Rooster "Cock Will Doodle When Due"
"Oak He Doe $he"
History
1659 William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, two Quakers who came from England in 1656 to escape religious persecution, are hanged in Massachusetts for their religious beliefs.
1728 Captain James Cook born, British explorer and navigator, famous for his three voyages of exploration in the South Pacific Ocean and the coastal waters of North America. Although Cook is best known as the discoverer of the Hawaiian Islands (see Hawaii), his greatest achievements were the broad scope of his exploration and his detailed, careful documentation of his discoveries.
1891 Charles H. Garvin, the first Black physician to be commissioned during WWI, is born in Jacksonville, FL.
1904 The New York subway system opens for business.
1919 U.S, Senator Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts, first since Reconstruction era, is born in Washington, D.C.
1941 Ernest Everett Just, an African American biologist and educator who pioneered investigations into the fertilization of the egg, sperm, and the structure of the developing cell, dies in Washington, D.C.
1954 U.S. Air Force appoints its first Black General, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. He will become the United State's first Black three-star general.
1962 American dramatist Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is first performed at the Billy Rose Theater in New York City.
1994 The U.S. prison population tops one million for the first time in American history.
1997 After a record drop in the Dow Jones index, Wall Street cuts off trading for the first time.
Missing in Action
1965 MOORE DENNIS A. LITTLETON CO 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1966 JOHNSON DALE A. ELIZABETHTON TN
1967 BLACK JON D. JOHNSON CITY TN 02/16/68 RELEASED BORN 1938
1967 CONNER LORENZA CARTERSVILLE GA
1967 FLYNN JOHN P. CLEVELAND OH 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV " DECEASED MARCH 5, 1997"
1967 STIRM ROBERT L. SAN FRANCISCO CA 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV " ""BOB"" ALIVE AND WELL 98"
1967 TEMPERLY RUSSELL E. BOSTON MA 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1968 EDMUNDS ROBERT CLIFTON JR RICHMOND VA REMAINS RETURNED 06/88
1969 HERRICK JAMES W. PANDORA IA
1972 ANDERSON EVELYN QUINCY MI NOT ON OFFICIAL DIA LIST REM RET 11/72
1972 KOSIN BEATRICE FORT WASHAKIE WY NOT ON OFFICIAL DIA LIST. REPORTED DIC
1972 MATTIX SAMUEL A. CENTRALIA WA 03/28/73 RELEASED BY PL
1972 OPPEL LLOYD D. CANADA 03/28/73 RELEASED BY PL ALIVE 99
The Jerusalem Post
IAF kills Jihad leader and 6 others in targeted Gaza strike
By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN AND JPOST STAFF
Israel resumed its policy of targeted interceptions Thursday, striking a top Islamic Jihad field commander in Gaza's Jabalya refugee camp and killing at least six other Palestinians.
Military sources confirmed that an aircraft fired a rocket into a vehicle in Gaza, saying that the target was Shadi Mehana, the senior Islamic Jihad commander in the northern Gaza Strip. The army said he was behind the renewal of Kassam rocket attacks since Israel pulled out of Gaza in August.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540616276&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
Analysis: Abbas's dilemma
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
The Hadera suicide bombing caught Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in the midst of a severe political crisis that culminated on Wednesday with a stormy session of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah.
Yet Abbas seems to be facing an even bigger challenge. The events of the past few days have shown that many of the militiamen belonging to his ruling Fatah party are operating openly together with Islamic Jihad in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Islamic Jihad operative Luai Sa'di, who was killed in an IDF operation in Tulkarm earlier this week, had been working closely with Fatah gunmen in the area.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1129540608375&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Spare us the lectures
Even today, as the victims of the Hadera bombing are buried, Israel's government is sure to be criticized for the way it protects its citizens. It will doubtlessly be told that it brought this tragedy upon itself, and that it must assume a passive posture if it is to avoid further bloodshed.
We have heard this all before, on countless occasions.
At times like this, there is always a chorus that pops up to lecture our leaders with the kind of advice that has proven, time and again, to be fatal. First they mourn the "regrettable loss of life" and bemoan the fact that "calm has been shattered." Then comes the familiar call for Israeli restraint, as if such restraint will prevent, rather than invite, the next attack.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1129540608959&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israel: Remove Iran from the UN
By JPOST STAFF AND AP
Leaders from all across the world responded harshly Thursday to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call to "wipe Israel off the map".
Ahmadinejad also directed his wrath at countries like Egypt and Jordan which have formal relations with Israel, and other Islamic countries moving toward accommodation.
"Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury," he said at a "World without Zionism" conference.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon instructed Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman to take action in order to remove Iran from the international organization. Sharon was prompted into action by Vice Premier Shimon Peres, who sent a missive in which he wrote, "It is inconceivable that the head of a nation that is a member at the UN would call for genocide. His call stands against the UN charter and constitutes a crime against humanity."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540610545&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Visit Israel
This week Israelis were out in force in the nation's parks and tourist attractions, as always during the Succot holiday. Also this week, the country enjoyed a less familiar, but very welcome, feeling of hotels filled to capacity with returning tourists.
The annual conference of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem alone, for example, brought four thousand pilgrims from 70 countries. On the whole, tourism is up 41 percent over the first eight months of this year.
The tourism ministry predicts that the 2005 total will reach 1.8 million tourists.
This is more than twice the number of tourists who came in 2002, at the height of the Palestinian terror offensive, but still short of the 2.4 million peak reached in 2000.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540590318&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
BBC News
Iraq scandal taints 2,000 firms
Paul Volcker delivered the findings of his final report
More than 2,000 firms linked to the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq were involved in making illicit payments to the Iraqi government, a report says.
It found Saddam Hussein received $1.8bn (£1bn) from firms including Daimler Chrysler and Volvo, and it also named individuals said to have benefited.
Some of those issued denials or declined to comment at this stage.
The report said the firms would not necessarily have known about the bribes and surcharges.
Paul Volcker, who led the inquiry, said corruption would not have been so pervasive had there been better discipline by UN management and he emphasised the need for wide-ranging UN reforms.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4382820.stm
Report on Programme Manipulation - This pdf is an introduction to the 683 page report.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/27_10_05_summary.pdf
The Gulf News
World blasts 'sickening' Iranian comments
Agencies
London: Britain’s Foreign Office said it is planning to protest “sickening” comments made by Iran’s president calling for Israel to be “wiped off the map”.
The move follows a wave of harsh condemnation worldwide for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech, which also praised attacks on Israel.
"This is the 21st century. We cannot tolerate comments of such hatred, such anti-Semitism, such intolerance," said Canada’s Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=188980
Terror suspects roam free in Iran - report
Reuters
Berlin:
Iran is permitting around 25 high-ranking Al Qaida members to roam free in the country's capital, including three sons of Osama Bin Laden, a German monthly magazine reported yesterday.
Citing information from unnamed Western intelligence sources, the magazine Cicero said in a preview of an article appearing in its November edition that the individuals in question are from Egypt, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Europe.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=188888
FAO sees imminent bird flu threat in Middle East and Africa
Gulf News Web report
Washington & London: The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation says birds could carry the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus into the Middle East and East Africa within weeks.
After the confirmed outbreaks of avian influenza in Romania and Turkey, the risk of bird flu spreading to the Middle East and African countries has markedly increased, FAO warned.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/BirdFluNF.asp?ArticleID=188965
Oman free from bird flu, says ministry official
Staff Report
Muscat: Oman, like other GCC states, is not affected by the avian flu, a top official at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said in a statement.
"Oman and all other GCC states are free from bird flu," said Khalfan Bin Saleh Al Naabi, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/BirdFluNF.asp?ArticleID=188879
UN aid plea raised to $550m
Reuters
Geneva : The United Nations almost doubled its emergency aid request for quake-stricken Pakistan to $550 million (Dh2,020 million) yesterday as aid workers warned that thousands of survivors faced death from exposure and disease.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the need for funding was more critical than ever as the Himalayan winter approached, and asked governments and private individuals to make donations.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=188938
A plan to salvage Syria
By Duraid Al Baik, Foreign Editor
The past five troubling years for the regime in Syria may well lead the nation towards a serious climax.
Syrians are feeling the heat following the publication of Detlev Mehlis's report last Friday and, for the first time in their modern history, they are finding that the cards in their hands do not allow them to stay in the game.
Two senior officers from the ruling military core were named by the UN International Independent Investigation Commission as suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, the most serious allegation against Syria since President Bashar Al Assad assumed power in July 2000.
Syria started encountering problems in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was the regime's strongest ally.
Syrian politicians tried to replace the vacuum left by the demise of the Soviet Union with Russia, China, France and Britain in a bid to counter the US-Israeli alliance against the country.
But this did not work. Even France ditched its former colony a few months ago and supported the UN resolution 1559 that called for withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon and disarmament of all militia forces in the country.
The declining trend for Syria as a regional political player started after the death of former president Hafez Al Assad in June 2000. Although, Bashar Al Assad initiated a number of positive reforms internally, the regime committed blunders on the regional stage.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=188998
The Daily Star - Lebanon
Iraqi Shiites clash with Sunni insurgents near Baghdad
Politicians race to finalize their slates for the December parliamentary elections
Friday, October 28, 2005
At least 21 Shiite militia fighters and two policemen were killed in clashes with Sunni insurgents near Baghdad, in a flare-up likely to fuel mistrust between Iraq's two main religious sects. The clashes came hours after Iraq's ruling Shiite Islamist parties struck a last-minute deal to patch up differences and agreed to register as a united bloc for December 15 polls where they face a new Sunni Arab alliance.
