The weather in Chicago on November 14, 2005 is 'Tranquil.'
The weather in Chicago on November 15, 2005 is 'It's Back !'
Class conflict hits home
November 14, 2005
BY CHERYL L. REED Staff Reporter
Rashaun Williams, a 26-year-old investment banker, owns two houses, drives a BMW, and his annual salary is well above middle class. But Williams doesn't live on the North Shore or in Lincoln Park or on the Gold Coast, as many in his income bracket might.
Home for Williams is the North Kenwood/Oakland neighborhood on the South Side, an area once in the shadow of towering public housing complexes. As recently as 2000, it was one of the city's poorest communities.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-bmcgent14.html
Slighted in the suburbs
November 15, 2005
BY MONIFA THOMAS Staff Reporter
"Disadvantaged" hardly seems a word that would apply to people living in $200,000 homes with prize-worthy yards and sporty trucks and coupes tucked inside two-car garages.
Yet amid these hallmarks of prosperity hides a deeper truth: Middle-class and affluent blacks in the suburbs are concentrated in areas that provide fewer economic opportunities in terms of rising home values and access to good schools and jobs, making it harder for them to catch up, and keep up, financially with whites.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-bmcsub15.html
Senate calls for '06 transition in Iraq
November 15, 2005
BY LIZ SIDOTI ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON-- Mindful that the Iraq war is growing increasingly unpopular, the Senate is calling for 2006 to be a period of significant political and military transition in Iraq that will create conditions for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops.
The GOP-controlled chamber was voting Tuesday on a pair of proposals-- one Republican and one Democratic-- that tell President Bush what the Senate believes the U.S. diplomatic and military policy on Iraq should be.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/senate15.html
Jordan hotel bomber had 3 brothers killed
November 15, 2005
BY PAUL GARWOO ASSOCIATED PRESS
AMMAN, Jordan-- The Iraqi woman who failed in her bid to blow herself up in an Amman hotel had three brothers killed by U.S. forces, friends of the woman said Tuesday. In a response to the bombings, Jordanian officials unveiled tough new anti-terror measures.
The killings of Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi's three brothers in Iraq's volatile Anbar province is being considered as a possible motivation behind her bid to take part in last week's triple bombings, which killed 60 people, including her husband and two Iraqi bombers.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/terror/jordan15.html
Study: New moms should walk to avoid clot risk
November 15, 2005
PHILADELPHIA -- New moms should get up and start walking as soon as possible to prevent the risk of a potentially fatal blood clot, doctors advise.
Although the chances of such clots are rare, they are four times greater for pregnant women and new mothers, a large 30-year study found, confirming what doctors long have observed.
Mayo Clinic researchers looked at medical records from 1966 to 1995 of 50,000 pregnant women who lived in Olmsted County, Minn.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/health/cst-nws-blood15.html
Forget sheep, scientists are now cloning hair
November 15, 2005
BY MALCOLM RITTER
NEW YORK -- Look around a crowd, and you'll see that lots of middle-aged men are losing their hair. As baby boomers, they have every right to demand -- What is science doing about this?
Quite a bit, it turns out.
A British company says five guys are walking around with hundreds more hairs than they had before, thanks to an early test of what has been called hair cloning. An American outfit hopes to start testing a similar approach next year.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/health/cst-nws-hair15.html
Firm's free defense of Ryan sparks skirmish
November 14, 2005
BY MIKE ROBINSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
George Ryan's lawyers urged the judge at his racketeering and fraud trial Monday to tell jurors that they shouldn't assume the former governor is wealthy just because he is being defended by one of Chicago's biggest law firms.
Defense attorney Dan K. Webb said the firm of Winston & Strawn is footing the bill for Ryan's legal defense and that the former governor is paying his large legal team nothing.
"The truth is that he hasn't paid us a nickel," Webb told Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/ryan14.html
The Cheney Observer
A few of the articles are dated, but, I can't say they are irrelivant. Quite the contrary.
Joe Wilson, the man the White House loves to hate, on spies, Scooter, and citizenship
BERKELEY — Depicting himself as merely a citizen doing his civic duty — his undeniable star power notwithstanding — retired U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson told a campus crowd last Wednesday that he'd expected the White House to retaliate against him for publicly debunking its pre-war claims that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from Niger. The surprise, he said, was that top administration officials would reveal the identity of his deep-undercover wife, CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson.
"I was ready for these guys to come at me," said Wilson, whose July 2003 opinion piece in the New York Times punched a gaping hole in President Bush's justification for invading Iraq. "But I never believed that they would be so foolish as to compromise the identity of one of their own, somebody who every day came to work to ensure that weapons of mass destruction would not explode in an American city."
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/11/14_jwilson.shtml
CIA Leak Case “Bigger than Libby” for Most Americans
(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Most adults in the United States think the alleged leak of an undercover Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer’s identity involved more people than Lewis Libby, according to a poll by Hart/McInturff released by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News. 78 per cent of respondents believe other people in the Bush administration may have acted illegally along with vice-president Dick Cheney’s chief of staff.
On Oct. 28, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald announced that Libby had been indicted on one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury, and two counts of making false statements. According to the indictment, Libby lied to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and a federal grand jury about his conversations regarding the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame with both Time reporter Matthew Cooper and Tim Russert of NBC News.
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/9847
DeLay's Lawyer to Ask Court for Early December Trial Date
Associated Press
Tuesday, November 15, 2005; A02
AUSTIN, Nov. 14 -- An attorney for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) said Monday that he will request an early December trial date for the former House majority leader, if the case gets that far.
Lawyer Dick DeGuerin said in a letter that "time is of the essence" in the case that has forced DeLay to temporarily step down from his House post.
