The Indian Ocean. Stable. That's incredible when one considers not long ago there were three cyclones spinning across this body of water at once. But the cyclone is not to be disregarded. It effects lives. NOTED: the 'white' cloud mass southwest of the cyclone. It is a peripheral extension of the Antarctica Vortex. I am wondering if the cyclone will not make landfall at all but be incorporated into that vortex flow and 'sucked' into Antartica. It's headed in a southwest direction. The vortex flows are ionic and very powerful. I would not be surprised to find them powerful enough to redirect a cyclone. 

Pacific Global Satellite April 10, 2004 at 2:33PM. It is taking on somewhat the appearance of February 4th but with less heat intensity. The same 'Global Warming' 'heat transfer pattern' still exists despite the migration of the solar radiation north. The air pattern at the equator remains encouraging and the northern hemisphere is actually a bit cooler than earlier.  

The heat intensity has increase in the West Pacific Satellite of April 10, 2005 at 4:57 PM. The heat is not so out of balance YET that it is departing into Antarctica. It is remaining at the equator (for the most part) and that is encouraging. A long way to go.  

Real wages: two years of losses
The economy has been in recovery since late 2001 and has been creating jobs since the fall of 2003. But despite the upward trend for jobs, the hourly wages of most workers (the 80% of workers who are in manufacturing or non-managerial services) have failed to keep up with inflation over the last two years. In the first quarter of 2005, real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) wages were 0.2% below those of the same quarter a year earlier. Real wages have fallen 0.3% over the last two years after rising by 2.0% over the prior two years starting in early 2001. The chart above shows the worsening real wage trends since early 2001. This erosion of real wages despite rapid productivity growth and continued job growth is disappointing and a real detriment to working families' living standards.

Workforce needs polish, U.S. businesses declare

The article in The Chicago Tribune as cited as the title of this entry was rather troubling. As I read through some of the criticisms I realized this sounded something like a few young workers I know through my own sons but none sounded like most the people I know.

I felt it was degrading and indiscriminate in it's criticism when I realized there was no discussion of social issues and wages. In other words, what drives people to work. Work ethics? Not entirely. Money. What APPRECIATION there is for their labor. In addition to money I began to realize there is somewhat of a depression regarding 'value' in that most workers are faced with poor to no benefits including long term appreciation such as pensions.

So, I snooped around a bit, wanting to give the article some credence but found little.

In my opinion, the American low wage worker is demoralized and feeling worthless both in their quality of life and what a USA Dollar will and won't buy them. They are making compromises everywhere because of Bush's lousy economy. Compromises on a chronic basis are 'sell outs' of the emotional ethics a work force brings to it's value. When compromises happen on a regular basis without an end in sight people lose their enthusiasm for work and 'burn out' over little things; like leaving the family to get to work on time when their value at home is more rewarding. Like having inflated gas prices to the point where the daily commute is an investment and not an expense. After all who can actually afford or find one of those hybrids?

Above is a table that clearly illustrates the 'PLIGHT' of the Average American Worker. They are losing ground on a steady basis. Who can blame them for losing interest and attention in their work ethic. It isn't 'life skills' they lack, it a DAMN good paying job with benefits they haven't been afforded for a long, long time. On the same page of that table in the citation above are charts that further explain the demoralization of the American Worker and it's econmic collapse of it's wage as well as the decline in job growth. Among that decline in growth is the OPPORTUNITY to advance in status, pay and benefits. IT AIN'T THEIR FAULT !!

This is a table of 'average wage' by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is based on the value of a USA Dollar in 1982.

The highest 'average' wage prior to 1995 was in 1978 at $8.40 per hour. The USA Dollar could buy more then than now.

1976 8.24
1977 8.36
1978 8.40
1979 8.17
1980 7.78
1981 7.69
continued on to...
1992 7.41
1993 7.39
1994 7.40
1995 7.40

http://home.att.net/~Resurgence/Wages.htm

In this graph by Economic Policy Institute the value of blue-collar and non-managerial workers from the years November 2001 to May 2004 hasn't changed. That would mean with inflation and less health care coverage the mean wage earner was losing ground the entire time.

