The Guardian
February 22 2005: Much of Britain woke to a blanket of snow today as blizzards swept across the country at the beginning of a prolonged cold snap.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,8542,1420030,00.html
Clarke announces anti-terror laws concession
Simon Jeffery
Tuesday February 22, 2005
The home secretary, Charles Clarke, today announced compromises to controversial proposals to put British terrorism suspects under de facto house arrest in the hope of winning support for their swift passage through parliament.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1420046,00.html
Revealed: the rush to war
Richard Norton-Taylor
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, warned less than two weeks before the invasion of Iraq that military action could be ruled illegal.
The government was so concerned that it might be prosecuted it set up a team of lawyers to prepare for legal action in an international court.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1423304,00.html
World 'facing bird flu pandemic'
Associated Press
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The world is facing the "gravest possible danger" of a bird flu pandemic that could kill millions of people, a leading health official warned today.
Dr Shigeru Omi, the World Health Organisation's Western Pacific regional director, said governments must take rapid action to stop bird flu spreading if it mutated into a form that was highly contagious among humans.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,14207,1423472,00.html
Gumfounded
As councils call for chewing gum to be taxed to help meet the annual £150m cost of clearing it up, Simon Busch traces a history of bursting bubbles
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,1420222,00.html
Sinn Féin faces 'symbolic' financial sanctions
Staff and agencies
Tuesday February 22, 2005
The Northern Ireland secretary, Paul Murphy, today threatened to impose "symbolic" financial sanctions against Sinn Féin for its alleged knowledge of the £26.5m Northern Bank raid.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1420085,00.html
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Sunny winter days spur drought concerns
State's snowpack is at 30% of average; air pollution climbs
By KYLE ARNOLD
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The unseasonably sunny weather is drawing shoppers into the Seattle Sunglass Co., looking to escape the glare of the bright sun, which usually doesn't make an appearance in these parts until spring.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/213225_drought23.html
Who won illegal votes of felons?
Republicans' challenge to Gregoire win raises question
By NEIL MODIE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire won more votes from urbanites in the 2004 election while Dino Rossi, her Republican opponent, got more rural votes. Gregoire had probably more women's votes and Rossi more from men.
OK, but which candidate captured the hearts of the convicted felons who broke the law by voting?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/213202_governor23.html
Fate of four cases filed by voters rests with justices
By LEWIS KAMB
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
It's characterized by high-powered lawyering, scrutinized by the media, observed by packed courtrooms and subject to the spinnings of partisan pundits.
Pasted from <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/213211_contests23.html
More Fla. workers open AIDS/HIV list
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Six more county health workers said they opened an e-mail containing a confidential list of thousands of AIDS and HIV patients, bringing to 16 the total number of employees known to have opened the e-mail.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=BRF%20AIDS%20List%20E%20mail
Forensics at ground zero ends
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- The medical examiner's office has ended its effort to identify the remains of those killed at the World Trade Center site on Sept. 11, 2001, leaving more than a thousand victims unidentified.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Sept%2011%20Victim%20Identification
Top nuclear negotiators to meet in Seoul
By BO-MI LIM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, center, poses with Wang Jiarui, second from left, head of the Chinese Communist Party's International Department, for photos in Pyongyang, North Korea, Monday, Feb. 21, 2005. Kim told the visiting Chinese envoy that his government will return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks if the United States shows sincerity and if certain conditions are met, the North's official news agency reported Tuesday. Others are unidentified. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency)
SEOUL, South Korea -- Negotiators from the United States, Japan and South Korea will meet in Seoul this weekend to discuss resuming nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea after the communist country's leader hinted at a possible compromise, officials said Wednesday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Koreas%20Nuclear
China's oldest WWII sex slave dies at 94
By ELAINE KURTENBACH
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SHANGHAI, China -- Zhu Qiaomei, China's oldest surviving sex slave from World War II who had fought for compensation from the Japanese government, has died at age 94, state media reported Wednesday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Obit%20Sex%20Slave
NIH researchers cleared in ethics probe
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- National Institutes of Health investigators have cleared up to 80 percent of its researchers suspected of secret deals with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, officials say.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1153&slug=NIH%20Ethics
Russia said looking for dialogue with U.S.
