Jerusalem Post
For a new Israeli common ground
By YEHUDA GILAD
The disengagement from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria initiated by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon exposed and exacerbated a deep schism in Israeli society. Nonetheless, if each side of this argument can employ the necessary responsibility and fairness to confront the heart of its own argument in the eye of the storm, and draw the necessary conclusions, there may be hope yet for renewed unity in Israel.
The disengagement plan sprang from the realization that the two elemental concepts touted by the Israeli right and left wing for the past few decades no longer hold water. The Left thought that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be solved in our generation through a land-for-peace deal. At the same time, the Right's conviction that the popular Palestinian uprising could be suppressed by employing just a little more force, thereby enabling Israel to continue to rule over Judea, Samaria and Gaza, was also proven incorrect.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1127874074854
Peres: Labor will "have a hard time" supporting budget
By GIL HOFFMAN, DANIEL KENNEMER AND JPOST.COM STAFF
As debate over support for this year's budget vote escalated, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres warned that if the budget remained in its current format – designed by former finance minister Benyamin Netanyahu – Labor would "have a hard time" supporting it.
Peres is expected to meet Sunday with acting Finance Minister Ehud Olmert in order to discuss possible changes to the budget prior to the opening of the upcoming Knesset session.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1128046763326
Sharon pledges to concentrate on economy, society
By DANIEL KENNEMER
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon intends to "concentrate special efforts" on the country's socio-economic issues in the coming years, he told the annual assembly of Israeli managers Thursday.
"Economic inequality in our country has been increasing for many years, and we are committed to addressing this. The government will dedicate great efforts to the struggle against poverty and to narrowing social disparities," he said, adding that "we have dedicated much funding to this in the 2006 budget."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1127987659888
Riot victims' families to sue state for compensation
By DAN IZENBERG AND JPOST STAFF
The families of 11 of the 13 protesters killed in the October 2000 riots demanded half a million shekels per family from the state.
Adi Michelin, the attorney representing the victims' families, told the Arab newspaper Kol al-Arab that the suit is based on the Or commission recommendation holding the state and the police responsible for the deaths of some of the rioters, Army Radio reported.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1127874076159
UK: Israeli offensive appropriate
By HERB KEINON
Israel's response to the recent Kassam rocket attacks on Sderot has been measured and appropriate, Kim Howells, Britain's Minister of State for the Middle East, told The Jerusalem Post, disregarding Palestinian appeals for the world to rein in the IDF.
Howells, on a three-day visit to the region, hinted in an interview Wednesday night that financial aid to the Palestinian Authority might be withheld if the PA did not seriously begin tackling the terrorism in its midst.
"The Palestinians are receiving more aid per capita than any other people on the face of the earth, and we want to see some proper response," Howells said, hinting at a decrease of economic aid if the Palestinians don't fight terror.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1127987659873
NOW. ABOUT IRAN. ISRAEL HAS NEVER BEEN KNOWN TO BE THAT DIFFICULT.
Israel: Iran may be 6 months from bomb know-how
Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:16 AM BST
By Claudia Parsons
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Iran may be as little as six months away from completing the know-how to build a nuclear bomb, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Monday.
"The question is not if they are going to hold that bomb in 2009 or 2010 or 2011, the question is when they will have the full knowledge," Shalom told a meeting of U.S. Jewish community leaders in New York.
"According to our people, security and intelligence, they are very, very close. It may be only six months before they will have that full knowledge."
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-09-20T011600Z_01_WRI004534_RTRUKOC_0_UK-NUCLEAR-IRAN-ISRAEL.xml
Who will strike first, Iran or Israel?
8/31/2005 8:12:00 AM GMT
...asked about a possible Iranian attack, Mofaz said: "We will know how to defend ourselves"
Israel and Iran traded significantly escalated threats of military attacks during recent months.
The dispute between the two states over nuclear activities has escalated, with Israeli officials threatening Iran with preemptive military strike if it didn’t give up its nuclear activities on one hand, and other officials in Tehran warning of striking back strongly if the country’s nuclear facilities were attacked on the other.
Recently, Gen.
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/review/article_full_story.asp?service_ID=9440
'Israel will act against Iran's nuke programme'
September 30, 2005 20:29 IST
If Washington and its allies do not stop Iran's nuclear programmes by force if necessary, Israel will, three Israeli legislators visiting the United States have warned.
