July 5, 2005. Fireworks over Manhattan. If this was my view from my home, I'd be selling tickets and encourage my neighbors to do the same.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
This fence is a human rights violation and it won't sit well with the International Courts which is still another reason by Bush disrespects that institution and the United Nations.
The Fence Goat Canyon, just west of Smuggler's Gulch, is also part of the proposal for finishing the fence along the Mexican border. Here, the fence ends just before the large hill.
This is a Map of the existing and planned fence. There is something we all know about barriers and fences as it 'affects' human rights. There is nothing about this fence that will prevent people who are nutritionally and physiologically depleted from attempting or succeeding in crossing it. What will be next? Gunmen to stop those pulling themselves over the law?
Morning Paper's - It's Origins
Rooster "Crowing"
"Okeydoke"
History …
1853, Cecil Rhodes, imperialist and financie
1889, Jean Cocteau, poet and filmmaker
1891, John Northrop, biochemist
1940, Chuck Close, painter
1811, Venezuela, the first South American country, declares its independence from Spain under the leadership of Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Miranda.
1830, the French occupied the North African city of Algiers.
1865, Methodist minister William Booth founds the Christian Mission in London, an evangelical and social-welfare ministry that becomes the Salvation Army in 1878.
1932, António de Oliveira Salazar becomes prime minister of Portugal, a country he rules as a dictator for the next 36 years.
1935, President Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act, which provided for a National Labor Relations Board, and authorized labor to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining.
1940, during World War II, Britain and the Vichy government in France broke diplomatic relations.
1946, the bikini made its debut during an outdoor fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris.
Bikini Atoll
Designer Louis Reard introduced the two-piece swimsuit in Paris on this date in 1946. He named the new style after Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific, where the U.S. had recently begun testing atomic weapons. This is the official site of Bikini Atoll.
The place where the first nuclear bombs were dropped.
http://www.bikiniatoll.com/
1947, Outfielder Larry Doby debuts for the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black player in baseball's American League. Three months earlier, Jackie Robinson joined the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers.
1948, The British government adopts the National Health Service Act, which establishes a national system of publicly funded medical services.
1954, BBC launches daily TV news
The BBC has broadcast its first daily television news programme.
The 20-minute bulletin was read by Richard Baker and was introduced as an "Illustrated summary of the news... Followed by the latest film of events and happenings at home and abroad."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_3856000/3856397.stm
1975, Ashe's Wimbledon win makes history
American tennis player Arthur Ashe has become the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles' championship.
New Yorker Althea Gibson was the first black woman to take the Wimbledon title in 1958.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2798000/2798971.stm
1979, Queen oversees Manx millennium
The Queen has presided over the 1000th annual open-air sitting of the Isle of Man's Parliament, Tynwald.
According to Manx tradition, the Queen is the Lord of Mann, but she is only the second British monarch to fulfil this duty in person. The last was her father King George VI in 1945
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2494000/2494861.stm
1989, Irangate colonel avoids prison
Former White House aide Oliver North has escaped jail for his part in the Iran-Contra affair.
The decorated Vietnam veteran was convicted of three - out of 12 - charges relating to illegal United States' support for the Contra rebels in Nicaragua in the mid-1980s.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2772000/2772471.stm
1991, International bank closed in fraud scandal
The Bank of England has closed down UK branches of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) over allegations of fraud.
The bank's 120,000 UK customers were stunned by the speed of the closure.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2495000/2495017.stm
1995, more than 100 Grateful Dead fans were injured when a deck on which they were gathered collapsed at a campground near Wentzville, Mo.
2000, Record-breaking penguin rescue
Conservationists in South Africa are carrying out the biggest ever airlift of wild birds.
Over 18,000 Jackass penguins have now been moved to safety as an oil slick threatens their breeding ground on Dassen Island, 50 miles north of Cape Town.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2494000/2494745.stm
Missing in Action
1965 EISENBRAUN WILLIAM F. SANTA ANA CA 08/07/65 ON PRG DIC LIST
1966 JACKSON JAMES E. NEW YORK NY 11/11/67 RELEASED IN CAMBODIA
1967 DODGE WARD KENT DIGHTON KS 03/13/74 REMAINS RETURNED
1967 FREDERICK WILLIAM V. DEERFIELD OH REMAINS RETURNED 1/03/90
1967 WADDELL DEWEY W. BREMEN GA 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 1998
1968 BURNS MICHAEL T. FORT WAYNE IN 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1968 CRUMPLER CARL B. JACKSONVILLE FL 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1968 DEWBERRY JERRY D. ARDMORE OK
1968 LAWRENCE BRUCE E. PHILLIPSBURG NJ
1968 SILVER EDWARD D. JUNCTION CITY OR "EGRESS-SEEN IN PROPAGANDA FILM, WORE FLIGHT" "SUIT, BODY TURNED OVER AS CAMERA ZOOMED IN"
1972 ELANDER WILLIAM J. JR. CHARLOTTE NC "03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV (CHARLESTON, WV)" ALIVE IN 98
1972 LOGAN DONALD K. GRANADA HILLS CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 SPENCER WILLIAM A. SAN JUAN TX 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 SEEK BRIAN J. ENCINO CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
Milwaukee Journal Sentinal
Lightning starts condo fire
By LINDA HANIG
lhanig@journalsentinel.com
Posted: July 4, 2005
A lightning strike from an early Monday morning storm started a fire that extensively damaged a Mequon condominium and injured a firefighter, Mequon Fire Chief Jim Wucherer said.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/ozwash/jul05/338646.asp
This is why Judith Miller and the New York Times as kept their sources under their own security. This has happened before. Enough when it comes to this investigation is never enough. They over reach on this investigation and are acting to create a distraction away from Karl Rove. When is Rove going to be prosecuted?
Prosecutor Demands Time Reporter Testimony
By PETE YOST
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal prosecutor on Tuesday demanded that Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper testify before a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA officer's identity, even though Time Inc. has surrendered e-mails and other documents in the probe.
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald also opposed the request of Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller to be granted home detention - instead of jail - for refusing to reveal their sources.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/REPORTERS_CONTEMPT?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
Judge Refuses to Delay Vioxx Jury Selection
By KRISTEN HAYS
AP Business Writer
WHARTON, Texas (AP) -- A judge on Tuesday declined to postpone jury selection in the nation's first state-level wrongful death trial related to the painkiller Vioxx because he said he would not assume potential jurors were biased by pretrial publicity.
But state District Judge Ben Hardin also told lawyers for Merck & Co., the manufacturer of Vioxx, that he would examine questionnaires answered by the pool of 100 potential jurors next week before making a final decision on Merck's request for a trial delay.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VIOXX_TRIAL?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
Americans Pushing for More Cuba Trade
By VANESSA ARRINGTON
Associated Press Writer
HAVANA (AP) -- American liberals have long criticized the U.S. government for maintaining a Cold War-era embargo against communist Cuba. But these days, conservative American farmers, businessmen and some Republican lawmakers are just as likely to oppose the U.S. policy limiting trade with the island.
As Congress voted down amendments to the policy last week, those pushing for more interaction with Cuba questioned how the embargo can endure.
"Will someone please explain this policy to me?" Dwight A. Roberts, the Texan president of the U.S. Rice Producers Association, asked a recent news conference in Havana after describing financial losses to thousands of rice growers when U.S. restrictions were tightened.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CUBA_US_ENDURING_EMBARGO?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
Martha Stewart made the deal and insisted on it, NOW, LIVE WITH IT !!!
Martha Stewart Calls Lockdown 'Hideous'
NEW YORK (AP) -- Martha Stewart says in a new interview that her nickname in prison was M. Diddy, that house arrest is "hideous" and that her prosecution was about bringing her down "to scare other people."
In the interview, Stewart tells Vanity Fair magazine she agrees with those who say her crime - lying about a personal stock sale - is far different from massive corporate scandals such as Enron, WorldCom and Tyco.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PEOPLE_MARTHA_STEWART?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
Armstrong Takes Lead in Tour De France
By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press Writer
BLOIS, France (AP) -- Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel squad won the team time trial at the Tour de France on Tuesday, handing the six-time champion the yellow jersey as overall race leader.
The 33-year-old Texan led his squad to victory for the third straight year in the time trial, clocking 1 hour, 10 minutes, 39 seconds for the 41.85-mile trek from Tours to Blois. Team CSC was second.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CYC_TOUR_DE_FRANCE?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
Chicago Sun Times
The weather in Chicago (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
83º
“SPARKLING"
Gorilla attacks Lincoln Park zoo keeper
July 5, 2005
Advertisement
A zoo keeper was bitten on the back by a gorilla Tuesday at the Lincoln Park Zoo and was being treated for her injuries at a nearby hospital, police said.
The female zoo keeper was attacked around 9:50 a.m., said Chicago police spokeswoman Robin Mohr. The woman, whose name was not released, was in good condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Mohr said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/zoo05.html
Brother says he'd pay for bin Laden's defense
July 5, 2005
CAIRO, Egypt -- One of Osama bin Laden's half brothers said he would pay for the terror mastermind's defense should he ever be captured, Yeslam Binladin said in a broadcast interview.
''For sure,'' Yeslam Binladin responded when asked if he would help pay. ''Everyone has the right to defend himself, anyone who is accused of doing something.''
http://www.suntimes.com/output/terror/cst-nws-bin05.html
Adventists put woman in top job
July 5, 2005
ST. LOUIS -- The Seventh-day Adventist Church elevated a woman Monday to a top leadership post for the first time in its history.
Ella Louise Smith Simmons, 57, will serve as one of nine vice presidents.
''The church as an organization cannot be efficient until it allows all people to contribute in ways that God calls them to contribute,'' she said. ''The church is taking a step in the right direction.''
Simmons last served as provost and vice president for academic administration at La Sierra University, an Adventist college in Riverside, Calif.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/religion/cst-nws-seven05.html
Times - London
Chirac quips upstage his Olympic sales drive
By Philippe Naughton, Times Online
Your views: worst cooks
President Jacques Chirac's ill-timed jokes about British cooking came back to bite him on the derriere today as he arrived in Singapore to press Paris's case to host the 2012 Olympics.
The French President found a scrum of reporters and television crews waiting for him as he arrived at the city-state's famous Raffles Hotel a day before the International Olympic Committee chooses between Paris and close rival London.
Unfortunately, no one was interested in M Chirac's views on the Olympic contest. "Did you make disparaging remarks about Britain?" asked one journalist. "Do you like ’rosbif’, Mr President?" shouted another.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4662-1681137,00.html
Anti-Bush gibe by Royal Society sparks climate change row
By Sam Knight, Times Online
A prickly row between the scientific academies of Britain and America over the precise wording of their positions on climate change has come to light on the eve of the G8 summit.
Letters show that shortly after the scientific academies of the G8 group of nations, as well as those from China, Brazil and India, issued an "unprecedented statement" urging action on climate change, the presidents of the Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences argued over how the statement was presented.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22649-1681145,00.html
Philadelphia Inquirer
Concert caps off events big and small
By Barbara Boyer and Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writers
Fifteen hours after securing his front-row standing position at the head of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Bruce Fikes raised his hands to the darkened sky, awestruck at the chance to sing along - live - with Elton John.
And sing he did, along with fans to all ends of the Parkway, as John launched into a crowd favorite, "The Bitch Is Back." The neighborhood went wild.
"If this was at the Wachovia Center, it would cost a lot of money. But I'm here," said Fikes, 42, who lives in North Philadelphia and makes pretzels in Camden.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/12055042.htm
Elton John ignites crowd with impassioned takes on hits
By Dwayne Campbell
Inquirer Staff Writer
Sir Elton John, one of the world's best-known spokesmen and activists for HIV/AIDS awareness, poured out his passion last night as he rocked a crowd of thousands jammed along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and several nearby streets.
The free concert was the last show of Philadelphia's big weekend, when the city played host to the Live 8 mega-concert and several other events under the banner of "Welcome America."
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12055041.htm
Democrats reach deal on state budget
Against the Assembly's wishes, it would trim many property-tax rebates. The Codey victory awaits a vote this weekend.
By Kaitlin Gurney, Robert Moran and Jennifer Moroz
Inquirer Trenton Bureau
TRENTON - Forging a last-minute reconciliation after a weeks-long feud, majority Democrats announced last night that they had agreed on a more than $28 billion state spending plan that would cut property-tax rebates for many homeowners.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12030431.htm
Lost mare gets fresh start on old-horse farm
Found near a busy street, she was adopted by a man who takes care of aging, ailing horses.
By Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writer
Missy, an emaciated mare found disoriented and wandering near a busy intersection on the Chester County-Delaware County border, has a new family, a new home and a new name.
Last week, shortly after she stepped hesitantly off a horse trailer, walked into the barn of an Upper Bucks County farm, and began eating, she became Minga.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12055038.htm
Asahi Shimbun
86 more deaths linked to asbestos
07/06/2005
The Asahi Shimbun
Nichias Corp., a manufacturer of building materials, disclosed Tuesday that 86 employees died of asbestos-related diseases from 1976 to last year.
It also noted that 55 others died of pneumoconiosis during the same period, but said a causal relationship with asbestos had not been established.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507050353.html
Meiji Yasuda president likely to resign over sleazy sales practices
07/05/2005
The Asahi Shimbun
Ryotaro Kaneko, president of Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co., expressed his intention Tuesday to resign over illicit sales tactics that deprived hundreds of policyholders of insurance payments.
"I will make clear the management's responsibilities, including the resignation from the management's top post," Kaneko said at a meeting with policyholders in Tokyo.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507050276.html
Threat halts pro-SDF rally in Iraq
07/05/2005
By YOSHIHIRO KANDO The Asahi Shimbun
CAIRO--An apparent terrorist threat forced organizers to abruptly cancel a rally in Iraq on Sunday intended to support the Japanese Self-Defense Forces stationed in Samawah.
The rally was arranged by an Iraqi sports group and an association that wanted to show its appreciation of Japan's goodwill in the area, organizers said.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507050136.html
Meet the designer who came to the rescue in China
07/05/2005
TENDO, Yamagata Prefecture
Farmer Kiyoharu Saito is making a name for himself in China for a hovercraft he developed alone at his workshop.
It turns out that his dream of perfecting an amphibious craft for search-and-rescue missions is not just hot air.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507050118.html
Experts: Millions more at AIDS risk unless urgent steps are taken
07/02/2005
By TARO KARASAKI, Staff Writer
KOBE--To head off an AIDS pandemic in Asia, governments must make the crisis a top priority with adequate funding and efforts to counter the social stigma behind the disease, experts told an international conference here Friday.
The call came at the opening of the International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific that opened Friday.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507020170.html
Toyota to double hybrid-vehicle production
07/05/2005
The Asahi Shimbun
Toyota Motor Corp. will double its production of gas-electricity hybrid vehicles to 500,000 in 2006 to meet the rising global demand, especially in North America, company officials said.
Toyota, the leader in the field of hybrid technology, expects demand for such vehicles to increase amid rising oil prices and improved performances of the autos.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507050217.html
The Miami Herald
Two tropical storms form on the same day
BY MARTIN MERZER
mmerzer@herald.com
Tropical Storm Cindy and Tropical Storm Dennis developed within hours of each other Tuesday, giving the hurricane season its busiest start in recorded history.
Cindy headed toward the upper Gulf Coast, where its center was expected to reach Louisiana as a tropical storm tonight. Forecasters warned of four to six inches of rain and possible tornadoes in the western Florida Panhandle and portions of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12053926.htm
Alliance calls for coalition withdrawal
BAGILA BUKHARBAYEVA
Associated Press
ASTANA, Kazakhstan - An alliance of Russia, China and central Asian nations called for the U.S. and coalition members in Afghanistan to set a date for withdrawing from member states, reflecting growing unease over America's regional military presence.
