The Jordan Times
King, Queen meet with families of terror victims
AMMAN (Petra) — Their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania on Tuesday met with the families of the victims of the November 9 terrorist attacks on three Amman hotels.
At a Royal Court meeting, King Abdullah told the families of the victims that the courage, unity and solidarity Jordanians showed sent a strong message to the terrorists that they have no place in the Kingdom.
"The pain you felt for the loss of your beloved ones, who were killed for no crime they committed, was shared by all Jordanians, regardless of their origins or religions," the King said.
"The cowardly crime proved to the entire world that Jordanians are strong at difficult times and that terrorists advocate wrong and misleading ideas."
The Monarch reiterated that Islam rejects such hideous acts, which are against its noble values of moderation, tolerance and peace.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/homenews/homenews2.htm
Government to introduce new anti-terror legislation
By Alia Shukri Hamzeh
AMMAN — Interior Minister Awni Yarvas announced Tuesday the government is drafting a new anti-terrorism bill as part of “protective measures” to ensure the Kingdom prevents further attacks similar to the 11/9 bombings of three Amman hotels.
The new bill, to be given urgent status on Parliament's agenda when the 110-member Lower House reconvenes on Dec. 1, will set harsh punishments for anyone who condones or supports acts of terror.
It will also grant authorities the power to hold any terror suspect for questioning indefinitely, and to issue penalties to those who seek to endanger the lives and properties of citizens, whether inside or outside the country.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/homenews/homenews4.htm
Animal rights activists slam policy to shoot stray dogs
By Rula Samain
AMMAN — Animal rights activists have slammed a recent decision by authorities in Mafraq to award JD5 for any person who manages to kill a stray dog.
According to press reports, the Mafraq Governorate has offered the cash prize in an attempt to control the region's stray dog population and prevent the spread of rabies.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/homenews/homenews9.htm
Iran warns IAEA ahead of key meeting
TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran's top nuclear negotiator issued a blunt warning to the UN atomic watchdog on Tuesday, saying more pressure on the Tehran over its controversial nuclear activities would have “consequences.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is to meet from November 24, with Iran running the risk of being sent to the UN Security Council amid suspicions it is using a nuclear energy drive as a cover for weapons development.
But Ali Larijani, quoted by the ISNA news agency, said a Security Council referral “would have consequences on Iran's cooperation, and would not be good for Iran's cooperation.”
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news5.htm
No cases of abuse against Iraqis since attacks — PSD official
By Mohammad Ghazal
Iraqi nationals from the country's troubled Anbar Province take to the streets of Amman to show their support for Jordan in the wake of last week's suicide bombings (Petra photo )
AMMAN — There have been no reported cases of physical or verbal abuse against the Kingdom's Iraqi population following last Wednesday's triple suicide blasts in Amman, a Public Security Department (PSD) official said on Tuesday.
Major Bashir Daaja, head of the PSD's information office, told The Jordan Times that police stations throughout the country had not reported “a single incident.”
“Since the attacks took place, the PSD has undertook strenuous efforts by way of the media to ensure that no backlash occurs against the Iraqi community,” said Daaja.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/homenews/homenews5.htm
'Unique contribution to mending this region'
Hasan Abu Nimah
There can be no doubt that the perpetrators of the terrorist suicide attacks on three Amman hotels on Nov. 9 knew exactly what they were doing.
Amman's hotels are a meeting place for Jordanians, guests from neighbouring Arab countries, as well as foreign visitors and tourists. The attackers clearly intended to massacre in cold blood as many people as possible from all these groups, and in that they succeeded horribly.
Any attack on civilians is gruesome and reprehensible, but even by today's debased standards, the Amman bombers still managed to shock the world by specifically targeting a wedding party. After the carnage, the entire world stood in solidarity with this country, as Jordan has stood so often with others who have been victims of such savagery.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/opinion/opinion2.htm
Arab-Russian Business Forum opens in Aqaba
Leading local and Russian businessmen described the event as a “turning point” in the Kingdom's investment attraction record
By Mahmoud Al Abed
AMMAN — The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) will press its drive to attract investments and turn Jordan into a true business hub in the region, ASEZA Chief Commissioner Nader Dahabi pledged Tuesday.
