Sunday, February 27, 2005

Morning Papers

Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"

"Okeydoke"

February 26…

1766: Empress Catherine II (the Great) grants freedom of worship in Russia.

1802,
Victor Hugo, French poet, novelist, and playwright

1916,
Jackie Gleason, comedian and actor

1928, Fats Domino, rock-and-roll pianist, singer, and songwriter

1829, Levi Strauss, creator of blue jeans

1808,
Honoré Daumier, French painter and caricaturist

1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the Island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France.

1848, the Second French Republic was proclaimed.

1848: Karl Marx and Friederich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto in London.

1919: The United States Congress establishes the Grand Canyon as a national park.

1929, President Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park.

1932,
Johnny Cash, country music singer

1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.

1962 US Supreme court disallows race separation on public transportation

1967 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR

1968 Clandestine Radio Voice of Iraqi People (Communist) final transmission

1970 Beatles release "Beatles Again" aka "Hey Jude" album

1970 "Georgy" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 4 performances

1972 Slag heap dam collapses above Buffalo Creek WV, kills 125

1973 Triple Crown horse Secretariat bought for a record $5.7m

1974 Gold hits record $188 an ounce in Paris

1975 1st televised kidney transplant (Today Show)

1979, a total solar eclipse cast a moving shadow 175 miles wide from Oregon to North Dakota before moving into Canada.

1985: Tina Turner wins two Grammy Awards for her hit song "What's Love Got to Do With It?"

1987, the Tower Commission, which probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.

1993: A terrorist bomb explosion kills five people and badly damages the World Trade Center in New York, New York.

2003, the Supreme Court ruled that federal racketeering and extortion laws had been wrongly used to try to stop blockades, harassment and violent protests outside clinics.

Missing in Action

1966
NEWTON DONALD S. SAN PEDRO CA
1966
WILLS FRANCIS D. LA PLANTA MD
1971
HARRISON LARRY G. WILLIAMSTON NC
1971
SWANSON JON E. DENVER CO

February 27…

1594: Henry IV is crowned king of France in Chartres.

1807
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet was born in Portland, Maine.

1869
Alice Hamilton, physician and pioneer in industrial toxicology

1899,
Charles Best, Canadian physiologist

1902, John Ernst Steinbeck,
American writer and Nobel laureate, who described in his work the unremitting struggle of people who depend on the soil for their livelihood. Born in Salinas, California, Steinbeck was educated at Stanford University. As a youth, he worked as a ranch hand and fruit picker. His first novel, Cup of Gold (1929), romanticizes the life and exploits of the famous 17th-century Welsh pirate
Sir Henry Morgan. In The Pastures of Heaven (1932), a group of short stories depicting a community of California farmers, Steinbeck first dealt with the hardworking people and social themes associated with most of his works. His other early books include To a God Unknown (1933), the story of a farmer whose belief in a pagan fertility cult impels him, during a severe drought, to sacrifice his own life; Tortilla Flat (1935), a sympathetic portrayal of Americans of Mexican descent dwelling near Monterey, California; In Dubious Battle (1936), a novel concerned with a strike of migratory fruit pickers; and Of Mice and Men (1937), a tragic story of two itinerant farm laborers yearning for a small farm of their own.

1922: The United States Supreme Court declares the Nineteenth Amendment constitutional, thereby guaranteeing women's voting rights.

1932
Elizabeth Taylor, actress

1960, the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets, 3-2, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.)

1972, President Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued the Shanghai Communique at the conclusion of Nixon's historic visit to China.

1973: Sioux Native Americans seize and hold Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, demanding a United States Senate investigation of Native American problems.

1979, Jane M. Byrne confounded Chicago's Democratic political machine as she upset Mayor Michael A. Bilandic to win their party's mayoral primary. (Byrne went on to win the election.)

