Rooster "Crowing"
"Okeydoke"
History …
1781 Los Angeles was founded by Spanish settlers.
1875 Whites attack Blacks at Clinton, MS to overthrow a reconstruction government.
1848 Inventor Lewis H. Latimer, an innovator in electric lighting industry, who will become the only Black member of distinguished scientists and inventors who worked with Thomas Edison, is born in Chelsea, MA.
1888 George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film camera, and registered his trademark: Kodak.
1893 English author Beatrix Potter first told the story of Peter Rabbit in a "picture letter" to Noel Moore, the son of Potter's former governess.
1908 Author Richard Wright, noted for "Native Son" and "Black Boy", is born in Natchez, MS.
1951, President Truman addressed the nation from the Japanese peace treaty conference in the first live, coast-to-coast television broadcast.
1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock.
1957, Ford Motor Co. began selling its ill-fated Edsel.
1962 Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Rummel orders the New Orleans Catholic schools to integrate.
1967, Michigan Gov. George Romney said in a TV interview he'd undergone a "brainwashing" by U.S. officials during a 1965 visit to Vietnam -- a comment that damaged Romney's bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
1971, an Alaska Airlines jet crashed near Juneau, killing 111 people.
Missing in Action
1965 BRANCH JAMES A. PARK FOREST IL SURVIVAL UNLIKELY REMAINS RET 03/92 ID'D 06/18/93
1965 JEWELL EUGENE M. TOPEKA KS CRASH EXPLODE NO PARA SEEN
1966 BLISS RONALD G. SAN DIEGO CA 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1966 MC NISH THOMAS M. NASHVILLE TN 03/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL IN 98
1966 NASMYTH JOHN H. SAN GABRIEL CA 02/18/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 SALZARULO RAYMOND P. FALLANSHEE WV NVN TOLD SUBJ BODY IN ACFT REMAINS IDENTIFIED 11
September 3rd
1966 TRUJILLO JOSEPH FELIX DEMING NM REMAINS RETURNED 11/17/92
1967 PIRKLE LOWELL ZINH REMAINS RETURNED 31 OCT 94 ID 09 JAN 96
1967 MOORE HERBERT W. JR. IMPERIAL PA
1968 FRAZIER PAUL R. MILWAUKEE WI
Haaretz
Court convicts Palestinian parliament member of crimes against Israel
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
Palestinian parliament member Husam Khader was convicted Sunday by an Israel Defense Forces court of a string of terror-related offenses against Israel.
As part of a plea bargain deal, Khader admitted to the charges which were filed against him in the Samaria military court at the Salem checkpoint.
He was convicted of working for an illegal organization, providing the means to carry out crimes and of failing to prevent criminal acts.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620824.html
Sharon says law must recognize victims of Jewish terror attacks
By Gideon Alon and Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondents
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Sunday pressed Justice Minister Tzipi Livni to move for an urgent amendment to the law on compensation of terrorist attack victims, in order to provide compensation for the Israeli Arab victims of a shooting attack by a Jewish terrorist in the northern town of Shfaram last month.
Four Israeli Arabs were killed in the attack, and dozens wounded.
At present the law recognizes only victims of terror attacks perpetrated by anti-Israel organizations as eligible for compensation by the National Insurance Institute.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620752.html
Terror threat in West Bank; IDF ordered to beef up operations
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told cabinet members Sunday that security officials have received warnings of terror attacks planned for the West Bank and that he has instructed the Israel Defense Forces to beef up its operations there.
The minister has also ordered the IDF to accelarate the construction of the West Bank separation fence, continue to thwart planned attacks and arrest suspects.
IDF troops arrested two Palestinians in the northern West Bank on Sunday after the soldiers found an IDF uniform and military equipment in a suspicious-looking vehicle, Israel Radio reported.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620787.html
Israel sending experts to U.S. to offer hurricane relief aid
By Haaretz Service
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, announcing that a delegation of government experts would leave this week to determine areas in which Israel could help the relief effort in hurricane-stricken Gulf Coast, said Sunday that it was the Jewish state's duty to come to the aid of the ally which had stood by it in difficult times past.
"This week, a delegation of Defense and Health Ministry people will leave in order to coordinate what can be done there," Sharon told the cabinet at the opening of its Sunday session.
