Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Morning Papers - continued...

American Headlines

Feds halt parents' access to Matt Hale
The Associated Press
Published March 8, 2005, 10:43 AM CST
Jailed white supremacist leader Matthew Hale, one focus of a massive investigation into the shooting deaths of a federal judge's husband and mother, can no longer receive visits from his parents or talk to them on the phone, Hale's father said Tuesday.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-050308haleparents,1,7399938.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Syrian Army Evacuates Bases in Lebanon
By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press Writer
Published March 9, 2005, 3:29 AM CST
MDEIREJ, Lebanon -- Syrian soldiers flashed victory signs and waved automatic rifles as they drove eastward through Lebanon's mountains on Wednesday, pressing ahead with their evacuation of positions they have held for almost three decades and allowing for the Lebanese army to take their place.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ats-ap_top11mar09,1,7916079.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Suicide Truck Bomb Kills Three in Baghdad
By TODD PITMAN
Associated Press Writer
Published March 9, 2005, 3:42 AM CST
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A suicide bomber detonated a garbage truck packed with explosives outside the Agriculture Ministry and a hotel used by Western contractors Wednesday, killing himself and at least three others, officials said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-iraq,1,7982944.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Syrian Army Evacuates Bases in Lebanon
By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press Writer
Published March 9, 2005, 3:29 AM CST
MDEIREJ, Lebanon -- Syrian soldiers flashed victory signs and waved automatic rifles as they drove eastward through Lebanon's mountains on Wednesday, pressing ahead with their evacuation of positions they have held for almost three decades and allowing for the Lebanese army to take their place.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ats-ap_top11mar09,1,7916079.story?coll=chi-news-hed

43 degrees of separation
March is an erratic month, but this week it has been bipolar, sliding from April to January in just 24 hours.
Shortly after 3 p.m. Monday, the official temperature was 69. Shortly after 3 yesterday, it was 26, the winds were howling at 25 m.p.h., and the region's lawns were cemented under a rock-hard crust of snow and ice.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/11085298.htm

Editorial Italian Hostage Fiasco Train your fire
What could be worse than being held hostage for a month by terrorists who are only too willing to kill their captives? The answer might be getting hit by "friendly fire" 35 minutes after being released.
That is the harrowing situation Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena found herself in Friday night.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/11085339.htm

Editorial Casey's U.S. Senate Bid Free pass could help or hinder him
It is disappointing that Gov. Rendell has helped clear the field of Democratic primary opponents to state Treasurer Robert Casey Jr. in his quest to topple Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.
Rendell's endorsement of Casey convinced former state Treasurer Barbara Hafer not to wage a primary campaign. Former Democratic Congressman Joseph Hoeffel, who lost last year's general election to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.), had stepped aside before Rendell's announcement on Friday.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/11085337.htm

Chechen Separatist Leader Is Slain
The death of Aslan Maskhadov, a relative moderate, dims hopes for peace with Russia.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chechen9mar09,0,649992.story?coll=la-home-world>

Bankrupt of Compassion
The bankruptcy bill that passed a key vote in the Senate on Tuesday is driven by the premise that the nation is under siege by an army of deadbeats running up credit card bills, declaring personal bankruptcy and sticking honest Americans with the tab. That's the credit card and banking industries' story, and they're sticking to it. We can all guess who will profit from the bill.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-bankrupt9mar09,0,5214298.story

Killing of Rebel Leader a Win for Puti
By JUDITH INGRAM, Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW — Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov's killing represents a rare propaganda victory for President Vladimir Putin and his hardline approach to battling separatists. But it is unlikely to bring a quick end to Russia's bloody and destabilizing war in Chechnya, now in its sixth year.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top15mar09,0,7067875.story

Bill Clinton to Have Scar Tissue Removed
By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK — Former President Clinton set out on a tour of tsunami-ravaged countries last month knowing he needed more surgery on his chest. But his doctors had given him the go-ahead, assuring him that this operation -- to fix a lung problem caused by his heart bypass -- could wait.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top12mar09,0,5888224.story

