January 23, 2006.
The melt in Auburn, Massachusetts.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Morning Papers - continued
The Times Picayune
White House against Baker bailout bill
Bush point man says block grants enough
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
By Bill Walsh
Washington bureau
WASHINGTON -- In a severe blow to state and local plans for rebuilding hurricane-devastated areas, the Bush administration Tuesday came out against a homeowner bailout proposal that many Louisianians say is the key to economic recovery and the rebirth of a redesigned New Orleans.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1138202723122050.xml
Baker bill snub may not kill buy-out plan
By Frank Donze
Gordon Russell
and Laura Magg
Staff writers
The White House’s public opposition this week to legislation that would have offered quick buyouts to owners of heavily damaged properties in Louisiana throws a wrench into the plans of local communities, in particular New Orleans, that were counting on the buyout program to serve as a mechanism for quick redevelopment in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
But while most state and local leaders saw the Bush administration’s decision as a serious setback, they didn’t view it as fatal. In the short term, they acknowledged, the absence of the “Baker bill” legislation will make it difficult for homeowners already stuck in limbo for the past five months to make informed decisions in the near future about whether to rebuild or sell their flooded properties.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_01_25.html
Louisiana to get maximum $6.2 billion in federal grant money
1/25/2006, 5:29 p.m. CT
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana will receive $6.2 billion in federal hurricane recovery block grant money — the maximum for which the state was eligible, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Wednesday.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1138232378149010.xml&storylist=louisiana
AP Interview: Blanco says FEMA maps holding up housing repairs
1/24/2006, 11:56 p.m. CT
By MELINDA DESLATTE
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Homeowners struggling to recover from the hurricanes are hampered by waits for new federal elevation standards, and a proposal to assist them through federal home buyouts won't have the critical backing of the White House, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1138153462311290.xml&storylist=louisiana
AP Interview: Blanco outlines levee consolidation plans
1/25/2006, 4:42 p.m. CT
By MELINDA DESLATTE
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. Kathleen Blanco's push for consolidating Louisiana levee districts envisions the state taking over the districts' investment properties — like the airport and marinas operated by the New Orleans levee board.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-22/113822935563930.xml&storylist=louisiana
White House accused of gag order
Katrina questions hit brick wall, officials say
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
By Bruce Alpert
Washington bureau
WASHINGTON -- The White House is hindering the Senate's investigation into the government's response to Hurricane Katrina by prohibiting federal officials from talking about their hurricane-related communications with the administration, the two senators leading the probe said Tuesday.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1138202769122050.xml
Where is Executive Privilege now?
Cheney, Rumsfeld could testify in EU probe
1/26/2006, 3:51 a.m. CT
The Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — An EU committee investigating alleged CIA secret prisons could call Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to testify, a senior member of the panel said.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/topstories/index.ssf?/base/international-16/11382695426370.xml&storylist=topstories
Sydney Morning Herald
Thrilling new look for guess who?
http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/thrilling-new-look-for-guess-who/2006/01/26/1138066897789.html
Award winner to lobby PM
January 26, 2006 - 9:22AM
Australian of the Year Ian Frazer will use his new status to lobby government to spend more money on medical research.
Mr Frazer has spent the last 20 years working on a vaccine to combat the sexually-transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes all cervical cancer cases.
There are half a million new diagnoses of the cancer recorded each year, including around 800 in Australia.
"I see two important things coming out of this," he said.
"One is obviously the chance to talk with the community and with politicians about the need for funding for more medical research. The benefits of medical research are made obvious by the sort of work we have been doing on the vaccine.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/award-winner-to-lobby-pm/2006/01/26/1138066889983.html
Raging bushfires threaten more towns
Eleven communities in Victoria's south west, directly in the path of the massive Grampians bushfire, have now been put on high alert.
The blaze that has so far blacked-out 120,000 hectares of bush and farmland and razed 24 homes, is expected to intensify later today as searing temperatures combine with high winds.
The number of towns and communities under threat almost doubled in the space of a few hours this morning.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/raging-bushfires-threaten-more-towns/2006/01/26/1138066894729.html
Earth-like planet found
January 26, 2006 - 7:06AM
An international team of researchers that includes Australian astronomers has discovered a new "Earth-like" planet that may help answer the question of whether we are alone in the galaxy.
Researchers used a relatively new planet-hunting technique, called gravitational microlensing, to locate OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb more than 20,000 light years away from Earth.
The find has excited researchers because they believe the planet, lying close to the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, may have some attributes believed necessary to support life.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/earthlike-planet-found/2006/01/26/1138066885482.html
Pinochet's daughter seeking asylum in US
The eldest daughter of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet has asked the United States to grant her political asylum after she fled tax charges in Chile.
Lucia Pinochet Hiriart, 60, is in custody at Dulles International Airport near Washington pending a decision in the case and after being questioned since early in the day, a US official said.
"The Chilean government has been officially informed by the North American ambassador in Santiago that Mrs Lucia Pinochet Hiriart has asked for asylum in the United States," Chile's Interior Minister Francisco Vidal said on national radio in Chile.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/pinochets-daughter-seeking-asylum-in-us/2006/01/26/1138066903441.html
Death toll rises as Europe shivers in big freeze
January 26, 2006
Train tracks cracked in Vienna, German authorities shut a canal to ships after it iced up, and a zoo moved its penguins indoors as a deadly deep freeze tightened its Arctic grip on much of Europe.
The cold wave, which has been blamed for more than 50 deaths in Russia, claimed at least 13 lives over the past five days in Moldova, where authorities said another 30 people, many homeless, were in hospital with hypothermia.
In Ukraine, the Health Ministry said yesterday that 53 people had died during the past 24 hours due to the cold, bringing to at least 130 the number of deaths since temperatures plunged last week.
Poland reported 11 deaths, raising the number of fatalities from the cold to 38 since Friday. Police were patrolling streets to round up the homeless or inebriated and bring them indoors, as temperatures plunged to minus 25 degrees in Warsaw and minus 35 elsewhere.
Romanian authorities reported 15 deaths in the past few days, five of them homeless people, after temperatures dropped as low as minus 30 in parts of the country. In Austria, the mercury reached an all-time low of minus 31 degrees in the town of Gross.
Vienna's subway operator said the morning rush-hour service had been interrupted in some areas because the severe cold, which reached minus 18 degrees, caused small tears in welds on the track.
In southern Germany, officials closed the Rhine-Main-Danube canal to shipping for the first time in five years. Thick sheets of ice stretching about 80 kilometres posed a danger to ships' propellers and the canal's lock systems.
An icebreaker had to help six ships in the canal, which links waterway systems between the North Sea and the Black Sea, reach their destinations.
At Dresden Zoo, 21 Humboldt penguins were moved from their minus 21 degree outdoor environment and into a building where the temperature was a more comfortable zero to ensure their feet did not freeze. In Moscow, which has been held in an icy grip for the past 10 days, trolley buses and trams returned to full operation but record electricity consumption continued to strain the system. The city's death toll is at least 28.
■ Last year was the warmest in a century, nosing out 1998, a US federal analysis says. Researchers calculated that 2005 produced the highest annual average surface temperature worldwide since instrument recordings began in the late 1800s.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/death-toll-rises-as-europe-shivers-in-big-freeze/2006/01/25/1138066865646.html
Appointee linked to Iraq kickbacks
A BUSINESSMAN appointed by the Howard Government to the US-led occupation government in Iraq personally sanctioned kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime, according to evidence uncovered by the inquiry into the oil-for-food scandal.
Trevor Flugge, the former chairman of the wheat exporter, AWB, was named in an internal AWB email dated September 2002 which describes a scheme to evade UN sanctions on Iraq by funnelling money to Saddam's regime through a London company called Ronly Holdings.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/appointee-linked-to-iraq-kickbacks/2006/01/26/1138066867484.html
Stop children like Annie dying from drinking dirty water
http://www.worldvision.com.au/waterhealthlife/
Trump sues for $6b
Who wants to be a millionaire? Not Donald Trump.
The real estate mogul and TV star is suing an author who wrote that Trump was not a billionaire and pegged his net worth no more than $332 million.
The larger-than-life entrepreneur known to millions from his reality show The Apprentice sued The New York Times reporter who wrote TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald and its publisher, Warner Books, for defamatory statements.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/trump-sues-for-6b/2006/01/25/1138066829351.html
The New York Times
United States Ranks 28th on Environment, a New Study Says
By FELICITY BARRINGER
Published: January 23, 2006
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 - A pilot nation-by-nation study of environmental performance shows that just six nations - led by New Zealand, followed by five from Northern Europe - have achieved 85 percent or better success in meeting a set of critical environmental goals ranging from clean drinking water and low ozone levels to sustainable fisheries and low greenhouse gas emissions.
The study, jointly produced by Yale and Columbia Universities, ranked the United States 28th over all, behind most of Western Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Costa Rica and Chile, but ahead of Russia and South Korea.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/politics/23environment.html
KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND 5.23 12:15AM
Heading for Home
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND, May 22 -- Most places have rhythms of sorts.
Thank God it's Friday is an American one, the siesta is a Latin American one. Here the rhythm is the "flight period," the week-long stretches in which the New York Air National Guard's capacious, sturdy LC-130's arrive, fly to and from the high ice of the interior, then return to upstate New York.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/sciencereport/index.html
The Big Melt
Andrew C. Revkin and Simon Romero look at how the changing climate is affecting people and industry in the Arctic.
The Series:
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/earth/index.html
E.P.A. Seeks to Phase Out a Toxic Chemical
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
Published: January 26, 2006
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 — The Environmental Protection Agency has asked DuPont and seven other chemical companies to stop using a toxic substance in the making of everyday products, including Teflon-coated pans, that has been linked in some studies to cancer, strokes and other health problems.
Announcing the voluntary program, officials of the agency said Wednesday that full compliance by the companies and their overseas affiliates would lead to a 95 percent reduction by 2010 in use of the substance, perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, and to their total elimination by 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/26/national/26enviro.html
It's Getting Crowded on the Environmental Bandwagon
"... The energy challenge is a critical societal issue, and we feel that it's our responsibility as the industry leader to communicate about it," said Russ Roberts, an Exxon Mobil spokesman.
Companies have reached that decision for various reasons: Oil companies, under attack for reaping windfall profits from soaring fuel prices, are trying to position themselves as part of the solution to energy problems rather than the cause. Manufacturers of fuel-efficient automobiles, jet engines or other green products are recognizing that they can burnish their image even as they promote their products. And companies in all industries are trying to make socially conscious investors and customers comfortable about buying their products and shares.
"Investors choose whose stock to buy; consumers choose whose gas they buy; and governments choose who gets their contracts," said Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP, which alternates "Beyond Petroleum" and "It's a Start" as its tag lines. "We're going to invest $8 billion in alternative energy in the next 10 years, so, of course, we're advertising that...."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/business/22adco.html?ex=1138424400&en=c3c8b2f61c45ba69&ei=5070
A Wide-Eyed Astronaut Becomes a NASA Critic
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: January 24, 2006
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - It may be a little early, at 9 a.m., to hear a motivational speaker. Any motivational speaker. A certain bleariness sits over this crowd of about 50 financial and insurance conference planners.
Despite the "little voice in the back of my brain" that told him to say something, Colonel Mullane tells the audience, he was reluctant to second-guess the pilot, who had thousands of hours of experience in the jet, and passively accepted the pilot's decision.
"Basically at that critical moment of the flight, I ceased to be a team member and became a passenger," he says.
They ended up running out of fuel and ejected just short of the landing strip. The F-111 became a $20 million pile of rubble.
At NASA, too, Colonel Mullane tells audiences, little voices went unheard; danger signals were missed and warnings ignored on the way to tragedies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/space/24prof.html
Ivory Bill Report Is Called 'Faith-Based Ornithology'
By JAMES GORMAN
Published: January 24, 2006
In the strongest published criticism yet of claims for the sighting of the ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkansas in 2004, an ornithologist who was not involved in the search has called claims for proof of the bird's existence "faith-based ornithology."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/24ivor.html
The New Zealand Herald
ConocoPhillips profit soars on higher prices
26.01.06 4.00pm
By Deepa Babington
No. 3 US oil company ConocoPhillips on Wednesday reported a 50 per cent jump in quarterly profit to sail past Wall Street forecasts, propelled by soaring oil and gas prices.
The results capped the most profitable year in the company's history and extended its streak of beating analysts' estimates to a 12th straight quarter.
ConocoPhillips has record energy prices over the past few years to thank for much of its success. Crude oil prices rose about 40 per cent last year because of hurricanes, lack of spare production capacity, and tensions in oil-producing countries like Iran and Venezuela.
ConocoPhillips, which last month agreed to buy natural gas producer Burlington Resources Inc for US$35 billion ($51.73 billion), reported fourth-quarter profit of US$3.68 billion, or US$2.61 a share, compared with US$2.43 billion, or US$1.72 a share, a year earlier.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10365474
Iran defiant as world weighs action in atomic row
26.01.06 4.00pm
TEHRAN - Iran again threatened today to start full-scale uranium enrichment if reported to the UN Security Council, while signalling interest in a Russian proposal aimed at calming its nuclear row with the West.
The council's five veto-wielding permanent members plus Germany plan to meet in London next week to try to resolve differences over whether to send Iran to the council at a crisis meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog on February 2, diplomats said.
They said foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany would seek a consensus before the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gathers in Vienna to weigh what to do about Iran.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365453
US pressures Abbas to exclude Hamas from Cabinet
26.01.06 1.00pm
By Saul Hudson
WASHINGTON - The United States pressured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to exclude Hamas from his Cabinet despite signs the militant group made a strong showing in a parliamentary election today.
The United States, which encouraged Palestinians to hold the election and pressed Israel to allow the vote as part of its drive to promote democracy in the Middle East, said it will accept the results as a reflection of the will of the people.
But it also made clear Abbas should keep Hamas in opposition. The group is sworn to Israel's destruction and is considered a terrorist organisation by Washington.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365470
Iran accuses UK of co-operating with bombers
26.01.06 1.00pm
TEHRAN - Iran has accused the British military of co-operating with bombers who killed eight people in southwest Iran, a claim Britain described as "ludicrous".
A little-known group campaigning for independence for Iran's Arab minority claimed responsibility in a Web statement for yesterday's attacks on a bank and government building in the oil city of Ahvaz.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said London's involvement was clear and that Tehran would make strong protests to Britain.
"Yesterday's murders in Ahvaz were committed by those who proudly have their photographs taken with British officials. They enjoy the cooperation of British army commanders and use their facilities in Basra," he told a news conference.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365466
Putin undecided on expelling alleged UK spies
26.01.06 1.00pm
ST PETERSBURG, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin said today alleged spying by British diplomats in Moscow was regrettable but he had not decided whether to expel them from the country.
His comments were the highest-profile reaction yet to the diplomatic row, which broke out on Monday with the screening of a television programme alleging that the men had used a fake rock to communicate with agents.
Their main crime, according to Russian officials, was to finance Russian non-governmental organisations (NGOs), although they have not explained why this was illegal.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365456
Google submits to Beijing's control
26.01.06 1.00pm
By Clifford Coonan
Top internet company Google has become the latest technology company to founder against the Great Firewall of China, with the news it will censor its search engine to give it greater access to China's fast-growing market.
Human rights groups say the move by Google is the latest example of a big corporation kow-towing to the Chinese government's stringent demands on internet content.