1982 Earl Anthony becomes 1st pro bowler to win more than $1 million

1982 Wayne Williams found guilty of murdering 2 of 28 blacks in Atlanta GA

1982 France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island

1983 Eamonn Coghlan sets indoor mile record of 3 49.78

1983 Jan Stephenson wins Tucson Conquistadores LPGA Golf Tournament

1984 WRC-AM in Washington DC changes call letters to WWRC

1984 Carl Lewis jumps world record indoor (8,675 meters)

1984 Worker's union leader Billy Nair freed in South Africa

1985 Farmers converge in Washington to demand economic relief

1985 US dollar is worth ƒ3.9355 (Netherlands)

1987 Donald Regan resigned as White House chief of staff

1987 NCAA cancels SMU's entire 1987 football schedule for gross violations of NCAA rules regarding athletic corruption

1987 "Washington Week In Review", 20th anniversary on PBS

1987 Mike Conley triple jumps world indoor record (17.76 meters)

1988 Bonnie Blair (US) wins Olympics 500 meter speed skating in record 39.1

1988 Katarina Witt (GDR) wins 2nd consecutive Olympics figure skating

1988 Ayako Okamoto wins LPGA Orient Leasing Hawaiian Ladies Golf Open

1989 German war criminals Austria der Fünten/Fischer, freed in Holland

1990: The Exxon Corporation is indicted on five criminal charges relating to the 1989 Alaskan oil spill.

1991 Noureddine Morcelli set 1500 meter mark at 3 34 16

1991 Singer James Brown is released from prison

1991 Gulf War ends after Iraqi troops retreat & Kuwait is liberated

1992 Tiger Woods, 16, becomes youngest PGA golfer in 35 years

2003: A design by architect Daniel Libeskind is selected to be built on the former site of the twin towers of New York City's World Trade Center.

Missing in Action

1967
ALWAN HAROLD J. PEORIA IL
1967
HUIE LITCHFIELD P. WARSAW NC BLOWN OFF CARRIER SANK NO RECOVER
1967
LETCHWORTH EDWARD N. LIBBY MT BLOWN OFF CARRIER SANK NO RECOVER
1967
SAUSE BERNARD J. JR. BALTIMORE MD BLOWN OFF CARRIER SANK NO RECOVER
1967
ZEMPLE RONALD L. GRAND RAPIDS MN BLOWN OFF CARRIER SANK NO RECOVER
1968
HARTZHEIM JOHN F. APPLETON WI REMAINS IDENTIFIED 03/17/99
1968
MILIUS PAUL L. WAVERLY IA
1968
PALMER GILBERT S. BIRMINGHAM AL
1968
WRIGHT THOMAS T. GARY IN
1971
BABCOCK RONALD L. TUCSON AZ
1971
LEWIS LARRY G. ASHVILLE NC
1971
MOONEY FRED NORTHUP OH
1975 DILLON MICHAEL 03/75 RELEASED
1975
AYRES VICKI 03/75 RELEASED

The Daily Star - Lebanon

Iraqi forces capture top aide to Zarqawi
Sistani endorses Jaafari's nomination
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Saturday, February 26, 2005

Iraqi forces captured a top aide to Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who leads an Al-Qaeda-linked insurgency in Iraq, during a violence-ridden day which saw 13 civilians killed. The violence came as Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, endorsed Ibrahim al-Jaafari's nomination for prime minister.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=13007

Sharon accepts invitation to Tunis
Visit can 'pave the way for a new era of relations'
By Marius Schattner
Saturday, February 26, 2005
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has accepted an unprecedented invitation from Tunisian President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali to visit the North African country, his office said Friday, amid a renewed Israeli diplomatic push in the Arab world.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=13008

Assad calls for dialogue with U.S.
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Saturday, February 26, 2005

ANKARA: Syrian President Bashar Assad has said in an interview with a Turkish newspaper that he wants direct dialogue with the United States in hopes of easing mounting tension between the two countries."Talks on security issues must not be broken. The only way to do this is through dialogue," Bashar said in an interview published in the daily Hurriyet newspaper on Friday.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=13006

Two years on, world remains at loggerheads over Darfur
By Mohammad Ali Said
Saturday, February 26, 2005

Mohammed Ali Said
Agence France Presse
KHARTOUM: Two years after an ethnic minority uprising prompted Sudan's government to unleash a savage crackdown in Darfur, 1.6 million displaced people face the threat of famine and the world remains at loggerheads how best to intervene.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=12981

Lebanese government eager to cooperate with United Nations investigation team
By Leila Hatoum
Daily Star staff
Saturday, February 26, 2005
BEIRUT: Lebanon's Justice Minister Adnan Addoum insisted the Lebanese government will cooperate with the United Nations investigation team as it visited the scene of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri. Following a meeting with the UN team, Addoum said: "The Lebanese authorities will provide all help possible to the United Nations team of investigators, and will provide them with all available information obtained by the judiciary investigation."

