The Roosters
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
History
Today is Wednesday, Nov. 9, the 313th day of 2005. There are 52 days left in the year.
1731 Benjamin Banneker, astronomer, mathematician, urban planner and inventor, is born free in Maryland.
1872, fire destroyed nearly a thousand buildings in Boston.
1918, Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II announced he would abdicate. He then fled to the Netherlands.
1925 Paul Robeson makes his film debut in Oscar Micheaux's "Body and Soul". Hailed as one of the greatest men of his time, this multi-talented entertainer excelled in sports, law, theater, and movies.
1935 Bob Gibson, a hard throwing right-hander who wins 251 major league games during 17 seasons, is born in Omaha, NE
1935, United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis and other labor leaders formed the Committee for Industrial Organization.
1938, Nazis looted and burned synagogues as well as Jewish-owned stores and houses in Germany and Austria in what became known as "Kristallnacht."
1953, author-poet Dylan Thomas died in New York at age 39.
1961 The PGA Convention drops its "Caucasians Only" membership clause from its constitution and opens its ranks to Negroes and Asians. Charlie Sifford will become the first PGA Black golfer.
1963, twin disasters struck Japan as some 450 miners were killed in a coal-dust explosion, and 160 people died in a train crash.
1965, the great Northeast blackout occurred as a series of power failures lasting up to 13 1/2 hours left 30 million people in seven states and two Canadian provinces without electricity.
1967, a Saturn 5 rocket carrying an unmanned Apollo spacecraft blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a successful test flight.
1970, former French president Charles De Gaulle died at age 79.
1988, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell, a major figure in the Watergate scandal, died in Washington at age 75.
1989, communist East Germany threw open its borders, allowing citizens to travel freely to the West; joyous Germans danced atop the Berlin Wall.
2000 Brown University's Board of Trustees vote to confirm Ruth Simmons to head the university. Ruth Simmons becomes the first Black to head an Ivy League school. She was also the first Black woman to lead Smith College, another elite school.
Ten years ago: In a pair of telephone interviews, O.J. Simpson told Associated Press reporter Linda Deutsch that people have supported rather than shunned him since his acquittal, and that he has learned that fame and wealth are illusions. Said Simpson: "The only thing that endures is character."
Five years ago: George W. Bush's lead over Al Gore in all-or-nothing Florida slipped beneath 300 votes in a suspense-filled recount, as Democrats threw the presidential election to the courts, claiming "an injustice unparalleled in our history."
One year ago: Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans resigned; they were the first members of the Cabinet to leave as President Bush headed from re-election into his second term.
Kenny Chesney won the Country Music Association album of the year award for "When The Sun Goes Down" as well as entertainer of the year. Roger Clemens won his record seventh Cy Young Award
Missing in Action
1967 ARMSTRONG JOHN W. DALLAS TX
1967 BROWER RALPH W. STOW OH CRASH DEAD PILOT RECOV
1967 CLAY EUGENE L. ARLINGTON TX CRASH DEAD PILOT RECOV
1967 MAYSEY LARRY W. CHESTER NJ CRASH DEAD PILOT RECOV
1967 NOLAN MCKINLEY WASHINGTON TX 11/02/73 LAST SEEN
1967 REHN GARY LEE PARK RAPIDS MN
1967 SIJAN LANCE P. MILWAUKEE WI 03/17/74 REMAINS RETURNED DIED DURING RESCUE IN FIGHT W CAPTOR 01/22/68
Chicago Sun Times
Weather is 'Squishy'
Blasts rock 3 Jordan hotels
November 9, 2005
BY JAMAL HALABY ASSOCIATED PRESS
AMMAN, Jordan-- Suicide bombers attacked three hotels frequented by Westerners in the Jordanian capital Wednesday night, and at least 18 people were killed and 120 wounded, police said.
Maj. Bashir al-Da'aja said officials believe all three blasts were carried out by suicide bombers. The explosions indicated the involvement of al-Qaida, which has launched coordinated attacks on high-profile, Western targets in the past, a police official said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/jordan09.html
Cop saves kidnapped woman
November 9, 2005
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter
Loretta Wheeler had just found a place to park after a long day of work when carjackers pointed their guns at her, removed the spare tire from her red Mercury Sable and stuffed her in the trunk -- stopping at automatic teller machines to try to loot her bank account.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-jack09.html
Relaxed standards, better scores
November 9, 2005
BY KATE N. GROSSMAN AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters
When the state first released test results this summer, it looked as if more schools and districts had met federal testing goals than last year. But relaxed state standards this year, not necessarily better performance, account for some of that growth, new data analyzed by the Chicago Sun-Times shows.
This year, 27.1 percent of schools failed to meet federal testing targets. But after removing the 227 schools that benefited from the softer standards, that jumps to 33.1 percent. In 2004, 28.5 percent of schools failed.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-nclb09.html
Results get second look after drop 'raises an eyebrow'
November 9, 2005
BY ROSALIND ROSSI AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters
Illinois education experts are taking a hard look at the results of this year's state tests after dozens of top-tier elementary schools saw their reading and math scores nosedive.
In reading, where a third of one test was thrown out, State Board of Education officials are split on whether the downturn reflects a serious reading problem among Illinois' best and brightest, or a flaw in scoring the very top end of the scale in the handwritten portions of 2005 state tests.
There is agreement on one point.
"We're concerned,'' said State Board spokeswoman Meta Minton. "Some of the results from some of the traditionally high-scoring schools have caused us to raise an eyebrow."
http://www.suntimes.com/schools/2005/news/cst-nws-main09.html
How six schools succeeded in improving scores
November 9, 2005
BY LESLIE BALDACCI AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters
The Chicago Sun-Times asked elementary schools selected from about 2,000 across Illinois to identify keys to their success on state reading and math tests this year. These short studies reveal factors that school leaders said helped students achieve.
Some are "old-school" solutions: small schools with small classes, increasing time spent on a subject or on test prep, improving teacher training.
Some schools benefitted from specialists, extra personnel or special programs.
http://www.suntimes.com/schools/2005/news/cst-nws-thumblock09.html
State tests show drop at the top
November 9, 2005
BY ROSALIND ROSSI AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters
Reading and math scores tumbled at dozens of the state's top-scoring elementary schools this year, puzzling both state experts and local school leaders.
In reading, the drop made some state officials wonder if scores reflected a decline in skills among the state's best students.
Others questioned scoring of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, especially in sections involving written responses scored by human beings, not machines.
In high school tests taken last April, a record four Chicago public schools scored among the top 10 in the state, according to this year's annual Chicago Sun-Times analysis of state reading and math scores.
http://www.suntimes.com/schools/2005/news/cst-nws-xmain09.html
Oil company execs defend profits
file:news4
November 9, 2005
BY H. JOSEF HEBERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON-- The chiefs of five major oil companies defended the industry's huge profits Wednesday at a Senate hearing where lawmakers said they should explain prices and assure people they're not being gouged.
There is a "growing suspicion that oil companies are taking unfair advantage," Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said as the hearing opened in a packed Senate committee room.
"The oil companies owe the country an explanation," he said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/09oil.html
Texas Court clears way for new Yates trial
November 9, 2005
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON-- The state's highest criminal court on Wednesday let stand a lower court ruling that threw out Andrea Yates' murder convictions for drowning her children in a bathtub in 2001.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Alan Curry said the case would be retried or a plea bargain considered. Jurors rejected Yates insanity defense in 2002 and found her guilty of two capital murder charges for the deaths of three of her five children.
Curry said if the case goes back to trial, he is confident Yates would be convicted again. He said a plea bargain also may be discussed.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/09yates.html
Attack kills 5 policemen in Baquoba
November 9, 2005
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq-- A suicide bomber detonated his car Wednesday near a police patrol in Baquoba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing five policemen and wounding five others, officials said.
U.S. Air Force jets destroyed a building near the Syrian border Wednesday where al-Qaida insurgents hid weapons, the U.S. military said.
The attack occurred early in the day in the village of Bu Hardan near the cities of Qaim and Husaybah where U.S. and Iraqi troops conducted a major operation in the past four days.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/iraq/iraq09.html
Texas bans same-sex marriages
November 9, 2005
Texas voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, making their state the 19th to take that step. In Maine, however, voters rejected a conservative-backed proposal to repeal the state's new gay-rights law.
In California, voters had a chance to embolden or embarrass Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as they considered four measures he promoted as part of a power struggle with legislators and public-employee unions.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-eside09.html
Gonorrhea rates fall; syphilis on the rise
November 9, 2005
BY MIKE STOBBE
ATLANTA -- Gonorrhea has fallen to the lowest level on record in the United States, while the rates of other sexually transmitted diseases -- syphilis and chlamydia -- are on the rise, federal health officials said Tuesday.
The seemingly paradoxical findings can be explained by the cyclical nature of syphilis outbreaks and a rise in risky sexual behavior among gay men, researchers said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/health/cst-nws-std09.html
Sermon gets church in trouble with IRS
November 9, 2005
LOS ANGELES -- The Internal Revenue Service has warned a prominent liberal church that it could lose its tax-exempt status because of an anti-war sermon a guest preacher gave on the eve of the 2004 presidential election, according to church officials.
The Rev. George F. Regas did not urge parishioners at All Saints Episcopal Church to support either President Bush or John Kerry, but he was critical of the Iraq war and Bush's tax cuts.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/religion/cst-nws-lib09.html
Rein them in before they attack again
November 9, 2005
Here are some headlines culled from the Chicago Sun-Times over the last six months: "Aurora boy, 11, recovers from pit bull mauling"; "Lab badly hurt when she took on pit bull mauling 6th-grader"; "3-year-old home after pit bull attack"; "Pit bull fatally mauls girl, 4, in W. Virginia"; "Kids were heroes in pit bull tragedy." And that's just half a year. There have been hundreds of similar sad stories about pit bull attacks since the breed started to become popular two decades ago.
Including the story last week about the two 10-year-olds in McHenry County who were going door to door to fill candy orders when they knocked at Scott Sword's house and his three pit bulls leaped through the door and attacked them. Jourdan Lamarre may have to have reconstructive surgery on her leg as a consequence of the attack. Nick Foley was listed in critical condition in the hospital. Four adults who tried to hold the dogs off the children also were wounded.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/commentary/cst-edt-edits09.html
Michael Moore Today
Democrats Win Gov. Races in Va., N.J.
By Robert Tanner / Associated Press
Democrats swept both governors' races Tuesday, with Sen. Jon Corzine easily winning New Jersey and Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine taking Virginia despite a last-minute campaign push for his opponent from President Bush.
Elsewhere, Texas voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage, GOP Mayor Michael Bloomberg easily clinched a second term in heavily Democratic New York, and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was trailing in his re-election bid.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4817
Newsview: Bush Gambles, Loses Campaigning
By Ron Fournier / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Iraq, Katrina, CIA leak, Harriet Miers. Things couldn't possibly get any worse for President Bush. Wait, they just did.
Bush put his wispy political prestige on the line in the Virginia governor's race and lost Tuesday when the candidate he embraced in a last-minute campaign stop was soundly defeated. While there are many reasons for Jerry Kilgore's defeat, chief among them his poor campaign, giddy Democrats said the Virginia race as well as a Democratic victory in New Jersey prove that Bush is a political toxin for Republicans.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4816
Voters Choose Black Mayor for Cincinnati
By Terry Kinney / Associated Press
CINCINNATI - Four years after riots tore this city apart, Cincinnati voters elected a black mayor for the first time.
State Sen. Mark Mallory defeated Councilman David Pepper, both Democrats, in a nonpartisan mayoral runoff Tuesday to lead Ohio's third-largest city.
Rioting broke out in 2001 after an unarmed black man was shot and killed by a white police officer trying to make an arrest. While racial tensions have calmed, crime, safety and revitalizing downtown remain leading issues.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4821
Schwarzenegger Hits Snag at Polling Place
By Robert Salladay / Los Angeles Times
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up to his Brentwood neighborhood polling station today to cast his ballot in the special election — and was told he had already voted.
Elections officials said a Los Angeles County poll worker had entered Schwarzenegger's name into an electronic voting touch screen station in Pasadena on Oct. 25. The worker, who was not identified, was testing the voting machine in preparation for early voting that began the next day.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4818
Rove Resurfaces, Libby's Defense Trust Set
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Still under criminal investigation in the CIA leak probe, Karl Rove will be one of the leading speakers this week at the Federalist Society's annual convention, an influential group of conservative legal talent.
Rove will surface as the Thursday night banquet speaker, raising a public profile that had been reduced in the weeks following his fourth round of grand jury testimony on Oct. 14. The president's top political adviser did not accompany Bush on his just-completed trip to South America.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4822
Report Warned on C.I.A.'s Tactics in Interrogation
By Douglas Jehl / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 - A classified report issued last year by the Central Intelligence Agency's inspector general warned that interrogation procedures approved by the C.I.A. after the Sept. 11 attacks might violate some provisions of the international Convention Against Torture, current and former intelligence officials say.
The previously undisclosed findings from the report, which was completed in the spring of 2004, reflected deep unease within the C.I.A. about the interrogation procedures, the officials said. A list of 10 techniques authorized early in 2002 for use against terror suspects included one known as waterboarding, and went well beyond those authorized by the military for use on prisoners of war.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4824
C.I.A. Asks Criminal Inquiry Over Secret-Prison Article
By David Johnston and Carl Hulse / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 - The Central Intelligence Agency has asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation to determine the source of a Washington Post article that said the agency had set up a covert prison network in Eastern Europe and other countries to hold important terrorism suspects, government officials said on Tuesday.
The C.I.A.'s request, known as a crimes report or criminal referral, means that the Justice Department will undertake a preliminary review to determine if circumstances justify a criminal inquiry into whether any government official unlawfully provided information to the newspaper. The possibility of this new investigation follows by less than two weeks the perjury and obstruction indictment of I. Lewis Libby Jr., then Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, in a leak case involving other news reporting about a national security issue.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4825
CHALABI DOES IT ALL
Ahmad Chalabi -- accused Iranian spy, source of Bush's fake intelligence, possible new leader of Iraq, long the Bush administration's choice to lead Iraq, and much more -- is in Washington DC today, meeting with his esteemed peers Condi Rice and Dick Cheney. And for some reason, his meetings are shrouded in secrecy:
The talks at the State Department were declared off-limits to reporters and photographers, which is unusual since cameras are regularly permitted to record the start of Rice's meetings with prominent foreign visitors. But without explanation the cameras were excluded, as they were when Rice met with Chalabi two years ago when she was President Bush's national security adviser.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=539
The Jerusalem Post
Massive explosions rock major Amman hotels
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
AMMAN, Jordan
Explosions rocked three hotels in the Jordanian capital late Wednesday, killing at least 18 people, injuring more than 120 and sending ambulances screaming across downtown.
Jordanian police Maj. Bashir al-Da'aja said officials believe all the Amman hotel blasts were carried out by suicide bombers.
"The attacks carry the trademark of al-Qaida," one police official said on condition of anonymity in line with police regulations. "However it is not certain. We are investigating."
The explosions struck the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels. A police officer at the Radisson site said it was caused "apparently by a bomb."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131367057309&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Hamas claims it is willing to negotiate
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Mahmoud A-Zahar, leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, announced Wednesday that he would be willing to consider negotiating with Israel, as long as any negotiations would serve the Palestinian interests of "withdrawing from Palestinian territory, releasing prisoners and reconstructing all that was destroyed by the occupation."
The Hamas leader called on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Jerusalem, stopping short of calling for a return to the 1948 borderline.
A-Zahar refused to consider disarming, telling Israel Radio that the Palestinian people need weapons in order to protect themselves.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131367053044&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Saudis stick to terms of Arab peace plan
By NATHAN GUTTMAN
WASHINGTON
Saudi Arabia would be willing to normalize relations with Israel only after the Israelis adopt the Arab League peace initiative, which calls for full withdrawal to the 1967 lines.
The new Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday that the prospect of diplomatic relations between the two countries depended only on the actions of the government of Israel.
"As I mentioned, the peace initiative, the Arab peace initiative, the Abdullah peace initiative, envisions all that [full diplomatic relation]. Once there was an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territory, there would be normalization of relations, the Saudi ambassador told the Post following a speech in Washington.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131367050822&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Lebanese poll: Disarm Palestinians
By ORLY HALPERN
A poll published Tuesday in Lebanon showed the great dissatisfaction among Lebanese with the armed Palestinian factions in their midst.
According to the opinion poll conducted by Statistics Lebanon Ltd. and published by the Lebanese daily An-Nahar, 72 percent of the Lebanese want Palestinians in Lebanon disarmed. The poll surveyed 400 Lebanese from a cross-section of the population of Beirut, Mount Lebanon, the north, south and the Bekaa valley, according to An-Nahar.
The results are in tune with recent efforts by the Lebanese government to tighten the reins around Palestinian factions.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131367050900&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Archaeologists decry Wakf 'renovation'
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
In a renewed dispute, a group of Israeli archaeologists has condemned the Wakf's planned renovation work of an ancient tower adjacent to the Temple Mount, warning that such a move is part of a long-running plan by the Islamic Trust to expand a recently-created mosque at the Jerusalem holy site.
The non-partisan 'Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount,' which has been leading the public campaign against Wakf construction at the site has sent a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Director of the Antiquities Authority Shuka Dorfman lambasting the proposed renovation work on the historic structure.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131367056883&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Revolt of the 'Arab street'
By MARK STEYN
Ever since 9/11, I've been gloomily predicting the European powder keg's about to go up. "By 2010 we'll be watching burning buildings, street riots and assassinations on the news every night," I wrote in Canada's Western Standard back in February.
Silly me. The Eurabian civil war appears to have started some years ahead of my optimistic schedule. As Thursday's edition of The Guardian reported in London: "French youths fired at police and burned over 300 cars last night as towns around Paris experienced their worst night of violence in a week of urban unrest."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131367051298&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Judith Miller retires from New York Times
By DAVID B. CARUSO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW YORK -- Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter who was first lionized, then vilified by her own newspaper for her role in the CIA leak case, has retired from the Times, the paper announced Wednesday.
Miller, who joined the Times in 1977 and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for reporting on global terrorism, had been negotiating with the paper for several weeks about her future.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_CIA_Leak_Miller.html
House OKs $30.5B for energy, water budget
By ANDREW TAYLOR
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The House voted Wednesday to cut the budget for the troubled Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump well below this year's level and President Bush's request.
At the same time, lawmakers again rejected Bush's proposal to curb spending on water projects undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers. But the president fared much better on his plans to send astronauts to Mars.
The moves came as the House adopted, by a 399-17 vote, a final House-Senate compromise on a $30.5 billion energy and water spending bill for the budget year that began Oct. 1. Reflecting tight budget times, the bill is $750 million below this year's levels.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Congress_Spending.html
Israelite alphabet may have been found
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PITTSBURGH -- Two lines of an alphabet have been found inscribed in a stone in Israel, offering what some scholars say is the most solid evidence yet that the ancient Israelites were literate as early as the 10th century B.C.
"This is very rare. This stone will be written about for many years to come," archaeologist Ron E. Tappy, a professor at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary who made the discovery, said Wednesday. "This makes it very historically probable there were people in the 10th century (B.C.) who could write."
Christopher Rollston, a professor of Semitic studies at Emmanuel School of Religion in Johnson City, Tenn., who was not involved in the find, said the writing is probably Phoenician or a transitional language between Phoenician and Hebrew.
"We have little epigraphic material from the 10th century in Israel, and so this substantially augments the material we have," he said.
The stone was found during an archaeological dig in June.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Hebrew_Alphabet.html
Arafat was killed, bodyguard says
Also claims Arab leaders urged deal over Jerusalem
By IBRAHIM BARZAK
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Fear of assassination kept Yasser Arafat from accepting a U.S.-brokered deal on sharing Jerusalem, despite pleas by Arab and other world leaders at the time, the Palestinian leader's longtime bodyguard said.
In his first interview with the foreign media since Arafat died a year ago at the age of 75, Mohammed Al Daya also told The Associated Press that he believes his former boss was murdered, but he didn't offer proof or identify any suspects.
Arafat's medical file is inconclusive about the cause of the leader's death on Nov. 11, 2004. Rumors have abounded in the Middle East that he died of AIDS or was poisoned by Israeli agents, a charge Israel denies.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/247590_arafat09.html
DNR official cut deal with timber on owls
But lands boss intervenes, orders all options discussed
By ROBERT McCLURE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
When a state board sits down today to decide how to best protect spotted owls, the man in charge will be a Department of Natural Resources official who privately huddled with timber industry executives and promised to soften proposed regulations.
An internal timber industry memorandum obtained by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer outlines how Pat McElroy, chairman of the Forest Practices Board, agreed to eliminate a key DNR staff recommendation to be considered today.
The memo also suggests that McElroy had planned to alter his agency's recommendations without telling others involved in the talks, such as environmentalists and tribal leaders.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247630_spottedowl09.html
China: Little progress on N. Korea talks
By ALEXA OLESEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BEIJING -- Negotiators trying to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions focused Wednesday on the contentious details of how the North will disarm and what it will get in exchange, with the U.S. and North Korean delegations holding a separate meeting.
Host China said little progress had been made by day's end in the new round of six-nation talks.
Before the talks opened Wednesday morning at a Chinese government guesthouse, Washington affirmed its refusal even to discuss the North's demand for a civilian nuclear reactor until after Pyongyang disarms.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Koreas_Nuclear.html
Alito favored equal treatment on adultery
By ROSA CIRIANNI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TRENTON, N.J. -- Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito favored equal treatment for men and women in adultery cases in his analysis of the Italian court system in his senior thesis at Princeton University.
Alito, the son of an Italian who emigrated to the United States, was a student at Princeton from 1968-72 and received a scholarship from an outside group to study the courts in Italy one summer.
The 137-page thesis written by President Bush's nominee for the high court has been missing from Princeton. This week, Alito's thesis adviser, professor emeritus Walter F. Murphy, mailed a copy to the Ivy League school that was posted on its Web site.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1154AP_Alito_Italian_Court.html
Eastern oysters not considered endangered
By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW ORLEANS -- The federal government is no longer considering whether it should declare Eastern oysters endangered, which would have affected people who make their living off the shellfish, but it still plans to finish a study on the species' health.
The man who filed the request that the federal government list oysters as an endangered species has taken it back.
Dieter Busch, a consultant, suggested the listing because the Chesapeake Bay population has collapsed, but said he withdrew his request because "there was so much misunderstanding, and the misunderstanding was being successfully channeled into complaints" by people who might be affected.
