Miscellaneous
Diesel spill could bring prosecution
13.02.05 12.45pm
A diesel spill in Christchurch's Heathcote River could result in prosecution and a fine of up to $200,000.
Thousands of litres of fuel leaked into the river from a drain in Sockburn on Friday.
Environment Canterbury spokesperson Mike Freeman says if there is evidence to suggest the spill was deliberate, then it is highly likely legal action will follow.
Hundreds of volunteers are continuing to help with the clean-up.
Council staff were alerted to the problem when residents complained of a heavy smell.
Hundreds of ducks and other birds have been affected by the spill, which is not thought to be deliberate.
- Newstalk ZB
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10010847
Overturned tanker on I-595 leaves 4 dead, 1 injured
By Bill Hirschman and Jean-Paul Renaud
Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 12 2005, 6:02 PM EST
Davie · Four people were killed Friday night when a fuel tanker truck flipped over at a busy interchange, landed on a car and burst into flames that shot 30 feet into the air.
FHP spokesman Lt. Pat Santangelo said the 18-wheel tanker truck was traveling eastbound on Interstate 595 at the Florida Turnpike's on-ramp in the right lane, but "for some reason the driver lost control and started overturning."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ctanker12feb12,0,5383489.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
The Gulf News
Sectarian attacks kill 22 in Iraq
Reuters
Baghdad: More than 20 people were killed in attacks on Shiite targets yesterday in violence apparently aimed at stoking sectarian hatred.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151595
The European Union and the Middle East peace process
By As'ad Abdul Rahman
Europe, both in terms of the individual states and collectively through the 15-member European Union (EU), seeks to play an active role in the Middle East peace process. There are many reasons for this, the most important of which are economic and political.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=151605
Women are advancing, but their pay is not
By Larry Williams
Women's brains work differently from those of men different sizes, different electrical patterns, different test scores. That much we know is true.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=151606
Foundation comes to the aid of tsunami victims
By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter
Dubai: More than Dh5.5 million in aid has been donated to tsunami victims in Thailand by the Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=151586
US officials should check facts, says Syria
Reuters
Damascus: Syria said on Thursday that US officials should check the facts before making provocative remarks, commenting after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Syria last week of exporting terrorism.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151659
Washington-Tehran tension may spin out of control
Reuters
London: Nobody sees military action as the best way to tame Iran's suspected nuclear weapons ambitions, but as the rhetoric heats up, mutual miscalculation could suck Tehran and Washington into an unpredictable showdown.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151656
On the proficiency of withdrawal from Iraq we turn to an interview with the King of Hype, General 'Strange' Grange. Kindly note the casual nature as if part of everyday living that death of people holds little definition except in the context of measuring success:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0501/27/ldt.01.html
DOBBS: There are no firm numbers on the number of insurgents and terrorists fighting U.S. troops and Iraqi forces in Iraq, but yesterday, the U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, declared that 15,000 insurgents have been killed or captured over the past year. Now, if that number were accurate, the insurgents would be far stronger than the Pentagon's civil and military leadership has ever admitted or in point of fact suggested. I'm joined now from Chicago, General David Grange. And General, let me first say, good to see you.
And secondly, the Pentagon has always had an interesting history with numbers, but the fact that a general is declaring that more insurgents have been killed or captured than the Pentagon suggested existed a year ago is remarkable, isn't it?
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, you know, the good news is that 15,000 were killed or captured. The bad news is that that means there's a lot more out there, and obviously has grown considerably since the fall of Saddam.
DOBBS: It's grown considerably, the attacks are escalating, and yet U.S. military forces, the Bush administration insists that we are winning the war in Iraq. How can that be?
GRANGE: Well, I do believe we're winning the war. What you don't see is a lot of the effort that's going on. I really think, Lou, that after this election, you're going to start seeing a decline in that insurgency. It's going to require removing the popular support, those that do support the insurgency, away from the insurgents, and that has to be with Iraqis, military on the street and moving the presence of the U.S. off-set from the street but ready to pounce on and raid any sites they deem necessary to eliminate the threat as well.
DOBBS: General, as you know, I am as -- certainly as supportive of our troops as you are in Iraq, and I think that no one can be more supportive than you and I of our troops. I'm also extraordinarily, frankly, critical of the Pentagon. The leadership at this point -- we've lost over 1,400 Americans. We have 10,000 Americans wounded. The Pentagon continues and usually in the form of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to say that the violence will escalate at each one of the events that occurs, whether it's the handover, the run-up to the elections, the elections themselves, post-election. At what point is there such a breach of just straightforward relationship to facts that we have to examine precisely what is happening here on the part of military strategy for the good of our troops first and then for the good of the Iraqi people?
GRANGE: Well, I think what you're seeing is not anyone hiding the truth. I think what you're seeing is a miscalculation of the estimate of what the threat is and how it's changed over time and the requirement that it was a necessity to have many more troops there initially in a transition from maneuvered combat to the stability and support operations. During that void is where this thing built up and changed the landscape, the environment, the situation that we're experiencing right now. And it's -- I think there were poor calculations up front.
DOBBS: And do you believe that the Pentagon, the general staff, those in command of our fighting men and women in Iraq now have, if you will, if I can put it in the colloquial, do they now, in your best judgment, have their act together?
GRANGE: Yes, I do. I know many of the commanders on the ground that are running these operations. They are very proficient. I would trust any of my sons under their care. And I think they have a handle on it. And I think we'll see improvement.
DOBBS: Outstanding. If General Grange says that there is going to be improvement, I'll take that to the bank. We appreciate it. Thank you, General David Grange.
