The New York Times
A Trail of Ruin as Storm Churns Toward Florida
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER, ABBY GOODNOUGH and JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: October 24, 2005
NAPLES, Fla., Oct. 23 - Hurricane Wilma churned toward heavily populated southwestern Florida and the Florida Keys on Sunday evening after pounding the Yucatán Coast of Mexico, still a major storm, with winds of more than 110 miles per hour and the power to generate devastating flooding.
The leading edge of the hurricane was expected to strike the Gulf Coast of Florida shortly after midnight as a Category 3 storm, with the eye moving ashore near dawn. Winds of up to 70 m.p.h. were forecast as far north as Tampa.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/national/nationalspecial/24wilma.html?hp&ex=1130212800&en=9807882b50264fef&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Longing for Home in a Sealed New Orleans Ward
By DEBORAH SONTAG
Published: October 24, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 22 - Hurricane Katrina turned Willie L. Calhoun Jr. into a hugger. Much to his surprise, the storm stirred up his emotions in a way that made him want to grab people by the hand and pull them in for a quick embrace. Each time he crossed the bridge into the Lower Ninth Ward, he started hugging - pastors, Red Cross volunteers and the few neighbors he encountered in the now ghostly African-American neighborhood where he has spent his life.
Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
Before the Lower Ninth Ward was sealed off, Willie L. Calhoun Jr. visited his house, which is uninhabitable.
DELERY STREET
Access Denied
Articles in this series will periodically chronicle the lives of three generations of families from this block in the Lower Ninth Ward.
HOW TO HELP A partial list of relief organizations and other information on the Web.
YOUR STORY Share your experiences via e-mail or in this forum.
Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
Charles Reddick returned to Delery Street to see the remains of his mother's house in the Lower Ninth Ward.
Mr. Calhoun, 55, did not hug Max Green, however. Mr. Green, a cowboy-boot-wearing insurance adjuster from Dallas, is handling the claim on 2229 Delery Street, the house where Mr. Calhoun grew up. Mr. Calhoun said jokingly that Mr. Green would get his hug if he wrote out a big check to Mr. Calhoun's 77-year-old mother, Gloria. But the two men could not take even the first step toward that kind of resolution this week.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/national/nationalspecial/24block.html?hp&ex=1130212800&en=5feac51e02a967b1&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Engineers Point to Flaws in Flood Walls' Design as Probable Cause of Collapse
By CHRISTOPHER DREW and JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: October 24, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 23 - When the Army Corps of Engineers started to design a flood wall on the 17th Street Canal here in the early 1980's, deep probes found what geologists viewed as a potentially weak layer of peat soil about 15 feet below sea level in the area where the wall collapsed during Hurricane Katrina.
HOW TO HELP A partial list of relief organizations and other information on the Web.
YOUR STORY Share your experiences via e-mail or in this forum.
Yet in building the wall, corps officials acknowledge, they did not drive the steel pilings - the main anchors for the structure - any deeper than 17 feet.
Several outside engineers who have examined the designs say the decision not to hammer the pilings deeper and into firmer ground left the support for the flood wall dangerously dependent on soil that could easily have given way under the immense pressure from floodwaters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/national/nationalspecial/24levee.html
Son of Slain Lebanese Seeks Special Tribunal
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: October 24, 2005
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 23 - The son of Lebanon's slain former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, and the leader of the country's Druse minority called over the weekend for an international tribunal to try people suspected of having a connection with the assassination, as the United States and Britain stepped up a campaign to place international sanctions on Syria.
In a televised address from Jidda, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, Mr. Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, made a forceful call for a tribunal to oversee the issue, asking the international community "to support the international commission into the assassination of Mr. Hariri to bring out the full truth and bring the perpetrators to justice in an international court."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/international/middleeast/24lebanon.html
Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems
By SAM DILLON and STEPHEN LABATON
Published: October 23, 2005
The federal government, vastly extending the reach of an 11-year-old law, is requiring hundreds of universities, online communications companies and cities to overhaul their Internet computer networks to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to monitor e-mail and other online communications.
