The Rooster and his Chicks. Hard to tell what music they are listening to, it might be Kid Rock.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Cock - A - Doodle - When - Due"
"Oak - He - Doe - $he"
History …
1586 Sir Walter Raleigh brings 1st tobacco to England from Virginia
1789 Congress establishes Dept of Foreign Affairs (State dept)
1836 Adelaide, South Australia founded
1837 US Mint opens in Charlotte, NC
1844 Fire destroys the US mint at Charlotte, NC
1866 Atlantic telegraph cable successfully laid (1,686 miles long)
1879 C H F Peters discovers asteroid #200 Dynamene
1898 Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of The Dancing Men" (BG)
1905 J Palisa discovers asteroid #569 Misa
1908 A Kopff discovers asteroid #668 Dora
1909 Orville Wright tests airplane, flying 1h12m
1919 Chicago race riot (15 whites & 23 blacks killed, 500 injured)
1920 Resolute beats Shamrock IV (England) in 14th running of America's Cup
1933 G Van Biesbroeck discovers asteroid #1312 Vassar
1933 K Reinmuth discovers asteroid #1284 Latvia
1940 Billboard magazine starts publishing bestseller charts
1947 Yogi Berri starts record 148 game errorless streak
1953 Armistice signed ending Korean War
1954 Armistice divides Vietnam into two countries
1955 Goethe Link Observatory discovers asteroid #1751 Herget
1962 Mariner 2 launched to Venus; flyby mission
1962 Martin Luther King Jr jailed in Albany Georgia
1968 Race Riot in Gary Indiana
1969 Pioneer 10 launched
1973 Walter Blum becomes 6th jockey to ride 4,000 winners
1974 House Judiciary Committee votes 27-11 recommends Nixon impeachment
1977 John Lennon is granted a green card for permanent residence in US
1982 Indian PM Indira Gandhi 1st visit to US in almost 11 years
1987 John Demjanjuk, accused Nazi "Ivan the Terrible" testifies in Israel
1988 Boston's worst traffic jam in 30 years
1988 Radio Shack announces the Tandy 1000 SL computer
1991 TV Guide publishes it's 2000th edition
Missing in Action
July 25
1967 DAVIS DONALD V. SALISBURY NC REMAINS RETURNED 1997 IDENTIFIED 04/01/98
1967 JARVIS JEREMY M. WARREN MI
1967 LUNSFORD HERBERT L. LAUDERDALE MS
1968 BROWN PAUL G. NEWTON MA 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1968 FANT ROBERT ANDERSON SC 03/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1968 PARISH CHARLES C. LEXINGTON VA PROB DIED IN ACFT WRECKAGE
1970 GREGORY PAUL ANTHONY VIRGINIA BEACH VA
July 26
1965 BERG KILE D. SEATTLE WA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 96
1965 KOSKO WALTER COLUMBIA VA EJECT NO BEEP SEARCH NEG
1965 PURCELL ROBERT B. LOUISVILLE KY 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 BARE WILLIAM ORLAN OKLAHOMA CITY OK RADIO CONTACT LOST
1967 CORBITT GILLAND W. DENVER CO RADIO CONTACT LOST
1967 HARDIE CHARLES D. HOUSTON TX
1967 PATTERSON BRUCE M. PORTLAND OR
1968 FULLERTON FRANK E. JONESBORO GA
1968 PATTON WARD K. FONTANA KS
July 27
1965 BERG KILE D. SEATTLE WA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 96
1965 KOSKO WALTER COLUMBIA VA EJECT NO BEEP SEARCH NEG
1965 PURCELL ROBERT B. LOUISVILLE KY 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 BARE WILLIAM ORLAN OKLAHOMA CITY OK RADIO CONTACT LOST
1967 CORBITT GILLAND W. DENVER CO RADIO CONTACT LOST
1967 HARDIE CHARLES D. HOUSTON TX
1967 PATTERSON BRUCE M. PORTLAND OR
1968 FULLERTON FRANK E. JONESBORO GA
1968 PATTON WARD K. FONTANA KS
The Jerusalem Post
Sharon hopes for boost in France-Israel ties
By ASSOCIATED PRESS AND JPOST STAFF
PARIS
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met Wednesday with French President Jacques Chirac, expressing hopes for a "reinforcement" of the countries' frayed ties and praising France's role in the Mideast peace process.
Sharon, who stirred fury here last year by encouraging French Jews to emigrate because of French anti-Semitism, has drawn recent praise in France for leading Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122448674301
A papal omission
Condemning terrorism ought to be a simple matter for the leader of the Catholic church.
Yet on Sunday, when Pope Benedictus XVI condemned recent terrorist atrocities in Britain, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey, conspicuously absent from the papal list was the renewed terrorism in Israel.
Even if near-daily shelling of civilians in southern Israel with rocket and mortar fire doesn't count for him, then surely the suicide bombing which took five lives in Netanya earlier this month was no less reprehensible than what happened in the countries the pope did see fit to mention.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122344277447
Knesset approves last-minute laws
By NINA GILBERT
The Knesset engaged in summer cleaning Wednesday, approving a series of laws important to the Likud government immediately before MKs left for their late-summer recess.
The passage of so many key Likud bills offered a practical reinforcement of the strength of the Likud government, as it enters, divided and shaky, into the upcoming disengagement.
The bills – one extending a Palestinian family reunification ban, and another limiting suits against the state for damage caused by the IDF – signified a return to the Likud's hawkish image.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122448676170
2 IDF soldiers wounded in Jenin raid
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Two soldiers were lightly wounded on Wednesday afternoon during a gun battle which erupted between IDF troops and Palestinians in Jenin.
The troops were operating in the West Bank city in order to arrest fugitives.
Shooting started as soldiers surrounded a house in which an Islamic Jihad fugitive was hiding.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122448675300
Disarming Hizbullah
By GARY C. GAMBILL
Fresh off its victory in galvanizing international pressure on Damascus to quit Lebanon, the White House is struggling to contend with the Syrian occupation's most troubling loose end. Under the protection of Damascus, the radical Lebanese Shi'ite Hizbullah movement has developed by far the best-trained and equipped guerrilla combat force in the world, stockpiled roughly 12,000 rockets capable of hitting Israeli population centers and assumed a direct role in training and equipping Palestinian terrorist cells.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122344276526
The PM in Paris
For years French President Jacques Chirac enthusiastically championed whatever anti-Israeli international coalition happened to manifest itself at almost any given opportunity. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's depictions of him yesterday as "a friend of Israel" and "one of the world's great leaders" weren't what Israeli ears naturally expect.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122448676160&p=1006953079865
Philadlephia Inquirer
Hot. Hot. Not.
The oppressive heat is slowing people's pace. But relieve is in sight.
By Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writer
You thought yesterday was hot? Ha! Just you wait: Today could be worse, by at least two degrees and a hunk of humidity.
The first hint of relief doesn't come until after an expected cold front moves through tonight, probably bringing thunderstorms. Tomorrow, the high is expected to be a blissful 80 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12230456.htm
'97 remarks by Roberts hint limits on courts
Asked about a ruling on assisted suicide, he spoke of the public will, not morality or his views.
By Stephen Henderson
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - John G. Roberts Jr. had no reason to be guarded in 1997 when he was asked on a TV news show about a recent Supreme Court decision in an assisted-suicide case.
But he didn't talk about moral absolutes or the sanctity of life. He didn't even hint at his personal views on the subject. Roberts, then a lawyer in private practice, framed the issue in terms of limits on judicial power and deference to the public will as expressed by legislators. For him, it was a simple question of who gets to decide.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/12230457.htm
Sweeping energy bill nears final OK
Plan, stymied for four years, has billions in industry tax breaks.
By Carl Hulse and Michael Janofsky
New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON - After coming up short for years, Congress is preparing to enact a broad energy plan that would provide generous federal subsidies to the oil and gas industries, encourage construction of nuclear power plants, and try to whet the nation's appetite for renewable fuels such as ethanol and wind power.
The mammoth bill, whose final details were being negotiated yesterday, also would give the government new power to override local objections to facilities for handling growing imports of liquefied natural gas.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/12230459.htm
Gun Immunity Bill
Editorial Protect victims, not gun-makers
Where was the moment of silence for 14-year-old Anthony Oliver - and other young victims of illegal handguns - as key senators yesterday turned to do the bidding of the National Rifle Association?
The Philadelphia teen was slain last summer with a cheap Saturday-night special. Another youth had armed himself easily for just $50 - buying one of the hundreds of illicit guns that flood the city's streets.
But the focus of Majority Leader Bill Frist (R., Tenn.) and other Senate leaders wasn't on gun victims yesterday. Instead, they made yet another outrageous attempt to shield gun-makers and dealers from negligence lawsuits.
What's needed are real steps that keep illegal guns off the streets. Too many manufacturers are lax in policing the networks that market guns to dealers. Too many dealers sell to buyers they should suspect are reselling guns illegally.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/12230479.htm
Kicking the oil addiction: Leaders must end the fix
By Froma Harrop
It is oil's fault. The London bombings are almost surely al-Qaeda's work, which means oil paid for them. Oil keeps the Mideast backward. It funds the madrassas that fill heads with anti-West poison. And it pays the terrorists who plant bombs on European trains and drive airplanes into American buildings. It is time we did something about oil.
The United States accounts for 25 percent of the world's oil consumption. We could crush oil's power to hurt us with a serious campaign to kick our fossil-fuel habit. But we don't, because we have an administration and Congress that care more about the oil industry than about us.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/12230484.htm
Haaretz
MKs limit citizenship rights of Palestinians married to Israelis
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent
The Knesset voted 59-12 Wednesday to grant citizenship to Palestinians married to Israeli citizens only if the Palestinian men are 35 and older and if the women are 25 and older.
The decision relates to an emergency measure that was due to expire July 31. According to that measure, Palestinians were banned altogether from becoming Israeli citizens under family unification policies.
Wednesday's decision, a vote on an amendment to the Citizenship Law, relaxes the emergency regulations by allowing some Palestinians to become citizens, but writes into law limitations on family unification that had previously been considered temporary.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/604523.html
IDF troops kill unarmed teen in Jenin arrest raid
By Amos Harel and Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondents, and The Associated Press
Israel Defense Forces troops killed an unarmed Palestinian teenager and wounded seven Palestinians, one seriously, during a gun battle in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday, Palestinian sources said. The troops entered the city to arrest a senior Islamic Jihad official.
Most of the Palestinian casualties were armed wanted suspects, the IDF said. The dead Palestinian was identified as Yusuf El-Hasif, 17, according to Palestinian sources. He was among several youths throwing stones at soldiers, The Associated Press reported.
Two IDF soldiers were lightly hurt during the gun battle, which erupted after security forces surrounded the house in which the Jihad official, Hamza Kakur, was located. They were taken to Haemek Hospital in Afula for treatment.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/605514.html
Mofaz: IDF plans to leave key Gaza route in October
By Amos Harel
Defense Ministry officials hope final details of deal with Egypt regarding the route will be completed soon.
The Israel Defense Forces is planning to withdraw from the Philadelphi route along the Gaza-Egypt border in October, according to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.
Mofaz told Channel 1 yesterday that Israel has already decided to leave the area.
The head of the Defense Ministry political-security department, Amos Gilad, is set to hold another round of talks in Egypt on Sunday. The ministry is hoping that the meeting between Gilad and Egyptian defense officials will lead to agreement on the final details of an Egyptian-Israeli deal, whereby 750 Egyptian police officers will be deployed on the western side of the Philadelphi route. The final agreement has been delayed for several months.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtDisengagement.jhtml?itemNo=605432&contrassID=23&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1
Shin Bet: Hamas, Jihad have no cause to stop attacks
By Gideon Alon
There's a 50-50 chance that the disengagement from Gush Katif and the northern West Bank will not be a quiet affair and that the terror organizations will open fire on the settlers and security forces, Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin assessed yesterday.
Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Diskin said the Palestinian Authority was eager to see the pullout pass by peacefully but that it was weak and suffering from a governmental vacuum. According to the Shin Bet chief, the PA's ability to impose law and order is negligible, while terror groups such as Islamic Jihad see no reason to stop attacks on Israel during the course of the disengagement.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtDisengagement.jhtml?itemNo=605447&contrassID=23&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1
Verging on Holocaust denial
By Hanna Yablonka
The Jewish settlers in the territories who wrote their identity numbers on their arms, and the reasons they gave for doing this, testify to the necessity for the public to deal anew with the phenomenon of everyday use of the Holocaust.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtDisengagement.jhtml?itemNo=603605&contrassID=23&subContrassID=3&sbSubContrassID=0
The Los Angeles Times
The Big Question
Bynum will be under the microscope, even if Lakers have low expectations
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
Lee Andrew Bynum has now worn a Laker uniform for two weeks, and when he wasn't surrounded by microphones, TV cameras and autograph-seeking kids, he managed to give the Lakers and their fans a glimpse into the future.
It looked like a mixed bag.
Playing eight games in Long Beach's Summer Pro League, which concluded last week, the Lakers' 6-foot-11, 270-pound top draft choice showed flashes of glorious potential … and all but disappeared during other spans.
"It's not any different from what I expected," Bynum said of his first taste of professional basketball. "I expected it to be tough and it's definitely tough."
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-bynum27jul27,0,6128530.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Study: Echinacea Leaves Cold-Sufferers Sniffling
By Karen Kaplan, Times Staff Writer
Echinacea, the popular herbal remedy for fighting the common cold, does not ward off runny noses, sore throats or headaches, nor does it help patients recover from cold symptoms more quickly, according to the results of a broad clinical trial to be reported Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Taken with other recent studies that showed no benefit from echinacea, the new findings shift the burden of proof to proponents of herbal products to demonstrate that the plant has medicinal value, researchers said.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-072705echinacea_lat,0,2637824.story?coll=la-tot-promo
O.J. Simpson Is Ordered to Pay DirecTV in Signal-Theft Case
By Sallie Hofmeister, Times Staff Writer
DirecTV said "the evidence was overwhelming" against O.J. Simpson.
But the ex-football star's lawyer said he did nothing wrong.
The satellite TV giant on Tuesday was referring to its civil court victory in which a Florida judge ordered Simpson to pay $25,000 for allegedly stealing its signals.
The case stems from the recovery in 2001 of two "bootloaders" in Simpson's home that allowed viewers to tap into DirecTV signals without paying for them.
"This ruling serves as a reminder that there are consequences to signal theft, whether you're O.J. Simpson or John Q. Public," said Dan Fawcett, the company's executive vice president of legal and business affairs.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-simpson27jul27,0,4984178.story?coll=la-tot-promo
Bill Shielding Gun Makers From Suits Gains Support
Proponents say the Senate could pass the NRA-backed legislation this week. Opponents contend that it would set a disturbing precedent.
By Mary Curtius, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — In a sign of the changing politics of gun control, the Senate appears poised to pass a top priority of the National Rifle Assn. this week, legislation that would shield the gun industry from lawsuits arising from the misuse of its weapons.
Gun manufacturers have pressed for years for such a law. They argue that it is needed to protect them from lawsuits filed by municipalities or individuals that the industry contends could bankrupt some gun makers. Dozens of such lawsuits are pending across the country.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-guns27jul27,0,7654262.story?coll=la-home-nation
Al-Qaida Says It Killed Algerian Diplomats
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's most feared terror group said Wednesday it killed two kidnapped Algerian diplomats because of Algeria's ties to the United States and its crackdown on Islamic extremists.