A barrage of rain, sleet, snow, aggravation
Latest storm leads to spinouts and power outages
By Emma Stickgold, Globe Correspondent March 9, 2005
Rain hardened into sleet then shifted into a whirlwind of snow, creating slick roads that led to a spike in spinouts and scattered power outages, officials said.

http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2005/03/09/a_barrage_of_rain_sleet_snow_aggravation/

Airport reopens as winter storm begins to leave Massachusetts
By Greg Sukiennik, Associated Press Writer March 9, 2005
BOSTON -- Massachusetts residents shoveled out from the latest storm of a long, snowy winter on Wednesday, as icy snow and a chilly blast of wind resulted in power outages, dangerous wind chill and whiteout conditions that shut down Logan International Airport.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/03/09/winter_storm_hits_massachusetts_closes_airport/

Death of boy, 4, considered an accident, pending autopsy
By Patricia Wen and John Ellement, Globe Staff March 9, 2005
Four relatives of Dontel Jeffers, determined to find out for themselves how the 4-year-old boy could have died this week, showed up at the state medical examiner's office on Albany Street in Roxbury yesterday in the cold rain.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/03/09/death_of_boy_4_considered_an_accident_pending_autopsy/

Complication means more Clinton surgery
By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff March 9, 2005
Former president Bill Clinton is scheduled to undergo surgery tomorrow in New York to repair a rare complication stemming from his open heart operation six months ago, doctors said.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/03/09/complication_means_more_clinton_surgery/

Syria's backers hold huge rally in Beirut
By Scott Wilson, Washington Post March 9, 2005
BEIRUT -- In the largest demonstration of Lebanon's weeks-old political upheaval, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese celebrated Syria's long military presence here yesterday and cheered as the influential leader of a militant Islamic party warned the United States and the opposition movement it supports to cease disrupting the country's volatile political system.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/03/09/syrias_backers_hold_huge_rally_in_beirut/

Broward approves, Miami-Dade rejects slot machines
Broward County voters approved slot machines at parimutuel facilities, but Miami-Dade voters said no. A last-minute anti-slot campaign led by Gov. Jeb Bush was cited as the difference in Dade.
BY JACK DOLAN AND ERIKA BOLSTAD
jdolan@herald.com
Racetrack and jai-alai fronton owners got a split decision from South Florida voters Tuesday on whether they can install Vegas-style slot machines.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11086031.htm

Senate GOP gain victory on abortion vote
By DAVID ESPO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Abortion rights forces lost their first test of the new Congress on Tuesday, a skirmish over the rights of violent protesters in bankruptcy court, in a vote that reflected last fall's election results and portended fiercer battles ahead.
"Clearly, with the freshman class that came in this year you gained a number of pro-life votes," said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, one of seven conservative Republicans who won their seats last fall. "I think the culture of the Senate has changed on that issue to the right."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11079420.htm

Schiavo battle reaches Congress
Days before the feeding tube of Terri Schiavo is scheduled to be removed, those trying to keep her alive turned to courts and politicians for help.
BY PABLO BACHELET AND GARY FINEOUT
pbachelet@herald.com
WASHINGTON - As the time for the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube looms ever closer, a battle to try to keep the brain-damaged woman alive is being fought simultaneously in the courts, the Florida Legislature and, as of Tuesday, Congress.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11085640.htm

St. Helens blows again
Ashfall seen in Yakima
By
CHRISTINE FREY AND ATHIMA CHANSANCHAI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
Mount St. Helens spewed a gray plume of ash miles into the air yesterday, surprising scientists and enthralling onlookers with its largest show of force in months.
The eruption, which began at 5:25 p.m., lasted about 30 minutes and sent a billowing cloud about 36,000 feet into the air.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/215168_sthelens09.html

Drought here may be worst since 1992
Scientists fear dry winter may be glimpse into Northwest's future
By
TOM PAULSON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
This winter's extraordinary warm weather and low snowpack could produce the kind of drought not seen here since 1992, when wildfires burned hundreds of thousands of acres throughout the West while Puget Sound-area residents faced mandatory water rationing, experts say.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/215151_drought09.html

Court hears arguments on same-sex marriage
By
TRACY JOHNSON AND CLAUDIA ROWE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
OLYMPIA -- Outside the state Supreme Court, thousands came to rally for fairness, equality and loving commitments, or to discuss what kinds of relationships are best for raising children and honoring God.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/215170_gaymarriage09.html