Sharon said "we will do everything in our power" to help Americans in distress following Hurricane Katrina.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620790.html
Hurricane relief may cut into U.S. pullout aid for Israel
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service, and Agencies
The scope of the disaster relief that the U.S. government is preparing for the areas hit by the hurricane is likely to reduce the amount of American aid to be transferred to Israel, Army Radio reported Sunday, citing unnamed White House officials.
The U.S. aid was slated to offset the cost of implementing the disengagement plan.
After returning from his tour of the New Orleans region Friday, U.S. President George W. Bush immediately signed a $10.5 billion disaster aid package passed by Congress - an amount he repeatedly called "just the beginning" of federal expenditures for storm relief.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620503.html
PA nixes Israeli request to protect Gaza synagogues
By Yuval Yoaz and Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondents
The Palestinian Authority rejected an Israeli request on Sunday that it take responsibility for the protection of synagogues in Gush Katif and other evacuated Gaza settlements after the completion of the disengagement plan.
The request was made informally through an American mediator to a PA minister. The minister, upon rejecting the request, sent Israeli officials a message urging them not to submit an official request to the PA on the matter.
The government's appeal to the PA was discovered by the state prosecution during a High Court panel meeting Sunday morning convened to decide whether to re-open debate over the planned demolition of Gaza Strip synagogues, an issue which has placed the government and Israel's chief rabbinate at odds.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620744.html
Dahlan aides deny reports that PA official is seriously ill
By Haaretz Service
Aides to Mohammed Dahlan denied Sunday reports that the Palestinian Authority minister of civil affairs was seriously ill, Israel Radio reported.
Saudi newspaper Okza reported Sunday that Dahlan was hospitalized in Amman, Jordan, in serious condition, but that his life was not at risk.
According to the report, Dahlan suffers from severe back pain, and doctors are skeptical about the chances that an operation would relieve the condition. They also fear the Palestinian minister might become a paraplegic.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620770.html
Ethiopian children cannot go to school in Or Yehuda while politicians argue
By Yulie Khromchenko and Yuval Azoulay
Six-year-old Adiso Dasa, who immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia three years ago, did not start school on Thursday. Rather than beginning first grade, he stayed home because of an order given by Or Yehuda Mayor Yitzhak Bokovza barring 50 children of Ethiopian immigrant families from registering in local schools.
The families all immigrated within the past three years, and until a few months ago they lived in absorption centers around the country, where they were given a governmental grant to purchase an apartment. Many of the families chose to move to Or Yehuda, where they believed they could integrate into Israeli society, find jobs and make a decent living. But sometimes dreams are dashed.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620508.html
Or Yehuda mayor removes his ban on 42 Ethiopian students
By Amiram Barkat, Yulie Khromchenko and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents
In the wake of a High Court petition and under the threat of criminal charges against him, Or Yehuda Mayor Yitzhak Bokovza bowed to pressure and removed his ban on allowing 42 Ethiopian children to study in the city's school system.
Bokovza had refused to allow the children to register to schools in the town and as a result they did not begin their schooling this year. Bokovza announced the removal of his ban following a meeting of the Knesset's State Control Committee.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620504.html
The Cheney Observer
All washed up
Oliver Morgan looks at the economic consequences of Katrina's fury leaving the US offshore oil industry in ruins
Sunday September 4, 2005
The Observer
With a death toll in the thousands, widespread flooding, rampant looting, a million people evacuated from their homes and the declaration of a public health emergency, Hurricane Katrina has already been called America's worst natural disaster - will it also be an economic one?
The storm tore through the heart of the American offshore oil industry in the eastern gulf of Mexico. By Wednesday, according to the US government's Minerals Management Service (MMS), 91.45 per cent of US Gulf of Mexico oil production had been 'shut in' - or cut off. This amounts to some 18 per cent of US output. In addition, 83.46 per cent of its gas production was interrupted. As the week progressed production crept back - but very slowly.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1562184,00.html
BORROWING TO CREATE JOBS: MORE INSANITY
By: Devvy
September 3, 2005
NewsWithViews.com
"Then I say, the earth belongs to each of these generations during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and incumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789. ME 7:455, Papers 15:393
The insanity and lunacy coming out of Washington, DC was once again shoved down our throats last month. Because the economy is tanking and because the major job sectors that made America the most prosperous nation on earth (agricultural, manufacturing, industrial) have been gutted by NAFTA and other unconstitutional treaties, Americans are desperate for any kind of jobs that pay more than minimum wage and for almost a decade, that means government jobs - constitutional or not. With the signing of CAFTA by Bush, with the FTAA to follow at the end of the year, America will finally be reduced to a non, self-sustaining nation. A tragedy. Here is a prime example of bribing the American people with jobs while trying to shore up a sinking economy.
