Daily Times (Pakistan)
Huge mudslide kills 1,400 in Guatemala
PANABAJ: Around 1,400 people died under a huge mudslide in the Guatemalan village of Panabaj that was triggered by torrential rains from Hurricane Stan, the fire brigade said on Saturday.
“There are no survivors here. It happened more than 48 hours ago. They are dead,” brigade spokesman Mario Cruz told Reuters.
The landslide engulfed the Maya Indian village on Wednesday in a fatal quagmire of mud, rock and trees, in places 40 feet thick.
“According to the figures they gave me yesterday, approximately 1,400 people have disappeared,” Cruz said.
The deaths nearly tripled earlier estimates of the toll of storm-related fatalities in the poor, Central American nation. Stan claimed another 67 lives in El Salvador, 15 in Mexico, 10 in Nicaragua and four in Honduras.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_5
Pakistan’s London HC implicated in nuclear trade
LAHORE: Pakistan High Commission in London is on a British intelligence list of 360 companies, universities and government organisations seeking to procure nuclear and other weapons related technology.
According to a British newspaper, the British intelligence agency MI5 has prepared a report outlining the activities of 360 organisations, which seek nuclear weapons. The length of the list suggests that the arms trade supermarket is bigger than earlier anticipated. MI5 warns against exports to organisations in Iran, Pakistan, India, Israel, Syria and Egypt and warns against companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), suspected to be fronts for these organisations..
This comes a day after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The document, titled Companies and Organisations of Proliferation Concern, has been compiled in an attempt to prevent British companies from inadvertently exporting sensitive goods or expertise to organisations covertly involved in Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) programmes. The document says the list is not exhaustive.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_1
Pakistan and UK discuss terrorism, non-proliferation
ISLAMABAD: The first round of a Pakistan-UK strategic dialogue was held in Islamabad in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday. The UK delegation was led by David Richmond, the director general of the Defence and Intelligence Foreign and Commonwealth Office, while Tariq Osman Hyder, the UN & EC additional secretary, led the Pakistan side in talks. The initiation of a strategic dialogue was agreed upon between President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Tony Blair during their meeting in London in December 2004. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the dialogue in their meeting in New York last month. Issues of global and regional security, counter terrorism, discernment and non-proliferation were discussed. Both sides agreed to institutionalise the mechanism of a strategic dialogue by holding regular annual meetings. David Richmond invited Mr Hyder to London next year for the second round of the dialogue. online
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_2
Russia conducts ballistic missile test
MOSCOW: Russia’s military conducted a successful ballistic missile test Saturday from a nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea, hitting a target on the eastern peninsula of Kamchatka, officials said.
The two-stage Volna missile was launched from submarine Borisoglebsk around 1:30 a.m. (2130 GMT) and it hit the Kura training area on Kamchatka an undetermined time later, Defense Ministry spokesman Capt. Ivan Dyagalo said.
The launch was at least the fifth test of a missile from a sea-based vessel this year. Russian forces have conducted regular test launches of Soviet-built ballistic missiles to check their readiness.
The Barents Sea is a section of the Arctic Ocean northwest of Russia and north of Norway. ap
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_7
US soldier killed in Helmand explosion
KABUL: An explosion near Greshk district in the Helmand province in southern Afghanistan on Friday killed an American soldier, the US military announced on Saturday.
An explosive device mortally wounded the soldier while his unit was conducting an offensive patrol in an area of recent enemy activity, the military said in a statement issued from Bagram Airbase.
“It’s a sad day any time a comrade dies in this ongoing struggle,” said Brig Gen Jack Sterling, the Deputy Commanding General of the Combined Joint Task Force-76 (support).
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_3
Man held for Musharraf plot
KARACHI: An Islamic militant who authorities believe played a role in a failed attempt to kill President Gen Pervez Musharraf two years ago was arrested on Saturday in Karachi, police said.
Sharafat Ali was captured in a residential area after a shootout, city police chief Tariq Jamil said, adding that the suspect was among those who tried to kill the president on December 25, 2005, in Rawalpindi.
Although Musharraf escaped unhurt, 16 people – mostly policemen – died when suicide bombers rammed their explosive-laden vehicles into Musharraf’s motorcade, the second attempt on his life in less than two weeks. Since then authorities have arrested several militants and some junior military personnel in connection with the attempted assassinations.
On Saturday, Jamil said Ali was also involved in attacks against minority Christians in Karachi and three other cities of Punjab. ap
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_8
British police arrest 10 in terror investigation
LONDON: British police arrested 10 men in three different parts of the country on Saturday as part of an investigation into suspected international terrorism, a police statement said. “Three men were arrested in the Croydon area of south London, four in Wolverhampton and three in Derby,” London’s Scotland Yard police service said. It said the investigation was separate from the probe into July’s London bomb attacks. “At approximately 4 am (0300 GMT) today police executed warrants at three residential addresses, making a total of 10 arrests, all on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000,” police said. “The arrests were made as the result of an intelligence led investigation involving police and the Security Service (more commonly known as MI5),” the statement said. It did not say what sort of group the police were investigating. Police were still searching the three locations raided, the statement said. reuters
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_10
Pakistan needs assistance in supplying blood to their populous considering the new need.
15 blood banks sealed in Sindh
KARACHI: Senior officials from the Sindh Health Department have cracked down and closed 15 blood banks in the seven major cities of the province on Saturday.
Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani, the Sindh Health Minister, Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani while addressing a press conference on Saturday, said that the banks raided were located in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Nawabshah, Sanghar and Khairpur.
In Karachi only four blood banks failed to meet the Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority criterion and these were sealed on an immediate basis. The health minister said the most alarming aspect was the availability of expired blood, adding that these blood banks failed to meet the basic requirements in screening kits too.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_9
Pakistan will go ahead with pipeline without India: PM
DUBAI: Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that Islamabad would proceed with the gas pipeline with Iran even if New Delhi dropped out of the project and that the Kashmir issue was central to bilateral ties with India.