By JUDITH INGRAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
U.S. President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin talk during a joint news conference at Catherine Palace in Pushkin, Russia, in this Nov. 22, 2002 file photo. President Bush has said the United States and Russia stand shoulder-to-shoulder against terrorism and weapons proliferation, but a series of recent statements on both sides makes it seem more like they're butting heads. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite/File)
MOSCOW -- A top Russian official, speaking one day before President Bush meets with President Vladimir Putin in Slovakia, said Moscow wants to develop an intensive and frank dialogue with the United States, Russian news agencies reported Wednesday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Russia%20US
Australian airport terminal evacuated
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Passengers were evacuated from an airport terminal in the southern city of Melbourne on Monday after dozens of staff fell ill following a possible chemical or gas leak, officials said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apaa_story.asp?category=1106&slug=Australia%20Airport%20Evacuated
The Daily Mail and Guardian
'Nessie's offspring' terrorises Aussie trout farm
An Australian trout farm announced a Aus$1 000 dollar (R4 600) reward on Monday for the capture of a giant eel baptised "Nessie's offspring" that has suddenly appeared in breeding ponds and begun eating up the fish.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=198091&area=/breaking_news/other_news/
Bush: Thanks for Iraq, but watch out for China
United States President George Bush on Tuesday thanked Nato leaders for helping to train Iraqi security forces, but made clear that plans to lift a European arms embargo on China still trouble transatlantic ties.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=198101&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
Mandela wanted to help with Zuma's debt
Former president Nelson Mandela offered to help to "extinguish" the debt of Deputy President Jacob Zuma, the Durban High Court heard on Tuesday.
Testifying at his fraud and corruption trial, Durban businessman Schabir Shaik said Mandela felt that Zuma's financial problems were "distracting him from his duties at the African National Congress".
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=198054&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
Mbeki scoffs at US stance on Zimbabwe
South African President Thabo Mbeki criticised the United States for calling Zimbabwe an "outpost of tyranny" saying, in an interview published on Tuesday, that it went against Washington's efforts to promote democracy worldwide.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/&articleid=198029
Dawa leader poised to become Iraq premier
Ibrahim Jaafari, leader of the Dawa religious party that has links to Iran, was on Tuesday poised to become Iraq's next prime minister after winning the support of Shi'ite leaders.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=198095&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
Indonesia searches for landslide survivors
Indonesian rescuers on Tuesday continued sifting through tonnes of garbage and debris but hopes were faint of finding anyone alive after a devastating landslide that left 150 people feared dead.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/&articleid=198051
Pneumonic plague kills 43 in DRC
Forty-three people have died and 13 others have been infected following an outbreak of pneumonic plague in the mining area of Zobia, in the region of Bas-Uele in Oriental province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an official in the ministry of health said on Monday.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=198094
HIV/Aids barometer - December 2004
One Ethiopian child in 10 is an orphan, according to a report by the United Nations, the government and the Save the Children NGO. The HIV/Aids pandemic, appalling poverty and dire health conditions had left 4,6-million youngsters without parents.
http://www.mg.co.za/articleList.aspx?area=/insight/hiv__aids_barometer/
The New York Times
Justices Accept Oregon Case Weighing Assisted Suicide
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: February 23, 2005
WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 - In an action likely to reopen a national debate over whether doctors should be able to help terminally ill patients end their lives, the Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear the Bush administration's challenge to the only state law in the country that authorizes physician-assisted suicide.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/23/politics/23scotus.html?hp&ex=1109221200&en=67e25ea88137e2b8&ei=5094&partner=homepage
The Secret Genocide Archive
Photos don't normally appear on this page. But it's time for all of us to look squarely at the victims of our indifference.