They say Google has sold out on its corporate mantra: "Don't be evil".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365426
Britain to send up to 4,000 troops to Afghanistan
26.01.06 11.20am
By Kim Sengupta
Britain will be sending up to 4,000 troops to Afghanistan in a move which will effectively mean fighting wars on two fronts, with forces still deployed in Iraq.
The government had planned for sizeable withdrawals from Iraq by the time the Afghan force is sent in April and May.
But with no sign of peace breaking out in Iraq, military commanders have now ruled out that possibility.
The size of the force for Afghanistan, just a thousand fewer than at the height of the war five years ago, also shows just how much the security situation there has unravelled while the US and Britain invaded Iraq before Afghanistan has been stablised.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365459
Sick seaman airlifted from Antarctica
26.01.06 2.10pm
A man is recovering in hospital following a rescue mission involving five countries in Antarctica.
The Uruguayan crewman on foreign-registered ship the Paloma V suffered convulsions following a possible head injury late last week.
The Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington arranged for the Marina Svetaeva, a Polish ship, chartered by Australians to meet the Paloma off the coast of Cape Hallet.
A doctor on board decided the crewman required further medical attention and he was flown by helicopter to an Antarctica New Zealand group camped at Cape Hallet.
A plane from the Italian base at Terra Nova Bay collected the man and flew him to the United States Antarctic Programme base at McMurdo Station, where he was examined again.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365476
continued ...
White House against Baker bailout bill
Bush point man says block grants enough
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
By Bill Walsh
Washington bureau
WASHINGTON -- In a severe blow to state and local plans for rebuilding hurricane-devastated areas, the Bush administration Tuesday came out against a homeowner bailout proposal that many Louisianians say is the key to economic recovery and the rebirth of a redesigned New Orleans.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1138202723122050.xml
Baker bill snub may not kill buy-out plan
By Frank Donze
Gordon Russell
and Laura Magg
Staff writers
The White House’s public opposition this week to legislation that would have offered quick buyouts to owners of heavily damaged properties in Louisiana throws a wrench into the plans of local communities, in particular New Orleans, that were counting on the buyout program to serve as a mechanism for quick redevelopment in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
But while most state and local leaders saw the Bush administration’s decision as a serious setback, they didn’t view it as fatal. In the short term, they acknowledged, the absence of the “Baker bill” legislation will make it difficult for homeowners already stuck in limbo for the past five months to make informed decisions in the near future about whether to rebuild or sell their flooded properties.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_01_25.html
Louisiana to get maximum $6.2 billion in federal grant money
1/25/2006, 5:29 p.m. CT
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana will receive $6.2 billion in federal hurricane recovery block grant money — the maximum for which the state was eligible, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Wednesday.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1138232378149010.xml&storylist=louisiana
AP Interview: Blanco says FEMA maps holding up housing repairs
1/24/2006, 11:56 p.m. CT
By MELINDA DESLATTE
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Homeowners struggling to recover from the hurricanes are hampered by waits for new federal elevation standards, and a proposal to assist them through federal home buyouts won't have the critical backing of the White House, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1138153462311290.xml&storylist=louisiana
AP Interview: Blanco outlines levee consolidation plans
1/25/2006, 4:42 p.m. CT
By MELINDA DESLATTE
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. Kathleen Blanco's push for consolidating Louisiana levee districts envisions the state taking over the districts' investment properties — like the airport and marinas operated by the New Orleans levee board.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-22/113822935563930.xml&storylist=louisiana
White House accused of gag order
Katrina questions hit brick wall, officials say
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
By Bruce Alpert
Washington bureau
WASHINGTON -- The White House is hindering the Senate's investigation into the government's response to Hurricane Katrina by prohibiting federal officials from talking about their hurricane-related communications with the administration, the two senators leading the probe said Tuesday.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1138202769122050.xml
Where is Executive Privilege now?
Cheney, Rumsfeld could testify in EU probe
1/26/2006, 3:51 a.m. CT
The Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — An EU committee investigating alleged CIA secret prisons could call Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to testify, a senior member of the panel said.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/topstories/index.ssf?/base/international-16/11382695426370.xml&storylist=topstories
Sydney Morning Herald
Thrilling new look for guess who?
http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/thrilling-new-look-for-guess-who/2006/01/26/1138066897789.html
Award winner to lobby PM
January 26, 2006 - 9:22AM
Australian of the Year Ian Frazer will use his new status to lobby government to spend more money on medical research.
Mr Frazer has spent the last 20 years working on a vaccine to combat the sexually-transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes all cervical cancer cases.
There are half a million new diagnoses of the cancer recorded each year, including around 800 in Australia.
"I see two important things coming out of this," he said.
"One is obviously the chance to talk with the community and with politicians about the need for funding for more medical research. The benefits of medical research are made obvious by the sort of work we have been doing on the vaccine.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/award-winner-to-lobby-pm/2006/01/26/1138066889983.html
Raging bushfires threaten more towns
Eleven communities in Victoria's south west, directly in the path of the massive Grampians bushfire, have now been put on high alert.
The blaze that has so far blacked-out 120,000 hectares of bush and farmland and razed 24 homes, is expected to intensify later today as searing temperatures combine with high winds.
The number of towns and communities under threat almost doubled in the space of a few hours this morning.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/raging-bushfires-threaten-more-towns/2006/01/26/1138066894729.html
Earth-like planet found
January 26, 2006 - 7:06AM
An international team of researchers that includes Australian astronomers has discovered a new "Earth-like" planet that may help answer the question of whether we are alone in the galaxy.
Researchers used a relatively new planet-hunting technique, called gravitational microlensing, to locate OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb more than 20,000 light years away from Earth.
The find has excited researchers because they believe the planet, lying close to the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, may have some attributes believed necessary to support life.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/earthlike-planet-found/2006/01/26/1138066885482.html
Pinochet's daughter seeking asylum in US
The eldest daughter of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet has asked the United States to grant her political asylum after she fled tax charges in Chile.
Lucia Pinochet Hiriart, 60, is in custody at Dulles International Airport near Washington pending a decision in the case and after being questioned since early in the day, a US official said.
"The Chilean government has been officially informed by the North American ambassador in Santiago that Mrs Lucia Pinochet Hiriart has asked for asylum in the United States," Chile's Interior Minister Francisco Vidal said on national radio in Chile.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/pinochets-daughter-seeking-asylum-in-us/2006/01/26/1138066903441.html
Death toll rises as Europe shivers in big freeze
January 26, 2006
Train tracks cracked in Vienna, German authorities shut a canal to ships after it iced up, and a zoo moved its penguins indoors as a deadly deep freeze tightened its Arctic grip on much of Europe.
The cold wave, which has been blamed for more than 50 deaths in Russia, claimed at least 13 lives over the past five days in Moldova, where authorities said another 30 people, many homeless, were in hospital with hypothermia.
In Ukraine, the Health Ministry said yesterday that 53 people had died during the past 24 hours due to the cold, bringing to at least 130 the number of deaths since temperatures plunged last week.
Poland reported 11 deaths, raising the number of fatalities from the cold to 38 since Friday. Police were patrolling streets to round up the homeless or inebriated and bring them indoors, as temperatures plunged to minus 25 degrees in Warsaw and minus 35 elsewhere.
Romanian authorities reported 15 deaths in the past few days, five of them homeless people, after temperatures dropped as low as minus 30 in parts of the country. In Austria, the mercury reached an all-time low of minus 31 degrees in the town of Gross.
Vienna's subway operator said the morning rush-hour service had been interrupted in some areas because the severe cold, which reached minus 18 degrees, caused small tears in welds on the track.
In southern Germany, officials closed the Rhine-Main-Danube canal to shipping for the first time in five years. Thick sheets of ice stretching about 80 kilometres posed a danger to ships' propellers and the canal's lock systems.
An icebreaker had to help six ships in the canal, which links waterway systems between the North Sea and the Black Sea, reach their destinations.
At Dresden Zoo, 21 Humboldt penguins were moved from their minus 21 degree outdoor environment and into a building where the temperature was a more comfortable zero to ensure their feet did not freeze. In Moscow, which has been held in an icy grip for the past 10 days, trolley buses and trams returned to full operation but record electricity consumption continued to strain the system. The city's death toll is at least 28.
■ Last year was the warmest in a century, nosing out 1998, a US federal analysis says. Researchers calculated that 2005 produced the highest annual average surface temperature worldwide since instrument recordings began in the late 1800s.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/death-toll-rises-as-europe-shivers-in-big-freeze/2006/01/25/1138066865646.html
Appointee linked to Iraq kickbacks
A BUSINESSMAN appointed by the Howard Government to the US-led occupation government in Iraq personally sanctioned kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime, according to evidence uncovered by the inquiry into the oil-for-food scandal.
Trevor Flugge, the former chairman of the wheat exporter, AWB, was named in an internal AWB email dated September 2002 which describes a scheme to evade UN sanctions on Iraq by funnelling money to Saddam's regime through a London company called Ronly Holdings.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/appointee-linked-to-iraq-kickbacks/2006/01/26/1138066867484.html
Stop children like Annie dying from drinking dirty water
http://www.worldvision.com.au/waterhealthlife/
Trump sues for $6b
Who wants to be a millionaire? Not Donald Trump.
The real estate mogul and TV star is suing an author who wrote that Trump was not a billionaire and pegged his net worth no more than $332 million.
The larger-than-life entrepreneur known to millions from his reality show The Apprentice sued The New York Times reporter who wrote TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald and its publisher, Warner Books, for defamatory statements.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/trump-sues-for-6b/2006/01/25/1138066829351.html
The New York Times
United States Ranks 28th on Environment, a New Study Says
By FELICITY BARRINGER
Published: January 23, 2006
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 - A pilot nation-by-nation study of environmental performance shows that just six nations - led by New Zealand, followed by five from Northern Europe - have achieved 85 percent or better success in meeting a set of critical environmental goals ranging from clean drinking water and low ozone levels to sustainable fisheries and low greenhouse gas emissions.
The study, jointly produced by Yale and Columbia Universities, ranked the United States 28th over all, behind most of Western Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Costa Rica and Chile, but ahead of Russia and South Korea.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/politics/23environment.html
KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND 5.23 12:15AM
Heading for Home
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND, May 22 -- Most places have rhythms of sorts.
Thank God it's Friday is an American one, the siesta is a Latin American one. Here the rhythm is the "flight period," the week-long stretches in which the New York Air National Guard's capacious, sturdy LC-130's arrive, fly to and from the high ice of the interior, then return to upstate New York.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/sciencereport/index.html
The Big Melt
Andrew C. Revkin and Simon Romero look at how the changing climate is affecting people and industry in the Arctic.
The Series:
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/earth/index.html
E.P.A. Seeks to Phase Out a Toxic Chemical
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
Published: January 26, 2006
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 — The Environmental Protection Agency has asked DuPont and seven other chemical companies to stop using a toxic substance in the making of everyday products, including Teflon-coated pans, that has been linked in some studies to cancer, strokes and other health problems.
Announcing the voluntary program, officials of the agency said Wednesday that full compliance by the companies and their overseas affiliates would lead to a 95 percent reduction by 2010 in use of the substance, perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, and to their total elimination by 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/26/national/26enviro.html
It's Getting Crowded on the Environmental Bandwagon
"... The energy challenge is a critical societal issue, and we feel that it's our responsibility as the industry leader to communicate about it," said Russ Roberts, an Exxon Mobil spokesman.
Companies have reached that decision for various reasons: Oil companies, under attack for reaping windfall profits from soaring fuel prices, are trying to position themselves as part of the solution to energy problems rather than the cause. Manufacturers of fuel-efficient automobiles, jet engines or other green products are recognizing that they can burnish their image even as they promote their products. And companies in all industries are trying to make socially conscious investors and customers comfortable about buying their products and shares.
"Investors choose whose stock to buy; consumers choose whose gas they buy; and governments choose who gets their contracts," said Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP, which alternates "Beyond Petroleum" and "It's a Start" as its tag lines. "We're going to invest $8 billion in alternative energy in the next 10 years, so, of course, we're advertising that...."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/business/22adco.html?ex=1138424400&en=c3c8b2f61c45ba69&ei=5070
A Wide-Eyed Astronaut Becomes a NASA Critic
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: January 24, 2006
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - It may be a little early, at 9 a.m., to hear a motivational speaker. Any motivational speaker. A certain bleariness sits over this crowd of about 50 financial and insurance conference planners.
Despite the "little voice in the back of my brain" that told him to say something, Colonel Mullane tells the audience, he was reluctant to second-guess the pilot, who had thousands of hours of experience in the jet, and passively accepted the pilot's decision.
"Basically at that critical moment of the flight, I ceased to be a team member and became a passenger," he says.
They ended up running out of fuel and ejected just short of the landing strip. The F-111 became a $20 million pile of rubble.
At NASA, too, Colonel Mullane tells audiences, little voices went unheard; danger signals were missed and warnings ignored on the way to tragedies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/space/24prof.html
Ivory Bill Report Is Called 'Faith-Based Ornithology'
By JAMES GORMAN
Published: January 24, 2006
In the strongest published criticism yet of claims for the sighting of the ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkansas in 2004, an ornithologist who was not involved in the search has called claims for proof of the bird's existence "faith-based ornithology."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/24ivor.html
The New Zealand Herald
ConocoPhillips profit soars on higher prices
26.01.06 4.00pm
By Deepa Babington
No. 3 US oil company ConocoPhillips on Wednesday reported a 50 per cent jump in quarterly profit to sail past Wall Street forecasts, propelled by soaring oil and gas prices.
The results capped the most profitable year in the company's history and extended its streak of beating analysts' estimates to a 12th straight quarter.
ConocoPhillips has record energy prices over the past few years to thank for much of its success. Crude oil prices rose about 40 per cent last year because of hurricanes, lack of spare production capacity, and tensions in oil-producing countries like Iran and Venezuela.
ConocoPhillips, which last month agreed to buy natural gas producer Burlington Resources Inc for US$35 billion ($51.73 billion), reported fourth-quarter profit of US$3.68 billion, or US$2.61 a share, compared with US$2.43 billion, or US$1.72 a share, a year earlier.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10365474
Iran defiant as world weighs action in atomic row
26.01.06 4.00pm
TEHRAN - Iran again threatened today to start full-scale uranium enrichment if reported to the UN Security Council, while signalling interest in a Russian proposal aimed at calming its nuclear row with the West.
The council's five veto-wielding permanent members plus Germany plan to meet in London next week to try to resolve differences over whether to send Iran to the council at a crisis meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog on February 2, diplomats said.
They said foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany would seek a consensus before the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gathers in Vienna to weigh what to do about Iran.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365453
US pressures Abbas to exclude Hamas from Cabinet
26.01.06 1.00pm
By Saul Hudson
WASHINGTON - The United States pressured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to exclude Hamas from his Cabinet despite signs the militant group made a strong showing in a parliamentary election today.
The United States, which encouraged Palestinians to hold the election and pressed Israel to allow the vote as part of its drive to promote democracy in the Middle East, said it will accept the results as a reflection of the will of the people.
But it also made clear Abbas should keep Hamas in opposition. The group is sworn to Israel's destruction and is considered a terrorist organisation by Washington.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365470
Iran accuses UK of co-operating with bombers
26.01.06 1.00pm
TEHRAN - Iran has accused the British military of co-operating with bombers who killed eight people in southwest Iran, a claim Britain described as "ludicrous".
