$1 billion lawsuit looms for AWB
November 29, 2006 - 7:01AM
A potential $US1 billion-plus class action lawsuit by American farmers against the AWB will likely be filed in the US in coming weeks, the US lawyer leading the case says.
If the lawsuit is successful, all farmers in the US hurt by the Australian wheat exporter's illegal dealings with Saddam Hussein's former Iraqi government could be compensated.
L. Palmer Foret, a Washington DC-based lawyer, said the damages could exceed $US1 billion ($1.29 billion).
The legal move followed the release of this week's damning Cole Commission report into the AWB's corrupt payments of $290 million in kickbacks to the Hussein regime.
Foret said he has examined the Cole report and described it as "very helpful" for the class-action lawsuit.
"It's got a wealth of information in it," Foret said.
The lawsuit was originally filed in the US Federal Court in Washington DC earlier this year, but Foret said it was withdrawn so the legal team could examine the Cole report.
"Quite frankly we knew the Cole Commission report was coming out and even though I think we knew what it was going to say, we wanted to see that," he said.
"The lawsuit will be re-filed, I hope, by the end of the year."
The lawsuit originally represented six farmers from Kansas and Virginia, but the legal team requested it be certified a class-action suit so that all US farmers who lost money be compensated.
The suit did not request a specific dollar figure in damages if successful, but Foret said it could exceed $US1 billion.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/1-billion-lawsuit-looms-for-awb/2006/11/29/1164476239357.html
Next trick: saving the planet
In his 1963 book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, the American inventor R. Buckminster Fuller wrote: "Now there is one outstandingly important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it."
An MP in the Howard Government spent years quietly persuading his own party that global warming was real, and a real problem. Now that the Prime Minister has become an overnight convert, Greg Hunt is setting out the next frontier for the Government - what to do about it. He calls it "big history in the making".
Hunt's speech last night to the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney is the best attempt yet by anyone in the Federal Government to come up with an instruction book for Spaceship Earth, or at least for the current phase of its journey.
Hunt is the parliamentary secretary for the environment, but his speech goes well beyond existing government policy and sets out suggestions and options for future policy.
His speech is measured and empirical. It is critical of Labor policy - a carbon tax wouldn't work, he argues - but his approach is overwhelmingly a positive, problem-solving one.
He calls the challenge a "once-in-a-century transition - we are now at that moment in history where we can begin to incorporate … the costs of pollution into the costs of production".
Hunt does not minimise the problem. Noting that the scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated an average global warming of 1.4 to 5.8 degrees by 2100 on present trends, he points out that "a five-degree global average temperature change is all that separates us today from the Ice Age".
While he says that "the deniers are wrong", he adds that "the doomsayers also are wrong".
"We have faced the so-called 'end of the world' before, and survived."
Further, he argues it is possible for the global economy to continue to grow, for the world energy supply to keep pace, and yet to do it even as we clean up carbon emissions.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/next-trick-saving-the-planet/2006/11/30/1164777724961.html
US bound for recession, tips RBA board member
AN INFLUENTIAL Reserve Bank board member, Warwick McKibbin, says the United States is heading for recession.
The chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, expects a smooth slowdown, but Professor McKibbin predicts a housing-induced contraction will make "the Fed's job very difficult".
"I think there will be a recession in the US next year because of the housing market coming off and consumers slowing down their spending," the Australian National University economist told the Herald.
Yesterday the Bureau of Economic Analysis said US gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 2.2 per cent in the September quarter. The figure was revised up from 1.6 per cent but remained slower than the 2.6 per cent recorded in the three months to June.
A US recession would cause global long-term interest rates to drop and encourage central banks to cut official short-term rates.
The pressure for lower rates will increase if, as Professor McKibbin believes, commodity prices are poised to fall.
Noah's Ark rescue for devastated Tassie devils
THE first of a Noah's Ark collection of Tasmanian devils leaves today for mainland zoos as the disease devastating the marsupial intensifies.
The 47 animals were given final health checks by state veterinarians before leaving to found a captive breeding population as a last-ditch insurance against the extinction of the species in the wild.
More than half of all wild devils have died in recent years from facial tumour disease. Research shows the disease is forcing wild females to breed much younger and leading mothers to produce a single litter before they die compared with the normal three. The disease is believed to be spread through the devils' habit of biting each other in quarrels for food and during sex.
"Most believe there is a possibility the devils could become extinct in Tasmania, which makes this insurance population vital," said Steven Smith, manager of Tasmania's devil disease program.
The young migrants to fly out in animal containers today are the first of the breeding stock which will go to four mainland states, including 18 destined for Victoria's Healesville Sanctuary and 11 for the Australian Reptile Park in Gosford.
Sheep killed in SA bushfire
About 70 sheep have died in a bushfire in South Australia's Barossa Valley.
The blaze also destroyed a small pine tree plantation late on Thursday as it burnt through about 360 hectares at Eden Valley.
More than 70 firefighters converged on the scene overnight, bringing the fire under control.
They were expected to remain there to continue mopping up.
The blaze was one of several causing concern for the Country Fire Service (CFS) after three days of soaring temperatures across the state.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Sheep-killed-in-SA-bushfire/2006/12/01/1164777759939.html
Manufacturing activity continues to grow
Growth in Australia's manufacturing activity continued to expand moderately in November, a new survey shows.
The Australian Industry Group/PricewaterhouseCoopers Australian performance of manufacturing (PMI) index increased 2.5 points to a reading of 54.4, remaining above the 50.0 level separating expansion from contraction.
This rise follows a slight fall in the index in October.
The pick-up in activity was largely underpinned by a jump in export growth, with the export index rising in November to the highest level yet recorded.
It was also the sixth consecutive month of export growth.
Ai Group chief executive Heather Ridout said the moderate improvement underway was now beginning to receive valuable support from exports.
Cocaine ring manhunt ends in Mara arrest
Home » National » Article Cocaine ring manhunt ends in Mara arrestEmail Print Normal font Large font December 1, 2006
Other related coverageEx-league player held on cocaine charge AdvertisementAdvertisementA WORLDWIDE hunt for the alleged co-principal in one of Australia's largest cocaine cartels ended yesterday when Australian Federal Police swooped on Les Mara.
But the arrest of the 53-year-old former first-grade Balmain and South Sydney footballer did not take place in South America or Ireland where police believed he had been for the last 18 months, but at Callala Bay on the South Coast.
Mara is alleged, along with Sydney man Michael Hurley, to have headed a drug syndicate rumoured to have imported more than 200 kilograms of cocaine from South America in 2004.
US crude oil futures extend gains
NYMEX
US crude oil futures extended gains after Wednesday's government data showed an unexpected fall in fuel stocks and a bigger-than-forecast drop in crude supply.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, January crude settled up 67 cents, or 1.1 per cent, at $US63.13 a barrel, after leaping to an intraday high of $US63.77, the highest since prices hit $US64 on September 28.
LONDON METALS EXCHANGE (LME)
Nickel prices closed nearly four percent higher on Thursday, but analysts said the base metals market was vulnerable to fresh signs of a possible slowdown in the United States amidst a flow of economic data.
Three months nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) ended up 3.8 per cent, or $US1,250, to $US33,950 a tonne.
Copper ended at $US7,080 a tonne from Wednesday's close of $US7,000, supported by firm oil and precious metals prices.
Aluminium was at $US2,738 against $US2,700 on Wednesday.
COMEX
Comex gold for delivery in December rose $US17.40 to $US652.90, while Comex silver rose 44 US cents to $US14.12 on Thursday in New York.