Alliance members Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan both host U.S. bases whose troops are involved in Afghanistan.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12056475.htm
Butterfly passion takes major flight
New University of Florida research center focuses on world's butterflies and moths
BY NOAH BIERMAN
nbierman@herald.com
GAINESVILLE -- Thomas Emmel was 8 years old when he netted his first Western Tiger Swallowtail near the sycamore trees of his Southern California home.
The catch began a romance with butterflies and moths that has continued for 55 years. For them, he has built a home, won over thousands of admirers, traveled through land leeches and saved some from extinction.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12054919.htm
Mexico needs history lesson on stereotypes
BY LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@herald.com
What is it with Mexico lately? When did it hire David Duke as an image consultant?
I can't imagine what else might explain that nation's recent blundering into not just one but two racially charged controversies. The first, of course, was President Vicente Fox's remark in May that Mexican immigrants in the United States take work ''not even blacks'' are willing to do. Fox's comment outraged many in this country and bestirred the readily bestirrable Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to go down and show him the error of his ways.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12049659.htm
An ambitious plan for failing schools
OUR OPINION: THE OLD MODEL HASN'T WORKED, SO IT'S TIME FOR A NEW ONE
The first wave of reactions to Superintendent Rudy Crew's proposal to shutter and overhaul several failing Miami-Dade schools is both surprising and disappointing. The critics say: It can't be done. It doesn't work for the kids. It's too difficult. Parents will object. Teachers won't like it. The problems are intractable. We've tried change before.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12054912.htm
An ambitious plan for failing schools
OUR OPINION: THE OLD MODEL HASN'T WORKED, SO IT'S TIME FOR A NEW ONE
The first wave of reactions to Superintendent Rudy Crew's proposal to shutter and overhaul several failing Miami-Dade schools is both surprising and disappointing. The critics say: It can't be done. It doesn't work for the kids. It's too difficult. Parents will object. Teachers won't like it. The problems are intractable. We've tried change before.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12054912.htm
G8 can tackle poverty
BY CESAR CHELALA
cchelala@aol.com
The decisions from the G8 meeting that begins Wednesday in Scotland will have wide-ranging consequences for the fight against poverty, particularly for African countries. A compromise should be reached to cancel the debt of not only 14 African countries as has now been accepted but to extend it to all of them plus to some Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) in other regions. This will be a right step to more effectively combat this scourge.
Poverty has caused many more deaths than terrorism, and has hindered the proper development of children worldwide. The damage provoked by malnutrition, illness and inadequate care during childhood dooms children's learning potential and proper development. Poor children who are damaged go on to initiate a vicious cycle of harm to future generations. Malnourished girls become malnourished mothers who give birth to under-weight children, who have greater mortality risks than normal-weight newborns.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12054913.htm
continued . . .
"Okeydoke"
History …
1853, Cecil Rhodes, imperialist and financie
1889, Jean Cocteau, poet and filmmaker
1891, John Northrop, biochemist
1940, Chuck Close, painter
1811, Venezuela, the first South American country, declares its independence from Spain under the leadership of Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Miranda.
1830, the French occupied the North African city of Algiers.
1865, Methodist minister William Booth founds the Christian Mission in London, an evangelical and social-welfare ministry that becomes the Salvation Army in 1878.
1932, António de Oliveira Salazar becomes prime minister of Portugal, a country he rules as a dictator for the next 36 years.
1935, President Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act, which provided for a National Labor Relations Board, and authorized labor to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining.
1940, during World War II, Britain and the Vichy government in France broke diplomatic relations.
1946, the bikini made its debut during an outdoor fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris.
Bikini Atoll
Designer Louis Reard introduced the two-piece swimsuit in Paris on this date in 1946. He named the new style after Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific, where the U.S. had recently begun testing atomic weapons. This is the official site of Bikini Atoll.
The place where the first nuclear bombs were dropped.
http://www.bikiniatoll.com/
1947, Outfielder Larry Doby debuts for the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black player in baseball's American League. Three months earlier, Jackie Robinson joined the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers.
1948, The British government adopts the National Health Service Act, which establishes a national system of publicly funded medical services.
1954, BBC launches daily TV news
The BBC has broadcast its first daily television news programme.
The 20-minute bulletin was read by Richard Baker and was introduced as an "Illustrated summary of the news... Followed by the latest film of events and happenings at home and abroad."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_3856000/3856397.stm
1975, Ashe's Wimbledon win makes history
American tennis player Arthur Ashe has become the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles' championship.
New Yorker Althea Gibson was the first black woman to take the Wimbledon title in 1958.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2798000/2798971.stm
1979, Queen oversees Manx millennium
The Queen has presided over the 1000th annual open-air sitting of the Isle of Man's Parliament, Tynwald.
According to Manx tradition, the Queen is the Lord of Mann, but she is only the second British monarch to fulfil this duty in person. The last was her father King George VI in 1945
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2494000/2494861.stm
1989, Irangate colonel avoids prison
Former White House aide Oliver North has escaped jail for his part in the Iran-Contra affair.
The decorated Vietnam veteran was convicted of three - out of 12 - charges relating to illegal United States' support for the Contra rebels in Nicaragua in the mid-1980s.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2772000/2772471.stm
1991, International bank closed in fraud scandal
The Bank of England has closed down UK branches of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) over allegations of fraud.
The bank's 120,000 UK customers were stunned by the speed of the closure.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2495000/2495017.stm
1995, more than 100 Grateful Dead fans were injured when a deck on which they were gathered collapsed at a campground near Wentzville, Mo.
2000, Record-breaking penguin rescue
Conservationists in South Africa are carrying out the biggest ever airlift of wild birds.
Over 18,000 Jackass penguins have now been moved to safety as an oil slick threatens their breeding ground on Dassen Island, 50 miles north of Cape Town.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2494000/2494745.stm
Missing in Action
1965 EISENBRAUN WILLIAM F. SANTA ANA CA 08/07/65 ON PRG DIC LIST
1966 JACKSON JAMES E. NEW YORK NY 11/11/67 RELEASED IN CAMBODIA
1967 DODGE WARD KENT DIGHTON KS 03/13/74 REMAINS RETURNED
1967 FREDERICK WILLIAM V. DEERFIELD OH REMAINS RETURNED 1/03/90
1967 WADDELL DEWEY W. BREMEN GA 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 1998
1968 BURNS MICHAEL T. FORT WAYNE IN 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1968 CRUMPLER CARL B. JACKSONVILLE FL 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1968 DEWBERRY JERRY D. ARDMORE OK
1968 LAWRENCE BRUCE E. PHILLIPSBURG NJ
1968 SILVER EDWARD D. JUNCTION CITY OR "EGRESS-SEEN IN PROPAGANDA FILM, WORE FLIGHT" "SUIT, BODY TURNED OVER AS CAMERA ZOOMED IN"
1972 ELANDER WILLIAM J. JR. CHARLOTTE NC "03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV (CHARLESTON, WV)" ALIVE IN 98
1972 LOGAN DONALD K. GRANADA HILLS CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 SPENCER WILLIAM A. SAN JUAN TX 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 SEEK BRIAN J. ENCINO CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
Milwaukee Journal Sentinal
Lightning starts condo fire
By LINDA HANIG
lhanig@journalsentinel.com
Posted: July 4, 2005
A lightning strike from an early Monday morning storm started a fire that extensively damaged a Mequon condominium and injured a firefighter, Mequon Fire Chief Jim Wucherer said.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/ozwash/jul05/338646.asp
This is why Judith Miller and the New York Times as kept their sources under their own security. This has happened before. Enough when it comes to this investigation is never enough. They over reach on this investigation and are acting to create a distraction away from Karl Rove. When is Rove going to be prosecuted?
Prosecutor Demands Time Reporter Testimony
By PETE YOST
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal prosecutor on Tuesday demanded that Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper testify before a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA officer's identity, even though Time Inc. has surrendered e-mails and other documents in the probe.
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald also opposed the request of Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller to be granted home detention - instead of jail - for refusing to reveal their sources.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/REPORTERS_CONTEMPT?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
Judge Refuses to Delay Vioxx Jury Selection
By KRISTEN HAYS
AP Business Writer
WHARTON, Texas (AP) -- A judge on Tuesday declined to postpone jury selection in the nation's first state-level wrongful death trial related to the painkiller Vioxx because he said he would not assume potential jurors were biased by pretrial publicity.
But state District Judge Ben Hardin also told lawyers for Merck & Co., the manufacturer of Vioxx, that he would examine questionnaires answered by the pool of 100 potential jurors next week before making a final decision on Merck's request for a trial delay.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VIOXX_TRIAL?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
Americans Pushing for More Cuba Trade
By VANESSA ARRINGTON
Associated Press Writer
HAVANA (AP) -- American liberals have long criticized the U.S. government for maintaining a Cold War-era embargo against communist Cuba. But these days, conservative American farmers, businessmen and some Republican lawmakers are just as likely to oppose the U.S. policy limiting trade with the island.
As Congress voted down amendments to the policy last week, those pushing for more interaction with Cuba questioned how the embargo can endure.
"Will someone please explain this policy to me?" Dwight A. Roberts, the Texan president of the U.S. Rice Producers Association, asked a recent news conference in Havana after describing financial losses to thousands of rice growers when U.S. restrictions were tightened.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CUBA_US_ENDURING_EMBARGO?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
Martha Stewart made the deal and insisted on it, NOW, LIVE WITH IT !!!
Martha Stewart Calls Lockdown 'Hideous'
NEW YORK (AP) -- Martha Stewart says in a new interview that her nickname in prison was M. Diddy, that house arrest is "hideous" and that her prosecution was about bringing her down "to scare other people."
In the interview, Stewart tells Vanity Fair magazine she agrees with those who say her crime - lying about a personal stock sale - is far different from massive corporate scandals such as Enron, WorldCom and Tyco.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PEOPLE_MARTHA_STEWART?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
Armstrong Takes Lead in Tour De France
By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press Writer
BLOIS, France (AP) -- Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel squad won the team time trial at the Tour de France on Tuesday, handing the six-time champion the yellow jersey as overall race leader.
The 33-year-old Texan led his squad to victory for the third straight year in the time trial, clocking 1 hour, 10 minutes, 39 seconds for the 41.85-mile trek from Tours to Blois. Team CSC was second.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CYC_TOUR_DE_FRANCE?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
Chicago Sun Times
The weather in Chicago (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
83º
“SPARKLING"
Gorilla attacks Lincoln Park zoo keeper
July 5, 2005
Advertisement
A zoo keeper was bitten on the back by a gorilla Tuesday at the Lincoln Park Zoo and was being treated for her injuries at a nearby hospital, police said.
The female zoo keeper was attacked around 9:50 a.m., said Chicago police spokeswoman Robin Mohr. The woman, whose name was not released, was in good condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Mohr said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/zoo05.html
Brother says he'd pay for bin Laden's defense
July 5, 2005
CAIRO, Egypt -- One of Osama bin Laden's half brothers said he would pay for the terror mastermind's defense should he ever be captured, Yeslam Binladin said in a broadcast interview.
''For sure,'' Yeslam Binladin responded when asked if he would help pay. ''Everyone has the right to defend himself, anyone who is accused of doing something.''
http://www.suntimes.com/output/terror/cst-nws-bin05.html
Adventists put woman in top job
July 5, 2005
ST. LOUIS -- The Seventh-day Adventist Church elevated a woman Monday to a top leadership post for the first time in its history.
Ella Louise Smith Simmons, 57, will serve as one of nine vice presidents.
''The church as an organization cannot be efficient until it allows all people to contribute in ways that God calls them to contribute,'' she said. ''The church is taking a step in the right direction.''
Simmons last served as provost and vice president for academic administration at La Sierra University, an Adventist college in Riverside, Calif.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/religion/cst-nws-seven05.html
Times - London
Chirac quips upstage his Olympic sales drive
By Philippe Naughton, Times Online
Your views: worst cooks
President Jacques Chirac's ill-timed jokes about British cooking came back to bite him on the derriere today as he arrived in Singapore to press Paris's case to host the 2012 Olympics.
The French President found a scrum of reporters and television crews waiting for him as he arrived at the city-state's famous Raffles Hotel a day before the International Olympic Committee chooses between Paris and close rival London.
Unfortunately, no one was interested in M Chirac's views on the Olympic contest. "Did you make disparaging remarks about Britain?" asked one journalist. "Do you like ’rosbif’, Mr President?" shouted another.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4662-1681137,00.html
Anti-Bush gibe by Royal Society sparks climate change row
By Sam Knight, Times Online
A prickly row between the scientific academies of Britain and America over the precise wording of their positions on climate change has come to light on the eve of the G8 summit.
Letters show that shortly after the scientific academies of the G8 group of nations, as well as those from China, Brazil and India, issued an "unprecedented statement" urging action on climate change, the presidents of the Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences argued over how the statement was presented.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22649-1681145,00.html
Philadelphia Inquirer
Concert caps off events big and small
By Barbara Boyer and Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writers
Fifteen hours after securing his front-row standing position at the head of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Bruce Fikes raised his hands to the darkened sky, awestruck at the chance to sing along - live - with Elton John.
And sing he did, along with fans to all ends of the Parkway, as John launched into a crowd favorite, "The Bitch Is Back." The neighborhood went wild.
"If this was at the Wachovia Center, it would cost a lot of money. But I'm here," said Fikes, 42, who lives in North Philadelphia and makes pretzels in Camden.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/12055042.htm
Elton John ignites crowd with impassioned takes on hits
By Dwayne Campbell
Inquirer Staff Writer
Sir Elton John, one of the world's best-known spokesmen and activists for HIV/AIDS awareness, poured out his passion last night as he rocked a crowd of thousands jammed along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and several nearby streets.
The free concert was the last show of Philadelphia's big weekend, when the city played host to the Live 8 mega-concert and several other events under the banner of "Welcome America."
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12055041.htm
Democrats reach deal on state budget
Against the Assembly's wishes, it would trim many property-tax rebates. The Codey victory awaits a vote this weekend.
By Kaitlin Gurney, Robert Moran and Jennifer Moroz
Inquirer Trenton Bureau
TRENTON - Forging a last-minute reconciliation after a weeks-long feud, majority Democrats announced last night that they had agreed on a more than $28 billion state spending plan that would cut property-tax rebates for many homeowners.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12030431.htm
Lost mare gets fresh start on old-horse farm
Found near a busy street, she was adopted by a man who takes care of aging, ailing horses.
By Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writer
Missy, an emaciated mare found disoriented and wandering near a busy intersection on the Chester County-Delaware County border, has a new family, a new home and a new name.
Last week, shortly after she stepped hesitantly off a horse trailer, walked into the barn of an Upper Bucks County farm, and began eating, she became Minga.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12055038.htm
Asahi Shimbun
86 more deaths linked to asbestos
07/06/2005
The Asahi Shimbun
Nichias Corp., a manufacturer of building materials, disclosed Tuesday that 86 employees died of asbestos-related diseases from 1976 to last year.
It also noted that 55 others died of pneumoconiosis during the same period, but said a causal relationship with asbestos had not been established.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507050353.html
Meiji Yasuda president likely to resign over sleazy sales practices
07/05/2005
The Asahi Shimbun
Ryotaro Kaneko, president of Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co., expressed his intention Tuesday to resign over illicit sales tactics that deprived hundreds of policyholders of insurance payments.
"I will make clear the management's responsibilities, including the resignation from the management's top post," Kaneko said at a meeting with policyholders in Tokyo.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507050276.html
Threat halts pro-SDF rally in Iraq
07/05/2005
By YOSHIHIRO KANDO The Asahi Shimbun
CAIRO--An apparent terrorist threat forced organizers to abruptly cancel a rally in Iraq on Sunday intended to support the Japanese Self-Defense Forces stationed in Samawah.