In a discussion with the visiting Iranian media, Mr Aziz said the Indians had expressed security concerns over the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline. “We do not think there is any problem. Pipelines exist all over the world,” he said explaining that Pakistan had one of the largest networks of gas pipelines in the developing world.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_12
IT&T Ministry reverses deregulation policy
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Science and Technology has reversed the deregulation of the telecommunication sector through a directive that allows the state-owned National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) to sell spare bandwidth capacity in the open market.
In its “Policy directive on the scope of National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) licence” signed by Nooruddin Baqai, member telecom in the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (IT&T), the ministry observes that the status, scope and jurisdiction of NTC for telecom services are defined in Chapter V (Section 41) of Pakistan Telecom (Re-Organisation) Act, 1996.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_13
The fourth severest earthquake in 2005
* ‘The earthquake was very shallow’
ISLAMABAD: The earthquake that jolted parts of northern Pakistan, ranks fourth in the ten earthquakes over a 7.0 magnitude worldwide in 2005 and is the severest in the country’s recent history.
The worst earthquake to have hit the country was on May 30, 1935, which almost destroyed Quetta, killing over 50,000 people.
There have been more than ten earthquakes in 2005 of over a 7.0 magnitude, with Saturday’s quake coming fourth in line, recording 7.6 on the Richter scale. Qamaruz Zaman, the Meteorological Department director general, said the earthquake was very shallow at a depth of around 10 kilometres and was prone to cause widespread damage.
According to the US Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Centre, the quake originated 95 kilometres east north east of Islamabad at 8:50am. The quake was at a depth of 10 km and its exact location was 115 km (70 miles) east south east of Mingora, 125 km (75 miles) west north west of Srinagar, 165 km (105 miles) north of Jhelum.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_21
KSE crash investigation: Senate committee summons top brokers
By Zulfiqar Ghuman
ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Finance has summoned the top ten brokers of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on October 17 to probe the country’s worst-ever stock market crash in March this year.
“Yes, we have called the top ten brokers of the market to listen to their side of the story, in the presence of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), to expose the culprits of this biggest stock exchange scam in the country’s history,” Senator Ahmed Ali, the chairman of the standing committee, told Daily Times.
He said that the SECP had named the summoned brokers in its report as the main market manipulators during March, while the brokers accused the SECP of ‘foul play’ in the crash. The senator, however, refused to disclose the names of the brokers.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_32
Aziz announces Rs 1b grant for quake victims
* Urges generous people to contribute in President’s Relief Fund
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday announced a Rs 1 billion grant for earthquake victims on an emergency basis.
Chairing a high level emergency meeting, the prime minister approved the grant and said the government had initiated aid and relief activities. “I appeal to the nation to demonstrate courage and fortitude at this critical juncture and collectively we will have to help each other as we are passing through this great ordeal,” Mr Aziz said while briefing reporters after chairing the meeting at Prime Minister’s House late on Saturday.
Civilian aid and relief organisations were assisted by the army in opening roads to get access to victims in remote villages.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-10-2005_pg7_24
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Monorail, Take 2: Short line, long list of concerns
Questions plague plan for downsized 10.6-mile track
By LARRY LANGE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The shorter initial version of Seattle's new monorail is raising the same questions as the longer one first pitched to voters.
But this time if people reject the idea, the whole dream could be over.
Monorail officials, under pressure from skeptical city officials, have agreed to ask voters to approve a 10.6-mile line next month. That's three miles shorter than the initial proposal and would extend from Alaska Junction in West Seattle to Dravus Street in Interbay instead of into Crown Hill.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/243979_monorail10.html
Buses to take over waterfront streetcar's route
By KATHY MULADY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The George Benson Waterfront Streetcar will close indefinitely starting Nov. 18 while a new maintenance facility for the historic streetcar is built in Pioneer Square.
In the meantime, buses will run along the waterfront route from Broad Street to Eighth Avenue and South King Street in the International District. Route 99, as it will be known, will run the same hours the streetcar now operates and will be free.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/243940_gcenter10.html
I do believe besides the assaulting officers the mounted police should be cited as well. He aided and abetted. The New Orleans Rodney King scandal. This time though there might be brain damage. I don't remember Rodney bleeding about the head when beaten by the LA Police. Of course there was no concrete wall to plow his head into, all Rodney had to do was lie on the ground and stay there while turning his front torso to the ground taking most of the force with his back, legs and kidneys. I don't recall even the back of his head being pummeled.
Police charged after violent arrest taped
By MARY FOSTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Police officers subdue a man on Conti Street near Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans Saturday night, Oct. 8, 2005. At least one police officer repeatedly punched the 64-year-old Robert Davis, accused of public intoxication, and another officer assaulted an Associated Press Television News producer as a cameraman taped the confrontations. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
NEW ORLEANS -- Two New Orleans police officers repeatedly punched a 64-year-old man accused of public intoxication, and another city officer assaulted an Associated Press Television News producer as a cameraman taped the confrontations.
After being questioned, the three patrolmen were arrested late Sunday and charged with battery. They were released and ordered to appear in court at a later date, Capt. Marlon Defillo said. The officers also were suspended without pay, he added.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=New%20Orleans%20Taped%20Beating
First jazz funeral greeted as symbolic rebirth of New Orleans
By SHAILA DEWAN
THE NEW YORK TIMES
NEW ORLEANS -- It would not be fair to say the music ever totally evacuated from this city of jazz, where even in the darkest hours a lone harmonica player or a busker serenaded empty balconies. But Sunday, it began its grand re-entrance, with the first jazz funeral procession to take place since Hurricane Katrina.
The brass band, reunited from across the country, toted donated instruments. The procession leaders wore salvaged bits of their traditional funeral finery. Just after 2 p.m. on the corner of North Broad and St. Bernard, the strains of "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" streamed past the heaps of stinking garbage and fallen roofs like milk and honey and sweet Abita beer. It was a flash of grandeur and ritual that hearkened to a New Orleans past and, many in the crowd swore, future.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/244007_katrina10.html
Second helicopter victim is found
Navy continues search for third crew member in medical transport crash
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
The Navy has recovered the remains of a second crew member from the medical transport helicopter that crashed into Browns Bay near Edmonds last month.
