I don't see how anyone could ever deny Earth is heating. I don't see the objection to the belief the destructive pattern that manifested on October 4, 2002 could be anything but THE problem this world faces.
Below is a graph from Mauna Loa Observatory. There are two red lines. Each read line represents the increase of carbon dioxide being deposited into the troposphere. In the early days of investigation is was learned the 'average' rate of increase of carbon dioxide in the years 1958 through 1966 was 0.60 parts per million. The other red line measure the rate of carbon dioxide increase in the years 1996 to 2002.
To keep this as simple if one is to draw a straight line continuing the earlier red line off the chart it would exit at about 340 parts per million in the year 2002. In March of 2004 the level of carbon dioxide in the troposphere was 379 parts per million. Needless to say that the amount of increase per year has significantly changed the level of CO2 in the tropsphere. In October 2002 the tropospheric levels of CO2 were nearly 376.
Back in the day and it wasn't all that long ago, approximately 2 or 3 decades ago when global warming was first conceived as a dangerous trend it was believed levels of 400 PPM would be tolerable and the levels of which intolerance of biota would be 800 PPM. Those were estimates derived from fossil evidence. They were wrong. They were not only wrong they were grossly wrong. The intolerance to CO2 concentration by Earth is significantly lower than 400.
The pictures below give an interesting picture. The day Australia had snow in the middle of summer the raging heat from the equator into the Southern Ice Continent was unlike any 'Heat Transfer System' I ever witnessed in the 3+ years I have been observing and recording the events of Human Induced Global Warming. Since that day the dynamics seems to have changed and I want to say in a postive way but in reality with carbon levels not improved I can only say in a 'static way.'
The traverse of the sun from the southern hemisphere to the north seems to have brought about an equilibrium of the two hemispheres of Earth in that the reach of the North Polar and South Polar vortexes are the same as exhibited in the current Pacific Global Satellite. That is somewhat of a relief to the Southern Hemisphere although the temperature at Scott would reflect a little bit warmer wind today. That is not a drastic experssion of accuracy of the movement of heat there but only the movement of air at the instance the measurement was taken and that can vary from day to day to reflect stability overall.
The issue now is what will occur in the Northern Hemisphere now that we have a resident 'super cell' if you will over the North Atlantic. I believe I am catching a bit of a re-manifestation of the Jet Stream today flowing over top of the vortex which would be a clear indication the velocity of the system could be slowing. I don't believe the Jet Stream is back to stay but it is making more appearances on a regular basis than it has in the past. This could be just another oscillation to minimum before a return to a greater maximum or it could be an actually 'relief' pattern whereby we are actually coming down in CO2 density while Earth is trying to rest back into comfortable patterns of 'normal' tropospheric air movement.
There is one more item of interest not pictured here but I can certainly pull up a 'then' and 'now' picture to illustrate it. The 'heat conduit' that flowed between the mouth of the Amazon River and Africa disappeared. Today it is back. It is oscillating but it is back. For as 'terrible' as all this looks, I remain hopeful and optimistic we are taking our responsiblities seriously and getting the CO2 to lower in trend rather than to continue to rise.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins
History
February 13...
1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, known as ASCAP, was founded in New York.
1920, the League of Nations recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.
1935, a jury in Flemington, N.J., found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first- degree murder in the kidnap-death of the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was later executed.)
1945, during World War II, the Soviets captured Budapest, Hungary, from the Germans.
DRESDEN DEVASTATED:February 13, 1945
On the evening of February 13, 1945, the most controversial episode in the Allied air war against Germany begins as hundreds of British bombers loaded with incendiaries and high-explosive bombs descend on Dresden, a historic city located in eastern Germany. Dresden was neither a war production city nor a major industrial center, and before the massive air raid of February 1945 it had not suffered a major Allied attack. By February 15, the city was a smoldering ruin and an unknown number of civilians--somewhere between 35,000 and 135,000--were dead.
1960, France exploded its first atomic bomb.
1966: The Rolling Stones appear for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show.
2000, Charles Schulz's final "Peanuts" strip ran in Sunday newspapers, the day after the cartoonist died in his sleep at his California home at age 77.
Missing in Action
1967 CARLSON PAUL V. MINNEAPOLIS MN
1969 HERLIK QUERIN E GREEN BAY WI 03/12/69 RELEASED BY SIHANOUK ALIVE AND WELL 98
The Jerusalem Post
Italy to increase Mideast peace role
Italy was interested in increasing its role in Mideast peacemaking, Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, on a visit to Israel, told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566056>
Peres to plead with Rabbi Yosef
Before he entered the coalition, the economic policies of Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were "piggish capitalism" for Labor chairman Shimon Peres.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566073
Hamas, Jihad say they will maintain undeclared truce
Hamas and Islamic Jihad will maintain a de facto truce with Israel, the groups said on Saturday.
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told The Associated Press after the group's leaders met with Abbas that the group is "committed to what is called 'quietness'" until it sees whether Israel stops military activities, halts its targeted assassinations, and discloses according to what criteria Palestinian prisoners will be released.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178565121
Iran goes public with stealth torpedo production
Iran on Saturday officially launched production of a line of stealth torpedoes, calling it the latest effort to step up its defense capabilities against possible threats, state-run television reported.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566047
Leaving Ethiopia for Zion
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to bring the last of the eligible Falash Mura to Israel by the end of 2007 promises finally to resolve a controversial and heart-wrenching problem. People who have been following the Ethiopian aliya over the years, however, will wait to see what actually happens before accepting that this chapter really has been closed.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566035
continued...
February 13...
1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, known as ASCAP, was founded in New York.
1920, the League of Nations recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.
1935, a jury in Flemington, N.J., found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first- degree murder in the kidnap-death of the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was later executed.)
1945, during World War II, the Soviets captured Budapest, Hungary, from the Germans.
DRESDEN DEVASTATED:February 13, 1945
On the evening of February 13, 1945, the most controversial episode in the Allied air war against Germany begins as hundreds of British bombers loaded with incendiaries and high-explosive bombs descend on Dresden, a historic city located in eastern Germany. Dresden was neither a war production city nor a major industrial center, and before the massive air raid of February 1945 it had not suffered a major Allied attack. By February 15, the city was a smoldering ruin and an unknown number of civilians--somewhere between 35,000 and 135,000--were dead.
1960, France exploded its first atomic bomb.
1966: The Rolling Stones appear for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show.
2000, Charles Schulz's final "Peanuts" strip ran in Sunday newspapers, the day after the cartoonist died in his sleep at his California home at age 77.
Missing in Action
1967 CARLSON PAUL V. MINNEAPOLIS MN
1969 HERLIK QUERIN E GREEN BAY WI 03/12/69 RELEASED BY SIHANOUK ALIVE AND WELL 98
The Jerusalem Post
Italy to increase Mideast peace role
Italy was interested in increasing its role in Mideast peacemaking, Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, on a visit to Israel, told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566056>
Peres to plead with Rabbi Yosef
Before he entered the coalition, the economic policies of Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were "piggish capitalism" for Labor chairman Shimon Peres.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566073
Hamas, Jihad say they will maintain undeclared truce
Hamas and Islamic Jihad will maintain a de facto truce with Israel, the groups said on Saturday.
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told The Associated Press after the group's leaders met with Abbas that the group is "committed to what is called 'quietness'" until it sees whether Israel stops military activities, halts its targeted assassinations, and discloses according to what criteria Palestinian prisoners will be released.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178565121
Iran goes public with stealth torpedo production
Iran on Saturday officially launched production of a line of stealth torpedoes, calling it the latest effort to step up its defense capabilities against possible threats, state-run television reported.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566047
Leaving Ethiopia for Zion
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to bring the last of the eligible Falash Mura to Israel by the end of 2007 promises finally to resolve a controversial and heart-wrenching problem. People who have been following the Ethiopian aliya over the years, however, will wait to see what actually happens before accepting that this chapter really has been closed.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566035
continued...
Morning Papers - continued
Miscellaneous
Diesel spill could bring prosecution
13.02.05 12.45pm
A diesel spill in Christchurch's Heathcote River could result in prosecution and a fine of up to $200,000.
Thousands of litres of fuel leaked into the river from a drain in Sockburn on Friday.
Environment Canterbury spokesperson Mike Freeman says if there is evidence to suggest the spill was deliberate, then it is highly likely legal action will follow.
Hundreds of volunteers are continuing to help with the clean-up.
Council staff were alerted to the problem when residents complained of a heavy smell.
Hundreds of ducks and other birds have been affected by the spill, which is not thought to be deliberate.
- Newstalk ZB
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10010847
Overturned tanker on I-595 leaves 4 dead, 1 injured
By Bill Hirschman and Jean-Paul Renaud
Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 12 2005, 6:02 PM EST
Davie · Four people were killed Friday night when a fuel tanker truck flipped over at a busy interchange, landed on a car and burst into flames that shot 30 feet into the air.
FHP spokesman Lt. Pat Santangelo said the 18-wheel tanker truck was traveling eastbound on Interstate 595 at the Florida Turnpike's on-ramp in the right lane, but "for some reason the driver lost control and started overturning."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ctanker12feb12,0,5383489.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
The Gulf News
Sectarian attacks kill 22 in Iraq
Reuters
Baghdad: More than 20 people were killed in attacks on Shiite targets yesterday in violence apparently aimed at stoking sectarian hatred.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151595
The European Union and the Middle East peace process
By As'ad Abdul Rahman
Europe, both in terms of the individual states and collectively through the 15-member European Union (EU), seeks to play an active role in the Middle East peace process. There are many reasons for this, the most important of which are economic and political.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=151605
Women are advancing, but their pay is not
By Larry Williams
Women's brains work differently from those of men different sizes, different electrical patterns, different test scores. That much we know is true.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=151606
Foundation comes to the aid of tsunami victims
By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter
Dubai: More than Dh5.5 million in aid has been donated to tsunami victims in Thailand by the Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=151586
US officials should check facts, says Syria
Reuters
Damascus: Syria said on Thursday that US officials should check the facts before making provocative remarks, commenting after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Syria last week of exporting terrorism.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151659
Washington-Tehran tension may spin out of control
Reuters
London: Nobody sees military action as the best way to tame Iran's suspected nuclear weapons ambitions, but as the rhetoric heats up, mutual miscalculation could suck Tehran and Washington into an unpredictable showdown.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151656
On the proficiency of withdrawal from Iraq we turn to an interview with the King of Hype, General 'Strange' Grange. Kindly note the casual nature as if part of everyday living that death of people holds little definition except in the context of measuring success:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0501/27/ldt.01.html
DOBBS: There are no firm numbers on the number of insurgents and terrorists fighting U.S. troops and Iraqi forces in Iraq, but yesterday, the U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, declared that 15,000 insurgents have been killed or captured over the past year. Now, if that number were accurate, the insurgents would be far stronger than the Pentagon's civil and military leadership has ever admitted or in point of fact suggested. I'm joined now from Chicago, General David Grange. And General, let me first say, good to see you.
And secondly, the Pentagon has always had an interesting history with numbers, but the fact that a general is declaring that more insurgents have been killed or captured than the Pentagon suggested existed a year ago is remarkable, isn't it?
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, you know, the good news is that 15,000 were killed or captured. The bad news is that that means there's a lot more out there, and obviously has grown considerably since the fall of Saddam.
DOBBS: It's grown considerably, the attacks are escalating, and yet U.S. military forces, the Bush administration insists that we are winning the war in Iraq. How can that be?
GRANGE: Well, I do believe we're winning the war. What you don't see is a lot of the effort that's going on. I really think, Lou, that after this election, you're going to start seeing a decline in that insurgency. It's going to require removing the popular support, those that do support the insurgency, away from the insurgents, and that has to be with Iraqis, military on the street and moving the presence of the U.S. off-set from the street but ready to pounce on and raid any sites they deem necessary to eliminate the threat as well.
DOBBS: General, as you know, I am as -- certainly as supportive of our troops as you are in Iraq, and I think that no one can be more supportive than you and I of our troops. I'm also extraordinarily, frankly, critical of the Pentagon. The leadership at this point -- we've lost over 1,400 Americans. We have 10,000 Americans wounded. The Pentagon continues and usually in the form of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to say that the violence will escalate at each one of the events that occurs, whether it's the handover, the run-up to the elections, the elections themselves, post-election. At what point is there such a breach of just straightforward relationship to facts that we have to examine precisely what is happening here on the part of military strategy for the good of our troops first and then for the good of the Iraqi people?
GRANGE: Well, I think what you're seeing is not anyone hiding the truth. I think what you're seeing is a miscalculation of the estimate of what the threat is and how it's changed over time and the requirement that it was a necessity to have many more troops there initially in a transition from maneuvered combat to the stability and support operations. During that void is where this thing built up and changed the landscape, the environment, the situation that we're experiencing right now. And it's -- I think there were poor calculations up front.
DOBBS: And do you believe that the Pentagon, the general staff, those in command of our fighting men and women in Iraq now have, if you will, if I can put it in the colloquial, do they now, in your best judgment, have their act together?
GRANGE: Yes, I do. I know many of the commanders on the ground that are running these operations. They are very proficient. I would trust any of my sons under their care. And I think they have a handle on it. And I think we'll see improvement.
DOBBS: Outstanding. If General Grange says that there is going to be improvement, I'll take that to the bank. We appreciate it. Thank you, General David Grange.
IN CONTRAST TO an article that appears on Michael Moore Dot Calm:
Pentagon covers up failure to train and recruit local security forces
By Andrew Buncombe / The Independent
Training of Iraq's security forces, crucial to any exit strategy for Britain and the US, is going so badly that the Pentagon has stopped giving figures for the number of combat-ready indigenous troops, The Independent on Sunday has learned.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1413
Michael Moore Today
Gold Star Families for Peace
We as families of soldiers who have died as a result of war are organizing to be a positive force in our world to bring our country’s sons and daughters home from Iraq, to minimize the “human cost” of this war, and to prevent other families from the pain we are feeling as the result of our losses. We are also hoping to be lifetime support for each other through our losses.
http://www.gsfp.org/
REGRETFULLY, LAURA
THE MARCH OF FREEDOM
The Bush administration came under pressure on Thursday to make public the full classified version of a report from the 9/11 commission that is critical of the government's failure to heed aviation threats before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php
Iraqi Security Force Cover-Up at Pentagon?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Rumsfeld Watches as Iraqis Learn to Fight Insurgency
By Josh White / Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Feb. 11 -- The sharp blast echoed from a cluster of buildings and trees in the morning sunshine, and almost simultaneously the target crumpled nearly 1,000 feet away. Helicopters roared in and soldier after soldier slithered down a rope onto a stone building. Armored vehicles followed, as did flashes and bangs and smoke and gunshots.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1412
At Least 18 Killed In Iraq Violence
By Luke Baker / Reuters
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber killed 18 people near a hospital south of Baghdad on Saturday amid a surge of violence by Iraq's mostly Sunni Muslim insurgents ahead of Ashura, the holiest festival on the Shi'ite religious calendar.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1411
Bush Doctrine Gets a Nuclear Reaction
Editorial / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Under the Bush Doctrine, the United States will "not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most dangerous weapons," as the president explained his policy. Those words "will not permit" were carefully selected, carrying the clear and very intentional message that military force will be used to correct such situations if necessary.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1398
The Los Angeles Times
Postelection Optimism Ebbing in Iraq
With no official results and a surge in violence, some wonder whether even a new government can make a difference. Others hold on to hope.
