Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
War is over
Voting Extended in Historic Iraq Elections
FOXNews
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Up to 15 million Iraqis — including large numbers of Sunnis, who boycotted the January elections — voted in historic parliamentary elections Thursday to establish a permanent democratic government amid only scattered violence.
The polls stayed open one hour later, until 6 p.m. local time (10 a.m. EST), because of such high turnout. Long lines were reported in some precincts, said commission official Munthur Abdelamir, some of which wrapped around neighborhood blocks. The commission said results will be announced within two weeks.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5178
Thursday, December 15th, 2005
'TIS THE SEASON
High Owl Hides Out In Christmas Tree
Blood Tests Confirm Bird's State
POSTED: 10:47 am EST December 15, 2005
UPDATED: 11:02 am EST December 15, 2005
SARASOTA, Fla. -- A bird with a buzz found in a Florida family's Christmas tree is getting ready to go back into the wild.
The little screech owl was found in the tree, which the family had kept for five days before deciding to decorate it.
Animal control officers from Pelican Man's Bird Sanctuary came to get the owl, and said they smelled a strange odor on it when they did.
"Curiously enough, the owl's feathers smelled very, very potently like marijuana," said Jeff Dering, of the sanctuary. "They examined the owl, looked at its eyes, ... and the owl was, in the vernacular, stoned."
Blood tests confirmed the owl's state.
Sanctuary staff checked the bird out, fed him and named him "Cheech." They said he would be released in a few days.
The buzzing bird also brought an early holiday gift to the sanctuary, which was in need of more than $250,000. The attention the bird has brought has helped ensure the sanctuary's survival.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.nbc30.com/nbc30/5542246/detail.html
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=564
U.S. Helps Some Iran-Backed Terror
Dahr Jamail and Harb al-Mukhtar / Inter Press Service
BAGHDAD - After the U.S. forces and the bombings, Iraqis are coming to fear those bands of men in masks who seem to operate with the Iraqi police.
Omar Ahmed's family learnt what it can mean to run into the police, their supposed protectors.
Omar was driving with two friends in the Adhamiya district of Baghdad at night Sep. 1 when they were stopped at a police checkpoint.
"The three of them were arrested by the police even though there was nothing in the car," an eyewitness told IPS, speaking on condition of anonymity.
They did not return home for days, and the family began to search the morgues, common practice now when someone is arrested by the Iraqi police and does not return.
"Five days after they were arrested we found Omar's body in the freezer in a morgue, with holes in the side of his head and shoulders," a friend of the family told IPS.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5140
Teacher takes back no-Santa statement
Richardson ISD: Parents angry, but official says remark was 'a mistake'
12:00 AM CST on Thursday, December 15, 2005
By KRISTINE HUGHES / The Dallas Morning News
Yes, Richland Elementary School, there is a Santa Claus.
The music teacher who told a first-grade class at the Richardson school Monday that Santa is a mythological figure recanted her story Tuesday after school officials began getting calls from parents.
"She told the students that in fact she had heard from Santa, and he wanted to reassure them that he is alive and well in the spirit of Christmas," said Jeanne Guerra, Richardson school district spokeswoman.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-santa_15met.ART.North.Edition2.187b2d51.html
Italy to Pull Out 300 Troops From Iraq in January, Martino Says
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Italy's government announced the withdrawal of a further 300 soldiers from Iraq in January, less than four month before Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faces elections.
The reduction to 2,600 soldiers in Iraq comes three months after the first withdrawal of 300 troops, Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino said today in a news conference in Rome. Italian troops have been in Iraq since the U.S.-led ousting in March 2003 of dictator Saddam Hussein.
The latest polls show Berlusconi's four-party coalition trailing the opposition. The majority of Italians oppose having soldiers in Iraq and Romano Prodi, Berlusconi's political rival, has said he will start withdrawing Italy's troops straight away if he wins elections slated for April 9.
Italy has the fourth-largest contingent after the U.S., the U.K. and South Korea. Italy's announcement coincides with the start of voting in Iraq to decide the composition of the parliament for the next four years.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5179
Caught on Tape: Bush Admits WMD Were Irrelevant
On day that the United States invaded Iraq, President Bush said that we were doing so “reluctantly” but that “our purpose was clear” — to get rid of Saddam’s “weapons of mass murder.” (Note: Bush did not say “purposes.” According to Bush, there was only one purpose.)
Yesterday on Brit Hume, he said he would have invaded even if he knew there were no weapons of mass destruction. Would have been nice if he’d mentioned this earlier.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/15/wmd-irrelevant/
Bush Accepts McCain's Ban on Torture
By Liz Sidoti / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush reversed course on Thursday and accepted Sen. John McCain's call for a law banning cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of foreign suspects in the war on terror.
Bush said the agreement will "make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international convention of torture, whether it be here at home or abroad."
"It's a done deal," said McCain, talking to reporters in a driving rain outside the White House after he met with the president.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5182
Fort Worth native protests in Cuba
By JESSICA DeLEÓN / STAR-TELEGRAM
Over the course of five days, Fort Worth native Scott Langley walked more than 60 miles for a cause he believes in.
Langley is part of the Witness Against Torture march, in which 25 Christian activists left Santiago, Cuba, on Dec. 6 and walked to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to protest the government’s treatment of terror suspects.
The marchers arrived Sunday in Guantanamo, and on Monday they began fasting after officials refused to let them visit the prisoners. They’ll continue the hunger strike until Thursday night when they will hold a vigil and then return to Santiago.
"I march because I want to give myself, and my government, time to think about what life is like as a detainee at Guantanamo," Langley wrote in an e-mail this week from Guantanamo. "I want to offer a sign of hope ... to confront the horror perpetuated by our government on foreign soil."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5183
Abuse Cited In 2nd Jail Operated by Iraqi Ministry
Official Says 12 Prisoners Subjected to 'Severe Torture'
By Ellen Knickmeyer / Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Dec. 11 -- An Iraqi government search of a detention center in Baghdad operated by Interior Ministry special commandos found 13 prisoners who had suffered abuse serious enough to require medical treatment, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Sunday night.
An Iraqi official with firsthand knowledge of the search said that at least 12 of the 13 prisoners had been subjected to "severe torture," including sessions of electric shock and episodes that left them with broken bones.
"Two of them showed me their nails, and they were gone," the official said on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.
A government spokesman, Laith Kubba, said Sunday night that any findings at the prison would be "subject to an investigation," but he declined to comment on the allegations.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5138
U.S. urging ex-Baathists to join politics
SUNNI INVOLVEMENT MAY HELP REUNITE COUNTRY, OFFICIALS SAY
By Nancy A. Youssef / Knight Ridder
BAGHDAD, Iraq - In a reversal of policy, U.S. officials in Iraq are encouraging some former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to run in Thursday's election, saying it's one way to bring marginalized Sunni Muslims into the new government.
``Those who do not have blood on their hands and were not very serious in the government structure should be integrated into the political process,'' Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said about Baathists in an interview with Knight Ridder on Sunday. ``Ultimately, all wars must come to an end.''
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5137
Sunnis Change Course
By Joshua Hammer and Scott Johnson / Newsweek
Dec. 19, 2005 issue - Ahmed Duraid is ready for a new era. Like almost all of his neighbors in Adhamiya, a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency along the Tigris River in central Baghdad, the 35-year-old clothes vendor boycotted Iraq's National Assembly elections last January on the advice of Sunni fighters and influential political groups such as the Association of Muslim Scholars. But the consequences for Adhamiya were severe: shadowy religious militias with ties to the Shiite-dominated government began arresting, kidnapping and sometimes murdering young Sunni men in the neighborhood; Duraid felt unprotected, even abandoned, by the country's new leaders. "We didn't participate, and the others took power alone, and this is the result," Duraid told NEWSWEEK.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5139
Bush Estimates That 30,000 Iraqis Killed
By Nedra Pickler / Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - President Bush offered encouragement to war-weary Iraqis on Monday but acknowledged they have paid a heavy price — 30,000 dead — as a result of the U.S.-led invasion and its bloody aftermath.
As Iraqis began voting in parliamentary elections, Bush said that no country has formed a democracy without "challenges, setbacks and false starts."
"There's still a lot of difficult work to be done in Iraq," the president said, "but thanks to the courage of the Iraqi people, the year 2005 will be recorded as a turning point in the history of Iraq, the history of the Middle East and the history of freedom."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5143
Family Gets Soldier's Christmas Card Hours Before Death News
Associated Press
HOCKLEY, Texas -- The Christmas card arrived first, followed a few hours later by the military officers.
"All I have to say is how much I love you and will be glad to see you in January," Army Sgt. Michael C. Taylor wrote to his mother from Iraq. "I wish you a very merry Christmas."
Stephanie Taylor Tompkins got the card on Wednesday, shortly before Army officers brought her family the news that an improvised bomb had exploded in Balad, Iraq, that day, killing her 23-year-old son, a young man whose family once called him "Little Mickey."
Taylor had become a father and was a devout Christian who loved reading mysteries and thrillers and was looking forward to restoring a 1969 Chevelle when he got home, said his brother, Justin Lee Taylor, 24.
Instead, Justin will be restoring the Chevelle alone, as a way to remember his brother.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5147
House Panel Subpoenas Rumsfeld on Katrina
By Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A House committee investigating the government's response to Hurricane Katrina issued a subpoena Wednesday to force Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to turn over documents but stopped short of sending a similar legal demand to the White House.
