The Moscow Times
Straight from the Wires
Jury selected for Klebnikov trial
RIA NOVOSTI. December 29, 2005, 4:08 PM
MOSCOW, December 29 (RIA Novosti) - Jurors have been selected for the trial of the three men accused of killing Forbes Russia Editor Paul Klebnikov, the Moscow City Court said Thursday.
The prosecution and defense selected a 12-person jury and 4 alternates out of 46 candidates.
Closed hearings on the case against Moscow notary Faiil Satretdinov and Chechens Musa Makhayev and Kazbek Dukuzov have been set for January 10, 2006.
"The criminal case will be heard behind closed doors because of the number of classified documents that have been included in the materials," Dukuzov's attorney, Ruslan Khasanov, said earlier.
The investigation established that Klebnikov was murdered on July 9, 2004 by members of a Moscow-based Chechen criminal group that included Kazbek Dukuzov, Magomed Dukuzov, Musa Vakhayev and Magomed Edilsultanov.
"This criminal group was formed in 2002 in Moscow to conduct extortions and contract murders," the prosecution said in a statement.
Investigators said the journalist had been killed because he planned to write about the embezzlement of funds allocated to the reconstruction of war-ravaged Chechnya. They said they had identified the person who allegedly ordered the killing: "Chechen resident Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, who offered the criminals a monetary reward for Klebnikov's murder."
Nukhayev, Edilsultanov and Magomed Dukuzov have been placed on the wanted list
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/doc/HotNews.html
Georgia undecided on sale of pipeline to Gazprom - PM
RIA NOVOSTI. December 29, 2005, 3:48 PM
TBILISI, December 29 (RIA Novosti, Marina Kvaratskhelia) - Georgia has not yet decided to sell its trunk pipeline to Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom, the Georgian prime minister said Thursday.
"We must consider this thoroughly and submit our proposals on the issue," Zurab Nogaideli said.
He said Gazprom representatives had visited Georgia last week and had said that the Georgian proposals on the formation of joint enterprise Gruzrosgazprom were unacceptable.
"They offered an alternative proposal, stating their interest in purchasing the Georgian trunk pipeline," Nogaideli said.
He added that Georgia had no issues whatsoever with Gazprom.
On Wednesday, David Morchiladze, the representative of Gazprom's export arm, Gazexport, in Georgia, said that Nogaideli was involved in negotiations on the privatization of the gas pipeline and that the Georgian side was expected to submit its proposals in the first quarter of 2006.
He added that the privatization of the pipeline would not affect natural gas deliveries to Georgia or to Armenia via Georgia.
The Gazexport representative said Gazprom would supply more than 2 billion cu m of natural gas to Georgia in 2006 at $110 per 1,000 cu m.
Georgian authorities will need to amend the law on privatization if they decide to sell the pipeline. The trunk pipeline is listed as one of the country's strategic facilities, and the privatization of such facilities is prohibited under current law.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/doc/HotNews.html
Few Surprises in Beslan Report
By Simon Saradzhyan
Staff Writer
Itar-Tass
Torshin presenting his Beslan report.
Even though he had promised surprises in his report on the Beslan attack, the head of a parliamentary investigative commission on Wednesday largely followed the lead of prosecutors in blaming local police and security officials and absolving their federal commanders of any wrongdoing.
Alexander Torshin, deputy speaker of the Federation Council, presented the long-awaited preliminary results of his commission's work to both chambers of parliament, but he said a final report would be released only next year, after several simulation tests and other research were completed.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/001.html
How a Nuclear Plant Found Time for God
By Anna Smolchenko
Staff Writer
Alexander Belenky / MT
Bells at St. Petersburg's Kazan Cathedral, made at the city's Baltiisky Zavod shipyard — one of a number of factories using their facilities to make bells.
A decade ago, Andrei Sushko, a nuclear physicist from one of Russia's top-secret cities, added another line to his resume: bellmaker.
It all started in 1991, when Sushko was standing in an honor cordon welcoming the relics of St. Seraphim to their final resting place at the Diveyevo convent, near the closed nuclear research city of Sarov. The sound of bells accompanying the procession dumbfounded him, he said.
"Diveyevo had awful bells," he said. "I really disliked their toll."
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/002.html
G8 Urged to Press Russia on NGO Bill
By Judith Ingram
The Associated Press
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged members of the Group of Eight to press Russia -- their chairman in 2006 -- on new legislation that would severely restrict nongovernmental organizations.
The bill has been approved by both chambers of parliament and is expected to go to President Vladimir Putin for his signature before the end of the year.
Critics see the measure as part of a Kremlin campaign to increase control over society and stem dissent.
Human Rights Watch said that the bill, despite some softening amendments, would have an "extremely negative impact" on Russian rights organizations and could result in the closure of foreign-affiliated NGOs.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/012.html
Abused Girl Asks Putin Not to Halt Adoptions
By Kevin O'Flynn
Staff Writer
A 13-year-old Russian girl who was molested by her adopted American father has appealed in a letter to President Vladimir Putin to take measures to protect children but also to allow foreign adoptions to continue.
The letter comes as Russian authorities are looking to restrict adoptions after several children died at the hands of their American parents in recent years. Adoption advocates in the United States are worried that adoptions from Russia might grind to a halt.