BAGHDAD — Two weeks after Iraq's first democratic election, hopes for a better future have given way in some quarters to pessimism, or at least to more limited expectations, as resurgent violence and a delay in the final tally have added to political uncertainty.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-mood13feb13,0,3907101.story?coll=la-home-headlines
The Face of Mexico's Narco-Spy Scandal
AGUA PRIETA, Mexico — Nahum Acosta's rise from elementary school teacher in this hardscrabble border city to a prestigious job on President Vicente Fox's travel staff made him the epitome of "local boy makes good." And he never forgot his roots.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexmole13feb13,0,7806044.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Hunt for Fugitives Expands to Retirees
A computer dragnet of aid recipients has caught felons, but in many cases the sick and poor lost their lifeline. Social Security rolls are next.
WASHINGTON — A law enforcement measure that has had mixed results in hunting down fugitives among the nation's sick and disabled is expanding this year to target the much larger ranks of retired Americans.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fugitive13feb13,0,2021583.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Guardian Umlimited
Top police chiefs admit hunt ban won't work
Secret memos reveal growing fear of civil unrest
Mark Townsend, environment correspondent
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Britain's most senior police officers have raised grave concerns that the imminent hunting ban is unenforcable, will erode morale, and could precipitate large-scale civil unrest, internal documents obtained by The Observer reveal.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1411912,00.html
New Aids nightmare shocks US
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411916,00.html
Allies move in on top terrorist
Bigley's executioner 'holed up in Kirkuk' as death toll in Iraq resumes pre-election levels
Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Iraq's most wanted terrorist, the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is hiding out in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk after fleeing from Mosul, according to police sources.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411802,00.html
Tsunami victims still wait for aid
Supplies to stricken Sri Lankans are blocked by bungling and corruption
Jason Burke in Galle
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Thousands of tsunami victims in Sri Lanka are still without aid, despite the biggest global humanitarian effort ever launched following a natural disaster. Tens of thousands more are receiving patchy assistance, because of government bureaucracy and corruption, poor co-ordination between aid agencies and inappropriate, rather than insufficient, supplies sent from the West.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1412033,00.html
Sex and the single robot
Jonathan Watts, East Asia correspondent
Wednesday February 2, 2005
The Guardian
Scientists have made them walk and talk. There are even robots that can run. But a South Korean professor is poised to take their development several steps further, and give cybersex new meaning.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1403780,00.html
The Daily Mail and Guardian
New Aids nightmare shocks US
13 February 2005 08:02
A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197398&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
Judge lashes out at SA's prison crisis
12 February 2005 07:41
Were the SPCA to cram as many animals into a cage as inmates are packed into a prison cell, it would be prosecuted for animal cruelty, Pretoria High Court judge Eberhardt Bertelsmann said on Friday.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197395&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
SA's water: how long will it last?
13 February 2005 08:02
South Africa urgently needs a well-funded institute to research water demand management.
This is the view of Pieter Pansegrouw, professor of civil engineering at Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, who wrote on the topic in the latest issue of Farmer's Weekly.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197402&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
Sri Lanka accuses UK of poaching its doctors
13 February 2005 08:02
Sri Lanka - still recovering from the devastation of December's tsunami - has accused Britain of undermining its already embattled health service by failing to prevent hospitals luring away trained doctors and nurses to work in the UK.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197399&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
continued...
Diesel spill could bring prosecution
13.02.05 12.45pm
A diesel spill in Christchurch's Heathcote River could result in prosecution and a fine of up to $200,000.
Thousands of litres of fuel leaked into the river from a drain in Sockburn on Friday.
Environment Canterbury spokesperson Mike Freeman says if there is evidence to suggest the spill was deliberate, then it is highly likely legal action will follow.
Hundreds of volunteers are continuing to help with the clean-up.
Council staff were alerted to the problem when residents complained of a heavy smell.
Hundreds of ducks and other birds have been affected by the spill, which is not thought to be deliberate.
- Newstalk ZB
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10010847
Overturned tanker on I-595 leaves 4 dead, 1 injured
By Bill Hirschman and Jean-Paul Renaud
Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 12 2005, 6:02 PM EST
Davie · Four people were killed Friday night when a fuel tanker truck flipped over at a busy interchange, landed on a car and burst into flames that shot 30 feet into the air.
FHP spokesman Lt. Pat Santangelo said the 18-wheel tanker truck was traveling eastbound on Interstate 595 at the Florida Turnpike's on-ramp in the right lane, but "for some reason the driver lost control and started overturning."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ctanker12feb12,0,5383489.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
The Gulf News
Sectarian attacks kill 22 in Iraq
Reuters
Baghdad: More than 20 people were killed in attacks on Shiite targets yesterday in violence apparently aimed at stoking sectarian hatred.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151595
The European Union and the Middle East peace process
By As'ad Abdul Rahman
Europe, both in terms of the individual states and collectively through the 15-member European Union (EU), seeks to play an active role in the Middle East peace process. There are many reasons for this, the most important of which are economic and political.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=151605
Women are advancing, but their pay is not
By Larry Williams
Women's brains work differently from those of men different sizes, different electrical patterns, different test scores. That much we know is true.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=151606
Foundation comes to the aid of tsunami victims
By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter
Dubai: More than Dh5.5 million in aid has been donated to tsunami victims in Thailand by the Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=151586
US officials should check facts, says Syria
Reuters
Damascus: Syria said on Thursday that US officials should check the facts before making provocative remarks, commenting after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Syria last week of exporting terrorism.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151659
Washington-Tehran tension may spin out of control
Reuters
London: Nobody sees military action as the best way to tame Iran's suspected nuclear weapons ambitions, but as the rhetoric heats up, mutual miscalculation could suck Tehran and Washington into an unpredictable showdown.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151656
On the proficiency of withdrawal from Iraq we turn to an interview with the King of Hype, General 'Strange' Grange. Kindly note the casual nature as if part of everyday living that death of people holds little definition except in the context of measuring success:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0501/27/ldt.01.html
DOBBS: There are no firm numbers on the number of insurgents and terrorists fighting U.S. troops and Iraqi forces in Iraq, but yesterday, the U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, declared that 15,000 insurgents have been killed or captured over the past year. Now, if that number were accurate, the insurgents would be far stronger than the Pentagon's civil and military leadership has ever admitted or in point of fact suggested. I'm joined now from Chicago, General David Grange. And General, let me first say, good to see you.
And secondly, the Pentagon has always had an interesting history with numbers, but the fact that a general is declaring that more insurgents have been killed or captured than the Pentagon suggested existed a year ago is remarkable, isn't it?
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, you know, the good news is that 15,000 were killed or captured. The bad news is that that means there's a lot more out there, and obviously has grown considerably since the fall of Saddam.
DOBBS: It's grown considerably, the attacks are escalating, and yet U.S. military forces, the Bush administration insists that we are winning the war in Iraq. How can that be?
GRANGE: Well, I do believe we're winning the war. What you don't see is a lot of the effort that's going on. I really think, Lou, that after this election, you're going to start seeing a decline in that insurgency. It's going to require removing the popular support, those that do support the insurgency, away from the insurgents, and that has to be with Iraqis, military on the street and moving the presence of the U.S. off-set from the street but ready to pounce on and raid any sites they deem necessary to eliminate the threat as well.
DOBBS: General, as you know, I am as -- certainly as supportive of our troops as you are in Iraq, and I think that no one can be more supportive than you and I of our troops. I'm also extraordinarily, frankly, critical of the Pentagon. The leadership at this point -- we've lost over 1,400 Americans. We have 10,000 Americans wounded. The Pentagon continues and usually in the form of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to say that the violence will escalate at each one of the events that occurs, whether it's the handover, the run-up to the elections, the elections themselves, post-election. At what point is there such a breach of just straightforward relationship to facts that we have to examine precisely what is happening here on the part of military strategy for the good of our troops first and then for the good of the Iraqi people?
GRANGE: Well, I think what you're seeing is not anyone hiding the truth. I think what you're seeing is a miscalculation of the estimate of what the threat is and how it's changed over time and the requirement that it was a necessity to have many more troops there initially in a transition from maneuvered combat to the stability and support operations. During that void is where this thing built up and changed the landscape, the environment, the situation that we're experiencing right now. And it's -- I think there were poor calculations up front.
DOBBS: And do you believe that the Pentagon, the general staff, those in command of our fighting men and women in Iraq now have, if you will, if I can put it in the colloquial, do they now, in your best judgment, have their act together?
GRANGE: Yes, I do. I know many of the commanders on the ground that are running these operations. They are very proficient. I would trust any of my sons under their care. And I think they have a handle on it. And I think we'll see improvement.
DOBBS: Outstanding. If General Grange says that there is going to be improvement, I'll take that to the bank. We appreciate it. Thank you, General David Grange.
IN CONTRAST TO an article that appears on Michael Moore Dot Calm:
Pentagon covers up failure to train and recruit local security forces
By Andrew Buncombe / The Independent
Training of Iraq's security forces, crucial to any exit strategy for Britain and the US, is going so badly that the Pentagon has stopped giving figures for the number of combat-ready indigenous troops, The Independent on Sunday has learned.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1413
Michael Moore Today
Gold Star Families for Peace
We as families of soldiers who have died as a result of war are organizing to be a positive force in our world to bring our country’s sons and daughters home from Iraq, to minimize the “human cost” of this war, and to prevent other families from the pain we are feeling as the result of our losses. We are also hoping to be lifetime support for each other through our losses.
http://www.gsfp.org/
REGRETFULLY, LAURA
THE MARCH OF FREEDOM
The Bush administration came under pressure on Thursday to make public the full classified version of a report from the 9/11 commission that is critical of the government's failure to heed aviation threats before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php
Iraqi Security Force Cover-Up at Pentagon?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Rumsfeld Watches as Iraqis Learn to Fight Insurgency
By Josh White / Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Feb. 11 -- The sharp blast echoed from a cluster of buildings and trees in the morning sunshine, and almost simultaneously the target crumpled nearly 1,000 feet away. Helicopters roared in and soldier after soldier slithered down a rope onto a stone building. Armored vehicles followed, as did flashes and bangs and smoke and gunshots.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1412
At Least 18 Killed In Iraq Violence
By Luke Baker / Reuters
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber killed 18 people near a hospital south of Baghdad on Saturday amid a surge of violence by Iraq's mostly Sunni Muslim insurgents ahead of Ashura, the holiest festival on the Shi'ite religious calendar.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1411
Bush Doctrine Gets a Nuclear Reaction
Editorial / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Under the Bush Doctrine, the United States will "not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most dangerous weapons," as the president explained his policy. Those words "will not permit" were carefully selected, carrying the clear and very intentional message that military force will be used to correct such situations if necessary.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1398
The Los Angeles Times
Postelection Optimism Ebbing in Iraq
With no official results and a surge in violence, some wonder whether even a new government can make a difference. Others hold on to hope.
BAGHDAD — Two weeks after Iraq's first democratic election, hopes for a better future have given way in some quarters to pessimism, or at least to more limited expectations, as resurgent violence and a delay in the final tally have added to political uncertainty.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-mood13feb13,0,3907101.story?coll=la-home-headlines
The Face of Mexico's Narco-Spy Scandal
AGUA PRIETA, Mexico — Nahum Acosta's rise from elementary school teacher in this hardscrabble border city to a prestigious job on President Vicente Fox's travel staff made him the epitome of "local boy makes good." And he never forgot his roots.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexmole13feb13,0,7806044.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Hunt for Fugitives Expands to Retirees
A computer dragnet of aid recipients has caught felons, but in many cases the sick and poor lost their lifeline. Social Security rolls are next.
WASHINGTON — A law enforcement measure that has had mixed results in hunting down fugitives among the nation's sick and disabled is expanding this year to target the much larger ranks of retired Americans.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fugitive13feb13,0,2021583.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Guardian Umlimited
Top police chiefs admit hunt ban won't work
Secret memos reveal growing fear of civil unrest
Mark Townsend, environment correspondent
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Britain's most senior police officers have raised grave concerns that the imminent hunting ban is unenforcable, will erode morale, and could precipitate large-scale civil unrest, internal documents obtained by The Observer reveal.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1411912,00.html
New Aids nightmare shocks US
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411916,00.html
Allies move in on top terrorist
Bigley's executioner 'holed up in Kirkuk' as death toll in Iraq resumes pre-election levels
Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Iraq's most wanted terrorist, the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is hiding out in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk after fleeing from Mosul, according to police sources.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411802,00.html
Tsunami victims still wait for aid
Supplies to stricken Sri Lankans are blocked by bungling and corruption
Jason Burke in Galle
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Thousands of tsunami victims in Sri Lanka are still without aid, despite the biggest global humanitarian effort ever launched following a natural disaster. Tens of thousands more are receiving patchy assistance, because of government bureaucracy and corruption, poor co-ordination between aid agencies and inappropriate, rather than insufficient, supplies sent from the West.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1412033,00.html
Sex and the single robot
Jonathan Watts, East Asia correspondent
Wednesday February 2, 2005
The Guardian
Scientists have made them walk and talk. There are even robots that can run. But a South Korean professor is poised to take their development several steps further, and give cybersex new meaning.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1403780,00.html
The Daily Mail and Guardian
New Aids nightmare shocks US
13 February 2005 08:02
A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197398&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
Judge lashes out at SA's prison crisis
12 February 2005 07:41
Were the SPCA to cram as many animals into a cage as inmates are packed into a prison cell, it would be prosecuted for animal cruelty, Pretoria High Court judge Eberhardt Bertelsmann said on Friday.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197395&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
SA's water: how long will it last?
13 February 2005 08:02
South Africa urgently needs a well-funded institute to research water demand management.
This is the view of Pieter Pansegrouw, professor of civil engineering at Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, who wrote on the topic in the latest issue of Farmer's Weekly.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197402&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
Sri Lanka accuses UK of poaching its doctors
13 February 2005 08:02
Sri Lanka - still recovering from the devastation of December's tsunami - has accused Britain of undermining its already embattled health service by failing to prevent hospitals luring away trained doctors and nurses to work in the UK.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197399&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
continued...
Morning Papers - concluding
The Cheney Observer
Cheney, celebrities in town for quail hunt
February 11, 2005
Albany- Vice President Cheney often comes to South Georgia to hunt.
This time he may be shooting beside other well-known Americans. The 19th Annual Quail Unlimited Celebrity Hunt is the biggest fundraiser the group has ever had.
The Vice President landed in Albany on
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=2937154&nav=5kZQWI76
Cheney's Fertilizer Nay Unnerves Inter-Korean Exchange Proponents
Dick Cheney(L) and Ban Ki-moon
SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- Concern is growing here that inter-Korean exchange may be put on hold after U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly asked South Korea to suspend its fertilizer aid to North Korea.
