The Cheney Observer
Protesters demonstrate outside Halliburton's headquarters
12:09 PM CDT on Tuesday, May 17, 2005
From 11 News Staff Reports
Protesters staged a demonstration outside of Halliburton's headquarters Tuesday. They're accusing the company of war profiteering.
The group, Houston Global Awareness, said it wants to blow the whistle on the company's action, including accusations it has defrauded the people of Iraq and the American government.
http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou050517_gj_halliburton.283113a8f.html
Halliburton-owned firm gets bonuses
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — The Army said Tuesday that it had awarded an additional $72 million in bonuses to Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root for logistics support of the Iraq war.
The Army said it graded the company's performance “very good” or “excellent.”
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/11615344.htm
US Terrorism: Halliburton in Bed with Iran
by HalliburtonWatch.Org
In July 2004, Halliburton faced a criminal inquiry into its business ties with Iran.
Halliburton reported that it received a subpoena from a grand jury investigating its business ties with Iran, a nation President Bush says sponsors terrorism.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has been investigating Halliburton since 2001 to determine whether it violated the ban on U.S. companies doing business with Iran.
http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=118&contentid=2175
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING DEREGULATION: HALLIBURTON PAYOFF?
The yield of every natural gas and oil well eventually declines. Once that happens, more significant measures are needed to keep the well producing. One of the more popular — and increasingly controversial— techniques is hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracing (pronounced "fracking"). This is most commonly used to extend the life of coalbed methane wells.
Fracing involves pumping highly pressurized fluids deep underground. This cracks geologic formations and forces oil and natural gas to rise so they can be more easily extracted — thus extending the useful life of oil and gas wells. The problem is that fracing could pollute aquifers, permanently alter the patterns and integrity of local hydrogeology, and even destroy nearby private wells. The most common fluid used is made up of water and sand — but sometimes it contains methanol, oil, MTBE, diesel fuel, or other toxicants.
http://notes.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.nsf/0/c159f09b0fdbc5e386256ffe004f84b0?OpenDocument
House Protests $1.7bn Contract to Halliburton
This Day (Lagos)
April 25, 2005
Posted to the web April 25, 2005
Mike Oduniyi And Kola Ologbodiyan
Lagos/Abuja
Senate summons Shell over Bonga project
The executive and legislative arms of government may be on a fresh collision course over the recent awards of engineering contracts to US oil services company Halliburton, which was earlier recommended for ban by the House of Representatives.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200504250833.html
Halliburton: Looks to turn around overseas operations
DAVID BOGOSLAW
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Halliburton Co. said Friday that it expects results from its business that boosts production at oilwells - disappointing in the first quarter - to improve this year.
In the March quarter, revenue from the production optimization business was particularly weak in Russia due to adverse weather conditions, said Andrew Lane, Halliburton's chief operating officer.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/11465301.htm
So much for Halliburton
By Observer Viewpoint
Published: Monday, April 25, 2005
And to think, I was this close to gainful employment. Those hooded robe-wearing executives at Halliburton started recruiting me roughly two years ago upon discovering that, wonder of wonders, a Notre Dame student favors unfettered oil exploration across the world. Their weekly emails became tiresome, true, but I found myself flattered by their insistence that I join their ranks upon graduation. The allure of a seven-digit starting salary certainly had its perks, particularly when informed that I only had to keep my GPA above 2.0 in my final semester. Alas, the enterprising efforts of the Class of 2005 halted me in my capitalistic tracks when a representative asked me to sign the Senior Class Pledge of Social Responsibility.
http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/media/paper660/news/2005/04/25/Viewpoint/So.Much.For.Halliburton-935844.shtml
Pentagon OKs $1.8B Halliburton KBR Fraud
by CONSPIRACY PLANET
The Pentagon and Bush Crony Capitalist firms like Halliburton continue to reap egregious profits, while multiple billions of dollars in Iraq War fraud continue to be paid out.