The subpoena commands Rumsfeld to produce internal records and communications about the Pentagon's response to the Aug. 29 storm, including efforts to send supplies to victims, stabilize public safety and mobilize active duty forces in the Gulf Coast. It requires the Pentagon to deliver the documents, spanning from Aug. 23 to Sept. 15, from Rumsfeld and eight other top military officials by Dec. 30.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5181
Bush Backs Rumsfeld, DeLay in Interview
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Wednesday that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has done "a heck of a good job" and there are no plans to replace him.
Bush also spoke up for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, saying he believes DeLay is innocent of money laundering charges and he hopes the Republican congressman will be able to reclaim his leadership post.
Rumors have been swirling about the possibility of Rumsfeld's departure from Bush's Cabinet. But the president said in an interview being aired Wednesday on Fox News Channel that the Pentagon chief wasn't leaving anytime soon.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5186
Time: Rove's Lawyer Told of Conversation
By Pete Yost / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Months before Karl Rove corrected his statements in the Valerie Plame investigation, his lawyer was told that the president's top political adviser might have disclosed Plame's CIA status to a Time magazine reporter.
Rove says he had forgotten the conversation he had on July 11, 2003, with Time's Matt Cooper. But the magazine reported Sunday that in the first half of 2004, as President Bush's re-election campaign was heating up, Rove's lawyer got the word about a possible Rove-Cooper conversation from a second Time reporter, Viveca Novak.
Novak described her conversation with the lawyer, Robert Luskin, in a first-person account released Sunday on Time's Web site.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5142
What Viveca Novak Told Fitzgerald
By Viveca Novak / Time
It was in the midst of another Washington scandal, almost a decade ago, that I got to know Bob Luskin. He represented Mark Middleton, a minor figure in the Democratic campaign-finance scandals of 1996. Luskin kept Middleton out of the spotlight and never told me much. Still, there is the occasional source with whom one becomes friendly, and eventually Luskin was in that group.
We'd occasionally meet for a drink--he didn't like having lunch--at Café Deluxe on Wisconsin Avenue, near the National Cathedral and on my route home. In October 2003, as we each made our way through a glass of wine, he asked me what I was working on. I told him I was trying to get a handle on the Valerie Plame leak investigation. "Well," he said, "you're sitting next to Karl Rove's lawyer." I was genuinely surprised, since Luskin's liberal sympathies were no secret, and here he was representing the man known to many Democrats as the other side's Evil Genius.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5141
Supreme Court to review Texas political map
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court said Monday it would consider the constitutionality of a Texas congressional map engineered by Rep. Tom DeLay that helped Republicans gain seats in Congress.
The 2003 boundaries helped Republicans win 21 of the state's 32 seats in Congress in the last election-- up from 15. They were approved amid a nasty battle between Republican leaders and Democrats and minority groups in Texas.
The contentiousness also reached Washington, where the Justice Department approved the plan, although staff lawyers concluded that it diluted minority voting rights. Because of historic discrimination against minority voters, Texas is required to get Justice Department approval for any voting changes to ensure they don't undercut minority voting.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5146
New tests fuel doubts about vote machines
A top election official and computer experts say computer hackers could easily change election results, after they found numerous flaws with a state-approved voting-machine in Tallahassee.
By Marc Caputo and Gary Fineout / Miami Herald
TALLAHASSEE - A political operative with hacking skills could alter the results of any election on Diebold-made voting machines -- and possibly other new voting systems in Florida -- according to the state capital's election supervisor, who said Diebold software has failed repeated tests.
Ion Sancho, Leon County's election chief, said tests by two computer experts, completed this week, showed that an insider could surreptitiously change vote results and the number of ballots cast on Diebold's optical-scan machines.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5185
Family Upset Over Marine's Body Arriving As Freight
10News
SAN DIEGO -- There's controversy over how the military is transporting the bodies of service members killed overseas, 10News reported.
A local family said fallen soldiers and Marines deserve better and that one would think our war heroes are being transported with dignity, care and respect. It said one would think upon arrival in their hometowns they are greeted with honor. But unfortunately, the family said that is just not the case.
Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag -- greeted by a color guard.
But in reality, many are arriving as freight on commercial airliners -- stuffed in the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo.
John Holley and his wife, Stacey, were stunned when they found out the body of their only child, Matthew, who died in Iraq last month, would be arriving at Lindbergh Field as freight.
"When someone dies in combat, they need to give them due respect they deserve for (the) sacrifice they made," said John Holley.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5136
Bush Advisor To Reporter: Katrina “Has Fallen So Far Off The Radar Screen, You Can’t Find It”
On September 15, President Bush stood in Jackson Square in New Orleans and made a promise:
And tonight I also offer this pledge of the American people: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. And all who question the future of the Crescent City need to know there is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/11/katrina-off-radar/
A Look at U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq
As of Monday, Dec. 12, 2005, at least 2,144 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the
Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,682 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The figures include five military civilians.
The British military has reported 98 deaths; Italy, 27; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 17; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Slovakia, three; Denmark,
El Salvador, Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia one death each.
Since May 1, 2003, when
President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 2,005 U.S. military members have died, according to AP's count. That includes at least 1,573 deaths resulting from hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq_us_deaths
Diebold and Florida Scramble to Cover Their Collective Asses...
As AP Reports on Devasting Leon County, FL Diebold Voting Machine Hack
PLUS: Only One Class Action Fraud Complaint Has Been Filed Against Diebold So Far, Not Two as Mis-Reported Elsewhere...
AP has finally taken note of the Leon County, FL hack test. The extraordinary test election which was entirely flipped last Tuesday as reported here previously.
In the bargain -- in light of that devasting test, after which the Elections Director of Leon County reportedly vowed to never allow Diebold's machine to be used in another election and has requested funds to replace all of Diebold's voting machines -- and along with the Securities Fraud suit that was filed against Diebold on the same day, Diebold's PR machine has kicked into overdrive. Though their normal spokesman, David Bear, normally in charge of lying about things having to do with their Voting Machines has been notably missing in action, Diebold has been issuing press releases and sending letters in an attempt to counter and distract from the devastating news of late. And the State of Florida is similarly scrambling to find someone else to blame as well.
From AP's report today on the Leon County hack, Diebold goes on the offensive and conjures up the gall to send a letter attempting to place blame for the incident on Ion Sancho, the Elections Director in the county who was wise enough to let the test move forward in hopes of determining if the machines were as vulnerable as many of us have been charging forever...
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002163.htm
Fatalities By Month
Select Month
]
Month Summary Charteath - Province
Cause of Death
12-Dec-2005
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Baghdad (south of)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
11-Dec-2005
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Ramadi (near) - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - suicide car bomb
US
Sergeant 1st Class James S. "Shawn" Moudy
Baghdad (western part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
10-Dec-2005
4
US: 4 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Yusufiyah - Babil
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Yusufiyah - Babil
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
US
Sergeant Clarence L. Floyd Jr.
Taji [NW of Baghdad]
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
US
Sergeant Julia V. Atkins
Baghdad (N part) [Adhamiyah Dist.]
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
09-Dec-2005
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Sergeant Adrian N. Orosco
Baghdad (Abu Ghuraib)
Hostile - hostile fire - suicide car bomb
08-Dec-2005
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Sergeant Spencer C. Akers
Brooke Army Med Center, TX - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Staff Sergeant Milton Rivera-Vargas
FOB Kalsu [Iskandariyah] - Babil
Non-hostile - illness - heart attack
US
1st Lieutenant Kevin J. Smith
Baghdad (eastern part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
07-Dec-2005
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Sergeant Michael C. Taylor
Balad - Salah ad-Din
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Corporal Joseph P. Bier
Ramadi - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
06-Dec-2005
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Private 1st Class Thomas C. Siekert
Bayji - Salah ad Din
Non-hostile - unspecified injury
US
Specialist Brian A. Wright
Habbaniyah (near) - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - mine
04-Dec-2005
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Baghdad (eastern part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Staff Sergeant Daniel M. Cuka
Baghdad (southeast part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Sergeant 1st Class Richard L. Schild
Baghdad (southeast part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
03-Dec-2005
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Corporal Jimmy Lee Shelton
Bayji - Salah ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - mortar attack
02-Dec-2005
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Specialist Marcus S. Futrell
Tallil Air Base - Dhi Qar
Non-hostile - vehicle accident
US
Staff Sergeant Philip L. Travis
Tallil Air Base - Dhi Qar
Non-hostile - vehicle accident
US
Sergeant Philip Allan Dodson Jr.
Tallil Air Base - Dhi Qar
Non-hostile - vehicle accident
01-Dec-2005
11
US: 11 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Sergeant 1st Class Brent A. Adams
Ramadi - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Sergeant Andy A. Stevens
Fallujah (near) - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Lance Corporal Andrew G. Patten
Fallujah (near) - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Lance Corporal Adam Wade Kaiser
Fallujah (near) - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Staff Sergeant Daniel J. Clay
Fallujah (near) - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Lance Corporal David A. Huhn
Fallujah (near) - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Corporal Anthony T. McElveen
Fallujah (near) - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Lance Corporal Scott T. Modeen
Fallujah (near) - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Lance Corporal John M. Holmason
Fallujah (near) - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Lance Corporal Robert Alexander Martinez
Fallujah (near) - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Lance Corporal Craig N. Watson
Fallujah (near) - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
http://icasualties.org/oif/prdDetails.aspx?hndRef=12-2005
Cheney Observer
Bush friend linked to top job in Russian oil industry
Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
Wednesday December 14, 2005
The Guardian
A former cabinet minister and close personal friend of George Bush may be appointed head of Russia's leading state oil company, it was reported yesterday.
Donald Evans, who was until early this year US commerce secretary, has been offered the position of head of the board of directors of Rosneft by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, the respected business daily, Kommersant, reported yesterday.