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=13004

British offer expertise to Hariri assassination investigation
By Khalil Fleihan
Daily Star correspondent
Saturday, February 26, 2005
BEIRUT: Britain has offered its expertise to investigators regarding the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, according to Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud, who was quoting British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Baroness Symons.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=13002

Syria Times

Official source: Syria has nothing to do with bombing
An official source at the Foreign Ministry has denied the statements of the Israeli زDefense Minister,س Shaol Mofaz on Syriaصs responsibility for the Tel Aviv bombing of 25.02.2005.

http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050227050545

Hezbollah denies involvement in Tel Aviv bombing
Lebanese Hezbollah categorically denied Saturday that it had anything do do with an overnight suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050227050607

Abbas blames third party for Tel Aviv bombing
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas vowed on Saturday to bring to justice those behind a deadly suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and blamed an unnamed third party for trying to sabotage peace efforts.

http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/_first.asp?FileName=20050227050634

Syria Today

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad signed an agreement with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on January 25 during a four-day state visit to Moscow which included a deal to write off nearly three quarters the debt Syria had run up with its ally during the Soviet era.
“We highly value your positions and we share common interests,'' Assad told Putin, saying he welcomed a stronger Russian role in the Middle East .

http://www.syria-today.com/issues/issue_3/news_highlights/syria_russia.htm

European Union Middle East Envoy Marc Otte said Syria was “ready to resume peace negotiations with Israel without preconditions", following a meeting with the President and Foreign Minister on February 7.

http://www.syria-today.com/issues/issue_3/news_highlights/eu_envoy.htm

US President George Bush put further pressure on Syria during his State of the Union address on February 2, saying the country, “still allows its territory, and parts of Lebanon, to be used by terrorists who seek to destroy every chance of peace in the region.”

http://www.syria-today.com/issues/issue_3/news_highlights/syria_us.htm

The UN Security Council voted unanimously on January 28 to adopt a proposal ruling that the Shaba farms, the area of land at the northern edge of the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since the Six Day War in 1967, and claimed by Lebanon, belonged to Syria .
The proposal, which was drafted by France and co-sponsored by the United States, Britain, Denmark and Greece, also concluded that Israel has fully complied with UN Security Council Resolution 425, which obligated it to withdraw to the UN-delineated blue line border.

http://www.syria-today.com/issues/issue_3/news_highlights/security_council.htm

Two men accused of involvement in a bomb attack and gun fight at a disused UN building in Damascus' suburb of Mezze last April that left killed four people were sentenced to death by hanging SANA reported on December 29.
The report said the state security court ordered that the two men be hanged, a ruling that cannot be appealed, while two other defendants were sentenced to forced labour for life.
Another 18 defendants received jail terms of between one and 20 years.

http://www.syria-today.com/issues/issue_3/news_highlights/ruling_attack.htm

Aktham Naise, the head of the Committees for the Defence of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria, was awarded the annual Swiss-based Martin Ennals Foundation award for Human Rights Defenders on January 12.

http://www.syria-today.com/issues/issue_3/news_highlights/naise_award.htm

TOO MANY ENTANGLEMENTS !!

On February 2 the Syrian cabinet endorsed a bill exempting Lebanese citizens from all entry taxes usually paid when they cross the border into Syria either by air, land or sea. The bill also exempts Lebanese vehicles from all taxes except the initial entry duty.
The move follows the signing of an agreement between Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri and Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami, at the end of January, mandating the Syrian-Lebanese economic committee to prepare for the unifying of customs duties between the two countries within five years.

http://www.syria-today.com/issues/issue_3/news_highlights/tax_exemption.htm

Ken Charman, Economist and Team Leader for the EU-funded Institutional and Sector Modernisation Facility (ISMF), on an economy at the crossroads.