Judge Pat Priest has set a hearing for next Tuesday to consider requests to drop the charges against DeLay and his co-defendants. Defense attorneys have asked that the charges be dropped for various reasons, including alleged misconduct by a prosecutor.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/14/AR2005111401264_pf.html
S.F. firms to serve Air Force missions
Bechtel, URS win chunk of $10 billion worldwide contract
San Francisco engineering giants Bechtel Corp. and URS Corp. have won pieces of a 10-year, $10 billion contract to support U.S. Air Force operations around the world.
Both firms will aid the Air Force on missions ranging from natural disaster relief to military operations. Under the contract, the companies can be called upon on short notice to design, build and help manage bases, or to provide logistic support to Air Force units deploying overseas.
Bechtel and URS are not
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/14/MNGDFFO0JP1.DTL
New Orleans Evictions Surging as Contractors, FEMA Bid Up Rents
Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Thomas Marr spent 11 months patrolling Baghdad in the gun turret of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. He returned home to Kenner, Louisiana, just in time to face eviction from his mobile home park.
``I came home from one war zone to this,'' says Marr, 39, who plans to start over again in Austin, Texas, where his wife and two children sought refuge from Hurricane Katrina.
The permanent relocation of evacuees has already shrunk the local labor pool in the New Orleans area. Now, 2 1/2 months after Katrina hit on Aug. 29, a second exodus may be developing as many longtime residents are forced out by a housing squeeze that has caused rents to surge by as much as 100 percent.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=nifea&&sid=agG93kh7FxyA
Nagin: Two more ZIP codes open for returning residents
NEW ORLEANS — The city of New Orleans has opened two additional ZIP codes where displaced residents who previously have been barred will be allowed to return, Mayor Ray Nagin announced today.
Residents who live in the 70125 and 70119 ZIP codes are now allowed to move back into homes there that are habitable, however utility services in the ZIP codes are still spotty.
Approximately 80 percent of electricity services have been restored to homes that can receive power in 70119, and more than 90 percent of services have been restored in 70125, Nagin said. Gas services vary.
http://bizneworleans.com/109+M53d7c20f10e.html
New Orleans Hosts Mayors´ Institute on City Design
Cities
(New Orleans, LA) Mayor C. Ray Nagin and other City officials will host a special session with the U.S. Conference of Mayors in partnership with the Mayors’ Institute on City Design on Tuesday, November 15, 2005.
Attendees will discuss design principles, priorities and strategies for rebuilding their communities with a nationally-renowned team of experts headed by Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., who founded the Mayors’ Institute on City Design in 1986 and led his city’s revitalization following the devastation of Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=5500
Congress' misplaced priorities
Talk about misplaced priorities. Republican congressional leaders are calling for an investigation into the disclosure of secret prisons used to detain terror suspects abroad - rather than investigating the existence and legality of such prisons themselves.
Using these so-called "black sites" may have solved an immediate problem when the first detainees were taken into custody after Sept. 11, but the administration will have difficulty proving that they're needed today.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., are making two blunders in their call for the Senate and House intelligence committees to investigate how The Washington Post discovered the existence of CIA-run detention and interrogation facilities in eight foreign countries.
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_3215711
Gulf Coast slaves
Halliburton and its subcontractors hired hundreds of undocumented Latino workers to clean up after Katrina -- only to mistreat them and throw them out without pay.
By Roberto Lovato
Arnulfo Martinez recalls seeing lots of hombres del ejercito standing at attention. Though he was living on the Belle Chasse Naval Base near New Orleans when President Bush spoke there on Oct. 11, he didn't understand anything the ruddy man in the rolled-up sleeves was saying to the troops.
Martinez, 16, speaks no English; his mother tongue is Zapotec. He had left the cornfields of Oaxaca, Mexico, four weeks earlier for the promise that he would make $8 an hour, plus room and board, while working for a subcontractor of KBR, a wholly owned subsidiary of Halliburton that was awarded a major contract by the Bush administration for disaster relief work. The job was helping to clean up a Gulf Coast naval base in the region devastated by Hurricane Katrina. "I was cleaning up the base, picking up branches and doing other work," Martinez said, speaking to me in broken Spanish.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/11/15/halliburton_katrina/index_np.html?x
Cheetah Oil and Gas Ltd.: Kuru # 2 Re-Entry Program Update
CALGARY, ALBERTA--(CCNMatthews - Nov. 14, 2005) - Cheetah Oil and Gas Ltd., (OTCBB:COGL) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that all major equipment has arrived and has been set up for the Kuru # 2 workover and drilling out of the cement plugs has commenced .
...This news release contains "forward looking statements, as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Statements in this press release, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statemnents include, among other things the successful evaluation and re-completion of the Kuru#2 well and the release of any data arising from the testing and evaluation of the Kuru #2 well".
http://www.ccnmatthews.com/news/releases/show.jsp?action=showRelease&searchText=false&showText=all&actionFor=567368
The Global Hedge Book, two authoritative surveys for the third quarter
By: Rhona O'Connell
Posted: '14-NOV-05 14:55' GMT © Mineweb 1997-2004
LONDON (Mineweb.com) -- GFMS in alliance with investment bank Investec and Brady, the quantitative analysts, and Virtual Metals, in conjunction with Mitsui Precious Metals and Halliburton Minerals Services, have produced their respective reviews of the gold miners’ global hedge book and its developments during the September quarter.
http://www.mineweb.net/columns/london_beat/555864.htm
Dow Jones Seeks Access To Documents In Libby Case
By Pete Yost
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, November 15, 2005; Page A05
The prosecutor in the CIA leak case has sparked another fight with the news media, this time over access to material that prosecutors will turn over to attorneys for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald is seeking a protective court order that would bar Libby and his legal team from publicly disclosing "all materials produced by the government."