As the bloodshed continued, the Bush administration sought to keep up political momentum by pressuring Iraq to complete its constitutional draft ahead of an Aug. 15 deadline. "It's time for a compromise," visiting Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told the Iraqis.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top14jul27,0,1885940.story
Iraq Wants Quick Pullout of U.S. Troops
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's prime minister said Wednesday he wants U.S. troops "on their way out" as soon as his government can protect its new democracy. The top American general in the country said he hopes to begin significant withdrawal by next spring.
At the same time, in an unannounced visit, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Iraqi security forces should take on more tasks now performed by U.S. troops.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top10jul27,0,313072.story
Operation Coverup
Scandals metastasize. That is the pattern since Watergate. What starts out looking like a small, isolated incident gradually reveals itself to be part of a larger abuse of power. Meanwhile, an unraveling coverup adds new elements. Is that happening now with the scandal over White House leaks of the identity of a CIA agent?
Some folks say that as we learn more, the scandal is getting smaller, not larger. Valerie Plame was a CIA functionary commuting openly to agency headquarters, not a spy working behind enemy lines. The law against revealing the identities of intelligence agents is complicated and probably wasn't broken in this case. And the story line gets muddier: Journalists may have revealed Plame's identity to White House honchos.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-rove27jul27,0,1072707.story?coll=la-home-oped
continued …
"Oak - He - Doe - $he"
History …
1586 Sir Walter Raleigh brings 1st tobacco to England from Virginia
1789 Congress establishes Dept of Foreign Affairs (State dept)
1836 Adelaide, South Australia founded
1837 US Mint opens in Charlotte, NC
1844 Fire destroys the US mint at Charlotte, NC
1866 Atlantic telegraph cable successfully laid (1,686 miles long)
1879 C H F Peters discovers asteroid #200 Dynamene
1898 Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of The Dancing Men" (BG)
1905 J Palisa discovers asteroid #569 Misa
1908 A Kopff discovers asteroid #668 Dora
1909 Orville Wright tests airplane, flying 1h12m
1919 Chicago race riot (15 whites & 23 blacks killed, 500 injured)
1920 Resolute beats Shamrock IV (England) in 14th running of America's Cup
1933 G Van Biesbroeck discovers asteroid #1312 Vassar
1933 K Reinmuth discovers asteroid #1284 Latvia
1940 Billboard magazine starts publishing bestseller charts
1947 Yogi Berri starts record 148 game errorless streak
1953 Armistice signed ending Korean War
1954 Armistice divides Vietnam into two countries
1955 Goethe Link Observatory discovers asteroid #1751 Herget
1962 Mariner 2 launched to Venus; flyby mission
1962 Martin Luther King Jr jailed in Albany Georgia
1968 Race Riot in Gary Indiana
1969 Pioneer 10 launched
1973 Walter Blum becomes 6th jockey to ride 4,000 winners
1974 House Judiciary Committee votes 27-11 recommends Nixon impeachment
1977 John Lennon is granted a green card for permanent residence in US
1982 Indian PM Indira Gandhi 1st visit to US in almost 11 years
1987 John Demjanjuk, accused Nazi "Ivan the Terrible" testifies in Israel
1988 Boston's worst traffic jam in 30 years
1988 Radio Shack announces the Tandy 1000 SL computer
1991 TV Guide publishes it's 2000th edition
Missing in Action
July 25
1967 DAVIS DONALD V. SALISBURY NC REMAINS RETURNED 1997 IDENTIFIED 04/01/98
1967 JARVIS JEREMY M. WARREN MI
1967 LUNSFORD HERBERT L. LAUDERDALE MS
1968 BROWN PAUL G. NEWTON MA 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1968 FANT ROBERT ANDERSON SC 03/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1968 PARISH CHARLES C. LEXINGTON VA PROB DIED IN ACFT WRECKAGE
1970 GREGORY PAUL ANTHONY VIRGINIA BEACH VA
July 26
1965 BERG KILE D. SEATTLE WA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 96
1965 KOSKO WALTER COLUMBIA VA EJECT NO BEEP SEARCH NEG
1965 PURCELL ROBERT B. LOUISVILLE KY 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 BARE WILLIAM ORLAN OKLAHOMA CITY OK RADIO CONTACT LOST
1967 CORBITT GILLAND W. DENVER CO RADIO CONTACT LOST
1967 HARDIE CHARLES D. HOUSTON TX
1967 PATTERSON BRUCE M. PORTLAND OR
1968 FULLERTON FRANK E. JONESBORO GA
1968 PATTON WARD K. FONTANA KS
July 27
1965 BERG KILE D. SEATTLE WA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 96
1965 KOSKO WALTER COLUMBIA VA EJECT NO BEEP SEARCH NEG
1965 PURCELL ROBERT B. LOUISVILLE KY 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 BARE WILLIAM ORLAN OKLAHOMA CITY OK RADIO CONTACT LOST
1967 CORBITT GILLAND W. DENVER CO RADIO CONTACT LOST
1967 HARDIE CHARLES D. HOUSTON TX
1967 PATTERSON BRUCE M. PORTLAND OR
1968 FULLERTON FRANK E. JONESBORO GA
1968 PATTON WARD K. FONTANA KS
The Jerusalem Post
Sharon hopes for boost in France-Israel ties
By ASSOCIATED PRESS AND JPOST STAFF
PARIS
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met Wednesday with French President Jacques Chirac, expressing hopes for a "reinforcement" of the countries' frayed ties and praising France's role in the Mideast peace process.
Sharon, who stirred fury here last year by encouraging French Jews to emigrate because of French anti-Semitism, has drawn recent praise in France for leading Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122448674301
A papal omission
Condemning terrorism ought to be a simple matter for the leader of the Catholic church.
Yet on Sunday, when Pope Benedictus XVI condemned recent terrorist atrocities in Britain, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey, conspicuously absent from the papal list was the renewed terrorism in Israel.
Even if near-daily shelling of civilians in southern Israel with rocket and mortar fire doesn't count for him, then surely the suicide bombing which took five lives in Netanya earlier this month was no less reprehensible than what happened in the countries the pope did see fit to mention.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122344277447
Knesset approves last-minute laws
By NINA GILBERT
The Knesset engaged in summer cleaning Wednesday, approving a series of laws important to the Likud government immediately before MKs left for their late-summer recess.
The passage of so many key Likud bills offered a practical reinforcement of the strength of the Likud government, as it enters, divided and shaky, into the upcoming disengagement.
The bills – one extending a Palestinian family reunification ban, and another limiting suits against the state for damage caused by the IDF – signified a return to the Likud's hawkish image.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122448676170
2 IDF soldiers wounded in Jenin raid
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Two soldiers were lightly wounded on Wednesday afternoon during a gun battle which erupted between IDF troops and Palestinians in Jenin.
The troops were operating in the West Bank city in order to arrest fugitives.
Shooting started as soldiers surrounded a house in which an Islamic Jihad fugitive was hiding.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122448675300
Disarming Hizbullah
By GARY C. GAMBILL
Fresh off its victory in galvanizing international pressure on Damascus to quit Lebanon, the White House is struggling to contend with the Syrian occupation's most troubling loose end. Under the protection of Damascus, the radical Lebanese Shi'ite Hizbullah movement has developed by far the best-trained and equipped guerrilla combat force in the world, stockpiled roughly 12,000 rockets capable of hitting Israeli population centers and assumed a direct role in training and equipping Palestinian terrorist cells.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122344276526
The PM in Paris
For years French President Jacques Chirac enthusiastically championed whatever anti-Israeli international coalition happened to manifest itself at almost any given opportunity. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's depictions of him yesterday as "a friend of Israel" and "one of the world's great leaders" weren't what Israeli ears naturally expect.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122448676160&p=1006953079865
Philadlephia Inquirer
Hot. Hot. Not.
The oppressive heat is slowing people's pace. But relieve is in sight.
By Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writer
You thought yesterday was hot? Ha! Just you wait: Today could be worse, by at least two degrees and a hunk of humidity.
The first hint of relief doesn't come until after an expected cold front moves through tonight, probably bringing thunderstorms. Tomorrow, the high is expected to be a blissful 80 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12230456.htm
'97 remarks by Roberts hint limits on courts
Asked about a ruling on assisted suicide, he spoke of the public will, not morality or his views.
By Stephen Henderson
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - John G. Roberts Jr. had no reason to be guarded in 1997 when he was asked on a TV news show about a recent Supreme Court decision in an assisted-suicide case.
But he didn't talk about moral absolutes or the sanctity of life. He didn't even hint at his personal views on the subject. Roberts, then a lawyer in private practice, framed the issue in terms of limits on judicial power and deference to the public will as expressed by legislators. For him, it was a simple question of who gets to decide.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/12230457.htm
Sweeping energy bill nears final OK
Plan, stymied for four years, has billions in industry tax breaks.
By Carl Hulse and Michael Janofsky
New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON - After coming up short for years, Congress is preparing to enact a broad energy plan that would provide generous federal subsidies to the oil and gas industries, encourage construction of nuclear power plants, and try to whet the nation's appetite for renewable fuels such as ethanol and wind power.
The mammoth bill, whose final details were being negotiated yesterday, also would give the government new power to override local objections to facilities for handling growing imports of liquefied natural gas.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/12230459.htm
Gun Immunity Bill
Editorial Protect victims, not gun-makers
Where was the moment of silence for 14-year-old Anthony Oliver - and other young victims of illegal handguns - as key senators yesterday turned to do the bidding of the National Rifle Association?
The Philadelphia teen was slain last summer with a cheap Saturday-night special. Another youth had armed himself easily for just $50 - buying one of the hundreds of illicit guns that flood the city's streets.
But the focus of Majority Leader Bill Frist (R., Tenn.) and other Senate leaders wasn't on gun victims yesterday. Instead, they made yet another outrageous attempt to shield gun-makers and dealers from negligence lawsuits.
What's needed are real steps that keep illegal guns off the streets. Too many manufacturers are lax in policing the networks that market guns to dealers. Too many dealers sell to buyers they should suspect are reselling guns illegally.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/12230479.htm
Kicking the oil addiction: Leaders must end the fix
By Froma Harrop
It is oil's fault. The London bombings are almost surely al-Qaeda's work, which means oil paid for them. Oil keeps the Mideast backward. It funds the madrassas that fill heads with anti-West poison. And it pays the terrorists who plant bombs on European trains and drive airplanes into American buildings. It is time we did something about oil.
The United States accounts for 25 percent of the world's oil consumption. We could crush oil's power to hurt us with a serious campaign to kick our fossil-fuel habit. But we don't, because we have an administration and Congress that care more about the oil industry than about us.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/12230484.htm
Haaretz
MKs limit citizenship rights of Palestinians married to Israelis
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent
The Knesset voted 59-12 Wednesday to grant citizenship to Palestinians married to Israeli citizens only if the Palestinian men are 35 and older and if the women are 25 and older.
The decision relates to an emergency measure that was due to expire July 31. According to that measure, Palestinians were banned altogether from becoming Israeli citizens under family unification policies.
Wednesday's decision, a vote on an amendment to the Citizenship Law, relaxes the emergency regulations by allowing some Palestinians to become citizens, but writes into law limitations on family unification that had previously been considered temporary.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/604523.html
IDF troops kill unarmed teen in Jenin arrest raid
By Amos Harel and Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondents, and The Associated Press
Israel Defense Forces troops killed an unarmed Palestinian teenager and wounded seven Palestinians, one seriously, during a gun battle in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday, Palestinian sources said. The troops entered the city to arrest a senior Islamic Jihad official.
Most of the Palestinian casualties were armed wanted suspects, the IDF said. The dead Palestinian was identified as Yusuf El-Hasif, 17, according to Palestinian sources. He was among several youths throwing stones at soldiers, The Associated Press reported.
Two IDF soldiers were lightly hurt during the gun battle, which erupted after security forces surrounded the house in which the Jihad official, Hamza Kakur, was located. They were taken to Haemek Hospital in Afula for treatment.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/605514.html
Mofaz: IDF plans to leave key Gaza route in October
By Amos Harel
Defense Ministry officials hope final details of deal with Egypt regarding the route will be completed soon.
The Israel Defense Forces is planning to withdraw from the Philadelphi route along the Gaza-Egypt border in October, according to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.
Mofaz told Channel 1 yesterday that Israel has already decided to leave the area.
The head of the Defense Ministry political-security department, Amos Gilad, is set to hold another round of talks in Egypt on Sunday. The ministry is hoping that the meeting between Gilad and Egyptian defense officials will lead to agreement on the final details of an Egyptian-Israeli deal, whereby 750 Egyptian police officers will be deployed on the western side of the Philadelphi route. The final agreement has been delayed for several months.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtDisengagement.jhtml?itemNo=605432&contrassID=23&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1
Shin Bet: Hamas, Jihad have no cause to stop attacks
By Gideon Alon
There's a 50-50 chance that the disengagement from Gush Katif and the northern West Bank will not be a quiet affair and that the terror organizations will open fire on the settlers and security forces, Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin assessed yesterday.
Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Diskin said the Palestinian Authority was eager to see the pullout pass by peacefully but that it was weak and suffering from a governmental vacuum. According to the Shin Bet chief, the PA's ability to impose law and order is negligible, while terror groups such as Islamic Jihad see no reason to stop attacks on Israel during the course of the disengagement.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtDisengagement.jhtml?itemNo=605447&contrassID=23&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1
Verging on Holocaust denial
By Hanna Yablonka
The Jewish settlers in the territories who wrote their identity numbers on their arms, and the reasons they gave for doing this, testify to the necessity for the public to deal anew with the phenomenon of everyday use of the Holocaust.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtDisengagement.jhtml?itemNo=603605&contrassID=23&subContrassID=3&sbSubContrassID=0
The Los Angeles Times
The Big Question
Bynum will be under the microscope, even if Lakers have low expectations
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
Lee Andrew Bynum has now worn a Laker uniform for two weeks, and when he wasn't surrounded by microphones, TV cameras and autograph-seeking kids, he managed to give the Lakers and their fans a glimpse into the future.
It looked like a mixed bag.
Playing eight games in Long Beach's Summer Pro League, which concluded last week, the Lakers' 6-foot-11, 270-pound top draft choice showed flashes of glorious potential … and all but disappeared during other spans.
"It's not any different from what I expected," Bynum said of his first taste of professional basketball. "I expected it to be tough and it's definitely tough."
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-bynum27jul27,0,6128530.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Study: Echinacea Leaves Cold-Sufferers Sniffling
By Karen Kaplan, Times Staff Writer
Echinacea, the popular herbal remedy for fighting the common cold, does not ward off runny noses, sore throats or headaches, nor does it help patients recover from cold symptoms more quickly, according to the results of a broad clinical trial to be reported Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Taken with other recent studies that showed no benefit from echinacea, the new findings shift the burden of proof to proponents of herbal products to demonstrate that the plant has medicinal value, researchers said.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-072705echinacea_lat,0,2637824.story?coll=la-tot-promo
O.J. Simpson Is Ordered to Pay DirecTV in Signal-Theft Case
By Sallie Hofmeister, Times Staff Writer
DirecTV said "the evidence was overwhelming" against O.J. Simpson.
But the ex-football star's lawyer said he did nothing wrong.
The satellite TV giant on Tuesday was referring to its civil court victory in which a Florida judge ordered Simpson to pay $25,000 for allegedly stealing its signals.