For many years, Syria has been a closed economy hampered by under-performance. The country has long depended on oil reserves to provide foreign exchange and macroeconomic stability, but with oil production now in decline, the pressure for change is considerable. At the same time, Syria has to diversify its economy in the face of a host of regional problems. The good news, however, is that these issues are not necessarily connected to the domestic policy challenges that must be addressed if growth and diversification of the economy are to transpire.

http://www.syria-today.com/issues/issue_2/economic_analysis/economic_analysis_1.htm

THE STRUGGLE FOR MEDIA REFORM

Syria's media is now facing major challenges from both inside and outside the country. However, responding to these may offer great opportunities. Rhonda Roumani takes a closer look.

http://www.syria-today.com/issues/issue_2/features/media_feature_1.htm

GOOD IDEA !!

IN CLOSE ASSOCIATION

The newly-initialled Association Agreement between Syria and the EU will mean both political and economic changes in the relationship between Damascus and Europe , as Andrew Tabler explains.

http://www.syria-today.com/issues/issue_2/features/association_feature_1.htm

The Jerusalem Post

Mofaz freezes PA town handovers
Syria and Islamic Jihad are responsible for Friday night's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and Israeli officials will meet with ambassadors of all member of the UN Security Council to demand a strong condemnation of Syria, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1109301662303

Four killed, 50 wounded in attack
Israel will focus its anticipated reprisal for Friday night's Tel Aviv suicide bombing on targeting Islamic Jihad in Syria, the group believed to have dispatched the bomber, Defense Ministry officials said Saturday.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1109387975271

Rice: PA must take action
The US on Friday condemned the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and demanded that the Palestinian Authority take steps to combat terrorist organizations.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1109301662805

Comrades in death
It was a surprise birthday party that turned into a nightmare.

Close-knit members of a reserve IDF combat unit and their loved ones who gathered Friday night at the Stage nightclub to help one of the reservists celebrate his 30th birthday lost four of their group when a suicide bomber blew himself up.

Among the victims were Yitzhak Buzaglo, 40, of Moshav Mishmar Hayarden in the Upper Galilee who was a father of two, and Yael Orbach, 28, of Rehovot who was three weeks shy of her wedding. Also killed was carpenter Aryeh Nagar, 37, another member of the unit who came for the celebration. The coordinator of the birthday party, Ronen Reuvenov, was the fourth victim. His name was released Sunday morning.

Reuvenov 30, from Tel-Aviv, was described by his sister Orley to Army Radio Sunday morning as, "someone who wasn't afraid of anything. He believed always that everything would be all right."

Buzaglo's wife, Linda, and Orbach's fiancee, Ophir Gonan, are among the seriously wounded.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1109387974746

Mehereta, symbol of Ethiopian pride
Mehereta Baruch might have fallen short of her aspiration to represent Israel in New York City when she came in second on the reality TV show The Ambassador. But she soared to the top of the list of most recognizable Ethiopian-Israelis, earning the role of representing her community within Israel itself.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1109387976245

Haaretz

Diplomats: Iran acquired nuclear arms technology by late 80s
By The Associated Press
VIENNA - Iran, through the black market network, had accumulated all the knowledge it needed by the late 1980s to set up technology that can be used to make nuclear weapons, diplomats have said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/545230.html

Working together against terror
When the defense minister was asked recently what the fate of the cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians would be if Israel responded with force to a terror attack within the country, he responded that "the test is one of intentions." If it turns out that Mahmoud Abbas, as opposed to Yasser Arafat, is not intent on terror but is working to put a stop to it, if the Palestinian Authority leadership does not initiate, encourage or economically support terror, and if it does what is at this stage its limited best to stop attacks, it would be unwise to renew military activities after an attack. Such a decision would cancel out the achievements already visible on the ground that were brought about by bilateral cooperation.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/545226.html

The Gulf News

Palestinians arrest suspects in Tel Aviv blast

Agencies
Ramallah: Scrambling to save a battered truce, Palestinian officials arrested three West Bank suspects yesterday after a suicide bombing that killed four Israelis.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=153799
Israel blames Syria for bombing