"Adoption by Americans should not stop because of what happened to me," the girl, Masha, wrote in the letter. "But we need to make things safer and better for the Russian orphans who are sent to America."
Masha was adopted at the age of 5 by Matthew Mancuso, a millionaire who sexually abused her and posted photographs of the abuse on the Internet. He is now serving a life sentence in prison on child abuse charges. Masha has been adopted by another American family.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/011.html
Belarus Drops Murder Investigation
The Associated Press
MINSK -- Prosecutors in Belarus investigating the stabbing death of an opposition journalist said Wednesday that they had halted their probe because of a lack of suspects.
Sergei Ivanov, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation, said he had decided to suspend the inquiry "owing to the absence of individuals who can be brought to justice."
But Ivanov said that it could be reopened if circumstances warranted.
Veronika Cherkasova was stabbed to death in her home in October. The 44-year-old had worked for independent media outlets since 1995, most recently for the newspaper Solidarnost.
Meanwhile, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday that Solidarnost would no longer be available at newsstands as of Sunday because the state company that has a monopoly on distribution decided not to renew its contract.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/016.html
11 Jailed Over Andijan Unrest
The Associated Press
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan -- Uzbekistan's highest court on Wednesday sentenced 11 policemen, soldiers and prison doctors to as long as 11 years in prison for negligence and complicity that purportedly paved the way for a deadly May uprising in the eastern city of Andijan.
The Supreme Court found nine police officers and military servicemen, including the Andijan police chief, guilty of neglecting their duties and allowing rebels unhindered access to government buildings and weapons, the court said in a statement.
"As a result of their negligence terrorists seized a military unit, prison and government buildings, and released hundreds of criminals," the court statement said.
Two doctors were accused of passing messages between rebels and their alleged accomplices in the Andijan prison.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/015.html
Sailors Tell of Ordeal in Nigerian Jail
By Henry Meyer
The Associated Press
Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
Valery Pakhomov, fourth from left, and other sailors waving as they leave Sheremetyevo Airport on Wednesday.
Twelve Russian sailors freed from a Nigerian jail after nearly two years in detention arrived home on Wednesday, complaining of terrible conditions during a lengthy ordeal in the African nation that strained relations between Russia and Nigeria.
The sailors flew into Sheremetyevo Airport to an emotional welcome from their family and waiting television crews, and were handed red carnations.
The 12 Russians were among 15 sailors convicted on Dec. 14 of illegally possessing crude oil from Nigeria, but they were released as part of a plea bargain.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/013.html
Gospel Truth
By Chris Floyd
Published: December 23, 2005
Countless words of condemnation have been heaped upon President George W. Bush and his hard-right regime -- a crescendo growing louder by the day, with voices from across the political spectrum. But the most devastating repudiation of the regime's foul ethos was actually delivered almost 2,000 years ago by the man whose birth is celebrated at this season of the year.
We speak, of course, of Jesus of Nazareth, whose Sermon on the Mount called for a revolutionary transformation of human nature -- a complete overthrow of our natural instincts for greed, aggression and self-aggrandizement. This radical vision -- erupting in the turbulent backwater of a brutal world empire -- is the true miracle of Jesus' life, not the primitive fables about virgin births, magic tricks and corpses rising from the dead. The vision's living force sears through dogma, casts down the pomp of church and state, and gives the lie to every hypocrite who evokes Jesus' name in pursuit of earthly power.
http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/23/120.html
Dissecting Hitler
Stalin felt betrayed by Hitler, but the German dictator also fascinated him. Why else would Stalin have commissioned a detailed study of the man who was his greatest enemy?
By David M. Glantz
Published: December 23, 2005
The demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and ensuing formation of the ostensibly democratic Russian Federation raised hopes that the fledgling government would ease or totally end the stifling censorship formerly exercised over access to state archives and the writing of Soviet and Russian history. Prior to 1991, the Soviet government and Communist Party had strictly limited the release of information from historical archives and routinely censored the work and writings of the country's official and nonofficial historians. Applicable to every realm deemed vital to state security, these restrictions were most ubiquitous in the sensitive areas of political and military affairs, past and present. Because of this censorship, books published on these subjects in the Soviet Union lacked candor and, hence, credibility.
http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/23/104.html
Star Telegram
'Devastated'
Residents left to sift through the ashes
By MELODY McDONALD
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
John Offenbaker stared at the charred remnants of his Hood County home Wednesday morning, reached into his pocket and pulled out the only thing he was able to salvage: a small tin bookmark emblazoned with the words "Jesus is Lord."
"I kept trying to envision the worst, but I didn't envision this at all," said Offenbaker, who wasn't at home when the fire broke out. "I can't even haul off my debris. It burnt the handles off my wheelbarrow."
In addition to his newly remodeled two-story house, Offenbaker lost his boat, his car -- even his trampoline -- in the fast-moving grass fire that swept through the Lakeside Hills and Canyon Creek subdivisions near Texas 144, south of Granbury.
"This was going to be my last and final home," he said. "I was getting ready for retirement."
By the time the sun came up Wednesday morning, it was clear that Offenbaker had plenty of company.