IN CONTRAST TO an article that appears on Michael Moore Dot Calm:
Pentagon covers up failure to train and recruit local security forces
By Andrew Buncombe / The Independent
Training of Iraq's security forces, crucial to any exit strategy for Britain and the US, is going so badly that the Pentagon has stopped giving figures for the number of combat-ready indigenous troops, The Independent on Sunday has learned.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1413
Michael Moore Today
Gold Star Families for Peace
We as families of soldiers who have died as a result of war are organizing to be a positive force in our world to bring our country’s sons and daughters home from Iraq, to minimize the “human cost” of this war, and to prevent other families from the pain we are feeling as the result of our losses. We are also hoping to be lifetime support for each other through our losses.
http://www.gsfp.org/
REGRETFULLY, LAURA
THE MARCH OF FREEDOM
The Bush administration came under pressure on Thursday to make public the full classified version of a report from the 9/11 commission that is critical of the government's failure to heed aviation threats before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php
Iraqi Security Force Cover-Up at Pentagon?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Rumsfeld Watches as Iraqis Learn to Fight Insurgency
By Josh White / Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Feb. 11 -- The sharp blast echoed from a cluster of buildings and trees in the morning sunshine, and almost simultaneously the target crumpled nearly 1,000 feet away. Helicopters roared in and soldier after soldier slithered down a rope onto a stone building. Armored vehicles followed, as did flashes and bangs and smoke and gunshots.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1412
At Least 18 Killed In Iraq Violence
By Luke Baker / Reuters
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber killed 18 people near a hospital south of Baghdad on Saturday amid a surge of violence by Iraq's mostly Sunni Muslim insurgents ahead of Ashura, the holiest festival on the Shi'ite religious calendar.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1411
Bush Doctrine Gets a Nuclear Reaction
Editorial / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Under the Bush Doctrine, the United States will "not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most dangerous weapons," as the president explained his policy. Those words "will not permit" were carefully selected, carrying the clear and very intentional message that military force will be used to correct such situations if necessary.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1398
The Los Angeles Times
Postelection Optimism Ebbing in Iraq
With no official results and a surge in violence, some wonder whether even a new government can make a difference. Others hold on to hope.
BAGHDAD — Two weeks after Iraq's first democratic election, hopes for a better future have given way in some quarters to pessimism, or at least to more limited expectations, as resurgent violence and a delay in the final tally have added to political uncertainty.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-mood13feb13,0,3907101.story?coll=la-home-headlines
The Face of Mexico's Narco-Spy Scandal
AGUA PRIETA, Mexico — Nahum Acosta's rise from elementary school teacher in this hardscrabble border city to a prestigious job on President Vicente Fox's travel staff made him the epitome of "local boy makes good." And he never forgot his roots.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexmole13feb13,0,7806044.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Hunt for Fugitives Expands to Retirees
A computer dragnet of aid recipients has caught felons, but in many cases the sick and poor lost their lifeline. Social Security rolls are next.
WASHINGTON — A law enforcement measure that has had mixed results in hunting down fugitives among the nation's sick and disabled is expanding this year to target the much larger ranks of retired Americans.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fugitive13feb13,0,2021583.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Guardian Umlimited
Top police chiefs admit hunt ban won't work
Secret memos reveal growing fear of civil unrest
Mark Townsend, environment correspondent
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Britain's most senior police officers have raised grave concerns that the imminent hunting ban is unenforcable, will erode morale, and could precipitate large-scale civil unrest, internal documents obtained by The Observer reveal.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1411912,00.html
New Aids nightmare shocks US
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411916,00.html
Allies move in on top terrorist
Bigley's executioner 'holed up in Kirkuk' as death toll in Iraq resumes pre-election levels
Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Iraq's most wanted terrorist, the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is hiding out in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk after fleeing from Mosul, according to police sources.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411802,00.html
Tsunami victims still wait for aid
Supplies to stricken Sri Lankans are blocked by bungling and corruption
Jason Burke in Galle
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Thousands of tsunami victims in Sri Lanka are still without aid, despite the biggest global humanitarian effort ever launched following a natural disaster. Tens of thousands more are receiving patchy assistance, because of government bureaucracy and corruption, poor co-ordination between aid agencies and inappropriate, rather than insufficient, supplies sent from the West.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1412033,00.html
Sex and the single robot
Jonathan Watts, East Asia correspondent
Wednesday February 2, 2005
The Guardian
Scientists have made them walk and talk. There are even robots that can run. But a South Korean professor is poised to take their development several steps further, and give cybersex new meaning.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1403780,00.html
The Daily Mail and Guardian
New Aids nightmare shocks US
13 February 2005 08:02
A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197398&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
Judge lashes out at SA's prison crisis
12 February 2005 07:41
Were the SPCA to cram as many animals into a cage as inmates are packed into a prison cell, it would be prosecuted for animal cruelty, Pretoria High Court judge Eberhardt Bertelsmann said on Friday.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197395&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
SA's water: how long will it last?
13 February 2005 08:02
South Africa urgently needs a well-funded institute to research water demand management.
This is the view of Pieter Pansegrouw, professor of civil engineering at Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, who wrote on the topic in the latest issue of Farmer's Weekly.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197402&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
Sri Lanka accuses UK of poaching its doctors
13 February 2005 08:02
Sri Lanka - still recovering from the devastation of December's tsunami - has accused Britain of undermining its already embattled health service by failing to prevent hospitals luring away trained doctors and nurses to work in the UK.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197399&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
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