AP
Occupied Jerusalem: Israel's defense minister blamed Syria and a Palestinian militant group based there for a suicide bombing that killed four Israelis outside a Tel Aviv nightclub and shattered an informal truce, prompting him to freeze plans to hand over security responsibilities in the West Bank.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=153916

Killings do not serve any purpose

Whoever thought another suicide bombing in Tel Aviv would achieve its purpose is no friend of the Palestinians; nor, apparently, an advocate of peace.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=153762

Egypt to have direct presidential polls

By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Special to Gulf News
Cairo: The Egyptian President yesterday ordered parliament to amend the Constitution to allow direct presidential elections.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=153795

Intellectual forum will seek ways to combat rise of extremism

By Mohammad Almezel, Bureau Chief
Manama: Leading intellectuals from the Arab world will begin a forum in Bahrain today in an attempt to find ways to combat the rise of extremism and promote moderation.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=153772

Weed out the seeds of suspicion

Across the Arab world, much seems to be marred by tides of disarray and fragmentation. Furthermore, accusatory finger-pointing against Islam has intensified in recent years, especially since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Could it be argued that the Arab and Muslim worlds are in crises?

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=153763

Arab bank told to stop wire transfers

Agencies
Washington: The United States has ordered Palestinian-managed Arab Bank Group to convert its New York branch to a federal banking agency, ending the branch's wire transfer business.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=153794

Set of twins is born every 10 minutes in Egypt

By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Special to Gulf News
Cairo: Now a mother of triplets, Magada recalls that 15 months after her marriage she did not get pregnant and had to seek fertility treatment.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=153771

Oman close to being declared malaria-free
Staff Report
Muscat: Oman is a step closer to being declared malaria-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Ministry of Health has said.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=153750

Quake toll put at 602 dead and 991 injured

Reuters
Tehran: Iran said on Friday the powerful earthquake which struck the southeast of the country last week killed 602 people and it did not expect to find many more bodies buried under the rubble.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=153774

They need an Ayatollah.

'Zionist holiday' sparks protest

AP
Baghdad: A government decision to alter the traditional Iraqi weekend has sparked ire and protests among many who resent being forced to take a day off that many here associate with the Jewish day of rest.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=153791

The Boston Globe

Israel links Syria to blast, freezes West Bank pullback
By Corinne Heller, Reuters February 27, 2005
JERUSALEM -- Israel declared Syria responsible yesterday for a Palestinian suicide attack on a Tel Aviv nightclub Friday night that killed four Israelis and wounded dozens more. The attack threatened to taint the conciliatory atmosphere that has taken hold since Yasser Arafat died in November.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/02/27/israel_links_syria_to_blast_freezes_west_bank_pullback/

Mubarak pushes freer Egypt voting
Move would allow for more candidates
By Paul Schemm, Globe Correspondent February 27, 2005
CAIRO -- President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt asked the country's parliament yesterday to amend the constitution to permit a multi-candidate presidential election this fall, a surprising step toward democracy in the Arab world's most populous nation.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/02/27/mubarak_pushes_freer_egypt_voting/

Iraq oil pipeline blown up
Newscaster is found dead; US soldier killed
By Sameer N. Yacoub, Associated Press February 27, 2005
BAGHDAD -- A major oil fire raged yesterday after insurgents blew up a pipeline in the north of the country. The family of an anchorwoman for a US-funded state television station -- a mother of four who was repeatedly shot in the head -- found her body dumped on a street in the northern city of Mosul.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/02/27/iraq_oil_pipeline_blown_up/

Russia, Iran put off deal on nuclear fuel Still working out delivery disputes
By Associated Press February 27, 2005
TEHRAN -- Last-minute disputes yesterday forced Iran and Russia to postpone the signing of an agreement to supply Iran with fuel for its first nuclear reactor, a deal strongly opposed by the United States.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/02/27/russia_iran_put_off_deal_on_nuclear_fuel_still_working_out_delivery_disputes/

VLADIMIR IS INTERESTED IN THE WTO !!

