History
A.D. 79 long-dormant Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash. About 20,000 people died.
1572 the slaughter of French Protestants at the hands of Catholics began in Paris.
1759 William Wilberforce, abolitionist
1814 British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the Capitol and the White House.
1854 John VanSurley deGrasse, M.D., who received his medical degree
from Bowdoin College in 1849, becomes a member of the
Massachusetts Medical Society, a first for an African American.
1854 - National Emigration Convention meets in Cleveland with one
hundred delegates. William C. Munroe of Michigan is elected
president.
1890 Duke Kahanamoku, swimmer
1896 Leon Theremin, engineer and instrument maker
1922 René Lévesque, Québec premier
1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly nonstop across the United States, traveling from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in just over 19 hours.
1936 A. S. Byatt, novelist and scholar
1937 Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola is born in Abeokuta, Nigeria.
He will a member of a very poor household of Yoruba-speaking
Muslims. He will attend the Islamic Nawar Ud-Deen School and
the Christian-run African Central School. After graduating
from the Baptist Boys' High School, he will work as a bank
clerk and a civil servant. He will go on to win a scholarship
to Glasgow University to study accounting. He will graduate
with several awards in 1965. He will return to Nigeria and
will work for major firms before launching his own company,
Radio Communications of Nigeria, in 1974. He will accumulate
great wealth in a short period of time. His business interests
will span 60 countries and include firms engaged in banking,
shipping, oil prospecting, agriculture, publishing, air
transportation, and entertainment. His Nigerian companies
alone will employ close to 20,000 workers. He will oppose
the Nigerian military dictatorship and on June 12, 1993, will
be elected president in a long awaited presidential election,
only to have the election results nullified by the country's
military leader. When Abiola announces a year later that he
is the country's legitimate leader, he will be imprisoned by
the current dictator, General Sani Abacha. After Abacha joins
the ancestors suddenly in 1998, attempts were made to free
Abiola, but he will also join the ancestors on July 7, 1998,
before his freedom becomes a reality. His death will cause
violence to occur and spur anti-government anger throughout
the country.
1940 Australian-born British pathologist Howard Florey and German-born British biochemist Ernst Chain announce in The Lancet that they have developed penicillin for general clinical use as an antibiotic.
1960 Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball player
1965 Reggie Miller is born. He will become a professional basketball
player and guard for the Indiana Pacers. He will play on the
'Dream Team' in the 1996 Olympics.
1967 Amanda Randolph joins the ancestors at the age of 65. She had
been an actress and was best known for her roles on the Danny
Thomas Show and television's Amos 'n' Andy (Mama).
1968, France became the world's fifth thermonuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.
1981, Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for slaying rock star John Lennon.
1987 Bayard Rustin, longtime civil rights activist, early Freedom
Rider, and a key organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, joins
the ancestors in New York City. A Quaker, Rustin was best known
as a civil rights advocate, first as one of the founders of the
Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), then as a key advisor to a
young Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
1989, Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti banned Pete Rose from the game for gambling.
1992, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida, causing $20 billion of property damage and killing 41 people.
Missing in Action
1965 BRUNHAVER RICHARD M. YAKIMA WA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 1998
1965 DOREMUS ROBERT H. MONTCLAIR NJ 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1965 FRANKE FRED A. BROOKLYN NY "02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV (SAN DIEGO, CA)" " ""BILL"" ALIVE AND WELL 98"
1967 ALLARD RICHARD M. CHESANING MI
1967 GOFF KENNETH B. JR. WARWICK RI
1967 HESS JAY C. FARMINGTON UT 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 HOLTZMAN RONALD L. WHITEPOINT VA
1967 SCHELL RICHARD J. MINNEISKA MN
1968 HEEP WILLIAM ARTHUR SAN PEDRO CA
1968 LADEWIG MELVIN E. ENGLEWOOD CO
1968 READ CHARLES H. JR. MIAMI FL
1969 HATCH PAUL G. 08/25/69 ESCAPED
Boston Globe
Lawmakers set Sept. 14 for gay marriage Constitutional Convention
By Glen Johnson, AP Political Writer August 24, 2005
BOSTON --State legislators voted Wednesday to meet next month for a Constitutional Convention aimed at debating for the second time a proposed amendment replacing gay marriage in Massachusetts with Vermont-style civil unions.