The crew member was not publicly identified Sunday.
Of the three Airlift Northwest crew members who crashed into Puget Sound on Sept. 29 -- nurses Erin Reed, 48, and Lois Suzuki, 47, both of Seattle, and pilot Steve Smith, 59, of Whidbey Island -- only Reed's remains have been identified. Her body was found the day after the accident.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/244017_helicopter10.html
Singing out for war's youngest victims
By SUSAN PAYNTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST
First, there are the children Mary Kay McNeil sings with: kids in Seattle schools and in choirs who infuse their own ideas into the lyrics of songs about peace and friendship.
And now there are the children that the choirs will sing for: among them, Abdul Hakeem Ismael, age 7, and Alaa' Khalid Hamida, age 3.
Abdul was asleep when mortar rounds rained fire on his home in Fallujah killing his 2-month-old sister and injuring his mom and older siblings.
The boy needs a prosthetic eye, skin grafts and a replacement for the missing part of his jaw that now prevents him from swallowing or chewing his food.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/paynter/243804_paynter10.html
Marines who stormed Fallujah back in Iraq
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HADITHA, Iraq -- They stormed the insurgent-ridden city of Fallujah, returned home, and now are back in Iraq's most troubled province - all in 10 months time.
Some prefer this hectic pace. "I didn't join the Marine Corps just to stand around," said Lance Cpl. Giovanni Perez of Los Angeles.
But for others, the demands of the overstretched U.S. military are just too much, regardless of the bonuses being dangled before them to re-enlist.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iraq%20Back%20to%20Anbar
Police disperse protesters in Azerbaijan
By HENRY MEYER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Riot police scattered hundreds of opposition supporters protesting in Azerbaijan's capital Sunday in defiance of a ban, beating some with truncheons and dragging several away as tensions mounted ahead of parliamentary elections next month.
A riot police unit pushed back dozens of protesters, some carrying red carnations, as they made their way down a narrow street toward one of the squares where opposition rallies were planned in this oil-rich former Soviet republic.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Azerbaijan%20Protest
U.S. handing air base back to Germany
By MATT MOORE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
FRANKFURT, Germany -- The runways that once helped feed a blockaded Berlin, bade Elvis farewell after his Army service and provided the first glimpse of freedom for hostages returning from Iran now stand empty.
A hub of U.S. military activity for decades, Rhein-Main Air Base is being given back to Germany and its logistical functions taken over by bases at Ramstein and Spangdahlem. Ceremonies set for Monday will mark the handover, which will take until the end of the year.
"The mission has moved," said U.S. Air Force Col. Tom Schnee, who is overseeing the shutdown. "We're all set for the symbolic closure."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Germany%20Rhein%20Main
South Asia quake victims wait for relief
By SADAQAT JAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
A Kashmiri man makes his way Monday, Oct. 10, 2005 through a fallen minaret of a mosque collapsed by Saturday's severe earthquake in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir. More than 18,000 people were reportedly killed by the earthquake that struck Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan -- Shopkeepers clashed with looters Monday, and hungry families huddled under tents while waiting for relief supplies after Pakistan's worst earthquake razed entire villages and buried roads in rubble. Death toll estimates ranged from 20,000 to 30,000.
The United Nations said more than 2.5 million people were left homeless by Saturday's monster 7.6-magnitude quake, and doctors warned of an outbreak of disease unless more relief arrives soon.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Quake
Rumors of another quake keep Kashmiris out
By MUJTABA ALI AHMAD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SRINAGAR, India -- Hundreds of Kashmiris still on edge from the weekend's devastating earthquake rushed out of their homes and spent the frigid night outdoors after hundreds of mosques announced warnings of a new quake.
People jumped out of their beds late Sunday and ran into the streets, holding their children.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Quake%20Sleeping%20Out
India quake survivors complain of slow aid
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
In this photo released by the Indian Army, people stand among rubble after an earthquake at Poonch, India, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2005. Soldiers and volunteers used bulldozers and bare hands Sunday to pull survivors and bodies from the rubble of houses and buildings toppled by a powerful earthquake in South Asia that killed 600 people in India's portion of the Kashmir region. (AP Photo/Indian Army, HO)
URI, India -- Angry villagers blocked roads in earthquake-ravaged regions of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sunday, complaining the government was too slow in getting rescue and aid efforts to them.
Hundreds were known dead from the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that rocked South Asia on Saturday and rescue workers and soldiers were still pulling bodies from wreckage in the frontier Tangdar region, 65 miles north of Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Quake%20India
South Asia quake victims wait for relief
By SADAQAT JAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
A Kashmiri man makes his way Monday, Oct. 10, 2005 through a fallen minaret of a mosque collapsed by Saturday's severe earthquake in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir. More than 18,000 people were reportedly killed by the earthquake that struck Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan -- Shopkeepers clashed with looters Monday, and hungry families huddled under tents while waiting for relief supplies after Pakistan's worst earthquake razed entire villages and buried roads in rubble. Death toll estimates ranged from 20,000 to 30,000.
The United Nations said more than 2.5 million people were left homeless by Saturday's monster 7.6-magnitude quake, and doctors warned of an outbreak of disease unless more relief arrives soon.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Quake
No sign bin Laden among the casualties
By KATHERINE SHRADER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- No evidence suggests that the deadly earthquake that rocked Pakistan on Saturday injured or killed the world's top terrorist leader, Osama bin Laden.
The quake shook the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where bin Laden is believed to be hiding.
However, authorities at this point have no information indicating he has been injured or killed, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the information's sensitivity.