Phil Sears for The New York Times
Larry D. Conrad of Florida State University calls the order to upgrade Internet systems "overkill"
The action, which the government says is intended to help catch terrorists and other criminals, has unleashed protests and the threat of lawsuits from universities, which argue that it will cost them at least $7 billion while doing little to apprehend lawbreakers. Because the government would have to win court orders before undertaking surveillance, the universities are not raising civil liberties issues.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/technology/23college.html
Belarus Resumes Farming in Chernobyl Radiation Zone
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: October 22, 2005
VIDUITSY, Belarus - The winter rye is already sprouting green in the undulating fields of the state cooperative farm here. The summer's crop - rye, barley and rapeseed - amounted to 1,400 tons. Best of all, the farm's director, Vladimir I. Pryzhenkov, said, none of it tested radioactive.
That is progress. The farm's 4,000 acres are nestled among some of the most contaminated spots on earth, the poisoned legacy of the worst nuclear accident in history: the explosion at Chernobyl Reactor No. 4 on April 26, 1986.
Nearly a quarter of Belarus, including some of its prime farmland, remains radioactive to some degree. Mr. Pryzhenkov's farm represents part of the government's efforts to put the contaminated lands back to good use.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/22/international/europe/22belarus.html
America's Aquarium, Seen From the Inside
David Scull for The New York Times
Trunk Bay, in the national park, is a good place for inexperienced snorkelers.
By BONNIE DeSIMONE
Published: October 23, 2005
A WHITE iron gate with missing letters that once spelled a famous name is the only indication that the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, made this place his retreat. Down a steep concrete driveway off North Shore Road on St. John lies the house where the scientist vacationed for about 10 years starting in the late 1950's. He left it to his daughter, who willed it to the island, and it is now painted a vivid ocher and sometimes used as a community center. In front of the house, palm trees and sea grapes incline gently over a narrow, curved expanse of white sand called Gibney Beach. David Scull for The New York Times
A snorkeler and a tarpon both get a look at a school of smaller denizens in Trunk Bay, off St. John.
There were only two other people on the beach on an August afternoon, yet the area became very crowded mere wading distance away. A shallow reef system starts just above ankle depth. I lowered myself in stages until I was floating, snorkel-mask-down, and paddled judiciously to avoid bumping the coral. Then I hung motionless in a couple feet of water, waiting for the residents to make themselves known.
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/travel/23stjohn.html?oref=login
Cuba Rescues 250 Flood Victims From Wilma
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 24, 2005
Filed at 10:39 a.m. ET
HAVANA (AP) -- Scuba diving teams in inflatable rafts pulled nearly 250 people from their flooded homes early Monday after massive waves churned by Hurricane Wilma flooded the capital's Malecon coastal highway and adjacent neighborhoods of old, crumbling buildings.
Alejandro Ernesto/European Pressphoto Agency
Hurricane Wilma sent the ocean four large city blocks into Havana's coast, flooding streets and homes with more than 3 feet of water.
The communist-government's Revolutionary Armed Forces were also using amphibious vehicles to rescue people whose homes were flooded by more than 3 feet of water when the ocean penetrated more than four large city blocks into Havana's coast.
''We're amazed,'' resident Laura Gonzalez-Cueto said as she watched divers transporting small groups of people in the black inflatable rafts with outboard motors.
''Since early today, the water has come all the way up to Linea and Paseo,'' said Gonzalez-Cueto, referring to a major thoroughfare four blocks from the coast.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Cuba-Hurricane-Wilma.html?hp
New Zealand Herald
US deaths in Iraq near the 2000 mark
24.10.05 5.00pm
By Patrick Cockburn
BAGHDAD - The number of American soldiers killed in Iraq was climbing inexorably towards the 2,000 mark yesterday with 1,996 now having died since 2003's invasion.
The US forces have also lost 15,220 wounded over the same period.
At the same time, support in the US for military action in Iraq is dwindling.