"Israel will not live under the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb. We feel we are obliged to warn our friends that Israel should not be pushed into a situation where we see no other solution but to act unilaterally against Iran," said Yosef Lapid, head of the Shinui Party.
http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/30israel.htm
Arab states, Iran push for denunciation of Israel as nuclear threat
VIENNA (Agencies) - Arab states along with the Islamic Republic of Iran were pushing for a denunciation of Israel as a nuclear threat to the Middle East, on the final day Friday of a week-long conference of the watchdog UN atomic agency.
"This year we hope to get a little bit more," Egyptian ambassador Ramzy Ezzeldeiin Ramzy told AFP about an Arab drive to have the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) discuss "Israeli nuclear capabilities and threat," as proposed in a resolution by Oman.
According to the Mehr News agency the Iranian ambassador to Vienna stressed that Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East which the IAEA should decide about it.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=10/1/2005&Cat=4&Num=002
New York Times
Times Reporter Free From Jail; She Will Testify
By DAVID JOHNSTON
and DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: September 30, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 - Judith Miller, the reporter for The New York Times who has been jailed since July 6 for refusing to testify in the C.I.A. leak case, was released on Thursday from a Virginia detention center after she and her lawyers reached an agreement with a federal prosecutor in which she would testify before a grand jury investigating the case, the publisher and executive editor of the paper said.
Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times
Ms. Miller was freed after spending more than 12 weeks in jail.
Ms. Miller was freed after spending more than 12 weeks in jail, during which she refused to cooperate with the inquiry. Her decision to testify was made after she had obtained what she described as a waiver offered "voluntarily and personally" by a source who said she was no longer bound by any pledge of confidentiality she had made to him. Ms. Miller said the source had made clear that he genuinely wanted her to testify.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/politics/30COURT.html?hp
Chronology: Judith Miller and the C.I.A. Leak Inquiry
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: September 30, 2005
Judith Miller, the reporter for The New York Times who was released from jail on Thursday, testified today before a grand jury investigating whether or not the identity of a Central Intelligence Agency operative, Valerie Wilson, was illegally disclosed. Following is a chronology of significant dates in the investigation.
FEBRUARY 2002
Having read a Defense Intelligence Agency report suggesting that Niger had agreed to sell yellowcake uranium to Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney asks for the C.I.A.'s analysis. In response to Mr. Cheney's query - and to questions from State and Defense Departments - the C.I.A. convenes a meeting of experts, including Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador to Gabon. Mr. Wilson's wife, a C.I.A. operative, introduces him at the meeting before stepping out.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/politics/30cnd-chron.html
New Orleans Putting Together Panel to Guide Reconstruction
By GARY RIVLIN
Published: September 30, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 30 -Mayor C. Ray Nagin is expected to unveil this afternoon the 16-person commission that will advise him as this stricken city begins the long slog of renewal and reconstruction.
Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press
Mayor C. Ray Nagin addressing a ceremony today in the Algiers district of New Orleans.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Construction crews worked to repair the levee along the Industrial Canal in New Orleans, which lies on the edge of the devastated Lower Ninth Ward District.
Mr. Nagin has scheduled a news conference for 2:30 p.m. Central time inside the heavily fortified Sheraton Hotel on Canal Street, a locale thick with clean-up crews and where beefy private security personnel armed with weapons guard the single entrance that is open.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/national/nationalspecial/30cnd-orleans.html?hp
Outbreak of Violence Kills More Than a Hundred Iraqis in 2 Days
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: September 30, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 30 - A car bomb detonated today near a fruit and vegetable market in Hilla, a Shiite town south of Baghdad, killing at least eight people and wounding 41, the second strike in two days of bloodletting that has left 110 people dead.
Akram Saleh/Getty Images
A car bomb detonated near a market in southern Iraq today, killing at least eight people, the latest in a string of attacks.
The bomb was remotely detonated about 10:15 a.m., in the al-Sharia market in central Hilla and tore into a crowded area of people shopping for food. The attack was almost identical to three others that took place just 16 hours before in Balad, north of Baghdad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/international/middleeast/30cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1128139200&en=d05f8ca2e9e58ccc&ei=5094&partner=homepage>
School Bus Carrying About 50 Overturns in Bronx
By MAREK FUCHS
Published: September 30, 2005
A full-length yellow school bus with nearly 50 passengers on board overturned in the Bronx late this morning, injuring an undetermined number of children. None of the injuries were currently thought to be serious, said a New York City Fire Department spokesman, who did not know what school the students were from.