These are just four photos in a secret archive of thousands of photos and reports that document the genocide under way in Darfur. The materials were gathered by African Union monitors, who are just about the only people able to travel widely in that part of Sudan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/23/opinion/23kristof.html?oref=login
Al Jazeera
Bush: a scattered Palestinian state wont work
2/22/2005 12:00:00 PM GMT
President Bush pushes for more illegal Jewish settlements to be dismantled.
In an effort to drum up European support and to get the post-Iraq relations back on track, George Bush's speech in Brussels signalled a shift, albeit a small one, in U.S. policy towards Israel.
During his speech in Brussels, President Bush placed emphasis on the Palestinian-Israeli peace settlement being top of NATO's list of priorities.
On his fence-mending whirlwind tour of European states, Bush called for the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state with territorial contiguity in the West Bank.
"A state on scattered territories will not work," he said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/review/article_full_story.asp?service_ID=7168
Hariri killing plays into U.S. hawks plans
It seems it doesn't really matter whether or not Syria was behind the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri.
The fact of the matter is Hariri's death plays right into the hands of the hawks within President Bush's administration who have long argued for 'regime change' in Damascus.
Before the bomb blast that killed Hariri and 12 others, the balance of power between anti-Assad hardliners and the more flexible forces within the Bush administration was roughly even.
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/review/article_full_story.asp?service_id=6999
Haaretz
Halutz tapped as next IDF chief; Ya'alon to retire early
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz was named Tuesday by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz as the next chief of staff, the first ever to advance from the ranks of the air force. The appointment must first be approved by the cabinet, where it is expected to pass without a hitch.
Halutz, 57, will be the 18th chief of staff.
Mofaz selected Halutz ahead of Maj. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, who is now expected to retire from active service.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/543608.html
Jordanian envoy: Peace deal between Israel, PA close
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies
Jordan's new Ambassador to Israel, Marouf al-Bakhit, believes an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty is within reach.
"I followed the talks in 2000 and 2001 closely. At the Taba talks the positions were only centimeters apart," he told reporters Tuesday in a first interview with Israeli media.
Al-Bakhit, who since 1999 monitored the peace talks on Jordan's behalf, believes that gambling on interim agreements failed and it is now time to negotiate a permanent agreement under the road map framework.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/543589.html
Police want NIS 61 million to counter Temple Mount threats
By Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondent
The police is demanding an additional NIS 61 million to counter increasingly grave threats of an attack on the Temple Mount.
Speaking Tueday at a Knesset Finance Committee meeting on police and Public Security Ministry budgets, Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi added that an additional 187 job slots will need to be created to contend with the alerts.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/543574.html
Jewish money, non-Jewish causes
By Avi Beker
There is a growing unease among the leadership of the American Jewish community regarding the new framework uniting all the communities - the United Jewish Communities umbrella organization of the Jewish Federations - that went through a dramatic structural change in 1991. The changes in the organization are linked to changes in the pattern of philanthropy in the Jewish community in the U.S., and that has an impact on donations to Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/543145.html
President Bush: A Palestinian state on scattered territory cannot work
By Aluf Benn
U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday placed achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement at the top of NATO's list of priorities.
Bush, speaking in Brussels on the first day of a fence-mending trip to Europe, called for the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state with territorial contiguity in the West Bank. "A state on scattered territories will not work," he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/543136.html
The hardest decision of all?
By Uzi Benziman
Ariel Sharon's words must be taken at face value: The decision to evacuate settlements in the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria is the hardest he has ever had to make. That is what he said to the nation in clear Hebrew, during his Sunday night appearance at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/543645.html
BRUSSELS is also the place where Franks and Rumsfeld were indicted. Bush as his new Secretary of State uses 'shock' to achieve change. It is mostly ineffective. As a unilateral war monger the interventionists of Diplomats seeks 'containment' and not prevention. Containment is the only measure to work with a president that is unreasonable.