If the appointment is confirmed, Mr Evans would be the second former senior foreign official to join the Kremlin's expanding energy empire. Last week, the former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder accepted a job as chairman of the North European Gas Pipeline, a project to ferry gas between Russia and Germany that he helped broker.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1666840,00.html
Council overrides Nagin trailer veto
Members want last word on sites
Friday, December 16, 2005
By Bruce Eggler
Staff writer
The New Orleans City Council voted 7-0 Thursday to override Mayor Ray Nagin's veto of an ordinance giving district council members the final say-so on where FEMA trailer parks can be placed in their districts.
Council members have objected strongly to the administration's plans to install large groups of trailers for displaced residents in several city parks and playgrounds. They have called for using other tracts of vacant land, such as around now-empty public housing complexes.
Thursday's vote was the first time the council has overridden a mayoral veto since 1995, when the council rejected Mayor Marc Morial's veto of an ordinance awarding a new franchise to Cox Cable.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1134718725205240.xml
BUT CAN AN APPLICANT BE AN ILLEGAL ALIEN?
Council drops residency requirement
By Bruce Eggler
Staff writer
With up to 75 percent of New Orleans’ police force having been left homeless by Hurricane Katrina, the City Council voted 4-3 Thursday to suspend for three years the city’s long-controversial requirement that police officers and other city employees must live in Orleans Parish to be hired or promoted.
Mayor Ray Nagin has said in the past that he would sign an ordinance repealing the requirement, although he would not take the lead in pushing to overturn it.
The measure’s chief sponsor, Councilman Jay Batt, a longtime opponent of the requirement, wanted to make the suspension permanent but agreed to limit it to three years when it became clear that was the most he could get.
Batt said he wanted to help police officers and other city workers who have been living in cruise ships since Katrina find new housing at a time when large sections of New Orleans are uninhabitable.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2005_12_15.html
Bush doubles commitment to levees
By Mark Schleifstein,
Bob Marshall
and John McQuaid
Staff writers
New pumping stations aimed at keeping storm surge from pouring into New Orleans through drainage canals, vulnerable levees reinforced to resist erosion from waves and fast-track completion of a long-promised area hurricane protection system are the cornerstones of a $1.5 billion request announced Thursday by the Bush administration.
“The levee system will be better and stronger than it ever has been in the history of New Orleans,” said Donald Powell, the top federal official for Hurricane Katrina reconstruction. “Better and stronger than it ever has been in the history of New Orleans,” Powell repeated for emphasis, as New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin stood at his side at the White House.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2005_12_15.html
FIXING THE LEVEES ???
http://www.nola.com/katrina/bush_levee_plan_graphic1.pdf
Sun Myung, Boris and Neil Bush
By RICK CASEY
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
WHAT do the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the self-described messiah, and Russian billionaire-in-exile Boris Berezovsky have in common?
These exotic magnates have both been keeping company with Houston's First Brother, Neil Bush.
In the past few weeks Bush has been spotted in Asia with the Rev. Moon, who is on a worldwide tour promoting world peace.
You may recall Moon, 86, as the wealthy Korean owner of the Washington Times and conductor of mass weddings.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/casey/3528664.html
Hawaii's lawmakers divided on Patriot Act
Associated Press
Hawaii's two Democratic U.S. representatives were divided in their votes yesterday to renew a modified USA Patriot Act to combat terrorism.
U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Urban Honolulu) voted against the bill, calling the act "a blank check to trample civil liberties." U.S. Rep. Ed Case, meanwhile, favored the measure, which was approved and sent to the Senate.
http://starbulletin.com/2005/12/15/news/story08.html
Frist expects passage of anti-terror bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said on Thursday he expected the Senate would overcome opposition and pass this week a renewal of the USA Patriot Act, a centerpiece of President George W. Bush's war on terrorism.
"We'll get the votes ... we'll have the votes by tomorrow," Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said of efforts to give final passage to the legislation without further revisions. It is a compromise between earlier measures approved by the House of Representatives and Senate.
At the White House Bush urged the Senate to end its delay and promptly give final congressional approval to the legislation.
"Pass this important legislation so that we have the tools necessary to defend the United States of America," Bush said.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-12-15T200245Z_01_SIB572032_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-PATRIOT.xml&archived=False
HOW HAROLD FORD COULD WIN.
Ford Focus
by Clay Risen
Only at TNR Online Post date 12.16.05
Many people have already written off Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and his beleaguered 2008 presidential aspirations. But if the Frist campaign is over before it has even begun, the race to fill Frist's Senate seat, which he will vacate next year, remains wide open. That's because, with three GOP candidates locked in a tough primary, Memphis Democratic Congressman Harold Ford suddenly has a real chance of winning--and becoming the first black senator from the South to be elected since 1874. Indeed, a recent poll by the Ford campaign showed him besting each of his three rivals in head-to-head match-ups. There are a lot of "to be sures" here: Tennessee is a red state, Ford is African American, and Republicans are going to throw everything they've got into keeping Frist's seat in the GOP column. But if Ford pulls out a win, it will be a landmark election--for Democrats and for the country...
https://ssl.tnr.com/p/docsub.mhtml?i=w051212&s=risen121605
Frist: Alternative Minimum Tax Changes Must Wait Until 2006
2005-12-15
Cincinnati Post
WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Tuesday that Congress had run out of time this year to act on legislation that would save millions of taxpayers from the grasp of the alternative minimum tax in 2006.
The tax was created decades ago to prevent the wealthiest citizens from sheltering most of their income from the IRS. But because inflation has driven wages higher over the years, it increasingly threatens more taxpayers considered to be middle class, with incomes of between $50,000 and $75,000.
The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has said 3.5 million taxpayers will be subject to the alternative minimum tax on their 2005 returns. If there is no change in the law before year's end, the AMT will ensnare about 15 million additional taxpayers in 2006.
The AMT requires many taxpayers to compute what they owe to the IRS: once using the traditional system, with deductions and tax credits, and again using AMT, which exempts a specified amount from taxation ($58,000 for married couples filing jointly, $40,250 for singles), eliminates most deductions but imposes a slightly lower tax rate. Taxpayers pay whichever figure is higher.
http://www.blackenterprise.com/yb/ybopen.asp?section=ybng&story_id=86775119&ID=blackenterprise
Sen. Frist sees deal on bill to ban torture by US
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress will reach an agreement with the White House on a defense bill that would ban the torture and inhumane treatment of detainees, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said on Sunday.
Frist said on Fox News Sunday that negotiators were discussing the issue of "degrading" suspects.
The amendment, pushed by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), had passed the Senate with a 90-9 majority, but the White House fiercely opposed it. Vice President
Dick Cheney led an unsuccessful bid to exempt the CIA from the torture ban, saying it would hinder the war on terrorism.
"I think there will be clarification of what we mean, how aggressive can one be to get information?" said Frist, who did not specify what would be banned.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051211/pl_nm/security_torture_congress_dc
Abramoff Partner Pleads Guilty in Florida
From Staff Reports and News Services
Friday, December 16, 2005; Page A07
A former business partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty in Miami yesterday to fraud and conspiracy in the purchase of a fleet of gambling boats and agreed to cooperate in a congressional influence-peddling investigation.
Adam Kidan's agreement to provide evidence against Abramoff makes him the second partner of the fallen lobbyist to agree to cooperate in the investigation, which also includes congressional aides and Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501716.html
All Is Calm, All Is Bright at Interior
Imagine the joy at the Interior Department Christmas party when guests were greeted by Secretary Gale A. Norton and her former No. 2, J. Steven Griles , who left to work as a lobbyist and is under a bit of a cloud because of his connections to former crack lobbyist Jack Abramoff .
Documents released by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and the Senate Finance Committee reportedly reflect more than half a dozen contacts Griles had with Abramoff or with a woman working as the lobbyist's go-between. The contacts concerned gambling-related issues affecting four tribal clients who were paying Abramoff tens of millions of dollars to represent them.
Abramoff, who once owned a positively dreadful kosher deli on Pennsylvania Avenue NW called Stacks, is under a criminal investigation and Michael Scanlon , his partner, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe lawmakers.
But all that was put aside in the spirit of the season as Griles stood next to Norton, warmly greeting his former underlings, and everyone wished everyone a happy holiday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501812.html
A Slick Oil Offer
By Al Kamen
Friday, December 16, 2005; Page A33
Gerhard Schroeder, German chancellor just the other day, raised eyebrows last week when he announced he has taken a job with Gazprom, a huge state-controlled Russian energy company.
Now there's chatter that former commerce secretary Donald L. Evans , who headed President Bush 's campaigns going back to Texas gubernatorial races and the 2000 presidential contest, also got a fine job offer when he was in Moscow recently for a meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia.
Seems Evans, a Texas oilman, met with former KGB thug and now Russian President Vladimir Putin , and Putin offered him the job of chairman of the board of Rosneft, the country's third-largest oil company. Rosneft is a state-owned operation run by the guys who destroyed Yukos, which was run by Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky .
A source close to Evans has confirmed there was a meeting with Putin and didn't deny the job was offered, which set off a flurry of speculation. But Evans is said to have told friends he's not interested.
It's not clear what compensation package was dangled. Obviously we're talking a seven-figure salary, lots of fine perks and, of course, in the finest Soviet tradition, the right to steal as much as you can. Tough to turn that down.
The downside, though, is that Putin can always send you to a very, very cold place if you irritate him.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501812.html
FEMA finds faith
Storm relief funds earmarked for faith groups
"The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Tuesday, [November 8] that it will reimburse Harris County [Texas] $1.2 million for costs associated with providing temporary shelter operations for hurricane evacuees.