Bin Laden guided the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/243985_binladen10.html
AP: FBI may relax drug use hiring policy
By TED BRIDIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Tommy Chong, who played one half of the dope-smoking duo in Cheech and Chong movies, leaves federal court in Pittsburgh, in this May 13, 2003, photo. "I don't think you could find anybody who hasn't tried marijuana, and I take a lot of credit for that," said Tommy Chong, the comedian whose films with Cheech Marin provided over-the-top portrayals of marijuana culture during the 1980s. "They're (the FBI) going to have to change their policy." (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)
WASHINGTON -- The FBI, famous for its straight-laced crime-fighting image, is considering whether to relax its hiring rules over how often applicants could have used marijuana or other illegal drugs earlier in life.
Some senior FBI managers have been deeply frustrated that they could not hire applicants who acknowledged occasional marijuana use in college, but in some cases already perform top-secret work at other government agencies, such as the CIA or State Department.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=FBI%20Marijuana
Scalia not surprised he wasn't nominated
By NAHAL TOOSI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW YORK -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Saturday that he had not expected President Bush to nominate him to replace the late William Rehnquist as chief justice.
"I'm not even sure I wanted it, to tell you the truth," Scalia told reporters at a media briefing before a gala dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan.
Bush, who had in the past mentioned Scalia as one role model for an ideal chief justice, passed on Scalia and nominated John Roberts after Rehnquist's death.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1154&slug=Scalia
Abbas-Sharon summit thrown into doubt
By JOSEF FEDERMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
JERUSALEM -- A much-anticipated summit between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders was suddenly thrown into doubt Sunday after Israel's defense minister rejected key Palestinian demands during a preparatory meeting meant to ensure the upcoming session's success.
Senior Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agreed to meet once more in hopes of salvaging the summit.
The summit, tentatively set for Tuesday, would be the first between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas since Israel completed its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last month.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Israel%20Palestinians
She reminds me of Louisiana's Governor Kathleen Blanco.
Germany getting first female chancellor
By DAVID MCHUGH
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Conservative challenger Angela Merkel, left, rings a bell at the start of a meeting of the party executive of her Christian Democrats in Berlin on Monday, Oct. 10, 2005, after Monday's meeting with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, his key ally Social Democratic Party Chairman Franz Muentefering and her fellow conservative leader Edmund Stoiber. Conservative leader Angela Merkel would become Germany's first female chancellor under a power-sharing agreement that would end Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder's seven years in office, Social Democratic officials said Monday. (AP Photo/Herbert Knosowski)
BERLIN -- Conservative leader Angela Merkel was set to become Germany's first female chancellor under a power-sharing agreement that would end Gerhard Schroeder's seven years in office, party officials said Monday.
The deal was contingent on votes by party conferences and in parliament, a process that could take several weeks. It's already been approved by party leadership committees.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Germany%20Election
Riley, Moore to face off in Ala. GOP race
By PHILLIP RAWLS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Gov. Bob Riley said Saturday he will seek re-election, setting up a hotly contested Republican primary against ousted Chief Justice Roy Moore.
Moore, who gained national attention for his legal fight to display the Ten Commandments in his courtroom, announced his plans to run Monday.
Riley began his campaign at a 61st birthday party. He did not mention Moore by name, but did address the issue of God and government.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apelection_story.asp?category=1134&slug=Alabama%20Governor
NYC mayor spends $47M on re-election
By SARA KUGLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
In this image taken from television, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg makes remarks concerning the heightened state of alert in the New York City Subway system Thursday Oct. 6, 2005 in New York. New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly looks on at right. (AP Photo/APTN)
NEW YORK -- Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg has poured $46.6 million of his own cash into his campaign for a second term, including nearly $20 million on advertising, according to finance reports.
The media mogul with a $5 billion fortune, which makes him the 40th richest American on Forbes magazine's list this year, spent $74 million on his first run for mayor - equal to about $100 per vote.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apelection_story.asp?category=1135&slug=Mayor%27s%20Race
Jewish Ukrainians honor massacre victims
By ANNA MELNICHUK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
A Jewish boy, with an Israeli flag lays flowers at a monument near the Babi Yar ravine where Nazi massacred 33,700 Ukrainian Jews 64 years ago, in Ukraine's capital Kiev Sunday, Oct. 9, 2005. Jews gathered Sunday for a separate commemoration in contrast to an official ceremony ten days ago. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
KIEV, Ukraine -- Leya Osadcha remembers watching from behind trees as Nazis gunned down her family - 16 people among the massacre of tens of thousands of Jewish Ukrainians at the Babi Yar ravine. Then 15, she survived because her mother had sent her to a nearby village for food.
"When I came back, our neighbors told me Nazi forces occupying Kiev ordered people to gather and bring their warm clothes and valuables - as if they were to be deported," said Osadcha, now 79 and leaning against a crutch. "I ran to catch up with my family but I was too late. So I survived."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Ukraine%20Holocaust
Three plead guilty in Israeli bomb plot
By STEVE WEIZMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
JERUSALEM -- Three Israeli Arabs pleaded guilty Sunday to planning to plant bombs on a commuter train track and discussing bombing Tel Aviv's Azrieli Towers, the tallest buildings in Israel.
The transcript in Tel Aviv court said Mujahed Dukan, 19, Amin Ziyuti, 20 and Dubian Nusseirat, 27, admitted plotting during the summer and fall of 2004, along with a group of Palestinians from the militant Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, to lay explosives on a railroad track at Netanya, north of the city.
The three men were arrested by Israeli security forces the day before they were due to take delivery of three bombs from militants in the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Israel%20Bomb%20Plot
Turkey, Romania begin slaughtering fowl
By C. ONUR ANT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
A Romanian health worker carries a dead goose in the eastern village of Sabangia, Romania Sunday Oct. 9, 2005. Romanian authorities expanded measures meant to prevent the spread of bird flu, including killing thousands of household birds and banning the movement of animals from affected areas in eastern Romania. (AP Photo/Marius Nemes)
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- The slaughter of thousands of domestic fowl in Turkey and Romania began Sunday as a precaution against the spread of bird flu after both countries confirmed their first cases of the disease over the weekend.
It has not been determined in either country that the disease is the same H5N1 strain that has swept through poultry populations in Asia since 2003, infecting humans and killing at least 60 people.