Venezuela authorities foil sniper plot
Venezuelan authorities have foiled a plot for a sniper attack on the opposition's leading presidential candidate ahead of this Sunday's election, President Hugo Chavez said.
Chavez said a group of "fascist" radicals had been plotting to use a rifle with a telescopic sight to shoot at Manuel Rosales during a speech in order to blame it on Chavez's government in an attempt to derail the vote.
"It was to say that Chavez sent them to kill him, and generate chaos," Chavez said during a news conference. Chavez said authorities had seized the weapon from a vehicle, but he didn't say whether anyone was detained.
"Fortunately, our intelligence services have improved enormously and we have neutralised many plans by crazy people," Chavez said, without giving details.
Scientists decode ancient astral computer
A MYSTERIOUS device salvaged from an ancient Roman shipwreck has astounded scientists who have finally unlocked its secrets.
After a century of study, the 2100-year-old device, known as the Antikythera Mechanism, has been shown to be a complex and uncannily accurate astronomical computer. Recovered in 82 highly corroded fragments, it could predict the positions of the sun and planets, show the location of the moon and even forecast eclipses.
Experts believe it to be the earliest-known device to use gear wheels and by far the most sophisticated object to be found from the ancient and medieval periods.
US ban will take the bubbles out of Kim's champagne lifestyle
FAKE fur and real fur and jewellery and Jet Skis, Crystal and Segways and bubbly and Caddies, Race cars and leather and plasma TVs —
These are a few of Kim's favourite things.
But effective this holiday season, there will be none of those things coming into North Korea, the US hopes.
After Pyongyang tested a nuclear bomb in October, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to deny the regime and its leader, Kim Jong-il, foreign weapons, nuclear technology, and luxury goods. Until the country agrees to end its nuclear-weapons program, there will be no Fender Stratocasters, Harleys or Hennessy.
Although the UN resolution spelt out the military hardware that UN members will deny North Korea it leaves the luxury category open to each country's interpretation. Japan's banned exports include caviar and camcorders, wristwatches and cars.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/us-ban-will-take-the-bubbles-out-of-kims-champagne-lifestyle/2006/11/30/1164777721251.html
Australia can win if it plays the NATO hand wisely
From its Cold War origins to protect Europe against the communist threat, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is grappling for a broader role, with overtures for Australia to begin working more closely with the grouping.
High on the agenda of the meeting of NATO leaders in Latvia this week has been the issue of how well the alliance is meeting its new responsibilities, such as its role in Afghanistan, along with the question of relations with other nations - Australia, Japan and South Korea in the Asia-Pacific - that increasingly play a global "partnership" role with the alliance.
Chinese firms to dump DVD standard: report
Leading Chinese makers are to stop making DVD players from 2008 as part of China's plan to replace foreign technology with a new home-grown standard, an industry alliance chief said.
"Nineteen out of our 21 member manufacturers will be producing EVD players with compatible function only by 2008," Zhang Baoquan, the secretary-general of the EVD (Enhanced Versatile Disc) Industry Alliance told AFP.
In the past, only one major DVD producer was making EVD players and only around 700,000 units were sold last year, Zhang said.
This accounts for less than one thirtieth of the annual sales of DVD players according to iSuppli Corp, a market research company specialising in the electronic manufacturing industry.
Apart from the media industry, China has been pushing its own standards in many other product categories such as third-generation mobile phones, wireless local area networks, digital TV, and home networking.
Drug intolerance reaching a new high
NRL players can be targeted by their clubs for repeated drug testing at any time of the year under a controversial illicit substances policy proposed to be introduced next season.
Players would be fined 15 per cent of their salary if they tested positive to illicit drugs on two occasions. For a third offence they would be automatically suspended for 12 weeks and might be sacked by their club.
The policy, drafted by a committee of league experts including Rugby League Professionals Association president Matthew Rodwell, will toughen drug testing to an unprecedented level.
But Rodwell said the policy was "what the game needs and what the players need" and believed it would be fully supported by the association's membership. He said it was modelled on providing rehabilitation for players using illicit drugs.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/drug-intolerance-reaching-a-new-high/2006/11/30/1164777721517.html
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Snow, freezing rain moves into Midwest
By DANA FIELDSASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The first major snowstorm of the season blew across the Plains and Midwest on Thursday, grounding hundreds of flights, closing schools, glazing highways and threatening to dump up to a foot of snow on communities that had basked in balmy weather only days earlier.
The wintry weather spread across an area stretching from Texas and Oklahoma to Michigan, and a blizzard warning was posted in parts of Oklahoma.
Clay Ender, who works for a heating service company, struggled to get around in the 3 inches of snow that fell overnight in Lubbock, Texas. A trip across the city that usually takes 20 minutes stretched to an hour, he said.
"There were so many cars spinning out of control," he said. "They couldn't get any traction."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Wintry_Weather.html
EPA drops plan to ease pollution rules
By JOHN HEILPRINASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, looking at the prospect of stronger oversight from a Democratic-led Congress, is withdrawing a proposal to let big polluters report less often on what they spew from their smokestacks.
The administration, however, is going ahead with a plan to make one-third less provide detailed figures at all.
The government last year proposed easing air regulations to exempt some companies from having to tell the Environmental Protection Agency about what it considers to be small releases of toxic pollutants.
That proposal is still alive. But abandoned now is the idea of making companies that must make such reports, known as toxic release inventory, do so every other year instead of annually.
"You will be pleased to know that I have decided against moving forward with changes to TRI reporting frequency," EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson wrote Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez of New Jersey this week.
Johnson decided the program would not be effective unless the reporting was done each year, agency spokeswoman Jennifer Wood said Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Toxic_Pollutants.html
FEMA ordered to resume Katrina payments
By MATT APUZZOASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday he was disappointed that a judge, in a sharply critical ruling, ordered the agency to resume housing aid to thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
"It's almost a thing of no good deed goes unpunished," Director R. David Paulison told reporters at the National Press Club. "We felt like we did a good job."
The decision was one of two court battles won by Hurricane Katrina victims this week, but both could prove short-lived. The other ruling was against insurance companies.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon's ruling Wednesday criticized FEMA for cutting housing funding and subjecting victims of the 2005 storm to a convoluted application process he called "Kafkaesque."
Leon said FEMA mishandled the transition from a short-term housing program to a longer-term program this spring and summer.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Katrina_Housing.html
Woman: Soldier's casket on baggage cart
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The Army is investigating a woman's claim that a soldier's flag-draped casket was placed in an airport baggage cart with other luggage while being transferred between airline flights.
"The Army is always concerned with treating all of our fallen comrades' remains with the utmost dignity and respect," spokesman Lt. Col. Kevin Arata said in a statement Thursday.
Cynthia Hoag, 56, a former Army reservist, said she was waiting for a flight at Rochester International Airport on Oct. 27 when she saw the coffin taken off a commercial flight along with passengers' luggage. A uniformed soldier accompanied the coffin as it was placed in a baggage car and transported to another flight, she said.
"At the very least, couldn't there have been a hearse to transport the fallen soldier?" Hoag asked in an essay in Tuesday's Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. "At the very least, couldn't there have been a group of soldiers to receive one of their own?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Soldiers_Coffin.html
An A380 visits VancouverAirbus' new behemoth was on proving flight
By JAMES WALLACEP-I AEROSPACE REPORTER
VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Steven Halinen was supposed to be in school Wednesday, but instead he abandoned his college classes to brave lousy weather and watch what will soon be the world's biggest commercial jetliner make a brief stop at the Vancouver International Airport.
