Petraeus admits to rise in Iraq violence

Petraeus, the top U.S. commander, says Sunni Arab militants have carried out a 'Ramadan surge,' resulting in increased violence in Iraq.

John Moore / Getty Images

The top U.S. commander, back from his trip to Washington, says Sunni Arab militants have carried out a 'Ramadan surge.' But he notes that the level of attacks remains lower than a year ago.
By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
9:57 AM PDT, September 29, 2007
BAGHDAD -- Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, acknowledged today that violence had increased since Sunni Arab militants declared an offensive during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"Certainly Al Qaeda has had its Ramadan surge," Petraeus said in his first comments to reporters since he returned from Washington to give lawmakers a status report on the war in Iraq. But he said the level of attacks was "substantially lower" than during the same period last year.
The Army general said he saw no need to revise the projections he presented to Congress this month for a gradual withdrawal of the additional forces deployed to Iraq as part of the troop buildup. He did not provide figures.
Militants with the extremist group Al Qaeda in Iraq have launched a string of deadly bombings in recent weeks, including one this week that killed at least 24 people at a reconciliation meeting between Sunni and Shiite tribal, religious, political and security leaders in the Diyala provincial capital, Baqubah.
At least 11 Iraqis were killed in bomb blasts, mortar and gunfire today. The U.S. military also announced the deaths of two soldiers in small-arms fire, one during combat operations in a southern section of Baghdad and the other in Diyala.
A U.S. military panel, meanwhile, sentenced an Army sniper to an effective 44 days confinement in connection with the deaths of two Iraqi men. Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval Jr., 22, was also demoted to a private and ordered to forfeit his salary for the days he spends behind bars.
Sandoval was acquitted of murder charges in the deaths during the three-day court-martial but convicted of the lesser offense of placing detonation wire on one of the bodies to make it appear that the man had been an insurgent. Members of his sniper team testified that they were following orders when they shot the men April 27 and May 11 near Iskandariyah, a dangerous area south of Baghdad.
Sandoval's 150-day sentence was commuted for time served and labor he performed during the 106 days he spent in detention, the military said. The prosecution had argued that he should serve five years.
Two other snipers from the same team, Sgt. Evan Vela and Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley, will be tried separately. All three soldiers are part of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, based at Ft. Richardson, Alaska.
In today's worst attack, a car bomb targeted a police patrol near the northern city of Mosul, killing four of its members and injuring 16 people, police said. The incident happened in Hamdaniya, a predominantly Christian area northeast of Mosul. Most of the injured were bystanders, police said.
Earlier, drive-by gunmen assassinated a Sunni cleric in front of his home in Mosul's Mithaq neighborhood, said police Brig. Gen. Abdul-Kareem Jbouri. Sheik Ghanim Qassim Jbouri was a member of a city council that issues religious edicts.
In Baghdad, a bomb targeting a U.S. patrol in the eastern New Baghdad neighborhood killed three civilians and injured eight others, police said.
Gunmen fired at Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad's central Fadil neighborhood, triggering a fierce exchange that killed at least one civilian bystander and injured four others, police and hospital officials said. And a mortar round slammed into the southwestern Dora neighborhood, killing one person and injuring four others, including a child.
zavis@latimes.com
Times staff writer Ned Parker in Baghdad and special correspondents in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk contributed to this report.

Los Angeles Times

The renewable energy future
Wind farms and solar energy have great potential -- but there are still clouds on the horizon.
September 17, 2007
Remember rain?
As Los Angeles creaks through its driest year on record and nervously awaits its next explosive wildfire, many wonder if global warming is already taking a toll. Nobody really knows; California has always had intermittent droughts, after all. But climate models predicted this situation. Changes in ocean temperatures and currents driven by things such as the melting of the Greenland ice shelf -- which is happening a lot faster than scientists expected -- will probably produce an even more desert-like climate in L.A.
FOR THE RECORD:
Energy sources: An editorial Monday on renewable energy said that costs for solar panels remain high because the world is running out of silicon. In fact, there is a shortage of polysilicon, a manufactured material of which silicon is the basic component. The editorial also said that a "100-square-mile" area of Nevada, if equipped with solar devices, could meet all of the United States' power needs. It should have said a "100-mile-square" area. —
Efforts to slow or halt that process have to include a switch to cleaner energy. Coal-burning power plants account for more than 40% of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions (the key culprit in global warming) while supplying half our electricity. California is already on the case. Last year, it passed a law that says 20% of the state's electricity must come from renewable sources by 2010, and 33% by 2020. Even the sluggish federal government is considering a crackdown, with the House energy bill requiring that 15% of U.S. power come from renewable sources by 2020.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-renewable17sep17,0,3281566.story?coll=la-opinion-bottomleft


Gunman in custody after shots fired at Oroville high school
From the Associated Press
11:15 AM PDT, September 28, 2007
OROVILLE -- A gunman was in custody after firing shots inside a northern California high school today, authorities said. No one was injured.
There were no injuries resulting from the incident at Las Plumas High School, said Sang Kim, a spokesman for Butte County.
Kim said the student had taken hostages around 9 a.m., but "as of 10:40 a.m., all hostages have been released." He did not say how many students had been taken hostage.
A message posted on the Oroville Union High School District's Web site said all six schools were locked down until the standoff ended.
Oroville is 65 miles north of Sacramento.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oroville29sep29,0,6839963.story?coll=la-home-center



U.N. envoy seeks talks with Myanmar generals
CRACKDOWN: Riot police and soldiers patrol Yangon streets to block anti-government protests first led by Buddhist monks. The military confined many monks to their monasteries.
The diplomat heads to the new capital to meet with military rulers after the violent suppression of protesters.
By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
11:29 AM PDT, September 29, 2007
NEW DELHI -- A U.N. special envoy arrived in Myanmar today for talks with the country's military rulers, whose ruthless crackdown on anti-government protesters has sparked international outrage.
The streets of Myanmar's main city, Yangon, were virtually empty of demonstrators for the first time in nearly two weeks and devoid of the gunfire and chaos that marked three days of violent suppression by soldiers and police. Security forces continued to patrol and seal off parts of the city, including the monasteries whose monks

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/asia/la-fg-myanmar30sep30,0,2617181.story?coll=la-home-center



Hope Wanes Among Protesters in Myanmar
By DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press Writer
1:16 PM PDT, September 29, 2007
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Watching soldiers firing their guns and beating die-hard protesters with clubs in the streets of Myanmar, a distraught man decried the bloodbath and pleaded for American intervention.
With the streets eerily quiet Saturday after the military's brutal crackdown on three days of demonstrations, many protesters were losing hope and falling back on such familiar pleas for help from the outside world.
It's a call made every time the pro-democracy movement has dared stand up against Myanmar's 45 years of harsh military rule, only to be crushed.
Some of those challenging the regime in the most forceful demonstrations in nearly two decades still hope such help -- even in the form of U.S. bombing -- may arrive. About 300 die-hard protesters marched down a street in the Chinatown section of Myanmar's main city, Yangon, on Saturday, waving the peacock-emblazoned flags of the democracy movement. They dispersed when soldiers arrived.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top11sep29,0,378608.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines



Religion as a force for good
As the Burmese rebellion shows, it's often the faithful who are inspired to do great things.
By Ian Buruma
September 29, 2007
It has become fashionable in certain smart circles to regard atheism as a sign of superior education, of highly evolved civilization, of enlightenment. Recent bestsellers by Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and others suggest that religious faith is a sign of backwardness, the mark of primitives stuck in the Dark Ages who have not caught up with scientific reason. Religion, we are told, is responsible for violence, oppression, poverty and many other ills.
It is not difficult to find examples to back up this assertion. But what about the opposite? Can religion also be a force for good? Are there cases in which religious faith comes to the rescue even of those who don't have it?
I have never personally had either the benefits nor misfortunes of adhering to any religion, but watching Burmese monks on television defying the security forces of one of the world's most oppressive regimes, it is hard not to see some merit in religious belief. Myanmar, also known as Burma, is a deeply religious country, where most men spend some time as Buddhist monks. Even the thuggish Burmese junta hesitated before unleashing lethal force on men dressed in the maroon and saffron robes of their faith.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-buruma29sep29,0,3223164.story?coll=la-home-commentary



Bush Signs Spending Bill, Jabs at Dems
By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
12:47 PM PDT, September 29, 2007
WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Saturday signed a bill to prevent a government shutdown, but not without complaint. Bush lambasted the Democrats who control Congress for sending him the stopgap measure while they continue to work on more than a dozen spending bills funding the day-to-day operations of 15 Cabinet departments.
"Congress failed in its most basic responsibility," the president said in his weekly radio address.
The bills are tied up because Democrats want to add $23 billion for domestic programs to Bush's $933 billion request for the approximately one-third of the federal budget funded by the yearly spending bills. Bush has threatened vetoes on most of the bills, eager to re-establish his party's reputation as the place to go for fiscal discipline.
The president said Democrats are planning the "biggest tax increase in American history" to pay for the new spending.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top13sep29,0,1165042.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines



CULTURE MIX
Pieces of Los Lobos' heart
David Hidalgo, Louie Perez, Cesar Rosas and Conrad Lozano of Los Lobos, in the burned-out auditorium of Garfield High, their alma mater.
Garfield is a special place for Los Lobos. So they're helping rebuild the auditorium.
By Agustin Gurza, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2007
THE arson fire that destroyed the historic auditorium at Garfield High School earlier this year all but obliterated the framed portraits of illustrious alumni that had hung on a now-charred wall of fame. It was as if the blaze had tried to snuff out their identity and achievements, leaving only blackened and blistered images like specters of the success that means so much to this East L.A. campus and its blue-collar community.
Somehow, one of the images survived almost unscathed. It was a portrait of Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos, the famed East L.A. band, wearing his characteristic dark glasses and impassive expression, like a silent witness to the destruction. He's not calling it a miracle, but the musician took the sparing of his portrait as an omen for the band.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-culture29sep29,0,6997740.story?coll=la-home-center



Border fence nearly doubles
After reporting sluggish progress last month, U.S. officials announce that the stretch of barriers has grown to 145 miles.
By Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2007
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — The federal government's border fencing effort has accelerated rapidly in recent weeks with barriers rising in towns from California to New Mexico and workers completing the longest stretch of continuous fencing on the U.S.-Mexico frontier.
The Department of Homeland Security reached its goal of completing 70 miles of new fencing by the end of this month, nearly doubling the length of barriers on the border to about 145 miles.
"When we make a commitment, we will carry through on the commitment," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who went to Arizona on Friday to mark the progress and welded part of the fence in the town of Douglas.
Whether the new fencing slows illegal immigration remains to be seen, but the project is a milestone in another way. Once limited mainly to cities, fencing along the 1,952-mile border is now going up in rural areas, where much of the illegal immigration traffic has shifted in recent years.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-border29sep29,0,6565480.story?coll=la-home-center



New Jersey meat recall expanded to 21.7M pounds
From the Associated Press
1:17 PM PDT, September 29, 2007
TRENTON, N.J. -- The Topps Meat Co. on Saturday expanded its recall of frozen hamburger patties that may be contaminated with the E. coli bacteria and sickened more than a dozen people in eight states.
Topps said it was recalling 21.7 million pounds of ground beef products distributed to retail grocery stores and food service institutions throughout the United States, up from the 332,000 pounds it recalled on Tuesday.
The recall represents all Topps products with either a "sell by date" or a "best if used by date" between Sept. 25 this year and Sept. 25, 2008. The Elizabeth-based company said this information is found on a package's back panel.
All recalled products also have a USDA establishment number of EST 9748, which is located on the back panel of the package and-or in the USDA legend, the company said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-recall30sep30,0,4997190.story?coll=la-home-center



Man charged in Tom Cruise extortion plot found dead
From the Associated Press
11:51 AM PDT, September 29, 2007
PHOENIX -- A man who agreed to plead guilty in a plot to extort more than $1 million from Tom Cruise for the actor's stolen wedding photos was found dead in his home, authorities said.
Investigators said it appeared David Hans Schmidt, 47, who was under house arrest and faced up to two years in federal prison, had committed suicide.
He was found dead in his townhouse around 3 p.m. Friday after police noticed a tracker placed on him had not moved and he had not checked in, said Lt. Anthony Lopez.
His attorney, Nancy Kardon, said she had spoken to Schmidt earlier this week and was preparing for an Oct. 11 hearing in federal court where he would enter his formal guilty plea to attempted extortion. She said she had planned to ask for probation.
"I was greatly saddened by his loss and I found him to be a very kind man," Kardon said today.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-cruise30sep30,0,623442.story?coll=la-home-center



Wikipedia wars erupt
As the 6-year-old encyclopedia project begins shifting from adding articles to pruning them back, arguments ensue, and it isn't pretty. Just ask its founder -- and victim.
By David Sarno, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 30, 2007
ON Sept. 17, Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales, the founding father of Wikipedia and the community's most celebrated member, created a one-sentence article that read as follows:
"Mzoli's Meats is a butcher shop and restuarant [sic] located in Guguletu township near Cape Town, South Africa."
Twenty-two minutes later, the article was deleted from the site. Nineteen-year-old administrator Chad Horohoe, who uses the moniker "^demon," removed the entry, citing Wikipedia guideline CSD A7 (Criteria for Speedy Deletion: Articles: No. 7), which says that an article can be summarily deleted -- with no discussion or notice to the author -- if it contains "no assertion of importance/significance."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/newmedia/la-ca-webscout30sep30,0,1839982.story?coll=la-home-entertainment



Teammates banish goalie Solo
The American women say they do not want her with them for this weekend's practice and third-place game after she criticized veteran Scurry.
By Philip Hersh, Special to The Times
9:29 AM PDT, September 29, 2007
SHANGHAI -- The Hope Solo saga took another stunning turn today, when her World Cup teammates decided they did not want the goalie with them for either Sunday's third-place game with Norway or today's practice.
The team banished Solo, who had started the first four games of the World Cup, because she reacted to being benched for Thursday's 4-0 semifinal loss to Brazil by criticizing not only the decision but the play of her replacement, veteran goalie Briana Scurry.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-wcup30sep30,0,1160140.story?coll=la-home-center



L.A. County calling for lights-out hour
Coordinating with San Francisco's plan, officials are urging Angelenos to agree to a voluntary blackout one day next month to help conserve energy.
By Susannah Rosenblatt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2007
Following San Francisco's lead, Los Angeles County and city officials are urging people, businesses and government to switch off nonessential lights for one hour next month to save energy.
Led by Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke and City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, the proposed effort asks Angelenos to simultaneously go dark between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20, as San Franciscans do the same. Local officials are expected to vote on the plan next week.
At the original event in Sydney, Australia, in March, 2.2 million people cut the lights, causing a 10% drop in electricity use. The so-called Earth Hour reduced 25 tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to taking nearly 49,000 cars off the road for 60 minutes, organizers said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lightsout29sep29,0,3411449.story?coll=la-home-center


Cats

http://yourscene.latimes.com/mycapture/photos/Album.aspx?EventID=139188&CategoryID=18064