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Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, went to court yesterday to fight the proposal.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/14/AR2005111401296.html
John Roberts, The Supreme Court, And Me
by I. Nelson Rose filed under Poker and the Law [Originally appeared in the November 14, 2005 issue of Poker Player]
I. Nelson Rose
It was the New York Times calling, wanting to know what I thought of the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court. My first thought was, "Yes!! I've made it!"
Then reality struck me, "Wait a minute." So I asked, "Why ask me?"
The reporter replied, "You went to school with him for three years."
I checked the 1979 Harvard Law School yearbook. There it was: Roberts, Rose... his photo was right above mine.
I'd like to say that John and I were great pals. But we didn't hang out together. He spent his time at the Law Review office. I spent mine playing poker.
http://www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/viewarticle.php?id=820
Why Western governments fall apart
By Spengler
Never have the governments of the old Atlantic alliance appeared as weak as they do today. President George W Bush, his popularity ruined and his political agenda junked, is boxed into a corner, but his position seems enviable compared to that of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who just lost a decisive battle over anti-terror measures.
But both appear strong compared to President Jacques Chirac, who has let France slip into civil unrest. Germany, despite last week's appointment of Angela Merkel as federal chancellor, in effect has no government, for the parallelogram of political forces neutralizes all parties. Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GK15Aa01.html
SAP's Agassi denies anti-open source remarks
But SAP executive still warns of IP socialist menace
Tom Sanders in California, vnunet.com
SAP has back-peddled on some controversial statements about open source that one of its executives made during a speaking engagement at the Churchill Club in Silicon Valley.
As vnunet.com reported last week, president of SAP's product and technology group Shai Agassi last week got flamed for comparing open source to "IP socialism", among other statements.
In a blog posting titled " I LOVE Open Source---Really!" Agassi called vnunet.com's reporting "wrong" and argues that his quotes were taken "out of context".
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2146052/agassi-denies-anti-open-source
Miller Surprised by Withdrawal of Support
Tuesday November 15, 2005 3:46 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller said Monday she has ``nothing but admiration'' for the newspaper but its editors' withdrawal of support ``surprised and disappointed'' her.
The newspaper staunchly defended Miller when she spent 85 days in jail for refusing to identify confidential sources during the investigation into the disclosure of a CIA agent's identity. That support disintegrated in recent weeks as editors and reporters publicly questioned her reporting in the run-up to the Iraq war. Last week, she resigned after 28 years at the Times.
She said jail was difficult but ``not nearly as difficult as the time coming out.''
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5415514,00.html
State moves to take over New Orleans schools
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana legislators made it clear tonight they are ready for the state to take over New Orleans' long-troubled public schools.
First, the state Senate voted quickly and overwhelmingly for Gov. Kathleen Blanco's proposal that would let the state take over most of the schools. Later, the state House approved its own version of the Blanco bill — plus tougher rival legislation allowing the state to take over all the city's schools.
To become law, one of the bills will have to make it all the way through each chamber and to Blanco's desk before the current legislative special session ends on Nov. 22.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3460747
Historic New Orleans battlefield fights Katrina damage
14 Nov 2005 18:12:31 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Kevin Krolicki
NEW ORLEANS, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Gen. Andrew Jackson repelled the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, but the siege of Hurricane Katrina proved too much for the battlefield site commemorating the American victory.
The flooding that followed the Aug. 29 storm was high in Chalmette, just south of New Orleans, where Jackson won a lopsided battle over battle-hardened British troops at the end of the War of 1812.
"We took the storm surge," said David Muth, chief of resource management at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, who estimates damage to the now-shuttered historic site at over $1.5 million. "The museum displays were hopelessly ruined."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14483420.htm
Zurich Classic returning to New Orleans in 2006
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS -- The Zurich Classic will be played in New Orleans next spring, but not at the Tournament Players Club of Louisiana.
Because of extensive damage to the TPA course, the tournament will be played at English Turn, its home from 1989 through 2004. The event will be held in its traditional late April date, with the competitive dates scheduled for April 27-30.
"We are extremely pleased that we will be able to return to New Orleans in 2006," said PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem.
http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2223807
New Orleans judge orders action on stalled cases
Mon Nov 14, 2005 8:47 PM ET
By Kevin Krolicki
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A New Orleans judge on Monday ordered the release of two people arrested before Hurricane Katrina but never charged and threatened to free 21 other suspects this week if the city's crippled criminal justice system does not get moving.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2005-11-15T014707Z_01_SCH506392_RTRUKOC_0_US-HURRICANES-COURTS.xml
State Official Says Delay New Orleans Vote
Tuesday November 15, 2005 12:46 am
By MELINDA DESLATTE
Associated Press Writer
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A top state official recommended Monday that elections scheduled for February in New Orleans be delayed because of Hurricane Katrina, which displaced thousands of residents and demolished polling places.
Elections Commissioner Angie LaPlace told a legislative committee that she believes the Feb. 4 mayoral primary - which would also include city council races and referendums - should be postponed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5415142,00.html
Iraqi Chalabi meets Cheney, Rumsfeld
Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:43 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, once embraced and then shunned by the Bush administration, held talks with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday but the Pentagon did not allow television cameras to record the event.
He also held a private meeting at the White House with Vice President Dick Cheney after his 45 minutes of talks with Rumsfeld, but Cheney's office would not provide details.