Members of the House and Senate have already given initial approval to the amendment, but the state constitution requires them to approve identical language in two successive sessions before the amendment can be put before state voters. That would occur in 2006.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/08/24/lawmakers_set_sept_14_for_gay_marriage_constitutional_convention/
Tighter rules planned on light-truck fuel use
Heavier vehicles to remain exempt
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff August 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- As gas prices hit record levels for the third consecutive week, the Bush administration announced plans yesterday to force automakers to increase the fuel efficiency of most sport-utility vehicles, minivans, and pickups starting in 2008 -- the first overhaul of industry standards in 30 years.
But heavier vehicles like Hummers, big pickups, and full-sized vans will continue to be exempt from the standards, and environmental groups said the new regulations will have little impact on the nation's gas usage because they will encourage companies to produce more gas-guzzlers.
http://www.boston.com/cars/articles/2005/08/24/tighter_rules_planned_on_light_truck_fuel_use/
Strong wind fans Portuguese forest fires
By Axel Bugge August 24, 2005
MIRANDA DO CORVO, Portugal (Reuters) - Portuguese forest fires flared anew on Wednesday, defying hopes that cooler weather would bring relief for one of the country's worst outbreaks of fires in decades.
Higher temperatures and rising winds reignited at least three blazes stretching over 20 km (12 miles) near Miranda do Corvo, a mountain town about 180 km (110 miles) north of the capital Lisbon, local firefighters said.
Nationwide, seven small fires were out of control, the national fire service said. Cooler foggy weather in the morning helped damp some fires, but rising winds later fanned the embers into leaping flames.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/08/24/strong_wind_fans_portuguese_forest_fires/
NIH worker pleads not guilty in threat
By Curt Anderson, Associated Press Writer August 24, 2005
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. --A National Institutes of Health employee pleaded not guilty Wednesday to allegations she made an anthrax threat against a county agency during a tax dispute.
Michelle Ledgister, 43, faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted under an anti-terrorism law making it a federal crime to falsely threaten someone with anthrax.
Ledgister works at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., as a public health program analyst, according to NIH. She does not have access to any dangerous biological agents, spokesman Don Ralbovsky said.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/24/nih_worker_pleads_not_guilty_in_threat/
Americans pay more for health insurance - study
August 24, 2005
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. workers who get health insurance coverage through their employers paid an average of 79 percent more in 2003 than they did in 1996, according to a report published on Wednesday.
And employers paid an average of 89 percent more, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found.
The agency's survey of 48,000 U.S. employers also found a steady increase in premiums in more recent years.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/24/americans_pay_more_for_health_insurance___study/
Muslim city in Russia readies for birthday
Municipal workers lay turf, with the Qol Sharif mosque in the background, in preparations for 1000th birthday of the city of Kazan of the mainly Muslim region of Tatarstan, located about 700 km (450 miles) east of Moscow, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005. (AP Photo)
By Mike Eckel, Associated Press Writer August 24, 2005
KAZAN, Russia --Streets are scrubbed. Buildings are painted. A massive stage in front of the Qol Sharif mosque and beside the mighty Volga awaits thousands of spectators -- including President Vladimir Putin -- and the attention of all the nation.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/08/24/muslim_city_in_russia_readies_for_birthday/
Taiwan withdraws budget for U.S. arms
August 24, 2005
TAIPEI, Taiwan --Taiwan's Cabinet on Wednesday withdrew a special budget for a massive U.S. weapons package, part of a political maneuver aimed at getting the opposition-controlled legislature to pass the long-delayed package.
For more than a year, the opposition Nationalist Party and its allies have used their slim legislative majority to hold up a special $15.3 billion appropriation, saying it will spark an arms race with rival China that would bankrupt Taiwan.
Included in the package are eight diesel-powered submarines, 12 anti-submarine aircraft, and six Patriot missile batteries.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/08/24/taiwan_withdraws_budget_for_us_arms/
London bomber made panicked calls to accomplices-report
August 24, 2005
LONDON (Reuters) - One of the July 7 London bombers made three "panicked" phone calls to his accomplices less than an hour before blowing himself up on a bus after his plans to bomb a train were disrupted, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Hasib Hussain, 18, had planned to detonate his rucksack bomb on an underground train, but was forced to change plans because the line he wanted to use was closed, the Evening Standard reported, citing security sources.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/08/24/london_bomber_made_panicked_calls_to_accomplices_report/
Everyday people
August 24, 2005
LISTING SAME-SEX marriages and commitment ceremonies in the traditional ''Weddings" pages of newspapers was controversial when it began a few years ago. But anyone reading about the gay couples in the newspaper cannot help but see how utterly ordinary they are -- or should be.