"Wow, it's gorgeous," Halinen, 22, said as he stood in snow and bitterly cold morning temperatures when the big Airbus plane taxied past him after landing at 7:32 a.m.
Dawn was breaking as the double-decker A380, which will carry about 100 more passengers than a 747 in most airline configurations, approached the airport from the north over the Strait of Georgia after a flight of 14 hours and 25 minutes across the Pacific from Sydney, Australia.
"Oh, man, just look at that thing. It's huge," said Halinen, an airplane buff and would-be pilot who hopes to make a career in aviation management after he graduates from University College of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C.
The A380 left around 4:30 p.m. for its return via the North Pole to Toulouse, France, the home of Airbus.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/294155_airbus30.html
Wash. Supreme Court overturns murderer's death penalty
By CURT WOODWARDASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SEATTLE -- The state Supreme Court overturned a convicted murderer's death penalty Thursday, saying evidence from his rescinded rape convictions and a prosecutor's misconduct require a new sentence.
The 8-1 ruling came in the consolidated case of Allen Eugene Gregory, who appealed his convictions for rape in 2000 and his aggravated murder conviction from 2001.
The majority, led by Justice Bobbe Bridge, overturned the rape convictions, saying the trial judge should have considered evidence that may have helped Gregory's defense.
The justices then threw out Gregory's death sentence, saying evidence of the rapes influenced his sentencing for murder. The court also said it would have overturned the death sentence anyway, because the prosecutor committed misconduct by improperly suggesting life in prison was too lenient for Gregory.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_SCOW_Death_Penalty.html
Iraqis plan to take over security in '07
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday he believed Iraqi forces would be ready by June 2007 to take full control of security in Iraq, an issue on which he pressed President Bush during their meeting in Amman, Jordan.
In making the argument that his military and police could handle security in the country, al-Maliki has routinely said the force could do the job within six months.
"I can say that Iraqi forces will be ready, fully ready to receive this command and to command its own forces, and I can tell you that by next June our forces will be ready," al-Maliki said in an interview with ABC News.
Bush and al-Maliki agreed that the United States would speed efforts to turn security over the Iraqi forces, although they mentioned no timetable during a post-summit news conference.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Bicyclists want more say on 520 project
By DEBERA CARLTON HARRELLP-I REPORTER
As deliberations on replacing the Evergreen Point Bridge continue, one group wants to shift the focus toward enhancing bicycling and other "non-motorized vehicle" access -- and away from moving cars and buses across Lake Washington.
"There's a tremendous unmet demand on 520 for bicycle and other non-motorized access," said David Hiller, advocacy director for the Cascade Bicycle Club, a 6,500-member recreation organization.
Hiller cited surveys showing 900 bicyclists a day on the cyclist-friendly I-90 corridor.
"We know there are a lot of people who wish they had an alternative to cars and transit across 520."
The current four-lane (two in each direction) Evergreen Point Bridge has no bicycle, disabled or pedestrian access. Bike racks on Metro buses accommodate a few bikes at a time.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/294201_520bikepaths30.html
Avalanche signal leads Whatcom County searchers to body
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- The Whatcom County sheriff's office says an avalanche transceiver beacon led searchers to the body of a backcountry skier in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
The sheriff's office says 36-year-old Henning Faust of Vancouver, British Columbia, died Saturday after getting separated from a group of skiers.
A snow storm prevented deputies and search-and-rescue volunteers from recovering the body until yesterday.
The body was turned over to the Whatcom County medical examiner's office to determine the cause of death.
Pregnant worker shot at Jewish Federation gives birth to a boyDuring rampage, woman protected fetus in gunfire
By PHUONG CAT LEP-I REPORTER
Dayna Klein had only her unborn baby in mind when she instinctively covered her belly after a gunman stormed a Seattle Jewish center last summer.
Tuesday, she finally got to meet the son she saved.
Klein, who survived the rampage July 28 at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle that killed a colleague, gave birth to Charley Paz Klein at a Seattle hospital Tuesday night, her spokesman, Howard Bragman, said. The baby weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces.
The boy's middle name, which means peace, is in honor of Klein's co-worker, Pamela Waechter, who was shot to death. Naveed Haq, 30, is accused of forcing his way into the Belltown office, shouting epithets and killing Waechter and wounding Klein and four others.
"What can you say? This whole thing has been a great challenge," Klein's husband, Erez, said Wednesday. "Now, we have a wonderful result. And it's now time for all the next steps in life. We have a lot of new good things to do."
Police officials have called Klein a hero for saving her baby when she came face-to-face with her shooter.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/294179_baby30.html
Iraq panel set to urge troop pullback
WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan commission on U.S. policy in Iraq will urge a pullback of some U.S. troops in Iraq, but will not recommend a specific timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces, an official familiar with the panel's deliberations said Thursday.
The Iraq Study Group's report, to be released next Wednesday, will press for a greater shift in responsibility for the country's security from American to Iraqi forces. It will also "acknowledge that the presence of (U.S.) troops is part of the problem" in Iraq, said the official, who requested anonymity because the panel's recommendations have not been made public.
The report also urges a major push to engage Syria and Iran in a diplomatic initiative aimed at providing a greater regional dialogue, the official said.
The panel will demand more accountability from the Iraqi government, although it's not clear how progress would be measured or if there would be specific benchmarks, the official said.
In Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told ABC News Thursday that he thinks Iraqi forces will be ready by June 2007 to take full control of security. In making the argument that his military and police could handle security in the country, al-Maliki has routinely said the force could do the job within six months.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_US_Iraq.html?source=mypi
Man ordered to pay Microsoft $9.4 millionLaney also jailed for 5 years for illegal trafficking in firm's software
By TODD BISHOPP-I REPORTER
A former southwest Washington man was sentenced Wednesday to pay $9.4 million in restitution to Microsoft Corp. and serve five years in prison for illegal trafficking in the company's software.
Scott Laney, 35, pleaded guilty to money laundering and counterfeiting conspiracy charges. The scheme involved acquiring Microsoft programs at cut rates -- in some cases from employees who were abusing the company's internal ordering system -- and reselling them with falsified labels, documents and licenses that boosted their value.
As part of the case, Laney admitted that he and his co-conspirators sold up to $20 million of software with counterfeit labeling and licenses. Microsoft alleged that it lost at least $12.4 million. Symantec Corp. programs also were resold illegally, according to court papers, although the security software company didn't claim any restitution.
Tobias Grace, of Vancouver, Wash., who was charged with conspiring with Laney, is scheduled for sentencing Jan. 19. Laney, a resident of Battle Ground at the time he was charged, has since moved to Ogden, Utah, prosecutors said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/294124_msftplea30.html
Shooting furor: NYPD's image is mixed
By DAVID CRARYAP NATIONAL WRITER
NEW YORK -- The fatal shooting of an unarmed man by undercover officers again places New York police under unwelcome scrutiny. Critics say it's evidence of an unaccountable, sometimes trigger-happy force, while defenders - backed by statistics - insist the NYPD is among the best-trained, most restrained departments in the nation.
The attention, good and bad, is unavoidable. With more than 37,000 uniformed officers, the NYPD is by far the country's largest, highest-profile police force. Its sometimes chilling abuses become national news, yet its officers have killed fewer people so far this year - 11 - than some police departments in far smaller cities.
"There's always a spotlight on the NYPD," said Maki Haberfeld, a John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor who specializes in police training. "But in terms of actual numbers of shootings, and their use of force, there's no doubt in my mind they are one of the best departments on the country."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_New_York_Police.html
Notable violent incidents involving NYPD
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- Some notable incidents of violence and fatal shootings over the past 10 years involving New York City police officers:
August 1997: Haitian immigrant Abner Louima is arrested after a nightclub brawl, taken by officers to a jailhouse, and sodomized with a broken broomstick. One officer pleads guilty and is sentenced to a 30-year term; another gets a five-year term. Louima won an $8.75 million settlement with the city.
