Tuesday, May 24, 2005
May 8, 2005. Lake Barbellino, Valbondione, Bergamo, Italy. I believe this is a glacial lake. All the ground around it is higher. The lake has a very interesting sediment pattern. The banks of the lake look very dry. The shoreline looks almost artificial but it is consistent throughout all the pictures. It may be a glacial lake but it has fallen in it's level due ot lack of melt water run off that replenishes it. Drought in the mountains of Italy due to lack of snowfall. 
Morning Papers - It's Origins - more like "Evening Papers" today
Rooster "Cock-a-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
History. . .
1870, Jan Christiaan Smuts, prime minister of South Africa
1899, Suzanne Lenglen, tennis player
1905, Mikhail Sholokhov, novelist
1941, Bob Dylan, American musician and songwriter, one of the most important figures in contemporary folk music and rock music. Dylan’s songs of social protest, such as “Blowin' in the Wind” (1962) and “The Times They Are A-Changin'” (1964), became indelibly associated with the civil rights movement in the United States. Later Dylan was recognized as a rock icon and a gifted, prolific songwriter.
1830 "Mary Had A Little Lamb" is written
1830 1st passenger rail service in US (Baltimore & Elliots Mill, Maryland)
1844, Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message, "What hath God wrought!" from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opened America's first telegraph line.
1854 Anthony Burns, slave, arrested by US Deputy marshals in Boston
1854 Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, 1st Black college in US forms by Prebyts
1856 Pottawatomie Massacre took place in Kansas
1861 Major General Benjamin Butler declares slaves "contraband of war"
881, some 200 people died when the Canadian ferry Princess Victoria sank near London, Ontario.
In 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, was opened to traffic.
1883: The Brooklyn Bridge, linking the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan, is opened to traffic; at the time, it is the longest suspension bridge in the world.
1935: The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the first major league baseball game to be played at night under the floodlights.
1951 Racial segregation in Washington DC restaurants ruled illegal
1951 US performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests)
1951 Willie Mays begins playing for the New York Giants
1954 IBM announces vacuum tube "electronic" brain that could perform 10 million operations an hour
1957 Anti American riots breakout in Taipei, Taiwan
1958 "New Girl in Town" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 432 performances
1958 President Batista opens offensive against Fidel Castro's rebellion
1958 UP & International News Service merge into United Press International
1959 1st house with built-in bomb shelter exhibited (Pleasant Hills PA)
1964 Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open Invitational
1965 Supreme Court declares federal law allowing post office to intercept communist propaganda is unconstitutional
1968 Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithfull arrested for drug possession
1970 Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA Bluegrass Golf Invitational
1971 A commuter bus plunges into Panamá Canal, killing 38 of 43 aboard
1972 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980, Iran rejected a call by the World Court in The Hague to release the American hostages.
1981 Hostage situation ends at Central Bank in Barcelona Spain
1981 Kathy Hite wins LPGA Corning Golf Classic
1983 Supreme Court rules government can deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminated against students
1986 Margaret Thatcher becomes 1st British PM to visit Israel
1986 Reginald Huffstetler treds water for 985 hours
1987 33rd LPGA Championship won by Jane Geddes
1988 John Moschitta set record for fast talking: 586 words per minute
1988 Porntip Nakhirunkanok, 19, of Thailand, crowned 37th Miss Universe
1988 Power outage in Boston Garden in NHL's Stanley Cup finals
1989 "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade" premieres
1992 Colleen Walker wins LPGA Corning Golf Classic
1992 Pat Bradley wins J C Penney/LPGA Skins Game Golf Tournament
1993 Eritrea achieved independence from Ethiopia after 30-year civil war
1993 Kim Basinger files for bankruptcy to avoid paying $7.4 million settlement
1993 Kurd rebellion kills 33 soldiers & 5 citizens in Turkey
1997 Actor Tim Allen arrested for drunk driving in Michigan
Missing in Action
1968 RUCKER EMMETT JR. WICHITA FALLS TX
1968 SHANKS JAMES LEE OYSTER POINT NY
1969 MANSKE CHARLES J. EL CAMPO TX
1969 MONTEZ ANASTACIO PRESIDIO TX
1972 BEELER CARROLL R. FRISCO TX 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 HENN JOHN R. JR. SUTTON MA
May 23...
1707, Carolus Linnaeus, naturalist
1883, Douglas Fairbanks, American film actor and producer, noted especially for the daring athletic feats and expert swordsmanship that highlighted his performances. He was born in Denver, Colorado, and educated at the Colorado School of Mines and at Harvard University. After a short period with a Wall Street brokerage firm, he turned to the stage in 1901. During the following 14 years he rose to stardom, appearing in a variety of roles. In 1915 he entered films, eventually forming his own producing company. As a star he was one of the most popular actors of his day, starring in such films as The Mark of Zorro (1920), The Three Musketeers (1921), Robin Hood (1922), The Thief of Bagdad (1924), Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925), The Black Pirate (1926), The Gaucho (1927), The Iron Mask (1929), and The Taming of the Shrew (1929). In association with his second wife (the actor Mary Pickford), the director D. W. Griffith, and the actor-director-producer Charlie Chaplin, Fairbanks founded the film-producing company United Artists, Inc., in 1919.
1910 Artie Shaw, jazz clarinetist, bandleader, and composer (1910)
1951, Anatoly Karpov, chess player
1059 Henri I crowns his son compassionate King Philip I of France
1275 King Edward I of England orders cessation of persecution of French Jews
1420 Jews of Syria & Austria expelled
1421 Jews of Austria imprisoned & expelled
1533 King Henry VIII & Catherine of Aragon marriage declared null & void
1430, Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English.
1533, the marriage of England's King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon was declared null and void.
1618 2nd Defenestration of Prague; the beginning of the 30 Years War
1785, In a letter, Benjamin Franklin describes his latest invention, bifocal eyeglasses; the upper portion of the lens is ground for distance and the lower part for reading.
1788, South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1873: The North-West Mounted Police (now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) is established as Canada's national police force; officers are popularly called Mounties.
1873 1st Preakness: G Barbee aboard Survivor wins in 2:43
1873 Canada's North West Mounted Police Force (RCMPF) forms
1873 Postal cards sold in San Fransisco for 1st time
1876 1st National League no-hitter (Joe Borden, Boston)
1894 William Love hosts ground breaking ceremonies for Love Canal
1911: The administrative center of the New York Public Library opens on Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets in Manhattan.
Through the combined resources of the Tilden Trust and the Astor and Lenox libraries, the New York Public Library was founded on this day in 1895. The New York Public Library offers information on its history, collections, exhibits, and services.
http://www.nypl.org/
1921 "Shuffle Along" 1st black musical comedy, opens in NYC
1934: Notorious partners-in-crime Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, commonly known as Bonnie and Clyde, are shot to death in a police ambush in Louisiana.
1935 1st scheduled night game, postponed due to rain (Cincinnati)
1939 Hitler proclaims he wants to move into Poland
1939 Submarine Squalis sinks off Portsmouth NH, 26 die
1945, Nazi official Heinrich Himmler committed suicide while imprisoned in Luneburg, Germany.
1956 World Trade Center dedicated in Ferry Building, San Fransisco
1958 Mao Tse Tung starts "Great leap forward" movement in China
1960, Israel announced it had captured former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. Eichmann was tried in Israel, found guilty of crimes against humanity and hanged in 1962.
1964 Dale Greig runs female marathon world record (3:27:45)
1965 Mickey Wright wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open
1970 Grateful Dead's 1st perfomance outside of the US (England)
1970 USSR performs nuclear test (underground)
1971 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Suzuki Golf Internationalionale
1971 Rock group Iron Butterfly disbands
1974 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1976 Amy Alcott wins '76 LPGA Golf Classic
1977, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman and former Attorney General John N. Mitchell in connection with their Watergate convictions.
1979 Rocker Tom Petty files chapter 11 bankruptcy
1981 Barcelona fascists take 200 people hostage
1981 NASA launches Intelsat V
1982 Cathy Morse wins LPGA Chrysler-Plymouth Charity Golf Classic
1982 Colin Wilson rides a surfboard 294 miles
1985, Thomas Patrick Cavanagh, an aerospace engineer who admitted trying to sell "stealth" bomber secrets to the Soviet Union, was sentenced in Los Angeles to life in prison.
1993 Val Skinner wins LPGA Lady Keystone Golf Open
1994 Star Trek The Next Generation, finale airs this week in syndication
Missing in Action
1965 WALKER ORIEN JUDSON BOSTON MA 02/01/66 PROB DEAD
1967 HOMUTH RICHARD W. SPRING VALLEY CA SAR FOUND RAFT RADIO CONTACT
1967 PETTIS THOMAS E. MOBILE AL SAR FOUND RAFT RADIO CONTACT
1967 SCHMITTOU EUREKA LAVERN RINGGOLD TX SAR FOUND RAFT RADIO CONTACT
1967 SOUCY RONALD PHILIP WHITTING LAKE IN SAR FOUND RAFT RADIO CONTACT
1968 COCHRAN ISOM CARTER JR. HOUSTON TX
1968 LANE GLEN O. ODESSA TX
1968 OWEN ROBERT D. CHATHAM VA
1968 SCHRUMP RAYMOND C. TOMAHAWK WI 02/12/73 RELEASED BY PRG INJURED ALIVE IN 96
1969 BENTON GREGORY R. VALLEJO CA FAMILY STATES NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN
1969 RAMIREZ ARMANDO WILLCOX AZ
1972 BYRNS WILLIAM G. ST. LOUIS MO 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 1996/98
1972 BEAN WILLIAM R. JR. FT PAYNE AL 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 BARNETT CHARLES E. HOUSTON TX BODY FELL IN FIELD-NHAN DAN REMAINS RETURNED 02/22/89
The Boston Globe
House dives into stem cell debate
By Laurie Kellman, Associated Press Writer May 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Ignoring President Bush's veto threat, the House plunged into the dispute over stem cell research Tuesday, debating a bill that supporters said could accelerate cures for diseases but opponents viewed as akin to abortion.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/05/24/house_considers_loosening_stem_cell_rules/
Officials: Four other patients were killed by rodent virus
By Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer May 24, 2005
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A day after health officials disclosed that three transplant recipients in New England died after being infected by a rodent virus contracted by the donor, officials in Wisconsin on Tuesday said four other patients died under similar circumstances in 2003.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2005/05/24/rare_rodent_virus_blamed_for_deaths_of_three_transplant_patients/
The center holds clout
By Peter S. Canellos, Globe Staff May 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Emerging from their weeks of negotiations like a long-sequestered jury, Senate moderates delivered a stunning verdict to the White House and Congress: Politicians have spent too much time rallying their bases of support and not enough time coming together in the national interest.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/05/24/the_center_holds_clout/
Report: breast cancer rate decreased from 1998 to 2002
May 24, 2005
BOSTON -- The breast cancer rate in Massachusetts dropped between 1998 and 2002, but the rate of all cancer cases and deaths changed little during that period, state health officials said Tuesday.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/05/24/report_breast_cancer_rate_decreased_from_1998_to_2002/
Shiite leader: Iraq civil war avoidable
By Bassem Mroue, Associated Press Writer May 24, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite political party expressed certainty Tuesday that a civil war will not break out in his country despite an increase in violence.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/05/24/shiite_leader_iraq_civil_war_avoidable/
The Middle East Times
You might want to ask yourself did Laura address any of these women's issues.
Female television presenter shot dead in Kabul
May 20, 2005
KABUL -- Unknown gunmen on Wednesday shot dead a female television presenter in Kabul who once worked for a music program similar to MTV that had upset radical Islamic clerics, police said.
"Yes I can confirm that she was killed," said city police chief Mohammad Akram Khakrizwal. But he added that there was no known motive for the murder of 24-year-old Shaima Rezayee.
"We don't have more information at this point. Our unit has gone to the site and is investigating," Khakrizwal said.
Rezayee was sacked from the private-run Tulo TV in March that hosted her music program after it was heavily criticized by clerics. She had not worked since.
Tulo, one of several private TV channels launched after the fall of the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001, has also been the target of criticism by Islamic radicals.