A little-known group campaigning for independence for Iran's Arab minority claimed responsibility in a Web statement for yesterday's attacks on a bank and government building in the oil city of Ahvaz.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said London's involvement was clear and that Tehran would make strong protests to Britain.
"Yesterday's murders in Ahvaz were committed by those who proudly have their photographs taken with British officials. They enjoy the cooperation of British army commanders and use their facilities in Basra," he told a news conference.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365466
Putin undecided on expelling alleged UK spies
26.01.06 1.00pm
ST PETERSBURG, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin said today alleged spying by British diplomats in Moscow was regrettable but he had not decided whether to expel them from the country.
His comments were the highest-profile reaction yet to the diplomatic row, which broke out on Monday with the screening of a television programme alleging that the men had used a fake rock to communicate with agents.
Their main crime, according to Russian officials, was to finance Russian non-governmental organisations (NGOs), although they have not explained why this was illegal.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365456
Google submits to Beijing's control
26.01.06 1.00pm
By Clifford Coonan
Top internet company Google has become the latest technology company to founder against the Great Firewall of China, with the news it will censor its search engine to give it greater access to China's fast-growing market.
Human rights groups say the move by Google is the latest example of a big corporation kow-towing to the Chinese government's stringent demands on internet content.
They say Google has sold out on its corporate mantra: "Don't be evil".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365426
Britain to send up to 4,000 troops to Afghanistan
26.01.06 11.20am
By Kim Sengupta
Britain will be sending up to 4,000 troops to Afghanistan in a move which will effectively mean fighting wars on two fronts, with forces still deployed in Iraq.
The government had planned for sizeable withdrawals from Iraq by the time the Afghan force is sent in April and May.
But with no sign of peace breaking out in Iraq, military commanders have now ruled out that possibility.
The size of the force for Afghanistan, just a thousand fewer than at the height of the war five years ago, also shows just how much the security situation there has unravelled while the US and Britain invaded Iraq before Afghanistan has been stablised.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365459
Sick seaman airlifted from Antarctica
26.01.06 2.10pm
A man is recovering in hospital following a rescue mission involving five countries in Antarctica.
The Uruguayan crewman on foreign-registered ship the Paloma V suffered convulsions following a possible head injury late last week.
The Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington arranged for the Marina Svetaeva, a Polish ship, chartered by Australians to meet the Paloma off the coast of Cape Hallet.
A doctor on board decided the crewman required further medical attention and he was flown by helicopter to an Antarctica New Zealand group camped at Cape Hallet.
A plane from the Italian base at Terra Nova Bay collected the man and flew him to the United States Antarctic Programme base at McMurdo Station, where he was examined again.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10365476
continued ...
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
It looks like more than fifteen inches of snow to me.
January 21, 2006. Fifteen inches of snow in East Dundee, Illinois.
Morning Papers - concluding
Zoos
British Zoo Considers Penguin Name Contest
By DEREK KRAVITZ , 01.24.2006, 05:55 PM
Zookeepers in southern England said Tuesday they were considering a contest to name a chick expected by the parents of a juvenile penguin stolen just before Christmas.
Dozens of well-wishers sent Amazon World congratulatory e-mails after news spread that the mother had laid a new egg, said Derek Curtis, owner of the zoo on the Isle of Wight. The kidnapped 3-month-old jackass penguin, named Toga, is presumed dead.
Curtis urged caution, saying he would wait three weeks to assure the chick is healthy before going ahead with the contest.
"We don't want to count our chickens before they hatch, so to speak," he said.
If all goes well, the penguin chick is expected in February.
http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/01/24/ap2473744.html
After Toga, zoo waits for patter of penguin feet
By Stewart Payne
(Filed: 24/01/2006)
The parents of Toga, the baby penguin that was stolen from a zoo last month, are having another chick.
Kyala, who is partnered for life with Oscar, has laid an egg at their nest site in their enclosure at Amazon World Zoo Park at Newchurch on the Isle of Wight. It is expected to hatch in about 40 days.
Staff at the zoo said the black-footed penguins pined for their missing offspring for more than a week but then started to build a new nest, giving rise to the hope that an egg may be laid.
Toga, who was three months old, was the first penguin to be reared successfully at the zoo. Staff said they were delighted another was on the way.
Kath Bright, the zoo manager, said yesterday: "This is fantastic. Kyala and Oscar seem a happy pair of penguins and we are keeping our fingers crossed."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/24/npeng24.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/01/24/ixportal.html
At US zoo, breeding rare leopards means breaking rules
Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:05 PM GMT
FRONT ROYAL, Virginia (Reuters) - Zoe purrs and grunts when she hears women talking. Just like any house cat wanting her ears scratched, she rubs against the chain-link fence invitingly.
But Zoe, who lives at the Smithsonian National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia, is no kitty cat; she's a rare clouded leopard. And the specialists at the center are among the few animal experts in the world who have been able to get clouded leopards to breed without literally killing one another.
Since the zoo started its captive breeding program in 1978, 75 clouded leopard cubs have been born.
"The common theme is that these make horrible exhibit animals and you can't show them and they kill each other," said JoGayle Howard, National Zoo's animal fertility specialist.
Fewer than 10,000 clouded leopards are believed to survive in the wild. The breeding program may hold the key to the future of a species vanishing fast as its forest homes disappear and as poachers learn how to capture them.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-01-24T130428Z_01_N18278223_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-SCIENCE-LEOPARDS-DC.XML
Zoo raising $3M for giraffe habitat
Judy Sarles
Nashville Business Journal
Nashville Zoo has a tall order for the Middle Tennessee community. It's looking to raise $3 million for its giraffe habitat, which three giraffes are expected to occupy in March.
The zoo's signage has featured giraffes, but the animals have been noticeably absent from its exhibits. A male giraffe is coming from Los Angeles Zoo and two females are on their way from the Houston Zoo and the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin, Texas.
The zoo's "Stick Your Neck Out" campaign was launched by Maggi Margaret Turner, who has pledged to match $2 for every $1 raised; Phyllis and David Vandewater, whose donation supports the purchase and delivery of the Masai giraffes; and Genesco Inc., the initial corporate contributor.
http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2006/01/23/daily11.html?jst=b_ln_hl
Cougar Kittens Ready For Zoo Debut
POSTED: 11:44 am EST January 24, 2006
UPDATED: 1:31 pm EST January 24, 2006
PHILADELPHIA -- Visitors to the Philadelphia Zoo this weekend will be the first to see the zoo's new addition.
Three young pumas, also known as mountain lions or cougars, will be the first of their kind at the zoo in 10 years.
The zoo says the cubs were born last July or August, but were orphaned while still very young. They came to the zoo in October. Their keepers have named them after South Dakota's Black Hills, where they were born. The male is named Dakota and the two females are Sage and Cinnabar.
The zoo plans to have the young pumas on display this weekend. They are the first big cats to go on display at the zoo before this spring's opening of Bank of America Big Cat Falls. The zoo's large felines have been out of the public's view or on loan to other zoos.
While still young, the mountain lions' coats are spotted and their eyes are blue. Like deer, they will lose their spotted markings as they get older.
The Philadelphia Zoo says adult males can grow to more than 8 feet long and weigh about 150 pounds. Females are a little smaller and can be as long as 7 feet and weigh around 100 pounds. They have very long tales that measure more than half the length of their head and body.
Cougars once lived in most parts of the United States, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but the Philadelphia Zoo says there are now found mostly west of the Mississippi with a small population in Florida.
http://www.nbc10.com/news/6400216/detail.html
Minnesota Zoo dolphin calf dies
Jan 23, 2006, 18:09 GMT
APPLE VALLEY, MN, United States (UPI) -- The Minnesota Zoo`s youngest bottlenose dolphin, Harley, has died after leaping from his pool and fracturing his skull.
The mishap happened Saturday, as the animal was in training to swim between the east 'maternity' pool and the west back pools through a channel, zoo officials said.
While following his 33-year-old mother Rio, the 7-month-old calf leapt onto the concrete deck, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Monday.
Trainers returned him to the water, but after a while, he stopped coming up for air. Divers were sent in to aid him, but to no avail.
Born at the zoo on June 21, the 5.5-foot-long, 120-pound calf was the fourth offspring of Rio, the zoo said in a statement.
An examination at the University of Minnesota determined Harley had a skull fracture and his lungs were full of blood, zoo officials said.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/article_1078620.php/Minnesota_Zoo_dolphin_calf_dies
Minnesota Zoo's youngest dolphin dies
The youngest dolphin at the Minnesota Zoo died Saturday after fracturing his skull in an accident.
Harley, which was 7-month old, had been learning to swim with his mother between two back pools, when he jumped out of the water and hit his head on the concrete deck, said Kevin Willis, director
of biological programs at the zoo.
A staff member quickly got the 5 1/2-foot-long, 120-pound male dolphin back into the water and he took a breath and followed his mother, Willis said. But soon divers monitoring the dolphin realized the calf had died.
"We've never had a dolphin death due to trauma before," Willis said.
X-rays showed that Harley had fractured his skull and his lungs were full of blood. A necropsy will be done at the University of Minnesota.
Harley was born June 21 and his name was chosen from 10,000 names in a contest. Harley was just learning to negotiate his way between the east and west pools, and the training was going well,
Willis said.
Saturday, Harley was swimming with his mother, Rio, from one pool to the other before the accident. The two back pools are separated by a 6-foot-long, 6-foot-wide, 6-foot-deep channel. Gates separate the back pools and the presentation pool where dolphin shows are performed.
Rio swam back across the channel, but Harley trailed behind. Either frightened or confused, Harley jumped out of the water, zoo officials said.
Harley, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, was never on display, but could be seen 24 hours a day on the zoo's Webcam.
Atlantic bottlenose dolphins live in temperate to tropical waters from as far north as Greenland to as far south as Central America. Adults weigh between 350 and 600 pounds and range from 7 to 12 feet in length.
Other dolphins in the zoo's exhibit are Semo, a 42-year-old male, Chinook, a 23-year-old male, Ayla, a 13-year-old female with a kink in her back caused by scoliosis, and Spree.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Zoo dolphin dies in accident
BY JIM McCARTNEY
Pioneer Press
Harley, the Minnesota Zoo’s newest dolphin, died Saturday afternoon after jumping out of his pool and fracturing his head on the concrete deck.
The dolphin calf, which had just turned seven months of age, apparently panicked in swimming between two back pools at the zoo that have been his home since birth.
Harley — whose name was picked from 10,000 entries last summer in a zoo-sponsored naming contest — had started training Wednesday to go between the east and west back pools through a channel, zoo officials said.
Saturday afternoon, the calf had gone from the east “maternity” pool to the west pool with his mother, Rio. Rio returned to the east pool, and as Harley swam toward the channel, he leapt out of the water and landed on the deck.
Trainers returned him to the water, zoo officials said. After a while, Harley stopped coming up for breaths. Divers were sent in to aid him, but to no avail.
An examination at the University of Minnesota determined Harley had a skull fracture and his lungs were full of blood, zoo officials said.
Harley was never on display for zoo visitors, but could be seen 24 hours a day on the zoo’s Webcam. He was born June 21 to Rio, a 33-year-old dolphin who has long been a fixture at the Minnesota Zoo.
Baby Dolphin Dies At MN Zoo
VIDEO
(WCCO) Apple Valley, Minn. Harley, a baby dolphin at the Minnesota Zoo, died Saturday in what zoo officials are calling a freak accident.
Harley was training to "channel," or swim between pools, with his mother when he apparently struck his head on the side of a pool, zoo officials said.
The baby dolphin jumped completely out of the water, and trainers immediately put him back.
Zoo officials said Harley swam a few strokes with his mother, Rio, before they realized he was badly injured.
Divers brought Harley to the surface when he did not breathe and said there was nothing they could have done to save him.
Harley died around 2:45 p.m. from complications associated with severe head trauma and a fractured skull, zoo officials said.
Rio called for Harley a few times after the accident, but officials said she was doing better Saturday night.
Harley was 5-1/2 feet long and 120 pounds at the time of his death. He was born last June 21 and was Rio's fourth calf.
Minnesota Zoo Director of Biological Programs Kevin Willis said the zoo's staff had been looking forward seeing Harley make his public debut and was having a hard time dealing with the accident.
"This is a sad day here," Willis said. "This is hard. This is a baby that was really healthy and really doing well."
Zoo officials said it was unclear why Harley swam into the side of the pool.
The Minnesota Zoo will be open Sunday, but all dolphin shows have been canceled. Zoo officials said they were unsure how much trauma Harley's death was causing for the other dolphins.
The zoo is not planning on replacing Harley. The dolphin was scheduled to go to another zoo after he matured, in about 10 or 11 years.
Zoo officials said this was the first dolphin death of its kind at the Minnesota Zoo.
In the past seven years, two other Minnesota Zoo dolphins have died. In 2000, a dolphin died of a mysterious illness and in 1999, another dolphin died of old age.
Rio and four other dolphins -- Ayla, Spree, Chinook and Semo -- are exhibited at the zoo's Discovery Bay.
http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_021222520.html
Zoo Prepares For Bird Flu Battle
POSTED: 3:57 pm PST January 23, 2006
UPDATED: 4:55 pm PST January 23, 2006
SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Zoo is preparing to spend at least $500,000 to protect its 3,000 birds, some of them very rare and only found captivity, from bird flu.
Zoo officials said past threats, such as the exotic Newcastle disease three years ago, have prepared them for the steps they'll need to take if bird flu reaches the United States.
The steps include vaccinations and possible quarantines of birds questioning delivery drivers about where they have been and spraying truck undercarriages with disinfectant.
All those steps can get expensive. Zoo officials said they spent more than $500,000 on precautions for Newcastle.
"Ninety percent of what we plan to do [in the case of] influenza outbreak, we've done for Newcastle," Donald Janssen, the zoo's director of veterinary medicine said.
Officials would also close walk-through aviaries to guests, and any contact between visitors and birds would be halted. The zoo would even try and shoo away wild birds that could carry the deadly virus.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/6378347/detail.html
Fresno's Chaffee Zoo Re-Opens to Visitors
January 23, 2006 - Fresno's Chaffee Zoo re-opened Monday with a little more shine after being closed two weeks for clean up.
Crews worked on animal exhibits, fixed walkways and made other improvements to get ready for a visit by the American Zoological Association in February.
The A.Z.A. will decide whether to give the zoo national accreditation.
The zoo opened at 10:00am Monday morning.
One zoo staffer says the best thing about the clean-up is the morale boost it gave to employees.
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=3838644
Oregon Zoo Experts Lead Exotic Travel Adventures
PORTLAND, Oregon - Those looking for an 'Out of Africa' experience or desiring to follow in Darwin's footsteps can explore travel opportunities at the Oregon Zoo's Wild World Tours program preview, Tuesday, January 24. The event takes place in the zoo's Skyline Room at 7:30 p.m.
http://www.medfordnews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=327125&cp=10997
Contact between birds and visitors would be halted
By Jeanette Steele
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
When you have 3,000 birds – some rare and endangered – you've got to be worried about the bird flu.
No one at the San Diego Zoological Society wants to lose an endangered red-crowned crane, for instance, or a colorful little Micronesian kingfisher, which is extinct in the wild.