February 1999: Unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot to death at the front door of his Bronx apartment building by four officers who said he fit the description of a rape suspect and they mistook his wallet for a gun. Diallo was hit by 19 of the 41 shots fired; the officers were acquitted of criminal charges in a 2000 trial. Diallo's mother got a $3 million settlement.
March 2000: Patrick Dorismond, an unarmed black security guard, is shot to death by an undercover narcotic detective during a scuffle in Manhattan. A grand jury cleared the officer of wrongdoing; the city paid $2.25 million to Dorismond's family.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_NYPD_Glance.html
F-18 crashes in Calif.; pilots ejects
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN DIEGO -- An F-18 fighter jet crashed near the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar on Thursday, but the pilot ejected, the military said.
The pilot's condition was not immediately disclosed.
The crash triggered a small brush fire.
Court stays out of abortion records case
By JOHN HANNAASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Kansas Supreme Court refused Thursday to intervene on behalf of two abortion clinics in a dispute with the state attorney general over patient records that were leaked to "The O'Reilly Factor."
The clinics had asked the court to seize the records of 90 patients from Attorney General Phill Kline and appoint a special prosecutor to investigate how Fox News' Bill O'Reilly got access to abortion records for a Nov. 3 broadcast.
The court offered no explanation for its ruling in a one-sentence order signed by Chief Justice McFarland.
Kline received edited versions of the records in October from a Shawnee County judge after a two-year legal battle. He said he was investigating whether clinic doctors performed illegal late-term abortions and violated a state law requiring them to report suspected child abuse.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Abortion_Records.html
28 charged in India July train bombings
By RAJESH SHAHASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MUMBAI, India -- Formal charges were brought against 28 people for suspected involvement in the July 11 train bombings in Mumbai that killed more than 200 people.
Thirteen of the accused are in police custody and the rest are still at large, said police prosecutor Raja Thackeray.
The 28 were charged with murder, handling explosive substances, committing terrorist acts and causing damage to public property in Mumbai, India's economic and entertainment capital, formerly called Bombay.
If convicted, they could face the death penalty.
Police say the 28 suspects belong to Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, or Army of the Pure, a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group, as well as the Students' Islamic Movement of India, or SIMI, a banned group based in northern India.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_India_Train_Bombings.html
Wife of 2002 bombings suspect deported
By JIM GOMEZASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MANILA, Philippines -- The Indonesian wife of one of Southeast Asia's most wanted terror suspects was deported from the Philippines on Thursday under heavy security.
Istiada Binti Omar Sovie, wife of Dulmatin, an al-Qaida-linked militant suspected in the Bali nightclub bombings, will be banned from re-entering the country, said Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr.
Government forces captured Sovie and two of her six children on the southern island of Jolo on Oct. 3. Officials said she acknowledged they entered the country from Malaysia in August 2003 without travel documents.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Philippines_Militants_Wife.html
Envoy: North Korea won't abandon program
TOKYO -- North Korea won't unilaterally abandon its atomic weapons program, the communist nation's nuclear envoy said Thursday, speaking after two days of meetings with his U.S. counterpart failed to produce a date on restarting six-nation disarmament talks.
Japan's envoy said talks could still resume before the end of the year. But speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Kenichiro Sasae - Japan's representative - said the timing for a new round would depend on what progress was made in preparatory meetings.
"The possibility that talks could resume (in December) cannot be denied. So long as there is a forward-looking prospect we can hold talks anytime," Sasae said after discussions with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who passed through Tokyo on his way home from Beijing.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Koreas_Nuclear.html
Junta: Detained leader is in good health
NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar -- Myanmar's military junta said detained pro-democracy leader Aung Suu Kyi is in good health and is regularly seeing a doctor, denying a U.N. contention that she is being denied access to medical care.
"We allow the doctor to visit her once a month, or any time she requests it," Police Chief Maj. Gen. Khin Yi told reporters late Wednesday at the country's new capital of Naypyidaw. "She has not yet made any request for the doctor to see her."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Myanmar_Suu_Kyi.html
Bishop ordained without Vatican approval
BEIJING -- China ordained a new bishop in its state-approved church Thursday without Vatican approval, a move that could further strain relations between Beijing and Roman Catholic authorities.
Wang Renlei, the 37-year-old vicar-general of the Xuzhou Diocese in the eastern province of Jiangsu, was ordained in a two-hour ceremony attended by about 1,000 people, said Liu Bainian, deputy chairman of the government-backed Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.
"The former Xuzhou bishop is over 90 years old. They need a new, younger bishop," Liu said in a telephone interview after the ordination was finished. "This is the holy order and shouldn't be disturbed."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_China_Bishop.html
Pope prays with cleric at Turkey mosque
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Pope Benedict XVI joined an Islamic cleric in prayers under the towering dome of Istanbul's most famous mosque Thursday in a powerful gesture seeking to transform his image among Muslims from adversary to peacemaker.
The pope's minute of prayer was done in silence, but the message of reconciliation was designed to resonate loudly nearly three months after he provoked worldwide fury for remarks on violence and the Prophet Muhammad.
"This visit will help us find together the way of peace for the good of all humanity," the pope said inside the 17th-century Blue Mosque - in only the second papal visit in history to a Muslim place of worship. Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, made a brief stop in a mosque in Syria in 2001.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Pope_Turkey.html
Blue Mosque built as imposing structure
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- When a 17th-century Ottoman sultan ordered architect Mehmet Aga to build a mosque to rival a majestic former Byzantine church, the result was an imposing structure of cascading domes and an interior decorated with elaborate blue tiles.
Pope Benedict XVI made a brief stop at Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque on Thursday, a conciliatory gesture toward Muslims. His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, visited a mosque in Syria in 2001.
The Blue Mosque, officially the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, stands opposite the 1,500-year-old Haghia Sophia, which was the main Byzantine church in Constantinople - present-day Istanbul - before being turned into a mosque after the Muslim conquest of the city in 1453. It is now a museum.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Pope_Blue_Mosque.html
FBI joins investigation of poisoned spy
LONDON -- The FBI is joining the British probe into the poisoning death of a Kremlin critic, the agency announced Thursday as investigators found traces of radiation at a dozen sites in Britain and a former Russian prime minister reported symptoms consistent with poisoning.
British authorities requested the involvement of the FBI, agency spokesman Richard Kolko said. FBI experts in weapons of mass destruction will assist with some of the scientific analysis, he said.
There is no suspected link to the U.S. in an investigation that extends to five airliners and locations from London to Moscow. Russian officials said radiation levels were normal on two suspect Russian jets and appealed to British officials for information on how to test Russians who traveled aboard the two British Airways planes on which radiation has so far been detected.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Britain_Poisoned_Spy.html
Intro to radiation, its danger to humans
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A coroner in Britain formally opened an inquest Thursday into the death in London of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with a radioactive substance.
An introduction to radiation and why it can be dangerous to humans:
Q: WHAT IS RADIATION?
A: Radiation is the transfer of energy. There are two basic types of radiation: ionizing radiation (X-rays, infrared light, gamma rays) and non-nuclear emissions (ultraviolet light, microwave radiation, cell phone waves). It is usually only ionizing radiation that concerns health officials.
Q: WHY IS IONIZING RADIATION DANGEROUS?
