THE PRESSURE TO SELF CENSOR !!!
Stones target "hypocrite" patriots in new song
Wed Aug 10, 2005 2:37 AM BST
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones, not exactly a band at the forefront of rock 'n' roll activism, are taking aim at the American right with a new song on their upcoming album, according to Newsweek magazine.
The track, "Sweet Neo Con," boasts the line, "You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite/You call yourself a patriot, well I think you're full of s---," according to the weekly newsmagazine.
"It is direct," singer Mick Jagger was quoted as saying, adding that his collaborator, Keith Richards, was "a bit worried" about a backlash because the guitarist lives in the United States and Jagger does not.
"Sweet Neo Con" is one of 16 tracks featured on the Stones' new album, "A Bigger Bang," which comes out in the United States on September 6, and a day earlier internationally. It was not featured on a 12-track advance CD circulated to critics. The group's publicist was traveling and not able to confirm the quoted lyrics or provide the complete lyrics.
The band is currently rehearsing in Toronto ahead of a world tour that begins on August 21 in Boston.
In their 43-year career, the Stones have observed political developments in songs like 1968's "Street Fighting Man," but have generally avoided taking sides. Notable exceptions included the 1983 single "Undercover (of the Night)," about civil rights abuse in Latin America, and 1991's Gulf War-related track "Highwire."
Reuters/VNU
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2005-08-10T013740Z_01_FOR005852_RTRUKOC_0_MUSIC-STONES.xml
The Settle Post Inteligencer
New suspect in slaying of girls
Man allegedly admits Seattle killings to FBI
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Joseph Edward Duncan III -- a convicted sex offender suspected in a killing and abduction spree in Idaho that left two adults and two children dead -- has told FBI agents that he also killed two little girls in Seattle in 1996.
The confession came last month after Duncan was arrested on suspicion that he killed an Idaho woman, Brenda Groene, her 13-year-old son and her boyfriend in May, according to a federal criminal justice source.
The case attracted national attention as police and federal agents fanned out across Idaho in search of Shasta Groene, 8, and her brother Dylan, 9, who were kidnapped at the time of the slayings.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/235952_duncan10.html
Gas tax foes are fighting back
Group seeks reversal of judge's disclosure ruling
By NEIL MODIE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A libertarian public-interest law firm, jumping into litigation over anti-gas-tax Initiative 912, contends that initiative opponents violated the First Amendment rights of its sponsors and two talk-radio hosts who promoted the statewide measure.
"The implications of this are astounding," Bill Maurer, executive director of the Institute for Justice Washington chapter, said yesterday. He was referring to a judge's ruling July 1 that the I-912 campaign must file campaign-finance reports disclosing KVI radio hosts John Carlson's and Kirby Wilbur's promotion of the initiative as in-kind campaign contributions.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/235936_gastax10.html
Seattleite takes tree title
A world championship with a view
By MIKE LEWIS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
It was bound to happen eventually in a city described as lousy with world-class tree-huggers.
Besting a longtime German rival, Seattle's Dan Kraus won the world championship of tree-climbing last weekend in Nashville, Tenn., adding an arborist to the list of local world title holders.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/235954_treeclimber10.html
Late wildfire season arrives in Northwest
By SHANNON DININNY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
YAKIMA -- Heavy spring and summer rains left fire managers across the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies warning that the wildfire season had only been delayed, not erased.
Now, like tardy students late for homeroom, the fires are arriving, and officials say the season could extend well into September in particularly parched areas.
All of Washington, most of Oregon and parts of Nevada and Utah were listed as critical fire danger areas for August, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/235961_wildfires10.html
State sets traps for gypsy moth arrival
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES
TUALATIN, Ore. -- Gypsy moths -- perennially unwelcome summer visitors that have defoliated entire forests along the upper East Coast -- are back in Oregon.
Agriculture Department employees have placed 19,000 gypsy moth traps around the state in an effort to stop the voracious insect in its tracks.