Congress passed another huge pork bill last month and Bush signed this $286.5 billion transportation legislation at a Caterpillar facility in Montgomery, Ill., on August 10, 2005 with the promise of jobs. During the 2004 pretend election cycle coverage on the tube, a middle-aged man up in Ohio yelled into the microphone of a reporter, "This election isn't about Vietnam, it's about jobs." There are two problems here, though: (1) There is no money to pay for this $286.5 billion appropriation and (2) the federal government is not supposed to create jobs – except under a communist system.
http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd122.htm
FUEL EMERGENCIES WERE ALLOWED TO EXIST TO BRING THE ISSUE TO A BOIL HENCE ALLOWING PERMITTING THAT NORMALLY ISN'T ALLOWED AND/OR DEREGULATION. I doubt we will ever see any of the National Reserve.
Maybe, just maybe updates to levees was seen not as vital to black neighborhoods and survival in New Orleans so much as a barrier to creating a national disaster which could in turn facilitate deregulation and exploitive drilling and pipelines?
Do I believe there was racism? Without a doubt. The neighborhoods of New Orleans were denied the safeguards they needed to survive. After all what self respecting Evangelical wants 'Sin City' in his country?
Pipeline could ease shortages
State depends on ships, barges for gas supply
BY PAIGE ST. JOHN
FLORIDA TODAY
RELATED STORIES:
Finally, relief in New Orleans
TALLAHASSEE - Hurricane Katrina's hit to fuel supplies and gas prices has given life to a proposal to lay a gasoline pipeline across the Gulf of Mexico to Florida.
Colonial Pipeline, an Atlanta-based consortium owned by six oil companies, is in preliminary talks with Florida regulators about permits and to potential customers about whether there's enough of a market.
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050903/NEWS04/509030316/1006
Halliburton subsidiary repairing hurricane-damaged naval facilities
WASHINGTON : A subsidiary of Halliburton Company has been contracted by the US Navy to restore power, repair roofs and remove debris at three US Navy facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the company said.
KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary, is also performing damage assessments at other naval facilities in New Orleans, the company said.
The work is being performed under a US$500 million contract signed with the Navy in 2004 to provide immediate services associated with regional emergencies caused by natural disasters or military conflict. - AFP/de
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/166488/1/.html
Halliburton hired for storm cleanup
The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
ADVERTISEMENT
Halliburton subsidiary KBR will also perform damage assessments at other naval installations in New Orleans as soon as it is safe to do so.
KBR was assigned the work under a "construction capabilities" contract awarded in 2004 after a competitive bidding process. The company is not involved in the Army Corps of Engineers' effort to repair New Orleans' levees.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3335685
Crossfire War: Bechtel Denies Military Base Construction in Iran after Gulf War
By Willard Payne
Night Watch: SAN FRANCISO/FLOSSMOOR, IL - A spokesman for Bechtel Group, the construction/engineering concern headquarted in San Francisco, today called Mr. Willard Payne of Night Watch Information Service/International Affairs, based in Flossmoor, IL, and requested he no longer mention Bechtel Group being invited to Iran the day after the Gulf War ended in 1991, as shown on CNN, Bechtel’s London branch office in Hyde Park.
http://newsblaze.com/story/20050902223805nnnn.nb/newsblaze/OPINIONS/Opinions.html
Hurricane Losses May Top $100 Billion
By VOA News
03 September 2005
Harry and Silvia Pulizzano walk across debris from Hurricane Katrina in search of Silvia's brother's home in Waveland, Miss., on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005
U.S. economic forecasters say total losses from Hurricane Katrina's devastation could top $100 billion.
In terms of insurance losses alone, industry forecasters say they are estimating payouts to be around $25 billion. Insurance adjusters say they will have a clearer picture of the damage when they are able to enter New Orleans and other Gulf of Mexico coastal cities.
They say losses are likely growing by tens of millions of dollars each day in New Orleans as water damage becomes worse, sporadic fires continue to burn and looters ravage the city.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-09-03-voa23.cfm
DeLay: Terrorism preparedness needs review
SUZANNE GAMBOA
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Republican Leader Tom DeLay said Saturday the nation's terrorism preparedness needs review in light of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
DeLay was in Baton Rouge visiting the Louisiana state emergency center where government agencies have set up their command and control.