Dahabi was speaking to around 400 Jordanian, Arab and Russian investors who were attending the Arab-Russian Business Forum which opened on Tuesday in Aqaba to discuss prospects of investments in the Kingdom and the region.
During the opening session, participants voiced condemnation of the recent terrorist attacks against Jordan and stressed their determination to forge ahead with business plans and investments.
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/economy/economy1.htm
The Washington Post
Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force
By Dana Milbank and Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Page A01
A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.
The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501842.html
FEMA Tells 150,000 in Hotels to Exit In 15 Days
No More Free Rooms For Katrina Evacuees
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Page A01
The Federal Emergency Management Agency yesterday warned an estimated 150,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees living in government-subsidized hotels that they have until Dec. 1 to find other housing before it stops paying for their rooms.
The announcement effectively starts the clock ticking toward a new exodus of Gulf Coast storm victims who have been living rent-free in 5,700 hotels in 51 states and U.S. territories under the $273 million program.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501704.html
Woodward Was Told of Plame More Than Two Years Ago
By Jim VandeHei and Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Page A01
Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward testified under oath Monday in the CIA leak case that a senior administration official told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame and her position at the agency nearly a month before her identity was disclosed.
In a more than two-hour deposition, Woodward told Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald that the official casually told him in mid-June 2003 that Plame worked as a CIA analyst on weapons of mass destruction, and that he did not believe the information to be classified or sensitive, according to a statement Woodward released yesterday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501857.html
Testifying in the CIA Leak Case
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Page A08
On Monday, November 14, I testified under oath in a sworn deposition to Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald for more than two hours about small portions of interviews I conducted with three current or former Bush administration officials that relate to the investigation of the public disclosure of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.
The interviews were mostly confidential background interviews for my 2004 book "Plan of Attack" about the leadup to the Iraq war, ongoing reporting for The Washington Post and research for a book on Bush's second term to be published in 2006. The testimony was given under an agreement with Fitzgerald that he would only ask about specific matters directly relating to his investigation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501829.html
Tide Turning in GOP Senators' War View
Bipartisan Amendment Is Rebuff to Bush
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Page A06
For the past three years, President Bush has set the course on U.S. policy in Iraq, and Republicans in Congress -- and many Democrats, too -- have dutifully followed his lead. Yesterday the Senate, responding to growing public frustration with the administration's war policy, signaled that those days are coming to an end.
The rebuff to the White House was muffled in the modulated language of a bipartisan amendment, but the message could not have been more clear. With their constituents increasingly unhappy with the U.S. mission in Iraq, Democrats and now Republicans are demanding that the administration show that it has a strategy to turn the conflict over to the Iraqis and eventually bring U.S. troops home.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501525.html
Deal Reached on Managing the Internet
By MATT MOORE
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; 9:38 AM
TUNIS, Tunisia -- A U.N. technology summit opened Wednesday after an 11th-hour agreement that leaves the United States with ultimate oversight of the main computers that direct the Internet's flow of information, commerce and dissent.
A lingering and vocal struggle over the Internet's plumbing and its addressing system has overshadowed the summit's original intent: to address ways to expand communications technologies to poorer parts of the world.
From left, Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union Toshio Utsumi of Japan, General-Secretary of the United Nation Kofi Annan and President of Tunisia Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, listening to the speeches of the opening session of the World Summit on the Information Society at the convention center in Kram, 10 kms(6 mls) north of Tunis, Tunisia, Wednesday Nov. 16, 2005. Negotiators from more than 100 countries agreed late Tuesday to leave the United States in charge of the Internet's addressing system, averting a U.S.-EU showdown at this week's U.N. technology summit. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) (Michel Euler - AP)
Atari is bringing back classic video games in a new console called the Flashback2, including it's first video-game, Pong. What year did Atari first introduce Pong?