"The money will reimburse Harris County for payments to faith- based organizations used to shelter evacuees following hurricanes Katrina and Rita." -- Houston Business Journal, November 8, 2005
Nearly a month after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declared that it would use taxpayer money to reimburse faith-based organizations for the services they rendered in the aftermath of the hurricane.
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=20068
Novak says Bush must know CIA leak source
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Syndicated columnist Robert Novak says he is sure President Bush knows who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
U.S. Senate reviews spy cover system (July 25, 2005) -- Following the leak of a CIA agent's name, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee will have hearings on spy agencies' methods of identity ... >
Novak, who disclosed Plame's identity in a 2003 column, urged the public and media to ask the president about the source rather than pressing journalists who received the information.
Novak also suggested the administration official who gave him the information is the same person who mentioned Plame and her undercover CIA role to Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward in the summer of 2003.
"I'm confident the president knows who the source is," Novak told a luncheon audience at the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, N.C., the Post reported. "I'd be amazed if he doesn't."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20051215-10223200-bc-us-leak.xml
Manufacturers Group Endorses Alito
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the nation’s largest industrial trade association, announced that it supports the confirmation of Judge Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr., to fill the seat on the Supreme Court vacated by the resignation of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
"Judge Alito clearly has one of the most distinguished records of any nominee to the Supreme Court in our own time or any other time,” said NAM President John Engler. "He has served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit since 1990, and has compiled an extensive record of distinction. After an exhaustive review of his opinions and decisions, it is clear to us that he will be a Justice committed to interpreting the law as written, not an activist who will try to legislate from the bench. Business depends on a legal system that is fair and predictable.”
The NAM’s endorsement of Alito represents the second time the NAM has weighed in on a Supreme Court nominee, the first being that of Judge John Roberts earlier this year.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/15/171221.shtml
Cheney's January 2005 trip to Poland to visit secret CIA torture center
Por Wayne Madsen 15/12/2005 às 01:01
Informed sources in Washington report that when Dick Cheney flew to Poland for the 60th anniversary ceremonies marking the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp last January, his three day visit also included a clandestine visit to a secret CIA camp in Poland where suspected "Al Qaeda" prisoners were being subjected to torture.
Cheney's January 2005 trip to Poland to visit secret CIA torture center
December 13, 2005 -- Cheney's January 2005 trip to Poland to mark the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp may have had a side trip.
Informed sources in Washington report that when Dick Cheney flew to Poland for the 60th anniversary ceremonies marking the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp last January, his three day visit also included a clandestine visit to a secret CIA camp in Poland where suspected "Al Qaeda" prisoners were being subjected to torture. Cheney was in Poland from January 26 to 28. The Auschwitz solemn ceremonies were on January 27. On January 26, Cheney held talks in Krakow with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Ukraine's President Viktor Yuschenko and he visited the Galicia Jewish Museum.
Poland and Ukraine have been identified by U.S. intelligence sources as the location for secret CIA prisons and airfields. In the case of Ukraine, an intelligence source personally witnessed the defense and intelligence contractor Raytheon providing the logistics for Soviet-era airfields to handle the prisoner flights.
Cheney trip to Auschwitz allegedly took in a side trip to a secret CIA prison camp
http://www.midiaindependente.org/pt/blue/2005/12/340928.shtml
Halliburton Contractor Arrested for Alleged Bribery Attempt
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2005 — A contractor who works for Halliburton in Iraq was arrested Thursday in Tampa for allegedly attempting to bribe Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at Tampa Seaport in Florida, an ICE official tells ABC News.
The man, who works as a driver of jet fuel trucks in Iraq, was not identified.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=1411121
Who Will Bring Water to the Bolivian Poor?
By JUAN FORERO
Published: December 15, 2005
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia - The people of this high Andean city were ecstatic when they won the "water war."
Many in Cochabamba cannot depend on wells and get water through deliveries made two or three times a week by freelance water dealers.
After days of protests and martial law, Bechtel - the American multinational that had increased rates when it began running the waterworks - was forced out. As its executives fled the city, protest leaders pledged to improve service and a surging leftist political movement in Latin America celebrated the ouster as a major victory, to be repeated in country after country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/business/15water.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1134734411-so2RtE45kwtO6C9TLw3nMg
continued …
Friday, December 16, 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
The Iraqi Dead Body Count Map.
From the reporting here it would appear the Kurds in the north have the right focus but it all falls apart in the center of the county and then abates to some extent in the southern Shi'ite area. I don't believe that is grossly accurate so much as under reported. If there was an accompanying map of journalist distribution the most intense area would be central Iraq. So, it is safe to say "The Lancet" article is more accurate than this estimation.
The reporting is spotty but it is the best at the moment except for the estimate in "The Lancet" that places over 100,000 dead based on a ratio of the number of American soldiers that die.
This is the reporting the USA Commander and Chief uses to follow civilian death toll.
Morning Papers - continued...
BBC
Inuit sue US over climate policy
By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website
People living in the Arctic have filed a legal petition against the US government, saying its climate change policies violate human rights.
The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) claims the US is failing to control emissions of greenhouse gases, damaging livelihoods in the Arctic.
Its petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights demands that the US limits its emissions.
Temperatures in the Arctic are rising at about twice the global average.
The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a vast scientific study which took four years to compile, found that the region will warm by four to seven degrees Celsius by the end of the century, with summer sea ice disappearing within 60 years.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that impacts are already being felt, with seasonal melting leading to the collapse of buildings and a reduction in some fish stocks.
The petition, filed on behalf of the ICC by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), says US policies on greenhouse gas emissions are a major factor driving these changes.
"The United States is the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter; it has turned its back on the Kyoto Protocol and has not put in place measures to limit its emissions," said CIEL's senior attorney Donald Goldberg.
"The Inuit are bearing the brunt," he told the BBC News website.
Violation of rights
The petition asks the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate the harm caused to Inuit by global warming, and to declare the US "...in violation of rights affirmed in the 1948 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and other instruments of international law."
It also urges the Commission to rule that the US must adopt mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions and "...help Inuit adapt to unavoidable impacts of climate change."
If the Commission rules in favour of the Inuit, it could refer the US to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for a legal judgement.
Both the Commission and the Court work within the framework of the American Convention on Human Rights.
As the US has not ratified the Convention, a ruling by the Commission would be largely symbolic; but Donald Goldberg believes that does not make it worthless.
"If the Commission finds the US has violated human rights, it's a serious matter," he said.
"States don't like to be classified as violators of human rights; and in any case, there is a domestic legal mechanism called the Alien Torts Claims Act which might allow us to use a Commission judgement in national litigation."
The petition is the latest in a series of legal or quasi-legal cases filed against the US government and others over climate change.
The US is being asked to protect coral species threatened by climate change, Australian authorities have been forced to review procedures plans for approving coal-fired power stations, while an application in Germany would force the government to declare what greenhouse gas emissions are produced by projects supported by its export credit agency.
The biggest victory for legal campaigns on climate, co-ordinated by the group Climate Justice, came in November when a Nigerian court ordered oil companies to stop "gas flaring" - burning off gas from their oil wells.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4511556.stm
EU seeks to end budget deadlock
A number of countries have come out against the British proposal
European leaders gather later in Brussels in an attempt to reach a deal on the EU's next seven-year budget.
Ahead of the summit, Britain's last ditch proposals to break the deadlock on the issue were rejected by key EU states, including France and Germany.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso added that the offer was "wholly inadequate" and "not enough".
The offer included an increase in the budget, more money to new member states but no new cuts to the UK's own rebate.
In theory, EU leaders have until March to hammer out a deal, but planning for long-term projects could be hurt, the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4530376.stm
Extinction alert for 800 species
By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website
Last chance to see ...
Researchers have compiled a global map of sites where animals and plants face imminent extinction.
The list, drawn up by a coalition of conservation groups, covers almost 800 species which they say will disappear soon unless urgent measures are taken.
Most of the 800 are now found only in one location, mainly in the tropics.
Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers say protecting some of these sites would cost under $1,000 per year.
"This is a whole suite of species threatened with extinction," said Stuart Butchart, global species programme co-ordinator with BirdLife International, one of the groups behind the report.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4522044.stm
Can sound really travel 200 miles?
WHO, WHAT, WHY?
The Magazine answers...
Smoke from the fire chokes the sky
The blast at the Hertfordshire oil depot could reportedly be heard 200 miles away in the Netherlands and Belgium. Can sound really travel that far?
A series of blasts signalled the explosion at the Buncefield oil depot, near Hemel Hempstead, early on Sunday.
The depot, storing oil, petrol as well as kerosene, supplies airports across the region, including Heathrow.
Local residents spoke of hearing a "humungous blast" and their houses shaking, but there were also reports of the explosions being audible in the Netherlands and Belgium. Could the noise really have travelled that far?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4521232.stm
US and EU differ at trade talks
The US trade representative urged the EU to open its markets
Disagreement between the US and European Union (EU) continued to dominate the second day of global trade talks in Hong Kong.
While the US renewed calls for the EU to make extra concessions on agriculture, the EU reiterated that the farming sector was just one factor.
The EU's refusal to make more cuts to farm subsidies and tariffs is blamed by some for the impasse at the talks.
Meanwhile, poorer nations want farm subsidy cuts by all wealthy nations.
'Brinkmanship'
US Trade Representative Rob Portman said on Wednesday that a new agreement on agriculture had to be central to any new global free trade deal being achieved, however tentatively, at the World Trade Organization meeting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4527056.stm
UN Hariri probe 'needs more time'
Rafik Hariri had called for the withdrawal of Syrian troops
The head of the UN probe into the killing of ex-Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, has asked for more time to complete his inquiries.