The Pentagon has signed off on paying $1.8 billion to KBR (Kellogg Brown & Root), a subsidiary of the Dick Cheney connected Halliburton Co., which has been involved in numerous Iraq War frauds.
http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=118&contentid=2113
RIA Novosti
URGENT: ONE KILLED, 10 INJURED IN MINE BLAST IN KISELEVSK
MOSCOW/KEMEROVO, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - One man was killed and nine injured in the explosion in a mine in Kiselevsk (Kemerovo region), said a spokesman for the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
"Ten out of 11 miners who stayed near the epicenter of the explosion were brought to surface. They have injuries and burns. One miner was killed," the spokesman said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050518/40375650.html
UZBEKISTAN RAISES QUESTIONS WHICH NOBODY CAN ANSWER
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev) - The European and American public was shocked by the ruthless suppression of the Andizhan revolt by President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov.
And this shock in itself became an event of international life.
Most commentators did not know how to react to the situation, which cannot be described in the usual terms understandable in the societies of Europe, the U.S. and Australia.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050518/40373749.html
SUMMARY: RUSSIAN PRESIDENT MEETS PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS
MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised to provide equal access to mass media for all political forces and to raise public sector wages by 50% within three years. At his meeting with senior parliamentarians in the Kremlin on Wednesday, the President recalled that his two latest addresses to the parliament should be viewed as a single long-term program of action. "The ideas and tasks set in the address are our common program of action," he said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050518/40376251.html
RUSSIA TO DESIGN NEW BOEING AIRCRAFT
MOSCOW, May 17 (RIA Novosti) - The incomplete Boeing B-787 Dreamliner passenger plane design has been unveiled in Moscow while about 300 Russian engineers help design its components, Vremya Novostei reported.
On May 16, Boeing Russia-CIS President Sergei Kravchenko said that the company had decided to include Moscow in an extremely limited list of cities where B-787-s will be unveiled. His decision is motivated by Russia's considerable contribution to the R&D effort.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20050517/40366347.html
VIETNAM BOOSTS NUCLEAR COOPERATION WITH RUSSIA
HANOI, May 17 (RIA Novosti, Thu Huong) - The Vietnamese government views Russia as a strategic partner in the economic development of the country, including in the sphere of nuclear energy, said Vuong Huu Tan, Director of the Vietnam Nuclear Energy Institute.
The second sitting of the Vietnam-Russia coordinating committee on nuclear energy is to take place in Hanoi Tuesday. Vladimir Generalov, head of nuclear construction department of the Federal Nuclear Energy Agency (Rosatom), heads the Russian delegation.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20050517/40370460.html
PUTIN: MORALS A MUST FOR RUSSIAN SOCIETY
MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin called moral values in Russian society immutable and intransient in his annual State of the Nation address Monday.
"Russian society has always condemned immorality. In Russia, law and morals, politics and morality were traditionally recognized as close and comparable notions. In any case, their interconnection was a declared ideal," said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050425/39736770.html
RUSSIA TO SELL 100,000 KALASHNIKOV SUBMACHINE-GUNS TO VENEZUELA
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 18 (RIA Novosti, Andrei Kurguzov) - On Tuesday Venezuela and Russia signed an agreement on supplies of 100,000 Kalashnikov submachine-guns to that South-American country.The sum total of the transaction is $54 million. Russia undertook to supply to Venezuela, alongside weapons, also 2,000 handbooks, as well as spare parts and accessories for the AK submachine-guns.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20050518/40372525.html
TREATY ON RUSSIAN-ESTONIAN BORDER SIGNED IN MOSCOW
MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - The treaties on the Russian-Estonian border and maritime border delimitation in the Gulf of Narva and the Gulf of Finland were signed today in Moscow by the Russian and Estonian foreign ministers, Sergei Lavrov and Urmas Paet.
The treaties determine the present-day border running along the former administrative border between the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic with a minor adjustment "on condition of the adequate territorial compensation."
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050518/40374824.html
OIL CONFLICT IN UKRAINE: TIMOSHENKO'S PHYRRIC VICTORY
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti political commentator Yulia Yurova) - The new Ukrainian authorities cannot find a common language with Russian companies working in Ukraine.
The confrontation has grown in the past few days owing to a fuel crisis.