A school bus carrying about 42 children overturned on a highway in the Bronx.
It appears that all of the children were wearing seatbelts, he added, and many walked out of the tipped over bus under their own power. A car with two adults in it was also involved in the accident, which occurred near 233rd St. on the southern portion of the Major Deegan Expressway shortly after 11 a.m. The bus lay on its side near the median afterward, its back end nearly abutting the median. The cause of the accident was not yet known.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/nyregion/30cnd-bus.html?hp&ex=1128139200&en=7e0cc00c5f638f17&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Housing for Storm's Evacuees Lagging Far Behind U.S. Goals
By ERIC LIPTON and LESLIE EATON
Published: September 30, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 - After Hurricane Katrina left hundreds of thousands of people homeless, the Federal Emergency Management Agency signed contracts for more than $2 billion in temporary housing, including more than 120,000 trailers and mobile homes. But the agency has placed just 109 Louisiana families in those homes.
A month after the disaster, the federal government's temporary housing effort is stumbling.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/national/nationalspecial/30housing.html
New Jersey Chemical Leak Disrupts Morning Commute
By JOHN HOLL
Published: September 30, 2005
JERSEY CITY, Sept. 30 - A chemical leak at a swimming pool chemical plant in Kearny, N.J., this morning snarled the morning commute by closing the Pulaski Skyway and had local officials warning of potential health risks to residents with respiratory problems.
The leak occurred around 8:30 a.m. when about 1,000 pounds of trichloroisocyanuric acid, a chlorinating agent and disinfectant used in swimming pools, began to decompose sending a plume of gas into the air, said Elaine Makatura, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/nyregion/30cnd-chemical.html
Review Leads to Upheaval in Spy Satellite Programs
By DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: September 30, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 - A high-level review led by John D. Negroponte, the new intelligence director, is stirring a major upheaval within the country's spy satellite programs, beginning with an overhaul of a $15 billion program plagued by delays and cost overruns.
In a terse announcement last week, the National Reconnaissance Office, responsible for developing and launching the devices, said only that a Boeing Company contract to provide the next generation of reconnaissance satellites, known as the Future Imagery Architecture, was being "restructured."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/politics/30satellite.html
2 Teams Identify Chinese Bat as SARS Virus Hiding Place
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN
Published: September 30, 2005
The SARS virus, which has killed 774 people worldwide, has long been known to come from an animal. Now two scientific teams have independently identified the Chinese horseshoe bat as that animal and as a hiding place for the virus in nature.
The bats apparently are healthy carriers of SARS, which caused severe economic losses, particularly in Asia, as it spread to Canada and other countries. In Asia, many people eat bats or use bat feces in traditional medicine for asthma, kidney ailments and general malaise.
The Chinese horseshoe bat does not exist in the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/health/30sars.html
Teacher Says Board Effort on Evolution Was Resisted
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: September 28, 2005
HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 27 - Science teachers at the high school in Dover repeatedly resisted the school board's efforts to force them to teach creationism on equal footing with evolution in biology class, according to a former teacher who is among those challenging the board in a landmark trial.
The conflict in Dover grew so heated that in public meetings board members called opponents "atheists," threatened to fire the science teachers and invoked Jesus' crucifixion as a reason to change the curriculum, two witnesses testified on Tuesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/national/28evolution.html
Students Who Rush to Class, Then to Fires
By MAREK FUCHS
Published: September 28, 2005
CLINTON, N.Y. - When Mike Stahl was a high school senior touring some of the best liberal arts colleges in the nation, he also visited the firehouse here to ask if it accepted college students as volunteers.
At the Clinton Fire Department, just down the hill from Hamilton College, he was told he would be more than welcome. That was when Hamilton vaulted to the top of his list of colleges.
Mr. Stahl, 21, now a senior at Hamilton who can often be found doing his schoolwork in the firehouse, was named the volunteer department's most dedicated member in the spring. He answered more than 200 calls in his junior year, including fires, car accidents and false alarms in Clinton, a village that is a 15-minute drive from Utica.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/nyregion/28firefighter.html
Firehouse.com
Summary of Fires Burning in Idaho
Fire:
Go to Incident Page
Fire is % contained and is no longer receiving live updates.
http://www.wildfires.nifc.gov/idaho/index.php
Wildland Firefighters Instead Provide Hurricane Help
JOHN MILLER
Associated Press Writer
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Normally this time of year, Martin Esparza and his team of 35 wildland firefighters from up and down the California coast would be on a blaze somewhere in the West.