He said he did not realize when he filed the petition in January that listing the oysters as endangered also would have shut down beds north of the Chesapeake up to Rhode Island and south to the water off Louisiana and Texas, even though those areas still provide millions of pounds of oyster meat a year.
"I'm glad he's seen the light," Mike Voisin, owner of Motivatit Seafood and chairman of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force, said Tuesday.
Busch, who used to head an arm of a 15-state regulatory group, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, said he still thinks the request to the National Marine Fisheries Service was reasonable.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Endangered_Oysters.html
FDA rejects tomato benefit proposal
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Producers of tomatoes, tomato sauce and dietary supplements containing lycopene - the substance that makes tomatoes red - will not be allowed to advertise claims that they reduce the risk of many forms of cancer.
The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that it will allow only a few limited health claims to appear on packages of tomatoes and tomato sauce. It also rejected proposals to advertise lycopene as having cancer-related benefits.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_FDA_Tomatoes.html
17-year-old Oregon girl missing in Brazil
By PAULO WINTERSTEIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SAO PAULO, Brazil -- A 17-year-old American exchange student missing in Brazil was seen trying to hitchhike to the capital the day she disappeared, Brazilian authorities said Wednesday.
MyKensie Martin, a senior at Summit High School in Bend, Ore., was reported missing Sunday, said Kreg and Judy Roth of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program in Bend.
A witness spotted the girl Sunday evening on the side of a highway leading to Brasilia from the town of Unai, about 80 miles from the capital, said Unai police detective Celso Avila Prado.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Brazil_Missing_Teen.html
Zimbabwe government summons U.S. diplomat
By MICHAEL HARTNACK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador Wednesday to protest a speech he made blaming President Robert Mugabe for the country's economic crisis, and the envoy will fly to Washington for consultations.
Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, who alleged that Ambassador Christopher Dell's speech to students last week was an attempt to incite a revolt against Mugabe's 25-year rule, summoned the envoy and handed him a diplomatic note, U.S. Embassy spokesman Timothy Smith said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Zimbabwe_US_Ambassador.html
A look at U.S. military deaths in Iraq
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
As of Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005, at least 2,055 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,604 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The figures include five military civilians.
The AP count is three higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated at 10 a.m. EST Wednesday.
The British military has reported 97 deaths; Italy, 27; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 17; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Slovakia, three; Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia one death each.
Since May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 1,916 U.S. military members have died, according to AP's count. That includes at least 1,495 deaths resulting from hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 15,568 U.S. service members have been wounded, according to a Defense Department tally Wednesday.
---
The latest deaths reported by the military:
- A Marine died Tuesday of wounds received when his vehicle was attacked near Fallujah, Iraq, with an explosive on Monday.
---The latest identifications reported by the military:
- Four U.S. soldiers died Monday in Baghdad, Iraq, when an explosive detonated near their patrol; assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo.:
Army 1st Lt. Justin S. Smith, 28, Lansing, Mich.
Army Staff Sgt. Brian L. Freeman, 27, Lucedale, Miss.
Army Spc. Robert C. Pope II, 22, East Islip, N.Y.
Army Pfc. Mario A. Reyes, 19, Las Cruces, N.M.
---
On the Net:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/
continued ...
"Okeydoke"
History
Today is Wednesday, Nov. 9, the 313th day of 2005. There are 52 days left in the year.
1731 Benjamin Banneker, astronomer, mathematician, urban planner and inventor, is born free in Maryland.
1872, fire destroyed nearly a thousand buildings in Boston.
1918, Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II announced he would abdicate. He then fled to the Netherlands.
1925 Paul Robeson makes his film debut in Oscar Micheaux's "Body and Soul". Hailed as one of the greatest men of his time, this multi-talented entertainer excelled in sports, law, theater, and movies.
1935 Bob Gibson, a hard throwing right-hander who wins 251 major league games during 17 seasons, is born in Omaha, NE
1935, United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis and other labor leaders formed the Committee for Industrial Organization.
1938, Nazis looted and burned synagogues as well as Jewish-owned stores and houses in Germany and Austria in what became known as "Kristallnacht."
1953, author-poet Dylan Thomas died in New York at age 39.
1961 The PGA Convention drops its "Caucasians Only" membership clause from its constitution and opens its ranks to Negroes and Asians. Charlie Sifford will become the first PGA Black golfer.
1963, twin disasters struck Japan as some 450 miners were killed in a coal-dust explosion, and 160 people died in a train crash.
1965, the great Northeast blackout occurred as a series of power failures lasting up to 13 1/2 hours left 30 million people in seven states and two Canadian provinces without electricity.
1967, a Saturn 5 rocket carrying an unmanned Apollo spacecraft blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a successful test flight.
1970, former French president Charles De Gaulle died at age 79.
1988, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell, a major figure in the Watergate scandal, died in Washington at age 75.
1989, communist East Germany threw open its borders, allowing citizens to travel freely to the West; joyous Germans danced atop the Berlin Wall.
2000 Brown University's Board of Trustees vote to confirm Ruth Simmons to head the university. Ruth Simmons becomes the first Black to head an Ivy League school. She was also the first Black woman to lead Smith College, another elite school.
Ten years ago: In a pair of telephone interviews, O.J. Simpson told Associated Press reporter Linda Deutsch that people have supported rather than shunned him since his acquittal, and that he has learned that fame and wealth are illusions. Said Simpson: "The only thing that endures is character."
Five years ago: George W. Bush's lead over Al Gore in all-or-nothing Florida slipped beneath 300 votes in a suspense-filled recount, as Democrats threw the presidential election to the courts, claiming "an injustice unparalleled in our history."
One year ago: Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans resigned; they were the first members of the Cabinet to leave as President Bush headed from re-election into his second term.
Kenny Chesney won the Country Music Association album of the year award for "When The Sun Goes Down" as well as entertainer of the year. Roger Clemens won his record seventh Cy Young Award
Missing in Action
1967 ARMSTRONG JOHN W. DALLAS TX
1967 BROWER RALPH W. STOW OH CRASH DEAD PILOT RECOV
1967 CLAY EUGENE L. ARLINGTON TX CRASH DEAD PILOT RECOV
1967 MAYSEY LARRY W. CHESTER NJ CRASH DEAD PILOT RECOV
1967 NOLAN MCKINLEY WASHINGTON TX 11/02/73 LAST SEEN
1967 REHN GARY LEE PARK RAPIDS MN
1967 SIJAN LANCE P. MILWAUKEE WI 03/17/74 REMAINS RETURNED DIED DURING RESCUE IN FIGHT W CAPTOR 01/22/68
Chicago Sun Times
Weather is 'Squishy'
Blasts rock 3 Jordan hotels
November 9, 2005
BY JAMAL HALABY ASSOCIATED PRESS
AMMAN, Jordan-- Suicide bombers attacked three hotels frequented by Westerners in the Jordanian capital Wednesday night, and at least 18 people were killed and 120 wounded, police said.
Maj. Bashir al-Da'aja said officials believe all three blasts were carried out by suicide bombers. The explosions indicated the involvement of al-Qaida, which has launched coordinated attacks on high-profile, Western targets in the past, a police official said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/jordan09.html
Cop saves kidnapped woman
November 9, 2005
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter
Loretta Wheeler had just found a place to park after a long day of work when carjackers pointed their guns at her, removed the spare tire from her red Mercury Sable and stuffed her in the trunk -- stopping at automatic teller machines to try to loot her bank account.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-jack09.html
Relaxed standards, better scores
November 9, 2005
BY KATE N. GROSSMAN AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters
When the state first released test results this summer, it looked as if more schools and districts had met federal testing goals than last year. But relaxed state standards this year, not necessarily better performance, account for some of that growth, new data analyzed by the Chicago Sun-Times shows.
This year, 27.1 percent of schools failed to meet federal testing targets. But after removing the 227 schools that benefited from the softer standards, that jumps to 33.1 percent. In 2004, 28.5 percent of schools failed.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-nclb09.html
Results get second look after drop 'raises an eyebrow'
November 9, 2005
BY ROSALIND ROSSI AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters
Illinois education experts are taking a hard look at the results of this year's state tests after dozens of top-tier elementary schools saw their reading and math scores nosedive.
In reading, where a third of one test was thrown out, State Board of Education officials are split on whether the downturn reflects a serious reading problem among Illinois' best and brightest, or a flaw in scoring the very top end of the scale in the handwritten portions of 2005 state tests.
There is agreement on one point.
"We're concerned,'' said State Board spokeswoman Meta Minton. "Some of the results from some of the traditionally high-scoring schools have caused us to raise an eyebrow."
http://www.suntimes.com/schools/2005/news/cst-nws-main09.html
How six schools succeeded in improving scores
November 9, 2005
BY LESLIE BALDACCI AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters
The Chicago Sun-Times asked elementary schools selected from about 2,000 across Illinois to identify keys to their success on state reading and math tests this year. These short studies reveal factors that school leaders said helped students achieve.
Some are "old-school" solutions: small schools with small classes, increasing time spent on a subject or on test prep, improving teacher training.
Some schools benefitted from specialists, extra personnel or special programs.
http://www.suntimes.com/schools/2005/news/cst-nws-thumblock09.html
State tests show drop at the top
November 9, 2005
BY ROSALIND ROSSI AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters
Reading and math scores tumbled at dozens of the state's top-scoring elementary schools this year, puzzling both state experts and local school leaders.
In reading, the drop made some state officials wonder if scores reflected a decline in skills among the state's best students.
Others questioned scoring of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, especially in sections involving written responses scored by human beings, not machines.
In high school tests taken last April, a record four Chicago public schools scored among the top 10 in the state, according to this year's annual Chicago Sun-Times analysis of state reading and math scores.
http://www.suntimes.com/schools/2005/news/cst-nws-xmain09.html
Oil company execs defend profits
file:news4
November 9, 2005
BY H. JOSEF HEBERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON-- The chiefs of five major oil companies defended the industry's huge profits Wednesday at a Senate hearing where lawmakers said they should explain prices and assure people they're not being gouged.
There is a "growing suspicion that oil companies are taking unfair advantage," Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said as the hearing opened in a packed Senate committee room.
"The oil companies owe the country an explanation," he said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/09oil.html
Texas Court clears way for new Yates trial
November 9, 2005
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON-- The state's highest criminal court on Wednesday let stand a lower court ruling that threw out Andrea Yates' murder convictions for drowning her children in a bathtub in 2001.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Alan Curry said the case would be retried or a plea bargain considered. Jurors rejected Yates insanity defense in 2002 and found her guilty of two capital murder charges for the deaths of three of her five children.
Curry said if the case goes back to trial, he is confident Yates would be convicted again. He said a plea bargain also may be discussed.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/09yates.html
Attack kills 5 policemen in Baquoba
November 9, 2005
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq-- A suicide bomber detonated his car Wednesday near a police patrol in Baquoba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing five policemen and wounding five others, officials said.
U.S. Air Force jets destroyed a building near the Syrian border Wednesday where al-Qaida insurgents hid weapons, the U.S. military said.
The attack occurred early in the day in the village of Bu Hardan near the cities of Qaim and Husaybah where U.S. and Iraqi troops conducted a major operation in the past four days.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/iraq/iraq09.html
Texas bans same-sex marriages
November 9, 2005
Texas voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, making their state the 19th to take that step. In Maine, however, voters rejected a conservative-backed proposal to repeal the state's new gay-rights law.
In California, voters had a chance to embolden or embarrass Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as they considered four measures he promoted as part of a power struggle with legislators and public-employee unions.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-eside09.html
Gonorrhea rates fall; syphilis on the rise
November 9, 2005
BY MIKE STOBBE
ATLANTA -- Gonorrhea has fallen to the lowest level on record in the United States, while the rates of other sexually transmitted diseases -- syphilis and chlamydia -- are on the rise, federal health officials said Tuesday.
The seemingly paradoxical findings can be explained by the cyclical nature of syphilis outbreaks and a rise in risky sexual behavior among gay men, researchers said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/health/cst-nws-std09.html
Sermon gets church in trouble with IRS
November 9, 2005
LOS ANGELES -- The Internal Revenue Service has warned a prominent liberal church that it could lose its tax-exempt status because of an anti-war sermon a guest preacher gave on the eve of the 2004 presidential election, according to church officials.
The Rev. George F. Regas did not urge parishioners at All Saints Episcopal Church to support either President Bush or John Kerry, but he was critical of the Iraq war and Bush's tax cuts.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/religion/cst-nws-lib09.html
Rein them in before they attack again
November 9, 2005
Here are some headlines culled from the Chicago Sun-Times over the last six months: "Aurora boy, 11, recovers from pit bull mauling"; "Lab badly hurt when she took on pit bull mauling 6th-grader"; "3-year-old home after pit bull attack"; "Pit bull fatally mauls girl, 4, in W. Virginia"; "Kids were heroes in pit bull tragedy." And that's just half a year. There have been hundreds of similar sad stories about pit bull attacks since the breed started to become popular two decades ago.
Including the story last week about the two 10-year-olds in McHenry County who were going door to door to fill candy orders when they knocked at Scott Sword's house and his three pit bulls leaped through the door and attacked them. Jourdan Lamarre may have to have reconstructive surgery on her leg as a consequence of the attack. Nick Foley was listed in critical condition in the hospital. Four adults who tried to hold the dogs off the children also were wounded.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/commentary/cst-edt-edits09.html
Michael Moore Today
Democrats Win Gov. Races in Va., N.J.
By Robert Tanner / Associated Press
Democrats swept both governors' races Tuesday, with Sen. Jon Corzine easily winning New Jersey and Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine taking Virginia despite a last-minute campaign push for his opponent from President Bush.
Elsewhere, Texas voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage, GOP Mayor Michael Bloomberg easily clinched a second term in heavily Democratic New York, and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was trailing in his re-election bid.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4817
Newsview: Bush Gambles, Loses Campaigning
By Ron Fournier / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Iraq, Katrina, CIA leak, Harriet Miers. Things couldn't possibly get any worse for President Bush. Wait, they just did.
Bush put his wispy political prestige on the line in the Virginia governor's race and lost Tuesday when the candidate he embraced in a last-minute campaign stop was soundly defeated. While there are many reasons for Jerry Kilgore's defeat, chief among them his poor campaign, giddy Democrats said the Virginia race as well as a Democratic victory in New Jersey prove that Bush is a political toxin for Republicans.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4816
Voters Choose Black Mayor for Cincinnati
By Terry Kinney / Associated Press
CINCINNATI - Four years after riots tore this city apart, Cincinnati voters elected a black mayor for the first time.
State Sen. Mark Mallory defeated Councilman David Pepper, both Democrats, in a nonpartisan mayoral runoff Tuesday to lead Ohio's third-largest city.
Rioting broke out in 2001 after an unarmed black man was shot and killed by a white police officer trying to make an arrest. While racial tensions have calmed, crime, safety and revitalizing downtown remain leading issues.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4821
Schwarzenegger Hits Snag at Polling Place
By Robert Salladay / Los Angeles Times
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up to his Brentwood neighborhood polling station today to cast his ballot in the special election — and was told he had already voted.
Elections officials said a Los Angeles County poll worker had entered Schwarzenegger's name into an electronic voting touch screen station in Pasadena on Oct. 25. The worker, who was not identified, was testing the voting machine in preparation for early voting that began the next day.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4818
Rove Resurfaces, Libby's Defense Trust Set
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Still under criminal investigation in the CIA leak probe, Karl Rove will be one of the leading speakers this week at the Federalist Society's annual convention, an influential group of conservative legal talent.
Rove will surface as the Thursday night banquet speaker, raising a public profile that had been reduced in the weeks following his fourth round of grand jury testimony on Oct. 14. The president's top political adviser did not accompany Bush on his just-completed trip to South America.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4822
Report Warned on C.I.A.'s Tactics in Interrogation
By Douglas Jehl / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 - A classified report issued last year by the Central Intelligence Agency's inspector general warned that interrogation procedures approved by the C.I.A. after the Sept. 11 attacks might violate some provisions of the international Convention Against Torture, current and former intelligence officials say.
The previously undisclosed findings from the report, which was completed in the spring of 2004, reflected deep unease within the C.I.A. about the interrogation procedures, the officials said. A list of 10 techniques authorized early in 2002 for use against terror suspects included one known as waterboarding, and went well beyond those authorized by the military for use on prisoners of war.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4824
C.I.A. Asks Criminal Inquiry Over Secret-Prison Article
By David Johnston and Carl Hulse / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 - The Central Intelligence Agency has asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation to determine the source of a Washington Post article that said the agency had set up a covert prison network in Eastern Europe and other countries to hold important terrorism suspects, government officials said on Tuesday.
The C.I.A.'s request, known as a crimes report or criminal referral, means that the Justice Department will undertake a preliminary review to determine if circumstances justify a criminal inquiry into whether any government official unlawfully provided information to the newspaper. The possibility of this new investigation follows by less than two weeks the perjury and obstruction indictment of I. Lewis Libby Jr., then Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, in a leak case involving other news reporting about a national security issue.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4825
CHALABI DOES IT ALL
Ahmad Chalabi -- accused Iranian spy, source of Bush's fake intelligence, possible new leader of Iraq, long the Bush administration's choice to lead Iraq, and much more -- is in Washington DC today, meeting with his esteemed peers Condi Rice and Dick Cheney. And for some reason, his meetings are shrouded in secrecy:
The talks at the State Department were declared off-limits to reporters and photographers, which is unusual since cameras are regularly permitted to record the start of Rice's meetings with prominent foreign visitors. But without explanation the cameras were excluded, as they were when Rice met with Chalabi two years ago when she was President Bush's national security adviser.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=539
The Jerusalem Post
Massive explosions rock major Amman hotels
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
AMMAN, Jordan
Explosions rocked three hotels in the Jordanian capital late Wednesday, killing at least 18 people, injuring more than 120 and sending ambulances screaming across downtown.
Jordanian police Maj. Bashir al-Da'aja said officials believe all the Amman hotel blasts were carried out by suicide bombers.
"The attacks carry the trademark of al-Qaida," one police official said on condition of anonymity in line with police regulations. "However it is not certain. We are investigating."
The explosions struck the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels. A police officer at the Radisson site said it was caused "apparently by a bomb."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131367057309&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Hamas claims it is willing to negotiate
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Mahmoud A-Zahar, leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, announced Wednesday that he would be willing to consider negotiating with Israel, as long as any negotiations would serve the Palestinian interests of "withdrawing from Palestinian territory, releasing prisoners and reconstructing all that was destroyed by the occupation."
The Hamas leader called on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Jerusalem, stopping short of calling for a return to the 1948 borderline.
A-Zahar refused to consider disarming, telling Israel Radio that the Palestinian people need weapons in order to protect themselves.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131367053044&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Saudis stick to terms of Arab peace plan
By NATHAN GUTTMAN
WASHINGTON
Saudi Arabia would be willing to normalize relations with Israel only after the Israelis adopt the Arab League peace initiative, which calls for full withdrawal to the 1967 lines.
The new Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday that the prospect of diplomatic relations between the two countries depended only on the actions of the government of Israel.
"As I mentioned, the peace initiative, the Arab peace initiative, the Abdullah peace initiative, envisions all that [full diplomatic relation]. Once there was an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territory, there would be normalization of relations, the Saudi ambassador told the Post following a speech in Washington.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131367050822&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Lebanese poll: Disarm Palestinians
By ORLY HALPERN
A poll published Tuesday in Lebanon showed the great dissatisfaction among Lebanese with the armed Palestinian factions in their midst.
According to the opinion poll conducted by Statistics Lebanon Ltd. and published by the Lebanese daily An-Nahar, 72 percent of the Lebanese want Palestinians in Lebanon disarmed. The poll surveyed 400 Lebanese from a cross-section of the population of Beirut, Mount Lebanon, the north, south and the Bekaa valley, according to An-Nahar.
The results are in tune with recent efforts by the Lebanese government to tighten the reins around Palestinian factions.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131367050900&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Archaeologists decry Wakf 'renovation'
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
In a renewed dispute, a group of Israeli archaeologists has condemned the Wakf's planned renovation work of an ancient tower adjacent to the Temple Mount, warning that such a move is part of a long-running plan by the Islamic Trust to expand a recently-created mosque at the Jerusalem holy site.
The non-partisan 'Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount,' which has been leading the public campaign against Wakf construction at the site has sent a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Director of the Antiquities Authority Shuka Dorfman lambasting the proposed renovation work on the historic structure.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131367056883&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Revolt of the 'Arab street'
By MARK STEYN
Ever since 9/11, I've been gloomily predicting the European powder keg's about to go up. "By 2010 we'll be watching burning buildings, street riots and assassinations on the news every night," I wrote in Canada's Western Standard back in February.
Silly me. The Eurabian civil war appears to have started some years ahead of my optimistic schedule. As Thursday's edition of The Guardian reported in London: "French youths fired at police and burned over 300 cars last night as towns around Paris experienced their worst night of violence in a week of urban unrest."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131367051298&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Judith Miller retires from New York Times
By DAVID B. CARUSO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW YORK -- Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter who was first lionized, then vilified by her own newspaper for her role in the CIA leak case, has retired from the Times, the paper announced Wednesday.
Miller, who joined the Times in 1977 and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for reporting on global terrorism, had been negotiating with the paper for several weeks about her future.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_CIA_Leak_Miller.html
House OKs $30.5B for energy, water budget
By ANDREW TAYLOR
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The House voted Wednesday to cut the budget for the troubled Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump well below this year's level and President Bush's request.
At the same time, lawmakers again rejected Bush's proposal to curb spending on water projects undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers. But the president fared much better on his plans to send astronauts to Mars.
The moves came as the House adopted, by a 399-17 vote, a final House-Senate compromise on a $30.5 billion energy and water spending bill for the budget year that began Oct. 1. Reflecting tight budget times, the bill is $750 million below this year's levels.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Congress_Spending.html
Israelite alphabet may have been found
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PITTSBURGH -- Two lines of an alphabet have been found inscribed in a stone in Israel, offering what some scholars say is the most solid evidence yet that the ancient Israelites were literate as early as the 10th century B.C.
"This is very rare. This stone will be written about for many years to come," archaeologist Ron E. Tappy, a professor at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary who made the discovery, said Wednesday. "This makes it very historically probable there were people in the 10th century (B.C.) who could write."
Christopher Rollston, a professor of Semitic studies at Emmanuel School of Religion in Johnson City, Tenn., who was not involved in the find, said the writing is probably Phoenician or a transitional language between Phoenician and Hebrew.
"We have little epigraphic material from the 10th century in Israel, and so this substantially augments the material we have," he said.