Khakrizwal said that the police counter-criminal unit was investigating the murder that took place in Kabul's Char Qala district.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050520-041350-4810r
Kenyan magistrate rejects journalist's attempt to sue first lady for assault
May 18, 2005
PRIVATE SUIT: Kenyan cameraman Clifford Derrick Otieno smiles as he leaves the Chief Magistrate's Court in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 16. Otieno filed a private suit against Kenya’s first lady, Lucy Muthoni Kibaki, for assault and damage of property.
(REUTERS)
NAIROBI -- A Kenyan magistrate on Wednesday upheld the state's decision to block a cameraman from suing the volatile wife of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki for allegedly assaulting him and breaking his camera when she stormed into a newsroom to protest against unfair coverage.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050518-082750-5456r
Saudi advisory body shelves proposal to lift women's driving ban
May 23, 2005
RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia's appointed consultative council has shelved a proposal by one of its members to lift the ban on women's driving in the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom, newspapers reported on Monday.
According to Al-Watan a decision on whether the issue will be debated has been put off until the speaker of the Shura council returns from an official visit to Canada.
But the leading daily Al-Riyadh quoted the deputy speaker of the 150-strong body, Mahmoud Tiba, as telling the council during a session on Sunday that issues such as lifting the driving ban "should be discussed by the highest religious authority in the country".
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050523-071352-8902r
Murdered photographer case still open, Iranian judiciary says
May 17, 2005
TEHRAN -- Iran's judiciary said on Tuesday that the case of murdered Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi was still open, even though the first appeals hearing into the affair was wrapped up in less than an hour.
Judiciary spokesman Jamal Karimi-Rad told reporters that a new hearing would be held on July 25 and more witnesses heard.
His comments came the day after lawyers representing the family of Kazemi complained that an appeals hearing had lasted just an hour and that the judge refused to hear their demands for a fresh investigation.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050517-060850-1766r
Afghanistan faces shortage of women in new parliament
May 23, 2005
KABUL -- Afghanistan faces the prospect of not having enough women to fill parliamentary seats reserved for them in the war-torn country's first post-Taliban legislative elections due to a lack of candidates, officials said on Sunday.
"Countrywide, we are short of 18 female candidates for provincial councils," Afghanistan Electoral Commission chairman Bismillah Bismil said less than two days before registration closes for most candidates.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050523-070744-3017r
Man throws acid in face of ex-fiancée in Jordan
May 17, 2005
AMMAN -- A man blinded by jealousy threw acid in his former fiancée's face to try to make sure that she could not marry anyone else, the Jordanian news agency Petra reported on Monday.
It said that the man's constant demands for his fiancée to "stop speaking to others, quit her job and stay at home" had forced her to break off their engagement.
The woman suffered "serious burns that could also permanently affect her eyesight", Petra said, without identifying the couple. Her family has filed a court case against the assailant.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050517-035950-8440r
Women rights activists arrested for demanding the right to run with men
AFP
May 16, 2005
THE RIGHT TO RUN: Pakistani police personnel detain human rights activists in Lahore on May 14, at the start of a mini-marathon in the eastern city of Lahore, after they defied a ban on the two sexes running together.
(REUTERS)
LAHORE -- A group of female rights activists were arrested on Saturday after attempting to lead a rally demanding women the right to run in marathons alongside men.
Among the arrested were Pakistan's internationally known human rights activist Asma Jehangir, witnesses said.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050516-061551-8086r
Saudi women rated least free in Arab world
May 23, 2005
Shuneh, JORDAN -- Saudi Arabia received the lowest rating on women's freedom in a new survey released at the World Economic Forum in Shuneh, Jordan, on Saturday.
The survey, conducted by the Freedom House, is the first comparative assessment of women's rights in 17 nations in the Middle East and North Africa.
It found a "substantial deficit of women's rights ... Women are at a profound disadvantage in practically every institution of society, the criminal justice system, the economy, education, healthcare and the media."
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050523-065123-8796r
Haaertz
PA presents Israel with troop plan during pullout
By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel and Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Nasser Yousef presented Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz with the plan the PA is formulating for deploying its security forces in the Gaza Strip during the implementation of the disengagement plan and afterwards.
The plan was discussed at the security coordination meeting held in Tel Aviv. Mofaz was not impressed, and claimed that the plan is superficial and unsatisfactory.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/578856.html
The Vietnam News
The rocks have got soul in Ninh Binh
The jutting rocks and picturesque grottoes of Ninh Binh gave birth to a millenium-old tradition of stone-carving. Binh Nguyen is transfixed.
From afar the Ngo Giang River looks like a thin thread zig-zagging through jutting rocks and grottoes of the Ninh Binh region.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=04SUN220505
Students to surf the internet in hostels
(19-05-2005)
HA NOI — Students from Ha Noi’s College of Foreign Languages, under the Viet Nam National University (VNU), will soon benefit from internet access after school officials opted to experiment with dormitory computers and connections.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01EDU190505
Bird flu patient dies in Ha Noi
(21-05-2005)
HA NOI — A man admitted to the Institute for Clinical Research into Tropical Diseases with bird flu last Monday has died.
Nguyen Tien Cuu, 46, from Binh Kieu Commune in the Khoai Chau District of Hung Yen Province, about 40km west of Ha Noi, arrived in a very critical condition with lung inflammation and weak kidneys, says the Health Ministry.
He died on Thursday.
Two other patients undergoing treatment at the institute have tested positive for bird flu.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA210505
Healthcare projects benefit minorities
HA NOI — Nearly 1.8 million ethnic minority residents in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) provinces will have access to quality health care services thanks to an expanded government programme launched last week.
The US$30.6 million community-based people’s health care scheme – originally envisaged last year and expected to contribute substantially to the Government’s poverty reduction efforts – will target the lower-income people among the Tay Nguyen’s 4.7 million population, half of whom have poor educational and health status. Ministry of Health (MoH) statistics reveal that 2.1 million people in the region live below the Government’s new poverty line.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA200505
Lack of awareness on food safety fuels rash of Thai Binh poisonings
THAI BINH — Inadequate monitoring of food hygiene standards by authorities has been blamed for an alarming number of food poisoning cases in the northern province of Thai Binh.
Ten cases of food poisoning were reported in Thai Binh in the first four months of the year, of which several were serious. In one incident, Poongshin Vina, a South Korea-invested clothing company, had to take 20 workers to the hospital.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA180505
Official warns of summer epidemic risk
(16-05-2005)
HA NOI — Vice director of the Department for Preventive Medicine and HIV/AIDS Control, Dr. Nguyen Van Binh, has warned that the current spate of hot weather is likely to increase the frequency and intensity of disease epidemics.
Binh voiced particular concern about possible breakouts of dengue fever and encephalitis among children in northern and central regions of Viet Nam.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA160505
Sea medical centre built in Hai Phong
(16-05-2005)
HAI PHONG — The construction of a new Viet Nam Sea Medical Institute, conjointly organised by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Hai Phong City People’s Committee, began in Hai Phong on Saturday.
Located in the city’s Du Hang Kenh Ward, Le Chan District, and costing around VND100 billion (US$6.37 million), the 3ha complex will comprise a futuristic 7-storey central building which will accommodate rescue helicopters, a three-storey building dedicated to maritime rescue operations and telemedicine treatment, and a four-star quality compound dedicated to training, research and medicinal treatment, complete with a park, swimming pool, library, gymnasium and car park. The MoH expects the project to be completed by late 2007.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02HEA160505
continued...
"Okeydoke"
History. . .
1870, Jan Christiaan Smuts, prime minister of South Africa
1899, Suzanne Lenglen, tennis player
1905, Mikhail Sholokhov, novelist
1941, Bob Dylan, American musician and songwriter, one of the most important figures in contemporary folk music and rock music. Dylan’s songs of social protest, such as “Blowin' in the Wind” (1962) and “The Times They Are A-Changin'” (1964), became indelibly associated with the civil rights movement in the United States. Later Dylan was recognized as a rock icon and a gifted, prolific songwriter.
1830 "Mary Had A Little Lamb" is written
1830 1st passenger rail service in US (Baltimore & Elliots Mill, Maryland)
1844, Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message, "What hath God wrought!" from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opened America's first telegraph line.
1854 Anthony Burns, slave, arrested by US Deputy marshals in Boston
1854 Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, 1st Black college in US forms by Prebyts
1856 Pottawatomie Massacre took place in Kansas
1861 Major General Benjamin Butler declares slaves "contraband of war"
881, some 200 people died when the Canadian ferry Princess Victoria sank near London, Ontario.
In 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, was opened to traffic.
1883: The Brooklyn Bridge, linking the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan, is opened to traffic; at the time, it is the longest suspension bridge in the world.
1935: The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the first major league baseball game to be played at night under the floodlights.
1951 Racial segregation in Washington DC restaurants ruled illegal
1951 US performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests)
1951 Willie Mays begins playing for the New York Giants
1954 IBM announces vacuum tube "electronic" brain that could perform 10 million operations an hour
1957 Anti American riots breakout in Taipei, Taiwan
1958 "New Girl in Town" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 432 performances
1958 President Batista opens offensive against Fidel Castro's rebellion
1958 UP & International News Service merge into United Press International
1959 1st house with built-in bomb shelter exhibited (Pleasant Hills PA)
1964 Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open Invitational
1965 Supreme Court declares federal law allowing post office to intercept communist propaganda is unconstitutional
1968 Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithfull arrested for drug possession
1970 Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA Bluegrass Golf Invitational
1971 A commuter bus plunges into Panamá Canal, killing 38 of 43 aboard
1972 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980, Iran rejected a call by the World Court in The Hague to release the American hostages.
1981 Hostage situation ends at Central Bank in Barcelona Spain
1981 Kathy Hite wins LPGA Corning Golf Classic
1983 Supreme Court rules government can deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminated against students
1986 Margaret Thatcher becomes 1st British PM to visit Israel
1986 Reginald Huffstetler treds water for 985 hours
1987 33rd LPGA Championship won by Jane Geddes
1988 John Moschitta set record for fast talking: 586 words per minute
1988 Porntip Nakhirunkanok, 19, of Thailand, crowned 37th Miss Universe
1988 Power outage in Boston Garden in NHL's Stanley Cup finals
1989 "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade" premieres
1992 Colleen Walker wins LPGA Corning Golf Classic
1992 Pat Bradley wins J C Penney/LPGA Skins Game Golf Tournament
1993 Eritrea achieved independence from Ethiopia after 30-year civil war
1993 Kim Basinger files for bankruptcy to avoid paying $7.4 million settlement
1993 Kurd rebellion kills 33 soldiers & 5 citizens in Turkey
1997 Actor Tim Allen arrested for drunk driving in Michigan
Missing in Action
1968 RUCKER EMMETT JR. WICHITA FALLS TX
1968 SHANKS JAMES LEE OYSTER POINT NY
1969 MANSKE CHARLES J. EL CAMPO TX
1969 MONTEZ ANASTACIO PRESIDIO TX
1972 BEELER CARROLL R. FRISCO TX 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 HENN JOHN R. JR. SUTTON MA
May 23...
1707, Carolus Linnaeus, naturalist
1883, Douglas Fairbanks, American film actor and producer, noted especially for the daring athletic feats and expert swordsmanship that highlighted his performances. He was born in Denver, Colorado, and educated at the Colorado School of Mines and at Harvard University. After a short period with a Wall Street brokerage firm, he turned to the stage in 1901. During the following 14 years he rose to stardom, appearing in a variety of roles. In 1915 he entered films, eventually forming his own producing company. As a star he was one of the most popular actors of his day, starring in such films as The Mark of Zorro (1920), The Three Musketeers (1921), Robin Hood (1922), The Thief of Bagdad (1924), Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925), The Black Pirate (1926), The Gaucho (1927), The Iron Mask (1929), and The Taming of the Shrew (1929). In association with his second wife (the actor Mary Pickford), the director D. W. Griffith, and the actor-director-producer Charlie Chaplin, Fairbanks founded the film-producing company United Artists, Inc., in 1919.
1910 Artie Shaw, jazz clarinetist, bandleader, and composer (1910)
1951, Anatoly Karpov, chess player
1059 Henri I crowns his son compassionate King Philip I of France
1275 King Edward I of England orders cessation of persecution of French Jews
1420 Jews of Syria & Austria expelled
1421 Jews of Austria imprisoned & expelled
1533 King Henry VIII & Catherine of Aragon marriage declared null & void
1430, Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English.
1533, the marriage of England's King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon was declared null and void.