But San Diego Zoo officials say past maladies, such as the exotic Newcastle disease three years ago, have prepared them for the arduous steps that will be needed if a virulent form of avian influenza crosses American shores.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060123-9999-1m23birdflu.html
Zoo animals in Britain to gain freedom
Jan 23, 2006, 4:05 GMT
LONDON, England (UPI) -- Rare specimens such as cheetahs and black rhinos will roam through replicas of their natural habitats north of Bristol, England.
The Sunday Times of London reported a plan for the animal equivalent of the Eden Project, a 132-acre attraction, is an attempt to move away from the more traditional 'animals in cages' model typically seen in British zoos and safari parks.
Instead, visitors will take jeep rides to view big cats and rhinos in an African savannah zone, or rock pythons and giant millipedes in a re-creation of the Congolese jungle.
The project`s backers at Bristol Zoo claim it will be the first time a visitor attraction has tried to show how different animals live together in the wild rather than exhibiting them as separate species.
Plans call for the zoo, provisionally called the National Wildlife Conservation Park, to be built on the grounds of a country mansion and to include 12 separate zones. Elevated walkways will enable visitors to view the animals at close range.
http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1078428.php/Zoo_animals_in_Britain_to_gain_freedom
Turtles at Zoo Moved
Veterinarians at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium have moved two sea turtles from public view after X-rays confirmed they had been eating coins and other pieces of metal tossed at them or dropped by visitors.
The animals' doctors worried the objects might cut the turtles or cause an infection.
Veterinarian Gwen Myers first noticed the problem while conducting a routine exam of the turtles' droppings last week. She found nickels, pennies and a dime, as well as a nail and a key chain.
Myers said visitors to the zoo sometimes don't follow the rules.
"They throw bubble gum at the turtles. They throw stuff at the alligators to see if they move," Myers said. "One night, one guy dumped his whole container of popcorn into the cougar exhibit. We usually ask security to escort them off the grounds. It's a pretty simple rule: 'Don't feed the animals."'
But even visitors who accidentally drop items can cause problems for the animals, zoo officials say.
"At the Indianapolis Zoo, people would drop cell phones and sunglasses and the ostriches would eat them," Columbus veterinarian Andrea Goodnight said about her former employer.
John Dinon, director of animal conservation programs at the Cincinnati Zoo, said sunglasses and children's shoes are the items most frequently lost in zoo exhibits.
The two sea turtles in Columbus are healthy despite eating the objects, Myers said. They have been swimming together in a deep holding tank.
"We really don't want to lose these animals," Myers said.
http://www.10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4395278&nav=LUESMuat
Chaffee Zoo to Reopen After Cleanup
January 22, 2006 - A new and improved Chaffee Zoo will be back open to the public again Monday.
It's been closed the last two weeks for an important cleanup. Crews worked on animal exhibits, fixed walkways and made other improvements in preparation for a visit by the American Zoological Association.
The AZA will decide whether to give the zoo national accreditation. That visit was recently pushed back until April, but people who work at the zoo say they're glad the improvements are done now.
"We miss the public and stuff, but it's worth it. We're getting a lot of work that needed to be done accomplished that we can't do while the public's here because we want safety. You can't have a tractor running while you have small children," said Jody Wright.
The zoo resumes it regular hours Monday, opening at 10:00am.
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=3836326
Zoo director talks about career at Rosamond
Updated: 1/21/2006 7:02 PM
It's a bigger space, with a bigger staff and nearly four times as many animals, but Dr. Anne Baker said excitement, not nervousness, comes to mind when she thinks about her new position.
"It's a group of people that's been without a director for almost a year and are very, very eager and anxious to sort of move ahead and move on into the next era for their zoo, and I'm just thrilled to be a part of it," Baker said.
Baker's been with the Rosamond Gifford Zoo for more than a decade and during that time has seen some great plans come to fruition.
She said she proud of all the exhibits, big and small, "I think what we've done has been good. It's been of high quality, and it's served the community well, so I'm pleased with that."
And while Baker will be leaving behind friends of all kinds, there will be some familiar faces in Ohio. Baker will be reunited with a couple of old friends. A baby gorilla she hand-raised at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago is now a breeding male at the Toledo Zoo, and a snow leopard from right here in Syracuse will be making the move to Toledo as well.
Zoo director talks
After 13 years at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, director Dr. Anne Baker will be leaving Syracuse for Toledo, Ohio. Baker accepted the position of executive director at the Toledo Zoo.
Her first day at the Toledo zoo will be April 1st.
The County Executive and the Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo Board will meet soon to set up the parameters for the search for a new zoo director.
http://news10now.com/content/all_news/?ArID=57840&SecID=83
Winter Days entices both young and old
Posted: 01/21/2006 05:44 pm
Last Updated: 01/22/2006 02:21 pm
South Bend, IN - It was a beautiful day in Michiana, and many people got outside to enjoy the wonderful sunshine.
Saturday was one of three scheduled South Bend Potawatomi Zoo Winter Days.
The zoo opened its doors for three hours from 12:00PM to 3:00PM where people were able to enjoy the wildlife of the zoo.
While people were able to walk through and see the animals that are out in the winter, the animals got a break from their winter hibernation as well.
Kelly Ulrich, the education curator, said, "Well, the zoo closes right after Thanksgiving, so this gives people an opportunity to come out and see the animals before we open in April. It also gives the animals a chance to see people again, too."
The second Winter Day for the zoo will be in February, and the last in March.
Potawatomi Zoo officially opens for the season on April 1st.
http://www.wndu.com/news/012006/news_47430.php
Zoo Throws Birthday Bash For Sloth Bear Cubs
Saturday January 21, 2006 10:46pm Posted By: Whitney Bissell
Little Rock - Two Sloth Bear Cubs celebrated their first birthday at the Little Rock Zoo on Saturday. The two cubs, Tasha and Thor are the offspring of Sloth Bears, Nocona and Franois.
The zoo held a big bash for the cubs and the pair got to feast on their own birthday cakes.
(Mike Blakely, Little Rock Zoo Director) "The mother, Noccona, did raise them, they were able to watch them grow up. People just love these animals because they were able to see them throughout the year from the little cubs up into the size they are now."
The cubs were born December 27th, 2004 and went on exhibit in April of 2005.
http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0106/296105.html
It's an Adventure: Zoos offer wintertime animal watching
(Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, KY) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jan. 21--You can still talk -- and walk -- with the animals this winter even though it might be with chattering teeth.
Area and regional zoos are offering reduced rates, special exhibits and programs or just a chance to get a look at animals in less-crowded conditions.
Some animals indigenous to cold climes or adapting to them might even look back at those willing to bundle up and get out, said Jim Bartoo with the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.
Animals are indifferent to a steady stream of visitors in warm weather, but not in the winter when people shy away from cold weather, the marketing/public relations director said.
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/01/21/1303829.htm
Syracuse zoo boss heads to Toledo
January 20, 2006, 9:12 AM EST
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) _ Anne Baker, who helped the Rosamond Gifford Zoo become one of the nation's top breeding zoos, will leave her job as director in April to become executive director of the Toledo Zoological Gardens in Ohio.
Baker, 58, has served as director at the county-owned zoo for 13 years, leading it through a seven-year $6 million expansion and renovation project. The zoo boasts one of the world's top breeding programs for Asian elephants, an endangered species. It also has successfully bred Amur tigers, red pandas and golden lion tamarins, three other endangered species.
Baker gave the zoo a new mission, too, that focused on environmental education.
"The decision to take the Toledo Zoo position has been a difficult decision to make and is bittersweet. I am very excited about taking the next steps of my career," Baker said in a statement.
Baker will officially begin in Toledo on April 1.
The Toledo Zoo selected Baker following a nationwide search that considered more than 125 candidates. The position pays more than $200,000 per year in salary and benefits. Baker's salary in Syracuse was about $75,000 per year, not including benefits.
"She has tremendous leadership skills, she has very strong managerial skills, and that's all backed up by outstanding animal skills," said Stephen Staelin, president of the Toledo Zoo's board of directors.
Rosamond Gifford Zoo: www.RosamondGiffordZoo.org.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--zoodirector0120jan20,0,134798.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
Zoo set to sell off 12 acres for new homes
BRIAN FERGUSON CITY COUNCIL REPORTER
EDINBURGH Zoo is planning to sell off a massive chunk of its land for housing to help fund a £58 million redevelopment of the attraction.
Zoo chiefs have earmarked 12 acres of land on its site in Corstorphine as surplus to requirements in the hope of ploughing the expected £15m proceeds from a sale into its plan for the site.
Up to 100 new homes will be built on a huge swathe of zoo property to the west of its 90-acre site under the plans.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which runs the attraction, has struck a deal in principle with EDI, the development firm set up by the city council.
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=97242006
Sloth Bear Cub Born at National Zoo
Jan 20th - 1:33pm
WASHINGTON -- Forget the panda, there's a new cub at the National Zoo.
Hana, an 11-year-old female sloth bear gave birth to a cub on Jan. 9, Zoo officials say.
Veterinarians say it's too early to get near the cub because it is so fragile and dependent on its mother's care. Instead, they will monitor the cub and Hana via a camera mounted in the sloth bear den for the next few weeks.
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=676206
Elephant Expert: Zoo Is Mistreating Ailing Pachyderm
Zoo May Have To Euthanize Elephant
POSTED: 6:44 am EST January 20, 2006
UPDATED: 7:50 am EST January 20, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Toni, a 40-year-old Asian elephant at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, is being treated for arthritis in her front legs.
But Joyce Poole, an animal behaviorist with the Elephant Trust, visited the Elephant House this month and met with zoo director John Berry.
Afterward, she said the zoo is making the elephant's problems worse by putting the animal in small quarters with hard surfaces. Her statement was reported in The Washington Post.
Some animal rights groups now want Toni moved to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, where she would have more room to exercise and be on softer ground.
Poole has also urged zoo officials to give elephants more space in a more natural environment.
Zoo officials did say that if Toni's condition gets any worse, she might have to be euthanized.
http://www.nbc4.com/news/6269736/detail.html
concluding ...
British Zoo Considers Penguin Name Contest
By DEREK KRAVITZ , 01.24.2006, 05:55 PM
Zookeepers in southern England said Tuesday they were considering a contest to name a chick expected by the parents of a juvenile penguin stolen just before Christmas.
Dozens of well-wishers sent Amazon World congratulatory e-mails after news spread that the mother had laid a new egg, said Derek Curtis, owner of the zoo on the Isle of Wight. The kidnapped 3-month-old jackass penguin, named Toga, is presumed dead.
Curtis urged caution, saying he would wait three weeks to assure the chick is healthy before going ahead with the contest.
"We don't want to count our chickens before they hatch, so to speak," he said.
If all goes well, the penguin chick is expected in February.
http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/01/24/ap2473744.html
After Toga, zoo waits for patter of penguin feet
By Stewart Payne
(Filed: 24/01/2006)
The parents of Toga, the baby penguin that was stolen from a zoo last month, are having another chick.
Kyala, who is partnered for life with Oscar, has laid an egg at their nest site in their enclosure at Amazon World Zoo Park at Newchurch on the Isle of Wight. It is expected to hatch in about 40 days.
Staff at the zoo said the black-footed penguins pined for their missing offspring for more than a week but then started to build a new nest, giving rise to the hope that an egg may be laid.
Toga, who was three months old, was the first penguin to be reared successfully at the zoo. Staff said they were delighted another was on the way.
Kath Bright, the zoo manager, said yesterday: "This is fantastic. Kyala and Oscar seem a happy pair of penguins and we are keeping our fingers crossed."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/24/npeng24.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/01/24/ixportal.html
At US zoo, breeding rare leopards means breaking rules
Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:05 PM GMT
FRONT ROYAL, Virginia (Reuters) - Zoe purrs and grunts when she hears women talking. Just like any house cat wanting her ears scratched, she rubs against the chain-link fence invitingly.
But Zoe, who lives at the Smithsonian National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia, is no kitty cat; she's a rare clouded leopard. And the specialists at the center are among the few animal experts in the world who have been able to get clouded leopards to breed without literally killing one another.
Since the zoo started its captive breeding program in 1978, 75 clouded leopard cubs have been born.
"The common theme is that these make horrible exhibit animals and you can't show them and they kill each other," said JoGayle Howard, National Zoo's animal fertility specialist.
Fewer than 10,000 clouded leopards are believed to survive in the wild. The breeding program may hold the key to the future of a species vanishing fast as its forest homes disappear and as poachers learn how to capture them.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-01-24T130428Z_01_N18278223_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-SCIENCE-LEOPARDS-DC.XML
Zoo raising $3M for giraffe habitat
Judy Sarles
Nashville Business Journal
Nashville Zoo has a tall order for the Middle Tennessee community. It's looking to raise $3 million for its giraffe habitat, which three giraffes are expected to occupy in March.
The zoo's signage has featured giraffes, but the animals have been noticeably absent from its exhibits. A male giraffe is coming from Los Angeles Zoo and two females are on their way from the Houston Zoo and the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin, Texas.
The zoo's "Stick Your Neck Out" campaign was launched by Maggi Margaret Turner, who has pledged to match $2 for every $1 raised; Phyllis and David Vandewater, whose donation supports the purchase and delivery of the Masai giraffes; and Genesco Inc., the initial corporate contributor.
http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2006/01/23/daily11.html?jst=b_ln_hl
Cougar Kittens Ready For Zoo Debut
POSTED: 11:44 am EST January 24, 2006
UPDATED: 1:31 pm EST January 24, 2006
PHILADELPHIA -- Visitors to the Philadelphia Zoo this weekend will be the first to see the zoo's new addition.
Three young pumas, also known as mountain lions or cougars, will be the first of their kind at the zoo in 10 years.
The zoo says the cubs were born last July or August, but were orphaned while still very young. They came to the zoo in October. Their keepers have named them after South Dakota's Black Hills, where they were born. The male is named Dakota and the two females are Sage and Cinnabar.
The zoo plans to have the young pumas on display this weekend. They are the first big cats to go on display at the zoo before this spring's opening of Bank of America Big Cat Falls. The zoo's large felines have been out of the public's view or on loan to other zoos.
While still young, the mountain lions' coats are spotted and their eyes are blue. Like deer, they will lose their spotted markings as they get older.
The Philadelphia Zoo says adult males can grow to more than 8 feet long and weigh about 150 pounds. Females are a little smaller and can be as long as 7 feet and weigh around 100 pounds. They have very long tales that measure more than half the length of their head and body.
Cougars once lived in most parts of the United States, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but the Philadelphia Zoo says there are now found mostly west of the Mississippi with a small population in Florida.
http://www.nbc10.com/news/6400216/detail.html
Minnesota Zoo dolphin calf dies
Jan 23, 2006, 18:09 GMT
APPLE VALLEY, MN, United States (UPI) -- The Minnesota Zoo`s youngest bottlenose dolphin, Harley, has died after leaping from his pool and fracturing his skull.
The mishap happened Saturday, as the animal was in training to swim between the east 'maternity' pool and the west back pools through a channel, zoo officials said.
While following his 33-year-old mother Rio, the 7-month-old calf leapt onto the concrete deck, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Monday.
Trainers returned him to the water, but after a while, he stopped coming up for air. Divers were sent in to aid him, but to no avail.
Born at the zoo on June 21, the 5.5-foot-long, 120-pound calf was the fourth offspring of Rio, the zoo said in a statement.