The rally was arranged by an Iraqi sports group and an association that wanted to show its appreciation of Japan's goodwill in the area, organizers said.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507050136.html
Meet the designer who came to the rescue in China
07/05/2005
TENDO, Yamagata Prefecture
Farmer Kiyoharu Saito is making a name for himself in China for a hovercraft he developed alone at his workshop.
It turns out that his dream of perfecting an amphibious craft for search-and-rescue missions is not just hot air.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507050118.html
Experts: Millions more at AIDS risk unless urgent steps are taken
07/02/2005
By TARO KARASAKI, Staff Writer
KOBE--To head off an AIDS pandemic in Asia, governments must make the crisis a top priority with adequate funding and efforts to counter the social stigma behind the disease, experts told an international conference here Friday.
The call came at the opening of the International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific that opened Friday.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507020170.html
Toyota to double hybrid-vehicle production
07/05/2005
The Asahi Shimbun
Toyota Motor Corp. will double its production of gas-electricity hybrid vehicles to 500,000 in 2006 to meet the rising global demand, especially in North America, company officials said.
Toyota, the leader in the field of hybrid technology, expects demand for such vehicles to increase amid rising oil prices and improved performances of the autos.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507050217.html
The Miami Herald
Two tropical storms form on the same day
BY MARTIN MERZER
mmerzer@herald.com
Tropical Storm Cindy and Tropical Storm Dennis developed within hours of each other Tuesday, giving the hurricane season its busiest start in recorded history.
Cindy headed toward the upper Gulf Coast, where its center was expected to reach Louisiana as a tropical storm tonight. Forecasters warned of four to six inches of rain and possible tornadoes in the western Florida Panhandle and portions of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12053926.htm
Alliance calls for coalition withdrawal
BAGILA BUKHARBAYEVA
Associated Press
ASTANA, Kazakhstan - An alliance of Russia, China and central Asian nations called for the U.S. and coalition members in Afghanistan to set a date for withdrawing from member states, reflecting growing unease over America's regional military presence.
Alliance members Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan both host U.S. bases whose troops are involved in Afghanistan.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12056475.htm
Butterfly passion takes major flight
New University of Florida research center focuses on world's butterflies and moths
BY NOAH BIERMAN
nbierman@herald.com
GAINESVILLE -- Thomas Emmel was 8 years old when he netted his first Western Tiger Swallowtail near the sycamore trees of his Southern California home.
The catch began a romance with butterflies and moths that has continued for 55 years. For them, he has built a home, won over thousands of admirers, traveled through land leeches and saved some from extinction.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12054919.htm
Mexico needs history lesson on stereotypes
BY LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@herald.com
What is it with Mexico lately? When did it hire David Duke as an image consultant?
I can't imagine what else might explain that nation's recent blundering into not just one but two racially charged controversies. The first, of course, was President Vicente Fox's remark in May that Mexican immigrants in the United States take work ''not even blacks'' are willing to do. Fox's comment outraged many in this country and bestirred the readily bestirrable Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to go down and show him the error of his ways.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12049659.htm
An ambitious plan for failing schools
OUR OPINION: THE OLD MODEL HASN'T WORKED, SO IT'S TIME FOR A NEW ONE
The first wave of reactions to Superintendent Rudy Crew's proposal to shutter and overhaul several failing Miami-Dade schools is both surprising and disappointing. The critics say: It can't be done. It doesn't work for the kids. It's too difficult. Parents will object. Teachers won't like it. The problems are intractable. We've tried change before.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12054912.htm
An ambitious plan for failing schools
OUR OPINION: THE OLD MODEL HASN'T WORKED, SO IT'S TIME FOR A NEW ONE
The first wave of reactions to Superintendent Rudy Crew's proposal to shutter and overhaul several failing Miami-Dade schools is both surprising and disappointing. The critics say: It can't be done. It doesn't work for the kids. It's too difficult. Parents will object. Teachers won't like it. The problems are intractable. We've tried change before.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12054912.htm
G8 can tackle poverty
BY CESAR CHELALA
cchelala@aol.com
The decisions from the G8 meeting that begins Wednesday in Scotland will have wide-ranging consequences for the fight against poverty, particularly for African countries. A compromise should be reached to cancel the debt of not only 14 African countries as has now been accepted but to extend it to all of them plus to some Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) in other regions. This will be a right step to more effectively combat this scourge.
Poverty has caused many more deaths than terrorism, and has hindered the proper development of children worldwide. The damage provoked by malnutrition, illness and inadequate care during childhood dooms children's learning potential and proper development. Poor children who are damaged go on to initiate a vicious cycle of harm to future generations. Malnourished girls become malnourished mothers who give birth to under-weight children, who have greater mortality risks than normal-weight newborns.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12054913.htm
continued . . .
...isms in Russia and around the Globe these are COMMON Anitsemitic statements, even in the USA !! Isn't that right, Mr. Bush?
Do Jews Dominate World Politics and Finance?
By Jock L. Falkson
IHC Abstract
A group of Russian nationalist MPs recently called for a ban on all Jewish groups, blaming them for provoking antisemitism and ethnic hatred. A letter, signed by 20 members of the Duma, called on the prosecutor-general to punish all Jewish groups in Russia because Jews dominate politics and finance abroad!
Analysis of this antisemitic nonsense is still necessary. We must always refute and expose antisemitic lies. This new particular absurdity is no more valid than the notorious, century-old Russian forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1905). The Protocols was first published by the Russian secret police to influence Tsar Nicholas into blaming the Jews for Russia’s turmoil.
If anyone in Russia is provoking racism and ethnic hatred these days, it is this group of MPs, manifestly guilty of spreading totally false and unfounded allegations.
A group of Russian nationalist MPs have recently called on the prosecutor-general to ban all Jewish groups, blaming them for provoking antisemitism and ethnic hatred.
A letter, signed by 20 members of the Duma, accuses Jews of dominating politics and the world of finance abroad and underwriting a war on Russian patriotism at home.
You would have thought these 20 Duma Deputies were concerned with Jews dominating politics and finance in Russia. But no, this apparently was not their complaint. They called on the prosecutor-general to punish all Jewish groups in Russia…because Jews dominate politics and finance abroad!
Don’t you find that incredible?
I believe there is pressure from Russian authorities to have this statement withdrawn. I hope that happens, but whether it does or not, analysis of this antisemitic nonsense is still necessary. We must always refute and expose antisemitic lies.
Jews are some 14 million, give or take a million, in a world of 6,379,157,361 (according to the CIA World Fact Book 2004) living in 192 countries. So our 14 million, over 10 million of whom live in Israel and the U.S., dominate world politics and finance? If their allegation were not the height of antisemitic balderdash surely the Guinness Book of Records should have given us title-page ranking by now?
Consider, for example, the well known political “power” of the Jewish/Israel lobby in the United Nations. Think about the deceitful annual resolutions of the Muslim nations against Israel. Year after year these anti-Jewish, anti-Israel resolutions are passed by enormous majorities…with only the U.S., Micronesia and sometimes the Marshall Islands voting for Israel.
That is as good as Israel’s indomitable world political clout gets. A more miserable example of Jewish political power in world politics is hard to conceive. Yet all kinds of antisemites are convinced of the truth of this nonsensical lie. What is missing, of course, is the evidence. But who needs evidential truth when a doctrine of lies works so well for born and bred Jew haters?
We have here shades of Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian Prime Minister who last year accused Jews of ruling the world and compelling nations to fight their (Jewish) wars by proxy! Yet, though Israel would have been among the first to join the American-led coalition against Iraq, it was the only country in the world not permitted to do so.
As for the allegation that Jews are fomenting anti-Russian patriotism, the only thing that can be said in its favor is that this is a new one. If only we understood how this is being done and, specifically, how will it benefit Jews if Russians were less patriotic.
But absurdity was never good enough a reason to eliminate Jew-hatred. This particular absurdity is no more valid than the notorious, century old Russian forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1905). Philip Graves, a London Times journalist, exposed this forgery in 1921 in a series of articles. He revealed that sections had been taken verbatim from a French political satire Dialogues in Hell by Maurice Joly (1864).
Protocols was first published by the Russian secret police to influence Tsar Nicholas into blaming the Jews (the world’s favorite scapegoat) for Russia’s turmoil. Some sources say the secret police themselves composed the forgery.
The Protocols continues to stoke the fires of antisemitism to this day. It has done us immense harm. Antisemites refuse to let it die. These days it is reprinted and enthusiastically distributed by Arab nations to demonize Israel. Our so-called peace partner Egypt is heavily engaged. So is Syria, our so-called wannabe peace partner. So is Iran, which has actually announced its agenda to fulfill Hitler’s Jewish genocide. (But Hitler had it easy. Iran will not, for Israel is not defenseless.)
Antisemites believe that Jews are so powerful in financial matters they can bend the economy of the world to benefit Jews specifically. Moreover that Jews in high places are engaged in a secret conspiracy to bring this about. But why on earth would any ‘intelligent’ antisemite fear such a bunch of losers with nothing to show for pursuing a preposterous chimera for 100 years?
What rational person can possibly believe Jews could control world finance - so that they alone benefited - while the rest of the world suffered? How can anyone believe there is any minor group in any country which can dominate world finance? How evil and monstrous to try and pin this dangerous claptrap on us!
Market forces and supply and demand are the economic realities that shape the ebb and flow of the economies of individual countries and groups of nations. Like a tsunami wave, these factors overwhelmed the 70 year old Soviet communist economy and forced communist China to adopt capitalist techniques and methods - as a result of which they have become a world industrial force. China looks set to become the world’s top exporting nation in the next 10 years.
How on earth can any group of individuals dominate such titanic world forces? How insufferable is the paranoia of antisemites who keep alive a conspiracy that never was – compelling us to refute their infantile but deadly illusion.
How can Jews, however intelligent, educated and smart they might be, play a dominant role in the turbulent sea of world economics? More to the point, why would smart, intelligent, highly educated Jews even consider pursuing such an uneducated, un-smart, unintelligent, stupid idea?
If anyone in Russia is provoking racism, ethnic hatred and antisemitism these days, it is this group of Deputies, manifestly guilty of spreading totally false and unfounded allegations.
http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=4/b/vi/archives/090320051
By Jock L. Falkson
IHC Abstract
A group of Russian nationalist MPs recently called for a ban on all Jewish groups, blaming them for provoking antisemitism and ethnic hatred. A letter, signed by 20 members of the Duma, called on the prosecutor-general to punish all Jewish groups in Russia because Jews dominate politics and finance abroad!
Analysis of this antisemitic nonsense is still necessary. We must always refute and expose antisemitic lies. This new particular absurdity is no more valid than the notorious, century-old Russian forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1905). The Protocols was first published by the Russian secret police to influence Tsar Nicholas into blaming the Jews for Russia’s turmoil.
If anyone in Russia is provoking racism and ethnic hatred these days, it is this group of MPs, manifestly guilty of spreading totally false and unfounded allegations.
A group of Russian nationalist MPs have recently called on the prosecutor-general to ban all Jewish groups, blaming them for provoking antisemitism and ethnic hatred.
A letter, signed by 20 members of the Duma, accuses Jews of dominating politics and the world of finance abroad and underwriting a war on Russian patriotism at home.
You would have thought these 20 Duma Deputies were concerned with Jews dominating politics and finance in Russia. But no, this apparently was not their complaint. They called on the prosecutor-general to punish all Jewish groups in Russia…because Jews dominate politics and finance abroad!
Don’t you find that incredible?
I believe there is pressure from Russian authorities to have this statement withdrawn. I hope that happens, but whether it does or not, analysis of this antisemitic nonsense is still necessary. We must always refute and expose antisemitic lies.
Jews are some 14 million, give or take a million, in a world of 6,379,157,361 (according to the CIA World Fact Book 2004) living in 192 countries. So our 14 million, over 10 million of whom live in Israel and the U.S., dominate world politics and finance? If their allegation were not the height of antisemitic balderdash surely the Guinness Book of Records should have given us title-page ranking by now?
Consider, for example, the well known political “power” of the Jewish/Israel lobby in the United Nations. Think about the deceitful annual resolutions of the Muslim nations against Israel. Year after year these anti-Jewish, anti-Israel resolutions are passed by enormous majorities…with only the U.S., Micronesia and sometimes the Marshall Islands voting for Israel.
That is as good as Israel’s indomitable world political clout gets. A more miserable example of Jewish political power in world politics is hard to conceive. Yet all kinds of antisemites are convinced of the truth of this nonsensical lie. What is missing, of course, is the evidence. But who needs evidential truth when a doctrine of lies works so well for born and bred Jew haters?
We have here shades of Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian Prime Minister who last year accused Jews of ruling the world and compelling nations to fight their (Jewish) wars by proxy! Yet, though Israel would have been among the first to join the American-led coalition against Iraq, it was the only country in the world not permitted to do so.
As for the allegation that Jews are fomenting anti-Russian patriotism, the only thing that can be said in its favor is that this is a new one. If only we understood how this is being done and, specifically, how will it benefit Jews if Russians were less patriotic.
But absurdity was never good enough a reason to eliminate Jew-hatred. This particular absurdity is no more valid than the notorious, century old Russian forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1905). Philip Graves, a London Times journalist, exposed this forgery in 1921 in a series of articles. He revealed that sections had been taken verbatim from a French political satire Dialogues in Hell by Maurice Joly (1864).
Protocols was first published by the Russian secret police to influence Tsar Nicholas into blaming the Jews (the world’s favorite scapegoat) for Russia’s turmoil. Some sources say the secret police themselves composed the forgery.
The Protocols continues to stoke the fires of antisemitism to this day. It has done us immense harm. Antisemites refuse to let it die. These days it is reprinted and enthusiastically distributed by Arab nations to demonize Israel. Our so-called peace partner Egypt is heavily engaged. So is Syria, our so-called wannabe peace partner. So is Iran, which has actually announced its agenda to fulfill Hitler’s Jewish genocide. (But Hitler had it easy. Iran will not, for Israel is not defenseless.)
Antisemites believe that Jews are so powerful in financial matters they can bend the economy of the world to benefit Jews specifically. Moreover that Jews in high places are engaged in a secret conspiracy to bring this about. But why on earth would any ‘intelligent’ antisemite fear such a bunch of losers with nothing to show for pursuing a preposterous chimera for 100 years?
What rational person can possibly believe Jews could control world finance - so that they alone benefited - while the rest of the world suffered? How can anyone believe there is any minor group in any country which can dominate world finance? How evil and monstrous to try and pin this dangerous claptrap on us!
Market forces and supply and demand are the economic realities that shape the ebb and flow of the economies of individual countries and groups of nations. Like a tsunami wave, these factors overwhelmed the 70 year old Soviet communist economy and forced communist China to adopt capitalist techniques and methods - as a result of which they have become a world industrial force. China looks set to become the world’s top exporting nation in the next 10 years.
How on earth can any group of individuals dominate such titanic world forces? How insufferable is the paranoia of antisemites who keep alive a conspiracy that never was – compelling us to refute their infantile but deadly illusion.
How can Jews, however intelligent, educated and smart they might be, play a dominant role in the turbulent sea of world economics? More to the point, why would smart, intelligent, highly educated Jews even consider pursuing such an uneducated, un-smart, unintelligent, stupid idea?
If anyone in Russia is provoking racism, ethnic hatred and antisemitism these days, it is this group of Deputies, manifestly guilty of spreading totally false and unfounded allegations.
http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=4/b/vi/archives/090320051
Morning Papers - continued ...