Negotiators from more than 100 countries agreed late Tuesday to leave the United States in charge, through a quasi-independent body called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/16/AR2005111600433.html
French Premier Visits Suburb Hit by Violence
By Helene Fontanaud
Reuters
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Page A12
AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France, Nov. 15 -- Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin made an unannounced visit Tuesday to a Paris suburb hit by rioting and said that a struggle against injustice and discrimination "should mobilize us all, every French man and woman."
Villepin traveled to Aulnay-sous-Bois, northeast of Paris, a day after President Jacques Chirac said in a televised address that the worst civil unrest in almost 40 years pointed to a deep national malaise and identity crisis.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501694.html
Mayor Plans $558 Million For Affordable Housing
Aim Is to Help Poor Stay On in Gentrifying Areas
By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Page B04
To preserve affordable housing in a rapidly gentrifying area 10 blocks north of the U.S. Capitol, D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams is proposing to spend $558 million, a sum that exceeds what the city has promised to spend on a new ballpark.
The money -- much of which would come from private investors -- would pay for the first installment of the mayor's New Communities initiative, which seeks to harness escalating property values in the District by replacing blocks of concentrated poverty with townhouses and apartments attractive to middle- and upper-income buyers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501537.html
Mayor Plans $558 Million For Affordable Housing
Aim Is to Help Poor Stay On in Gentrifying Areas
By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Page B04
To preserve affordable housing in a rapidly gentrifying area 10 blocks north of the U.S. Capitol, D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams is proposing to spend $558 million, a sum that exceeds what the city has promised to spend on a new ballpark.
The money -- much of which would come from private investors -- would pay for the first installment of the mayor's New Communities initiative, which seeks to harness escalating property values in the District by replacing blocks of concentrated poverty with townhouses and apartments attractive to middle- and upper-income buyers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501537.html
Ms. Rice's Dealmaking
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Page A18
WITH A CRUCIAL push from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israelis and Palestinians have at last taken a step toward converting Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip into a sustained movement toward peace. An agreement reached early Tuesday morning promises Palestinians in Gaza the access to the outside world necessary to convert their tiny, crowded territory from a detention camp into a statelet. It also gives Israel means to cope with the increased risk to its own security that such access necessarily creates. Needed months ago, the accord was stalled by eruptions of violence, domestic political complications on both sides, and the mutual distrust of Israeli and Palestinian leaders: Each side suspects that the other is not willing or able to follow President Bush's "road map" for a negotiated two-state settlement. By clinching the deal, Ms. Rice preserved the possibility that Mr. Bush's plan could still go forward.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501323.html
The New Zealand Herald
NZ wallabies dying on re-introduction to Australia
16.11.05 1.00pm
By Kent Atkinson
Dozens of wallabies re-introduced to a South Australian national park from Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf have died.
Only 14 of the 46 NZ tammar wallabies released into a new life at Innes National Park in the past 12 months have survived, the Yorke Peninsula Country Times reported.
Of the first 10 tammar wallabies released 12 months ago, only four are still alive, and of the second batch of 36 animals released in June, 10 have survived.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10355504
Jail for woman who mistreated cats
16.11.05 3.40pm
A Taranaki woman is facing three months in jail for mistreating cats.
Last year Lynne Walker was banned from owning cats for five years, fined $4000 and sentenced to 300 hours community work on 20 charges of failing to ensure the needs of an animal were being met.
On March 4, the SPCA was again called to her home near New Plymouth, and found a number of flea-infested cats and kittens, three of which were taken to a vet for treatment of corneal ulcers and conjunctivitis.
Walker has been sentenced to three months imprisonment, with leave to apply for home detention. She has again been banned from owning cats.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10355530
Penalties urged for gas-guzzling cars
16.11.05 1.00pm
Motorists should be given cash incentives for buying more fuel efficient cars and penalised for purchasing inefficient vehicles, a business group says.
The New Zealand Business Development Council for Sustainable Development is calling on the Government to look at ways to get motorists to look after the environment.
The Incentivising Greener Vehicles report suggests an incentive of up to $3000 for new and imported vehicles in the top two classes of fuel efficiency at their first registration.