The case stems from the recovery in 2001 of two "bootloaders" in Simpson's home that allowed viewers to tap into DirecTV signals without paying for them.
"This ruling serves as a reminder that there are consequences to signal theft, whether you're O.J. Simpson or John Q. Public," said Dan Fawcett, the company's executive vice president of legal and business affairs.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-simpson27jul27,0,4984178.story?coll=la-tot-promo
Bill Shielding Gun Makers From Suits Gains Support
Proponents say the Senate could pass the NRA-backed legislation this week. Opponents contend that it would set a disturbing precedent.
By Mary Curtius, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — In a sign of the changing politics of gun control, the Senate appears poised to pass a top priority of the National Rifle Assn. this week, legislation that would shield the gun industry from lawsuits arising from the misuse of its weapons.
Gun manufacturers have pressed for years for such a law. They argue that it is needed to protect them from lawsuits filed by municipalities or individuals that the industry contends could bankrupt some gun makers. Dozens of such lawsuits are pending across the country.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-guns27jul27,0,7654262.story?coll=la-home-nation
Al-Qaida Says It Killed Algerian Diplomats
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's most feared terror group said Wednesday it killed two kidnapped Algerian diplomats because of Algeria's ties to the United States and its crackdown on Islamic extremists.
As the bloodshed continued, the Bush administration sought to keep up political momentum by pressuring Iraq to complete its constitutional draft ahead of an Aug. 15 deadline. "It's time for a compromise," visiting Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told the Iraqis.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top14jul27,0,1885940.story
Iraq Wants Quick Pullout of U.S. Troops
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's prime minister said Wednesday he wants U.S. troops "on their way out" as soon as his government can protect its new democracy. The top American general in the country said he hopes to begin significant withdrawal by next spring.
At the same time, in an unannounced visit, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Iraqi security forces should take on more tasks now performed by U.S. troops.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top10jul27,0,313072.story
Operation Coverup
Scandals metastasize. That is the pattern since Watergate. What starts out looking like a small, isolated incident gradually reveals itself to be part of a larger abuse of power. Meanwhile, an unraveling coverup adds new elements. Is that happening now with the scandal over White House leaks of the identity of a CIA agent?
Some folks say that as we learn more, the scandal is getting smaller, not larger. Valerie Plame was a CIA functionary commuting openly to agency headquarters, not a spy working behind enemy lines. The law against revealing the identities of intelligence agents is complicated and probably wasn't broken in this case. And the story line gets muddier: Journalists may have revealed Plame's identity to White House honchos.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-rove27jul27,0,1072707.story?coll=la-home-oped
continued …
Morning Papers - continued...
Belfast Telegraph
IRA statement 'in the next 48 hours'
Governments await reply to call by Adams
By Noel McAdam
27 July 2005
The IRA's potentially historic statement over its future appeared to be imminent today, with the eventual restoration of power sharing devolution at stake.
The long-anticipated statement - which could set out the Provisionals' intentions to carry out a series of actions - is expected in the next 48 hours.
But no early definitive response from the DUP seemed on the cards. Serious political negotiations on an Assembly and Executive could still be as far away as next year.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654245
IRA on the brink of ending paramilitary activity and decommissioning its arsenal
By David McKittrick
27 July 2005
In a potentially historic move in the Irish peace process, the IRA is on the point of announcing an end to paramilitary activity and the decommissioning of all of its weaponry.
The British and Irish governments hope the announcement, now believed to be imminent, will be strong and unambiguous enough to inject a burst of new momentum into the stalled peace process.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654179
We'll still search for IRA's €200m, McDowell pledges
By Sam Smyth
27 July 2005
Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell has pledged that the Republic's government will continue to seek the €200m-plus which he says the IRA has stashed away - even if the organisation signs up to abandoning paramilitary violence and ending criminality.
Dismissing rumours of a secret deal that would draw a line under past IRA crimes, Mr McDowell said the Government was legally obliged to continue the search for the Provisionals' treasury.
"They have £20m from the Northern Bank robbery and about €200m stashed away," he said.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654181
Sinn Fein now calling the tune before IRA
27 July 2005
Even one of his fiercest critics is saying Gerry Adams has left the IRA leadership. Political correspondent Chris Thornton asks if this means the IRA doesn't matter much anymore?
SINCE he was the man who spent much of the past year naming Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Kerry North TD Martin Ferris as members of the IRA's Army Council, there is a certain significance in Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell now saying those three men have left the IRA leadership.
Mind you, Mr McDowell was not speaking in terms of the Road to Damascus when he talked about whether gatherings of IRA and Sinn Fein leaders remain homogenous affairs. "I don't think that by itself amounts to a severance between the two organisations," he said in Belfast yesterday. "It's an acknowledgement, in my view, that there was a very structured link between them in the past."
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654258
Detectives launch searches in bid to catch GAA killers
Murder hunt spreads over three counties
By Jonathan McCambridge
27 July 2005
Detectives investigating the murder of GAA official Sean Brown today launched a series of searches across the province in a new bid to catch the killers.
It is understood that more than 20 searches were taking place in counties Antrim, Armagh and Tyrone as part of a major PSNI Crime Operations investigation.
Father-of-six Sean Brown (61), was abducted as he locked-up the Wolfe Tone Gaelic Athletic Club on May 12, 1997.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654247
Blair to help in hunt for Lisa's body
Family is overjoyed at the Prime Minister's pledge
By Debra Douglas
27 July 2005
Prime Minister Tony Blair has vowed to do everything he can to help with the search for Lisa Dorrian's body.
Responding to a request from North Down MP Lady Hermon to have the remit of a special forensic expert being brought in to investigate the cases of the "Disappeared" extended to include Lisa, Mr Blair said he would look into the issue and see what could be done to help.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654172
The secrets of 58 Curtis House
Police find bomb-making equipment in a north London flat which last Thursday's suicide bombers returned to after their failed attacks. A car used by one of them is found nearby.
By Cahal Milmo and Jason Bennetto
27 July 2005
Members of the terror cell that staged the failed suicide attack on London six days ago may have returned to their suspected bomb factory within hours of the assaults.
Detectives were investigating a witness report that three men returned a day after the 21 July attacks to 58 Curtis House, the north London flat where it is thought the bombings were planned and weapons prepared.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654193
The secrets of 58 Curtis House
Police find bomb-making equipment in a north London flat which last Thursday's suicide bombers returned to after their failed attacks. A car used by one of them is found nearby.
By Cahal Milmo and Jason Bennetto
27 July 2005
Members of the terror cell that staged the failed suicide attack on London six days ago may have returned to their suspected bomb factory within hours of the assaults.
Detectives were investigating a witness report that three men returned a day after the 21 July attacks to 58 Curtis House, the north London flat where it is thought the bombings were planned and weapons prepared.
Yesterday, officers discovered chemicals in a nearby lock-up garage,
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654193
Police 'have had 250 suicide-bomb scares since 7 July'
By Nigel Morris and Barrie Clement
27 July 2005
Police have dealt with 250 suicide bomb scares since the 7 July atrocities and have come close to opening fire seven times, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner has said.
Sir Ian Blair acknowledged that the death of the Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, killed last week by undercover police, had been a "dreadful mistake".
But he said it should not divert his officers from the "main issue" of combating terrorism.
Asked whether he could guarantee that a similar tragic accident would not happen again, he told Channel 4 News yesterday: "I can't in any absolute sense, but I know there have been 250 incidents since the 7 July where we considered whether we were being confronted by suicide bombers."
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654184
Iraq war increased the threat of attacks, says Major
By Andrew Grice
26 July 2005
The war in Iraq has heightened the threat of terrorist attacks in Britain, the former Prime Minister Sir John Major has claimed.
His intervention is a setback to Tony Blair's attempt to play down any link between the London bombings and the Iraq conflict. Sir John told BBC Radio 4 yesterday: "I think what has happened is not that the Iraq war and other policies created that threat, I think it was there and growing, though it was not in full bloom.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654112
Still only one way to stop a suicide bomber
Gail Walker
26 July 2005
At a stroke, the clinical killing of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station has dealt a massive blow to the credibility of the Metropolitan Police. A blow from which it may never recover.
Before the killing, ordinary people had accepted, albeit reluctantly, that police may have had to take extraordinary measures in urgently tracking down the suspects who had tried to blow themselves and others up the day before.
They were still out there and still, presumably, intent on achieving their murderous ambition.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=654145
Ulster superbug death rates soar
Race against clock to find cure
By Nigel Gould
27 July 2005
A vaccine is being tested against a superbug that is causing more concern in Northern Ireland than the feared MRSA, it emerged last night.
Latest statistics show that Ulster death rates of Clostridium Difficile have nearly trebled in just three years.
And the incidences of C. Difficile, mostly found in hospitals, have doubled here since 2000 - with the bug being directly blamed for 37 deaths last year.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654198
10,000 'Viagra' tablets seized
By Nigel Gould
27 July 2005
A major haul of nearly 10,000 Viagra-type drugs has been seized in north Belfast.
The 'Vigora' tablets, which have a street value of around £50,000, were seized as part of a joint operation between Medicine Enforcement Officers from the Department of Health and the PSNI.
This is the first time these tablets, manufactured in India, have been found in Northern Ireland.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654267
The Boston Globe
Negotiators reach pact on a broad energy bill
Overhaul aimed at spurring output
By Rick Klein and Susan Milligan, Globe Staff July 27, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Congressional negotiators reached agreement yesterday on a sweeping overhaul of the nation's energy policies, with a sprawling package of tax breaks, subsidies, and regulation changes designed to spur production of oil, gasoline, and other energy sources.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/07/27/negotiators_reach_pact_on_a_broad_energy_bill/
Drug test biased against blacks, 7 ex-officers allege
By Diane E. Lewis, Globe Staff July 27, 2005
Seven former Boston police officers, all African-Americans who were fired after testing positive for cocaine in drug tests using samples of their hair, sued the police department yesterday, alleging the screening technique is biased against African-Americans.
Rheba Rutkowski, an attorney at Bingham McCutchen who represents the former officers, said scientific literature indicates that the texture of African-American hair as well as the hair products they use could skew the results of a hair test. She also said hair tests are easier to pass if an employee has light hair, and that stray molecules can bind to African-American hair, altering the results.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/07/27/drug_test_biased_against_blacks_7_ex_officers_allege/
Channeling his energies
Venezuelans riveted by president's TV show
By Indira A. R. Lakshmanan, Globe Staff July 27, 2005
MATURIN, Venezuela -- Love him or hate him, Venezuelans are obsessed with their president. And never more so than on Sundays, when the voluble leftist-populist holds forth in a live, unscripted television marathon that's part folk sermon, part revolutionary diatribe, part homespun entertainment -- and wholly Hugo Chavez.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2005/07/27/channeling_his_energies/
Healey, prochoice GOP women distance selves on abortion issue
By and Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff July 27, 2005
They were called Women for Romney, and as the 2002 race for governor reached its peak, Romney's campaign asked them to send out postcards urging their friends to the polls.
''Mitt has always supported a women's right to choose," the campaign postcard read. ''Mitt inherits a proud legacy from his mother, who championed a woman's right to choose when she ran for US Senate in 1970 in Michigan before Roe v. Wade when abortion was a crime not a choice."
Yesterday, some of the Women for Romney volunteers were furious with Romney's declaration that he is ''prolife" and that he disapproved of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal nationwide. He announced his stance Monday as he vetoed a bill that would expand access to emergency contraception.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/07/27/healey_prochoice_gop_women_distance_selves_on_abortion_issue/
More US children being sickened by pesticides in schools, report says
By Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press July 27, 2005
CHICAGO -- Pesticide use in or near US schools sickened more than 2,500 children and school employees over a five-year period, and though most illnesses were mild, their numbers have increased, a nationwide report found.
Sources include chemicals to kill insects and weeds on school grounds, disinfectants, and farming pesticides that drift over nearby schools, according to the report by researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and their colleagues.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/07/27/more_us_children_being_sickened_by_pesticides_in_schools_report_says/
2 countries won't halt US flight operations
July 27, 2005
DUSHANBE -- Two Central Asian countries pledged yesterday to allow the United States to keep flight operations in their countries that are crucial to the ongoing US military effort in Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld held separate meetings with leaders in Kyrgyzstan, who promised continued base facilities in the country, and in Tajikistan, which permits flyover, fueling, and emergency operations. The public assurances marked an official turnaround by the countries, both of which on July 5 joined Russia, China, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan in recommending a deadline for the withdrawal of US and other foreign troops. The United States has used the bases and air access rights since the 2001 war in Afghanistan. (Washington Post)
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2005/07/27/2_countries_wont_halt_us_flight_operations/
As aid lags, N. Koreans go hungry
UN says program has little food left
By Alexa Olesen, Associated Press July 27, 2005
BEIJING -- North Korea's government and international aid agencies are running short of food, forcing hungry people to scavenge for acorns, grass, and seaweed, the UN food agency said yesterday as talks on the North's nuclear program began in China's capital.
The United States has promised to send 50,000 metric tons of cereals to help feed millions of malnourished North Koreans, but that aid is not expected to arrive for three months, said Gerald Bourke, a Beijing-based spokesman for the World Food Program.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/07/27/as_aid_lags_n_koreans_go_hungry/
Paleoclimate or paleopolitics?
By Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist July 27, 2005
HOUSE ENERGY and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton is so obstinate about global warming that he is harassing top scientists. Those scientists, who include Raymond Bradley of the University of Massachusetts, helped the United Nations global panel on climate change and the National Science Foundation conclude that the world has heated up dramatically in the last few decades compared with the several hundred years before.
Study after study has replicated the findings that human activity is the cause. Americans, with our exponentially disproportionate consumption of fossil fuels and our resulting belch of pollution, bear prime responsibility for it.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/07/27/paleoclimate_or_paleopolitics/
Arab News
Scotland Yard Finds Terrorist Bomb Factory in London
Mushtak Parker, Arab News
LONDON, 27 July 2005 — In another day of fast developments, Scotland Yard yesterday said they believed they had found the bomb factory where the five devices, which failed to explode in last Thursday’s second wave of attacks on the London transport system, were made.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=67561&d=27&m=7&y=2005
More Terrorists Arrested
Samir Al-Saadi, Arab News
JEDDAH, 27 July 2005 — Security forces yesterday arrested four terror suspects in Madinah. No casualties were reported in the early morning operation that took place in the southwest of the holy city, said Interior Ministry spokesman Gen. Mansour Al-Turki.
The new arrests came a day after Saudi security forces captured Muhammad ibn Saeed Al-Siyam Al-Amri and two of his associates in Madinah and another terror suspect in Riyadh.
A 20-year-old Saudi girl helped police locate Al-Amri, No. 10 on a government list of 36 wanted terrorists. The girl, Nahed, saw Al-Amri enter a residential building, Al-Madinah Arabic newspaper reported. The girl told her relatives and neighbors who notified police who then arrested the suspect. Teams from the police and Special Forces surrounded the building in Al-Kurdi neighborhood in Madinah before moving in to arrest him.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=67557&d=27&m=7&y=2005
Washington’s Logic Emboldens Terrorism
Ramzy Baroud, Aljazeera.net English.