E-mails sent at work anything but private
That's one big lesson in Boeing CEO case
By
DAN RICHMAN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Two rules emerge from Sunday's firing of Boeing Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher, an ouster that occurred after a tipster told company officials the CEO was having an extramarital affair with a co-worker.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/215147_email09.html

Oldest lowland gorilla in captivity dies
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ERIE, Pa. -- A gorilla believed to be the longest living of its kind in captivity has died of old age. He was 49.
Rudy died in his sleep Tuesday at the Erie Zoo, said zoo spokesman Scott Mitchell.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=BRF%20Gorilla%20Dies

Food poisoning kills 25 Philippine kids
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MANILA, Philippines -- At least 25 children died from food poisoning after eating a snack at school Wednesday in the southern Philippines, officials said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Philippines%20Mass%20Poisoning

Fire on kindergarten bus in China kills 12
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING -- A fire on a kindergarten bus in eastern China has killed 12 children and injured at least five others, the government said Wednesday.
The fire broke out late Tuesday afternoon while the bus was delivering the children to their homes in Linyi, a city in eastern China's Shandong province, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=China%20Kindergarten%20Bus%20Fire

Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa to resign
By HELEN LUK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa waves as he leaves Hong Kong government headquarter Wednesday March. 9, 2005. Several major newspapers quoted unidentified sources as saying that Tung would announce his resignation Thursday before he flies to Beijing to take over a new post on an elite advisory group to the Chinese legislature. Tung has led Hong Kong since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule nearly eight years ago. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
HONG KONG -- Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa plans to announce that he's resigning Thursday afternoon, a move that would end seven years of rocky rule, an official said Wednesday.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Hong%20Kong%20Tung

House budget limits Bush tax cuts
By ALAN FRAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- House Republicans want to cut taxes, trim spending and lower record deficits slightly over the next few years but are sidestepping some details about how they would do it.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1153&slug=Budget

35 corpses found shot, beheaded in Iraq
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
QAIM, Iraq -- Police said Wednesday they have found a total of 35 bodies - some shot and some beheaded - in two different places in Iraq.
Twenty corpses were found late Tuesday near Rumana, a village about 12 miles east of the western city of Qaim, near the Syrian border, police Capt. Muzahim al-Karbouli said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iraq%20Bodies

20 bodies shot to death found in west Iraq
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Police said Wednesday they have found 20 bullet-riddled bodies, all dressed in civilian clothing, near a village in Iraq's western border with Syria.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iraq%20Bodies%20Found

Zanzibar police arrest opposition members
By ALI SULTAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ZANZIBAR, Tanzania -- Zanzibari police launched an early morning and reportedly brutal raid on the homes of government opponents, arresting 18 as tensions heated up ahead of elections.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=Zanzibar

AP: Africa report provides map to recovery
By ED JOHNSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair's commission on Africa has come up with a road map to recovery for the continent, but countries must now cooperate and focus on priorities if the project is to succeed, the only American member of the task force said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=Africa%20Commission

UN: Over 350,000 Africa refugees back home
By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
GENEVA -- More than 350,000 African refugees were able to return to their homelands in 2004, but some 4 million remain in limbo because of sustained conflicts on the continent, the U.N. refugee agency said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=Africa%20Refugees

Annan pushes Security Council on Sudan
By NICK WADHAMS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Jan Egeland of Norway, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, in Khartoum Monday, March 7, 2005 where he said mass rape and sexual abuse continue in Darfur despite the noticeable improvement in the humanitarian situation in the region. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)
UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday urged the Security Council to move faster to confront the crisis in Sudan, as the world body's humanitarian chief said women and girls in the conflict-plagued Darfur region are suffering from an increasing wave of rapes.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=UN%20Sudan

Australia won't deport 104-year-old woman
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MELBOURNE, Australia -- A 104-year-old Chinese woman will not be deported from Australia despite immigration officials' decision to refuse her a permanent visa, the Australian government announced Wednesday.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apaa_story.asp?category=1106&slug=Australia%20Centenarian%20Deportation