A $2000 dollar penalty would apply for cars which were considered "fuel inefficient".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10355506
Closing borders an option in fight against Bird Flu
16.11.05 4.40pm
To protect against bird flu, New Zealand would most likely close its borders to incoming travellers once large clusters of human-to-human transmission started happening overseas.
The Government released its plan for handling an influenza pandemic this afternoon.
New Zealand and international health authorities have been working overtime planning for a possible flu pandemic following the slowly growing number of cases of bird flu.
More than 60 people in Asia have died from the virulent H5N1 strain which has led to the deaths of millions of birds.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10355535
Lactose spill reaches Waikato River
16.11.05 1.00pm
A spill of lactose into the Mangaone Stream near Hamilton early yesterday began flowing into the Waikato River early today.
Regional council Environment Waikato this morning said the milk by-product was being diluted to an extent where it was not visible in the river and had not yet caused obvious problems.
About 500,000 litres of lactose, which came from a ruptured holding tank at Civil Whey Distributors, turned the Mangaone Stream between Hamilton and Cambridge a brownish-white colour yesterday.
The oxygen-sapping substance has already killed some of the stream's aquatic life.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10355501
Surfer plucked from rocks in heavy seas
16.11.05 6.00am
Rescuers punched through windswept seas to pluck a surfer off rocks off St Clair beach in Dunedin last night.
Tide and wind conspired to suck Hok Lim, 21, toward the open sea before he paddled, for about 30 minutes on and off, for swell-slapped Paua Rock.
The University of Otago pharmacy student clung there for a half-hour that "felt like ages" before he was reached by Marine Search and Rescue.
Rescue squad member Tim Hunt, who was called to the scene about 7pm, said the cut and bruised Mr Lim was "very lucky -- another half a foot of swell, and he might not have stayed on the rock".
"When you're paddling against the wind and the swell, the rocks probably look like a pretty safe place to be. But it was really big out there, and he was pretty lucky."
Mr Lim, who has been surfing in Dunedin for about a year, paid tribute to Mr Hunt and rescue boat driver Stefan Brown.
"The sea was pretty rough, but they did an amazing job."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10355447
Dairy spill could devastate river life
16.11.05
By Simon O'Rourke
A rupture in a giant holding tank that led to about $1 million of dairy byproduct flooding rural land south of Hamilton yesterday could be devastating for aquatic life.
The accident contaminated the Mangaone Stream which feeds the Waikato River.
Water near the spill was a brown-white colour, but further downstream it turned pale yellow as it slowly diluted.
Yesterday it moved more slowly than expected and was not due to reach the Waikato River until early this morning.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10355441
American landowner denies deceit and $1m profit
16.11.05
By Jarrod Booker
An American businessman fined $17,000 for failing to honour his commitment to develop a Queenstown property never set out to deceive the country, his lawyer says.
Lance Cornell Weller, who was also ordered to pay $5000 costs, had promised the Overseas Investment Commission he would develop a chestnut orchard and a Douglas fir plantation when it allowed him to buy the 43ha property in 2000.
But the only development Mr Weller did was for his holiday home.
He is the first person convicted of breaching rules for foreign investors.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10355445
US Senate pushes for speedier handover in Iraq
16.11.05 1.00pm
WASHINGTON - An increasingly uneasy Republican majority backed a US Senate resolution that could pave the way for a phased withdrawal of US troops from Iraq but rejected Democrats' demands to set a timetable.
The resolution, while non-binding, sent a clear signal of impatience to President George W Bush, saying Iraqis should start taking the lead in their own security next year to allow a phased US withdrawal.
The Senate's 79 to 19 vote came days after Bush, facing waning support for the war and the lowest job approval ratings of his presidency, launched an aggressive counter-offensive against Democratic critics who say he misled the country by hyping pre-war intelligence on Iraq to justify the 2003 invasion.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355512
Clinton tells Gulf Arabs to spread the oil wealth
16.11.05 1.00pm
ABU DHABI - Former US President Bill Clinton criticised Gulf Arab countries for not spreading their huge oil wealth around the Middle East to push education, fight poverty and find alternative energy sources.