The Scotsman
Comet opens its heart as probe hits target
IAN JOHNSTON
SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT
Key points
• NASA probe smashes into nine-mile comet at 23,000 miles per hour
• Astronomers hope analysis of debris will shed light on solar system's origins
• First ever mission to gather data from a comet's nucleus
Key quote
"As of now, I think we have a completely different understanding of our solar system. Its success exceeded our expectations" - Charles Elachi, NASA laboratory director
Story in full ECSTATIC NASA scientists were last night studying pictures of the inside of a comet after smashing a probe into the giant block of ice 83 million miles from the Earth.
Just before 7am yesterday, the fridge-sized Deep Impact probe flew into the path of the comet, Tempel 1 - nine-miles long and shaped like an avocado - creating an explosion watched by thousands of astronomers and amateur enthusiasts around the world.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=738142005&20050705163024
European Space Agency
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html
Tempel 1 is weak X-ray source, XMM-Newton confirms
Image recorded by EPIC instrument on XMM-Newton
5 July 2005
ESA's XMM-Newton observations of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 revealed that the object is a weak X-ray source. These data were acquired on 4 July 2005 by one of the EPIC X-ray cameras on board the spacecraft during the post-impact observation phase.
XMM-Newton observed that Tempel 1 emits X-rays, as suspected from previous observations of comets, but this emission is very weak. It is not certain whether it is possible to obtain spectral data which indicate the mechanisms by which the comet's X-rays are produced. Further analysis of the XMM-Newton data is needed to confirm this.
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMXA46DIAE_index_0.html
Chinese National Space Administration
http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/main_e.asp
China National Space Administration Delegation Visited 3 Latin American Countries
Vice Administrator Jin Zhuanglong with Venezuela Minister of Science and Technology
Vice Administrator Jin Zhuanglong Meet with Brazilian Minister for Science and technology
Vice Administrator Jin Zhuanglong Meet with AEB President Sergio Gaudenzi
CNSA delegation with State Secretary Moleno
Mr. Jin Zhuanglong, Vice Administrator of China National Space Administration (CNSA) and his delegation visited Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela during May 15-27，2005.
On May 16, CNSA held discussion with Brazilian counterparts for the Second JPC Meeting in San Paulo. Both sides extensively discussed the operation of CBERS 2 satellite and the development of CBERS 2B, CBERS 3 &4, and subsequently signed the minutes of meeting.
During the visit of Brazil, the delegation met with Brazilian Minister of Science and Technology and informed him the JPC meeting.
Bilateral meeting between CNSA and AEB were held for further coordination.
May 18-21, the delegation visited Argentina and held official talks with Argentina Communication State Secretary Mr. Moleno. Mr. Jin expressed that Chinese government and CNSA attaches great importance to the bilateral cooperation in space between the two countries, and hope to implement such cooperation under the principles of “Government cooperation implemented by industry, government set up platform for industries to perform". Concerning the export of satellite components, we shall actively participate. Minutes of meeting was signed after the conference.
http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/english/focus/show.asp?id=58
NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/deepimpact_front/index.html
NASA's Deep Impact Generates its own Spectacular Photo Flash
07.04.05 -- The hyper-speed demise of NASA's Deep Impact probe generated an immense flash of light, which provided an excellent light source for the two cameras on the Deep Impact mothership.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/main/index.html
Brtish Astronomical Association
http://www.britastro.org/main/
Formed in 1890, the British Astronomical Association has an international reputation for the quality of its observational and scientific work. Membership is open to all persons interested in astronomy.
Objectives
The encouragement of all aspects of observational astronomy and the association of observers at all levels for mutual help.
The promotion of a general interest in astronomy for beginners as well as for the more advanced.
The circulation of current astronomical information and observational material.
The support of modern advanced techniques for observation, data handling and scientific presentation of results.
The presentation of medals and prizes in recognition of outstanding contributions to astronomy.
http://www.britastro.org/main/
Chirac pours scorn on Britain - and haggis
GERRI PEEV
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
JACQUES Chirac has mocked Britain and singled out haggis for particular scorn in front of Germany and Russia's leaders, just days before he enjoys the hospitality and cuisine of Gleneagles at the G8 summit.
The French president even jokingly blamed his country's poor relationship with NATO on attempts by Lord Robertson, the former secretary-general, to coerce him into trying haggis.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=737612005
Art teacher who claimed prince cheated wins dismissal claim
KAREN MCVEIGH
THE teacher who claimed to have helped Prince Harry cheat in his art A-level at Eton was unfairly sacked, a tribunal ruled yesterday in a judgment which was highly critical of the famous college.
The tribunal described the prince's senior teachers as "high-handed", "obstinate" and "unprofessional". It also found that staff "did not act reasonably towards" Sarah Forsyth, 30, and that her boss, Ian Burke, the head of art, "did undermine and bully her."
However, Ms Forsyth was also criticised by the panel over her accusations that the prince had cheated in his coursework and for secretly taping him to back up her claim - the "least attractive aspect" of her behaviour, it said.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=738052005
Truth hurts: women feel pain more than men
CRAIG BROWN
Key points
• Study suggests women feel more pain, for longer, and in more places
• Bath University study conducted into pain threshold and tolerance
• Study said to confirm perceptions in medical community
Key quote
"Research in the past has shown that in GP surgeries, there is a higher percentage of women with pain-related complaints; also that they feel pain at a lower threshold" - Dr Beverly Collett, president of the British Pain Society
Story in full THE long-held belief that women tolerate pain better than men has been thrown into doubt by new research which claims the opposite is true.
While researchers at Bath University say women feel more pain, experience it in more parts of the body, and more often and for a longer duration compared with men, their tolerance to it is also lower.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=738372005
The Colorado Post
Time is right for tally of state's open space
Great Outdoors Colorado is well-suited to the task of mapping the state's protected lands, but it should provide three-dimensional information.
As Colorado's population grew more than 30 percent in 10 years, state residents worried that we would lose our vistas, open spaces, recreation opportunities and wildlife habitat. With the growth - not just urban sprawl but also the spread of rural 35-acre ranchettes - came an alarming loss of farm and ranch land and a fragmentation of natural ecosystems.
http://denverpost.com/opinion/ci_2839828
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Roll Over Rove;
Rove Refusing Interviews on Plame Leak
By E&P Staff / Editor & Publisher
NEW YORK Two days after his lawyer confirmed that his name turned up as a source in Matthew Cooper's notes on the Valerie Plame/CIA case, top White House adviser Karl Rove refused to answer questions about the development today.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3208
Rove refusing interviews on Plame leak
What's Everyone Looking At Me For?;
MSNBC Analyst Says 2nd Source Confirms Karl Rove as Plame Leaker
By Greg Mitchell / Editor & Publisher
NEW YORK Now that Time Inc. has turned over documents to federal court, revealing who its reporter, Matt Cooper, identified as his source in the Valerie Plame/CIA case, speculation runs rampant on the name of that source. Lawrence O'Donnell, senior MSNBC political analyst, now claims that at least two sources have confirmed that the name is--top White House mastermind Karl Rove.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3190
Karl Rove fingered as Plame Leaker
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/07/02.html#a3746
(Click here for VIDEO!)
Schumer: Speak Up, Rove;
Schumer demands Rove speak up about leak
WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, called Sunday for Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove to personally deny leaking the name of a CIA official.
Saturday, Rove`s lawyer, Robert Luskin told The Washington Post Rove had not disclosed the name of Valerie Plame to Newsweek in a 2003 interview.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3201
"it would be nice to hear it
directly from Mr. Rove"
'I'm Not Going to Come Home': One Marine's Third Iraq Tour
By Sylvia Moreno / Washington Post
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Shaded by a towering blue spruce in Wheeler Park stands a gray granite monument that honors this city's men and women who have died in combat from the Spanish-American War to, as the memorial reads, "Iraqi Freedom."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3211
U.S. Walls Off Its Corner of Baghdad, Annoying Some Neighbors
By James Glanz / New York Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 4 - Iraqis call it Assur, the Fence. In English everyone calls it the Wall, and in the past two years it has grown and grown until it has become an almost continuous rampart, at least 10 miles in circumference, around the seat of American power in Baghdad.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3212
The New York Times
Pentagon Weighs Strategy Change to Deter Terror
By THOM SHANKER and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: July 5, 2005
WASHINGTON, July 4 - The Pentagon's most senior planners are challenging the longstanding strategy that requires the armed forces to be prepared to fight two major wars at a time. Instead, they are weighing whether to shape the military to mount one conventional campaign while devoting more resources to defending American territory and antiterrorism efforts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/politics/05strategy.html?hp&ex=1120622400&en=21bc25d48243b5e9&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Hillary Clinton Joins Last Push for New York's Olympic Bid
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 5, 2005
Filed at 8:46 a.m. ET
SINGAPORE (AP) -- A day before the crucial vote, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton joined the New York delegation on Tuesday for a homestretch round of lobbying aimed at convincing the International Olympic Committee to award the city the 2012 Summer Games.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-OLY-2012-Clinton.html?hp&ex=1120622400&en=de3062f6c56a2138&ei=5094&partner=homepage
United Church of Christ Backs Same-Sex Marriage
By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: July 5, 2005
ATLANTA, July 4 - The United Church of Christ became the first mainline Christian denomination to support same-sex marriage officially when its general synod passed a resolution on Monday affirming "equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/national/05church.html?
At N.A.A.C.P. Helm, an Economic Approach to Rights
Black business leaders are cheering the appointment of Bruce S. Gordon, a retired Verizon executive, to be the new president of the N.A.A.C.P.
By JAMES DAO
Published: July 5, 2005
WASHINGTON, July 4 - When the N.A.A.C.P. recently announced plans to make Bruce S. Gordon, a retired Verizon executive, its new president, the reaction from some longtime civil rights activists was, "Bruce who?"
But black business leaders cheered, loudly.
"Like the excitement around the election of Barack Obama, Bruce Gordon will generate excitement in corporate America," said Earl G. Graves Sr., the founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, referring to the black United States senator from Illinois.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/national/05naacp.html
There is too much made of this issue.
Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited
By BENEDICT CAREY
Published: July 5, 2005
Some people are attracted to women; some are attracted to men. And some, if Sigmund Freud, Dr. Alfred Kinsey and millions of self-described bisexuals are to be believed, are drawn to both sexes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/health/05sex.html?hp&ex=1120622400&en=98912eace83692a8&ei=5094&partner=homepage
The Moscow Times
Ruling May Let 1 Million People Move
By Anatoly Medetsky
The court said the plant caused 95 percent of the area's harmful emissions.
The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Russia to improve the living conditions of a woman whose home was polluted by the country's largest steelworks in a case that offers hope for the more than 1 million Russians who live in contaminated areas.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/07/05/001.html
Nuclear Subs? Huh?
Paper: Iran in Talks to Refurbish Subs
By Lyuba Pronina
AP
Russia is reportedly in talks to refurbish and arm Iran's three Kilo-class submarines for a price tag of $270 million.
Russia is reportedly in talks to upgrade three Iranian submarines, a $270 million deal that could revive the bilateral arms trade but further irritate the United States.
Rosoboronexport, the state-owned arms selling agency, is in negotiations to refurbish three Kilo-class diesel submarines and equip them with Club-S anti-ship missiles, Kommersant reported Monday, citing unidentified sources.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/07/05/041.html
Security Fears Delay Chechnya Concert
By Kevin O'Flynn
Staff Writer
Some concerts get canceled due to slow ticket sales, bad weather or stars crying off sick, but a planned rock concert in Chechnya was called off a day before it was due to take place because of security concerns.
Chechen Prime Minister Sergei Abramov said Monday in Grozny that the "Phoenix: Return to Life" concert planned for Tuesday would be postponed until September, Interfax reported, as organizers said they had been advised by military officials to call off the concert. The cancellation came three days after the deadliest bomb blast this year in the North Caucasus, which killed 10 soldiers in neighboring Dagestan.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/07/05/011.html
Bellona Urges Nuclear Reform
The Moscow Times
In a report presented at a Moscow news conference on Monday, campaigners from the Bellona environmental watchdog urged Russia to reform its nuclear energy industry and the handling of Soviet-era nuclear waste.
The report, called "Russian Nuclear Industry: The Need for Reform," said Russia had to safely store spent nuclear fuel, rather than reprocess it, and stop implementing the "potentially dangerous and expensive" program of extending operation of aging nuclear plants. It also called for the cleanup of contamination around nuclear power stations and nuclear-powered submarine bases.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/07/05/012.html
The Arizona Republic
County set for special head count
Edythe Jensen
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 5, 2005 12:00 AM
Maricopa County is the only large metropolitan area in the nation conducting a special census this year and the only jurisdiction using a sampling technique to get the job done, according to U.S. Census Bureau officials.
Blame it on rapid growth and lean budgets.
"Usually a jurisdiction the size of Maricopa County doesn't conduct a special census," said Kimberly Crews, census spokeswoman in Suitland, Md. She said the high cost of head-counting is a deterrent. "They have to weigh the cost of doing it versus the resources they'll receive as a result," she said.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0705sampling05.html
Net phones run into 911 hang-ups
Users can't always get through in emergencies
Josh Kelley
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 5, 2005 12:00 AM
The rising popularity of Internet phone services may provide a convenient, inexpensive way to communicate, but they can also produce disastrous consequences when calling 911.
Because the phone services send signals over the Internet and not regular telephone wires, 911 calls have often failed to reach an emergency dispatch center.
Although some providers of Internet phone services offer 911 service, others make it optional or don't have it.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0705internetphones05.html
Charter schools thrive with niche marketing
Anne Ryman
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 5, 2005 12:00 AM
Like a rapidly growing franchise, Arizona charter schools caught on quickly when they first opened in 1995, filling a need for different educational choices.
But after a decade of explosive expansion during which a dozen new schools typically opened each year, the number of charter schools now is stable at about 500 this year.
The more competitive marketplace means many charter schools serve educational niches. For parents and students, the increasing emphasis on niches means more educational choices.
http://www.azcentral.com/families/education/articles/0705charterschool05.html
continued . . .
Comet opens its heart as probe hits target
IAN JOHNSTON
SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT
Key points
• NASA probe smashes into nine-mile comet at 23,000 miles per hour
• Astronomers hope analysis of debris will shed light on solar system's origins
• First ever mission to gather data from a comet's nucleus
Key quote
"As of now, I think we have a completely different understanding of our solar system. Its success exceeded our expectations" - Charles Elachi, NASA laboratory director
Story in full ECSTATIC NASA scientists were last night studying pictures of the inside of a comet after smashing a probe into the giant block of ice 83 million miles from the Earth.
Just before 7am yesterday, the fridge-sized Deep Impact probe flew into the path of the comet, Tempel 1 - nine-miles long and shaped like an avocado - creating an explosion watched by thousands of astronomers and amateur enthusiasts around the world.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=738142005&20050705163024
European Space Agency
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html
Tempel 1 is weak X-ray source, XMM-Newton confirms
Image recorded by EPIC instrument on XMM-Newton
5 July 2005
ESA's XMM-Newton observations of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 revealed that the object is a weak X-ray source. These data were acquired on 4 July 2005 by one of the EPIC X-ray cameras on board the spacecraft during the post-impact observation phase.
XMM-Newton observed that Tempel 1 emits X-rays, as suspected from previous observations of comets, but this emission is very weak. It is not certain whether it is possible to obtain spectral data which indicate the mechanisms by which the comet's X-rays are produced. Further analysis of the XMM-Newton data is needed to confirm this.
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMXA46DIAE_index_0.html
Chinese National Space Administration
http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/main_e.asp
China National Space Administration Delegation Visited 3 Latin American Countries
Vice Administrator Jin Zhuanglong with Venezuela Minister of Science and Technology
Vice Administrator Jin Zhuanglong Meet with Brazilian Minister for Science and technology
Vice Administrator Jin Zhuanglong Meet with AEB President Sergio Gaudenzi
CNSA delegation with State Secretary Moleno
Mr. Jin Zhuanglong, Vice Administrator of China National Space Administration (CNSA) and his delegation visited Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela during May 15-27，2005.