Relations between Ukraine's top officials and Russian companies started to become more tense after the new president, Viktor Yushchenko, spoke about the need to review the results of privatization in early spring. Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko added fuel to the flames by saying that the Ukrainian government and the Prosecutor General's Office would initiate a review of the closed criminal cases on privatization of nearly 3,000 facilities.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050518/40376245.html
RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE ELITE BOOK PUBLISHED IN MOSCOW
MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Intelligence Elite, a new documentary book about Russian intelligence officers was published in Moscow. The book's presentation took place at the press bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service on Wednesday.
"This collection is unique because it comprises stories of both military and political intelligence officers," spokesman for the Foreign Intelligence Service Boris Labusov said at the presentation.
http://en.rian.ru/society/20050518/40375191.html
WHAT THE RUSSIAN PAPERS SAY
MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti)
Politichesky Zhurnal
Putin Aide: Baltics Stifling Russia-EU Relations
Russia's relations with EU newcomers are being stifled by vengeful elite who want the new Russia to bear the burden of Soviet historical responsibility, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, presidential aide for EU policy, told the Russian weekly Politichesky Zhurnal.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050518/40374435.html
RUSSIAN JEWELRY MARKET
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Nina Kulikova.) -- Russians traditionally love jewelry, especially gold, the symbol of wealth and prosperity.
And the Russian jewelry market is booming. Wealthy Russians can increasingly often be seen at European auctions and leaving as the surprise purchasers of exclusive pieces. Western jewelers are opening boutiques in Moscow one after another and are prospering. However, mass Russian consumers are oriented to the cheaper end of the market, meaning that the Russian jewelry market today has significant potential for development.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050516/40362216.html
The New York Times
Adrift 500 Feet Under the Sea, a Minute Was an Eternity
By CHRISTOPHER DREW
Published: May 18, 2005
APRA HARBOR, Guam, May 16 - Blood was everywhere. Sailors lay sprawled across the floor, several of them unconscious, others simply dazed. Even the captain was asking, "What just happened?" All anyone knew for sure was that the nuclear-powered attack submarine had slammed head-on into something solid and very large, and that it had to get to the surface fast.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/national/18crash.html?hp
Steroid-Assisted Fastballs? Pitchers Face New Spotlight
By JERE LONGMAN
Published: May 18, 2005
Baseball's conventional wisdom holds that anabolic steroids are used by beefy sluggers and avoided by pitchers, who rely on flexibility and long, lean muscles instead of constricting bulk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/sports/baseball/18steroids.html?hp&ex=1116475200&en=85bb63db15155241&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Beijing Brushes Off U.S. Warning on Currency
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: May 18, 2005
WASHINGTON, May 18 - The Bush administration warned China on Tuesday that its currency policies were distorting world trade, and it brandished the threat of retaliation against the country's exports if Chinese leaders did not change course in the next year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/international/asia/18cnd-china.html
Registering New Influence, Iran Sends a Top Aide to Iraq
By JOHN F. BURNS
Published: May 18, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 17 - Wasting little time in registering its new influence in Iraq, Iran sent its foreign minister to Baghdad on Tuesday only 48 hours after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice became the first high-level visitor to hold talks with Iraq's new Shiite-majority government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/international/middleeast/18iraq.html>
Old Pills Finding New Medicine Cabinets
By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: May 18, 2005
As the cost of prescription drugs climbs, more of the nation's officials and consumers are weighing how to salvage at least $1 billion worth of unused drugs that are being flushed down the toilet each year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/health/18reuse.html
The Evolution of Reluctant Capitalists
By JOSH BARBANEL
Published: May 15, 2005
Will Creed and Jessica Tomb had questioned whether the deal was the best that tenants could achieve.
WEST VILLAGE HOUSES was once the ugly duckling of Greenwich Village, a huge postwar project of 42 brick walk-ups that look squat and plain among the imposing 19th-century warehouses and brownstones. The architecture is so unremarkable that the project was recently redlined out of a proposed West Village historic district.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/realestate/15cov.html
Air Force Seeks Bush's Approval for Space Weapons Programs
By TIM WEINER
Published: May 18, 2005
The Air Force, saying it must secure space to protect the nation from attack, is seeking President Bush's approval of a national-security directive that could move the United States closer to fielding offensive and defensive space weapons, according to White House and Air Force officials.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/business/18space.html?hp&ex=1116475200&en=d2e1785def9a54d0&ei=5094&partner=homepage
BBC
Explosive showdown in Senate
George Galloway had vowed to give US senators "both barrels" and after sitting - coiled - through an hour-and-half of testimony against him, he unloaded all his ammunition.
