founded in Frankfort, Kentucky. It will become a land grant
college in 1890.
1886 Some six hundred delegates organize the American National Baptist
Convention at a St. Louis meeting. Rev. William J. Simmons is
elected president.
1916 National Park Service established in the Dept of the Interior
1920 1st US woman to win in Olympics (Ethelda Bleibtrey)
1921 US signs peace treaty with Germany
1927 Althea Gibson is born in Silver, South Carolina. She will grow
up to be a pioneer in the field of tennis, becoming the first
African American to play tennis at the U.S. Open in 1950 and
at Wimbledon the following year. In 1957, she will win the
singles and doubles titles at Wimbledon, another first for an
African American.
1925 A. Phillip Randolph organizes the Sleeping Car Porters' Union
(Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters) at a mass meeting in the
Elks' Hall in Harlem. He is elected president.
1932 Amelia Earhart completes transcontinental flight
1944 Paris liberated from Nazi occupation
1945 Jewish immigrants are permitted to leave Mauritius for Palestine
1946 Ben Hogan wins the PGA championship
1950 Sugar Ray Robinson knocks out Jose Basora to retain the Pennsylvania
Middleweight Title.
1964 Blair Underwood is born. He will become an actor and will star in
"Downtown," and will be best known for his role as "L.A. Law's"
Jonathan Rollins.
1965 James M. Nabrit Jr. is named ambassador and assigned to the
United Nations' delegation.
1967 Paraguay accepts its constitution
1981 Jeff Schwartz, sets solo record for trampoline bouncing (266:09)
1981 Mark Chapman, John Lennon's murderer, is sentenced to 20 years
1981 Voyager 2's closest approach to Saturn (63,000 miles/100,000 km)
1983 Triple A baseball's Louisville breaks 1 million fan mark
1983 US & USSR sign $10 billion grain pact
1988 Challenger Center opens its classroom doors in Houston
1988 NASA launches space vehicle S-214
1989 Voyager 2 makes its closest approach to Neptune (0400 GMT)
1990 Li Hui Rong of China sets the triple jump women's record (47'8«")
1991 Carl Lewis runs 100m in 9.86 seconds
1991 - African Americans receive seven Emmy awards, a record number up to
that time.
Missing in Action
1966 BULLARD WILLIAM H. ELSINORE CA
1967 BOIS CLAIRE RONALD A TUCSON AZ RADIO CONTACT LOST SAR NEG
1967 JACOBS EDWARD JAMES JR. MT VERNON WA
1967 ZAVOCKY JAMES JOHN PARMA OH RADIO CONTACT LOST SAR NEG
1968 GREGORY KENNETH R. ALTUS OK 05/26/69 RELEASED
1968 JOHNSON BOBBY L. DETROIT MI 02/12/73 RELEASED BY PRG
1968 JONES THOMAS N. LYNNVILLE IN 01/01/69 RELEASED
1972 DOYLE MICHAEL W. PHILADELPHIA PA REMAINS RETURNED 08/14/85
1972 ENSCH JOHN C. SPRINGFIELD IL 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
The Jerusalem Post
Where to for the evacuees? Not the West Bank
By MATTHEW GUTMAN
The vast majority of the Gaza Strip's Jewish residents have elected to end their settlement enterprise in the lands Israel won in 1967, despite the initial push of the settlement movement to absorb them into West Bank communities.
Amid swelling criticism of its handling of the anti-disengagement struggle, the settlement leadership has backtracked from calling on Gaza evacuees to relocate in West Bank communities, saying now that it "would be cynical to take advantage of them after their loss."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1124938375659
1,000 families 'have no homes to go to'
By DAN IZENBERG
A leader of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel charged on Tuesday that only 100 of the 1,700 families evacuated from the West Bank and northern Samaria settlements have found permanent housing solutions so far, and that only 700 families have found temporary solutions to tide them over. The other 1,000 have no solutions at all.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1124763678519
Dispute deepens over relocation options
By SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL AND DANIEL KENNEMER
Decrying the tent cities as an "unnecessary media ploy," the Constructing and Housing Ministry continued to insist Wednesday that there were still numerous housing options for the settlers to choose from.
"They can complain all they want, but the fact is that very few settlers approached us before the disengagement and we are working at a breakneck speed now to meet their needs," said ministry director-general Shmuel Abuav. "You cannot help but be awed by all we have accomplished in the past months."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1124850021447
Manhunt underway for J'lem stabber
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
A massive police manhunt was underway Thursday for an Arab man who stabbed 21-year-old British yeshiva student Shmuel Mett to death and seriously wounded a classmate with a large kitchen knife in a terror attack in Jerusalem's Old City.
Mett's funeral will begin at 5 p.m. from his yeshiva.
The Wednesday night attack came just a day after Israel completed its pullout from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1124850020015
Pets rescued from empty Gaza homes
By ANAV SILVERMAN
It's not every day that a goose is relocated to a new home, or for that matter hundreds of other dogs, cats, turkeys, chickens, lizards, ducks and parakeets. However, that's exactly what's been happening to animals in Gush Katif, who have not been evacuated by soldiers or police, but rather by volunteer workers in animal protection organizations like Noach and Kol Chai, who have volunteered to save these animals from starvation in the abandoned homes.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1124850021060
Mortar fire in north, Kassams in south
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH AND JPOST STAFF
Three days after the completion of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip – an operation conducted amidst near-total quiet on the part of the various terror organizations – Israel again found itself under fire.
A mortar shell landed in Moshav Margaliot near the Lebanese border Thursday morning. No one was injured, but a chicken coop sustained damage.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1124938373544
Important Animals
Campaign for Turtle Eggs Stirs Controversy
By LISA J. ADAMS, Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY -- A campaign aimed at halting the illegal consumption of endangered turtles' eggs has run into trouble before it starts, with a women's group asking officials to block public service announcements featuring a scantily clad model.
"My man does not need turtle eggs because he knows they don't make him more potent," Argentine model Dorismar purrs from posters in which she poses alternately in sexy bathing suits, skimpy shorts and an unbuttoned shirt and cowboy hat.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-mexico-turtle-controversy,1,5220376.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines
Zoo ready to bid sad farewell to elephants
23/08/2005 - 15:18:02
It’s going to be an emotional farewell for Dublin Zoo’s two popular elephants when they head to a new home in Germany in a few weeks, the zoo’s assistant director said today.
Elephants Judy and Kirsty, who have been at the zoo for a decade, will be moving to Neunkirchen Zoo in western Germany in mid September.
Paul O’Donoghue, Dublin Zoo’s assistant director, said the decision to move the elephants was a difficult one, but the zoo was committed to an elephant breeding programme.
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=153521818&p=y535zz5z4
A day at the zoo
By Minna Jacobs
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
As if in a Technicolor dream sequence, we found ourselves walking on jungle-like trails through what felt like tropical heat and perspiration-inducing humidity while gazing at animals that weren't exactly your garden variety.
Beautiful peacocks were strutting right beside us, all the while managing to look much more at home than any of us.
Believe me when I tell you we were doing all that at a very unique birthday party for my great-grandson, Tyler, who changed form 3 to 4 years-old in what seems like the blink of an eye.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailycourier/socialcolumn/s_366202.html
Audubon Zoo Clones Wild Cats
Researchers in New Orleans say they have proved cloning can be used to save endangered species.
Two litters of wild cats born in July and August are the offspring of cloned wild cats.
Zoo officials say the eight kittens are doing just fine.
According to scientists at the Audubon Center, this is the first time clones of two wild cats, or any kind of cat for that matter, have been able to reproduce.
The kittens will be on display later this year at the Audubon Zoo.
http://www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?S=3757701
Dog day afternoon at the zoo
By DIANA COZADINOS
Wednesday, 24 August 2005
THEY hoot to communicate and regurgitate food for their young - but Mogo Zoo's newest residents are not birds.
While it's not too often that dogs would be found living amongst the exhibits at any zoo, the rare and endangered Cape Hunting Dogs are far from the average household pet.
Jarsi, Karsi, Biggs and Scar arrived from Perth Zoo with Mogo Zoo owners Sally and Bill Padey, who drove them across the country in just two and a half days.
http://batemansbay.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&category=general%20news&story_id=418484&y=2005&m=8
Zoo's tortoise gets baseball-sized bladder stone removed
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - A desert tortoise at the San Francisco Zoo is moving more swiftly now after having four bladder stones - one as large as a baseball - removed from his underbelly.
The 40-year-old tortoise named Cactus returned to public display this week after undergoing the surgery, in which veterinarians cut into his shell, removed the bladder stones and resealed the incision using fiberglass.
The stones weighed a little more than a pound - a lot for an animal that normally weighs just eight pounds, and potentially life-threatening at that size if not removed, zoo officials said.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/12464327.htm
San Diego Zoo's Panda Cub Is A Girl
Last Updated:
08-24-05 at 4:36PM
After three weeks of wondering, San Diego Zoo officials have announced that the new panda cub is a girl.
Veterinarians got a second look at the cub this week. They say the baby girl now weighs 22 ounces, a gain of nine ounces in just one week.
"The veterinary staff had its suspicions during the cub's first exam last week, but chose to wait one more week to get a second look as the cub continues to develop," according to a zoo statement.
http://www.kfmb.com/stories/story.21438.html
ROYAL OAK, Mich., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The newest member of the ArcticRing of Life, the polar bear cub Talini, has started swimming in the exhibit'slarge ice pack pool. Accompanied by her mother, Barle, the cub is spendingtime learning how to swim in the pool every Sunday.At more than 100 pounds, the polar bear cub is big enough to swim in theArctic Ring of Life's 300,000 gallon saltwater pool in the Ice Pack exhibit.Regular swimming lessons in the large pool will help develop her muscles.Barle and Talini will continue to live separately from the other polar bearsuntil Talini is fully grown, in approximately one year."The polar bear cub has been showing great progress in her development.Her mother has been teaching her all the skills she needs to survive on herown, and we are excited to see her take this next step to adulthood," saidScott Carter, Director of Conservation and Animal Welfare for the DetroitZoological Institute.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-24-2005/0004093614&EDATE=
3 stars join zoo campaign
birthdays of note
Steven Stolen, executive director of the Indianapolis Children's Choir, turns 48; former Indiana Pacer Reggie Miller turns 40; and Catt Sadler of WXIN (Channel 59) morning news turns 31 today. On Thursday, Joseph D. Barnette Jr., president of Sexton Cos., will turn 66; Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison will turn 33; Sen. Glenn Howard, D-Indianapolis, will turn 66; Joe Slash, president and chief executive officer of the Indianapolis Urban League, will turn 62; and Susan W. Brooks, U.S. attorney for Indiana's Southern District, will turn 45.
Actors Harrison Ford and Jane Alexander and businessman/philanthropist Ted Turner are now associated with the Indianapolis Prize.
Indianapolis Zoo officials announced Tuesday the celebrity trio will serve as honorary chairs for the program, which will present a $100,000 prize every other year to an individual who has made significant contributions to animal conservation efforts.
Star power was a tiny part of their appeal. "You can't win the conservation wars we're fighting just by having researchers out in the field," said Indianapolis Zoo CEO Michael Crowther, who added: "They believe in what we are doing."
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050824/COLUMNISTS04/508240451
ONLINE EXTRA: Group condemns private Alberta zoo for allowing patrons to kiss bears
Canadian Press
INNISFAIL, Alta. - A private zoo in central Alberta is under attack for training bears to smooch with visitors while they pose for pictures.
Zoocheck Canada, a Toronto-based animal welfare group, says letting a brown bear named Ali Oop licks people's faces at the Discovery Wildlife Park is "dangerous and stupid."
The organization also says it's dumb that the zoo allows the bear to strike a scary pose while standing on its hind legs behind visitors while photos are snapped.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/12464246.htm
Michael Moore Today
Casey Sheehan's Combat Boots Arrive in Crawford, Texas
U.S. Newswire
Marq Anderson, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) national tour manager, arrives at Camp Casey to return the military combat boots worn in Iraq by fallen U.S. soldier, Casey Sheehan to his grieving mother, Cindy Sheehan, in Crawford, Texas on Thursday, August 25, at 11:30 a.m. EST (10:30 a.m. CST).
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3859
The Peaceful Occupation of Crawford (Day 18)
-- a message from Cindy Sheehan, Crawford, Texas
I got up really early today to head back to Camp Casey. On the way, I had some amazing conversations with people. In one of those conversations, I was talking to Tyler who was sitting next to me on one of the planes. We were not talking about me and what I have been doing. Randomly, he told me he had just been in Texas about an hour north of Crawford. I said: "Wow that's where I am going and that's where I have been all month." He said: "I know I own a television." I thought that was pretty cute.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=468
Anti-Iraq war parents to take protests across nation
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Parents of soldiers killed in Iraq plan to follow President George W. Bush around the country in the coming months, hoping to generate nationwide anti-war sentiment after camping out at his Texas ranch.
Through much of August, Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in Iraq, has stationed herself with other protesters outside Bush's Crawford ranch, garnering international media coverage at a time when more than 1,800 U.S. military have died in the Iraq conflict.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3845
Iraqis Miss Third Constitution Deadline
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The speaker of
Iraq's Parliament announced a one-day extension early Friday in talks on Iraq's new constitution — a fourth attempt to win Sunni Arab approval for the draft.
Hajim al-Hassani, speaking minutes after the midnight deadline, said that after meeting for three days, "we found that time was late and we saw that the matters will need another day in order to reach results that please everyone."
Earlier, however, a Sunni Arab negotiator said Shiites didn't even show up for a late-night meeting, and two Shiite delegates told reporters they saw no reason why the draft presented to the legislature Monday could not be forwarded to the people in a referendum Oct. 15.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq;_ylt=AuWRQG0fveNCwAbPp6qCNOCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
One day before crucial vote, fighting breaks out in Najaf
By Hannah Allam and Mohammed al Dulaimy / Knight Ridder
BAGHDAD, Iraq - After months of silence, rebel Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr placed his militiamen on high alert Wednesday and asked his followers in the Iraqi government to suspend their work as Iraq descended into political chaos a day before a crucial vote on its proposed new constitution.
In Najaf, which had been one of Iraq's safest cities and was high on the list of places where U.S. forces could withdraw next year, as many as 24 people died in street fighting between al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and a mixture of government forces and the Badr Organization Shiite militia.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3857
A homegrown effort
Columbia residents support Sheehan’s protest with yard vigil
By Candace Phillips / Missourian
Crosses bearing the names of fallen soldiers cover 41 year-old Jamie Walters’ yard as he sits under a blue tent with his friend, Ruth O’Neill. O’Neill’s dog, tied up with a leash, sits at their feet. Behind their tribute to the soldiers is a sign that reads “Camp Casey Columbia.”