According to the New York Times, Cheney called upon South Korea to stop its fertilizer aid to North Korea during his meeting in Washington with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20050212/310000000020050212225334E4.html
Independent Media TV
Under Reported
February 12, 2005
Halliburton Contracts Illegal - Bush & Cheney Say So What
After millions of tax dollars were spent investigating how Halliburton ended up being awarded billions of dollar worth of no-bid contracts in Iraq, the Government Accounting Office determined that the company should never have been awarded the contracts in the first place.
In response to those findings, Cheney and Bush both, as much as thumbed their noses at tax payers as if to say "so what, what are you going to do about it?" Well, it's beginning to look like they were right, there is nothing we can do about it.
http://www.independent-media.tv/itemprint.cfm?fmedia_id=10399&fcategory_desc=Under
THIS IS RACIAL PROFILING. This is harassment of the New Iraqi Authority. Who requested this? Allawi? He nor Bush have any right to unseat the new Shi'ite leadership.
Shiites Win (Americans grill top Shia Leaders)
By Hamza Hendawi / Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) With a Shiite coalition set to take power in Iraq, American officials have begun grilling top Iraqi Shiite politicians to try to gauge the extent of their relationship with neighboring Iran, a predominantly Shiite nation ruled by its clergy.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1418
The New Zealand Herald
Tsunami may have revealed lost city
14.02.05 12.00pm
By Jan McGirk
The mighty Boxing Day tsunami has revealed what archaeologists believe to be the lost ruins of an ancient city off the coast of Tamil Nadu in southern India.
The 30-metre waves, which reshaped the Bay of Bengal and swept more than 16,000 Indians to their death, shifted thousands of tonnes of sand to unearth a pair of elaborately carved stone lions and a stallion near the famous 7th century Dravidian temple on the coast at Mahabalipuram, south of Madras.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010991
Two powerful cyclones born near Samoa
14.02.05 10.30am
Two powerful tropical cyclones were born near Samoa early today, with weather authorities warning people to prepare for damaging storms.
The Tropical Cyclone Centre in Fiji said Cyclone Olaf had formed north-east of Samoa and was developing strongly. Early today it was 426 nautical miles east of the capital Apia.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010987
Israel to release 500 Palestinian prisoners
14.02.05 12.00pm
By Eric Silver
JERUSALEM - Israel approved the release of 500 Palestinian prisoners yesterday in what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called a goodwill gesture to bolster new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and build mutual trust.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010988
Cloud over Dresden's 60-year reflection
Dresden residents march to honour more than 35,000 who died, while also making a statement against far right attempts to hijack the 60th anniversary of the bombings. Picture / Reuters
14.02.05
DRESDEN - Sixty years after the Dresden bombings, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder pledged to stop far-right groups exploiting the anniversary and portraying Germany as a war victim while ignoring Nazi atrocities.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010931
Former Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee details abuse
14.02.05 11.15am
CANBERRA - Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib has spoken during his first Australian interview of a systematic regime of physical and mental abuse suffered in detention.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010983
Iran tells US not to 'play with fire'
14.02.05
Iran warned the United States on Sunday not to attack its nuclear facilities and said talks with European nations might produce a deal to defuse the dispute.
"They know our capabilities. We have clearly told the Europeans to tell Americans not to play with fire," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news briefinG.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010947
Sub captain blamed for undersea accident
14.02.05
The United States Navy has relieved from command the captain of a nuclear-powered submarine that rammed into an undersea mountain in the Pacific last month, killing one crew member and injuring 98 others.
Commander Kevin Mooney was removed for failing to follow crucial navigational procedures before the USS San Francisco crashed into the mountain.
The Navy said investigators found "several critical navigational and voyage planning procedures were not being implemented" aboard the submarine.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010935
Missionary killed in Amazon state
14.02.05
An American missionary has been shot to death in the Amazon state of Para, less then a week after she accused loggers and ranchers of threatening to kill rural workers, authorities said.
Dorothy Stang, 74, was accompanying a group of peasants to a meeting with other local workers when they were attacked near the jungle town of Anapu, about 2100km north of Sao Paulo.
Police said she was shot three times in the face. Two suspects had been taken into custody.
Stang had lived in Brazil since the early 1960s. She was an outspoken critic of efforts by loggers and large landowners to expropriate lands and clear the Amazon rainforest.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010932
Michael Richardson: Oil-seeking China steps on US toes
The United States has long regarded Central and South America as part of its backyard; and Canada as an extension of its front porch.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010884
Maramena Roderick: True Maori power lies behind men seated in the front row
So, women are a slighted gender in the Maori world, are we?
The hoopla over the unfairness of women being seated behind men on a marae brought home yet again the chasm that exists between Maori and Pakeha.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=466&ObjectID=10010863
Editorial: Nuclear risk must not be ignored
14.02.05
John Kerry, during his unsuccessful challenge for the United States presidency, voiced the view that nuclear proliferation was the greatest threat facing the world. Few queried his opinion but, with events in Iraq occupying Americans, few awarded it much attention. Now, however, confirmation of Mr Kerry's fears has arrived with North Korea's admission that it has nuclear weapons.
Those in the know were not surprised by the disclosure. US policy towards the communist state has for some time assumed nuclear arms - and the likelihood that a million or more may die if an all-out war were to break out on the Korean peninsula. But Pyongyang's admission provides a timely warning that proliferation is no longer an issue that can remain on the international backburner.
… Equally, however, the Korean admission represents the first time a rogue state has possessed nuclear weapons - and threatened global nuclear stability. The international community must react effectively. President George W. Bush has placed his faith in the six-nation talks, rather than embarking on bilateral negotiations or calling on the United Nations. His hope is that North Korea's neighbours - China in particular - can bring a strong influence to bear. But most immediately, that sway is having to be used just to get the Koreans back to the negotiating table.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=466&ObjectID=10010859
Diesel spill almost cleared
14.02.05 1.00pm
A cleanup effort following a spill of up to 10,000 litres of diesel into Christchurch's Heathcote River was today almost complete as investigators prepared to speak to those responsible.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10010994
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Cloudy
-2.0°
Updated Monday 14 Feb 9:59AM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
28 °F / -2 °C
MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES WITH INCREASING CLOUDS THROUGH THE EVENING.
Humidity:
69%
Dew Point:
19 °F / -7 °C
Wind:
Calm
Pressure:
30.15 in / 1021 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 12
Clouds (AGL):
Overcast 3800 ft / 1158 m
EAST WINDS TO 15 MPH.
Cheney, celebrities in town for quail hunt
February 11, 2005
Albany- Vice President Cheney often comes to South Georgia to hunt.
This time he may be shooting beside other well-known Americans. The 19th Annual Quail Unlimited Celebrity Hunt is the biggest fundraiser the group has ever had.
The Vice President landed in Albany on
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=2937154&nav=5kZQWI76
Cheney's Fertilizer Nay Unnerves Inter-Korean Exchange Proponents
Dick Cheney(L) and Ban Ki-moon
SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- Concern is growing here that inter-Korean exchange may be put on hold after U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly asked South Korea to suspend its fertilizer aid to North Korea.
According to the New York Times, Cheney called upon South Korea to stop its fertilizer aid to North Korea during his meeting in Washington with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20050212/310000000020050212225334E4.html
Independent Media TV
Under Reported
February 12, 2005
Halliburton Contracts Illegal - Bush & Cheney Say So What
After millions of tax dollars were spent investigating how Halliburton ended up being awarded billions of dollar worth of no-bid contracts in Iraq, the Government Accounting Office determined that the company should never have been awarded the contracts in the first place.
In response to those findings, Cheney and Bush both, as much as thumbed their noses at tax payers as if to say "so what, what are you going to do about it?" Well, it's beginning to look like they were right, there is nothing we can do about it.
http://www.independent-media.tv/itemprint.cfm?fmedia_id=10399&fcategory_desc=Under
THIS IS RACIAL PROFILING. This is harassment of the New Iraqi Authority. Who requested this? Allawi? He nor Bush have any right to unseat the new Shi'ite leadership.
Shiites Win (Americans grill top Shia Leaders)
By Hamza Hendawi / Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) With a Shiite coalition set to take power in Iraq, American officials have begun grilling top Iraqi Shiite politicians to try to gauge the extent of their relationship with neighboring Iran, a predominantly Shiite nation ruled by its clergy.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1418
The New Zealand Herald
Tsunami may have revealed lost city
14.02.05 12.00pm
By Jan McGirk
The mighty Boxing Day tsunami has revealed what archaeologists believe to be the lost ruins of an ancient city off the coast of Tamil Nadu in southern India.
The 30-metre waves, which reshaped the Bay of Bengal and swept more than 16,000 Indians to their death, shifted thousands of tonnes of sand to unearth a pair of elaborately carved stone lions and a stallion near the famous 7th century Dravidian temple on the coast at Mahabalipuram, south of Madras.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010991
Two powerful cyclones born near Samoa
14.02.05 10.30am
Two powerful tropical cyclones were born near Samoa early today, with weather authorities warning people to prepare for damaging storms.
The Tropical Cyclone Centre in Fiji said Cyclone Olaf had formed north-east of Samoa and was developing strongly. Early today it was 426 nautical miles east of the capital Apia.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010987
Israel to release 500 Palestinian prisoners
14.02.05 12.00pm
By Eric Silver
JERUSALEM - Israel approved the release of 500 Palestinian prisoners yesterday in what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called a goodwill gesture to bolster new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and build mutual trust.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010988
Cloud over Dresden's 60-year reflection
Dresden residents march to honour more than 35,000 who died, while also making a statement against far right attempts to hijack the 60th anniversary of the bombings. Picture / Reuters
14.02.05
DRESDEN - Sixty years after the Dresden bombings, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder pledged to stop far-right groups exploiting the anniversary and portraying Germany as a war victim while ignoring Nazi atrocities.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010931
Former Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee details abuse
14.02.05 11.15am
CANBERRA - Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib has spoken during his first Australian interview of a systematic regime of physical and mental abuse suffered in detention.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010983
Iran tells US not to 'play with fire'
14.02.05
Iran warned the United States on Sunday not to attack its nuclear facilities and said talks with European nations might produce a deal to defuse the dispute.
"They know our capabilities. We have clearly told the Europeans to tell Americans not to play with fire," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news briefinG.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010947
Sub captain blamed for undersea accident
14.02.05
The United States Navy has relieved from command the captain of a nuclear-powered submarine that rammed into an undersea mountain in the Pacific last month, killing one crew member and injuring 98 others.
Commander Kevin Mooney was removed for failing to follow crucial navigational procedures before the USS San Francisco crashed into the mountain.
The Navy said investigators found "several critical navigational and voyage planning procedures were not being implemented" aboard the submarine.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010935
Missionary killed in Amazon state
14.02.05
An American missionary has been shot to death in the Amazon state of Para, less then a week after she accused loggers and ranchers of threatening to kill rural workers, authorities said.
Dorothy Stang, 74, was accompanying a group of peasants to a meeting with other local workers when they were attacked near the jungle town of Anapu, about 2100km north of Sao Paulo.
Police said she was shot three times in the face. Two suspects had been taken into custody.
Stang had lived in Brazil since the early 1960s. She was an outspoken critic of efforts by loggers and large landowners to expropriate lands and clear the Amazon rainforest.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010932
Michael Richardson: Oil-seeking China steps on US toes
The United States has long regarded Central and South America as part of its backyard; and Canada as an extension of its front porch.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010884
Maramena Roderick: True Maori power lies behind men seated in the front row
So, women are a slighted gender in the Maori world, are we?
The hoopla over the unfairness of women being seated behind men on a marae brought home yet again the chasm that exists between Maori and Pakeha.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=466&ObjectID=10010863
Editorial: Nuclear risk must not be ignored
14.02.05
John Kerry, during his unsuccessful challenge for the United States presidency, voiced the view that nuclear proliferation was the greatest threat facing the world. Few queried his opinion but, with events in Iraq occupying Americans, few awarded it much attention. Now, however, confirmation of Mr Kerry's fears has arrived with North Korea's admission that it has nuclear weapons.
Those in the know were not surprised by the disclosure. US policy towards the communist state has for some time assumed nuclear arms - and the likelihood that a million or more may die if an all-out war were to break out on the Korean peninsula. But Pyongyang's admission provides a timely warning that proliferation is no longer an issue that can remain on the international backburner.
… Equally, however, the Korean admission represents the first time a rogue state has possessed nuclear weapons - and threatened global nuclear stability. The international community must react effectively. President George W. Bush has placed his faith in the six-nation talks, rather than embarking on bilateral negotiations or calling on the United Nations. His hope is that North Korea's neighbours - China in particular - can bring a strong influence to bear. But most immediately, that sway is having to be used just to get the Koreans back to the negotiating table.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=466&ObjectID=10010859
Diesel spill almost cleared
14.02.05 1.00pm
A cleanup effort following a spill of up to 10,000 litres of diesel into Christchurch's Heathcote River was today almost complete as investigators prepared to speak to those responsible.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10010994
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Cloudy
-2.0°
Updated Monday 14 Feb 9:59AM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
28 °F / -2 °C
MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES WITH INCREASING CLOUDS THROUGH THE EVENING.
Humidity:
69%
Dew Point:
19 °F / -7 °C
Wind:
Calm
Pressure:
30.15 in / 1021 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 12
Clouds (AGL):
Overcast 3800 ft / 1158 m
EAST WINDS TO 15 MPH.
Morning Papers - It's Origins
The Japan Times
Japan looks to slash spending on U.S. forces
Japan plans to ask the United States to approve a further reduction in the amount of money Japan spends on supporting the presence of U.S. troops here, according to Japanese government sources.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050212a1.htm
Wyeth rheumatoid arthritis drug causes fatal side effects in 134 users
Rheumatoid arthritis drug Rheumatrex Capsule caused fatal side effects in 134 people between March 1999 and November 2004, according to a manufacturer's report.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050212a2.htm
Blaze at 'onsen' drilling site extinguished
A fire at an "onsen" hot spring drilling site in Kita Ward, Tokyo, was extinguished Friday, more than 24 hours after it broke out, local firefighters said.
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire Friday morning at a hot spring drilling site in Kita Ward, Tokyo.
Nobody was injured in the blaze, which began around 4:50 p.m. Thursday and was put out around 5:15 p.m. Friday. About 40 local residents have taken refuge at a community center and other places.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050212a5.htm
Immigration frees Kurdish asylum-seeker
By MASAMI ITO
Staff writer
A Kurdish asylum-seeker, recognized as a mandate refugee by the United Nations, was released from the Immigration Bureau in Tokyo's Minato Ward late Thursday evening after having been detained for four days, his lawyer said.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050212f2.htm
Taking play therapy to Sri Lanka tsunami orphans
By ANGELA JEFFS
Dr. Akiko Ohnogi is a vision in red. She is wearing red from top to toe -- from earrings to handbag and shoes -- because, put simply, "It's my favorite color."
