The Boston Globe
Georgia town hires goats to gobble kudzu
August 19, 2005
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. --City officials have pledged to spend up to $10,000 to bring in goats to eat kudzu, which threatens to kill trees.
Officials have identified three areas totaling about 2 acres where the goats will feast behind fencing, beginning next spring.
Council members got an update on the project Thursday.
The city is trying goats because it is believed they will be cheaper than using chemicals to fight kudzu, an ever-expanding weed considered a pest in much of the South.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/19/georgia_town_hires_goats_to_gobble_kudzu/
Nike jumps on 'real women' bandwagon -- but are they really real?
By Rukmini Callimachi, Associated Press August 18, 2005
PORTLAND, Ore. --It's no longer just rail-thin models who are showing up in fashion magazines and on billboards. Large women, or what are being called "real people," are now gracing ads of companies selling everything from tuna to cellulite cream.
Nike Inc., the world's largest maker of athletic shoes, has jumped onto the bandwagon with a campaign featuring close-ups of "big butts" and "thunder thighs."
Look closely at the text, however, and you discover that the body parts featured in the pictures belong to women who spend a lot of time working out.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/08/18/nike_jumps_on_real_women_bandwagon____but_are_they_really_real/
Vigils across state, nation back mother of dead soldier
Thousands support woman at Bush ranch
By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff August 18, 2005
With twilight and candlelight playing across solemn faces, thousands of antiwar protesters gathered at more than 50 vigils at sites from Northampton to Quincy last night, in solidarity with a mother of four from California who has camped outside President Bush's ranch in Texas for 10 days and who vows to remain until he explains why her soldier son had to die.
The number of hastily organized protests across the state and the country -- more than 50,000 registered for 1,627 vigils across the United States, the political action group Moveon.org said on its website -- showed a new depth of feeling against the war that has coalesced around Cindy Sheehan and her protest in Crawford, Texas, organizers said.
In Cambridge alone, five separate vigils were scheduled for last night. In some cases, the gatherings were intimate, no more than extended groups of friends gathering outside an apartment, but many were large and were held in public spaces.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/08/18/vigils_across_state_nation_back_mother_of_dead_soldier/
Air traffic safety questions remain
By Ian Gregor, Associated Press Writer August 18, 2005
LOS ANGELES --The U.S. is enjoying an unprecedented period of aviation safety -- there have been no major plane crashes in nearly four years, runway violations are down and so are mistakes by air traffic controllers.
But you would never guess that from the frosty relations between the controllers union and the federal government, which are in contract negotiations.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association has ratcheted up its criticisms of the Federal Aviation Administration, saying insufficient staffing and equipment failures are jeopardizing safety in the skies and on the runways.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/18/air_traffic_safety_questions_remain/
Alaskans challenge Secure Flight system in court
By Andy Sullivan August 18, 2005
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three Alaskans and one former state resident sued the U.S. Transportation Security Administration on Thursday in an effort to find out what information the agency collected about them as part of its troubled airline passenger screening program.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/18/alaskans_challenge_secure_flight_system_in_court/
Chinese farmers still wary of bird flu
By Audra Ang, Associated Press Writer August 18, 2005
CHANGJI, China --Li Zhiqiang's chicken coop stood empty for weeks after a bird flu outbreak on a neighbor's farm in June prompted officials to destroy his 2,700 chickens in an effort to contain the disease.
"A huge truck came by and our chickens were put into plastic bags, two or three in each. They were squawking so loudly," said Li, whose farm in Changji is 25 miles northwest of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region in China's remote northwest.
The government declared the outbreak under control after slaughtering thousands of birds in the area. But amid reports of a bird flu epidemic in Russia, which abuts Xinjiang to the north, Li and his neighbors worry the virus could be brought back by the wild ducks blamed for its spread.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/08/18/chinese_farmers_still_wary_of_bird_flu/
Envoy predicts tough times in Afghanistan
United States ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald E. Neumann listens to a question during a press conference at the U.S embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday Aug 18, 2005. Fighting across Afghanistan is likely to continue for a long time and will be difficult to deal with, but there are enough local and international security forces in place to safeguard landmark legislative elections next month, the new U.S. ambassador said Thursday. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
By Daniel Cooney, Associated Press Writer August 18, 2005
KABUL, Afghanistan --A reinvigorated insurgency killed two U.S. soldiers Thursday when a roadside bomb hit a military convoy protecting road workers, and the new American ambassador warned that violence by Afghan rebels would not end soon.