The crew instead has spent three weeks in New Orleans, supporting city firefighters and rescue crews who need fresh water, food and showers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
And Esparza was preparing to deploy again Monday in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita, which hit east Texas and the Louisiana coast Saturday with floods and high winds.
http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?sectionId=4&id=44863
Idaho finds small planes a big help on wildfires
State has contracted more single-engine air tankers than any other
LEWISTON (AP) -- Idaho has contracted for seven single-engine air tankers to fight wildfires this season, more than any other state and one of the reasons fire managers believe they've been able to keep a lid on big blazes this year.
"Idaho, without a doubt, has the most aggressive initial attack of any state I've been involved in," Jeff Southern, chief pilot of Evergreen Flying Service, told the Lewiston Tribune. The Rayville, La.-based company, one of several with similar names, is flying four AT-802 single-engine air tankers in Idaho this year, augmenting three other single-engine planes on contract from Canada that also drop retardant on fires.
http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2005/09/15/news_localstate/news_local_state.8.txt
Idaho finds small planes a big help on wildfires
07:55 AM MDT on Thursday, September 15, 2005
Associated Press
LEWISTON -- Idaho has contracted with more single-engine air tankers to fight wildfires this season than any other state.
Fire managers say the seven air tankers are partly the reason they've been able to keep a lid on big wildfires this year.
Jeff Southern is the chief pilot for Evergreen Flying Service.
He told the Lewiston Tribune that Idaho has the most aggressive initial attack of any state he's been involved in. Southern's company is flying four of the air tankers in Idaho this year.
Other states may hire one or two of the planes during the fire season, but they mainly rely on federally contracted large air tankers.
But Bob Burke, contracting officer for aviation with the Idaho Department of Lands, says those aging federal air tankers are being phased out.
And that makes it critical to have small tankers ready to fly on short notice.
http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-sept1505-small_tankers.5d3771b5.html
FDNY Chaplain Resigns After Remarks About 9/11 Conspiracy Theory
MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- The fire department's new Muslim chaplain abruptly resigned Friday after saying in a published interview that he believes something other than al-Qaida hijackers brought down the World Trade Center.
''It became clear to him that he would have difficulty functioning as an FDNY chaplain,'' Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta told reporters an hour before Imam Intikab Habib was to be officially sworn in. ''There has been no prior indication that he held those views.''
Habib, a 30-year-old Guyana native, told Newsday in an interview published Friday that he was skeptical of the official version of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, which killed 343 firefighters.
''I've heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone,'' he told the newspaper.
''It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours,'' he said. ''Was it 19 hijackers who brought it down, or was it a conspiracy?''
http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?sectionId=46&id=44937
New Zealand Herald
Antarctic rescuers give up on two lost in crevasse
30.09.05 10.20am
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Rescue workers on Thursday called off a 12-day search for two Argentine men whose snowmobile plunged into a deep ice crevasse in Antarctica, saying there was little hope of finding them alive.
The rescuers then shifted their efforts to trying to find two Chilean soldiers who went missing in a similar accident on Wednesday on the same Antarctic peninsula.
The two Argentines - a scientist and a naval officer - were travelling between research bases when their vehicle plummeted through snow cover into a crack at least 130 metres deep.
"The Antarctic community prioritises life, but in this case the chances of rescuing them alive are nil," said Sergio Policastro, a spokesman for Argentina's National Antarctic Board.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10347993
Birgit's NZ love affair ends in tragedy
01.10.05
By Nicola Boyes and Derek Cheng
It is easy to see why Birgit Brauer had long dreamed of visiting New Zealand. The sweeping landscape, from vibrant forests sprawling beneath mountain peaks and dropping to beautiful coastline, captivated the 28-year-old German.
With a pair of hiking boots, her packs on her back, all she needed was a ride on the open road to exploit this landscape.
Her dream ended 11 days ago under the towering redwoods in Lucy's Gully, near New Plymouth. Land wars were fought here. Lucy Stevens, the woman the gully is named after, is buried beneath its rich soil with her husband and son.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10348093
Few gains in testing for cancer at age 40
01.10.05
By Rebecca Walsh
Extending New Zealand's breast cancer screening programme to women as young as 40 is not a "good choice" based on current evidence, say a group of public health doctors.