Chalabi's trip to Washington has angered Iraq war critics who have denounced the visit of the man most associated with discredited prewar intelligence on Iraq.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-11-14T234329Z_01_MCC485376_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-CHALABI.xml
Cheney expected at UT Howard H. Baker Center
“I would put on record my conviction that Independence in fact would be a farce, if the British Troops are in India even for peace and order within or danger from without.” -- Mohandas Gandhi on occupation
Taking notice of the escalating deaths and military failure of the United States to subdue the Iraqi armed resistance after 32 months of a Hitlerian-like occupation, during which the Bush regime used every weapon imaginable except a nuclear bomb, imperialists across Europe and the United States began circulating a buzzword for a fictitious withdrawal from Iraq called, “exit strategy."
What is an exit strategy in the general sense? Is it a plan to withdraw forces while still under fire? Is it just a plan to just exit from an occupied place or country? If the United States wants to exit Iraq, why does it need a strategy? Would not a workable plan would be sufficient? Alternatively, what if the United States instead of seeking an “exit strategy” is actually is pondering a staying strategy?
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_181.shtml
THEY ONLY STARTED THIS? WE HAVE BEEN OVER THERE SINCE MARCH 2003 AND APPROPRIATED $87 BILLION RIGHT OFF THE TOP WITH $20 BILLION FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND THIS IS ONLY OCCURRING NOW !!! WHAT ????
Condi Rice stands up first PRT in Iraq
By Polli Keller
MOSUL, Iraq (Army News Service, Nov. 14, 2005) -- Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice made a surprise appearance at the inauguration of the Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team. Asbestos settlement completed and record quarterly revenue for ESGHOUSTON, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Halliburton (NYSE: HAL)announced today that fourth quarter 2004 income from continuing operations was $183 million, or $0.41 per diluted share.Net loss for the quarter was $201 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, andincluded a loss from discontinued operations of $384 million, or $0.86 per diluted share. The loss from discontinued operations resulted primarily from the fourth quarter revaluation charge arising from the increase in the value of the 59.5 million shares of Halliburton common stock that have subsequently been contributed to the trust for the benefit of asbestos claimants. Consolidated revenue was $5.2 billion in the fourth quarter 2004, down 5% from the fourth quarter 2003. This decrease was largely attributable to lower activity on government services projects in the Middle East in KBR, and was partially offset by record quarterly revenue in the Energy Services Group(ESG).
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/01-28-2005/0002913181&EDATE=
Iran MPs blast oil accord with Halliburton
Wednesday, January 19, 2005 - ©2004 IranMania.com
LONDON, Jan 19 (IranMania) - Three Iranian MPs sharply lashed out at Iranian oil company Kish Oriental?s cooperation with the US-based Halliburton Co, describing the move as ?a threat to Iran?s nuclear stance?, Iran?s Etemad Daily reported.
Effat Shariati, Fatemeh Ajorlou and Eshrat Shaeq in a joint letter said: ?A senior Iranian diplomat and member of Iran?s nuclear negotiating team with the help of an official of the UN bureau in Iran has registered his private oil company in Britain and Dubai [apparently referring to Sirous Naseri and his Kish Oriental Company] and now for his own benefit has signed an agreement with Halliburton, run by US vice President Dick Cheney.?
Halliburton has recently won a tender to drill a huge Iranian gas field. This is while Washington has imposed sanctions to prevent companies doing business with OPEC's second-biggest producer, which it accuses of developing atomic warheads and sponsoring terror networks.
Tehran denies the charges and says it has no objection to working with U.S. firms.
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=28895&NewsKind=Business%20%26%20Economy
Halliburton to stop activities in Iran and sell KBR
Company's activities breach U.S. embargo
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Monday, January 31, 2005
U.S. oil giant Halliburton is to end its activities in Iran and also plans to divest itself of subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root, group chairman and chief executive Dave Lesar said.
"The business environment currently in Iran is not conducive to our overall strategies and objectives. As a result we have decided to exit Iran and wind down our operations there," Lesar said Friday during a conference with investors.
Halliburton, once chaired by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, has come under investigation in the United States since July for its dealings with Iran through a Cayman Islands subsidiary in breach of a U.S. embargo. Halliburton becomes the second energy giant to pull out of Iran after U.K. oil major BP announced it's decision to not do business with the Islamic Republic two weeks ago. BP executive John Browne said the decision was based on concerns over the effects on their American business interests.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=12225
Halliburton says will exit Iran when work complete
HOUSTON – U.S. oilfield services company Halliburton Co. will pull out of Iran after its current contracts there are wound down, its chief executive said Friday, citing a poor business climate in the Islamic Republic.
Halliburton reports smaller loss for fourth quarter
"The business environment currently in Iran is not conducive to our overall strategy and objectives. As a result, we have decided to exit Iran and wind down our operations there while fulfilling our existing contracts and commitments," CEO Dave Lesar said on a conference call with investors.
The Houston-based company, formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, has also been criticized for its work for the Pentagon in Iraq, where it is the largest private contractor with revenues totaling more than $10 billion.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20050128-1205-energy-halliburton-iran..html
Cheney's Epitaph: Ruminations from the VP at Auschwitz
By Mike Whitney
Al-Jazeerah, January 30, 2005
The appearance of Dick Cheney at the 60 year commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz is an affront to anyone who has even minimal regard for the horrendous suffering of the victims of the Holocaust. Cheney is the driving force behind America’s global resource-war and is personally liable for the estimated 100,000 dead Iraqis and countless others maimed or wounded. To hear Cheney recite his duplicitous platitudes about “freedom” and “evil” is enough to leave even the most hardened cynic among us retching.
“The story of the camps reminds us that evil is real and it must be called by its name and it must be confronted,” Cheney opined. Yes, Dick, and we also appreciate the “banality of evil” that appears in the form of dumpy, mid-level, plant managers whose meaningless lives of plodding mediocrity are only enriched by rising to power, where their fascination with inflicting pain on other human beings can be fully realized. Is there a more apt summary of Cheney’s miserable tenure in government?