1618 2nd Defenestration of Prague; the beginning of the 30 Years War
1785, In a letter, Benjamin Franklin describes his latest invention, bifocal eyeglasses; the upper portion of the lens is ground for distance and the lower part for reading.
1788, South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1873: The North-West Mounted Police (now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) is established as Canada's national police force; officers are popularly called Mounties.
1873 1st Preakness: G Barbee aboard Survivor wins in 2:43
1873 Canada's North West Mounted Police Force (RCMPF) forms
1873 Postal cards sold in San Fransisco for 1st time
1876 1st National League no-hitter (Joe Borden, Boston)
1894 William Love hosts ground breaking ceremonies for Love Canal
1911: The administrative center of the New York Public Library opens on Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets in Manhattan.
Through the combined resources of the Tilden Trust and the Astor and Lenox libraries, the New York Public Library was founded on this day in 1895. The New York Public Library offers information on its history, collections, exhibits, and services.
http://www.nypl.org/
1921 "Shuffle Along" 1st black musical comedy, opens in NYC
1934: Notorious partners-in-crime Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, commonly known as Bonnie and Clyde, are shot to death in a police ambush in Louisiana.
1935 1st scheduled night game, postponed due to rain (Cincinnati)
1939 Hitler proclaims he wants to move into Poland
1939 Submarine Squalis sinks off Portsmouth NH, 26 die
1945, Nazi official Heinrich Himmler committed suicide while imprisoned in Luneburg, Germany.
1956 World Trade Center dedicated in Ferry Building, San Fransisco
1958 Mao Tse Tung starts "Great leap forward" movement in China
1960, Israel announced it had captured former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. Eichmann was tried in Israel, found guilty of crimes against humanity and hanged in 1962.
1964 Dale Greig runs female marathon world record (3:27:45)
1965 Mickey Wright wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open
1970 Grateful Dead's 1st perfomance outside of the US (England)
1970 USSR performs nuclear test (underground)
1971 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Suzuki Golf Internationalionale
1971 Rock group Iron Butterfly disbands
1974 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1976 Amy Alcott wins '76 LPGA Golf Classic
1977, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman and former Attorney General John N. Mitchell in connection with their Watergate convictions.
1979 Rocker Tom Petty files chapter 11 bankruptcy
1981 Barcelona fascists take 200 people hostage
1981 NASA launches Intelsat V
1982 Cathy Morse wins LPGA Chrysler-Plymouth Charity Golf Classic
1982 Colin Wilson rides a surfboard 294 miles
1985, Thomas Patrick Cavanagh, an aerospace engineer who admitted trying to sell "stealth" bomber secrets to the Soviet Union, was sentenced in Los Angeles to life in prison.
1993 Val Skinner wins LPGA Lady Keystone Golf Open
1994 Star Trek The Next Generation, finale airs this week in syndication
Missing in Action
1965 WALKER ORIEN JUDSON BOSTON MA 02/01/66 PROB DEAD
1967 HOMUTH RICHARD W. SPRING VALLEY CA SAR FOUND RAFT RADIO CONTACT
1967 PETTIS THOMAS E. MOBILE AL SAR FOUND RAFT RADIO CONTACT
1967 SCHMITTOU EUREKA LAVERN RINGGOLD TX SAR FOUND RAFT RADIO CONTACT
1967 SOUCY RONALD PHILIP WHITTING LAKE IN SAR FOUND RAFT RADIO CONTACT
1968 COCHRAN ISOM CARTER JR. HOUSTON TX
1968 LANE GLEN O. ODESSA TX
1968 OWEN ROBERT D. CHATHAM VA
1968 SCHRUMP RAYMOND C. TOMAHAWK WI 02/12/73 RELEASED BY PRG INJURED ALIVE IN 96
1969 BENTON GREGORY R. VALLEJO CA FAMILY STATES NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN
1969 RAMIREZ ARMANDO WILLCOX AZ
1972 BYRNS WILLIAM G. ST. LOUIS MO 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 1996/98
1972 BEAN WILLIAM R. JR. FT PAYNE AL 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 BARNETT CHARLES E. HOUSTON TX BODY FELL IN FIELD-NHAN DAN REMAINS RETURNED 02/22/89
The Boston Globe
House dives into stem cell debate
By Laurie Kellman, Associated Press Writer May 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Ignoring President Bush's veto threat, the House plunged into the dispute over stem cell research Tuesday, debating a bill that supporters said could accelerate cures for diseases but opponents viewed as akin to abortion.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/05/24/house_considers_loosening_stem_cell_rules/
Officials: Four other patients were killed by rodent virus
By Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer May 24, 2005
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A day after health officials disclosed that three transplant recipients in New England died after being infected by a rodent virus contracted by the donor, officials in Wisconsin on Tuesday said four other patients died under similar circumstances in 2003.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2005/05/24/rare_rodent_virus_blamed_for_deaths_of_three_transplant_patients/
The center holds clout
By Peter S. Canellos, Globe Staff May 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Emerging from their weeks of negotiations like a long-sequestered jury, Senate moderates delivered a stunning verdict to the White House and Congress: Politicians have spent too much time rallying their bases of support and not enough time coming together in the national interest.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/05/24/the_center_holds_clout/
Report: breast cancer rate decreased from 1998 to 2002
May 24, 2005
BOSTON -- The breast cancer rate in Massachusetts dropped between 1998 and 2002, but the rate of all cancer cases and deaths changed little during that period, state health officials said Tuesday.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/05/24/report_breast_cancer_rate_decreased_from_1998_to_2002/
Shiite leader: Iraq civil war avoidable
By Bassem Mroue, Associated Press Writer May 24, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite political party expressed certainty Tuesday that a civil war will not break out in his country despite an increase in violence.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/05/24/shiite_leader_iraq_civil_war_avoidable/
The Middle East Times
You might want to ask yourself did Laura address any of these women's issues.
Female television presenter shot dead in Kabul
May 20, 2005
KABUL -- Unknown gunmen on Wednesday shot dead a female television presenter in Kabul who once worked for a music program similar to MTV that had upset radical Islamic clerics, police said.
"Yes I can confirm that she was killed," said city police chief Mohammad Akram Khakrizwal. But he added that there was no known motive for the murder of 24-year-old Shaima Rezayee.
"We don't have more information at this point. Our unit has gone to the site and is investigating," Khakrizwal said.
Rezayee was sacked from the private-run Tulo TV in March that hosted her music program after it was heavily criticized by clerics. She had not worked since.
Tulo, one of several private TV channels launched after the fall of the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001, has also been the target of criticism by Islamic radicals.
Khakrizwal said that the police counter-criminal unit was investigating the murder that took place in Kabul's Char Qala district.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050520-041350-4810r
Kenyan magistrate rejects journalist's attempt to sue first lady for assault
May 18, 2005
PRIVATE SUIT: Kenyan cameraman Clifford Derrick Otieno smiles as he leaves the Chief Magistrate's Court in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 16. Otieno filed a private suit against Kenya’s first lady, Lucy Muthoni Kibaki, for assault and damage of property.
(REUTERS)
NAIROBI -- A Kenyan magistrate on Wednesday upheld the state's decision to block a cameraman from suing the volatile wife of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki for allegedly assaulting him and breaking his camera when she stormed into a newsroom to protest against unfair coverage.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050518-082750-5456r
Saudi advisory body shelves proposal to lift women's driving ban
May 23, 2005
RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia's appointed consultative council has shelved a proposal by one of its members to lift the ban on women's driving in the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom, newspapers reported on Monday.
According to Al-Watan a decision on whether the issue will be debated has been put off until the speaker of the Shura council returns from an official visit to Canada.
But the leading daily Al-Riyadh quoted the deputy speaker of the 150-strong body, Mahmoud Tiba, as telling the council during a session on Sunday that issues such as lifting the driving ban "should be discussed by the highest religious authority in the country".
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050523-071352-8902r
Murdered photographer case still open, Iranian judiciary says
May 17, 2005
TEHRAN -- Iran's judiciary said on Tuesday that the case of murdered Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi was still open, even though the first appeals hearing into the affair was wrapped up in less than an hour.
Judiciary spokesman Jamal Karimi-Rad told reporters that a new hearing would be held on July 25 and more witnesses heard.
His comments came the day after lawyers representing the family of Kazemi complained that an appeals hearing had lasted just an hour and that the judge refused to hear their demands for a fresh investigation.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050517-060850-1766r
Afghanistan faces shortage of women in new parliament
May 23, 2005
KABUL -- Afghanistan faces the prospect of not having enough women to fill parliamentary seats reserved for them in the war-torn country's first post-Taliban legislative elections due to a lack of candidates, officials said on Sunday.
"Countrywide, we are short of 18 female candidates for provincial councils," Afghanistan Electoral Commission chairman Bismillah Bismil said less than two days before registration closes for most candidates.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050523-070744-3017r
Man throws acid in face of ex-fiancée in Jordan
May 17, 2005
AMMAN -- A man blinded by jealousy threw acid in his former fiancée's face to try to make sure that she could not marry anyone else, the Jordanian news agency Petra reported on Monday.
It said that the man's constant demands for his fiancée to "stop speaking to others, quit her job and stay at home" had forced her to break off their engagement.
The woman suffered "serious burns that could also permanently affect her eyesight", Petra said, without identifying the couple. Her family has filed a court case against the assailant.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050517-035950-8440r
Women rights activists arrested for demanding the right to run with men
AFP
May 16, 2005
THE RIGHT TO RUN: Pakistani police personnel detain human rights activists in Lahore on May 14, at the start of a mini-marathon in the eastern city of Lahore, after they defied a ban on the two sexes running together.
(REUTERS)
LAHORE -- A group of female rights activists were arrested on Saturday after attempting to lead a rally demanding women the right to run in marathons alongside men.
Among the arrested were Pakistan's internationally known human rights activist Asma Jehangir, witnesses said.
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050516-061551-8086r
Saudi women rated least free in Arab world
May 23, 2005
Shuneh, JORDAN -- Saudi Arabia received the lowest rating on women's freedom in a new survey released at the World Economic Forum in Shuneh, Jordan, on Saturday.
The survey, conducted by the Freedom House, is the first comparative assessment of women's rights in 17 nations in the Middle East and North Africa.
It found a "substantial deficit of women's rights ... Women are at a profound disadvantage in practically every institution of society, the criminal justice system, the economy, education, healthcare and the media."
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050523-065123-8796r
Haaertz
PA presents Israel with troop plan during pullout
By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel and Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Nasser Yousef presented Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz with the plan the PA is formulating for deploying its security forces in the Gaza Strip during the implementation of the disengagement plan and afterwards.
The plan was discussed at the security coordination meeting held in Tel Aviv. Mofaz was not impressed, and claimed that the plan is superficial and unsatisfactory.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/578856.html
The Vietnam News
The rocks have got soul in Ninh Binh
The jutting rocks and picturesque grottoes of Ninh Binh gave birth to a millenium-old tradition of stone-carving. Binh Nguyen is transfixed.
From afar the Ngo Giang River looks like a thin thread zig-zagging through jutting rocks and grottoes of the Ninh Binh region.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=04SUN220505
Students to surf the internet in hostels
(19-05-2005)
HA NOI — Students from Ha Noi’s College of Foreign Languages, under the Viet Nam National University (VNU), will soon benefit from internet access after school officials opted to experiment with dormitory computers and connections.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01EDU190505
Bird flu patient dies in Ha Noi
(21-05-2005)
HA NOI — A man admitted to the Institute for Clinical Research into Tropical Diseases with bird flu last Monday has died.
Nguyen Tien Cuu, 46, from Binh Kieu Commune in the Khoai Chau District of Hung Yen Province, about 40km west of Ha Noi, arrived in a very critical condition with lung inflammation and weak kidneys, says the Health Ministry.
He died on Thursday.
Two other patients undergoing treatment at the institute have tested positive for bird flu.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA210505
Healthcare projects benefit minorities
HA NOI — Nearly 1.8 million ethnic minority residents in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) provinces will have access to quality health care services thanks to an expanded government programme launched last week.
The US$30.6 million community-based people’s health care scheme – originally envisaged last year and expected to contribute substantially to the Government’s poverty reduction efforts – will target the lower-income people among the Tay Nguyen’s 4.7 million population, half of whom have poor educational and health status. Ministry of Health (MoH) statistics reveal that 2.1 million people in the region live below the Government’s new poverty line.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA200505
Lack of awareness on food safety fuels rash of Thai Binh poisonings
THAI BINH — Inadequate monitoring of food hygiene standards by authorities has been blamed for an alarming number of food poisoning cases in the northern province of Thai Binh.