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20050212a1.htm
Just one step from oblivion
In May of 1985, British mountain climbers Simon Yates and Joe Simpson made what almost turned out to be the last decision of their lives: They attempted to scale Siula Grande, an ominous 6,400-meter peak in the Peruvian Andes that had never been climbed before. Not only that, they decided to do it "Alpine style" -- in what Yates called "one big push" -- with no supply camps along the way, just the packs on their backs.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ff20050209a1.htm
ICELANDIC SURPRISE
DNA 'flip' highlights our ongoing evolution
By ROWAN HOOPER
Stung by the phenomenal success of the "Harry Potter" books, some people like to preach about the infantilization of culture, and some critics worry that adults are wallowing in childhood.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fe20050210rh.htm
The New York Times
Japan Urges North Korea to Rejoin Disarmament Talks
TOKYO, Feb. 11 - The day after North Korea declared that it possessed nuclear weapons, Japan's prime minister urged the North to re-engage in disarmament talks. He spoke as the clock was running down toward a new law that will put economic pressure on North Korea by barring most of its ships from Japanese ports starting March 1.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/international/asia/12korea.html
Mounting Discontent in Russia Spills Into Streets
MOSCOW, Feb. 11 - A month ago a small crowd of elderly men and women briefly blocked the highway to Moscow's main international airport to protest changes in pension benefits. It seemed insignificant then, but in retrospect it seems to have been the first stirrings of something long considered dead, or at least dormant, in Russia: the public protest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/international/europe/12russia.html?hp&ex=1108270800&en=73ab03849012dd2f&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Rare and Aggressive H.I.V. Reported in New York
By MARC SANTORA and LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN
Published: February 12, 2005
A rare strain of H.I.V. that is highly resistant to virtually all anti-retroviral drugs and appears to lead to the rapid onset of AIDS was detected in a New York City man last week, city health officials announced on Friday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/health/12aids.html?hp&ex=1108270800&en=4d5d2b3eeae367e9&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Too Angry or Fearful to Vote, Sunni Iraqis Are Marginalized
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 11 - Abdullah Muhammad al-Ajili was standing next to his old Toyota pickup on the dusty road from Baghdad to Tikrit, simmering with resentment, the sleeves on his dark blue dishdasha rolled up on his forearms.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/international/middleeast/12sunnis.html?hp&ex=1108270800&en=51c5ba3d9d4dbd85&ei=5094&partner=homepage
'01 Memo to Rice Warned of Qaeda and Offered Plan
By SCOTT SHANE
Published: February 12, 2005
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 - A strategy document outlining proposals for eliminating the threat from Al Qaeda, given to Condoleezza Rice as she assumed the post of national security adviser in January 2001, warned that the terror network had cells in the United States and 40 other countries and sought unconventional weapons, according to a declassified version of the document.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/politics/12clarke.html?hp
CNN Executive Resigns Post Over Remarks
Eason Jordan, a senior executive at CNN who was responsible for coordinating the cable network's Iraq coverage, resigned abruptly last night, citing a journalistic tempest he touched off during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, late last month in which he appeared to suggest that United States troops had deliberately aimed at journalists, killing some.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/business/media/12cnn.html?hp&ex=1108270800&en=33f12fe86d93f7b2&ei=5094&partner=homepage
The Cheney Observer
MANCHESTER - By getting off to a fast start, the Cheney Tech boys basketball team made sure it wouldn't need a furious finish.
The Beavers jumped out to a 19-2 lead after one quarter and cruised to a 65-42 Charter Oak Conference victory over Portland.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13939984&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=161561&rfi=6
For those living with the disease, every day is HIV/AIDS Day
Originally printed 2/10/2005 (Issue 1306)
In 2004, Dick Cheney wasn't aware of the extent of the AIDS epidemic among Black women.
In 2005, George W. Bush doesn't care.
How else can we explain a proposed 2006 budget that flat-funds the Ryan White Act while simultaneously increasing funding for abstinence education programs that have led to an increase in sexual activity among teenagers in Bush's home state of Texas? Especially since, according to former Chair of the Federal Committee to the CDC Health Resource Services Administration on HIV & STD Prevention and Treatment Dr. Robert Fullilove, those very policies will lead to even more infections?
http://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=11697
About the Filibuster and the "Nuclear Option"
What is the Filibuster?
The filibuster is one of our democracy's oldest and most important checks on the power of the majority. It preserves two of our bedrock values: protecting the rights of the minority and promoting compromise.
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=17707
Iraq likely swapping dictatorship for Iran-like rule
Robert Scheer
In a heightened display of saber rattling, President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been saying nasty things about Iran’s “unelected mullahs.”
This is apparently so we can tell the difference between the theocracy in place in Tehran and the one coalescing in Baghdad. Although things are looking slightly brighter for Iraq after its debut election, it is still not clear why the United States has spent incalculable fortunes in human life, taxpayer money and international goodwill to break Iraq and then remake it in the image of our avowed “axis of evil” enemy next door.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/editorial/10875241.htm
Halliburton's lost radioactive cargo is found
Associated Press
Published February 11, 2005
WASHINGTON -- A Halliburton Co. shipment of radioactive material that landed in New York in October was lost en route to Texas and was not found until Wednesday, when it turned up in Boston.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0502110271feb11,1,3105405.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Moneymakers
Operations chief worked his way up at Halliburton
Andy Lane, 45, the chief operating officer at Halliburton, first worked for the company as an intern and has moved through the ranks to the No. 2 job at one of the city's highest profile companies.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3034335
Mixed Messages and Flip-Flops as the SEC Director Nomination Rule Stagnates
by William Baue
While the SEC retracts its promise allowing shareowners to file director nomination resolutions before rule enactment, lawsuits secure shareowner rights to nominate directors.
(SocialFunds.com) - Investors, particularly those holding Ashland (ticker: ASH), Microtune (TUNE), and MCI (MCIP--formerly WorldCom), as well as Halliburton (HAL), Qwest (Q), and Verizon (VZ), are getting mixed messages regarding shareowner nomination of director candidates. On the one hand, lawsuit settlements in cases involving corporate governance failures require the first set of companies to allow institutional investors to nominate directors. On the other hand, this week the staff at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Corporate Finance allowed the latter companies to omit resolutions calling for shareowner access to the proxy to nominate directors.
http://www.csrwire.com/sfarticle.cgi?id=1636
Analysis: Cuban oil finds may bring change
By Les Kjos
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Published February 11, 2005
MIAMI -- An oil discovery off Cuba and continued exploration by a variety of international interests could set off a series of changes in the energy and political landscape worldwide.
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050211-033608-5711r
Profiteering from the Iraq war
Burhanuddin Hasan
February 10, 2005 - As President Bush entered the second term of his office, he said in a newspaper interview that his re-election proved that Americans endorsed his decision to go to war against Iraq, and had given him a mandate to pursue his other foreign policy objectives, which include pre-emptive attacks on Iran and Syria. He repeated this frightening theme in his inaugural address on January 20 and his State of the Union Address. He broadly hinted that he would not hesitate to use force to spread democracy, freedom and liberty in regions under tyranny because "the survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m9604&l=i&size=1&hd=0
Bush Threatens to Veto Medicare Changes
JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush, faced with complaints from Republicans as well as Democrats about higher cost estimates for a new Medicare drug benefit, said Friday he would veto any attempt to change the law.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10879721.htm
Bush appeal on Social Security draws ire of black leaders
BY NAFTALI BENDAVID
Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and his supporters, as part of their all-out effort to push Social Security reform, have been quietly making the argument that African-Americans would particularly benefit from Bush's proposals - a message that is proving highly controversial.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10879989.htm
Bush Nears First Win of Term With Class-Action Bill (Update1)
Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President George W. Bush is poised to claim the first legislative victory of his second term following Senate approval of a bill to move most class-action lawsuits from state to federal courts.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a_k.akCUqR1o&refer=us
Cano Petroleum Chosen as Lead Sponsor of All Outdoors TV
FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- All Outdoors TV, anational television show airing on DISH Network, DirectTV and SportsmansChannel as well as local stations in Texas, Louisiana and Arizona, is pleasedto have Cano Petroleum, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CAOP) as its lead sponsorfor the 2005 season. The show has an 18-year history, a loyal followingacross the country, and broadcasts to some 80 million households.Cano is fortunate to have been chosen as a premier partner of All OutdoorsTV. By sponsoring this popular television show, Cano highlights itscommitment to maintaining a healthy environment for America's families andfuture generations.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/02-11-2005/0002995006&EDATE=
Cano Petroleum to purchase Texas-based Square One for undisclosed sum
Exploration and production independent Cano Petroleum said it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Square One Energy, a Texas-based oil and gas operating company, for an undisclosed amount of cash. Square One’s assets include a 100 percent working interest in 11,000 acres of mature oil fields in....
http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/284465844.shtml
Portrush Petroleum Drilling in Alberta to Proceed
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 11, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Portrush Petroleum Corporation (TSX Venture Exchange:PSH) (OTCBB:PRRPF) announced today that Canadian Imperial Ventures has committed to a drilling program on the assembled land package covering approximately 50 sections (gross) in the Cranberry/Botha region of Northwest Alberta. Portrush earned its interest in these lands by participating in four exploratory wells drilled in 2001. The company earned up to 30% interest in a significant portion of these lands and will be carried for 40% of its current interest on any well drilled on its acreage.
http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/?d=72576
Terror, Fear, Nukes, Sports, Sex and a Little Business
This is what happened today (February 11, 2005) on "the most popular business show on the planet," Your World w/Neil Cavuto.
Some of Bush's poll numbers on Iraq and the Iraq war are sagging fairly substantially. For example, Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll released yesterday showed:
Sharp divisions remain on the question of whether going to war with Iraq was the right thing for the United States to do. Today 46 percent think the action was the right thing to do, down from 50 percent in June 2004, and 49 percent now say it was wrong, up from 42 percent.
Therefore, I thought it was interesting that Cavuto led with three segments about Sarin gas and fear today. Bush's poll numbers go up when he is painted as our protector-father-terror-fighter, fending off people who are out to get us, so what better way to help shore-up his numbers than to remind people that they still need to be afraid? To that end, and despite all the proof that Saddam had no ability to cause us harm, Fox still equates the Iraq war with the "war on terror." As a matter of fact, frequently when Fox goes to a report about Iraq, they show a full screen graphic saying "War on Terror" before cutting to the report.
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/02/11/terror_fear_nukes_sports_sex_and_a_little_business.php
Bush budget angers some city officials
New Haven may face significant reductions in grants for law enforcement, housing and community development next year if the recommendations contained in President Bush's recent budget proposal are followed.
http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=28362
3 now seeking Bush's job
As Republicans bide their time, a third Democrat, U.S. Rep Jim Davis, jumps into the race to replace Jeb Bush when the two-term governor leaves office.
BY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@herald.com
U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, a Tampa Democrat frequently mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate, took the plunge on Thursday, declaring that he will run for governor.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/10871030.htm
Profiteering from the Iraq war
Burhanuddin Hasan
February 10, 2005 - As President Bush entered the second term of his office, he said in a newspaper interview that his re-election proved that Americans endorsed his decision to go to war against Iraq, and had given him a mandate to pursue his other foreign policy objectives, which include pre-emptive attacks on Iran and Syria. He repeated this frightening theme in his inaugural address on January 20 and his State of the Union Address. He broadly hinted that he would not hesitate to use force to spread democracy, freedom and liberty in regions under tyranny because "the survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m9604&l=i&size=1&hd=0\
Cold weather forecast, OPEC fears cause uptick in oil prices
NEW YORK (AFP) - Crude oil prices drifted higher on global markets as traders turned skittish in the face of fresh forecasts calling for colder US weather and renewed fears about a production cut from the OPEC cartel.
http://www.turkishpress.com/business/news.asp?id=050208232319.6p1c0i78.xml
Oil Installations Are Secure, Says Naimi
Raid Qusti, Arab News
RIYADH, 9 February 2005 — Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said yesterday that terrorist attacks in the Kingdom over the past two years had neither targeted nor harmed any oil plant in the Kingdom.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=58741&d=9&m=2&y=2005
Fight for Oil Wealth Fuels Violence in Delta
IN Nigeria's oil-rich Niger- Delta, the struggle among local leaders for oil revenue, oil smuggling routes and government funds, has fuelled violent clashes between rival armed groups, Human Rights Watch said in a report released at the weekend.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200502081003.html
STOCKS: As yen and oil decline, shares of exporters rise
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/08/bloomberg/sxstox.html
Bush budget will hit city housing
BY GLENN THRUSH AND GRAHAM RAYMON
STAFF WRITERS
February 8, 2005, 6:26 PM EST
The city's affordable housing programs face devastating cuts under President George W. Bush's new budget, city administration officials and advocates said Tuesday.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/politics/nyc-bud0209,0,3260619.story?coll=nyc-homepage-breaking2
California's rice, cotton groups aim to fight Bush subsidy cuts
JIM WASSERMAN
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - California's cotton and rice farmers, who receive more than $500 million a year in federal crop subsidies, are preparing to fight President Bush's proposed subsidy cuts.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/10848766.htm
Yemen Petroleum Company relies on Microsoft technology to streamline new business processes
Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) has announced that it is set to deploy a whole new IT infrastructure based on Microsoft technology, which will give it complete control over its financial management and business processes.
http://www.ameinfo.com/news/Detailed/53535.html
Report faults Hanford contractor, DOE for failing to adequately study cost savings of project
By SHANNON DININNY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
YAKIMA, Wash. -- A contractor at the Hanford nuclear reservation failed to adequately analyze the economic benefits of using a still-standing building to dispose of some nuclear waste, the U.S. Department of Energy's inspector general said Tuesday in a new report.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Hanford%20Canyon%20Report
Aircraft Carrier Fight Pains Gov. Jeb Bush
President Bush's defense blueprint calls for eliminating an aircraft carrier, and that's making life difficult for his brother Jeb, governor of Florida where the USS John F. Kennedy is based.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2005/02/08/national/w140833S12.DTL
Amid sweeping cuts in US budget
Bush plans renewed assault on Medicaid
By Joseph Kay
8 February 2005
Use this version to print Send this link by email Email the author
At the center of the sweeping domestic spending cuts unveiled by the Bush administration Monday is the proposal for a major assault on Medicaid, the main government program that pays for health care for the poor and disabled in the US.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/feb2005/medi-f08.shtml
Michael Moore Today
WMD FINALLY FOUND
North Korea Nuclear Timeline
No Good Option As N. Korea Seeks Nuclear Acceptance
Bush Doctrine Gets Nuclear Reaction
George W. Bush's Split Vision
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Iraqis Frustrated by Shortages in Oil-Rich Country
BAQUBA, Iraq ( CNN) -- "No gas, no fuel. This is destruction, not freedom!"