Jobs up, wages down. Employment grew, but real wages fall to a two-year low.
Just as the jobless recovery appears to be solidly behind us, a new problem has emerged: declining real wages. In fact, real wages for May 2004 fell back to the same level as November 2001, the month when the last recession ended.

When considering the cost of living increase and the difficulty in obtaining good health insurance and services the average wage of most 'hourly' workers has suffered severe loss. No wonder the work force is demoralized and not giving much attention to the work schedule. GOOD jobs are nearly impossible to find and when one considers the wages paid in Canada are 20% more than the USA why stay here if there are viable jobs elsewhere.

The figure below shows the inflation-adjusted average hourly wage of blue-collar and non-managerial workers. Because this group represents all but the top 20% of the workforce, it is a good indicator of working- and middle-class job quality. The top 20%, of course. have much higher wage scales and the top 2% are untouchable.

So, as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the destitute end up in the military maimed or dead, it is safe to say the USA Work Force is 'burned out' and 'strung out' seeking a way to make ends meet yet alone improve their 'lot in life.' Demoralized or not the USA worker is still the best prepared worker in the world and every country knows that EXCEPT of course the ones who seek to further justify their 'exploitation' of America and occupy the Executive and Legislative Branches of this government.

How has the average Blue Collar Worker wage faired under Bush? Not well. As a matter of fact they have seen no increase in 'actual' value but only a roller coaster ride of stagnant worth and consumer compromises. The average USA worker age 15 and older in the month of March 2004 is paid nearly 20% less than Canadian workers and more when one considers the difference in the value of a USA Dollar. 

The Iceberg did fine after the collision with the Titanic. 

A Beijing Olympian Woman 

Beijing Women in Assembly 

WomenWarPeace.org - Including Beijing Women and Taiwanese Women

The information resources that we have regularly utilized in this website appear in the right column. Below offers some explanation of the sources that have informed particular parts of the website.The Security Council noted the ‘need to consolidate data on the impact of armed conflict on women and girls’ in its October 2000 resolution on Women, Peace and Security.

To try to address the lack of consolidated and accessible information, UNIFEM has created this portal, which is very much a work in progress. We have only begun to create a centralized repository of information from a wide variety of sources, with links to reports and data from the UN system, and also from experts, academics, NGOs and media sources. And we have only begun to do this with resources in English. Our inital aim is to track progress on the implementation of resolution 1325, and ultimately to provide information to encourage researchers, policy makers, analysts and NGOs so they can routinely include, seek and contribute more information and analysis on women, war and peace.

Resolution 1325 provides a comprehensive political framework, within which women’s protection and their role in peace processes can be addressed. However, without adequate information and analysis about the impact of armed conflict on women and women’s role in peace-building, it will be very difficult for the Security Council to mainstream gender into its work, and routinely consider women’s needs and their potential contribution.

Through this portal, UNIFEM strives to provide access to the information and analysis that is currently available on the impact of armed conflict on women and women's role in peace-building. We do our best to ascertain the legitimacy of the sources of that information and analysis. Where there are conflicting perspectives, we strive to present a variety thereof so that users can make their own judgement regarding the accuracy of the information.

Beijing Women Ensemble 

Beijing Women Ice Hockey Team 

Health minister Hidehisa Otsuji takes to the streets of Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Saturday morning, asking passersby to donate blood. The nation's medical institutions are warning of a critical blood shortage.
 