The stone was found during an archaeological dig in June.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Hebrew_Alphabet.html
Arafat was killed, bodyguard says
Also claims Arab leaders urged deal over Jerusalem
By IBRAHIM BARZAK
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Fear of assassination kept Yasser Arafat from accepting a U.S.-brokered deal on sharing Jerusalem, despite pleas by Arab and other world leaders at the time, the Palestinian leader's longtime bodyguard said.
In his first interview with the foreign media since Arafat died a year ago at the age of 75, Mohammed Al Daya also told The Associated Press that he believes his former boss was murdered, but he didn't offer proof or identify any suspects.
Arafat's medical file is inconclusive about the cause of the leader's death on Nov. 11, 2004. Rumors have abounded in the Middle East that he died of AIDS or was poisoned by Israeli agents, a charge Israel denies.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/247590_arafat09.html
DNR official cut deal with timber on owls
But lands boss intervenes, orders all options discussed
By ROBERT McCLURE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
When a state board sits down today to decide how to best protect spotted owls, the man in charge will be a Department of Natural Resources official who privately huddled with timber industry executives and promised to soften proposed regulations.
An internal timber industry memorandum obtained by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer outlines how Pat McElroy, chairman of the Forest Practices Board, agreed to eliminate a key DNR staff recommendation to be considered today.
The memo also suggests that McElroy had planned to alter his agency's recommendations without telling others involved in the talks, such as environmentalists and tribal leaders.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247630_spottedowl09.html
China: Little progress on N. Korea talks
By ALEXA OLESEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BEIJING -- Negotiators trying to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions focused Wednesday on the contentious details of how the North will disarm and what it will get in exchange, with the U.S. and North Korean delegations holding a separate meeting.
Host China said little progress had been made by day's end in the new round of six-nation talks.
Before the talks opened Wednesday morning at a Chinese government guesthouse, Washington affirmed its refusal even to discuss the North's demand for a civilian nuclear reactor until after Pyongyang disarms.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Koreas_Nuclear.html
Alito favored equal treatment on adultery
By ROSA CIRIANNI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TRENTON, N.J. -- Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito favored equal treatment for men and women in adultery cases in his analysis of the Italian court system in his senior thesis at Princeton University.
Alito, the son of an Italian who emigrated to the United States, was a student at Princeton from 1968-72 and received a scholarship from an outside group to study the courts in Italy one summer.
The 137-page thesis written by President Bush's nominee for the high court has been missing from Princeton. This week, Alito's thesis adviser, professor emeritus Walter F. Murphy, mailed a copy to the Ivy League school that was posted on its Web site.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1154AP_Alito_Italian_Court.html
Eastern oysters not considered endangered
By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW ORLEANS -- The federal government is no longer considering whether it should declare Eastern oysters endangered, which would have affected people who make their living off the shellfish, but it still plans to finish a study on the species' health.
The man who filed the request that the federal government list oysters as an endangered species has taken it back.
Dieter Busch, a consultant, suggested the listing because the Chesapeake Bay population has collapsed, but said he withdrew his request because "there was so much misunderstanding, and the misunderstanding was being successfully channeled into complaints" by people who might be affected.
He said he did not realize when he filed the petition in January that listing the oysters as endangered also would have shut down beds north of the Chesapeake up to Rhode Island and south to the water off Louisiana and Texas, even though those areas still provide millions of pounds of oyster meat a year.
"I'm glad he's seen the light," Mike Voisin, owner of Motivatit Seafood and chairman of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force, said Tuesday.
Busch, who used to head an arm of a 15-state regulatory group, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, said he still thinks the request to the National Marine Fisheries Service was reasonable.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Endangered_Oysters.html
FDA rejects tomato benefit proposal
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Producers of tomatoes, tomato sauce and dietary supplements containing lycopene - the substance that makes tomatoes red - will not be allowed to advertise claims that they reduce the risk of many forms of cancer.
The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that it will allow only a few limited health claims to appear on packages of tomatoes and tomato sauce. It also rejected proposals to advertise lycopene as having cancer-related benefits.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_FDA_Tomatoes.html
17-year-old Oregon girl missing in Brazil
By PAULO WINTERSTEIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SAO PAULO, Brazil -- A 17-year-old American exchange student missing in Brazil was seen trying to hitchhike to the capital the day she disappeared, Brazilian authorities said Wednesday.
MyKensie Martin, a senior at Summit High School in Bend, Ore., was reported missing Sunday, said Kreg and Judy Roth of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program in Bend.
A witness spotted the girl Sunday evening on the side of a highway leading to Brasilia from the town of Unai, about 80 miles from the capital, said Unai police detective Celso Avila Prado.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Brazil_Missing_Teen.html
Zimbabwe government summons U.S. diplomat
By MICHAEL HARTNACK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador Wednesday to protest a speech he made blaming President Robert Mugabe for the country's economic crisis, and the envoy will fly to Washington for consultations.
Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, who alleged that Ambassador Christopher Dell's speech to students last week was an attempt to incite a revolt against Mugabe's 25-year rule, summoned the envoy and handed him a diplomatic note, U.S. Embassy spokesman Timothy Smith said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Zimbabwe_US_Ambassador.html
A look at U.S. military deaths in Iraq
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
As of Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005, at least 2,055 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,604 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The figures include five military civilians.
The AP count is three higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated at 10 a.m. EST Wednesday.
The British military has reported 97 deaths; Italy, 27; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 17; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Slovakia, three; Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia one death each.
Since May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 1,916 U.S. military members have died, according to AP's count. That includes at least 1,495 deaths resulting from hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 15,568 U.S. service members have been wounded, according to a Defense Department tally Wednesday.
---
The latest deaths reported by the military:
- A Marine died Tuesday of wounds received when his vehicle was attacked near Fallujah, Iraq, with an explosive on Monday.
---The latest identifications reported by the military:
- Four U.S. soldiers died Monday in Baghdad, Iraq, when an explosive detonated near their patrol; assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo.:
Army 1st Lt. Justin S. Smith, 28, Lansing, Mich.
Army Staff Sgt. Brian L. Freeman, 27, Lucedale, Miss.
Army Spc. Robert C. Pope II, 22, East Islip, N.Y.
Army Pfc. Mario A. Reyes, 19, Las Cruces, N.M.
---
On the Net:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/
continued ...
French Rioting Appears to Lose Strength
The rioting in France resulted in the use of shot gun shells against police. Yet, the authorities did not retaliate with a barrage of bullets to stop the gunmen. The police were safe. The firemen were safe. And currently there is only one death due to the rioting during all these difficult days for the French. This does not dismiss the two teens dead due to electrocution realizing it was not directly caused by the government. But, it was due to the fear of it. I am a bit astounded at the problem but I am impressed at the restraint of the government taking violent action against the people of the country.
The San Francisco Chronicle
The voters strike back
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
GOV. ARNOLD Schwarzenegger can retire his favorite applause line about going direct to the voters if legislators don't do what he wants. While he's at it, he ought to find words other than "losers'' and "stooges" and "girlie men" to describe the legislators he will need to work with to accomplish anything of substance.
As the returns rolled in last night, it was clear that the myth of Schwarzenegger the invincible salesman had encountered a hard dose of reality. The measure that would have most directly shifted the balance of power to the governor -- Proposition 76, which would have endowed him with expanded authority over the budget -- lost resoundingly.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/11/09/EDG9PFKJ161.DTL
Prince, duchess meet with homeless people in Tenderloin
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
The first time Eddie Smith ever got the royal treatment in his life was one year ago, when he moved off the street into San Francisco's finest homeless supportive housing program, kicked heroin and got his head straight. The second time was Tuesday.
That's when the 48-year-old former construction worker sat down with Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and had a little chat about how to help homeless people rise from the gutter.
The royal couple met with Smith and four other ex-street people in a conference room at their home, the Empress Hotel on Eddy Street -- and once pleasantries were exchanged, carried on a half-hour conversation that dug into nitty-gritty issues one might not expect highnesses to be interested in.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/09/BAG8IFKULI16.DTL
THE SPECIAL ELECTION
CALIFORNIANS SAY NO TO SCHWARZENEGGER
ANALYSIS: His next challenge is to rebuild bipartisan support
Carla Marinucci and John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writers
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Los Angeles -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger found his box office appeal and rhetoric as a reformer couldn't convince California voters that his special election initiatives were critical to the state's future.
With about three-quarters of the ballots counted, all four of the Republican governor's measures were headed for defeat.
The resounding defeat of the governor's self-styled reform effort leaves him weakened as he heads into his 2006 re-election campaign and forced to deal with a Democratic majority in the Legislature pumped up by Tuesday's victories.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/09/MNG6IFLAMD1.DTL
SAN FRANCISCO
MEASURES: Voters take stand against guns, recruiting at schools
Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
San Francisco voters took a stand Tuesday against military recruitment on public school campuses, voted to keep firehouses open and approved the nation's toughest ban on handguns by making it illegal for city residents to possess them.
Proposition H, which requires city residents who already own guns to turn them in to police by April 1, was winning 58 percent to 42 percent with 98 percent of precincts counted.
The measure also makes it illegal to buy, sell, distribute and manufacture firearms and ammunition in the city.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/09/BAG9RFKD1C82.DTL
THE SPECIAL ELECTION
PROPOSITIONS
ABORTION: Measure that would require doctors to notify parents of underage girls 48 hours before procedure trails by narrow margin
Greg Lucas, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
California voters were narrowly rejecting a proposed constitutional amendment to require that doctors planning to perform abortions on girls under age 18 notify their parents.
Under Proposition 73, doctors would have to notify parents in writing at least 48 hours before the procedure, except in medical emergencies. Thirty-four other states require that the parents of an underage girl seeking an abortion either be notified or give their consent.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/09/MNG5SFLAI11.DTL
THE SPECIAL ELECTION
CALIFORNIANS SAY NO TO SCHWARZENEGGER
STATE MEASURES: Governor reaches out, doesn't concede
Mark Martin, Carla Marinucci and Lynda Gledhill, Chronicle political writers
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
California voters were rejecting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's special election agenda Tuesday, handing the governor a humbling loss after he gambled on a high-stakes plan to reshape state government.
With more than three-quarters of the votes counted, the four initiatives that Schwarzenegger said were needed to reform California were all losing.
The centerpiece of the governor's agenda, Proposition 76, which would limit state spending, was trailing badly. Proposition 77, which would strip lawmakers of the ability to draw political voting districts; Proposition 74, which would lengthen the time it takes for public school teachers to get tenure; and Proposition 75, aimed at curbing public employee unions' political spending, were also losing.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/09/MNG6IFLAMF1.DTL
BACK TO BALLOT FOR THE BAY AREA
BIG MONEY: Initiative campaigns hugely costly
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
When all is said and done, the amount spent on Tuesday's election in California will easily surpass the more than $241 million that John Kerry spent running for president last year, and could even top the $306 million that President Bush spent to win re-election.
Kerry and Bush, whose 2004 spending totals were compiled by the Center for Responsive Government, had to run in 50 states. Here in California it was all about eight initiatives.
Democratic media adviser
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/09/BAG3JFL3CG1.DTL
Kansas challenges Darwin
Board says students should study doubts on evolution theory
Peter Slevin, Washington Post
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Topeka, Kan. -- The Kansas Board of Education voted Tuesday that students will be expected to study doubts about modern Darwinian theory, a move that defied the nation's scientific establishment and gave voice to religious conservatives and others who question the theory of evolution.
By a 6-4 vote that supporters cheered as a victory for free speech and opponents denounced as shabby politics and worse science, the board said high school students should be told that aspects of widely accepted evolutionary theory are controversial. Among other points, the standards allege a "lack of adequate natural explanations for the genetic code."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/09/MNG6TFL67K1.DTL
A 'Countdown' to big change in network news
Tim Goodman
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
As with most events related to television, the future is already past. The Next Big Thing is invariably something done years ago. A buzz-heavy arrival deemed "fresh" and "innovative" turns out to be old and stolen. It's all a matter of when and how and where you view it.
And so it is that the future of broadcast network news has been hiding out, as it were, for two and half years on -- of all places -- cable. If you want to know what the face of the future looks like -- at least the successful version, not some warmed over Bob Schieffer action or a trio of Triple A prospects on "Nightline," then look no further than this man: Keith Olbermann.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/09/DDGPVFKGI01.DTL
OPINION: Conservatives Give Bush An Earful
Cinnamon Stillwell
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Leftist Bush-bashing is certainly nothing new, but recently the president has been getting an earful from his right flank as well. For some time now, a lively debate has been raging among conservatives over a variety of Bush administration policies and decisions.
For conservatives, criticism of the Bush administration centers not so much on style than on substance. Unlike the left's scattershot attacks, the president's appearance, past habits or religious beliefs are unlikely to figure in the equation. Disagreement exists over the war in Iraq, but conservatives are largely united in the belief that the war on terrorism is the preeminent struggle of our lifetime. Instead, contentiousness tends to center on domestic and security issues on which the administration seems inconsistent.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/10/26/cstillwell.DTL
The Australian
Bali bomber Azahari dead
Sian Powell, Jakarta correspondent
November 10, 2005
THE most feared terrorist in Asia, Azahari bin Husin, the man responsible for the two Bali bombings and an attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta, has blown himself up after being cornered by police in East Java.
Police said it appeared Azahari, Indonesia's most wanted man, had died during a police raid in the city of Malang yesterday afternoon.
Indonesia's elite anti-terror squad Detachment 88 tracked Azahari down after months of surveillance. It is understood one of the master bomb-maker's acolytes inadvertently led police to the hideout. Police have hunted the elusive Malaysian militant since the 2002 Bali blasts, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17197786%255E601,00.html
Bank quits $300m defence HQ over breach
Steve Lewis, Chief political reporter
November 10, 2005
MACQUARIE Bank has stepped down as commercial adviser on the $300 million new headquarters for the Defence Department after a serious security breach that could damage the reputation of the nation's biggest investment bank in Canberra.
The sudden withdrawal comes at the worst possible time for the bank, with Macquarie considered one of the frontrunners to help sell the Government's 51.8per cent stake in Telstra, an appointment that would generate tens of millions of dollars in fees.
The Australian has learned that Macquarie Bank staff breached confidentiality agreements, distributing commercial-in-confidence material to other bank employees who had not received Defence clearance.
Some of the internal bank emails were sent by mistake to Defence personnel, who blew the whistle on Macquarie's breach.
Defence ordered the bank to conduct an internal inquiry to ensure the breach was contained.
Macquarie's decision to resign is another setback for the plan to build a new Defence headquarters just outside Canberra in the Liberal-held seat of Eden Monaro. One of the first big commonwealth projects to be based on a public-private partnership, it has been plagued by controversy since it was announced just before the 2001 election. There are reports that one, or possibly two, of the three consortiums bidding to build the project could soon pull out of the process.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17196707%255E601,00.html
Curfew fails to prevent riots sweeping France
Emma-Kate Symons, Paris
November 10, 2005
FRANCE'S unprecedented mainland curfew has failed to deter the rampaging gangs intent on burning cars, schools and businesses across Paris and the provinces.
Early police figures put the number of cars burned during the 13th night of violence at 558, with more than 200 arrests. This was a significant reduction on the previous night's violence, but far from the immediate restoration of order demanded by French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17196389%255E601,00.html
Aboriginal elders 'routinely abused'
Amanda Banks
November 10, 2005
ABORIGINAL elders are being abused in their own communities - blatantly harassed for their money on pension days, physically and sexually assaulted, robbed and neglected.
The indigenous elders often tolerated the abuse, fearing they would lose their children and grandchildren to authorities and "welfare" in yet another legacy of the stolen generation.
A report by the West Australian Public Advocate, the first of its kind in the nation, has found financial abuse is the most common type of abuse against Aboriginal elders.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17196380%255E2702,00.html
Rival Chinese fans at Palace gates
November 10, 2005
LONDON: China pulled off a brilliant piece of political theatre by packing London's showcase Mall with thousands of pro-Beijing supporters in an attempt to silence hundreds of noisy demonstrators protesting against the arrival of President Hu Jintao.
With the British hosts looking on bemused, the ceremonial pomp of the state visit - complete with an honour guard, cavalry escort and a 21-gun salute - was eclipsed by the cheers and jeers of the flag-waving crowds.
At times the atmosphere resembled a football match
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17193304%255E2703,00.html
Pakistan lost 2500 soldiers in quake
Rahul Bedi, New Delhi
November 09, 2005
THE Pakistani Army took serious hits in last month's earthquake, losing about 2500 soldiers, including at least three brigadiers, 15 battalion commanders and a large number of junior officers.
Military intelligence sources in New Delhi said that along with the loss of officers and men, the Pakistani Army also sustained serious damage to its infrastructure across Kashmir in the October 8 quake. The overall death toll from the catastrophe jumped to 87,350 yesterday. Pakistan's official toll rose by 13,000 - from 73,000 to 86,000 - following a broad assessment headed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, working with local provincial governments and aid agencies. India has reported 1350 deaths in its portion of Kashmir.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17186452%255E2703,00.html
Swamped by debt, Venice up for sale
November 09, 2005
ROME: For sale: 13 Renaissance-era palazzi and other historic buildings in the heart of Venice.
The vendor? The Venetian city council, which is practically broke and hopes to raise hundreds of millions of euros from the auction.
It is hard to believe that Venice, which receives 15 million visitors a year, could be so hard up, but Massimo Cacciari, the Mayor, acknowledged: "We haven't got a cent."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17186253%255E2703,00.html
Aceh moves on housing crisis
Sian Powell, Banda Aceh
November 08, 2005
AFTER 10 months struggling to provide permanent housing for Aceh's massive homeless population, the authorities in Indonesia's westernmost province have finally turned to a temporary solution - a kit house first developed in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam.
The Boxing Day tsunami that wrecked much of the coastline of Aceh left more than half a million people homeless. Despite a huge outpouring of aid, about 70,000 of the dispossessed still live in tents and squalid shacks, and 100,000 in barracks that are often in an appalling state.
A further 250,000 are staying with friends or relatives. Only about 2000 permanent houses have been built since the aid effort began -- an unacceptable total, according to experts.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17173874%255E2703,00.html
Hariri investigator to grill Syrian officers
November 07, 2005
BEIRUT: The chief UN investigator into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri has summonsed six senior Syrian intelligence officers, including President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law, for questioning.
Detlev Mehlis, armed with new powers from the UN Security Council, sent the summons to the Syrian Government via the UN on Wednesday, a Lebanese official close to the investigation said yesterday.
"Mr Mehlis has sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan demanding to question at least six Syrian officials," the official said, on condition of anonymity. There was no immediate Syrian comment.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17160954%255E2703,00.html
Oil-for-food engulfs India
November 07, 2005
NEW DELHI: India's Prime Minister indicated yesterday he would order an inquiry into allegations that the Foreign Minister and ruling Congress party benefited from deals linked to the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq.
A retired judge was likely to examine details of a report by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, The Hindustan Times said.
The report said Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and Congress were among beneficiaries across the world allowed to buy Iraqi oil at below market rates in return for kickbacks to the regime of Saddam Hussein.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17160962%255E2703,00.html
Wheels grind for tsunami victims
Many months after the Boxing Day disaster, families are still stuck in tent cities, writes Jakarta correspondent Sian Powell in Mon Ikeun, Aceh
November 07, 2005
IT is damp, crowded and hot - a tatty canvas tent surrounded by mud and puddles and home to four adult Acehnese sisters and two children. More than 10 months after the devastating Boxing Day tsunami killed her husband and her first child, 30-year-old Agustini and her sisters still live under canvas in the crowded tent village of Mon Ikeun, west of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
Agustini was pregnant when the giant waves flattened her house. Her four-month-old son has never known his father, nor a house with a roof. The tragedy swamped Agustini's entire family. Her mother drowned, and her elder sister Lindawati lost her husband and her child.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17160989%255E2703,00.html
Philadelphia Inquirer
Corzine sweeps in
New Jersey Democrat runs strong even in GOP areas
By Tom Turcol
Inquirer Staff Writer
A political unknown only five years ago, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine captured the governor's office in New Jersey yesterday with a lopsided victory over Republican Douglas Forrester.
The resounding win keeps the Democrats in total control in Trenton and boosts Corzine's political star power.
Despite Forrester's relentlessly hard-edged campaign, Corzine's surprisingly broad mandate included impressive showings even in traditionally GOP areas, including Burlington and Atlantic Counties.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13116823.htm
Riots strike deep at a French ideal
"The myth of national homogeneity."
By Ken Dilanian
Inquirer Staff Writer
PARIS - Last year, a French sociologist answered 258 help-wanted ads for salespeople by sending nearly 2,000 fictitious resumes with identical qualifications, and photos attached, as is the custom here.
Faring poorly, among others, were members of France's most disadvantaged minority group - Arab Muslims.
White males with French names received an invitation to interview at a rate of 30 percent, compared with just 5 percent for people with Arab names.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13116824.htm
Owens apologizes to just about everyone
By Bob Brookover
Inquirer Staff Writer
The setting once again was Terrell Owens' in-season Moorestown home, the upscale, up-for-sale residence he made infamous this summer with an absurd driveway exercise routine in front of television cameras, reporters, fans and neighbors after being exiled from training camp by Eagles coach Andy Reid.
This time, which is sure to be the final time, T.O. asked for a media audience so he could say he was sorry. In the process, he and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, begged for one more chance with the Eagles, a 180-degree turn from where things were eight months ago when Owens went public with his demand for a new contract.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13116814.htm
A mix of oil, politics, profit in the Senate
Executives will explain how five firms made $356 million a day in 3d quarter.
By Kevin G. Hall
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - The stakes couldn't be higher for captains of the oil industry when they appear before a joint hearing of two U.S. Senate committees today to answer questions about the highest quarterly corporate profit ever.
One question sure to get their attention: Why shouldn't Congress impose a windfall-profits tax on them?
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13116801.htm
Children and the poor unfairly targeted
It would have been difficult for budget-cutters in Congress to devise a plan to punish poor children more severely if they had set out with that goal in mind.
House Republican leaders are pushing for a vote tomorrow on a $54 billion deficit-reduction plan. From food stamps to health care to child-support enforcement, children in low-income families would bear a cruelly disproportionate share of these proposed cuts.
The legislation would cut food stamps for 225,000 low-income families in which one or more adults is working. (So much for the notion of rewarding people for getting off of welfare.) Another 70,000 legal immigrants would be denied food stamps. Because of these cuts, 40,000 children would lose their eligibility for free school lunches, too.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13116841.htm
The New Zealand Herald
Brownlee outburst shows National 'not fit to govern'
09.11.05 4.00pm
National has shown why it is not fit for Government with its deputy leader Gerry Brownlee's attacks on the Governor-General, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said today.