How could the architect of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib and Bagram Air force base and the countless other gulags in the Cheney archipelago of concentration camps, be invited to speak at Auschwitz? It boggles the mind? Are the Jews who suffered under Hitler’s despotic boot-heel comforted by the idea that the latest flourish of racism and sectarian hatred is now directed at Muslims rather than Jews? If so, that’s false comfort, indeed. The root of racism is everywhere the same; only the names and the groups are changed. Cheney’s record on the topic is entirely straightforward. He fought to defend Africa’s apartheid government to the very end. He supported the Reagan administration’s decision to put Nelson Mandela on the State Dept “list of terrorists”. He resisted “tooth-and-nail” the movement to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday as a national holiday. And, now, he presides over a chain of prison camps that exclusively houses Muslims; the unwitting victims of his apocryphal war on terror. Is there a difference between anti-Semitism and anti-Islam? Or is it just part of a broader political calculation?
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2005%20Opinion%20Editorials/January/30%20o/Cheney's%20Epitaph%20%20Ruminations%20from%20the%20VP%20at%20Auschwitz%20By%20Mike%20Whitney.htm
Who should we believe Bush or Cheney?
On Inauguration Day, George W. Bush was giving us the gist of his messianic convictions and his visions of a world free from all sorts of oppression, etc. Very nice indeed. But no matter how one may regard the authenticity of Mr. Bush’s convictions, he has not spoken to the world about what it is that the observer and most conscientious thinkers of the world wanted to hear. What is happening in Iraq and is there a way out of the predicament, for both the Americans and of course the Iraqis. Where is America heading for over the next four years, domestically and internationally and is it safe to assume that there is really no light at the end of the3 tunnel with a new Bush Administration. Oh sure, there were those commentators who claimed that this was one of the best Inauguration Speeches (“top four or five”). But are these paid commentators (it is hard to tell these days in US media land) or really opinion makers who know what is in store for the rest of humanity to ponder about as But then one cannot blame Mr. Bush. He has inherited so much mess leftover from his previous term, which apparently a good size of the American electorate failed to ponder about, when they went to the polls, so what need is there to lay them out now. No matter, it is easier to get into a world of visions then to delve into reality, because no really takes visions seriously anyway.
http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=812&p=opinion&a=1
Hey Cheney: Worried About Al Jazeera? How About Fox News?
Part of the Bush administration's effort to "spread democracy" to the Middle East includes an effort to shut down or remake the Qatar-based television station Al Jazeera. In an article in today's New York Times titled, Under Pressure, Qatar May Sell Jazeera Station, reporter Steven R. Wesiman says:
Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and other Bush administration officials have complained heatedly to Qatari leaders that Al Jazeera's broadcasts have been inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false, especially on Iraq.
On April 29, 2004, Dick Cheney said (Cheney Praises Fox News Channel), "It's easy to complain about the press -- I've been doing it for a good part of my career," Cheney said. "It's part of what goes with a free society. What I do is try to focus upon those elements of the press that I think do an effective job and try to be accurate in their portrayal of events."
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/01/30/hey_cheney_worried_about_al_jazeera_how_about_fox_news.php
Thirteen Guests for Bush, One Against
Fox News aired a special Sunday version of Your World w/Neil Cavuto today (January 30, 2005). The show was devoted to the Iraq election and Geroge Bush. Fox rolled out a new theme - that today's election makes the death of over 1,425 of our young people worthwhile.
Fourteen guests appeared on the show:
-Dan Senor, former spokesperson for the Coalition Provisional Authority.
-Oliver North, Fox News Employee and former Iran-Contra liar.
-Rep. Roy Blunt, (R-MO), House Majority Leader.
-Steve Forbes, Forbes Magazine and Fox's Saturday morning program "Forbes on Fox."
-Jack Welsh, former CEO of General Motors.
-Jim Hake, CEO of Spirit of America.
-Jan Schakowsky, (D-IL).
-David Drier (R-CA).
-Juan Williams, "Fox Political Contributor."
-Cpl. J.R. Martinez, of the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes.
-Wall Street round table participants Jonathan Hoenig, Mike Norman, Wayne Rogers and Gary B. Smith.
Fourteen guests and only one, Jean Schakowsky (D-Il), spoke with a Democrat/progressive voice. Thirteen to one. I don't think much detail about the show is needed - you can imagine what it was like with "balance" like this.
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/01/30/thirteen_guests_for_bush_one_against.php
Everyone Deserves A Chance
As I was reading through the "A section" of The Morning News on January 25, 2005, I came across a letter in the public viewpoint section. It was a very angry letter written by Margaret Wissmann of Rogers.
In her letter she asserts that the "governing forces of our country" are allowing "illegals" to "invade" our country and take advantage of the freedoms of the land. The letter is quite long and with out actually saying it, she singles out one culture. While there is a noticeable change in the cultural melting pot of Northwest Arkansas, it's certainly not something to become so angry about.
In trying to make her point, Ms. Wissmann attempts to relate the influx of Hispanics to an invasion of welfare-hungry intruders who want nothing to do with the country except for free stuff. As most people with her opinion assert, it is upsetting to her that immigrants to our area do not learn English.
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2005/01/30/opinion/07opletters.txt
Boycotting the Hegemony
by Gerard Donnelly Smith
Several weeks ago, I urged you to practice abstinence, give up smoking, grow your own food, buy a horse, get off the grid, move back to the country and start a commune or a co-op. Did you make much progress? No? Well, don't feel bad; I didn't either. That corncob was a bad idea too. Now to another war profiteer.