Far from displaying the forelock-tugging deference to which senators are accustomed, Mr Galloway went on the attack.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4553601.stm
Timeline: Oil-for-food scandal
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4445609.stm
Companies in 'oil-for-food scam'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4025057.stm
Analysis: Surge in Iraq violence
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4537065.stm
I think they open mouth kiss a good deal because the VOW so much.
Iran vows secure border with Iraq
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4558601.stm
Aids 'kills one in three' in SA
Almost one in three deaths in South Africa are caused by Aids making it the leading killer, according to research.
In two provinces, the figure is as high as 40%, says an unreleased report by South Africa's Medical Research Council.
Research was based on the study of death statistics for the year 2000.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4558367.stm
Louisiana's frozen ark
The electronic metal gates closed ominously behind us as we entered the exotic world of the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species, just outside New Orleans.
Our small group of journalists was escorted into a place reminiscent of the film Jurassic Park in more ways than one.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4547533.stm
UN calls for Uzbek deaths inquiry
The UN's top human rights official has called for an independent investigation into reports that Uzbek troops shot dead hundreds of protesters.
Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she was "deeply concerned" about last week's violence.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4559031.stm
How the Andijan killings unfolded
Hundreds of people are thought to have died when violence erupted in the Uzbek city of Andijan on Friday 13 May. The BBC News website has compiled this account of how events unfolded, based on media reports, eyewitnesses and official statements.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4550845.stm
The Miami Herald
Report: Many FEMA cases flawed
Spot reinspections of FEMA award claims for hurricane damage in Miami-Dade County found that more than half of inspections carried out in the county had at least one problem.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11671952.htm
Castro rallies Cubans against terror, Posada
Fidel Castro ordered thousands of people to attend a rally in Havana intended to mobilize the masses and focusing on Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles.
BY NANCY SAN MARTIN
nsanmartin@herald.com
Busloads of Cubans from across the island packed Havana's most famous seaside highway Tuesday to participate in a ''March against Terrorism'' called by Fidel Castro in what analysts called his latest attempt to rally the masses.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11672201.htm
Posada extradition issue poses major credibility challenge for U.S.
The Venezuelan government has requested that the United States extradite Cuban exile and suspected terrorist Luis Posada Carriles to face trial for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. How will the U.S. respond? How will the U.S. reconcile its hostility to the Cuban and Venezuelan governments with the war on terrorism?
Answer from Philip Peters, vice president of the Lexington Institute: Luis Posada Carriles is forcing the Bush administration to face the strict, no exceptions standard for antiterrorist action that it rightly demands of the rest of the world. ''If you harbor terrorists, you are a terrorist,'' the president has said. The administration's choices boil down to making Posada Carriles comfortable here or in a safe haven abroad, or making him face justice for terrorist crimes in which he has admitted involvement.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11672193.htm
U.S. finally says No to terror suspect
OUR OPINION: U.S. SHOULD KEEP ACCUSED BOMBER DETAINED
After accused terrorist Luis Posada Carriles made a mockery of the federal agency charged with homeland security, it finally did its job: The Department of Homeland Security arrested him yesterday. The move came weeks after he was alleged to be in Miami, after he applied for asylum and only after he held a press conference.
Until then, DHS appeared indifferent to Mr. Posada and the danger he presented. How could the United States credibly wage a global war against terror while allowing a suspected terrorist to freely roam on its soil?