In western Turkey, military police set up roadblocks at the entrance to a village near Balikesir. A two-mile radius was quarantined as veterinarians and other officials began destroying poultry at two turkey farms.
It was not clear how many animals would be destroyed, but the Anatolia news agency reported that authorities had slaughtered 600 out of 2,500 turkeys on one farm by noon Sunday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1500&slug=Europe%20Bird%20Flu
Liberians hope election seals peace deal
By EDWARD HARRIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Former US President Jimmy Carter and former President of Benin Nicephore Soglo stand together at a press conference regarding the elections at Monrovia, Liberia on Monday, Oct. 10, 2005. They are part of an international observer delegation for Tuesdays presidential elections, the first since Liberia's nearly uninterrupted 14 years of crisis ended in 2003. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
WILSON'S CORNER, Liberia -- Liberian refugee Yatta Holmes bears a scar along her left eye where rebels slashed the girl's face with a machete during an attack on her town several years ago. Today the 16-year-old is one of the millions uprooted from their homes by a vicious 14-year civil war that ended in 2003 who are hoping the peace will be sealed by elections for a new government on Tuesday.
The presidential and legislative elections will be the first vote since the war ended and a caretaker national-unity government took over to arrange the ballot. Some 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers will be on hand to maintain calm.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=Rebuilding%20Liberia
Hopefuls in Liberia presidential election
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Key candidates in Liberia's presidential elections scheduled for Tuesday:
- ELLEN JOHNSON-SIRLEAF: A long-standing member of Liberia's political elite, Johnson-Sirleaf, 66, was a Cabinet minister until President William Tolbert's ouster in 1980. She was runner-up to warlord Charles Taylor in the 1997 presidential election. A Harvard University graduate with a long resume of service at the United Nations and the World Bank, Johnson-Sirleaf is viewed by many as a strong administrator, but many want a candidate with no ties to the old political order.
- GEORGE WEAH: The slum-born 39-year-old was named international soccer's top player in 1995. His critics say he lacks education and management experience. Supporters say his detachment from politics makes him a unifying figure, while his wealth makes him less corruptible. He is believed to have the youth vote.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=Liberia%20Candidates
Nigeria returns $4.5N to fraud victim
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Nigeria returned $4.5 million seized from scammers to an 86-year-old Chinese woman last month, the West African country's financial crimes agency said Saturday.
A Nigerian fraud ring swindled Juliana Ching, of Hong Kong, through false promises that she and her daughter would benefit from a contract supposedly offered by the state-owned Nigerian oil company, said Osita Nwajah, spokesman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=Nigeria%20Fraud
Official: Haiti likely to delay elections
By ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Preparations for Haiti's national elections are behind schedule and the vote scheduled for Nov. 20 will likely be postponed again for up to a month, the country's top elections official said Saturday.
The election, which will require a run-off if no one gets at least 50 percent of the vote, will be Haiti's first since the rebellion that forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide out of the country and into exile in South Africa in February 2004.
Officials next week plan to announce a new schedule for balloting to replace the interim government established in the meantime, said Max Mathurin, chairman of the Provisional Electoral Council.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Haiti%20Elections
This is due to the Bush laws liimiting contact with relatives which have a real potential to another Pre-Emption invasion.
Cuban migration to U.S. hits 10-year high
By CURT ANDERSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MIAMI -- The number of Cubans caught this year trying to make the risky voyage across the Florida Straits to the United States -- whether by puttering homemade boats or speedy smuggler's bosts -- reached a 10-year high. There was a significant increase this year in Cubans who made it to U.S. shores as well.
While no mass migration appears on the horizon, Cuba experts and U.S. officials say Cubans increasingly take to the ocean to flee the island run by communist President Fidel Castro because of chronic economic hardship, repression of political dissent and a hard-line bureaucracy that makes it difficult for even some legal migrants to leave.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=US%20Cuba%20Migration
Rebels kidnap 19 in Sudan, release some
By MOHAMED OSMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief, right, reviews an honour guard of African Union peacekeepers during a three-hour visit to El-Fasher, western Sudan, for talks with the commanding officer of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force about the security situation in Darfur Saturday, Oct. 8, 2005. Later the AU announced two African Union peacekeeping soldiers from Nigeria were killed in an ambush Saturday in Sudan's volatile Darfur region, marking the first deaths sustained by the African mission since deploying there last year. (AP Photo/Robert Wielaard)
KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Dissident rebels kidnapped 18 African Union personnel and an American monitor Sunday in Sudan's western Darfur region, U.S. and African officials said. Some of the hostages were later released.
The abductions near Sudan's western border with Chad came a day after two African Union troops were killed by another rebel group - the first fatalities suffered by the pan-African body since it deployed peacekeepers to Darfur in April 2004.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Sudan%20Darfur
Storm forecasters ill-equipped for job
Broken sensors, tight budgets at hurricane center
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI -- Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center have struggled for more than a decade to issue accurate storm reports using broken equipment, an overbooked airplane fleet and tight budgets, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Key forecasting equipment used by the center has broken down or been unavailable for nearly half of the 45 hurricanes that have struck land since 1992, The Miami Herald found after an eight-month investigation.
"It's almost like we're forecasting blind," said Pablo Santos, a science officer at the National Weather Service's Miami office, which assists the hurricane center during storms. "We've never really had the equipment to do it."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/243999_vince10.html
Aquarium fish trade unregulated in Hawaii
By TARA GODVIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Colorful tropical fish caught by Randy Fernley, owner of Coral Fish Hawaii in Aiea, swim in a bucket in Honolulu, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005. The tropical fish Fernley has been netting and selling to mainland wholesalers and amateur enthusiasts for more than 25 years are as delicate as they appear, and his livelihood requires that he protect them. Hawaii is the United States' largest exporter of ornamental fish, but the industry of aquarium fish collecting is largely unregulated , less than 1 percent of Hawaii's coastline has rules of any kind governing the harvest of tropical fish.(AP Photo/Ronen Zilberman)
HONOLULU -- After 2 1/2 hours out on the ocean, Randy Fernley returns to dock with six deep plastic bins filled with tropical fish destined for home aquariums.