But the envoy, Ronald Neumann, played down fears the Taliban-led militants could prevent next month's legislative elections. "When millions of people want to go vote, they will go vote," he said at his first news conference after arriving in Kabul.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/08/18/envoy_predicts_rough_go_in_afghanistan/
Attackers fire missiles at U.S. Navy ship
The US navy vessel USS Kearsage, an amphibious assault ship, leaves the Jordanian port of Aqaba, Friday Aug. 19, 2005, after unknown attackers fired at least three missiles, killing a Jordanian sailor. The missiles were believed to have been fired from a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Aqaba, with one landing near an airport in neighbouring Israel. The Kearsage and the USS Ashland, a dock landing ship, left the port following the attack. (AP Photo/Abrahan Farajyan)
By Jamal Halaby, Associated Press Writer August 19, 2005
AMMAN, Jordan --Attackers fired at least three rockets from Jordan early Friday, with one narrowly missing a docked U.S. Navy ship and killing a Jordanian soldier. It was the most serious militant attack on the Navy since the USS Cole was bombed in 2000.
Another rocket fell close to a nearby airport in neighboring Israel, officials said. Jordanian and Israeli authorities said militants fired three Katyusha rockets from a warehouse in the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba.
A group linked to al-Qaida claimed responsibility in an Internet statement. The statement purportedly from the Abdullah Azzam Brigades could not immediately be verified.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/08/19/missile_fired_at_us_navy_ship_in_jordan/
Roberts, as Reagan aide, backed national ID card
Trove of judge's papers released
The National Archives yesterday released nearly 39,000 pages of documents involving Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. (AP Photo)
By Charlie Savage and Rick Klein, Globe Staff August 19, 2005
WASHINGTON -- As a legal aide in the Reagan administration in 1983, Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. declared that he would support creating a national identification card in order to combat ''the real threat to our social fabric posed by uncontrolled immigration," a memo released yesterday by the National Archives revealed.
In a memo that offered new insight into how he might rule on cases that test the balance between national security and civil liberties, Roberts said he ''yield[ed] to no one in the area of commitment to individual liberty against the spectre of overreaching central authority." However, he wrote, ''We already have, for all intents and purposes, a national identifier -- the Social Security number -- and making it in form what it has become in fact will not suddenly mean Constitutional protections would evaporate and you could be arbitrarily stopped on the street and asked to produce it."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/19/roberts_as_reagan_aide_backed_national_id_card/
'Stressed' gator makes Calif. lake home
Alligator wrangler Jay Young, owner of the Colorado Gator Farm and Reptile Park in Mosca, Colo., searches in a section of Machado Lake on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005, to catch what is believed to be a seven to nine foot-long alligator living in Harbor Regional Park in Los Angeles. Authorities called in the $800-a-day specialist after failing to catch the animal for nearly a week. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
August 19, 2005
LOS ANGELES --Alligator wrangler Jay Young took a break Thursday and headed back to his native Colorado after several unsuccessful attempts to catch the mysterious gator discovered in a local lake Aug. 12.
Los Angeles officials who contracted Young said they were giving the animal a breather in hopes that a more relaxed gator would be easier to catch. "The gator is stressed, and we don't want him scared or sick," Young said.
They said Young will take at least a week off before he starts stalking the reptile again.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/19/stressed_gator_makes_calif_lake_home/
Morgan Stanley expands to Russia markets
By Guy Faulconbridge August 19, 2005
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley will start trading Russian stocks, bonds and currency instruments as early as next month as top investment banks flock to the country to profit from its soaring markets.
The Wall Street bank has hired 35 new employees in Moscow and has received a license from the Russian central bank, the head of Morgan Stanley in Russia, Rair Simonyan, told Reuters on Friday.
Trading may start as early as mid-September, and Chief Executive John Mack, who recently returned to bring the bank stability after months of management turmoil and executive departures, is expected to attend the official opening in October.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/08/19/morgan_stanley_expands_to_russia_markets/
China Daily
Singapore: China-India ties to anchor new Asia century
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-08-18 16:03
Good relations between China and India will form the foundation of a "new architecture of cooperation" bringing together East, Southeast and South Asia, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said, AFP reported.
Yeo said an inaugural East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur in December that will gather the leaders of 16 countries, including China and India, is important to the emergence this new regional landscape.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/18/content_470242.htm
China, Russia start joint military exercises
(AP/Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-08-18 08:43
Russia and China launched their first-ever joint military exercises Thursday on a Chinese peninsula jutting into the Yellow Sea — an eight-day event that symbolizes the two countries' bolstered ties, the Associated Press reported.
"Peace Mission 2005" exercises include some 10,000 troops from land, sea and air forces.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/18/content_470125.htm
'Bird flu may cause global economic mayhem'
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-19 05:57
Canadian financial analysts predicted that an avian flu pandemic would have dire consequences on the global economy, its impact comparable to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
A Vietnamese poultry seller displays ducks for sale at a wholesale poultry market in Hanoi, Vietnam, August 9, 2005. [Reuters]
In a first-of-its-kind report on the financial impact of a possible pandemic, BMO Nesbitt Burns researchers warned that an outbreak could devastate the airline and hospitality industries, trigger mass foreclosures and bankruptcies, decimate insurance companies, and disrupt food chains as people switched from animal to vegetable diets all costing hundreds of billions of dollars.