There is no sign of insurgent activity diminishing with 23 US military personnel killed in the last week, mostly by roadside bombs.
The suffering of the US army is understated because many of the 7,159 soldiers too seriously wounded to return to duty have injuries that would have killed them in previous conflicts such as the Vietnam war.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10351773
Floods maroon one million, kill 14 in eastern India
25.10.05
KOLKATA, India - At least one million people were marooned yesterday by flooding in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal after five days of torrential rains left 14 dead, officials said.
Relief workers were using boats to ferry supplies of puffed rice and molasses to hundreds of villages cut off by the floods.
"The flooding has left more than a million people stranded in the state's south. We are reaching relief materials to them," West Bengal village development minister Surya Kanta Mishra said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10351838
One year's rain in three hours
25.10.05
BARI - At least six people were killed as torrential rain battered southern Italy, demolishing a bridge, sweeping away cars and derailing a Eurostar train.
About 20 passengers were injured when six carriages of a Taranto to Milan train were derailed near Bari as a landslide swept away earth beneath the tracks, leaving one carriage overhanging a chasm.
Three members of a family were killed as their car plunged into a ravine when a bridge collapsed near Bari, the capital of the Apulia region.
Also near the city, two men drowned as their cars were swept away by floods of water and mud.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10351831
UK race hate fuelled by hearsay and envy
25.10.05
By Cahal Milmo
Iqbal winced as his finger touched the purple bruising and neat line of stitches above his swollen left eye.
He stood in the wreckage of his fast-food shop, including an upturned charity box, looted of its donations to victims of the Pakistan earthquake.
The 33-year-old shopkeeper, who did not want to give his full name, said: "This is racial harmony in Britain today: where a rumour of a crime leads to a mob who trash your business and want to smash your face in because of your colour."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10351833
Boy racer 'death traps' forced off road
24.10.05 1.00pm
Seventeen cars, including several described by police as "death traps", were ordered off the road over the weekend during the second phase of a major offensive against boy racers.
One car was so dangerous that it had to be towed away while another had lowered springs that fell out when inspected.
The campaign - conducted in the western Bay of Plenty on Friday and Saturday nights - targeted vehicle modifications, defects and noise and resulted in 30 cars being pulled over and thoroughly examined.
Of those, 17 were found in breach of the law.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10351765
Crucial meetings today will count cost of flood damage
25.10.05
As the flooded northeast coast of the North Island swings into recovery mode, meetings are planned today to establish the full extent of damage to the region.
As much as 3000ha of prime horticultural land may have been severely affected by a thick layer of silt after more than 300mm of rain fell in some parts of the region north of Gisborne from Friday.
Some of the flood damage has been compared to the devastation caused by Cyclone Bola in 1988.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10351865
Hariri's son wants killers to face international court
24.10.05
By Nadim Ladki
BEIRUT - The son of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri's Rafik al-Hariri called on Saturday for an international court to punish his killers as pressure mounted on Syria after a damning UN probe into the murder.
The United States is working to arrange a quick high-level UN Security Council meeting to consider a response to the investigation that implicated senior Syrian officials in the February 14 assassination.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10351718
Dead parrot had lethal H5N1 bird flu
24.10.05 11.45am
By Mike Peacock
LONDON - A parrot that died in quarantine in Britain has been found to have the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the agriculture ministry said.
The spread of the virus meant the country was now at greater risk, it added.
A spokeswoman for Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs confirmed that scientists had found "the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus" in the parrot.
"The closest match is to a strain found in ducks in China earlier this year," the ministry spokesman said.
The parrot, imported from Suriname, South America, was part of a mixed consignment of 148 birds that arrived on September 16, the ministry said. They were held with another consignment of 216 birds from Taiwan.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10351755
Hurricane Wilma guts Cancun
24.10.05 1.00pm
By Noel Randewich and Lisa Jucca
CANCUN, Mexico - One of the world's top beach destinations lay gutted today after Hurricane Wilma blew out hundreds of hotel windows, tore through boutiques and left the Caribbean resort of Cancun under water.