Since the onset of the Bush administration’s ill-defined mission and subsequent long, long war on terror, the American people, and even the whole world, has fallen victim to an utterly flawed, yet barely contested voice of reason. Despite the Vietnam-like debacle in Iraq, in which the Bush administration has willfully immersed the nation, fallacious logic continues to be infused, with the same enthusiasm and doubtlessly with the same grievous outcome.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=67552&d=27&m=7&y=2005
The Tennessean
The weather in Nashville, Tennessee (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
Current Conditions
76°F
Thunderstorms
Real Feel:
83F (28C)
Rel. Humidity:
84%
Wind: NNW at 5 mph (8 km/h)
Sunrise: 5:51 AM Sunset: 7:56 PM
Last Updated: 07/27/05 15:37:58 EST
http://tennessean.gannettonline.com/weather/detail/BNA-detail.html?city=Nashville&state=TN&zipcode=37203
LET THIS BE A LESSON TO ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS. This is entrapment and probably carried out by order of the Bush White House or more likely Senator Frist himself. It is easy to engage opposition candidates in scandal if it's 'set up' right. These people in office now are as underhanded as they come.
Lois DeBerry defends taking $200 cash from undercover FBI agent
Associated Press
MEMPHIS -- Rep. Lois DeBerry, the second-ranking member of the Tennessee House, says she took $200 cash from a representative of a fake company at the heart of the government's Tennessee Waltz corruption investigation.
The money, which was used for gambling at a Mississippi casino, came from an FBI agent posing as a representative of E-Cycle Management, a bogus company that was supposedly seeking favorable legislation in Nashville.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/NEWS0201/50727004
Teen death rate higher in state than in nation
Study finds Tennessee near bottom in well-being of kids
By CLAUDETTE RILEY
Staff Writer
It's tougher to be a child in Tennessee than almost anywhere else in the country, a report released today shows.
Tennessee wallows near the bottom nationally when it comes to babies born underweight, children who live in poverty and the number of infants, children and teens who die young. The state also has a higher-than-average number of children who grow up in single-parent homes and spend their teen years not working or attending school.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/NEWS04/507270402/1001
State studies ways to track, stop troubled teachers
Jobs could be at risk if allegations unreported
By CLAUDETTE RILEY
Staff Writer
Tennessee school directors could lose their jobs if they fail to report teachers who are let go or resign amid serious allegations of wrongdoing.
The State Board of Education is expected to consider that penalty and other tough steps next month to step up efforts to get rid of troubled educators. The state wants to track why teachers are let go and keep them from moving unchecked from one school system to another.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/NEWS04/507270420/1001
No need to start from scratch on ethics reform
They face a daunting task — helping state government restore public trust.
At their first meeting last week, the members of the citizen ethics panel appointed by Gov. Phil Bredesen seemed painfully aware of the importance of the work. Bredesen has asked the 12-member panel to report back to him by the end of September with its recommendations on how the state can improve ethics laws and policies. Some members have expressed concern about whether they can finish the job at hand in the prescribed time.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/OPINION01/507270405/1008/OPINION
An energy bill scapegoat
MTBE doesn't belong in the nation's water or in the nation's energy bill.
Senate efforts to sever liability protection for the oil industry over the use of the gasoline additive MTBE from the House energy bill appear to have succeeded. House and Senate conferees have agreed to drop a House provision that would have protected the oil industry from lawsuits over pollution.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/OPINION01/507270406/1008/OPINION
The Bangkok Post
Rangoon gives up Asean chair
Philippines prepared to take over the role
ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT
Nyan Win: 2005 will be a critical year
Vientiane _ Burma yesterday finally gave up its right to take up the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) next year, saving the regional body from Western boycotts of its meetings.
Rangoon needs to focus on constitution drafting and the election process, a statement said.
However, critics said Asean could not afford to ignore the Burma issue and must push for real political change in the military-ruled country and for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, which was not mentioned in Asean's statement.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/27Jul2005_news01.php
NRC says southerners must be assured justice
PRADIT RUANGDIT
The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) has echoed calls for the government to form a special national body to deliver justice in criminal cases related to the southern insurgency, stressing the urgency of winning southerners' trust by guaranteeing them fair legal treatment.
NRC chairman Anand Panyarachun has put together a package of short-term, concrete measures to ease the spiralling violence in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala within the framework of the recently-promulgated emergency decree, said Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Wannasathit.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/27Jul2005_news02.php
Information Act seen full of loopholes
Law researchers call for major changes
KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI
The Official Information Act contains many loopholes that allow government agencies to cover up damaging information on environmental and health hazards to avoid responsibility and protect businesses, environmental and law researchers said yesterday.
When it came to serious incidents, such as the bird flu outbreak and toxic chemical leakages, relevant agencies often bypassed the law and concealed information that should have been disseminated to the public for safety reasons, Pantyp Ramasoota, a professor at Mahidol University's Asean Institute for Health Development, told a seminar on environmental governance and public participation organised by the Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) yesterday.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/27Jul2005_news03.php
Imports swell trade deficit
June exports up but by less than in May
WICHIT CHANTANUSORNSIRI
Imports increased to a one-month record of $11.15 billion last month, pushing the trade deficit for June to $1.88 billion, according to preliminary figures released yesterday by the Customs Department.
Imports rose by 37.2% from June of 2004, slightly less than the 38.1% year-on-year reported in May. Exports for June grew 11.7% to $9.27 billion, a slowdown from the 14.5% year-on-year growth recorded in May.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/27Jul2005_biz65.php
Aquarium expects 1.5m visitors in first year
BAMRUNG AMNATCHAROENRIT
Kavipol Supatravanij, general manager for marketing and sales of Siam Ocean World Co, shows off an illustration of the new attraction at a presentation yesterday. — KOSOL NAKACHOL
The one-billion-baht Siam Ocean World will open as planned in early November and is expected to be a major tourist draw at the Siam Paragon luxury shopping centre in central Bangkok.
Operated by Siam Ocean World Co, a subsidiary of Oceanis Australia Group, the world's biggest aquarium operator based in Melbourne, the venture hopes to attract 1.5 million visitors, 20% of them foreign tourists, in its first year of operation.
Kavipol Supatravanij, general manager for marketing and sales of Siam Ocean World, said he was undeterred by the prospect of consumers cutting spending, saying the world-class aquarium would be warmly welcomed as a place for tourism and recreation as well as education.
The company expects to break even within three years. In early stage, it has 50 million baht to spend on marketing.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/27Jul2005_biz66.php
The Lincoln Journal of West Virginia
By RON GREGORY
Sports Editor
CHARLESTON — United States Attorney Kasey Warner recently said that his position "is a political appointment and funny things happen in politics."
The "funny thing" that prompted Warner's comment was a report that the Southern District United States Attorney is on his way out. While Warner would not confirm the rumor last week, he stopped far short of denying it.
In fact, a Justice Department source confirmed to this newspaper that Warner is in the last days of his tenure as U.S. Attorney. "He will likely be out by the end of the month (July)," said the source, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "He has a very short window (in which to resign)."
The source, and others cited by other media outlets in the state, said Warner was offered a different job by the Justice Department last December. Now, they say, the U.S. Attorney was told to resign within the "next few days." Apparently, any offer of another position is no longer available, the source said.
Speculation immediately centered on why Warner is leaving and who his successor may be.
A number of possibilities have been listed as reasons for Warner's departure. Some speculate that Justice Department officials are unhappy with Warner's handling of alleged vote-buying in Southern West Virginia. To date, several individuals — all Democrats — have been charged with various crimes.
http://www.lincolnjournal.com/
Board, state continue to spar as supreme court prepares to consider Casey appeal
By RON GREGORY
Sports Editor
CHARLESTON — While Lincoln County's elected school board and state department of education representatives who run the local system continue to spar over meeting dates and procedures, motions and responses are still being filed in the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
On July 5, attorneys for Dr. David Stewart, former state superintendent of schools, the West Virginia State Board of Education and William Grizzell, state-appointed superintendent of Lincoln County Schools, filed a response to the petition for appeal filed by former United States Attorney Mike Carey. Carey filed an appeal request in a case where several Lincoln Countians opposed to forced high school consolidation sued Stewart, the state board and Grizzell.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Charles King summarily dismissed the suit, originally filed by former Hamlin attorney Betty Gregory. Since Gregory is no longer in private practice, Carey is handling the appeal. Carey, who filed a separate lawsuit against consolidation that was also also dismissed, is now appealing the decision in the Gregory case. Carey appealed the decision that went against his lawsuit, but the Supreme Court declined to hear it on a 3-2 vote.
http://www.lincolnjournal.com/
Controversy in Charleston brings back memories
By LEE ARNOLD
An article in one of the Charleston newspapers last week really took me back in time.
It was an incident that happened five or six years ago in Columbus, Ohio.
It was just before Kid Rock would break out and become a superstar in the rock world, and he was playing the Newport Music Hall on High Street in Columbus, not far from the Ohio State University campus.
It was the third time I had seen Kid Rock perform. I saw him twice before at clubs in Huntington in the year before. The Newport was in fact the largest venue I had seen him play at the time.
I went to the show with several people, one of them a girl I was seeing at the time.
Rather than suffocate on the floor of the venue for the entire show, we watched the opening acts, one of which was Staind I think, from the balcony which ran down both sides of the venue.
As the last opening act played, the tension in the room was building.
While he was not yet known by everybody, Kid Rock's reputation of putting on a good show preceded him, and I'm sure many of the people there were like me and had seen the show before.
But as the clock ticked and we were debating on when to go downstairs, things started getting weird.
A girl on the opposite balcony had been teasing the crowd below with sensual dances.
Finally, at the urging of several hundred screaming guys, she pulled out a move that has since been made famous by a video company that buys hours and hours of commercial time on late night television. She lifted her shirt and exposed herself.
I was as thrilled as everyone else. A woman was exposing herself in a public place and I didn't have to keep feeding her dollars to get her to keep doing it.
She started a chain reaction.
Soon other girls started doing the same thing.
It was one of the darndest things I had ever seen.
It was like watching fireworks on the fourth of July. The fireworks were everywhere, and the oohs and aahs followed every exposure.
"Let's stay up here for a while longer," I told my girlfriend.
She didn't complain. In fact, she was quite excited by the idea.
I think she was enjoying the show as much as I was.
http://www.lincolnjournal.com/poisonpen720.shtml
The weather in Charleston, West Virginia (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
Thunderstorm Haze
80°F
(27°C)
Rest Of Today...Showers and thunderstorms likely this afternoon. Not as warm. Humid with highs in the upper 80s. Temperature falling into the upper 70s this afternoon. West winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent.
Tonight...Showers and thunderstorms likely in the evening...Then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the upper 60s. West winds around 5 mph in the evening...Becoming light and variable. Chance of rain 60 percent.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/forecasts/WVZ013.php?warnzone=wvz013&warncounty=wvc043
The Greenbriar Messenger of Greenbriar Valley, West Virginia
Lewisburg revenue stream
getting shallow
By David Cottrill
"How are we going to fund the services people keep asking for," queried Council Member Wade McClure at Tuesday’s Council meeting, "along with the initiatives recommended by the city’s Comprehensive Plan?" McClure, chairman of the city’s finance committee, reported that the committee had reviewed 11 potential revenue enhancement sources and discarded all but four.
Among revenue options eschewed as impractical were annexations, a payroll tax on folk who work in the city, storm water service fees, impact fees on new development, and a one percent increase in the state’s six percent sales tax (no mechanism in place to collect and disburse it).
The committee asked Mayor John Manchester to explore, with the assistance of city employees, the practicalities of four sources that appear more promising. Among these is the option to double the hotel/motel tax within the city. Manchester estimated that this would produce an additional $150,000, half of which would go to the CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau) to promote tourism. The city’s half would have to be used for arts and recreation.
http://www.mountainmessenger.com/
Year-round Fool
By David Cottrill
Holy Holbrook!
Quickly, send the children from the room! They mustn’t hear this! Tom Holbrook says that this columnist is a … a … a … socialist! He says, "To cure the ills of the less fortunate, Dave wants to take what you and I have and redistribute it. Socialism is not the type of government the American people want."
You know, I once heard Rush Limbaugh use that exact line. These two stalwarts of the right, I think, are talking about taxation. Heavens, no one likes to pay taxes. I certainly don’t. Of course, you can’t have civilization without taxation: education, security, roads, bridges, safe food, water, drugs, etc.
What these gents oppose, I sense, is safety net programs for the unfortunate. "To promote the general welfare" does not, for them, mean — well — welfare, you know, helping the down-and-out achieve a measure of security and dignity.
I pay taxes too, boys, lots of taxes. Frankly, I’d rather that money help "widows and orphans" than find its way into the pockets of the fat cats who own this administration. If that makes me a socialist, oh well.
http://www.mountainmessenger.com/oped.html
contined ...
IRA statement 'in the next 48 hours'
Governments await reply to call by Adams
By Noel McAdam
27 July 2005
The IRA's potentially historic statement over its future appeared to be imminent today, with the eventual restoration of power sharing devolution at stake.
The long-anticipated statement - which could set out the Provisionals' intentions to carry out a series of actions - is expected in the next 48 hours.
But no early definitive response from the DUP seemed on the cards. Serious political negotiations on an Assembly and Executive could still be as far away as next year.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654245
IRA on the brink of ending paramilitary activity and decommissioning its arsenal
By David McKittrick
27 July 2005
In a potentially historic move in the Irish peace process, the IRA is on the point of announcing an end to paramilitary activity and the decommissioning of all of its weaponry.
The British and Irish governments hope the announcement, now believed to be imminent, will be strong and unambiguous enough to inject a burst of new momentum into the stalled peace process.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654179
We'll still search for IRA's €200m, McDowell pledges
By Sam Smyth
27 July 2005
Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell has pledged that the Republic's government will continue to seek the €200m-plus which he says the IRA has stashed away - even if the organisation signs up to abandoning paramilitary violence and ending criminality.
Dismissing rumours of a secret deal that would draw a line under past IRA crimes, Mr McDowell said the Government was legally obliged to continue the search for the Provisionals' treasury.
"They have £20m from the Northern Bank robbery and about €200m stashed away," he said.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654181
Sinn Fein now calling the tune before IRA
27 July 2005
Even one of his fiercest critics is saying Gerry Adams has left the IRA leadership. Political correspondent Chris Thornton asks if this means the IRA doesn't matter much anymore?
SINCE he was the man who spent much of the past year naming Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Kerry North TD Martin Ferris as members of the IRA's Army Council, there is a certain significance in Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell now saying those three men have left the IRA leadership.
Mind you, Mr McDowell was not speaking in terms of the Road to Damascus when he talked about whether gatherings of IRA and Sinn Fein leaders remain homogenous affairs. "I don't think that by itself amounts to a severance between the two organisations," he said in Belfast yesterday. "It's an acknowledgement, in my view, that there was a very structured link between them in the past."
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654258
Detectives launch searches in bid to catch GAA killers
Murder hunt spreads over three counties
By Jonathan McCambridge
27 July 2005
Detectives investigating the murder of GAA official Sean Brown today launched a series of searches across the province in a new bid to catch the killers.
It is understood that more than 20 searches were taking place in counties Antrim, Armagh and Tyrone as part of a major PSNI Crime Operations investigation.
Father-of-six Sean Brown (61), was abducted as he locked-up the Wolfe Tone Gaelic Athletic Club on May 12, 1997.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654247
Blair to help in hunt for Lisa's body
Family is overjoyed at the Prime Minister's pledge
By Debra Douglas
27 July 2005
Prime Minister Tony Blair has vowed to do everything he can to help with the search for Lisa Dorrian's body.