Gypsy moths usually reach the West Coast aboard recreational vehicles traveling from the 15 quarantine states in the Northeast.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/235996_gypsymoths10.html
Biologist says ladders won't save salmon
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES
McCALL, Idaho -- An Idaho biologist who argued for a quarter-century that fish ladders were good enough to prevent salmon from dying out now says four dams on the Snake River in Washington ought to be removed to help the endangered fish.
Don Chapman, 74, wants to get rid of the Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Lower Granite dams between the Idaho border and where the Snake River flows into the Columbia River. They produce 1,239 average megawatts of power, enough to light Seattle, and have allowed barge shipping of grain and other goods from Lewiston to Portland since they were built, starting in 1962.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/235997_dams10.html
Fire crews worried about western Montana
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MISSOULA, Mont. -- A wildfire threatening a major power line in western Montana is kicking up and firefighters might not be able to keep up with it, a fire official says.
High wind pushed the fire Tuesday afternoon, and fire boss Bob Sandman said it had the potential to run a mile or more over a 24-hour period.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Wildfires
Congressman: U.S. intel knew 9/11 plotters
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Members of the commission that uncovered the government's failures to share intelligence among agencies before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks want to know whether U.S. defense intelligence officials knew for more than a year that four of the hijackers were part of an al-Qaida cell but failed to tell law enforcement.
Lee Hamilton, co-chairman of the now-disbanded commission, said Tuesday that members of the Sept. 11 commission could issue a statement by the end of the week after reviewing claims that defense intelligence officials had identified ringleader Mohammed Atta and three other hijackers.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1153&slug=Sept%2011%20Hijackers
Families find closure as MIA remains ID'd
By MARTHA MENDOZA
AP NATIONAL WRITER
When Army Sgt. Glenn E. Miller was listed as missing in action after a fierce gun battle in Vietnam in May 1968, his girlfriend figured he had been killed - even though there was never any proof.
Thirty-seven years later, the remains of Miller, a Green Beret, and the 11 Marines who died alongside him have been identified and returned to the United States. It's the largest single group of MIAs identified since the Vietnam War, the Defense Department said Tuesday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Vietnam%20Remains
Teenager dies after cheerleading stunt
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEWKSBURY, Mass. -- A high school freshman died after she was tossed in the air during a cheerleading routine and landed chest-down in her teammates' arms, authorities said.
Ashley Burns, 14, complained of abdominal pain and had trouble breathing shortly after the stunt, police Chief Alfred P. Donovan said.
"She said she thought she had the wind knocked out of her," he said. "She was talking, but her condition worsened rapidly."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Cheerleader%20Death
FEMA covered non-hurricane funerals
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The federal emergency agency paid for hundreds of funerals last year of Floridians whose deaths had nothing to do with the four hurricanes that hit the state, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Wednesday.
One person died before the storm even struck his town, while another died a month later in another state.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Hurricane%20Aid%20Funerals
Tropical depression Irene regains strength
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI -- Tropical depression Irene regained some strength Wednesday as it followed a course toward the East Coast, raising the possibility it could eventually hit the United States as a hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said.
Irene's top sustained wind had strengthened to 35 mph, up 5 mph from earlier in the day, and it could reach tropical storm status by Thursday, meteorologists said. Tropical storms have sustained wind of at least 39 mph.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Tropical%20Weather
Flood sweeps 7-year-old girl in Ariz.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX -- A 7-year-old girl died in a flash flood that ripped her out of the grasp of a would-be rescuer as her family fled to high ground.
The body of Marissa Reyes was found early Wednesday, about 1 1/2 miles from the spot where the rushing water separated her from her family, authorities reported.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Arizona%20Floods
N.M. helicopter brought down by gunfire
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A sheriff's department helicopter that crash-landed during a burglary investigation was brought down by gunfire, authorities said.
Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White said authorities have no suspects but were working with the FBI. Investigators concluded the bullet struck a control pedal, he said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Helicopter%20Shot
Malaysian haze worsens, closes schools
By VIJAY JOSHI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- A noxious haze blamed on forest fires in Indonesia reached dangerous levels in Kuala Lumpur and nearby areas Wednesday, closing schools, halting some flights and keeping residents indoors.