At least 18 homes, seven travel trailers, some of which were used as living quarters, and 23 vehicles were destroyed Tuesday afternoon by the blaze, which may have been started by children with a lighter in the Canyon Creek subdivision, said Roger Deeds, the Hood County fire marshal.
"I'm still trying to determine whether it was accidental or intentional," Deeds said late Wednesday. "It doesn't appear that fireworks were involved," he said.
No residents were injured, but at least eight Hood County firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation or heat exhaustion, Deeds said. One firefighter who was taken by helicopter ambulance to a Fort Worth hospital was released Wednesday.
Four other firefighters were treated at local hospitals and released Tuesday, while three were treated at the scene, Deeds said.
Anita Foster, the Metroplex spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said the agency has provided temporary housing to three Hood County families. Others displaced by the fire are staying with friends or relatives, she said.
The fire, which burned an estimated 250 acres, was the worst anyone could remember.
"I've seen larger areas burned, but nothing like this magnitude with the structure fires," said County Judge Andy Rash, who has lived in Hood County all his life.
Railea Cramer and her family returned to their home Wednesday morning to find it -- and their beloved pets -- gone.
"I'm numb. Utterly devastated," said Cramer, wiping away tears as her daughter and son frantically searched the smoldering rubble, calling out for their two cats, ferret, bearded dragon and dog.
Cramer's daughter, Kephra, 15, and son, Xan, 12, were home alone when a neighbor alerted them to the fast-approaching fire.
Kephra said she called her mother, then 911.
She and her brother, who was carrying their miniature dachshund, Princess, ran outside in their bare feet as a county official stopped and ordered them to come with him.
"I told him we had animals still in the house," Kephra said, her eyes brimming with tears. "He said, 'Our main priority is to get y'all out.'"
As Kephra and her brother rode away, she looked back at the house they had lived in for almost a year.
"Our whole front yard was caught" on fire, she said.
Across the street, David Bailey, 32, was also sifting through the ruins of his newly built three-bedroom rental house. He and his wife were planning on buying it soon.
"I was fixing to mortgage this place," he said, shaking his head.
In addition to his home, Bailey, a trucker, lost his 18-wheeler in the fire. His friend Kenny Wright, who was staying with him, lost his Mustang and a classic motorcycle.
Much smaller things, like the Christmas presents he bought for his 8-year-old son, whom he hadn't seen in about a month because he had been on the road, were also reduced to ashes.
Like the Cramers, Bailey said he and his wife barely made it out in time.
"It was licking at our heels," Bailey said. "My shoes were singed."
FOR HELP
A Red Cross service center has been set up at the TXU Building in Granbury at 1300 Farm Road 51 N.
Officials are providing financial assistance, food, clothing, shelter and prescription medication. Counseling is also being offered.
To contact the Red Cross, call (817) 335-9137.
Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to:
American Red Cross
P.O. Box 37243
Washington, D.C. 20013
Online: www.redcross.org
SOURCE: Anita Foster, Metroplex spokeswoman for the American Red Cross
PROPERTY DESTROYED IN HOOD COUNTY
18 homes
29 outbuildings
23 vehicles
7 travel trailers
7 boats with trailers
1 18-wheeler
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/13507030.htm
Families sift through the remains of homes
By MARK AGEE, and SUSAN SCHROCK
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITERS
Bernice Alvarez's family spent Wednesday sifting through the ashes of what used to be her southeast Arlington home.
A grass fire Tuesday afternoon burned through her double-wide trailer in a matter of minutes leaving a metal frame, a charred thimble from a collection grown through the years and 20 or so charred pages from a family Bible. They were from the Book of Revelation.
Alvarez described watching through her dining room window as the fire burned east, toward her home of 22 years, along Mitchell Parkway.
"It moved so fast," the 61-year-old woman said, clutching the Bible's pages in her left hand and the thimble in her right. "It was like pouring water out of a cup."
Six trailer homes, plus close to 20 outbuildings and a few vehicles, were destroyed in the 20-acre blaze. Another 110 acres in Arlington burned in other grass fires along the Kennedale border and along West Pioneer Parkway on Tuesday afternoon, but no other structures were damaged, city spokesman Bob Johnson said.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/13507019.htm
Damage widespread from grassfires - slide show
http://www.dfw.com/multimedia/dfw/news/FWslideshows/1229Fire/index.html
Fire in the holidays
Being Texans and all, we believe we have a God-given right to do whatever we want to do on our property. But that does not include creating a fire hazard.
Given Tuesday's explosion of grass fires, perhaps the commissioners in Parker County might want to rethink their decision not to join all the surrounding counties in North Central Texas in banning bottle rockets and aerial rockets with fins during this holiday season.
State law lets counties ban such fireworks when drought creates a high risk of wildfires.
Fire risk is high all over the state, with the Texas Department of Public Safety reporting Wednesday that 158 counties statewide are under fire bans.
It's dry, warmer than normal and windy. A single spark, a carelessly discarded cigarette butt, a wind-whipped trash-barrel fire can trigger a blaze that will destroy everything in its path.
Tuesday was a bad day for wildfire in North Texas and even brought one fatality. And there's no relief in sight.