He said in a phone interview that he would meet with Secretary Michael Chertoff to discuss how the country deals with disaster and that the issue will be on Congress' agenda when it reconvenes Tuesday.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/12555656.htm
Now this is what I call starving the beast.
Food, water arrives amid chaos
TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU
New Orleans—Under a searing sun obscured by acrid smoke, thousands of refugees lined the street outside this city's convention centre yesterday, weak, begging for help and accusing their government of leaving them here to die.
Instead of their federal government stepping in, they said, they had been saved by looters who smashed windows of abandoned stores and distributed food and water to those left with nothing.
Four days after Hurricane Katrina turned this tourist destination into a seething refugee camp where power is wielded at gunpoint and huge fires burned, food and water began arriving.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1125697813286&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home&DPL=IvsNDS%2F7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes
Spreading the poison of bigotry
By Howard Witt
Tribune senior correspondent
Published September 4, 2005
BATON ROUGE, La. -- They locked down the entrance doors Thursday at the Baton Rouge hotel where I'm staying alongside hundreds of New Orleans residents driven from their homes by Hurricane Katrina.
"Because of the riots," the hotel managers explained. Armed Gunmen from New Orleans were headed this way, they had heard.
"It's the blacks," whispered one white woman in the elevator. "We always worried this would happen."
Something else gave way last week besides the levees that had protected New Orleans from the waters surrounding it. The thin veneer of civility and practiced cordiality that in normal times masks the prejudices and bigotries held by many whites in this region of Deep South Louisiana was heavily battered as well.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/perspective/chi-g6j20lvt7.1sep04,1,4453224.story?coll=chi-opinionfront-hed
The Real John Roberts
Justice O'Connor ruled Bush can't get 'a blank check' but her successor will give him one
by Nat Hentoff
September 2nd, 2005 3:05 PM
With the nomination of John G. Roberts, Jr., President George W. Bush now stands on the verge of a lasting legacy as a president who changed the face of American law. . . . Bush is about to secure a consistent conservative majority on the Supreme Court that will likely sweep away a host of doctrines in areas ranging from abortion to affirmative action to presidential powers. Law professor Jonathan Turley, George Washington University, National Law Journal, August 1
Professor Oona A. Hathaway, Yale Law School, a former law clerk to Justice [Sandra Day] O'Connor, said [that] the arrival of Judge Roberts 'could re-center the court' in the direction of unchecked presidential power. The New York Times July 24
Having read the huge outpouring of John Roberts's memoranda during his stays at the Justice Department, along with his filings and arguments in his private-practice cases, I decided that his two-year record on the nation's second most influential court, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, should be my initial focus on the effect on our lives of the 30 or more years he will sit on that tribunal. (As I write, his confirmation appears to be foreordained, after the current turbulent hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.)
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0536,hentoff,67495,6.html
Rove Not Entitled to D.C. Homestead Deduction
Bush Adviser to Reimburse City for Back Taxes
By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 3, 2005; Page A02
Presidential adviser Karl Rove may live in Washington. But in his heart -- and for voting purposes -- he remains a Texan. Which means he is not legally entitled to the homestead deduction and property tax cap he's been getting on his Palisades home for the past 3 1/2 years.
This week, the D.C. tax collector was alerted to the problem. And Rove agreed to reimburse the District for an estimated $3,400 in back taxes, city officials said. But now some Lone Star officials also are wondering about the place Rove calls home.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090202397.html
Protest Dick Cheney's Visit to Canada
Contributed by: sthompson
Dick Cheney is not welcome in Canada.
Thursday, September 8, 2005 at 5:00 PM
Protest at the Palliser, 113 - 9 Avenue SW, Calgary
George Bush's Vice President is coming to Calgary September 8th. He is speaking at a dinner at the Palliser Hotel sponsored by the Fraser Institute. The Fraser institute and Dick Cheney's Agenda threaten Canadian Sovereignty and are aimed at furthering the U.S. plans for Annexation of Canada. Cheney was George Bush Senior's minister of defence in the first Gulf War and has been an architect of the brutal war and occupation of Iraq and the " War on Terror". His former company Halliburton is massively profiting through U.S. government contracts from the U.S. Occupation of Iraq. Cheney is visiting Alberta to underscore U.S. oil interests in Alberta.