An examination at the University of Minnesota determined Harley had a skull fracture and his lungs were full of blood, zoo officials said.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/article_1078620.php/Minnesota_Zoo_dolphin_calf_dies
Minnesota Zoo's youngest dolphin dies
The youngest dolphin at the Minnesota Zoo died Saturday after fracturing his skull in an accident.
Harley, which was 7-month old, had been learning to swim with his mother between two back pools, when he jumped out of the water and hit his head on the concrete deck, said Kevin Willis, director
of biological programs at the zoo.
A staff member quickly got the 5 1/2-foot-long, 120-pound male dolphin back into the water and he took a breath and followed his mother, Willis said. But soon divers monitoring the dolphin realized the calf had died.
"We've never had a dolphin death due to trauma before," Willis said.
X-rays showed that Harley had fractured his skull and his lungs were full of blood. A necropsy will be done at the University of Minnesota.
Harley was born June 21 and his name was chosen from 10,000 names in a contest. Harley was just learning to negotiate his way between the east and west pools, and the training was going well,
Willis said.
Saturday, Harley was swimming with his mother, Rio, from one pool to the other before the accident. The two back pools are separated by a 6-foot-long, 6-foot-wide, 6-foot-deep channel. Gates separate the back pools and the presentation pool where dolphin shows are performed.
Rio swam back across the channel, but Harley trailed behind. Either frightened or confused, Harley jumped out of the water, zoo officials said.
Harley, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, was never on display, but could be seen 24 hours a day on the zoo's Webcam.
Atlantic bottlenose dolphins live in temperate to tropical waters from as far north as Greenland to as far south as Central America. Adults weigh between 350 and 600 pounds and range from 7 to 12 feet in length.
Other dolphins in the zoo's exhibit are Semo, a 42-year-old male, Chinook, a 23-year-old male, Ayla, a 13-year-old female with a kink in her back caused by scoliosis, and Spree.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Zoo dolphin dies in accident
BY JIM McCARTNEY
Pioneer Press
Harley, the Minnesota Zoo’s newest dolphin, died Saturday afternoon after jumping out of his pool and fracturing his head on the concrete deck.
The dolphin calf, which had just turned seven months of age, apparently panicked in swimming between two back pools at the zoo that have been his home since birth.
Harley — whose name was picked from 10,000 entries last summer in a zoo-sponsored naming contest — had started training Wednesday to go between the east and west back pools through a channel, zoo officials said.
Saturday afternoon, the calf had gone from the east “maternity” pool to the west pool with his mother, Rio. Rio returned to the east pool, and as Harley swam toward the channel, he leapt out of the water and landed on the deck.
Trainers returned him to the water, zoo officials said. After a while, Harley stopped coming up for breaths. Divers were sent in to aid him, but to no avail.
An examination at the University of Minnesota determined Harley had a skull fracture and his lungs were full of blood, zoo officials said.
Harley was never on display for zoo visitors, but could be seen 24 hours a day on the zoo’s Webcam. He was born June 21 to Rio, a 33-year-old dolphin who has long been a fixture at the Minnesota Zoo.
Baby Dolphin Dies At MN Zoo
VIDEO
(WCCO) Apple Valley, Minn. Harley, a baby dolphin at the Minnesota Zoo, died Saturday in what zoo officials are calling a freak accident.
Harley was training to "channel," or swim between pools, with his mother when he apparently struck his head on the side of a pool, zoo officials said.
The baby dolphin jumped completely out of the water, and trainers immediately put him back.
Zoo officials said Harley swam a few strokes with his mother, Rio, before they realized he was badly injured.
Divers brought Harley to the surface when he did not breathe and said there was nothing they could have done to save him.
Harley died around 2:45 p.m. from complications associated with severe head trauma and a fractured skull, zoo officials said.
Rio called for Harley a few times after the accident, but officials said she was doing better Saturday night.
Harley was 5-1/2 feet long and 120 pounds at the time of his death. He was born last June 21 and was Rio's fourth calf.
Minnesota Zoo Director of Biological Programs Kevin Willis said the zoo's staff had been looking forward seeing Harley make his public debut and was having a hard time dealing with the accident.
"This is a sad day here," Willis said. "This is hard. This is a baby that was really healthy and really doing well."
Zoo officials said it was unclear why Harley swam into the side of the pool.
The Minnesota Zoo will be open Sunday, but all dolphin shows have been canceled. Zoo officials said they were unsure how much trauma Harley's death was causing for the other dolphins.
The zoo is not planning on replacing Harley. The dolphin was scheduled to go to another zoo after he matured, in about 10 or 11 years.
Zoo officials said this was the first dolphin death of its kind at the Minnesota Zoo.
In the past seven years, two other Minnesota Zoo dolphins have died. In 2000, a dolphin died of a mysterious illness and in 1999, another dolphin died of old age.
Rio and four other dolphins -- Ayla, Spree, Chinook and Semo -- are exhibited at the zoo's Discovery Bay.
http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_021222520.html
Zoo Prepares For Bird Flu Battle
POSTED: 3:57 pm PST January 23, 2006
UPDATED: 4:55 pm PST January 23, 2006
SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Zoo is preparing to spend at least $500,000 to protect its 3,000 birds, some of them very rare and only found captivity, from bird flu.
Zoo officials said past threats, such as the exotic Newcastle disease three years ago, have prepared them for the steps they'll need to take if bird flu reaches the United States.
The steps include vaccinations and possible quarantines of birds questioning delivery drivers about where they have been and spraying truck undercarriages with disinfectant.
All those steps can get expensive. Zoo officials said they spent more than $500,000 on precautions for Newcastle.
"Ninety percent of what we plan to do [in the case of] influenza outbreak, we've done for Newcastle," Donald Janssen, the zoo's director of veterinary medicine said.
Officials would also close walk-through aviaries to guests, and any contact between visitors and birds would be halted. The zoo would even try and shoo away wild birds that could carry the deadly virus.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/6378347/detail.html
Fresno's Chaffee Zoo Re-Opens to Visitors
January 23, 2006 - Fresno's Chaffee Zoo re-opened Monday with a little more shine after being closed two weeks for clean up.
Crews worked on animal exhibits, fixed walkways and made other improvements to get ready for a visit by the American Zoological Association in February.
The A.Z.A. will decide whether to give the zoo national accreditation.
The zoo opened at 10:00am Monday morning.
One zoo staffer says the best thing about the clean-up is the morale boost it gave to employees.
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=3838644
Oregon Zoo Experts Lead Exotic Travel Adventures
PORTLAND, Oregon - Those looking for an 'Out of Africa' experience or desiring to follow in Darwin's footsteps can explore travel opportunities at the Oregon Zoo's Wild World Tours program preview, Tuesday, January 24. The event takes place in the zoo's Skyline Room at 7:30 p.m.
http://www.medfordnews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=327125&cp=10997
Contact between birds and visitors would be halted
By Jeanette Steele
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
When you have 3,000 birds – some rare and endangered – you've got to be worried about the bird flu.
No one at the San Diego Zoological Society wants to lose an endangered red-crowned crane, for instance, or a colorful little Micronesian kingfisher, which is extinct in the wild.
But San Diego Zoo officials say past maladies, such as the exotic Newcastle disease three years ago, have prepared them for the arduous steps that will be needed if a virulent form of avian influenza crosses American shores.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060123-9999-1m23birdflu.html
Zoo animals in Britain to gain freedom
Jan 23, 2006, 4:05 GMT
LONDON, England (UPI) -- Rare specimens such as cheetahs and black rhinos will roam through replicas of their natural habitats north of Bristol, England.
The Sunday Times of London reported a plan for the animal equivalent of the Eden Project, a 132-acre attraction, is an attempt to move away from the more traditional 'animals in cages' model typically seen in British zoos and safari parks.
Instead, visitors will take jeep rides to view big cats and rhinos in an African savannah zone, or rock pythons and giant millipedes in a re-creation of the Congolese jungle.
The project`s backers at Bristol Zoo claim it will be the first time a visitor attraction has tried to show how different animals live together in the wild rather than exhibiting them as separate species.
Plans call for the zoo, provisionally called the National Wildlife Conservation Park, to be built on the grounds of a country mansion and to include 12 separate zones. Elevated walkways will enable visitors to view the animals at close range.
http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1078428.php/Zoo_animals_in_Britain_to_gain_freedom
Turtles at Zoo Moved
Veterinarians at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium have moved two sea turtles from public view after X-rays confirmed they had been eating coins and other pieces of metal tossed at them or dropped by visitors.
The animals' doctors worried the objects might cut the turtles or cause an infection.
Veterinarian Gwen Myers first noticed the problem while conducting a routine exam of the turtles' droppings last week. She found nickels, pennies and a dime, as well as a nail and a key chain.
Myers said visitors to the zoo sometimes don't follow the rules.
"They throw bubble gum at the turtles. They throw stuff at the alligators to see if they move," Myers said. "One night, one guy dumped his whole container of popcorn into the cougar exhibit. We usually ask security to escort them off the grounds. It's a pretty simple rule: 'Don't feed the animals."'
But even visitors who accidentally drop items can cause problems for the animals, zoo officials say.
"At the Indianapolis Zoo, people would drop cell phones and sunglasses and the ostriches would eat them," Columbus veterinarian Andrea Goodnight said about her former employer.
John Dinon, director of animal conservation programs at the Cincinnati Zoo, said sunglasses and children's shoes are the items most frequently lost in zoo exhibits.
The two sea turtles in Columbus are healthy despite eating the objects, Myers said. They have been swimming together in a deep holding tank.
"We really don't want to lose these animals," Myers said.
http://www.10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4395278&nav=LUESMuat
Chaffee Zoo to Reopen After Cleanup
January 22, 2006 - A new and improved Chaffee Zoo will be back open to the public again Monday.
It's been closed the last two weeks for an important cleanup. Crews worked on animal exhibits, fixed walkways and made other improvements in preparation for a visit by the American Zoological Association.
The AZA will decide whether to give the zoo national accreditation. That visit was recently pushed back until April, but people who work at the zoo say they're glad the improvements are done now.
"We miss the public and stuff, but it's worth it. We're getting a lot of work that needed to be done accomplished that we can't do while the public's here because we want safety. You can't have a tractor running while you have small children," said Jody Wright.
The zoo resumes it regular hours Monday, opening at 10:00am.
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=3836326
Zoo director talks about career at Rosamond
Updated: 1/21/2006 7:02 PM
It's a bigger space, with a bigger staff and nearly four times as many animals, but Dr. Anne Baker said excitement, not nervousness, comes to mind when she thinks about her new position.
"It's a group of people that's been without a director for almost a year and are very, very eager and anxious to sort of move ahead and move on into the next era for their zoo, and I'm just thrilled to be a part of it," Baker said.
Baker's been with the Rosamond Gifford Zoo for more than a decade and during that time has seen some great plans come to fruition.
She said she proud of all the exhibits, big and small, "I think what we've done has been good. It's been of high quality, and it's served the community well, so I'm pleased with that."
And while Baker will be leaving behind friends of all kinds, there will be some familiar faces in Ohio. Baker will be reunited with a couple of old friends. A baby gorilla she hand-raised at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago is now a breeding male at the Toledo Zoo, and a snow leopard from right here in Syracuse will be making the move to Toledo as well.
Zoo director talks
After 13 years at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, director Dr. Anne Baker will be leaving Syracuse for Toledo, Ohio. Baker accepted the position of executive director at the Toledo Zoo.
Her first day at the Toledo zoo will be April 1st.
The County Executive and the Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo Board will meet soon to set up the parameters for the search for a new zoo director.
http://news10now.com/content/all_news/?ArID=57840&SecID=83
Winter Days entices both young and old
Posted: 01/21/2006 05:44 pm
Last Updated: 01/22/2006 02:21 pm
South Bend, IN - It was a beautiful day in Michiana, and many people got outside to enjoy the wonderful sunshine.
Saturday was one of three scheduled South Bend Potawatomi Zoo Winter Days.
The zoo opened its doors for three hours from 12:00PM to 3:00PM where people were able to enjoy the wildlife of the zoo.
While people were able to walk through and see the animals that are out in the winter, the animals got a break from their winter hibernation as well.
Kelly Ulrich, the education curator, said, "Well, the zoo closes right after Thanksgiving, so this gives people an opportunity to come out and see the animals before we open in April. It also gives the animals a chance to see people again, too."
The second Winter Day for the zoo will be in February, and the last in March.
Potawatomi Zoo officially opens for the season on April 1st.
http://www.wndu.com/news/012006/news_47430.php
Zoo Throws Birthday Bash For Sloth Bear Cubs
Saturday January 21, 2006 10:46pm Posted By: Whitney Bissell
Little Rock - Two Sloth Bear Cubs celebrated their first birthday at the Little Rock Zoo on Saturday. The two cubs, Tasha and Thor are the offspring of Sloth Bears, Nocona and Franois.
The zoo held a big bash for the cubs and the pair got to feast on their own birthday cakes.
(Mike Blakely, Little Rock Zoo Director) "The mother, Noccona, did raise them, they were able to watch them grow up. People just love these animals because they were able to see them throughout the year from the little cubs up into the size they are now."
The cubs were born December 27th, 2004 and went on exhibit in April of 2005.
http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0106/296105.html
It's an Adventure: Zoos offer wintertime animal watching
(Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, KY) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jan. 21--You can still talk -- and walk -- with the animals this winter even though it might be with chattering teeth.
Area and regional zoos are offering reduced rates, special exhibits and programs or just a chance to get a look at animals in less-crowded conditions.
Some animals indigenous to cold climes or adapting to them might even look back at those willing to bundle up and get out, said Jim Bartoo with the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.
Animals are indifferent to a steady stream of visitors in warm weather, but not in the winter when people shy away from cold weather, the marketing/public relations director said.
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/01/21/1303829.htm
Syracuse zoo boss heads to Toledo
January 20, 2006, 9:12 AM EST
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) _ Anne Baker, who helped the Rosamond Gifford Zoo become one of the nation's top breeding zoos, will leave her job as director in April to become executive director of the Toledo Zoological Gardens in Ohio.
Baker, 58, has served as director at the county-owned zoo for 13 years, leading it through a seven-year $6 million expansion and renovation project. The zoo boasts one of the world's top breeding programs for Asian elephants, an endangered species. It also has successfully bred Amur tigers, red pandas and golden lion tamarins, three other endangered species.
Baker gave the zoo a new mission, too, that focused on environmental education.
"The decision to take the Toledo Zoo position has been a difficult decision to make and is bittersweet. I am very excited about taking the next steps of my career," Baker said in a statement.
Baker will officially begin in Toledo on April 1.
The Toledo Zoo selected Baker following a nationwide search that considered more than 125 candidates. The position pays more than $200,000 per year in salary and benefits. Baker's salary in Syracuse was about $75,000 per year, not including benefits.
"She has tremendous leadership skills, she has very strong managerial skills, and that's all backed up by outstanding animal skills," said Stephen Staelin, president of the Toledo Zoo's board of directors.
Rosamond Gifford Zoo: www.RosamondGiffordZoo.org.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--zoodirector0120jan20,0,134798.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
Zoo set to sell off 12 acres for new homes
BRIAN FERGUSON CITY COUNCIL REPORTER
EDINBURGH Zoo is planning to sell off a massive chunk of its land for housing to help fund a £58 million redevelopment of the attraction.
