Belfast Telegraph
Policeman speaks: 'Paramilitaries rule Belfast now'
This week a policeman who has been on the frontline during the summer of street disorder spoke to the Belfast Telegraph's John Laverty, who reflects his outspoken views in this report
15 September 2005
"It pains me to say this as an Ulsterman who has sworn to protect the citizens of this country, no matter what their creed or persuasion, but the police no longer rule Belfast, the paramilitaries do."
I am currently a member of the PSNI's Tactical Support Group. Great name, that. Some people still call us MSU, or "rapid response".
You see us in Land Rovers, patrolling the streets of Belfast and beyond, every night of the week.
And you saw us at the weekend - getting pelted by bricks, bombs and bullets during some of the most vicious rioting that this country has witnessed in years.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/features/story.jsp?story=661594
Viewpoint: Order has leadership role to play
RIOT SHAME: It has a duty to show restraint and accept reality
15 September 2005
The response of the Orange leadership to three nights of riots after the re-routing of Saturday's Whiterock parade is shameful. To attempt to blame the orgy of destruction on "third class policing" rather than on the paramilitaries who led it will be an acute embarrassment to the majority of decent, law-abiding Orangemen.
They want no part of such outrageous behaviour, which goes against everything the Order should stand for. They know the criminal elements who are ready to leap on any opportunity for confrontation and they will not support the leadership's efforts to criticise the police.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=661598
£80m paid to protect potential targets of terrorists
By Michael McHugh
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
15 September 2005
ALMOST £80m has been spent by security chiefs on protecting vulnerable targets from paramilitaries since the first ceasefires.
The sum, which includes the predicted spend for this year, has been devoted to the Key Persons Protection Scheme for public figures, members of the security forces and politicians who may come under threat.
The news highlights the grip which Ulster's underworld holds on public life and follows a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request by the Belfast Telegraph.
It includes major sums allocated to protecting members of the security forces and prison officers whose details were compromised by alleged spy operations at Castle- reagh police station and Stormont.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661569
Baby escapes stoning attack
By Linda McKee
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
15 September 2005
This is the baby who was seconds from serious injury when sectarian thugs hurled a rock through the window of his south Belfast home.
Lisa Ross had just lifted her seven-month-old son, Jack, from his cot and begun climbing the stairs when the rock hurtled through the window of the house at French Park in the unionist Village area, scattering shards of glass and landing where the baby had been lying.
The gang, travelling in two cars, shouted sectarian abuse and targeted four neighbouring houses in the early hours of yesterday morning, she said.
Her other son, a five-year-old, was also left terrified by the attack.
Lisa, who suffers from Crohn's disease, said: "I never thought you would have people coming in and hurling sectarian abuse."
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661602
Missing lisa's body may be hidden in water
By Maureen Coleman
mcoleman@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
15 September 2005
THE body of murdered Bangor woman Lisa Dorrian may have been hidden in water, detectives investigating her disappearance revealed today.
The 25-year-old was last seen at a party on a caravan site in Ballyhalbert in Co Down in February this year.
Details of the police's new line of inquiry emerged as detectives prepared to make a fresh appeal for information on her disappearance on BBC1's Crimewatch show tonight.
Paramilitaries linked to the LVF have been blamed for her disappearance.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661640
Talks bid to beat the bigots
15 September 2005
A NEW initiative to combat sectarianism in the town will be debated at a Ballymena council meeting this evening.
The initiative is the brainchild of Ballymena DUP mayor Tommy Nicholl and has been shrouded in secrecy.
The mayor has stated on several occasions that he was working behind the scenes on an anti-sectarian initiative but would not be drawn on his plans.
It is believed the DUP mayor is now ready to go public about the initiative after consulting with DUP leader Ian Paisley who visited the town earlier this week to see damage caused in recent violence.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661680
Orange credibility under attack over riots
By Deborah McAleese
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
15 September 2005
THE credibility of the Orange Order was being questioned last night after its refusal to accept any responsibility for the loyalist rioting.
And calls were made for the banning of any parade or protest if organisers will not agree to accept responsibility for any consequences.
SDLP deputy leader Dr Alasdair McDonnell said the Order has thrown away its last shred of respectability.
"I believe serious consideration must be given to the banning of any parade or protest where the organisers will not accept that by bringing people out on to the streets they are fully responsible for the consequences.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661604
'Send them back to us'
Colombia 3 extradition request on way to Dublin
By David Gordon
dgordon@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
14 September 2005
By David Gordon
THE Colombian government has formally initiated an extradition request for the three Irish republicans convicted of training guerrillas in the South American country.