Responding to a request from North Down MP Lady Hermon to have the remit of a special forensic expert being brought in to investigate the cases of the "Disappeared" extended to include Lisa, Mr Blair said he would look into the issue and see what could be done to help.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654172
The secrets of 58 Curtis House
Police find bomb-making equipment in a north London flat which last Thursday's suicide bombers returned to after their failed attacks. A car used by one of them is found nearby.
By Cahal Milmo and Jason Bennetto
27 July 2005
Members of the terror cell that staged the failed suicide attack on London six days ago may have returned to their suspected bomb factory within hours of the assaults.
Detectives were investigating a witness report that three men returned a day after the 21 July attacks to 58 Curtis House, the north London flat where it is thought the bombings were planned and weapons prepared.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654193
The secrets of 58 Curtis House
Police find bomb-making equipment in a north London flat which last Thursday's suicide bombers returned to after their failed attacks. A car used by one of them is found nearby.
By Cahal Milmo and Jason Bennetto
27 July 2005
Members of the terror cell that staged the failed suicide attack on London six days ago may have returned to their suspected bomb factory within hours of the assaults.
Detectives were investigating a witness report that three men returned a day after the 21 July attacks to 58 Curtis House, the north London flat where it is thought the bombings were planned and weapons prepared.
Yesterday, officers discovered chemicals in a nearby lock-up garage,
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654193
Police 'have had 250 suicide-bomb scares since 7 July'
By Nigel Morris and Barrie Clement
27 July 2005
Police have dealt with 250 suicide bomb scares since the 7 July atrocities and have come close to opening fire seven times, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner has said.
Sir Ian Blair acknowledged that the death of the Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, killed last week by undercover police, had been a "dreadful mistake".
But he said it should not divert his officers from the "main issue" of combating terrorism.
Asked whether he could guarantee that a similar tragic accident would not happen again, he told Channel 4 News yesterday: "I can't in any absolute sense, but I know there have been 250 incidents since the 7 July where we considered whether we were being confronted by suicide bombers."
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654184
Iraq war increased the threat of attacks, says Major
By Andrew Grice
26 July 2005
The war in Iraq has heightened the threat of terrorist attacks in Britain, the former Prime Minister Sir John Major has claimed.
His intervention is a setback to Tony Blair's attempt to play down any link between the London bombings and the Iraq conflict. Sir John told BBC Radio 4 yesterday: "I think what has happened is not that the Iraq war and other policies created that threat, I think it was there and growing, though it was not in full bloom.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654112
Still only one way to stop a suicide bomber
Gail Walker
26 July 2005
At a stroke, the clinical killing of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station has dealt a massive blow to the credibility of the Metropolitan Police. A blow from which it may never recover.
Before the killing, ordinary people had accepted, albeit reluctantly, that police may have had to take extraordinary measures in urgently tracking down the suspects who had tried to blow themselves and others up the day before.
They were still out there and still, presumably, intent on achieving their murderous ambition.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=654145
Ulster superbug death rates soar
Race against clock to find cure
By Nigel Gould
27 July 2005
A vaccine is being tested against a superbug that is causing more concern in Northern Ireland than the feared MRSA, it emerged last night.
Latest statistics show that Ulster death rates of Clostridium Difficile have nearly trebled in just three years.
And the incidences of C. Difficile, mostly found in hospitals, have doubled here since 2000 - with the bug being directly blamed for 37 deaths last year.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654198
10,000 'Viagra' tablets seized
By Nigel Gould
27 July 2005
A major haul of nearly 10,000 Viagra-type drugs has been seized in north Belfast.
The 'Vigora' tablets, which have a street value of around £50,000, were seized as part of a joint operation between Medicine Enforcement Officers from the Department of Health and the PSNI.
This is the first time these tablets, manufactured in India, have been found in Northern Ireland.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=654267
The Boston Globe
Negotiators reach pact on a broad energy bill
Overhaul aimed at spurring output
By Rick Klein and Susan Milligan, Globe Staff July 27, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Congressional negotiators reached agreement yesterday on a sweeping overhaul of the nation's energy policies, with a sprawling package of tax breaks, subsidies, and regulation changes designed to spur production of oil, gasoline, and other energy sources.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/07/27/negotiators_reach_pact_on_a_broad_energy_bill/
Drug test biased against blacks, 7 ex-officers allege
By Diane E. Lewis, Globe Staff July 27, 2005
Seven former Boston police officers, all African-Americans who were fired after testing positive for cocaine in drug tests using samples of their hair, sued the police department yesterday, alleging the screening technique is biased against African-Americans.
Rheba Rutkowski, an attorney at Bingham McCutchen who represents the former officers, said scientific literature indicates that the texture of African-American hair as well as the hair products they use could skew the results of a hair test. She also said hair tests are easier to pass if an employee has light hair, and that stray molecules can bind to African-American hair, altering the results.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/07/27/drug_test_biased_against_blacks_7_ex_officers_allege/
Channeling his energies
Venezuelans riveted by president's TV show
By Indira A. R. Lakshmanan, Globe Staff July 27, 2005
MATURIN, Venezuela -- Love him or hate him, Venezuelans are obsessed with their president. And never more so than on Sundays, when the voluble leftist-populist holds forth in a live, unscripted television marathon that's part folk sermon, part revolutionary diatribe, part homespun entertainment -- and wholly Hugo Chavez.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2005/07/27/channeling_his_energies/
Healey, prochoice GOP women distance selves on abortion issue
By and Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff July 27, 2005
They were called Women for Romney, and as the 2002 race for governor reached its peak, Romney's campaign asked them to send out postcards urging their friends to the polls.
''Mitt has always supported a women's right to choose," the campaign postcard read. ''Mitt inherits a proud legacy from his mother, who championed a woman's right to choose when she ran for US Senate in 1970 in Michigan before Roe v. Wade when abortion was a crime not a choice."
Yesterday, some of the Women for Romney volunteers were furious with Romney's declaration that he is ''prolife" and that he disapproved of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal nationwide. He announced his stance Monday as he vetoed a bill that would expand access to emergency contraception.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/07/27/healey_prochoice_gop_women_distance_selves_on_abortion_issue/
More US children being sickened by pesticides in schools, report says
By Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press July 27, 2005
CHICAGO -- Pesticide use in or near US schools sickened more than 2,500 children and school employees over a five-year period, and though most illnesses were mild, their numbers have increased, a nationwide report found.
Sources include chemicals to kill insects and weeds on school grounds, disinfectants, and farming pesticides that drift over nearby schools, according to the report by researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and their colleagues.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/07/27/more_us_children_being_sickened_by_pesticides_in_schools_report_says/
2 countries won't halt US flight operations
July 27, 2005
DUSHANBE -- Two Central Asian countries pledged yesterday to allow the United States to keep flight operations in their countries that are crucial to the ongoing US military effort in Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld held separate meetings with leaders in Kyrgyzstan, who promised continued base facilities in the country, and in Tajikistan, which permits flyover, fueling, and emergency operations. The public assurances marked an official turnaround by the countries, both of which on July 5 joined Russia, China, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan in recommending a deadline for the withdrawal of US and other foreign troops. The United States has used the bases and air access rights since the 2001 war in Afghanistan. (Washington Post)
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2005/07/27/2_countries_wont_halt_us_flight_operations/
As aid lags, N. Koreans go hungry
UN says program has little food left
By Alexa Olesen, Associated Press July 27, 2005
BEIJING -- North Korea's government and international aid agencies are running short of food, forcing hungry people to scavenge for acorns, grass, and seaweed, the UN food agency said yesterday as talks on the North's nuclear program began in China's capital.
The United States has promised to send 50,000 metric tons of cereals to help feed millions of malnourished North Koreans, but that aid is not expected to arrive for three months, said Gerald Bourke, a Beijing-based spokesman for the World Food Program.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/07/27/as_aid_lags_n_koreans_go_hungry/
Paleoclimate or paleopolitics?
By Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist July 27, 2005
HOUSE ENERGY and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton is so obstinate about global warming that he is harassing top scientists. Those scientists, who include Raymond Bradley of the University of Massachusetts, helped the United Nations global panel on climate change and the National Science Foundation conclude that the world has heated up dramatically in the last few decades compared with the several hundred years before.
Study after study has replicated the findings that human activity is the cause. Americans, with our exponentially disproportionate consumption of fossil fuels and our resulting belch of pollution, bear prime responsibility for it.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/07/27/paleoclimate_or_paleopolitics/
Arab News
Scotland Yard Finds Terrorist Bomb Factory in London
Mushtak Parker, Arab News
LONDON, 27 July 2005 — In another day of fast developments, Scotland Yard yesterday said they believed they had found the bomb factory where the five devices, which failed to explode in last Thursday’s second wave of attacks on the London transport system, were made.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=67561&d=27&m=7&y=2005
More Terrorists Arrested
Samir Al-Saadi, Arab News
JEDDAH, 27 July 2005 — Security forces yesterday arrested four terror suspects in Madinah. No casualties were reported in the early morning operation that took place in the southwest of the holy city, said Interior Ministry spokesman Gen. Mansour Al-Turki.
The new arrests came a day after Saudi security forces captured Muhammad ibn Saeed Al-Siyam Al-Amri and two of his associates in Madinah and another terror suspect in Riyadh.
A 20-year-old Saudi girl helped police locate Al-Amri, No. 10 on a government list of 36 wanted terrorists. The girl, Nahed, saw Al-Amri enter a residential building, Al-Madinah Arabic newspaper reported. The girl told her relatives and neighbors who notified police who then arrested the suspect. Teams from the police and Special Forces surrounded the building in Al-Kurdi neighborhood in Madinah before moving in to arrest him.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=67557&d=27&m=7&y=2005
Washington’s Logic Emboldens Terrorism
Ramzy Baroud, Aljazeera.net English.
Since the onset of the Bush administration’s ill-defined mission and subsequent long, long war on terror, the American people, and even the whole world, has fallen victim to an utterly flawed, yet barely contested voice of reason. Despite the Vietnam-like debacle in Iraq, in which the Bush administration has willfully immersed the nation, fallacious logic continues to be infused, with the same enthusiasm and doubtlessly with the same grievous outcome.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=67552&d=27&m=7&y=2005
The Tennessean
The weather in Nashville, Tennessee (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
Current Conditions
76°F
Thunderstorms
Real Feel:
83F (28C)
Rel. Humidity:
84%
Wind: NNW at 5 mph (8 km/h)
Sunrise: 5:51 AM Sunset: 7:56 PM
Last Updated: 07/27/05 15:37:58 EST
http://tennessean.gannettonline.com/weather/detail/BNA-detail.html?city=Nashville&state=TN&zipcode=37203
LET THIS BE A LESSON TO ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS. This is entrapment and probably carried out by order of the Bush White House or more likely Senator Frist himself. It is easy to engage opposition candidates in scandal if it's 'set up' right. These people in office now are as underhanded as they come.
Lois DeBerry defends taking $200 cash from undercover FBI agent
Associated Press
MEMPHIS -- Rep. Lois DeBerry, the second-ranking member of the Tennessee House, says she took $200 cash from a representative of a fake company at the heart of the government's Tennessee Waltz corruption investigation.
The money, which was used for gambling at a Mississippi casino, came from an FBI agent posing as a representative of E-Cycle Management, a bogus company that was supposedly seeking favorable legislation in Nashville.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/NEWS0201/50727004
Teen death rate higher in state than in nation
Study finds Tennessee near bottom in well-being of kids
By CLAUDETTE RILEY
Staff Writer
It's tougher to be a child in Tennessee than almost anywhere else in the country, a report released today shows.
Tennessee wallows near the bottom nationally when it comes to babies born underweight, children who live in poverty and the number of infants, children and teens who die young. The state also has a higher-than-average number of children who grow up in single-parent homes and spend their teen years not working or attending school.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/NEWS04/507270402/1001
State studies ways to track, stop troubled teachers
Jobs could be at risk if allegations unreported
By CLAUDETTE RILEY
Staff Writer
Tennessee school directors could lose their jobs if they fail to report teachers who are let go or resign amid serious allegations of wrongdoing.
The State Board of Education is expected to consider that penalty and other tough steps next month to step up efforts to get rid of troubled educators. The state wants to track why teachers are let go and keep them from moving unchecked from one school system to another.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/NEWS04/507270420/1001
No need to start from scratch on ethics reform
They face a daunting task — helping state government restore public trust.
At their first meeting last week, the members of the citizen ethics panel appointed by Gov. Phil Bredesen seemed painfully aware of the importance of the work. Bredesen has asked the 12-member panel to report back to him by the end of September with its recommendations on how the state can improve ethics laws and policies. Some members have expressed concern about whether they can finish the job at hand in the prescribed time.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/OPINION01/507270405/1008/OPINION
An energy bill scapegoat
MTBE doesn't belong in the nation's water or in the nation's energy bill.
Senate efforts to sever liability protection for the oil industry over the use of the gasoline additive MTBE from the House energy bill appear to have succeeded. House and Senate conferees have agreed to drop a House provision that would have protected the oil industry from lawsuits over pollution.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/OPINION01/507270406/1008/OPINION
The Bangkok Post
Rangoon gives up Asean chair
Philippines prepared to take over the role
ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT
Nyan Win: 2005 will be a critical year
Vientiane _ Burma yesterday finally gave up its right to take up the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) next year, saving the regional body from Western boycotts of its meetings.
Rangoon needs to focus on constitution drafting and the election process, a statement said.
However, critics said Asean could not afford to ignore the Burma issue and must push for real political change in the military-ruled country and for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, which was not mentioned in Asean's statement.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/27Jul2005_news01.php
NRC says southerners must be assured justice
PRADIT RUANGDIT
The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) has echoed calls for the government to form a special national body to deliver justice in criminal cases related to the southern insurgency, stressing the urgency of winning southerners' trust by guaranteeing them fair legal treatment.
NRC chairman Anand Panyarachun has put together a package of short-term, concrete measures to ease the spiralling violence in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala within the framework of the recently-promulgated emergency decree, said Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Wannasathit.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/27Jul2005_news02.php
Information Act seen full of loopholes
Law researchers call for major changes
KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI
The Official Information Act contains many loopholes that allow government agencies to cover up damaging information on environmental and health hazards to avoid responsibility and protect businesses, environmental and law researchers said yesterday.
When it came to serious incidents, such as the bird flu outbreak and toxic chemical leakages, relevant agencies often bypassed the law and concealed information that should have been disseminated to the public for safety reasons, Pantyp Ramasoota, a professor at Mahidol University's Asean Institute for Health Development, told a seminar on environmental governance and public participation organised by the Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) yesterday.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/27Jul2005_news03.php
Imports swell trade deficit
June exports up but by less than in May
WICHIT CHANTANUSORNSIRI
Imports increased to a one-month record of $11.15 billion last month, pushing the trade deficit for June to $1.88 billion, according to preliminary figures released yesterday by the Customs Department.
Imports rose by 37.2% from June of 2004, slightly less than the 38.1% year-on-year reported in May. Exports for June grew 11.7% to $9.27 billion, a slowdown from the 14.5% year-on-year growth recorded in May.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/27Jul2005_biz65.php
Aquarium expects 1.5m visitors in first year
BAMRUNG AMNATCHAROENRIT
Kavipol Supatravanij, general manager for marketing and sales of Siam Ocean World Co, shows off an illustration of the new attraction at a presentation yesterday. — KOSOL NAKACHOL
The one-billion-baht Siam Ocean World will open as planned in early November and is expected to be a major tourist draw at the Siam Paragon luxury shopping centre in central Bangkok.