Ten cases of food poisoning were reported in Thai Binh in the first four months of the year, of which several were serious. In one incident, Poongshin Vina, a South Korea-invested clothing company, had to take 20 workers to the hospital.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA180505
Official warns of summer epidemic risk
(16-05-2005)
HA NOI — Vice director of the Department for Preventive Medicine and HIV/AIDS Control, Dr. Nguyen Van Binh, has warned that the current spate of hot weather is likely to increase the frequency and intensity of disease epidemics.
Binh voiced particular concern about possible breakouts of dengue fever and encephalitis among children in northern and central regions of Viet Nam.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA160505
Sea medical centre built in Hai Phong
(16-05-2005)
HAI PHONG — The construction of a new Viet Nam Sea Medical Institute, conjointly organised by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Hai Phong City People’s Committee, began in Hai Phong on Saturday.
Located in the city’s Du Hang Kenh Ward, Le Chan District, and costing around VND100 billion (US$6.37 million), the 3ha complex will comprise a futuristic 7-storey central building which will accommodate rescue helicopters, a three-storey building dedicated to maritime rescue operations and telemedicine treatment, and a four-star quality compound dedicated to training, research and medicinal treatment, complete with a park, swimming pool, library, gymnasium and car park. The MoH expects the project to be completed by late 2007.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02HEA160505
continued...
"The Color of Life" for Panasonic for 'Defiance' is DEATH.
It is not unusal for advocates for humanity including environmental responsibility to critique the media including the messages being delivered by product manufacturers. I find the lastest commercial by Panasonic for their HD TV highly insulting. More than, that it is a direct threat for dissension. The "Color of Life" commercial goes through a few events in life, ending with the color black and a funeral procession with the idea being; this is the color of 'DEFIANCE.' I suppose in a climate of cronism they take license with their preference for their customers to 'behave' and not defy any policy of this administration since their bottom lines are looking up like never before.
I don't find any humor in Panasonic's commercial and know why I perfer Zenith products now.
The new TV commercials, which launch this week, still feature the same Christian Slater voice over, but to this reporter, they seemed to more directly address the American consumer in attitude and language. Andrew Douglas, who directed the current "Amityville Horror", directed the three TV commercials, for plasma, DVD recorders and digital still cameras.
The camcorder commercial, with its tagline "Life. It can be shaky sometimes," extols the benefits of the Optical Image Stabilization feature in Panasonic's digital still cameras. The commercial for Panasonic's DVD recorders pitches the recorders as a means not only for capturing favorite TV programs, but also home videos and family photos. Finally, the "Life is Color" plasma TV commercials showcases Panasonic's new HDTV plasma displays.
I don't find any humor in Panasonic's commercial and know why I perfer Zenith products now.
The new TV commercials, which launch this week, still feature the same Christian Slater voice over, but to this reporter, they seemed to more directly address the American consumer in attitude and language. Andrew Douglas, who directed the current "Amityville Horror", directed the three TV commercials, for plasma, DVD recorders and digital still cameras.
The camcorder commercial, with its tagline "Life. It can be shaky sometimes," extols the benefits of the Optical Image Stabilization feature in Panasonic's digital still cameras. The commercial for Panasonic's DVD recorders pitches the recorders as a means not only for capturing favorite TV programs, but also home videos and family photos. Finally, the "Life is Color" plasma TV commercials showcases Panasonic's new HDTV plasma displays.
Embryo Frozen Storage. Bush is grossly misguided in his lack of promotion of stem cell research of BOTH adult and embryo. No one stands opposing In Vitro Fertilization. No stands in opposition to parenthood. Bush stood on a stage with ONLY women, the WEAK GENDER. Bush stood on a STAGE with only women and their children branding his treatment of women as SEXIST. In addition to branding his treatment of women as SEXIST he could be damning the very children on that stage to suffer from disease including juvenile diabetes because he completely opposes Genetic Research. Make no mistake, Bush has played ONLY politics with this issue and if the stem cell lines ALLOWED to exist to benefit research did not exist there would be no research at all. Bush has damned Genetic Research in this country and wishes it all to go away deferring ONLY to Evangelical Principles of Dark Ages Lifestyles and priorities.
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
White House Pulls Strings;
First Lady's Sesame Street Adventure
By Jefferson Morley / Washington Post
The world says "Guantanamo," and the Bush administration replies "Sesame Street."
Laura Bush's photo opportunity Monday with a puppet from the Egyptian version of the children's television program was a snapshot from the island of American innocence in a sea of Muslim hostility.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2752
Finds Laura gentler audience
Senate Votes to End Filibuster on Judge
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer 31 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to end years of delaying tactics that blocked the nomination of Priscilla Owen to a federal judgeship, the first fruit of a bipartisan agreement to break the logjam over
President Bush's judicial choices.
The vote was 81-18 with opponents of the Texas Supreme Court justice falling well short of the 60 needed to continue their filibuster. A vote to confirm Owen could come as early as Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050524/ap_on_go_co/filibuster_fight
U.S. Rockets Reportedly Kill 5 Pakistanis
American military says troops were pursuing guerrillas who attacked in Afghanistan, but does not confirm fatalities across the border.
By Zulfiqar Ali and Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A battle between U.S. forces and militants in eastern Afghanistan spilled across the border into Pakistan during the weekend, and witnesses said American rocket fire had killed five Pakistani tribesmen.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2747
Tillman's Parents Are Critical Of Army
Family Questions Reversal On Cause of Ranger's Death
By Josh White / Washington Post
Former NFL player Pat Tillman's family is lashing out against the Army, saying that the military's investigations into Tillman's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan last year were a sham and that Army efforts to cover up the truth have made it harder for them to deal with their loss.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2744
Canada rights group to 'adopt' US soldier who refused Iraq
MONTREAL (AFP) - Amnesty International plans to defend Jeremy Hinzman, a US army soldier who refused to fight in Iraq and is seeking asylum in Canada rather than a US jail, the rights group said.
"It's absolutely essential that Canada now take all steps to protect him from the possibility that he could end up in a US a prison simply because of his conscientious belief," Alex Neve, director of Amnesty International in Canada, told the CBC television's Newsworld channel.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2749
10 Dead as Car Bomb Tears Apart Baghdad Restaurant
By Jeffrey Fleishman / Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD — As sweeps by U.S. and Iraqi forces captured nearly 300 suspected militants across Baghdad today, a car bomb ripped through a popular city restaurant, killing 10, wounding 107 and increasing anxiety in a nation unable to stop a wave of insurgent violence.
Fire coiled through the sky around lunchtime near a falafel restaurant in Baghdad's Talibya neighborhood in what has become a common scene since the Iraqi government took office last month.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2748
The Downing Street "Memo" is actually a document containing meeting minutes transcribed during the British Prime Minister's meeting on July 23, 2002—a full eight months PRIOR to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. The Times of London printed the text of this document on Sunday, May 1, 2005, but to date US media coverage has been limited. This site is intended to act as a resource for anyone who wants to understand the facts revealed in this document.
http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/
The New York Times
Orthodox Leaders Won't Recognize Irineos I
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 24, 2005
Filed at 12:13 p.m. ET
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- World Orthodox leaders voted Tuesday to stop recognizing the patriarch of Jerusalem, Irineos I, church officials said, asserting a rare unified position on the crisis facing the Church in the Holy Land.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Turkey-Orthodox-Holy-Land.html?hp
Eight U.S. Soldiers Killed Over Two Days in Iraq
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
and TERENCE NEILAN
Published: May 24, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 24 - Eight American soldiers were killed in attacks by insurgents over the past the two days, the military said today, as a renewed wave of violence continued.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/24/international/middleeast/24cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1116993600&en=547bd56397c505af&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Senators Reach Deal to Avert a Showdown on Judicial Nominees
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 23, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Averting a showdown, centrists from both parties reached agreement Monday night on a compromise that clears the way for confirmation votes on many of President Bush's stalled judicial nominees, leaves others in limbo and preserves venerable Senate filibuster rules.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Filibuster-Fight.html?hp
Justices, for Now, Rebuff Mexican on Appeal of Death Sentence
By DAVID STOUT
Published: May 23, 2005
WASHINGTON, May 23 - The Supreme Court today turned away as premature the appeal of a Mexican on death row in Texas whose case has attracted international attention because he was convicted and sentenced long before officials of his country were notified of his situation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/23/politics/22cnd-treaty.html?hp&ex=1116907200&en=cdf720144aa5a628&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Iran's Leader Seeks Vote With Reformist Candidates
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 23, 2005
Filed at 1:12 p.m. ET
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's supreme leader ordered the hard-line constitutional watchdog council to reconsider its decision to bar senior reformist candidates from running in next month's presidential elections, state-run television reported Monday.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iran-Elections.html?hp&ex=1116907200&en=246768e842d5eafe&ei=5094&partner=homepage
China, the World's Capital
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: May 22, 2005
KAIFENG, China
As this millennium dawns, New York City is the most important city in the world, the unofficial capital of planet Earth. But before we New Yorkers become too full of ourselves, it might be worthwhile to glance at dilapidated Kaifeng in central China.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/opinion/22kristof.html
Sydney Morning Herald
It should be noted neither Australia or the USA have signed Kyoto Protocol. Their farmers are suffering due to the high levels of carbon dioxide concentration over their countries.
Farmers face a dry future
May 20, 2005
If money were all it took, the problems brought by the drought could be fixed tomorrow. It might not be cheap, but conceptually it would be a simple matter to give farmers precisely what they are seeking - financial relief from slow strangulation by debt - and nothing more.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Editorial/Farmers-face-a-dry-future/2005/05/19/1116361671321.html
Get serious about environment, sack Howard: Suzuki
May 24, 2005 - 7:52PM
Kyoto Protocol 'now international law': David Suzuki.
Prime Minister John Howard is making Australia an "environmental bandit" by failing to sign the Kyoto protocol, award-winning scientist David Suzuki says.
Dr Suzuki, visiting Australia this week for the Sydney Writers festival, says he was at Kyoto in 1997 when Australia was complaining about signing the protocol.
The protocol took effect in February, with 141 countries agreeing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 per cent from 1990 levels.
Dr Suzuki said Australia's refusal to the ratify the protocol showed it wasn't serious about the environment.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Get-serious-about-environment-sack-Howard-Suzuki/2005/05/24/1116700706818.html
Blair's dash to shore up decaying climate agenda
By Patrick Wintour, Larry Elliott and David Gow in London
May 25, 2005
The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is to undertake a lightning tour of world leaders in the face of mounting evidence that his ambitious agenda for his G8 presidency on climate change and poverty in Africa is crumbling due to US opposition.
Downing Street confirmed on Monday that Mr Blair will see five world leaders personally and hold video conferences with the Japanese and Canadians in a bid to secure an elusive consensus ahead of the summit starting on July 6 in Gleneagles, Scotland.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Blairs-dash-to-shore-up-decaying-climate-agenda/2005/05/24/1116700712138.html
Bear in the backyard
May 24, 2005 - 6:30AM
A female black bear takes a swim in a backyard pool in LA.
Photo: AP
A 63-kilogram bear wandered into a suburban Los Angeles neighbourhood and took a dip in a swimming pool before being tranquilised and returned to the wild.
The female bear ambled into the San Fernando Valley's Porter Ranch area shortly after 6pm yesterday, bumping into doors and windows before taking a few splashes in a backyard pool, fire spokesman Brian Humphrey said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Bear-in-the-backyard/2005/05/24/1116700676820.html
Schoolgirls killed in bus crash near Dublin
May 24, 2005 - 7:28AM
Five Irish schoolgirls were killed today when their bus and two cars collided, causing the bus to flip onto its side. Police said other children remained trapped in the bus.
The crash happened near Navan, a commuter town north-west of Dublin, about 4pm (1am AEST).
The bus, which had about 50 schoolchildren aboard, ended up in a ditch.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Schoolgirls-killed-in-bus-crash-near-Dublin/2005/05/24/1116700678455.html
Japan vows to continue whaling despite pressure
May 24, 2005 - 7:06PM
Tokyo will not yield to foreign pressure aimed at preventing Japan from whaling, a senior fisheries official said today.