"Its economic impact could be comparable, at least for a short time, to the Great Depression of the 1930s," said BMO chief economist Sherry Cooper, noting that the report, dubbed "An Investor's Guide to Avian Flu," "is not meant to be alarmist" since an avian flu pandemic is unlikely to occur anytime soon and would only last a few months.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/19/content_470388.htm
China, US near tough textiles accord
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-08-18 20:43
China and the U.S. grew closer to a deal to resolve disputes over textile exports between the heavyweight rivals, AFP reported.
A worker sews up a garment at a factory in Ningbo. The United States and China grew closer to a deal aimed at easing trade tensions between the two nations. [AFP]
Negotiators will reconvene, probably in China, by the end of August to "close a deal" aimed at easing trade tensions between the two nations, lead US negotiator David Spooner said after a two-day meeting ended in San Francisco.
"We agree on what the basic elements should be," said Spooner, special negotiator for textiles in the US Trade Representative's office.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/18/content_470263.htm
PetroChina to pay US$2.5b for overseas asset
By Wang Ying (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-18 08:39
Shareholders of the nation's largest oil and gas producer PetroChina have agreed to pay 20.7 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) for half the overseas assets of its State-owned parent, the oil major told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in a statement.
Shareholders representing 175 billion PetroChina H shares with voting rights, or 99.9 per cent of the total number of issued H shares, attended a general meeting on Tuesday.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/18/content_470120.htm
RBS may buy 10 pct. stake in Bank of China
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-18 21:15
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC announced a major move into the Chinese market Thursday, heading up a $3.1 billion investment in Bank of China that will give the British bank control of a 10 percent stake, reported the Associated Press.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/18/content_470266.htm
Oil prices cast shadow over growth prospects
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-18 05:52
The latest statistics on economic activity in July apparently defy previous concerns that deflation may soon return.
Impressive trade and investment growth figures and a comfortably low consumer price index (CPI) indicate the economy has fared quite well so far this year.
But if the economy is to remain healthy, policy-makers must pay greater attention to rising oil prices - a strain that has yet to be fully recognized.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/18/content_470073.htm
Atlanta Journal Constitution
1 dead, 4 hurt in courthouse square gunbattle
The Associated Press
Published on: 08/18/05
LUMPKIN — The police chief, a county deputy and a paramedic were wounded in a shootout in this small town's courthouse square Thursday and the suspected gunman was killed during an ensuing gunbattle, authorities said.
The police chief in a nearby town also was wounded during the pursuit of the suspect.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0805/18gunbattle.html
POWER PLAY
Mayor blows the whistle; utility holds trump card
By STACY SHELTON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/18/05
A Wednesday morning boat ride on the Chattahoochee River turned Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin into an environmental whistle-blower.
She didn't know at the time who she was blowing the whistle on, however. It turned out to be electricity giant Georgia Power Co., which enjoys special rights to strip even environmentally sensitive land. Nevertheless, the power company's executives were surprised to be at the end of the mayor's accusing finger.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/atlanta/0805/18a1river.html
The New Zealand Herald
Push for smoke-free parks
19.08.05
By Wayne Thompson
The Cancer Society is urging local authorities to copy a smoke-free parks stand made by the South Taranaki District Council.
The authority this week put up signs asking people not to smoke in council parks and playgrounds.
"It is not coming down on anyone with a big stick," said Mayor Mary Bourke. "We aren't banning smoking in parks but by encouraging people not to smoke we are recognising the dangers of smoking."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10341494
PM's motorcade drivers convicted
Crown prosecutor Tim Gresson at the beginning of the trial as (from left) Ian Howard, Simon Vincent, Alister Doonan and Clinton Vallender look on. Picture / Simon Baker
19.08.05 4.15pm UPDATE
Three drivers in Prime Minister Helen Clark's speeding motorcade were today convicted on driving charges in the Timaru District Court.
Four police officers, the Prime Minister's driver and a diplomatic protection squad officer were charged with a range of driving offences.
The charges arose out of a high speed motorcade in July last year which whisked Helen Clark from Waimate to Christchurch in time to catch a flight to a Bledisloe Cup rugby test.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10341544
Labour's plan funded by business taxpayers
Michael Cullen
19.08.05
By Brian Fallow
Three questions need to be asked of politicians promising tax relief: Where is the extra money coming from? Will it keep coming? And will it push up mortgage rates?