Parker County ought to be especially aware of the danger. In February 1996, a fire that began with a burning barrel of trash raged for three days, blackened 16,000 acres, destroyed 55 homes and injured 52 people near Poolville. The Star-Telegram reported at the time that damage could reach $10 million.
It's impossible to completely avoid wildfires -- they can start with something so simple as a lawnmower blade striking sparks from a rock. But the DPS points out that humans cause about 90 percent of all Texas wildfires, and "the greatest single cause is burning debris that escapes from an area where it should have been contained."
The DPS offers these tips in these kinds of dangerous weather conditions:
Avoid burning trash. Even a barrel covered with a screen can allow a spark to escape, igniting nearby vegetation.
If you smoke in your car, extinguish cigarettes in vehicle ashtrays. Never toss a cigarette out of a car window, and don't put cigarettes out on the ground.
Be careful when pulling off a road or driving into a field. Hot catalytic converters can ignite vegetation.
Keep a fire extinguisher and water handy when working outdoors with equipment that gets hot or involves sparks, such as welding equipment. Water down outdoor work areas in advance if possible.
Do not use fireworks during the holidays.
Aw, man. That last one is a bummer.
But it is something that everyone can do. And you'd better hope that the people upwind from you are following all these tips.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/13506938.htm
Going too far? editorials
Star-Telegram
Escalating healthcare costs are eating up the bottom lines of U.S. companies large and small.
Corporate presidents, CEOs and benefit providers are seeking strategies that will encourage their employees to make healthy lifestyle choices to avoid the absenteeism and medical costs associated with heart and lung disease, obesity and diabetes -- all linked to bad choices.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/13506939.htm
BMI - Body Mass Index: BMI Calculator
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm
The Washington Post
Aceh: One Year Later
Aceh, an isolated Indonesian province on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, was hit hardest by the tsunami that occured there on Dec. 26, 2004. At least 131,338 people in Indonesia were killed by the tsunami and more than 25,000 people remain missing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2005/12/22/CU2005122201141.html
Three Lessons From Vietnam
… First, there must be a unified structure that combines military and civilian pacification efforts. In Vietnam that organization was called CORDS, for Civil Operations and Rural Development Support. Formed in 1967, it placed the disjointed and ineffective civilian pacification programs under the military. This was accomplished only at the insistence of President Lyndon Johnson, who took an active interest in seeing the pacification process function smoothly under a single manager: Gen. William Westmoreland. CORDS gave the pacification effort access to military money and personnel, allowing programs to expand dramatically. In 1966 there were about 1,000 advisers involved in pacification, and the annual budget was $582 million; by 1969 that had risen to 7,600 advisers and almost $1.5 billion. This rapid progress was possible only because of CORDS's streamlined system under Defense Department control.
In Afghanistan, the provincial reconstruction teams have viewed CORDS as a model, but there is no truly integrated system yet. In Iraq, the old Coalition Provisional Authority suffered from the same problems that caused the formation of CORDS, in particular a dual chain of command that failed to coordinate military and civilian efforts. Not enough has been done since the CPA's dissolution in 2004 to integrate nation-building into military planning.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801144.html
Two Americans Killed in Afghan Incidents
Reuters
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A15
KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 28 -- Two soldiers, an American and an Afghan, were killed and two U.S. service members were wounded in a roadside bomb attack Wednesday in eastern Afghanistan, a U.S. military spokesman said.
Another U.S. service member was killed and four were injured when their armored vehicle overturned in an accident in the southern province of Kandahar, a military statement said. The accident was not caused by hostile activity, the statement said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801324.html
Yemeni Predicts Germans Will Be Released
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 29, 2005; 8:28 AM
SAN'A, Yemen -- A family of five German tourists held hostage in Yemen should be released on Thursday, an official in the province where they were kidnapped said.
Armed tribesmen kidnapped a former German diplomat and four members of his family on Wednesday as they were touring the mountains of eastern Yemen. The kidnappers demanded the Yemeni government release detained members of their al-Abdullah bin Dahha tribe, Yemeni officials said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/29/AR2005122900103.html
Facing Servitude, Ethiopian Girls Run for a Better Life
By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A01
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- Virtually the only way for Tesdale Mesele, 13, to avoid soon being married into a life of housework and childbearing was to run.
So that's what the spunky girl with matchstick legs and a ponytail did. She ran along the rutted dirt roads of the Ethiopian highlands, barefoot or in torn sneakers, trying to improve her endurance. She ran up the wide, cracked steps to Meskel Square in the capital, while goats wandered by and clouds of pollution turned the air charcoal gray.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801369.html
D.C. Targets Rising Pedestrian Deaths
Education Effort Emphasizes Safety
By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page B01
Steve Laterra ignored the red "Don't Walk" signal and waded into four lanes of midday traffic on 14th Street NW yesterday. The Woodbridge man made it easily through the first two lanes but was forced to stop in the middle of the street to let a taxi whiz by -- inches away. Then, his eyes darting back and forth, he dashed across the final northbound lane.