Mr Brownlee has not backed off his criticism of the Governor-General yesterday, on the day Dame Silvia Cartwright went to Parliament for its State opening.
Mr Brownlee said yesterday he had "lost respect" for the Governor-General and had lost confidence in the process followed to form the new Government.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10354397
Auckland man exposed as millionaire who faked death
10.11.05
By Louisa Cleave and Nzpa
Robert Motzel clearly expected to be back in his Henderson office yesterday.
A message on his work phone recorded on Monday says he is heading to Sydney but will be back about lunchtime on Wednesday.
But instead he flew into a police trap in Sydney that exposed him as Australian millionaire Harry Bentley Gordon, who was believed to have drowned five years ago.
He has been in New Zealand since at least November 2002, and married a New Zealand woman in September. But it was his first wife, Sheila Gordon, who tipped off police that he was living in New Zealand as Robert Motzel.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10354487
Youth gets 10 years for child abuse
10.11.05
By Juliet Rowan
Gang culture was implicated in the "callous, unadulterated' abuse of a 2-year-old boy who almost died after he was bashed about the head and fed dog faeces by a man who yesterday received a 10-year jail sentence for the crime.
Harley Mac Wharewera, 19, stood with his head bowed and his back to the public gallery during the sentencing at the Whakatane District Court, after earlier admitting four charges related to the abuse of the boy for seven weeks this year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10354489
Australian Muslims running scared after arrests
10.11.05
CANBERRA - Fears are growing of a violent backlash against Australia's large Muslim community in the wake of the arrests of 17 terror suspects in Sydney and Melbourne.
While politicians and most newspaper commentators said the arrests had vindicated new anti-terror laws, Muslim leaders backed away from their earlier support for the changes.
Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ameer Ali said the arrests had been made under existing laws with intense media scrutiny, but if the new legislation giving extraordinary powers of detention had been in force, the raids would have been made "in darkness".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10354474
Australian Muslims running scared after arrests
10.11.05
CANBERRA - Fears are growing of a violent backlash against Australia's large Muslim community in the wake of the arrests of 17 terror suspects in Sydney and Melbourne.
While politicians and most newspaper commentators said the arrests had vindicated new anti-terror laws, Muslim leaders backed away from their earlier support for the changes.
Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ameer Ali said the arrests had been made under existing laws with intense media scrutiny, but if the new legislation giving extraordinary powers of detention had been in force, the raids would have been made "in darkness".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10354474
UN fights US over internet's future
10.11.05
By Rupert Cornwell
They are five letters you have probably never heard of: ICANN, acronym for the hitherto obscure Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a public-private, non-profit organisation based in the pleasant Los Angeles suburb of Marina del Rey, and operating under the very loose supervision of the United States Department of Commerce.
But that obscurity is about to end. Since 1998 ICANN has been the nearest thing to a governing body for the internet, regulating domains and protocol numbers, and allocating addresses. The debate over its future now pits the US against most of the rest of the world, and the increasingly bitter argument is set to come to a head at a United Nations conference in Tunis next week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10354409
Bird flu epicentre gets Tamiflu rights
10.11.05
HANOI - Swiss drug-maker Roche has agreed to give Vietnam, the country worst hit by bird flu, the right to make the anti-viral medicine Tamiflu, local reports have said.
So far, 42 of the 64 people killed by the H5N1 strain of the virus have died in Vietnam. Tamiflu can reduce the severity of flu and might slow the spread of a much-feared pandemic should the virus mutate to move easily between humans.
Vietnam has 57 factories capable of producing the drug, thought to be among the best available should H5N1 take hold in humans, and Roche would pick its local partner, the Voice of Vietnam radio said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10354447
'Creationists' lose out
10.11.05
A Pennsylvania school board that promoted the teaching of "intelligent-design" in science class has been voted out in favour of candidates who promised to remove the concept.
The Dover Area School board, the first to introduce the creationist doctrine, lost eight of nine members.
The old board was taken to court by parents who said the religious belief cannot be taught in public schools. A ruling is due in January.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10354446
Cannabis soothes the pain of arthritis
10.11.05
By Jeremy Laurance
Cannabis-based drugs might be used to treat arthritis after a study showed they could relieve its pain.
Cannabis has already been shown to have a role in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Other studies suggest it may help treat gut disorders such as Crohn's disease.
The latest study - the first to examine its effect in rheumatoid arthritis - found it significantly reduced pain and suppressed the disease.
Researchers followed up a survey of 1000 people who had obtained the drug. About 15 per cent said they had done so to relieve the condition.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10354431
Peru seizes cocaine worth US$70m
09.11.05 12.20pm
LIMA, Peru - Peru's anti-drug police have seized two tonnes of cocaine with a US street value of at least US$70 million ($104 million), one of the biggest hauls in recent years in the country, police said.
Police also arrested around eight men, including several Colombians and a Venezuelan, in a warehouse in the northern coastal city of Chiclayo.
A police official who declined to be named said the cocaine was worth at least US$70 million in the United States, "but probably much more, because this is pure cocaine".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10354347
France faces 'moment of truth' - PM
09.11.05 1.00pm
By Timothy Heritage
PARIS - France is wounded and faces a moment of truth, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has said following the country's 12th night of rioting.
The protests, blamed on racism and unemployment in rundown suburbs, receded in the Paris region after shots were fired at police the previous night but continued unabated in other parts of France.
"The Republic faces a moment of truth ... France is wounded. It cannot recognise itself in its streets and devastated areas, in these outbursts of hatred and violence which destroy and kill," Villepin told the lower house of parliament.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10354340
US Congress may probe leaks in CIA prisons story
09.11.05 11.20am
WASHINGTON - Top Republicans in the US Congress are considering an investigation into leaks of information used by The Washington Post in an article on a covert global CIA prison system, congressional sources said yesterday.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois were "contemplating" requesting the investigation and had drafted a letter proposing such a probe, a congressional source said. The source said letters to the intelligence committees had not yet been sent.
The Washington Post reported last week that the CIA has been holding and interrogating al Qaeda captives at a secret facility in Eastern Europe, part of a covert prison system established after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10354346
Israel's Sharon mulls new political party
09.11.05 1.00pm
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon may break away from his rightist Likud and form a new political party after a crisis with hardliners who opposed the Gaza pullout, a television report said today.
The report said national elections, now scheduled for November 2006, could be moved up to April or May after Likud lawmakers still angry at the withdrawal thwarted Sharon's bid on Monday to name two cabinet ministers.
"He cannot work like this," the television's political reporter Ayala Hasson said. "If elections are moved up, Sharon will launch a new party" called My Only Country, she said.
Israel Radio quoted a top aide to Sharon as saying a Likud split would be a "done deal" unless party leaders could rein in the half dozen hardliners known as "the rebels".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10354381
continued ...
The voters strike back
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
GOV. ARNOLD Schwarzenegger can retire his favorite applause line about going direct to the voters if legislators don't do what he wants. While he's at it, he ought to find words other than "losers'' and "stooges" and "girlie men" to describe the legislators he will need to work with to accomplish anything of substance.
As the returns rolled in last night, it was clear that the myth of Schwarzenegger the invincible salesman had encountered a hard dose of reality. The measure that would have most directly shifted the balance of power to the governor -- Proposition 76, which would have endowed him with expanded authority over the budget -- lost resoundingly.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/11/09/EDG9PFKJ161.DTL
Prince, duchess meet with homeless people in Tenderloin
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
The first time Eddie Smith ever got the royal treatment in his life was one year ago, when he moved off the street into San Francisco's finest homeless supportive housing program, kicked heroin and got his head straight. The second time was Tuesday.
That's when the 48-year-old former construction worker sat down with Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and had a little chat about how to help homeless people rise from the gutter.
The royal couple met with Smith and four other ex-street people in a conference room at their home, the Empress Hotel on Eddy Street -- and once pleasantries were exchanged, carried on a half-hour conversation that dug into nitty-gritty issues one might not expect highnesses to be interested in.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/09/BAG8IFKULI16.DTL
THE SPECIAL ELECTION
CALIFORNIANS SAY NO TO SCHWARZENEGGER
ANALYSIS: His next challenge is to rebuild bipartisan support
Carla Marinucci and John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writers
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Los Angeles -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger found his box office appeal and rhetoric as a reformer couldn't convince California voters that his special election initiatives were critical to the state's future.
With about three-quarters of the ballots counted, all four of the Republican governor's measures were headed for defeat.
The resounding defeat of the governor's self-styled reform effort leaves him weakened as he heads into his 2006 re-election campaign and forced to deal with a Democratic majority in the Legislature pumped up by Tuesday's victories.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/09/MNG6IFLAMD1.DTL
SAN FRANCISCO
MEASURES: Voters take stand against guns, recruiting at schools
Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
San Francisco voters took a stand Tuesday against military recruitment on public school campuses, voted to keep firehouses open and approved the nation's toughest ban on handguns by making it illegal for city residents to possess them.
Proposition H, which requires city residents who already own guns to turn them in to police by April 1, was winning 58 percent to 42 percent with 98 percent of precincts counted.
The measure also makes it illegal to buy, sell, distribute and manufacture firearms and ammunition in the city.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/09/BAG9RFKD1C82.DTL
THE SPECIAL ELECTION
PROPOSITIONS
ABORTION: Measure that would require doctors to notify parents of underage girls 48 hours before procedure trails by narrow margin
Greg Lucas, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
California voters were narrowly rejecting a proposed constitutional amendment to require that doctors planning to perform abortions on girls under age 18 notify their parents.
Under Proposition 73, doctors would have to notify parents in writing at least 48 hours before the procedure, except in medical emergencies. Thirty-four other states require that the parents of an underage girl seeking an abortion either be notified or give their consent.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/09/MNG5SFLAI11.DTL
THE SPECIAL ELECTION
CALIFORNIANS SAY NO TO SCHWARZENEGGER
STATE MEASURES: Governor reaches out, doesn't concede
Mark Martin, Carla Marinucci and Lynda Gledhill, Chronicle political writers
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
California voters were rejecting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's special election agenda Tuesday, handing the governor a humbling loss after he gambled on a high-stakes plan to reshape state government.
With more than three-quarters of the votes counted, the four initiatives that Schwarzenegger said were needed to reform California were all losing.
The centerpiece of the governor's agenda, Proposition 76, which would limit state spending, was trailing badly. Proposition 77, which would strip lawmakers of the ability to draw political voting districts; Proposition 74, which would lengthen the time it takes for public school teachers to get tenure; and Proposition 75, aimed at curbing public employee unions' political spending, were also losing.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/09/MNG6IFLAMF1.DTL
BACK TO BALLOT FOR THE BAY AREA
BIG MONEY: Initiative campaigns hugely costly
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
When all is said and done, the amount spent on Tuesday's election in California will easily surpass the more than $241 million that John Kerry spent running for president last year, and could even top the $306 million that President Bush spent to win re-election.
Kerry and Bush, whose 2004 spending totals were compiled by the Center for Responsive Government, had to run in 50 states. Here in California it was all about eight initiatives.
Democratic media adviser
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/09/BAG3JFL3CG1.DTL
Kansas challenges Darwin
Board says students should study doubts on evolution theory
Peter Slevin, Washington Post
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Topeka, Kan. -- The Kansas Board of Education voted Tuesday that students will be expected to study doubts about modern Darwinian theory, a move that defied the nation's scientific establishment and gave voice to religious conservatives and others who question the theory of evolution.
By a 6-4 vote that supporters cheered as a victory for free speech and opponents denounced as shabby politics and worse science, the board said high school students should be told that aspects of widely accepted evolutionary theory are controversial. Among other points, the standards allege a "lack of adequate natural explanations for the genetic code."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/09/MNG6TFL67K1.DTL
A 'Countdown' to big change in network news
Tim Goodman
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
As with most events related to television, the future is already past. The Next Big Thing is invariably something done years ago. A buzz-heavy arrival deemed "fresh" and "innovative" turns out to be old and stolen. It's all a matter of when and how and where you view it.
And so it is that the future of broadcast network news has been hiding out, as it were, for two and half years on -- of all places -- cable. If you want to know what the face of the future looks like -- at least the successful version, not some warmed over Bob Schieffer action or a trio of Triple A prospects on "Nightline," then look no further than this man: Keith Olbermann.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/09/DDGPVFKGI01.DTL
OPINION: Conservatives Give Bush An Earful
Cinnamon Stillwell
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Leftist Bush-bashing is certainly nothing new, but recently the president has been getting an earful from his right flank as well. For some time now, a lively debate has been raging among conservatives over a variety of Bush administration policies and decisions.
For conservatives, criticism of the Bush administration centers not so much on style than on substance. Unlike the left's scattershot attacks, the president's appearance, past habits or religious beliefs are unlikely to figure in the equation. Disagreement exists over the war in Iraq, but conservatives are largely united in the belief that the war on terrorism is the preeminent struggle of our lifetime. Instead, contentiousness tends to center on domestic and security issues on which the administration seems inconsistent.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/10/26/cstillwell.DTL
The Australian
Bali bomber Azahari dead
Sian Powell, Jakarta correspondent
November 10, 2005
THE most feared terrorist in Asia, Azahari bin Husin, the man responsible for the two Bali bombings and an attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta, has blown himself up after being cornered by police in East Java.
Police said it appeared Azahari, Indonesia's most wanted man, had died during a police raid in the city of Malang yesterday afternoon.
Indonesia's elite anti-terror squad Detachment 88 tracked Azahari down after months of surveillance. It is understood one of the master bomb-maker's acolytes inadvertently led police to the hideout. Police have hunted the elusive Malaysian militant since the 2002 Bali blasts, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17197786%255E601,00.html
Bank quits $300m defence HQ over breach
Steve Lewis, Chief political reporter
November 10, 2005
MACQUARIE Bank has stepped down as commercial adviser on the $300 million new headquarters for the Defence Department after a serious security breach that could damage the reputation of the nation's biggest investment bank in Canberra.
The sudden withdrawal comes at the worst possible time for the bank, with Macquarie considered one of the frontrunners to help sell the Government's 51.8per cent stake in Telstra, an appointment that would generate tens of millions of dollars in fees.
The Australian has learned that Macquarie Bank staff breached confidentiality agreements, distributing commercial-in-confidence material to other bank employees who had not received Defence clearance.
Some of the internal bank emails were sent by mistake to Defence personnel, who blew the whistle on Macquarie's breach.
Defence ordered the bank to conduct an internal inquiry to ensure the breach was contained.
Macquarie's decision to resign is another setback for the plan to build a new Defence headquarters just outside Canberra in the Liberal-held seat of Eden Monaro. One of the first big commonwealth projects to be based on a public-private partnership, it has been plagued by controversy since it was announced just before the 2001 election. There are reports that one, or possibly two, of the three consortiums bidding to build the project could soon pull out of the process.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17196707%255E601,00.html
Curfew fails to prevent riots sweeping France
Emma-Kate Symons, Paris
November 10, 2005
FRANCE'S unprecedented mainland curfew has failed to deter the rampaging gangs intent on burning cars, schools and businesses across Paris and the provinces.
Early police figures put the number of cars burned during the 13th night of violence at 558, with more than 200 arrests. This was a significant reduction on the previous night's violence, but far from the immediate restoration of order demanded by French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17196389%255E601,00.html
Aboriginal elders 'routinely abused'
Amanda Banks
November 10, 2005
ABORIGINAL elders are being abused in their own communities - blatantly harassed for their money on pension days, physically and sexually assaulted, robbed and neglected.
The indigenous elders often tolerated the abuse, fearing they would lose their children and grandchildren to authorities and "welfare" in yet another legacy of the stolen generation.
A report by the West Australian Public Advocate, the first of its kind in the nation, has found financial abuse is the most common type of abuse against Aboriginal elders.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17196380%255E2702,00.html
Rival Chinese fans at Palace gates
November 10, 2005
LONDON: China pulled off a brilliant piece of political theatre by packing London's showcase Mall with thousands of pro-Beijing supporters in an attempt to silence hundreds of noisy demonstrators protesting against the arrival of President Hu Jintao.
With the British hosts looking on bemused, the ceremonial pomp of the state visit - complete with an honour guard, cavalry escort and a 21-gun salute - was eclipsed by the cheers and jeers of the flag-waving crowds.
At times the atmosphere resembled a football match
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17193304%255E2703,00.html
Pakistan lost 2500 soldiers in quake
Rahul Bedi, New Delhi
November 09, 2005
THE Pakistani Army took serious hits in last month's earthquake, losing about 2500 soldiers, including at least three brigadiers, 15 battalion commanders and a large number of junior officers.
Military intelligence sources in New Delhi said that along with the loss of officers and men, the Pakistani Army also sustained serious damage to its infrastructure across Kashmir in the October 8 quake. The overall death toll from the catastrophe jumped to 87,350 yesterday. Pakistan's official toll rose by 13,000 - from 73,000 to 86,000 - following a broad assessment headed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, working with local provincial governments and aid agencies. India has reported 1350 deaths in its portion of Kashmir.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17186452%255E2703,00.html
Swamped by debt, Venice up for sale
November 09, 2005
ROME: For sale: 13 Renaissance-era palazzi and other historic buildings in the heart of Venice.
The vendor? The Venetian city council, which is practically broke and hopes to raise hundreds of millions of euros from the auction.
It is hard to believe that Venice, which receives 15 million visitors a year, could be so hard up, but Massimo Cacciari, the Mayor, acknowledged: "We haven't got a cent."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17186253%255E2703,00.html
Aceh moves on housing crisis
Sian Powell, Banda Aceh
November 08, 2005
AFTER 10 months struggling to provide permanent housing for Aceh's massive homeless population, the authorities in Indonesia's westernmost province have finally turned to a temporary solution - a kit house first developed in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam.
The Boxing Day tsunami that wrecked much of the coastline of Aceh left more than half a million people homeless. Despite a huge outpouring of aid, about 70,000 of the dispossessed still live in tents and squalid shacks, and 100,000 in barracks that are often in an appalling state.
A further 250,000 are staying with friends or relatives. Only about 2000 permanent houses have been built since the aid effort began -- an unacceptable total, according to experts.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17173874%255E2703,00.html
Hariri investigator to grill Syrian officers
November 07, 2005
BEIRUT: The chief UN investigator into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri has summonsed six senior Syrian intelligence officers, including President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law, for questioning.
Detlev Mehlis, armed with new powers from the UN Security Council, sent the summons to the Syrian Government via the UN on Wednesday, a Lebanese official close to the investigation said yesterday.
"Mr Mehlis has sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan demanding to question at least six Syrian officials," the official said, on condition of anonymity. There was no immediate Syrian comment.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17160954%255E2703,00.html
Oil-for-food engulfs India
November 07, 2005
NEW DELHI: India's Prime Minister indicated yesterday he would order an inquiry into allegations that the Foreign Minister and ruling Congress party benefited from deals linked to the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq.
A retired judge was likely to examine details of a report by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, The Hindustan Times said.
The report said Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and Congress were among beneficiaries across the world allowed to buy Iraqi oil at below market rates in return for kickbacks to the regime of Saddam Hussein.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17160962%255E2703,00.html
Wheels grind for tsunami victims
Many months after the Boxing Day disaster, families are still stuck in tent cities, writes Jakarta correspondent Sian Powell in Mon Ikeun, Aceh
November 07, 2005
IT is damp, crowded and hot - a tatty canvas tent surrounded by mud and puddles and home to four adult Acehnese sisters and two children. More than 10 months after the devastating Boxing Day tsunami killed her husband and her first child, 30-year-old Agustini and her sisters still live under canvas in the crowded tent village of Mon Ikeun, west of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
Agustini was pregnant when the giant waves flattened her house. Her four-month-old son has never known his father, nor a house with a roof. The tragedy swamped Agustini's entire family. Her mother drowned, and her elder sister Lindawati lost her husband and her child.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17160989%255E2703,00.html
Philadelphia Inquirer
Corzine sweeps in
New Jersey Democrat runs strong even in GOP areas
By Tom Turcol
Inquirer Staff Writer
A political unknown only five years ago, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine captured the governor's office in New Jersey yesterday with a lopsided victory over Republican Douglas Forrester.
The resounding win keeps the Democrats in total control in Trenton and boosts Corzine's political star power.
Despite Forrester's relentlessly hard-edged campaign, Corzine's surprisingly broad mandate included impressive showings even in traditionally GOP areas, including Burlington and Atlantic Counties.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13116823.htm
Riots strike deep at a French ideal
"The myth of national homogeneity."
By Ken Dilanian
Inquirer Staff Writer
PARIS - Last year, a French sociologist answered 258 help-wanted ads for salespeople by sending nearly 2,000 fictitious resumes with identical qualifications, and photos attached, as is the custom here.
Faring poorly, among others, were members of France's most disadvantaged minority group - Arab Muslims.
White males with French names received an invitation to interview at a rate of 30 percent, compared with just 5 percent for people with Arab names.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13116824.htm
Owens apologizes to just about everyone
By Bob Brookover
Inquirer Staff Writer
The setting once again was Terrell Owens' in-season Moorestown home, the upscale, up-for-sale residence he made infamous this summer with an absurd driveway exercise routine in front of television cameras, reporters, fans and neighbors after being exiled from training camp by Eagles coach Andy Reid.
This time, which is sure to be the final time, T.O. asked for a media audience so he could say he was sorry. In the process, he and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, begged for one more chance with the Eagles, a 180-degree turn from where things were eight months ago when Owens went public with his demand for a new contract.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13116814.htm
A mix of oil, politics, profit in the Senate
Executives will explain how five firms made $356 million a day in 3d quarter.
By Kevin G. Hall
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - The stakes couldn't be higher for captains of the oil industry when they appear before a joint hearing of two U.S. Senate committees today to answer questions about the highest quarterly corporate profit ever.
One question sure to get their attention: Why shouldn't Congress impose a windfall-profits tax on them?
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13116801.htm
Children and the poor unfairly targeted
It would have been difficult for budget-cutters in Congress to devise a plan to punish poor children more severely if they had set out with that goal in mind.
House Republican leaders are pushing for a vote tomorrow on a $54 billion deficit-reduction plan. From food stamps to health care to child-support enforcement, children in low-income families would bear a cruelly disproportionate share of these proposed cuts.