Operated by Siam Ocean World Co, a subsidiary of Oceanis Australia Group, the world's biggest aquarium operator based in Melbourne, the venture hopes to attract 1.5 million visitors, 20% of them foreign tourists, in its first year of operation.
Kavipol Supatravanij, general manager for marketing and sales of Siam Ocean World, said he was undeterred by the prospect of consumers cutting spending, saying the world-class aquarium would be warmly welcomed as a place for tourism and recreation as well as education.
The company expects to break even within three years. In early stage, it has 50 million baht to spend on marketing.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/27Jul2005_biz66.php
The Lincoln Journal of West Virginia
Is Warner being harassed out of a job?
Warner's 'political appointment' coming to an end
By RON GREGORY
Sports Editor
CHARLESTON — United States Attorney Kasey Warner recently said that his position "is a political appointment and funny things happen in politics."
The "funny thing" that prompted Warner's comment was a report that the Southern District United States Attorney is on his way out. While Warner would not confirm the rumor last week, he stopped far short of denying it.
In fact, a Justice Department source confirmed to this newspaper that Warner is in the last days of his tenure as U.S. Attorney. "He will likely be out by the end of the month (July)," said the source, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "He has a very short window (in which to resign)."
The source, and others cited by other media outlets in the state, said Warner was offered a different job by the Justice Department last December. Now, they say, the U.S. Attorney was told to resign within the "next few days." Apparently, any offer of another position is no longer available, the source said.
Speculation immediately centered on why Warner is leaving and who his successor may be.
A number of possibilities have been listed as reasons for Warner's departure. Some speculate that Justice Department officials are unhappy with Warner's handling of alleged vote-buying in Southern West Virginia. To date, several individuals — all Democrats — have been charged with various crimes.
http://www.lincolnjournal.com/
Board, state continue to spar as supreme court prepares to consider Casey appeal
By RON GREGORY
Sports Editor
CHARLESTON — While Lincoln County's elected school board and state department of education representatives who run the local system continue to spar over meeting dates and procedures, motions and responses are still being filed in the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
On July 5, attorneys for Dr. David Stewart, former state superintendent of schools, the West Virginia State Board of Education and William Grizzell, state-appointed superintendent of Lincoln County Schools, filed a response to the petition for appeal filed by former United States Attorney Mike Carey. Carey filed an appeal request in a case where several Lincoln Countians opposed to forced high school consolidation sued Stewart, the state board and Grizzell.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Charles King summarily dismissed the suit, originally filed by former Hamlin attorney Betty Gregory. Since Gregory is no longer in private practice, Carey is handling the appeal. Carey, who filed a separate lawsuit against consolidation that was also also dismissed, is now appealing the decision in the Gregory case. Carey appealed the decision that went against his lawsuit, but the Supreme Court declined to hear it on a 3-2 vote.
http://www.lincolnjournal.com/
Controversy in Charleston brings back memories
By LEE ARNOLD
An article in one of the Charleston newspapers last week really took me back in time.
It was an incident that happened five or six years ago in Columbus, Ohio.
It was just before Kid Rock would break out and become a superstar in the rock world, and he was playing the Newport Music Hall on High Street in Columbus, not far from the Ohio State University campus.
It was the third time I had seen Kid Rock perform. I saw him twice before at clubs in Huntington in the year before. The Newport was in fact the largest venue I had seen him play at the time.
I went to the show with several people, one of them a girl I was seeing at the time.
Rather than suffocate on the floor of the venue for the entire show, we watched the opening acts, one of which was Staind I think, from the balcony which ran down both sides of the venue.
As the last opening act played, the tension in the room was building.
While he was not yet known by everybody, Kid Rock's reputation of putting on a good show preceded him, and I'm sure many of the people there were like me and had seen the show before.
But as the clock ticked and we were debating on when to go downstairs, things started getting weird.
A girl on the opposite balcony had been teasing the crowd below with sensual dances.
Finally, at the urging of several hundred screaming guys, she pulled out a move that has since been made famous by a video company that buys hours and hours of commercial time on late night television. She lifted her shirt and exposed herself.
I was as thrilled as everyone else. A woman was exposing herself in a public place and I didn't have to keep feeding her dollars to get her to keep doing it.
She started a chain reaction.
Soon other girls started doing the same thing.
It was one of the darndest things I had ever seen.
It was like watching fireworks on the fourth of July. The fireworks were everywhere, and the oohs and aahs followed every exposure.
"Let's stay up here for a while longer," I told my girlfriend.
She didn't complain. In fact, she was quite excited by the idea.
I think she was enjoying the show as much as I was.
http://www.lincolnjournal.com/poisonpen720.shtml
The weather in Charleston, West Virginia (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
Thunderstorm Haze
80°F
(27°C)
Rest Of Today...Showers and thunderstorms likely this afternoon. Not as warm. Humid with highs in the upper 80s. Temperature falling into the upper 70s this afternoon. West winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent.
Tonight...Showers and thunderstorms likely in the evening...Then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the upper 60s. West winds around 5 mph in the evening...Becoming light and variable. Chance of rain 60 percent.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/forecasts/WVZ013.php?warnzone=wvz013&warncounty=wvc043
The Greenbriar Messenger of Greenbriar Valley, West Virginia
Lewisburg revenue stream
getting shallow
By David Cottrill
"How are we going to fund the services people keep asking for," queried Council Member Wade McClure at Tuesday’s Council meeting, "along with the initiatives recommended by the city’s Comprehensive Plan?" McClure, chairman of the city’s finance committee, reported that the committee had reviewed 11 potential revenue enhancement sources and discarded all but four.
Among revenue options eschewed as impractical were annexations, a payroll tax on folk who work in the city, storm water service fees, impact fees on new development, and a one percent increase in the state’s six percent sales tax (no mechanism in place to collect and disburse it).
The committee asked Mayor John Manchester to explore, with the assistance of city employees, the practicalities of four sources that appear more promising. Among these is the option to double the hotel/motel tax within the city. Manchester estimated that this would produce an additional $150,000, half of which would go to the CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau) to promote tourism. The city’s half would have to be used for arts and recreation.
http://www.mountainmessenger.com/
Year-round Fool
By David Cottrill
Holy Holbrook!
Quickly, send the children from the room! They mustn’t hear this! Tom Holbrook says that this columnist is a … a … a … socialist! He says, "To cure the ills of the less fortunate, Dave wants to take what you and I have and redistribute it. Socialism is not the type of government the American people want."
You know, I once heard Rush Limbaugh use that exact line. These two stalwarts of the right, I think, are talking about taxation. Heavens, no one likes to pay taxes. I certainly don’t. Of course, you can’t have civilization without taxation: education, security, roads, bridges, safe food, water, drugs, etc.
What these gents oppose, I sense, is safety net programs for the unfortunate. "To promote the general welfare" does not, for them, mean — well — welfare, you know, helping the down-and-out achieve a measure of security and dignity.
I pay taxes too, boys, lots of taxes. Frankly, I’d rather that money help "widows and orphans" than find its way into the pockets of the fat cats who own this administration. If that makes me a socialist, oh well.
http://www.mountainmessenger.com/oped.html
contined ...
Morning Papers - continued ...
The Toronto Post
The trouble with Emily
the trouble with emily
JAMES T. MORRIS
ROME—This year it's Emily and Dennis. Last year it was Ivan, Frances, Charley and Alex — all hurricanes, and all of them weather-related natural disasters that have left a trail of death and destruction in the Caribbean and the southeastern United States.
At the same time, in Europe, the weather is playing equal havoc. Currently thousands of Portuguese firefighters are battling drought-related forest fires. Spain is in the grip of the worst drought since authorities began keeping records. In Morocco, drought is devastating rural areas and authorities worry about an influx of hungry people to the cities.
Meanwhile, Japan is coping with torrential downpours that have produced more than 80 landslides, not to mention the 10 cyclones that struck the country last year — a number unequalled in the previous century.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1122372817812&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795
Rare bird's theft ruffles feathers
Peregrine falcon stolen from conservation area
Citizens' eagle-eye watch urged by upset keepers
ASHLEY JOANNOU
STAFF REPORTER
The Canadian Peregrine Foundation is looking for one of its "children" birdnapped on the weekend from a conservation centre in Vaughan.
Tarah, a rare Peales peregrine falcon, was stolen from the Kortright Conservation Centre Saturday night or early Sunday.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1122414614930&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home
Aid groups to shun mission
`Not going near' Afghan operation
Balk at working with troops
ANDREW MILLS
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA—Canada's biggest humanitarian aid organizations don't want any part of a new mission to Afghanistan that would have them working closely with soldiers.
"Most of the NGOs I've been talking to are saying, `We're not going near this thing with a 10-foot pole,'" says Erin Simpson, a policy officer at the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, which represents 100 or so of the non-government organizations.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1122414615084&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home
Cheers! LCBO strike averted
Queen's Park privitization pledge helped foster deal, spokesperson says
CURTIS RUSH
STAFF REPORTER THESTAR.COM
There will be no dry mouths among wine and spirits drinkers this long weekend.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario announced at 9 a.m. today that they have reached a tentative agreement with 5,400 employees, averting the possibility of a strike at liquor stores and warehouses.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1122458620651&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes
Bullets fired over children
ISABEL TEOTONIO AND BETSY POWELL
STAFF REPORTERS
Sitting outside her bullet-riddled townhouse, Hyacinth Williams shook her head in disbelief as she gazed at the aftermath of a shooting in her front yard.
By the gateway was a piece of paper left by police to mark where a bullet was found. Scattered on the ground were tiny shards of glass from the shattered window of her screen door. On the brick wall next to the windowsill, was a bullet hole. Beneath that was another.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1122414615007&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home
The Washington Post
U.S., Iraqi Officials Discuss Steps to Speed Troop Withdrawals
Statements Suggest Heightened Immediacy for Move
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; 10:48 AM
BAGHDAD, July 27 -- Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld met with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari and the top U.S. commander in Iraq Wednesday and discussed specific steps to speed preparations for the withdrawal of some of the 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq beginning as early as next spring.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/27/AR2005072700431.html
Documents Show Roberts Influence In Reagan Era
By R. Jeffrey Smith, Jo Becker and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; Page A01
Newly released documents show that John G. Roberts Jr. was a significant backstage player in the legal policy debates of the early Reagan administration, confidently debating older Justice Department officials and supplying them with arguments and information that they used to wage a bureaucratic struggle for the president's agenda.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072602070.html
White House To Withhold Nominee's Tax Returns
Document Release Excludes First Bush Administration
By Charles Babington and Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; Page A06
The Bush administration will not give Senate investigators access to the federal tax returns of Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr., White House and congressional officials said yesterday, a break with precedent that could exacerbate a growing conflict over document disclosure in the confirmation process.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072601879.html
Gonzalez would vote against a woman getting a head anywhere in life so this is not surprising.
Roberts's Right to Vote Against Roe Is Defended
Gonzales Cites High Court's Special Role
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; Page A06
Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. will be free to vote to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision if he is appointed to the high court, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said yesterday.
Although Roberts called the Roe decision "settled law" during hearings on his nomination as an appellate court judge in 2003, Gonzales said in an interview with the Associated Press that a Supreme Court justice "is not obliged to follow precedent if you believe it's wrong."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072601656.html
Prosecutor In CIA Leak Case Casting A Wide Net
White House Effort To Discredit Critic Examined in Detail
By Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; Page A01
The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to several officials familiar with the case.
Prosecutors have questioned former CIA director George J. Tenet and deputy director John E. McLaughlin, former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, State Department officials, and even a stranger who approached columnist Robert D. Novak on the street.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072602069.html
Iran says will resume key atomic work despite EU
Reuters
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; 8:28 AM
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will resume some key work on its nuclear fuel cycle regardless of what European diplomats might propose to defuse a dispute over its atomic ambitions, Iran's president said on Wednesday.
"Whether Europeans mention our right to resume activities at (the uranium conversion facility at) Isfahan or not, we will definitely resume it regardless," Mohammad Khatami told reporters.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/27/AR2005072700386.html
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
American Majority:
Bush Lied
http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/16words.mov
16 Words (VIDEO)
Bush Admin:
Blame the CIA, Blame the UK
Prosecutor In CIA Leak Case Casting A Wide Net
White House Effort To Discredit Critic Examined in Detail
By Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei / Washington Post
The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to several officials familiar with the case.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3468
Democratic Senators Press CIA Leak Probe
By Donna De La Cruz / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - More than two dozen Democratic senators on Monday asked Congress to investigate the leak of a CIA officer's identity.
"Americans deserve a Congress that holds Washington accountable for the truth about our national security," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who authored the letter. "Can anyone argue with a straight face that Congress has time to look at steroid use in baseball but doesn't have the will to provide congressional oversight of the leak of a CIA agent's name?"
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3456
Portions of Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
WhiteHouse.gov
1:16 P.M. EDT
......
Go ahead, April.
Q Scott, on another topic, former President Bill Clinton spoke to the "Today Show" recently and he basically called the CIA leak issue terrible. And he said, "Rove is a brilliant political strategist and he's proved brilliantly effective at destroying Democrats, personally." He says, "I mean they've gotten away with murder and he's really good at it. He's good at playing psychological head games that damage our side." What are your comments to that?
MR. McCLELLAN: What I've said previously, and I don't have anything else to add to what I've said previously.
1:16 P.M. EDT
......
Go ahead, April.
Q Scott, on another topic, former President Bill Clinton spoke to the "Today Show" recently and he basically called the CIA leak issue terrible. And he said, "Rove is a brilliant political strategist and he's proved brilliantly effective at destroying Democrats, personally." He says, "I mean they've gotten away with murder and he's really good at it. He's good at playing psychological head games that damage our side." What are your comments to that?
MR. McCLELLAN: What I've said previously, and I don't have anything else to add to what I've said previously.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3461
W.House says won't hand over some Roberts papers
By Steve Holland / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The White House said on Tuesday it will refuse to hand over to the Senate some documents related to Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' government legal work, a sign of a possible battle ahead with Senate Democrats.
Senate Democrats, who have demanded access to relevant information as the confirmation process gets under way, expressed disappointment and said the documents being held back could hold information necessary to evaluate Roberts.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3466
House Intel Chief Weighs Leak Legislation
By Katherine Shrader / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The House Intelligence Committee will consider crafting legislation to help the Justice Department prosecute individuals who leak classified information, the panel's Republican chairman said Monday.
House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., told an audience at the conservative Heritage Foundation that deliberate leaks of classified information have "probably done more damage to the intelligence community" than espionage. He said he wants to create a culture where "zero tolerance" is the norm.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3457
Democratic Senators Press CIA Leak Probe
By Donna De La Cruz / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - More than two dozen Democratic senators on Monday asked Congress to investigate the leak of a CIA officer's identity.
"Americans deserve a Congress that holds Washington accountable for the truth about our national security," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who authored the letter. "Can anyone argue with a straight face that Congress has time to look at steroid use in baseball but doesn't have the will to provide congressional oversight of the leak of a CIA agent's name?"