Dr Simon Baker, a public health doctor for the National Screening Unit, said an analysis of the latest research from a major trial in Britain showed the benefits of screening women from age 40 were less than previously thought.
But he said younger women were often the focus of media publicity and studies had shown they overestimated their risk of getting breast cancer and of dying from it.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10348149
'Katrina? What about Matata?'
01.10.05
By Juliet Rowan
Matata residents say the Government has let them down by failing to provide funding to restore the small Bay of Plenty town, more than four months after it was almost destroyed by floods and landslides.
They said this week that they were being ignored while the Government handed out money to victims of overseas disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10348148
Warmer winter means trout are likely to be 'huge'
01.10.05
By Juliet Rowan
Tall tales about the trout that got away could be fewer this year.
The trout fishing season begins today and Fish & Game New Zealand says anglers are likely to hook plenty of big ones after the warm winter.
Several thousand anglers are expected to converge on the Rotorua lakes, where 20 per cent of the country's trout are caught, and this year trout numbers and size are both well above average.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10348142
'Too late' to stop river algae
01.10.05
By Anne Beston
It is almost certainly too late to eradicate the invasive algae that are threatening the South Island's world-renowned trout fisheries, says the project's leading scientist.
Cathy Kiljoy, a freshwater biologist with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, has been studying didymo since it was discovered in the Mararoa and Waiau Rivers in Southland late last year.
But the discovery of the weed, commonly known as rock snot, in the Buller River near Westport and Otago's Hawea River meant it was now widespread.
"While it was contained in one catchment there was a chance we could have done something," she said. "Once it spread into two or more, the chances of being able to eradicate it become much less."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10348076
Health guns fire on obesity front
01.10.05
By Geoff Cumming
Health agencies want the tactics used in the 30-year campaign against tobacco turned against junk food.
Groups battling obesity want the educational approach expanded with wide-ranging "environmental" initiatives.
Proposals include bans on junk-food adverts on children's TV or near schools; banning high-sugar and high-fat foods from school canteens; a better balance in TV food advertising, and maximum limits on sugar and fat content in food and drinks.
There is broad support for the Greens' call for a tax on high-sugar drinks, with the proceeds to be poured into nutrition programmes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10348158
Dolphin-for-sale hoax angers SPCA, DoC
01.10.05
By Angela Gregory
The hoax sale of a dolphin on the TradeMe website has angered the SPCA, which says it has never been inundated with so many complaints.
The "seller" from West Auckland claimed the dolphin was being kept in a domestic swimming pool after being accidentally caught in a net during a weekend fishing trip.
SPCA national chief executive Robyn McDonald said the hoax was an irresponsible attempt at self-promotion at the expense of New Zealand's international reputation as a nation that cares for animals.
She had received hundreds of concerned emails and telephone calls.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10348128
Predators are keystone species. They cannot be eliminated from an ecosystem but they can be controlled.
Great white fear prompts call to cull species
01.10.05
By Nick Squires
Jake Heron was preparing to catch the last wave of the day, in Port Lincoln, when the ocean's most feared predator struck without warning.
Erupting from the water beside him, the great white shark bit deep into his right arm and leg and knocked him off his surfboard.
"Terror is the only word I can think of to describe it," Heron, a 40-year-old lobster fisherman, said. "I was punching and kicking and screaming for help. I knew death was a distinct possibility."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10348081
French incredulous at idea of woman President
1.10.05
By John Lichfield
Michele Alliot-Marie says politics is not reserved for the boys.
If you were to put Jean-Marie Le Pen and Jacques Attali in a small room they would quarrel about almost everything.
The veteran far-right leader and the owlish former Mitterrand aide - now an all-purpose fixer and guru - come from opposite corners of the wrestling ring of French politics and life.
But the ultra-right nationalist and the socialist apparatchik do agree on one thing. Both say Segolene Royal will be the first woman to become President of the French Republic.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10348063
Oval Office out of reach for US women
1.10.05
By Jemima Lewis
The first woman President of the United States isn't even real, and she has still managed to put backs up.
Last week, America's chattering classes gathered around their television sets for the first episode of Commander-in-Chief, ABC's new political drama. It stars Geena Davis as Mackenzie Allen, a female Vice-President whose boss suddenly expires from an aneurism.