How does one boycott a corporation like Bechtel whose business is to build or rebuild damaged infrastructure like telecommunications, water, electrical (hydro and fusion generated) or transportation structures such as tunnels, bridges and airports? Imagine trying to boycott Bechtel by not using the public water system, turning off your electricity because it comes from Hoover Dam or driving only on bridges not built or rebuilt by Bechtel. Bechtel has even been involved in environmental restoration and currently holds the contract for cleaning up the Hanford nuclear waste facility. How does one boycott that? Virtually impossible.
Perhaps the only way would be to divest. So if you're serious about starving the hegemony, resisting those who profit from war, then sell your stock in Bechtel. Purge your 401K and make sure your TIA-CREF account is hegemony-free. Boycotting Bechtel for making huge profits from rebuilding war-ravaged Iraq might be a good reason to divest; there are others.
http://www.swans.com/library/art11/gsmith39.html
Read His Lips: Bush's Exercise in Fiscal Restraint
By Dana Milbank
Sunday, January 30, 2005; Page A05
President Bush tucked a rather startling revelation into the middle of his news conference Wednesday. Discussing the upcoming release of a budget for 2006, he vowed: "I'll promote a package that will show the budget being cut in half over the next five years."
One suspects that the president means he will be cutting the budget deficit in half over five years, and not that he will be halving everything from military spending to agriculture subsidies. But he made the mistake four times in the news conference, saying last year's "projected budget" was $527 billion, that the actual "budget was $412 billion" and that this year's "budget is projected to be at $427 billion." In fact, the fiscal 2005 budget is forecast to be about $2.43 trillion -- and nobody's thinking about cutting that in half.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47784-2005Jan29.html
Dick Cheney, Dressing Down
Parka, Ski Cap at Odds With Solemnity of Auschwitz Ceremony
By Robin Givhan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 28, 2005; Page C01
At yesterday's gathering of world leaders in southern Poland to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the United States was represented by Vice President Cheney. The ceremony at the Nazi death camp was outdoors, so those in attendance, such as French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin, were wearing dark, formal overcoats and dress shoes or boots. Because it was cold and snowing, they were also wearing gentlemen's hats. In short, they were dressed for the inclement weather as well as the sobriety and dignity of the event.
The vice president, however, was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43247-2005Jan27.html
After Harry, it's Cheney
By: Agencies
January 29, 2005
Washington: US Vice President Dick Cheney raised eyebrows on Friday for wearing an olive-drab parka, hiking boots and knit ski cap to represent the United States at a solemn ceremony remembering the liberation of Auschwitz.
Other leaders at the event in Poland on Thursday marking the 60th anniversary of the death camp’s liberation, such as French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin, wore dark, formal overcoats and dress shoes.
“The vice president, however, was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower,” Robin Givhan, The Washington Post’s fashion writer, wrote in the newspaper’s Friday edition.
Between the sombre, dark-coated leaders at the ceremony sat Cheney, in a green parka embroidered with his name and featuring a fur-trimmed hood, the laced brown boots and a knit ski cap reading Staff 2001.
“And, indeed, the vice president looked like an awkward boy amid the well-dressed adults,” Givhan wrote.
http://web.mid-day.com/news/world/2005/january/102488.htm
Jeb, Marvin & Neil - 3 Profiteering Bush Brothers
January 28, 2005
By: Evelyn Pringle
Independent Media TV
Its time to take a closer look at First Brothers, Jeb, Neil, and Marvin Bush, and see how much they stand to benefit from W's presidency and his perpetual war on the world.
First, there's brother Marvin. He's the quietest member of the Bush clan. Marvin is co-founder and partner in Winston Partners, a private investment firm. In turn, Winston Partners is part of a larger firm called the Chatterjee Group.
Here's where it gets complicated. Marvin is obviously the family member with a sound criminal mind. He has managed to bury almost all the evidence of his profiteering profits inside a host of corporations and entities, with many being located offshore. Its not easy to track the money through such a tangled web. But it can be done.
SEC filings show that the Chatterjee Group consists of Winston Partners, LP; Chatterjee Fund Management, LP; Winston Partners II LDC, a Cayman Islands-based company; Winston Partners II LLC; Chatterjee Advisors LLC; Chatterjee Management Company; Mr. Chatterjee himself; and Furxedown Trading Limited, a company organized under the laws of the Isle of Man. The address for Winston Partners II LDC is in the Netherlands Antilles. The other subsidiaries were organized in Delaware
Marvin is not the only family member plugged into the group. Brother Jeb is also an investor in the Winston Capital Fund, which happens to be managed by Marvin's firm.
Profits From Iraq
Following the tangled web of Winston this and Winston that, is difficult in itself, but tracing the links to Iraq is even more difficult. A good place to start is with a company known as Nour USA. According to the Sept 30, 2003, issue of Mother Jones, an $80 million Iraq contract was awarded to Nour, a company with ties to Winston Partners.
http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=10336&fcategory_desc=Under%20Reported
Halliburton Announces Fourth Quarter Results
Asbestos settlement completed and record quarterly revenue for ESGHOUSTON, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) announced today that fourth quarter 2004 income from continuing operations was $183 million, or $0.41 per diluted share. Net loss for the quarter was $201 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, and included a loss from discontinued operations of $384 million, or $0.86 per diluted share. The loss from discontinued operations resulted primarily from the fourth quarter revaluation charge arising from the increase in the value of the 59.5 million shares of Halliburton common stock that have subsequently been contributed to the trust for the benefit of asbestos claimants. Consolidated revenue was $5.2 billion in the fourth quarter 2004, down 5% from the fourth quarter 2003. This decrease was largely attributable to lower activity on government services projects in the Middle East in KBR, and was partially offset by record quarterly revenue in the Energy Services Group (ESG).