Ahmadinejad walks away with a win
His Columbia engagement gives him what he wants -- legitimacy -- and his hosts look rude to Islamic eyes.
By Tim Rutten
September 29, 2007
One of the world's truly dangerous men, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left New York a clear winner this week, and he can thank the arrogance of the American academy and most of the U.S. news media's studied indifference for his victory.
If the blood-drenched history of the century just past had taught American academics one thing, it should have been that the totalitarian impulse knows no accommodation with reason. You cannot change the totalitarian mind through dialogue or conversation, because totalitarianism -- however ingenious the superstructure of faux ideas with which it surrounds itself -- is a creature of the will and not the mind. That's a large lesson, but what should have made Ahmadinejad's appearance at Columbia University this week a wholly avoidable debacle was the school's knowledge of its own, very specific history.
In the 1930s, Columbia was run by Nicholas Murray Butler, to whose name a special sort of infamy attaches. Butler was an outspoken admirer of Italian fascism and of its leader, Benito Mussolini. The Columbia president, who also was in the forefront of Ivy League efforts to restrict Jewish enrollment, worked tirelessly to build ties between his school and Italian universities, as well as with the powerful fascist student organizations. At one point, a visiting delegation of 350 ardent young Black Shirts serenaded Butler with the fascist anthem.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-rutten29sep29,0,1222354.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel



Karzai Offers to Meet Taliban Leader
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer
11:08 AM PDT, September 29, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Hamid Karzai on Saturday offered to meet with the Taliban leader and give militants a government position only hours after a suicide bomber in army disguise attacked a military bus, killing 30 people -- nearly all of them Afghan soldiers.
Strengthening a call for negotiations he has made with increasing frequency in recent weeks, Karzai said he was willing to meet with the reclusive leader Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister and factional warlord leader.
"If I find their address, there is no need for them to come to me, I'll personally go there and get in touch with them," Karzai said. "Esteemed Mullah, sir, and esteemed Hekmatyar, sir, why are you destroying the country?"

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top12sep29,0,771825.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines



Robert J. Bruss, 67; syndicated journalist wrote about real estate
Investment expert wrote several books and an advice column published in The Times and many other newspapers nationwide for more than 20 years.
From a Times Staff Writer
September 28, 2007
Robert J. Bruss, an author, investment expert and syndicated real estate columnist whose advice appeared in newspapers across the country for more than two decades, died Wednesday at his Burlingame, Calif., home, according to Inman News, the Emeryville, Calif., news service that distributes his column. He was 67.
The cause of death was cancer, said Bradley J. Inman, his friend and publisher.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-bruss28sep28,0,6429589.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel



Fanning wins in France to move step closer to world title
Australian defeats South Africa's Emslie in Quiksilver Pro event.
By Pete Thomas, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
1:10 PM PDT, September 29, 2007
Australia's Mick Fanning defeated South Africa's Greg Emslie in the final of the Quiksilver Pro France to move one step closer to claiming his first world title.
With the triumph at Seignosse, France, Fanning widened his lead over rivals Kelly Slater and fellow Aussie Taj Burrow, and could clinch the title in the Billabong Pro, which begins this week at Mundaka, Spain.
"I'm just doing what I've been doing, taking it heat by heat," said Fanning, who is seeking to become the first Australian to win a championship since Mark Occhilupo in 1999.
During the 30-minute final, in three- to five-foot surf at Les Bourdaines, Fanning caught only four waves to Emslie's 12, but scored an 18.43 out of a possible 20 in the two-best-scores format.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-surf30sep30,0,3929693.story?coll=la-home-sports



Richard Graham, 86; women's rights activist
A founding officer of NOW, he also played an important role in launching the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
By Elaine Woo, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2007
Richard A. Graham, a founding officer of the National Organization for Women who also played an important role in launching the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, died Monday after a stroke at his home in Royal Oak, Md. He was 86.
In the early 1960s Graham was prominent in what leading feminist and "The Feminine Mystique" author Betty Friedan called the "underground feminist movement" -- a mostly female network in Washington, D.C., whose members promoted women's issues, often at great risk to their government jobs.
Graham entered public service in 1961 with the Peace Corps as a deputy to its first director, Sargent Shriver.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-graham29sep29,0,1629368.story?coll=la-home-obituaries



Judges seek leeway in prison sentences
The Supreme Court will look at strict rules that are a holdover from the 1980s war on drugs and that legal activists say are unfair.
By David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Marion Hungerford, a 52-year-old woman diagnosed with a mental illness, was convicted two years ago as an accomplice after her live-in boyfriend pleaded guilty to a series of armed robberies in Billings, Mont.
Her sentence: 159 years in federal prison.
The judge said federal sentencing rules gave him no choice. The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed, as did the U.S. Supreme Court, which in May turned away her claim that the sentence was unconstitutional.
Increasingly, judges and legal activists -- conservative and liberal -- point to cases like Hungerford's and say the federal sentencing system is badly out of whack. They are hoping that Congress or the Supreme Court will move to give judges leeway to impose shorter -- and, they say, fairer -- prison terms. The high court will hear two cases next month that challenge mandatory minimum sentences.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-sentences29sep29,0,897176.story?coll=la-home-nation



Countrywide CEO sold big as stock dropped
Quick changes in Mozilo's trading plan raise red flags, experts say. The mortgage firm says the sales were in line with company policy.
By Kathy M. Kristof, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2007
As the mortgage industry swooned in late 2006 and 2007, Countrywide Financial Corp. Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo cashed in stock options valued at $138 million -- vastly expanding his wealth even as his shareholders watched their stock shrink in value.
Company executives say Mozilo did nothing wrong and that the transactions were made under trading plans that specified how many shares would be sold each month.
Similar trading plans have been used by hundreds of executives since they were greenlighted by federal regulators in 2000 as a means of fending off accusations of insider trading.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mozilo29sep29,0,3110113.story?coll=la-home-business



Proposed O.C. tollway would violate environmental laws, report says
A Coastal Commission staff analysis recommends denying certification of the Foothill South project that would pass through San Onofre State Beach.
By Dan Weikel and David Reyes, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
September 29, 2007
Building a six-lane toll road through San Onofre State Beach near San Clemente would cause widespread violations of state environmental laws by threatening endangered species, marring natural resources and compromising recreational opportunities, according to a California Coastal Commission report released Friday.
The 236-page analysis conflicts with claims by the Transportation Corridor Agencies that the proposed route for the Foothill South tollway is the least harmful to the popular coastal park out of eight alternatives considered by the Irvine-based agency.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tollway29sep29,0,4557666.story?coll=la-home-local



LONDON FASHION WEEK
This season, London is for lovers
Fashion Week, a must-see these days, has gone from gritty to pretty.
By Booth Moore, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 30, 2007
LONDON -- ONE of the more curious runway shows of the season was held in an industrial space at an old brewery here and could be reached only by climbing three flights of stairs, then winding through a cocktail party, over a rooftop laced with caution tape and across a warehouse full of parkas.
This kind of gritty charm used to characterize London Fashion Week. But this season, the fledgling Fashion East show was the exception. Over the last few years a new generation of designers has emerged, with Christopher Kane, Giles Deacon, Richard Nicoll and Jonathan Saunders leading the way. And they mean business. They're showing in a professional way, and their collections are consistently interesting and salable enough to make London a must-see.

http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-fashion30sep30,0,2975853.story?coll=la-home-middleright



Faith behind bars
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons was wise to change a policy that would have restricted religious texts for inmates.
September 29, 2007
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has learned an important lesson: Hell hath no fury like religious Americans who believe that even -- or perhaps especially -- convicted criminals are entitled to practice their faith. After an ecumenical protest, the bureau announced this week that it was reversing a decision to remove a wide variety of religious books from prison chaplains' shelves. But the suspension of the so-called Standardized Chapel Library Project also teaches a lesson to advocates of an extreme vision of the separation of church and state. The reality is that religion and government must interact in some situations, including the provision of religious services for prisoners, students at state colleges and the U.S. military.
The problem with the project was that in negotiating the complicated relationship between private faith and public administration, the Bureau of Prisons didn't give enough weight to the role that law and tradition have assigned to those who minister to prisoners. Long before the phrase "faith-based initiative" formed on George W. Bush's lips, prisons tended to the spiritual needs of their inmates -- partly as a corporal work of mercy, partly in the hope that religiously inspired repentance would encourage rehabilitation. Even when dealing with the worst of the worst in their populations, prisons have made special provision for religion.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-prison29sep29,0,6746844.story?coll=la-opinion-center

continued...