Environment Minister Adenan Satem said the haze, which appeared last week, is concentrated over the Klang Valley - site of Malaysia's main city, Kuala Lumpur, the administrative capital and a sprawling residential area.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Malaysia%20Haze
Afghan bomb kills U.S. service member
By DANIEL LOVERING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
An Afghan man listens to a radio, as he looks out from the doorway of his home in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday Aug. 9, 2005. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A U.S. service member was killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, the military said Wednesday, raising to five the number of Americans killed in less than a week as violence escalates ahead of next month's parliamentary elections.
Elsewhere, an Afghan villager claimed a woman and child had died in a coalition airstrike during fighting earlier in the week.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Afghan%20Violence
Americans warned about Pakistani resort
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Americans have been warned not to travel to a resort town north of the Pakistani capital because of fears of sectarian violence, the U.S. Embassy said Wednesday.
The warning, issued Tuesday, advised Americans against traveling to Murree, 35 miles north of Islamabad.
"There is new information indicating the potential for a sectarian attack in the city of Murree during the Pakistani Independence Day period, which culminates on Aug. 14," the embassy said. The statement also advised Americans living in Murree to restrict their travel.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20US%20Warning
Forces watch for 'mule trains' along Syria
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
U.S. army soldiers from the 1st Squadron of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment search for smugglers who had been spotted by a U.S. helicopter near the village of Ber Qasm along the Iraq-Syria border, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2005. The men were eventually released. (AP Photo/Antonio Castaneda)
SINJAR, Iraq -- When U.S. soldiers reached this stretch of Iraq's border with Syria, some expected to face off against foreign fighters they thought would be crossing into the country in trucks packed with weapons.
Instead, they found caravans of mules crossing the border without their human masters, the clever tactic of smugglers in Syria who load contraband on dozens of mules or donkeys and set them free to amble down familiar paths.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iraq%20Mule%20Caravans
Egyptian chemist knew two London attackers
By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Egyptian chemist Magdy el-Nashar, speaks to journalists at his home in Cairo Tuesday, Aug.9, 2005. Authorities on Tuesday released el-Nashar who was detained for questioning following the July 7 bombings in London, saying he had been cleared of suspicion, an Interior Ministry official said. (AP Photo)
CAIRO, Egypt -- An Egyptian chemist freed Tuesday after three weeks in custody for questioning about deadly bombings in London said he casually knew two of the attackers. He called one of them "very kind and very nice."
After his release, the clean-shaven Magdy el-Nashar told reporters outside his home that he had nothing to do with the July 7 mass-transit attacks, which killed 52 people and the four bombers.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Egypt%20Chemist
Ruling party ahead so far in Ethiopia vote
By AMBER HENSHAW
ASSOCIATE PRESS WRITER
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- The ruling coalition captured a majority in parliamentary elections shadowed by fraud allegations and deadly violence, according to results released Tuesday by the National Electoral Board.
The latest round of results from the May 15 election were announced following weeks of investigations into allegations of vote rigging. National Electoral Board Chairman Kemal Bedri said that the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front won 296 seats in the 547-member body, and its allied parties won 22 seats. The total gives them more than enough seats to form Ethiopia's next government.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=Ethiopia%20Election
Cuba wants U.S. to release five agents
By VANESSA ARRINGTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Cuban Parliament speaker Ricardo Alarcon smiles during an interview, Tuesday, May 17, 2005, Havana, Cuba. Alarcon called on the U.S. government Tuesday Aug. 9, 2005 to release five Cuban men serving long terms on espionage conspiracy charges after a U.S. federal appeals court threw out their convictions and sentences. (AP Photo/Jorge Rey)
HAVANA -- Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcon called on the U.S. government to release five accused Cuban spies serving long prison terms after a U.S. federal appeals court threw out their convictions and sentences.