But it's understood that papers seeking the return of the Colombia Three have yet to be received by officials in Dublin.
The three men - Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan - reappeared in the Republic last month, having been on the run since their conviction in Bogota last year.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661501
Viewpoint: Getting to grips with the issues
SOCIAL STRATEGY: Sense of despair within loyalism must be tackled now
14 September 2005
When the dust has settled and the streets have been cleared, the people of the areas affected by loyalist rioting - and the authorities - must consider how to make the future better than the past. What fuelled the anger and how can the deep-seated problems of working-class neighbourhoods be tackled?
Unless these issues are addressed - and put right - the violence of recent days has proved that no political plan, however ingenious, will work. People feel so powerless and so isolated that they reject all attempts at restraint. Even the politicians they elected seem to have lost control.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=661516
We could watch the fiddling as Belfast burned
By Brian Walker
brian.walker@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
14 September 2005
YOU know the old cliché, that television always exaggerates violence and ignores the brighter side of life? Last Saturday, we had both in spades.
And what a surreal moment it was, cutting straight from scenes of flag-waving in the Albert Hall to burning barricades on the Albertbridge Road.
For the BBC's Last Night of the Proms, a City Hall crowd waved and applauded as Northern Ireland made its usual statement of suitably modified Britishness with yet another rendering of Danny Boy.
Literally, we were watching fiddling while Belfast burned.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=661518
Blair announces 600 Ulster jobs
By Nigel Tilson
08 September 2005
Tony Blair unveiled a huge jobs boost for Northern Ireland today.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business/story.jsp?story=660606
Telegraph owner's profits soar by 80%
By Robin Morton, Business Correspondent
rmorton@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
14 September 2005
PRE-TAX profits at Independent News & Media, owner of Belfast Telegraph Newspapers, soared by 80% in the first six months of this year.
Announcing its interim results today, the Dublin-based group said its pre-tax profit had risen from €68.3m (£45.9m) to €124.1m (£94.7m).
INM said the profit had been boosted by the successful disposal in June of its stake in iTouch, a mobile content provider, a deal which had produced a return of €100m (£67.3m).
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business/story.jsp?story=661513
Now you can perform the iPod shuffle on your mobile phone
By Geneviève Roberts
08 September 2005
Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, launched two new products aimed at taking a bigger bite of the exploding portable music and communications market.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/story.jsp?story=660598
Zara rides into province for top horse trials
By Marie Foy
mfoy@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
15 September 2005
ZARA Phillips is in the province today to take part in the Necarne Castle International Horse Trials at Irvinestown.
The accomplished horsewoman - daughter of the Princess Royal - is fresh from her showjumping success at Bleinheim last weekend when she won two gold medals.
Zara is riding in the prestigious trials on her horse, Red Baron.
She was due to take part in a dressage event this morning and in two other classes tomorrow.
At the European Eventing Championships at Blenheim, the 24-year-old won the individual showjumping title as Britain clinched a sixth consecutive team win.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661639
Walking miracle
Nine months later... frostbite amputee's remarkable recovery
By Nigel Gould, Health Correspondent
ngould@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
15 September 2005
THE Ukrainian woman who had her legs amputated after suffering frostbite sleeping rough on Ulster streets has made astonishing progress - only six months after learning how to walk again, it can be revealed today.
And in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, Oksana Sukhanova told how she was enjoying life again - and had made big plans for her future in the province including taking driving lessons and getting a job.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661637
The Washington Post
IT would seem a theme of humanity across the spectrum has open up in New Orleans. Uniquely kind society is resulting in the USA. Humanity is no longer an opinion in this country. Will it's policies of inclusion of minorities and women and the environment follow?
Strays Of Hope
For Pet Owners, Animal Shelters Offer Chance to Find Lost Friends
By Lynne Duke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 15, 2005; Page C01
GONZALES, La. Suffer the pooches, and the other abandoned creatures of the storm.
They are listless, just lethargic. Or they are scared, if quivering is any measure. And the really noisy ones are barking ferociously, like the bodacious brown pit-bull-looking thing who fixes his gaze on a visitor and snarls so intensely one can imagine him warning, "Get me outta here, or else!"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/14/AR2005091402623.html
'It Was as if All of Us Were Already Pronounced Dead'
Convention Center Left a Five-Day Legacy of Chaos and Violence
By Wil Haygood and Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 15, 2005; Page A01
NEW ORLEANS For five eternal-seeming days, as many as 20,000 people, most of them black, waited to be rescued, not just from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina but from the nightmarish place where they had sought refuge.