Australia has stepped up a campaign against Japan's annual hunt in the name of scientific research, with Prime Minister John Howard taking the unusual step of intervening personally in the row.
He wrote to his counterpart Junichiro Koizumi, urging Japan to scrap reported plans to include species considered endangered among those hunted.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Japan-vows-to-continue-whaling-despite-pressure/2005/05/24/1116700705808.html
Koizumi unmoved by whale reproach
By Deborah Cameron Herald Correspondent in Tokyo and Cynthia Banham
May 25, 2005
Japan has brushed off an attempt by the Prime Minister to use the clout of his office to force a backdown over whaling.
A letter to Japan's prime minister, Mr Junichiro Koizumi, from Mr Howard saying that whales were a "great delight" for tourists and that there was no basis for killing whales as part of a scientific program, has failed to win diplomatic attention in Tokyo.
Mr Koizumi's office confirmed that it had arrived but deflected further inquiries to the Department of Foreign Affairs which, in turn, brushed it off.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Koizumi-unmoved-by-whale-reproach/2005/05/24/1116700712101.html
Cessna pilot feared he would be shot down
May 24, 2005 - 10:55PM
The pilot whose small plane flew over Washington this month and triggered a security scare that emptied the White House, Capitol and Supreme Court, said today he thought he was going to be "shot out of the sky."
Homeland security and military aircraft, including two F-16s and a Black Hawk helicopter, were scrambled to intercept the Cessna 150 turboprop and escort it to an airport in nearby Maryland on May 11.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Cessna-pilot-feared-he-would-be-shot-down/2005/05/24/1116700714115.html
Special deal may be struck to get Corby home
May 24, 2005 - 8:30PM
Feeling the strain: Corby.
Photo: Jason South
The Australian government is planning to get Schapelle Corby home one way or another, even if she is convicted by a Bali court on drugs charges.
Australia is negotiating a special agreement with Indonesia which will allow prisoners to serve their jail terms in their home country.
But Justice Minister Chris Ellison says the government will negotiate a one-off interim agreement to get Corby home if negotiations for the prisoner transfer scheme get bogged down.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Special-deal-may-be-struck-to-get-Corby-home/2005/05/24/1116700708012.html
Computer files 'held hostage' in internet extortion
May 25, 2005
Computer users already anxious about viruses and identity theft have new reason to worry.
Hackers have found a way to lock up the electronic documents on PC's and then demand $US200 ($260) over the internet to get them back.
Security researchers at San Diego-based Websense Inc uncovered the unusual extortion plot when a corporate customer they would not identify fell victim to the infection, which encrypted files that included documents, photographs and spreadsheets.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Computer-files-held-hostage-in-internet-extortion/2005/05/24/1116700711074.html
Injuries won't stop high rollers
Surfing's two flagship world tour events, held in Tahiti and Fiji, will continue running almost back to back despite a spate of injuries which has cruelled world title aspirations.
The two events are the most dangerous on the 13-event world tour, contested on the shallow reefs of Teahupoo and Cloudbreak.
Teahupoo, the world's most feared break, has injured finalists in three successive years, all of whom missed the next event in Fiji, ruining their world title aspirations.
The three -- Kelly Slater in 2002, Australia's Nathan Hedge last year and now Damien Hobgood -- were in the world's top five but unable to surf in Fiji.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Injuries-wont-stop-high-rollers/2005/05/23/1116700644096.html?oneclick=true
IT SEEMS TO ME the targets are taking on a specialized or spectacular focus.
Iraqi PM's aide assassinated
May 23, 2005 - 4:40PM
Two carloads of gunmen assassinated a top aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's cabinet and his driver in Baghdad today, police said.
Wael Rubaye was attacked in the main street in central Baghdad's Mansour district at about 8:15am as they were heading to work, said police Lieutenant Majid Zaki.
Zaki said two carloads of gunmen sprayed automatic weapons fire at Rubaye's vehicle, killing the official and his driver.
The slaying follows yesterday's killing of another senior government official, Trade Ministry auditing office chief Ali Moussa Salman.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Iraqi-PMs-aide-assassinated/2005/05/23/1116700644042.html
Secret service: Cosgrove's son injured in Iraq
Civilian clothes and a detachable name tag helped defence force chief General Peter Cosgrove keep one of the Australian army's most tightly guarded secrets - his son's deployment to Iraq.
Even when Private Philip Cosgrove, 25, was injured in a car bomb blast near the old Australian embassy in Baghdad, nobody outside the tightly-knit defence community knew that he was the son of Australia's most senior soldier.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Secret-service-Cosgroves-son-injured-in-Iraq/2005/05/23/1116700638064.html
Zarqawi group claims to have killed US pilot
May 23, 2005 - 7:11AM
The group of al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed today to have executed an American hostage, in a statement on the Internet accompanied by pictures of his driving licence.
"Your brothers in al-Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers got their hands on a US pilot who turned out to have bombarded several mosques and the Sheraton hotel in Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq, as well as several civilian homes," according to the statement.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Zarqawi-group-claims-to-have-killed-US-pilot/2005/05/23/1116700619421.html
Sunni leaders end boycott in name of liberation
By Ellen Knickmeyer and Naseer Nouri in Baghdad
May 23, 2005
More than 1000 Sunni Arab clerics, political leaders and tribal heads have ended their two-year political boycott, to unite in a Sunni bloc to help draft Iraq's new constitution and compete in elections.
Formation of the group on Saturday comes during escalating violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that has raised the threat of sectarian war. The bloc represents moderate and hardline members of the Association of Muslim Scholars, the Iraqi Islamic Party and other main groups of the disgruntled Sunni minority toppled from dominance during the US-led invasion in April 2003.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Sunni-leaders-end-boycott-in-name-of-liberation/2005/05/22/1116700595280.html
Dancing with dictators
May 23, 2005
To American strategic planners Uzbekistan is a convenient lily pad in the Muslim heart of Central Asia: it is just a short hop for US military forces to Afghanistan, and on to the Middle East.
In 2002, Washington gave President Islam Karimov's despotic regime about $US500 million ($661.5 million) in aid, a thank-you for the use of Uzbek territory in the invasion of Afghanistan, and a down payment on future strategic co-operation in the war on terrorism.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Editorial/Dancing-with-dictators/2005/05/22/1116700590984.html
Bug man accused of $1m museum thefts
A former pest controller at the Australian Museum stole $1 million in historic and rare specimens and kept them at his property on the outskirts of Sydney, a court heard today.
Henk van Leeuwen, 55, was a passionate amateur collector and taxidermist, but his job at the museum since 1996 was to control insects in the museum's specimens collection.
With his unsupervised access to the museum's Marrickville storage facility, and to the museum itself, he was able to remove hundreds of valuable specimens.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Bug-man-accused-of-1m-museum-thefts/2005/05/23/1116700646238.html
Mitsubishi's $5.8 billion loss shock
May 23, 2005 - 4:04PM
Mitsubishi Motors recorded $5.8 billion in losses for the fiscal year ended March 31, its second straight year in the red.
As the scandal-ridden Japanese carmaker struggles to regain customer trust and sales, the company said today that Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Motors Corp had racked up a Y215 billion ($2.64 billion) loss the previous fiscal year.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Mitsubishis-58-billion-loss-shock/2005/05/23/1116700642737.html
Cannes jury unimpressed
The quality of the movies at this year's Cannes Film Festival fell short of expectations, the president of the jury said today, casting a shadow over the annual cinema extravaganza.
As the credits rolled on the 11-day movie marathon, Emir Kusturica made no secret of his disappointment at the 21 films in the official selection.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Film/Cannes-jury-unimpressed/2005/05/23/1116700630807.html
Star Wars smashes record taking $66m in first day
May 22, 2005
The Sun-Herald
The final chapter in the Star Wars movie saga grossed a record $66 million from its first 24 hours in North American theatres, the highest box office tally yet for a single day, 20th Century Fox said.
And police in two countries have seized thousands of pirated Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith DVDs, which hit the streets - and the internet - a matter of hours after the film's official release.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Film/Star-Wars-smashes-record-taking-66m-in-first-day/2005/05/21/1116533580510.html
Reality TV teenager found dead
The psychological effect of reality television shows on contestants will come under renewed scrutiny after it emerged that a 17-year-old girl who apparently committed suicide at the weekend was soon to appear on British screens in a series called The Colony, filmed in Australia.
Carina Stephenson, from Branton, in south Yorkshire, England, was found by police in woodland near her home on Saturday. The death is not being treated as suspicious.
The History Channel, which co-financed the series that sought to re-create the lives of convicts and settlers sent to Australia 200 years ago, said yesterday that it had yet to decide whether to broadcast the show in Britain, but would respect the wishes of the family.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/TV--Radio/Reality-TV-teenager-found-dead/2005/05/23/1116700652147.html
Laura Veirs likes things cold and miserable. And she's not even English.
LAURA VEIRS
The Basement, 29 Reiby Place, Surry Hills
May 27, 9pm
$30
Bookings 9251 2797
Laura Veirs is home in Seattle, drinking tea and staring out the window at "a beautiful, semi-cloudy spring day [where] it could rain any time".
"I really like it," Veirs says. "Sometimes I can find it really comforting to have cloud cover."
As Veirs showed with her album Carbon Glacier last year, cold and grey need not be depressing. Written during winter, Carbon Glacier was a sparse record of sombre country-folk songs full of meditations on the landscape Veirs looked at every day.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Music/Ice-maiden/2005/05/19/1116361666568.html
Buenos Aires Herald
WOLFOWITZ
Change of attitude toward Cuba
"I will not travel (to Cuba) for now. It was not on the schedule and it will not happen for the time being, because I understand that not all the conditions are appropriate yet," Kirchner said in an interview with the daily Página/12.
Kirchner’s visit to Havana was meant to wrap...
http://www.buenosairesherald.com/argentina/note.jsp?idContent=166868&hideIntro=true
Surprise call to German elections
‘‘With this bitter election result for my party in North Rhine-Westphalia, the political support for our reforms to continue has been called into question,’’ Schröder said in a brief statement, referring to the economic reform programme on which he has long staked his chancellorship.
The photo shows Jürgen Rüttgers, the conservative...
http://www.buenosairesherald.com/the_world/note.jsp?idContent=166873&hideIntro=true
continued...
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
White House Pulls Strings;
First Lady's Sesame Street Adventure
By Jefferson Morley / Washington Post
The world says "Guantanamo," and the Bush administration replies "Sesame Street."
Laura Bush's photo opportunity Monday with a puppet from the Egyptian version of the children's television program was a snapshot from the island of American innocence in a sea of Muslim hostility.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2752
Finds Laura gentler audience
Senate Votes to End Filibuster on Judge
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer 31 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to end years of delaying tactics that blocked the nomination of Priscilla Owen to a federal judgeship, the first fruit of a bipartisan agreement to break the logjam over
President Bush's judicial choices.
The vote was 81-18 with opponents of the Texas Supreme Court justice falling well short of the 60 needed to continue their filibuster. A vote to confirm Owen could come as early as Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050524/ap_on_go_co/filibuster_fight
U.S. Rockets Reportedly Kill 5 Pakistanis
American military says troops were pursuing guerrillas who attacked in Afghanistan, but does not confirm fatalities across the border.
By Zulfiqar Ali and Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A battle between U.S. forces and militants in eastern Afghanistan spilled across the border into Pakistan during the weekend, and witnesses said American rocket fire had killed five Pakistani tribesmen.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2747
Tillman's Parents Are Critical Of Army
Family Questions Reversal On Cause of Ranger's Death
By Josh White / Washington Post
Former NFL player Pat Tillman's family is lashing out against the Army, saying that the military's investigations into Tillman's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan last year were a sham and that Army efforts to cover up the truth have made it harder for them to deal with their loss.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2744
Canada rights group to 'adopt' US soldier who refused Iraq
MONTREAL (AFP) - Amnesty International plans to defend Jeremy Hinzman, a US army soldier who refused to fight in Iraq and is seeking asylum in Canada rather than a US jail, the rights group said.