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3858
Pentagon Orders 1,500 More Troops to Iraq
By John J. Lumpkin / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has ordered 1,500 paratroopers to Iraq to provide security in advance of two upcoming national votes, the military announced Wednesday.
Two infantry battalions from the 82nd Airborne Division will deploy to Iraq before the scheduled Oct. 15 referendum on the proposed constitution, and remain through the December national elections, the Pentagon said in a statement.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3855
Of All Gas Consumers, Bush May Be Most
By Jennifer Loven / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Getting President Bush from here to there consumes an enormous amount of fuel, whether he's aboard Air Force One, riding in a helicopter or on the ground in a heavily armored limousine. The bill gets steeper every day as the White House is rocked by the same energy prices as regular drivers. Taxpayers still foot the bill.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3853
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Couple mistaken for radical faces backlash
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LA HABRA, Calif. -- A couple whose home was wrongly identified on national television as belonging to an Islamic radical has faced harassment, and police are providing special protection.
After the report ran on Fox News on Aug. 7, people have shouted profanities at Randy and Ronnell Vorick and spray-painted "terrorist" (spelling it "terrist") on their property.
"I'm scared to go to work and leave my kids home. I call them every 30 minutes to make sure they're OK," Randy Vorick said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=FBI%20Probe%20House
Indonesian measles outbreak kills five
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A measles outbreak on Indonesia's Sumba island has killed five children and sickened 711 others, UNICEF said Thursday.
The U.N. children's agency, along with the World Health Organization and the government, had launched a vaccination campaign to contain the deadly virus.
It also is planning to vaccinate as many as 200,000 children aged 6 months to 15 years on the island, located about 620 miles southeast of the capital, Jakarta, said John Budd, a spokesman for UNICEF.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Indonesia%20Measles
Panel: Academies should address behavior
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Hostile attitudes and inappropriate treatment of women persist at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and at the Naval Academy, a Pentagon task force says.
The panel called for better training of future officers at the academies, saying the value of women in the military should be better emphasized. It said present training regarding sexual harassment and assault issues is inadequate, resulting in misunderstandings by cadets and midshipmen about how to obtain medical care, counseling and legal assistance.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Academies%20Sexual%20Assault
Air Force scandal results in reforms
By ROBERT WELLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- As Air Force cadets return to classes this month, they are seeing a new system for handling rape allegations - reforms put in place throughout the military in response to the sex scandal that rocked this prestigious school more than two years ago.
The Defense Department is adding sexual assault response coordinators at every major base around the world. Bases also will have at least one victim's advocate, most of them civilians.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Academy%20Sexual%20Assault
Iran said seeks broader nuke negotiations
By NASSER KARIMI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's top nuclear negotiator called for more countries to join the three European states engaged in talks about Tehran's contentious nuclear program, state-run television reported Thursday.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said he welcomed negotiations with all members of the board of governors of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, plus countries from the 116-member Non-Aligned Movement.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iran%20Nuclear
Fire and water sweep through Europe
By DANICA KIRKA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
VIENNA, Austria -- Fire and floods have engulfed Europe this summer, as a drought in Spain and Portugal transformed swaths of woodland into a massive tinderbox and torrential downpours carved a trail of destruction through Alpine valleys and impoverished Balkan villages.
Entire sections of the Swiss capital, Bern, have been submerged. Blazes flare up even as old ones are snuffed in Portugal and Spain. And dozens have been killed in a third straight summer of extreme European weather that has people asking: Why?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Europe%20Fire%20and%20Floods
Aid agency said to hide Iraq insurgents
By ARIEL DAVID
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ROME -- Italy's Red Cross treated four Iraqi insurgents and hid them from U.S. forces in exchange for the freedom of two Italian aid workers kidnapped last year in Baghdad, an official said in an interview published Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Italy%20Iraq%20Hostages
Rescuers evacuate Switzerland district
By THOMAS BRUNNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BERN, Switzerland -- Rescue workers completed an airlift evacuation of a half-submerged riverside district of the Swiss capital Thursday as large parts of central and southern Europe were hit by flooding that killed at least 42 people.
Hardest hit was Romania with 31 victims, many of whom were trapped inside their homes and drowned as torrents of water rushed in. Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and Switzerland reported a total of 11 dead, but numbers were expected to climb as more bodies of the missing are recovered.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Europe%20Floods
Earth's core spinning faster than crust
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
AP SCIENCE WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The giant iron ball at the center of the Earth appears to be spinning a bit faster than the rest of the planet.
The solid core that measures about 1,500 miles in diameter is spinning about one-quarter to one-half degree faster, per year, than the rest of the world, scientists from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Earthspin
Federal judge OKs global warming lawsuit
By DAVID KRAVETS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SAN FRANCISCO -- Environmental groups and four U.S. cities can sue federal development agencies on allegations the overseas projects they back financially contribute to global warming, a judge has ruled.
A coalition of environmental groups sued two government agencies that provide loans and insure billions of dollars of U.S. investors' money for development projects overseas. Many are power plants that emit greenhouses gases such as carbon dioxide that are believed to be a leading cause of global warming.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Global%20Warming%20Lawsuit
Aruba judge to network: Don't show suspect
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ORANJESTAD, Aruba -- A judge on Wednesday ordered a U.S. television network not to broadcast footage from a tour of an Aruban jail that shows the suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.
The judge issued the order at the request of an attorney for the suspect, Joran van der Sloot, following a hearing on the Dutch Caribbean island.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Aruba%20Missing%20Teen
Middle East Times
Iraq battles for charter deal as Shia rivals clash
BAGHDAD -- Iraqi leaders were battling on Thursday to strike an accord on the constitution by a midnight deadline and restore calm after deadly fighting erupted between Shia rivals that could derail the political process.
Negotiators involved in drafting the constitution said that leaders were in intense talks with Sunni Arabs in a last-minute bid to seek their nod for the charter before it goes to parliament for lawmakers' vote.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050825-092319-5114r
Palestinians dismayed at Israeli plans for settlement
JERUSALEM -- Israel announced plans on Thursday to build a major new police headquarters close to its largest West Bank settlement after kicking up a storm by appropriating Palestinian land for its huge separation barrier.
The plans were made public after Israel removed all Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank enclaves, a move that the international community has hoped would pave the way for further pullbacks from Palestinian land.
"The construction project for a police HQ and an access road has obtained all the necessary authorizations and will begin shortly," said a military spokesman responsible for civil affairs in the West Bank.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050825-090841-3777r
Viewpoint: Time for Hamas to shut up
Youssef M. Ibrahim
August 23, 2005
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The Palestinians are on the verge of a great moment in their history as Israel pulls all its forces and settlers, unilaterally, out of Gaza making this part of Palestine free for the first time since 1948.
Nothing would be more irresponsible than actions to interrupt that historic moment by the various movements, particularly Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, and others like it that are out of control in Palestine.
Attacking the vastly superior Israeli armed forces as they pull out with toy rockets or settlements and villages on the borders with Gaza, or suicide bombers inside the occupied West Bank would be a criminal irresponsible act, in fact suicide for Palestinians.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050823-071101-4618r
Top Al Qaeda operative in Saudi killed in shootout
RIYADH -- Saudi security forces shot dead one of the country's top Al Qaeda leaders in the holy city of Medina Thursday, adding to a toll of the group's successive chiefs gunned down in shootouts.
The clash that killed Saleh Al Ufi coincided with another operation in the north of the capital Riyadh and was the first of its kind since Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdel Aziz assumed the throne of the oil-rich kingdom this month.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050818-110129-1767r
Iran questions EU-3 role in nuclear negotiations
Aresu Eqbali
AFP
August 25, 2005
TEHRAN -- Iran's new hardline nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Thursday challenged the role of Britain, France and Germany as the leaders of diplomatic efforts over the Islamic republic's nuclear program.
"Based on what logic and agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have the negotiations been limited and dependent on the three European countries?" Larijani was quoted as saying by state television.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050825-085835-1266r
Egypt election campaign in full swing
Jean-Marc Mojon
AFP
August 24, 2005
CAIRO -- Egypt's first competitive presidential campaign was in full swing two weeks before the poll, with incumbent Hosni Mubarak pledging fair elections but opposition candidates and rights groups crying foul.
A week after the start of the campaign, there was little sign of great popular fervor as 32 millions voters mulled their choice for the September 7 elections.
The 77-year-old Mubarak, who has been in power for 24 years, has been leading an aggressive campaign, crisscrossing the country to promise 4 million new jobs if reelected and billions of dollars to boost the economy.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050824-091928-6652r
Brazilian officials voice support for British probe into police shooting
LONDON -- A delegation from Brazil voiced confidence in a British investigation into the fatal shooting of a Brazilian man in London last month and dismissed the suggestion of a police cover-up for now.
The comments came as the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said that it would finish a report into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, by the end of the year.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050824-042446-8538r
Iran judiciary set to close Kazemi case
AFP
August 25, 2005
TEHRAN -- Iran's hardline judiciary will soon close the case of murdered Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi and has blocked family lawyers from pressing for a fresh probe, one of the lawyers said on Thursday.
Last July a Tehran court acquitted an intelligence agent accused of giving the journalist a mortal blow to the head while she was in custody two years ago, and family lawyers have set their sights on bringing to justice a judiciary official that they say is the real killer.
"We predict that the defendant will be cleared," Mohammad Ali Dadkhah said of the intelligence agent.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050825-044421-9146r
Pakistani women candidates defy conservatives
PESHAWAR -- When two men called at Razia Sultana's house late one night to persuade her not to stand in upcoming local elections, it made her more determined to fight.
The 35-year-old is one of thousands of women in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province who are bravely defying an illegal ban on female candidates and voters imposed by Islamic clerics and conservative politicians.
"They came to my house and pressurized me not to stand in the election," she said. "So I told them to bring a letter from President Musharraf saying I couldn't be a candidate, otherwise I would go ahead."
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050817-104207-5869r
continued ...
Thursday, August 25, 2005
August 25, 2005. APPEALING FOR CALM: Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr speaks with journalists at his office in Najaf as fighting is taking place in the early hours of August 25. Supporters of Sadr opposed to a new, US-backed constitution clashed with police and rival militias in Baghdad and other cities overnight.
Morning Papers - continued...
Cheney Observer
China's CNPC H1 oil exploration discoveries at 300 mln tons - report
08.23.2005, 11:13 PM
BEIJING (AFX) - China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the parent company of Hong Kong-listed PetroChina, discovered oil reserves of 300 mln tons and gas reserves of at least 150 bln cubic meters in the first half of this year, the China Daily reported, citing a company official.
The official, who did not want to be identified, added that CNPC plans to invest some 153.5 bln yuan this year in domestic oil and gas exploitation.
He said discoveries included 200 mln tons of oil in the Jidong field of Bohai Bay Basin and 100 mln cu m of natural gas in the Songliao Basin in northeast China.
CNPC also expects oil reserves in Zhoufeng in the Ordos Basin in northwestern China to jump by some 100 mln tons by the end of this year, the official said.
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2005/08/23/afx2189877.html
Venezuela's Chavez Squeezes Oil Companies With Taxes
Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- On July 14 in the western city of Maracaibo, Venezuelan government tax auditors and a prosecutor went to the offices of Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company.
They seized boxes of records to build a case that San Ramon, California-based Chevron and 21 other energy companies owe Venezuela $3 billion in back taxes. The raid is part of President Hugo Chavez's push to squeeze more money out of foreign companies that want to pump oil from the world's fifth-largest petroleum exporter.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=nifea&&sid=a3z63_HrIvtc
Ecuador oil protesters see Wednesday settlement
24 Aug 2005 04:34:13 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Updates with deal expected on Wednesday)
By Hugh Bronstein
QUITO, Ecuador, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Ecuador oil protesters, whose attacks choked off petroleum exports from the country, said they expect to sign a deal with private energy companies on Wednesday, bringing the crisis to an end.
The activists crippled Ecuador's oil industry last week and helped jack up global petroleum prices by dynamiting pipelines and vandalizing pumping equipment at installations of state oil firm Petroecuador in the eastern part of the country.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23560705.htm
Oil prices above 66 usd in Asian trading ahead of US petroleum stocks report
08.24.2005, 12:33 AM
SINGAPORE (AFX) - Oil prices surged above 66 usd a barrel in Asian trade as the market awaited the weekly petroleum inventory report from the US.
At 10.40 am (0240 GMT), New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, was trading at 66.18 usd a barrel, up 47 cents from its close of 65.71 usd in the US overnight.
The US Department of Energy is expected to release the weekly inventory report later today amid expectations it would show a rise in crude stocks.
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2005/08/23/afx2189900.html
'Oil derivatives export fetches $2.4 bln for Iran'
Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, August 24 (IranMania) - Iran earned an estimated $2 bln and 400 mln in the five months from March 21 by exporting 8 mln and 2 thousand tons of oil derivatives, said a senior official.
Deputy Head of the International Affairs Department at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Hojatollah Ghanimifard told IRNA that the increase in revenue was due to higher crude prices on the international markets in the said period.
Ghanimifard said diesel, kerosene, kiln oil, naphtha and gas condensates were among the items exported in the period under study. He added that during this period, kiln oil followed by gas condensates were the two top exported items in this category, while kerosene was at the bottom of the list.
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=34699&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
PetroChina, China's biggest state-owned oil firm, says first-half profit up 36%
Canadian Press
August 24, 2005
HONG KONG (AP) - PetroChina Co., China's biggest state-owned oil firm, said Wednesday its first-half net profit rose 36 per cent, spurred by higher oil prices.
The Chinese company - whose parent firm recently reached an agreement to buy a major Canadian oil producer in Kazakhstan - said net profit for the six months that ended June 30 totalled 61.6 billion yuan ($7.6 billion US), up from 45.28 billion yuan ($5.58 billion US) in the same period last year.
First-half revenue rose to 252.5 billion yuan from 178.4 billion yuan in the first six months of 2004, the firm said.
http://www.canada.com/businesscentre/story.html?id=edf38bc3-7f2b-496e-b912-710e8976765b
Crude Oil Reaches $68 as Storm Threatens Gulf of Mexico Output
Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to a record $68 a barrel in New York on concern that a storm may disrupt output in the Gulf of Mexico, where 30 percent of U.S. oil is produced.