Zoo chiefs have earmarked 12 acres of land on its site in Corstorphine as surplus to requirements in the hope of ploughing the expected £15m proceeds from a sale into its plan for the site.
Up to 100 new homes will be built on a huge swathe of zoo property to the west of its 90-acre site under the plans.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which runs the attraction, has struck a deal in principle with EDI, the development firm set up by the city council.
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=97242006
Sloth Bear Cub Born at National Zoo
Jan 20th - 1:33pm
WASHINGTON -- Forget the panda, there's a new cub at the National Zoo.
Hana, an 11-year-old female sloth bear gave birth to a cub on Jan. 9, Zoo officials say.
Veterinarians say it's too early to get near the cub because it is so fragile and dependent on its mother's care. Instead, they will monitor the cub and Hana via a camera mounted in the sloth bear den for the next few weeks.
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=676206
Elephant Expert: Zoo Is Mistreating Ailing Pachyderm
Zoo May Have To Euthanize Elephant
POSTED: 6:44 am EST January 20, 2006
UPDATED: 7:50 am EST January 20, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Toni, a 40-year-old Asian elephant at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, is being treated for arthritis in her front legs.
But Joyce Poole, an animal behaviorist with the Elephant Trust, visited the Elephant House this month and met with zoo director John Berry.
Afterward, she said the zoo is making the elephant's problems worse by putting the animal in small quarters with hard surfaces. Her statement was reported in The Washington Post.
Some animal rights groups now want Toni moved to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, where she would have more room to exercise and be on softer ground.
Poole has also urged zoo officials to give elephants more space in a more natural environment.
Zoo officials did say that if Toni's condition gets any worse, she might have to be euthanized.
http://www.nbc4.com/news/6269736/detail.html
concluding ...
January 21, 2006.
Natural behaviors can and should be harnessed to make a birthday fun.
Living in captivity can be difficult when natural behaviors are oppressed. Ahpun had a successful and truly happy birthday encounter because the zoologists were able to provide a setting for the bear's enjoyment. The birthday cake was topped with a food item in the shape of a seal. In the wild Polar Bears hunt seals. It is not at all unusual for a Polar Bear to 'bounce' on top of ice formations to break through the ice/snow to find access of food including fish. So the behavior here is natural and at the same time entertaining to the crowd. It was enjoyable for all. I still would not get in the way of those paws though.
Morning Papers - concluded
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Snow
-8.0°
Updated Wednesday 25 Jan 9:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) is freezing :
21 °F / -6 °C
Overcast
Windchill:
14 °F / -10 °C
Humidity:
80%
Dew Point:
16 °F / -9 °C
Wind:
6 mph / 9 km/h from the NNW
Pressure:
29.50 in / 999 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Overcast 2700 ft / 822 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
Scott Base
Snow
-8.0°
Updated Wednesday 25 Jan 9:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) is freezing :
21 °F / -6 °C
Overcast
Windchill:
14 °F / -10 °C
Humidity:
80%
Dew Point:
16 °F / -9 °C
Wind:
6 mph / 9 km/h from the NNW
Pressure:
29.50 in / 999 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Overcast 2700 ft / 822 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Guns and hand grenades for Palestinian boys.
January 24, 2006.
Palestinian children dressed as militants at a Gaza Rally.
Morning Papers - It's Origins
USA Wildfires
Firefighter braves wildfires deep in the heart of Texas
By JOHN MOORE Staff writer
WAGENER — David Widener has 22 years of experience fighting fires with the S.C. Forestry Commission, but the recent Texas wildfires were unlike anything he has seen before.
Widener, a bulldozer operator, spent 15 days battling wildfires that burned thousands of acres in central Texas.
He arrived Jan. 1, the day after a fire burned more than 35,000 acres and 60 homes in the area.
“The fires were running 200-300 feet per minute,” Widener said. “We didn’t really have to do much plowing. We mostly handled water. There were fires all over. You can’t get in front of it plowing. We just had to wait for the wind to die down or for it to hit natural barriers.”
Widener said helicopters dropped water on the fires, and much of the work plowing was done to protect property and houses.
“A lot of times we had to flank a fire and run the sides of it,” Widener said. “Sometimes we had to get 20 miles ahead of the fire to plow. We had to make a good break to slow it down.”
Widener said the weather was extremely windy.
“The fire causes the wind to blow even stronger,” Widener said. “When I left, the wind was getting to 30 mph even during the middle of the night.”
Widener said no significant rainfall is expected in some parts
Please see FIREFIGHTER, page 8A
of Texas until spring.
“I wouldn’t want to live in Texas now,” Widener said. “The place hasn’t seen a decent rain since September.”
Widener returned home Monday morning.
“The least hours we worked a day was 12 hours,” Widener said. “We worked 15, 16 or 17 hours some days — we worked a lot of hours.”
While the work was difficult, Widener enjoyed the experience.
“I love my job,” Widener said. “It’s a great job. It is a very flexible job. I can do something else working for the forestry commission.”
When there is a call, Widener drives brings his bulldozer to fight the fire.
“I plow out fires in state, but I can go anywhere in the Southeast,” Widener said. “We have a compact with other states. If they need us we will go to them, if we need them they will come to us.”
Widener has fought fires in Florida and California, but the Texas experience was very different.
“California had similar terrain but more mountainous,” Widener said. “The terrain was nothing like I expected it to be. That was the first time I’ve ever been in Texas. When they show pictures of Texas, they show the good parts.”
Widener said the area surrounding McGregor, Texas, where he fought most of the fires, was flat grassland with a few cedar trees.
Widener said even the leader of the firefighting efforts had not seen fires like the ones that were burning during the first part of the month.
“This was all new to him,” Widener said. “He had to learn how to do things he never had to do before.”
Widener said there 12 people from the SC Forestry Commission now in Texas fighting wildfires.
Contact John Moore at jmoore@aikenstandard.com
http://www.aikenstandard.com/122306.ihtml
Local fireman battles Texas wildfires
From staff and wire reports
An Horry County firefighter has returned home after 15 days of fighting Texas wildfires so severe that President Bush declared a major disaster in the state.
Bulldozer operator and wildfire veteran Matt Schlaefer of Myrtle Beach was among five S.C. Forestry Commission firefighters who went to the Lone Star State on New Year's Day.
Twelve more Forestry Commission firemen are still fighting the Texas blazes.
According to the Forestry Commission, Schlaefer served in central Texas as an initial attack firefighter, being among the first to respond to a wildfire.
After hundreds of destructive wildfires in recent weeks, President Bush on Wednesday declared a major disaster in Texas, enabling residents of stricken communities to tap into a broad range of federal assistance.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram last week reported that since Jan. 1, more than 240,000 acres have burned across Texas.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/13646014.htm
Currently there are two fires still ablaze on the Map.
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Fierce winds whip through Southern Calif.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- Fierce Santa Ana winds whipping through Southern California on Monday fanned brush and house fires, knocked out power to 77,000 utility customers and littered roads with palm fronds and trash cans.
The dry wind, gusting near 70 mph in some places, roared out of the desert and down mountain passes and canyons to the coast, sending firefighters chasing outbreaks and toppling big rigs on highways.
One fire destroyed a home and damaged five others in the Tujunga section, and a blaze in suburban La Canada Flintridge forced evacuation of 15 homes before it was contained.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_California_Winds.html
Earthquake strikes off coast of Vanuatu
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY, Australia -- A magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck Monday near Vanuatu in the South Pacific, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The earthquake occurred just after 5 p.m. local time about 40 miles northwest of the Vanuatu capital of Port Vila, the USGS said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at Ewa Beach, Hawaii, said the quake could cause a localized tsunami but ruled out a Pacific-wide tsunami.
New Zealand's High Commissioner to Vanuatu, Paul Willis, said the earthquake was "short and sharp."
"As far as I can see there was no damage," he said in a telephone interview.
A phone call to the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office in Port Vila was not immediately answered.
Vanuatu is an 80-island archipelago located about 1,400 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia. A volcano on one of the country's islands began erupting in November after a 10-year slumber, causing thousands of residents to flee to makeshift camps.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Vanuatu_Quake.html
Wildfires rage in southern Australia
By DENNIS PASSA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Wildfires raged across southern Australia on Monday, and a firefighter was killed as a fire truck overturned speeding to a blaze, police said. Distraught ranchers shot cattle injured by the flames.
Three other firefighters were injured in the accident at an intersection 56 miles northeast of Melbourne, police spokesman Greg Jenkins said.
Around 10,000 firefighters were working to contain more than two dozen wildfires that have killed thousands of head of livestock and left two people dead late Sunday when their car plowed into a tree as they drove through a fire region.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Australia_Wildfire.html
Landslide kills eight in Papua New Guinea
By JEANNETTE FRANCIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SYDNEY, Australia -- A landslide sent mud and boulders smashing through a remote village in Papua New Guinea, killing at least eight people and leaving five more missing and feared dead, an emergency service official said Tuesday.
The landslide swept through the village of Bapa, 75 miles north of the capital Port Moresby, on Friday night after weeks of rain soaked the area, the Morobe Province disaster coordinator Tera Gauba told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
News of the extent of the devastation and loss of life in the remote and inaccessible region only emerged Tuesday in Port Moresby.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Papua_New_Guinea_Landslide.html
W.Va. lawmakers approve mine safety rules
By LAWRENCE MESSINA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- After 14 coal mining deaths in three weeks, West Virginia lawmakers unanimously passed a bill Monday that would require mines to use electronic devices to track trapped miners and stockpile oxygen to keep them alive until help arrives.
The Senate and House both acted speedily at the urging of Gov. Joe Manchin, who unveiled the legislation about 11 a.m. and pressed lawmakers to pass it by the end of the day.
"We can't afford to wait any longer," Manchin said after two miners were found dead over the weekend in a mine fire in Melville. Three weeks ago, 12 miners died after an explosion at the Sago Mine.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Mine_Fire.html?source=mypi
Gay rights bill may be just the start
Same-sex marriage also a hot topic for lawmakers
By CHRIS McGANN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT
OLYMPIA -- Gay rights and gay marriage are on a collision course in the Legislature this year, and the Democrats in power are doing everything they can to bring home the former before the latter becomes an issue.
Eight years ago, a Legislative supermajority outlawed gay marriage.
This week, lawmakers are on the verge of outlawing discrimination of gays and lesbians in employment, housing and lending at the same time the state Supreme Court is poised to hand down its ruling on their earlier work.
A worst-case scenario for Democrats would be if the high court ruled against the Defense of Marriage Act and asked the Legislature to make the fix. Democrats who have championed the gay rights bill would be forced to take a stand on the much more controversial issue of gay marriage.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256807_gayrights24.html
National Security: Yes, ban torture
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
President Bush has run into more embarrassment over his handling of questions about torture. Twenty-two former military leaders sent a letter last week asking the president to enforce the new ban on torture.
When ex-military leaders such as retired Marine Gen. Joseph Hoar and Rear Adm. John Hutson, a former Navy judge advocate general, feel they have to ask a president to enforce policy within the rest of his administration, it's a cause for national worry. It's worse that the issue is torture, which has already severely damaged U.S. credibility.
After making a show of the president's decision to sign the anti-torture legislation written by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the White House quietly issued a "signing statement" that seemed to say there are loopholes. The document said the White House "shall construe (the legislation) in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the president ... as commander in chief." Legal experts, several Republican senators and even White House officials told the Boston Globe that the statement meant the president believes he can waive the torture ban when he judges it vital to security.
The military leaders' letter told the president that troops are endangered by any suggestion torture is acceptable. They wrote, "Clear and unambiguous implementation (of the anti-torture measure) will help ensure that our brave men and women in uniform will never again feel that to prevail against the enemy they must risk their honor or the values they fight to protect." It's embarrassing enough that that needed to be said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/256719_tortured.asp
Laguna Beach tradition becomes battlefield
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- For 40 years, this quaint city overlooking the Pacific has united around its annual Patriots' Day Parade, a celebration of school marching bands, charities, civic groups and military personnel.
The small-town tradition, though, has become an unlikely battlefield in the national debate over illegal immigration.
The nonprofit group that runs the parade recently rejected a float sponsored by the Minuteman Project, a self-styled border patrol run by illegal immigration opponent Jim Gilchrist. Now, his group is threatening legal action on free-speech and discrimination grounds and has gone to the airwaves to criticize the city and its parade.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Parade_Politics.html
Super puzzle completed
Star power meshes with bit players
By DANNY O'NEIL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Seattle's stars stood out, evident in spite of the clouds that hovered over the city and shining through the confetti and fireworks that filled Qwest Field.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/256670_hawk23.html
Heiress Paris Hilton dances at the Blender Sessions party in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
(January 22, 2006)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ae/popup.asp?gtitle=Sundance%20Film%20Festival&SubID=1374&page=0&css=/photos/gtitle.css&pubdate=01/22/06
Software Notebook: Is Gates' prediction on spam a bust?
By TODD BISHOP
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
It was a prediction that captured the attention of the international media and weary Internet users alike: "Two years from now, spam will be solved," Microsoft's Bill Gates said.
Well, time's up.
As of this week, two years have passed since Gates made that declaration at the 2004 World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Microsoft and others point to progress in the struggle against unwanted e-mail, on several fronts. A Federal Trade Commission report last month concluded that the overall volume of spam "has begun to level off."
But has the problem of spam e-mail been solved?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/256579_software23.asp
Tug sinks in Elliott Bay
Foundering boat nearly pulls another one down with it
By JAKE ELLISON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The 101-foot tugboat Island Brave sank early Sunday afternoon where it was moored in Elliott Bay at the mouth of the Duwamish River, nearly dragging another tug down with it.
The cause of the tugboat's sinking was unknown Sunday. The boat's owners don't expect to determine the cause at least until today, when they hope to lift the Island Brave back to the surface.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256652_tugboat23.html
Eavesdropping leaps into 21st century
By MATTHEW FORDAHL
AP TECHNOLOGY WRITER
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In the past, intercepting communications meant just that - copying a telegram mid-route, steaming open an envelope or attaching alligator clips to the copper wires that connected every telephone in the world.
But the old ways of communicating are heading into the sunset like the Pony Express and being replaced by phone calls, instant messages, e-mail and more that are converted into digital data before they gallop across the Internet and other advanced networks.
This constant interchange of massive amounts of data, converging into speeding bitstreams on common pipes, is both a blessing and a curse for eavesdroppers.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Wiretap_Tech.html
DNA exonerates Fla. man after 24 years
By MITCH STACY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TAMPA, Fla. -- Alan Crotzer stepped into the warm sunlight outside the courthouse Monday and raised his arms to the sky, celebrating his freedom after more than 24 years behind bars for crimes he didn't commit.
A judge freed the 45-year-old Crotzer after DNA testing and other evidence convinced prosecutors he was not involved in the 1981 armed robbery and rapes that led to his 130-year prison sentence.
"It's been a long time coming," said Crotzer, his black hair graying at the temples. "Thank God for this day."
Crotzer walked free more than three years after he wrote to the Innocence Project in New York, a legal clinic that seeks to exonerate inmates through DNA testing.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_DNA_Exoneration.html
Judge orders man removed from death row
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A man convicted of three murders was taken off death row after a federal judge ruled that an IQ test administered when the inmate was 10 showed he was mentally retarded.
U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle's decision made Elton O. McLaughlin, 55, the 12th death row inmate in the state spared because of mental retardation.