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/01-28-2005/0002913181&EDATE=
Smuggling suspects awarded Pentagon Iraq contract
By Claudio Gatti
Published: January 21 2005 01:07 Last updated: January 21 2005 01:07
A Jordanian family implicated in oil smuggling in violation of United Nations sanctions against Iraq was awarded a $72m (€55.5m, £38m) Pentagon contract to supply fuel to coalition forces after the fall of the Saddam regime.
The contract was cancelled after just one week, once it became clear that the company, which had little experience in the fuel supply and transportation sector, would be unable to meet its obligations.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/4b4bcee8-6b2f-11d9-9357-00000e2511c8.html
A Man of Integrity: Sgt. Kevin Benderman—“No To War”
By Jack Dalton, Vietnam Vet
Jan 19, 2005, 18:49
One can only imagine the struggle, the agonizing process Sgt. Kevin Benderman has gone through which culminated in his decision to refuse orders for deployment to Iraq a little over a week ago—which would have been his second deployment. Having spoken with Kevin and his wife Monica multiple times, I have a real good idea of the internal struggle they went through over an extended period of time. What I came away with from some of our conversations is the simple fact Kevin’s decision was not a snap decision, but was very carefully though out—good, bad and everything in-between, all was weighed, carefully and deeply.
… Kevin Benderman has made the decision to stand against death, destruction, inhumanity; in short, he has chosen to stand against war. One can only hope that others will come to know and realize that to stop war, one need only refuse to be a participant. And yes, it is that simple. Here is the link to Kevin’s statement as to how and why he came to his decision. http://www.oldamericancentury.org/voices_006.htm
All the war lovers (Bush and company) and all the war-profiteers (like Halliburton and Bechtel) would be up a creek without a paddle, if one day they looked around to see everyone just put down their guns and stop participating in their war schemes.
In this decision to apply for Conscientious Objector status and to walk away from war, I support Kevin and Monica Benderman totally. This old Nam vet considers Kevin Benderman a man of ethics, integrity and honor and feels it is one of life’s great pleasures to be able to call and be called by Kevin and Monica, “friend.”
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_15160.shtml
Bechtel's Big Dig patch not enough for state
By Casey Ross
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Four months after a Big Dig wall panel sprang a massive leak, contractors and state officials are still debating a permanent fix as private managers push a patch job instead of an extensive restoration recommended by an expert.
Project officials say the private management firm Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff...
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=64186
Judge orders release of documents in Halliburton scandal
Published in: Legalbrief Africa
Date: Mon 17 January 2005
Category: Nigeria
Issue No: 113
An Abuja High Court has ruled that the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petition, currently investigating the alleged payment of a $180m bribe by Halliburton and TSKJ consortium for LNG contracts, be allowed access to the accounts of some of the suspects in the bribe scandal.
The court also requested the judge of the French Tribunal that first launched the probe in 2003 to allow the committee to inspect documents relating to evidence deposed to the Tribunal by former Nigerian oil minister, Dan Etete, as well as those of Halliburton and the TSKJ consortium, reports THISDAY. The Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris was probing allegations that the TSKJ consortium bribed Nigerian Government officials to win the $4bn Bonny Liquefied Natural Gas contract in 1995.
Full report in THISDAY
http://legalbrief.wnd.co.za/article.php?story=20050117162622267
Halliburton driver's body found in Iraq
Galveston man killed in ambush nine months ago
By DAVID IVANOVICH
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - A truck driver from Galveston who had been missing in Iraq since his convoy was ambushed nine months ago is dead, Halliburton Co. said Thursday.
Bill Bradley's remains were discovered Monday in a shallow grave near the site of the attack west of Baghdad, said Suzanne Behringer of Galveston, who described herself as Bradley's wife.
Bradley, 50, had suffered a gunshot to the head, quite possibly during the firefight that occurred during the April 9 ambush, Behringer said.
Bradley's remains did not suggest he had been killed execution-style, Behringer said. "My greatest relief is he wasn't tortured," she said.
Halliburton had no new information about another truck driver, Tim Bell of Mobile, Ala., who also has been missing since the attack.
Besides Bradley, five other Halliburton drivers died in the Good Friday ambush, when insurgents used rocket-propelled grenades and rifle fire to attack the convoy of tanker trucks near Abu Ghraib.
The bodies of four of those victims also were found in a shallow grave.
In all, 60 of Halliburton's employees and subcontractors have been killed while working in Iraq and Kuwait.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2981527
HALLIBURTON: Halliburton Completes the Sale of Subsea 7
Publication Date: Jan 06,2005, 15:10
SUMMARY: Halliburton announced today the completion of the previously announced sale of its 50% interest in Subsea 7, Inc. to its joint venture partner, Siem Offshore, for $200 million in cash.
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New Zealand Herald
US asks for more European help in Iraq
15.11.05 4.00pm
BERLIN - Germany and other European countries that opposed the war in Iraq should do more to help there and recognise the Iraqi leadership as a legitimate and democratic government, a senior US official said.
US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried said Washington did not expect Germany to send troops to Iraq, but he urged Europe to provide more support for what he described as "one of the most democratically constituted regimes" in the Middle East.
"It should not be treated as a pariah and its leaders should not be treated as if they are second class citizens. Now I am not accusing Germany of doing that, though there is a kind of asterisk often put near Iraq and the government and that needs to be removed," Fried told reporters at a US embassy briefing.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355328
Protests 'biggest in Australian history'
15.11.05 1.00pm
CANBERRA - The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) says today's mass protests against the Government's controversial workplace overhaul are the start of a long campaign to fight the proposed changes.
Unions expect the biggest political protest in Australian history, with hundreds of thousands of workers set to walk off the job in a national day of action.