Tropical Storm Katrina is forecast to reach hurricane strength before crossing Florida on Aug. 26 and moving into the U.S. Gulf, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. Last year prices jumped at least $10 a barrel, or 22 percent, in the month after Ivan, a category-4 hurricane, swept through the area, cutting production and damaging rigs.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=a7.dQRqYS6Ws&refer=home
Ecuador oil protesters threaten hunger strike
Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:55 AM BST
By Hugh Bronstein
QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - Protesters whose attacks have choked off Ecuadorean oil exports threatened on Wednesday to launch a hunger strike to pressure the government to grant them immunity, marking a setback in settlement talks.
The activists, who want private energy companies to invest more in the poor Amazon communities where they operate, crippled Ecuador's oil industry last week and helped push up global petroleum prices by dynamiting pipelines and vandalising pumping equipment belonging to the state oil firm Petroecuador.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-25T005524Z_01_ROB503266_RTRUKOC_0_UK-ECUADOR.xml
Oil: Prices hit record on storm, petrol supply
25.08.05 8.40am
NEW YORK - Oil prices surged more than 2 per cent to break a record on Wednesday after an unexpected drop in US petrol stocks added to worries that a gathering Caribbean storm could damage US oil production platforms.
News Iran's parliament had thrown out the new president's choice for oil minister added to the market's uncertainty and drew a big question mark over oil policy in Opec's second-biggest producer.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10342392
U.S. Stocks Fall on Record Oil; S&P 500 Erases 2005 Advance
Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks dropped to six-week lows, erasing the Standard & Poor's 500 Index's gain for the year, as crude-oil prices rose above $67 a barrel to a record.
Oil's advance wiped out a rally sparked by an unexpected increase in new home sales. Caterpillar Inc. and United Technologies Corp. fell after the government reported the biggest decline in durable-goods orders in 18 months.
``It's not oil at new records by itself any more, it's oil with economic numbers substantiating the impact that oil's having on the economy,'' said John Twomey, head of trading at Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. in an interview in New York. ``That's creating some nervousness'' in the market.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aho0giB.T2ss&refer=news_index
Kyrgyz Finance Ministry to receive 247 thousand US dollars from Islamic Development Bank as a grant
- Islamic Development Bank approved allocation of 247 thousand US dollars as the annual technical help (grant) to Kyrgyz Finance Ministry for the strengthening of potential, the press-service of Kyrgyz Finance Ministry reported.
Project of the strengthening of potential of Kyrgyz Finance Ministry is directed on strengthening of management and coordination of activity concerning the future and current investments to Kyrgyz economy.
http://www.akipress.com/_en_news.php?id=13913
Uzbek prosecutors say Uzbek refugees in Romania include terrorists
- Terrorists are among the Uzbek refugees a UN body sent to Romania from Kyrgyzstan in late July after bloodshed in their homeland, the Prosecutor General's Office of Uzbekistan said Thursday.
According to prosecutors, some of the 439 refugees the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sent from the neighboring Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan to Europe were involved in the May 13 uprising in the border city Andijan, which officially claimed 176 lives.
Prosecutors said they were suspected terrorists and criminals who were thought to have attacked police and security offices, a military unit and a prison in Andijan, freed the inmates and seized the building of the regional administration in the disturbances.
The statement cited the Uzbek police as saying that although the majority of weapons and ammunition used in the disturbances had been recovered, 26 automatic rifles, 50 pistols, three machineguns, 106 grenades, 47 knives-bayonets and thousands of cartridges were still missing.
"There is no guarantee that these 'peaceful refugees,' who are so passionately defended by some Western countries and international organizations, will not commit new terrorist attacks not only in Central Asia but in other parts of the world, now that they have such a large arsenal, which would be enough to organize several 'peaceful protests' like the one in Andijan," the statement said.
The prosecutors also said the Uzbek citizens had been sent from Kyrgyzstan to Romania as refugees under pressure from the West and some international organizations.
http://www.akipress.com/_en_news.php?id=13917
Pennsylvania Candidate Lies Low in Race
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer
August 24, 2005, 10:57 PM EDT
ASPINWALL, Pa. -- Determined to take down conservative Sen. Rick Santorum, Democrats recruited a candidate who resembles him in many ways.
Like Santorum, Bob Casey Jr. is Roman Catholic, fortysomething and opposed to abortion.
But Casey is nowhere near as outspoken as Santorum, and that appears to be helping him the most in a race that is sure to be one of the most expensive and hard-fought elections in 2006.
Casey has produced better early poll numbers by largely remaining out of the spotlight this summer, leaving Santorum to do the talking -- and writing.
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-pennsylvania-senate,0,239674.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines
The Gas-Guzzler Relief Act
Jonathan Fahey, 08.24.05, 7:56 AM ET
NEW YORK - The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's elaborate proposal to update the 30-year-old regulations that govern the fuel economy of U.S. pickups, minivans and SUVs released yesterday may or may not end up make the United States less thirsty for oil. But it was clearly designed to help out the automakers most thirsty for profits, the struggling General Motors and Ford Motor.
http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/08/24/autos-fuel-cafe-cz_jf_0824fuel.html
Hatfield are Bush-wacked
24 August 2005
Herts Senior County League
Bushey Rangers 4 Hatfield Town 1
HATFIELD'S league campaign got off to an abysmal start with a 4-1 hammering at the hands of Bushey Rangers.
Saturday's dismal performance at the Moatfield has left them second from bottom in the Herts Senior County Premier League.
It's very early days but Hatfield will have to bounce straight back if they don't want to find themselves in a losing rut.
http://www.herts24.co.uk/content/whtimes/sport/story.aspx?brand=WHTOnline&category=sportfootball&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=sportwhtnew&itemid=WEED24%20Aug%202005%2010%3A42%3A37%3A053
Ex-Halliburton worker pleads guilty to bribes
Mon Aug 22, 4:24 PM ET
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A former Halliburton Co. worker pleaded guilty late last week to taking more than $110,000 in bribes from an Iraqi company in 2004 and defrauding the United States, court documents showed.
The man, Glenn Allen Powell, is facing up to 20 years in prison plus a $1.25 million fine for the crimes, which he committed while working for Halliburton's KBR engineering and construction unit, the U.S. government's largest private contractor in
Iraq.
According to his plea agreement filed on Friday in U.S. District Court in Rock Island, Illinois, Powell admitted to taking a kickback from the company, which was not named, in exchange for securing a $609,000 contract for it to renovate a warehouse in Iraq.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050822/pl_nm/energy_halliburton_dc
Teams seeking LANL job set for interviews
By ANDY LENDERMAN The New Mexican
August 24, 2005
Both teams seeking to take over management of Los Alamos National Laboratory are scheduled to meet next week with government officials for a series of interviews .
Rod Geer, a spokesman for the team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. and the University of Texas system, said his team is preparing to answer questions by the National Nuclear Security Administration's Source Evaluation Board.
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/31656.html
Backing for Jeb Bush Stable in Florida
CREDIT: Flag courtesy of ITA’s Flags of All Countries used
(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Many adults in Florida are satisfied with Jeb Bush, according to a poll by Strategic Vision. 55 per cent of respondents in the Sunshine State approve of the governor’s performance.
Bush—a Republican—was first elected in November 1998. In 2002, he defeated Democrat Bill McBride with 56 per cent of the vote. Bush cannot seek a third consecutive term in office.
The number of Floridians who think their governor should launch a bid for the White House decreased for the second consecutive month. 33 per cent of respondents say they would like to see Jeb Bush run for president, down seven points since June.
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/8664
BUSH REGIME ROTTEN TO THE CORE
By Bill Gallagher
DETROIT -- A storm of anti-war protests and sentiment is sweeping across the nation. Finally, reality and truth are trumping President George W. Bush's lies. Even the perpetual propaganda machine of the corporate media can no longer manufacture consent for Bush's monstrously bad policies and decisions.
A storm of anti-war protests and sentiment is sweeping While most Americans work and struggle with lower wages, a sputtering economy and rising gas prices, Bush still basks in the Texas sun in his long summer of content. He prefers isolation and deliberate disconnection from
the grim evidence of his wholesale failures.
Cindy Sheehan has left the vigil outside Bush's ranch to care for her ailing mother. But others are in her place, reminding the world that Bush will never admit his responsibility for the war in Iraq, its failure and the death of Sheehan's son Casey and more than 1,800 other Americans.
The Busheviks consider Sheehan's witness to the tragedy of the senseless war as an irritant, a PR problem that will fade in time. They've used the usual suspects of right-wing indecency -- Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity -- to do their dirty work. Those who question the war must be silenced at best, or at least discredited and vilified.
http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/gallagher227.html
Rove behavior: Could it be Bush's Watergate?
Thomas Pauken. Smirking Chimp
August 22, 2005
KARL Rove's favorite president is Richard Nixon. What a twist of fate it would be if Rove were driven from power as Nixon was over what both men would consider trivial matters — the leaking of a CIA employee's name to reporters by Rove in 2004, and the Watergate break-in of the Democratic headquarters at the instigation of Nixon campaign officials in 1972.
Just as it was not the Watergate break-in per se (but the subsequent cover-up) that brought Nixon down, so it may be that what Rove said and did after the fact will prove his undoing.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m14962&l=i&size=1&hd=0
White House Week
You Know, You Can't Keep A Good Boy Genius Down
The recent controversy swirling around Karl Rove hasn't slowed him a bit. That's according to White House insiders who say Bush's political boy genius is as engaged as ever in high-level decision making despite all the attacks by angry Democrats alleging he improperly--and possibly illegally--outed a covert CIA operative. Rove was a key player behind the recently passed transportation and energy bills, and now he's planning Bush's fall agenda, which will include a renewed push for Social Security overhaul, changes in immigration law, and tax restructuring. Says a White House insider who talks to Rove regularly, "He is as instrumental as he ever was."
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050829/29whitehouse.htm
Plame in the Courtroom
Rumors and leaks continue to swirl around the case of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame and the various journalists and Bush "senior administration officials" believed to be involved in some fashion in her outing. Whole forests have undoubtedly been pulped for the endless flood of summer stories about the Plame case and yet something has been missing. The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, the law against outing a CIA operative under which Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald was, in essence, called into existence, is rarely discussed in any serious way -- and then at best only in a passing paragraph or two deep in any story. And yet a media/punditry consensus has formed that it is a law so specifically, even quirkily, written as to be almost impossible to use in a prosecution (hopeless, in fact, against a figure like Karl Rove or Vice President Cheney's right-hand man I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby); and that Special Counsel Fitzgerald has already turned away from the law, moving on to more conceivable avenues of prosecution -- like obstruction of justice.
http://www.nowpublic.com/node/16782
What Now, Karl?
Rove and Ashcroft face new allegations in the Valerie Plame affair
by Murray Waas
August 13th, 2005 2:39 PM
Rove consulted on three of Ashcroft’s political campaigns, earning $746,000.
photo: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
Murray Waas will be writing more about the latest in the Plame affair at www.whateveralready.blogspot.com.
Justice Department officials made the crucial decision in late 2003 to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the leak of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame in large part because investigators had begun to specifically question the veracity of accounts provided to them by White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to senior law enforcement officials.
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/index.php?issue=0533&page=waasweb1&id=66861&cid=2
continued ...
China's CNPC H1 oil exploration discoveries at 300 mln tons - report
08.23.2005, 11:13 PM
BEIJING (AFX) - China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the parent company of Hong Kong-listed PetroChina, discovered oil reserves of 300 mln tons and gas reserves of at least 150 bln cubic meters in the first half of this year, the China Daily reported, citing a company official.
The official, who did not want to be identified, added that CNPC plans to invest some 153.5 bln yuan this year in domestic oil and gas exploitation.
He said discoveries included 200 mln tons of oil in the Jidong field of Bohai Bay Basin and 100 mln cu m of natural gas in the Songliao Basin in northeast China.
CNPC also expects oil reserves in Zhoufeng in the Ordos Basin in northwestern China to jump by some 100 mln tons by the end of this year, the official said.
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2005/08/23/afx2189877.html
Venezuela's Chavez Squeezes Oil Companies With Taxes
Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- On July 14 in the western city of Maracaibo, Venezuelan government tax auditors and a prosecutor went to the offices of Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company.
They seized boxes of records to build a case that San Ramon, California-based Chevron and 21 other energy companies owe Venezuela $3 billion in back taxes. The raid is part of President Hugo Chavez's push to squeeze more money out of foreign companies that want to pump oil from the world's fifth-largest petroleum exporter.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=nifea&&sid=a3z63_HrIvtc
Ecuador oil protesters see Wednesday settlement
24 Aug 2005 04:34:13 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Updates with deal expected on Wednesday)
By Hugh Bronstein
QUITO, Ecuador, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Ecuador oil protesters, whose attacks choked off petroleum exports from the country, said they expect to sign a deal with private energy companies on Wednesday, bringing the crisis to an end.
The activists crippled Ecuador's oil industry last week and helped jack up global petroleum prices by dynamiting pipelines and vandalizing pumping equipment at installations of state oil firm Petroecuador in the eastern part of the country.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23560705.htm
Oil prices above 66 usd in Asian trading ahead of US petroleum stocks report
08.24.2005, 12:33 AM
SINGAPORE (AFX) - Oil prices surged above 66 usd a barrel in Asian trade as the market awaited the weekly petroleum inventory report from the US.
At 10.40 am (0240 GMT), New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, was trading at 66.18 usd a barrel, up 47 cents from its close of 65.71 usd in the US overnight.
The US Department of Energy is expected to release the weekly inventory report later today amid expectations it would show a rise in crude stocks.
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2005/08/23/afx2189900.html
'Oil derivatives export fetches $2.4 bln for Iran'
Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, August 24 (IranMania) - Iran earned an estimated $2 bln and 400 mln in the five months from March 21 by exporting 8 mln and 2 thousand tons of oil derivatives, said a senior official.
Deputy Head of the International Affairs Department at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Hojatollah Ghanimifard told IRNA that the increase in revenue was due to higher crude prices on the international markets in the said period.
Ghanimifard said diesel, kerosene, kiln oil, naphtha and gas condensates were among the items exported in the period under study. He added that during this period, kiln oil followed by gas condensates were the two top exported items in this category, while kerosene was at the bottom of the list.
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=34699&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
PetroChina, China's biggest state-owned oil firm, says first-half profit up 36%
Canadian Press
August 24, 2005
HONG KONG (AP) - PetroChina Co., China's biggest state-owned oil firm, said Wednesday its first-half net profit rose 36 per cent, spurred by higher oil prices.