"I'm from Manhattan, so it's not scary at all," he said from the safety of a sidewalk. "I make the assumption that the car will stop."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801431.html
Manassas Changes Definition Of Family
Defining the Family
A new Manassas ordinance narrows, for zoning, what the city considers a family:
A. An individual;
B. Two or more persons related to the second degree of collateral consanguinity by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship, or otherwise duly authorized custodial relationship, as verified by official public records such as driver's licenses, birth or marriage certificates, court orders or notarized affidavits, living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit, exclusive of not more than one additional unrelated person;
C. A number of persons, not exceeding three, living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit though not related by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship; or
D. Not more than two unrelated persons and their dependent children living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit.
SOURCE: City of Manassas
GRAPHIC: The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/27/AR2005122701216.html?nav=most_emailed_emailafriend
Activists Criticize New Housing Limits As Anti-Immigrant
By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 28, 2005; Page A01
The inspector slid into his Crown Victoria, a police radio on his belt, addresses in hand. It was after 5 p.m., and he and his interpreter rolled into Manassas, down a street of benign ranch houses strung with lights. They parked, walked to a door and knocked.
"Mrs. Chavez?" Victor Purchase asked in the quiet evening.
Victor Purchase, an assistant fire marshal, and interpreter Adriana Vallenas question Jose Ortiz about the number of people living in his townhouse. A new law in Manassas essentially limits households to immediate relatives. (By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)
Defining the Family
A new Manassas ordinance narrows, for zoning, what the city considers a family:
A. An individual;
B. Two or more persons related to the second degree of collateral consanguinity by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship, or otherwise duly authorized custodial relationship, as verified by official public records such as driver's licenses, birth or marriage certificates, court orders or notarized affidavits, living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit, exclusive of not more than one additional unrelated person;
C. A number of persons, not exceeding three, living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit though not related by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship; or
D. Not more than two unrelated persons and their dependent children living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit.
There had been a complaint, he said. The city needed to know not just how many people lived there but how they were related. He handed Leyla Chavez a form and explained that she could be prosecuted for lying.
"Okay," she said and, in a mild state of shock, began filling it out.
There was Chavez and her husband. Their two sons. A nephew. The man who rented downstairs. His girlfriend.
"Your nephew, under our law, is considered unrelated," Purchase said, then delivered the verdict: Two people had to go.
That is because a zoning ordinance adopted this month by the city of Manassas redefines family, essentially restricting households to immediate relatives, even when the total is below the occupancy limit.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/27/AR2005122701216.html?nav=most_emailed_emailafriend
Philadelphia, the Last Stand for Urban Murals
Real Estate Appreciation Has Trumped the Art Elsewhere
By Michael Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A03
PHILADELPHIA -- They are the hidden gems of this old city, running up the side of down-at-the-heels Victorian rowhouses and dominating vacant lots with a surreal intensity. A child reaches for a star painted onto a chimney, a grandmother sews a purple quilt, six lifer inmates seek salvation.
They are haunting and passionate, and these vast murals are like wildflowers that took root in urban decay and never died.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801310.html
Life and Romance in 160 Characters or Less
Brevity Gains New Meaning as Popularity of Cell Phone Text Messaging Soars
By Yuki Noguchi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A01
Andrew Weigle can fully express himself in several dozen characters or less.
That's the amount of space he gets on his Motorola Razr phone to compose text messages, which he sends mostly to friends and, on at least one occasion, to a girlfriend to break up.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801430.html
Women Narrow the Internet Gender Gap, Survey Finds
By Yuki Noguchi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page D01
Traditionally, women have lagged behind men in adoption of Internet technologies, but a study released yesterday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that women under age 65 now outpace men in Internet usage, though only by a few percentage points. But the survey also noted that the disparity between women and men on the Web is even greater among the 18-to-29 age group and African Americans.
The report, "How Women and Men Use the Internet," examined use by both sexes, looking at what men and women are doing online as well as their rate of adopting new Web-based technologies.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801403.html
New Zealand Herald
Blizzards cover Britain in thick snow
29.12.05
Blizzards left large parts of Britain covered in thick snow as motorists faced treacherous driving conditions with more bitter weather due this week.
Up to 5cm fell in Sussex, southeast England, and there were reports of 12cm in higher areas.
Motorists were yesterday urged to stay indoors as heavy snow fell across the east of England, creating perilous driving conditions.
Temperatures dropped to -2C when the blizzard arrived on Tuesday night but colder weather, as low as -5C in England and -8C in Scotland, is anticipated.
Train services across the southeast of England were disrupted by the blizzards, brought on by North Sea storms blowing heavy snow.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361789
Carter refutes Japanese whaling claims
29.12.05 1.00pm
Conservation Minister Chris Carter has refuted claims by Tokyo that he is misleading the public about Japan's whaling programme.
Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research is accusing Mr Carter of mixing science with a politically motivated anti-whaling position.
The Institute was reacting to the release by Mr Carter of a damning critique of Japan's whaling programme that will see them killing more than 1000 whales a year for scientific purposes.
Mr Carter says it is ironic that Japan is now accusing New Zealand of the very thing that it is now doing, cloaking a hunting programme with a so-called scientific rational.
He says it is not about scientific enquiry, it is about an excuse to use existing international regulations to hunt as many whales as possible to sell the flesh.