Some businesses have warned employees they could face legal action if they ditch work to join the union-organised protest.
The protest is being supported in New Zealand, with similar rallies organised in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch this afternoon.
New Zealand Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said the Australian proposals would allow employers in worksites with less than 100 employees to fire people for no reason.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355314
US plans no more delay in Hicks Guantanamo trial
15.11.05 2.20pm
WASHINGTON - The United States plans to resume the war crimes trial of an Australian Guantanamo Bay prisoner this week without waiting for a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of these military tribunals.
The Supreme Court said last week it would decide whether President George W Bush had the power to create the military commissions to put Guantanamo prisoners on trial for war crimes.
The case before the high court involves Yemeni prisoner Salim Ahmed Hamdan.
The justices could find the trials unconstitutional or endorse them as legal, among other possible outcomes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355329
US plans no more delay in Hicks Guantanamo trial
15.11.05 2.20pm
WASHINGTON - The United States plans to resume the war crimes trial of an Australian Guantanamo Bay prisoner this week without waiting for a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of these military tribunals.
The Supreme Court said last week it would decide whether President George W Bush had the power to create the military commissions to put Guantanamo prisoners on trial for war crimes.
The case before the high court involves Yemeni prisoner Salim Ahmed Hamdan.
The justices could find the trials unconstitutional or endorse them as legal, among other possible outcomes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355329
Foreign contractors killed, US pursues offensive
15.11.05 1.20pm
BAGHDAD - Roadside bombs killed nearly a dozen people in Iraq, as US-led forces launched the latest phase of an offensive, killing 37 insurgents near the Syrian border, in a bid to secure the nation for December polls.
In the first roadside bomb attack, two South African private security contractors were killed by a roadside bomb near the heavily fortified "Green Zone" in central Baghdad, the US embassy spokesman's office said.
Three others, an American, an Iraqi, and another South African, were wounded in the attack, two of them seriously. Earlier Iraqi police had said three people were killed.
The contractors work for Dyncorp, a US-based firm that has a range of security operations in Iraq, including employing Westerners to protect convoys and reconstruction projects.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355330
Relief body seeks US$13m to help Iraqi families
15.11.05 11.20am
GENEVA - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies appealed to its members for nearly $13 million (NZ$19.1 million) to help 60,000 Iraqi families cope with the coming winter.
The Geneva-based federation said the funds would also go towards rebuilding healthcare centres, training of 5000 first aid workers, supporting immunisation campaigns and restoring water treatment plants in rural areas.
"A positive response to this emergency appeal will enable us to continue providing badly needed humanitarian assistance during the winter period to the most vulnerable groups," it quoted Iraqi Red Crescent chief Mazin Salloum as saying.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355313
Goliath's name found in Israeli archaeological dig
15.11.05
ISRAEL - Archaeologists digging at the biblical home of Goliath have unearthed a shard of pottery bearing the Philistine's name, lending credence to the Biblical tale of David's battle.
While the discovery does not prove Goliath's existence, it does support the Bible's depiction of life at the time of the supposed battle, said Dr Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University in Israel.
"It means there were people there named Goliath at the time. It shows David's story reflects the cultural reality of the time."
Some scholars believe that the story of David slaying the giant Goliath is a myth written down hundreds of years later, but Maeir said finding the scraps gave credence to the biblical story.
The shard dates to about 950BC, within 70 years of when biblical chronology says David squared off against Goliath, making it the oldest Philistine inscription found.
It was at Tel es-Safi in southern Israel, thought to be the site of the Philistine city of Gath.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355223
Relief body seeks US$13m to help Iraqi families
15.11.05 11.20am
GENEVA - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies appealed to its members for nearly $13 million (NZ$19.1 million) to help 60,000 Iraqi families cope with the coming winter.
The Geneva-based federation said the funds would also go towards rebuilding healthcare centres, training of 5000 first aid workers, supporting immunisation campaigns and restoring water treatment plants in rural areas.
"A positive response to this emergency appeal will enable us to continue providing badly needed humanitarian assistance during the winter period to the most vulnerable groups," it quoted Iraqi Red Crescent chief Mazin Salloum as saying.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355313
Bird flu claims rising toll among people
15.11.05 1.00pm
JAKARTA - Indonesia said today a 20-year-old woman had died of bird flu while several countries reported new suspected human cases of the deadly virus.
The H5N1 bird flu virus has killed more than 60 people in Asia and is endemic in most poultry flocks in the region.
It remains hard for humans to catch but scientists fear it will mutate into a form that passes easily among people. If it does so, millions could die as happened during three flu pandemics in the 20th century.
Japan set out plans to cope with any outbreak among humans, including declaring a state of emergency, shutting down schools and banning large gatherings.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10355293
War of words between Mexico and Venezuela
15.11.05 5.20am
A diplomatic fight between Mexico and Venezuela worsened yesterday.
Days after branding Mexican President Vicente Fox a "lapdog" of United States imperialism, his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez warned: "Don't mess with me, mister, because you'll get pricked."
Mexico's Foreign Ministry responded, saying it would withdraw its Ambassador to Venezuela unless it received a formal apology.
"The Venezuelan President's declarations hurt the dignity of the people and Government of Mexico," it said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355249
Chinese pirates and yuan top Bush agenda
15.11.05
By Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON - A push for China to embrace more currency flexibility and crack down on trade in fake United States goods will dominate President George W. Bush's economic agenda on a four-nation trip to Asia.
Bush's tour this week, which includes a visit to Beijing, comes after a report showed the US trade deficit with the rest of the world surged to a record monthly high of US$66.1 billion ($96.3 billion) in September amid a flood of imports from China.
Such figures add to political pressure on Bush to take a tough line on trade issues with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355217
concluding ...