It is just another morning at the pump at a fuel station in Mansuriye, northeast of Baquba, where tempers of the weary civilians waiting for gasoline in oil-rich Iraq are flaring.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1403
Despite Record of Atrocities, U.S. Moves to Normalize Ties with Indonesia Military
By Jim Lobe / OneWorld.us
WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb 11 (OneWorld) - U.S. human rights groups are expressing concern over reports that the Bush administration is preparing to renew the Indonesian armed forces' eligibility to participate in a key training program despite continuing reports of abuses committed by the army in the tsunami-devastated province of Aceh.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1405
9/11 Report Cites Many Warnings About Hijackings
By Eric Lichtblau / The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 - In the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal aviation officials reviewed dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, some of which specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations, according to a previously undisclosed report from the 9/11 commission.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1377
The China Daily
US rejects one-on-one North Korea talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-12 09:28
Arguing it was burned before in one-on-one talks with North Korea, the United States said Friday it had no interest in resuming direct discussions on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/12/content_416201.htm
Trade surplus hits US$6.48b in January
(xinhua)
Updated: 2005-02-12 11:56
China's trade surplus for January reached a record high of US$6.48 billion while its export rise by 42.2 percent over the same period of last year, customs statistics showed on Tuesday.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/12/content_416227.htm
Japan action severe violation of Chinese sovereignty
(chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-12 09:17
Officials with the Department of Asian Affairs under the Chinese Foreign Ministry has solemnly raised the issue of Diaoyu Islands with the Japanese side, the website of the ministry said.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/12/content_416200.htm
China to host World Botanical Garden Conference
(xinhua)
Updated: 2005-02-11 12:50
The Third World Botanical Garden Conference will be held in Wuhan, an industrial and commercial metropolis on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, in September of 2007.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/11/content_416163.htm
China projects 8 percent annual growth
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-11 09:18
China should keep up its strong economic expansion over the next five years, with annual growth of 8 percent driven by abundant labor and a big domestic market, the State Council Development Research Center says Thursday.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/11/content_416115.htm
G7's unfulfilled duty
Updated: 2005-02-07 09:22
The London meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors will be dominated, if the host, UK finance minister Gordon Brown has his way, by the issue of the relief of poverty in developing countries, with the emphasis on Africa.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/07/content_415771.htm
The Los Angles Times
ALSO KNOWN AS "Will someone else continue to fund North Korea?"
U.S. Refuses One-On-One North Korea Talks
WASHINGTON — Arguing it was burned before in one-on-one talks with North Korea, the United States said Friday it had no interest in resuming direct discussions on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top11feb11,0,710853.story
CIA Operation in Iran Failed When Spies Were Exposed
WASHINGTON — Dozens of CIA informants in Iran were executed or imprisoned in the late 1980s or early 1990s after their secret communications with the agency were uncovered by the government, according to former CIA officials who discussed the episode after aspects of it were disclosed during a recent congressional hearing.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cia12feb12,0,5143074.story?coll=la-home-headlines
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS "Who gets the research grants and who doesn't!!"
NIH Chief Calls for Ethics Summit
Dr. Elias Zerhouni, who banned drug company payments to agency scientists, wants a wider discussion on conflicts in medical research.
BETHESDA, Md. — The director of the National Institutes of Health — describing consulting payments from drug companies as a "systemic problem" that threatened the integrity of his agency — has called for a summit of government and academic leaders to address conflicts of interest throughout American medical research.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-nih12feb12,0,7388584.story?coll=la-home-headlines
The World According to Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart looms over P&G, Gillette
Chain's private labels challenge famous brands
By CONSTANCE L. HAYS
New York Times
Did Wal-Mart's power and the proliferation of store brands have anything to do with Procter & Gamble's decision Friday to buy Gillette for $57 billion?
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3014599
Wal-Mart narrows January sales view
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Wal-Mart said Saturday it expects same-store sales growth in January of 2.5 percent, which would be at the lower half of its forecasts.
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B1146948D-E819-4119-AFDC-643A0A8A1BA7%7D&siteid=google&dist=google
Ruling OKs union vote at Wal-Mart
By Kristi Arellano
Denver Post Staff Writer
Workers in the tire and lube section of Loveland's Wal- Mart Supercenter have gotten the OK from the National Labor Relations Board to vote on whether they want to unionize.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33~2680398,00.html
More than 1,000 mourners bid farewell to slain Wal-Mart clerk
TYLER, Texas A 19-year-old Wal-Mart clerk who was kidnapped and killed was remembered today as a beautiful, compassionate woman with a bright smile.
More than one-thousand mourners turned out for Megan LeAnn Holden's funeral in Tyler, Texas. Photos of Holden in her softball uniform, at her sister's wedding and being silly with friends were shown on a large screen behind her coffin.
http://www.wboc.com/Global/story.asp?S=2875358
Suspect in Wal-Mart clerk's death balks at extradition
Associated Press
BISBEE, Ariz. - An ex-Marine charged in the kidnapping and killing of a Texas college student and sought by authorities there declined to be extradited today from Arizona.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3008273>
Nickel's 3-Year Rally May End as Ikea, Wal-Mart Reduce Demand
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Nickel, the best performer on the London Metal Exchange since 2003, may record its first annual drop in four years as buyers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Ikea use cheaper alternatives in products ranging from coffee tables to desks and mirrors.
Nickel for immediate delivery will probably drop to an average of $13,000 a metric ton this year from $13,741 in 2004 on the LME, based on the median estimate from 20 analysts surveyed since Dec. 15 by Bloomberg News.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=ahDiG22AKZck&refer=top_world_news
Critics Say Wal-Mart Vote Had Political Cost
POSTED: 10:45 am EST January 25, 2005
NASHUA, N.H. -- Critics said that voting against a proposed Wal-Mart store in Nashua cost two leaders of the city's Conservation Commission their jobs.
http://www.thewmurchannel.com/news/4127523/detail.html
Wal-Mart, the bank?
By 2010, you may be able to open Wal-Mart accounts, visit Wal-Mart dentists, rent Wal-Mart cars.
January 26, 2005: 4:05 PM EST
By Parija Bhatnagar, CNN/Money staff writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - It's already the king of retailing. Give it another five years or so and Wal-Mart may be on its way to conquering other valuable little nuggets of the business world.
For instance, why shouldn't the world's largest retailer open its own Wal-Mart banks? The opportunity is clearly there given that 20 percent of Wal-Mart shoppers currently don't have their own bank accounts, according to market research firm Retail Forward.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/26/news/fortune500/walmart_future/?cnn=yes
Devil demands pride of place on Wal-Mart shelf
VIVEK SINHA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2005 01:13:17 AM]
NEW DELHI: Mirc Electronics — the second largest Indian manufacturer of colour televisions— has initiated the first step towards a deal with Wal-Mart for putting made-in-India televisions on the shelves of the largest retailer in the world.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1001992.cms
Ill wind for Wal-Mart
As managers meet in KC, retail giant faces angry squall
By RANDOLPH HEASTER
The Kansas City Star
“There's a downside to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart hurts people, communities and democracy. It's about more than just low prices.”
Mary Lindsay, Kansas City organizer for ReclaimDemocracy.org
More than 6,000 Wal-Mart managers today wrap up their annual meeting in Kansas City, where they reviewed performance and analyzed the coming year for the world's largest company.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/10732756.htm
Wal-Mart prices trump image
David van den Berg
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 27, 2005 12:00 AM
Wal-Mart has launched a nationwide campaign to boost its image, but that effort had no impact on Brandy Geary's decision to shop at the company's new Supercenter in Gilbert on Wednesday, its first day in business.
Geary, a stay-at-home mom, said the only thing that might affect her decision to shop at Wal-Mart would be if prices increased.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/0127gr-walmartopeningZ12.html
Wal-Mart to Pay Retired Coughlin for 2 Years
1/27/05 11:57:49 AM
By Lance Turner, Arkansasbusiness.com Daily Report
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday that it will continue to pay retired company Vice Chairman Thomas M. Coughlin for the next two years, and it outlined Coughlin's no-compete agreement with the company.
http://arkansasbusiness.com/news/headline_article.asp?aid=39748
Wal-Mart January sales come up short
By Jennifer Waters, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s sales for January slightly missed Wall Street's expectations Thursday after results at Sam's Club fell well below forecasts.
Total sales for the Bentonville, Ark.-based behemoth rose 9 percent from the year-ago period to $19.80 billion. Sales at Wal-Mart Stores tallied $13.17 billion, up a robust 10.7 percent, while Sam's Club sales were $2.51 billion, up 1.4 percent over last year. International sales grew 8.6 percent to $4.12 billion.
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B05E1DC6C-71A2-42B6-8A2D-C01713AC54AE%7D&siteid=google&dist=google
Wal-Mart hearing goes into overtime
Jody Paige
Published February 3, 2005
LOCKPORT -- More than 100 residents turned out for a public hearing on a controversial proposed Wal-Mart store that began at 7 p.m. Tuesday and continued until well after midnight before being adjourned until Wednesday evening.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/southsouthwest/chi-0502030404feb03,1,5780985.story?coll=chi-newslocalssouthwest-hed
Wal*Mart Employee Thwarts Criminal
Williston, Vermont - February 3, 2005
Police are crediting Wal-Mart employees in Williston with thwarting a potential homicide.
Police say 29-year-old Shawn Wood tried to steal a gun from the retailer Wednesday. Police say Wood arrived in Burlington from California a few days ago.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=2899964&nav=4QcSVxye
THIS IS GROSSLY SAD.
Thousands Apply for Wal-Mart Jobs
23 Newsroom
Wal-Mart held a job fair there over the past three days. The first day about 2,700 people applied.
Wednesday, 1,300 job seekers interviewed, and Thursday about 450 people applied. The thousands who do not get hired will have another chance.
Hiring for the new Super Wal-Mart store on East State Street in Rockford will begin in early March. There will be 150 open positions for that store.
http://www.wifr.com/home/headlines/1227802.html
Wal-Mart Wins Appeal in Overtime Ruling
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will get another chance to argue its case that it shouldn't have to pay millions in overtime to pharmacists after winning its appeal.
The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a new hearing in the case, saying a federal judge that ruled the company had violated the law by failing to pay overtime acted too quickly and should reconsider the evidence.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-rup3.6feb03,1,3452619.story?coll=la-headlines-business
Union Plans to Sue Wal-Mart Canada
Associated Press
TORONTO - A union Friday said it will file charges against Wal-Mart Canada for exhibiting "bad faith" during its first-ever contract talks by secretly planning to close the affected store.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/financial_markets/10879357.htm
Council looks to keep Wal-Mart out
BY LAUREN WEBER
STAFF WRITER
February 11, 2005
City Council members promised yesterday to seek legislative ways to keep Wal-Mart away, or to make it so inconvenient for the giant retailer that it abandons plans to enter the city.
"I'm interested in some kind of legislation that could help out," said Councilman Joseph Addabbo, a Democrat, citing his support for the union leaders who attended the Civil Service and Labor Committee hearing to protest Wal-Mart's labor practices.
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzlabo114141423feb11,0,2925933.story?coll=ny-business-headlines
Unionized Wal-Mart employees fear second Quebec store to shut
By INGRID PERITZ
With reports from Rhéal Séguin in Quebec City and from Reuters
Friday, February 11, 2005 - Page A7
SAINT-HYACINTHE, QUE. -- There were shrugs of resignation in the housewares aisle and whispers of fear over in sporting goods. Wal-Mart, a store known for its greeters, yellow smiley faces and the famous Wal-Mart cheer, was not an especially happy place yesterday.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050211/WALMART11/TPNational/TopStories
UFCW Rejected Again By Wal-Mart Associates; Tire and Lube Associates in New Castle, PA, Say 'No' to Union Representation
Distribution Source : PRNewswire
Date : Friday - February 11, 2005
BENTONVILLE, Ark., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wal-Mart associates have once again voted against union representation in a democratic election that took place today in New Castle, Penn. Seventeen associates who work in the Tire and Lube Express department cast their votes in a secret- ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.
http://press.arrivenet.com/bus/article.php/585878.html
Union rips Canada Wal-Mart
Bad-faith action could be filed
Frederic Tomesco
Bloomberg News
Feb. 12, 2005 12:00 AM
TORONTO - The United Food and Commercial Workers' Canadian arm said it plans to file a complaint against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for bargaining in bad faith after the retailer said it would close its first unionized outlet in North America.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0212walmart12.html
Wal-Mart Agrees to Pay Fine in Child Labor Cases
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: February 12, 2005
al-Mart Stores, the nation's largest retailer, has agreed to pay $135,540 to settle federal charges that it violated child labor laws in Connecticut, Arkansas and New Hampshire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/national/12wage.html
Council looks to keep Wal-Mart out
BY LAUREN WEBER
STAFF WRITER
February 11, 2005
City Council members promised yesterday to seek legislative ways to keep Wal-Mart away, or to make it so inconvenient for the giant retailer that it abandons plans to enter the city.
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzlabo114141423feb11,0,2925933.story?coll=ny-business-headlines
Wal-Mart Might Open a Store in NYC
By Ketan Tanna & Jeff Miller
Posted: 2/11/2005 12:44 PM
(Rapaport…February 11, 2005) Retail giant, Wal-Mart Inc., is hoping to open a store within city limits of New York, about as far from downtown as the map would allow, in Rego Park, Queens.
http://www.diamonds.net/news/newsitem.asp?num=11388
WE SHALL OVERCOME !!
Judge denies Wal-Mart opponents' suit
By JOSEPH DEINLEIN
Times Herald
A St. Clair County Circuit judge ruled today the Marine City Planning Commission and City Commission followed the law when they rezoned a parcel that could become home to a Wal-Mart store.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/news/updates/11292.html
Wal-Mart: What About the Little Guy
by Chris Motola
As more and more familiar logos pop up along the Route 104 corridor, so do the concerns of smaller "mom and pop" retailers who fill the shops in Oswego's downtown. The question is: are the horror stories about Wal-Mart and similar companies driving the little guy out of business true, at least as far as Oswego and its neighboring communities are concerned?
http://www.oswegocountybusiness.com/issue76/76LittleGuy.html
Louisville woman held for forging checks at Madison Wal-Mart
By: Wayne Engle
Checks stolen from a car parked at a rest stop in Oldham County, Ky., were forged and used to purchase items at the Madison Wal-Mart Supercenter, resulting in the arrest of a Louisville, Ky., woman on 22 felony charges.
http://www.madisoncourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=253&ArticleID=22246&TM=57440.66
Wal-Mart "buy"
NEW YORK, February 8 (newratings.com) - Analysts at UBS maintain their "buy" rating on Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.NYS). The 12-month target price is set to $64.