Former US President Bill Clinton addresses guests during the inaugural ceremony of Clinton Global Citizen Awards in New York. Clinton honoured several people who were making a positive impact on changing the world. (AP Photo)

Bush's position on Conservation is a joke !

Figure 2. Excessive Erosion on Cropland, 1997. Each red dot represents 5000 acres of highly erodible land and each yellow dot represents 5000 acres of non-highly erodible

Agricultural lands are a recognized nonpoint source of water contaminants. Currently, complete and consistent data of surface water and ground water quality is lacking at a national level. Several inventories have been done that cover different watersheds and different time periods. Perhaps the most current, albeit incomplete, data are supplied by the National Water Quality Inventory, which is completed every two years as required by Section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act (USEPA, 2000). For this inventory, states, territories, tribes, and interstate commissions assessed the health of their waters in relation to designated water use and accompanying water quality standards. A subset of US rivers and streams, lakes, Great Lakes shoreline, estuaries, and ocean shoreline were evaluated. States and tribes assessed 23% of the total river and stream miles; 42% of the lake, reservoir, and pond acres; 90% of the Great Lakes shoreline miles; 32% of the estuary square miles; and 5% of ocean shoreline miles.


American Corn Growers Association Says USDA Should Stay the Course on Conservation Reserve Program (click here)
Washington, DC--Keith Bolin, President of the American Corn Growers Association (ACGA), says his organization is opposed to any actions by USDA to allow an early exit from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
“USDA should stay the course on the CRP,” said Bolin.
“Recent discussions coming out of the Department of Agriculture suggesting an administrative action to allow farmers to exit the program early is short-sighted and ill-advised.”
The CRP was established in 1985 as a voluntary program that allows farmers to retire highly erodible land from production and also ensure a secure income during times of low commodity pricing.
As the program grew, farmers were able to retire land to reduce degradation of environmentally sensitive areas.
Some of these environmental aspects include wetland acreage, runoff into waterways, and wildlife habitat.
Currently the USDA pays $1.6 billion in annual CRP rental payments to land owners and operators.
During their 5-10 year contracts, CRP participants practice a number of conservation methods including grass and tree planting and wildlife cover.
The continuation of the CRP program is at risk due to budgetary pressures as well as those in the agribusiness sector who want more corn planted next year in order to suppress corn prices.
“The budgetary argument will not hold water,” explained Bolin.
“Last year an analysis by the University of Tennessee’s Agriculture Policy Analysis Center (APAC) revealed that federal spending on other farm programs would increase exponentially if the CRP was reduced or eliminated.
"The argument of needing more corn acres is problematic as well, since all CRP acres are highly erodible and very little of it is suitable for corn production.”
“Current USDA projections for next year’s corn crop and carryover shows there will be more than sufficient production to cover all needs,” concluded Bolin.
“Jeopardizing highly erodible land by taking it out of the reserve just so that the integrated livestock factory farms can go back to buying cheap corn as they have for the past decade is unacceptable.
"ACGA opposes any actions that threaten the integrity of the CRP."
For more information, call Larry Mitchell at 202-835-0330.
See Related Websites/Articles:
American Corn Growers Association
APAC Report in Conservation Reserve Program (click at this title - The economic impact effects TO AMERICAN AGRICULTURE should the land be used before it's recovered from OVERUSE.)

This is the drought map of the USA according to NOAA issues July 2006. Bush could not care what the drought or fire circumstances of the nation are !

From the State of the Union 2003

Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country, while dramatically improving the environment. I have sent you a comprehensive energy plan to promote energy efficiency and conservation, to develop cleaner technology, and to produce more energy at home. I have sent you Clear Skies legislation that mandates a 70-percent cut in air pollution from power plants over the next 15 years. I have sent you a Healthy Forests Initiative, to help prevent the catastrophic fires that devastate communities, kill wildlife, and burn away millions of acres of treasured forest.

I urge you to pass these measures, for the good of both our environment and our economy. Even more, I ask you to take a crucial step and protect our environment in ways that generations before us could not have imagined.

In this century, the greatest environmental progress will come about not through endless lawsuits or command-and-control regulations, but through technology and innovation. Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion in research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles.

The Republican President, Vice, Cabinet, House and Senate did NOTHING to stop the effects of Human Induced Global Warming, while exploited every natural resource the USA had and made plans to destroy the Alaskan wilderness as well with bridges to nowhere and drilling in ANWR.

THEY DID NOTHING

and

THEY ARE STILL DOING NOTHING.

The project for the Hydrogen Car is nearly dead. Has anyone heard anything about it's success and wide distribution in the USA? No. Is the transportation infrastructure different? No. Is the energy infrastructure different? No. Are skies cleaner? No. Is there still mercury pouring out of smokestakes in the USA and polluting the air and fisheries? Yes.

READER VIEWS: ON COAL-FIRED PLANT, ZOO EAGLE, BOB LIDA
Sebelius shows
a lack of courage
I agreed with The Eagle editorial "Take lead: Sebelius needs to walk her green talk" (Sept. 16 Opinion), regarding Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and the Holcomb coal-fired plant expansion question. She's simply passing the buck by dumping the permitting decision on the state's Health and Environment secretary. Thus, Rod Bremby becomes the fall guy, whichever way he goes, and she will retain her "green" image, saying it wasn't her decision.
Hogwash. If she doesn't have the legal power to stop what would be a huge source of polluting carbon dioxide, she certainly has the power to influence Bremby. In reality, she's between a rock and a hard place. I believe she really does want to keep the Holcomb plant from expanding and contributing to more global warming. But she knows that she'll probably not get another thing through the Legislature if she blocks it, because of the political power of western Kansas legislators who see it as "economic development, the planet be damned."
In his book "Profiles in Courage," President John F. Kennedy told of leaders who had the courage to do the morally correct thing rather than the politically safe thing. I hope Sebelius would show that kind of courage. An old saying comes to mind, which paraphrased might read: "If you're not part of the solution to global warming, you're part of the problem."
T. KNEILBel Aire

http://www.kansas.com/205/story/182931.html

The Republicans are lazy, old, do nothings that have not one innovative thought among them and absolutely no moral leadership to guide this country and bring about rapid change to stop the devastating effects of Human Induced Global Warming. Old ideas, no leadership and more exploitation. That is all the Republicans have to offer the American electorate.

Do you remember what Bush's plans were to make health care affordable? Do you? From the same State of the Union address of 2003.

To improve our health care system, we must address one of the prime causes of higher cost, the constant threat that physicians and hospitals will be unfairly sued. (Applause.) Because of excessive litigation, everybody pays more for health care, and many parts of America are losing fine doctors. No one has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit. I urge the Congress to pass medical liability reform.

Tort reform. He promised Tort Reform would rein in the runaway costs of health care. You know what it did, it allowed Michael Moore to go out and make a movie about the most exploitive industry in the USA, "Privatized Health Care" that kills it's members. Members TWARTED from suing because of Bush's Republicans OPPRESSIVE Tort Reforms.