Oil and Russian hubris
February 27, 2005
Thomas Oliphant -- WASHINGTON
IT IS time for Americans to pay less attention to words and more attention to the ugly realities of a misbehaving nation with nuclear weapons and disturbing intentions.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/02/27/oil_and_russian_hubris/

Romney walking political tightrope
By and Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff February 27, 2005
Governor Mitt Romney's entrance into national politics is forcing him to walk a careful political path, as he delivers out-of-state speeches that critique Massachusetts and its perceived liberal excesses while he pledges to pass an ambitious agenda with the help of newly wary Beacon Hill Democrats.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/02/27/romney_walking_political_tightrope/

A top Democrat takes up cudgel
Reid battles Bush on Social Security
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff February 27, 2005
SEARCHLIGHT, Nev. -- Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, two months into his new job as the Democratic leader, declared Friday that his party is ''winning" the fight against President Bush and his plan to remake Social Security.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/02/27/a_top_democrat_takes_up_cudgel/

Some top Democrats tout moving primary to May
Other party leaders, GOP doubt proposal
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff February 27, 2005
Leading Democrats in Massachusetts are lobbying Beacon Hill lawmakers to push the date of the state primary elections from September to May or early June, a move that would not only transform state politics but, party leaders are convinced, could also help them recapture the governor's office in 2006 after a 16-year drought.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/02/27/some_top_democrats_tout_moving_primary_to_may/

Mass. colleges see costs rise, aid fall
Needy students getting hit hard, officials report
By Jenna Russell, Globe Staff February 27, 2005
Massachusetts cut spending on grants and scholarships for college students by more than $20 million in the past five years, at the same time enrollments increased, and public campuses, battered by state budget cuts, boosted tuition and fees by 50 to 75 percent, according to state budget records and officials.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/02/27/mass_colleges_see_costs_rise_aid_fall/

More young women in Hub pursuing careers in wine
By Caitlin Curran, Globe Correspondent, 2/20/05

A cellar master at Grill 23 & Bar in Boston, Nina Seymour, 31, says "It's easy to sell wine - I love it."
Cat Silirie remembers being interested in wine when she was 14 and a busgirl at a small restaurant in South Florida, where she grew up. "At the time, I loved to talk about wine," says Silirie, as she sat at the bar in The Butcher Shop, a South End restaurant where she is the wine director. "I never thought it would become my career."

http://bostonworks.boston.com/globe/articles/022005_wine.html

In Scituate, a tragic list of loss
By Stephanie Ebbert and Joanna Weiss, Globe Staff February 27, 2005
SCITUATE -- In an impromptu ceremony last week, Chris Field attached another photograph to the dashboard of his Dodge Neon Sport. Then he realized he was running out of space for tributes to lost friends.

Every day, he had been driving with an eye on two prayer cards from the funerals of Scituate High School classmates -- Greg Moynahan, who died in a car crash last spring, and Matt Lynch, thrown from a car and killed seven months later, both in their early 20s. On Monday, he added a snapshot of Michael O'Connor, 22, missing since a fishing boat caught fire offshore last weekend.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/02/27/in_scituate_a_tragic_list_of_loss/

But Winnipeggers say there's more to their city than frigid temperatures
than frigid temperatures
By Linda Matchan, Globe Staff February 27, 2005
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Lorraine and Ed Palamar were working on a crossword puzzle recently in this brutally cold prairie city, when they found themselves stumped.

The clue was ''Great white north." As in Canada. ''We couldn't imagine what it was," said Lorraine, who has spent most of her 70 years in Winnipeg, where the temperature regularly plummets to 30 below in the winter and hit 54 below one day last month, factoring in wind chill. ''We were thinking, is it the Yukon? is it Northwest Territories?"

http://www.boston.com/travel/articles/2005/02/27/but_winnipeggers_say_theres_more_to_their_city_than_frigid_temperatures/

The Moscow Times


Global Eye
Core Values
By Chris Floyd
Published: February 25, 2005
Day in and day out, patriotic American dissidents on both the left and the right keep shovelling through the bloody muck of the Bush Imperium. The filth is endless, Augean; Salon.com recently catalogued 34 ongoing major scandals, equalling or surpassing the depravity of Watergate. Yet still the patriots bend to the task, tossing up steaming piles of ugly truth before the public.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/25/120.html