In the case of Labour's plan, announced yesterday, to boost the after-tax incomes of most families with children, the answers are that the extra cash is coming mainly from business taxpayers, that it probably won't keep coming indefinitely and that the changes should not spook the Reserve Bank into raising interest rates.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10341501
NZ terror laws face possible tightening
The spread of CCTV cameras matches the overseas mood of insecurity, says Assistant Commissioner Jon White. Pictures / Hawkes Bay Today
19.08.05
By Helen Tunnah
New Zealand could be faced with tough new anti-terror laws as officials eye crackdowns in Britain and Australia.
The country's top counter-terror policeman, Assistant Commissioner Jon White, said new security laws planned overseas were being monitored, with the tolerance for people who incite terror winding back since last month's London bombings.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10341481
Zimbabwe introduces controversial law reforms
19.08.05 1.00pm
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's government has presented a bill that would let authorities effectively nationalise all seized farmland and create a controversial second legislative chamber.
Nine of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's (MDC) 41 deputies earlier marched from the party's headquarters to parliament in a token protest against the proposals.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10341538
US warned on Iraq 'planning gaps'
19.08.05
The State Department warned the US military before the invasion of Iraq of "serious planning gaps" for postwar security, documents have revealed.
The February 2003 memorandum - one month before the beginning of the war - said that "a failure to address public security" would result in "serious human rights abuses".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10341465
Pakistani security forces raid Islamic school
19.08.05
Pakistani security forces raided an Islamic school allegedly being used as a recruiting centre for militants, killing one person and arresting seven.
Soldiers raided the Madrassa Abu Shoaib near Miran Shah in Waziristan near the Afghan border.
It said the school was being used "as a planning centre for attacks, recruiting and a training camp for terrorists".
Soldiers seized a large cache of arms, munition, booby traps, fuses and hand written notes on how to make explosive devices, a statement said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10341460
UN warns of growing human crisis in Somalia
19.08.05
UNITED NATIONS - Almost a million people face a shortage of food, shelter and other basics in Somalia, many more than previously thought, after a poor harvest and bouts of fighting in the lawless northeast African nation, the United Nations said.
The shortage, and the difficulty of getting relief to people driven from their homes by inter-clan fighting, threatens the recovery of the nation of 10 million people, which has been carved up into fiefdoms run by rival warlords since 1991.
The world body said it has raised less than half of the $162 ($232.82) million needed to tackle the problem, appealing for another $92 million from international donors.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10341464
Ice Age art found
19.08.05
Engravings dating back to the end of the Ice Age have been discovered at a cave in Somerset, southwest England.
The University of Bristol said three abstract squares discovered in a cave in Cheddar were from the Mesolithic Period, 10,000 years ago.
As yet, experts have not been able to determine the meaning of the engravings but say they are extremely important and one of only three examples discovered in Britain.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10341461
UN warns of growing human crisis in Somalia
19.08.05
UNITED NATIONS - Almost a million people face a shortage of food, shelter and other basics in Somalia, many more than previously thought, after a poor harvest and bouts of fighting in the lawless northeast African nation, the United Nations said.
The shortage, and the difficulty of getting relief to people driven from their homes by inter-clan fighting, threatens the recovery of the nation of 10 million people, which has been carved up into fiefdoms run by rival warlords since 1991.
The world body said it has raised less than half of the $162 ($232.82) million needed to tackle the problem, appealing for another $92 million from international donors.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10341464
New York Times
Israeli Troops Persuade, and Force, Settlers to Leave Gaza
By STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: August 17, 2005
KEREM ATZMONA, Aug. 17 - Nearly 10,000 Israeli soldiers and police officers began the forcible evacuation of the remaining Israeli citizens in Gaza today, negotiating with many and dragging others kicking and screaming from their homes.
After months of argument and political maneuvering, unarmed Israeli troops moved into carry out the will of the government to leave part of the territory Israel conquered in the 1967 war and which the Palestinians consider a part of their future state.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/17/international/middleeast/17cnd-gaza.html?hp
This is incredible to realize the double standard Bush/Cheney has for the world when he doesn't even provide immunity to his own country's press. In addition, I guarantee the countries granting immunity don't recieve it either. That is an incredible request, to have your armies free from prosecution within a foreign nation yet that nation is still responsible to the courts Bush/Cheney seek exemption.
Bush's Aid Cuts on Court Issue Roils Latin America
Luis Jaime Acosta/Reuters
Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, of the U.S., with Gen. Reynaldo Castellanos in Colombia, which exempts Americans from many criminal charges.
By JUAN FORERO
Published: August 19, 2005
BOGOTÁ, Colombia, Aug. 18 - Three years ago the Bush administration began prodding countries to shield Americans from the fledgling International Criminal Court in The Hague, which was intended to be the first permanent tribunal for prosecuting crimes like genocide.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/19/international/americas/19immunity.html
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