The Chinese company - whose parent firm recently reached an agreement to buy a major Canadian oil producer in Kazakhstan - said net profit for the six months that ended June 30 totalled 61.6 billion yuan ($7.6 billion US), up from 45.28 billion yuan ($5.58 billion US) in the same period last year.
First-half revenue rose to 252.5 billion yuan from 178.4 billion yuan in the first six months of 2004, the firm said.
http://www.canada.com/businesscentre/story.html?id=edf38bc3-7f2b-496e-b912-710e8976765b
Crude Oil Reaches $68 as Storm Threatens Gulf of Mexico Output
Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to a record $68 a barrel in New York on concern that a storm may disrupt output in the Gulf of Mexico, where 30 percent of U.S. oil is produced.
Tropical Storm Katrina is forecast to reach hurricane strength before crossing Florida on Aug. 26 and moving into the U.S. Gulf, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. Last year prices jumped at least $10 a barrel, or 22 percent, in the month after Ivan, a category-4 hurricane, swept through the area, cutting production and damaging rigs.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=a7.dQRqYS6Ws&refer=home
Ecuador oil protesters threaten hunger strike
Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:55 AM BST
By Hugh Bronstein
QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - Protesters whose attacks have choked off Ecuadorean oil exports threatened on Wednesday to launch a hunger strike to pressure the government to grant them immunity, marking a setback in settlement talks.
The activists, who want private energy companies to invest more in the poor Amazon communities where they operate, crippled Ecuador's oil industry last week and helped push up global petroleum prices by dynamiting pipelines and vandalising pumping equipment belonging to the state oil firm Petroecuador.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-25T005524Z_01_ROB503266_RTRUKOC_0_UK-ECUADOR.xml
Oil: Prices hit record on storm, petrol supply
25.08.05 8.40am
NEW YORK - Oil prices surged more than 2 per cent to break a record on Wednesday after an unexpected drop in US petrol stocks added to worries that a gathering Caribbean storm could damage US oil production platforms.
News Iran's parliament had thrown out the new president's choice for oil minister added to the market's uncertainty and drew a big question mark over oil policy in Opec's second-biggest producer.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10342392
U.S. Stocks Fall on Record Oil; S&P 500 Erases 2005 Advance
Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks dropped to six-week lows, erasing the Standard & Poor's 500 Index's gain for the year, as crude-oil prices rose above $67 a barrel to a record.
Oil's advance wiped out a rally sparked by an unexpected increase in new home sales. Caterpillar Inc. and United Technologies Corp. fell after the government reported the biggest decline in durable-goods orders in 18 months.
``It's not oil at new records by itself any more, it's oil with economic numbers substantiating the impact that oil's having on the economy,'' said John Twomey, head of trading at Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. in an interview in New York. ``That's creating some nervousness'' in the market.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aho0giB.T2ss&refer=news_index
Kyrgyz Finance Ministry to receive 247 thousand US dollars from Islamic Development Bank as a grant
- Islamic Development Bank approved allocation of 247 thousand US dollars as the annual technical help (grant) to Kyrgyz Finance Ministry for the strengthening of potential, the press-service of Kyrgyz Finance Ministry reported.
Project of the strengthening of potential of Kyrgyz Finance Ministry is directed on strengthening of management and coordination of activity concerning the future and current investments to Kyrgyz economy.
http://www.akipress.com/_en_news.php?id=13913
Uzbek prosecutors say Uzbek refugees in Romania include terrorists
- Terrorists are among the Uzbek refugees a UN body sent to Romania from Kyrgyzstan in late July after bloodshed in their homeland, the Prosecutor General's Office of Uzbekistan said Thursday.
According to prosecutors, some of the 439 refugees the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sent from the neighboring Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan to Europe were involved in the May 13 uprising in the border city Andijan, which officially claimed 176 lives.
Prosecutors said they were suspected terrorists and criminals who were thought to have attacked police and security offices, a military unit and a prison in Andijan, freed the inmates and seized the building of the regional administration in the disturbances.
The statement cited the Uzbek police as saying that although the majority of weapons and ammunition used in the disturbances had been recovered, 26 automatic rifles, 50 pistols, three machineguns, 106 grenades, 47 knives-bayonets and thousands of cartridges were still missing.
"There is no guarantee that these 'peaceful refugees,' who are so passionately defended by some Western countries and international organizations, will not commit new terrorist attacks not only in Central Asia but in other parts of the world, now that they have such a large arsenal, which would be enough to organize several 'peaceful protests' like the one in Andijan," the statement said.
The prosecutors also said the Uzbek citizens had been sent from Kyrgyzstan to Romania as refugees under pressure from the West and some international organizations.
http://www.akipress.com/_en_news.php?id=13917
Pennsylvania Candidate Lies Low in Race
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer
August 24, 2005, 10:57 PM EDT
ASPINWALL, Pa. -- Determined to take down conservative Sen. Rick Santorum, Democrats recruited a candidate who resembles him in many ways.
Like Santorum, Bob Casey Jr. is Roman Catholic, fortysomething and opposed to abortion.
But Casey is nowhere near as outspoken as Santorum, and that appears to be helping him the most in a race that is sure to be one of the most expensive and hard-fought elections in 2006.
Casey has produced better early poll numbers by largely remaining out of the spotlight this summer, leaving Santorum to do the talking -- and writing.
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-pennsylvania-senate,0,239674.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines
The Gas-Guzzler Relief Act
Jonathan Fahey, 08.24.05, 7:56 AM ET
NEW YORK - The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's elaborate proposal to update the 30-year-old regulations that govern the fuel economy of U.S. pickups, minivans and SUVs released yesterday may or may not end up make the United States less thirsty for oil. But it was clearly designed to help out the automakers most thirsty for profits, the struggling General Motors and Ford Motor.
http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/08/24/autos-fuel-cafe-cz_jf_0824fuel.html
Hatfield are Bush-wacked
24 August 2005
Herts Senior County League
Bushey Rangers 4 Hatfield Town 1
HATFIELD'S league campaign got off to an abysmal start with a 4-1 hammering at the hands of Bushey Rangers.
Saturday's dismal performance at the Moatfield has left them second from bottom in the Herts Senior County Premier League.
It's very early days but Hatfield will have to bounce straight back if they don't want to find themselves in a losing rut.
http://www.herts24.co.uk/content/whtimes/sport/story.aspx?brand=WHTOnline&category=sportfootball&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=sportwhtnew&itemid=WEED24%20Aug%202005%2010%3A42%3A37%3A053
Ex-Halliburton worker pleads guilty to bribes
Mon Aug 22, 4:24 PM ET
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A former Halliburton Co. worker pleaded guilty late last week to taking more than $110,000 in bribes from an Iraqi company in 2004 and defrauding the United States, court documents showed.
The man, Glenn Allen Powell, is facing up to 20 years in prison plus a $1.25 million fine for the crimes, which he committed while working for Halliburton's KBR engineering and construction unit, the U.S. government's largest private contractor in
Iraq.
According to his plea agreement filed on Friday in U.S. District Court in Rock Island, Illinois, Powell admitted to taking a kickback from the company, which was not named, in exchange for securing a $609,000 contract for it to renovate a warehouse in Iraq.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050822/pl_nm/energy_halliburton_dc
Teams seeking LANL job set for interviews
By ANDY LENDERMAN The New Mexican
August 24, 2005
Both teams seeking to take over management of Los Alamos National Laboratory are scheduled to meet next week with government officials for a series of interviews .
Rod Geer, a spokesman for the team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. and the University of Texas system, said his team is preparing to answer questions by the National Nuclear Security Administration's Source Evaluation Board.
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/31656.html
Backing for Jeb Bush Stable in Florida
CREDIT: Flag courtesy of ITA’s Flags of All Countries used
(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Many adults in Florida are satisfied with Jeb Bush, according to a poll by Strategic Vision. 55 per cent of respondents in the Sunshine State approve of the governor’s performance.
Bush—a Republican—was first elected in November 1998. In 2002, he defeated Democrat Bill McBride with 56 per cent of the vote. Bush cannot seek a third consecutive term in office.
The number of Floridians who think their governor should launch a bid for the White House decreased for the second consecutive month. 33 per cent of respondents say they would like to see Jeb Bush run for president, down seven points since June.
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/8664
BUSH REGIME ROTTEN TO THE CORE
By Bill Gallagher
DETROIT -- A storm of anti-war protests and sentiment is sweeping across the nation. Finally, reality and truth are trumping President George W. Bush's lies. Even the perpetual propaganda machine of the corporate media can no longer manufacture consent for Bush's monstrously bad policies and decisions.
A storm of anti-war protests and sentiment is sweeping While most Americans work and struggle with lower wages, a sputtering economy and rising gas prices, Bush still basks in the Texas sun in his long summer of content. He prefers isolation and deliberate disconnection from
the grim evidence of his wholesale failures.
Cindy Sheehan has left the vigil outside Bush's ranch to care for her ailing mother. But others are in her place, reminding the world that Bush will never admit his responsibility for the war in Iraq, its failure and the death of Sheehan's son Casey and more than 1,800 other Americans.
The Busheviks consider Sheehan's witness to the tragedy of the senseless war as an irritant, a PR problem that will fade in time. They've used the usual suspects of right-wing indecency -- Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity -- to do their dirty work. Those who question the war must be silenced at best, or at least discredited and vilified.
http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/gallagher227.html
Rove behavior: Could it be Bush's Watergate?
Thomas Pauken. Smirking Chimp
August 22, 2005
KARL Rove's favorite president is Richard Nixon. What a twist of fate it would be if Rove were driven from power as Nixon was over what both men would consider trivial matters — the leaking of a CIA employee's name to reporters by Rove in 2004, and the Watergate break-in of the Democratic headquarters at the instigation of Nixon campaign officials in 1972.
Just as it was not the Watergate break-in per se (but the subsequent cover-up) that brought Nixon down, so it may be that what Rove said and did after the fact will prove his undoing.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m14962&l=i&size=1&hd=0
White House Week
You Know, You Can't Keep A Good Boy Genius Down
The recent controversy swirling around Karl Rove hasn't slowed him a bit. That's according to White House insiders who say Bush's political boy genius is as engaged as ever in high-level decision making despite all the attacks by angry Democrats alleging he improperly--and possibly illegally--outed a covert CIA operative. Rove was a key player behind the recently passed transportation and energy bills, and now he's planning Bush's fall agenda, which will include a renewed push for Social Security overhaul, changes in immigration law, and tax restructuring. Says a White House insider who talks to Rove regularly, "He is as instrumental as he ever was."
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050829/29whitehouse.htm
Plame in the Courtroom
Rumors and leaks continue to swirl around the case of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame and the various journalists and Bush "senior administration officials" believed to be involved in some fashion in her outing. Whole forests have undoubtedly been pulped for the endless flood of summer stories about the Plame case and yet something has been missing. The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, the law against outing a CIA operative under which Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald was, in essence, called into existence, is rarely discussed in any serious way -- and then at best only in a passing paragraph or two deep in any story. And yet a media/punditry consensus has formed that it is a law so specifically, even quirkily, written as to be almost impossible to use in a prosecution (hopeless, in fact, against a figure like Karl Rove or Vice President Cheney's right-hand man I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby); and that Special Counsel Fitzgerald has already turned away from the law, moving on to more conceivable avenues of prosecution -- like obstruction of justice.
http://www.nowpublic.com/node/16782
What Now, Karl?
Rove and Ashcroft face new allegations in the Valerie Plame affair
by Murray Waas
August 13th, 2005 2:39 PM
Rove consulted on three of Ashcroft’s political campaigns, earning $746,000.
photo: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
Murray Waas will be writing more about the latest in the Plame affair at www.whateveralready.blogspot.com.
Justice Department officials made the crucial decision in late 2003 to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the leak of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame in large part because investigators had begun to specifically question the veracity of accounts provided to them by White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to senior law enforcement officials.
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/index.php?issue=0533&page=waasweb1&id=66861&cid=2
continued ...
Morning Papers - continued ... more news from the little people ...
The Moscow Times
Beslan Mothers Camp in Court
By Francesca Mereu and Yana Voitova
Special to The Moscow Times
Susanna Dudiyeva, center, speaking outside the North Ossetian Supreme Court after the protest ended Wednesday.
VLADIKAVKAZ -- Beslan mothers staged a 24-hour protest inside the North Ossetian Supreme Court to demand that senior officials be prosecuted over the school hostage-taking in September.
The 15 women, who spent the night in the courtroom where the only surviving Beslan suspect is on trial, left on Wednesday afternoon even though their request to meet with Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel, who is handling the case, was not fulfilled.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/001.html
Jet Bombers Remain at Large a Year On
By Nabi Abdullaev
Staff Writer
A view of the wreckage of a Tu-154 passenger jet scattered across a field in the Rostov region on Aug. 25, 2004.
A year after Chechen terrorists brought down two passenger jets, killing all 90 people on board, investigators have yet to identify the suicide bombers or capture those who masterminded the attacks.
Relatives attended memorial services Wednesday at the sites where the planes crashed in the Tula and Rostov regions as well as at a Volgograd cemetery where eight people are buried.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/012.html
Leader Says 2nd Beslan Prevented
The Associated Press
Karachayevo-Cherkessia President Mustafa Batdiyev said Wednesday that local authorities had prevented a terror attack against a school.
"Somewhat less than a month ago, a terrorist act similar to the one in Beslan was averted," Batdiyev said on NTV television. "It was in Karachayevsk that a school seizure was prepared."
News agencies, however, citing officials in Batdiyev's administration, reported that the attack had been planned for Cherkessk, the republic's capital, and that it had been foiled four months ago.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/017.html
Uzbek refugees in Romania include terrorists - Uzbek prosecutors
RIA NOVOSTI. August 25, 2005, 12:44 PM
TASHKENT, August 25 (RIA Novosti) - Terrorists are among the Uzbek refugees a UN body sent to Romania in late July after bloodshed in their homeland, the Prosecutor General's Office of Uzbekistan said Thursday.
According to prosecutors, some of the 439 refugees the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sent from the neighboring Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan to Europe were involved in the May 13 uprising in the border city Andijan, which officially claimed 176 lives.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/doc/HotNews.html
Chavez Responds to U.S. Preacher's Call for Death
By Christopher Toothaker
The Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela condemned American religious broadcaster Pat Robertson for suggesting President Hugo Chavez should be killed, saying he committed a crime that is punishable in the United States.