Wedding announcements often include smiling pictures and mini-biographies: where the couple grew up, their professions and college degrees, sometimes a bit about their parents or where they plan to take their honeymoon. In the past few weeks, The Boston Globe and The New York Times wedding pages have included a handful of gay couples who have had their weddings performed in Massachusetts or Canada, two places where gay marriage is legal. Other than tending to be slightly older than the other couples featured, there is little to distinguish the same-sex announcements from the heterosexual ones. Here is a selection:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/08/24/everyday_people/
Unwanted Pregnancy
Kersten's kind of activism
In her attempt to paint Minnesota judges as "engaged in ambitious social-engineering projects," Katherine Kersten made a revealing error in her Aug. 8 column.
She wrote, "In 1995, Minnesota's Supreme Court piled on. In Doe vs. Gomez, the state court forced the Minnesota Legislature to appropriate tax money to pay for abortions for poor women -- something federal courts have never required."
In truth, the Doe decision was based upon the Minnesota Constitution, a document for which federal courts defer to the judgment of Minnesota courts.
Kersten may disagree with the result of the Doe decision, but to criticize it without understanding the court's reasoning (or acknowledging the role of state courts in interpreting state constitutions) reveals an affinity for exactly the same sort of outcome-driven jurisprudence she pretends to criticize.
It seems that Kersten doesn't really object to judicial activism as much as she regrets that the Republican Party has not (yet) successfully funded the election of like-thinking judicial ideologues who will push for the "ambitious social-engineering projects" that she supports.
Michael Skoglund, Minneapolis.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5553985.html
Women's Excessive Work Load And Subordination
The Independent (Banjul)
August 22, 2005
Posted to the web August 23, 2005
By Fatou Badjie Ceesay
Banjul
In many societies, The Gambia included, women work more hours than men when their reproductive work and productive work are combined.
In The Gambia, women work for 16 to 18 hours a day. According to UNDP (1997): "...across a wide range of cultures and levels of economies development, women tend to specialize in unpaid reproductive or caring labour compared to men who tend to specialize in paid productive activities, and women combined paid and unpaid labour time is greater than men's." Women's reproductive roles involve domestic chores, child bearing and child rearing activities whilst their productive roles involve income-earning activities.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200508230682.html
Taking the plunge, not the pill
A survey by doctors reveals that college girls are sexually active, but unaware of emergency contraceptives
Express News Service
Chandigarh, August 23: Emergency contraceptives or the ‘‘morning after’’ pill for preventing unwanted pregnancy after an unprotected sexual intercourse, is yet to catch up in this highly literate population.
In a survey carried out by Dr Sonia Puri and Dr Anita of the Urban Health Training Centre, Sector 44, under the aegis of Director, GMCH Sector 32, Prof H M Swami, only 7.24 per cent of the college-going girl students in the sample size of 981 had a vague idea about emergency contraceptive pill (ECP) or e-pills.
BrideGroom
18-2526-3031-3536-4546-5099-50
Only 2.24 per cent knew correctly that the pills can be effectively used till 72 hours of the intercourse.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=145289
Study Finds 29-Week Fetuses Probably Feel No Pain and Need No Abortion Anesthesia
By DENISE GRADY
Published: August 24, 2005
Taking on one of the most highly charged questions in the abortion debate, a team of doctors has concluded that fetuses probably cannot feel pain in the first six months of gestation and therefore do not need anesthesia during abortions.
Their report, being published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association, is based on a review of several hundred scientific papers, and it says that nerve connections in the brain are unlikely to have developed enough for the fetus to feel pain before 29 weeks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/24/health/24fetus.html
Unwanted pregnancy spurs malpractice suit
By Bruce Gerstman
Knight Ridder
A Bay Point woman says Planned Parenthood and the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center are responsible for the costs of raising her child because they failed to keep her from getting pregnant.