The legislation would cut food stamps for 225,000 low-income families in which one or more adults is working. (So much for the notion of rewarding people for getting off of welfare.) Another 70,000 legal immigrants would be denied food stamps. Because of these cuts, 40,000 children would lose their eligibility for free school lunches, too.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13116841.htm
The New Zealand Herald
Brownlee outburst shows National 'not fit to govern'
09.11.05 4.00pm
National has shown why it is not fit for Government with its deputy leader Gerry Brownlee's attacks on the Governor-General, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said today.
Mr Brownlee has not backed off his criticism of the Governor-General yesterday, on the day Dame Silvia Cartwright went to Parliament for its State opening.
Mr Brownlee said yesterday he had "lost respect" for the Governor-General and had lost confidence in the process followed to form the new Government.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10354397
Auckland man exposed as millionaire who faked death
10.11.05
By Louisa Cleave and Nzpa
Robert Motzel clearly expected to be back in his Henderson office yesterday.
A message on his work phone recorded on Monday says he is heading to Sydney but will be back about lunchtime on Wednesday.
But instead he flew into a police trap in Sydney that exposed him as Australian millionaire Harry Bentley Gordon, who was believed to have drowned five years ago.
He has been in New Zealand since at least November 2002, and married a New Zealand woman in September. But it was his first wife, Sheila Gordon, who tipped off police that he was living in New Zealand as Robert Motzel.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10354487
Youth gets 10 years for child abuse
10.11.05
By Juliet Rowan
Gang culture was implicated in the "callous, unadulterated' abuse of a 2-year-old boy who almost died after he was bashed about the head and fed dog faeces by a man who yesterday received a 10-year jail sentence for the crime.
Harley Mac Wharewera, 19, stood with his head bowed and his back to the public gallery during the sentencing at the Whakatane District Court, after earlier admitting four charges related to the abuse of the boy for seven weeks this year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10354489
Australian Muslims running scared after arrests
10.11.05
CANBERRA - Fears are growing of a violent backlash against Australia's large Muslim community in the wake of the arrests of 17 terror suspects in Sydney and Melbourne.
While politicians and most newspaper commentators said the arrests had vindicated new anti-terror laws, Muslim leaders backed away from their earlier support for the changes.
Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ameer Ali said the arrests had been made under existing laws with intense media scrutiny, but if the new legislation giving extraordinary powers of detention had been in force, the raids would have been made "in darkness".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10354474
Australian Muslims running scared after arrests
10.11.05
CANBERRA - Fears are growing of a violent backlash against Australia's large Muslim community in the wake of the arrests of 17 terror suspects in Sydney and Melbourne.
While politicians and most newspaper commentators said the arrests had vindicated new anti-terror laws, Muslim leaders backed away from their earlier support for the changes.
Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ameer Ali said the arrests had been made under existing laws with intense media scrutiny, but if the new legislation giving extraordinary powers of detention had been in force, the raids would have been made "in darkness".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10354474
UN fights US over internet's future
10.11.05
By Rupert Cornwell
They are five letters you have probably never heard of: ICANN, acronym for the hitherto obscure Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a public-private, non-profit organisation based in the pleasant Los Angeles suburb of Marina del Rey, and operating under the very loose supervision of the United States Department of Commerce.
But that obscurity is about to end. Since 1998 ICANN has been the nearest thing to a governing body for the internet, regulating domains and protocol numbers, and allocating addresses. The debate over its future now pits the US against most of the rest of the world, and the increasingly bitter argument is set to come to a head at a United Nations conference in Tunis next week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10354409
Bird flu epicentre gets Tamiflu rights
10.11.05
HANOI - Swiss drug-maker Roche has agreed to give Vietnam, the country worst hit by bird flu, the right to make the anti-viral medicine Tamiflu, local reports have said.
So far, 42 of the 64 people killed by the H5N1 strain of the virus have died in Vietnam. Tamiflu can reduce the severity of flu and might slow the spread of a much-feared pandemic should the virus mutate to move easily between humans.
Vietnam has 57 factories capable of producing the drug, thought to be among the best available should H5N1 take hold in humans, and Roche would pick its local partner, the Voice of Vietnam radio said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10354447
'Creationists' lose out
10.11.05
A Pennsylvania school board that promoted the teaching of "intelligent-design" in science class has been voted out in favour of candidates who promised to remove the concept.
The Dover Area School board, the first to introduce the creationist doctrine, lost eight of nine members.
The old board was taken to court by parents who said the religious belief cannot be taught in public schools. A ruling is due in January.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10354446
Cannabis soothes the pain of arthritis
10.11.05
By Jeremy Laurance
Cannabis-based drugs might be used to treat arthritis after a study showed they could relieve its pain.
Cannabis has already been shown to have a role in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Other studies suggest it may help treat gut disorders such as Crohn's disease.
The latest study - the first to examine its effect in rheumatoid arthritis - found it significantly reduced pain and suppressed the disease.
Researchers followed up a survey of 1000 people who had obtained the drug. About 15 per cent said they had done so to relieve the condition.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10354431
Peru seizes cocaine worth US$70m
09.11.05 12.20pm
LIMA, Peru - Peru's anti-drug police have seized two tonnes of cocaine with a US street value of at least US$70 million ($104 million), one of the biggest hauls in recent years in the country, police said.
Police also arrested around eight men, including several Colombians and a Venezuelan, in a warehouse in the northern coastal city of Chiclayo.
A police official who declined to be named said the cocaine was worth at least US$70 million in the United States, "but probably much more, because this is pure cocaine".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10354347
France faces 'moment of truth' - PM
09.11.05 1.00pm
By Timothy Heritage
PARIS - France is wounded and faces a moment of truth, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has said following the country's 12th night of rioting.
The protests, blamed on racism and unemployment in rundown suburbs, receded in the Paris region after shots were fired at police the previous night but continued unabated in other parts of France.
"The Republic faces a moment of truth ... France is wounded. It cannot recognise itself in its streets and devastated areas, in these outbursts of hatred and violence which destroy and kill," Villepin told the lower house of parliament.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10354340
US Congress may probe leaks in CIA prisons story
09.11.05 11.20am
WASHINGTON - Top Republicans in the US Congress are considering an investigation into leaks of information used by The Washington Post in an article on a covert global CIA prison system, congressional sources said yesterday.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois were "contemplating" requesting the investigation and had drafted a letter proposing such a probe, a congressional source said. The source said letters to the intelligence committees had not yet been sent.
The Washington Post reported last week that the CIA has been holding and interrogating al Qaeda captives at a secret facility in Eastern Europe, part of a covert prison system established after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10354346
Israel's Sharon mulls new political party
09.11.05 1.00pm
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon may break away from his rightist Likud and form a new political party after a crisis with hardliners who opposed the Gaza pullout, a television report said today.
The report said national elections, now scheduled for November 2006, could be moved up to April or May after Likud lawmakers still angry at the withdrawal thwarted Sharon's bid on Monday to name two cabinet ministers.
"He cannot work like this," the television's political reporter Ayala Hasson said. "If elections are moved up, Sharon will launch a new party" called My Only Country, she said.
Israel Radio quoted a top aide to Sharon as saying a Likud split would be a "done deal" unless party leaders could rein in the half dozen hardliners known as "the rebels".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10354381
continued ...
August 18, 2005.
Saginaw, Michigan.
This is an outrage. This blue color on the sheep is an antiseptic used to help treat the wounds. This is an outrage. Who let those dogs loose to find a pen of animals and then kill them. What if children were around? What then? Pit Bulls are a problem and I hope the owners were held responsible for the damages they caused, but, some very beloved animals have been killed and all the others traumatized. This poor sheep could not be more upset and terrified huddling against a wall after seeing three animals killed and her chased, no doubt. It's completely horrible. This sheep is now supposed to be herself and bleet and flick it's tail happily when children come to see her. I bet she doesn't even have an appetite.
Morning Papers - concluding
Zoos
Pit bulls kill three animals at kids' zoo
One of the dogs is shot dead after the facility loses goats and rooster; nine other animals hurt.
Associated Press
Comment on this storySend this story to a friendGet Home Delivery
SAGINAW -- Three children's zoo animals are dead and nine others injured after a pair of pit bulls burrowed under a fence and attacked goats, sheep, cattle and roosters.
Two goats and a rooster were killed in the petting area of the Children's Zoo at Celebration Square. The dogs got into the zoo sometime before 6:30 a.m. Monday.
"It is a sad day at the zoo," director Nancy J. Parker said.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0508/18/B07-284582.htm
White alligator at World Zoo a 1st in Arizona
Rachel StultsNorthwest Valley RepublicNov. 9, 2005 12:00 AM
Carrie Beletz took a step forward as a 4½-foot white alligator approached her through
mucky water. But this sixth-grader was not afraid.
Instead, Carrie, a student at Sahuaro Elementary School in Phoenix, pressed her face to
the glass at Wildlife World Zoo to get a better look at a creature she had never seen
before.
"That's cool," she said. "But I wouldn't want to feed it." advertisement http://www.azcentral.com/community/westvalley/articles/1109swv-alligator05Z1.html
Zoo Elephants Enjoy Pumpkin Treat
UPDATED - Tuesday November 08, 2005 12:34pm eVideo: Zoo Elephants Enjoy Pumpkin Treat
Washington D.C. (AP) - Children visiting the National Zoo are getting a post-Halloween
treat, and so are the elephants.
Zookeepers gave the elephants pumpkins Tuesday as part of the annual Pumpkin Stomp.
Kandula was the first elephant to discover a beach ball sized pumpkin, which he kicked
like a soccer ball before smashing and eating it.
Zoo nutritionist Mark Edwards says the pumpkins are a good source of beta-carotene and
fiber.
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1105/275847.html
Clinch Zoo to close Commission is unanimous in its decision
By VANESSA McCRAYRecord-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - The zoo is on the move. City commissioners unanimously cemented a decision Monday night to close the
downtown Clinch Park Zoo to the public by Labor Day 2007. At the same meeting, a
citizen-led group called Citizens for a Wildlife Education Center announced it has begun
planning for a new facility in a new location. The vote to close the zoo caps years of divided opinion on whether to shutter the
bayfront attraction that opened at its present site in 1956. "Even though we are talking about moving, we should end up with an even better
zoo," city commissioner Anne Melichar said.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/nov/08zoo.htm
Kanpur Zoo awaits migratory birds' arrival
Kanpur November 08, 2005 5:40:45 PM IST
After a long gap, Kanpur Zoo is once again ready to welcome the seasonal guests in
migratory birds by the month end.Talking to UNI today, Zoo Director Hemanth Kumar claimed the authorities had been making great efforts to make the Zoo lake water clean and eco-friendly for foreign visitors.
He said, last year very few birds came here as they did not get eco-friendly atmoshphere
including clean water, food and safety.
''This year, a lake containing clean water has been constructed from the funds provided
by the Rajkiya Nirman Nigam.'' About 10,000 fisherlings (small fishes) have been put in
the lake to attract the migratory birds. Besides a number of fruit bearing trees have
been planted for the birds.
Mr Kumar claimed the lake spread over 17 hectares had already attracted migratory bird
including leaser whistling teal, painted storks, grey heron, pond heron, night heron,
snake birds, egret, carmorant, moorhen and wagetail.
Birds such as bar-heated goos, open bill stork, brahminy duck, spoonbill, and kingfisher
would probably be coming by month end.
He said a survey last year by the Asian Waterfall Census under the Mumbai Natural
History Society pointed out that 85 painted storks had visited the Kanpur Zoo. ''But,
this year more than 150 painted stork are expected to arrive here,'' he added.
About Mogo Zoo
Wednesday, 9 November 2005
Privately owned, Mogo Zoo is committed to the survival of endangered animals and
provides for over 100 animals 35 of which are rare and exotic species. They are also
actively involved in many global breeding programs. Mogo Zoo evolved when Bill and Sally Padey along with their small collection of buffalo,
pheasants, peacocks, deer and kangaroo, began to welcome visitors to the then named
Somerset Wildlife Sanctuary over 14 years ago. Their dream was to develop their
sanctuary into an animal park that contributed to the conservation of threatened
species. Bill and Sally's studies in husbandry and the management of carnivores and
primates at Sydney's Taronga Zoo eventually led to them obtaining other zoo's surplus
animals. Today Mogo Zoo is the home of many wonderful animals from around the world
including African lions, alligators, Bengal tigers, giraffes, jaguars, snow leopards,
Sumatran tigers, Syrian brown bears, water buffalo, white lions and zebras.
Open daily
Mogo Zoo is open 9am to 5pm daily and closed on Christmas Day only.
Feeding time is daily at 10.30am and 1.30pm.
Admission fees are adults $16.50; children $9; seniors $12; family (two adults and two
children) $45, extra children $5.
Enter now and win a family pass to Mogo Zoo valued at $45
To celebrate the birth of Mogo Zoo's African Serval kitten the Narooma News, in
conjunction with Mogo Zoo, has four free family passes to Mogo Zoo, valued at $45, to
giveaway to readers.
To be eligible to win, all you have to do is write your name, address and phone number
on the back of an envelope and send it to the Mogo Zoo Giveaway, Narooma News, Shop 2,
Midtown Arcade, Narooma 2546.
This week's lucky winner
The competition now moves into its second week, and a winner is announced each week in
the Narooma News, with the final winner announced on Wednesday, November 30.
This week's lucky winner is Cody Bond, of Narooma.
Zoo Donors Get Sneak Peek At Panda
(CBS/AP) In Washington, it's not who you know or who you are so much as how much money
you gave to the right causes.
At least, if you want to get a glimpse of the National Zoo's panda cub Tai Shan
(pronounced "ty shawn").
The zoo has distributed some 600 timed entry tickets to members of the its booster
organization, Friends of the National Zoo, and ticket holders were starting to view the
cub on Monday.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/07/entertainment/main1018453.shtml
Newborn squirrel monkey, mother doing well at zoo
The Arizona RepublicNov. 8, 2005 12:00 AM
PHOENIX -The Phoenix Zoo's Monkey Village has a new resident.
A squirrel monkey born last week is now on display in the walk-through village. The
gender of the baby is not yet known, but zoo officials report that it looks healthy and
is being well cared for by its mother.
The baby monkey is the third born in the zoo's newest exhibit, which opened in late 2004
and is unique in that it offers zoogoers a chance to get up close and personal with the
monkeys as they walk through nearly 10,000 square feet of enclosed space where the
animals roam free. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1108phxmonkey08.html
Zoo Has New Leadership
They've been searching since January. But now officials at the Great Plains Zoo have
found someone to replace the retiring president, Ed Asper. Elizabeth Whealy grew up in
Colton. She attended South Dakota State University and eventually made her way to Alaska
to work as CEO of the Alaska Raptor Center. But now she's returned to KELOLAND to serve
as the Great Plains Zoo's newest president.
There's a new king of the jungle at the Great Plains Zoo. But this one's of the human
variety. And she's got big ideas about how to get the zoo back in shape.
http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail5440.cfm?Id=0,43767
Elephant naming contest at the Zoo
Let the voting begin! The 3-week-old African elephant calf born at Tampa’s Lowry Park
Zoo needs a name, and starting today, the public is invited to visit the zoo’s website
at http://www.lowryparkzoo.com/ and vote for their favorite.
The zoo invited schools in a 7-county area of Greater Tampa Bay to submit names for
consideration. The zoo challenged classrooms to select an African name with a special
meaning. Hundreds of schools participated, proposing nearly 600 names over a two-week
period. From those, a team of zoo staffers reviewed each entry and selected five names
to be posted online for a public vote.
http://www.tampabays10.com/aroundthebay/aroundthebay_article.aspx?storyid=20863
‘Jungle Jack’ goes on NEW Zoo safari
Animal expert Hanna visits area for tour, fund-raiser By Terry Andersontanderso@greenbaypressgazette.com
SUAMICO — Jack Hanna doesn’t preach conservation solely for the sake of animals. Rather,
he is convinced that conserving wildlife is essential for humankind.
Touring Brown County’s NEW Zoo on Monday, before an appearance at the Rock Garden/
Comfort Suites in Howard as a fund-raiser for the NEW Zoological Society, “Jungle Jack”
said his trips around the globe have convinced him that when the natural world is
diminished, so is the standing of the people living in that place.
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/local_23301489.shtml
Zoo Director Sets 10-Year Goal Sunday
November 06, 2005 10:40am Washington (AP) - A month after taking charge at the National Zoo, the new director is
determined to move the zoo past its problems from the past.
Zoo director John Berry says he's made it clear to the staff that they're working to
become the best zoo in the world within the next ten years. Berry says that he's gotten
a good reaction from the zoo staff.
Management problems and a number of animal deaths at the zoo sparked scrutiny from
Congress and an investigation by the National Academies' National Research Council.
Berry started as director October first after a search process that lasted more than a
year. He says he visited the zoo as a child and still finds it an inspiring place.
Next month the zoo's giant panda cub is expected to go on display, and Berry says
they're expecting large crowds for the new attraction.
'The Zoo' wins People's Choice Award Again
Monday, 7 November 2005, 3:07 pm
Press Release: Auckland City Council 7 November 2005'The Zoo' wins People's Choice Award fifth year running
'The Zoo' television series has once again been voted 'Best Reality Documentary'
programme in The TV Guide's People's Choice Awards.
This is the fifth year the show has won the accolade, which is one of the Guide's 'Best
on the Box People's Choice Awards'. Auckland-based Greenstone Pictures produces the
family/factual series, which is now in its seventh year.
"It's a fantastic effort from both Greenstone Pictures and all the keepers involved, and
marvellous to know that New Zealanders love it so much," says Auckland Zoo Director,
Glen Holland.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0511/S00047.htm
Art for tiger's sake at zoo
07nov05
PAINTING'S hard yakka for a tiger.
That's the message Ramalon, one of the Melbourne Zoo's sumatran tigers, seems to be
giving carnivore keeper Sam Cooper. The zoo's two tiger stars -- Ramalon and Binjai -- have just started painting classes as
part of a push to give the zoo's animals new and interesting challenges.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17158656^2862,00.html
Micke Grove Zoo faces big challenges
Alex Breitler Record Staff Writer Published Sunday, Nov 6, 2005
LODI -- The county-run Micke Grove Zoo suffers from a lack of funding and staff, and
consideration should be given to making it a privately run operation, according to an
accreditation report released Friday.
The zoo's effort to renew its accreditation was suspended earlier this year by the
American Zoo and Aquarium Association. The watchdog group analyzed more than 200 facets
of zoo management and found four "unacceptable" and 33 "questionable" conditions and
practices at Micke Grove.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051106/NEWS0102/511060325
State zoos aid cleanup effort at Naples siteOfficials target Thanksgiving reopening
By Andrea Stetsonspecial To The News-press
Originally posted on November 05, 2005
ANDREA STETSON/Special to news-press.com
Ernie Estrada, senior animal care specialist from Busch Gardens, helps remove fallen
trees at the Naples Zoo.
HOW TO HELP• What: To volunteer to help clean up the zoo• How: Contact: Douglas Rickenbach, volunteer coordinator• Where: 239-262-5409 ext. 127 or e-mail douglas@napleszoo.com
To give: Tax-deductible donations are being accepted at http://www.napleszoo.com/ payable to Naples Zoo, 1590 Goodlette-Frank Road, Naples FL 34102
A week after Hurricane Wilma tore through the Naples Zoo, huge trees still need to be
chopped up and removed and animal enclosures still need to be repaired. Still it's a lot
better than a week ago, when zoo officials couldn't even get down the paths that lead
around the zoo.
Zoo director David Tetzlaff said the zoo won't open until Thanksgiving. This is the
longest the zoo has been closed since it first opened in 1969. The zoo closed for a week
in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew and four days last year after Hurricane Charley. But this
closing will be for about a month.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051105/NEWS0102/511050445/1075
Federal inspectors say zoo mishandled baby elephant that died
SYRACUSE, N.Y. Federal inspectors say the Rosamond Gifford Zoo improperly handled a baby
elephant that died in August and should pay more than 10-thousand dollars in civil
penalties.
Zoo Director Anne Baker told the Syracuse Post-Standard she was stunned that the
proposed penalties cite the zoo for failing to have a barrier to keep four-day-old Kedar
from falling into a swimming pool.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=4078404&nav=4QcS
Zoo Sees Increase in Donations with Panda Birth
Updated: Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005 - 10:56 AM
WASHINGTON - The popularity of the National Zoo's giant panda cub has led to an spike in
donations through the zoo's Adopt-a-Species program. Participation in the program has grown from 691 in 2003 to more than 1,100 this year.
Donations range from $40 to $1,000.
Those donations account for about $82,000 of the zoo's nearly $18 million annual budget.
The zoo uses the extra money for animal care and research work.
Dawn Rogers tells The Washington Post she contributed to the program as a gift to her
teenage children who have been closely tracking the panda's progress.
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=613652
What to do with our zoo?Add your voice to debate about its future.
By REGISTER EDITORIAL BOARD
November 5, 2005
The Madagascar hissing cockroaches were resting. The giraffes were put away for the
winter. The flamingos were huddled in a group, and the northern lynx was eyeing the few
Homo sapiens visiting Des Moines' Blank Park Zoo on Wednesday afternoon.
Zoo officials are considering ways to transform the zoo into a larger entertainment
attraction, and they're asking for public input. What did some of Wednesday's visitors
say they wanted in their zoo?
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article
Students bearing up under duties at zoo
Program puts them behind the scenes
Zenas House-Wilson, an eighth-grader at Wildwood Environmental Academy, feeds Mystic,
the zoo's Arctic fox.
By IGNAZIO MESSINABLADE STAFF WRITER
Rebecca Maniak started her day yesterday with a kick.
Too bad it was from an alpaca trying to get more food from her hands.
"When I was feeding Amigo, that's the alpaca, he kicked me," Rebecca, 13, said. "Not
enough to break anything, but I'll have to look and see if I get a bruise."
The eighth-grader is in a group of Wildwood Environmental Academy students who visit the
Toledo Zoo once a week for behind-the-scenes and hands-on experience.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051105/NEWS17/511050391
Vandalur Zoo gets new inmates
Search for More News Chennai, Nov 5: The suburban Vandalur zoo has acquired new inmates.
Two pairs of chimpanzees and a pair of South American jaguars were among the animals
that the Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur acquired recently from Singapore Zoo
Authority in an exchange programme, zoo director K P M Perumal said today.
Besides chimpanzees and jaguars, the zoo had also obtained a wolf, a female American
alligator in exchange for two barking and spotted deer, besides a pair of Indian rock
pythons, he told reporters here.
http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7B9C26FDC3-DC91-4726-8CEA-15239EEA36CE%7D&CATEGORYNAME=Chennai
Zona Zoo policies revamped
By Zach ColickArizona Daily WildcatSeptember 8, 2005 Print this
If students want to sit on the sidelines at Saturday's game, they had better have a Zona
Zoo pass, after ASUA spirit leaders
revamped the ticket policy because passes sold like hotcakes.