Officials in Washington distanced themselves from Robertson, saying his statements did not reflect the position of the U.S. government.
On Monday, Robertson said on the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club": "We have the ability to take him [Chavez] out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability."
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/252.html
Russia Rolls Out Best Wheels at Motor Show
By Conor Humphries
Staff Writer
Russia's largest carmaker, AvtoVAZ, is planning to go into full production with its Lada Priora model next year.
The ninth Moscow International Motor Show opened on Wednesday, with Russia's ailing auto industry putting on a brave face as foreign competitors make new inroads into the domestic market.
With no new models from Lada, the season's biggest Russian launch is UAZ's off-road Patriot. In a sign of the times, automakers Severstal-Avto and Izh-Avto are wheeling out South Korean cars made under license -- SsangYong's all-terrain Rexton and KIA's Spectra sedan, respectively.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/002.html
Arms, TNT Found in a Dead Convict's Flat
By Carl Schreck
Staff Writer
The cache was discovered in an apartment at 43 Ulitsa Pererva, police said.
A large cache of weapons and explosives was found late Tuesday in a Moscow apartment registered to a dead convict, police and prosecutors said Wednesday. Investigators said they were exploring a possible connection to the Dubrovka theater siege almost three years ago.
City police officers, together with officers from the Federal Security Service, discovered about 65 kilograms of TNT in an apartment at 43 Ulitsa Pererva, in southeast Moscow near the Bratislavskaya metro station, after searching the apartment shortly after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, police spokeswoman Lidia Lagutkina said Wednesday.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/010.html
Resurrecting Regional Rotation
By Nikolai Petrov
To Our Readers
Has something you've read here startled you? Are you angry, excited, puzzled or pleased? Do you have ideas to improve our coverage?
Then please write to us.
All we ask is that you include your full name, the name of the city from which you are writing and a contact telephone number in case we need to get in touch.
As President Vladimir Putin continued his swing through Siberia in Barnaul and Irkutsk last week, he offered an assessment of the new mechanism for appointing governors. On the whole, the mechanism was working effectively, the president said, noting that procedural delays had been caused by problems in the way the presidential administration had selected candidates in the regions. In the future, the goal would be to ensure that regional leaders were closely tied to Russia's national interests, Putin said.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/23/006.html
U.S. Diplomat Held by Belarussian Police
By Yuras Karmanau
The Associated Press
MINSK -- Belarussian police detained a U.S. diplomat, the U.S. Embassy confirmed Wednesday, and activists said the authorities' intention was to prevent him from meeting them.
A youth group leader said authorities also detained two pro-democracy activists from Georgia, one of three former Soviet republics where former opposition figures have come to power in the last two years.
The detentions occurred amid fears in the Belarussian government that the opposition may foment political change.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/014.html
Iraqi Draft Constitution Opposed by Sunni Arabs
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's new constitution must be for all the people of Iraq, not for a single community, and aspirations of Sunni Arabs should be met, President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday. Speaking after a meeting with parliament Speaker Hajim al-Hassani, Talabani said that stability could not be achieved without consensus among Iraq's Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.
Sunni members of the drafting committee opposed several parts of the document, which was handed to parliament Monday, forcing a delay in the parliament's vote. Their objections include federalism, references to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and the description of Iraq as an Islamic -- but not Arab -- country.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/254.html
Reaction Like a Kick to the Yukos Head
By Yulia Latynina
Former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky wrote an article in Vedomosti, "Left Turn," in which he basically called for the Communists and liberals to unite and overthrow the Putin regime. Soon afterward, prison officials transferred him to a new cell with more cellmates where writing would be a whole lot harder.
To Our Readers
Has something you've read here startled you? Are you angry, excited, puzzled or pleased? Do you have ideas to improve our coverage?
Then please write to us.
All we ask is that you include your full name, the name of the city from which you are writing and a contact telephone number in case we need to get in touch.
We look forward to hearing from you. Then, Khodorkovsky announced that he might consider running for the State Duma seat in Moscow's Universitetsky single-mandate district, and the authorities threw former Yukos billionaire Platon Lebedev into solitary confinement.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/24/007.html
Expatica
Schroeder to make election
stop in Bavarian flood area
24 August 2005
MUNICH, GERMANY - In an apparent replay of his 2002 election campaign, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder plans to visit parts of Bavaria devastated by surging floodwaters this week, the government said Tuesday.
Schroeder will make a campaign stop at the Bavarian town of Augsburg Thursday to "get first hand information about the current (flood) situation," a government spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23059&name=Schroeder+to+make+election%3CBR%3Estop+in+Bavarian+flood+area
Schroeder 'nominated for Nobel peace prize'
23 August 2005
OSLO - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has been nominated for the Nobel peace prize, well-informed sources said Tuesday when contacted by Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Nobel literature laureate Guenter Grass of Germany, who won the 1999 literature prize, said Monday that he considered Schroeder a candidate for the peace prize over his opposition to allowing Germany to participate in the U.S. led attack on Iraq.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23030&name=Schroeder+%27nominated+for+Nobel+peace+prize%27
EU trio cancel planned nuclear meeting with Iran
24 August 2005
PARIS - The three countries representing the European Union have cancelled the next scheduled meeting with Iran on its nuclear programme because of Tehran's decision to resume nuclear conversion, French media reported Wednesday.
The decision by France, Germany and Britain to cancel the August 31 meeting was announced late Tuesday by a spokesman for the French foreign ministry, who said Iran's action was in breach of a 2004 agreement in which it agreed to suspend the production of nuclear fuel while negotiating on a permanent agreement.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23062&name=EU+trio+cancel+planned+nuclear+meeting+with+Iran
Renewed anti-EU demonstrations in Tehran
23 August 2005
TEHRAN - Hundreds of protesters - mainly students - staged demonstrations in Tehran Tuesday against the European Union's anti- Iran resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The students, mainly members of Islamic associations in the universities, gathered in front of the embassies of the E.U. trio involved in nuclear talks with Iran, shouting "death to the regimes of England, France and Germany".
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23026&name=Renewed+anti%2DEU+demonstrations+in+Tehran
Piano Man's family, friends never recognised him
24 August 2005
HAMBURG - The mysterious Piano Man is back home in his quiet farm village in southern Germany, where his stunned family and friends insist they never for a second suspected he was the tall blond man whose picture was emblazoned in newspapers and on TV.
Reporters and TV crews from around the world have descended on the little Bavarian hamlet of Prosdorf, where the 21-year-old former Catholic altar boy has sought refuge with his family after being discharged from a mental hospital in Britain last Friday.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23067&name=Piano+Man%27s+family%2C+friends+never+recognised+him
The USA is closing bases at home though.
US air base in Germany to be expanded: politician
24 August 2005
BERLIN - The United States plans to expand its air force base at Ramstein in Germany and make it the headquarters for the U.S. Air Force stationed in Europe, a member of the German parliament said Wednesday.
Elke Leonhard, a parliamentary member from Rhineland-Palatinate state where the huge base is located, said the U.S. Defence Department had made a decision in favour of Ramstein and against other U.S. bases in Britain and Italy.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23061&name=US+air+base+in+Germany+to+be+expanded%3A+politician
Convicted 9/11 terrorist Motassadeq to appeal
23 August 2005
HAMBURG - Lawyers for the only man ever convicted in connection with the September 11 attacks Tuesday said they have filed an appeal of last week's re-trial guilty verdict.
Defence lawyers for Moroccan-born Mounir al-Motassadeq told Deutsche Presse-Agentur they had filed an appeal because the verdict had been based on purely circumstantial evidence linking the Moroccan-born defendant to the 9/11 attacks.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23027&name=Convicted+9%2F11+terrorist+Motassadeq+to+appeal
A Catholic renaissance?
One million faithful came to the papal mass marking the end of World Youth Day in Cologne - the largest religious service in German history. We ask if Catholicism in Germany is on the brink of a renaissance.
Is Catholicism in Germany on the brink of a renaissance? The images of World Youth Day in Cologne were powerful indeed.
Hundreds of thousands of young people from around the globe cheered Pope Benedict XVI. They prayed fervently, went to confession in droves, and studied catechisms of their faith. Rosaries were passed around.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=22972&name=A+Catholic+renaissance%3F
German scientists discover new cancer diagnosis
22 August 2005
HEIDELBERG, GERMANY - A team of researchers at Heidelberg University in Germany have come up with a way of detecting certain calcium-binding proteins that are associated with prostate cancer.
The scientists at Heidelberg's DKFZ Cancer Research Centre say the new test allows physicians to spot prostate cancer far earlier than the conventional PSA antigen test.
The PSA test spots all tumours, including benign ones, leading to unnecessary surgery. The new method allows doctors to identify malignant growths.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=22985&name=German+scientists+discover+new+cancer+diagnosis
Very far away
Germany is off the radar screen for most US leaders, and needs to regain 'relevance' if it wants its voice heard in Washington, according to Gary Smith, executive director of the American Academy in Berlin. Leon Mangasarian talks to the man often dubbed America's secret ambassador to Germany.
Even as Germany gears up for national elections, it remains off the radar screen for most US leaders and must regain "relevance" if it wants to be heard in Washington, according to the head of Berlin's American Academy.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=22399&name=Very+far+away%3C%2FA%3E%3CBR%3EAmerican+Academy+executive+director+Gary+Smith+on+how+Washington+sees+Germany%3CBR%3E
The International Herald Tribune
Radical cleric calls for end to clashes between Shiite groups
BAGHDAD Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on Thursday to an end to armed clashes between his followers and supporters of a rival Shiite group, saying Muslims should not be fighting each other.
''I call upon all the believers to save the blood of the Muslims and to return to their homes,'' said speaking to reporters in his home in the holy Shiite city of Najaf.
The clashes broke out Wednesday when al-Sadr's offices in Najaf were attacked and torched by rival groups.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/25/africa/web.0825iraq.php
Powerful typhoon set to hit Tokyo
TOKYO A powerful typhoon disrupted air traffic and oil shipments in Japan on Thursday as it churned northward over the Pacific Ocean, heading toward the nation's capital.
The storm, with winds up to 144 kilometers per hour (89 mph), was expected to land in the Tokyo area Thursday evening, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.
Local media reported no injuries, but heavy rain and winds halted oil deliveries from refineries in Yokkaichi in Chiba prefecture (state), and grounded 14 flights of Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/25/asia/web.0825typhoon.php
EU backpedals on textile quotas
PARIS In an embarrassing reversal, Peter Mandelson, the European trade commissioner, acknowledged Wednesday that a system of quotas the European Union imposed on Chinese textile imports had a "serious glitch," and he dispatched officials to Beijing to try to renegotiate a deal that has left 75 million Chinese-made sweaters, pants, bras and other garments piled up in European ports.
With his team scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Thursday, retailers warned that European shoppers could face shortages in stores if a new deal was not struck soon. The clothing has been blocked from entering the EU after retailers rushed to order in anticipation of the quotas, causing the limits to be hit quickly.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/24/business/textile.php
Outside America, others look to sue over Vioxx
ROME Outraged patients around the world who suffered heart attacks or strokes while taking the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx are lining up to sue its embattled U.S. manufacturer Merck, exponentially increasing the company's potential liability.
Last Friday, a Texas jury found that Merck was liable in the death of Robert Ernst, saying the drug maker had not released information about the heart risks. The panel awarded his widow $253.4 million.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/24/business/vioxx.php
TOL
by TOL
22 August 2005
Could a new vision for the Black Sea area yield new ideas about how to promote democracy on Russia’s fringes?
So it seems that Europe may soon have a new organization to become used to, an alliance of democracies stretching from the Baltic to the Black and the Caspian seas intent on acting as “a strong tool to free our region from all remaining dividing lines, from violations of human rights, from any spirit of confrontation, from frozen conflicts.” That, at least, is the vision for a "Community for Democratic Choice" put forward by Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko and Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili on 12 August
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=129&NrSection=2&NrArticle=14413
Serial Abuse
by Igor Jovanovic
22 August 2005
A cabinet minister’s outburst shows how fragile the freedom of expression is five years after the demise of the Milosevic regime.
BELGRADE, Serbia and Montenegro Serbia’s ruling coalition has always had a rocky relationship with the media, but a new low point was reached on 15 August, when Capital Investment Minister Velimir Ilic insulted and threatened staff of Belgrade radio and TV station B92.
Ilic’s bad temper has not only resulted in legal action but is also likely to hasten the decline in the government’s already waning popularity.
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=129&NrSection=1&NrArticle=14410
Going Deeper Underground
by Risto Karajkov
17 August 2005
Statistics on trafficking indicate that the number of victims is declining – but is the whole trade just going deeper underground?
A common misconception about the Balkans is that it is a coherent region. From a business perspective, though, the countries of the Balkans are quite different from one another.
The business of human trafficking is no exception.
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=129&NrSection=3&NrArticle=14385
continued ...
Beslan Mothers Camp in Court
By Francesca Mereu and Yana Voitova
Special to The Moscow Times
Susanna Dudiyeva, center, speaking outside the North Ossetian Supreme Court after the protest ended Wednesday.
VLADIKAVKAZ -- Beslan mothers staged a 24-hour protest inside the North Ossetian Supreme Court to demand that senior officials be prosecuted over the school hostage-taking in September.
The 15 women, who spent the night in the courtroom where the only surviving Beslan suspect is on trial, left on Wednesday afternoon even though their request to meet with Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel, who is handling the case, was not fulfilled.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/001.html
Jet Bombers Remain at Large a Year On
By Nabi Abdullaev
Staff Writer
A view of the wreckage of a Tu-154 passenger jet scattered across a field in the Rostov region on Aug. 25, 2004.
A year after Chechen terrorists brought down two passenger jets, killing all 90 people on board, investigators have yet to identify the suicide bombers or capture those who masterminded the attacks.
Relatives attended memorial services Wednesday at the sites where the planes crashed in the Tula and Rostov regions as well as at a Volgograd cemetery where eight people are buried.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/012.html
Leader Says 2nd Beslan Prevented
The Associated Press
Karachayevo-Cherkessia President Mustafa Batdiyev said Wednesday that local authorities had prevented a terror attack against a school.
"Somewhat less than a month ago, a terrorist act similar to the one in Beslan was averted," Batdiyev said on NTV television. "It was in Karachayevsk that a school seizure was prepared."