"It's absolutely essential that Canada now take all steps to protect him from the possibility that he could end up in a US a prison simply because of his conscientious belief," Alex Neve, director of Amnesty International in Canada, told the CBC television's Newsworld channel.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2749
10 Dead as Car Bomb Tears Apart Baghdad Restaurant
By Jeffrey Fleishman / Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD — As sweeps by U.S. and Iraqi forces captured nearly 300 suspected militants across Baghdad today, a car bomb ripped through a popular city restaurant, killing 10, wounding 107 and increasing anxiety in a nation unable to stop a wave of insurgent violence.
Fire coiled through the sky around lunchtime near a falafel restaurant in Baghdad's Talibya neighborhood in what has become a common scene since the Iraqi government took office last month.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2748
The Downing Street "Memo" is actually a document containing meeting minutes transcribed during the British Prime Minister's meeting on July 23, 2002—a full eight months PRIOR to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. The Times of London printed the text of this document on Sunday, May 1, 2005, but to date US media coverage has been limited. This site is intended to act as a resource for anyone who wants to understand the facts revealed in this document.
http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/
The New York Times
Orthodox Leaders Won't Recognize Irineos I
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 24, 2005
Filed at 12:13 p.m. ET
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- World Orthodox leaders voted Tuesday to stop recognizing the patriarch of Jerusalem, Irineos I, church officials said, asserting a rare unified position on the crisis facing the Church in the Holy Land.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Turkey-Orthodox-Holy-Land.html?hp
Eight U.S. Soldiers Killed Over Two Days in Iraq
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
and TERENCE NEILAN
Published: May 24, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 24 - Eight American soldiers were killed in attacks by insurgents over the past the two days, the military said today, as a renewed wave of violence continued.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/24/international/middleeast/24cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1116993600&en=547bd56397c505af&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Senators Reach Deal to Avert a Showdown on Judicial Nominees
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 23, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Averting a showdown, centrists from both parties reached agreement Monday night on a compromise that clears the way for confirmation votes on many of President Bush's stalled judicial nominees, leaves others in limbo and preserves venerable Senate filibuster rules.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Filibuster-Fight.html?hp
Justices, for Now, Rebuff Mexican on Appeal of Death Sentence
By DAVID STOUT
Published: May 23, 2005
WASHINGTON, May 23 - The Supreme Court today turned away as premature the appeal of a Mexican on death row in Texas whose case has attracted international attention because he was convicted and sentenced long before officials of his country were notified of his situation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/23/politics/22cnd-treaty.html?hp&ex=1116907200&en=cdf720144aa5a628&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Iran's Leader Seeks Vote With Reformist Candidates
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 23, 2005
Filed at 1:12 p.m. ET
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's supreme leader ordered the hard-line constitutional watchdog council to reconsider its decision to bar senior reformist candidates from running in next month's presidential elections, state-run television reported Monday.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iran-Elections.html?hp&ex=1116907200&en=246768e842d5eafe&ei=5094&partner=homepage
China, the World's Capital
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: May 22, 2005
KAIFENG, China
As this millennium dawns, New York City is the most important city in the world, the unofficial capital of planet Earth. But before we New Yorkers become too full of ourselves, it might be worthwhile to glance at dilapidated Kaifeng in central China.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/opinion/22kristof.html
Sydney Morning Herald
It should be noted neither Australia or the USA have signed Kyoto Protocol. Their farmers are suffering due to the high levels of carbon dioxide concentration over their countries.
Farmers face a dry future
May 20, 2005
If money were all it took, the problems brought by the drought could be fixed tomorrow. It might not be cheap, but conceptually it would be a simple matter to give farmers precisely what they are seeking - financial relief from slow strangulation by debt - and nothing more.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Editorial/Farmers-face-a-dry-future/2005/05/19/1116361671321.html
Get serious about environment, sack Howard: Suzuki
May 24, 2005 - 7:52PM
Kyoto Protocol 'now international law': David Suzuki.
Prime Minister John Howard is making Australia an "environmental bandit" by failing to sign the Kyoto protocol, award-winning scientist David Suzuki says.
Dr Suzuki, visiting Australia this week for the Sydney Writers festival, says he was at Kyoto in 1997 when Australia was complaining about signing the protocol.
The protocol took effect in February, with 141 countries agreeing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 per cent from 1990 levels.
Dr Suzuki said Australia's refusal to the ratify the protocol showed it wasn't serious about the environment.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Get-serious-about-environment-sack-Howard-Suzuki/2005/05/24/1116700706818.html
Blair's dash to shore up decaying climate agenda
By Patrick Wintour, Larry Elliott and David Gow in London
May 25, 2005
The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is to undertake a lightning tour of world leaders in the face of mounting evidence that his ambitious agenda for his G8 presidency on climate change and poverty in Africa is crumbling due to US opposition.
Downing Street confirmed on Monday that Mr Blair will see five world leaders personally and hold video conferences with the Japanese and Canadians in a bid to secure an elusive consensus ahead of the summit starting on July 6 in Gleneagles, Scotland.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Blairs-dash-to-shore-up-decaying-climate-agenda/2005/05/24/1116700712138.html
Bear in the backyard
May 24, 2005 - 6:30AM
A female black bear takes a swim in a backyard pool in LA.
Photo: AP
A 63-kilogram bear wandered into a suburban Los Angeles neighbourhood and took a dip in a swimming pool before being tranquilised and returned to the wild.
The female bear ambled into the San Fernando Valley's Porter Ranch area shortly after 6pm yesterday, bumping into doors and windows before taking a few splashes in a backyard pool, fire spokesman Brian Humphrey said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Bear-in-the-backyard/2005/05/24/1116700676820.html
Schoolgirls killed in bus crash near Dublin
May 24, 2005 - 7:28AM
Five Irish schoolgirls were killed today when their bus and two cars collided, causing the bus to flip onto its side. Police said other children remained trapped in the bus.
The crash happened near Navan, a commuter town north-west of Dublin, about 4pm (1am AEST).
The bus, which had about 50 schoolchildren aboard, ended up in a ditch.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Schoolgirls-killed-in-bus-crash-near-Dublin/2005/05/24/1116700678455.html
Japan vows to continue whaling despite pressure
May 24, 2005 - 7:06PM
Tokyo will not yield to foreign pressure aimed at preventing Japan from whaling, a senior fisheries official said today.
Australia has stepped up a campaign against Japan's annual hunt in the name of scientific research, with Prime Minister John Howard taking the unusual step of intervening personally in the row.
He wrote to his counterpart Junichiro Koizumi, urging Japan to scrap reported plans to include species considered endangered among those hunted.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Japan-vows-to-continue-whaling-despite-pressure/2005/05/24/1116700705808.html
Koizumi unmoved by whale reproach
By Deborah Cameron Herald Correspondent in Tokyo and Cynthia Banham
May 25, 2005
Japan has brushed off an attempt by the Prime Minister to use the clout of his office to force a backdown over whaling.
A letter to Japan's prime minister, Mr Junichiro Koizumi, from Mr Howard saying that whales were a "great delight" for tourists and that there was no basis for killing whales as part of a scientific program, has failed to win diplomatic attention in Tokyo.
Mr Koizumi's office confirmed that it had arrived but deflected further inquiries to the Department of Foreign Affairs which, in turn, brushed it off.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Koizumi-unmoved-by-whale-reproach/2005/05/24/1116700712101.html
Cessna pilot feared he would be shot down
May 24, 2005 - 10:55PM
The pilot whose small plane flew over Washington this month and triggered a security scare that emptied the White House, Capitol and Supreme Court, said today he thought he was going to be "shot out of the sky."
Homeland security and military aircraft, including two F-16s and a Black Hawk helicopter, were scrambled to intercept the Cessna 150 turboprop and escort it to an airport in nearby Maryland on May 11.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Cessna-pilot-feared-he-would-be-shot-down/2005/05/24/1116700714115.html
Special deal may be struck to get Corby home
May 24, 2005 - 8:30PM
Feeling the strain: Corby.
Photo: Jason South
The Australian government is planning to get Schapelle Corby home one way or another, even if she is convicted by a Bali court on drugs charges.
Australia is negotiating a special agreement with Indonesia which will allow prisoners to serve their jail terms in their home country.
But Justice Minister Chris Ellison says the government will negotiate a one-off interim agreement to get Corby home if negotiations for the prisoner transfer scheme get bogged down.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Special-deal-may-be-struck-to-get-Corby-home/2005/05/24/1116700708012.html
Computer files 'held hostage' in internet extortion
May 25, 2005
Computer users already anxious about viruses and identity theft have new reason to worry.
Hackers have found a way to lock up the electronic documents on PC's and then demand $US200 ($260) over the internet to get them back.
Security researchers at San Diego-based Websense Inc uncovered the unusual extortion plot when a corporate customer they would not identify fell victim to the infection, which encrypted files that included documents, photographs and spreadsheets.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Computer-files-held-hostage-in-internet-extortion/2005/05/24/1116700711074.html
Injuries won't stop high rollers
Surfing's two flagship world tour events, held in Tahiti and Fiji, will continue running almost back to back despite a spate of injuries which has cruelled world title aspirations.
The two events are the most dangerous on the 13-event world tour, contested on the shallow reefs of Teahupoo and Cloudbreak.
Teahupoo, the world's most feared break, has injured finalists in three successive years, all of whom missed the next event in Fiji, ruining their world title aspirations.
The three -- Kelly Slater in 2002, Australia's Nathan Hedge last year and now Damien Hobgood -- were in the world's top five but unable to surf in Fiji.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Injuries-wont-stop-high-rollers/2005/05/23/1116700644096.html?oneclick=true
IT SEEMS TO ME the targets are taking on a specialized or spectacular focus.
Iraqi PM's aide assassinated
May 23, 2005 - 4:40PM
Two carloads of gunmen assassinated a top aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's cabinet and his driver in Baghdad today, police said.
Wael Rubaye was attacked in the main street in central Baghdad's Mansour district at about 8:15am as they were heading to work, said police Lieutenant Majid Zaki.
Zaki said two carloads of gunmen sprayed automatic weapons fire at Rubaye's vehicle, killing the official and his driver.
The slaying follows yesterday's killing of another senior government official, Trade Ministry auditing office chief Ali Moussa Salman.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Iraqi-PMs-aide-assassinated/2005/05/23/1116700644042.html
Secret service: Cosgrove's son injured in Iraq
Civilian clothes and a detachable name tag helped defence force chief General Peter Cosgrove keep one of the Australian army's most tightly guarded secrets - his son's deployment to Iraq.
Even when Private Philip Cosgrove, 25, was injured in a car bomb blast near the old Australian embassy in Baghdad, nobody outside the tightly-knit defence community knew that he was the son of Australia's most senior soldier.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Secret-service-Cosgroves-son-injured-in-Iraq/2005/05/23/1116700638064.html
Zarqawi group claims to have killed US pilot
May 23, 2005 - 7:11AM
The group of al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed today to have executed an American hostage, in a statement on the Internet accompanied by pictures of his driving licence.
"Your brothers in al-Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers got their hands on a US pilot who turned out to have bombarded several mosques and the Sheraton hotel in Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq, as well as several civilian homes," according to the statement.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Zarqawi-group-claims-to-have-killed-US-pilot/2005/05/23/1116700619421.html
Sunni leaders end boycott in name of liberation
By Ellen Knickmeyer and Naseer Nouri in Baghdad
May 23, 2005
More than 1000 Sunni Arab clerics, political leaders and tribal heads have ended their two-year political boycott, to unite in a Sunni bloc to help draft Iraq's new constitution and compete in elections.
Formation of the group on Saturday comes during escalating violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that has raised the threat of sectarian war. The bloc represents moderate and hardline members of the Association of Muslim Scholars, the Iraqi Islamic Party and other main groups of the disgruntled Sunni minority toppled from dominance during the US-led invasion in April 2003.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Sunni-leaders-end-boycott-in-name-of-liberation/2005/05/22/1116700595280.html
Dancing with dictators
May 23, 2005
To American strategic planners Uzbekistan is a convenient lily pad in the Muslim heart of Central Asia: it is just a short hop for US military forces to Afghanistan, and on to the Middle East.
In 2002, Washington gave President Islam Karimov's despotic regime about $US500 million ($661.5 million) in aid, a thank-you for the use of Uzbek territory in the invasion of Afghanistan, and a down payment on future strategic co-operation in the war on terrorism.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Editorial/Dancing-with-dictators/2005/05/22/1116700590984.html
Bug man accused of $1m museum thefts
A former pest controller at the Australian Museum stole $1 million in historic and rare specimens and kept them at his property on the outskirts of Sydney, a court heard today.