During that time, the moon that hovered over the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center seemed closer than anyone who could provide those inside the center with any help.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/14/AR2005091402655.html
Graphic Inside the Convention Center
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2005/09/15/CU2005091500174.html
Winter Heating Bills Set To Soar
High Fuel Prices, Low Temperatures Chill the Forecast
By Peter Behr
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, September 15, 2005; Page D01
This summer's gasoline price shock will be followed by a similarly sharp jump in winter heating bills in the Washington area, analysts are warning, and fuel bills will leap even higher if forecasts for unusually cold weather prove true.
Winter heating costs have followed in lockstep with the rise of crude oil and natural gas prices, as supplies of energy commodities strain to keep up with growing demand for fuels worldwide. Natural gas prices paid by consumers have doubled since the beginning of 2000, and the increase in heating oil costs has been almost as great.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/14/AR2005091402557.html
I believe in conversion to solar and wind in homes. However, before one goes through that process a house needs to be sealed. So, let's take a look at some sound basics that can save as much as 50% of traditional heating costs.
http://www.rmi.org/images/other/Energy/E04-11_HEB1Building.pdf
Advances cut costs, but subsidies still needed to compete
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7549531/
NOW THAT ISRAEL HAS DONE THE RIGHT THING THERE IS A HUGE GLOBAL BACKLASH OF HATE. The Israeli newspapers have become bizarre. Everyone needs to knock it off. A single front is still necessary to secure Israel from the burgeoning violence in Gaza UNLESS of course the Palestinians are attempting a 'backlash' war with Israel after sealing the border with Egypt.
Israeli vs. Israeli
On Monday, Israeli retired Maj. Gen. Doron Almog decided not to disembark from an airplane at London's Heathrow airport out of fear that he would be arrested by British authorities for war crimes allegedly committed against Palestinian civilians.
That was big news in Britain, but what has set Israeli online commentators aflame is that Daniel Machover, the London lawyer making the case against Almog, is Jewish and an Israeli citizen, and so are some of his colleagues at the law firm of Hickman & Rose.
Chaim Misgav, an Israeli lawyer writing for Yedioth Ahronoth, the country's most popular newspaper, says Machover is guilty of "treason" and that Israel should revoke his citizenship.
Machover is representing the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, an independent group based in Gaza City that opposed the Oslo peace accords. The warrant, issued by Chief London Magistrate Timothy Workman, authorized Doron's arrest on suspicion of violating the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, a criminal offense in the United Kingdom, by participating in the destruction of 59 homes in a Palestinian refugee camp in January 2002.
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/worldopinionroundup/
New Zealand Herald
Hybrid cars burst onto scene at Frankfurt show
15.09.05 1.00pm
By Michael Shields
FRANKFURT - Record fuel costs pushed hybrid cars to centre stage at the world's biggest car show this week but automakers argued over whether the rising popularity of petrol-electric vehicles was just the result of marketing hype.
Long sniffed at as a fad by European carmakers enamoured of modern diesel motors that can be just as fuel efficient, hybrids are on the ascendancy as even erstwhile sceptics fall into line and rush to offer products with an environmental halo.
"Woe to the company that ignores the customer," said Fritz Henderson, chairman of General Motors Europe, one of the seemingly few companies at the Frankfurt show not to trumpet a new hybrid offering or highlight its plans to make one.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10345670
Flotilla protest planned against Interislander
15.09.05 1.00pm
Angry Marlborough Sounds residents are planning a large-scale protest flotilla to ensure the new Interislander ferry keeps to the legal speed limit.
A spokesman for the Guardians of the Sounds lobby group, Peter Beech, said the Kaitaki, owned and operated by Toll Holdings, was deliberately flouting the 15-knot speed limit set in Tory Channel, damaging the environment and posing a danger to the public.
"We are sick and tired of being bullied and blackmailed by this bloody company," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10345691
Vaccination not linked to child's death, coroner rules
15.09.05
No connection has been found between the death of an 11-year-old Masterton schoolboy in June and his first meningococcal B vaccination (MeNZB) given 18 days before he died.