The lobbies of hotels along Cancun's famed sandy strip were littered with glass, chunks of plaster and other debris floating in floodwaters. Swimming pools were full of sand and ceilings were a mess of fallen tiles and tangled wires.
Where pristine beaches had been, jagged rocks poked out of grey water after Wilma tore away entire banks of white sand.
"It's going to take Cancun a year to recover. We can get the Coco Bongo club back up in three months but it will be a lot longer before tourists have the confidence to come back," said Argentine nightclub worker Gabriel Condi.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10351768
Elderly bore brunt of Katrina fallout
25.10.05 6.20am
A majority of people killed by Hurricane Katrina were older residents unable or unwilling to evacuate in the rising floodwaters, according to a study of almost half the bodies recovered in Louisiana.
About 60 per cent of the nearly 500 victims identified so far were aged 61 or older, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals reported. More than 215 bodies out of 1048 recovered statewide were found in or around hospitals and nursing homes.
Large numbers were in neighbourhoods devastated by water rising from levee breaks. People also died in affluent areas where residents had means to evacuate. Between 21 and 30 bodies were found in Lakeview, while a ZIP code that includes parts of Uptown that didn't flood had between 11 and 20 bodies.
Forty-two per cent of the identified victims were black, 37 per cent white and 3 per cent Hispanic. The remaining 18 per cent weren't identified by race or ethnicity.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10351806
Cadmus cuts wireless deal with Nigeria
25.10.05
By Owen Hembry
Eftpos payment system specialist Cadmus Technology is extending its international reach with a deal to supply 2,500 wireless terminals to Nigeria.
Cadmus director of international sales and marketing Pat McCammon described the deal as "sizeable" and was bullish about prospects for future growth in the region.
Although the eftpos market in Nigeria was relatively immature in terms of debit cards, the West African country has proven itself to be an early to adopt new technology such as mobile phones, he said.
Nigeria has over 12 million mobile connections compared to less than a million land lines.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=55&objectid=10351819
Jockey to keep celebrating victory the Maori way
25.10.05
By Jon Stokes
Jockey Michael Walker has vowed to continue to roll his eyes and poke out his tongue when riding winners, despite a ticking-off from racing officials.
While the controversial 22-year-old did not deliver a pukana (poking out tongue and rolling eyes) at yesterday's Te Rapa meeting, he said he would carry on but "only at the big races".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10351866
Taiwan News
Leader needed for pandemic response
2005-10-24 / Knight Ridder /
The following editorial appeared in The Miami Herald on Thursday:
Think of the avian flu as a distant but approaching hurricane. It may miss us or it may not, but Americans should be prepared because this virus has the potential to create a public-health disaster.
Although there are no signs yet of a bird flu pandemic in humans, the World Health Organization reports that of the 117 proven cases of the H5N1 virus in which people were infected, 60 of the victims died. All the human cases were in Asia, where millions of birds have perished, but avian flu has reached parts of Europe and is expected to spread elsewhere. The virus is not easily transmitted from one human to another, but that won't be the case forever. The Bush administration has done well to sound the alarm. However, legislation moving through Congress needs improvement.
Aside from the high lethal rate of the virus in humans so far, other reasons for concern exist. There is no vaccine, nor the potential to manufacture enough doses in a short period if one is developed. A prescription drug called Tamiflu, made by Roche, can mitigate the effects of avian flu, but there is not enough on hand to avert a pandemic. This strain of flu is new to humans, and the virus is evolving, further complicating an effective prevention strategy.
Commendably, Congress is moving to enact legislation that offers financial and other incentives to pharmaceutical companies to speed up the development of medicines that protect people against bioterrorism and potential dangers such as avian flu. The bill (S. 1873) establishes the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency as the single point of authority within the government for advanced research and development of drugs and vaccines.
This is a good step, but even better would be the designation by President Bush of a top government official with the sole responsibility of preparing the country for an avian-flu outbreak. The sad experience of Hurricane Katrina suggests that this is necessary in any large-scale disaster.