On the diplomatic front, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari began a landmark visit to Jordan to boost once close political and economic ties between the two neighbors.
Militiamen from Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army called for police backup as they mounted an operation to recover a comrade being held in Al-Khazaliyya, but the group was caught in an ambush, an Interior Ministry source said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=19664
Darfur rebels to hold key reconciliation meeting ahead of peace talks
Friday, October 28, 2005
CAIRO: The main rebel group in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region said Thursday it had finalized preparations for the convening of its delayed key reconciliation conference and it would open on Friday.
"We have completed all arrangements for the conference," organizer for the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) conference, Ibrahim Ahmad Ibrahim, told AFP.
He said the conference, aimed at reconciling the group's feuding factions ahead of a new round of peace talks with the government next month, will take place in Darfur.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=19643
Abbas: Stop giving excuses to Israel
World leaders condemn Palestinian suicide bombing
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Thursday, October 27, 2005
A Palestinian bomber killed five people in a crowded market in an Israeli coastal city, only hours after President Mahmoud Abbas vowed to crack down on militants taking the law into their own hands and harming national interests.
Fallout from the blast was swift. Israel cancelled a meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian transport ministers and Washington said the Palestinian Authority must to rein in militants and dismantle Hamas.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it was avenging Israel's killing of a top West Bank commander on Monday.
The bomber blew up in front of a sandwich stand in the main outdoor market in Hadera. Medics said five people were killed and 30 wounded in the blast, which blew out shop windows and shattered nearby parked cars.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=19636
Kuwait's five-month revenues surpass expectations by 17 percent
OFFICIAL FIGURES SUGGEST $45 BILLION BY FISCAL YEAR-END
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Friday, October 28, 2005
KUWAIT: OPEC member Kuwait is on track to boast record-high revenues after the Finance Ministry reported a sharp rise in earnings in the first five months of the current fiscal year. Figures posted on the ministry's Web site show that by the end of August, the fifth month of the 2005/06 fiscal year, Kuwait earned 5.36 billion dinars ($18.4 billion) due to soaring oil prices and higher output. The figure is 17 percent higher than budget estimates for the whole year of $15.7 billion.
The state budget for the current fiscal year, which runs between April 2005 and March 2006, estimates spending at $24.7 billion, leaving a projected deficit of $9 billion.
Revenues have increased sharply on the back of strong oil prices which have crossed $50 a barrel for Kuwaiti crude. Oil income was calculated in the budget at a conservative price of $21 a barrel.
Official figures show that actual oil income in the first five months reached $17.3 billion while non-oil revenues were $1.1 billion.
Spending in the same period was $6.1 billion or just under a quarter of projected spending for the whole year.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=19645
Syria ill-equipped to combat sanctions
Growing international isolation already damaging state-controlled economy
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Thursday, October 27, 2005
DAMASCUS: Syria looks set to escape immediate UN sanctions over Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri's murder but its growing international isolation is already damaging the fragile state-controlled economy.
A U.S.-French draft resolution at the UN Security Council calls for sanctions against Syrian individuals suspected of involvement in Hariri's assassination in a massive Beirut bomb blast on February 14 that also cost 20 other lives.
It would slap travel bans on these individuals and freeze their assets, while economic sanctions against Syria itself are unlikely to be adopted in a final text.
A spokesman for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow, as a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, would do "everything necessary" to prevent sanctions being imposed against Damascus.
But a Western diplomat posted in the Syrian capital warned that even targeted sanctions rather than an all-out embargo would damage confidence in the Syrian economy.
"Who would want to invest in a country which has been punished by the international community," the diplomat said, asking not to be named.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=19620
Russia may be Europe's 'sick man,' but it does still matter
By Richard N. Haass
Commentary by
Friday, October 28, 2005
At first glance, Russia bears many of the hallmarks of a great power. It possesses a large arsenal of nuclear weapons, a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, enormous reserves of oil and other minerals, a recent record of robust economic growth, and more territory than any other country, despite being only three-fourths the size of the former Soviet Union.
Closer inspection, however, reveals a different Russia. Much of its wealth reflects the increased value of energy, not productive economic activity. Russia's armed forces are able to project little in the way of usable military might. The country's population now numbers less than Pakistan's and is declining by 500,000 people per year, leaving large portions of its vast land mass mostly uninhabited. Male life expectancy is now less than 60 years, owing to alcoholism, crime, drugs, disease and a dreadful public health system.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=19640
Reworking 'The Simpsons' for the Arab world
Made in America, assembled in Egypt, 'Al-Shamshoons' is a culturally adapted version of the hit cartoon
By Vivian Salama
Special to The Daily Star
Friday, October 28, 2005
CAIRO: As with any family moving to the Arab world from the West, "The Simpsons" quickly discovered they'd need to make some adaptations to their lives if they were to connect with the natives. First, they would change their names - the family now called Al-Shamshoons; the father, once Homer, now goes by Omar; his mischievous son Bart, now Badr.