The context is the message
At first glance, there was nothing new in President George W. Bush's comments in Brussels on Monday on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bush reiterated his vision of two states, Palestine alongside Israel, which he first espoused in June 2002, and which senior members of his administration, none more so than Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, have often repeated.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/543667.html
Israel may not demolish settler homes during pullout
By Nir Hasson and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents
Israel will reconsider its decision to demolish homes in Gaza Strip and West Bank settlements evacuated during the disengagement, Cabinet Secretary General Yisrael Maimon told Army Radio on Tuesday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=543106&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
The Cheney Observer
Where is the outrage?
Monday, February 21, 2005 Posted: 12:07 PM EST (1707 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Either we are losing our capacity for moral outrage, or George W. Bush is presiding over the ultimate Teflon Administration.
On the evening of January 20, Rich Little, the impressionist-comedian, was emceeing the inaugural ball at the Washington Hilton hotel. Little did this impersonation Ronald Reagan: "You know somebody asked me, 'Do you think the War on Poverty is over?' I said: 'Yes. The poor lost.'"
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/21/outrage/
Chad: Oil Transparency Loopholes
February 20, 2005
Posted to the web February 21, 2005
Washington, DC
Oil revenues for Chad are now beginning to increase rapidly from the long-debated "model project" involving World Bank financing, a pipeline through Cameroon, and a consortium of major oil companies.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200502210675.html
Bush warns Russia on the rule of law
BRUSSELS President George W. Bush warned Russia on Monday that it "must renew a commitment to democracy and the rule of law," but he said he believed its future lay "within the family of Europe and the trans-Atlantic community."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/21/news/bush.html
Building company tight-lipped on safety concerns
Monday, 21 February 2005
The company building the LNG plant at Darwin's Wickham Point has refused to discuss safety issues raised by striking workers today.
Four hundred Australian Workers Union members picketed the building site this morning.
http://www.abc.net.au/darwin/news/200502/s1307814.htm
Indian petroleum minister to discuss Yuganskneftegaz acquisition
RBC, 21.02.2005, Moscow 10:29:28.Indian petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is expected to arrive in Russia today for a two-day visit. The visit has been designed to offer Russian fuel and energy companies the opportunity to take part in the development of new gas and oil fields in India. The Indian minister will take part in the presentation of development plans for the fields. Aiyar also proposes to hold meetings with Russian senior deputy PM Alexander Zhukov, industry and energy minister Viktor Khristenko, as well as with the heads of a number of energy and finance companies. Indian government representatives have repeatedly mentioned that the Indian ONGC was still interested in purchasing YUKOS assets, and the authorities were expected to negotiate over the issue in February.
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20050221102928.shtml
Merger, he said
Business Standard / New Delhi February 22, 2005
There is a lot to be said in favour of the proposal mooted by public sector oil giant Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) that it take over the downstream or marketing assets of either Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) or Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), as the synergies are obvious.
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu5&leftindx=5&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=181440
The China Daily
Bush takes charm campaign to NATO, EU
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-22 09:31
BRUSSELS - US President Bush takes his drive for a new transatlantic partnership to summits with NATO and the European Union on Tuesday, anxious to draw a line under two years of bitter rifts over Iraq.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/22/content_418284.htm
Beijing pushes for charter cargo flights across Straits
By Xing Zhigang and Cao Desheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-02-23 02:07
Beijing is expected to announce a new policy about cross-Straits cargo charter flights on Friday in a major effort to push for direct air links with Taiwan, China Daily learned yesterday.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/23/content_418479.htm
FM: Lifting arms ban by EU hurts nobody
(Xinhua/Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-23 08:47
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan maintained that the European Union's plan to lift its arms embargo on China won't infringe upon the interest of third parties, and that the lifting of the embargo is "irrelevant" to "the present situation of the Asia Pacific region."