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3456
10/5/01: Bush Pulls Security Clearances From 92 Senators
“We can’t have leaks of classified information. It’s not in our nation’s interest.” - President George W. Bush, 10/9/01
President Bush’s defiant statement came in the immediate weeks following 9/11, as the administration clamped down on the information it provided to Congress. President Bush issued an order limiting access to classified intelligence only to 8 members of Congress — the Speaker of the House, House Minority Leader, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, and chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/07/26/bush-pulls-security/
Witness: Dogs Bit Abu Ghraib Detainees
By David Dishneau / Associated Press
FORT MEADE, Md. - Two Iraqis at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison were bitten by dogs as they were being handled by sergeants who were competing to see who could scare more detainees, a witness testified Tuesday.
Pvt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick II — himself convicted of abusing inmates at the military prison — testified by phone in the Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, for Sgts. Santos A. Cardona and Michael J. Smith.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3463
U.S. military dog handlers face Abu Ghraib hearing
By Sue Pleming / Reuters
FORT MEADE, Md. - Two U.S. dog handlers in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison used unmuzzled dogs to threaten prisoners and competed to see who could make inmates urinate on themselves, according to testimony at a military hearing on Tuesday.
Sgt. Santos Cardona, 31, and Sgt. Michael Smith, 24, are suspected of intentionally scaring detainees at the infamous Baghdad prison between November 2003 and January 2004 during the height of the prison-abuse scandal.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3462
Senate Moves to Shield Gun Industry
By Laurie Kellman / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Senate put off until fall completing a $491 billion defense bill in order to act this week on the National Rifle Association's top priority: shielding gun manufacturers and dealers from liability suits stemming from gun crimes.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3465
Despite $2 billion spent, residents say Baghdad is crumbling
By Leila Fadel / Knight Ridder
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Talib Abu Younes put his lips to a glass of tap water recently and watched worms swimming in the bottom.
Electricity flickers on and off for two hours in Muthana Naim's south Baghdad home then shuts off for four in boiling July heat that shoots above 120 degrees.
Fadhel Hussein boils buckets of sewage-contaminated water from the Tigris River to wash the family's clothes.
The capital is crumbling around angry Baghdadis. Narrow concrete sewage pipes decay underground and water pipes leak out more than half the drinking water before it ever reaches a home, according to the U.S. military.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3464
The Guardian Unlimited
'Bomb suspect' felled by stun gun
· 4 held in Birmingham
· 1 arrest at Luton airport
· 2 detained at Grantham
James Sturcke and agencies
Wednesday July 27, 2005
A picture released by Scotland Yard of a man they believe to be Yasin Hassan Omar at Warren Street tube station. Photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA
Police investigating the failed bomb attacks in London on July 21 arrested four men at two addresses in Birmingham today.
The raids were thought to be of major significance, and there were unconfirmed reports that one of those arrested was one of the four men police suspect of attempting to carry out last week's attacks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1536957,00.html
Tube drivers' union raises terror fears
Matthew Tempest, political correspondent
Wednesday July 27, 2005
London Underground officials are meeting with trade union leaders today in a bid to avert potential strike action over safety fears in the wake of the tube and bus bombings.
The Rail and Maritime Union has drawn up a list of demands following the terrorist attacks on the captial's transport network, and has said it is willing to ballot members on strike action if they are not met.
They include more guards on trains, a "no radio, no train" rule for trains with faulty communication systems and stronger drivers' cabs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1537145,00.html
The 400,000 children at risk in Niger's worst hit area
Aid begins to trickle through, but agency says it is three months too late
Christian Allen Purefoy in Maradi
Tuesday July 26, 2005
The Guardian
Reduced to the weight of a newborn baby, six-month-old Rabe was carried by her mother over 100km across Niger's hot and dusty terrain, to the shade of an intensive care tent in the middle of a barren football field.
"I didn't have enough money to buy her milk," said Rabe's mother, who didn't want to give her name. She had just been accepted into Médecins Sans Frontières' (MSF) hospitalisation camp in Maradi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/famine/story/0,12128,1536179,00.html
50 killed in Afghanistan clashes
Agencies
Tuesday July 26, 2005
Around 50 suspected Taliban fighters were killed in clashes with US and Afghan forces in central Afghanistan last night, officials said today.
The fighting, which happened in the Dihrawud district of Uruzgan province, came during an operation against a rebel camp which had been used as a base for attacks in neighbouring areas, the provincial governor, Jan Mohammed Khan, said.
Forces captured around 25 suspected Taliban insurgents during the clash, and Afghan forces were still finding the bodies of rebels at the scene of the fighting, Mr Khan said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1536338,00.html
Flight Director Hill is the problem. The guy has a chip on his shoulder. We and the astronauts don't need it.
Nasa investigates possible shuttle damage
Agencies
Wednesday July 27, 2005
A Nasa graphic points out two areas on the heat shield on the bottom of the space shuttle Discovery where tile damage may have occurred during launch. Photograph: Nasa TV/Reuters
Nasa engineers are today investigating what appear to be two instances of debris falling from the first space shuttle to launch since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
Cameras filming Discovery's liftoff from Cape Canaveral in Florida yesterday showed an object that may have been a piece of thermal tile break off near the doors that house the front landing gear.
A larger object that may have been a piece of foam insulation also appeared to fly off the main external fuel tank, and the tip of the tank hit a bird as it launched.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/space/article/0,14493,1537109,00.html
Scottish parliament shortlisted for Stirling Prize
In pictures: see the shortlisted buildings
Matt Weaver
Wednesday July 27, 2005
The Scottish parliament, Edinburgh. Photograph by Keith Hunter
The new Scottish parliament building has been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize for architecture despite the calamitous history of its construction.
The infamous Holyrood building was finally completed last year, three years late and more than 10 times over budget.
But its well-documented problems have not prevented a panel of judges shortlisting the building for the Royal Institute of British Architects' annual Stirling Prize. The £20,000 prize is regarded as the equivalent of the Booker Prize for buildings.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/urbandesign/story/0,11200,1537128,00.html
Bus suspect 'not close to family'
Audrey Gillan
Wednesday July 27, 2005
The Guardian
The family of Muktar Said-Ibrahim, the man who tried to set off a bomb on the number 26 bus in Hackney, last night said they were shocked at his bid to become a suicide bomber and attempted to distance themselves from their son, saying he was "not a close family member".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1536865,00.html
Iraqi PM urges speedy withdrawal of US troops
Staff and agencies
Wednesday July 27, 2005
Iraq's prime minister today called for a speedy withdrawal of US troops, and the top US commander in the country said he believed a "fairly substantial" pull-out could take place next spring and summer.
Both men's hopes were, however, conditional on curbing the insurgency, which US military officials have said shows no signs of abating and which has claimed hundreds of lives in recent months.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1537140,00.html
100 killed as monsoon hits India
James Sturke and agencies
Wednesday July 27, 2005
A family move to safety using a makeshift banana tree raft in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam. Photograph: Press Trust of India/AP
More than 100 people have been killed in floods and landslides after almost a metre of rain fell in India in 24 hours, it was reported today.
The monsoon rainfall - the heaviest ever recorded in the country - left tens of thousands stranded.
Airports were closed and Mumbai, India's financial powerhouse - formerly know as Bombay - was shut down during the deluge, officials said.
Meteorologists reported that 94.4cm of rain had fallen in a suburb of Mumbai in 24 hours, breaking the former record of 83.8cm recorded in Cherrapunji, north-eastern India, in 1910.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,12559,1537118,00.html
Japan's asbestos time bomb
The failure of the world's second-largest economy to heed the health warnings over asbestos amounts to a national disgrace, writes Justin McCurry
Wednesday July 27, 2005
It was once embraced as the answer to the construction industry's prayers: a cheap, light and easily obtainable substance that would make buildings stronger, warmer and more resistant to fire. A quarter of a century has passed since the world was emphatically warned that asbestos was also a killer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1536972,00.html
Hopes rise of IRA move on disarmament
A statement this week could commit republicans to a historic change - but nothing is certain
Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Wednesday July 27, 2005
The Guardian
It is a version of the great Irish absurdist theatre classic Waiting for Godot - but with guns.
Dubbed "Waiting for Gerry", it is a guessing game of whether and when the IRA will wind itself up as an armed force. The suspense could end as early as tomorrow if, as speculation suggests, the IRA issues a historic statement on its future. But as with Samuel Beckett's play, nothing is certain.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/story/0,9061,1536710,00.html
The Chicago Tribune
Some Papers Pull, Edit 'Doonesbury' Strip
By DAVID TWIDDY
Associated Press Writer
Published July 27, 2005, 2:45 AM CDT
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It may be President Bush's nickname for key political adviser Karl Rove, but some editors don't think it belongs in their newspapers.
About a dozen papers objected to Tuesday's and Wednesday's "Doonesbury" comic strips, and some either pulled or edited them.
The strips refer to Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff, as "Turd Blossom."
Lee Salem, editor at Kansas City-based Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes the strip to 1,400 papers, said the complaints from 10 to 12 newspapers weren't unexpected. As opposed to other times when editors have objected to Doonesbury content, the syndicate did not send out replacement strips
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-ap-doonesbury-language,1,3141614.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Rain delay, then 3,000th K
By Paul Sullivan
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 27, 2005, 11:08 AM CDT
A lingering storm delayed Greg Maddux's quest for his 3,000th strikeout for nearly three hours Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, but the inevitability of the milestone made thousands of fans wait patiently for a chance to witness a little history.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-050726cubsgamer,1,2655897.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Save the gushing; it's time to fill in blanks on lakefront spire
Tower may be art in motion, but how would it move terrorists?
By Blair Kamin
Tribune architecture critic
Published July 27, 2005
Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's seductive proposal for a twisting, 2,000-foot Chicago skyscraper, to be unveiled Wednesday, requires thinking, not swooning, if Chicagoans are to assess whether it's a good match for their vaunted skyline.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0507270108jul27,1,1045979.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Daley considering bid to get 2016 Olympics
Mayor sniffed at idea at meeting last year
By Gary Washburn
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 27, 2005
Though he has publicly scoffed at the notion, Mayor Richard Daley is now considering a bid to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to Chicago, City Hall sources said Tuesday.
Daley met privately in his City Hall office recently with a top official involved in staging the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and "he has had people looking into it for months," said one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Chicago was host of the 1994 World Cup soccer tournament and the Democratic National Convention in 1996, in both cases winning accolades. But when asked about seeking similar big events since then, Daley has said he was not interested, citing the expense
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0507270123jul27,1,1588694.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Some Papers Pull, Edit 'Doonesbury' Strip
By DAVID TWIDDY
Associated Press Writer
Published July 27, 2005, 2:45 AM CDT
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It may be President Bush's nickname for key political adviser Karl Rove, but some editors don't think it belongs in their newspapers.
About a dozen papers objected to Tuesday's and Wednesday's "Doonesbury" comic strips, and some either pulled or edited them.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-ap-doonesbury-language,1,3141614.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Teen Who Threw Up on Teacher Sentenced
By Associated Press
Published July 27, 2005, 4:35 AM CDT
OLATHE, Kan. -- A high school student convicted of battery for vomiting on his Spanish teacher has been ordered to spend the next four months cleaning up after people who throw up in police cars.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-vomit-battery,1,2448330.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Illinois trying to stave off OfficeMax move to Cleveland
THOMAS A. CORFMAN
Published July 27, 2005
The Illinois economic development agency is in talks with Itasca-based OfficeMax Inc. about financial incentives that could stave off a headquarters move to the Cleveland area.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0507270035jul27,1,718298.story?coll=chi-business-hed
continued…
The trouble with Emily
the trouble with emily
JAMES T. MORRIS
ROME—This year it's Emily and Dennis. Last year it was Ivan, Frances, Charley and Alex — all hurricanes, and all of them weather-related natural disasters that have left a trail of death and destruction in the Caribbean and the southeastern United States.
At the same time, in Europe, the weather is playing equal havoc. Currently thousands of Portuguese firefighters are battling drought-related forest fires. Spain is in the grip of the worst drought since authorities began keeping records. In Morocco, drought is devastating rural areas and authorities worry about an influx of hungry people to the cities.
Meanwhile, Japan is coping with torrential downpours that have produced more than 80 landslides, not to mention the 10 cyclones that struck the country last year — a number unequalled in the previous century.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1122372817812&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795
Rare bird's theft ruffles feathers
Peregrine falcon stolen from conservation area
Citizens' eagle-eye watch urged by upset keepers
ASHLEY JOANNOU
STAFF REPORTER
The Canadian Peregrine Foundation is looking for one of its "children" birdnapped on the weekend from a conservation centre in Vaughan.
Tarah, a rare Peales peregrine falcon, was stolen from the Kortright Conservation Centre Saturday night or early Sunday.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1122414614930&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home
Aid groups to shun mission
`Not going near' Afghan operation
Balk at working with troops
ANDREW MILLS
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA—Canada's biggest humanitarian aid organizations don't want any part of a new mission to Afghanistan that would have them working closely with soldiers.
"Most of the NGOs I've been talking to are saying, `We're not going near this thing with a 10-foot pole,'" says Erin Simpson, a policy officer at the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, which represents 100 or so of the non-government organizations.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1122414615084&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home
Cheers! LCBO strike averted
Queen's Park privitization pledge helped foster deal, spokesperson says
CURTIS RUSH
STAFF REPORTER THESTAR.COM
There will be no dry mouths among wine and spirits drinkers this long weekend.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario announced at 9 a.m. today that they have reached a tentative agreement with 5,400 employees, averting the possibility of a strike at liquor stores and warehouses.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1122458620651&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes
Bullets fired over children
ISABEL TEOTONIO AND BETSY POWELL
STAFF REPORTERS
Sitting outside her bullet-riddled townhouse, Hyacinth Williams shook her head in disbelief as she gazed at the aftermath of a shooting in her front yard.
By the gateway was a piece of paper left by police to mark where a bullet was found. Scattered on the ground were tiny shards of glass from the shattered window of her screen door. On the brick wall next to the windowsill, was a bullet hole. Beneath that was another.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1122414615007&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home
The Washington Post
U.S., Iraqi Officials Discuss Steps to Speed Troop Withdrawals
Statements Suggest Heightened Immediacy for Move
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; 10:48 AM
BAGHDAD, July 27 -- Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld met with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari and the top U.S. commander in Iraq Wednesday and discussed specific steps to speed preparations for the withdrawal of some of the 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq beginning as early as next spring.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/27/AR2005072700431.html
Documents Show Roberts Influence In Reagan Era
By R. Jeffrey Smith, Jo Becker and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; Page A01
Newly released documents show that John G. Roberts Jr. was a significant backstage player in the legal policy debates of the early Reagan administration, confidently debating older Justice Department officials and supplying them with arguments and information that they used to wage a bureaucratic struggle for the president's agenda.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072602070.html
White House To Withhold Nominee's Tax Returns
Document Release Excludes First Bush Administration
By Charles Babington and Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; Page A06
The Bush administration will not give Senate investigators access to the federal tax returns of Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr., White House and congressional officials said yesterday, a break with precedent that could exacerbate a growing conflict over document disclosure in the confirmation process.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072601879.html
Gonzalez would vote against a woman getting a head anywhere in life so this is not surprising.
Roberts's Right to Vote Against Roe Is Defended
Gonzales Cites High Court's Special Role
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; Page A06
Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. will be free to vote to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision if he is appointed to the high court, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said yesterday.