Data Is Lacking on Iran's Arms, U.S. Panel Says
By
DOUGLAS JEHL and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: March 9, 2005

WASHINGTON, March 8 - A commission due to report to President Bush this month will describe American intelligence on Iran as inadequate to allow firm judgments about Iran's weapons programs, according to people who have been briefed on the panel's work.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/09/international/09weapons.html?hp&ex=1110430800&en=48649e4ca2d8893d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Donations Are Tied to House Leader
By
PHILIP SHENON
Published: March 9, 2005

WASHINGTON, March 8 - Documents subpoenaed from an indicted fund-raiser for Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, suggest that Mr. DeLay was more actively involved than previously known in gathering corporate donations for a political committee that is the focus of a grand-jury investigation in Texas, his home state.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/09/politics/09delay.html?hp&ex=1110430800&en=831e38eda29cc75a&ei=5094&partner=homepage


Journalism at Risk

Reluctant Rather Is Set to Sign Off
After Bush report fiasco, the TV anchor's messy exit epitomizes larger problems at CBS News.
By Scott Collins, Times Staff Writer
After months at the center of a media storm and years as one of the most polarizing figures on the American news scene, Dan Rather will sign off this week as anchor of "CBS Evening News." But to paraphrase one of his homespun Rather-isms, don't bet the trailer money that he'll disappear.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rather7mar07,0,1820461.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Why was Giuliana Sgrena's car attacked by U.S. forces?
BAGHAD (Aljazeera) - Ever since the kidnappings and beheadings of non-military personnel in Iraq began nearly 2 years ago, many observers and analysts have asked why the Iraqi resistance fighters would commit these crimes, knowing they would turn world opinion against them.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=3/8/2005&Cat=4&Num=004

Giuliana Sgrena: 'Voice of weakest'

Sgrena has tried to be the voice of the poor
Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena never thought she would be taken hostage telling the story of the people she deeply cared for.
A toughened war correspondent, her reports filter the impact of conflict through the lives of ordinary people - precisely what she was doing in Baghdad on 4 February when she was seized by gunmen.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4321173.stm

Authorities suspend licence of jailed journalists' lawyer
Country/Topic: China
Date: 01 March 2005
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Person(s): Shi Tao, Zhang Lin, Huang Jinqiu
Target(s): journalist(s) , web dissident(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): imprisoned
Urgency: Threat
(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a CPJ press release:
CHINA: Authorities suspend license of lawyer for jailed journalists
New York, March 1, 2005 - Authorities in Shanghai have suspended the law license of Guo Guoting, defense attorney for three jailed journalists as well as a number of other dissidents and members of the Falun Gong religious sect. The suspension throws into question the defense of imprisoned writers Shi Tao, Zhang Lin and Huang Jinqiu.

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/65030/

Michael Moore Today

Interesting picture of George there, Mike. "PULL!" The sort of thing he enjoys, political pull.

Terror Suspects Buy Guns in States... Legally

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Terror Suspects Buying Firearms, U.S. Report Finds
By Eric Lichtblau /
New York Times
Dozens of terror suspects on federal watch lists were allowed to buy firearms legally in the United States last year, according to a Congressional investigation that points up major vulnerabilities in federal gun laws.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1723

Why is George Protecting Terrorists' 2nd Amendment Rights? An excerpt from 'Dude, Where's My Country'
[The following excerpt is from Chapter 1: '7 Questions for George of Arabia']
Question #5: Why are you protecting the “Second Amendment rights” of potential terrorists?
Mr. Bush, in the days after September 11, the FBI began running a check to see if any of the 186 “suspects” the feds had rounded up in the first five days after the attack had purchased any guns in the months leading up to September 11. Using the instant background check files for gun purchases created under the Brady Bill, the FBI immediately found two of the suspects had indeed purchased weapons.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1724

Struggling to boost numbers, Army recruits more dropouts
By Tom Bowman /
Baltimore Sun
WASHINGTON - Struggling to boost its ranks, the U.S. Army is recruiting a higher number of high school dropouts and recruits who score in the lowest category on military aptitude tests, raising concerns among senior officers and defense analysts that the quality of the force will suffer.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1730

continued...