Teen Spirit
Photographer Sergei Chilikov turns his lens on Samara teenagers in a new exhibition at XL Gallery.
By Romilly Eveleigh
Published: February 25, 2005
Below a clothesline in someone's grimy backyard, a group of boys are engaged in what looks like a raucous fistfight. Elsewhere, panic-stricken men in sunglasses and military uniforms haul a bare-chested youth across the beach. Out in the countryside, a circle of friends strike poses next to a rusting bulldozer.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/25/103.html

Michael Moore Today

PM fires back in missile row; U.S. plans to fire over Canada without seeking permission
Toronto Star
Canada's rejection of missile defence is a historic shift in its relationship with the United States and could have deep unforeseen consequences, analysts warn.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1567

Suicides in Marine Corps Rise by 29%; Fast Pace of Operations Are Believed to Contribute
By Ann Scott Tyson /
Washington Post
The Marine Corps suffered a 29 percent spike in suicides last year, reaching the highest number in at least a decade, with the demanding pace of military operations likely contributing to the deaths, the top-ranking U.S. Marine said yesterday.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1554

The Crawford Deal: did Blair sign up for war at Bush's Texas ranch in April 2002?
We know that arguments raged about the legality of the war right up to a crucial cabinet meeting on 17 March 2003, two days before the attack began. But now new evidence pieced together by the 'IoS' strongly backs the suspicion that the PM had already made the decision to strike a year earlier.
By Raymond Whitaker /
Independent
It was one of the most tense cabinet meetings Downing Street had seen in living memory. "We were on the brink of war," recalled Clare Short, who was there. The consequences would be dramatic, not only for those round the table, but for millions of Iraqis and hundreds of thousands of British and American troops.
The date was 17 March 2003,

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1575

The Guardian Unlimited

Blair is election liability, warn Labour aides
Gaby Hinsliff, political editor
Sunday February 27, 2005
The Observer
Tony Blair risks becoming an electoral liability, according to government ministers as the Prime Minister faces fresh accusations that his 'presidential style' is starting to affect Labour's support.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1426456,00.html

Our hands are clean: Palestine President
Abbas says suicide attack on nightclub was bid to sabotage peace process
Jason Burke, Gaby Hinsliff and Conal Urquhart in Tel Aviv
Sunday February 27, 2005
The Observer
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas angrily accused a 'third party' yesterday of sabotaging the Middle East peace process by orchestrating the suicide bombing on Friday night, as Israel threatened a resumption of targeted killings of militants.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1426307,00.html

Judges to rule on terror orders
Martin Bright and Jason Burke
Sunday February 27, 2005
The Observer
The Home Secretary will have to apply to a judge within 24 hours of issuing 'control orders' to limit the movement of terror suspects under proposals being considered by Charles Clarke. The government is set for a climbdown over its Prevention of Terrorism Bill by allowing a judge to be involved at a far earlier stage in the decision.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1426451,00.html

A schism that threatens us all
Rowan Williams must confront those who would destroy the liberal traditions of Anglicanism
Will Hutton
Sunday February 27, 2005
The Observer
The genius of the Anglican Church has been the depth of its embedded tolerance. Walk into any one of its churches that stud our cities, towns and villages and you can almost smell the reflective friendliness seeping out of the walls. This is a church that since Henry VIII' s break with Rome has been squaring biblical injunction with the way the English actually live their lives, throwing the mantle of Christian solidarity around believers, half-believers and sceptics alike. As a national church, its job is to include and tolerate us all; it is everyone's friend in need.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1426330,00.html

A genius explains
Daniel Tammet is an autistic savant. He can perform mind-boggling mathematical calculations at breakneck speeds. But unlike other savants, who can perform similar feats, Tammet can describe how he does it. He speaks seven languages and is even devising his own language. Now scientists are asking whether his exceptional abilities are the key to unlock the secrets of autism. Interview by Richard Johnson

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1409903,00.html

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ontinued...