Mr Carter says the programme is just an excuse to hunt whale and sell the meat on the Japanese fish market.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10361810
Poachers could drive paua to extinction
29.12.05
By John Lichfield
Sylvain Huchette plunges his arm into a large plastic tank and plucks out a shellfish the size of a mobile telephone.
The creature has a shell which vaguely resembles a human ear. It is gnarled on the outside, brilliantly coloured inside and serially perforated along one edge. If this were truly an ear, it would have to be the ear of an ageing punk rocker.
Dr Huchette, a young Frenchman who speaks excellent English with a cheerful "no worries" Melbourne accent, turns over the strange shell, and reveals an even stranger creature inside. Dark, secretive and slimy-looking, this is the abalone, the most expensive and most endangered seafood in the world.
Here, in a nondescript, beige-coloured shed close to the seashore in Plouguerneau, Finistere, in western Brittany, baby and adolescent abalone are thriving, by the millions. Elsewhere, their outlook is grim.
The abalone - paua to New Zealanders, ormeau to the French, takabushi to the Japanese - is a delicacy which drives Asian, and especially Chinese, gourmets wild. In Japan and Korea, they are mythical beings, considered to be an unfailing male aphrodisiac.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361758
UN vet dismisses fish farming as bird flu risk
29.12.05 1.00pm
ROME - The widespread use of poultry excrement to fertilise fish farms does not greatly increase the risk of bird flu, a senior United Nations expert said today.
Joseph Domenech, chief veterinary officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, dismissed a wildlife group's claim that using animal faeces to boost fish farming was a serious danger.
Global environmental group Birdlife International said wild birds have been unfairly blamed for the virus.
It says human practices like the trade in poultry and wild birds, and modern agricultural methods, probably play a major role in spreading the virus.
The FAO, which is monitoring the global spread of bird flu, supports the practice whereby faeces from farm animals are used to boost fish production.
The excrement is used to boost nutrients in water for the organisms the fish feed on.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10361809
Endangered birds laughing now
29.12.05
Organisers of a breeding plan to help bolster the endangered native hihi, or stitchbird, are celebrating a baby boom at Wellington's Karori Wildlife Sanctuary.
Numbers have more than doubled since 64 of the small birds were transferred from Tiritiri Matangi Island and Mt Bruce National Wildlife Centre earlier this year.
The birds have produced 75 chicks, 53 of which have left their nests. Sanctuary conservation scientist Raewyn Empson said the result exceeded expectations.
The programme was now believed to be the most successful hihi breeding season ever recorded - either in captivity or in the wild.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10361769
Second look at Blair nominees for House of Lords
28.12.05 1.00pm
By Colin Brown
LONDON - Tony Blair has been embroiled in a fresh 'cash for favours' row over his nomination of prominent Labour Party donors for peerages.
The parliamentary sleaze watchdog has blocked the Prime Minister's working list of 28 peers, including some high-profile businessmen who have donated thousands of pounds to his party.
He submitted the list of 11 Labour peers, eight Tory peers, five Lib Dem peers, and four Northern Ireland peers in November, which was first revealed in the Independent on Sunday newspaper.
Now the House of Lords Appointments Commission has put a hold on the peerages, pending further checks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361721
UK human rights worker and parents kidnapped in Gaza
29.12.05 1.00pm
By Donald Macintyre
JERUSALEM - A British human rights worker and her parents were kidnapped yesterday close to the Gaza border with Egypt in the latest of a series of seizures by militants of foreigners in the Strip.
The woman, Kate Burton, and her parents - thought to be visiting her for the Christmas holidays - were apparently forced out of the car they were using in the southern border town of Rafah and into another vehicle, said to have been a white Mercedes, which drove northwards.
Ms Burton, who according to unconfirmed reports comes from Scotland, and is believed to have a master's degree in international law, has worked for the Al-Mezan, a Palestinian human rights organisation in Gaza for the last three to four months as co-ordinator for international affairs.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361817
Israel fires to enforce Gaza strip 'no-go zone'
29.12.05 1.00pm
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA - Israel shelled the northern Gaza Strip today to enforce a "no-go zone" it says is aimed to stop cross-border rocket fire by militants, and the Palestinian Authority condemned the move.
At least 12 artillery shells landed after the new measure went into force at 6pm (5.00am NZDT), wounding a militant and a teenage bystander. Another shell narrowly missed a car, whose occupants fled. Witnesses said a rocket crew was nearby.
Israel called the shelling a response to Palestinian rocket salvoes at its border towns. Palestinians condemned the buffer zone, calling it tantamount to re-occupying land Israel withdrew from in September after 38 years of occupation.
"Israel has left the Gaza Strip and has no right to come back," President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters in Gaza. "They should not make any pretext."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361828
Jets attack militant base in Lebanon
29.12.05
JERUSALEM - Israeli aircraft attacked a militant training base south of Beirut yesterday in response to rocket attacks on Israel.
An Army spokeswoman said the attack targeted a training base used by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. There was no immediate information on casualties or damage.
The attack came after three rockets were fired from Lebanon into the Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona.
"Israel has a right to defend its citizens. The Lebanese Government is responsible for not dismantling terror organisations," the spokesman said.