Addressing business leaders in the United Arab Emirates, Clinton said Gulf governments should resist the urge to spend mainly on itself in a new period of high oil prices which analysts say is set to continue for the foreseeable future.
"This is a magic moment for this part of the world. I think you should think about ... what you should do today so that (your grandchildren) will think 50 years from now that it was a magic moment because of the gifts you left behind," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10355492
Metropolis film poster sells for record US$690,000
16.11.05 3.20pm
LONDON - A poster for the classic German 1920s film Metropolis has been sold for a world record US$690,000 ($1.01 million) to a private collector from the United States, the London gallery which arranged the sale said.
The sale beat the previous record for a movie poster of US$453,500, set in 1997 by a poster for the 1932 film The Mummy, the Reel Poster Gallery said.
Graphic artist Heinz Schulz-Neudamm designed the sepia-coloured poster featuring the futuristic skyline which helped make Fritz Lang's film famous.
The art deco poster is one of only four known copies in existence.
The Museum of Modern Art in New York and Berlin's Film Museum have one each while another is in a private collection.
The poster was bought by California-based collector Ken Schacter from British businessman Andrew Cohen, chairman of mail order firm Betterware, a spokeswoman for the gallery said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355477
Evacuation of Colombian town near volcano
16.11.05 10.20am
BOGOTA, Colombia - The Colombian government asked 9000 people living near the Galeras volcano in the southeast province of Narino to evacuate after scientists said it could erupt soon.
Some residents of the area, near the town of Pasto, told local media they were reluctant to leave their farms and livestock despite increased seismic activity recorded by the Colombian Institute of Geology and Mines.
"I always have a packed suitcase ready, a flashlight and a radio," said local resident Aida Vallejo, who declined to heed the government's recommendation to immediately evacuate.
Galeras had a small gas and ash eruption a year ago that started forest fires but caused no injuries. An eruption of the volcano in 1993 killed at least 10 people.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355496
Evacuation of Colombian town near volcano
16.11.05 10.20am
BOGOTA, Colombia - The Colombian government asked 9000 people living near the Galeras volcano in the southeast province of Narino to evacuate after scientists said it could erupt soon.
Some residents of the area, near the town of Pasto, told local media they were reluctant to leave their farms and livestock despite increased seismic activity recorded by the Colombian Institute of Geology and Mines.
"I always have a packed suitcase ready, a flashlight and a radio," said local resident Aida Vallejo, who declined to heed the government's recommendation to immediately evacuate.
Galeras had a small gas and ash eruption a year ago that started forest fires but caused no injuries. An eruption of the volcano in 1993 killed at least 10 people.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355496
Venezuela orders US religious group out
16.11.05 1.20pm
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela gave a US evangelical missionary group a 90-day deadline to leave indigenous communities after President Hugo Chavez accused them of spying and ordered them out of the country.
Chavez, a former soldier increasingly at odds with the US administration, last month charged the Florida-based New Tribes Mission with working for the CIA and abusing indigenous groups and demanded they leave Venezuela.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355520
Lots of coffee in pregnancy may be risky
16.11.05 2.20pm
NEW YORK - Women who drink eight or more cups of coffee daily while pregnant are at risk for spontaneous abortion and stillbirth, Danish researchers report. In their study, they found that foetal death was twice as likely among heavy coffee drinkers relative to pregnant women who did not drink coffee.
Adjusting for other risk factors weakened the association somewhat, but heavy coffee drinkers remained at 59 per cent greater risk of foetal death, Dr Bodil Hammer Bech of the University of Aarhus and colleagues report.
Women who drank four to seven cups daily had a 33 per cent increased risk of fetal death.
"Due to our findings and previous studies we think it is reasonable to apply the precaution principle and advise pregnant women to abstain from drinking more than 3 cups of coffee per day," Bech said. Denmark currently has an official policy warning women to restrict their coffee intake to three cups or less daily.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10355503
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