In 2004, Planned Parenthood staff examined Kelly Horde, now 33, three times, and medical center staff members examined her once before she learned she was in her fifth month of pregnancy, she said in a complaint filed in Contra Costa Superior Court.
She is suing for an unspecified amount claiming negligence and medical malpractice. Horde is also alleging ``wrongful life'' -- a legal term that usually means a child should not have been born.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/12452097.htm
Co-sponsor: Bill shouldn't keep birth control from women
Associated Press
RACINE, Wis. - A co-sponsor of a bill that would protect the jobs of pharmacists who refuse to fill certain prescriptions says he may not support the measure if it would allow women to be denied birth control as critics claim.
State Rep. Robin Vos, a Republican from Caledonia, is the target of a paid advertisement that the family planning agency Planned Parenthood is running on the Web site of The Journal Times of Racine, saying Vos "wants to make it legal for pharmacists to DENY women their birth control pills ...."
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/12458962.htm
LaToyia & birth control
THE TRAGIC ending to LaToyia Figueroa's life was of her own making.
She already had one daughter by a seemingly decent boyfriend. What caused her to leave this boyfriend and hook up with this Poaches character?
Poaches already had another girl pregnant, and I guess finding out that he would have two mouths to feed, he may have decided to get rid of LaToyia.
If LaToyia wanted to sleep around, why didn't she at least take birth control? She was 24 years old, and, I hope, a little bit smart enough to know that she could get pregnant again if she didn't take the responsibility for herself and use birth control.
LaToyia told Poaches that she didn't believe in abortion. It looks like she didn't believe in birth control either. Maybe if she had prevented this pregnancy, she would have lived to see her daughter grow up.
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/12450972.htm
Daily Reproductive Health Report
In The Courts Convicted Abortion Clinic Bomber Eric Rudolph Sentenced in Atlanta Court to Four Consecutive Life Sentences Plus 120 Years
[Aug 23, 2005]
Convicted abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph on Monday in Atlanta was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences plus 120 years and ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution for three separate Atlanta-area bombings, including one at an abortion clinic, one at a gay bar and one at the 1996 Olympics, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Seymour et al., Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 8/23). Rudolph in July in Birmingham, Ala., was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole for the 1998 bombing of a Birmingham abortion clinic, which killed a police officer and critically injured a nurse. He also was ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution to the victims, although the judge acknowledged that Rudolph has no financial resources. As part of a plea deal with Department of Justice officials, Rudolph in April pleaded guilty to the four bombings that killed two people and wounded more than 120 others, saying that he committed the crimes to call attention to the U.S. government's "abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand" and other issues, such as homosexuality. Rudolph, who was captured in North Carolina in May 2003 after a five-year manhunt, had faced a possible death sentence if convicted of the Birmingham bombing (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 7/20). Rudolph in court on Monday read a statement apologizing to the victims of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta but did not say anything to the victims of the other bombings. Sixteen bombing victims or family members of victims spoke at the sentencing (Dewan, New York Times, 8/23). Rudolph likely will serve his sentences at a maximum security prison in Florence, Colo., according to U.S. Attorney David Nahmias (Copeland, USA Today, 8/23). Nahmias also said Rudolph focused on antiabortion sentiments in order to draw support and previously had concentrated on other issues (Barry, Los Angeles Times, 8/23).
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=32176
Doctors challenge abortion laws
August 24, 2005
Bloemfontein: The public's right to participate in the law-making process came under scrutiny in the Constitutional Court yesterday in a case that could also be the first challenge to the government's law-making process and which touches on issues relating to the separation of powers.
Lobby group Doctors for Life is arguing that amendments to four health laws were passed without proper participation by the public called for by the constitution.
The Bills in question are: the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill; the Sterilisation Amendment Bill; the Dental Technicians Amendment Bill; and the Traditional Health Practitioners Bill. Some have already been passed into law.
http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=283&fArticleId=2848800
Ohio Abortion Business Files Lawsuit Over Health Dept. Investigation
LifeNews.com Editor
August 23, 2005
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- An abortion business in Ohio has filed a lawsuit to stop the state's health department from conducting an investigation to determine whether it is meeting state regulations for surgical centers. The abortion facility calls the health department's desire to review medical records a "fishing expedition."