Anyone in their right mind voting Republican in 2008 doesn't care about themselves, their children or the future, but, ONLY more and more exploitation of anything that will bring them ready cash. Exploitation of the USA treasury. That's all their interested in because if they were successful in private industry they won't be looking to the USA Treasury to exploit in the first place !

Paulson defends Bush on environment (click here)
By Deepti Hajela, Associated Press September 28, 2007
NEW YORK - The idea that President Bush is not committed to fighting climate change is a misperception, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson insisted yesterday.
Paulson spoke during the second day of the Clinton Global Initiative conference. His comments came the same day Bush convened a two-day meeting on climate issues that emphasizes creating more ways to find a solution to global warming, rather than setting firm goals for reducing carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for the environmental problem.
While it's an approach that has earned Bush some criticism, Paulson said the president is seeking to find solutions.
"He's taking it very seriously. I don't see how it can be anything other than a positive to get the major economies of the world, to get the nations that are responsible for 80 percent of carbon emissions, to get them together to deal with the global problem," Paulson said, responding to a question from panel moderator Tom Brokaw.
The panel addressed issues of economic growth in a time of climate change. Paulson was also scheduled to speak yesterday at Bush's conference in Washington.
Bush's approach got some support from another panelist, Tony Blair, former prime minister of Britain, who said it is important to get the countries together with a framework that takes into account their different economic stages.
It was an interesting start to the second day of the conference, started by former president Bill Clinton in 2005 to bring people together for discussions and actions on global causes.
The initiative draws together world leaders, celebrities, and scholars for three days of discussions on global issues and asks them to take concrete steps on those causes. The first day brought out a number of commitments as participants pledged action on this year's four areas of focus: climate change and energy, poverty, healthcare, and education.

IF THERE IS NO EARTH, THEIR IS NO ECONOMY ! JERKS ! Tell me, Hank, what's the value of the USA dollar looking like? Ever hear of the word corruption, Hank? Because you and Goldman Sachs have it emblazened across your chests right now !

Goldman Sachs takes stake in Russia's Tinkoff Credit Systems - report (click here)
September 27, 2007: 04:22 AM EST
FRANKFURT, Sep. 27, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) Group Inc has taken a stake in Russia's Tinkoff Credit Systems bank, Vedomosti reported citing an executive at the bank.The newspaper did not say how much Goldman Sachs invested in the bank, which specializes in maintaining accounts for holders of Visa credit cards.Tinkoff currently has 13 mln usd in capital, and hopes to increase this to 50 mln usd by the end of the year.Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the matter when contacted by the newspaper.Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.

Zacks Industry Rank Analysis Highlights: Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and Target (click here)

...Brokerage analysts raised their fiscal 2007 and 2008 forecasts on Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) after the firm topped expectations by nearly 40% with profits of $6.13 per share. GS was able to employ trading strategies to take advantage of the turmoil, though not all of its hedge funds followed the same practice. Forecasts for fiscal 2007 are at a new high with brokerage analysts now expecting profits of $23.67 per share versus $21.83 a week ago. Prior to the recent surprise, the consensus forecast had been falling. For fiscal 2008, the consensus estimate calls for profits of $22.45 per share versus $21.82 a week ago. Two months ago, the consensus estimate had stood at $22.80, however....

Morning Papers - continued...

Sidney Morning Herald

Climate strategy a disaster: study
Marian Wilkinson, Environment Editor
September 28, 2007
THE Howard Government's strategy to deal with climate change - including support for "aspirational" goals rather than binding targets - could lead to catastrophic consequences in Australia, a study has found.
These include a threefold increase in heat-related deaths, the collapse of crop yields and a serious decline in river flows.
The scientific report, commissioned by the conservation group WWF, will be released today, as the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, and the Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, join ministers from the main polluting economies in Washington to discuss climate change negotiations.
The head of WWF, Greg Bourne, criticised the Government yesterday over its support for "aspirational" goals to reduce emissions. It promoted the goals at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation meeting that resulted in the Sydney Declaration.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/pms-climate-strategy-a-disaster-study/2007/09/27/1190486482407.html


Arctic thaw becoming critical: NASA
September 28, 2007 - 11:24PM
A record melt of Arctic summer sea ice this month may be a sign that global warming is reaching a critical trigger point that could accelerate the northern thaw, some scientists say.
"The reason so much (of the Arctic ice) went suddenly is that it is hitting a tipping point that we have been warning about for the past few years," James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told Reuters.
The Arctic summer sea ice shrank by more than 20 per cent below the previous 2005 record low in mid-September to 4.13 million sq km, according to a 30-year satellite record. It has now frozen out to 4.2 million sq km.
The idea of climate tipping points - like a see-saw that suddenly flips over when enough weight gets onto one side - is controversial because it is little understood and dismissed by some as scaremongering about runaway effects.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Arctic-thaw-becoming-critical-NASA/2007/09/28/1190486579178.html



Climate change may sink Maldives
September 28, 2007 - 6:45PM
Unless the world starts taking climate change seriously, the Maldives could become uninhabitable this century, the president of the Indian Ocean archipelago Maumoon Abdul Gayoom says.
With a United Nations climate panel forecasting world sea levels likely to rise by up to 59cm by 2100 due to global warming, the clock is ticking, he said.
"Time is running out for us," Gayoom told Reuters.
"Global warming and sea-level rise pose a clear and present danger for the Maldives and its people.
"Three-quarters of our 1,200 islands lie no higher than four feet above mean sea-level. The projected rise in sea-levels by the end of this century could mean that our islands may become uninhabitable at that time."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Climate-change-may-sink-Maldives/2007/09/28/1190486562744.html


US vows to tackle climate change
September 28, 2007 - 2:15PM
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today declared climate change to be a "real and growing problem" that should be resolved under the UN at the start of a forum of major polluters viewed warily by defenders of the Kyoto Protocol.
"We have come together today because we agree that climate change is a real and growing problem - and that human beings are contributing to it," Rice said in her opening address.
"I want to stress that the United States takes climate change very seriously, for we are both a major economy and a major emitter. We do not think of ourselves as standing above or apart from the international community on this issue."
The two-day talks in Washington kick off a 15-month process under which the 16 participating economies will sketch targets for reducing their emissions, examine the possibility of a long-term goal and look at ways of harnessing the power of business and new technology to tackle their pollution, according to a US proposal.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/us-vows-to-tackle-climate-change/2007/09/28/1190486558748.html


'Disgust' at bid to save bombers
Australians who lost relatives and mates in the 2002 Bali bombings say they're disgusted by an Amnesty International campaign to save three of the bombers from execution.
The Australian arm of the human rights group is urging people to lobby Indonesian authorities to stop the executions as part of Amnesty's ongoing campaign against capital punishment.
The three bombers - who played key roles in the attacks that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians - could face the firing squad soon after Indonesia's Supreme Court rejected their final appeals.
Amnesty International Australia anti-death penalty coordinator Tim Goodwin said the group was ramping up pressure on Indonesian authorities to stay the executions.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/disgust-at-bombers-plea/2007/09/28/1190486553694.html


Anglican church allows women bishops
Australia could have its first Anglican woman bishop as early as next year following a decision by the church's highest court.
The head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Philip Aspinall, said the appellate tribunal had decided there was nothing in the church's constitution that would prevent a woman becoming a bishop.
In 2005, a group of 25 members of the church's national parliament - the General Synod - asked the tribunal for its view on the lawfulness of women bishops.
The tribunal, by a majority of four to three, today found that it was possible to consecrate women bishops.
However, it said it could only occur in a diocese that had both adopted a 1992 church law allowing women priests and which had ensured its own laws and constitution allowed it.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/anglican-church-allows-women-bishops/2007/09/28/1190486541592.html