Boyle ruled that a test showing McLaughlin had an IQ of 70 was valid, even though it was administered in the 1960s by a teacher and not by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, as state law requires.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_BRF_Death_Row_IQ.html
Katrina evacuees face eviction in Dallas
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS -- Some Hurricane Katrina evacuees face possible eviction from their rental housing because the Dallas Housing Authority has not paid their December rent.
Under the housing authority's rental voucher program, evacuees receive a voucher to cover their rent and utilities through February. The housing authority then makes payments directly to the landlord.
But the program has been overwhelmed by 6,600 applications and has fallen behind on rent payments, The Dallas Morning News reported in Tuesday editions.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Evacuee_Housing.html
Uganda rebels kill eight U.N. peacekeepers
By EDDY ISANGO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KINSHASA, Congo -- Ugandan rebels ambushed U.N. peacekeepers in Congo on Monday, killing eight of them in a gunbattle that also left 15 attackers dead near the Sudanese border, U.N. officials said.
The Guatemalan peacekeepers were looking for Lord's Resistance Army rebels from Uganda who were believed to be in Garamba National Park, in Congo's remote northeast, U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said.
The incident was the second largest single loss of life suffered by the 16,000-strong peacekeeping mission since it began in 1999. Nine Bangladeshi troops were killed in February 2005 by ethnic militiamen.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Congo_UN_Violence.html
Pakistanis kept from visiting attack site
By RIAZ KHAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
YUKKA GHUND, Pakistan -- Pakistani security forces stopped Islamist opposition leaders Monday from reaching a border village hit by a U.S. missile strike, curbing an anti-American protest as the prime minister visited Washington.
The opposition politicians, addressing hundreds of their supporters at a roadblock in the foothills of the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, condemned the obstruction and branded President Gen. Pervez Musharraf as an "American slave."
"The government doesn't want political parties to create awareness among the tribal people about their rights. That's why we are stopped here," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of the six-party Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) or United Action Front.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Pakistan_Al_Qaida_Attack.html
Pakistani PM plays down tension with U.S.
By FOSTER KLUG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz brushed aside tensions with the United States as he prepared for a meeting Tuesday with President Bush.
Aziz's trip to the White House comes at a strained point in U.S.-Pakistani relations, with many in the Islamic nation blasting the U.S. for a Jan. 13 airstrike in a remote area of northern Pakistan that killed at least 13 civilians, including women and children.
During a speech Monday at the Heritage Foundation, Aziz played down deteriorating relations, calling America "our friend and ally."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_US_Pakistan.html
Rahul Gandhi says he hopes to lead India
By OMER FAROOQ
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HYDERABAD, India -- Rahul Gandhi, heir to India's pre-eminent political dynasty, told supporters Monday he hopes to lead the country but urged them to be patient as he builds a following.
Gandhi, 35, whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather were all prime ministers of the giant subcontinent nation, has kept a relatively low-profile since being elected to parliament in 2004, focusing on his constituency in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
But he spoke of his aspirations in response to demands from backers of the ruling Congress party at the party's annual convention in this capital of Andhra Pradesh state.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_India_Rahul_Gandhi.html
Six killed in southwest Iran bombings
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TEHRAN, Iran -- Bombs killed six people and wounded more than 30 others Tuesday in Ahvaz, a southwestern city with a history of violence involving members of Iran's Arab minority, Iranian state media reported.
The bombs exploded outside a bank and a state environmental agency building in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad canceled a planned visit to Ahvaz Tuesday, citing a forecast calling for heavy rain, IRNA reported. The report did not say whether the blast had any bearing on the cancellation.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iran_Explosions.html
Two U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq bombing
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A roadside bomb has killed two U.S. soldiers in Baghdad and two Marines died in a vehicle accident in western Iraq, the military said Tuesday.
All four of the troops died Monday, the military said. One of the soldiers was killed at the scene of the bombing, while the other died en route to a hospital. The Marines died in a non-hostile vehicle accident near Taqaddum, about 45 miles west of Baghdad.
Also Tuesday, a car bomb exploded in eastern Baghdad shortly before the resumption of the Saddam Hussein trial, wounding at least one policeman and one civilian, said police Maj. Qusai Ibrahim.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Violence.html
Sunnis in Iraq urged to defend themselves
By PAUL GARWOOD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A leading Sunni Arab party Tuesday urged fellow Sunnis to confront armed attacks on their community following a raid on a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad in which three men were killed and more than 20 abducted.
Also Tuesday, two German engineers were kidnapped north of Baghdad by gunmen in two cars, police said. The U.S. military said a roadside bombing in Baghdad killed two U.S. soldiers Monday and two Marines died in a vehicle accident west of the capital.
The call for Sunnis to defend themselves was made in a statement issued by the Iraqi Islamic Party a day after gunmen, some wearing uniforms of the Shiite-led government security forces, swept into the Toubji area of Baghdad, raiding houses, abducting males and shooting three men dead.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Report: Sharon's doctors concealed info
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's health problems were more serious than doctors indicated before the stroke that has left him comatose, an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday.
The Haaretz newspaper said Sharon had a large aneurysm in the septum between the chambers of his heart. He also suffered from a shunt that causes blood to flow in the wrong direction through a tiny hole in the septum, the newspaper said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Israel_Sharon.html
Harper wins narrow victory in Canada
By BETH DUFF-BROWN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OTTAWA -- Conservative leader Stephen Harper narrowly lost his chance at becoming prime minister in the 2004 elections after opponents painted him as a scary right-winger who would reshape the landscape like a U.S.-style evangelical Republican.
This time around the scare tactics didn't work.
Despite the fears that Liberals conjured up, Harper won a narrow victory over Prime Minister Paul Martin in Monday's general elections.
The 46-year-old economist, who often makes fun of his lackluster personality, will become the 22nd prime minister when he's sworn in, likely in the next week or so.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101AP_Canada_Harper.html
The Jerusalem Post
Security forces arrest one of Sasson Nuriel's murderers
Abdullah Arar, 29, a Hamas fugitive who planned and participated in the abduction and murder of Sasson Nuriel in September last year, was arrested by security forces overnight Monday in Ramallah.
Sources in the Shin Bet said that most of the cell members involved in Nuriel's abduction and murder were arrested in the days after the incident, and details gleaned from them revealed that Arar was the key planner of the attack; he also participated in Nuriel's murder.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605903156&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
IDF kills Palestinian near Shvut Rahel
Talkbacks for this article: 2
IDF soldiers deployed south-east of Shvut Rahel, near El Muair in the Binyamin District, shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian youth in his chest after he and a companion repeatedly ignored soldiers' warnings to halt their actions.
The army summoned a helicopter to transport the youth to a hospital, but he died before arrival.
The military said on Tuesday morning that it was investigating the incident.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1137605900036&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Hamas kidnaps, kills J'lem candy maker
A 50-year-old Jewish resident of Jerusalem was kidnapped and brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists, police said in late September.
The body of Sasson Nuriel of the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev was found on September 26 in the West Bank village of Beitunya, near Ramallah, five days after he was reported missing.
A court gag order which had been in place at the police's request was partially lifted that afternoon after a news blackout on the abduction.
Nuriel's body was found after a four-day joint Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), IDF and police manhunt which resulted in the capture of one of the suspected members of the Hamas cell believed responsible for the killing, Jerusalem police said.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1137605903678&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Ezra: Barghouti won't be PA minister
Talkbacks for this article: 6
The government won't allow jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti to serve as a minister in the Palestinian Authority following Wednesday's elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
"He won't be a minister from prison. How can he be a minister from prison?" Ezra said. "There is someone sitting in jail who has been elected mayor of Kalkilya. [Do you think] he serves as the mayor of Kalkilya? He is in jail."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605901205&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
US won't cut PA ties if Hamas in cabinet
Talkbacks for this article: 3
The US won't deal with Hamas ministers in a future Palestinian Authority government, but will also not cut off ties with the PA as a result of Hamas's inclusion, diplomatic officials said Monday.
According to the officials, the US formula for dealing with a PA government following Wednesday's elections would be based on the "Lebanese model." In Lebanon, the officials said, the US continues to have strong ties with the government in Beirut even though Hizbullah is part of it. It does not, however, have any contact with the one Hizbullah minister.
The officials said that since Hamas was on the US list of terrorist organizations, the US would be legally proscribed from having contact or dealing with Hamas officials, even if they were PA ministers.
At the same time, they said, the law would not necessarily proscribe the US from continuing to deal with the PA or contributing money to it.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605901460&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Analysis: Franklin case shows what's in store at the AIPAC trial
Friday's sentencing of Larry Franklin, the former Pentagon analyst who was convicted of communicating classified information to staffers at the America Israel Public Affairs Association and to an Israeli diplomat, is only the first of the trials in the case, but it can serve as an indicator to what can be expected when the second begins in late April.
Judge T.S. Ellis of the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, set forth two important principles when sentencing Franklin to 12 1/2 years in prison: The first was accepting Franklin's claim that he had no intention other than helping what he believed to be American interests, and the second was that no matter what the intentions might have been, the law is the law and whoever breaks it faces harsh punishment.
For former AIPAC staffers, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, this means good news and bad news. The good news is that the court does not seem to see the matter as an espionage case or as an act directed at harming the US or assisting a foreign nation. The bad news is that this perception doesn't really make any difference on the legal level.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605901484&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
continued …
Firefighter braves wildfires deep in the heart of Texas
By JOHN MOORE Staff writer
WAGENER — David Widener has 22 years of experience fighting fires with the S.C. Forestry Commission, but the recent Texas wildfires were unlike anything he has seen before.
Widener, a bulldozer operator, spent 15 days battling wildfires that burned thousands of acres in central Texas.
He arrived Jan. 1, the day after a fire burned more than 35,000 acres and 60 homes in the area.
“The fires were running 200-300 feet per minute,” Widener said. “We didn’t really have to do much plowing. We mostly handled water. There were fires all over. You can’t get in front of it plowing. We just had to wait for the wind to die down or for it to hit natural barriers.”
Widener said helicopters dropped water on the fires, and much of the work plowing was done to protect property and houses.
“A lot of times we had to flank a fire and run the sides of it,” Widener said. “Sometimes we had to get 20 miles ahead of the fire to plow. We had to make a good break to slow it down.”
Widener said the weather was extremely windy.
“The fire causes the wind to blow even stronger,” Widener said. “When I left, the wind was getting to 30 mph even during the middle of the night.”
Widener said no significant rainfall is expected in some parts
Please see FIREFIGHTER, page 8A
of Texas until spring.
“I wouldn’t want to live in Texas now,” Widener said. “The place hasn’t seen a decent rain since September.”
Widener returned home Monday morning.
“The least hours we worked a day was 12 hours,” Widener said. “We worked 15, 16 or 17 hours some days — we worked a lot of hours.”
While the work was difficult, Widener enjoyed the experience.
“I love my job,” Widener said. “It’s a great job. It is a very flexible job. I can do something else working for the forestry commission.”
When there is a call, Widener drives brings his bulldozer to fight the fire.
“I plow out fires in state, but I can go anywhere in the Southeast,” Widener said. “We have a compact with other states. If they need us we will go to them, if we need them they will come to us.”
Widener has fought fires in Florida and California, but the Texas experience was very different.
“California had similar terrain but more mountainous,” Widener said. “The terrain was nothing like I expected it to be. That was the first time I’ve ever been in Texas. When they show pictures of Texas, they show the good parts.”
Widener said the area surrounding McGregor, Texas, where he fought most of the fires, was flat grassland with a few cedar trees.
Widener said even the leader of the firefighting efforts had not seen fires like the ones that were burning during the first part of the month.
“This was all new to him,” Widener said. “He had to learn how to do things he never had to do before.”
Widener said there 12 people from the SC Forestry Commission now in Texas fighting wildfires.
Contact John Moore at jmoore@aikenstandard.com
http://www.aikenstandard.com/122306.ihtml
Local fireman battles Texas wildfires
From staff and wire reports
An Horry County firefighter has returned home after 15 days of fighting Texas wildfires so severe that President Bush declared a major disaster in the state.
Bulldozer operator and wildfire veteran Matt Schlaefer of Myrtle Beach was among five S.C. Forestry Commission firefighters who went to the Lone Star State on New Year's Day.
Twelve more Forestry Commission firemen are still fighting the Texas blazes.
According to the Forestry Commission, Schlaefer served in central Texas as an initial attack firefighter, being among the first to respond to a wildfire.
After hundreds of destructive wildfires in recent weeks, President Bush on Wednesday declared a major disaster in Texas, enabling residents of stricken communities to tap into a broad range of federal assistance.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram last week reported that since Jan. 1, more than 240,000 acres have burned across Texas.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/13646014.htm
Currently there are two fires still ablaze on the Map.
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Fierce winds whip through Southern Calif.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- Fierce Santa Ana winds whipping through Southern California on Monday fanned brush and house fires, knocked out power to 77,000 utility customers and littered roads with palm fronds and trash cans.
The dry wind, gusting near 70 mph in some places, roared out of the desert and down mountain passes and canyons to the coast, sending firefighters chasing outbreaks and toppling big rigs on highways.
One fire destroyed a home and damaged five others in the Tujunga section, and a blaze in suburban La Canada Flintridge forced evacuation of 15 homes before it was contained.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_California_Winds.html
Earthquake strikes off coast of Vanuatu
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY, Australia -- A magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck Monday near Vanuatu in the South Pacific, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The earthquake occurred just after 5 p.m. local time about 40 miles northwest of the Vanuatu capital of Port Vila, the USGS said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at Ewa Beach, Hawaii, said the quake could cause a localized tsunami but ruled out a Pacific-wide tsunami.
New Zealand's High Commissioner to Vanuatu, Paul Willis, said the earthquake was "short and sharp."
"As far as I can see there was no damage," he said in a telephone interview.
A phone call to the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office in Port Vila was not immediately answered.
Vanuatu is an 80-island archipelago located about 1,400 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia. A volcano on one of the country's islands began erupting in November after a 10-year slumber, causing thousands of residents to flee to makeshift camps.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Vanuatu_Quake.html
Wildfires rage in southern Australia
By DENNIS PASSA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Wildfires raged across southern Australia on Monday, and a firefighter was killed as a fire truck overturned speeding to a blaze, police said. Distraught ranchers shot cattle injured by the flames.
Three other firefighters were injured in the accident at an intersection 56 miles northeast of Melbourne, police spokesman Greg Jenkins said.
Around 10,000 firefighters were working to contain more than two dozen wildfires that have killed thousands of head of livestock and left two people dead late Sunday when their car plowed into a tree as they drove through a fire region.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Australia_Wildfire.html
Landslide kills eight in Papua New Guinea
By JEANNETTE FRANCIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SYDNEY, Australia -- A landslide sent mud and boulders smashing through a remote village in Papua New Guinea, killing at least eight people and leaving five more missing and feared dead, an emergency service official said Tuesday.
The landslide swept through the village of Bapa, 75 miles north of the capital Port Moresby, on Friday night after weeks of rain soaked the area, the Morobe Province disaster coordinator Tera Gauba told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
News of the extent of the devastation and loss of life in the remote and inaccessible region only emerged Tuesday in Port Moresby.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Papua_New_Guinea_Landslide.html
W.Va. lawmakers approve mine safety rules
By LAWRENCE MESSINA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- After 14 coal mining deaths in three weeks, West Virginia lawmakers unanimously passed a bill Monday that would require mines to use electronic devices to track trapped miners and stockpile oxygen to keep them alive until help arrives.