Morning Papers - It's Origins

Morning Papers

Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"

"Okeydoke"

History…

1903, born Clare Booth Luce, playwright, legislator, and diplomat

1847, born Joseph Pulitzer, journalist and newspaper publisher

1894, born Ben Nicholson, painter and sculptor

1932, born Omar Sharif, Egyptian motion-picture actor, who is best known for his charismatic performance in the British epic film Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Born Michel Shahoub in Alexandria, Sharif was educated at Victoria College in Cairo, Egypt. His first important acting part was the lead role in the motion picture Sina Fil Wadi (The Blazing Sun, 1954), which featured Egypt's leading film star, Faten Hamama. Sharif's profile in Arabic cinema increased when he and Faten Hamama were later married. He performed in several other Middle-Eastern films in the 1950s, including Goha (1958), before British director David Lean cast him as a handsome and noble sheik in Lawrence of Arabia. The international success of this role led to parts for Sharif as characters from a variety of other nationalities.

1941, born Paul Theroux, novelist and travel writer

1790: The first U.S. patent law, protecting inventions against piracy, is approved.

1849, The safety pin was patented. Visit this site to explore other patented ideas—most not quite as useful as the safety pin.

1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was incorporated.

1912: The British luxury liner Titanic sets off on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean; five days later it sinks after hitting an iceberg.
1925, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is published; it will become one of the most important novels of the 20th century.

1932, German president Paul Von Hindenburg was re-elected, with Adolf Hitler coming in second.

1953, the 3-D horror movie "House of Wax" premiered in New York.

1963, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher failed to surface off Cape Cod, Mass., in a disaster that claimed 129 lives.

1972, the United States and the Soviet Union joined some 70 nations in signing an agreement banning biological warfare.

1974: Golda Meir, a founder of the state of Israel, announces that she is resigning as prime minister

1998, the Northern Ireland peace talks concluded as negotiators reached a landmark settlement to end 30 years of bitter rivalries and bloody attacks.

2004, the White House declassified and released a document sent to President Bush before the Sept. 11 attacks which cited recent intelligence of a possible al-Qaida plot to strike inside the United States.

Missing in Action

1967 O'GRADY JOHN F. NEW HYDE PARK NY EJECTED NO RADIO CONTACT
1968 CARVER HARRY F. NEW ALBANY IN
1968 PADGETT SAMUEL J. TULSA OK

The Moscow Times

Forced Into Slavery
A new exhibition sheds light on a rarely discussed aspect of World War II.
By Stephen Boykewich
Published: April 8, 2005
Many Europeans -- and Russians are no exception -- scoff at the U.S. system of legal liability that generates $2.9 million damages awards for burns from spilled coffee. But one of the most staggering results of any case to emerge from U.S. courts had Russians among its main beneficiaries -- and nobody dared called it excessive.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/04/08/102.html

Teller of Tales
Some people consider Yury Norshtein the greatest animator in history.
By Anna Malpas
Published: April 8, 2005
He doesn't use a computer and has never seen "The Simpsons," but Yury Norshtein has directed two short animated films, "Tale of Tales" (Skazka Skazok) and "Hedgehog in the Fog" (Yozhik v Tumane), that critics have voted the greatest of all time. Now a major exhibition is revisiting his work.
The 63-year-old director met with journalists this week as the Museum of Private Collections opened a retrospective of the films he made with his wife, the artist Francheska Yarbusova. The exhibit is named after "Tale of Tales," a 29-minute almost wordless film that combines wartime episodes with scenes of postwar Soviet life and timeless scenes of family happiness and love, all viewed by the hero, a small wolf cub.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/story/141447/

Global Eye
The Big Fix
By Chris Floyd
Published: April 8, 2005
Let's face the facts. The game is over and we -- the "reality-based community," the believers in genuine democracy and law, the heirs of Jefferson and Madison, Emerson and Thoreau, the toilers and dreamers, all those who seek to rise above the beast within and shape the brutal chaos of existence into something higher, richer and imbued with meaning -- have lost. The better world we thought had been won out of the blood and horror of history -- a realm of enlightenment that often found its best embodiment in the ideals and aspirations of the American Republic -- is gone. It's been swallowed by darkness, by ravening greed, by bestial spirits and by willful primitives who now possess overwhelming instruments of power and dominion.