Fernley keeps a list of about 400 sites where he collects the sleek, jewel-like beauties to make sure he doesn't hit a particular one too often. That ensures the waters he depends on for his livelihood are not overfished - but it's not something the state requires.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Harvesting%20Nemo
Visitors flock to Woodland Park Zoo aviary
By ATHIMA CHANSANCHAI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Madison Fougere embarked on a mission Sunday. The intrepid 7-year -old circled, stalked and -- finally -- succeeded in feeding an elusive blue "budgie" at Woodland Park Zoo.
"The blue ones are my favorite," he said, kneeling in one corner with seed sticks extended in his hand toward a trio of the palm-size birds.
Randy Gladwish holds his son Owen, 20 months, up to feed a hungry bird at Woodland Park Zoo's aviary.
Amid a cacophony of high-pitched squawks from hundreds of Australian parrots, some of which whooshed past his head, Madison retained his focus and sense of awe in his miniquest to find and feed at least one of each of the distinct varieties of colorful birds at the zoo's Willawong Station.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/243996_birds10.html
New Zealand Herald
Weather prevents rescue from damaged yacht
10.10.05 1.05pm
Atrocious weather this morning prevented the rescue of two injured and exhausted New Zealanders in a dismasted yacht, about 780km northeast of the Chatham Islands.
The Rescue Co-ordination Centre NZ today revealed the couple aboard the Janette Gay were in their 40s. The woman had an injured arm, and the man had head, hip and back injuries.
No further information was available about their conditions and their names could not be released.
The 5000-tonne cargo ship Maunakea, which had been diverted to help the pair, had been unable to rescue them today because appalling weather conditions made an attempt too dangerous, RCCNZ said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10349534
Owners urged to check boats after storm
10.10.05 9.45am
Boat owners have been urged to use the relative calm of both Auckland's harbours today to check their vessels after the worst storm in years created havoc over the weekend.
The storm hit with little warning on Saturday afternoon, causing many boats to drag their anchors or break free.
It also brought down trees and power lines, ripped roofs off houses and cut power to thousands of households.
By first light today exhausted line crews were still trying to get power back to about 1000 homes.
Vector spokeswoman Charlene White said the crews had been working overnight and were very tired but hoped to have power restored to most houses today.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10349506
Surprise storm leaves 1000 homes in dark, Peas relocate concert
10.10.05
By Anne Beston and NZPA
Around 1000 Auckland households were still without power early this morning after the weekend's violent storm.
Vector spokeswoman Denise Bailey said all customers would be reconnected this morning after a storm that appeared to arrive with little warning.
"Usually MetService tell us there is a storm coming but this time it was more like, 'Hey, it's here'," she said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10349458
No sex please, we’re retailers
10.10.05
By Simon O’Rourke
When is a sex shop not a sex shop?
When there’s no pornography on sale and no live sex on-site, according to Ponsonby Rd’s D.Vice director Ema Lyon.
But Auckland City Council doesn’t take that position.
The council last year adopted a bylaw after the Government passed the Prostitution Reform Act.
The bylaw banned commercial sex premises from operating at ground level outside the city’s established industry areas, such as Karangahape Rd and Fort St.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10349477
Wanted man and police at same club
10.10.05
By Louisa Cleave
Michael Scott Wallace was arrested less than an hour after dropping into the Himatangi Beach Cosmopolitan Club where detectives were having dinner.
The 44-year-old was yesterday charged with the murder of German tourist Birgit Brauer on September 20. He will appear in the New Plymouth District Court today.
Police said further charges were likely.
Ms Brauer's parents were told of the arrest just hours after holding a private family service and burial in their home city of Dresden.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10349475
Beauty queen's tiara stolen
10.10.05 12.00pm
A night that started out as one of absolute jubilation for newly crowned Miss Universe-Tauranga Kerri Fowke ended on a really sour note.
Just hours after the 18-year-old Fraser Cove resident was crowned at Baycourt on Saturday night, a thief broke into her car and stole her 4.5cm-high jewelled tiara made in New York, and her sash emblazoned with Miss Universe-Tauranga 2005 Winner.
The thief also stole a suitcase full of clothes.
"I was so overjoyed to win and still can't believe someone would be so mean as to take my crown. I'm extremely disappointed, not so much for myself but for the pageant organisers."
Miss Fowke said she immediately reported the break-in to police but so far there were no leads.
Luckily, her other prizes, including her $1295 diamond set watch, went home with her mother.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10349519
NZ man arrested over child sex in Bangkok
10.10.05 9.00am
A New Zealand man has been arrested in Bangkok and charged with the sexual exploitation of underage children. Ryan William James, 48, the manager of the James Communication Company in Bangkok, was held after police raided his apartment in the Bang Kapi district of the Thai capital.
He was discovered in the company of six boys aged between 13 and 14 and taken into custody by officers of Thailand's Youth and Women Protection Division.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10349478
'Epidemic' of cannabis use tied to Maori cancer rate
10.10.05
Heavy cannabis use could be a cause of Maori having the world's highest lung cancer rate, ground-breaking research suggests.
Many Maori, from children to kaumatua, use cannabis in "epidemic proportions", says a study by Professor Richard Beasley of the Medical Research Institute in Wellington.
But cannabis might not be as safe as the proponents of its legalisation say.
A paper by Professor Beasley on the health effects of cannabis was among research that prompted Wellington coroner Garry Evans last week to urge that Government policy on illicit drugs be changed from "harm minimisation" to campaigning against drug use.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10349472
Children lead the way on White Sunday
10.10.05
By Stuart Dye
Lotu Tamaiti - or White Sunday as it’s commonly known - has become something of a mission, as families spend their morning racing from one service to another.
A trend has grown around the special October tradition, held yesterday, that sees families attend services at their relatives’ churches as well as at their own.