Rates pressure grows: survey
Australians would likely cop another interest rate rise before the end of the year if not for the ongoing ructions in financial markets, TD Securities senior strategist Joshua Williamson says.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) last raised rates in August, but left them on hold at 6.50 per cent when the bank's board met in September.
Most economists now expect the central bank to maintain the cash rate status quo until the middle of 2008.
But Mr Williamson said the TD Securities-Melbourne Institute monthly inflation gauge, released today, shows inflation remains at the top of the RBA's target band, adding weight to the argument for another interest rate rise.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/general/rising-pressure-on-interest-rates/2007/09/28/1190486529089.html


Party politics with footy finals
Edmund Tadros
September 28, 2007 - 2:31PM
The Labor party will run radio advertisements during the NRL and AFL football finals criticising the Federal Government's planned weekend advertising blitz.
NRL legend Tommy Raudonikis and AFL legend Peter "Crackers" Keenan will front the Labor campaign, which will slam the Government for spending $227 thousand of taxpayer funds on advertisements.
Raudonikis has previously appeared in advertisements opposing the Howard Government's industrial relations laws.
The Government said that they followed guidelines when developing and running media campaigns.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/party-politics-with-footy-finals/2007/09/28/1190486545357.html


Fans rage against the scalpers
Asher Moses
September 28, 2007 - 1:27PM
Australian Rage Against The Machine fans are now raging against cyber-scalpers and Ticketmaster after tickets to the rock band's local shows sold out within seconds yesterday.
The tickets to the Sydney and Melbourne gigs went on sale at 9am and within minutes scalpers were listing them on eBay at a significant premium.
General admission floor tickets, which had a face value of $111.70, are now selling on the auction site for over five times that amount.
Enraged fans who had been hoping to see the shows, scheduled for January next year, were so dismayed they attempted to sabotage the eBay auctions by registering fake accounts and entering bogus bids as high as $1 billion.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/fans-rage-against-the-scalpers/2007/09/28/1190486540211.html


Police confront Burmese protesters in Canberra
Protests in Canberra ... police and demostrators confront each other outside the Burmese embassy.
Photo: Andrew Taylor
Being a Burmese-Australian, we feel neglected ... It is really hard to control the emotional point of view. There are people dying back home."
Erik Jensen
September 28, 2007 - 4:04PM
Police detained an assistant nurse, still wearing his Uniting Care uniform, at a pro-democracy demonstration outside the Burmese embassy in Canberra today.
"I was dragged down to the other side [of the embassy]. I was kicked in the back,'' Maung Maung Than, the detained man, said.
"It was an over-reaction. We didn't show any sign of violence towards the police. We are here to protest the Burmese military dictatorship.''
The protest of about 60 people assembled outside the Burmese embassy and was peaceful until a scuffle broke out over a sit-in on the closed road between the designated protest area and the embassy.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/police-confront-burmese-protesters-in-canberra/2007/09/28/1190486546224.html


14kg of cocaine found in kindergarten
September 28, 2007 - 6:05AM
Police in Los Angeles discovered 14 kilograms of cocaine and some 20 kilos of marijuana in a raid on a kindergarten in the city, the Los Angeles Times reported today.
They also found a stash of firearms and $US300,000 ($342,720) in cash stored in shoeboxes.
"In the same place as cellophane-wrapped cocaine and marijuana and a loaded assault rifle and three handguns, we found children's toys," spokesman Paul Vernon said.
Maria Castellon, 47, the owner of the building was arrested and is being held in lieu of $US2.03 million ($2.32 million) bail.
Police estimated that the cocaine was worth at least $US252,000 ($287,885) on the street, while the marijuana is valued at about $US20,000 ($22,850).

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/14kg-of-cocaine-found-in-kindergarten/2007/09/28/1190486514594.html


Teacher's aid on child pornography charges
September 28, 2007 - 12:14PM
A 60-year-old Townsville teacher's aid has been charged over the importation of child pornography.
Police today said a joint operation with customs led to the arrest of the man this month after customs allegedly found child exploitation material being imported in the form of commercially produced DVDs.
The man, who cannot be named, is listed on court documents as a teacher's aid and computer technician.
Officers have searched his Townsville home and car, seizing more than 50 computer hard drives, hundreds of DVDs and other items.
Investigations were now being carried out into whether the man had had contact with children in his neighbourhood, a police spokesman said today.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/teachers-aid-on-child-pornography-charges/2007/09/28/1190486535204.html



Bones in Russia may be tsar's children
September 28, 2007 - 7:29PM
There is a "high probability" that the bones found near the Russian city of Yekaterinburg belonged to a daughter and son of the last tsar, an official says, citing preliminary forensic work.
"Investigators have made a preliminary conclusion that there is a high degree of probability that the bones ... belong to the Crown Prince Alexei and Princess Maria," Vladimir Gromov, deputy forensic chief in the Sverdlovsk region, said in televised remarks.
The bones were found by archaeologists in a burned field near Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural Mountains where Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, and their five children were held prisoner by the Bolsheviks and then shot in 1918.
The discovery was announced in August.
Prosecutors later announced they would reopen an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the royal family.
In 1998, remains unearthed from a mining pit and identified as those of Nicholas and Alexandra and three of their daughters were reburied in a ceremony in the imperial-era capital of St Petersburg.
The ceremony, however, was shadowed by statements of doubt - including from within the Russian Orthodox Church - about their authenticity.
If confirmed, the latest find would fill in a missing chapter in the story of the doomed Romanov family, whose reign was ended by the violent 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, which ushered in more than 70 years of Communist rule.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Bones-in-Russia-may-be-tsars-children/2007/09/28/1190486564847.html


Britney drama queen inks TV deal
Asher Moses
September 20, 2007 - 3:01PM
A week ago Chris Crocker was the laughing stock of the internet, but he will almost certainly have the last laugh - his nutty diatribe has helped land him his own TV show.
The overtly gay 19-year-old, who lives with his grandmother in Tennessee, posted an emotional video clip on YouTube last week in which he hysterically defended Britney Spears's abysmal performance at the MTV Video Music awards.
As his tears made the mascara run down his face, Crocker cried: "She lost her aunt, she went through a divorce, she had two f---ing kids, her husband turned out to be a user, a cheater, and now she's going through a custody battle. All you people care about is readers and making money off of her. She's a human!"

http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/britney-drama-queen-inks-tv-deal/2007/09/20/1189881661178.html


Complex's swastika symbol mistake
Painting a swastika on a public building is a hate crime. But what happens when the building is the swastika?
From the ground, a construction in San Diego, United States, appears innocuous. But viewed from the air, on the internet via Google Earth, the shape is unmistakeable - it resembles the Nazi symbol.
Construction began for the six-building complex at the US naval base at Coronado in southern California in 1967.
The plans called for two central buildings and a single L-shaped barracks, but the Naval Amphibious Base Complex 320-325 evolved in design. By the time it was finished in 1970 it had four L-shaped buildings set at right angles. That was when the problem was spotted.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/complex-mistake/2007/09/27/1190486482564.html


Mugabe accuses Bush of duplicity
Claudia Parsons in New York
September 28, 2007
THE President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has accused the US President, George Bush, of "rank hypocrisy" for lecturing him on human rights and likened the Guantanamo Bay prison to a concentration camp.
"His hands drip with innocent blood of many nationalities," Mr Mugabe said in a fiery speech to the United Nations General Assembly. "He kills in Iraq. He kills in Afghanistan. And this is supposed to be our master on human rights?"
Mr Mugabe, 83, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, was speaking the day after Mr Bush scolded the governments of Belarus, Syria, Iran and North Korea as "brutal regimes" in his speech to the General Assembly.
Mr Bush criticised the Zimbabwean Government headed by Mr Mugabe as "tyrannical" and an "assault on its people".