A gang of such spirits seized control of the U.S. government by illicit means in 2000 and maintained that control through rampant electoral corruption in 2004. The re-election of President George W. Bush last November was a deliberately shambolic process that saw massive lockouts of opposition voters; unverifiable returns compiled by easily hackable machines operated by avowed corporate partisans of the ruling party; and vast discrepancies between exit polls and final results – gaps much larger than those that led elections in Ukraine and Georgia to be condemned as manipulated frauds. Indeed, a panel of statisticians said last week that the odds of such a discrepancy occurring naturally were 959,000 to 1, the Akron Beacon-Journal reported.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/04/08/120.html

Defense Seeks Khodorkovsky's Acquittal
By Valeria Korchagina
Staff Writer
Lawyers for Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Thursday called on judges to acquit the former Yukos CEO on all charges as they wrapped up their closing arguments in the nine-month trial of Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/04/08/003.html

200 Fly From Ufa to Deliver a Letter
Some 200 opposition activists flew in from Ufa on Thursday to demand the ouster of Bashkortostan President Murtaza Rakhimov at a rally on Lubyanskaya Ploshchad. Some protesters warned that brewing unrest could prompt a popular revolt like the one that recently toppled the president of Kyrgyzstan.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/04/08/002.html

With the aggressive atmosphere as witnessed by Cheney/Halliburton/Bush this is as it should be.

A String of Auctions Gets Canceled
A string of auctions for oil and gas development licenses have been canceled to prevent foreign companies from bidding, an official in the Natural Resources Ministry said.
The cancellations appear to constitute a de facto widening of the ban on bids by non-Russian-controlled companies, contradicting recent assurances from Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev and other ministers.
The latest cases also highlight uncertainties faced by foreign natural resource companies as the State Duma prepares to debate a long-anticipated bill on restricting foreigners' access to subsoil resources.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/04/08/001.html

Reuters

Taiwan bans news coverage by China's official media
Sun April 10, 2005 9:06 AM GMT+05:30
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan has stopped allowing journalists from China's official Xinhua news agency and People's Daily to cover news on the island, the first concrete retaliatory measure since China passed an anti-secession law in March.
Joseph Wu, chairman of the cabinet's Mainland Affairs Council, said on Sunday the decision was part of an overall review of exchanges with China, which views the self-ruled island of 23 million people as a breakaway province.

http://www.reuters.co.in/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp?type=worldNews&localeKey=en_IN&storyID=8133585

China Daily

There is something wrong ...

US, China agree to hold regular senior-level talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-09 09:35
The United States and China have agreed for the first time ever to hold regular, senior-level talks on a whole range of political and economic issues, the US State Department said.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-04/09/content_432708.htm

Lien Chan expected to visit mainland in May
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-09 15:10
Lien Chan, leader of Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, is expected to make an historic visit to the mainland in May, KMT spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen said.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-04/09/content_432751.htm

U.S. pushing Japan to boost military role
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-09 08:37
In the most sweeping re-examination of the U.S.-Japan security alliance in years, Japan and the United States are negotiating a military realignment that could move some or all of the nearly 20,000 Marines off the crowded island of Okinawa, close underused bases and meld an Army command in Washington state with a camp just south of Tokyo.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-04/09/content_432684.htm

Thousands rally against Japan in Beijing
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-04-09 22:37
More than 10,000 Chinese have joined the Saturday rally in Beijing protesting Japan's distortion of its wartime past and Tokyo's bid for a permanent seat on the UN
Security Council.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-04/09/content_432767.htm

… with this picture.

Shipping giant sets sail for big time
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-04-09 09:11
China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) announced on Friday it had bought China Ocean Shipping Tally Company (COSTACO), in a move expected to sharpen the competitiveness of the country's largest shipping firm.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-04/09/content_432690.htm

Nation steels itself against further price hikes
By Xie Ye (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-04-09 06:26
Steel makers adopted a hard line during negotiations with Australian mining company BHP Billiton Ltd on the price of iron ore, claiming they would not accept any unreasonable requests "under any circumstances."