More than 7,000 Zona Zoo passes have been sold since the first two weeks of school, in
comparison to the 9,522 passes sold in 2004, said Amber Harryman, Associated Students of
the University of Arizona spirit director.
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/98/173/01_2.html
Zoo, botanical garden unite to save frogs from fungus
By TOM SABULISPublished on: 09/09/05
Atlanta is fast becoming an E.R. for the frog world as researchers from two local institutions try to halt a mysterious and deadly fungus threatening to send all amphibians the way of the dinosaurs.
For the last few months, curators from Zoo Atlanta and the Atanta Botanical Garden have been flying to Panama — ground zero for their research — and carrying back as many frogs as possible, transported in little black roller bags outfitted with Tupperware tubes.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/living/0905/09frogs.html
Artists to zoo keepers get to work on new A-level resources
More than 30 employers, from sectors as diverse as architecture, engineering, film production and healthcare, have collaborated on the production of a new multimedia resource to help teachers with new A-level subjects being introduced this month.The CD-ROM, produced by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA), is part of its support services to teachers in schools and colleges.
http://www.ngfl.gov.uk/news.jsp?sec=5&cat=99&res=88302
Baby Giant Anteater On Display At St. Louis Zoo
There is a new bouncing bundle of joy at the world-famous St. Louis Zoo.
"Zsa Zsa" the baby giant anteater was born July 8th at the zoo.
She's the first female anteater born at the zoo.
She was named by ZZ-Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, who was in St. Louis earlier this year.
Her full name is "Zsa Zsa Top."
She will stay with her mother in the River's Edge exhibit for up to two years, and will grow to more than fifty inches long.
Plague and primates at human zoo
Debra J. Saunders
Thursday, September 1, 2005
THE "Human Zoo," a four-day exhibit last week at the London Zoo, was designed, zoo spokeswoman Polly Wills told the Associated Press, to get the public to see "people in a different environment, among other animals" and teach "that the human is just another primate."
Bunk. If the human were just another primate, other primates -- like monkeys -- would make zoos. Ditto gorillas. Fact is, humans are the only primates that create zoos, which means humans are not just another primate.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/01/EDGLIEFLNK1.DTL
Detroit Zoo Polar Bear Cub Loves to Swim!
Thursday September 1, 10:36 am ET Swim lessons now every morning at the Arctic Ring of Life
ROYAL OAK, Mich., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The newest member of the Arctic Ring of Life, the polar bear cub Talini, is so excited about swimming that the Zoo has increased her time in the exhibit's large pool. Accompanied by her mother, Barle, the cub is now spending time every day from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. practicing her swimming, after which she can be seen in the grassy tundra portion of the exhibit.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050901/deth017.html?.v=20
Former San Diego Zoo panda gives birth to two cubs in China
BEIJING An American-born panda has given birth to a pair of cubs in southwest China.
One of Hua Mei's (hwa mayz) cub is male, but the second has been with its mother so the gender is unknown.
Six-year-old Hua Mei is the first surviving panda to have been born in the United States. She moved from the San Diego Zoo to China in February 2004 under an agreement between the two countries.
http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=3794422
KC Zoo patrons can peek at lion cubs
Four lion cubs at the Kansas City Zoo can be viewed beginning today through a fence opening into their behind-the-scenes nursery.
The cubs, born June 28, will be introduced to the lion exhibit in late September or early October. The three males and one female recently began eating meat but still are nursing from their mother.
They weighed 10 to 12 pounds in mid-August and will grow to 300 to 400 pounds.
Plague and primates at human zooDebra J. Saunders
Thursday, September 1, 2005
THE "Human Zoo," a four-day exhibit last week at the London Zoo, was designed, zoo spokeswoman Polly Wills told the Associated Press, to get the public to see "people in a different environment, among other animals" and teach "that the human is just another primate."
Bunk. If the human were just another primate, other primates -- like monkeys -- would make zoos. Ditto gorillas. Fact is, humans are the only primates that create zoos, which means humans are not just another primate.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/01/EDGLIEFLNK1.DTL
Detroit Zoo Polar Bear Cub Loves to Swim!
Thursday September 1, 10:36 am ET Swim lessons now every morning at the Arctic Ring of Life
ROYAL OAK, Mich., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The newest member of the Arctic Ring of Life, the polar bear cub Talini, is so excited about swimming that the Zoo has increased her time in the exhibit's large pool. Accompanied by her mother, Barle, the cub is now spending time every day from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. practicing her swimming, after which she can be seen in the grassy tundra portion of the exhibit.ADVERTISEMENT The cub was introduced to the large, 300,000 gallon chilled saltwater pool in the Ice Pack portion of the exhibit last week. Since then, she has made great progress in her swimming abilities and strength.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050901/deth017.html?.v=20
New gorilla's ready for monkey business
By Jim KnippenbergEnquirer staff writer
The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden is about to get back into the business of breeding gorillas, thanks to the arrival of Jomo, a 14-year-old, 400-pound silverback on loan from the Toronto Zoo.
He'll meet the media today at a 10 a.m. press conference in the zoo's Gorilla World, then meet his quintet of bachelorettes - Samantha, Madge, Muke, Mlinzi and Kweli, all proven breeders with 19 offspring among them.
The zoo's gorilla breeding program, once the most successful in the United States with 47 births in 28 years, has been stalled since 1998 because Colossus, the zoo's only male, has shown no interest. Still, it ranks third worldwide behind zoos in London and Chicago.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050901/NEWS01/509010408
City zoo celebrates new arrivals
Vicunas were almost hunted to extinction in the 1970s Belfast Zoo is celebrating two new arrivals following the births of baby vicunas. Vicunas, which are originally from the Andes in South America, were almost hunted to extinction in the late 1970s for their very valuable fleece.
However, with conservation efforts and careful management the animals are now reasonably safe, but are still classed as an endangered species.
Keepers at the zoo have not yet been able to get close enough to the animals to find out what sex they are, so the two baby vicunas are still without names. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4200060.stm
Zoo stops rides after pony dies
, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A Washington state zoo is temporarily stopping a 90-year tradition of pony rides after one died, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.
On Monday, Bonnie, a 9-year-old pony, died and the zoo decided to put the rides on hold.
Zoo officials haven't found the cause of Bonnie's death but said she had diarrhea and a small appetite for a few days leading up to it.
No other ponies are sick.
The zoo is also stopping the Trailside Chats where a caretaker talks about the ponies as visitors are up close with the herd.
Editorial: Naples ZooAppraising value, history
By The Naples Daily NewsAugust 31, 2005
The experts seem to talk in a language all their own.
Three professional appraisers look at the 166 acres that comprise the Naples Zoo — formerly Caribbean Gardens — and surrounding area and talk as if it were three different places. They talk about usable area, developable units, gross density, wetland and water areas, etc.
No wonder their bottom lines swing wildly from $46 million to $67.5 million.
Two points strike us about a story published in this newspaper on Monday about the situation — as well as the fourth appraisal to be done in the wake of a November 2004 referendum granting voter/taxpayer approval to buy the landmark.
First, the appraiser for the property owner, the Fleischmann family, seems lofty in comparing the potential on this land to sales at Naples Bay Resort, which is on prime, recreational waterfront.
Second, amid all the gobbledygook, come these words from the same appraiser. "We are twiddling our thumbs while Rome burns," Thomas Hanson is quoted as saying.
"The market is up and up and up, while nobody is getting this done."
That is something on which everyone can agree.
Most would agree on this too: The 13 acres comprising the original gardens, with plantings up to 85 years old, should be exempted from the zoo's long-range redevelopment plans. Those acres are the soul of Caribbean Gardens. They host a special kind of historical roots. West Nile virus kills zoo owl, four loons
HEALTH: Tests confirm disease in a snowy owl at the Duluth zoo.
BY JOHN MYERS
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
A family of loons in central Minnesota and an owl at the Lake Superior Zoo are the latest Minnesota victims to perish from West Nile virus.
The four loons, from a Sherburne County lake, are the first in Minnesota confirmed to die from West Nile, said Carrol Henderson, director of nongame wildlife for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/12521358.htm
Park expert will talk to zoo committee
FROM STAFF REPORTS
TRAVERSE CITY - The group charged with studying the future of the Clinch Park Zoo will hear next from a wildlife park expert. Dick Grant, director of the Howell Conference and Nature Center, will give a presentation to the group at its 5:30 p.m. Thursday meeting at the Governmental Center in Traverse City. He will talk about what it takes to create a wildlife park, one of the options suggested for the zoo.
New baby Siamang for zooWednesday, 31 August 2005
Life's laid back for a furry four-week-old - apart from the occasional upside down dangle from a five metre-high rope. Western Plains Zoo's newest arrival - a tiny Siamang ape - swung into the world on July 30 and has been clinging tight to its mum's belly ever since.
http://dubbo.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&category=general%20news&story_id=420148&y=2005&m=8
LaSalle Bank Run Wild For the Detroit Zoo Coming
September 10Tuesday August 30, 4:49 pm ET Annual Event Includes Fun for the Whole Family; Proceeds to Benefit Animal Health Complex
ROYAL OAK, Mich., Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of Detroit Zoo supporters will lace up their running shoes and head over to the Zoo on Saturday, September 10, 2005, for the ninth-annual LaSalle Bank Run Wild for the Detroit Zoo (Standard Federal Bank will become LaSalle Bank on September 12). LaSalle Bank is in the second year of a five-year agreement to be the title sponsor for the event. Proceeds from the Run Wild event benefit the Zoo's Animal Health Complex.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050830/detu021.html?.v=20
Zoo officials have made lion match
NORFOLK, Va. She's a pussycat of a gal who likes guys with lots of facial hair, enjoys rock climbing and isn't shy about tearing into a hunk of steak.
Virginia Zoo officials have spent many months searching for a girlfriend for Mramba, a two-year-old lion, and believe they have found a match.
Zola, a one-year-old African lioness, was donated by the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. She was transported to Norfolk last month and quarantined for a month.
Zookeepers are giving Zola time to become accustomed to her new home, and estimate it will be two weeks before the pair spend time together.
But zoo officials are hopeful, because Mramba was spotted recently licking Zola's face through the bars separating their indoor dens.
The zoo's third lion, six-year-old Kalisa, does not get along well with other animals.
All three lions will be on public display individually on a rotating basis, at least until Zola and Mramba can be together.
Munson: More cash essential to run zooMayor wants $800,000 to put employees on city payroll
bshouse@argusleader.com
Article Published: 08/30/05
Mayor Dave Munson is proposing that Sioux Falls take over management of the Great Plains Zoo on Jan. 2 at an additional cost to the city of $800,000.
The Zoological Society of Sioux Falls announced in June that it would stop running the zoo on Oct. 1. Munson, at the City Council informational meeting Monday, said he wants to extend the society's contract through the end of the year, then put zoo employees on the city payroll.
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050830/NEWS/508300326/1001
Men in Zoos: London Gone LoonyOne more manifestation of cosmic war being waged over question: “What is Man?”
CommentaryBy John J. Jalsevac
The final and strangely beautiful song from the most recent album of the popular rock group Nine Inch Nails asks an interesting question. “See the animal in his cage that you built,” it begins, “are you sure what side you're on?... / Are you sure what side of the glass you are?”
On a certain level this is actually a question worth pondering in some depth. For instance, in our highly regulated, leisureless modern lives, how much like caged beasts have we allowed ourselves to become? Or perhaps, in our search for fulfillment in pleasure have we denied our human nature and become instinct-enslaved brutes? This is thought provoking stuff, at least much more so than song-writer Trent Reznor’s typically crude and profanity laden lyrics.
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/aug/050829a.html
Animal activists in terror threat against zoo
ANIMAL rights activists are threatening to launch a terror campaign against staff at Edinburgh Zoo.
Fanatics from the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) are planning to use scare tactics, including fire-raising and criminal damage of property belonging to people who work for the zoo and the zoo's contractors.
The group forced the closure of a Staffordshire guinea pig farm last week after a long campaign against staff.
Now ALF have threatened to move their campaign to Edinburgh after zoo bosses announced plans to house polar bears in a new enclosure.
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=1860952005
Zoo's Future Remains Unclear
The city of Sioux Falls is preparing take over management of the Great Plains Zoo. But there are still many questions about the acquisition and it's been under review by the city for the past year.
It's still unclear exactly who will be running the Great Plains Zoo by the end of the year. Today's discussion between the mayor and city council members revolved around funding issues.
"I really have serious doubts as to the ability of any fundraising partner to be able to receive the contributions from the community that they have in the past, knowing this is a city run operation," said city council member Kevin Kavanaugh.
The city estimates it will cost between $800,000 and $900,000 a year to run the zoo. That's as much as the city already gives the zoo as a subsidy, bringing the new funding total to about $1.6 million.
"We're putting a powerful lot of money into it no matter where they cut it and I want to make sure the city is having an involvement in this whole process," said Sioux Falls Mayor Dave Munson.
The mayor's proposal would focus the zoological society's efforts on fundraising. He says any money the board raises would go into improving the zoo, not operational costs. But some city council members still aren't convinced the city is the best choice.
"This is a major policy shift and I think as a council we need to look at that policy change," said council member Vernon Brown.
Another point brought up at the meeting was that no matter who manages and funds the zoo, it will be hard for the facility to operate if people don't visit it. The council decided to let the public services committee examine that issue further before making any decisions. That has to be made by the end of the September unless both parties agree to an extension.
Philadelphia Zoo looking for state funds to keep elephants
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Zoo may have to send some of its resident elephants packing if it can't secure millions of dollars from the state for a new elephant exhibit.
The zoo's herd currently occupies a quarter-acre yard with an 1,800-square-foot barn, built in the 1940s. While the enclosure meets the current standards of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, some say it doesn't give the elephants the ability to forage or roam.
Now, the zoo is urging the state to come forward with $7.2 million in capital-projects money to help pay for a $22 million elephant savanna exhibit.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-08282005-533621.html
Philadelphia Zoo looking for state funds to keep elephants
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Zoo may have to send some of its resident elephants packing if it can't secure millions of dollars from the state for a new elephant exhibit.
The zoo's herd currently occupies a quarter-acre yard with an 1,800-square-foot barn, built in the 1940s. While the enclosure meets the current standards of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, some say it doesn't give the elephants the ability to forage or roam.
Now, the zoo is urging the state to come forward with $7.2 million in capital-projects money to help pay for a $22 million elephant savanna exhibit.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-08282005-533621.html
Animals in the News-People in our Zoos ?
Posted by mrmeangenes on Friday August 26, 2005 at 4:52 am MST [ Send Story to Friend ]Link to story: http://mrmeangenesnews.blogspot.com/
By now, I suppose everyone has heard about the misguided gentleman from New Jersey - said to be a PETA volunteer - who decided a (venomous) copperhead “needed help” in crossing the road.
The snake, which had not been consulted in the matter, bit its “helper” three times ---- (by way of expressing his opinion of PETA volunteers ?)
New York: A raccoon decided to visit The Big Apple , so he stowed away on a charter bus : somehow managing to escape the notice of the 50 paying passengers.
Shortly after the passengers were dropped off, the driver glanced in his mirror, and saw the raccoon strolling down the center aisle towards the front of the bus.
http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=24554
Water baby, big and furry at the zoo
August 26, 2005
HOW TO WATCH TALINI The swimming bear can be seen at the Detroit Zoo on Sundays. Zoo hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily (until 8 p.m. Wednesdays). Admission is $10.50; $8.50 for people 62 and older; $6.50 ages 2 to 12; children younger than 2 are admitted free. The zoo is at I-696 (10 Mile) and Woodward in Royal Oak. FREE PRESS STAFF REPORT
Top five reasons to come to the Detroit Zoo on Sundays to watch baby polar bear Talini take swimming lessons from mom:
5. It's better than reality TV! Her mom, Barle, taught her to swim by biting her between the eyes and pulling her in the water. Tough love or not, you feel sorry for Talini.
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/bearchat26e_20050826.htm
Councillors support Cromer zoo plan
ADAM GRETTON
25 August 2005 17:48
A host of exotic mammals, reptiles and birds will soon be drawing visitors to a quiet corner of the North Norfolk coast after plans for a Cromer zoo were given the green light today.
Proposals for zoological gardens on the edge of the seaside resort, almost 20 years after the last one closed, received firm support from North Norfolk District Councillors, despite countryside and highway concerns.
http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED25%20Aug%202005%2017%3A48%3A41%3A003
San Diego Zoo panda cub is a girl
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - The giant panda cub born at the San Diego Zoo three weeks ago is a girl.
Veterinarians suspected as much but waited to make the final call until their weekly exam Wednesday, keeper Kathy Hawk said.
The female cub appears healthy, gaining 9 ounces in one week. She now weighs 22 ounces and is 11.8 inches from the tip of her nose to the base of her tail.
"She's doing what babies typically do - eat and sleep," Hawk said Thursday.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/12477121.htm
Zoo looks for dog nanny for lion cub
http://www.chinaview.cn/
2005-08-26 10:54:00
The lion cub
BEIJING, Aug. 26 -- A zoo in east China's Nanchang City is searching for a dog nanny for its newly born lion cub.
The babe lion was born only five days ago. His mother, somehow, didn't want to feed the babe herself and always carried him walking around.
Workers in the zoo have taken the lion away from his mother for fear that he might be hurt.
They say the little lion is very naughty and eats a lot. And they have to seek a dog nanny to feed him.
China hunts runaway crocodiles A Chinese zoo has set up a telephone hotline to find 13 rare crocodiles that escaped during floods two weeks ago. The Benxi Shuidong Crocodile Park, in Liaoning province, is worried the Siamese crocodiles might die from the cold, the China Daily newspaper said.
But they could also turn aggressive to humans if they have been unable to find food, the newspaper warned.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4184612.stm
Scientist: Chicago Not Suitable Home For ElephantsOrdinance Would Require More Space For Animals
POSTED: 5:36 pm CDT August 25, 2005UPDATED: 8:07 am CDT August 26, 2005
CHICAGO -- An animal behaviorist who has studied elephants for 30 years in Africa told a City Council committee Thursday she believes no zoo can adequately care for elephants without providing several miles of space for them to roam.
Alderwoman Mary Ann Smith (48th) has introduced legislation that would require any zoo or other stationary animal exhibit to provide a minimum of 10 acres of space -- five acres indoors and five outdoors -- per elephant. Meanwhile, circuses or other traveling exhibits would have to provide a minimum 1,800 square feet indoors and outdoors for a single elephant, with an additional 900 square feet indoors and outdoors per additional elephant.
http://www.nbc5.com/news/4897813/detail.html?z=dp&dpswid=2265994&dppid=65193
Zoo makes koalas' life in Scotland bearable
MICHAEL BLACKLEY
TWO male koalas were unveiled at Edinburgh Zoo yesterday - the first time that the marsupials have been seen in Scotland.
Chumbee and Jannali, two males, moved into their new surroundings, a self-contained Australian-themed enclosure, complete with an aviary that houses Australian species of birds and beetles. There has not been a koala in the UK for over a decade, since a three-year stay at London Zoo came to an end.
This is because they are extremely difficult to keep - requiring twice-weekly shipments of fresh eucalyptus, and strict rules and regulations on space, storage, food, and how to look after and handle them.
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=1826722005
Life returning to normal at the zoo since Kedar's death
Tuesday, August 23, 2005By Emily Kulkus Staff writer The days that followed the death of Kedar, the 4-day-old elephant at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park who died hours after falling into a pool, were marked by an outpouring of emotion.
Feelings of sympathy, anger and outrage swirled around the zoo's staff, who had waited 22 months for the 345-pound baby to arrive July 31. The zoo's director of public relations, Sarah Fedele, answers a few questions about life at the zoo during the last few weeks.
http://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/112452699586041.xml&coll=1
Dodge Answers the 'Call of the Wild' During Zoo Adventure Tour at the Denver Zoo
Monday August 22, 3:05 pm ET * Twelve-city tour to showcase Dodge vehicles and their family-friendly features visits the Denver Zoo on August 27, 2005 * Each two-day event includes six Dodge Zoo Adventure activity areas, featuring animal-themed Dodge vehicles
DENVER, Aug. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A herd of Dodge vehicles will be coming soon to a zoo near you. Dodge will unleash its "beasts" at the Denver Zoo on August 27, 2005, as part of the Dodge Zoo Adventure Tour, a four-month tour of 12 zoos throughout the country. The vehicles will be the main attraction, featuring the all-new 2006 Dodge Charger and appearances by the Dodge Magnum, Grand Caravan, Durango, Ram and Dakota.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050822/dem019.html?.v=19
Jaipur zoo to get heritage look:- Jaipur
August 23, 2005 8:25:05 AM IST Keeping up with the old world charm of heritage buildings, forts and palaces, the Jaipur zoo too is going for a heritage look.This will come from the Rs.12 million the Rajasthan government has sanctioned for the zoo's renovation. Its old museum will also be developed.
"To give it a heritage look we will not only develop the old museum but also raise a huge and royal gate at the main entrance of the zoo," said Gopal Bihari Jhalani, the zoo superintendent.
In the initial phase of renovation, the focus will be on improving the rudimentary infrastructure.
"Our primary focus will be on improving the basic and primary living condition of animals. Roads in the zoo premises would be replaced by the new cement block roads, which will be in accordance with a high quality drainage system specially designed to do away the problem of water logging during rains," said Jhalani.
Improving the living condition of the animals and construction of the roads will cost about Rs.2.6 million, while another Rs. 500,000 will be spent on cells housing lions, white tigers and leopards.
As part of the renovation, the authorities are also planning to install garden benches and sheds for visitors.
Idaho Falls Looking at Increasing Zoo Fee
August 22, 2005
Soon it may cost more to go to the Tautphaus Park Zoo.
That’s if the Idaho Falls City Council approves a mix of fee increases for the 2005-2006 budget.
For Rick Mitchell and his family, a day at the Tautphaus Park Zoo costs about $12, but that could be changing.
The city is proposing to increase fees by 25 cents for children and 50 cents for adults and seniors.
http://www.localnews8.com/home/1790907.html
What a zoo! (12 pictures we took on Third Line)
By Tyler SimpsonSooToday.comSunday, August 21, 2005
Madison Tyynela took some time out this week to hang out with Kitty the Goat at Spruce Haven Zoo at 2016 Third Line West.
All though Madison says the goats and pigs are nice, her favorites are the ponies.
The family attraction has been open since 1988.