The UN investigator, Detlev Mehlis, told the Security Council at the current rate of progress his inquiry could take another year, or even two.
A UN report says Syrian intelligence officials were involved in the blast that killed Mr Hariri in February.
Syria's ambassador denied the findings, insisting Syria had co-operated fully.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4525212.stm
Long-term tensions behind Sydney riots
By Kim Camberg
In Sydney
Residents, police and politicians are all asking what has fuelled the violence which has swept Sydney's suburbs in the last few days.
Was it racism, revenge or simply alcohol-induced aggression?
The first outbreak of violence, on Sunday in Cronulla, had been a widely publicised event.
Everyone was drunk and anyone of Middle Eastern appearance got bashed. It went on all day into the night
It came a week to the day after two surf life savers had been assaulted in what was believed to be an unprovoked attack by a large group of men of Middle Eastern appearance.
The following week, texts started circulating around Sydney calling for a revenge fight.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4525352.stm
Rwanda MP sentenced for genocide
Some 800,000 people were killed during the 1994 genocide
A United Nations court has sentenced a former Rwandan army officer and member of parliament to 25 years in prison for his part in the 1994 genocide.
The court found Aloys Simba guilty of supplying weapons and encouraging militiamen who killed thousands of civilians in Gikongoro prefecture.
However, the court said it was not convinced that Mr Simba had been one of the main architects of the genocide.
Some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in 100 days.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4527204.stm
Iraq Body Count: War dead figures
The campaign group Iraq Body Count has been recording the number of civilians reported to have been killed during the Iraq war and subsequent military presence.
On 1 December 2005, it put the total number of civilian dead at between 25,685 and 29,201 and the number of police dead at 1,640.
Iraq Body Count uses a survey of online news reports to produce its running tally, including a "minimum" and "maximum" figure where reports differ, or it is unclear whether a person killed was a civilian.
The figures include not only deaths caused by military action, but also those it considers a "direct result" of Iraq's breakdown in law and order.
In a statement on its website, Iraq Body Count says "civilian casualties are the most unacceptable consequence of all wars" and must be recorded and - if possible - investigated.
Because it relies on deaths reported by the media, it suggests its figures are an underestimate as "many if not most civilian casualties will go unreported".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4525412.stm
Iraqis vote in landmark election
Voters have to dip their finger in ink to guard against multiple voting
Iraqis are electing their first full-term government since the US-led invasion in 2003 amid tight security.
A steady stream of people are turning out to vote, say BBC journalists at polling stations across the country.
Several incidents of violence were reported soon after polls opened, but voting has not been disrupted so far.
A high turnout from Sunni Arabs, who boycotted the last election, is hoped for. President Jalal Talabani called on Iraqis to make it a day of celebration.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4530226.stm
Methodology:
1. Overview
Casualty figures are derived from a comprehensive survey of online media reports and eyewitness accounts. Where these sources report differing figures, the range (a minimum and a maximum) are given. All results are independently reviewed and error-checked by at least two members of the Iraq Body Count project team in addition to the original compiler before publication.
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/background.htm
Sudan bars Darfur atrocity probe
No high-level officials have been prosecuted for the atrocities in Darfur
Sudan's government says it will not allow international investigators into the troubled province of Darfur to collect evidence on alleged war crimes.
The ban comes as the chief prosecutor from the International Criminal Court told the UN Security Council that he wanted more co-operation from Sudan.
Luis Moreno Ocampo said he had identified mass killings and rape but had not decided who to prosecute.
Some two million people have fled their homes in the three-year Darfur war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4526208.stm
Venezuela MPs accuse US of 'plot'
Greg Morsbach
BBC News, Caracas
Mr Maduro said he had tapes to prove the claims
Two leading Venezuelan MPs have accused the US State Department, the CIA and a Congresswoman of a plot to damage the government of President Hugo Chavez.
They said there had been a conspiracy to turn last week's congressional elections in Venezuela into a fiasco.
The claims were made by the speaker of Venezuela's parliament Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
A US embassy spokesman in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, categorically denied all charges.
Audio recordings
The allegations were directed at the US embassy in Caracas and Florida's Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4526856.stm
Cuba 'bars women from prize trip'
By Stephen Gibbs
BBC News, Havana
The Ladies in White stage quiet protest marches in Havana
A group of Cuban women say they have been barred by their government from travelling to Europe to collect a prestigious human rights award.
The group, known as the Ladies in White, are joint winners of this year's Sakharov prize for freedom of thought.
For the last two years the women, who are relatives of jailed dissidents, have staged a weekly protest march.
They have been invited to Strasbourg by the European Parliament to receive the award, to be presented on Wednesday.
The other winners are Nigerian human rights lawyer Hauwa Ibrahim and Paris-based Reporters without Borders.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4527018.stm
Colombia ready for hostage talks
Colombian-French national Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped in 2002
Colombia is prepared to pull out troops from a small mountainous area to hold talks about exchanging hostages for jailed rebels, the government has said.
In what is seen as a U-turn, President Alvaro Uribe said he accepted proposals by an international commission to break a deadlock with the left-wing Farc.
The rebels are holding some 60 hostages - including foreigners - several of whom were seized several years ago.
There was no immediate response from the Farc to Mr Uribe's statement.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4526898.stm
Iranian leader denies Holocaust
Ahmadinejad's remarks echo recent statements
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has courted further controversy by explicitly calling the Nazi Holocaust of European Jewry a "myth".
"They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets," he said in a live television broadcast.
Mr Ahmadinejad called for Europe, the US or Canada to create a Jewish state there, instead of the Middle East.
Israel swiftly denounced the president's comments.
"We hope these extremist comments by the Iranian president will make the international community open its eyes and abandon any illusions about this regime," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev told AFP news agency.
Mr Ahmadinejad's latest declaration reiterates comments he made last week in which he said he did not accept six million Jews were killed by the Nazis, remarks which were widely condemned.
The president also sparked international outrage in October when he said Israel should be "wiped off the map".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4527142.stm
San Francisco Chronicle
Global warming is threatening polar bears with extinction. If immediate action is not taken one of this country's most beloved animals will be extinct in just 45 years.
https://secureusa.greenpeace.org/securedonate/index.php?usa_source_template=polarbear&ref_source=sfgate
Daring rescue of whale off Farallones
Humpback nuzzled her saviors in thanks after they untangled her from crab lines, diver says
Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
A humpback whale freed by divers from a tangle of crab trap lines near the Farallon Islands nudged its rescuers and flapped around in what marine experts said was a rare and remarkable encounter.
"It felt to me like it was thanking us, knowing that it was free and that we had helped it," James Moskito, one of the rescue divers, said Tuesday. "It stopped about a foot away from me, pushed me around a little bit and had some fun."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGNKG7Q0V1.DTL
Police Dept. video scandal quietly slipping into Phase B
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
A funny thing happened over the weekend to the big "Cops Gone Wild" video scandal in San Francisco -- it started getting very quiet.
Apparently, Mayor Gavin Newsom and his handlers realized that while the videos were bad, they didn't quite prove -- at least in the public's mind -- Newsom's charge that they were evidence of a "deep-seated" culture of sexism, racism and homophobia running through the department.
By Sunday, the message was going out that Newsom -- having made his point and formed a "blue-ribbon" commission to look into the department's culture -- was now ready to get as many of the 24 suspended cops back to work in the Bayview Station as possible, as soon as possible.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/BAGSTG7H2D1.DTL
Newsom defends response to SFPD videos
Henry K. Lee and Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
(12-14) 16:57 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom defended his quick condemnation of police featured in videos he found offensive to women and minorities, as the officer who produced the skits apologized today but said it was time for "this ridiculous slandering" to stop.
At a packed news conference at City Hall, Newsom endorsed Police Chief Heather Fong's decision to suspend without pay two dozen officers at the Bayview station who were involved in the videos. Eight have since been allowed to return to work.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/15/SFCOPS.TMP
STANFORD
Campus mourns ex-grad student
Chemistry Ph.D. candidate felt he had to go to Iraq
Dave Murphy, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, December 15, 2005
As President Bush finished his speech about terrorism Wednesday at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, one name he mentioned had a tragically familiar ring at Stanford University.
He told the story of Marine Lt. Ryan McGlothlin, who was working on a doctorate in chemistry at Stanford in 2003, when he told his father that he wanted to protect the United States from terrorists by joining the Marines.
"When his father asked him if there was some other way to serve, Ryan replied that he felt a special obligation to step up because he had been given so much," the president said. "Ryan didn't support me in the last election, but he supported our mission in Iraq. And he supported his fellow Marines."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/15/STANFORD.TMP
Members of notorious S.F. gang admit to shootings
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
(12-14) 13:58 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- The last two defendants in a wide-ranging federal investigation that led to a crackdown on the notorious "Big Block" gang in San Francisco have pleaded guilty in a series of drug-related shootings, authorities said today.
Douglas Stepney, 33, and Kim Ellis, 31, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Tuesday, acknowledging the gang's involvement in five drug-related shootings. Stepney is expected to receive a 23-year prison sentence in March, while Ellis is set to be sentenced to 20 years.
Stepney, the leader of the Big Block gang that operated in the Harbor Road area in the Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood, admitted his role in a drive-by shooting in an attempt to kill a rival gang member in March 2001.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGL8G82SI23.DTL
After Williams, a new dilemma for governor
Next: Gravely ill and blind man, 75, scheduled to die
Jim Doyle, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Clarence Ray Allen, the next inmate scheduled to die in San Quentin State Prison's execution chamber, may pose a quandary as vexing for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Stanley Tookie Williams.