His dying wish is for Allen to resign, making way for a silver-haired, right-wing chauvinist played by Donald Sutherland, who is thought more likely to command the respect of world leaders, and especially those truculent Ay-rabs.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10348059
Army in chaos after triple car bombings
01.10.05
The United States commander in Iraq has revealed the Iraqi Army is in disarray as three car bombs killed more than 60 Iraqis and five US soldiers died in another blast.
The bombs tore through busy streets in Balad, a mixed Shiite and Sunni town north of Baghdad, killing more than 60 people and wounding dozens in the latest insurgent attack to strike Iraq.
Police sources said two went off about 10 minutes apart in the town, and targeted a busy market at dusk. A third bomb went off nearby half an hour later.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10348084
Schwarzenegger vetoes gay marriage bill
30.09.05 5.20pm
San Francisco - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in a widely expected move vetoed a bill on Thursday that would have allowed gay couples to marry.
The Republican governor had earlier this month indicated he would veto the bill passed by California's Democrat-led legislature. The bill was the first of its kind approved by a state legislature.
Schwarzenegger said he would leave the contentious issue of same-sex marriage to voters and the courts.
"I do not believe the legislature can reverse an initiative approved by the people of California," he said in a written statement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10348011
Thousands protest Indonesia fuel prices
30.09.05 8.20am
Thousands of students, truck drivers and labourers rallied across Indonesia against impending fuel price hikes, some blocking roads with burning tyres.
Police fired warning shots and beat protesters with batons after a crowd tried to storm a gas station.
The Government's decision to cut fuel subsidies could result in a 60 per cent rise in the price of petrol - from US25c per litre - diesel fuel and kerosene from Saturday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10347935
Arrests after dismembered UK girl's body found
30.09.05 12.20pm
LONDON - Two people have been arrested after the body of a dismembered teenage girl, who detectives believe was abducted, was found on a south London estate, police said on Thursday.
The body of 15-year-old Rochelle Holness was discovered after police were called to the Milford Towers estate in Catford on Wednesday.
The alarm had been raised by ambulance crew who had gone to a flat on the estate to treat a man suffering from cuts.
A man and a woman, both aged 47, were arrested by officers who then later discovered Holness' dismembered body on an open area.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10347999
US eyes get squarer
01.10.05
American television viewing climbed again last season to a record household average of eight hours, 11 minutes a day, Nielsen Media Research has found.
The latest finding challenges perceptions that Americans are watching less TV.
Nielsen said the all-time high viewing level posted for the 2004-05 television season, which ended early last month, was up nearly 3 per cent from the previous year and 12.5 per cent from a decade ago.
Moreover, the average individual watched four hours and 32 minutes of television a day last season, the highest level in 15 years. The figures include in-home viewing levels for broadcast, cable and satellite television during all parts of the day.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348112
NZ to give $5.3million for 2006 Fiji elections
30.09.05 2.00pm
Fiji's struggling electoral system will be bolstered by $5.3 million worth of New Zealand aid in a bid to ensure 2006's general election results are accurate.
New Zealand funding would be spent on training and technical support in the coming year, Aid Minister Marian Hobbs said when she announced the funding today.
A "fair, reliable and transparent" electoral system was essential to any country, she said.
"Letting all people, from all areas, have their say in a free and fair environment is the key to any election process and this funding is a good example of how New Zealand and Australia can combine their resources to support a Pacific country." she said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348008
Migrants die trying to break into Spanish enclave
30.09.05
By Emma Pinedo
MADRID - At least two African migrants died when hundreds tried to cross the razorwire barrier between Morocco and Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta yesterday -- the third such assault in as many days, officials said.
Up to 600 migrants equipped with makeshift ladders tried to scale the guarded border fence, Madrid's top official in Ceuta told Spanish state radio.
Authorities said the two killed had been either crushed in a stampede or had fallen, but gave no details. Other Spanish media quoted police sources saying six migrants had died but this could not be confirmed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10347929
Typhoon fades away after killing 71
30.09.05 6.20am
Typhoon Damrey petered out after killing at least 71 people in a week-long sweep through East Asia.
Damrey was downgraded to a tropical depression. The storm killed 36 people in Vietnam, 16 in the Philippines, 16 in southern China and three in Thailand. Landslides triggered by heavy rains have also killed 51 in Nepal.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10347931
concluding ...