Alarcon applauded Tuesday's ruling that said the men's trial in Miami wasn't fair and impartial because of community prejudice and extensive media coverage. He insisted the men be liberated while awaiting a new trial.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Cuban%20Espionage
Haiti to postpone October local elections
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A U.N. peacekeeper stands guard as a resident watches during opening of a voter registration center in the slum of Bel-Air in Port-au-Prince, Haiti ,Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2005. Authorities will extend to Sept. 15 the deadline to register for the first elections since the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the U.N. envoy to Haiti said Tuesday. The partially torn poster shows Aristide. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Local elections scheduled for this fall will be postponed until after legislative and presidential elections, Haitian officials said Tuesday.
The electoral council decided to postpone the Oct. 9 local elections until late December so that the nation could better prepare for the November legislative and presidential elections, said interim Chief of Cabinet Michel Brunache.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Haiti%20Elections
Feds aren't subsidizing recommended foods
By LIBBy QUAID
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The government says half your diet should be fruits and vegetables, but it doesn't subsidize the farmers who grow them.
Instead, half of all federal agriculture subsidies go to grain farmers, whose crops feed animals for meat, milk and eggs and become cheap ingredients in processed food.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1500&slug=FIT%20Diets%20vs%20Subsidies
Scientists crack DNA code of rice
By MALCOLM RITTER
AP SCIENCE WRITER
NEW YORK -- An international team of scientists has deciphered the genetic code of rice, an advance that should speed improvements in a crop that feeds more than half the world's population.
It's the first crop plant to have its genome sequenced, which means scientists identified virtually all the 389 million chemical building blocks of its DNA. Certain sequences of these building blocks form genes, like letters spelling words.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Rice%20Genes
Australia announces China uranium talks
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia and China are negotiating an agreement to allow Australia to export uranium to China for peaceful purposes, the foreign minister said Tuesday.
Preliminary talks are already under way to secure a Chinese commitment that the uranium would be used only for electricity generation, said Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apaa_story.asp?category=1106&slug=Australia%20China%20Uranium
Transportation Bill: But it's 'our' pork
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
If he signs a $286 billion transportation bill, President Bush will keep his record intact. No matter how dubious the legislation, he has yet to veto anything.
Bush is expected to sign the bill today, even though taxpayer advocacy groups are making a list-minute appeal for a veto. It's a reasonable request.
Fueled by tax cuts, the federal deficit is out of control. People who want to repeal small gas tax increases in this state, which generally spends transportation dollars intelligently, are surprisingly tolerant of a federal highway bill that puts enormous resources into, for instance, 119 Alaskan projects.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/235883_roaded.asp
The Jordon Times
30 die in Iraq as top politicians meet
According to USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll, by record 57-34 per cent margin, most Americans believe war made US more vulnerable to terrorist attacks
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Insurgents killed at least 30 Iraqis and a US soldier as a crucial meeting of top politicians began Tuesday to hammer out a deal on the country's new constitution ahead of an August 15 deadline.
Although an intense sandstorm forced meetings to be cancelled Monday and brought further delays on Tuesday, substantive talks were held, said Kamaran Garadaji, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news1.htm
PM calls for review of laws to make them cover e-crimes
Security forces discover forgery case, arrest suspects
By Mahmoud Al Abed
AMMAN — Prime Minister Adnan Badran on Tuesday issued instructions for the formation of a committee to review legislation to cover “new types of crimes,” particularly those employing IT and high-tech.
The premier's remarks, quoted by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, were made during a visit to the Public Security Department (PSD), where he was briefed on a recently revealed forgery case categorised under “electronic crimes.”
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/homenews/homenews1.htm
IAEA meets after Iran restarts atomic work
Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA Cyrus Nasseri speaks Tuesday to journalists after the board meeting at agency's headquarters in Vienna (AFP photo by Joe Klamar)
VIENNA (Reuters) — The UN nuclear watchdog held a crisis meeting on Tuesday to try to stop Iran pursuing a nuclear programme after Tehran resumed work at a uranium plant.
As the governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) met in Vienna, Iran said UN seals were to be removed at its Isfahan facility, which could allow it to take the work a step further.
Mohammed Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said IAEA inspectors surveying developments at the plant would unseal a mothballed section by Wednesday.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news2.htm
OCCUPIED?