Allen, who has spent more than a quarter-century on Death Row, is slated to die by lethal injection Jan. 17. He would be the oldest and most infirm prisoner executed in the United States since the death penalty was restored in 1977, according to his lawyers.
Pasted from <http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGNKG7Q0T1.DTL
Volunteer encyclopedia as accurate as Britannica, journal says
By DAN GOODIN, AP Technology Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
(12-14) 18:32 PST San Francisco (AP) --
Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that relies on volunteers to pen nearly 4 million articles, is about as accurate in covering scientific topics as Encyclopedia Britannica, the journal Nature wrote in an online article published Wednesday.
The finding, based on a side-by-side comparison of articles covering a broad swath of the scientific spectrum, comes as Wikipedia faces criticism over the accuracy of some of its entries.
Two weeks ago prominent journalist John Seigenthaler revealed that a Wikipedia entry that ran for four months had incorrectly named him as a longtime suspect in the assassinations of president John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/14/state/n183218S15.DTL
SAN FRANCISCO
Foundation agrees to return portion of AIDS quilt to creator
Settlement also lets founder nominate directors for board
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Printable Version
Email This Article
The two sides battling over the return of a portion of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to San Francisco have settled on an agreement after a contentious two-year court battle, attorneys for each side said Tuesday.
Settlement talks between the parties -- Cleve Jones, the founder of the quilt project, and the Names Project Foundation, the Atlanta organization that owns it -- broke down last month when they failed to agree on a written settlement.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/BAGSTG7NOO1.DTL
Human rights, rendered meaningless
Robert Scheer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
THE MORE we learn of the Bush administration's pervasive outsourcing of torture, the more sensible it seems as a policy. Evidently, our intelligence people, tainted as they are by the squeamish morality of Western civilization, are just not fully up to the task of getting prisoners to tell us what the administration wants us to hear.
Sure, they tried water boarding and extreme stress positions in Guantanamo, but would U.S. interrogators be willing to pull out fingernails or use electric shock, as was inflicted upon at least a dozen of the 625 Baghdad inmates released Sunday from yet another secret inhuman jail run by our Iraqi surrogates? Not guaranteed, and anyway, some conscious-stricken soldier likely would release photos, as one did at Abu Ghraib, and let the world in on our use of such special methods.
Better to use the services of those less democratic nations where torture is the norm, including some, such as Uzbekistan, that still have usable camps left over from Soviet-era torturers. That must be behind the logic of "extraordinary rendition," as it officially is called, in which it is acknowledged U.S. policy to turn over prisoners our government has captured to other nations deemed more effective in interrogation.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/12/14/EDG9IG72TE1.DTL
The Tehran Times
Ahmadinejad’s idea on Israel correct in principal
By Henryk M. Broder
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s suggestion to move Israel to Germany is not as absurd as it sounds. If you consider the idea impartially, you can see a historic land reform concept which can be advantageous to all parties.
Everyone is attacking the Iranian president again because he suggested moving Israel from the Middle East to Germany, or Austria. Even those who were not outraged about Ahmadinejad’s demand "to wipe Israel off the map" are agitated, because now they see the problem as becoming theirs. As much as a "world without Zionism" is imaginable, a Europe with a Jewish State in its midst is a vision of horror that no one wants to follow to its logical conclusion.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Ahmadinejad’s suggestions "totally unacceptable". Her hasty reaction did not take into account that the Iranian president had, after all, moved away from his original demand to destroy Israel and now wants a "relocation" of the "Zionist entity". From a humanitarian point of view, this is progress: The Israelis should no longer disappear into the ocean, but be sent on an overseas journey instead. One could also say that Europe should take back the problem that it created and exported. But the recipient is refusing delivery of the parcel even before it has been sent.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=003
Mirror images: the political cultures of France and USA
By Behnam Elmi
Due to the views of U.S. officials, the United States has developed a political culture that is diametrically opposed to the political culture of European countries.
According to a poll carried out in the United States earlier this year, Paris is believed to be losing its significance as an ally of Washington, while at the same time the Asian partners of the United States are regarded as more important than its European partners. In light of the fact that the U.S. has lost over 2000 soldiers in the Iraq war and spent billions from the national purse, not to mention the scandals of U.S. soldiers torturing prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo, which are increasing the international community’s disgust with U.S. officials, why is U.S. public opinion still supporting the U.S. government’s Iraq policy?
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=14&Num=001
Resistance and unity only way to liberate Palestine: Leader
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said here on Tuesday that the only way to guarantee the freedom of Palestine is to continue resistance while maintaining unity.
In a meeting with Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mashaal and his accompanying delegation, Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the Palestinian nation’s recent success in ousting Zionist troops from Gaza was a result of their struggles and jihad against the occupier Israeli regime.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=008
Iran, Russia discuss bilateral, regional and international issues
MOSCOW (IRNA) – Iranian Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, who is on a tour of Russia at the head of a parliamentary delegation, discussed nuclear and parliamentary cooperation with officials in Moscow on Tuesday. His talks also touched on regional and international cooperation between the two states.
Iran has solid technical, military and economic cooperation with Russia. Russia has been a vocal supporter of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
In a meeting between Haddad-Adel and Russian Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov on Tuesday, the Russian official praised Iran's principled stance on Russia's North Caucasus.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=009
Resistance and unity only way to liberate Palestine: Leader
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said here on Tuesday that the only way to guarantee the freedom of Palestine is to continue resistance while maintaining unity.
In a meeting with Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mashaal and his accompanying delegation, Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the Palestinian nation’s recent success in ousting Zionist troops from Gaza was a result of their struggles and jihad against the occupier Israeli regime.
“The only way to guarantee the freedom and future of Palestine is to continue with the resistance while maintaining strength and unity and observing the main principles of Islam.”
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=008
Science
http://www.tehrantimes.com/science.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
Iran entitled to production of nuclear energy: Australian envoy
TEHRAN (IRNA) -- Australian Ambassador to Tehran Gregory Lawrence Moriaty here on Tuesday said that Iran is entitled to produce nuclear energy and expressed his country's continued encouragement for Iran's further transparency and confidence building.
According to the Majlis media department, speaking at a meeting with Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman, Alaeddin Borujerdi, the diplomat added that despite the difference of ideas between officials of the two states in this respect, the Australian prime minister, foreign minister and other state officials urge the need for the multifaceted expansion of relations.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=1
Africans forego basics to save children
LONDON (Reuters) -- Families in Africa are struggling to pay medical bills for their sick children and do without basics such as food to make ends meet, a leading charity said.
Save the Children UK, which conducted research in seven African nations, found that poor families were forced to sell livestock, mortgage crops and take children out of school to cover healthcare costs.
"Parents across sub-Saharan Africa are being forced to decide whether the rest of the family should go without food to send a sick child to a clinic or hospital. It's a choice no parent should ever have to make," said Anna Taylor, head of health at the charity.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=5&Num=1
Sports
http://www.tehrantimes.com/sports.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
Weather in Tehran
http://www.tehrantimes.com/weather.htm
Economy = Oil
http://www.tehrantimes.com/economy.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
Culture
http://www.tehrantimes.com/culture.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
Religion
http://www.tehrantimes.com/religion.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
continued …
Inuit sue US over climate policy
By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website
People living in the Arctic have filed a legal petition against the US government, saying its climate change policies violate human rights.
The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) claims the US is failing to control emissions of greenhouse gases, damaging livelihoods in the Arctic.
Its petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights demands that the US limits its emissions.
Temperatures in the Arctic are rising at about twice the global average.
The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a vast scientific study which took four years to compile, found that the region will warm by four to seven degrees Celsius by the end of the century, with summer sea ice disappearing within 60 years.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that impacts are already being felt, with seasonal melting leading to the collapse of buildings and a reduction in some fish stocks.
The petition, filed on behalf of the ICC by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), says US policies on greenhouse gas emissions are a major factor driving these changes.
"The United States is the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter; it has turned its back on the Kyoto Protocol and has not put in place measures to limit its emissions," said CIEL's senior attorney Donald Goldberg.
"The Inuit are bearing the brunt," he told the BBC News website.
Violation of rights
The petition asks the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate the harm caused to Inuit by global warming, and to declare the US "...in violation of rights affirmed in the 1948 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and other instruments of international law."
It also urges the Commission to rule that the US must adopt mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions and "...help Inuit adapt to unavoidable impacts of climate change."
If the Commission rules in favour of the Inuit, it could refer the US to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for a legal judgement.
Both the Commission and the Court work within the framework of the American Convention on Human Rights.
As the US has not ratified the Convention, a ruling by the Commission would be largely symbolic; but Donald Goldberg believes that does not make it worthless.
"If the Commission finds the US has violated human rights, it's a serious matter," he said.
"States don't like to be classified as violators of human rights; and in any case, there is a domestic legal mechanism called the Alien Torts Claims Act which might allow us to use a Commission judgement in national litigation."
The petition is the latest in a series of legal or quasi-legal cases filed against the US government and others over climate change.
The US is being asked to protect coral species threatened by climate change, Australian authorities have been forced to review procedures plans for approving coal-fired power stations, while an application in Germany would force the government to declare what greenhouse gas emissions are produced by projects supported by its export credit agency.
The biggest victory for legal campaigns on climate, co-ordinated by the group Climate Justice, came in November when a Nigerian court ordered oil companies to stop "gas flaring" - burning off gas from their oil wells.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4511556.stm
EU seeks to end budget deadlock
A number of countries have come out against the British proposal
European leaders gather later in Brussels in an attempt to reach a deal on the EU's next seven-year budget.