News agencies, however, citing officials in Batdiyev's administration, reported that the attack had been planned for Cherkessk, the republic's capital, and that it had been foiled four months ago.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/017.html
Uzbek refugees in Romania include terrorists - Uzbek prosecutors
RIA NOVOSTI. August 25, 2005, 12:44 PM
TASHKENT, August 25 (RIA Novosti) - Terrorists are among the Uzbek refugees a UN body sent to Romania in late July after bloodshed in their homeland, the Prosecutor General's Office of Uzbekistan said Thursday.
According to prosecutors, some of the 439 refugees the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sent from the neighboring Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan to Europe were involved in the May 13 uprising in the border city Andijan, which officially claimed 176 lives.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/doc/HotNews.html
Chavez Responds to U.S. Preacher's Call for Death
By Christopher Toothaker
The Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela condemned American religious broadcaster Pat Robertson for suggesting President Hugo Chavez should be killed, saying he committed a crime that is punishable in the United States.
Officials in Washington distanced themselves from Robertson, saying his statements did not reflect the position of the U.S. government.
On Monday, Robertson said on the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club": "We have the ability to take him [Chavez] out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability."
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/252.html
Russia Rolls Out Best Wheels at Motor Show
By Conor Humphries
Staff Writer
Russia's largest carmaker, AvtoVAZ, is planning to go into full production with its Lada Priora model next year.
The ninth Moscow International Motor Show opened on Wednesday, with Russia's ailing auto industry putting on a brave face as foreign competitors make new inroads into the domestic market.
With no new models from Lada, the season's biggest Russian launch is UAZ's off-road Patriot. In a sign of the times, automakers Severstal-Avto and Izh-Avto are wheeling out South Korean cars made under license -- SsangYong's all-terrain Rexton and KIA's Spectra sedan, respectively.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/002.html
Arms, TNT Found in a Dead Convict's Flat
By Carl Schreck
Staff Writer
The cache was discovered in an apartment at 43 Ulitsa Pererva, police said.
A large cache of weapons and explosives was found late Tuesday in a Moscow apartment registered to a dead convict, police and prosecutors said Wednesday. Investigators said they were exploring a possible connection to the Dubrovka theater siege almost three years ago.
City police officers, together with officers from the Federal Security Service, discovered about 65 kilograms of TNT in an apartment at 43 Ulitsa Pererva, in southeast Moscow near the Bratislavskaya metro station, after searching the apartment shortly after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, police spokeswoman Lidia Lagutkina said Wednesday.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/010.html
Resurrecting Regional Rotation
By Nikolai Petrov
To Our Readers
Has something you've read here startled you? Are you angry, excited, puzzled or pleased? Do you have ideas to improve our coverage?
Then please write to us.
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As President Vladimir Putin continued his swing through Siberia in Barnaul and Irkutsk last week, he offered an assessment of the new mechanism for appointing governors. On the whole, the mechanism was working effectively, the president said, noting that procedural delays had been caused by problems in the way the presidential administration had selected candidates in the regions. In the future, the goal would be to ensure that regional leaders were closely tied to Russia's national interests, Putin said.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/23/006.html
U.S. Diplomat Held by Belarussian Police
By Yuras Karmanau
The Associated Press
MINSK -- Belarussian police detained a U.S. diplomat, the U.S. Embassy confirmed Wednesday, and activists said the authorities' intention was to prevent him from meeting them.
A youth group leader said authorities also detained two pro-democracy activists from Georgia, one of three former Soviet republics where former opposition figures have come to power in the last two years.
The detentions occurred amid fears in the Belarussian government that the opposition may foment political change.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/014.html
Iraqi Draft Constitution Opposed by Sunni Arabs
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's new constitution must be for all the people of Iraq, not for a single community, and aspirations of Sunni Arabs should be met, President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday. Speaking after a meeting with parliament Speaker Hajim al-Hassani, Talabani said that stability could not be achieved without consensus among Iraq's Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.
Sunni members of the drafting committee opposed several parts of the document, which was handed to parliament Monday, forcing a delay in the parliament's vote. Their objections include federalism, references to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and the description of Iraq as an Islamic -- but not Arab -- country.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/25/254.html
Reaction Like a Kick to the Yukos Head
By Yulia Latynina
Former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky wrote an article in Vedomosti, "Left Turn," in which he basically called for the Communists and liberals to unite and overthrow the Putin regime. Soon afterward, prison officials transferred him to a new cell with more cellmates where writing would be a whole lot harder.
To Our Readers
Has something you've read here startled you? Are you angry, excited, puzzled or pleased? Do you have ideas to improve our coverage?
Then please write to us.
All we ask is that you include your full name, the name of the city from which you are writing and a contact telephone number in case we need to get in touch.
We look forward to hearing from you. Then, Khodorkovsky announced that he might consider running for the State Duma seat in Moscow's Universitetsky single-mandate district, and the authorities threw former Yukos billionaire Platon Lebedev into solitary confinement.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/24/007.html
Expatica
Schroeder to make election
stop in Bavarian flood area
24 August 2005
MUNICH, GERMANY - In an apparent replay of his 2002 election campaign, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder plans to visit parts of Bavaria devastated by surging floodwaters this week, the government said Tuesday.
Schroeder will make a campaign stop at the Bavarian town of Augsburg Thursday to "get first hand information about the current (flood) situation," a government spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23059&name=Schroeder+to+make+election%3CBR%3Estop+in+Bavarian+flood+area
Schroeder 'nominated for Nobel peace prize'
23 August 2005
OSLO - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has been nominated for the Nobel peace prize, well-informed sources said Tuesday when contacted by Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Nobel literature laureate Guenter Grass of Germany, who won the 1999 literature prize, said Monday that he considered Schroeder a candidate for the peace prize over his opposition to allowing Germany to participate in the U.S. led attack on Iraq.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23030&name=Schroeder+%27nominated+for+Nobel+peace+prize%27
EU trio cancel planned nuclear meeting with Iran
24 August 2005
PARIS - The three countries representing the European Union have cancelled the next scheduled meeting with Iran on its nuclear programme because of Tehran's decision to resume nuclear conversion, French media reported Wednesday.
The decision by France, Germany and Britain to cancel the August 31 meeting was announced late Tuesday by a spokesman for the French foreign ministry, who said Iran's action was in breach of a 2004 agreement in which it agreed to suspend the production of nuclear fuel while negotiating on a permanent agreement.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23062&name=EU+trio+cancel+planned+nuclear+meeting+with+Iran
Renewed anti-EU demonstrations in Tehran
23 August 2005
TEHRAN - Hundreds of protesters - mainly students - staged demonstrations in Tehran Tuesday against the European Union's anti- Iran resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The students, mainly members of Islamic associations in the universities, gathered in front of the embassies of the E.U. trio involved in nuclear talks with Iran, shouting "death to the regimes of England, France and Germany".
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23026&name=Renewed+anti%2DEU+demonstrations+in+Tehran
Piano Man's family, friends never recognised him
24 August 2005
HAMBURG - The mysterious Piano Man is back home in his quiet farm village in southern Germany, where his stunned family and friends insist they never for a second suspected he was the tall blond man whose picture was emblazoned in newspapers and on TV.
Reporters and TV crews from around the world have descended on the little Bavarian hamlet of Prosdorf, where the 21-year-old former Catholic altar boy has sought refuge with his family after being discharged from a mental hospital in Britain last Friday.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23067&name=Piano+Man%27s+family%2C+friends+never+recognised+him
The USA is closing bases at home though.
US air base in Germany to be expanded: politician
24 August 2005
BERLIN - The United States plans to expand its air force base at Ramstein in Germany and make it the headquarters for the U.S. Air Force stationed in Europe, a member of the German parliament said Wednesday.
Elke Leonhard, a parliamentary member from Rhineland-Palatinate state where the huge base is located, said the U.S. Defence Department had made a decision in favour of Ramstein and against other U.S. bases in Britain and Italy.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23061&name=US+air+base+in+Germany+to+be+expanded%3A+politician
Convicted 9/11 terrorist Motassadeq to appeal
23 August 2005
HAMBURG - Lawyers for the only man ever convicted in connection with the September 11 attacks Tuesday said they have filed an appeal of last week's re-trial guilty verdict.
Defence lawyers for Moroccan-born Mounir al-Motassadeq told Deutsche Presse-Agentur they had filed an appeal because the verdict had been based on purely circumstantial evidence linking the Moroccan-born defendant to the 9/11 attacks.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=23027&name=Convicted+9%2F11+terrorist+Motassadeq+to+appeal
A Catholic renaissance?
One million faithful came to the papal mass marking the end of World Youth Day in Cologne - the largest religious service in German history. We ask if Catholicism in Germany is on the brink of a renaissance.
Is Catholicism in Germany on the brink of a renaissance? The images of World Youth Day in Cologne were powerful indeed.
Hundreds of thousands of young people from around the globe cheered Pope Benedict XVI. They prayed fervently, went to confession in droves, and studied catechisms of their faith. Rosaries were passed around.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=22972&name=A+Catholic+renaissance%3F
German scientists discover new cancer diagnosis
22 August 2005
HEIDELBERG, GERMANY - A team of researchers at Heidelberg University in Germany have come up with a way of detecting certain calcium-binding proteins that are associated with prostate cancer.
The scientists at Heidelberg's DKFZ Cancer Research Centre say the new test allows physicians to spot prostate cancer far earlier than the conventional PSA antigen test.
The PSA test spots all tumours, including benign ones, leading to unnecessary surgery. The new method allows doctors to identify malignant growths.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=22985&name=German+scientists+discover+new+cancer+diagnosis
Very far away
Germany is off the radar screen for most US leaders, and needs to regain 'relevance' if it wants its voice heard in Washington, according to Gary Smith, executive director of the American Academy in Berlin. Leon Mangasarian talks to the man often dubbed America's secret ambassador to Germany.
Even as Germany gears up for national elections, it remains off the radar screen for most US leaders and must regain "relevance" if it wants to be heard in Washington, according to the head of Berlin's American Academy.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=22399&name=Very+far+away%3C%2FA%3E%3CBR%3EAmerican+Academy+executive+director+Gary+Smith+on+how+Washington+sees+Germany%3CBR%3E
The International Herald Tribune
Radical cleric calls for end to clashes between Shiite groups
BAGHDAD Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on Thursday to an end to armed clashes between his followers and supporters of a rival Shiite group, saying Muslims should not be fighting each other.
''I call upon all the believers to save the blood of the Muslims and to return to their homes,'' said speaking to reporters in his home in the holy Shiite city of Najaf.
The clashes broke out Wednesday when al-Sadr's offices in Najaf were attacked and torched by rival groups.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/25/africa/web.0825iraq.php
Powerful typhoon set to hit Tokyo
TOKYO A powerful typhoon disrupted air traffic and oil shipments in Japan on Thursday as it churned northward over the Pacific Ocean, heading toward the nation's capital.
The storm, with winds up to 144 kilometers per hour (89 mph), was expected to land in the Tokyo area Thursday evening, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.
Local media reported no injuries, but heavy rain and winds halted oil deliveries from refineries in Yokkaichi in Chiba prefecture (state), and grounded 14 flights of Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/25/asia/web.0825typhoon.php
EU backpedals on textile quotas
PARIS In an embarrassing reversal, Peter Mandelson, the European trade commissioner, acknowledged Wednesday that a system of quotas the European Union imposed on Chinese textile imports had a "serious glitch," and he dispatched officials to Beijing to try to renegotiate a deal that has left 75 million Chinese-made sweaters, pants, bras and other garments piled up in European ports.
With his team scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Thursday, retailers warned that European shoppers could face shortages in stores if a new deal was not struck soon. The clothing has been blocked from entering the EU after retailers rushed to order in anticipation of the quotas, causing the limits to be hit quickly.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/24/business/textile.php
Outside America, others look to sue over Vioxx
ROME Outraged patients around the world who suffered heart attacks or strokes while taking the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx are lining up to sue its embattled U.S. manufacturer Merck, exponentially increasing the company's potential liability.
Last Friday, a Texas jury found that Merck was liable in the death of Robert Ernst, saying the drug maker had not released information about the heart risks. The panel awarded his widow $253.4 million.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/24/business/vioxx.php
TOL
by TOL
22 August 2005
Could a new vision for the Black Sea area yield new ideas about how to promote democracy on Russia’s fringes?
So it seems that Europe may soon have a new organization to become used to, an alliance of democracies stretching from the Baltic to the Black and the Caspian seas intent on acting as “a strong tool to free our region from all remaining dividing lines, from violations of human rights, from any spirit of confrontation, from frozen conflicts.” That, at least, is the vision for a "Community for Democratic Choice" put forward by Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko and Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili on 12 August
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=129&NrSection=2&NrArticle=14413
Serial Abuse
by Igor Jovanovic
22 August 2005
A cabinet minister’s outburst shows how fragile the freedom of expression is five years after the demise of the Milosevic regime.
BELGRADE, Serbia and Montenegro Serbia’s ruling coalition has always had a rocky relationship with the media, but a new low point was reached on 15 August, when Capital Investment Minister Velimir Ilic insulted and threatened staff of Belgrade radio and TV station B92.
Ilic’s bad temper has not only resulted in legal action but is also likely to hasten the decline in the government’s already waning popularity.
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=129&NrSection=1&NrArticle=14410
Going Deeper Underground
by Risto Karajkov
17 August 2005
Statistics on trafficking indicate that the number of victims is declining – but is the whole trade just going deeper underground?
A common misconception about the Balkans is that it is a coherent region. From a business perspective, though, the countries of the Balkans are quite different from one another.
The business of human trafficking is no exception.
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=129&NrSection=3&NrArticle=14385
continued ...
The UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite - don't know how long the loop will stay up as the government blocks them at will.
August 25, 2005. The North Polar Vortex is dominating the Climate of North America.
There is a double 'dog leg' that parrellel each coast. The hurricanes on both coasts are the 'eddies' of those peripheral vortex flows. When looking at this image of water vapor one has remember Earth is curved and the 'dog leg' is dictated by land forms and oceans in their shape to some extent. So it might look odd but on a curve it looks more reasonable.
The point is the Pacific Hurricane "Hilary" can come into the Gulf of Mexico potentially.
The tropical storm "Katrina" has stalled and will probably start to move back to the Atlantic. These are tremendously powerful ionic storms that have control over the eddies it manifests. Click on the title to see 12 hour loop.
Looking at the loop it seems like "Katrina" will break away with enough velocity to come inland. Noted also is the substantial storm starting over Kansas. The dynamics are interesting. I don't have computer models to predict anything. Just my hisotry of observation. Listen to the local stations and be safe.
Morning Papers - concluding - Hey, if Bush can call on every remote country it must be a winning strategy. Who am I to say?