It's a 24-7 job for Helen Marshall and her family, who've operated the zoo since its opening.
School groups are the most frequent visitors, but over the summer months the zoo hosts more than 6,000 tourists and other visitors.
On site are cougars, Arctic wolves, an African lion, Canadian lynx and the rare ibex mountain goats.
For more information on Spruce Haven Zoo call 779-2423 or click here.
View Photo Gallery for this Story
For Zoo curator, animals are never-ending puzzle
Ken Kawata is retiring at the end of this year after 46 years in the field Sunday, August 21, 2005
By STEPHEN HART ADVANCE STAFF WRITER After 46 years in the field, you'd figure that Ken Kawata would have this animal stuff down pat.
Guess again.
"Each species is a surprise -- they're a puzzle and you don't have all the pieces. After so many years, they continue to throw me off altogether," said Kawata, set to retire as the general curator of the Staten Island Zoo at the end of December. "I'm finally beginning to recognize the vastness and depth of the field. I've just started to scratch the surface after 40-50 years."
http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/112463025112061.xml&coll=1
New reality TV show is the panda lifeAug 21, 2005, 15:10 GMT
WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- The Animal Planet Web site has gotten a new type of reality show -- this one involving giant pandas at the National Zoo in Washington.
The Animal Planet site is one of many now showcasing a feed from the Friends of the National Zoo. A new Web cam at the zoo`s Panda House has people enthralled with the up-close view one gets of the panda life since the panda cam launched July 11, two days after a cub was born to Mei Xiang, The Washington Post reports.
The cam features the two in all stages of life, including one that captured Claudia Tejada Riley`s heart. Both mother and cub sleeping, the mother licking it in slow motion.
"It`s so intimate," said Riley, a legislative advocate working with wildlife protection groups.
The panda cams are run by volunteers of Friends of the National Zoo and fed to computer screens around the World Wide Web via the National Zoo`s Web site as well as that of Animal Planet.
This is the only way to view the pandas until Panda House reopens in October. http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1042756.php/New_reality_TV_show_is_the_panda_life
Cincinnati Zoo manatees take step toward ocean release
Associated Press
CINCINNATI - Two manatees at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden are headed to SeaWorld Florida, where they will be prepared for release into the wild.
The goal is to help them to relearn after years in captivity the migration route from waters off the Carolinas to Florida. Manatees head south every year when the water starts turning cold.
The Cincinnati manatees, named Stoneman and Rodeo, are to be flown to Orlando, Fla., by cargo jet on Aug. 27.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/12434911.htm
L.A. mayor wants elephant study
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- The mayor of Los Angeles wants an independent review of the elephant quarters at the Los Angeles Zoo, to help determine the future of the animals.
Related Headlines 10,000 elephants may be destroyed
September 21, 2005) -- The South African government plans to end its 10-year ban on culling elephants, which may result in the slaughter of up to 10,000 of the beasts. But ... > full story
Elephants besiege resort in Zimbabwee
(August 16, 2005) -- Six elephants went on a rampage in the Zimbabwean resort town of Kariba, trampling gardens, damaging homes and forcing people to flee. The ... > full story
Lawsuit seeks to bar transfer of elephants
(June 17, 2005) -- An animal rights group has filed a lawsuit to stop the transfer of four elephants from Illinois to an Oklahoma group it says is affiliated with a ... > full story
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who promised to improve conditions at the Los Angeles Zoo during his campaign, has noted that some zoos across the nation have closed their exhibits in a growing movement to send elephants to accredited sanctuaries, reported the Los Angeles Daily News Saturday.
"I have been reviewing the elephants' situation at the Los Angeles Zoo and have concerns that warrant an independent review and analysis," Villaraigosa wrote in an Aug. 12 letter to Chief Administrative Officer Bill Fujioka. "I want an insightful study on the whole issue so we can do what is best for the zoo and, especially, for the elephants."
One plan for the elephants is to build a two-acre pachyderm exhibit, but some wildlife activists said elephants walk some 30 miles a day in the wild and would be best suited to a 100-acre elephant sanctuary.
Carter Lake alligator doing fine
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa The Carter Lake gator is doing just fine.
That's the word from the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, where the two and a-half foot alligator was taken after it was trapped this summer.
The gator was caught in the lake near Council Bluffs twice. It escaped the first time in June -- with its mouth taped shut. It was caught again in July, and turned over the zoo.
The zoo's Jessi Krebs says the gator suffered wounds from the tape around its snout, had some fungal growth on its belly, and was very thin.
Krebs says the snout wounds have almost healed and fungus is gone.
As for the gator's appetite - "he's eating like a champ."
Krebs says the alligator will remain in quarantine for several more months so it gain weight to be put on display.
To zoo animals from kids: Get wellFriday, August 19, 2005JEREMIAH STETTLERTHE SAGINAW NEWS Days after a traumatic attack that left three animals dead and others wounded at Saginaw's Children's Zoo at Celebration Square, the survivors are getting "get well" mail.
Director Nancy Parker has received a half-dozen cards -- each hand-drawn and colored -- wishing the surviving sheep, goats and cattle a speedy recovery.
http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-16/1124461236170170.xml&coll=9
2 panda birthdays celebrated at Zoo By: North County
Times wire services
SAN DIEGO - It was "pandamonium" at the San Diego Zoo Friday, where one giant panda celebrated his second birthday, while his 2-week-old sibling continued to attract attention.
Mei Sheng celebrated his second birthday with two iced cakes topped with bamboo candles and filled with carrots and other goodies, zoo officials said.
Mei Sheng tore into his presents -- prepared by young zoo summer campers -- filled with some of his favorites, including apples and biscuits.
One of the cakes was decorated with a panda face replicated in eggplant.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/08/20/news/sandiego/15_19_498_19_05.txt
National Zoo: Panda Cub Doing Well
August 19, 2005 8:04 a.m. EST
Hector Duarte Jr. - All Headline News Staff Reporter
Washington, DC (AHN) - Veterinarians say The National Zoo's six-week old panda cub is making serious developmental strides.
The toothless, nameless cub was born July 9. In two weeks, vets found the panda had more than doubled its weight and grown from 12 to 17 inches.
“It’s gone from this pink hairless glob into this white-and-black striped adorable cub,” says Suzan Murray, the zoo’s chief veterinarian. “It’s amazing that anything could grow so large so fast.”
The panda is the nation's fourth, and the National Zoo's first, panda cub to live more than a few days after being born in captivity. As a result, few veterinarians know what milestones to look for as the cub matures.
Checkups, like the one conducted Thursday, serve the purpose of gauging the cub's health, while adding to veterinary knowledge of the panda's development.
Panda handlers are now waiting to see how long it takes for his eyes and ears to open, as well as its teeth to grow. It will then report this information to other zoos nationwide.
To zoo animals from kids: Get well
Friday, August 19, 2005JEREMIAH STETTLERTHE SAGINAW NEWS Days after a traumatic attack that left three animals dead and others wounded at Saginaw's Children's Zoo at Celebration Square, the survivors are getting "get well" mail.
Director Nancy Parker has received a half-dozen cards -- each hand-drawn and colored -- wishing the surviving sheep, goats and cattle a speedy recovery.
http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-16/1124461236170170.xml&coll=9
Specialty zoos pose unique challenges
Balancing needs of animals and visitors requires strategy
By Liz Clayton - Business EdgePublished: 08/18/2005 - Vol. 1, No. 16
If Dave Bishop were to write a book, it might be called All I Need to Know I Learned From My Wolf Enclosure.
Bishop, who manages the Haliburton Forest Wolf Centre, has learned as much about business from his unusual job as he has about life.
Communication, Bishop says, and the ability to work together are two of the key things his wolf pack has taught him that translate into important business skills. For Bishop's facility, and other small specialty zoos across Ontario, keeping an eye on the bottom line goes hand-in-hand with keeping the animals in good care.
http://www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/10278.cfm
Enjoy the day at the NC Zoo
8/18/2005 5:55 AMBy: Gloria Medlock & Web Staff
Are you looking for that perfect mix of education and fun? Well the North Carolina Zoo may be your best bet.
Chatting with the chimps, kicking back with the kangaroos or how about mingling with a "meerkat"? Sounds unusual, but it's all perfectly normal at the North Carolina Zoo.
It's a place where the young and the young at heart are all up for a good time.
http://rdu.news14.com/content/headlines/?ArID=73429&SecID=2
Alipur zoo celebrity christened
Express News Service Kolkata, August 17: One of the most popular denizens of Alipur Zoo, the giant tortoise, was christened today — believe it or not, for the first time.
Formally known as the ‘‘Aldabra giant tortoise’’, ‘‘Adwaita’’ happens to be the oldest one in any Indian zoo.
The naming of the 250 -yr-old reptile, accompanied by much fanfare and even the presence of a minister, marked a departure from tradition for the zoo authorities. ‘‘Till now we have only named mammals at this zoo. This was the first time that we chose to name a reptile,’’ said Dr Subir Kumar Chaudhuri, director of the Zoological Gardens. Chaudhuri said that it was appropriate that the giant tortoise should be the first to be chosen. ‘‘It is the oldest-known animal in India, and there is not another example of such an animal in the country,’’ he said. http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=144269
Susan Tedeschi, Blind Boys Of Alabama Perform At Oregon Zoo
August 26
Portland, Oregon - What do Susan Tedeschi and the Blind Boys of Alabama have in common? In addition to being two Grammy-recognized acts, both will light up the concert lawn starting at 7 p.m. on August 26 to conclude the Oregon Zoo's "Premium" portion of the Wells Fargo Summer Concert Series.
"I can't think of a better way to end our Premium concert lineup," said Krista Swan, event coordinator for the Oregon Zoo. "With two such masterful and inspiring performers taking the stage on the same night, guests are in for a real treat."
Three-time Grammy nominee Susan Tedeschi has a voice frequently compared with Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt and Etta James and a guitar sound influenced by Johnny Guitar Watson, Magic Sam and Freddie King. She broke onto the music scene with her national debut album Just Won't Burn in 1998 and has since won numerous W.C. Handy Blues Awards, the highest honor given to artists by the blues industry.
http://www.medfordnews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=309372&cp=10997
Roger Williams Park Zoo holds dinosaur spelling bee today
PROVIDENCE, R.I. A different kind of spelling bee is taking place today at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence.
Contestants will attempt to correctly spell the names of dinosaurs or dinosaur-related words. Dozens of children who have completed grades three through six are expected to compete. The winner from each of two divisions will receive a 250 dollar college starter account.
The competition begins at 10:30 am.
The zoo has a dinosaur exhibit with 18 lifelike robotic dinosaurs.
continued ...
Pit bulls kill three animals at kids' zoo
One of the dogs is shot dead after the facility loses goats and rooster; nine other animals hurt.
Associated Press
Comment on this storySend this story to a friendGet Home Delivery
SAGINAW -- Three children's zoo animals are dead and nine others injured after a pair of pit bulls burrowed under a fence and attacked goats, sheep, cattle and roosters.
Two goats and a rooster were killed in the petting area of the Children's Zoo at Celebration Square. The dogs got into the zoo sometime before 6:30 a.m. Monday.
"It is a sad day at the zoo," director Nancy J. Parker said.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0508/18/B07-284582.htm
White alligator at World Zoo a 1st in Arizona
Rachel StultsNorthwest Valley RepublicNov. 9, 2005 12:00 AM
Carrie Beletz took a step forward as a 4½-foot white alligator approached her through
mucky water. But this sixth-grader was not afraid.
Instead, Carrie, a student at Sahuaro Elementary School in Phoenix, pressed her face to
the glass at Wildlife World Zoo to get a better look at a creature she had never seen
before.
"That's cool," she said. "But I wouldn't want to feed it." advertisement http://www.azcentral.com/community/westvalley/articles/1109swv-alligator05Z1.html
Zoo Elephants Enjoy Pumpkin Treat
UPDATED - Tuesday November 08, 2005 12:34pm eVideo: Zoo Elephants Enjoy Pumpkin Treat
Washington D.C. (AP) - Children visiting the National Zoo are getting a post-Halloween
treat, and so are the elephants.
Zookeepers gave the elephants pumpkins Tuesday as part of the annual Pumpkin Stomp.
Kandula was the first elephant to discover a beach ball sized pumpkin, which he kicked
like a soccer ball before smashing and eating it.
Zoo nutritionist Mark Edwards says the pumpkins are a good source of beta-carotene and
fiber.
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1105/275847.html
Clinch Zoo to close Commission is unanimous in its decision
By VANESSA McCRAYRecord-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - The zoo is on the move. City commissioners unanimously cemented a decision Monday night to close the
downtown Clinch Park Zoo to the public by Labor Day 2007. At the same meeting, a
citizen-led group called Citizens for a Wildlife Education Center announced it has begun
planning for a new facility in a new location. The vote to close the zoo caps years of divided opinion on whether to shutter the
bayfront attraction that opened at its present site in 1956. "Even though we are talking about moving, we should end up with an even better
zoo," city commissioner Anne Melichar said.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/nov/08zoo.htm
Kanpur Zoo awaits migratory birds' arrival
Kanpur November 08, 2005 5:40:45 PM IST
After a long gap, Kanpur Zoo is once again ready to welcome the seasonal guests in
migratory birds by the month end.Talking to UNI today, Zoo Director Hemanth Kumar claimed the authorities had been making great efforts to make the Zoo lake water clean and eco-friendly for foreign visitors.
He said, last year very few birds came here as they did not get eco-friendly atmoshphere
including clean water, food and safety.
''This year, a lake containing clean water has been constructed from the funds provided
by the Rajkiya Nirman Nigam.'' About 10,000 fisherlings (small fishes) have been put in
the lake to attract the migratory birds. Besides a number of fruit bearing trees have
been planted for the birds.
Mr Kumar claimed the lake spread over 17 hectares had already attracted migratory bird
including leaser whistling teal, painted storks, grey heron, pond heron, night heron,
snake birds, egret, carmorant, moorhen and wagetail.
Birds such as bar-heated goos, open bill stork, brahminy duck, spoonbill, and kingfisher
would probably be coming by month end.
He said a survey last year by the Asian Waterfall Census under the Mumbai Natural
History Society pointed out that 85 painted storks had visited the Kanpur Zoo. ''But,
this year more than 150 painted stork are expected to arrive here,'' he added.
About Mogo Zoo
Wednesday, 9 November 2005
Privately owned, Mogo Zoo is committed to the survival of endangered animals and
provides for over 100 animals 35 of which are rare and exotic species. They are also
actively involved in many global breeding programs. Mogo Zoo evolved when Bill and Sally Padey along with their small collection of buffalo,
pheasants, peacocks, deer and kangaroo, began to welcome visitors to the then named
Somerset Wildlife Sanctuary over 14 years ago. Their dream was to develop their
sanctuary into an animal park that contributed to the conservation of threatened
species. Bill and Sally's studies in husbandry and the management of carnivores and
primates at Sydney's Taronga Zoo eventually led to them obtaining other zoo's surplus
animals. Today Mogo Zoo is the home of many wonderful animals from around the world
including African lions, alligators, Bengal tigers, giraffes, jaguars, snow leopards,
Sumatran tigers, Syrian brown bears, water buffalo, white lions and zebras.
Open daily
Mogo Zoo is open 9am to 5pm daily and closed on Christmas Day only.
Feeding time is daily at 10.30am and 1.30pm.
Admission fees are adults $16.50; children $9; seniors $12; family (two adults and two
children) $45, extra children $5.
Enter now and win a family pass to Mogo Zoo valued at $45
To celebrate the birth of Mogo Zoo's African Serval kitten the Narooma News, in
conjunction with Mogo Zoo, has four free family passes to Mogo Zoo, valued at $45, to
giveaway to readers.
To be eligible to win, all you have to do is write your name, address and phone number
on the back of an envelope and send it to the Mogo Zoo Giveaway, Narooma News, Shop 2,
Midtown Arcade, Narooma 2546.
This week's lucky winner
The competition now moves into its second week, and a winner is announced each week in
the Narooma News, with the final winner announced on Wednesday, November 30.
This week's lucky winner is Cody Bond, of Narooma.
Zoo Donors Get Sneak Peek At Panda
(CBS/AP) In Washington, it's not who you know or who you are so much as how much money
you gave to the right causes.
At least, if you want to get a glimpse of the National Zoo's panda cub Tai Shan
(pronounced "ty shawn").
The zoo has distributed some 600 timed entry tickets to members of the its booster
organization, Friends of the National Zoo, and ticket holders were starting to view the
cub on Monday.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/07/entertainment/main1018453.shtml
Newborn squirrel monkey, mother doing well at zoo
The Arizona RepublicNov. 8, 2005 12:00 AM
PHOENIX -The Phoenix Zoo's Monkey Village has a new resident.
A squirrel monkey born last week is now on display in the walk-through village. The
gender of the baby is not yet known, but zoo officials report that it looks healthy and
is being well cared for by its mother.
The baby monkey is the third born in the zoo's newest exhibit, which opened in late 2004
and is unique in that it offers zoogoers a chance to get up close and personal with the
monkeys as they walk through nearly 10,000 square feet of enclosed space where the
animals roam free. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1108phxmonkey08.html
Zoo Has New Leadership
They've been searching since January. But now officials at the Great Plains Zoo have
found someone to replace the retiring president, Ed Asper. Elizabeth Whealy grew up in
Colton. She attended South Dakota State University and eventually made her way to Alaska
to work as CEO of the Alaska Raptor Center. But now she's returned to KELOLAND to serve
as the Great Plains Zoo's newest president.
There's a new king of the jungle at the Great Plains Zoo. But this one's of the human
variety. And she's got big ideas about how to get the zoo back in shape.
http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail5440.cfm?Id=0,43767
Elephant naming contest at the Zoo
Let the voting begin! The 3-week-old African elephant calf born at Tampa’s Lowry Park
Zoo needs a name, and starting today, the public is invited to visit the zoo’s website
at http://www.lowryparkzoo.com/ and vote for their favorite.
The zoo invited schools in a 7-county area of Greater Tampa Bay to submit names for
consideration. The zoo challenged classrooms to select an African name with a special
meaning. Hundreds of schools participated, proposing nearly 600 names over a two-week
period. From those, a team of zoo staffers reviewed each entry and selected five names
to be posted online for a public vote.
http://www.tampabays10.com/aroundthebay/aroundthebay_article.aspx?storyid=20863
‘Jungle Jack’ goes on NEW Zoo safari
Animal expert Hanna visits area for tour, fund-raiser By Terry Andersontanderso@greenbaypressgazette.com
SUAMICO — Jack Hanna doesn’t preach conservation solely for the sake of animals. Rather,
he is convinced that conserving wildlife is essential for humankind.
Touring Brown County’s NEW Zoo on Monday, before an appearance at the Rock Garden/
Comfort Suites in Howard as a fund-raiser for the NEW Zoological Society, “Jungle Jack”
said his trips around the globe have convinced him that when the natural world is
diminished, so is the standing of the people living in that place.
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/local_23301489.shtml
Zoo Director Sets 10-Year Goal Sunday
November 06, 2005 10:40am Washington (AP) - A month after taking charge at the National Zoo, the new director is
determined to move the zoo past its problems from the past.
Zoo director John Berry says he's made it clear to the staff that they're working to
become the best zoo in the world within the next ten years. Berry says that he's gotten
a good reaction from the zoo staff.
Management problems and a number of animal deaths at the zoo sparked scrutiny from
Congress and an investigation by the National Academies' National Research Council.
Berry started as director October first after a search process that lasted more than a
year. He says he visited the zoo as a child and still finds it an inspiring place.
Next month the zoo's giant panda cub is expected to go on display, and Berry says
they're expecting large crowds for the new attraction.
'The Zoo' wins People's Choice Award Again
Monday, 7 November 2005, 3:07 pm
Press Release: Auckland City Council 7 November 2005'The Zoo' wins People's Choice Award fifth year running
'The Zoo' television series has once again been voted 'Best Reality Documentary'
programme in The TV Guide's People's Choice Awards.
This is the fifth year the show has won the accolade, which is one of the Guide's 'Best
on the Box People's Choice Awards'. Auckland-based Greenstone Pictures produces the
family/factual series, which is now in its seventh year.
"It's a fantastic effort from both Greenstone Pictures and all the keepers involved, and
marvellous to know that New Zealanders love it so much," says Auckland Zoo Director,
Glen Holland.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0511/S00047.htm
Art for tiger's sake at zoo
07nov05
PAINTING'S hard yakka for a tiger.
That's the message Ramalon, one of the Melbourne Zoo's sumatran tigers, seems to be
giving carnivore keeper Sam Cooper. The zoo's two tiger stars -- Ramalon and Binjai -- have just started painting classes as
part of a push to give the zoo's animals new and interesting challenges.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17158656^2862,00.html
Micke Grove Zoo faces big challenges
Alex Breitler Record Staff Writer Published Sunday, Nov 6, 2005
LODI -- The county-run Micke Grove Zoo suffers from a lack of funding and staff, and
consideration should be given to making it a privately run operation, according to an
accreditation report released Friday.
The zoo's effort to renew its accreditation was suspended earlier this year by the
American Zoo and Aquarium Association. The watchdog group analyzed more than 200 facets
of zoo management and found four "unacceptable" and 33 "questionable" conditions and
practices at Micke Grove.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051106/NEWS0102/511060325
State zoos aid cleanup effort at Naples siteOfficials target Thanksgiving reopening
By Andrea Stetsonspecial To The News-press
Originally posted on November 05, 2005
ANDREA STETSON/Special to news-press.com
Ernie Estrada, senior animal care specialist from Busch Gardens, helps remove fallen
trees at the Naples Zoo.
HOW TO HELP• What: To volunteer to help clean up the zoo• How: Contact: Douglas Rickenbach, volunteer coordinator• Where: 239-262-5409 ext. 127 or e-mail douglas@napleszoo.com
To give: Tax-deductible donations are being accepted at http://www.napleszoo.com/ payable to Naples Zoo, 1590 Goodlette-Frank Road, Naples FL 34102
A week after Hurricane Wilma tore through the Naples Zoo, huge trees still need to be
chopped up and removed and animal enclosures still need to be repaired. Still it's a lot
better than a week ago, when zoo officials couldn't even get down the paths that lead
around the zoo.
Zoo director David Tetzlaff said the zoo won't open until Thanksgiving. This is the
longest the zoo has been closed since it first opened in 1969. The zoo closed for a week
in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew and four days last year after Hurricane Charley. But this
closing will be for about a month.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051105/NEWS0102/511050445/1075
Federal inspectors say zoo mishandled baby elephant that died
SYRACUSE, N.Y. Federal inspectors say the Rosamond Gifford Zoo improperly handled a baby
elephant that died in August and should pay more than 10-thousand dollars in civil
penalties.