In a research note published this morning, the analysts mention that according to media reports, Wal-Mart Stores is in talks to purchase Migros of Turkey or its Russian locations. Wal-Mart Stores has also recently set up a Hungarian subsidiary, the analysts say. The company is likely to use this subsidiary to enter the Hungarian and Russian markets, UBS adds.
http://www.newratings.com/new2/beta/article_685433.html
China Sales Soar for Wal-Mart, Carrefour in 2004
By Ketan Tanna
Posted: 2/8/2005 9:56 AM
(Rapaport...February 8, 2005) The world's top two retailers, Carrefour and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., posted sales of $1.9 billion and $7.63 billion respectively in China for 2004, according to the China's Ministry of Commerce.
http://www.diamonds.net/news/newsitem.asp?num=11352&type=all&topic=all
The Moscow News
104 Dead in Russian-Crewed Afghan Plane Crash
By Anna Arutunyan and Oleg Liakhovich
Early Monday, NATO-led rescue teams reached the crash site of the Afghan plane that crashed into a mountain 30 kilometers south-east of Kabul on Thursday. The wreckage was spotted on Saturday but efforts to reach it were thwarted by bad weather. The rescuers have found at least three bodies, Afghan army general Ahmad Pia Yastali was quoted by AFP as saying.
http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2005-5-10
Bush States US Ambitions
By Robert Bridge The Moscow News
US President George W. Bush laid out plans for his next four years on Wednesday night, where once again the stress was placed on the need to "stay on the offensive" against America's enemies
http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2005-5-14
Moscow Is Becoming More Attractive to Foreign Tourists
By Anna Arutunyan and Oleg Liakhovich
A forecast made by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) envisions Moscow making it into the top ten of the most popular tourist directions in the world by 2010. The Moscow City Tourist Committee's annual review also allows for optimism, revealing a significant growth of tourist inflow in comparison with past years.
http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2005-5-12
The Moscow Times
Protests Spread to Transport, Defense Staff
Transportation and civilian defense workers on Thursday became the latest groups to take to the streets in protest, with transportation industry associations staging nationwide rallies against gasoline price hikes and poor quality gasoline, while the defense workers demonstrated in Moscow for a salary raise.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/02/11/002.html
$125M Hotel Deal Sets Record
In the largest-ever Russian property deal, British luxury hospitality chain Orient-Express Hotels has snapped up a 93.5 percent stake in St. Petersburg's historical Grand Hotel Europe as part of a $125 million investment plan.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/02/11/001.html
Summit Soul Mates in Slovakia
By Gregory Feifer
Don't expect much from the upcoming summit meeting between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, on Feb. 24. That's not because the two won't agree on key issues, but because they understand each other all too well.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/02/11/006.html>
Xenophobia Is All the Rage
By Georgy Bovt
It seems symbolic that these kinds of things happen on NTV, of all channels. NTV, once considered a bastion of freedom in the Russian mass media. A channel founded not only by an oligarch but -- even more symbolically -- by the head of the Russian Jewish Congress at the time, Vladimir Gusinsky. Yet it was NTV that honored that consummate anti-Semite, Albert Makashov. It all happened last week on the political debate show, "K Baryeru!" The show's host, Vladimir Solovyov, admitted his Jewish heritage on live television, which is still a bold move in 21st-century Russia. It all happened only a week after the world marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, at which President Vladimir Putin publicly apologized to Europe for the anti-Semitic petition to the prosecutor general initiated by 19 State Duma deputies, who called for a ban on all Jewish organizations.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/02/10/005.html
Foreigners to Lose Access to Licenses
Russia will not allow foreign companies to bid for some of the nations largest reserves deposits, Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said Thursday.
Only companies that are at least 51 percent Russian-owned will be allowed to participate in auctions for exploration and development licenses, Trutnev said, Interfax reported.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/02/11/041.html
The Boston Globe
Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year: Catherine Zeta-Jones
Actress Catherine Zeta Jones received this year's Hasty Pudding Theatricals Woman of the Year award at Harvard University on Feb. 10, 2005. Known as much for their drag queen couture as their acting abilities, the group annually honors an actor and an actress for their contributions to the entertainment industry. Here, Zeta-Jones gets the traditional kiss from Hasty Pudding Theatricals President Mathew Ferrante (left) and Vice President of the Cast Sam Gale Rosen
http://www.boston.com/ae/events/gallery/zetajones_hasty_pudding/
AG backs legalizing same-sex marriage
Reilly says he'll oppose any constitutional ban
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff February 12, 2005
After playing a key role in the efforts to fight legalization of gay marriage a year ago, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly said yesterday that he now favors allowing legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and that he will oppose any efforts to ban them.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/02/12/ag_backs_legalizing_same_sex_marriage/
Iraq's hard-line Shi'ites vow to resist US agenda
By Thanassis Cambanis, Globe Staff February 12, 2005
BAGHDAD -- A vociferous and well-organized faction of extremist Shi'ite Muslims is mobilizing to challenge the new government that emerges from Iraq's recent election and to push for a hard line against the United States.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/02/12/iraqs_hard_line_shiites_vow_to_resist_us_agenda/
Celtics roll over Knicks 111-94
February 12, 2005
BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics already had the Atlantic Division lead. Now they have a winning record to go with it.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/02/12/celtics_roll_over_knicks_111_94/
North Korea Plays for Hard Bargain with Nuke Boast
By Jon Herskovitz February 12, 2005
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has taken a calculated bargaining risk by announcing for the first time it has nuclear weapons, a South Korean official said Saturday, after the United States rejected North Korean calls for one-on-one talks.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/02/12/us_rejects_nkorea_demand_for_2_way_talks_on_nukes/
The Chosun Ilbo (South Korea)
Prolonged Nuclear Impasse Favors U.S. Hardliners
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government is downplaying the significance of a North Korean statement claiming possession of nuclear weapons and declaring its indefinite withdrawal from six-party talks on its nuclear program. Washington says Pyongyang’s statement contain "nothing new" and will only to isolate the Stalinist country further.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502110019.html
Seoul Must Urgently Rethink Its N. Korea Strategy
Pyongyang's announcement that it has developed nuclear weapons has significantly limited the diplomatic position of the Seoul government. It makes it difficult for the government to side with North Korea on the international stage. It will also become difficult to try and intervene should the United States have something drastic planned for the North.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502110023.html
North Korea Declares ‘Indefinite Suspension’ of Six-Party Talks
North Korea on Thursday said six-party talks aimed at resolving its nuclear issue had been “suspended indefinitely” over U.S. hostility, scuppering hopes of their early resumption. Experts on the Stalinist country view the statement as negotiation rhetoric, but the talks, which had shown signs of being close to a fresh start, now seem a way further off.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502100012.html
Nuclear Brinkmanship From Pyongyang - Again?
North Korea has declared it is indefinitely suspending participation in six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program. With a Foreign Ministry statement also announcing that Pyongyang has built nuclear weapons for “self-defense”, the North Korean nuclear crisis has come to yet another head.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502100025.html
Did a Bodyguard Kill First Lady Yook Young-soo?
An academic on Friday said first lady Yook Young-soo, who was killed in 1974 during an assassination attempt on her husband President Park Chung-hee, probably died from a bullet fired by a boduguard. Prof. Bae Myeong-jin of Soongsil University’s Electronic, Electrical and Information Department announced research indicating the first lady was not killed by her husband’s would-be assassin Moon Se-kwang, as had been widely believed.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502110020.html
U.S. Analyst Blows Gaff on 3,000 ‘Trivial’ Codenames
U.S. military analyst Bill Arkin has revealed about 3,000 codenames and details of U.S. Defense Department and CIA operations, MSNBC reported Thursday.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502110031.html
Forbes
Connoisseur's Guide
Most Expensive Lingerie
It's the most romantic time of the year again--or so the folks at Hallmark tell us--and with it comes the annual rush of harried gentlemen and love-struck suitors desperate to show their wives and girlfriends that they really, really do care.
http://www.forbes.com/2005/02/09/cx_ns_0209feat.html?partner=lifestyle_newsletter
continued with picture later ...
Japan looks to slash spending on U.S. forces
Japan plans to ask the United States to approve a further reduction in the amount of money Japan spends on supporting the presence of U.S. troops here, according to Japanese government sources.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050212a1.htm
Wyeth rheumatoid arthritis drug causes fatal side effects in 134 users
Rheumatoid arthritis drug Rheumatrex Capsule caused fatal side effects in 134 people between March 1999 and November 2004, according to a manufacturer's report.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050212a2.htm
Blaze at 'onsen' drilling site extinguished
A fire at an "onsen" hot spring drilling site in Kita Ward, Tokyo, was extinguished Friday, more than 24 hours after it broke out, local firefighters said.
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire Friday morning at a hot spring drilling site in Kita Ward, Tokyo.
Nobody was injured in the blaze, which began around 4:50 p.m. Thursday and was put out around 5:15 p.m. Friday. About 40 local residents have taken refuge at a community center and other places.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050212a5.htm
Immigration frees Kurdish asylum-seeker
By MASAMI ITO
Staff writer
A Kurdish asylum-seeker, recognized as a mandate refugee by the United Nations, was released from the Immigration Bureau in Tokyo's Minato Ward late Thursday evening after having been detained for four days, his lawyer said.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050212f2.htm
Taking play therapy to Sri Lanka tsunami orphans
By ANGELA JEFFS
Dr. Akiko Ohnogi is a vision in red. She is wearing red from top to toe -- from earrings to handbag and shoes -- because, put simply, "It's my favorite color."
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20050212a1.htm
Just one step from oblivion
In May of 1985, British mountain climbers Simon Yates and Joe Simpson made what almost turned out to be the last decision of their lives: They attempted to scale Siula Grande, an ominous 6,400-meter peak in the Peruvian Andes that had never been climbed before. Not only that, they decided to do it "Alpine style" -- in what Yates called "one big push" -- with no supply camps along the way, just the packs on their backs.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ff20050209a1.htm
ICELANDIC SURPRISE
DNA 'flip' highlights our ongoing evolution
By ROWAN HOOPER
Stung by the phenomenal success of the "Harry Potter" books, some people like to preach about the infantilization of culture, and some critics worry that adults are wallowing in childhood.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fe20050210rh.htm
The New York Times
Japan Urges North Korea to Rejoin Disarmament Talks
TOKYO, Feb. 11 - The day after North Korea declared that it possessed nuclear weapons, Japan's prime minister urged the North to re-engage in disarmament talks. He spoke as the clock was running down toward a new law that will put economic pressure on North Korea by barring most of its ships from Japanese ports starting March 1.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/international/asia/12korea.html
Mounting Discontent in Russia Spills Into Streets
MOSCOW, Feb. 11 - A month ago a small crowd of elderly men and women briefly blocked the highway to Moscow's main international airport to protest changes in pension benefits. It seemed insignificant then, but in retrospect it seems to have been the first stirrings of something long considered dead, or at least dormant, in Russia: the public protest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/international/europe/12russia.html?hp&ex=1108270800&en=73ab03849012dd2f&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Rare and Aggressive H.I.V. Reported in New York
By MARC SANTORA and LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN
Published: February 12, 2005
A rare strain of H.I.V. that is highly resistant to virtually all anti-retroviral drugs and appears to lead to the rapid onset of AIDS was detected in a New York City man last week, city health officials announced on Friday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/health/12aids.html?hp&ex=1108270800&en=4d5d2b3eeae367e9&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Too Angry or Fearful to Vote, Sunni Iraqis Are Marginalized
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 11 - Abdullah Muhammad al-Ajili was standing next to his old Toyota pickup on the dusty road from Baghdad to Tikrit, simmering with resentment, the sleeves on his dark blue dishdasha rolled up on his forearms.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/international/middleeast/12sunnis.html?hp&ex=1108270800&en=51c5ba3d9d4dbd85&ei=5094&partner=homepage
'01 Memo to Rice Warned of Qaeda and Offered Plan
By SCOTT SHANE
Published: February 12, 2005
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 - A strategy document outlining proposals for eliminating the threat from Al Qaeda, given to Condoleezza Rice as she assumed the post of national security adviser in January 2001, warned that the terror network had cells in the United States and 40 other countries and sought unconventional weapons, according to a declassified version of the document.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/politics/12clarke.html?hp
CNN Executive Resigns Post Over Remarks
Eason Jordan, a senior executive at CNN who was responsible for coordinating the cable network's Iraq coverage, resigned abruptly last night, citing a journalistic tempest he touched off during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, late last month in which he appeared to suggest that United States troops had deliberately aimed at journalists, killing some.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/business/media/12cnn.html?hp&ex=1108270800&en=33f12fe86d93f7b2&ei=5094&partner=homepage
The Cheney Observer
MANCHESTER - By getting off to a fast start, the Cheney Tech boys basketball team made sure it wouldn't need a furious finish.
The Beavers jumped out to a 19-2 lead after one quarter and cruised to a 65-42 Charter Oak Conference victory over Portland.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13939984&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=161561&rfi=6
For those living with the disease, every day is HIV/AIDS Day
Originally printed 2/10/2005 (Issue 1306)
In 2004, Dick Cheney wasn't aware of the extent of the AIDS epidemic among Black women.
In 2005, George W. Bush doesn't care.
How else can we explain a proposed 2006 budget that flat-funds the Ryan White Act while simultaneously increasing funding for abstinence education programs that have led to an increase in sexual activity among teenagers in Bush's home state of Texas? Especially since, according to former Chair of the Federal Committee to the CDC Health Resource Services Administration on HIV & STD Prevention and Treatment Dr. Robert Fullilove, those very policies will lead to even more infections?
http://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=11697
About the Filibuster and the "Nuclear Option"
What is the Filibuster?
The filibuster is one of our democracy's oldest and most important checks on the power of the majority. It preserves two of our bedrock values: protecting the rights of the minority and promoting compromise.
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=17707
Iraq likely swapping dictatorship for Iran-like rule
Robert Scheer
In a heightened display of saber rattling, President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been saying nasty things about Iran’s “unelected mullahs.”
This is apparently so we can tell the difference between the theocracy in place in Tehran and the one coalescing in Baghdad. Although things are looking slightly brighter for Iraq after its debut election, it is still not clear why the United States has spent incalculable fortunes in human life, taxpayer money and international goodwill to break Iraq and then remake it in the image of our avowed “axis of evil” enemy next door.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/editorial/10875241.htm
Halliburton's lost radioactive cargo is found
Associated Press
Published February 11, 2005
WASHINGTON -- A Halliburton Co. shipment of radioactive material that landed in New York in October was lost en route to Texas and was not found until Wednesday, when it turned up in Boston.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0502110271feb11,1,3105405.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Moneymakers
Operations chief worked his way up at Halliburton
Andy Lane, 45, the chief operating officer at Halliburton, first worked for the company as an intern and has moved through the ranks to the No. 2 job at one of the city's highest profile companies.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3034335
Mixed Messages and Flip-Flops as the SEC Director Nomination Rule Stagnates
by William Baue
While the SEC retracts its promise allowing shareowners to file director nomination resolutions before rule enactment, lawsuits secure shareowner rights to nominate directors.
(SocialFunds.com) - Investors, particularly those holding Ashland (ticker: ASH), Microtune (TUNE), and MCI (MCIP--formerly WorldCom), as well as Halliburton (HAL), Qwest (Q), and Verizon (VZ), are getting mixed messages regarding shareowner nomination of director candidates. On the one hand, lawsuit settlements in cases involving corporate governance failures require the first set of companies to allow institutional investors to nominate directors. On the other hand, this week the staff at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Corporate Finance allowed the latter companies to omit resolutions calling for shareowner access to the proxy to nominate directors.
http://www.csrwire.com/sfarticle.cgi?id=1636
Analysis: Cuban oil finds may bring change
By Les Kjos
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Published February 11, 2005
MIAMI -- An oil discovery off Cuba and continued exploration by a variety of international interests could set off a series of changes in the energy and political landscape worldwide.