Macedonian Press Agency
TWO RENAULT MODELS RECALLED
Athens, 22 August 2005 (14:42 UTC+2)
A recall program for Renault models Clio II and Modus is underway by the automobile manufacturer RENAULT SAS through the RAPEX system, announced Ministry of Development general secretary Athanasios Skordas.
The recall concerns model Clio II, a total of 3,891 cars, built in the period May 8, 2003 - November 18, 2004 because of a short-circuit risk in the steering wheel compartment. Also, it concerns the Renault Modus, a total of 596 cars, built before April 5, 2005 which can become difficult to control because of steering wheel assembly errors.
http://www.mpa.gr/article.html?doc_id=541346
GREECE: THE LOWEST GAS PRICE IN EUROPE
Athens, 23 August 2005 (13:32 UTC+2)
Greece had the lowest gas price and the second lowest diesel price in Europe last July, according to figures provided by the Greek Automobile Club, ELPA, the International Association of Tourism, AIT, and the European Road Information Center, ERIC, in Geneva.
Based on the figures provided (price samples collected on July 18, 2005 in all European countries), Greece had the lowest price for unleaded gas -average price of 0.90 euros a litre- and the second lowest average price in diesel namely, 0.88 euros a litre compared to 0.87 euros a litre in Luxembourg.
http://www.mpa.gr/article.html?doc_id=541478
NINE INDICTMENTS FOR FIXED TELE-GAMES
Thessaloniki, 24 August 2005 (14:14 UTC+2)
Nine individuals are being accused of fraud concerning fixed tele-games in Thessaloniki that befooled thousands of unsuspecting private television channel viewers.
According to Thessaloniki daily Angelioforos, the nine individuals involved in the scam are accused of committing fraud and forming a criminal organization. Allegedly, the turnover in one year that the scam lasted reached 10 million euros.
Based on the indictments, thousands of television viewers, who tried to call in order to play in the game and win money prizes, were the victims of a fraud because they later had to pay huge telephone bills because of the fact that they were put on hold indefinitely and never had the chance to actually play in the tele-game.
http://www.mpa.gr/article.html?doc_id=541603
The Miami Herald
Katrina's outlying squalls reach South Florida
By MARTIN MERZER, CURTIS MORGAN AND DAVID OVALLE
mmerzer@herald.com
The leading edge of Tropical Storm Katrina reached South Florida this morning and forecasters said severe squalls should begin by mid-afternoon. The center of the slow-moving, rain-intensive system could reach land -- probably in Broward County and possibly as a hurricane -- around 7 p.m. tonight.
But Katrina's center was surrounded by multiple bands of rain and wind, and it seemed to be strengthening. Regardless of the precise site of landfall, forecasters warned the entire region to prepare for gusty wind and a severe soaking, with some areas receiving a foot or more of rain.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12472628.htm
U.S. hotel firm's land seized only recently
It turns out that Fidel Castro's government didn't seize all foreign-owned property decades ago. Land owned by a U.S. firm was taken only recently.
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@herald.com
Four decades after Fidel Castro's government had apparently seized all foreign-owned properties in Cuba, it now turns out that a U.S. telephone company retained some 400 acres of land in and around Havana until just two years ago.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12470225.htm
Pentagon orders 1,500 more troops to Iraq
JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has ordered 1,500 paratroopers to Iraq to provide security in advance of two upcoming national votes, the military announced Wednesday.
Two infantry battalions from the 82nd Airborne Division will deploy to Iraq before the scheduled Oct. 15 referendum on the proposed constitution, and remain through the December national elections, the Pentagon said in a statement.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12466933.htm
Growing hazards endanger coral reefs
OUR OPINION: FLORIDA'S UNIQUE RESOURCE NEEDS MORE PROTECTIONS
Climate change, coral-bleaching disease, coastal development, landside pollution, overfishing, ship groundings -- these are the hazards contributing to the decline of Florida's coral reefs, according to a new study by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. That decline is costly.
The reefs that fringe our shoreline from Palm Beach to Key West bring in billions of dollars annually through recreational diving and sport fishing. Protecting our reefs, unique in the continental United States, must be a priority for Florida.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12470243.htm
The People's China Daily
Full text: Gender Equality and Women's Development in China
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-24 12:24:07
BEIJING, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The Information Office of China's State Council on Wednesday issued a white paper titled Gender Equality and Women's Development in China. The following is the full text of the document:
Gender Equality and Women's Development in China
Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
August 2005, Beijing
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/24/content_3396107.htm
China praised for efforts in resolving textile row
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 13:57:13
BEIJING, Aug. 25 -- Supachai Panitchpakdi, director-general of the World Trade Organization, said Wednesday that China's efforts in settling the textile issue is commendable.
"First, China is trying to do self-restraint exercise," said the WTO chief in an interview with Xinhua News Agency. "I learn that China is reducing rebate or some other kinds of support to textile exporters, and sometimes even putting quotas." Second, he added, China is looking into possibilities of working with those poor countries that seemingly are being affected by any form of loss of preference that maybe related to textile.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3401060.htm
Japan to build rocket unit in joint missile plan with US
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 15:11:00
TOKYO, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan will be engaged in building the rocket unit and the United States will be making the warhead in a joint missile defense project, Kyodo News reported Wednesday,quoting sources close to the project.
The two countries are tied up in developing for Japan a dual-level missile defense system based on current US interception missiles.
Tokyo aims to start the deployment in fiscal 2006 which begins in April.
The two countries will conclude a new pact on the project to develop the enhanced Standard Missile-3 interceptor to be deployedon an Aegis vessel after the Japanese endorses the plan at the Security Council around the end of this year, the report said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3401352.htm
Study finds link between daydreaming, Alzheimers
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 10:24:35
WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The parts of brain used to muse or daydream are the same where some aged people develop Alzheimer's disease, showed a US study published Wednesday.
The study, which appears in The Journal of Neuroscience, suggests that the normal brain activity of daydreaming could trigger a life-long process that ends in Alzheimer's disease in some people.
It found the evidence of Alzheimer's disease mostly appear in the brain's "default state" areas that are involved in musing or daydreaming.
"We appear to use memory systems often in our default states. This may help us to plan and solve problems. Maybe it helps us be creative. But it may also have metabolic consequences," said lead author Randy Buckner, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Washington University in St. Louis.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3400349.htm
US softens on Pyongyang's civilian nuclear capabilities
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-24 23:42:45
WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The chief US negotiator in the six-party talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Tuesday that Pyongyang's demand for civilian nuclear power is not a "show-stopper" and some kind of compromise on the issue is possible, said a Washington Times report on Wednesday.
Although the chief US negotiator, Christopher Hill, insisted that the DPRK does not need nuclear energy, he indicated that the United States is trying to address the issue with more flexibilitythan before, the report said.
"I think we can come up with something. But I cannot be more specific than that because we are in the middle of a negotiation,"the report quoted Hill as saying.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/24/content_3400202.htm
Tibetan antelopes being menaced by poachers
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-24 17:13:34
URUMQI, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- In spite of efforts by China and the world at large in protecting Tibetan antelopes, the rampant poaching of the rare species, still occurs in conservation zones in China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau.
Since June 2005, Swiss customhouse has seized a total of 537 pieces of shahtoosh shawls, which means 1,600 and 2,700 Tibetan antelopes have been poached, Xinhua learned Wednesday from an international conference in this Xinjiang's capital city of Urumqi.
According to figures released by the China Wildlife Conservation Association, more than 100 Tibetan antelopes were culled in April and August this year alone.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/24/content_3397413.htm
Human activity responsible for sixth mass extinction in history
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-23 21:09:58
NANJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Planetary collisions, volcanic eruptions and sudden releases of poisonous gases are the kinds of phenomena typically blamed for the previous mass extinctions on Earth. This time, however, the cause may be humankind.
Rapid population growth, global warming and environmental degradation have ushered in the sixth mass extinction in the Earth's geological history, scientists say.
Though less grave than the mass extinctions caused by planet collision and global volcanic eruption, mankind is "directing" a mass extinction more serious than the ones triggered by natural climate changes, said Shu Degan, a noted paleontologist with the Northwest China University.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/23/content_3393715.htm
Jupiter's moon more likely to harbor life: scientists
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-21 16:53:10
GUIYANG, Aug. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- When a spacecraft was launched to search for water and life on Mars on Aug. 12, some scientists also cast their eyes on the more remote Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, with the hope that the ice-covered satellite is more likely to harbor life than Mars -- if indeed life exists somewhere else in our Solar System.
"So far as we known, the chances to find life beyond the Earth are very, very slim, while the chances might be a little more likely in Europa than Mars," said Simon Conway Morris, a noted Professor of evolutionary palaeobiology at Cambridge University.
On Mars if there was life, it would most probably be extinct and you would need paleontologists to go to the Mars and study possible biological's structures and sediments. Only paleontologists are trained to study extinct life, he said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/21/content_3384523.htm
Tanzanian president warns against politics of intolerance in Africa
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 14:56:04
KAMPALA, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Visiting Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa has warned against politics of intolerance and exclusion in Africa, stressing that the continent needs to developa synthesis based on history, experience and on global realities.
President Mkapa made the statement here on Wednesday when he delivered a farewell message to the Ugandan parliament.
He said that "the new African democracy I advocate must have atits heart the politics of tolerance and inclusion, not as a product but as a fundamental, deliberate goal and priority."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3401298.htm
Zanzibar eyes sea waves electricity
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 14:16:22
DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- An Israeli company has contracted to conduct a feasibility study about electricity generation through sea waves on the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar.
Suleiman Ali Juma, manager of the Zanzibar State Fuel and PowerCorporation, told the press that the Israeli company of SDA Limited is expected to start the feasibility study next month.
Zanzibar relies on thermal power generators which have proven to be costly and environmentally unfriendly.
Should the sea waves power generation technology proves viable,most Zanzibaris would benefit from cheap and reliable power supplies, said Suleiman Ali Juma.
Zanzibar, a part of the United Republic of Tanzania yet with its own president, cabinet and parliament, started its rural electrification program in 1986.
Under Phase Four of this program starting in January this year,61 more villages will get electricity with priority placed on areas with water pumping facilities and tourist-concentrated areas.Enditem
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3401182.htm
Former Rwandan minister to testify in genocide court
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 14:15:53
DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- The former Rwandan justice minister is scheduled to testify in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), according to reports reaching here from the northern Tanzanian city of Arusha on Thursday.
Agnes Ntamabyariro is set to testify in defense of genocide suspect and former Rwandan commerce minister Justin Mugenzi.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3401180.htm
UN peace mission to train DRC forces before general elections
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 11:39:45
KINSHASA, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as MONUC, would help the country train forces to tackle possible turbulence in thegeneral elections next year, said MONUC spokesman on Wednesday.
Lt. Col. Thierry Provendier said MONUC would train nine composite brigades in the program, which would be dispatched to the eastern part of the country after a 45-day special training.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3400768.htm
Annan urges more international aid to Niger
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 11:38:13
LOME, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) --- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed for more international aid to Niger on Wednesday, describing the large-scale famine in the largely desert country as"unacceptable in the 21st century."
Annan, ending a two-day visit aimed at highlighting the plight of more than 5 million people across northwest Africa, most of them in Niger, said in Niamey, Niger's capital, that he had seen skeletal kids and how their desperate mothers plead for help.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3400765.htm
Israel to build new police station between Jerusalem, settlement
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 17:51:37
JERUSALEM, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Israel will build a police station in Area E-1 between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement Ma'aleh Adumim, the Ha'aretz daily reported on Thursday.
The Civil Administration's Planning Council in the West Bank is expected to approve the building plan in the coming days, said the report.
The station is part of an Israeli plan to connect Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim, the largest West Bank settlement about 10 km east of Jerusalem.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3402531.htm
University of Wisconsin-Madison
News
Gender hormones may lend to social disorder therapies
Gender politics aside, every biologist knows that men and women truly are different.
Social disorders such as autism constitute one area where those differences come to the fore: around 80 percent of all autism cases, for example, occur in men. Social play behaviors also differ greatly between the sexes—just about everyone agrees that young boys play "rougher" than girls.
Early in human development, critical brain proteins known as steroid receptors lay most of the groundwork for ensuing sexual destinies. The receptors bind to hormones such as testosterone and estrogen and set in motion gender blueprints for a lifetime.
To understand why autistic children have trouble engaging in social interactions, researchers have long observed "rough-and-tumble" play—the propensity to bite, wrestle or pounce—in juvenile rats. Scientists were convinced that testosterone solely dictated the onset of such behavior.
But researchers at UW-Madison have now made the surprising finding that estrogen-and even dopamine, a neurotransmitter-also play critical roles. The work, which appeared online Aug. 16 in the journal Endocrinology, may one day help diagnose new autism cases and potentially pave the way for new hormone-based therapeutic approaches that counteract the social difficulties of autism, says senior author Anthony Auger, an assistant professor of psychology.
"Our work points out an overlooked mechanism that controls social play behavior," says Auger. "Now if we work to understand how these biological mechanisms control social behavior, we can discern which points of the various pathways are involved in the disruption of social interactions."
Male rats are likely to engage in rough-and-tumble play almost 13 times as frequently as females, says Auger. But when the UW-Madison team treated newborn females with estrogen, they bit, boxed, pinned and pounced as frequently as the males after reaching juvenile age. The estrogen effectively "masculinized" the females, Auger says.
To the scientists' surprise, a similar result took place when they treated the females with a mimic of the neurotransmitter dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain that regulates emotions and feelings of pleasure.
The UW-Madison study results imply that many factors, beyond steroid receptors and sex hormones, may be interrupted during the onset of social disorders, Auger says. Consequently, he hopes to focus on the potential role of another group of proteins - known as growth factors - in social play behaviors.
Other scientists who participated in the study include UW-Madison doctoral student and lead author Kristin Olesen, zoologist Catherine Auger and research specialist Heather Jessen.
File last updated: August 24, 2005
Feedback, questions or accessibility issues: comments@uc.wisc.edu
http://www.news.wisc.edu/11455.html
New Zealand Herald
Human rights groups criticise UK's 'behaviour' laws
Charles Clarke
25.08.05 1.00pm
By Nigel Morris
The UK Home Secretary faced accusations today that moves to expel radical preachers could backfire by turning extremists into martyrs and increasing prejudice against law-abiding Muslims.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342420
continued …
TWO RENAULT MODELS RECALLED
Athens, 22 August 2005 (14:42 UTC+2)
A recall program for Renault models Clio II and Modus is underway by the automobile manufacturer RENAULT SAS through the RAPEX system, announced Ministry of Development general secretary Athanasios Skordas.