There would be fundamental changes to their lifestyles as well. Omar, once a fan of tossing back a few beers with friends, now goes to the club or the ahwa (coffee shop) and sips on sodas and juice. The list goes on. Donuts have been replaced by kakh (Arabic cookies); bacon is done away with altogether as it is against Islam; and the kids, once a rowdy bunch of conniving delinquents, are still just as cunning but mind their manners with their parents a bit more.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=19638
The Scotsman
US soldier's own obituary speaks for 2,000 dead
RUSS BYNUM AND ELLIOTT MINOR
AS GEORGE Alexander became the 2,000th member of the United States military to die since the invasion of Iraq, a poignant reminder of the daily fears and horrors faced by those in the front line has come to light in the form of a self-penned obituary by an infantryman who foresaw his own death.
The movingly honest records of James Kinlow will have a particular resonance with ordinary Americans because he was not a professional soldier, but a part-timer - a member of the National Guard whose numbers have accounted for a quarter of US military deaths since the invasion of 2003.
These soldiers come from every section of American society, and some have startling stories to tell of how the conflict has shaped their world: none more so than this infantryman.
During his 18 years in the Georgia National Guard, James Kinlow settled into a peaceful, small-town life focused more on being a citizen than a soldier. He worked in a timber yard and drove a freight truck, married his high-school sweetheart, Daphanie, and supported the local football team. The part-time soldiers he trained with every month included friends and former teachers….
… Jones had just six days to grieve. On 30 July, his patrol struck another roadside bomb. He and three others died.
"David did say it was really hard to go back out. But they went," his wife said. "That's what courage is: you know what can happen and you go anyway."
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2150852005
Executive gloss fails to cover up stalling economy
DAVID BLACK
DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR
SCOTLAND'S economy is experiencing its highest annual growth rate in four years, but will probably lag behind the rest of the UK at least until 2007, according to a raft of economic data published yesterday.
Second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures from the Scottish Executive showed the Scottish economy recovering from a dip in the previous quarter to catch up with UK growth.
But the gloss was taken off the data by a more downbeat view from the Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI), the economic think-tank at Strathclyde University. In its latest quarterly commentary, out yesterday, it predicted that, by the end of 2005, Scotland will have experienced "somewhat weaker growth compared to 2004".
http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2151492005
Shell pumps up profit despite storms in US
SCOTT REID
BUSINESS EDITOR
OIL major Royal Dutch Shell today beat City forecasts with a sharp rise in underlying profits as soaring oil prices more than compensated for production losses due to storms in the United States.
The world's third-largest listed oil firm by market value said its current cost of supply (CCS) net profit, which strips out gains from rises in the value of fuel inventories, leapt 68 per cent to just over £4.1 billion.
Excluding one-off items, Shell's "clean" earnings for the third quarter came in at almost £3.3bn, well ahead of analysts' expectations. Investors tend to focus on the clean CCS figure, considering it the best measure of the company's underlying health.
http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2154162005
Brown eyes tax windfall from North Sea
IAIN DEY
CITY EDITOR
GORDON Brown is believed to be plotting a back-handed tax hike on the North Sea oil industry, through a new simplification of the fiscal regime that will be announced with next month's pre-budget report.
Fears have been mounting for several months that the Chancellor will use the record crude prices as an excuse to extract an additional windfall from the industry. He has already taken an extra £1.1bn in revenue from the sector this year to help feed the yawning chasm in the public finances.
http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=181&id=2131422005
Chinese growth boosts whisky exports
COLIN DONALD
BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT
BOOMING exports to China helped half-year figures for worldwide sales of Scotch whisky shatter the £1 billion barrier for the first time since 2007, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said yesterday.
Figures released by the industry group showed the overall value of exports rising 3 per cent on the same period of last year to £1.011bn, with global volumes growing by 2 per cent to 429 million bottles, an increase of nine million bottles.
http://business.scotsman.com/agriculture.cfm?id=2151672005
Sapling site is top of the crops
SCOTLAND's first energy crop plantation in Dalkeith is set to be a model for new sites across the country.
Cathy Jamieson, MSP for Carrick Cumnock and Doon Valley, visited the 30-hectare Chesters Wood Energy Crop Nursery, which has more than 900,000 energy crop saplings. She said: "We need to investigate new ways of producing energy.
I was delighted to see the first of what I hope will be many more energy crop plantations in Scotland."
http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=605&id=2123552005
Bus stop solar power
Solar panels are to be installed at 110 bus stops in Edinburgh at a cost of £220,000.
It is hoped it will be cheaper than laying power cables to light them.
http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=605&id=2115192005
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