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/23/content_418605.htm
N. Korea willing to return to nuclear talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-23 02:16
BEIJING- North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has said his country is willing to return to nuclear disarmament talks despite an earlier threat to withdraw from negotiations, Chinese officials reported.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/23/content_418484.htm
Does SARS virus still exist in the wild?
By Zhang Feng (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-02-23 02:07
Does the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus still exist in the wild? Where will it come from if an epidemic breaks out again?
Experts are still arguing these questions.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/23/content_418481.htm
China Daily - Taiwan Edition
Flights to Taiwan first in decades
By Xing Zhigang (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-01-31 06:23
After a half-century without non-stop airline links between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, nine charter flights took place on Saturday under a cross-Straits agreement for Spring Festival travel.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-01/31/content_413641.htm
China Daily - Hong Kong Edition
Goliaths compete for nuclear plant pact
Fu Jing
2005-02-23 06:07
Three global nuclear power heavyweights now competing for designing and building four nuclear units in China will submit their proposals next Monday, a national nuclear technology company said yesterday.
US-based Westinghouse, France's Areva and Russia's AtomStroyExport (ASE) are busy with finishing touches on their plans for four nuclear reactors in Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/23/content_418490.htm
Check mates
By Hu Yan and Wang Xu
Shanghai Star. 2005-02-17
THE abolition of the national system of compulsory premarital medical checkups about one year ago has led to a rapid increase in the rate of birth defects, and if the government fails to take effective measures, it could lead to a still more serious pubic health problem within three to five years, medical experts have warned.
On October 1, 2003, the revised Regulations Governing Marriage Registration abolished compulsory pre-marital checkups. At the time, this step received general applause as an indication of social progress and increased respect for citizens?privacy.
Prior to that, the 1994 Law of the People's Republic of China Concerning the Mother and Infant Care made pre-marital checkups mandatory. The proportion of new couples receiving premarital medical checkups increased steadily nationwide. By 2002, the national premarital checkup rate reached 68 per cent. In some developed areas, especially prosperous cities, the figure reached 95 per cent.
Each year about 8-10 per cent of couples were found to have serious hereditary or infectious diseases ?including diseases of the reproductive system, among which sexually transmitted diseases (STD) accounted for a large proportion of cases.
http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2005/0217/fo4-1.html
Protecting farmers' interests
Han Jun
2005-02-23 06:24
More effort should be made to stabilize grain prices and further increase farmers' incomes this year. And a long-term mechanism is needed to better protect farmers' interests and rights.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/23/content_418518.htm
The New Zealand Herald
Danger warning on pain medicine
23.02.05
by Martin Johnston
The Health Ministry has warned that thousands of people using any of five pain-relief medicines should see a doctor about stopping the treatment because of risks to the heart and brain.
The anti-inflammatory "cox-2 inhibitor" drugs, used particularly by arthritis sufferers, have been linked to possible increases in the risk of heart disease or stroke.
Pasted from <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10112267>
US citizen accused of discussing to kill Bush
23.02.05 3.00pm
WASHINGTON - A Virginia man, arrested and held in Saudi Arabia, has been returned to the United States to face charges of supporting al Qaeda, and was accused of plotting in 2002 and 2003 to kill President George W Bush, court documents made public on Tuesday said.
Pasted from <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10112287>
Australian government forces ISPs to join child porn crackdown
23.02.05 12.30pm
CANBERRA - Internet service providers (ISPs) will face fines of up to A$55,000 ($60,500) if they can be used to access child pornography and do not refer the information to the police.
Pasted from <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10112277>
The weather in Antarctica (crystal ice chime) is:
Scott Base
Cloudy
-19.0°
Updated Wednesday 23 Feb 9:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
39 °F / 4 °C
Overcast
Windchill:
31 °F / 0 °C
Humidity:
75%
Dew Point:
32 °F / 0 °C
Wind:
14 mph / 22 km/h from the SSE
Pressure:
29.91 in / 1013 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Overcast 2300 ft / 701 m