The Senate and House both acted speedily at the urging of Gov. Joe Manchin, who unveiled the legislation about 11 a.m. and pressed lawmakers to pass it by the end of the day.
"We can't afford to wait any longer," Manchin said after two miners were found dead over the weekend in a mine fire in Melville. Three weeks ago, 12 miners died after an explosion at the Sago Mine.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Mine_Fire.html?source=mypi
Gay rights bill may be just the start
Same-sex marriage also a hot topic for lawmakers
By CHRIS McGANN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT
OLYMPIA -- Gay rights and gay marriage are on a collision course in the Legislature this year, and the Democrats in power are doing everything they can to bring home the former before the latter becomes an issue.
Eight years ago, a Legislative supermajority outlawed gay marriage.
This week, lawmakers are on the verge of outlawing discrimination of gays and lesbians in employment, housing and lending at the same time the state Supreme Court is poised to hand down its ruling on their earlier work.
A worst-case scenario for Democrats would be if the high court ruled against the Defense of Marriage Act and asked the Legislature to make the fix. Democrats who have championed the gay rights bill would be forced to take a stand on the much more controversial issue of gay marriage.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256807_gayrights24.html
National Security: Yes, ban torture
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
President Bush has run into more embarrassment over his handling of questions about torture. Twenty-two former military leaders sent a letter last week asking the president to enforce the new ban on torture.
When ex-military leaders such as retired Marine Gen. Joseph Hoar and Rear Adm. John Hutson, a former Navy judge advocate general, feel they have to ask a president to enforce policy within the rest of his administration, it's a cause for national worry. It's worse that the issue is torture, which has already severely damaged U.S. credibility.
After making a show of the president's decision to sign the anti-torture legislation written by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the White House quietly issued a "signing statement" that seemed to say there are loopholes. The document said the White House "shall construe (the legislation) in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the president ... as commander in chief." Legal experts, several Republican senators and even White House officials told the Boston Globe that the statement meant the president believes he can waive the torture ban when he judges it vital to security.
The military leaders' letter told the president that troops are endangered by any suggestion torture is acceptable. They wrote, "Clear and unambiguous implementation (of the anti-torture measure) will help ensure that our brave men and women in uniform will never again feel that to prevail against the enemy they must risk their honor or the values they fight to protect." It's embarrassing enough that that needed to be said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/256719_tortured.asp
Laguna Beach tradition becomes battlefield
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- For 40 years, this quaint city overlooking the Pacific has united around its annual Patriots' Day Parade, a celebration of school marching bands, charities, civic groups and military personnel.
The small-town tradition, though, has become an unlikely battlefield in the national debate over illegal immigration.
The nonprofit group that runs the parade recently rejected a float sponsored by the Minuteman Project, a self-styled border patrol run by illegal immigration opponent Jim Gilchrist. Now, his group is threatening legal action on free-speech and discrimination grounds and has gone to the airwaves to criticize the city and its parade.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Parade_Politics.html
Super puzzle completed
Star power meshes with bit players
By DANNY O'NEIL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Seattle's stars stood out, evident in spite of the clouds that hovered over the city and shining through the confetti and fireworks that filled Qwest Field.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/256670_hawk23.html
Heiress Paris Hilton dances at the Blender Sessions party in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
(January 22, 2006)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ae/popup.asp?gtitle=Sundance%20Film%20Festival&SubID=1374&page=0&css=/photos/gtitle.css&pubdate=01/22/06
Software Notebook: Is Gates' prediction on spam a bust?
By TODD BISHOP
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
It was a prediction that captured the attention of the international media and weary Internet users alike: "Two years from now, spam will be solved," Microsoft's Bill Gates said.
Well, time's up.
As of this week, two years have passed since Gates made that declaration at the 2004 World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Microsoft and others point to progress in the struggle against unwanted e-mail, on several fronts. A Federal Trade Commission report last month concluded that the overall volume of spam "has begun to level off."
But has the problem of spam e-mail been solved?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/256579_software23.asp
Tug sinks in Elliott Bay
Foundering boat nearly pulls another one down with it
By JAKE ELLISON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The 101-foot tugboat Island Brave sank early Sunday afternoon where it was moored in Elliott Bay at the mouth of the Duwamish River, nearly dragging another tug down with it.
The cause of the tugboat's sinking was unknown Sunday. The boat's owners don't expect to determine the cause at least until today, when they hope to lift the Island Brave back to the surface.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256652_tugboat23.html
Eavesdropping leaps into 21st century
By MATTHEW FORDAHL
AP TECHNOLOGY WRITER
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In the past, intercepting communications meant just that - copying a telegram mid-route, steaming open an envelope or attaching alligator clips to the copper wires that connected every telephone in the world.
But the old ways of communicating are heading into the sunset like the Pony Express and being replaced by phone calls, instant messages, e-mail and more that are converted into digital data before they gallop across the Internet and other advanced networks.
This constant interchange of massive amounts of data, converging into speeding bitstreams on common pipes, is both a blessing and a curse for eavesdroppers.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Wiretap_Tech.html
DNA exonerates Fla. man after 24 years
By MITCH STACY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TAMPA, Fla. -- Alan Crotzer stepped into the warm sunlight outside the courthouse Monday and raised his arms to the sky, celebrating his freedom after more than 24 years behind bars for crimes he didn't commit.
A judge freed the 45-year-old Crotzer after DNA testing and other evidence convinced prosecutors he was not involved in the 1981 armed robbery and rapes that led to his 130-year prison sentence.
"It's been a long time coming," said Crotzer, his black hair graying at the temples. "Thank God for this day."
Crotzer walked free more than three years after he wrote to the Innocence Project in New York, a legal clinic that seeks to exonerate inmates through DNA testing.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_DNA_Exoneration.html
Judge orders man removed from death row
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A man convicted of three murders was taken off death row after a federal judge ruled that an IQ test administered when the inmate was 10 showed he was mentally retarded.
U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle's decision made Elton O. McLaughlin, 55, the 12th death row inmate in the state spared because of mental retardation.
Boyle ruled that a test showing McLaughlin had an IQ of 70 was valid, even though it was administered in the 1960s by a teacher and not by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, as state law requires.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_BRF_Death_Row_IQ.html
Katrina evacuees face eviction in Dallas
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS -- Some Hurricane Katrina evacuees face possible eviction from their rental housing because the Dallas Housing Authority has not paid their December rent.
Under the housing authority's rental voucher program, evacuees receive a voucher to cover their rent and utilities through February. The housing authority then makes payments directly to the landlord.
But the program has been overwhelmed by 6,600 applications and has fallen behind on rent payments, The Dallas Morning News reported in Tuesday editions.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Evacuee_Housing.html
Uganda rebels kill eight U.N. peacekeepers
By EDDY ISANGO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KINSHASA, Congo -- Ugandan rebels ambushed U.N. peacekeepers in Congo on Monday, killing eight of them in a gunbattle that also left 15 attackers dead near the Sudanese border, U.N. officials said.
The Guatemalan peacekeepers were looking for Lord's Resistance Army rebels from Uganda who were believed to be in Garamba National Park, in Congo's remote northeast, U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said.
The incident was the second largest single loss of life suffered by the 16,000-strong peacekeeping mission since it began in 1999. Nine Bangladeshi troops were killed in February 2005 by ethnic militiamen.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Congo_UN_Violence.html
Pakistanis kept from visiting attack site
By RIAZ KHAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
YUKKA GHUND, Pakistan -- Pakistani security forces stopped Islamist opposition leaders Monday from reaching a border village hit by a U.S. missile strike, curbing an anti-American protest as the prime minister visited Washington.
The opposition politicians, addressing hundreds of their supporters at a roadblock in the foothills of the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, condemned the obstruction and branded President Gen. Pervez Musharraf as an "American slave."
"The government doesn't want political parties to create awareness among the tribal people about their rights. That's why we are stopped here," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of the six-party Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) or United Action Front.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Pakistan_Al_Qaida_Attack.html
Pakistani PM plays down tension with U.S.
By FOSTER KLUG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz brushed aside tensions with the United States as he prepared for a meeting Tuesday with President Bush.
Aziz's trip to the White House comes at a strained point in U.S.-Pakistani relations, with many in the Islamic nation blasting the U.S. for a Jan. 13 airstrike in a remote area of northern Pakistan that killed at least 13 civilians, including women and children.
During a speech Monday at the Heritage Foundation, Aziz played down deteriorating relations, calling America "our friend and ally."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_US_Pakistan.html
Rahul Gandhi says he hopes to lead India
By OMER FAROOQ
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HYDERABAD, India -- Rahul Gandhi, heir to India's pre-eminent political dynasty, told supporters Monday he hopes to lead the country but urged them to be patient as he builds a following.
Gandhi, 35, whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather were all prime ministers of the giant subcontinent nation, has kept a relatively low-profile since being elected to parliament in 2004, focusing on his constituency in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
But he spoke of his aspirations in response to demands from backers of the ruling Congress party at the party's annual convention in this capital of Andhra Pradesh state.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_India_Rahul_Gandhi.html
Six killed in southwest Iran bombings
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TEHRAN, Iran -- Bombs killed six people and wounded more than 30 others Tuesday in Ahvaz, a southwestern city with a history of violence involving members of Iran's Arab minority, Iranian state media reported.
The bombs exploded outside a bank and a state environmental agency building in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad canceled a planned visit to Ahvaz Tuesday, citing a forecast calling for heavy rain, IRNA reported. The report did not say whether the blast had any bearing on the cancellation.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iran_Explosions.html
Two U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq bombing
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A roadside bomb has killed two U.S. soldiers in Baghdad and two Marines died in a vehicle accident in western Iraq, the military said Tuesday.
All four of the troops died Monday, the military said. One of the soldiers was killed at the scene of the bombing, while the other died en route to a hospital. The Marines died in a non-hostile vehicle accident near Taqaddum, about 45 miles west of Baghdad.
Also Tuesday, a car bomb exploded in eastern Baghdad shortly before the resumption of the Saddam Hussein trial, wounding at least one policeman and one civilian, said police Maj. Qusai Ibrahim.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Violence.html
Sunnis in Iraq urged to defend themselves
By PAUL GARWOOD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A leading Sunni Arab party Tuesday urged fellow Sunnis to confront armed attacks on their community following a raid on a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad in which three men were killed and more than 20 abducted.
Also Tuesday, two German engineers were kidnapped north of Baghdad by gunmen in two cars, police said. The U.S. military said a roadside bombing in Baghdad killed two U.S. soldiers Monday and two Marines died in a vehicle accident west of the capital.
The call for Sunnis to defend themselves was made in a statement issued by the Iraqi Islamic Party a day after gunmen, some wearing uniforms of the Shiite-led government security forces, swept into the Toubji area of Baghdad, raiding houses, abducting males and shooting three men dead.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Report: Sharon's doctors concealed info
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's health problems were more serious than doctors indicated before the stroke that has left him comatose, an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday.
The Haaretz newspaper said Sharon had a large aneurysm in the septum between the chambers of his heart. He also suffered from a shunt that causes blood to flow in the wrong direction through a tiny hole in the septum, the newspaper said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Israel_Sharon.html
Harper wins narrow victory in Canada
By BETH DUFF-BROWN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OTTAWA -- Conservative leader Stephen Harper narrowly lost his chance at becoming prime minister in the 2004 elections after opponents painted him as a scary right-winger who would reshape the landscape like a U.S.-style evangelical Republican.
This time around the scare tactics didn't work.
Despite the fears that Liberals conjured up, Harper won a narrow victory over Prime Minister Paul Martin in Monday's general elections.
The 46-year-old economist, who often makes fun of his lackluster personality, will become the 22nd prime minister when he's sworn in, likely in the next week or so.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101AP_Canada_Harper.html
The Jerusalem Post
Security forces arrest one of Sasson Nuriel's murderers
Abdullah Arar, 29, a Hamas fugitive who planned and participated in the abduction and murder of Sasson Nuriel in September last year, was arrested by security forces overnight Monday in Ramallah.
Sources in the Shin Bet said that most of the cell members involved in Nuriel's abduction and murder were arrested in the days after the incident, and details gleaned from them revealed that Arar was the key planner of the attack; he also participated in Nuriel's murder.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605903156&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
IDF kills Palestinian near Shvut Rahel
Talkbacks for this article: 2
IDF soldiers deployed south-east of Shvut Rahel, near El Muair in the Binyamin District, shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian youth in his chest after he and a companion repeatedly ignored soldiers' warnings to halt their actions.
The army summoned a helicopter to transport the youth to a hospital, but he died before arrival.
The military said on Tuesday morning that it was investigating the incident.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1137605900036&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Hamas kidnaps, kills J'lem candy maker
A 50-year-old Jewish resident of Jerusalem was kidnapped and brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists, police said in late September.
The body of Sasson Nuriel of the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev was found on September 26 in the West Bank village of Beitunya, near Ramallah, five days after he was reported missing.
A court gag order which had been in place at the police's request was partially lifted that afternoon after a news blackout on the abduction.
Nuriel's body was found after a four-day joint Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), IDF and police manhunt which resulted in the capture of one of the suspected members of the Hamas cell believed responsible for the killing, Jerusalem police said.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1137605903678&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Ezra: Barghouti won't be PA minister
Talkbacks for this article: 6
The government won't allow jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti to serve as a minister in the Palestinian Authority following Wednesday's elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
"He won't be a minister from prison. How can he be a minister from prison?" Ezra said. "There is someone sitting in jail who has been elected mayor of Kalkilya. [Do you think] he serves as the mayor of Kalkilya? He is in jail."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605901205&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
US won't cut PA ties if Hamas in cabinet
Talkbacks for this article: 3
The US won't deal with Hamas ministers in a future Palestinian Authority government, but will also not cut off ties with the PA as a result of Hamas's inclusion, diplomatic officials said Monday.
According to the officials, the US formula for dealing with a PA government following Wednesday's elections would be based on the "Lebanese model." In Lebanon, the officials said, the US continues to have strong ties with the government in Beirut even though Hizbullah is part of it. It does not, however, have any contact with the one Hizbullah minister.
The officials said that since Hamas was on the US list of terrorist organizations, the US would be legally proscribed from having contact or dealing with Hamas officials, even if they were PA ministers.
At the same time, they said, the law would not necessarily proscribe the US from continuing to deal with the PA or contributing money to it.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605901460&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Analysis: Franklin case shows what's in store at the AIPAC trial
Friday's sentencing of Larry Franklin, the former Pentagon analyst who was convicted of communicating classified information to staffers at the America Israel Public Affairs Association and to an Israeli diplomat, is only the first of the trials in the case, but it can serve as an indicator to what can be expected when the second begins in late April.
Judge T.S. Ellis of the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, set forth two important principles when sentencing Franklin to 12 1/2 years in prison: The first was accepting Franklin's claim that he had no intention other than helping what he believed to be American interests, and the second was that no matter what the intentions might have been, the law is the law and whoever breaks it faces harsh punishment.
For former AIPAC staffers, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, this means good news and bad news. The good news is that the court does not seem to see the matter as an espionage case or as an act directed at harming the US or assisting a foreign nation. The bad news is that this perception doesn't really make any difference on the legal level.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605901484&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
continued …
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