The government should also consider a temporary suspension of the patent of the anti-flu medicine Tamiflu to allow more production as quickly as possible. The manufacturer, Roche, should be compensated, but given the high stakes, it's worth setting aside the usual rules that govern the production of pharmaceuticals. Too many lives, particularly among the youngest and oldest, are at risk.
http://www.etaiwannews.com/showPage.php?setupFile=showcontent.xml&menu_item_id=10&did=d_1130134092_2213_31071c7829e42bc6_0&area=taiwan&area_code=ww000
The Miami Herald
Clean up begins; one dead, power out, heavy damage
By MARTIN MERZER, JENNIFER BABSON AND WANDA J. DeMARZO
mmerzer@herald.com
After crashing through the back door and racing through the state, Hurricane Wilma relinquished its hold on South Florida this afternoon and moved into the Atlantic Ocean -- leaving behind severe damage, rattled nerves and countless insurance claims.
One man was killed in Coral Springs when he was struck by a falling tree, authorities said. There were no other confirmed reports of casualties.
The storm's vicious winds de-roofed homes in western suburbs and shattered windows in downtown office towers. In the Florida Keys, sea water severed U.S. 1 around Mile Markers 31, 73 and 110.Traffic lights were down throughout South Florida.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12980176.htm
Wilma wreaks havoc across Dade, Broward; widespread damage reported
Herald Staff Reports
Hurricane Wilma terrorized Miami-Dade and Broward counties Monday morning, blowing out windows, peeling away shingles, felling trees, trashing marinas and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.
Near downtown Miami, the home of law firm Greenberg Traurig, a high-rise at Southeast 15th Street and Brickell Avenue, took a huge hit from the storm, said Brickell resident Carmen Rodriguez.
''About 80 percent of the windows have blown out,'' said Rodriguez, who owns an insurance agency in Coral Gables. ``It looks like an explosion.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12984741.htm
AFTER THE STORM: ADVICE FOR STAYING SAFE AND CARING FOR YOUR HOME
• Venture outdoors carefully. Power lines are likely to be down; be careful where you step. Keep your pets inside.
• Do not start your car if water rose to a level where it made contact with the engine.
• Avoid driving through standing water. The average car can be swept off the road in 12 inches of moving water.
• Let friends, relatives and your employer know you are safe as soon as possible.
• Keep all calls to a minimum to allow for emergency calls to get through.
• Find out if your water supply is safe.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12979617.htm
Beach department fights losing battle against flames, wind BY NOAH BIERMAN
nbierman@herald.com
Miami Beach fire fighters fought a rare combination of flames and storm winds Monday morning as they tried to stop a restaurant fire from spreading amid Wilma's winds.
''When you're fighting 40 to 50 mph winds that are fanning the flames, it's an uphill battle,'' said Eric Yuhr, assistant fire chief.
Casona De Carlitos, at 2232 Collins Ave, was completely destroyed as was a former electronics store next to it.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12985320.htm
Cuba rescues 250 flood victims from Wilma
ANITA SNOW
Associated Press
HAVANA - Scuba diving teams in inflatable rafts pulled nearly 250 people from their flooded homes early Monday after massive waves churned by Hurricane Wilma flooded the capital's Malecon coastal highway and adjacent neighborhoods of old, crumbling buildings.
The communist-government's Revolutionary Armed Forces were also using amphibious vehicles to rescue people whose homes were flooded by more than 3 feet of water when the ocean penetrated more than four large city blocks into Havana's coast.
"We're amazed," resident Laura Gonzalez-Cueto said as she watched divers transporting small groups of people in the black inflatable rafts with outboard motors.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12984613.htm
Bush won't release all Miers records
NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Monday that he will not release any records of his conversations with Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers that could threaten the confidentiality of the advice that presidents get from their lawyers.
And a Democratic senator called on the beleaguered nominee to give the Senate her income tax records.
Both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding more documents about Miers, including from her work at Bush's counsel.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12980336.htm
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