Ahead of the summit, Britain's last ditch proposals to break the deadlock on the issue were rejected by key EU states, including France and Germany.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso added that the offer was "wholly inadequate" and "not enough".
The offer included an increase in the budget, more money to new member states but no new cuts to the UK's own rebate.
In theory, EU leaders have until March to hammer out a deal, but planning for long-term projects could be hurt, the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4530376.stm
Extinction alert for 800 species
By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website
Last chance to see ...
Researchers have compiled a global map of sites where animals and plants face imminent extinction.
The list, drawn up by a coalition of conservation groups, covers almost 800 species which they say will disappear soon unless urgent measures are taken.
Most of the 800 are now found only in one location, mainly in the tropics.
Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers say protecting some of these sites would cost under $1,000 per year.
"This is a whole suite of species threatened with extinction," said Stuart Butchart, global species programme co-ordinator with BirdLife International, one of the groups behind the report.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4522044.stm
Can sound really travel 200 miles?
WHO, WHAT, WHY?
The Magazine answers...
Smoke from the fire chokes the sky
The blast at the Hertfordshire oil depot could reportedly be heard 200 miles away in the Netherlands and Belgium. Can sound really travel that far?
A series of blasts signalled the explosion at the Buncefield oil depot, near Hemel Hempstead, early on Sunday.
The depot, storing oil, petrol as well as kerosene, supplies airports across the region, including Heathrow.
Local residents spoke of hearing a "humungous blast" and their houses shaking, but there were also reports of the explosions being audible in the Netherlands and Belgium. Could the noise really have travelled that far?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4521232.stm
US and EU differ at trade talks
The US trade representative urged the EU to open its markets
Disagreement between the US and European Union (EU) continued to dominate the second day of global trade talks in Hong Kong.
While the US renewed calls for the EU to make extra concessions on agriculture, the EU reiterated that the farming sector was just one factor.
The EU's refusal to make more cuts to farm subsidies and tariffs is blamed by some for the impasse at the talks.
Meanwhile, poorer nations want farm subsidy cuts by all wealthy nations.
'Brinkmanship'
US Trade Representative Rob Portman said on Wednesday that a new agreement on agriculture had to be central to any new global free trade deal being achieved, however tentatively, at the World Trade Organization meeting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4527056.stm
UN Hariri probe 'needs more time'
Rafik Hariri had called for the withdrawal of Syrian troops
The head of the UN probe into the killing of ex-Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, has asked for more time to complete his inquiries.
The UN investigator, Detlev Mehlis, told the Security Council at the current rate of progress his inquiry could take another year, or even two.
A UN report says Syrian intelligence officials were involved in the blast that killed Mr Hariri in February.
Syria's ambassador denied the findings, insisting Syria had co-operated fully.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4525212.stm
Long-term tensions behind Sydney riots
By Kim Camberg
In Sydney
Residents, police and politicians are all asking what has fuelled the violence which has swept Sydney's suburbs in the last few days.
Was it racism, revenge or simply alcohol-induced aggression?
The first outbreak of violence, on Sunday in Cronulla, had been a widely publicised event.
Everyone was drunk and anyone of Middle Eastern appearance got bashed. It went on all day into the night
It came a week to the day after two surf life savers had been assaulted in what was believed to be an unprovoked attack by a large group of men of Middle Eastern appearance.
The following week, texts started circulating around Sydney calling for a revenge fight.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4525352.stm
Rwanda MP sentenced for genocide
Some 800,000 people were killed during the 1994 genocide
A United Nations court has sentenced a former Rwandan army officer and member of parliament to 25 years in prison for his part in the 1994 genocide.
The court found Aloys Simba guilty of supplying weapons and encouraging militiamen who killed thousands of civilians in Gikongoro prefecture.
However, the court said it was not convinced that Mr Simba had been one of the main architects of the genocide.
Some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in 100 days.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4527204.stm
Iraq Body Count: War dead figures
The campaign group Iraq Body Count has been recording the number of civilians reported to have been killed during the Iraq war and subsequent military presence.
On 1 December 2005, it put the total number of civilian dead at between 25,685 and 29,201 and the number of police dead at 1,640.
Iraq Body Count uses a survey of online news reports to produce its running tally, including a "minimum" and "maximum" figure where reports differ, or it is unclear whether a person killed was a civilian.
The figures include not only deaths caused by military action, but also those it considers a "direct result" of Iraq's breakdown in law and order.
In a statement on its website, Iraq Body Count says "civilian casualties are the most unacceptable consequence of all wars" and must be recorded and - if possible - investigated.
Because it relies on deaths reported by the media, it suggests its figures are an underestimate as "many if not most civilian casualties will go unreported".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4525412.stm
Iraqis vote in landmark election
Voters have to dip their finger in ink to guard against multiple voting
Iraqis are electing their first full-term government since the US-led invasion in 2003 amid tight security.
A steady stream of people are turning out to vote, say BBC journalists at polling stations across the country.
Several incidents of violence were reported soon after polls opened, but voting has not been disrupted so far.
A high turnout from Sunni Arabs, who boycotted the last election, is hoped for. President Jalal Talabani called on Iraqis to make it a day of celebration.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4530226.stm
Methodology:
1. Overview
Casualty figures are derived from a comprehensive survey of online media reports and eyewitness accounts. Where these sources report differing figures, the range (a minimum and a maximum) are given. All results are independently reviewed and error-checked by at least two members of the Iraq Body Count project team in addition to the original compiler before publication.
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/background.htm
Sudan bars Darfur atrocity probe
No high-level officials have been prosecuted for the atrocities in Darfur
Sudan's government says it will not allow international investigators into the troubled province of Darfur to collect evidence on alleged war crimes.
The ban comes as the chief prosecutor from the International Criminal Court told the UN Security Council that he wanted more co-operation from Sudan.
Luis Moreno Ocampo said he had identified mass killings and rape but had not decided who to prosecute.
Some two million people have fled their homes in the three-year Darfur war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4526208.stm
Venezuela MPs accuse US of 'plot'
Greg Morsbach
BBC News, Caracas
Mr Maduro said he had tapes to prove the claims
Two leading Venezuelan MPs have accused the US State Department, the CIA and a Congresswoman of a plot to damage the government of President Hugo Chavez.
They said there had been a conspiracy to turn last week's congressional elections in Venezuela into a fiasco.
The claims were made by the speaker of Venezuela's parliament Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
A US embassy spokesman in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, categorically denied all charges.
Audio recordings
The allegations were directed at the US embassy in Caracas and Florida's Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4526856.stm
Cuba 'bars women from prize trip'
By Stephen Gibbs
BBC News, Havana
The Ladies in White stage quiet protest marches in Havana
A group of Cuban women say they have been barred by their government from travelling to Europe to collect a prestigious human rights award.
The group, known as the Ladies in White, are joint winners of this year's Sakharov prize for freedom of thought.
For the last two years the women, who are relatives of jailed dissidents, have staged a weekly protest march.
They have been invited to Strasbourg by the European Parliament to receive the award, to be presented on Wednesday.
The other winners are Nigerian human rights lawyer Hauwa Ibrahim and Paris-based Reporters without Borders.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4527018.stm
Colombia ready for hostage talks
Colombian-French national Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped in 2002
Colombia is prepared to pull out troops from a small mountainous area to hold talks about exchanging hostages for jailed rebels, the government has said.
In what is seen as a U-turn, President Alvaro Uribe said he accepted proposals by an international commission to break a deadlock with the left-wing Farc.
The rebels are holding some 60 hostages - including foreigners - several of whom were seized several years ago.
There was no immediate response from the Farc to Mr Uribe's statement.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4526898.stm
Iranian leader denies Holocaust
Ahmadinejad's remarks echo recent statements
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has courted further controversy by explicitly calling the Nazi Holocaust of European Jewry a "myth".
"They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets," he said in a live television broadcast.
Mr Ahmadinejad called for Europe, the US or Canada to create a Jewish state there, instead of the Middle East.
Israel swiftly denounced the president's comments.
"We hope these extremist comments by the Iranian president will make the international community open its eyes and abandon any illusions about this regime," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev told AFP news agency.
Mr Ahmadinejad's latest declaration reiterates comments he made last week in which he said he did not accept six million Jews were killed by the Nazis, remarks which were widely condemned.
The president also sparked international outrage in October when he said Israel should be "wiped off the map".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4527142.stm
San Francisco Chronicle
Global warming is threatening polar bears with extinction. If immediate action is not taken one of this country's most beloved animals will be extinct in just 45 years.
https://secureusa.greenpeace.org/securedonate/index.php?usa_source_template=polarbear&ref_source=sfgate
Daring rescue of whale off Farallones
Humpback nuzzled her saviors in thanks after they untangled her from crab lines, diver says
Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
A humpback whale freed by divers from a tangle of crab trap lines near the Farallon Islands nudged its rescuers and flapped around in what marine experts said was a rare and remarkable encounter.
"It felt to me like it was thanking us, knowing that it was free and that we had helped it," James Moskito, one of the rescue divers, said Tuesday. "It stopped about a foot away from me, pushed me around a little bit and had some fun."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGNKG7Q0V1.DTL
Police Dept. video scandal quietly slipping into Phase B
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
A funny thing happened over the weekend to the big "Cops Gone Wild" video scandal in San Francisco -- it started getting very quiet.
Apparently, Mayor Gavin Newsom and his handlers realized that while the videos were bad, they didn't quite prove -- at least in the public's mind -- Newsom's charge that they were evidence of a "deep-seated" culture of sexism, racism and homophobia running through the department.