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-04/09/content_432680.htm

Beijing women most confident about bodies: survey
(Chinanews)
Updated: 2005-04-08 15:33
What are the characteristics of the female figure in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Taipei?
Are women in these cities satisfied with their bodies? An underwear company conducted a survey seeking to answer just such questions.
The results: Beijing women have the biggest chests; Guangzhou women have the slimmest waists; Shanghai women have the firmest breasts; while Taipei women have "hot," well-proportioned figures.
The survey shows that Beijing women are most confident about their bodies. 13% of Beijing women who participated in the survey say that they are not at all dissatisfied with their bodies. Although Beijing women have the thickest waists, 36% of them say they are satisfied with theirs, the highest rate of satisfaction in the four cities.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-04/08/content_432572.htm

Daily Times

Men in China’s most modern city ageing early
The percentage of men showing signs of early ageing in Shanghai, China’s most modern and one of its richest cities, has doubled over the past two decades, state media cited a survey saying.
Symptoms of “male menopause,” which includes weariness, vesicular diseases and deteriorating sexual ability, trouble 20 percent of Shanghai men under the age of 45, the China Daily quoted the survey saying. This compares to about 10 percent in the early 1980s, according to the survey by Shanghai’s Renji Hospital, the report said.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_8-4-2005_pg9_6

Palestinians shown ‘Gandhi’ in non-violence appeal
A US entrepreneur screened an Arabic language version of the 1982 film “Gandhi” to Palestinians in a bid to encourage non-violent methods of conducting their uprising against Israel.
The award-winning epic about pacifist Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi will be shown throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the next week and was endorsed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jeff Skoll told a Ramallah audience.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_8-4-2005_pg9_1

Jewel thieves empty shop near presidential palace
A gang robbed a jewellery shop on a La Paz square within sight of guards at the presidential palace, prosecutors said. Between three and six men wearing police uniforms, witnesses said, entered a building next door to JL jewelers, took out the doorman and made a hole in the wall that opened into the shop.
The jeweller, one of the oldest in La Paz, is located 50 meteres from the government offices in Palacio Quemado, 100 metres from both the legislature and municipal government offices and just steps from the cathedral of La Paz. The robbery came a month after a gang stole nearly $250,000 from an exchange house, also in downtown La Paz, after entering from an abandoned house next door through a hole in the wall. afp

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_8-4-2005_pg9_4

The Japan Times

U.S. rejects September deadline for UNSC reform
Compiled from AP, Kyodo
UNITED NATIONS -- Secretary General Kofi Annan's sweeping plan for U.N. reform ran into new problems when the United States joined Russia and China in opposing his call for adoption of the entire package at a summit of world leaders in September.

… The latest U.S. position indicates that Japan faces a rocky road ahead in its bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council.
In Tokyo, government officials reiterated Japan's support Friday of Annan's proposal to decide by September on expanding the Security Council.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050409a1.htm

Tokyo's terms for joining China gas project rejected
Japan could accept China's offer to jointly conduct oil and gas exploration in the East China Sea, but only if Beijing provides details of its ongoing gas projects in the disputed waters and halts its operations there, the industry minister said Friday.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nb20050409a3.htm

Health ministry warns of serious blood shortage nationwide
Health facilities are facing an unprecedented blood shortage and may start running out in some areas as early as this week, according to the health ministry.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050410a2.htm

'Too friendly'? Hopelessly Midwestern
By AMY CHAVEZ
I am crossing America by Amtrak train and am now leaving the Wild West headed east through the Midwest. Much of the Midwest is prairie, farms and cows. Collectively these states are called the Plains States, probably because they are indeed very plain. Not a thing is growing at this time of year, but the planting season is just around the corner. If the spring planting is good, the corn will be "knee high by the 4th of July" and these states will produce enough soybeans to make tofu for all of Japan.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20050409cz.htm