A: Ionizing radiation has the potential to change molecules in living cells, changing their genetic makeup. Substantial change in a cell's genetics may kill it, or its DNA may be altered. Because human cells regularly die and are replaced, this is worrying only if massive amounts of cells are killed. But altering DNA may result in cancer at a later stage.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Radiation_QA.html
Aide: Poisoning suspected in Gaidar case
MOSCOW -- Doctors treating former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar believe he was poisoned, an aide said Thursday.
Gaidar, 50, who served briefly as prime minister in the 1990s under President Boris Yeltsin and is one of the leaders of a liberal opposition party, began vomiting and fainted during a conference in Ireland on Nov. 24 - the day after former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko died in London. Gaidar, who was initially taken to an intensive care unit at an Irish hospital, is now recovering in a Moscow hospital.
"Doctors don't see a natural reason for the poisoning and they have not been able to detect any natural substance known to them" in Gaidar's body, spokesman Valery Natarov said. "So obviously we're talking about poisoning (and) it was not natural poisoning."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Russia_Gaidar.html
Sudan president rejects peacekeeper plan
ABUJA, Nigeria -- Sudan's president rejected a proposal Thursday to send U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur to boost a beleaguered 7,000-member African Union force, crushing hopes for a quick solution to the violence spreading across central Africa.
Sudan, the U.N. and the AU earlier agreed to a hybrid mission. But there was confusion over the details, with some Sudanese officials saying they only want U.N. support in the form of finance and logistics, not the replacement U.N. troops foreseen in a Security Council resolution.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, speaking after a closed-door AU summit, rebuffed African leaders advocating a compromise proposal for an expanded peacekeeping mission that would include blue-helmeted U.N. soldiers inside Darfur.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Nigeria_Darfur.html
U.N. food agency may halt distribution
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WINDHOEK, Namibia -- The U.N. World Food Program said Thursday it may halt food distribution to 90,000 orphans and vulnerable children in Namibia by the end of the year because of a critical shortage of funding.
WFP is facing a shortfall of $4 million for its operations in Namibia through to April. In the rest of southern Africa, it needs $48 million for programs in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
WFP has been working with the Namibian government for the last 18 months to establish programs to feed children across the country's six northern regions, focussing on those who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS.
The agency said to date it had had received no funding for its Namibian programs, and had used funds in its general budget.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Namibia_Food.html
Probe urged on blood-clotting drug use
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BALTIMORE -- Two U.S. senators are calling for a military probe of the use of a blood-clotting drug on wounded troops in Iraq, after reports of life-threatening clots following its use.
The Defense Department should track all patients who receive the drug, Factor VII, on the battlefield to determine whether they are more prone to blood clots or other complications, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said in a letter to Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.
"We need to know if the long-term risks of this drug pose a greater danger to our service member's lives than can be justified by the short-term benefits," Mikulski said in a letter sent Wednesday.
Melissa Schwartz, a Mikulski spokeswoman, said the senator's office had not received a reply as of Thursday morning.
"I have no indication how fast we are going to hear," Schwartz said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Hemophilia_Drug_Troops.html
Tensions up ahead of Venezuela election
MARACAIBO, Venezuela -- Venezuela's leading opposition candidate called Wednesday for President Hugo Chavez's government to play clean in Sunday's presidential election amid signs of a widening political divide in the country.
The race has highlighted how increasingly polarized Venezuela has become, largely along class lines, with the wealthier supporting Rosales, the poor backing Chavez and the middle class fractured.
Shoppers are packing supermarkets to stock up on supplies, fearful that Sunday's outcome could prompt street protests and violence.
"It has to be a clean game ... If that happens, all of us will be calm," Manuel Rosales, governor of oil-rich Zulia state, said to The Associated Press shortly before closing his campaign with a huge rally in Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Venezuela_Election.html
Cubans hope for Castro parade appearance
HAVANA -- Banners hanging from restored buildings in this seaside city encourage ailing leader Fidel Castro to live to 160, but Cubans are now grappling with the realization that his days as their charismatic leader may be over.
Most Cubans have known no other ruler than Castro, who 50 years ago Saturday landed on a boat from Mexico with fellow rebels to launch a revolution that triumphed on Jan. 1, 1959. But Castro, waylaid for four months with an intestinal ailment, was still too sick to attend Tuesday's kickoff of a five-day celebration of his 80th birthday. He turned 80 on Aug. 13 but postponed the party because of surgery two weeks earlier.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Cuba_Waiting_for_Fidel.html
Dem Vilsack enters 2008 White House race
MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa -- Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, positioning himself as a Washington outsider with heartland appeal.
Vilsack also emphasized the nexus between oil dependence, national security and the economy, saying he would give high priority to weaning the nation off foreign oil and promoting alternative energy.
"Energy security will revitalize rural America," Vilsack told more than 500 cheering backers in the small town where be began his political career as mayor. "Energy security will allow us once and for all to remove and reduce our dependency on foreign oil from foreign countries that do not like us."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1131AP_Vilsack_2008.html
Vilsack Bio Box
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NAME - Thomas James Vilsack
AGE-BIRTH DATE-LOCATION - 56, Dec. 13, 1950, Pittsburgh. He was orphaned at birth and was adopted on April 10, 1951.
EXPERIENCE - Mayor of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, 1987-1992; state senator, 1992-1998; governor of Iowa, 1998-2006; practiced law in Mount Pleasant before becoming governor.
EDUCATION - Bachelor's degree, Hamilton College, 1972; law degree, Albany Law School 1975
FAMILY - Wife, Christie Vilsack; two adult sons, Jess and Doug
QUOTE - "I have always been the underdog and long shot. And I have always been inspired by stories of ordinary people who struggled but ultimately succeeded."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1131AP_Vilsack_Bio_Box.html
Frist abandons 2008 presidential bid
WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist renounced a bid for the White House in 2008 on Wednesday, an early dropout from the most wide-open presidential race in decades.
"In the Bible, God tells us for everything there is a season, and for me, for now, this season of being an elected official has come to a close," said the Tennessee Republican, a surgeon before he entered politics in 1994.
While the first national convention delegates won't be chosen for more than a year, jockeying among potential presidential contenders is well under way.
Frist made his announcement as several potential GOP hopefuls were descending on Miami for the annual meeting of the Republican Governors' Association. Among them were Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, outgoing head of the group, and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., planned private meetings with governors Thursday followed by a reception.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1131AP_Frist_2008.html
HCA being sold in $33B deal
Wichita Business Journal
November 16, 2006
by Denver Business Journal
Stockholders approved Thursday the sale of hospital giant HCA Inc. in a $33 billion deal that ranks among the largest-ever leveraged buyouts. A consortium of financial investors, management and the Frist family will pay $51 per share, or $21.3 billion, for the outstanding shares of the Nashville chain of 176 hospitals and 92 freestanding surgery centers and facilities. The deal is expected to close Nov. 17. A sale, taking the company private, could further limit what little information is available on private hospital finances and trends. The offer represents an 18 percent premium for shareholders as of July 18, the last day of trading before rumors of a buyout attempt sent the company's shares upward. The $33 billion offer includes assuming $11.7 billion of HCA debt. Before the HCA announcement, the largest-ever LBO was the $31.3 billion paid for RJR Nabisco in 1989.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/wichita/stories/2006/11/13/daily29.html
Washington Post
Siniora defiant as Lebanon opposition calls protest
By Nadim LadkiReutersThursday, November 30, 2006; 2:52 PM
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A defiant Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said he would not stand down after Pro-Syrian Hezbollah and its allies called for a mass protest in Beirut on Friday to try to force out the government
Siniora told the nation the opposition wanted to stage a coup against the democratic system in Lebanon and vowed his anti-Syrian cabinet would not fall.