By Sunday, the message was going out that Newsom -- having made his point and formed a "blue-ribbon" commission to look into the department's culture -- was now ready to get as many of the 24 suspended cops back to work in the Bayview Station as possible, as soon as possible.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/BAGSTG7H2D1.DTL
Newsom defends response to SFPD videos
Henry K. Lee and Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
(12-14) 16:57 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom defended his quick condemnation of police featured in videos he found offensive to women and minorities, as the officer who produced the skits apologized today but said it was time for "this ridiculous slandering" to stop.
At a packed news conference at City Hall, Newsom endorsed Police Chief Heather Fong's decision to suspend without pay two dozen officers at the Bayview station who were involved in the videos. Eight have since been allowed to return to work.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/15/SFCOPS.TMP
STANFORD
Campus mourns ex-grad student
Chemistry Ph.D. candidate felt he had to go to Iraq
Dave Murphy, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, December 15, 2005
As President Bush finished his speech about terrorism Wednesday at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, one name he mentioned had a tragically familiar ring at Stanford University.
He told the story of Marine Lt. Ryan McGlothlin, who was working on a doctorate in chemistry at Stanford in 2003, when he told his father that he wanted to protect the United States from terrorists by joining the Marines.
"When his father asked him if there was some other way to serve, Ryan replied that he felt a special obligation to step up because he had been given so much," the president said. "Ryan didn't support me in the last election, but he supported our mission in Iraq. And he supported his fellow Marines."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/15/STANFORD.TMP
Members of notorious S.F. gang admit to shootings
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
(12-14) 13:58 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- The last two defendants in a wide-ranging federal investigation that led to a crackdown on the notorious "Big Block" gang in San Francisco have pleaded guilty in a series of drug-related shootings, authorities said today.
Douglas Stepney, 33, and Kim Ellis, 31, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Tuesday, acknowledging the gang's involvement in five drug-related shootings. Stepney is expected to receive a 23-year prison sentence in March, while Ellis is set to be sentenced to 20 years.
Stepney, the leader of the Big Block gang that operated in the Harbor Road area in the Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood, admitted his role in a drive-by shooting in an attempt to kill a rival gang member in March 2001.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGL8G82SI23.DTL
After Williams, a new dilemma for governor
Next: Gravely ill and blind man, 75, scheduled to die
Jim Doyle, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Clarence Ray Allen, the next inmate scheduled to die in San Quentin State Prison's execution chamber, may pose a quandary as vexing for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Stanley Tookie Williams.
Allen, who has spent more than a quarter-century on Death Row, is slated to die by lethal injection Jan. 17. He would be the oldest and most infirm prisoner executed in the United States since the death penalty was restored in 1977, according to his lawyers.
Pasted from <http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGNKG7Q0T1.DTL
Volunteer encyclopedia as accurate as Britannica, journal says
By DAN GOODIN, AP Technology Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
(12-14) 18:32 PST San Francisco (AP) --
Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that relies on volunteers to pen nearly 4 million articles, is about as accurate in covering scientific topics as Encyclopedia Britannica, the journal Nature wrote in an online article published Wednesday.
The finding, based on a side-by-side comparison of articles covering a broad swath of the scientific spectrum, comes as Wikipedia faces criticism over the accuracy of some of its entries.
Two weeks ago prominent journalist John Seigenthaler revealed that a Wikipedia entry that ran for four months had incorrectly named him as a longtime suspect in the assassinations of president John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/14/state/n183218S15.DTL
SAN FRANCISCO
Foundation agrees to return portion of AIDS quilt to creator
Settlement also lets founder nominate directors for board
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Printable Version
Email This Article
The two sides battling over the return of a portion of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to San Francisco have settled on an agreement after a contentious two-year court battle, attorneys for each side said Tuesday.
Settlement talks between the parties -- Cleve Jones, the founder of the quilt project, and the Names Project Foundation, the Atlanta organization that owns it -- broke down last month when they failed to agree on a written settlement.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/BAGSTG7NOO1.DTL
Human rights, rendered meaningless
Robert Scheer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
THE MORE we learn of the Bush administration's pervasive outsourcing of torture, the more sensible it seems as a policy. Evidently, our intelligence people, tainted as they are by the squeamish morality of Western civilization, are just not fully up to the task of getting prisoners to tell us what the administration wants us to hear.
Sure, they tried water boarding and extreme stress positions in Guantanamo, but would U.S. interrogators be willing to pull out fingernails or use electric shock, as was inflicted upon at least a dozen of the 625 Baghdad inmates released Sunday from yet another secret inhuman jail run by our Iraqi surrogates? Not guaranteed, and anyway, some conscious-stricken soldier likely would release photos, as one did at Abu Ghraib, and let the world in on our use of such special methods.
Better to use the services of those less democratic nations where torture is the norm, including some, such as Uzbekistan, that still have usable camps left over from Soviet-era torturers. That must be behind the logic of "extraordinary rendition," as it officially is called, in which it is acknowledged U.S. policy to turn over prisoners our government has captured to other nations deemed more effective in interrogation.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/12/14/EDG9IG72TE1.DTL
The Tehran Times
Ahmadinejad’s idea on Israel correct in principal
By Henryk M. Broder
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s suggestion to move Israel to Germany is not as absurd as it sounds. If you consider the idea impartially, you can see a historic land reform concept which can be advantageous to all parties.
Everyone is attacking the Iranian president again because he suggested moving Israel from the Middle East to Germany, or Austria. Even those who were not outraged about Ahmadinejad’s demand "to wipe Israel off the map" are agitated, because now they see the problem as becoming theirs. As much as a "world without Zionism" is imaginable, a Europe with a Jewish State in its midst is a vision of horror that no one wants to follow to its logical conclusion.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Ahmadinejad’s suggestions "totally unacceptable". Her hasty reaction did not take into account that the Iranian president had, after all, moved away from his original demand to destroy Israel and now wants a "relocation" of the "Zionist entity". From a humanitarian point of view, this is progress: The Israelis should no longer disappear into the ocean, but be sent on an overseas journey instead. One could also say that Europe should take back the problem that it created and exported. But the recipient is refusing delivery of the parcel even before it has been sent.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=003
Mirror images: the political cultures of France and USA
By Behnam Elmi
Due to the views of U.S. officials, the United States has developed a political culture that is diametrically opposed to the political culture of European countries.
According to a poll carried out in the United States earlier this year, Paris is believed to be losing its significance as an ally of Washington, while at the same time the Asian partners of the United States are regarded as more important than its European partners. In light of the fact that the U.S. has lost over 2000 soldiers in the Iraq war and spent billions from the national purse, not to mention the scandals of U.S. soldiers torturing prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo, which are increasing the international community’s disgust with U.S. officials, why is U.S. public opinion still supporting the U.S. government’s Iraq policy?
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=14&Num=001
Resistance and unity only way to liberate Palestine: Leader
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said here on Tuesday that the only way to guarantee the freedom of Palestine is to continue resistance while maintaining unity.
In a meeting with Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mashaal and his accompanying delegation, Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the Palestinian nation’s recent success in ousting Zionist troops from Gaza was a result of their struggles and jihad against the occupier Israeli regime.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=008
Iran, Russia discuss bilateral, regional and international issues
MOSCOW (IRNA) – Iranian Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, who is on a tour of Russia at the head of a parliamentary delegation, discussed nuclear and parliamentary cooperation with officials in Moscow on Tuesday. His talks also touched on regional and international cooperation between the two states.
Iran has solid technical, military and economic cooperation with Russia. Russia has been a vocal supporter of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
In a meeting between Haddad-Adel and Russian Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov on Tuesday, the Russian official praised Iran's principled stance on Russia's North Caucasus.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=009
Resistance and unity only way to liberate Palestine: Leader
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said here on Tuesday that the only way to guarantee the freedom of Palestine is to continue resistance while maintaining unity.
In a meeting with Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mashaal and his accompanying delegation, Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the Palestinian nation’s recent success in ousting Zionist troops from Gaza was a result of their struggles and jihad against the occupier Israeli regime.
“The only way to guarantee the freedom and future of Palestine is to continue with the resistance while maintaining strength and unity and observing the main principles of Islam.”
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=008
Science
http://www.tehrantimes.com/science.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
Iran entitled to production of nuclear energy: Australian envoy
TEHRAN (IRNA) -- Australian Ambassador to Tehran Gregory Lawrence Moriaty here on Tuesday said that Iran is entitled to produce nuclear energy and expressed his country's continued encouragement for Iran's further transparency and confidence building.
According to the Majlis media department, speaking at a meeting with Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman, Alaeddin Borujerdi, the diplomat added that despite the difference of ideas between officials of the two states in this respect, the Australian prime minister, foreign minister and other state officials urge the need for the multifaceted expansion of relations.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=1
Africans forego basics to save children
LONDON (Reuters) -- Families in Africa are struggling to pay medical bills for their sick children and do without basics such as food to make ends meet, a leading charity said.
Save the Children UK, which conducted research in seven African nations, found that poor families were forced to sell livestock, mortgage crops and take children out of school to cover healthcare costs.
"Parents across sub-Saharan Africa are being forced to decide whether the rest of the family should go without food to send a sick child to a clinic or hospital. It's a choice no parent should ever have to make," said Anna Taylor, head of health at the charity.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=5&Num=1
Sports
http://www.tehrantimes.com/sports.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
Weather in Tehran
http://www.tehrantimes.com/weather.htm
Economy = Oil
http://www.tehrantimes.com/economy.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
Culture
http://www.tehrantimes.com/culture.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
Religion
http://www.tehrantimes.com/religion.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
continued …
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