The Ohio Department of Health is seeking access to records of 224 customers at the Central Ohio Women's Center abortion business. The center is affiliated with Planned Parenthood of Central Ohio, which operates seven abortion facilities, and told the Associated Press it's not aware of any pending lawsuits against it.
http://www.lifenews.com/state1163.html
Pill access could usher a new era of choices, moral rifts
FDA will weigh over-the-counter availability of morning-after contraception
By TODD ACKERMAN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
To many women, the morning-after pill is an almost-ideal solution to the possibility of an unwanted pregnancy after unprotected sex — safe, affordable treatment that can be taken at home.
ADVERTISEMENT
Except for one thing: It's not that easy to get it the morning after.
The Food and Drug Administration is about to decide whether to make the morning-after pill available over the counter, a decision that could usher in a new era in the culture wars, revolutionizing the debate about abortion and impacting intimate decisions.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3319606
Get his view on abortion
By Thomas Allen
When I heard that in 1990 Judge John G. Roberts signed on to a memo advocating that Roe v. Wade be overruled, I thought of a phone call I received decades ago from a frightened mother. She didn't know where to turn. Her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant, and she knew her son had impregnated her. It was several years before Roe v. Wade. Abortion was illegal in Pennsylvania and around the country. At my hospital, we hadn't even established an abortion committee yet to provide services to women in life-threatening situations.
I arranged to see the young woman at my office, where I examined her and confirmed the pregnancy. Later, at the family's home, I induced an abortion, the first I ever provided.
From the early 1940s until 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided, I saw the effects of illegal abortion firsthand. Hospital wards were crowded with women with infections and blood loss caused by illegal or self-induced abortions. Many, if they didn't die from gas gangrene or something else, were permanently injured and would never be able to have children.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/12434247.htm
Abortion likely to be early test for new justice
Sunday, August 21, 2005
By Bill Cahir
Bill.Cahir@Newhouse.com
WASHINGTON -- People who oppose abortion claim the Supreme Court is divided 6 to 3 in favor of the procedure's legality. They suggest the high court would maintain a woman's right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy no matter who is confirmed to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
However, the claim that abortion rights are safe soon will be tested. The high court in its next term will hear at least one -- and possibly two -- cases of pressing concern to Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its allies.
The replacement of O'Connor, who has voted to keep abortion legal, with appeals court Judge John G. Roberts Jr., whose views are not wholly clear, may alter the face of American law.
http://www.nj.com/news/gloucester/local/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1124612173108230.xml&coll=8
The Morning After Pill - Legality vs. Morality
August 21, 2005 08:57 AM EST
The city council of Austin, TX has ruled that as of September, 1, 2005 all Walgreens pharmacies within that city must fill prescriptions for "morning after" emergency contraception pills for women who receive aid from Austin's Medical Assistance Program.
This measure is the result of the refusal by many pharmacists on moral grounds to fill prescriptions for birth control and for the "morning after" pill, which is designed to prevent (or abort) pregnancy caused by recent sexual activity. Walgreens is that city's pharmaceutical contractor.
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=7625
New York Times
9 States in Plan to Cut Emissions by Power Plants
Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times
Plants like the Ravenswood Power Station in Long Island City would be subject to an accord to cut pollution.
By ANTHONY DePALMA
Published: August 24, 2005
Officials in New York and eight other Northeastern states have come to a preliminary agreement to freeze power plant emissions at their current levels and then reduce them by 10 percent by 2020, according to a confidential draft proposal.
The cooperative action, the first of its kind in the nation, came after the Bush administration decided not to regulate the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Once a final agreement is reached, the legislatures of the nine states will have to enact it, which is considered likely.
Enforcement of emission controls could potentially result in higher energy prices in the nine states, which officials hope can be offset by subsidies and support for the development of new technology that would be paid for with the proceeds from the sale of emission allowances to the utility companies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/24/nyregion/24air.html
Panel Rejects Pentagon Plan to Close Connecticut Base
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
Published: August 24, 2005
The commission charged with assessing the Pentagon's base-closing plan voted today to keep open key naval facilities in New England, including the Navy submarine base in Groton, Conn., rejecting some elements of the Pentagon proposal to shut, consolidate and realign more than 800 military facilities in all 50 states.
The Navy submarine base in Groton, Conn., is one of the largest military installations in the New England region.