Henk van Leeuwen, 55, was a passionate amateur collector and taxidermist, but his job at the museum since 1996 was to control insects in the museum's specimens collection.
With his unsupervised access to the museum's Marrickville storage facility, and to the museum itself, he was able to remove hundreds of valuable specimens.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Bug-man-accused-of-1m-museum-thefts/2005/05/23/1116700646238.html
Mitsubishi's $5.8 billion loss shock
May 23, 2005 - 4:04PM
Mitsubishi Motors recorded $5.8 billion in losses for the fiscal year ended March 31, its second straight year in the red.
As the scandal-ridden Japanese carmaker struggles to regain customer trust and sales, the company said today that Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Motors Corp had racked up a Y215 billion ($2.64 billion) loss the previous fiscal year.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Mitsubishis-58-billion-loss-shock/2005/05/23/1116700642737.html
Cannes jury unimpressed
The quality of the movies at this year's Cannes Film Festival fell short of expectations, the president of the jury said today, casting a shadow over the annual cinema extravaganza.
As the credits rolled on the 11-day movie marathon, Emir Kusturica made no secret of his disappointment at the 21 films in the official selection.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Film/Cannes-jury-unimpressed/2005/05/23/1116700630807.html
Star Wars smashes record taking $66m in first day
May 22, 2005
The Sun-Herald
The final chapter in the Star Wars movie saga grossed a record $66 million from its first 24 hours in North American theatres, the highest box office tally yet for a single day, 20th Century Fox said.
And police in two countries have seized thousands of pirated Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith DVDs, which hit the streets - and the internet - a matter of hours after the film's official release.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Film/Star-Wars-smashes-record-taking-66m-in-first-day/2005/05/21/1116533580510.html
Reality TV teenager found dead
The psychological effect of reality television shows on contestants will come under renewed scrutiny after it emerged that a 17-year-old girl who apparently committed suicide at the weekend was soon to appear on British screens in a series called The Colony, filmed in Australia.
Carina Stephenson, from Branton, in south Yorkshire, England, was found by police in woodland near her home on Saturday. The death is not being treated as suspicious.
The History Channel, which co-financed the series that sought to re-create the lives of convicts and settlers sent to Australia 200 years ago, said yesterday that it had yet to decide whether to broadcast the show in Britain, but would respect the wishes of the family.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/TV--Radio/Reality-TV-teenager-found-dead/2005/05/23/1116700652147.html
Laura Veirs likes things cold and miserable. And she's not even English.
LAURA VEIRS
The Basement, 29 Reiby Place, Surry Hills
May 27, 9pm
$30
Bookings 9251 2797
Laura Veirs is home in Seattle, drinking tea and staring out the window at "a beautiful, semi-cloudy spring day [where] it could rain any time".
"I really like it," Veirs says. "Sometimes I can find it really comforting to have cloud cover."
As Veirs showed with her album Carbon Glacier last year, cold and grey need not be depressing. Written during winter, Carbon Glacier was a sparse record of sombre country-folk songs full of meditations on the landscape Veirs looked at every day.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Music/Ice-maiden/2005/05/19/1116361666568.html
Buenos Aires Herald
WOLFOWITZ
Change of attitude toward Cuba
"I will not travel (to Cuba) for now. It was not on the schedule and it will not happen for the time being, because I understand that not all the conditions are appropriate yet," Kirchner said in an interview with the daily Página/12.
Kirchner’s visit to Havana was meant to wrap...
http://www.buenosairesherald.com/argentina/note.jsp?idContent=166868&hideIntro=true
Surprise call to German elections
‘‘With this bitter election result for my party in North Rhine-Westphalia, the political support for our reforms to continue has been called into question,’’ Schröder said in a brief statement, referring to the economic reform programme on which he has long staked his chancellorship.
The photo shows Jürgen Rüttgers, the conservative...
http://www.buenosairesherald.com/the_world/note.jsp?idContent=166873&hideIntro=true
continued...
Morning Papers - continued...
The Chicago Tribune
Defending the zoo
By Charlie Madigan
Tribune senior correspondent
Published May 24, 2005, 5:52 AM CDT
What a glorious Sunday morning at Lincoln Park Zoo. Here's what's going on. In the big cat house (sounds a little titillating doesn't it, but it's actually just a big cat house) the serval is pacing, its long legs measuring its pen. Very alert, it hops up to the top of a big rock and just sits there, gazing.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-gleaner,1,1375290.htmlstory?coll=chi-news-hed
Metra train delivers on boy's dream
Ollie Tibbles, who died last year of a brain tumor, was so enthralled by trains he wanted to be one
By Virginia Groark
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 24, 2005
When Oliver "Ollie" Tibbles was 4 years old, he announced to his mother that he wanted to be a train someday.
"I said, `Don't you mean you are going to be a train conductor?'" his mother, Debi, recalled.
No, Ollie replied in a loud voice, shaking his head vigorously. He was going to be a train.
A little more than a year after he died of a brain tumor, Ollie's wish has come true.
Metra announced Saturday that it had named locomotive No. 401 after the train-loving little boy, marking the first time the commuter rail agency has named a train engine after a child.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0505240022may24,1,3231681.story?coll=chi-news-hed
City Hall discovers clout
After years of denial, Daley administration admits patronage exists, vows to end it
By Gary Washburn and Laurie Cohen
Tribune staff reporters
Published May 24, 2005
After years of denying the existence of patronage in a town famous for the practice, the Daley administration on Monday announced an overhaul of city hiring to eliminate political influence and favoritism.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0505240070may24,1,4739012.story?coll=chi-news-hed
The Jerusalem Post
Israel marks five years since southern Lebanon withdrawal
Five years ago, the streets of Kiryat Shmona were virtually deserted. Most residents were in bomb shelters or had temporarily left the city fearing heavy rocket bombardments as the IDF completed its withdrawal from Lebanon and thousands of former South Lebanese Army soldiers and their families fled to Israel for safety.
It was a time of great uncertainty for residents of the North and especially of Kiryat Shmona, which had suffered most from the terror threat emanating from Lebanon, as Hizbullah gunmen raised the organization's flags literally along the border.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1116728308431
Ezra to 'Post': Pullout may take until Rosh Hashana
While the government has set a three-week time limit starting August 15 to complete the evacuation from the Gaza Strip, the final cutoff date is the eve of Rosh Hashana on October 3, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
"The government first spoke about evacuating Gaza within three months, then cut it down to three weeks, meaning more forces will be needed to carry out the mission in such a short time," he said. "Three weeks is certainly realistic... but the cutoff date for us however is the eve of Rosh Hashana... By then we need to be done."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1116814794143
'One-stop shop' for evacuees
A special office is being created to provide jobs for settlers evacuated during this summer's disengagement, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The office, to be located in Ashkelon and to be opened as early as June 25, will be staffed by specialists attuned to the settlers' needs.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1116814793531
A separate evacuation
With the country focused on the evacuation and compensation of some 1,500 Jewish families from the Gaza Strip, the real population transfer has quietly begun with the Negev Beduin in a NIS 1 billion government plan.
According to government officials, in the past few months great progress has been made with Beduin tribes living in illegal villages. They are starting to sign deals to give up their land claims and have agreed to move to permanent towns where they will receive free plots and huge housing grants.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1116814794403
Jewish terrorist convicted in Haifa
Alexander Rabinovich, 22, was convicted Tuesday of aiding an attempt to kill Israeli Arab lawmaker, Issam Makhoul, and carrying out eight other bomb attacks against Arab targets in the port city of Haifa.
According to the ruling, Rabinovich supplied Eliran Golan - the main suspect in the case - with the explosives that were used to manufacture the homemade bombs.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1116901692554
Washington Post
Analysis
Breakthrough Pact Unlikely To End Battle
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page A01
In a dramatic break with the ideological warfare that has defined the politics of Washington for much of the past decade, the center held firm in the Senate last night, as a bipartisan group of senators unexpectedly signed a compromise that yanked the institution back from a historic clash over judicial nominations.
The negotiators had spent a week laboring to find the language to define their agreement. But with the Senate just hours away from pulling the trigger on the "nuclear option," the seven Republicans and seven Democrats managed to defy predictions. They found both the language to make a deal possible and the courage to risk the wrath of partisans on both sides who were pushing for an all-or-nothing outcome.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301904.html?sub=AR
Cholesterol Drug Crestor Poses Risks, Journal Says
Study Suggests Use Only as Last Resort
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page A01
The powerful cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor is significantly more likely than other statins to cause muscle deterioration that can lead to kidney disease and failure, according to a study in the American Heart Association's journal, Circulation.
The conclusion is at odds with the most recent recommendation of the Food and Drug Administration, which in March rejected a citizen's petition to remove Crestor from the market. At the time, the FDA said Crestor, which has been aggressively marketed by AstraZeneca LP, appeared to be no more dangerous than other statins for most people.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301065.html
Preakness Jitters
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page A16
THE TRADITIONAL black-eyed Susans and other trappings abounded at Pimlico Saturday for the 130th running of the Preakness Stakes, always a glorious celebration of Maryland's history as horse country. But beyond the festive mood of the afternoon lurked evidence from over the past decade that horse racing in the state is suffering financially, that interest is waning. Owners of the Pimlico and Laurel racetracks used the Preakness festivities to lobby hard for a special session of the state legislature to legalize slot machines as their bailout. Though they have not issued direct threats, officials of Magna Entertainment Corp. are letting it be known that they might pull the Preakness from the state if slots are not approved.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301793.html
Senate Panel Set to Debate Patriot Act
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page A15
The long political battle over the USA Patriot Act will enter a new phase this week as the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence debates whether to approve a bill that not only would renew the anti-terrorism law, but also would give the FBI significant new powers in conducting counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations.
Legislation proposed by committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) would allow the FBI to subpoena records in intelligence probes without the approval of a judge or grand jury and would make it easier for the bureau to get copies of mail, according to committee aides and a draft copy of the bill.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301550.html
Montgomery Parents Rally for Black Students
Group Says School System Treats, Teaches Minority Children Differently
By Lori Aratani
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page B04
A group of black parents in Montgomery County yesterday resumed its campaign to pressure the school system to take more aggressive steps toward narrowing the achievement gaps between black and Hispanic students and their white and Asian counterparts.
In a event dubbed the "Let My People Go" rally, parents and children gathered to pray and sing African American freedom songs before the school board's regularly scheduled meeting at the system's headquarters in Rockville.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301682.html
The New Zealand Herald
Co-ordinator to help recovery in flood-affected areas
The Bay of Plenty town of Matata has been devastated by flooding. Picture / Alan Gibson
24.05.05 6.00pm
A facilitator is being appointed to work with the Whakatane District Council on a recovery package for the flood-devastated Bay of Plenty town of Matata.
The total bill from the flood damage is now estimated at about $40 million.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10127056
Australasian astronomers help find huge new planet
24.05.05 4.00pm
Australasian researchers have helped discover a huge new planet in the Milky Way galaxy.
Using a new scientific technique, Tasmanian astronomers have helped to detect a large planet, renewing hopes of finding Earth-like planets.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10127229
Syria severs military cooperation with US - NYT
24.05.05 4.30pm
NEW YORK - Syria has severed military and intelligence cooperation with the United States, its ambassador to Washington told The New York Times in an interview published on its website on Monday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10127255
Flooded owners face future LIM effects
Real estate agents are downplaying the effect the landslides and loss of homes will have on Tauranga house prices. Picture / Alan Gibson
24.05.05 1.00pm
Homeowners were today being gradually let back into their flood-ravaged homes in Tauranga but they have been dealt another blow because their properties will be tagged on official city council files.
Hundreds of neighbours may also have their properties marked as at risk.
The revelation comes as experts clear the backlog of damaged houses still to be deemed as safe to live in.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10127222
Greenpeace welcomes release of Rainbow Warrior footage
24.05.05 1.00pm
Greenpeace today welcomed a High Court ruling that could clear the way for Television New Zealand (TVNZ) to screen never before seen film footage of the court appearances of the two French secret agents who bombed the Rainbow Warrior, killing a crew member.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10127217
One of country’s worst road crashes claims ninth victim
24.05.05 10.15am
One of the country’s worst road crashes claimed its ninth victim early today when an Indian woman died in Waikato Hospital.