On May 16, CNSA held discussion with Brazilian counterparts for the Second JPC Meeting in San Paulo. Both sides extensively discussed the operation of CBERS 2 satellite and the development of CBERS 2B, CBERS 3 &4, and subsequently signed the minutes of meeting.
During the visit of Brazil, the delegation met with Brazilian Minister of Science and Technology and informed him the JPC meeting.
Bilateral meeting between CNSA and AEB were held for further coordination.
May 18-21, the delegation visited Argentina and held official talks with Argentina Communication State Secretary Mr. Moleno. Mr. Jin expressed that Chinese government and CNSA attaches great importance to the bilateral cooperation in space between the two countries, and hope to implement such cooperation under the principles of “Government cooperation implemented by industry, government set up platform for industries to perform". Concerning the export of satellite components, we shall actively participate. Minutes of meeting was signed after the conference.
http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/english/focus/show.asp?id=58
NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/deepimpact_front/index.html
NASA's Deep Impact Generates its own Spectacular Photo Flash
07.04.05 -- The hyper-speed demise of NASA's Deep Impact probe generated an immense flash of light, which provided an excellent light source for the two cameras on the Deep Impact mothership.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/main/index.html
Brtish Astronomical Association
http://www.britastro.org/main/
Formed in 1890, the British Astronomical Association has an international reputation for the quality of its observational and scientific work. Membership is open to all persons interested in astronomy.
Objectives
The encouragement of all aspects of observational astronomy and the association of observers at all levels for mutual help.
The promotion of a general interest in astronomy for beginners as well as for the more advanced.
The circulation of current astronomical information and observational material.
The support of modern advanced techniques for observation, data handling and scientific presentation of results.
The presentation of medals and prizes in recognition of outstanding contributions to astronomy.
http://www.britastro.org/main/
Chirac pours scorn on Britain - and haggis
GERRI PEEV
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
JACQUES Chirac has mocked Britain and singled out haggis for particular scorn in front of Germany and Russia's leaders, just days before he enjoys the hospitality and cuisine of Gleneagles at the G8 summit.
The French president even jokingly blamed his country's poor relationship with NATO on attempts by Lord Robertson, the former secretary-general, to coerce him into trying haggis.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=737612005
Art teacher who claimed prince cheated wins dismissal claim
KAREN MCVEIGH
THE teacher who claimed to have helped Prince Harry cheat in his art A-level at Eton was unfairly sacked, a tribunal ruled yesterday in a judgment which was highly critical of the famous college.
The tribunal described the prince's senior teachers as "high-handed", "obstinate" and "unprofessional". It also found that staff "did not act reasonably towards" Sarah Forsyth, 30, and that her boss, Ian Burke, the head of art, "did undermine and bully her."
However, Ms Forsyth was also criticised by the panel over her accusations that the prince had cheated in his coursework and for secretly taping him to back up her claim - the "least attractive aspect" of her behaviour, it said.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=738052005
Truth hurts: women feel pain more than men
CRAIG BROWN
Key points
• Study suggests women feel more pain, for longer, and in more places
• Bath University study conducted into pain threshold and tolerance
• Study said to confirm perceptions in medical community
Key quote
"Research in the past has shown that in GP surgeries, there is a higher percentage of women with pain-related complaints; also that they feel pain at a lower threshold" - Dr Beverly Collett, president of the British Pain Society
Story in full THE long-held belief that women tolerate pain better than men has been thrown into doubt by new research which claims the opposite is true.
While researchers at Bath University say women feel more pain, experience it in more parts of the body, and more often and for a longer duration compared with men, their tolerance to it is also lower.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=738372005
The Colorado Post
Time is right for tally of state's open space
Great Outdoors Colorado is well-suited to the task of mapping the state's protected lands, but it should provide three-dimensional information.
As Colorado's population grew more than 30 percent in 10 years, state residents worried that we would lose our vistas, open spaces, recreation opportunities and wildlife habitat. With the growth - not just urban sprawl but also the spread of rural 35-acre ranchettes - came an alarming loss of farm and ranch land and a fragmentation of natural ecosystems.
http://denverpost.com/opinion/ci_2839828
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Roll Over Rove;
Rove Refusing Interviews on Plame Leak
By E&P Staff / Editor & Publisher
NEW YORK Two days after his lawyer confirmed that his name turned up as a source in Matthew Cooper's notes on the Valerie Plame/CIA case, top White House adviser Karl Rove refused to answer questions about the development today.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3208
Rove refusing interviews on Plame leak
What's Everyone Looking At Me For?;
MSNBC Analyst Says 2nd Source Confirms Karl Rove as Plame Leaker
By Greg Mitchell / Editor & Publisher
NEW YORK Now that Time Inc. has turned over documents to federal court, revealing who its reporter, Matt Cooper, identified as his source in the Valerie Plame/CIA case, speculation runs rampant on the name of that source. Lawrence O'Donnell, senior MSNBC political analyst, now claims that at least two sources have confirmed that the name is--top White House mastermind Karl Rove.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3190
Karl Rove fingered as Plame Leaker
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/07/02.html#a3746
(Click here for VIDEO!)
Schumer: Speak Up, Rove;
Schumer demands Rove speak up about leak
WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, called Sunday for Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove to personally deny leaking the name of a CIA official.
Saturday, Rove`s lawyer, Robert Luskin told The Washington Post Rove had not disclosed the name of Valerie Plame to Newsweek in a 2003 interview.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3201
"it would be nice to hear it
directly from Mr. Rove"
'I'm Not Going to Come Home': One Marine's Third Iraq Tour
By Sylvia Moreno / Washington Post
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Shaded by a towering blue spruce in Wheeler Park stands a gray granite monument that honors this city's men and women who have died in combat from the Spanish-American War to, as the memorial reads, "Iraqi Freedom."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3211
U.S. Walls Off Its Corner of Baghdad, Annoying Some Neighbors
By James Glanz / New York Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 4 - Iraqis call it Assur, the Fence. In English everyone calls it the Wall, and in the past two years it has grown and grown until it has become an almost continuous rampart, at least 10 miles in circumference, around the seat of American power in Baghdad.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3212
The New York Times
Pentagon Weighs Strategy Change to Deter Terror
By THOM SHANKER and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: July 5, 2005
WASHINGTON, July 4 - The Pentagon's most senior planners are challenging the longstanding strategy that requires the armed forces to be prepared to fight two major wars at a time. Instead, they are weighing whether to shape the military to mount one conventional campaign while devoting more resources to defending American territory and antiterrorism efforts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/politics/05strategy.html?hp&ex=1120622400&en=21bc25d48243b5e9&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Hillary Clinton Joins Last Push for New York's Olympic Bid
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 5, 2005
Filed at 8:46 a.m. ET
SINGAPORE (AP) -- A day before the crucial vote, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton joined the New York delegation on Tuesday for a homestretch round of lobbying aimed at convincing the International Olympic Committee to award the city the 2012 Summer Games.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-OLY-2012-Clinton.html?hp&ex=1120622400&en=de3062f6c56a2138&ei=5094&partner=homepage
United Church of Christ Backs Same-Sex Marriage
By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: July 5, 2005
ATLANTA, July 4 - The United Church of Christ became the first mainline Christian denomination to support same-sex marriage officially when its general synod passed a resolution on Monday affirming "equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/national/05church.html?
At N.A.A.C.P. Helm, an Economic Approach to Rights
Black business leaders are cheering the appointment of Bruce S. Gordon, a retired Verizon executive, to be the new president of the N.A.A.C.P.
By JAMES DAO
Published: July 5, 2005
WASHINGTON, July 4 - When the N.A.A.C.P. recently announced plans to make Bruce S. Gordon, a retired Verizon executive, its new president, the reaction from some longtime civil rights activists was, "Bruce who?"
But black business leaders cheered, loudly.
"Like the excitement around the election of Barack Obama, Bruce Gordon will generate excitement in corporate America," said Earl G. Graves Sr., the founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, referring to the black United States senator from Illinois.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/national/05naacp.html
There is too much made of this issue.
Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited
By BENEDICT CAREY
Published: July 5, 2005
Some people are attracted to women; some are attracted to men. And some, if Sigmund Freud, Dr. Alfred Kinsey and millions of self-described bisexuals are to be believed, are drawn to both sexes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/health/05sex.html?hp&ex=1120622400&en=98912eace83692a8&ei=5094&partner=homepage
The Moscow Times
Ruling May Let 1 Million People Move
By Anatoly Medetsky
The court said the plant caused 95 percent of the area's harmful emissions.
The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Russia to improve the living conditions of a woman whose home was polluted by the country's largest steelworks in a case that offers hope for the more than 1 million Russians who live in contaminated areas.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/07/05/001.html
Nuclear Subs? Huh?
Paper: Iran in Talks to Refurbish Subs
By Lyuba Pronina
AP
Russia is reportedly in talks to refurbish and arm Iran's three Kilo-class submarines for a price tag of $270 million.
Russia is reportedly in talks to upgrade three Iranian submarines, a $270 million deal that could revive the bilateral arms trade but further irritate the United States.
Rosoboronexport, the state-owned arms selling agency, is in negotiations to refurbish three Kilo-class diesel submarines and equip them with Club-S anti-ship missiles, Kommersant reported Monday, citing unidentified sources.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/07/05/041.html
Security Fears Delay Chechnya Concert
By Kevin O'Flynn
Staff Writer
Some concerts get canceled due to slow ticket sales, bad weather or stars crying off sick, but a planned rock concert in Chechnya was called off a day before it was due to take place because of security concerns.
Chechen Prime Minister Sergei Abramov said Monday in Grozny that the "Phoenix: Return to Life" concert planned for Tuesday would be postponed until September, Interfax reported, as organizers said they had been advised by military officials to call off the concert. The cancellation came three days after the deadliest bomb blast this year in the North Caucasus, which killed 10 soldiers in neighboring Dagestan.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/07/05/011.html
Bellona Urges Nuclear Reform
The Moscow Times
In a report presented at a Moscow news conference on Monday, campaigners from the Bellona environmental watchdog urged Russia to reform its nuclear energy industry and the handling of Soviet-era nuclear waste.
The report, called "Russian Nuclear Industry: The Need for Reform," said Russia had to safely store spent nuclear fuel, rather than reprocess it, and stop implementing the "potentially dangerous and expensive" program of extending operation of aging nuclear plants. It also called for the cleanup of contamination around nuclear power stations and nuclear-powered submarine bases.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/07/05/012.html
The Arizona Republic
County set for special head count
Edythe Jensen
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 5, 2005 12:00 AM
Maricopa County is the only large metropolitan area in the nation conducting a special census this year and the only jurisdiction using a sampling technique to get the job done, according to U.S. Census Bureau officials.
Blame it on rapid growth and lean budgets.
"Usually a jurisdiction the size of Maricopa County doesn't conduct a special census," said Kimberly Crews, census spokeswoman in Suitland, Md. She said the high cost of head-counting is a deterrent. "They have to weigh the cost of doing it versus the resources they'll receive as a result," she said.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0705sampling05.html
Net phones run into 911 hang-ups
Users can't always get through in emergencies
Josh Kelley
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 5, 2005 12:00 AM
The rising popularity of Internet phone services may provide a convenient, inexpensive way to communicate, but they can also produce disastrous consequences when calling 911.
Because the phone services send signals over the Internet and not regular telephone wires, 911 calls have often failed to reach an emergency dispatch center.
Although some providers of Internet phone services offer 911 service, others make it optional or don't have it.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0705internetphones05.html
Charter schools thrive with niche marketing
Anne Ryman
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 5, 2005 12:00 AM
Like a rapidly growing franchise, Arizona charter schools caught on quickly when they first opened in 1995, filling a need for different educational choices.
But after a decade of explosive expansion during which a dozen new schools typically opened each year, the number of charter schools now is stable at about 500 this year.
The more competitive marketplace means many charter schools serve educational niches. For parents and students, the increasing emphasis on niches means more educational choices.
http://www.azcentral.com/families/education/articles/0705charterschool05.html
continued . . .
Morning Papers - continued
The People's Daily
Iraqi PM due in Tehran next Tuesday
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al- Jaafari will pay an official visit to Iran on July 12, the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.
IRNA quoted an informed source as saying that prior to Jaafari's visit, ten Iraqi ministers will arrive in Tehran on July 10 to explore bilateral cooperation in different fields and make preparations for the Prime Minister's visit.
The visit of Jaafari is of high importance and can open a new chapter in Tehran-Baghdad cooperation, the source said.
The United States has accused Tehran of interfering in Iraq's internal affairs using its influence on the Iraq's Shiites since the downfall of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a charge categorically denied by Iran.
The two neighbors fought a disastrous war from 1980 to 1988, during which more than 500,000 people were killed.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194202.html
Powerful blast near Iranian embassy in Baghdad
A powerful blast rocked Baghdad on Tuesday when a suspected roadside bomb detonated near the Iranian embassy in central the capital, police said.
"The blast took place at about 10:15 a.m. (0615 GMT), when a bomb or several bombs blew up near the Iranian embassy, wounding a civilian and damaging two vehicles," a police Colonel, who named himself Ammar, from Salhiyah police station in the area, told Xinhua.
US and Iraqi forces cordoned off the scene, which situated some 200 meter away from the Iranian embassy in Baghdad.
It was not immediately clear whether the target was the embassy itself or the nearby heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses the US embassy and the Iraqi government offices.
More than 1,400 people have been killed across Iraq since the Shiite-dominated government was formed late April.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194204.html
Chinese president meets Indian FM on cooperation
China hopes the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will serve as a new platform for strengthening bilateral cooperation with India, Chinese President Hu Jintao said on July 4, as he met with Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh in the Kazakh capital.
Hu, who is here on a state visit to Kazakhstan and will also attend the fifth SCO summit on Tuesday, said China is ready to work closely with India, which will soon become a SCO observer, and make joint efforts to strengthen the SCO and promote regional cooperation.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194092.html
Why does US preach "China military threat"?
The wave of "China military threat theory" whipped up by the US military is a dangerous practice, involving its attempt to obstinately place China in a "rival" position. The "China military threat theory" not only injures China's security, it all the more involves the price paid for the peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the price paid for US misled security.
On June 4, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld delivered a lengthy speech at the Asia-Pacific security conference held in Singapore, with bombastic words attacking China's military development as "threatening" the military balance in the Taiwan Straits and Asia as a whole. At a time when the US army is about to conclude the large-scale counter-terrorism war stage and to usher in a new strategic adjustment, the backdrop and intention of these words uttered by Rumsfeld make people feel worry.
US again searches for enemies
The global counter-terrorism war launched by the United States has come to an end for the time being and America is now faced with an opportunity for strategic adjustment in security.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200506/15/eng20050615_190420.html
Chinese scientists locates vanishing snow leopards in Tianshan Mountains
By tracing footprints, observing particular signs and faeces and following scent for two months in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a wildlife research team has finally learnt the approximate location of the endangered snow leopard, the China Daily reported on Monday.
Tomur Peak, in the Tianshan Mountains, is the only place where a group of leopards has been found by the team, Cheng Yun, co-ordinator of Xinjiang Conservation Fund (XJCF), told the paper.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/04/eng20050704_193900.html
Too much TV affects success: Study
The more television children watched the more likely they were to leave school without qualifications, according to a study released Tuesday by a New Zealand university.
Researcher Bob Hancox said those who watched less than one hour a day were the most likely to go on to earn a university degree.