The panel, the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, also voted to close several major army bases, including Fort Monmouth, N.J., and some naval facilities but kept open or realigned others in its first day of deliberations today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/24/national/23cnd-bases.html?hp
As Israel Leaves Gaza, It Strengthens West Bank Presence
By GREG MYRE
Published: August 24, 2005
JERUSALEM, Aug. 24 - Israeli soldiers worked today to wrap up the military portion of the Gaza Strip withdrawal, and the defense minister said all but a small number of soldiers could be removed from the territory by mid-S
Security forces struggled with a settler who was resisting evacuation from the settlement of Homesh in the last phase of the Israeli pullout.
At the same time, Israeli officials confirmed that the government had issued orders to seize West Bank land to build the separation barrier around the largest Jewish settlement, Maale Adumim, and link it up to nearby Jerusalem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/24/international/middleeast/24cnd-mideast.html?hp&ex=1124942400&en=9beeec04fe17b4d3&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Insurgents Attack Baghdad Police in Gun Battles on Streets
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
and TERENCE NEILAN
Published: August 24, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 24 - Insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and hand grenades roamed the streets of western Baghdad in cars today, attacking police patrols in residential areas, an Interior Ministry official said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/24/international/middleeast/24cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1124942400&en=2afd541f34223acb&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Myanmar Junta Leader Rumored Ousted in Coup
By REUTERS
Published: August 24, 2005
Filed at 4:05 a.m. ET
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Rumors swirled in army-ruled Myanmar and neighboring Thailand on Wednesday that junta strongman Senior General Than Shwe has been removed by the powerful army commander.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-myanmar.html
The Arab News
Jordan Says Syrian Militants Behind Attack
Abdul Jalil Mustafa & Agencies
AMMAN, 24 August 2005 — Syrian militants linked to Al-Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, were behind last week’s rocket attack on US warships in the Red Sea port of Aqaba, Jordanian security officials said yesterday. Zarqawi’s Sunni Muslim group claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, in which the rockets missed their targets, but hit a warehouse and a hospital, killing a Jordanian soldier, and struck the Israeli port of Eilat.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=68943&d=24&m=8&y=2005
Iraq Bickering Could Lead to Partition: Saud
Samir Al-Saadi, Arab News
JEDDAH, 24 August 2005 — Saudi Arabia said yesterday it hoped Iraq’s draft constitution would guarantee unity and warned that confrontational disputes may lead to the partition of the state along sectarian lines.
“Saudi Arabia... hopes that the constitution will meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people in consecrating national unity and maintaining its Arab and Muslim identity,” said Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal during a news conference in Jeddah.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=68935&d=24&m=8&y=2005
Transparent Sham in Gaza
Fawaz Turki, disinherited@yahoo.com
So the wretched settlers — all 8,500 of them who had occupied 20 percent of Gaza’s choice land to build their colonies on — have pulled out, leaving a desolate landscape of rubble and garbage behind. But whatever you do, hold the celebrations, and think not of what has changed, but what has not. The settlers may have folded their tents, as it were, and headed north — for many, to settle on expropriated Palestinian land in the West Bank — but the military occupation remains very much in place, determining the economic and social future of the strip.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=68933&d=24&m=8&y=2005
Recruitment Official Denies Wage Discrimination for Maids
Mohammed Rasooldeen, Arab News
RIYADH, 24 August 2005 — The Kingdom determines wages for housemaids by their experience and not by their nationality, a senior official of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, refuting allegations of discrimination in fixing their salaries.
Waleed Al-Swaidan, chairman of the Saudi Arabian National Recruitment Committee, told Arab News that the wages of female domestic helps are fixed by their proven capabilities and not by any other criteria.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=68941&d=24&m=8&y=2005
We’ve Nothing to Do With Rising Oil Prices: Sultan
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News
JEDDAH, 24 August 2005 — Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, yesterday reaffirmed that Saudi Arabia had nothing to do with increasing oil prices in the world market and had done everything possible to lower them.
Prince Sultan also disclosed plans for creating more job opportunities for Saudi women by allowing them to work two shifts.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper Assyasah, Prince Sultan highlighted Saudi Arabia’s efforts to strengthen the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) by making a number of concessions to the member states. He also noted the efforts of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to boost the country’s progress and prosperity by carrying out new welfare projects.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=68940&d=24&m=8&y=2005
continued …