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/mugabe-accuses-bush-of-duplicity/2007/09/27/1190486482559.html


Saudi women ponder wheel of change
September 29, 2007
Increasing economic clout could help bring about the right to drive, writes Hassan Fattah.
In a recent episode of Saudi Arabia's most popular television show, a Saudi man of the future is seen sitting in his house as his daughter pulls into the driveway, her children piled into the back of the car.
"Where have you been?" the father asks.
"The kids were bored so I took them to the movies," she replies, matter-of-factly, as she gets out of the driver's seat.
The scene may appear mundane, but in Saudi Arabia, where women are forbidden to drive - and, by the way, where there are no cinemas, either - the skit portends something of a revolution. From a taboo about which there could be no open discussion, a woman's right to drive is developing into a topic of lively debate in Saudi Arabia.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/wheel-of-change-for-women/2007/09/28/1190486567026.html


Pressure to deal with Blackwater mounting
James Risen in Washington
September 29, 2007
SECURITY personnel from Blackwater USA have been involved in 56 shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq so far this year, the US State Department says.
The private contractor, which is based in North Carolina, provided security to US diplomats on 1873 convoy runs in Iraq in the year to date, and its employees fired weapons 56 times, a written statement by the Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, said on Thursday. It is the first time the Bush Administration had made such data public.
The State Department did not release comparable 2007 figures for other security firms, but the Blackwater numbers show a far higher rate of shootings per convoy mission than during the previous year by one of the company's primary competitors, Dander International.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/pressure-to-deal-with-blackwater-mounting/2007/09/28/1190486567000.html



Trash Talk TV - Tom builds a bunker
2007-09-27 16:44:17
Tom Cruise is going underground, Demi Moore is no more - it must be Trash Talk time again.(02:27)

http://media.smh.com.au/?category=Trash%20Talk&rid=31991



Je t'aime
A Velib docking station in Paris.
Photo: AP
September 29, 2007
Sarah Turnbull returns to Paris after three years and finds her beloved city full of bicycles and buzzing with a new energy.
Returning to a place you adore is a bit like reuniting with a lover: your excitement is tempered by a tweak of apprehension. During time apart, people change, evolve. Cities can, too, as I discovered when I returned to Paris.
My immediate impression, though - upon arriving on a golden evening at the end of what had been a cool, wet French summer - is one of reassuring familiarity. As I walk through the central 2nd arrondissement that was once my home, the cafe terraces are spilling over with chattering crowds.
Apart from a brief stopover, this is my first time here since we left more than three years ago. I don't feel like a tourist exactly, passing the pearl-grey buildings, the quaint shop signs announcing "Closed for holidays", the nonchalant Parisians with sunglasses perched on their heads, but I feel a definite rush of rediscovery.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/france/rekindling-a-romance-with-paris/2007/09/27/1190486467884.html


Have couch, will travel
Rafeal Nussbaum from Switzerland poses with his couchsurfing guests.
Photo: Reuters
September 27, 2007 - 3:39PM
Squeezing 150 people into Vince Peiro's flat in the foothills of the Swiss Alps would be a very tight fit - hence the tent city sprouting outside in the July evening sunshine.
Peiro was hosting a party for members of http://www.couchsurfing.com, an increasingly popular website that matches up travellers with locals offering a spare bed or couch for the night - for free.
Couchsurfing, which people can use to find somewhere to stay or just a local guide to a city, has more than 300,000 members worldwide, with up to 10,000 more signing up each week.
"I travelled for nearly a year in 1998 and I was often surprised by the hospitality I received all over the world and especially in the Middle East," said Peiro, in his early 30s.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/couchsurfing-the-hip-way-to-travel/2007/09/27/1190486465786.html


Scientists discover radio signal from deep space
Scott Casey and Sam Cardwell September 28, 2007 - 5:06AM
CANBERRA - A team of American astronomers has detected a huge burst of radio energy from deep space while using the Parkes radio telescope in NSW.
The huge burst of energy, which has startled scientists with its strength, is thought to have originated over 500 mega-parsecs or one-and-a-half billion light years from earth.
Professor Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University in Melbourne said that the burst was unusual as this kind of activity was usually very faint at such extreme distances.
"Normally the kind of cosmic activity we're looking for at this distance would be very faint but this was so bright that it saturated the equipment," he said in a statement.
The burst of energy, which lasted for only five milliseconds, was so strong that when it was first detected six years ago it was dismissed as man-made interference.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2007/09/28/1190486511000.html?s_rid=smh:top5


Australians set to flee Burma
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says Australia's embassy in Rangoon has contingency evacuation plans if the situation deteriorates amid the Burmese military regime's bloody crackdown on anti-government demonstrators.
Tens of thousands of people have joined Buddhist monks and nuns over the past week protesting against Burma's repressive military regime.
Burma state media has reported the government's crackdown on the protests have so far left at least nine people dead. Mr Downer's comments come as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had addressed Burma's representative directly during talks with Southeast Asian officials on the violent crackdown.
Mr Downer today told ABC Radio it wasn't known just how many Australians were in Burma, but there were not believed to be many and so far there had been no reports of any of them getting into difficulties.
"The embassy is saying the crackdown is really well and truly under way now. The military is visiting pagodas and threatening the monks," he said.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/australians-set-to-flee-burma/2007/09/28/1190486520736.html


When food is scarce, tempers boil
Australian journalist Peter Olszewski has visited Burma more than a dozen times in the past five years.
I WAS lunching with a young Burmese businesswoman in the Monsoon Restaurant near the Sule Pagoda two weeks ago when the first of the maroon-robed monks marched past. They were a group of 400, waving flags, with a large contingent of supporters.
Suddenly the clatter of the busy restaurant ceased. An eerie silence set in. From outside came chanting, shouting and the strange slapping sound of hundreds of slippered feet.
I looked out the window and there they were — the marching monks. The notion that this might happen had been the talk of the town for days as tensions increased.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/when-food-is-scarce-tempers-boil/2007/09/27/1190486480889.html



Condoms spread HIV: archbishop
September 28, 2007
MOZAMBIQUE'S Roman Catholic Archbishop has accused European condom manufacturers of deliberately infecting their products with HIV "in order to finish quickly the African people".
The Archbishop of Maputo, Francisco Chimoio, told the BBC that he had specific information about a plot to kill off Africans.
"I know that there are two countries in Europe … making condoms with the virus, on purpose," he alleged. He refused to name the countries.
He added: "They want to finish with the African people. This is the program. They want to colonise until up to now. If we are not careful we will finish in one century's time."