The recall concerns model Clio II, a total of 3,891 cars, built in the period May 8, 2003 - November 18, 2004 because of a short-circuit risk in the steering wheel compartment. Also, it concerns the Renault Modus, a total of 596 cars, built before April 5, 2005 which can become difficult to control because of steering wheel assembly errors.
http://www.mpa.gr/article.html?doc_id=541346
GREECE: THE LOWEST GAS PRICE IN EUROPE
Athens, 23 August 2005 (13:32 UTC+2)
Greece had the lowest gas price and the second lowest diesel price in Europe last July, according to figures provided by the Greek Automobile Club, ELPA, the International Association of Tourism, AIT, and the European Road Information Center, ERIC, in Geneva.
Based on the figures provided (price samples collected on July 18, 2005 in all European countries), Greece had the lowest price for unleaded gas -average price of 0.90 euros a litre- and the second lowest average price in diesel namely, 0.88 euros a litre compared to 0.87 euros a litre in Luxembourg.
http://www.mpa.gr/article.html?doc_id=541478
NINE INDICTMENTS FOR FIXED TELE-GAMES
Thessaloniki, 24 August 2005 (14:14 UTC+2)
Nine individuals are being accused of fraud concerning fixed tele-games in Thessaloniki that befooled thousands of unsuspecting private television channel viewers.
According to Thessaloniki daily Angelioforos, the nine individuals involved in the scam are accused of committing fraud and forming a criminal organization. Allegedly, the turnover in one year that the scam lasted reached 10 million euros.
Based on the indictments, thousands of television viewers, who tried to call in order to play in the game and win money prizes, were the victims of a fraud because they later had to pay huge telephone bills because of the fact that they were put on hold indefinitely and never had the chance to actually play in the tele-game.
http://www.mpa.gr/article.html?doc_id=541603
The Miami Herald
Katrina's outlying squalls reach South Florida
By MARTIN MERZER, CURTIS MORGAN AND DAVID OVALLE
mmerzer@herald.com
The leading edge of Tropical Storm Katrina reached South Florida this morning and forecasters said severe squalls should begin by mid-afternoon. The center of the slow-moving, rain-intensive system could reach land -- probably in Broward County and possibly as a hurricane -- around 7 p.m. tonight.
But Katrina's center was surrounded by multiple bands of rain and wind, and it seemed to be strengthening. Regardless of the precise site of landfall, forecasters warned the entire region to prepare for gusty wind and a severe soaking, with some areas receiving a foot or more of rain.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12472628.htm
U.S. hotel firm's land seized only recently
It turns out that Fidel Castro's government didn't seize all foreign-owned property decades ago. Land owned by a U.S. firm was taken only recently.
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@herald.com
Four decades after Fidel Castro's government had apparently seized all foreign-owned properties in Cuba, it now turns out that a U.S. telephone company retained some 400 acres of land in and around Havana until just two years ago.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12470225.htm
Pentagon orders 1,500 more troops to Iraq
JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has ordered 1,500 paratroopers to Iraq to provide security in advance of two upcoming national votes, the military announced Wednesday.
Two infantry battalions from the 82nd Airborne Division will deploy to Iraq before the scheduled Oct. 15 referendum on the proposed constitution, and remain through the December national elections, the Pentagon said in a statement.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12466933.htm
Growing hazards endanger coral reefs
OUR OPINION: FLORIDA'S UNIQUE RESOURCE NEEDS MORE PROTECTIONS
Climate change, coral-bleaching disease, coastal development, landside pollution, overfishing, ship groundings -- these are the hazards contributing to the decline of Florida's coral reefs, according to a new study by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. That decline is costly.
The reefs that fringe our shoreline from Palm Beach to Key West bring in billions of dollars annually through recreational diving and sport fishing. Protecting our reefs, unique in the continental United States, must be a priority for Florida.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12470243.htm
The People's China Daily
Full text: Gender Equality and Women's Development in China
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-24 12:24:07
BEIJING, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The Information Office of China's State Council on Wednesday issued a white paper titled Gender Equality and Women's Development in China. The following is the full text of the document:
Gender Equality and Women's Development in China
Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
August 2005, Beijing
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/24/content_3396107.htm
China praised for efforts in resolving textile row
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 13:57:13
BEIJING, Aug. 25 -- Supachai Panitchpakdi, director-general of the World Trade Organization, said Wednesday that China's efforts in settling the textile issue is commendable.
"First, China is trying to do self-restraint exercise," said the WTO chief in an interview with Xinhua News Agency. "I learn that China is reducing rebate or some other kinds of support to textile exporters, and sometimes even putting quotas." Second, he added, China is looking into possibilities of working with those poor countries that seemingly are being affected by any form of loss of preference that maybe related to textile.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3401060.htm
Japan to build rocket unit in joint missile plan with US
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 15:11:00
TOKYO, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan will be engaged in building the rocket unit and the United States will be making the warhead in a joint missile defense project, Kyodo News reported Wednesday,quoting sources close to the project.
The two countries are tied up in developing for Japan a dual-level missile defense system based on current US interception missiles.
Tokyo aims to start the deployment in fiscal 2006 which begins in April.
The two countries will conclude a new pact on the project to develop the enhanced Standard Missile-3 interceptor to be deployedon an Aegis vessel after the Japanese endorses the plan at the Security Council around the end of this year, the report said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3401352.htm
Study finds link between daydreaming, Alzheimers
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 10:24:35
WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The parts of brain used to muse or daydream are the same where some aged people develop Alzheimer's disease, showed a US study published Wednesday.
The study, which appears in The Journal of Neuroscience, suggests that the normal brain activity of daydreaming could trigger a life-long process that ends in Alzheimer's disease in some people.
It found the evidence of Alzheimer's disease mostly appear in the brain's "default state" areas that are involved in musing or daydreaming.
"We appear to use memory systems often in our default states. This may help us to plan and solve problems. Maybe it helps us be creative. But it may also have metabolic consequences," said lead author Randy Buckner, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Washington University in St. Louis.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3400349.htm
US softens on Pyongyang's civilian nuclear capabilities
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-24 23:42:45
WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The chief US negotiator in the six-party talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Tuesday that Pyongyang's demand for civilian nuclear power is not a "show-stopper" and some kind of compromise on the issue is possible, said a Washington Times report on Wednesday.
Although the chief US negotiator, Christopher Hill, insisted that the DPRK does not need nuclear energy, he indicated that the United States is trying to address the issue with more flexibilitythan before, the report said.
"I think we can come up with something. But I cannot be more specific than that because we are in the middle of a negotiation,"the report quoted Hill as saying.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/24/content_3400202.htm
Tibetan antelopes being menaced by poachers
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-24 17:13:34
URUMQI, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- In spite of efforts by China and the world at large in protecting Tibetan antelopes, the rampant poaching of the rare species, still occurs in conservation zones in China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau.
Since June 2005, Swiss customhouse has seized a total of 537 pieces of shahtoosh shawls, which means 1,600 and 2,700 Tibetan antelopes have been poached, Xinhua learned Wednesday from an international conference in this Xinjiang's capital city of Urumqi.
According to figures released by the China Wildlife Conservation Association, more than 100 Tibetan antelopes were culled in April and August this year alone.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/24/content_3397413.htm
Human activity responsible for sixth mass extinction in history
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-23 21:09:58
NANJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Planetary collisions, volcanic eruptions and sudden releases of poisonous gases are the kinds of phenomena typically blamed for the previous mass extinctions on Earth. This time, however, the cause may be humankind.
Rapid population growth, global warming and environmental degradation have ushered in the sixth mass extinction in the Earth's geological history, scientists say.
Though less grave than the mass extinctions caused by planet collision and global volcanic eruption, mankind is "directing" a mass extinction more serious than the ones triggered by natural climate changes, said Shu Degan, a noted paleontologist with the Northwest China University.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/23/content_3393715.htm
Jupiter's moon more likely to harbor life: scientists
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-21 16:53:10
GUIYANG, Aug. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- When a spacecraft was launched to search for water and life on Mars on Aug. 12, some scientists also cast their eyes on the more remote Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, with the hope that the ice-covered satellite is more likely to harbor life than Mars -- if indeed life exists somewhere else in our Solar System.
"So far as we known, the chances to find life beyond the Earth are very, very slim, while the chances might be a little more likely in Europa than Mars," said Simon Conway Morris, a noted Professor of evolutionary palaeobiology at Cambridge University.
On Mars if there was life, it would most probably be extinct and you would need paleontologists to go to the Mars and study possible biological's structures and sediments. Only paleontologists are trained to study extinct life, he said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/21/content_3384523.htm
Tanzanian president warns against politics of intolerance in Africa
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 14:56:04
KAMPALA, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Visiting Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa has warned against politics of intolerance and exclusion in Africa, stressing that the continent needs to developa synthesis based on history, experience and on global realities.
President Mkapa made the statement here on Wednesday when he delivered a farewell message to the Ugandan parliament.
He said that "the new African democracy I advocate must have atits heart the politics of tolerance and inclusion, not as a product but as a fundamental, deliberate goal and priority."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3401298.htm
Zanzibar eyes sea waves electricity
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 14:16:22
DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- An Israeli company has contracted to conduct a feasibility study about electricity generation through sea waves on the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar.
Suleiman Ali Juma, manager of the Zanzibar State Fuel and PowerCorporation, told the press that the Israeli company of SDA Limited is expected to start the feasibility study next month.
Zanzibar relies on thermal power generators which have proven to be costly and environmentally unfriendly.
Should the sea waves power generation technology proves viable,most Zanzibaris would benefit from cheap and reliable power supplies, said Suleiman Ali Juma.
Zanzibar, a part of the United Republic of Tanzania yet with its own president, cabinet and parliament, started its rural electrification program in 1986.
Under Phase Four of this program starting in January this year,61 more villages will get electricity with priority placed on areas with water pumping facilities and tourist-concentrated areas.Enditem
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3401182.htm
Former Rwandan minister to testify in genocide court
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 14:15:53
DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- The former Rwandan justice minister is scheduled to testify in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), according to reports reaching here from the northern Tanzanian city of Arusha on Thursday.
Agnes Ntamabyariro is set to testify in defense of genocide suspect and former Rwandan commerce minister Justin Mugenzi.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3401180.htm
UN peace mission to train DRC forces before general elections
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 11:39:45
KINSHASA, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as MONUC, would help the country train forces to tackle possible turbulence in thegeneral elections next year, said MONUC spokesman on Wednesday.
Lt. Col. Thierry Provendier said MONUC would train nine composite brigades in the program, which would be dispatched to the eastern part of the country after a 45-day special training.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3400768.htm
Annan urges more international aid to Niger
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 11:38:13
LOME, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) --- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed for more international aid to Niger on Wednesday, describing the large-scale famine in the largely desert country as"unacceptable in the 21st century."
Annan, ending a two-day visit aimed at highlighting the plight of more than 5 million people across northwest Africa, most of them in Niger, said in Niamey, Niger's capital, that he had seen skeletal kids and how their desperate mothers plead for help.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3400765.htm
Israel to build new police station between Jerusalem, settlement
www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-25 17:51:37
JERUSALEM, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Israel will build a police station in Area E-1 between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement Ma'aleh Adumim, the Ha'aretz daily reported on Thursday.
The Civil Administration's Planning Council in the West Bank is expected to approve the building plan in the coming days, said the report.
The station is part of an Israeli plan to connect Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim, the largest West Bank settlement about 10 km east of Jerusalem.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3402531.htm
University of Wisconsin-Madison
News
Gender hormones may lend to social disorder therapies
Gender politics aside, every biologist knows that men and women truly are different.
Social disorders such as autism constitute one area where those differences come to the fore: around 80 percent of all autism cases, for example, occur in men. Social play behaviors also differ greatly between the sexes—just about everyone agrees that young boys play "rougher" than girls.
Early in human development, critical brain proteins known as steroid receptors lay most of the groundwork for ensuing sexual destinies. The receptors bind to hormones such as testosterone and estrogen and set in motion gender blueprints for a lifetime.
To understand why autistic children have trouble engaging in social interactions, researchers have long observed "rough-and-tumble" play—the propensity to bite, wrestle or pounce—in juvenile rats. Scientists were convinced that testosterone solely dictated the onset of such behavior.
But researchers at UW-Madison have now made the surprising finding that estrogen-and even dopamine, a neurotransmitter-also play critical roles. The work, which appeared online Aug. 16 in the journal Endocrinology, may one day help diagnose new autism cases and potentially pave the way for new hormone-based therapeutic approaches that counteract the social difficulties of autism, says senior author Anthony Auger, an assistant professor of psychology.
"Our work points out an overlooked mechanism that controls social play behavior," says Auger. "Now if we work to understand how these biological mechanisms control social behavior, we can discern which points of the various pathways are involved in the disruption of social interactions."
Male rats are likely to engage in rough-and-tumble play almost 13 times as frequently as females, says Auger. But when the UW-Madison team treated newborn females with estrogen, they bit, boxed, pinned and pounced as frequently as the males after reaching juvenile age. The estrogen effectively "masculinized" the females, Auger says.
To the scientists' surprise, a similar result took place when they treated the females with a mimic of the neurotransmitter dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain that regulates emotions and feelings of pleasure.
The UW-Madison study results imply that many factors, beyond steroid receptors and sex hormones, may be interrupted during the onset of social disorders, Auger says. Consequently, he hopes to focus on the potential role of another group of proteins - known as growth factors - in social play behaviors.
Other scientists who participated in the study include UW-Madison doctoral student and lead author Kristin Olesen, zoologist Catherine Auger and research specialist Heather Jessen.
File last updated: August 24, 2005
Feedback, questions or accessibility issues: comments@uc.wisc.edu
http://www.news.wisc.edu/11455.html
New Zealand Herald
Human rights groups criticise UK's 'behaviour' laws
Charles Clarke
25.08.05 1.00pm
By Nigel Morris
The UK Home Secretary faced accusations today that moves to expel radical preachers could backfire by turning extremists into martyrs and increasing prejudice against law-abiding Muslims.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342420
continued …
Morning Papers - concluded
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
57 °F / 14 °C
Overcast
Humidity:
77%
Dew Point:
50 °F / 10 °C
Wind:
14 mph / 22 km/h from the SE
Pressure:
29.90 in / 1012 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Overcast 3600 ft / 1097
end
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
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