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050211-033608-5711r
Profiteering from the Iraq war
Burhanuddin Hasan
February 10, 2005 - As President Bush entered the second term of his office, he said in a newspaper interview that his re-election proved that Americans endorsed his decision to go to war against Iraq, and had given him a mandate to pursue his other foreign policy objectives, which include pre-emptive attacks on Iran and Syria. He repeated this frightening theme in his inaugural address on January 20 and his State of the Union Address. He broadly hinted that he would not hesitate to use force to spread democracy, freedom and liberty in regions under tyranny because "the survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m9604&l=i&size=1&hd=0
Bush Threatens to Veto Medicare Changes
JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush, faced with complaints from Republicans as well as Democrats about higher cost estimates for a new Medicare drug benefit, said Friday he would veto any attempt to change the law.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10879721.htm
Bush appeal on Social Security draws ire of black leaders
BY NAFTALI BENDAVID
Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and his supporters, as part of their all-out effort to push Social Security reform, have been quietly making the argument that African-Americans would particularly benefit from Bush's proposals - a message that is proving highly controversial.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10879989.htm
Bush Nears First Win of Term With Class-Action Bill (Update1)
Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President George W. Bush is poised to claim the first legislative victory of his second term following Senate approval of a bill to move most class-action lawsuits from state to federal courts.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a_k.akCUqR1o&refer=us
Cano Petroleum Chosen as Lead Sponsor of All Outdoors TV
FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- All Outdoors TV, anational television show airing on DISH Network, DirectTV and SportsmansChannel as well as local stations in Texas, Louisiana and Arizona, is pleasedto have Cano Petroleum, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CAOP) as its lead sponsorfor the 2005 season. The show has an 18-year history, a loyal followingacross the country, and broadcasts to some 80 million households.Cano is fortunate to have been chosen as a premier partner of All OutdoorsTV. By sponsoring this popular television show, Cano highlights itscommitment to maintaining a healthy environment for America's families andfuture generations.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/02-11-2005/0002995006&EDATE=
Cano Petroleum to purchase Texas-based Square One for undisclosed sum
Exploration and production independent Cano Petroleum said it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Square One Energy, a Texas-based oil and gas operating company, for an undisclosed amount of cash. Square One’s assets include a 100 percent working interest in 11,000 acres of mature oil fields in....
http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/284465844.shtml
Portrush Petroleum Drilling in Alberta to Proceed
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 11, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Portrush Petroleum Corporation (TSX Venture Exchange:PSH) (OTCBB:PRRPF) announced today that Canadian Imperial Ventures has committed to a drilling program on the assembled land package covering approximately 50 sections (gross) in the Cranberry/Botha region of Northwest Alberta. Portrush earned its interest in these lands by participating in four exploratory wells drilled in 2001. The company earned up to 30% interest in a significant portion of these lands and will be carried for 40% of its current interest on any well drilled on its acreage.
http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/?d=72576
Terror, Fear, Nukes, Sports, Sex and a Little Business
This is what happened today (February 11, 2005) on "the most popular business show on the planet," Your World w/Neil Cavuto.
Some of Bush's poll numbers on Iraq and the Iraq war are sagging fairly substantially. For example, Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll released yesterday showed:
Sharp divisions remain on the question of whether going to war with Iraq was the right thing for the United States to do. Today 46 percent think the action was the right thing to do, down from 50 percent in June 2004, and 49 percent now say it was wrong, up from 42 percent.
Therefore, I thought it was interesting that Cavuto led with three segments about Sarin gas and fear today. Bush's poll numbers go up when he is painted as our protector-father-terror-fighter, fending off people who are out to get us, so what better way to help shore-up his numbers than to remind people that they still need to be afraid? To that end, and despite all the proof that Saddam had no ability to cause us harm, Fox still equates the Iraq war with the "war on terror." As a matter of fact, frequently when Fox goes to a report about Iraq, they show a full screen graphic saying "War on Terror" before cutting to the report.
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/02/11/terror_fear_nukes_sports_sex_and_a_little_business.php
Bush budget angers some city officials
New Haven may face significant reductions in grants for law enforcement, housing and community development next year if the recommendations contained in President Bush's recent budget proposal are followed.
http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=28362
3 now seeking Bush's job
As Republicans bide their time, a third Democrat, U.S. Rep Jim Davis, jumps into the race to replace Jeb Bush when the two-term governor leaves office.
BY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@herald.com
U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, a Tampa Democrat frequently mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate, took the plunge on Thursday, declaring that he will run for governor.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/10871030.htm
Profiteering from the Iraq war
Burhanuddin Hasan
February 10, 2005 - As President Bush entered the second term of his office, he said in a newspaper interview that his re-election proved that Americans endorsed his decision to go to war against Iraq, and had given him a mandate to pursue his other foreign policy objectives, which include pre-emptive attacks on Iran and Syria. He repeated this frightening theme in his inaugural address on January 20 and his State of the Union Address. He broadly hinted that he would not hesitate to use force to spread democracy, freedom and liberty in regions under tyranny because "the survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m9604&l=i&size=1&hd=0\
Cold weather forecast, OPEC fears cause uptick in oil prices
NEW YORK (AFP) - Crude oil prices drifted higher on global markets as traders turned skittish in the face of fresh forecasts calling for colder US weather and renewed fears about a production cut from the OPEC cartel.
http://www.turkishpress.com/business/news.asp?id=050208232319.6p1c0i78.xml
Oil Installations Are Secure, Says Naimi
Raid Qusti, Arab News
RIYADH, 9 February 2005 — Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said yesterday that terrorist attacks in the Kingdom over the past two years had neither targeted nor harmed any oil plant in the Kingdom.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=58741&d=9&m=2&y=2005
Fight for Oil Wealth Fuels Violence in Delta
IN Nigeria's oil-rich Niger- Delta, the struggle among local leaders for oil revenue, oil smuggling routes and government funds, has fuelled violent clashes between rival armed groups, Human Rights Watch said in a report released at the weekend.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200502081003.html
STOCKS: As yen and oil decline, shares of exporters rise
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/08/bloomberg/sxstox.html
Bush budget will hit city housing
BY GLENN THRUSH AND GRAHAM RAYMON
STAFF WRITERS
February 8, 2005, 6:26 PM EST
The city's affordable housing programs face devastating cuts under President George W. Bush's new budget, city administration officials and advocates said Tuesday.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/politics/nyc-bud0209,0,3260619.story?coll=nyc-homepage-breaking2
California's rice, cotton groups aim to fight Bush subsidy cuts
JIM WASSERMAN
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - California's cotton and rice farmers, who receive more than $500 million a year in federal crop subsidies, are preparing to fight President Bush's proposed subsidy cuts.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/10848766.htm
Yemen Petroleum Company relies on Microsoft technology to streamline new business processes
Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) has announced that it is set to deploy a whole new IT infrastructure based on Microsoft technology, which will give it complete control over its financial management and business processes.
http://www.ameinfo.com/news/Detailed/53535.html
Report faults Hanford contractor, DOE for failing to adequately study cost savings of project
By SHANNON DININNY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
YAKIMA, Wash. -- A contractor at the Hanford nuclear reservation failed to adequately analyze the economic benefits of using a still-standing building to dispose of some nuclear waste, the U.S. Department of Energy's inspector general said Tuesday in a new report.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Hanford%20Canyon%20Report
Aircraft Carrier Fight Pains Gov. Jeb Bush
President Bush's defense blueprint calls for eliminating an aircraft carrier, and that's making life difficult for his brother Jeb, governor of Florida where the USS John F. Kennedy is based.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2005/02/08/national/w140833S12.DTL
Amid sweeping cuts in US budget
Bush plans renewed assault on Medicaid
By Joseph Kay
8 February 2005
Use this version to print Send this link by email Email the author
At the center of the sweeping domestic spending cuts unveiled by the Bush administration Monday is the proposal for a major assault on Medicaid, the main government program that pays for health care for the poor and disabled in the US.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/feb2005/medi-f08.shtml
Michael Moore Today
WMD FINALLY FOUND
North Korea Nuclear Timeline
No Good Option As N. Korea Seeks Nuclear Acceptance
Bush Doctrine Gets Nuclear Reaction
George W. Bush's Split Vision
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Iraqis Frustrated by Shortages in Oil-Rich Country
BAQUBA, Iraq ( CNN) -- "No gas, no fuel. This is destruction, not freedom!"
It is just another morning at the pump at a fuel station in Mansuriye, northeast of Baquba, where tempers of the weary civilians waiting for gasoline in oil-rich Iraq are flaring.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1403
Despite Record of Atrocities, U.S. Moves to Normalize Ties with Indonesia Military
By Jim Lobe / OneWorld.us
WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb 11 (OneWorld) - U.S. human rights groups are expressing concern over reports that the Bush administration is preparing to renew the Indonesian armed forces' eligibility to participate in a key training program despite continuing reports of abuses committed by the army in the tsunami-devastated province of Aceh.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1405
9/11 Report Cites Many Warnings About Hijackings
By Eric Lichtblau / The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 - In the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal aviation officials reviewed dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, some of which specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations, according to a previously undisclosed report from the 9/11 commission.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1377
The China Daily
US rejects one-on-one North Korea talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-12 09:28
Arguing it was burned before in one-on-one talks with North Korea, the United States said Friday it had no interest in resuming direct discussions on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/12/content_416201.htm
Trade surplus hits US$6.48b in January
(xinhua)
Updated: 2005-02-12 11:56
China's trade surplus for January reached a record high of US$6.48 billion while its export rise by 42.2 percent over the same period of last year, customs statistics showed on Tuesday.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/12/content_416227.htm
Japan action severe violation of Chinese sovereignty
(chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-12 09:17
Officials with the Department of Asian Affairs under the Chinese Foreign Ministry has solemnly raised the issue of Diaoyu Islands with the Japanese side, the website of the ministry said.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/12/content_416200.htm
China to host World Botanical Garden Conference
(xinhua)
Updated: 2005-02-11 12:50
The Third World Botanical Garden Conference will be held in Wuhan, an industrial and commercial metropolis on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, in September of 2007.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/11/content_416163.htm
China projects 8 percent annual growth
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-11 09:18
China should keep up its strong economic expansion over the next five years, with annual growth of 8 percent driven by abundant labor and a big domestic market, the State Council Development Research Center says Thursday.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/11/content_416115.htm
G7's unfulfilled duty
Updated: 2005-02-07 09:22
The London meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors will be dominated, if the host, UK finance minister Gordon Brown has his way, by the issue of the relief of poverty in developing countries, with the emphasis on Africa.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/07/content_415771.htm
The Los Angles Times
ALSO KNOWN AS "Will someone else continue to fund North Korea?"
U.S. Refuses One-On-One North Korea Talks
WASHINGTON — Arguing it was burned before in one-on-one talks with North Korea, the United States said Friday it had no interest in resuming direct discussions on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top11feb11,0,710853.story
CIA Operation in Iran Failed When Spies Were Exposed
WASHINGTON — Dozens of CIA informants in Iran were executed or imprisoned in the late 1980s or early 1990s after their secret communications with the agency were uncovered by the government, according to former CIA officials who discussed the episode after aspects of it were disclosed during a recent congressional hearing.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cia12feb12,0,5143074.story?coll=la-home-headlines
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS "Who gets the research grants and who doesn't!!"
NIH Chief Calls for Ethics Summit
Dr. Elias Zerhouni, who banned drug company payments to agency scientists, wants a wider discussion on conflicts in medical research.
BETHESDA, Md. — The director of the National Institutes of Health — describing consulting payments from drug companies as a "systemic problem" that threatened the integrity of his agency — has called for a summit of government and academic leaders to address conflicts of interest throughout American medical research.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-nih12feb12,0,7388584.story?coll=la-home-headlines
The World According to Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart looms over P&G, Gillette
Chain's private labels challenge famous brands
By CONSTANCE L. HAYS
New York Times
Did Wal-Mart's power and the proliferation of store brands have anything to do with Procter & Gamble's decision Friday to buy Gillette for $57 billion?
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3014599
Wal-Mart narrows January sales view
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Wal-Mart said Saturday it expects same-store sales growth in January of 2.5 percent, which would be at the lower half of its forecasts.
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B1146948D-E819-4119-AFDC-643A0A8A1BA7%7D&siteid=google&dist=google
Ruling OKs union vote at Wal-Mart
By Kristi Arellano
Denver Post Staff Writer
Workers in the tire and lube section of Loveland's Wal- Mart Supercenter have gotten the OK from the National Labor Relations Board to vote on whether they want to unionize.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33~2680398,00.html
More than 1,000 mourners bid farewell to slain Wal-Mart clerk
TYLER, Texas A 19-year-old Wal-Mart clerk who was kidnapped and killed was remembered today as a beautiful, compassionate woman with a bright smile.
More than one-thousand mourners turned out for Megan LeAnn Holden's funeral in Tyler, Texas. Photos of Holden in her softball uniform, at her sister's wedding and being silly with friends were shown on a large screen behind her coffin.
http://www.wboc.com/Global/story.asp?S=2875358
Suspect in Wal-Mart clerk's death balks at extradition
Associated Press
BISBEE, Ariz. - An ex-Marine charged in the kidnapping and killing of a Texas college student and sought by authorities there declined to be extradited today from Arizona.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3008273>
Nickel's 3-Year Rally May End as Ikea, Wal-Mart Reduce Demand
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Nickel, the best performer on the London Metal Exchange since 2003, may record its first annual drop in four years as buyers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Ikea use cheaper alternatives in products ranging from coffee tables to desks and mirrors.
Nickel for immediate delivery will probably drop to an average of $13,000 a metric ton this year from $13,741 in 2004 on the LME, based on the median estimate from 20 analysts surveyed since Dec. 15 by Bloomberg News.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=ahDiG22AKZck&refer=top_world_news
Critics Say Wal-Mart Vote Had Political Cost
POSTED: 10:45 am EST January 25, 2005
NASHUA, N.H. -- Critics said that voting against a proposed Wal-Mart store in Nashua cost two leaders of the city's Conservation Commission their jobs.
http://www.thewmurchannel.com/news/4127523/detail.html
Wal-Mart, the bank?
By 2010, you may be able to open Wal-Mart accounts, visit Wal-Mart dentists, rent Wal-Mart cars.
January 26, 2005: 4:05 PM EST
By Parija Bhatnagar, CNN/Money staff writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - It's already the king of retailing. Give it another five years or so and Wal-Mart may be on its way to conquering other valuable little nuggets of the business world.
For instance, why shouldn't the world's largest retailer open its own Wal-Mart banks? The opportunity is clearly there given that 20 percent of Wal-Mart shoppers currently don't have their own bank accounts, according to market research firm Retail Forward.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/26/news/fortune500/walmart_future/?cnn=yes
Devil demands pride of place on Wal-Mart shelf
VIVEK SINHA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2005 01:13:17 AM]
NEW DELHI: Mirc Electronics — the second largest Indian manufacturer of colour televisions— has initiated the first step towards a deal with Wal-Mart for putting made-in-India televisions on the shelves of the largest retailer in the world.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1001992.cms
Ill wind for Wal-Mart
As managers meet in KC, retail giant faces angry squall
By RANDOLPH HEASTER
The Kansas City Star
“There's a downside to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart hurts people, communities and democracy. It's about more than just low prices.”
Mary Lindsay, Kansas City organizer for ReclaimDemocracy.org
More than 6,000 Wal-Mart managers today wrap up their annual meeting in Kansas City, where they reviewed performance and analyzed the coming year for the world's largest company.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/10732756.htm
Wal-Mart prices trump image
David van den Berg
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 27, 2005 12:00 AM
Wal-Mart has launched a nationwide campaign to boost its image, but that effort had no impact on Brandy Geary's decision to shop at the company's new Supercenter in Gilbert on Wednesday, its first day in business.