OCCUPIED BY WHOM?
Abbas urges order during pullout
By Omar Karmi
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday urged Palestinian lawmakers to work to ensure a smooth Israeli withdrawal from Gaza settlements, but at the same time warned against setting too much store in the withdrawal, saying the “road is still long.”
In the West Bank, Israel closed off two settlements slated for evacuation in two weeks to nonresident settlers, fearing an influx of anti-disengagement protesters. The move comes as the Israeli army hunts for nine soldiers gone AWOL, amid fears that another attack against Arab citizens of Israel could occur.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news3.htm
Palestinian January parliamentary vote set
GAZA (Reuters) — Palestinians will hold a parliamentary election in January, President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday in a sign of efforts to meet international demands for reform as a condition for eventual statehood.
“I will issue a decree that parliamentary elections will be held next January. We will pick a day but it will be in January,” he said in a speech to parliament in Gaza.
He announced the move two months after postponing a vote set for July 17, saying he needed time to resolve a dispute over proposed reforms to the electoral law. Parliament enacted a voting reform bill soon afterwards.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news4.htm
Journalists to visit tourist attractions
Programme aims to give writers fresh angles on articles and features and to help promote tourism to the country
By Ahmad Barakat
AMMAN — Local reporters next week will start visiting archaeological, historical and natural sites at the invitation of the government to get fresh angles on articles and features that would help promote tourism to the country.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/homenews/homenews3.htm
Jordanian police leave for Haiti
AMMAN (JT) — A special police contingent named Haiti 3 left Amman for the Caribbean nation to join a United Nation's peace- keeping mission operating there.
Public Security Department (PSD) Assistant Director Lt. General Ali Khaldi, who saw off the mission, urged the policemen to reflect in their performance overseas “the bright image of the PSD.”
Police sources have told The Jordan Times that the new batch is a replacement of the already existing forces stationed in the island.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/homenews/homenews4.htm
Diplomats give cautious support to junta
NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) — Western nations will support the military junta that staged a bloodless coup in Mauritania if it shows it can live up to its promise of organising democratic elections, diplomats said on Tuesday.
A 17-member military council seized power in the Islamic republic last week, ending two decades of authoritarian rule by President Maaouyia Ould Taya and promising presidential election within two years.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news5.htm
US targets 'terrorist haven'
By Catherine Fellows
BBC News
MAURITANIA — The US military has just concluded a major training operation in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert, which it describes as its biggest exercise in Africa since World War II.
Washington believes the Sahara Desert is a vast ungoverned wasteland and, hence, a haven for terrorists.
But critics say the US is exaggerating the threat and fomenting trouble.
Up to 1,000 US personnel and the armed forces of seven countries in the region took part in Flintlock 2005, a counterterrorism training operation.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news7.htm
Egypt prepares for key role in Gaza
By Alain Navarro
Agence France-Presse
CAIRO — Egypt is actively preparing for a key role in the Gaza Strip after the planned pullout of Israeli settlers this month, with the future of the territory just as important for Egypt as it is to Israel, albeit for different reasons.
With an eye on maintaining stability in Gaza as a way of shoring up its own national security, Egypt is planning a significant military deployment along its northeast border with Gaza once the pullout ends.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news6.htm
Security up at foreign embassies after threats
RIYADH (AFP) — Saudi Arabia intensified security Tuesday around foreign compounds in Riyadh after the United States, Britain and Australia warned that terror attacks may be imminent in the wealthy oil kingdom.