The study by Otago University followed 1,037 people born in 1972 and 1973. It monitored their TV viewing and then checked what qualifications they had achieved by the age of 26.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194142.html
Commercial sex and drug use biggest drivers of HIV in Asia: network reports
As commercial sex and unsafe injecting drug use are the biggest drivers of HIV in most Asia countries, supportive government policies that address these behaviors are urgently needed to slow the spread of AIDS, according to a series of reports by the Monitoring AIDS Pandemic ( MAP) Network.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194141.html
Fifth Summit of the African Union (AU) opens in Libya
Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi addresses the Fifth Summit of the African Union (AU) in Libyan coastal city Sirte July 4, 2005. The two-day summit, opened on July 4, is expected to highlight poverty reduction, the continent's integration and a common position on the United Nations reform.
African and world leaders attend the Fifth Summit of the African Union (AU) in Libyan coastal city Sirte July 4, 2005. The two-day summit, opened on July 4, is expected to highlight poverty reduction, the continent's integration and a common position on the United Nations reform.
Alpha Oumar Konare (R), chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), talks with Nigerian President and AU President Olusegun Obasanjo during the Fifth AU Summit in Libyan coastal city Sirte July 4, 2005. The two-day summit, opened on July 4, is expected to highlight poverty reduction, the continent's integration and a common position on the United Nations reform.
Delegates attend the Fifth Summit of the African Union (AU) in Libyan coastal city Sirte July 4, 2005. The two-day summit, opened on July 4, is expected to highlight poverty reduction, the continent's integration and a common position on the United Nations reform.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194117.html
Scripture publishing house of Muru Temple maintains tradition
Founded in the 1980s, the scripture printing house of Muru Temple is the only printing house for Buddhist scriptures in Tibet Autonomous Region.
Maintaining the ancient block printing, the printing house collects 320 volumes of Buddhist scriptures in Tibetan in 128, 000 rectangular woodblocks.
Muru Temple is located in central Lhasa city. Buddhist followers from other areas in Tibet, Qinghai, Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu etc. often go to the temple to buy scriptures at cost price.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/04/eng20050704_193985.html
Las Vegas casino boxing bout leaves Mexican fighter dead
Mexican boxer Martin Sanchez has died from serious head injuries after being knocked out by Russian Rustam Nugaev during a fight on Friday at a Las Vegas casino.
Nugaev knocked Sanchez out with a right hand just over two minutes into the ninth round of a super lightweight match at The Orleans casino and hotel on Friday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194174.html
Analsysis: What could G8 summit achieve?
The Group of Eight (G8) summit is to open in the Gleneagles Hotel of Scotland on Wednesday night, and the whole world are now looking again: what could the annual meeting of the world's wealthiest nations achieve?
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who holds the G8 presidency, announced two ambitious agendas for the summit long time ago -- providing massive assistance to Africa and brokering a global pact on climate change.
For the first agenda, Blair has branded it as an issue of " morality", urging the developed countries to do more for poverty- stricken Africa. For the latter, he believed it is the "biggest threat" to security and stability of human kind in the long run.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194216.html
China Brief - USA published biweekly regarding China
This explains the estrangement of Venezuela from the USA. Bush/Cheney has done nothing except wage an illegal war that has stretched our military thin, depleted out treasury while ignoring China's growing influence throughout the world which starts a long time ago. As a matter of fact what should have gotten Bush/Cheney attention as soon as they took office was their brush up against the authority and cloud of China, when the Chinese President was in Cuba on trade relations when the 'Chinese Spy Plane' incident occurred. He didn't come flying home to China to handle the situation either.
CHINESE ENERGY STRATEGY IN LATIN AMERICA
By Chietigj Bajpaee
Latin America is fast emerging as the major stage of competition for oil and gas resources among the global powers. The region, which has traditionally come under the U.S. “sphere of influence,” caught the attention of China following the significant growth potential of its energy resources. Latin America is estimated to hold 13.5 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves but accounts for only 6 percent of total output. Although China has tapped energy resources in Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador and Peru, and has begun to tap Argentina and Bolivia, there still exists significant room for expansion, especially given that China still depends on the Middle East for 60 percent of its oil imports and wishes to further diversify.
China’s domestic energy needs and regional developments in the Asia Pacific region are likely to fuel Beijing’s desire to access Latin American energy resources. China, which has been a net oil importer since 1993, is the world's number two oil consumer after the U.S., importing one third of its crude oil consumption. In the presence of sporadic power shortages, growing car ownership, cross-country air travel, and the importance of energy to maintain China’s burgeoning growth rates, pressure is mounting on China to access energy resources on the world stage. Furthermore, China’s limited progress in accessing local energy resources due to poor relations with neighboring states (witness the Sino-Japanese dispute over the energy-rich East China Sea, the disputed status of the Spratly and Paracel islands and growing political instabilities in Central Asia) have forced China to search for energy further afield. However, China's growing presence on the international energy stage could ultimately bring it into confrontation with the world's largest energy consumer, the U.S. Nowhere is the Sino-U.S. energy competition more evident than in the United States’ backyard.
The competition for energy resources in Latin America is unlikely to be confined to the economic sphere as seen by developments in other regions where China is attempting to access energy resources. For example, China’s military cooperation with Myanmar, Sudan and the Central Asian republics cannot be separated from its attempts to access energy resources in these states. While not a zero-sum game, growing interlinkages and interdependence between China and Latin America is likely to come at the cost of the United States’ relations with its neighbors, which will only undermine U.S. ability to access the region’s energy resources. This will force the U.S. to rely on energy resources from more remote and less stable regions, such as West Africa, the Caspian and the Middle East.
Entering the U.S. “Sphere of Influence”
As the world’s number five crude exporter with the largest proven oil reserves in the Western hemisphere, Venezuela is emerging as a major prize in the competition for energy resources in Latin America. While Venezuela sells 60 percent of its crude oil exports to the U.S. and is the United States’ fourth largest oil supplier, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is attempting to reduce his country’s dependence on the U.S. market. President Chavez has stated that "We have been producing and exporting oil for more than 100 years but they have been years of dependence on the United States. Now we are free and we make our resources available to the great country of China." [1] Easier said than done, as China’s refineries will have to be refitted to process Venezuela’s heavy crude oil. Furthermore, transporting energy resources from Venezuela and Argentina is particularly difficult given that both states are on South America’s Atlantic coast although there have been discussions to overcome this by constructing a pipeline from the Atlantic to the Pacific through Panama. [2]
Nevertheless, China has made significant inroads in accessing Venezuela’s energy resources. During Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's visit to Beijing in December and Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong's visit to Venezuela in January 2005, China committed to develop Venezuela’s energy infrastructure by investing $350 million in 15 oil fields, $60 million in a gas project as well as upgrading the country’s railway and refinery infrastructure. In exchange, China will get 100,000 barrels of oil a day, 3 million tones of fuel oil a year and 1.8 million tones of Orimulsion, an alternative boiler fuel from Venezuela. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has also been given significant oil and gas development opportunities in Venezuela including the fields at Zumano in eastern Venezuela, which has an estimated 400 million barrels of oil.
Apart from Venezuela, China has made significant progress in tapping the energy resources of numerous other Latin American states. While attending the annual meeting of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in Chile in November 2004, Chinese President Hu Jintao announced a $10 billion energy deal with Brazil for investments in energy and transport infrastructure over two years. This supplements plans for a $1.3 billion deal between China’s Sinopec (China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) and Brazil’s Petrobras for a 2,000 kilometer natural gas pipeline. China is also acquiring oil assets in Ecuador as well as investing $5 billion in offshore petroleum projects in Argentina over the next five years. During Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong's visit to Latin America in January, he also signed an oil exploration agreement with Peru.
Latin America’s increasingly symbiotic relationship with China is not limited to energy. Progress in trade, investment, and political and military cooperation reinforce cooperation in the energy sphere. China has increasingly purchased raw materials from Latin America to meet its consumption and growth needs in exchange for Chinese investment in Latin America’s infrastructure. While the United States has traditionally looked to Latin America as its source of numerous raw materials and a market for its finished products, China is fast replacing the United States in these roles. China buys vast quantities of iron ore, bauxite, soybeans, timber, zinc and manganese from Brazil while looking to Bolivia for tin and Chile for copper. In 2004, China displaced the U.S. as the leading market for Chilean exports while becoming Brazil's second-largest trading partner in 2003. China is the world’s largest consumer of copper, with Chile accounting for more than 40 percent of its copper imports.
During Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Latin America in November 2004, he also secured “market economy” status from Brazil, Argentina and Chile in exchange for pledging to invest $100 billion in Latin America over the next decade as well as reducing restrictions on the access of Latin American products to the Chinese market. In January, Chilean and Chinese trade officials also began discussions on a free trade agreement in Beijing, while Brazil is also pushing for the creation of a free trade area with China. Chinese investment into Argentina has been especially welcome as it comes in the wake of Argentina's devastating economic crisis three years ago.
These growing linkages have also resulted in a strengthening of political relations. It is no secret that a growing number of Latin American states with left-leaning regimes hold hostile views of the U.S. Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela and Fidel Castro’s Cuba have been open in condemning U.S. foreign policy. Venezuela has raised taxes on foreign oil and gas companies operating in Venezuela, such as ExxonMobil. Argentinean President Néstor Kirchner called for a boycott of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group's Argentine affiliate to protest a gasoline price increase, which forced Shell to back away from its price increases. Even Mexico appears to be distancing itself from the U.S., with Mexico City's popular left-wing mayor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, gaining popularity ahead of Mexico's July 2006 presidential election. Many Latin American states also opposed Washington’s candidate for the head of the Organization of American States and elected José Miguel Insulza, a leftist from Chile.
Bolivia’s Congress recently approved a new energy law that increases taxes on foreign companies accessing its oil and gas reserves while street protesters have called for a nationalization of Bolvia’s hydrocarbon reserves, which culminated in the resignation of U.S.-backed pro-free market President Carlos Mesa. Elections will be held within the next six months and Evo Morales; an anti-US leader of the Movement Towards Socialism party has emerged as a strong contender for the presidency.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has also tried to distance himself from U.S. influence to emerge as a leader of the developing World, as seen with the G33 bloc at the World Trade Organization, and Brazil’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. President da Silva has also backtracked on the U.S.-backed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) while favoring a “strategic alliance” with China, India and other developing countries in order to enhance south-south cooperation. Finally, Peru and China also have strong relations with diplomatic ties going back 150 years and Peru having the largest Chinese immigrant population in South America.
China's growing energy interests in the Americas have been accompanied by a growing involvement in the region's security. In October, in its first military deployment to Latin America, China sent a UN peacekeeping contingent to Haiti comprising 140 Chinese policemen with plans to deploy an additional 125 personnel. Ironically, Haiti is one of only 25 states that recognize Taiwan rather than China. Recently, the issue of extending the mandate of the 6,000-strong UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which is due to expire in June, has come under pressure from Sino-Taiwanese frictions. While UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the interim government of Haiti have asked that the mandate be extended by one year in order to oversee the municipal, legislative and Presidential elections to be held later this year, China is pushing for only a six month extension due to a scheduled visit by interim Haitian President Alexendre Boniface to Taiwan in July. While having to accept the humiliation of aiding a state that engages in relations with Taiwan’s “secessionist” forces, China has garnered the goodwill of Latin American states, which will come in handy when negotiating energy and other deals.
The U.S. is looking on with caution as China encroaches upon a region that has traditionally been a major supplier of energy resources. Venezuela and Canada together provide the U.S. with a third of its energy imports. For every barrel of oil that China purchases from Latin America there is potentially one less barrel available for the U.S. Furthermore, as the American states reduce their reliance on the U.S. oil market, they will have greater political leverage over the U.S. on contentious issues such as Canadian trade disputes with the U.S. over lumber and beef, and tensions over human rights abuses in Venezuela.
Finally, the competition for energy resources in Latin America is not limited to the U.S. and China. In October 2004, several oil companies including China’s PetroChina and India’s ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) were looking into acquiring oil assets valued at $1.5 billion in Ecuador. Japan and South Korea are also stepping up efforts to secure raw materials in Latin America. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Brazil in September 2004 and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun also made trips to Argentina, Brazil and Chile in 2004.
Setting the Stage for an Energy “Cold War”
Friction between China and the U.S. has so far focused on the question of China's undervalued exchange rate, its human rights record, relations with “rogue” states and the issue of Taiwan. However, the competition over energy resources is now becoming an additional area of contention. While China and the U.S. have launched the U.S.-China Energy Policy Dialogue, both states are also engaged in a competition for energy resources in Russia, the Caspian, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. This competition could foreseeably combine with other areas of friction. For example, if the U.S. were to side with Japan on its territorial dispute in the potentially oil and gas rich East China Sea or support India over China in meeting its growing energy needs, strategic blocs or alliances could form in the international energy arena. Latin America is likely to emerge as a major stage of this energy competition or confrontation.
Notes:
1. Luft, Gal, “In search of crude China goes to the Americas,” Institute for the Analysis of Global Security: Energy Security, January 18, 2005, http://www.iags.org/n0118041.htm.
2. Cheung, Ray, “Barriers in the way of tapping S American oil and gas,” South China Morning Post, November 21, 2004.
http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=408&&issue_id=3376
The China Daily
Hu in Kazakhstan for talks on terrorism, energy
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-04 20:28
The presidents of China and Kazakhstan held talks on terrorism and energy in Kazakhstan's capital, hailing what they said was a historic agreement to forge a strategic bilateral partnership.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/04/content_457004.htm
Japan's white paper adds chill to China ties
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-05 06:08
Two white papers from Japan have added a chill to the current low in China-Japan relations.
A summary of the country's 2005 white paper on national defence, published by Yomiuri Shimbun on Sunday, devotes more detail to China than previous such documents.
The white paper is saying Japan needs to respond to China's increased defence budget.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/05/content_457125.htm
Strategic reserve to see oil by year's end
By Bi Jian (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-05 06:19
By year's end, China's effort to complete its new strategic oil reserve is expected to be completed, with oil flowing into the site, senior government officials confirmed to China Daily.
The move is not expected to have a major impact on international crude oil markets, since the crude will come from domestic supplies, officials said.
A senior director with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) yesterday said in a telephone interview that the country is to wrap up the first-phase of construction of its initial strategic oil reserve at Zhenhai in East China's Jiangsu Province by the end of this year.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/05/content_457188.htm
China tells Congress to back off businesses
(Agencies/Washingtonpost.com)
Updated: 2005-07-05 11:07
The Chinese government on Monday sharply criticized the United States for threatening to erect barriers aimed at preventing the attempted takeover of the American oil company Unocal Corp. by one of China's three largest energy firms, CNOOC Ltd.
China National Offshore Oil Corporation's (CNOOC) oil rigs is seen in China's Liaodong Bay of the Bohai sea February 3, 2005. [newsphoto]
Four days after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging the Bush administration to block the proposed transaction as a threat to national security, China's Foreign Ministry excoriated Congress for injecting politics into what it characterized as a standard business matter.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/05/content_457271.htm
CNOOC's Unocal bid may benefit US economy
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-07-05 06:03
Some American leading economists have said that China's push to buy US companies such as Unocal Corp. and Maytag Corp., might benefit the American economy despite sparking a political outcry in Congress.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/05/content_457140.htm
Blair and Beckham lead UK's Olympic bid
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-05 09:08
Prime Minister Tony Blair and David Beckham were leading a last-minute charm offensive to secure the 2012 Olympics for London - as a new row flared with leading rival Paris.