"Fellow Lebanese we have ahead of us decisive days for Lebanon and its future...," Siniora said in a live broadcast on Thursday. "We will not allow the coup against the democratic system, its rules and institutions.
"There is no way to topple the government except through parliament which has given it its vote of confidence," he said.
Siniora's anti-Syrian majority says the Hezbollah-led campaign wants to turn the clock back on last year's "Cedar Revolution" -- large protests that forced Syria to pull out its forces and elections that swept the coalition to power.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/30/AR2006113000697.html
New Zealand Herald
Britain's coasts feeling impact of climate change
Friday December 1, 2006
Britain's coasts are being affected by climate change which is increasing sea temperature and creating damaging storms.
This is the message from a panel of experts convened by Britain's Government to assess the effects of global warming.
It says changes in climate are altering the amount, variety and distributions of every kind of marine organism, from plankton and fish to sea mammals and birds.
Sea temperatures have increased, storms and waves are becoming more damaging and sea levels are beginning to rise faster than at any time in the past 100 years. The panel was drawn from institutions ranging from Cambridge University to the Met Office.
"We are observing large changes in our marine environment that are driven in part by climate change and that are predicted to continue," says its report, published in Britain yesterday.
Sea surface temperatures around Britain's coastline had been rising by between 0.2C and 0.6C a decade for the past 30 years, and would continue to rise, especially in the southeast.
Over the past 50 years, severe winds had become more commonplace and the height of waves had increased by about 2 per cent a year in the western and northern parts of British waters, the report said.
World sea levels rose between 1mm and 2mm a year during the 20th century, accelerated to 3mm a year between 1993 and 2003.
"During the 21st century it is likely that global average sea level will rise by between 9cm and 88cm relative to 1990, but it will not be uniform around the world," the report says. "
The expected range of relative sea level rise by the 2080s (relative to the 1961-1990 mean) is 20cm to 80cm in southwest England and 0cm to 60cm in Scotland."
Oceans around the world were becoming more acid because of the increased concentration of carbon dioxide they were absorbing.
Computer simulations indicated the increased acidity of British coastal waters would surpass the maximum acidity of existing levels.
"The full effect of acidification remain largely unknown, but organisms such as corals, some plankton, shellfish and sea urchins are expected to become less able to produce calcareous parts, such as shells, by the middle of the century," the report says.
Climate change was affecting the variety and distribution of marine species - although it was not the only factor affecting coastal wildlife.
"Cold-water species of plankton, fish and intertidal invertebrates are retreating northwards around the UK and the ranges of southern species are expanding," the report says.
"Fishing pressure remains the principle cause of changes in the abundance of most fish species, but climate has probably also played a role in some cases.
"For example, the decline of prey species (particularly sand-eels) has resulted in low breeding success of black-legged kittiwakes and other seabirds.
"Warm-water commercial species such as sea bass, red mullet and tuna are becoming more commonplace in our seas."
Climate Change Minister Ian Pearson said the report's findings underlined the fact that global warming was the world's biggest environmental threat.
"Our seas play a vital role in shaping and regulating our climate and have a tremendous bearing on our future wellbeing," Mr Pearson said. "Rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification and melting polar ice are not just predictions, they are happening now," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10413238
THIS ISN'T THE LITTLE ICE AGE. This is Human Induced Global Warming where regardless the devastation on the planet the heat continues to rise due to human contributed carbon dioxide. The history of Earth is irrelivant. This is a unique dynamic that Earth is experiencing and unless humans roll back their affect on the tropsphere there won't be any recovery for this planet. The carbon dioxide blanket will continue to build and raise surface temperatures.
Loss of warm water made Europe freeze: scientists
Friday December 1, 2006
OSLO - The Gulf Stream carrying warm water to the North Atlantic slowed about 10 per cent in the Little Ice Age from 1200 to 1850, said a US study published on Wednesday that may give clues to the effects of modern global warming.
The report suggested natural shifts in the current might have affected climate in past centuries.
The Gulf Stream carries waters from the Gulf of Mexico and boosts temperatures in northern Europe by between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius (9 and 18 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with similar latitudes in Siberia.
Driven by winds and the earth's rotation and pushing heat towards the poles, the warmth it carries is equivalent to 2,000 times the electricity generating capacity of the United States.
"The strength of the Gulf Stream was about 10 per cent weaker during the Little Ice Age," said David Lund, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
He and two colleagues studied sediment cores off Florida and the Bahamas, and found evidence of a weaker flow that may have contributed to the Little Ice Age from about 1200-1850, when Alpine glaciers grew and London's Thames River froze.
"The possibility of abrupt changes in Gulf Stream heat transport is one of the key uncertainties in predictions of climate change for the coming centuries," the scientists wrote in the journal Nature.
Lund said the slowing of the Gulf Stream in the Little Ice Age might have been caused by shifts in winds in the Atlantic. Causes of that shift were unknown with some researchers blaming changes in the sun's output.
Lund said the "jury is still out" on the future effects of global warming on the Gulf Stream. Many scientists say human emissions of greenhouse gases, mostly from burning fossil fuels, are heating the planet and could disrupt the current.
Some scientists speculate that a melting of the Greenland ice cap, triggered by global warming, could flood the North Atlantic with extra fresh water and slow the Gulf Stream, chilling Europe and parts of North America.
The Gulf Stream carries about 31 Sverdrups of water per second into the North Atlantic -- a Sverdrup is an imaginary cube with sides 100 metres (110 yards) long going past a fixed point. That makes the current 2,000 times the flow of the Mississippi River.
In the Little Ice Age, the current slowed by about 3 Sverdrups, the study showed. And at the height of the last Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago, other studies have estimated that the flow slowed by 10-15 Sverdrups.
Lund said most studies of a possible slowing of the Gulf Stream linked to global warming focused on a cooling of Europe and North America.
However, a shift of winds linked to the current could cause disruption to rainfall in Africa or Central America.
Shuttle Discovery cleared for takeoff
Friday December 1, 2006
CAPE CANAVERAL - Nasa has cleared the space shuttle Discovery for launch from Florida on December 7 on a mission to continue building the International Space Station. The flight from the Kennedy Space Centre will be the third and final shuttle mission of the year. Nasa needs to fly 14 shuttle flights by 2010 to complete assembly of the half-built US$100 billion space station. Discovery is expected to lift off at 9.36pm local time on the first nighttime launch since the 2003 Columbia accident. The first three missions after the accident were launched during daylight hours so cameras would have clear views of the fuel tank to spot any falling debris. Nasa has redesigned the fuel tank twice to stem foam shedding.