Geary, a stay-at-home mom, said the only thing that might affect her decision to shop at Wal-Mart would be if prices increased.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/0127gr-walmartopeningZ12.html
Wal-Mart to Pay Retired Coughlin for 2 Years
1/27/05 11:57:49 AM
By Lance Turner, Arkansasbusiness.com Daily Report
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday that it will continue to pay retired company Vice Chairman Thomas M. Coughlin for the next two years, and it outlined Coughlin's no-compete agreement with the company.
http://arkansasbusiness.com/news/headline_article.asp?aid=39748
Wal-Mart January sales come up short
By Jennifer Waters, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s sales for January slightly missed Wall Street's expectations Thursday after results at Sam's Club fell well below forecasts.
Total sales for the Bentonville, Ark.-based behemoth rose 9 percent from the year-ago period to $19.80 billion. Sales at Wal-Mart Stores tallied $13.17 billion, up a robust 10.7 percent, while Sam's Club sales were $2.51 billion, up 1.4 percent over last year. International sales grew 8.6 percent to $4.12 billion.
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B05E1DC6C-71A2-42B6-8A2D-C01713AC54AE%7D&siteid=google&dist=google
Wal-Mart hearing goes into overtime
Jody Paige
Published February 3, 2005
LOCKPORT -- More than 100 residents turned out for a public hearing on a controversial proposed Wal-Mart store that began at 7 p.m. Tuesday and continued until well after midnight before being adjourned until Wednesday evening.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/southsouthwest/chi-0502030404feb03,1,5780985.story?coll=chi-newslocalssouthwest-hed
Wal*Mart Employee Thwarts Criminal
Williston, Vermont - February 3, 2005
Police are crediting Wal-Mart employees in Williston with thwarting a potential homicide.
Police say 29-year-old Shawn Wood tried to steal a gun from the retailer Wednesday. Police say Wood arrived in Burlington from California a few days ago.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=2899964&nav=4QcSVxye
THIS IS GROSSLY SAD.
Thousands Apply for Wal-Mart Jobs
23 Newsroom
Wal-Mart held a job fair there over the past three days. The first day about 2,700 people applied.
Wednesday, 1,300 job seekers interviewed, and Thursday about 450 people applied. The thousands who do not get hired will have another chance.
Hiring for the new Super Wal-Mart store on East State Street in Rockford will begin in early March. There will be 150 open positions for that store.
http://www.wifr.com/home/headlines/1227802.html
Wal-Mart Wins Appeal in Overtime Ruling
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will get another chance to argue its case that it shouldn't have to pay millions in overtime to pharmacists after winning its appeal.
The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a new hearing in the case, saying a federal judge that ruled the company had violated the law by failing to pay overtime acted too quickly and should reconsider the evidence.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-rup3.6feb03,1,3452619.story?coll=la-headlines-business
Union Plans to Sue Wal-Mart Canada
Associated Press
TORONTO - A union Friday said it will file charges against Wal-Mart Canada for exhibiting "bad faith" during its first-ever contract talks by secretly planning to close the affected store.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/financial_markets/10879357.htm
Council looks to keep Wal-Mart out
BY LAUREN WEBER
STAFF WRITER
February 11, 2005
City Council members promised yesterday to seek legislative ways to keep Wal-Mart away, or to make it so inconvenient for the giant retailer that it abandons plans to enter the city.
"I'm interested in some kind of legislation that could help out," said Councilman Joseph Addabbo, a Democrat, citing his support for the union leaders who attended the Civil Service and Labor Committee hearing to protest Wal-Mart's labor practices.
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzlabo114141423feb11,0,2925933.story?coll=ny-business-headlines
Unionized Wal-Mart employees fear second Quebec store to shut
By INGRID PERITZ
With reports from Rhéal Séguin in Quebec City and from Reuters
Friday, February 11, 2005 - Page A7
SAINT-HYACINTHE, QUE. -- There were shrugs of resignation in the housewares aisle and whispers of fear over in sporting goods. Wal-Mart, a store known for its greeters, yellow smiley faces and the famous Wal-Mart cheer, was not an especially happy place yesterday.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050211/WALMART11/TPNational/TopStories
UFCW Rejected Again By Wal-Mart Associates; Tire and Lube Associates in New Castle, PA, Say 'No' to Union Representation
Distribution Source : PRNewswire
Date : Friday - February 11, 2005
BENTONVILLE, Ark., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wal-Mart associates have once again voted against union representation in a democratic election that took place today in New Castle, Penn. Seventeen associates who work in the Tire and Lube Express department cast their votes in a secret- ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.
http://press.arrivenet.com/bus/article.php/585878.html
Union rips Canada Wal-Mart
Bad-faith action could be filed
Frederic Tomesco
Bloomberg News
Feb. 12, 2005 12:00 AM
TORONTO - The United Food and Commercial Workers' Canadian arm said it plans to file a complaint against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for bargaining in bad faith after the retailer said it would close its first unionized outlet in North America.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0212walmart12.html
Wal-Mart Agrees to Pay Fine in Child Labor Cases
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: February 12, 2005
al-Mart Stores, the nation's largest retailer, has agreed to pay $135,540 to settle federal charges that it violated child labor laws in Connecticut, Arkansas and New Hampshire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/national/12wage.html
Council looks to keep Wal-Mart out
BY LAUREN WEBER
STAFF WRITER
February 11, 2005
City Council members promised yesterday to seek legislative ways to keep Wal-Mart away, or to make it so inconvenient for the giant retailer that it abandons plans to enter the city.
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzlabo114141423feb11,0,2925933.story?coll=ny-business-headlines
Wal-Mart Might Open a Store in NYC
By Ketan Tanna & Jeff Miller
Posted: 2/11/2005 12:44 PM
(Rapaport…February 11, 2005) Retail giant, Wal-Mart Inc., is hoping to open a store within city limits of New York, about as far from downtown as the map would allow, in Rego Park, Queens.
http://www.diamonds.net/news/newsitem.asp?num=11388
WE SHALL OVERCOME !!
Judge denies Wal-Mart opponents' suit
By JOSEPH DEINLEIN
Times Herald
A St. Clair County Circuit judge ruled today the Marine City Planning Commission and City Commission followed the law when they rezoned a parcel that could become home to a Wal-Mart store.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/news/updates/11292.html
Wal-Mart: What About the Little Guy
by Chris Motola
As more and more familiar logos pop up along the Route 104 corridor, so do the concerns of smaller "mom and pop" retailers who fill the shops in Oswego's downtown. The question is: are the horror stories about Wal-Mart and similar companies driving the little guy out of business true, at least as far as Oswego and its neighboring communities are concerned?
http://www.oswegocountybusiness.com/issue76/76LittleGuy.html
Louisville woman held for forging checks at Madison Wal-Mart
By: Wayne Engle
Checks stolen from a car parked at a rest stop in Oldham County, Ky., were forged and used to purchase items at the Madison Wal-Mart Supercenter, resulting in the arrest of a Louisville, Ky., woman on 22 felony charges.
http://www.madisoncourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=253&ArticleID=22246&TM=57440.66
Wal-Mart "buy"
NEW YORK, February 8 (newratings.com) - Analysts at UBS maintain their "buy" rating on Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.NYS). The 12-month target price is set to $64.
In a research note published this morning, the analysts mention that according to media reports, Wal-Mart Stores is in talks to purchase Migros of Turkey or its Russian locations. Wal-Mart Stores has also recently set up a Hungarian subsidiary, the analysts say. The company is likely to use this subsidiary to enter the Hungarian and Russian markets, UBS adds.
http://www.newratings.com/new2/beta/article_685433.html
China Sales Soar for Wal-Mart, Carrefour in 2004
By Ketan Tanna
Posted: 2/8/2005 9:56 AM
(Rapaport...February 8, 2005) The world's top two retailers, Carrefour and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., posted sales of $1.9 billion and $7.63 billion respectively in China for 2004, according to the China's Ministry of Commerce.
http://www.diamonds.net/news/newsitem.asp?num=11352&type=all&topic=all
The Moscow News
104 Dead in Russian-Crewed Afghan Plane Crash
By Anna Arutunyan and Oleg Liakhovich
Early Monday, NATO-led rescue teams reached the crash site of the Afghan plane that crashed into a mountain 30 kilometers south-east of Kabul on Thursday. The wreckage was spotted on Saturday but efforts to reach it were thwarted by bad weather. The rescuers have found at least three bodies, Afghan army general Ahmad Pia Yastali was quoted by AFP as saying.
http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2005-5-10
Bush States US Ambitions
By Robert Bridge The Moscow News
US President George W. Bush laid out plans for his next four years on Wednesday night, where once again the stress was placed on the need to "stay on the offensive" against America's enemies
http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2005-5-14
Moscow Is Becoming More Attractive to Foreign Tourists
By Anna Arutunyan and Oleg Liakhovich
A forecast made by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) envisions Moscow making it into the top ten of the most popular tourist directions in the world by 2010. The Moscow City Tourist Committee's annual review also allows for optimism, revealing a significant growth of tourist inflow in comparison with past years.
http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2005-5-12
The Moscow Times
Protests Spread to Transport, Defense Staff
Transportation and civilian defense workers on Thursday became the latest groups to take to the streets in protest, with transportation industry associations staging nationwide rallies against gasoline price hikes and poor quality gasoline, while the defense workers demonstrated in Moscow for a salary raise.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/02/11/002.html
$125M Hotel Deal Sets Record
In the largest-ever Russian property deal, British luxury hospitality chain Orient-Express Hotels has snapped up a 93.5 percent stake in St. Petersburg's historical Grand Hotel Europe as part of a $125 million investment plan.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/02/11/001.html
Summit Soul Mates in Slovakia
By Gregory Feifer
Don't expect much from the upcoming summit meeting between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, on Feb. 24. That's not because the two won't agree on key issues, but because they understand each other all too well.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/02/11/006.html>
Xenophobia Is All the Rage
By Georgy Bovt
It seems symbolic that these kinds of things happen on NTV, of all channels. NTV, once considered a bastion of freedom in the Russian mass media. A channel founded not only by an oligarch but -- even more symbolically -- by the head of the Russian Jewish Congress at the time, Vladimir Gusinsky. Yet it was NTV that honored that consummate anti-Semite, Albert Makashov. It all happened last week on the political debate show, "K Baryeru!" The show's host, Vladimir Solovyov, admitted his Jewish heritage on live television, which is still a bold move in 21st-century Russia. It all happened only a week after the world marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, at which President Vladimir Putin publicly apologized to Europe for the anti-Semitic petition to the prosecutor general initiated by 19 State Duma deputies, who called for a ban on all Jewish organizations.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/02/10/005.html
Foreigners to Lose Access to Licenses
Russia will not allow foreign companies to bid for some of the nations largest reserves deposits, Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said Thursday.
Only companies that are at least 51 percent Russian-owned will be allowed to participate in auctions for exploration and development licenses, Trutnev said, Interfax reported.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/02/11/041.html
The Boston Globe
Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year: Catherine Zeta-Jones
Actress Catherine Zeta Jones received this year's Hasty Pudding Theatricals Woman of the Year award at Harvard University on Feb. 10, 2005. Known as much for their drag queen couture as their acting abilities, the group annually honors an actor and an actress for their contributions to the entertainment industry. Here, Zeta-Jones gets the traditional kiss from Hasty Pudding Theatricals President Mathew Ferrante (left) and Vice President of the Cast Sam Gale Rosen
http://www.boston.com/ae/events/gallery/zetajones_hasty_pudding/
AG backs legalizing same-sex marriage
Reilly says he'll oppose any constitutional ban
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff February 12, 2005
After playing a key role in the efforts to fight legalization of gay marriage a year ago, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly said yesterday that he now favors allowing legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and that he will oppose any efforts to ban them.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/02/12/ag_backs_legalizing_same_sex_marriage/
Iraq's hard-line Shi'ites vow to resist US agenda
By Thanassis Cambanis, Globe Staff February 12, 2005
BAGHDAD -- A vociferous and well-organized faction of extremist Shi'ite Muslims is mobilizing to challenge the new government that emerges from Iraq's recent election and to push for a hard line against the United States.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/02/12/iraqs_hard_line_shiites_vow_to_resist_us_agenda/
Celtics roll over Knicks 111-94
February 12, 2005
BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics already had the Atlantic Division lead. Now they have a winning record to go with it.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/02/12/celtics_roll_over_knicks_111_94/
North Korea Plays for Hard Bargain with Nuke Boast
By Jon Herskovitz February 12, 2005
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has taken a calculated bargaining risk by announcing for the first time it has nuclear weapons, a South Korean official said Saturday, after the United States rejected North Korean calls for one-on-one talks.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/02/12/us_rejects_nkorea_demand_for_2_way_talks_on_nukes/
The Chosun Ilbo (South Korea)
Prolonged Nuclear Impasse Favors U.S. Hardliners
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government is downplaying the significance of a North Korean statement claiming possession of nuclear weapons and declaring its indefinite withdrawal from six-party talks on its nuclear program. Washington says Pyongyang’s statement contain "nothing new" and will only to isolate the Stalinist country further.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502110019.html
Seoul Must Urgently Rethink Its N. Korea Strategy
Pyongyang's announcement that it has developed nuclear weapons has significantly limited the diplomatic position of the Seoul government. It makes it difficult for the government to side with North Korea on the international stage. It will also become difficult to try and intervene should the United States have something drastic planned for the North.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502110023.html
North Korea Declares ‘Indefinite Suspension’ of Six-Party Talks
North Korea on Thursday said six-party talks aimed at resolving its nuclear issue had been “suspended indefinitely” over U.S. hostility, scuppering hopes of their early resumption. Experts on the Stalinist country view the statement as negotiation rhetoric, but the talks, which had shown signs of being close to a fresh start, now seem a way further off.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502100012.html
Nuclear Brinkmanship From Pyongyang - Again?
North Korea has declared it is indefinitely suspending participation in six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program. With a Foreign Ministry statement also announcing that Pyongyang has built nuclear weapons for “self-defense”, the North Korean nuclear crisis has come to yet another head.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502100025.html
Did a Bodyguard Kill First Lady Yook Young-soo?
An academic on Friday said first lady Yook Young-soo, who was killed in 1974 during an assassination attempt on her husband President Park Chung-hee, probably died from a bullet fired by a boduguard. Prof. Bae Myeong-jin of Soongsil University’s Electronic, Electrical and Information Department announced research indicating the first lady was not killed by her husband’s would-be assassin Moon Se-kwang, as had been widely believed.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502110020.html
U.S. Analyst Blows Gaff on 3,000 ‘Trivial’ Codenames
U.S. military analyst Bill Arkin has revealed about 3,000 codenames and details of U.S. Defense Department and CIA operations, MSNBC reported Thursday.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502110031.html
Forbes
Connoisseur's Guide
Most Expensive Lingerie
It's the most romantic time of the year again--or so the folks at Hallmark tell us--and with it comes the annual rush of harried gentlemen and love-struck suitors desperate to show their wives and girlfriends that they really, really do care.
http://www.forbes.com/2005/02/09/cx_ns_0209feat.html?partner=lifestyle_newsletter
continued with picture later ...
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