England's soccer captain David Beckham leaves a dinner reception at the British High Commissioner's residence in Singapore July 4, 2005. Paris, London, Madrid, New York City and Moscow are competing to win the right to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in an IOC vote which will be held on July 6 in Singapore. Beckham is in town to support London's bid. [Reuters]
Mr Blair hailed the capital's "brilliant" bid to host the games and said the event would provide a "wonderful legacy" for British sport.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/05/content_457212.htm
Ice-cream parlor under fire
(eastday.com)
Updated: 2005-06-20 10:05
Local ice-cream aficionados were shocked to learned the quality scandal of Haagen-Dazs that erupted in Shenzhen on Saturday, and the company officials in the city were not available for comment last Sunday.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-06/20/content_452909.htm
The Washington Post
China Tells Congress To Back Off Businesses
Tensions Heightened by Bid to Purchase Unocal
By Peter S. Goodman
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, July 5, 2005; Page A01
SHANGHAI, July 4 -- The Chinese government on Monday sharply criticized the United States for threatening to erect barriers aimed at preventing the attempted takeover of the American oil company Unocal Corp. by one of China's three largest energy firms, CNOOC Ltd.
Four days after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging the Bush administration to block the proposed transaction as a threat to national security, China's Foreign Ministry excoriated Congress for injecting politics into what it characterized as a standard business matter.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/04/AR2005070400551.html
Sunni Clerics Plan Edict On Greater Political Role
Followers in Iraq Will Be Told to Join Process, Vote
By Andy Mosher and Omar Fekeiki
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, July 5, 2005; Page A01
BAGHDAD, July 4 -- Several senior clerics of Iraq's disaffected Sunni Muslim minority will soon issue a decree calling on followers of the faith to vote in upcoming elections and help write a new constitution, a prominent Sunni leader said Monday. The step could draw Sunni Arabs away from the insurgency and into a political process they have steadfastly rejected.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/04/AR2005070401089.html
Afghan Civilians Killed in Airstrike
U.S. Disputes Governor Over Report of Another Serviceman Being Found
By Daniel Cooney
Associated Press
Tuesday, July 5, 2005; Page A08
KABUL, Afghanistan, July 4 -- An Afghan governor said Monday that a U.S. airstrike against a suspected insurgent site in Konar province last week killed 17 civilians. The U.S. military confirmed that civilians had died and expressed regret but said the strike Friday targeted a "known operating base for terrorist attacks."
Asadullah Wafa, the governor of Konar province, also said that a second member of a missing U.S. Special Operations team had been located near the Pakistani border, but a senior U.S. Defense Department official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity due to ongoing operations, said that was not true.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/04/AR2005070400417.html
The New Zealand Herald
Pakistani troops bring aid to flood-hit areas
05.07.05
Army troops and rescue teams distributed aid to about 50,000 people left homeless in northwestern Pakistan where floodwaters have inundated thousands of homes.
Authorities dispatched troops with life jackets and motor boats to villages along the Kabul and Sawat rivers that have been swamped with flooding from monsoon rains since mid-June.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334215
Michael Richardson: Win for France over fusion reactor a big blow to Japan
05.07.05
The quest to find a clean, cheap and abundant way to meet future global energy needs took a big step forward last week when six of the world's leading powers agreed that France, not Japan, should be the site for an experimental nuclear fusion reactor.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334212
Pack rape accused found guilty
05.07.05 12.30pm
Four men have been found guilty of abducting and raping a woman at Mt Maunganui 16 years ago.
The men, aged 40, 46, 47 and 53 had pleaded not guilty in the High Court at Wellington to the charges.
Verdicts were returned just before midday by a jury of eight women and four men. They came at the end of 12 hours of deliberation, following a two and half week trial.
The victim, who is now 37, said that in January 1989, she was lured to a beach hut on the pretext of having lunch with one of the men, and was raped there.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10334295
National could change anti-nuclear policy
Don Brash
05.07.05
A National government may change New Zealand's anti-nuclear policy without a referendum, says party leader Don Brash.
In an interview at Palmerston North yesterday, Dr Brash elaborated on what would be needed for National to change the policy if it forms part of a government.
A year ago, the National Party decided against a recommendation from within its own ranks to scrap the 1985 anti-nuclear legislation after polls suggested public support for the stance was still overwhelmingly strong.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10334285
Developing economies threaten environment
05.07.05 8.00pm
By Michael McCarthy and David McNeill in Beijing, and Justin Huggler in Delhi
The leaders of the world's biggest developing countries, led by China's President, Hu Jintao, will be at Gleneagles this week to begin a vital dialogue with the rich nations about how they can join in the fight against global warming.
For it is the greenhouse gas emissions from the developing nations, with their mushrooming economies, which will be crucial to the fight against climate change in decades to come.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334301
Global warming nears danger point
05.07.05 1.20pm
Global average temperatures rose in the 20th century by 0.6C.
They are projected to rise by anything from 1.4C to 5.8C over the period 1990 to 2100.
A report this year by an international group chaired by the head of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) identified a 2C increase as the threshold beyond which "the risks to human societies and ecosystems grow significantly".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334302
Deaths in Brazil slum clashes spark protests
05.07.05 3.20pm
RIO DE JANEIRO - A boy and an old man died in shootouts between police and drug gangs in two Rio de Janeiro shanty-towns on Monday, triggering protests by residents tired of rampant crime and police violence.
In Latin America's biggest slum of Rocinha, a 60-year-old pensioner was shot to death by a stray bullet. Another man died from a heart attack during the fierce standoff, police said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334291
Gwynne Dyer: Time for G8 to stop pulling strings on aid
05.07.05
"We are very sorry and apologise to viewers and other people who felt offended," announced the Japanese cosmetics firm Mandom last month, but mass ritual suicide would have been a more appropriate form of apology.
The company had aired a TV commercial that showed several black people wiping the sweat from their brows with a Mandom facial wipe while a chimpanzee wearing an afro wig imitated them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334144
Global arms dealers blamed for Congo violence
05.07.05 1.00pm
KINSHASA - Weapons and ammunition shipped by a web of international arms traffickers are fuelling killings and torture by militia groups in eastern Congo, according to Amnesty International.
Amnesty said brokers and transporters from countries including the United States, Britain, Israel and Russia were involved in supplying arms to governments around Africa's Great Lakes region, who were then passing them on to the militias.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334300
Awol Israeli soldier found in grocery store
05.07.05
Military police have arrested the Israeli Army's longest-missing deserter, only to discover that he spent most of the time working in a grocery store where the police themselves buy food.
The soldiers' weekly Bamahane said the soldier walked away from his unit in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba five years ago.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334216
continued . . .
Iraqi PM due in Tehran next Tuesday
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al- Jaafari will pay an official visit to Iran on July 12, the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.
IRNA quoted an informed source as saying that prior to Jaafari's visit, ten Iraqi ministers will arrive in Tehran on July 10 to explore bilateral cooperation in different fields and make preparations for the Prime Minister's visit.
The visit of Jaafari is of high importance and can open a new chapter in Tehran-Baghdad cooperation, the source said.
The United States has accused Tehran of interfering in Iraq's internal affairs using its influence on the Iraq's Shiites since the downfall of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a charge categorically denied by Iran.
The two neighbors fought a disastrous war from 1980 to 1988, during which more than 500,000 people were killed.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194202.html
Powerful blast near Iranian embassy in Baghdad
A powerful blast rocked Baghdad on Tuesday when a suspected roadside bomb detonated near the Iranian embassy in central the capital, police said.
"The blast took place at about 10:15 a.m. (0615 GMT), when a bomb or several bombs blew up near the Iranian embassy, wounding a civilian and damaging two vehicles," a police Colonel, who named himself Ammar, from Salhiyah police station in the area, told Xinhua.
US and Iraqi forces cordoned off the scene, which situated some 200 meter away from the Iranian embassy in Baghdad.
It was not immediately clear whether the target was the embassy itself or the nearby heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses the US embassy and the Iraqi government offices.
More than 1,400 people have been killed across Iraq since the Shiite-dominated government was formed late April.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194204.html
Chinese president meets Indian FM on cooperation
China hopes the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will serve as a new platform for strengthening bilateral cooperation with India, Chinese President Hu Jintao said on July 4, as he met with Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh in the Kazakh capital.
Hu, who is here on a state visit to Kazakhstan and will also attend the fifth SCO summit on Tuesday, said China is ready to work closely with India, which will soon become a SCO observer, and make joint efforts to strengthen the SCO and promote regional cooperation.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194092.html
Why does US preach "China military threat"?
The wave of "China military threat theory" whipped up by the US military is a dangerous practice, involving its attempt to obstinately place China in a "rival" position. The "China military threat theory" not only injures China's security, it all the more involves the price paid for the peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the price paid for US misled security.
On June 4, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld delivered a lengthy speech at the Asia-Pacific security conference held in Singapore, with bombastic words attacking China's military development as "threatening" the military balance in the Taiwan Straits and Asia as a whole. At a time when the US army is about to conclude the large-scale counter-terrorism war stage and to usher in a new strategic adjustment, the backdrop and intention of these words uttered by Rumsfeld make people feel worry.
US again searches for enemies
The global counter-terrorism war launched by the United States has come to an end for the time being and America is now faced with an opportunity for strategic adjustment in security.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200506/15/eng20050615_190420.html
Chinese scientists locates vanishing snow leopards in Tianshan Mountains
By tracing footprints, observing particular signs and faeces and following scent for two months in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a wildlife research team has finally learnt the approximate location of the endangered snow leopard, the China Daily reported on Monday.
Tomur Peak, in the Tianshan Mountains, is the only place where a group of leopards has been found by the team, Cheng Yun, co-ordinator of Xinjiang Conservation Fund (XJCF), told the paper.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/04/eng20050704_193900.html
Too much TV affects success: Study
The more television children watched the more likely they were to leave school without qualifications, according to a study released Tuesday by a New Zealand university.
Researcher Bob Hancox said those who watched less than one hour a day were the most likely to go on to earn a university degree.
The study by Otago University followed 1,037 people born in 1972 and 1973. It monitored their TV viewing and then checked what qualifications they had achieved by the age of 26.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194142.html
Commercial sex and drug use biggest drivers of HIV in Asia: network reports
As commercial sex and unsafe injecting drug use are the biggest drivers of HIV in most Asia countries, supportive government policies that address these behaviors are urgently needed to slow the spread of AIDS, according to a series of reports by the Monitoring AIDS Pandemic ( MAP) Network.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194141.html
Fifth Summit of the African Union (AU) opens in Libya
Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi addresses the Fifth Summit of the African Union (AU) in Libyan coastal city Sirte July 4, 2005. The two-day summit, opened on July 4, is expected to highlight poverty reduction, the continent's integration and a common position on the United Nations reform.
African and world leaders attend the Fifth Summit of the African Union (AU) in Libyan coastal city Sirte July 4, 2005. The two-day summit, opened on July 4, is expected to highlight poverty reduction, the continent's integration and a common position on the United Nations reform.
Alpha Oumar Konare (R), chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), talks with Nigerian President and AU President Olusegun Obasanjo during the Fifth AU Summit in Libyan coastal city Sirte July 4, 2005. The two-day summit, opened on July 4, is expected to highlight poverty reduction, the continent's integration and a common position on the United Nations reform.
Delegates attend the Fifth Summit of the African Union (AU) in Libyan coastal city Sirte July 4, 2005. The two-day summit, opened on July 4, is expected to highlight poverty reduction, the continent's integration and a common position on the United Nations reform.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194117.html
Scripture publishing house of Muru Temple maintains tradition
Founded in the 1980s, the scripture printing house of Muru Temple is the only printing house for Buddhist scriptures in Tibet Autonomous Region.
Maintaining the ancient block printing, the printing house collects 320 volumes of Buddhist scriptures in Tibetan in 128, 000 rectangular woodblocks.
Muru Temple is located in central Lhasa city. Buddhist followers from other areas in Tibet, Qinghai, Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu etc. often go to the temple to buy scriptures at cost price.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/04/eng20050704_193985.html
Las Vegas casino boxing bout leaves Mexican fighter dead
Mexican boxer Martin Sanchez has died from serious head injuries after being knocked out by Russian Rustam Nugaev during a fight on Friday at a Las Vegas casino.
Nugaev knocked Sanchez out with a right hand just over two minutes into the ninth round of a super lightweight match at The Orleans casino and hotel on Friday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194174.html
Analsysis: What could G8 summit achieve?
The Group of Eight (G8) summit is to open in the Gleneagles Hotel of Scotland on Wednesday night, and the whole world are now looking again: what could the annual meeting of the world's wealthiest nations achieve?
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who holds the G8 presidency, announced two ambitious agendas for the summit long time ago -- providing massive assistance to Africa and brokering a global pact on climate change.
For the first agenda, Blair has branded it as an issue of " morality", urging the developed countries to do more for poverty- stricken Africa. For the latter, he believed it is the "biggest threat" to security and stability of human kind in the long run.
http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194216.html
China Brief - USA published biweekly regarding China
This explains the estrangement of Venezuela from the USA. Bush/Cheney has done nothing except wage an illegal war that has stretched our military thin, depleted out treasury while ignoring China's growing influence throughout the world which starts a long time ago. As a matter of fact what should have gotten Bush/Cheney attention as soon as they took office was their brush up against the authority and cloud of China, when the Chinese President was in Cuba on trade relations when the 'Chinese Spy Plane' incident occurred. He didn't come flying home to China to handle the situation either.
CHINESE ENERGY STRATEGY IN LATIN AMERICA
By Chietigj Bajpaee
Latin America is fast emerging as the major stage of competition for oil and gas resources among the global powers. The region, which has traditionally come under the U.S. “sphere of influence,” caught the attention of China following the significant growth potential of its energy resources. Latin America is estimated to hold 13.5 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves but accounts for only 6 percent of total output. Although China has tapped energy resources in Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador and Peru, and has begun to tap Argentina and Bolivia, there still exists significant room for expansion, especially given that China still depends on the Middle East for 60 percent of its oil imports and wishes to further diversify.
China’s domestic energy needs and regional developments in the Asia Pacific region are likely to fuel Beijing’s desire to access Latin American energy resources. China, which has been a net oil importer since 1993, is the world's number two oil consumer after the U.S., importing one third of its crude oil consumption. In the presence of sporadic power shortages, growing car ownership, cross-country air travel, and the importance of energy to maintain China’s burgeoning growth rates, pressure is mounting on China to access energy resources on the world stage. Furthermore, China’s limited progress in accessing local energy resources due to poor relations with neighboring states (witness the Sino-Japanese dispute over the energy-rich East China Sea, the disputed status of the Spratly and Paracel islands and growing political instabilities in Central Asia) have forced China to search for energy further afield. However, China's growing presence on the international energy stage could ultimately bring it into confrontation with the world's largest energy consumer, the U.S. Nowhere is the Sino-U.S. energy competition more evident than in the United States’ backyard.
The competition for energy resources in Latin America is unlikely to be confined to the economic sphere as seen by developments in other regions where China is attempting to access energy resources. For example, China’s military cooperation with Myanmar, Sudan and the Central Asian republics cannot be separated from its attempts to access energy resources in these states. While not a zero-sum game, growing interlinkages and interdependence between China and Latin America is likely to come at the cost of the United States’ relations with its neighbors, which will only undermine U.S. ability to access the region’s energy resources. This will force the U.S. to rely on energy resources from more remote and less stable regions, such as West Africa, the Caspian and the Middle East.
Entering the U.S. “Sphere of Influence”
As the world’s number five crude exporter with the largest proven oil reserves in the Western hemisphere, Venezuela is emerging as a major prize in the competition for energy resources in Latin America. While Venezuela sells 60 percent of its crude oil exports to the U.S. and is the United States’ fourth largest oil supplier, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is attempting to reduce his country’s dependence on the U.S. market. President Chavez has stated that "We have been producing and exporting oil for more than 100 years but they have been years of dependence on the United States. Now we are free and we make our resources available to the great country of China." [1] Easier said than done, as China’s refineries will have to be refitted to process Venezuela’s heavy crude oil. Furthermore, transporting energy resources from Venezuela and Argentina is particularly difficult given that both states are on South America’s Atlantic coast although there have been discussions to overcome this by constructing a pipeline from the Atlantic to the Pacific through Panama. [2]
Nevertheless, China has made significant inroads in accessing Venezuela’s energy resources. During Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's visit to Beijing in December and Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong's visit to Venezuela in January 2005, China committed to develop Venezuela’s energy infrastructure by investing $350 million in 15 oil fields, $60 million in a gas project as well as upgrading the country’s railway and refinery infrastructure. In exchange, China will get 100,000 barrels of oil a day, 3 million tones of fuel oil a year and 1.8 million tones of Orimulsion, an alternative boiler fuel from Venezuela. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has also been given significant oil and gas development opportunities in Venezuela including the fields at Zumano in eastern Venezuela, which has an estimated 400 million barrels of oil.