Michael Moore Today

G.O.P. Consultant Weds His Male Partner
By Adam Nagourney / New York Times
WASHINGTON, April 8 - Arthur J. Finkelstein, a prominent Republican consultant who has directed a series of hard-edged political campaigns to elect conservatives in the United States and Israel over the last 25 years, said Friday that he had married his male partner in a civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2163

DeLay Says Federal Judiciary Has 'Run Amok,' Adding Congress Is Partly to Blame
By Carl Hulse and David D. Kirkpatrick / Washington Post
WASHINGTON, April 7 - Representative Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, escalated his talk of a battle between the legislative and judicial branches of government on Thursday, saying federal courts had "run amok," in large part because of the failure of Congress to confront them.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2141

"Our next step, whatever it is, must be more than rhetoric." -- Tom DeLay

MORE THAN RHETORIC. Tom DeLay started a campaign against the Judicial Branch of our country on rhetoric? Oh. So, what next? Drummed up lies !!

continued…

People queuing to see the exhibition of the weapons that were recovered from the Maoists by the Royal Nepal Army,
 

The arms seized from the Maoist rebels by the Nepalese soldiers at Rolpa May 28.
 

Morning Papers - continued...

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  No longer a joke as Charles does it his way
  By Annabel Crabb, Windsor
  April 10, 2005
  The Sun-Herald
  
  Hen-pecked, dreamy, accident-prone and awkward he may be, but the 56-year-old heir to the British throne finally got his way yesterday.
  His insistence on marrying Camilla Parker Bowles, with all the messiness and public difficulty that a civil ceremony entailed, is the firmest indicator to date that Prince Charles, as king, would be a stubborn and determined monarch.
  
  http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/No-longer-a-joke-as-Charles-does-it-his-way/2005/04/09/1112997230116.html
  
  National parks will burn, say volunteers
  By Angela Cuming
  April 10, 2005
  The Sun-Herald
  
  Volunteer firefighters have warned that their resources are so stretched they could be forced to let fires burn in the state's national parks.
  The breakaway Volunteer Firefighters Association (VFFA) said its members had struggled to manage fires in the existing 330 parks and would be unable to deal with any blazes that broke out in parks the State Government may choose to open in the future.
  
  http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/National-parks-will-burn-say-volunteers/2005/04/09/1112997223570.html
  
  Party of Apartheid takes its final bow
  April 10, 2005 - 6:49AM
  
  The party linked to decades of white racist rule in South Africa formally left the political stage, with its leader apologising for "a system grounded in injustice".
  
  http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Party-of-Apartheid-takes-its-final-bow/2005/04/10/1113071838297.html
  
  Migration explosion dismissed as a myth
  By Tim Dick, Urban Affairs Reporter
  April 11, 2005
  Victorians are staying home, an increasing number of Sydneysiders are doing the same and even New Zealanders have stopped coming, says a study that explains why Sydney's population growth has slowed markedly.
  
  http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Migration-explosion-dismissed-as-a-myth/2005/04/10/1113071854930.html?oneclick=true
  
  Haaretz
  
  IDF kills three Gaza youths; mortar attack on Gush Katif
  
  By Arnon Regular and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents and Associated Press
  
  Israel Defense Forces soldiers shot dead three Palestinian youths in the Gaza Strip Saturday.
  
  The three casualties were identified as Ashraf Mussa, Khaled Ghanam and Ahmad al-Jazzar, all aged 14. Al-Jazzar was initially seriously wounded in the incident, near Rafah's Tel a-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah. He underwent surgery at a Rafah hospital and later died of his wounds.
  
  Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemned the shooting. His office issued a statement saying he was "shocked."
  