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/09/27/1190486480904.html


New Zealand Herald

Did Bush turn down chance to get rid of Saddam for $1.3b?
5:00AM Friday September 28, 2007
President George W. Bush and former Spanish PM Jose Maria Aznar. Photo / Reuters
MADRID - Saddam Hussein was prepared to take US$1 billion ($1.36 billion) and go into exile before the Iraq war, according to a transcript of talks between United States President George W Bush and an ally, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.
During a meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on February 22, 2003 - one month before the US-led invasion - Bush told former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar that Saddam could also be assassinated, according to the transcript published in El Pais in Spanish.
In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe declined to comment on the report.
The meeting at Bush's Texas ranch was ahead of a final diplomatic pushat the United Nations. The White House was planning to introduce a new Security Council resolution to pressure Saddam, but most council members saw it as a ploy to gain their authorisation for war.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10466396



Locals handed control of foreign companies
5:00AM Friday September 28, 2007
Robert Mugabe
HARARE - Zimbabwe's Parliament has passed a bill giving local owners majority control of foreign-owned companies, including mines and banks, a move analysts say could drive the fragile economy deeper into crisis.
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party pushed through the bill after members of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change walked out in protest.
Mugabe's Government, which critics accuse of plunging Zimbabwe into turmoil by seizing white-owned farms and handing them to inexperienced black farmers, says the bill is part of its drive to empower the country's poor majority.
Analysts fear the move could sound the death knell for an economy that has also suffered from foreign investor flight over fears about the security of their investment.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10466394


Myanmar crackdown draws outrage (+ photos, video)
YANGON - Fuelled by "revulsion" at Myanmar's violent crackdown on popular protests against military rule, Southeast Asia rounded on the generals on Friday and critics planned demonstrations at embassies across the region.
While the streets of Myanmar's former capital were quiet early on Friday, protests were expected at embassies in Taipei, Canberra, Manila and Tokyo, where government officials were trying to formulate a response to the crisis.
In Canberra, some protesters were detained and an axe seized after a group of around 100 clashed with police while trying to charge the Myanmar embassy there.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10466445


Desperate Myanmar junta blocks blogs
10:21AM Friday September 28, 2007
Protesters are beaten while a shot Japanese photographer, who later died, continues to take photos from the ground. Photo / Reuters
The military junta in Myanmar is desperately trying to stem the flow information about the country's turmoil to the rest of the world.
Website mizzima.com says the authorities have blocked popular blogs that have been continuously posting news and photographs of the violence against monks and protesters.
Popular domestic Myanmar blogs Kohitke and Niknayman have been blocked from uploading further content today.
"Curbs of freedom of expression by the people and restricting the free media are a blatant violation of fundamental human rights. We condemn the SPDC vehemently," A Niknayman blogger said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10466465


PM nominates Musharraf
5:00AM Friday September 28, 2007
Pervez Musharraf
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz yesterday filed papers nominating President General Pervez Musharraf to stand in an October 6 presidential election.
Pakistan faces months of uncertainty as Musharraf tries to stay in control. An alliance of opposition parties is demanding an end to military involvement in politics and the restoration of full democracy. It is hoping the Supreme Court will rule against Musharraf's election bid.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10466393


Africa's governments ranked from best to worst
5:00AM Friday September 28, 2007
By Steve Bloomfield
Mauritius came out on top for its strong human rights record and anti-corruption measures.
Most visitors to the tiny island nation of Mauritius come in search of a predictable mix of unspoilt beaches and hot weather. Few will have been aware of the Government's strong record on human rights and most are probably unaware of its rigorous anti-corruption legislation and policies on poverty, education and health.
But now the 1.2 million people who live in Mauritius may start boasting about those achievements a little more loudly. Mauritius, about 1930km off the coast of mainland Africa, has been named the continent's best-governed country in the first comprehensive ranking of African governance.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10466325

continued...

Meet the man who hunts the whalers

Paul Watson ... "these guys are criminals".

Photo: Peter Mathew

Andrew Darby

September 29, 2007
CALL him dangerous or call him courageous. Just don't call him unwilling.
Paul Watson, the Ahab who scours the Southern Ocean for the Japanese whaling fleet, is girding for another attack - this time on behalf of a white whale.
This summer the Japanese fleet is to add Australian humpbacks to the hundreds of whales that it kills in the name of science and sells for meat.
Mr Watson, the president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has arrived in Tasmania to repair his ship for a campaign he calls Operation Migaloo after the alabaster humpback that migrates annually along the Australian east coast.
"I think we have to take a more aggressive position against [the whalers]," Mr Watson told the Herald.
"Because right now they have crossed the line into going after endangered species. That to me is no different from poaching elephants, or running drugs or robbing banks. These guys are criminals and should be dealt with as such."
With the humpbacks' southern migration now in full swing off our coasts, alarm is rising. Diplomatic efforts to dissuade Japan at the International Whaling Commission proved fruitless and the Federal Government has rejected legal action.
Mr Watson believes whaling will be an election issue in Australia, where Labor advocates government monitoring of the Japanese in the Southern Ocean, and going to international courts.
"I think there's no way the Howard Government is going to convince anybody they are going to do anything," Mr Watson says. "They've got a record of doing absolutely nothing, other than kiss the arse of the Japanese."
Greenpeace is refusing to outline its plans until mid-October but Mr Watson believes its ship, the Esperanza, will trail the fleet south all the way from Japan. He dismisses Greenpeace's extraordinary recent record of raising awareness of the hunt by video.
"We all know it's going on. What are we going to do to stop it? That's the point. I will not roll a camera while a whale dies. I don't care how valuable that is. Anyway, we've never seen a whale killed, because when we show up, they don't kill whales. They run. You notice that when Greenpeace shows up, they just carry on. Business as usual."
In his three Antarctic campaigns, Mr Watson has had only fleeting encounters with his nemesis, the factory ship Nisshin Maru. It fled at full speed twice when he found it in 2005. But earlier this year, after months of searching, he surprised the fleet near the Balleny Islands, far south of New Zealand.
His 20-knot former patrol boat Robert Hunter trailed a heavy rope across Nisshin Maru's bow in an attempt to entangle its propeller, and the Japanese almost came within range of his slower vessel, Farley Mowat, which was fitted with a hull-slicing hydraulic "can-opener".
But Mr Watson was forced to call off the battle to search for two Sea Shepherd activists, retrieved after hours lost in their dinghy, disabled by hitting Nisshin Maru's hull as they tried to heave a net into the propeller.
A few days later Robert Hunter was damaged when it collided with the fleet's observation vessel, Kaiko Maru. Low on fuel and facing the loss of the Hunter's British flag after Japanese Government pressure, Mr Watson called off the chase. Since then, like Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd has registered under the Dutch flag.
"Japan already leaned on Holland hard to try to get the Dutch flag off us," he says. He says the tables were turned at a meeting in The Hague in July and the Dutch complained about Japan's illegal whaling.
After dry-docking in Launceston to repair Robert Hunter's hull, increase helicopter space and paint the ship black, Mr Watson plans to head south on December 1.
He was convinced that last year he was being tracked by satellite, enabling the whalers to steer clear of him. "I think we have a better way to do surveillance this year," he says. "We're trying different tactics, which of course I can't go into. But I'm a little more confident we're going to get them."
In evidence of Japan's determination to continue whaling, the Government-owned fleet is expected to be joined by a new chaser ship launched last month.
Mr Watson dismissed its importance. "We're going to concentrate on the Nisshin Maru," he says. "Because if you can stop the factory ship, you stop the operation."
The Japanese Government has described Mr Watson's attacks as "terroristic".
The International Whaling Commission has repeatedly condemned any actions that risk human life and property at sea, and warned that confrontations may lead to grave accidents.
Off to the kill: Japan's plans
* Japan has given itself a "scientific permit" to kill up to 50 humpbacks, 50 fin whales and 935 minkes in Antarctic waters this summer.
* All whales killed by Japan are in the International Whaling Commission's Southern Ocean Sanctuary, and many are taken inside a Canberra-declared whale sanctuary off the Australian Antarctic Territory.
* The humpbacks targeted by the Japanese are from stocks breeding in Australia's tropical waters and migrating to the Antarctic, where they feed in summer. About 8000 migrate along the east coast and about 14,000 use the west coast.
* The latest government figures put the Japanese stockpile of frozen whale meat at 3327 tonnes, which means that 1235 tonnes left the hoard in July.

Strong deep-space signal startles astronomers

The significance of the energy burst was discovered in a re-analysis of six-year-old data collected at Parkes.Photo: Fiona-Lee Quimby