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/2005090214445783
Jean miffed about Cheney visit snub
By AMANDA PURCELL
Today staff
Friday September 02, 2005
Fort McMurray Today — It’s a government-to-government invitation only.
That’s the word Athabasca-Fort McMurray MP Brian Jean received about the Sept. 9 visit to the oilsands by U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney.
Jean said he’s been told he will not be allowed to attend, and he’s nothing less than appalled.
“They’re coming to Fort McMurray, a place that the 88,000 or so people here elected me to represent them and I’m not even invited to any of the events,” he said.
“I would like to participate in some way to encourage investment in the U.S. I think I have a better handle on the oilsands that Paul Martin or Anne McLellan do, that’s for sure,” he said.
“I just find it very tacky and insulting to the people that elected me quite frankly.”
Alex Swann, spokesman for Anne McLellan’s office, said it’s not a deliberate snub.
“Protocol dictates that their be a representative from each level of government, and as far as the federal government goes, we’ve determined it’s Anne McLellan, who is in fact Dick Cheney’s counterpart.
“So, that is why at this time that is all that has been confirmed.”
Swann also said details of who can and cannot be on the tour are not yet finalized, as space on the helicopters they will be touring on is limited. When asked if there is a possibility that Brian Jean could be invited to attend the event, Swann said he “wouldn’t rule it out, but can’t rule it in at this time.”
-- apurcell@fortmcmurraytoday.com
http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/story.php?id=182168
US House Republicans mull post-Katrina energy bill
Fri Sep 2, 2005 5:57 PM ET
WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress may needto pass legislation dealing with energy issues, such asincentives to expand U.S. oil refining capacity, in response toHurricane Katrina, House Republican leaders said on Friday.
http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=URI:urn:newsml:reuters.com:20050902:MTFH71894_2005-09-02_21-56-39_WAT003787:1
Doug Heller: Why Are Oil Stocks Up 5% This Week?
Doug Heller Fri Sep 2, 3:01 PM ET
As prices for gasoline reach record highs all around the country because, we are told, of the devastation to our oil infrastructure and refining capacity, the stock market is exposing the oil industries' despicable secret: the winds of Katrina will be a windfall for big oil.
The Yahoo Major Oil & Gas Index shows stocks up 5% since Monday. ExxonMobil is up 5%. Halliburton is up about 8%. Why would companies sustaining massive damage to their property be doing so well? Why would investors bet that this is good for the oil industry?
What the market tells us is that the industry will not show restraint, but will, instead, cash in on the disruption and destruction. Of course, catastrophe profiteering is vile. Sure, the companies, whose record profits of one quarter are exceeded by the next quarter's, should be voluntarily cutting margins and freezing prices in this time of national need. But they aren't and they won't. So the stocks rise and the coffers swell.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20050902/cm_huffpost/006666
Bush White House suppresses information, whistle blowing
By Patrick Martin
2 September 2005
Use this version to print Send this link by email Email the author
Three events last week in Washington shed light on the Bush administration’s implacable hostility to objective scrutiny, scientific study and simple honesty. In three widely differing areas—race relations, contraceptive policy and military contracting—top officials have intervened to suppress information or remove those who refuse to prostrate themselves before the ideology of the Republican right.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/bush-s02.shtml
Stones Rail Against Bush
"Sweet Neo Con" nails the Bush administration
Throughout last year's presidential election, Mick Jagger held his tongue. But on the Rolling Stones' first studio album in eight years, A Bigger Bang, Jagger unleashes a barbed political track, "Sweet Neo Con," an open attack on the Bush administration that rips hypocritical Christians and patriots, rising gas prices, "prison without trial" and Vice President Dick Cheney's former company Halliburton.
Jagger has told friends that the song is not about Bush specifically but is a stab at the neo-con worldview and policies.
Jagger says he wrote the song quickly, and the subject matter surprised the band. "I have my opinions, which I've stated in the tune," Jagger told USA Today. "Maureen Dowd is no more qualified to have opinions than I am."
"Sweet Neo Con," which is not one of the new album's first three singles, has caused trickles of controversy -- Fox News' Brian Kilmeade argued that the song makes the band unfit to partner with the NFL, which will air Stones concert footage all season on Monday Night Football. Even Keith Richards had misgivings about the song at first. "I didn't want this to be a diversionary storm," he told USA Today. "I thought potentially it would detract attention from the rest of the album and be seen as cheap publicity. We don't need that. But I told Mick, 'If you really feel like you want to say that, I'll back you all the way.'"