Ahalya Thirumuthy, 20, had been in a critical condition since last Wednesday when a mini-bus full of tourists slammed into a timber truck near Morrinsville in Waikato.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10127189
Treasures looted from Iraq museum still untraced
24.05.05 1.00pm
By Louise Jury
Evidence of how quickly and irretrievably a country can be stripped of its cultural heritage came with the Iraq war in 2003.
The latest figures, presented to the art crime conference yesterday by John Curtis of the British Museum, suggested that half of the 40 iconic items from the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad still had not been retrieved.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10127216
China-Japan dispute reignites
24.05.05 4.20pm
BEIJING - China is extremely dissatisfied with remarks repeatedly made by Japanese leaders on visiting a controversial war, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yu cancelled a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday and left a day early, prompting a diplomatic stir over a trip some had hoped would help repair frayed ties.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10127234
Annette Taylor: Birdwatchers deserve our gratitude
24.05.05
Birds matter. Just look at what happened when Radio New Zealand proposed taking the birdcall off Morning Report, and called for feedback. Emails flooded in from all around; listeners opposed to dropping the calls outnumbered those in favour 1000 to one.
We're a small, remote country and we don't have as many birds as continental areas, where bird-watching is often treated as a sport, with people competing to amass the biggest lists of rarities. In North America, you're nobody if you don't have a himalayan snowcock or a plain chachalaca on your list.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=466&ObjectID=10127072
Abortion is a reality as well.
Catholics disagree with stem cell breakthrough
22.05.05
Two massive breakthroughs in stem cell research are being described locally as morally repugnant.
Researchers in the UK have created the first human embryo clone and Korean scientists have successfully created eleven batches of embryonic stem cells which genetically match sick patients.
The technique involves growing an embryo for five days, and harvesting stem cells from its interior, which destroys it.
Dr Michael McCabe from the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre is praising the potential of stem cells to help the sick, but he stresses the ends do not justify the means which involve destroying a human life.
- NEWSTALK ZB
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=301&ObjectID=10126804
continued...
Defending the zoo
By Charlie Madigan
Tribune senior correspondent
Published May 24, 2005, 5:52 AM CDT
What a glorious Sunday morning at Lincoln Park Zoo. Here's what's going on. In the big cat house (sounds a little titillating doesn't it, but it's actually just a big cat house) the serval is pacing, its long legs measuring its pen. Very alert, it hops up to the top of a big rock and just sits there, gazing.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-gleaner,1,1375290.htmlstory?coll=chi-news-hed
Metra train delivers on boy's dream
Ollie Tibbles, who died last year of a brain tumor, was so enthralled by trains he wanted to be one
By Virginia Groark
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 24, 2005
When Oliver "Ollie" Tibbles was 4 years old, he announced to his mother that he wanted to be a train someday.
"I said, `Don't you mean you are going to be a train conductor?'" his mother, Debi, recalled.
No, Ollie replied in a loud voice, shaking his head vigorously. He was going to be a train.
A little more than a year after he died of a brain tumor, Ollie's wish has come true.
Metra announced Saturday that it had named locomotive No. 401 after the train-loving little boy, marking the first time the commuter rail agency has named a train engine after a child.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0505240022may24,1,3231681.story?coll=chi-news-hed
City Hall discovers clout
After years of denial, Daley administration admits patronage exists, vows to end it
By Gary Washburn and Laurie Cohen
Tribune staff reporters
Published May 24, 2005
After years of denying the existence of patronage in a town famous for the practice, the Daley administration on Monday announced an overhaul of city hiring to eliminate political influence and favoritism.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0505240070may24,1,4739012.story?coll=chi-news-hed
The Jerusalem Post
Israel marks five years since southern Lebanon withdrawal
Five years ago, the streets of Kiryat Shmona were virtually deserted. Most residents were in bomb shelters or had temporarily left the city fearing heavy rocket bombardments as the IDF completed its withdrawal from Lebanon and thousands of former South Lebanese Army soldiers and their families fled to Israel for safety.
It was a time of great uncertainty for residents of the North and especially of Kiryat Shmona, which had suffered most from the terror threat emanating from Lebanon, as Hizbullah gunmen raised the organization's flags literally along the border.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1116728308431
Ezra to 'Post': Pullout may take until Rosh Hashana
While the government has set a three-week time limit starting August 15 to complete the evacuation from the Gaza Strip, the final cutoff date is the eve of Rosh Hashana on October 3, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
"The government first spoke about evacuating Gaza within three months, then cut it down to three weeks, meaning more forces will be needed to carry out the mission in such a short time," he said. "Three weeks is certainly realistic... but the cutoff date for us however is the eve of Rosh Hashana... By then we need to be done."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1116814794143
'One-stop shop' for evacuees
A special office is being created to provide jobs for settlers evacuated during this summer's disengagement, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The office, to be located in Ashkelon and to be opened as early as June 25, will be staffed by specialists attuned to the settlers' needs.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1116814793531
A separate evacuation
With the country focused on the evacuation and compensation of some 1,500 Jewish families from the Gaza Strip, the real population transfer has quietly begun with the Negev Beduin in a NIS 1 billion government plan.
According to government officials, in the past few months great progress has been made with Beduin tribes living in illegal villages. They are starting to sign deals to give up their land claims and have agreed to move to permanent towns where they will receive free plots and huge housing grants.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1116814794403
Jewish terrorist convicted in Haifa
Alexander Rabinovich, 22, was convicted Tuesday of aiding an attempt to kill Israeli Arab lawmaker, Issam Makhoul, and carrying out eight other bomb attacks against Arab targets in the port city of Haifa.
According to the ruling, Rabinovich supplied Eliran Golan - the main suspect in the case - with the explosives that were used to manufacture the homemade bombs.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1116901692554
Washington Post
Analysis
Breakthrough Pact Unlikely To End Battle
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page A01
In a dramatic break with the ideological warfare that has defined the politics of Washington for much of the past decade, the center held firm in the Senate last night, as a bipartisan group of senators unexpectedly signed a compromise that yanked the institution back from a historic clash over judicial nominations.
The negotiators had spent a week laboring to find the language to define their agreement. But with the Senate just hours away from pulling the trigger on the "nuclear option," the seven Republicans and seven Democrats managed to defy predictions. They found both the language to make a deal possible and the courage to risk the wrath of partisans on both sides who were pushing for an all-or-nothing outcome.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301904.html?sub=AR
Cholesterol Drug Crestor Poses Risks, Journal Says
Study Suggests Use Only as Last Resort
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page A01
The powerful cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor is significantly more likely than other statins to cause muscle deterioration that can lead to kidney disease and failure, according to a study in the American Heart Association's journal, Circulation.
The conclusion is at odds with the most recent recommendation of the Food and Drug Administration, which in March rejected a citizen's petition to remove Crestor from the market. At the time, the FDA said Crestor, which has been aggressively marketed by AstraZeneca LP, appeared to be no more dangerous than other statins for most people.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301065.html
Preakness Jitters
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page A16
THE TRADITIONAL black-eyed Susans and other trappings abounded at Pimlico Saturday for the 130th running of the Preakness Stakes, always a glorious celebration of Maryland's history as horse country. But beyond the festive mood of the afternoon lurked evidence from over the past decade that horse racing in the state is suffering financially, that interest is waning. Owners of the Pimlico and Laurel racetracks used the Preakness festivities to lobby hard for a special session of the state legislature to legalize slot machines as their bailout. Though they have not issued direct threats, officials of Magna Entertainment Corp. are letting it be known that they might pull the Preakness from the state if slots are not approved.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301793.html
Senate Panel Set to Debate Patriot Act
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page A15
The long political battle over the USA Patriot Act will enter a new phase this week as the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence debates whether to approve a bill that not only would renew the anti-terrorism law, but also would give the FBI significant new powers in conducting counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations.
Legislation proposed by committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) would allow the FBI to subpoena records in intelligence probes without the approval of a judge or grand jury and would make it easier for the bureau to get copies of mail, according to committee aides and a draft copy of the bill.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301550.html
Montgomery Parents Rally for Black Students
Group Says School System Treats, Teaches Minority Children Differently
By Lori Aratani
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page B04
A group of black parents in Montgomery County yesterday resumed its campaign to pressure the school system to take more aggressive steps toward narrowing the achievement gaps between black and Hispanic students and their white and Asian counterparts.
In a event dubbed the "Let My People Go" rally, parents and children gathered to pray and sing African American freedom songs before the school board's regularly scheduled meeting at the system's headquarters in Rockville.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301682.html
The New Zealand Herald
Co-ordinator to help recovery in flood-affected areas
The Bay of Plenty town of Matata has been devastated by flooding. Picture / Alan Gibson
24.05.05 6.00pm
A facilitator is being appointed to work with the Whakatane District Council on a recovery package for the flood-devastated Bay of Plenty town of Matata.
The total bill from the flood damage is now estimated at about $40 million.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10127056
Australasian astronomers help find huge new planet
24.05.05 4.00pm
Australasian researchers have helped discover a huge new planet in the Milky Way galaxy.
Using a new scientific technique, Tasmanian astronomers have helped to detect a large planet, renewing hopes of finding Earth-like planets.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10127229
Syria severs military cooperation with US - NYT
24.05.05 4.30pm
NEW YORK - Syria has severed military and intelligence cooperation with the United States, its ambassador to Washington told The New York Times in an interview published on its website on Monday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10127255
Flooded owners face future LIM effects
Real estate agents are downplaying the effect the landslides and loss of homes will have on Tauranga house prices. Picture / Alan Gibson
24.05.05 1.00pm
Homeowners were today being gradually let back into their flood-ravaged homes in Tauranga but they have been dealt another blow because their properties will be tagged on official city council files.
Hundreds of neighbours may also have their properties marked as at risk.
The revelation comes as experts clear the backlog of damaged houses still to be deemed as safe to live in.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10127222
Greenpeace welcomes release of Rainbow Warrior footage
24.05.05 1.00pm
Greenpeace today welcomed a High Court ruling that could clear the way for Television New Zealand (TVNZ) to screen never before seen film footage of the court appearances of the two French secret agents who bombed the Rainbow Warrior, killing a crew member.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10127217
One of country’s worst road crashes claims ninth victim
24.05.05 10.15am
One of the country’s worst road crashes claimed its ninth victim early today when an Indian woman died in Waikato Hospital.
Ahalya Thirumuthy, 20, had been in a critical condition since last Wednesday when a mini-bus full of tourists slammed into a timber truck near Morrinsville in Waikato.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10127189
Treasures looted from Iraq museum still untraced
24.05.05 1.00pm
By Louise Jury
Evidence of how quickly and irretrievably a country can be stripped of its cultural heritage came with the Iraq war in 2003.
The latest figures, presented to the art crime conference yesterday by John Curtis of the British Museum, suggested that half of the 40 iconic items from the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad still had not been retrieved.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10127216
China-Japan dispute reignites
24.05.05 4.20pm
BEIJING - China is extremely dissatisfied with remarks repeatedly made by Japanese leaders on visiting a controversial war, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yu cancelled a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday and left a day early, prompting a diplomatic stir over a trip some had hoped would help repair frayed ties.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10127234
Annette Taylor: Birdwatchers deserve our gratitude
24.05.05
Birds matter. Just look at what happened when Radio New Zealand proposed taking the birdcall off Morning Report, and called for feedback. Emails flooded in from all around; listeners opposed to dropping the calls outnumbered those in favour 1000 to one.
We're a small, remote country and we don't have as many birds as continental areas, where bird-watching is often treated as a sport, with people competing to amass the biggest lists of rarities. In North America, you're nobody if you don't have a himalayan snowcock or a plain chachalaca on your list.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=466&ObjectID=10127072
Abortion is a reality as well.
Catholics disagree with stem cell breakthrough
22.05.05
Two massive breakthroughs in stem cell research are being described locally as morally repugnant.
Researchers in the UK have created the first human embryo clone and Korean scientists have successfully created eleven batches of embryonic stem cells which genetically match sick patients.
The technique involves growing an embryo for five days, and harvesting stem cells from its interior, which destroys it.
Dr Michael McCabe from the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre is praising the potential of stem cells to help the sick, but he stresses the ends do not justify the means which involve destroying a human life.
- NEWSTALK ZB
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=301&ObjectID=10126804
continued...
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