Apart from Venezuela, China has made significant progress in tapping the energy resources of numerous other Latin American states. While attending the annual meeting of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in Chile in November 2004, Chinese President Hu Jintao announced a $10 billion energy deal with Brazil for investments in energy and transport infrastructure over two years. This supplements plans for a $1.3 billion deal between China’s Sinopec (China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) and Brazil’s Petrobras for a 2,000 kilometer natural gas pipeline. China is also acquiring oil assets in Ecuador as well as investing $5 billion in offshore petroleum projects in Argentina over the next five years. During Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong's visit to Latin America in January, he also signed an oil exploration agreement with Peru.
Latin America’s increasingly symbiotic relationship with China is not limited to energy. Progress in trade, investment, and political and military cooperation reinforce cooperation in the energy sphere. China has increasingly purchased raw materials from Latin America to meet its consumption and growth needs in exchange for Chinese investment in Latin America’s infrastructure. While the United States has traditionally looked to Latin America as its source of numerous raw materials and a market for its finished products, China is fast replacing the United States in these roles. China buys vast quantities of iron ore, bauxite, soybeans, timber, zinc and manganese from Brazil while looking to Bolivia for tin and Chile for copper. In 2004, China displaced the U.S. as the leading market for Chilean exports while becoming Brazil's second-largest trading partner in 2003. China is the world’s largest consumer of copper, with Chile accounting for more than 40 percent of its copper imports.
During Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Latin America in November 2004, he also secured “market economy” status from Brazil, Argentina and Chile in exchange for pledging to invest $100 billion in Latin America over the next decade as well as reducing restrictions on the access of Latin American products to the Chinese market. In January, Chilean and Chinese trade officials also began discussions on a free trade agreement in Beijing, while Brazil is also pushing for the creation of a free trade area with China. Chinese investment into Argentina has been especially welcome as it comes in the wake of Argentina's devastating economic crisis three years ago.
These growing linkages have also resulted in a strengthening of political relations. It is no secret that a growing number of Latin American states with left-leaning regimes hold hostile views of the U.S. Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela and Fidel Castro’s Cuba have been open in condemning U.S. foreign policy. Venezuela has raised taxes on foreign oil and gas companies operating in Venezuela, such as ExxonMobil. Argentinean President Néstor Kirchner called for a boycott of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group's Argentine affiliate to protest a gasoline price increase, which forced Shell to back away from its price increases. Even Mexico appears to be distancing itself from the U.S., with Mexico City's popular left-wing mayor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, gaining popularity ahead of Mexico's July 2006 presidential election. Many Latin American states also opposed Washington’s candidate for the head of the Organization of American States and elected José Miguel Insulza, a leftist from Chile.
Bolivia’s Congress recently approved a new energy law that increases taxes on foreign companies accessing its oil and gas reserves while street protesters have called for a nationalization of Bolvia’s hydrocarbon reserves, which culminated in the resignation of U.S.-backed pro-free market President Carlos Mesa. Elections will be held within the next six months and Evo Morales; an anti-US leader of the Movement Towards Socialism party has emerged as a strong contender for the presidency.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has also tried to distance himself from U.S. influence to emerge as a leader of the developing World, as seen with the G33 bloc at the World Trade Organization, and Brazil’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. President da Silva has also backtracked on the U.S.-backed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) while favoring a “strategic alliance” with China, India and other developing countries in order to enhance south-south cooperation. Finally, Peru and China also have strong relations with diplomatic ties going back 150 years and Peru having the largest Chinese immigrant population in South America.
China's growing energy interests in the Americas have been accompanied by a growing involvement in the region's security. In October, in its first military deployment to Latin America, China sent a UN peacekeeping contingent to Haiti comprising 140 Chinese policemen with plans to deploy an additional 125 personnel. Ironically, Haiti is one of only 25 states that recognize Taiwan rather than China. Recently, the issue of extending the mandate of the 6,000-strong UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which is due to expire in June, has come under pressure from Sino-Taiwanese frictions. While UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the interim government of Haiti have asked that the mandate be extended by one year in order to oversee the municipal, legislative and Presidential elections to be held later this year, China is pushing for only a six month extension due to a scheduled visit by interim Haitian President Alexendre Boniface to Taiwan in July. While having to accept the humiliation of aiding a state that engages in relations with Taiwan’s “secessionist” forces, China has garnered the goodwill of Latin American states, which will come in handy when negotiating energy and other deals.
The U.S. is looking on with caution as China encroaches upon a region that has traditionally been a major supplier of energy resources. Venezuela and Canada together provide the U.S. with a third of its energy imports. For every barrel of oil that China purchases from Latin America there is potentially one less barrel available for the U.S. Furthermore, as the American states reduce their reliance on the U.S. oil market, they will have greater political leverage over the U.S. on contentious issues such as Canadian trade disputes with the U.S. over lumber and beef, and tensions over human rights abuses in Venezuela.
Finally, the competition for energy resources in Latin America is not limited to the U.S. and China. In October 2004, several oil companies including China’s PetroChina and India’s ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) were looking into acquiring oil assets valued at $1.5 billion in Ecuador. Japan and South Korea are also stepping up efforts to secure raw materials in Latin America. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Brazil in September 2004 and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun also made trips to Argentina, Brazil and Chile in 2004.
Setting the Stage for an Energy “Cold War”
Friction between China and the U.S. has so far focused on the question of China's undervalued exchange rate, its human rights record, relations with “rogue” states and the issue of Taiwan. However, the competition over energy resources is now becoming an additional area of contention. While China and the U.S. have launched the U.S.-China Energy Policy Dialogue, both states are also engaged in a competition for energy resources in Russia, the Caspian, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. This competition could foreseeably combine with other areas of friction. For example, if the U.S. were to side with Japan on its territorial dispute in the potentially oil and gas rich East China Sea or support India over China in meeting its growing energy needs, strategic blocs or alliances could form in the international energy arena. Latin America is likely to emerge as a major stage of this energy competition or confrontation.
Notes:
1. Luft, Gal, “In search of crude China goes to the Americas,” Institute for the Analysis of Global Security: Energy Security, January 18, 2005, http://www.iags.org/n0118041.htm.
2. Cheung, Ray, “Barriers in the way of tapping S American oil and gas,” South China Morning Post, November 21, 2004.
http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=408&&issue_id=3376
The China Daily
Hu in Kazakhstan for talks on terrorism, energy
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-04 20:28
The presidents of China and Kazakhstan held talks on terrorism and energy in Kazakhstan's capital, hailing what they said was a historic agreement to forge a strategic bilateral partnership.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/04/content_457004.htm
Japan's white paper adds chill to China ties
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-05 06:08
Two white papers from Japan have added a chill to the current low in China-Japan relations.
A summary of the country's 2005 white paper on national defence, published by Yomiuri Shimbun on Sunday, devotes more detail to China than previous such documents.
The white paper is saying Japan needs to respond to China's increased defence budget.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/05/content_457125.htm
Strategic reserve to see oil by year's end
By Bi Jian (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-05 06:19
By year's end, China's effort to complete its new strategic oil reserve is expected to be completed, with oil flowing into the site, senior government officials confirmed to China Daily.
The move is not expected to have a major impact on international crude oil markets, since the crude will come from domestic supplies, officials said.
A senior director with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) yesterday said in a telephone interview that the country is to wrap up the first-phase of construction of its initial strategic oil reserve at Zhenhai in East China's Jiangsu Province by the end of this year.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/05/content_457188.htm
China tells Congress to back off businesses
(Agencies/Washingtonpost.com)
Updated: 2005-07-05 11:07
The Chinese government on Monday sharply criticized the United States for threatening to erect barriers aimed at preventing the attempted takeover of the American oil company Unocal Corp. by one of China's three largest energy firms, CNOOC Ltd.
China National Offshore Oil Corporation's (CNOOC) oil rigs is seen in China's Liaodong Bay of the Bohai sea February 3, 2005. [newsphoto]
Four days after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging the Bush administration to block the proposed transaction as a threat to national security, China's Foreign Ministry excoriated Congress for injecting politics into what it characterized as a standard business matter.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/05/content_457271.htm
CNOOC's Unocal bid may benefit US economy
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-07-05 06:03
Some American leading economists have said that China's push to buy US companies such as Unocal Corp. and Maytag Corp., might benefit the American economy despite sparking a political outcry in Congress.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/05/content_457140.htm
Blair and Beckham lead UK's Olympic bid
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-05 09:08
Prime Minister Tony Blair and David Beckham were leading a last-minute charm offensive to secure the 2012 Olympics for London - as a new row flared with leading rival Paris.
England's soccer captain David Beckham leaves a dinner reception at the British High Commissioner's residence in Singapore July 4, 2005. Paris, London, Madrid, New York City and Moscow are competing to win the right to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in an IOC vote which will be held on July 6 in Singapore. Beckham is in town to support London's bid. [Reuters]
Mr Blair hailed the capital's "brilliant" bid to host the games and said the event would provide a "wonderful legacy" for British sport.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/05/content_457212.htm
Ice-cream parlor under fire
(eastday.com)
Updated: 2005-06-20 10:05
Local ice-cream aficionados were shocked to learned the quality scandal of Haagen-Dazs that erupted in Shenzhen on Saturday, and the company officials in the city were not available for comment last Sunday.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-06/20/content_452909.htm
The Washington Post
China Tells Congress To Back Off Businesses
Tensions Heightened by Bid to Purchase Unocal
By Peter S. Goodman
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, July 5, 2005; Page A01
SHANGHAI, July 4 -- The Chinese government on Monday sharply criticized the United States for threatening to erect barriers aimed at preventing the attempted takeover of the American oil company Unocal Corp. by one of China's three largest energy firms, CNOOC Ltd.
Four days after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging the Bush administration to block the proposed transaction as a threat to national security, China's Foreign Ministry excoriated Congress for injecting politics into what it characterized as a standard business matter.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/04/AR2005070400551.html
Sunni Clerics Plan Edict On Greater Political Role
Followers in Iraq Will Be Told to Join Process, Vote
By Andy Mosher and Omar Fekeiki
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, July 5, 2005; Page A01
BAGHDAD, July 4 -- Several senior clerics of Iraq's disaffected Sunni Muslim minority will soon issue a decree calling on followers of the faith to vote in upcoming elections and help write a new constitution, a prominent Sunni leader said Monday. The step could draw Sunni Arabs away from the insurgency and into a political process they have steadfastly rejected.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/04/AR2005070401089.html
Afghan Civilians Killed in Airstrike
U.S. Disputes Governor Over Report of Another Serviceman Being Found
By Daniel Cooney
Associated Press
Tuesday, July 5, 2005; Page A08
KABUL, Afghanistan, July 4 -- An Afghan governor said Monday that a U.S. airstrike against a suspected insurgent site in Konar province last week killed 17 civilians. The U.S. military confirmed that civilians had died and expressed regret but said the strike Friday targeted a "known operating base for terrorist attacks."
Asadullah Wafa, the governor of Konar province, also said that a second member of a missing U.S. Special Operations team had been located near the Pakistani border, but a senior U.S. Defense Department official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity due to ongoing operations, said that was not true.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/04/AR2005070400417.html
The New Zealand Herald
Pakistani troops bring aid to flood-hit areas
05.07.05
Army troops and rescue teams distributed aid to about 50,000 people left homeless in northwestern Pakistan where floodwaters have inundated thousands of homes.
Authorities dispatched troops with life jackets and motor boats to villages along the Kabul and Sawat rivers that have been swamped with flooding from monsoon rains since mid-June.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334215
Michael Richardson: Win for France over fusion reactor a big blow to Japan
05.07.05
The quest to find a clean, cheap and abundant way to meet future global energy needs took a big step forward last week when six of the world's leading powers agreed that France, not Japan, should be the site for an experimental nuclear fusion reactor.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334212
Pack rape accused found guilty
05.07.05 12.30pm
Four men have been found guilty of abducting and raping a woman at Mt Maunganui 16 years ago.
The men, aged 40, 46, 47 and 53 had pleaded not guilty in the High Court at Wellington to the charges.
Verdicts were returned just before midday by a jury of eight women and four men. They came at the end of 12 hours of deliberation, following a two and half week trial.
The victim, who is now 37, said that in January 1989, she was lured to a beach hut on the pretext of having lunch with one of the men, and was raped there.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10334295
National could change anti-nuclear policy
Don Brash
05.07.05
A National government may change New Zealand's anti-nuclear policy without a referendum, says party leader Don Brash.
In an interview at Palmerston North yesterday, Dr Brash elaborated on what would be needed for National to change the policy if it forms part of a government.
A year ago, the National Party decided against a recommendation from within its own ranks to scrap the 1985 anti-nuclear legislation after polls suggested public support for the stance was still overwhelmingly strong.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10334285
Developing economies threaten environment
05.07.05 8.00pm
By Michael McCarthy and David McNeill in Beijing, and Justin Huggler in Delhi
The leaders of the world's biggest developing countries, led by China's President, Hu Jintao, will be at Gleneagles this week to begin a vital dialogue with the rich nations about how they can join in the fight against global warming.
For it is the greenhouse gas emissions from the developing nations, with their mushrooming economies, which will be crucial to the fight against climate change in decades to come.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334301
Global warming nears danger point
05.07.05 1.20pm
Global average temperatures rose in the 20th century by 0.6C.
They are projected to rise by anything from 1.4C to 5.8C over the period 1990 to 2100.
A report this year by an international group chaired by the head of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) identified a 2C increase as the threshold beyond which "the risks to human societies and ecosystems grow significantly".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334302
Deaths in Brazil slum clashes spark protests
05.07.05 3.20pm
RIO DE JANEIRO - A boy and an old man died in shootouts between police and drug gangs in two Rio de Janeiro shanty-towns on Monday, triggering protests by residents tired of rampant crime and police violence.
In Latin America's biggest slum of Rocinha, a 60-year-old pensioner was shot to death by a stray bullet. Another man died from a heart attack during the fierce standoff, police said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334291
Gwynne Dyer: Time for G8 to stop pulling strings on aid
05.07.05
"We are very sorry and apologise to viewers and other people who felt offended," announced the Japanese cosmetics firm Mandom last month, but mass ritual suicide would have been a more appropriate form of apology.
The company had aired a TV commercial that showed several black people wiping the sweat from their brows with a Mandom facial wipe while a chimpanzee wearing an afro wig imitated them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334144
Global arms dealers blamed for Congo violence
05.07.05 1.00pm
KINSHASA - Weapons and ammunition shipped by a web of international arms traffickers are fuelling killings and torture by militia groups in eastern Congo, according to Amnesty International.
Amnesty said brokers and transporters from countries including the United States, Britain, Israel and Russia were involved in supplying arms to governments around Africa's Great Lakes region, who were then passing them on to the militias.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334300
Awol Israeli soldier found in grocery store
05.07.05
Military police have arrested the Israeli Army's longest-missing deserter, only to discover that he spent most of the time working in a grocery store where the police themselves buy food.
The soldiers' weekly Bamahane said the soldier walked away from his unit in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba five years ago.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334216
continued . . .
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