Yesterday, Israel dropped leaflets over northern Gaza telling residents "if you continue to stay in the area from which rockets are fired, you are putting your life in danger".
The PFLP, opposed to peace talks with Israel, is a secular, leftist Palestinian group which has launched attacks on the Jewish state in the past.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Palestinian factions to halt rocket fire and renew a truce that expires this year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361764
Thirty bodies found in Iraq
28.12.05 1.00pm
By Anne Penketh
Iraqi construction workers in the southern city of Karbala have uncovered a mass grave less than a kilometre from one of Shia Islam's holiest sites.
Iraqi police announced yesterday that about 30 bodies were contained in the mass grave.
It is believed they are among the victims of Saddam's vicious suppression of the 1991 uprising by the Shia majority in southern Iraq at the end of that year's Gulf War.
Some 300 possible mass graves have been reported since Saddam was overthrown by the US-led invasion in April 2003, many in southern Shia areas of the country and in Kurdish areas of the north.
But potential evidence has been taken by relatives who have converged on the sites in search of their loved ones.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361716
Guards and inmates die in Baghdad jail battle
29.12.05 1.00pm
By Omar al-Ibadi and Alastair Macdonald
BAGHDAD - At least nine prisoners and guards were killed in a gun battle at an Iraqi high-security jail after detained guerrilla suspects, some of them foreign, grabbed weapons and tried to flee, officials said.
One inmate snatched a Kalashnikov rifle from a guard as a handful of high-risk prisoners were taken out at dawn to clean the yard, a guard from the Baghdad prison said. After raiding the prison armoury, the group freed more comrades but US and Iraqi troops based around the jail quelled the revolt.
Five staff and four inmates were killed and five prisoners and a US soldier were wounded, the US military said, denying assertions by police that at least 20 detainees, who include some of the most violent of Iraq's insurgents, died.
A Russian, Tunisian and Saudi were involved, officials said.
In other violence, rebels ambushed an Iraqi army patrol yesterday near Dujail, 60km north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding seven, police said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361808
More charges for sex worker murder-accused
29.12.05 1.00pm
A man charged with the murder of a Christchurch sex worker now faces charges of abducting and raping another woman four days earlier.
Five charges were before the court when the 28-year-old man appeared before Judge Philip Moran in Christchurch District Court today.
He is charged with raping, murdering, and kidnapping 24-year-old sex worker Anna Louise Wilson on December 15. Her name was suppressed until today's hearing.
He is also charged with abducting another woman for sex and raping her on December 11 at Christchurch.
The name of the unemployed man, who has no fixed address, remains suppressed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10361833
Girl unconscious after violent sex attack
29.12.05 3.15pm
A 14-year-old girl has been found unconscious after being viciously attacked and sexually assaulted.
The attack took place behind a library in Lower Hutt last night.
The girl was found unconscious and bloodied by a family out for a walk in the area about 8pm.
Detective Sergeant Tusha Penny said the girl was seen talking to a man who was sitting on a park bench outside the Taita Library on Taine St.
Witnesses saw them walk behind the library where she was attacked, she said.
The man was last seen walking from behind the library and along Taine St, towards High St.
A team of police were investigating the attack and urged anyone who saw the pair or knew the man's identity to come forward, Ms Penny said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10361839
'Dr Death' back in NZ to outline suicide pill
29.12.05 1.00pm
A suicide pill for elderly and seriously ill people will be explained and promoted by a controversial Australian doctor during a visit to New Zealand next month.
Dr Philip Nitschke, known as "Dr Death" because he advocates voluntary euthanasia, plans workshops in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch next month
The Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New Zealand said the "Peaceful Pill" allowed people to kill themselves without the co-operation of politicians or the medical profession.
Dr Nitschke co-wrote a book called 'Killing Me Softly' which would be launched during his visit to New Zealand, the society said.
The workshops would discuss the pill and "developing strategies that provide real end of life choice," said the society.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10361807
UN vet dismisses fish farming as bird flu risk
29.12.05 1.00pm
ROME - The widespread use of poultry excrement to fertilise fish farms does not greatly increase the risk of bird flu, a senior United Nations expert said today.
Joseph Domenech, chief veterinary officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, dismissed a wildlife group's claim that using animal faeces to boost fish farming was a serious danger.
Global environmental group Birdlife International said wild birds have been unfairly blamed for the virus.
It says human practices like the trade in poultry and wild birds, and modern agricultural methods, probably play a major role in spreading the virus.
The FAO, which is monitoring the global spread of bird flu, supports the practice whereby faeces from farm animals are used to boost fish production.
The excrement is used to boost nutrients in water for the organisms the fish feed on.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361809
Satellite launch challenges GPS
29.12.05 1.00pm
By Richard Balmforth
MOSCOW - The European Union launched its first Galileo navigation satellite on Wednesday, moving to challenge the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS).
Russian space agency Roskosmos said the 600kg satellite named Giove-A (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) went into its orbit 23,000km from the earth.
It was launched on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the middle of Kazakhstan's steppe.