"We had some people arriving late and others leaving early," said the Rev Iakopo Faafuata from the Auckland Samoan Church in Ponsonby.
"It can be difficult if services are running at the same time, but it’s a beautiful, significant day."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10349474
Two near misses as rail safety drive begins
10.10.05
By Mathew Dearnaley
Two brushes with death on the country's rail network in the past few days, in Auckland and Southland, have given extra thrust to a pre-Christmas safety awareness campaign.
Police are waiting for results of drink-drive tests after finding a woman with a baby at the Mangere railway station on Thursday night, near a car which was hanging off the platform and was almost hit by a train.
This followed an incident in Southland on Wednesday, in which a vehicle licence-plate was found wedged aboard the rear locomotive of a goods train.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10349429
Darfur rebels free abducted African Union workers
10.10.05 1.00pm
KHARTOUM - Rebels took hostage 18 members of an African Union team in Darfur on Sunday, but released most of them after negotiations with the 53-nation organisation, officials said.
They were abducted by a splinter group a day after the first AU peacekeepers were killed in an ambush blamed on another guerrilla force in the western Sudanese region, where non-Arab rebels took up arms against the central government in 2003.
"Most have been released but it is not clear how many," said AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni.
The freed hostages, who had been held near the border with Chad, were on their way back on foot to the area's main town.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10349529
Hungary bans Romanian meat on bird flu fears
10.10.05 12.20pm
BUDAPEST - Hungary has banned the import of poultry meat, livestock and all related products from neighbouring Romania because of fears of bird flu, chief veterinarian Miklos Suth told the state news agency MTI on Sunday.
Romania culled hundreds of birds and quarantined villages to try to halt the spread of bird flu after it was detected in poultry in its Danube delta.
Hungary's ban comes after several other European Union countries, including Austria and Poland, implemented similar bans, MTI said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10349527
Maoist rebels trick police with box blast
10.10.05 8.20am
Maoist rebels set off a powerful bomb at a jungle hideout in India's eastern state of Jharkhand on Saturday, killing 13 policemen, including a deputy commandant. The blast occurred when a police patrol tried to open a box which they had been told contained documents about Maoist activities in the state's remote Chatra district, some 200km northwest of capital city Ranchi.
"Police had gone there after a tip-off. They found this box which was actually a bomb. It now looks like a trap," said police superintendent Sashinath Jha. And Jharkhand Home Minister Sudesh Mahato said: "Fourteen policemen have been injured, five of them seriously,"
The attack comes weeks after the rebels killed 15 villagers, mostly former comrades and police informers, in the state.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10349417
Mozzies get glow-in-the-dark genitals
10.10.05 7.20am
British scientists have made a breakthrough in the control of malaria: by creating mosquitoes with fluorescent testicles. The researchers at Imperial College, London, have found a way to tell the sex of the mosquitoes - by genetically modifying them so the males express a glowing protein in their testes. A laser beam then singles out the glowing larvae which are then separated from the females.
"This advance could have enormous implications for controlling mosquito populations," says Andrea Crisanti, professor of molecular parasitology at Imperial. "Now that we can identify males and females at an early stage, it will be possible to release sterile males into the population without the risk of releasing additional females."
Because it is only the female mosquito that bites, females are solely responsible for spreading malaria.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10349415
Satellite breaks up after launch
10.10.05 6.20am
A European Space Agency satellite that was to have collected data on polar ice broke up in flight after being launched on a converted Russian ballistic missile. The Russian space agency said remnants of the satellite crashed into the ocean.
The loss of the CryoSat satellite is a serious blow to the ESA, which had hoped to conduct a three-year mapping of polar sea ice and provide more reliable data for the study of global warming.
The mishap also damaged the reputation of the Russian space agency, which is aggressively trying to move into the commercial satellite launch business. German news reports said the satellite cost an estimated 173 million ($307 million).
The problem appeared to be with the booster rocket that was supposed to lift the CryoSat unit into orbit.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10349414
Spain violating human rights, says Amnesty
10.10.05 5.20am
Amnesty International says Spanish authorities are violating human rights conventions by expelling African migrants who have crossed into two Spanish enclaves in Morocco. Amnesty's director for Spain, Esteban Beltran, said that authorities expelled the immigrants without identifying them or considering their possible status as economic refugees or asylum seekers.
"No effort was made to ascertain their names or status," Beltran said. "That is illegal."
In an effort to stem a desperate tide of hundreds of sub-Saharan Africans who have stormed razor-wire border fences with the Spanish territories in recent weeks, Spanish authorities have begun returning them to Morocco.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10349413
Israeli troops kill three Palestinians in Gaza
10.10.05 11.20am
GAZA - Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians near the Israel-Gaza frontier on Monday, Palestinian medics said, while internal violence in Gaza intensified as militants and policemen engaged in a gunfight.
The Israeli army said troops spotted three Palestinians crawling near the Gaza border fence, with one carrying a bag. Suspecting it contained explosives, the soldiers shot at the Palestinians after they failed to heed calls to stop.
It was unclear whether the men were armed at the time of the shooting. Palestinians later found and brought their bodies to a Palestinian hospital, medics said.
Elsewhere in Gaza, two militants and a Palestinian security officer were wounded in a gunfight in Gaza City in the latest internal Palestinian violence that has increased in Gaza since Israel's pullout last month.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10349521
Corby marks one year behind bars
09.10.05
KEROBOKAN, Bali- Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby marked a grim milestone behind bars alone yesterday - the first anniversary of her arrest.
Corby, 28, was jailed for 20 years in May after customs officers found 4.1 kilograms of marijuana in her luggage when she arrived at Bali's airport last October 8.
Her sister Mercedes says female prisoners are not allowed weekend visitors at Kerobokan prison, where Corby is being held as she awaits the outcome of an appeal in the Bali High Court.