Mr. Posada is accused of the 1976 bombing of a Cubana de Aviacíon passenger jet, which killed 76 people. He also claimed responsibility for a 1997 series of bombings at tourist venues in Cuba, one of which killed an Italian tourist. Mr. Posada denies involvement in the jetliner downing, but equivocated on the tourist-site bombs: ''Leave it to history,'' he told Herald reporters last week in an interview that confirmed his presence in Miami.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11672214.htm
From family's wounds springs a vision of hope
Shederica McDuffie, daughter of Arthur McDuffie, now ministers to the community that was scarred by her father's violent death.
BY ANDREA ROBINSON
arobinson@herald.com
Evangelist Shederica McDuffie stepped to the lectern at a Sunday morning worship service in Liberty City. In powerful tones, she told the small congregation how she has traded ashes for beauty -- and how Miami can, too.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11672097.htm
The New Zealand Herald
State of emergency in Bay of Plenty after flooding
18.05.05 7.45pm UPDATE
A local state of emergency has been declared in the Eastern Bay of Plenty township of Matata, prompting officials to evacuate a third of the population.
Five 41-seater buses are being used to transport around 200 people from Matata to Whakatane as the heavy rain continues to fall in the region, threatening houses and roads.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10126193
Editorial: Koran affair explodes in resentment
17.05.05
Newsweek magazine's backdown yesterday over the small story that sparked enormous consequences seemed to be the mother of all media mea culpas. As well as its readers, it had to apologise to the victims of the riots provoked by its report that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had flushed a Koran down the toilet to put pressure on Islamic prisoners.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=466&ObjectID=10125814
Crash scene like a war zone as medics searched for life
A police officer beside the disintegrated remains of the van. Picture / Amos Chapple
18.05.05 UPDATED at 6.00pm
Tourists from four countries were involved in the fatal road smash that killed eight people and left one girl critically ill in the Waikato today.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10126150
Man faces kidnap and rape charges after missing woman found
18.05.05 3.45pm
A 29-year-old Tauranga man has been charged with kidnapping, rape and assault after a missing Auckland woman was found in a car with him in Taranaki yesterday.
The man was to appear in New Plymouth District Court today.
Counties Manukau police said the 20-year-old woman from Howick was reported missing by her parents on Monday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10126186
The killed 300 at Beslan. This is not so unrealistic at this point.
Uzbek authorities deny troops killed civilians
18.05.05 1.00pm
ANDIZHAN, Uzbekistan - Uzbekistan's government said troops had killed "terrorists" not civilians to quell unrest, contradicting witnesses who said they shot hundreds of protesters, including women and children.
An Uzbek opposition party said it had compiled a list of 745 people killed. Witnesses and a human rights activist in Andizhan have put the death toll at about 500.
Uzbekistan's prosecutor general said it was 169, including three women and two children among hostages killed by rebels.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10126175
Viagra-fuelled Italian stallions seized by police
18.05.05 3.20pm
ROME - Italian police have discovered a mob-linked race track where they say horses were pumped full of Viagra and other drugs to fix races.
The illegally built and operated track, known locally as "Miss Charmet," is located on the outskirts of Naples city -- home to the Camorra, the local version of the Sicilian Mafia.
"We are able to ascertain the use of the famous (drug) Viagra to increase the performance of these horses," police commander Mario Pantano told local television.
It was not clear how Viagra affected the horses' speed.
The track and its horses, worth an estimated 5 million euros ($9 million), were seized by authorities investigating illegal doping of horses, according to local media.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10126192
UN seeks climate 'roadmap' beyond Kyoto
18.05.05 2.40pm
BONN, Germany - The world should work out a roadmap this year for extending the UN Kyoto protocol on global warming beyond 2012 even though many rich states are far from complying, the UN's climate change chief said.
"There are a number of countries ... that are far from their targets" for greenhouse gas emissions, Joke Waller-Hunter, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told Reuters during a two-day 190-nation seminar.
"We are going to need action to make sure that the targets are being met," she said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10126189
Tapu Misa: Education fails the poor, brown and disenfranchised
18.05.05
Not long ago I was invited to talk to a group of first-time principals about what schools should be like for kids. I leapt at the opportunity. What pushy parent wouldn't take the chance to tell 138 new principals how they should run their schools?
The fact that I don't have an education degree and have never taught was a minor point. I am a parent, therefore I am bound to know better.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=466&ObjectID=10126009
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