"The launch of Giove is the proof that Europe can deliver ambitious projects to the benefit of its citizens and companies," said EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot in a statement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361818
Whistleblower 'stopped from visiting the US'
29.12.05
BEIJING - A military doctor who exposed China's Sars cover-up has been barred from visiting the United States, in keeping with curbs imposed after he asked for a re-appraisal of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, sources said yesterday.
Jiang Yanyong's request to quit the People's Liberation Army was also refused, apparently to allow the military to continue to rein him in, two sources familiar with his plight told Reuters.
"They won't let him leave the country or retire," said one source who met Jiang recently, requesting anonymity.
Jiang's wife, Hua Zhongwei, left in July to visit their daughter in California but the 74-year-old semi-retired surgeon was unable to join them. He declined to comment on whether he wanted to quit the military.
His employer, the No. 301 Hospital, refused to comment.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361763
US secret surveillance up sharply since Sept 11
28.12.05 4.00pm
WASHINGTON - Federal applications for a special US court to authorise secret surveillance rose sharply after the September 11, 2001, attacks, and the panel required changes to the requests at an even greater rate, government documents show.
President George W Bush acknowledged this month that he had secretly ordered the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on the international phone conversations and email of Americans suspected of links to terrorists without approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The domestic-spying order has set off a furious debate over whether the war on terrorism gives Bush a blank cheque when it comes to civil liberties and whether the president, in fact, broke the law.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361733
Greece to investigate torture allegations
28.12.05 4.00pm
By Jason Bennetto and Elinda Labropolou
ATHENS - The Greek justice ministry has launched an inquiry into the alleged torture of Pakistani terror suspects after their lawyer announced he would press charges against Greek intelligence officers named by a newspaper.
The weekly Proto Thema revealed on Sunday the identities of the alleged British MI6 station chief in Athens and that of 15 Greek officers.
They are alleged to have taken part in the arrest and abuse of 28 Pakistani terrorism suspects after the July 7 bombings in London.
Frangiskos Ragoussis, a lawyer representing several of the Pakistanis, yesterday said he would launch a formal complaint against the Greek intelligence officers named in the report.
The charges were not specified, but he asked that the officers be called to testify in front of his clients.
The newspaper's decision to identify the officers infuriated Greek authorities, while Britain has banned publication of the British agent's name.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361719
Beslan massacre probe blames Russian authorities
29.12.05 1.00pm
By Oliver Bullough
MOSCOW - Negligence and incompetence by Russian police and officials contributed to the bloodbath at a school in the southern town of Beslan last year, the head of a parliamentary investigation said today.
Alexander Torshin, who headed the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the September 2004 hostage siege, stressed that terrorists were mainly to blame for the killings of 331 hostages, half of them children.
But he had harsh words for regional police and intelligence services and said police had ignored orders to impose tight security at schools at the beginning of the school year.
"The Interior Ministry, the FSB (security service) and other government organs basically did not carry out preventive, organisational, operative and other steps to uncover and halt the criminal activities of the terrorist groups," Torshin told deputies in an interim report on his probe.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361815
Shadows still haunt entry port to Dover
28.12.05
By John Lichfield
Night is falling on the port of Calais. Shadows walk wearily in twos and threes. The shadows meet other shadows, wearing cheap anoraks and woolly hats and trainers.
Even on the brightest, sunniest day, this is one of the most unforgiving places in Europe: a maze of oil refineries, cranes, rusting railway tracks, oblong mountains of containers, scrub-infested waste-ground and ferry terminals defended by razor wire and chain-link fences.
From every dark, freezing corner of the port, the shadows converge silently on the unlit platform of an old freight terminal, beside a tall lighthouse.
Five minutes down the street is the Holiday Inn, full of British holidaymakers paying €145 ($256) a night. They have crossed the Channel to buy heaps of cheap booze.
The "shadows" live in a different world. They form a long and well-behaved queue, waiting for their only warm meal of the day, a chicken and potato stew served by four elderly women.
The shadows materialise into a line of 250 young men, and four young women, from an unlikely collection of nationalities: Afghans, Iranians, Iraqis, Somalis, Eritreans, Sudanese and Pakistanis.
Most nights, 400 people come to eat here. There are fewer tonight because the French police have just held one of their periodic purges of the sans papiers (people without papers). Tonight is also one of the busiest nights for freight in the port of Calais. Many young men have chosen to skip the warm meal in the hope of stowing away aboard one of the Dover-bound trucks queueing to enter the freight terminal.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361643
Kuwait sentences al Qaeda-linked militants to death
28.12.05 1.00pm
KUWAIT - A Kuwaiti court on Tuesday sentenced to death six suspected militants linked to al Qaeda for bloody attacks in the country.
The six were among 37 Islamists on trial as members of the "Peninsula Lions" group believed to be linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
They include 25 Kuwaitis, seven stateless Arabs, two Jordanians, a Saudi, an Australian and a Somali.
A Reuters reporter who was at the court said none of the defendants was present when the verdict was announced.
Other suspects received jail terms of between four months to 15 years, and one received a life term.
Seven were acquitted including Islamist cleric Sheikh Hamed al-Ali, lawyer Osama al-Munawer who represents Islamists as well as the wife of Amer al-Enezi -- one of al Qaeda's top leaders in Kuwait who died in custody in February.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361724
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