Key's vow makes National anti-nuke
Friday December 1, 2006By Mike Houlahan
New National leader John Key continued to stamp his authority on the party yesterday, announcing his unswerving support for New Zealand's anti-nuclear legislation. Mr Key's endorsement of a law which has kept nuclear-powered and -armed warships out of New Zealand harbours was intended to exorcise former leader Don Brash's infamous "gone by lunchtime" comment about the future of the law under a National government. Mr Key also poured cold water on some National supporters' desire for New Zealand to revive the Anzus defence alliance with Australia and the United States, saying the pact had "essentially been dead for 20 years now". There was scope for a constructive relationship between New Zealand and the United States beyond Anzus, Mr Key said. "I think it would be fair to say that I have a very much more positive view of the United States and its role in world affairs than most ministers in the Clark Government."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10413300
High noon for Fiji
Friday December 1, 2006
SUVA - Fiji's military commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama has set a deadline of 12 noon today to meet the army's demands or else. The renegade military commander has vowed to overthrow the government at noon after declaring that concessions offered by the prime minister did not go far enough. Two hours after Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase promised measures he hoped would avert a fourth coup in 20 years, the military chief responded with an all-or-nothing ultimatum. Commodore Frank Bainimarama said the concessions were unsatisfactory and gave the prime minister until noon to meet every one of the military's "non-negotiable" demands. >> Are you in Fiji? Please tell us what is happening there by emailing nzherald.co.nz or sending your photos to online-editor@nzherald.co.nz. "We have given the government until tomorrow afternoon to answer to our demands," Bainimarama told reporters last night.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10413232
Kiwis choosing to stay in Suva
Friday December 1, 2006By Angela Gregory
Most New Zealanders living in Suva appear to be staying put despite the voluntary evacuations by Australians as the threat of another coup hangs over Fiji. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Wellington estimates that between 2000 and 3000 New Zealanders live in Fiji and another 1500 are visiting there at any one time. Bevin Severinsen, immediate past president of the Fiji-NZ Business Council, says things remain calm and people do not seem too worried about the situation, except for the Australians. >> Are you in Fiji? Please tell us what is happening there by emailing nzherald.co.nz or sending your photos to online-editor@nzherald.co.nz. Mr Severinsen, who owns a construction company in Suva, said yesterday that many Australians were overreacting and taking off.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10413299
Fiji PM gives in to military demands to defuse crisis
UPDATED 7.25pm Thursday November 30, 2006
SUVA - Fiji's Prime Minister appears to have bowed to military pressure to defuse the coup crisis. This evening he announced he would suspend three controversial bills at the heart of the military commander's threats against his government. The bills will be suspended, pending legal opinion, Laisenia Qarase told reporters today amid international concern of a fourth coup in Fiji in 20 years. They include one bill that could have forgiven those involved in staging Fiji's 2000 coup. Qarase said legal opinion would be sought on whether they were constitutional. If they were found not to be, they would be dropped, he said. He also recognised that the 2000 coup had been illegal, as the military had demanded. It comes just hours after the Fijian military held exercises in Suva, taking up positions around key buildings. Effectively Qarase has given into all the military demands. Qarase said the government would accept any recommendation by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) not to lay sedition charges against the military chief and other senior military figures - another key demand made by Bainimarama.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10413140
One dead, one missing in Black Hawk crash off Fiji
Thursday November 30, 2006
An Australian army Black Hawk helicopter flying off a warship stationed near Fiji crashed late yesterday afternoon and been lost at sea, Australian defence officials (ADF) said. At least one crew member has died and another is described as missing. "There has been an incident involving an army Black Hawk helicopter on HMAS Kanimbla this afternoon," an Australian Defence Force spokeswoman said last night. An ADF statement said the helicopter had been lost. The Kanimbla was one of three Australian navy ships sent towards Fiji earlier this month in case thousands of Australian nationals holidaying there needed to be evacuated as fears grew of an imminent coup in the South Pacific island nation. A Network Seven television report said the helicopter, with about 10 people on board, had crashed as it attempted to land on the Kanimbla, a navy amphibious transport ship. It said most on board had been rescued but one person had died and another was missing. Australian army Black Hawks carry a crew of four and can transport up to 10 troops.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10413139
Government overrules war-crimes arrest order
Friday December 1, 2006By David Eames and Ruth Berry
Attorney-General Michael Cullen has over-ruled a District Court judge's decision to issue an arrest warrant against a visiting former Israeli general the judge believed was answerable for Middle East war crimes. Auckland District Court Judge Avinash Deobhakta on Monday issued warrants ordering the arrest of Moshe Ya'alon, a former Israeli Defence Force chief of staff and head of intelligence. The warrants were in response to information laid with the court under New Zealand's obligations as a signatory to the Geneva Convention. Papers lodged with the court, and obtained by the Herald, alleged General Ya'alon played a central role in the 2002 assassination of suspected Hamas commander Salah Shehadeb in Gaza City. The assassination, in the form of a bomb strike on Mr Shehadeb's home, also killed seven members of the neighbouring Mattar family and 15 others.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10413310
Blunt memo piles pressure on Iraqi PM
Friday December 1, 2006By Rupert Cornwell
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush last night met Iraq's struggling Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, with Washington's entire strategy in the country unravelling, and America's patience all but exhausted at seeing United States troops trapped in the midst of what amounts to a civil war. The meeting, in Amman, Jordan, because Baghdad itself was deemed too dangerous, was delayed and began after US officials insisted the Iraqi leader was not offended by a critical White House memo and had not snubbed Bush. The top-level US Government memo portrayed Maliki, in the bluntest of terms, as either an ignorant or mendacious leader, unable or unwilling to take the measures necessary to restore stability. The leak to the New York Times of the five-page memo by National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley in its entirety was almost certainly deliberate. It appears intended by the White House to signal what the Bush Administration expects the Iraqi Government to do and what steps the US might take to help shore up the Prime Minister - in whom, officials say, Washington despite everything still has confidence.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10413282
Afghanistan's Nato troop rules eased
Friday December 1, 2006
KABUL - Britain is poised to send extra troops to Afghanistan after Nato's Riga Summit ended with no significant extra pledges of soldiers and only a partial deal to use existing forces more flexibly. Significantly, the proposed UK deployment will not be dependent on any withdrawal from Iraq. Military planners are said to have decided that sending a battalion-size additional force is possible on a temporary basis. At the end of a two-day meeting in Riga, the Nato Secretary-General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said that 26,000 of the 32,000 alliance soldiers will now operate without serious restrictions on their movement. The deal fell far short of US and British hopes that other European nations would help take on the Taleban in Helmand province. Macedonia and Bulgaria were the only nations to offer more soldiers, with a pledge to send a rifle company each, though Spain will deploy two small teams to liase with the Afghan forces. Intense pressure was placed on countries to abandon restrictions on the use of their forces. The Netherlands and Romania agreed to scrap theirs while France will allow its soldiers out of the capital, Kabul. Seven other nations agreed to reduce such "caveats" and officials said that the changes would be the equivalent of freeing-up around 2000 troops. All countries will allow their soldiers to come to the aid of other Nato troops in an emergency.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10413278
Shades of Chirac as Sarkozy makes presidential bid
Friday December 1, 2006
PARIS - Confirming the worst-kept secret in France, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has announced he will seek the presidential nomination of his ruling UMP party, a contest he is expected to win comfortably. In an interview with regional newspapers leaked on the website of the Paris daily Liberation yesterday, Sarkozy said he would resign his ministerial post before the April vote if the UMP picked him as its candidate at a congress on January 14. "My response is yes," Sarkozy said when asked if he was running for President. He did not set a date for his departure from the Government, saying only: "I will no longer be minister come the election." In an interview to be published in a number of regional newspapers today, he said: "I feel I have the strength, the energy and the desire to propose a different view of France."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10413270
Poms ... you whinge some, you lose some
Friday December 1, 2006By Nick Squires
SYDNEY - The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission says the word Pom is not derogatory but can be offensive if used with expletives. As thousands of England's Barmy Army cricket fans gear up for the start of the second Ashes Test today, a British expatriate group is calling for the word Pom to be banned on the grounds that it is a deeply offensive racist taunt. The group, British People Against Racial Discrimination, claims that Pom is every bit as insulting as coon, chink, nigger or wog. It is particularly incensed by a new beer advertisement in which a pasty-faced, overweight British cricket fan recoils in horror when a frothing glass of ice-cold beer is thrust towards him in a pub. For warm-beer guzzling Englishmen, the new "super cold" Tooheys lager is "a
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10413265
Thousands flee junta attacks in Myanmar
Friday December 1, 2006
NEW YORK - Some 3000 Burmese are trekking through Myanmar's Karen state to flee Army attacks and search for food, Human Rights Watch said. It had received reports that more than 200 civilians had arrived at camps close to the Thai border after walking for 17 days while 3000 others were moving towards border settlements in Myanmar. "The military attacks villages, uses civilians for forced labour and steals their food and money, forcing people to flee," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said. The Karen National Liberation Army has conducted intermittent guerrilla warfare for some 58 years. In the past year, a campaign conducted by the ruling military junta has displaced 27,000 villagers, with at least 45 civilians killed by government forces in Karen alone, HRW said. Across the country this year, more than 82,000 people have been forced to flee warfare and 232 villages have been destroyed.