  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/562862.html
  
  High alert on the Temple Mount
  By Haaretz Editorial
  The decision by the security establishment to close the Temple Mount to Jews on Sunday again invokes the bitter memory left by Ariel Sharon's visit to the holy site on September 28, 2000. That visit, which Ehud Barak's government agonized over whether or not to permit, ignited the second intifada.
  
  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=562567&contrassID=1&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
  
  Hezbollah should not be in Shebaa Farms and neither should Israel. Shebaa Farms belongs to Syria.
  
  Tiberias dig unearths very rare marble floor
  By Eli Ashkenazi
  A marble floor dating from the first century CE was unearthed during this season's excavations of ancient Tiberias.
  According to archaeologist Professor Yizhar Hirschfeld, director of the three-week dig that ended yesterday, the floor is apparently a remnant of a pavement in the palace of Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, who ruled the Galilee from 4 BCE to 38 CE.
  
  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=562531&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0
  
  Avital to call for more financial aid for Holocaust survivors
  By Ruth Sinai
  The chairperson of the Knesset's Immigration and Absorption Committee, Labor MK Colette Avital, plans to meet next week with the heads of the Claims Conference in New York to demand they increase assistance to needy Holocaust survivors.
  
  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=562529&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0
  
  Holocaust Survivors' Welfare Fund threatened with closure
  By Ruth Sinai
  Not long ago a Holocaust survivor entered the office of chairman of the Holocaust Survivors' Welfare Fund, Ze'ev Factor, and tossed his dentures onto the desk. The dentures were broken, and the man wanted money to fix them. Factor had to turn him down. Some 12,000 such requests have piled up in the fund's offices, and none of its employees knows how to soothe applicants who show up or telephone to ask when they will receive aid.
  
  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=561989&contrassID=1&subContrassID=9&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
  
  Even in leisure, religious and secular teens diverge
  By Eli Ashkenazi
  When Rabbi Shlomo Haddad of Safed prepares bar mitzvah boys from nonreligious families to read their haftarah (the reading from the Prophets read in synagogues on Shabbat after the reading of the Torah portion), he has to compete for attention with each boy's cell phone - sometimes a boy will even carry two cell phones. The subjects of the conversations that are engrossing them are the clubs where they will meet that night or at the weekend, television programs, or new Internet sites.
  
  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=561986&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
  
  Family shows by day, porno by night
  By Shahar Smooha
  Just after midnight this past Saturday night, "Sexy23" finally gave in to the pleas of the hundreds of surfers who were watching her on the Web. A few minutes earlier she had been dancing clad in underwear and a camisole in front of her home computer in attempt to convince the anonymous viewers to award her points that would win her a vacation in Paris at the expense of the Tapuz portal and the Ego Channel. But the viewers were unenthused.
  
  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=561517&contrassID=1&subContrassID=11&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
  
  The Los Angeles Times
  
  China's Strategy Gives It the Edge in the Battle of Two Sock Capitals
  This Appalachian town declared itself the Sock Capital of the World for good reason.
  It began making stockings in 1907 and once boasted of producing 1 of every 8 pairs worn on the planet. The cushion-sole sock was invented here. Local sock makers are models of U.S. manufacturing, working hard, sharing resources, shaving expenses, investing in technology.
  
  http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-socks10apr10,0,4497784.story?coll=la-home-headlines
  
  Millions Said Going to Waste in Iraq Utilities
  A coalition memo says water, sewage and power facilities rebuilt with U.S. funds are falling into disrepair. Iraqis say they need more money.
  By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer
  BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials have crippled scores of water, sewage and electrical plants refurbished with U.S. funds by failing to maintain and operate them properly, wasting millions of American taxpayer dollars in the process, according to interviews and documents.
  