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7583320/therollingstones?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single1&rnd=1125853741824&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040
The Japan Times
Raging typhoon expected to engulf Okinawa, Amami Islands
Waves pound the Amami Oshima shoreline Sunday in this TV image.
TOKYO — A raging typhoon pounded Okinawa, surrounding islands and the Amami Islands Sunday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Typhoon Nabi brought fierce winds, high waves and downpours across the island chain, the agency warned.
The typhoon has an atmospheric pressure of 940 hectopascals and is packing winds of up to 162 kph. By noon Monday, the typhoon is expected to be within a 100 km southeast of Amami Oshima Island, part of Kagoshima Prefecture. Up to 400 millimeters of rain are expected in Kyushu and Shikoku, 200 mm of rain in Okinawa and 150 to 200 mm of rain in the Kinki and Tokai areas.
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=348167
Japan gov't, firms join relief effort for U.S. hurricane victims
TOKYO — The Japanese government will provide $200,000 in cash to the American Red Cross and offer up to $300,000 worth of tents, blankets and other supplies for victims of Hurricane Katrina, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Friday.
Japanese automakers have also announced emergency aid packages, with Toyota Motor Corp pledging a total of $5 million to support activities of the Red Cross and the Friedkin Disaster Relief Fund. Nissan Motor Co said it and its employees will offer a total of $750,000 and 50 pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles for Red Cross workers. The Japanese Red Cross Society decided to provide $200,000 to its U.S. counterpart.
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=347992
Canadian Support
The Americans have finally accepted Canadian aid.
-Three Canadian warships, a coast guard vessel and three Sea King helicopters will be sent to Louisiana on Tuesday.(1000personnel)
-About 40 navy divers from both Canadian coasts are going to tag along on the mission.
-Air Canada has dispatched an Airbus passenger jet from Toronto to New Orleans with a cargo of bottled water and relief supplies
-Canadian oil companies are trying to send extra oil to the U.S. The Canadian government has asked Canadians to reduce oil consumption.
-Yesterday, the Department of Human Health Services in the U.S. contacted the Canadian public health agency and asked for an inventory of emergency supplies that,we are willing to send at any moment.
Canadians are raising hundreds of thousands of dollars. Provincail governments are offering engineers and other specialists. Many Canadians have also opened their homes to the stranded. The list goes on....
We may have our differencs, but we are here to help.
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=347992
12,000 take part in quake drill in Miyagi
SENDAI — About 12,000 people participated in a drill in Miyagi Prefecture on Sunday to test their preparedness for rescue operations in the event of a major earthquake, organizers said.
Taking part in the drill, conducted in Higashimatsushima, were police officers, firefighters and Self-Defense Forces personnel as well as local citizens, they said. It was based on the assumption that an earthquake measuring upper 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 will strike off the prefecture.
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=348170
Two bodies found in Afghanistan identified as missing teachers
KABUL — Two bodies found in southern Afghanistan have been identified as those of two Japanese teachers missing in the country, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday. The ministry has notified the families of Jun Fukusho, 44, and Shinobu Hasegawa, 30, who went missing after entering Afghanistan from Pakistan in early August, it said.
A forensic investigation in Kabul found that dental work of the bodies matched the dental records of the two teachers, the ministry said. They were shot in the head once each, and are believed to have been dead as long as almost one month, according to the ministry.
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=348109
The Okinawa Times
Dry Island
Water rationing has continued on Zamami Island for 169 days since 17 July, 2003. It is the longest suspension since the dam was completed in 1992. However, from 31 December to 3 January, it was temporarily restored for New Year's, but re-imposed from the 4th when the holidays were over.
Zamami is known for one of the best dive spots on Okinawa, and a lot of divers visited the island during the New Year's holidays as usual. But according to dive shop owners, tourists were asked to cooperate in economizing water consumption by having them wash their bathing suits and wetsuits only on the last day of their dive tour. Shop owners concerned in the diving business wish the water supply will replenish to normal by summertime.
The volume of water stored in Zamami dam, the water reservoir of the island, is only 25% now. The village regularly turns off the water from 10pm at night to 8am the next day. Residents correspond to it by using underground water. There has been no good rain since April last year, and the only solution is for it to rain, nothing else.
http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/eng/20040110.html
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