Britain and Australia said on Monday that terrorists were planning attacks in Saudi Arabia in the near future, a day after a US move to temporarily shut missions in the country pushed oil prices to record levels.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news9.htm
The triumph of neoconservatives in Iraq
By Abbas J. Ali
In his speech on June 28, President George W. Bush accurately characterised the situation in Iraq as “horrifying, and the suffering is real.” Previously, Bush had described the invasion of Iraq as a “catastrophic success.” Foreign affairs analysts agree that in both cases, Bush accurately captured the reality of the Iraqi mess, but were equally surprised by his insistence on staying the course. The fear is that Iraqi hardship and bloodshed may be deepened and reversing the state of disorder is a remote possibility.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/opinion/opinion5.htm
New York Times
Hurdles for High-Tech Efforts to Track Who Crosses Borders
By ERIC LIPTON
Published: August 10, 2005
WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 - The federal government has been pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the once-obscure science called biometrics, producing some successes but also fumbles in a campaign intended to track foreigners visiting the country and the activities of some Americans.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/politics/10biometrics.html?hp
Butts in the Street? The Least of Their Problems
By MICHAEL WILSON
Published: August 10, 2005
FLINT, Mich.
Asking smokers not to flick their cigarette butts into the street or crush them on sidewalks would seem a perfectly reasonable step toward beautifying a city, an extension of the broken-windows theory that keeping up with the little things can keep a place clean and safe.
Except that here, not only are the windows broken, but the buildings are abandoned and falling apart, and some parks are so overgrown that people have been known to dump their dead dogs in the tall weeds.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/national/10flint.html?hp
Gunmen Kidnap Iraqi Interior Official
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 10, 2005
Filed at 10:28 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Gunmen kidnapped a senior Iraqi Interior Ministry official Wednesday as he drove his car in central Baghdad, police said.
The kidnapping occurred in Baghdad's Andalus Square when gunmen stopped Brig. Gen. Khudayer Abbas, who heads the administrative affairs office at the Interior Ministry.
Police Maj. Abbas Mohammed Salman said Abbas was forced into another vehicle that sped away.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Kidnapping.html
Taliban Kill Afghan Woman on Spying Charge
Published: August 10, 2005
Filed at 8:29 a.m. ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban guerrillas have executed an Afghan woman after accusing her of spying for U.S.-led forces, officials said on Wednesday.
The unidentified woman was shot dead in her house on Tuesday in the southern district of Zabul, district chief Haji Mohammad Younus said, adding Taliban fighters also kidnapped the victim's brother and father.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-afghan-taliban.html
Colombia Unearthing Plight of Its 'Disappeared'
By JUAN FORERO
Published: August 10, 2005
SAN ONOFRE, Colombia - In one of the most horrific chapters of Colombia's long civil conflict, investigators are unearthing scores of bodies from secret graves dotting this humid cattle-grazing region near the Caribbean, the victims of right-wing paramilitary groups now benefiting from generous concessions for pledging to disarm.
Panos for The New York Times
One of the graves dug up by Colombian authorities on El Palmar, a big farm outside San Onofre. The dead are believed to be militia victims.
Panos for The New York Times
Relatives of the missing in the Alto Julio district of San Onofre. Foreground, Maruja del Carmen Pestana and Apolina Julio Julio. Standing against wall, from left: Rosa Campo, Belarmina Torres and Hermenijirda Julio.
With dozens of people coming forward in recent months to complain of missing relatives, government and military officials now estimate that hundreds of poor farmers may have been killed and secretly buried in a terror campaign that began in the late 1990's.
The paramilitary groups, they say, kidnapped and killed their victims to seize land and in some cases weed out supporters of the Marxist guerrillas who have been fighting the government since the 1960's.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/international/americas/10colombia.html?hp&ex=1123732800&en=e1becb0b24394662&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Ohio Critics of G.O.P. Start Battle to Change Election Process
By DEAN E. MURPHY
Published: August 10, 2005
Critics of the Republican grip on Ohio politics filed petitions on Tuesday that seek a statewide vote on three constitutional amendments that would overturn the way elections are run and strip elected officials of their power to draw legislative districts.
The move, by the group Reform Ohio Now, is an effort to tap into sentiment across the country to remove political influence from the mechanics of elections. The movement has been sparked in part by partisan lines that are sharply reducing electoral competition in Congress and by efforts by political outsiders like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California to upend the established order.
The Ohio group is backed by so-called good-government organizations like Common Cause, though Republicans insist it is little more than a front for disgruntled Democrats frozen out of power.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/national/10ohio.html
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