The family visited her yesterday with a cake for Mercedes' 31st birthday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10349361
Nobel Prize 'will help tackle nuclear weapons'
08.10.05 7.55am
By Alister Doyle
OSLO - The UN nuclear watchdog and its head Mohamed ElBaradei, who clashed with Washington over Iraq, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for fighting the spread of nuclear weapons.
In Vienna, ElBaradei said the $1.3 million Nobel award, widely viewed as the world’s top accolade, would give him and the agency he has led since 1997 a much needed "shot in the arm" to tackle nuclear crises in Iran and North Korea.
Many governments, including Washington, publicly praised the award. Pyongyang and Tehran were silent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10349271
The dolphins in the US Navy
08.10.05
By Peter Marren
One of the strangest stories to emerge from the ruins of Hurricane Katrina is a tale of military-trained dolphins on the loose in the Gulf of Mexico. Whether they were whistling the Batman theme is not known.
The animals were reportedly being used by the US Navy to detect stray torpedoes and mines, and were controlled using signals transmitted to a neck harness. It is possible some were armed with toxic darts tied to their backs to immobilise terrorists or enemy agents.
"If divers or windsurfers are mistaken for a spy or suicide bomber, they could fire," warned an accident investigator close to the US Government's marine fisheries service.
Elsewhere in the dolphin world, a study to be published later this month reveals they can be trained to respond to music - and even reproduce the simple two-note theme from the 1960s TV programme about the Caped Crusader.
The Louisiana dolphins were apparently kept in training ponds close to Lake Pontchartrain, whose floodwaters helped to devastate New Orleans. The possibility that they escaped into the ocean surfaced after a separate group of "civilian" dolphins disappeared from a commercial dolphinarium on the Mississippi coast during the hurricane.
Eight were recovered alive with the help of the Navy. However, the dolphins were not returned to their owners until the authorities had a close look at them, sparking fears that some military dolphins had also escaped during the hurricane. The US Navy refused to comment.
Dolphins have been used by the American and Russian armed forces since the 1950s. The US Navy originally hoped to observe the dolphins' locomotive and sensory systems to improve the design of undersea weapons. They also carried out a range of classified experiments to study the uncanny ability of dolphins to find and retrieve objects from the seabed. It soon became apparent that dolphins were much better at this than human divers. It was also clear they were intelligent, capable of learning tasks quickly.
To teach a dolphin new tricks, scientists had to find a way of communicating with them. Unlike humans, dolphins have two forms of speech. One is a medley of whistles that they use to communicate with one another; the second a series of acoustic clicks used to locate food.
The clicks are more or less inaudible to the human ear and are used to find prey in murky water by bouncing high-frequency sound off them.
The instant of time between the emission of the pulse and the receipt of its echo tells the dolphin how far away the object is. And by emitting a stream of repeated clicks, the dolphin can also gauge the object's direction and speed.
Dolphins studied in Cardigan Bay off the coast of Wales could detect and then catch large fish from up to 72m away.
The principle of echo-location is the same as sonar, which we humans learned from another animal, the bat.
A dolphin's mind is therefore like a ship's sonar, gathering sufficient information about the size and speed of an enemy object to shoot it down with lethal accuracy.
Their ability to detect and monitor an object is thought to take place at an unconscious level, much as we see things. After all, how many of us could explain exactly how we know a road sign is roughly 30m away?
Scientists learned how to communicate with dolphins using an instrument called a hydrophone, an underwater sound projector which can deliver high-pitched sounds audible to the animals.
They learned that dolphins could be trained to recognise commands. They also found that the dolphins were able to mimic sounds and rhythms relayed through the hydrophone.
Studies soon to be presented at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America will reveal that dolphins can even be trained to respond to music. One has learned to whistle the two-note theme from Batman, one short, the other long: "Bat-maaaan".
Appropriately, perhaps, it learned to produce the tune when presented with a Batman doll, for which it received the usual reward for cetacean intelligence - a fish.
The singing dolphin has broken one of the barriers that seemed to have set humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.
Gordon Bauer, associate professor at the New College of Florida, says: "This is the first report of a non-human mammal being able to discriminate rhythmic patterns." However, Bauer doubts whether dolphins have any sense of what we regard as music. "I think music is a human construct," he commented to the US cable channel, Discovery News.
"I doubt that it has pertinence to animals, but the elements of music, such as pitch, time, timbre and rhythm, may be incorporated into animal communication."
With intelligence added to unusual physical gifts, it was only a matter of time before captive dolphins were drafted into the wholly human preoccupation with security and warfare. From the 1960s, the US Navy is known to have employed up to 240 dolphins, as well as beluga whales, killer whales and sea-lions.
The work was conducted in secrecy but details emerged in 1988 when trainers who worked with Navy dolphins went public.
One dolphin known as Tuf Guy was trained to carry tools and messages to an undersea base called Sealab II, and could undertake tasks that were physically impossible for a human diver.
Dolphins were on active service before the first Gulf War, where they were mainly used for mine detection. More sinister was the use of dolphins in a "swimmer nullification program", where a long hypodermic needle was fastened to a dolphin's beak to fire a bullet of carbonic acid into an enemy frogman.
The US Navy has even reportedly used dolphins to patrol and guard Trident submarines in harbour - though once they had had their fill of fish they were apt to wander off duty.
With the Russians and Americans using dolphins there was, for a while, the science-fiction prospect of "dolphin wars", in which one lot carried electronic counter-measures to jam the sonar of the other.
Fortunately with the ending of the Cold War, the prospect of rival dolphins attacking one another has receded.
Are "killer dolphins" on the loose off the Mississippi coast? And are they a danger to divers and surfers? This is not the first time military-trained dolphins have escaped from their human masters. Up to 20 per cent of Navy dolphins are said to escape each year.
Do they soon forget about mines and torpedoes and refocus their echo-location towards catching fish and finding a mate? One escaped dolphin, called Dolly, later turned up on the Florida coast where she befriended a local family. Tamer than usual, she showed an impressive ability to retrieve and return coins from the water. In fact, she sounds more useful than Robin.
- INDEPENDENT
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10349160
concluding ...