At an inquest yesterday into the death of Matthew John Campbell, Masterton coroner Jock Kershaw found that Matthew died on June 5 from an "overwhelming bacterial infection (staphylococcus aureus) with an underlying illness of influenza.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10345692
Zarqawi is trying to instill a Civil War. There is not enough al Qaeda in Iraq to do that alone. There is not enough al Qaeda worldwide to do that. As a matter of fact if all of al Qaeda worldwide had a convention they wouldn't fill the smallest Mosque. They are violent and that is what makes them appear to be huge in their presence to civilization. They do a lot of damage and cause deaths to innocent people. Bush has blown their impact out of proportion in order to invade Iraq. If al Qaeda was such a huge threat then it would have been far more prudent to FIRST 'Stay the Course' in Afghanistan. Zarqawi is trying in this first initiative to show if the opposition stays the course against the new government they can rule Iraq. This is not all insurgents or opposition fighters whichever one likes not should it be. The Sunnis have to come to realize their INNATE power is in representation through a central and regional authority and not through the violence inspired by punks from al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda's Zarqawi 'declares war' on Iraqi Shi'ites
15.09.05 1.00pm
DUBAI - Iraq's al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has declared a war on Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq in response to a US-Iraqi offensive on the rebel town of Tal Afar, according to an internet audio tape.
"Al Qaeda Organisation in Iraq ... has declared war against Shi'ites in all of Iraq," said the voice which could not be immediately verified but sounded like previous recordings attributed to Zarqawi.
"As for the government, servants of the crusaders headed by (Iraqi Prime Minister) Ibrahim Jaafari, they have declared a war on Sunnis in Tal Afar. You have begun and started the attacks and you won't see mercy from us," it added.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10345680
Roberts vows to seek consensus on US Supreme Court
15.09.05 1.00pm
By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON - US Chief Justice nominee John Roberts said if confirmed by the Senate he would seek consensus on the often bitterly divided Supreme Court and clear rulings to help guide lower courts.
Undergoing questioning for a second day by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Roberts appeared headed toward confirmation by the full Republican-led Senate to replace William Rehnquist and become the nation's 17th chief justice.
Without criticising any justices, Roberts told committee members: "I do think the chief justice has a particular obligation to try to achieve consensus consistent with everyone's individual oath to uphold the Constitution, and that would certainly be a priority for me if I were confirmed."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10345684
Chile's Pinochet loses immunity
15.09.05 1.00pm
SANTIAGO, Chile - Chile's Supreme Court has ruled former dictator Augusto Pinochet can face criminal charges related to the disappearance and murder of at least 15 leftists in a 1975 human rights case known as Operation Colombo.
It was the third human rights case in which the high court has removed Pinochet's immunity from prosecution -- a privilege of former presidents. The immunity issue must be resolved on a case-by-case basis.
Judge Jose Benquis, acting president of the court, told reporters that the court ruled 10 to six to strip Pinochet of immunity in the case.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10345682
Murder sparks Russia racism protests
15.09.05 1.20pm
ST PETERSBURG - Dozens of students have protested over rising racism in Russia after one of their classmates died following an attack they believe was racially motivated.
Epassak Rolan Franz, a 29-year-old from Congo, died on Wednesday in hospital after failing to recover from injuries he received when he was attacked on Friday.
The students gathered outside their university, holding photographs of their dead friend and showing a letter they had written to officials calling on them to pay more attention to the "rising hatred towards people of different skin colours".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10345668
Second militant gets death for Jakarta embassy blast
15.09.05
JAKARTA - An Indonesian court on Wednesday sentenced a second Islamic militant to death for involvement in last year's suicide car bomb attack outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta.
The South Jakarta court found Ahmad Hasan guilty of helping build the bomb and plot the attack with Malaysian fugitive Azahari bin Husin, a senior militant linked to al Qaeda and the alleged mastermind of the bombing that killed 10 Indonesians.
The same court on Tuesday sentenced Rois, also known as Iwan Dharmawan and the leading defendant in custody over the bombing, to death.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10345588
Police arrest 300 in Nepal democracy protest
15.09.05 5.20am
Police arrested more than 300 people - including top opposition leaders - during a 6000-strong protest in Nepal to demand the restoration of democracy.
About 30 people were also injured at the rally in Kathmandu, held despite a ban on public gatherings.
King Gyanendra assumed absolute power after sacking the elected Parliament earlier this year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10345579
Hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay grows
15.09.05 6.20am
Nearly a quarter of those held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are on hunger strike to protest against indefinite detention, with 18 being force-fed.
The protest began on August 8 and 128 prisoners have joined, a military spokesman said, adding they have demanded to be tried or released.
The prison holds about 505 prisoners and some have been held without charge or trial since 2002.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10345580
Ireland's population highest for 144 years
15.09.05 11.20am
DUBLIN - Ireland's population climbed to its highest level for 144 years in April as emigration slowed to a trickle, reversing more than a century of departures due to famine, poverty and unemployment.
The Central Statistics Office estimated on Wednesday that Ireland's total population in April 2005 stood at 4.13 million -- the highest figure since 1861 when the census of that year recorded a population of 4.4 million.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10345665
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