Artist arrested after women killed on his inflatable artwork
9.00am Thursday November 30, 2006By Ian Herbert
The creator of an inflatable artwork which killed two women when it lifted off from its moorings has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. Dreamspace designer Maurice Agis, whose commissions over 40 years have included shows at the Barbican and New York's Lincoln Centre, was held for questioning when he attended an appointment yesterday at Charing Cross Police Station, in London. His arrest follows the deaths of 68-year-old grandmother Elizabeth Collings and 38-year-old mother-of-two Claire Furmedge, who were killed when the inflatable reared up into the air, on a warm afternoon on July 23. The women were among dozens of visitors to the colourful walk-in attraction which had been installed in Riverside Park at Chester-le-Street, Co Durham.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10413152
Radiation traces found on two BA planes in probe
8.55am Thursday November 30, 2006
LONDON - British Airways said today that "very low traces" of a radioactive substance had been found on two of its aircraft being examined in a police probe into the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. The airline said in a statement that three B767 short haul aircraft were taken out of service for forensic examination. Initial results showed "very low traces of a radioactive substance on board two of the three aircraft." British Airways said that all three planes will remain out of service until further notice. Two of the planes are at London's Heathrow Airport and the third is in Moscow and has not been checked yet, the airline said. BA said it has been advised that the risk to public health was low. But it said it was contacting customers who had flown on the planes, which operate within Europe. Litvinenko, a former Russian spy, died last Thursday of radiation poisoning. Significant amounts of radioactive Polonium 210 were found in his body.
Disembowelled and murdered for teaching girls
Thursday November 30, 2006By Kim Sengupta
GHAZNI - The gunmen came at night to drag Mohammed Halim away from his home, in front of his crying children and his wife begging for mercy. The 46-year-old schoolteacher tried to reassure his family that he would return safely. But his life was over. He was partly disembowelled and then torn apart with his arms and legs tied to motorbikes. The remains were put on display as a warning to others against defying Taleban orders to stop educating girls. Halim is one of four teachers killed in rapid succession by the Islamists at Ghazni, a strategic point on the routes from Kabul to the south and east which has become the scene of fierce clashes between the Taleban and United States and Afghan forces. The day we arrived an Afghan policeman and eight insurgents died during an ambush in an outlying village. Rockets were found, primed to be fired into Ghazni city during a visit by the American ambassador a few days previously. But, as in the rest of Afghanistan, it is the civilians who are bearing the brunt of this murderous conflict. At the village of Qara Bagh, Halim's family is distraught and terrified. His cousin, Ahmed Gul, shook his head. "They killed him like an animal. No, no. We do not kill animals like that. They took away a father and a husband, they had no pity. We are all very worried. Please go now, you see those men standing over there? They are watching. It is dangerous for you, and for us." Fatima Mustaq, the director of education at Ghazni, has had repeated death threats, the notorious 'night letters'. Her gender, as well as her refusal to send girls home from school, has made her a hate figure for Islamist zealots. "I think they killed him that way to frighten us, otherwise why make a man suffer so much? Mohammed Halim and his family were good friends of ours and we are very, very upset by what has happened. He came to me when the threats first began and asked what he should do. I told him to move somewhere safe. I think he was trying to arrange that when they came and took him." The threats against Mushtaq also extend to her husband Sayyid Abdul and their eight children. "When the first letters arrived, I tried to hide them from my husband. But then he found the next few. He said we must stand together. We talked, and we decided that we must tell the children, so that they can be prepared. But it is not a good way for them to grow up." During the Taleban's rule she and her sister ran secret schools for girls at their home. "They found out and raided us. We managed to persuade them that we were only teaching the Koran. But they spied and found out we were teaching algebra. So they came and beat us. Can you imagine, beating someone for teaching algebra."
Pilots asked to help in spy case
5.00am Friday December 1, 2006
Air New Zealand pilots staying at the Millennium Hotel in London where former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko ate the day he fell ill have been asked by the National Health Service to come forward if they saw the victim or any "related activity". Small quantities of the radioactive material that killed the Russian have been found at the hotel's sushi restaurant and some other areas. Airline Pilots Association president Mark Rammell said six Air NZ pilots would usually be staying at the hotel on any night of the week.
US Jewish movement moves to allow gay rabbis
10.00am Thursday November 30, 2006
CHICAGO - The Conservative Jewish movement, the faith's American-based middle ground between liberalism and orthodoxy, is nearing a leadership decision that seems likely to permit openly gay rabbis and same-sex unions. The Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards which last tackled the issue in 1992 meets in New York next week, its 25 members reviewing an issue that has already rent many Christian churches and simmers across Judaism. "The way it looks, it will be decided on a more liberal understanding of the law," Rabbi Irwin Kula, president of the National Jewish Centre for Learning and Leadership, told Reuters. "It would be a very big, big surprise if that's not the case." Rabbi Joel Meyers, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, said: "I really don't know what will happen. Many of my colleagues are betting they will have two opinions at the end -- that rabbis can maintain the prohibition on homosexual behaviour and another that says it normalises homosexual behaviour." The assembly said in announcing the December 5-6 meetings that the committee's function is to advise rabbis on Jewish law or Halakha affecting Conservatives, who number 2 million of the world's 13 million Jews. The rabbis are not bound by its statements which in the past have sometimes offered multiple interpretations on issues.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10413159
Brash seeks legal advice on injuncted book [+audio]
10.20am Wednesday November 22, 2006
National Party leader Don Brash is to talk to his lawyers about allowing Nicky Hager's book on the party to be published.
Hager says his book contains damaging new revelations about National party leaders and will prove that Dr Brash and his closest advisers repeatedly misled the public.
Dr Brash last week got an interim injunction preventing the publication of emails he said were stolen from his personal computer.
That prevented Hager publishing his book, which is partly sourced from emails he said were leaked to him by disgruntled National insiders.
>>Editorial: Injunction not good for democracy
Hager said the book was based on interviews with National Party people and a range of documents, which included emails.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10411925
Mexican troops trap NZ activist
Tuesday November 28, 2006
A Wellington writer and activist, Julie Webb-Pullman, says she is trapped with students and other protesters in a university in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, where troops and police have been cracking down on a localised revolt.
Oaxaca has been in chaos for the past six months as striking teachers, Indian groups and leftists protest against the state governor, Ulises Ruiz, who faces corruption allegations.
"The mood is tense - we cannot leave here until either the police come in and kill or arrest us, or the federal Government does something like get rid of Ruiz," Webb-Pullman said on the Scoop website.
She fled violence that flared on Friday when hundreds of activists tried to surround federal police occupying the city's central square. Armoured riot trucks with water canons drove the protesters away from the plaza and sent them fleeing down side streets.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10412701
concluding ...