Although Roberts called the Roe decision "settled law" during hearings on his nomination as an appellate court judge in 2003, Gonzales said in an interview with the Associated Press that a Supreme Court justice "is not obliged to follow precedent if you believe it's wrong."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072601656.html
Prosecutor In CIA Leak Case Casting A Wide Net
White House Effort To Discredit Critic Examined in Detail
By Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; Page A01
The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to several officials familiar with the case.
Prosecutors have questioned former CIA director George J. Tenet and deputy director John E. McLaughlin, former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, State Department officials, and even a stranger who approached columnist Robert D. Novak on the street.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072602069.html
Iran says will resume key atomic work despite EU
Reuters
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; 8:28 AM
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will resume some key work on its nuclear fuel cycle regardless of what European diplomats might propose to defuse a dispute over its atomic ambitions, Iran's president said on Wednesday.
"Whether Europeans mention our right to resume activities at (the uranium conversion facility at) Isfahan or not, we will definitely resume it regardless," Mohammad Khatami told reporters.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/27/AR2005072700386.html
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
American Majority:
Bush Lied
http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/16words.mov
16 Words (VIDEO)
Bush Admin:
Blame the CIA, Blame the UK
Prosecutor In CIA Leak Case Casting A Wide Net
White House Effort To Discredit Critic Examined in Detail
By Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei / Washington Post
The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to several officials familiar with the case.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3468
Democratic Senators Press CIA Leak Probe
By Donna De La Cruz / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - More than two dozen Democratic senators on Monday asked Congress to investigate the leak of a CIA officer's identity.
"Americans deserve a Congress that holds Washington accountable for the truth about our national security," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who authored the letter. "Can anyone argue with a straight face that Congress has time to look at steroid use in baseball but doesn't have the will to provide congressional oversight of the leak of a CIA agent's name?"
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3456
Portions of Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
WhiteHouse.gov
1:16 P.M. EDT
......
Go ahead, April.
Q Scott, on another topic, former President Bill Clinton spoke to the "Today Show" recently and he basically called the CIA leak issue terrible. And he said, "Rove is a brilliant political strategist and he's proved brilliantly effective at destroying Democrats, personally." He says, "I mean they've gotten away with murder and he's really good at it. He's good at playing psychological head games that damage our side." What are your comments to that?
MR. McCLELLAN: What I've said previously, and I don't have anything else to add to what I've said previously.
1:16 P.M. EDT
......
Go ahead, April.
Q Scott, on another topic, former President Bill Clinton spoke to the "Today Show" recently and he basically called the CIA leak issue terrible. And he said, "Rove is a brilliant political strategist and he's proved brilliantly effective at destroying Democrats, personally." He says, "I mean they've gotten away with murder and he's really good at it. He's good at playing psychological head games that damage our side." What are your comments to that?
MR. McCLELLAN: What I've said previously, and I don't have anything else to add to what I've said previously.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3461
W.House says won't hand over some Roberts papers
By Steve Holland / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The White House said on Tuesday it will refuse to hand over to the Senate some documents related to Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' government legal work, a sign of a possible battle ahead with Senate Democrats.
Senate Democrats, who have demanded access to relevant information as the confirmation process gets under way, expressed disappointment and said the documents being held back could hold information necessary to evaluate Roberts.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3466
House Intel Chief Weighs Leak Legislation
By Katherine Shrader / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The House Intelligence Committee will consider crafting legislation to help the Justice Department prosecute individuals who leak classified information, the panel's Republican chairman said Monday.
House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., told an audience at the conservative Heritage Foundation that deliberate leaks of classified information have "probably done more damage to the intelligence community" than espionage. He said he wants to create a culture where "zero tolerance" is the norm.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3457
Democratic Senators Press CIA Leak Probe
By Donna De La Cruz / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - More than two dozen Democratic senators on Monday asked Congress to investigate the leak of a CIA officer's identity.
"Americans deserve a Congress that holds Washington accountable for the truth about our national security," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who authored the letter. "Can anyone argue with a straight face that Congress has time to look at steroid use in baseball but doesn't have the will to provide congressional oversight of the leak of a CIA agent's name?"
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3456
10/5/01: Bush Pulls Security Clearances From 92 Senators
“We can’t have leaks of classified information. It’s not in our nation’s interest.” - President George W. Bush, 10/9/01
President Bush’s defiant statement came in the immediate weeks following 9/11, as the administration clamped down on the information it provided to Congress. President Bush issued an order limiting access to classified intelligence only to 8 members of Congress — the Speaker of the House, House Minority Leader, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, and chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/07/26/bush-pulls-security/
Witness: Dogs Bit Abu Ghraib Detainees
By David Dishneau / Associated Press
FORT MEADE, Md. - Two Iraqis at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison were bitten by dogs as they were being handled by sergeants who were competing to see who could scare more detainees, a witness testified Tuesday.
Pvt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick II — himself convicted of abusing inmates at the military prison — testified by phone in the Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, for Sgts. Santos A. Cardona and Michael J. Smith.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3463
U.S. military dog handlers face Abu Ghraib hearing
By Sue Pleming / Reuters
FORT MEADE, Md. - Two U.S. dog handlers in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison used unmuzzled dogs to threaten prisoners and competed to see who could make inmates urinate on themselves, according to testimony at a military hearing on Tuesday.
Sgt. Santos Cardona, 31, and Sgt. Michael Smith, 24, are suspected of intentionally scaring detainees at the infamous Baghdad prison between November 2003 and January 2004 during the height of the prison-abuse scandal.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3462
Senate Moves to Shield Gun Industry
By Laurie Kellman / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Senate put off until fall completing a $491 billion defense bill in order to act this week on the National Rifle Association's top priority: shielding gun manufacturers and dealers from liability suits stemming from gun crimes.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3465
Despite $2 billion spent, residents say Baghdad is crumbling
By Leila Fadel / Knight Ridder
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Talib Abu Younes put his lips to a glass of tap water recently and watched worms swimming in the bottom.
Electricity flickers on and off for two hours in Muthana Naim's south Baghdad home then shuts off for four in boiling July heat that shoots above 120 degrees.
Fadhel Hussein boils buckets of sewage-contaminated water from the Tigris River to wash the family's clothes.
The capital is crumbling around angry Baghdadis. Narrow concrete sewage pipes decay underground and water pipes leak out more than half the drinking water before it ever reaches a home, according to the U.S. military.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3464
The Guardian Unlimited
'Bomb suspect' felled by stun gun
· 4 held in Birmingham
· 1 arrest at Luton airport
· 2 detained at Grantham
James Sturcke and agencies
Wednesday July 27, 2005
A picture released by Scotland Yard of a man they believe to be Yasin Hassan Omar at Warren Street tube station. Photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA
Police investigating the failed bomb attacks in London on July 21 arrested four men at two addresses in Birmingham today.
The raids were thought to be of major significance, and there were unconfirmed reports that one of those arrested was one of the four men police suspect of attempting to carry out last week's attacks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1536957,00.html
Tube drivers' union raises terror fears
Matthew Tempest, political correspondent
Wednesday July 27, 2005
London Underground officials are meeting with trade union leaders today in a bid to avert potential strike action over safety fears in the wake of the tube and bus bombings.
The Rail and Maritime Union has drawn up a list of demands following the terrorist attacks on the captial's transport network, and has said it is willing to ballot members on strike action if they are not met.
They include more guards on trains, a "no radio, no train" rule for trains with faulty communication systems and stronger drivers' cabs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1537145,00.html
The 400,000 children at risk in Niger's worst hit area
Aid begins to trickle through, but agency says it is three months too late
Christian Allen Purefoy in Maradi
Tuesday July 26, 2005
The Guardian
Reduced to the weight of a newborn baby, six-month-old Rabe was carried by her mother over 100km across Niger's hot and dusty terrain, to the shade of an intensive care tent in the middle of a barren football field.
"I didn't have enough money to buy her milk," said Rabe's mother, who didn't want to give her name. She had just been accepted into Médecins Sans Frontières' (MSF) hospitalisation camp in Maradi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/famine/story/0,12128,1536179,00.html
50 killed in Afghanistan clashes
Agencies
Tuesday July 26, 2005
Around 50 suspected Taliban fighters were killed in clashes with US and Afghan forces in central Afghanistan last night, officials said today.
The fighting, which happened in the Dihrawud district of Uruzgan province, came during an operation against a rebel camp which had been used as a base for attacks in neighbouring areas, the provincial governor, Jan Mohammed Khan, said.
Forces captured around 25 suspected Taliban insurgents during the clash, and Afghan forces were still finding the bodies of rebels at the scene of the fighting, Mr Khan said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1536338,00.html
Flight Director Hill is the problem. The guy has a chip on his shoulder. We and the astronauts don't need it.
Nasa investigates possible shuttle damage
Agencies
Wednesday July 27, 2005
A Nasa graphic points out two areas on the heat shield on the bottom of the space shuttle Discovery where tile damage may have occurred during launch. Photograph: Nasa TV/Reuters
Nasa engineers are today investigating what appear to be two instances of debris falling from the first space shuttle to launch since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
Cameras filming Discovery's liftoff from Cape Canaveral in Florida yesterday showed an object that may have been a piece of thermal tile break off near the doors that house the front landing gear.
A larger object that may have been a piece of foam insulation also appeared to fly off the main external fuel tank, and the tip of the tank hit a bird as it launched.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/space/article/0,14493,1537109,00.html
Scottish parliament shortlisted for Stirling Prize
In pictures: see the shortlisted buildings
Matt Weaver
Wednesday July 27, 2005
The Scottish parliament, Edinburgh. Photograph by Keith Hunter
The new Scottish parliament building has been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize for architecture despite the calamitous history of its construction.
The infamous Holyrood building was finally completed last year, three years late and more than 10 times over budget.
But its well-documented problems have not prevented a panel of judges shortlisting the building for the Royal Institute of British Architects' annual Stirling Prize. The £20,000 prize is regarded as the equivalent of the Booker Prize for buildings.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/urbandesign/story/0,11200,1537128,00.html
Bus suspect 'not close to family'
Audrey Gillan
Wednesday July 27, 2005
The Guardian
The family of Muktar Said-Ibrahim, the man who tried to set off a bomb on the number 26 bus in Hackney, last night said they were shocked at his bid to become a suicide bomber and attempted to distance themselves from their son, saying he was "not a close family member".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1536865,00.html
Iraqi PM urges speedy withdrawal of US troops
Staff and agencies
Wednesday July 27, 2005
Iraq's prime minister today called for a speedy withdrawal of US troops, and the top US commander in the country said he believed a "fairly substantial" pull-out could take place next spring and summer.
Both men's hopes were, however, conditional on curbing the insurgency, which US military officials have said shows no signs of abating and which has claimed hundreds of lives in recent months.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1537140,00.html
100 killed as monsoon hits India
James Sturke and agencies
Wednesday July 27, 2005
A family move to safety using a makeshift banana tree raft in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam. Photograph: Press Trust of India/AP
More than 100 people have been killed in floods and landslides after almost a metre of rain fell in India in 24 hours, it was reported today.
The monsoon rainfall - the heaviest ever recorded in the country - left tens of thousands stranded.
Airports were closed and Mumbai, India's financial powerhouse - formerly know as Bombay - was shut down during the deluge, officials said.
Meteorologists reported that 94.4cm of rain had fallen in a suburb of Mumbai in 24 hours, breaking the former record of 83.8cm recorded in Cherrapunji, north-eastern India, in 1910.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,12559,1537118,00.html
Japan's asbestos time bomb
The failure of the world's second-largest economy to heed the health warnings over asbestos amounts to a national disgrace, writes Justin McCurry
Wednesday July 27, 2005
It was once embraced as the answer to the construction industry's prayers: a cheap, light and easily obtainable substance that would make buildings stronger, warmer and more resistant to fire. A quarter of a century has passed since the world was emphatically warned that asbestos was also a killer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1536972,00.html
Hopes rise of IRA move on disarmament
A statement this week could commit republicans to a historic change - but nothing is certain
Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Wednesday July 27, 2005
The Guardian
It is a version of the great Irish absurdist theatre classic Waiting for Godot - but with guns.
Dubbed "Waiting for Gerry", it is a guessing game of whether and when the IRA will wind itself up as an armed force. The suspense could end as early as tomorrow if, as speculation suggests, the IRA issues a historic statement on its future. But as with Samuel Beckett's play, nothing is certain.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/story/0,9061,1536710,00.html
The Chicago Tribune
Some Papers Pull, Edit 'Doonesbury' Strip
By DAVID TWIDDY
Associated Press Writer
Published July 27, 2005, 2:45 AM CDT
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It may be President Bush's nickname for key political adviser Karl Rove, but some editors don't think it belongs in their newspapers.
About a dozen papers objected to Tuesday's and Wednesday's "Doonesbury" comic strips, and some either pulled or edited them.
The strips refer to Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff, as "Turd Blossom."
Lee Salem, editor at Kansas City-based Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes the strip to 1,400 papers, said the complaints from 10 to 12 newspapers weren't unexpected. As opposed to other times when editors have objected to Doonesbury content, the syndicate did not send out replacement strips
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-ap-doonesbury-language,1,3141614.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Rain delay, then 3,000th K
By Paul Sullivan
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 27, 2005, 11:08 AM CDT
A lingering storm delayed Greg Maddux's quest for his 3,000th strikeout for nearly three hours Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, but the inevitability of the milestone made thousands of fans wait patiently for a chance to witness a little history.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-050726cubsgamer,1,2655897.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Save the gushing; it's time to fill in blanks on lakefront spire
Tower may be art in motion, but how would it move terrorists?
By Blair Kamin
Tribune architecture critic
Published July 27, 2005
Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's seductive proposal for a twisting, 2,000-foot Chicago skyscraper, to be unveiled Wednesday, requires thinking, not swooning, if Chicagoans are to assess whether it's a good match for their vaunted skyline.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0507270108jul27,1,1045979.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Daley considering bid to get 2016 Olympics
Mayor sniffed at idea at meeting last year
By Gary Washburn
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 27, 2005
Though he has publicly scoffed at the notion, Mayor Richard Daley is now considering a bid to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to Chicago, City Hall sources said Tuesday.
Daley met privately in his City Hall office recently with a top official involved in staging the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and "he has had people looking into it for months," said one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Chicago was host of the 1994 World Cup soccer tournament and the Democratic National Convention in 1996, in both cases winning accolades. But when asked about seeking similar big events since then, Daley has said he was not interested, citing the expense
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0507270123jul27,1,1588694.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Some Papers Pull, Edit 'Doonesbury' Strip
By DAVID TWIDDY
Associated Press Writer
Published July 27, 2005, 2:45 AM CDT
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It may be President Bush's nickname for key political adviser Karl Rove, but some editors don't think it belongs in their newspapers.
About a dozen papers objected to Tuesday's and Wednesday's "Doonesbury" comic strips, and some either pulled or edited them.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-ap-doonesbury-language,1,3141614.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Teen Who Threw Up on Teacher Sentenced
By Associated Press
Published July 27, 2005, 4:35 AM CDT
OLATHE, Kan. -- A high school student convicted of battery for vomiting on his Spanish teacher has been ordered to spend the next four months cleaning up after people who throw up in police cars.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-vomit-battery,1,2448330.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Illinois trying to stave off OfficeMax move to Cleveland
THOMAS A. CORFMAN
Published July 27, 2005
The Illinois economic development agency is in talks with Itasca-based OfficeMax Inc. about financial incentives that could stave off a headquarters move to the Cleveland area.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0507270035jul27,1,718298.story?coll=chi-business-hed
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