  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-waste10apr10,0,3572459.story?coll=la-home-headlines
  
  15 Iraqi Soldiers Killed by Guerrillas
  The Islamic Army in Iraq takes responsibility for the attack. A U.S. soldier is reported killed by a roadside bomb in a separate incident.
  BAGHDAD — Guerrillas killed 15 Iraqi soldiers south of Baghdad, Iraqi police said Saturday.
  The attack occurred Friday as the soldiers were traveling in a truck near the town of Latifiya, about 30 miles from the Iraqi capital, the police said.
  
  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-soldiers10apr10,1,5467406.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true>
  
  Elected officials under the Bush Ego Administration are finding out they really have to govern and not just blow smoke.
  
  Gov. Making a Quiet Retreat
  Schwarzenegger is publicly upbeat about his agenda, but political realities have tripped up his bold proposals for revamping government.
  By Peter Nicholas and Robert Salladay, Times Staff Writers
  SACRAMENTO — The broad policy changes that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled with a flourish in his State of the State speech in January have foundered amid a series of missteps, compromises and clashes with a well-organized opposition.
  
  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-arnold10apr10,0,6750152.story?coll=la-home-headlines
  
  Plight of the Wild Ones
  Exotic and abandoned animals find refuge at remote sanctuaries. State's oversight of the centers draws scrutiny after series of mishaps.
  By Amanda Covarrubias, Times Staff Writer
  A 6-year-old black leopard with a long face and thinning coat yawned lazily in the desert sun, stretching its bony legs to expose where its toes had been chopped off for use in voodoo rituals.
  Nearby, a 5-year-old mountain lion rescued from a fur farm in Nebraska paced in its wire enclosure, warily eyeing a passing groundskeeper.
  
  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sanctuary10apr10,0,6828489.story?coll=la-home-local
  
  Army Says Maoist Toll After Clash Rises to 97
  Nepalese soldiers recovered 47 more bodies of Maoists killed in a raid on an army base two days ago, taking the toll of rebels to 97 in the country's deadliest clash in five months, an army official said.
  The army said Friday that it had killed at least 50 Maoists in the clash after the rebels, armed with rocket launchers and mortars, attacked their base in Khara, 250 miles west of Katmandu.
  
  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-briefs10.4apr10,1,3481664.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=2&cset=true
  
  SYRIA needs to send their tanks to Sheba Farms to set up their own sovereignty and send Hezbollah packing back to Lebanon.
  
  Syrian Tanks Leave; New Government to Debut
  Dozens of Syrian tanks and military vehicles left Lebanon as Damascus accelerated its military pullout.
  Witnesses said at least 75 tanks had vacated positions in the southern end of the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon and were being driven on military transporters across the border.
  
  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-briefs10.1apr10,1,2302013.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=3&cset=true
  
  Soldiers, U.N. Troops Arrest Militia Leader
  Government soldiers and U.N. troops in Congo arrested a militia leader in a crackdown on armed groups that have terrorized the lawless Ituri district and killed more than 60,000 people since 1999.
  The arrested leader, Kahwa Mandro, heads one of half a dozen ethnic-based groups allegedly protecting their communities in Ituri that are often said to be fighting over natural resources and tax revenue.
  
  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-briefs10.7apr10,1,4661315.story?coll=la-headlines-world
  
  At Least 38 Students Killed in Truck Crash
  A truck packed with high school students skidded off a mountain road in northern Zambia, killing at least 38 and seriously injuring 50, police said.
  Friday's accident happened near Kawambwa, about 400 miles north of the capital, Lusaka, a police official said.
  The toll was likely to increase because of the number of serious injuries, a local official said.
  
  Amid Scandal, Premier Says He Will Resign
  Czech Prime Minister Stanislav Gross said he would resign and make way for a new coalition government because of a scandal surrounding the financing of his luxury apartment.
  Gross did not specify a date for his resignation, but said the Czech ambassador to the European Union, Jan Kohout, was his Social Democrat Party's candidate to replace him.
  
  continued…

Saudi militants are dead. 

Palestinian who's brother is one of the dead. 

Palestinian militants (not their military) carrying Qassam rockets.