Zoo Director Anne Baker told the Syracuse Post-Standard she was stunned that the
proposed penalties cite the zoo for failing to have a barrier to keep four-day-old Kedar
from falling into a swimming pool.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=4078404&nav=4QcS
Zoo Sees Increase in Donations with Panda Birth
Updated: Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005 - 10:56 AM
WASHINGTON - The popularity of the National Zoo's giant panda cub has led to an spike in
donations through the zoo's Adopt-a-Species program. Participation in the program has grown from 691 in 2003 to more than 1,100 this year.
Donations range from $40 to $1,000.
Those donations account for about $82,000 of the zoo's nearly $18 million annual budget.
The zoo uses the extra money for animal care and research work.
Dawn Rogers tells The Washington Post she contributed to the program as a gift to her
teenage children who have been closely tracking the panda's progress.
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=613652
What to do with our zoo?Add your voice to debate about its future.
By REGISTER EDITORIAL BOARD
November 5, 2005
The Madagascar hissing cockroaches were resting. The giraffes were put away for the
winter. The flamingos were huddled in a group, and the northern lynx was eyeing the few
Homo sapiens visiting Des Moines' Blank Park Zoo on Wednesday afternoon.
Zoo officials are considering ways to transform the zoo into a larger entertainment
attraction, and they're asking for public input. What did some of Wednesday's visitors
say they wanted in their zoo?
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article
Students bearing up under duties at zoo
Program puts them behind the scenes
Zenas House-Wilson, an eighth-grader at Wildwood Environmental Academy, feeds Mystic,
the zoo's Arctic fox.
By IGNAZIO MESSINABLADE STAFF WRITER
Rebecca Maniak started her day yesterday with a kick.
Too bad it was from an alpaca trying to get more food from her hands.
"When I was feeding Amigo, that's the alpaca, he kicked me," Rebecca, 13, said. "Not
enough to break anything, but I'll have to look and see if I get a bruise."
The eighth-grader is in a group of Wildwood Environmental Academy students who visit the
Toledo Zoo once a week for behind-the-scenes and hands-on experience.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051105/NEWS17/511050391
Vandalur Zoo gets new inmates
Search for More News Chennai, Nov 5: The suburban Vandalur zoo has acquired new inmates.
Two pairs of chimpanzees and a pair of South American jaguars were among the animals
that the Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur acquired recently from Singapore Zoo
Authority in an exchange programme, zoo director K P M Perumal said today.
Besides chimpanzees and jaguars, the zoo had also obtained a wolf, a female American
alligator in exchange for two barking and spotted deer, besides a pair of Indian rock
pythons, he told reporters here.
http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7B9C26FDC3-DC91-4726-8CEA-15239EEA36CE%7D&CATEGORYNAME=Chennai
Zona Zoo policies revamped
By Zach ColickArizona Daily WildcatSeptember 8, 2005 Print this
If students want to sit on the sidelines at Saturday's game, they had better have a Zona
Zoo pass, after ASUA spirit leaders
revamped the ticket policy because passes sold like hotcakes.
More than 7,000 Zona Zoo passes have been sold since the first two weeks of school, in
comparison to the 9,522 passes sold in 2004, said Amber Harryman, Associated Students of
the University of Arizona spirit director.
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/98/173/01_2.html
Zoo, botanical garden unite to save frogs from fungus
By TOM SABULISPublished on: 09/09/05
Atlanta is fast becoming an E.R. for the frog world as researchers from two local institutions try to halt a mysterious and deadly fungus threatening to send all amphibians the way of the dinosaurs.
For the last few months, curators from Zoo Atlanta and the Atanta Botanical Garden have been flying to Panama — ground zero for their research — and carrying back as many frogs as possible, transported in little black roller bags outfitted with Tupperware tubes.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/living/0905/09frogs.html
Artists to zoo keepers get to work on new A-level resources
More than 30 employers, from sectors as diverse as architecture, engineering, film production and healthcare, have collaborated on the production of a new multimedia resource to help teachers with new A-level subjects being introduced this month.The CD-ROM, produced by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA), is part of its support services to teachers in schools and colleges.
http://www.ngfl.gov.uk/news.jsp?sec=5&cat=99&res=88302
Baby Giant Anteater On Display At St. Louis Zoo
There is a new bouncing bundle of joy at the world-famous St. Louis Zoo.
"Zsa Zsa" the baby giant anteater was born July 8th at the zoo.
She's the first female anteater born at the zoo.
She was named by ZZ-Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, who was in St. Louis earlier this year.
Her full name is "Zsa Zsa Top."
She will stay with her mother in the River's Edge exhibit for up to two years, and will grow to more than fifty inches long.
Plague and primates at human zoo
Debra J. Saunders
Thursday, September 1, 2005
THE "Human Zoo," a four-day exhibit last week at the London Zoo, was designed, zoo spokeswoman Polly Wills told the Associated Press, to get the public to see "people in a different environment, among other animals" and teach "that the human is just another primate."
Bunk. If the human were just another primate, other primates -- like monkeys -- would make zoos. Ditto gorillas. Fact is, humans are the only primates that create zoos, which means humans are not just another primate.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/01/EDGLIEFLNK1.DTL
Detroit Zoo Polar Bear Cub Loves to Swim!
Thursday September 1, 10:36 am ET Swim lessons now every morning at the Arctic Ring of Life
ROYAL OAK, Mich., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The newest member of the Arctic Ring of Life, the polar bear cub Talini, is so excited about swimming that the Zoo has increased her time in the exhibit's large pool. Accompanied by her mother, Barle, the cub is now spending time every day from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. practicing her swimming, after which she can be seen in the grassy tundra portion of the exhibit.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050901/deth017.html?.v=20
Former San Diego Zoo panda gives birth to two cubs in China
BEIJING An American-born panda has given birth to a pair of cubs in southwest China.
One of Hua Mei's (hwa mayz) cub is male, but the second has been with its mother so the gender is unknown.
Six-year-old Hua Mei is the first surviving panda to have been born in the United States. She moved from the San Diego Zoo to China in February 2004 under an agreement between the two countries.
http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=3794422
KC Zoo patrons can peek at lion cubs
Four lion cubs at the Kansas City Zoo can be viewed beginning today through a fence opening into their behind-the-scenes nursery.
The cubs, born June 28, will be introduced to the lion exhibit in late September or early October. The three males and one female recently began eating meat but still are nursing from their mother.
They weighed 10 to 12 pounds in mid-August and will grow to 300 to 400 pounds.
Plague and primates at human zooDebra J. Saunders
Thursday, September 1, 2005
THE "Human Zoo," a four-day exhibit last week at the London Zoo, was designed, zoo spokeswoman Polly Wills told the Associated Press, to get the public to see "people in a different environment, among other animals" and teach "that the human is just another primate."
Bunk. If the human were just another primate, other primates -- like monkeys -- would make zoos. Ditto gorillas. Fact is, humans are the only primates that create zoos, which means humans are not just another primate.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/01/EDGLIEFLNK1.DTL
Detroit Zoo Polar Bear Cub Loves to Swim!
Thursday September 1, 10:36 am ET Swim lessons now every morning at the Arctic Ring of Life
ROYAL OAK, Mich., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The newest member of the Arctic Ring of Life, the polar bear cub Talini, is so excited about swimming that the Zoo has increased her time in the exhibit's large pool. Accompanied by her mother, Barle, the cub is now spending time every day from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. practicing her swimming, after which she can be seen in the grassy tundra portion of the exhibit.ADVERTISEMENT The cub was introduced to the large, 300,000 gallon chilled saltwater pool in the Ice Pack portion of the exhibit last week. Since then, she has made great progress in her swimming abilities and strength.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050901/deth017.html?.v=20
New gorilla's ready for monkey business
By Jim KnippenbergEnquirer staff writer
The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden is about to get back into the business of breeding gorillas, thanks to the arrival of Jomo, a 14-year-old, 400-pound silverback on loan from the Toronto Zoo.
He'll meet the media today at a 10 a.m. press conference in the zoo's Gorilla World, then meet his quintet of bachelorettes - Samantha, Madge, Muke, Mlinzi and Kweli, all proven breeders with 19 offspring among them.
The zoo's gorilla breeding program, once the most successful in the United States with 47 births in 28 years, has been stalled since 1998 because Colossus, the zoo's only male, has shown no interest. Still, it ranks third worldwide behind zoos in London and Chicago.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050901/NEWS01/509010408
City zoo celebrates new arrivals
Vicunas were almost hunted to extinction in the 1970s Belfast Zoo is celebrating two new arrivals following the births of baby vicunas. Vicunas, which are originally from the Andes in South America, were almost hunted to extinction in the late 1970s for their very valuable fleece.
However, with conservation efforts and careful management the animals are now reasonably safe, but are still classed as an endangered species.
Keepers at the zoo have not yet been able to get close enough to the animals to find out what sex they are, so the two baby vicunas are still without names. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4200060.stm
Zoo stops rides after pony dies
, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A Washington state zoo is temporarily stopping a 90-year tradition of pony rides after one died, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.
On Monday, Bonnie, a 9-year-old pony, died and the zoo decided to put the rides on hold.
Zoo officials haven't found the cause of Bonnie's death but said she had diarrhea and a small appetite for a few days leading up to it.
No other ponies are sick.
The zoo is also stopping the Trailside Chats where a caretaker talks about the ponies as visitors are up close with the herd.
Editorial: Naples ZooAppraising value, history
By The Naples Daily NewsAugust 31, 2005
The experts seem to talk in a language all their own.
Three professional appraisers look at the 166 acres that comprise the Naples Zoo — formerly Caribbean Gardens — and surrounding area and talk as if it were three different places. They talk about usable area, developable units, gross density, wetland and water areas, etc.
No wonder their bottom lines swing wildly from $46 million to $67.5 million.
Two points strike us about a story published in this newspaper on Monday about the situation — as well as the fourth appraisal to be done in the wake of a November 2004 referendum granting voter/taxpayer approval to buy the landmark.
First, the appraiser for the property owner, the Fleischmann family, seems lofty in comparing the potential on this land to sales at Naples Bay Resort, which is on prime, recreational waterfront.
Second, amid all the gobbledygook, come these words from the same appraiser. "We are twiddling our thumbs while Rome burns," Thomas Hanson is quoted as saying.
"The market is up and up and up, while nobody is getting this done."
That is something on which everyone can agree.
Most would agree on this too: The 13 acres comprising the original gardens, with plantings up to 85 years old, should be exempted from the zoo's long-range redevelopment plans. Those acres are the soul of Caribbean Gardens. They host a special kind of historical roots. West Nile virus kills zoo owl, four loons
HEALTH: Tests confirm disease in a snowy owl at the Duluth zoo.
BY JOHN MYERS
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
A family of loons in central Minnesota and an owl at the Lake Superior Zoo are the latest Minnesota victims to perish from West Nile virus.
The four loons, from a Sherburne County lake, are the first in Minnesota confirmed to die from West Nile, said Carrol Henderson, director of nongame wildlife for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/12521358.htm
Park expert will talk to zoo committee
FROM STAFF REPORTS
TRAVERSE CITY - The group charged with studying the future of the Clinch Park Zoo will hear next from a wildlife park expert. Dick Grant, director of the Howell Conference and Nature Center, will give a presentation to the group at its 5:30 p.m. Thursday meeting at the Governmental Center in Traverse City. He will talk about what it takes to create a wildlife park, one of the options suggested for the zoo.
New baby Siamang for zooWednesday, 31 August 2005
Life's laid back for a furry four-week-old - apart from the occasional upside down dangle from a five metre-high rope. Western Plains Zoo's newest arrival - a tiny Siamang ape - swung into the world on July 30 and has been clinging tight to its mum's belly ever since.
http://dubbo.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&category=general%20news&story_id=420148&y=2005&m=8
LaSalle Bank Run Wild For the Detroit Zoo Coming
September 10Tuesday August 30, 4:49 pm ET Annual Event Includes Fun for the Whole Family; Proceeds to Benefit Animal Health Complex
ROYAL OAK, Mich., Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of Detroit Zoo supporters will lace up their running shoes and head over to the Zoo on Saturday, September 10, 2005, for the ninth-annual LaSalle Bank Run Wild for the Detroit Zoo (Standard Federal Bank will become LaSalle Bank on September 12). LaSalle Bank is in the second year of a five-year agreement to be the title sponsor for the event. Proceeds from the Run Wild event benefit the Zoo's Animal Health Complex.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050830/detu021.html?.v=20
Zoo officials have made lion match
NORFOLK, Va. She's a pussycat of a gal who likes guys with lots of facial hair, enjoys rock climbing and isn't shy about tearing into a hunk of steak.
Virginia Zoo officials have spent many months searching for a girlfriend for Mramba, a two-year-old lion, and believe they have found a match.
Zola, a one-year-old African lioness, was donated by the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. She was transported to Norfolk last month and quarantined for a month.
Zookeepers are giving Zola time to become accustomed to her new home, and estimate it will be two weeks before the pair spend time together.
But zoo officials are hopeful, because Mramba was spotted recently licking Zola's face through the bars separating their indoor dens.
The zoo's third lion, six-year-old Kalisa, does not get along well with other animals.
All three lions will be on public display individually on a rotating basis, at least until Zola and Mramba can be together.
Munson: More cash essential to run zooMayor wants $800,000 to put employees on city payroll
bshouse@argusleader.com
Article Published: 08/30/05
Mayor Dave Munson is proposing that Sioux Falls take over management of the Great Plains Zoo on Jan. 2 at an additional cost to the city of $800,000.
The Zoological Society of Sioux Falls announced in June that it would stop running the zoo on Oct. 1. Munson, at the City Council informational meeting Monday, said he wants to extend the society's contract through the end of the year, then put zoo employees on the city payroll.
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050830/NEWS/508300326/1001
Men in Zoos: London Gone LoonyOne more manifestation of cosmic war being waged over question: “What is Man?”
CommentaryBy John J. Jalsevac
The final and strangely beautiful song from the most recent album of the popular rock group Nine Inch Nails asks an interesting question. “See the animal in his cage that you built,” it begins, “are you sure what side you're on?... / Are you sure what side of the glass you are?”
On a certain level this is actually a question worth pondering in some depth. For instance, in our highly regulated, leisureless modern lives, how much like caged beasts have we allowed ourselves to become? Or perhaps, in our search for fulfillment in pleasure have we denied our human nature and become instinct-enslaved brutes? This is thought provoking stuff, at least much more so than song-writer Trent Reznor’s typically crude and profanity laden lyrics.
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/aug/050829a.html
Animal activists in terror threat against zoo
ANIMAL rights activists are threatening to launch a terror campaign against staff at Edinburgh Zoo.
Fanatics from the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) are planning to use scare tactics, including fire-raising and criminal damage of property belonging to people who work for the zoo and the zoo's contractors.
The group forced the closure of a Staffordshire guinea pig farm last week after a long campaign against staff.
Now ALF have threatened to move their campaign to Edinburgh after zoo bosses announced plans to house polar bears in a new enclosure.
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=1860952005
Zoo's Future Remains Unclear
The city of Sioux Falls is preparing take over management of the Great Plains Zoo. But there are still many questions about the acquisition and it's been under review by the city for the past year.
It's still unclear exactly who will be running the Great Plains Zoo by the end of the year. Today's discussion between the mayor and city council members revolved around funding issues.
"I really have serious doubts as to the ability of any fundraising partner to be able to receive the contributions from the community that they have in the past, knowing this is a city run operation," said city council member Kevin Kavanaugh.
The city estimates it will cost between $800,000 and $900,000 a year to run the zoo. That's as much as the city already gives the zoo as a subsidy, bringing the new funding total to about $1.6 million.
"We're putting a powerful lot of money into it no matter where they cut it and I want to make sure the city is having an involvement in this whole process," said Sioux Falls Mayor Dave Munson.
The mayor's proposal would focus the zoological society's efforts on fundraising. He says any money the board raises would go into improving the zoo, not operational costs. But some city council members still aren't convinced the city is the best choice.
"This is a major policy shift and I think as a council we need to look at that policy change," said council member Vernon Brown.
Another point brought up at the meeting was that no matter who manages and funds the zoo, it will be hard for the facility to operate if people don't visit it. The council decided to let the public services committee examine that issue further before making any decisions. That has to be made by the end of the September unless both parties agree to an extension.
Philadelphia Zoo looking for state funds to keep elephants
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Zoo may have to send some of its resident elephants packing if it can't secure millions of dollars from the state for a new elephant exhibit.
The zoo's herd currently occupies a quarter-acre yard with an 1,800-square-foot barn, built in the 1940s. While the enclosure meets the current standards of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, some say it doesn't give the elephants the ability to forage or roam.
Now, the zoo is urging the state to come forward with $7.2 million in capital-projects money to help pay for a $22 million elephant savanna exhibit.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-08282005-533621.html
Philadelphia Zoo looking for state funds to keep elephants
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Zoo may have to send some of its resident elephants packing if it can't secure millions of dollars from the state for a new elephant exhibit.
The zoo's herd currently occupies a quarter-acre yard with an 1,800-square-foot barn, built in the 1940s. While the enclosure meets the current standards of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, some say it doesn't give the elephants the ability to forage or roam.
Now, the zoo is urging the state to come forward with $7.2 million in capital-projects money to help pay for a $22 million elephant savanna exhibit.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-08282005-533621.html
Animals in the News-People in our Zoos ?
Posted by mrmeangenes on Friday August 26, 2005 at 4:52 am MST [ Send Story to Friend ]Link to story: http://mrmeangenesnews.blogspot.com/
By now, I suppose everyone has heard about the misguided gentleman from New Jersey - said to be a PETA volunteer - who decided a (venomous) copperhead “needed help” in crossing the road.
The snake, which had not been consulted in the matter, bit its “helper” three times ---- (by way of expressing his opinion of PETA volunteers ?)
New York: A raccoon decided to visit The Big Apple , so he stowed away on a charter bus : somehow managing to escape the notice of the 50 paying passengers.
Shortly after the passengers were dropped off, the driver glanced in his mirror, and saw the raccoon strolling down the center aisle towards the front of the bus.
http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=24554
Water baby, big and furry at the zoo
August 26, 2005
HOW TO WATCH TALINI The swimming bear can be seen at the Detroit Zoo on Sundays. Zoo hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily (until 8 p.m. Wednesdays). Admission is $10.50; $8.50 for people 62 and older; $6.50 ages 2 to 12; children younger than 2 are admitted free. The zoo is at I-696 (10 Mile) and Woodward in Royal Oak. FREE PRESS STAFF REPORT
Top five reasons to come to the Detroit Zoo on Sundays to watch baby polar bear Talini take swimming lessons from mom:
5. It's better than reality TV! Her mom, Barle, taught her to swim by biting her between the eyes and pulling her in the water. Tough love or not, you feel sorry for Talini.
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/bearchat26e_20050826.htm
Councillors support Cromer zoo plan
ADAM GRETTON
25 August 2005 17:48
A host of exotic mammals, reptiles and birds will soon be drawing visitors to a quiet corner of the North Norfolk coast after plans for a Cromer zoo were given the green light today.
Proposals for zoological gardens on the edge of the seaside resort, almost 20 years after the last one closed, received firm support from North Norfolk District Councillors, despite countryside and highway concerns.
http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED25%20Aug%202005%2017%3A48%3A41%3A003
San Diego Zoo panda cub is a girl
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - The giant panda cub born at the San Diego Zoo three weeks ago is a girl.
Veterinarians suspected as much but waited to make the final call until their weekly exam Wednesday, keeper Kathy Hawk said.
The female cub appears healthy, gaining 9 ounces in one week. She now weighs 22 ounces and is 11.8 inches from the tip of her nose to the base of her tail.
"She's doing what babies typically do - eat and sleep," Hawk said Thursday.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/12477121.htm
Zoo looks for dog nanny for lion cub
http://www.chinaview.cn/
2005-08-26 10:54:00
The lion cub
BEIJING, Aug. 26 -- A zoo in east China's Nanchang City is searching for a dog nanny for its newly born lion cub.
The babe lion was born only five days ago. His mother, somehow, didn't want to feed the babe herself and always carried him walking around.
Workers in the zoo have taken the lion away from his mother for fear that he might be hurt.
They say the little lion is very naughty and eats a lot. And they have to seek a dog nanny to feed him.
China hunts runaway crocodiles A Chinese zoo has set up a telephone hotline to find 13 rare crocodiles that escaped during floods two weeks ago. The Benxi Shuidong Crocodile Park, in Liaoning province, is worried the Siamese crocodiles might die from the cold, the China Daily newspaper said.
But they could also turn aggressive to humans if they have been unable to find food, the newspaper warned.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4184612.stm
Scientist: Chicago Not Suitable Home For ElephantsOrdinance Would Require More Space For Animals
POSTED: 5:36 pm CDT August 25, 2005UPDATED: 8:07 am CDT August 26, 2005
CHICAGO -- An animal behaviorist who has studied elephants for 30 years in Africa told a City Council committee Thursday she believes no zoo can adequately care for elephants without providing several miles of space for them to roam.
Alderwoman Mary Ann Smith (48th) has introduced legislation that would require any zoo or other stationary animal exhibit to provide a minimum of 10 acres of space -- five acres indoors and five outdoors -- per elephant. Meanwhile, circuses or other traveling exhibits would have to provide a minimum 1,800 square feet indoors and outdoors for a single elephant, with an additional 900 square feet indoors and outdoors per additional elephant.
http://www.nbc5.com/news/4897813/detail.html?z=dp&dpswid=2265994&dppid=65193
Zoo makes koalas' life in Scotland bearable
MICHAEL BLACKLEY
TWO male koalas were unveiled at Edinburgh Zoo yesterday - the first time that the marsupials have been seen in Scotland.
Chumbee and Jannali, two males, moved into their new surroundings, a self-contained Australian-themed enclosure, complete with an aviary that houses Australian species of birds and beetles. There has not been a koala in the UK for over a decade, since a three-year stay at London Zoo came to an end.
This is because they are extremely difficult to keep - requiring twice-weekly shipments of fresh eucalyptus, and strict rules and regulations on space, storage, food, and how to look after and handle them.
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=1826722005
Life returning to normal at the zoo since Kedar's death
Tuesday, August 23, 2005By Emily Kulkus Staff writer The days that followed the death of Kedar, the 4-day-old elephant at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park who died hours after falling into a pool, were marked by an outpouring of emotion.
Feelings of sympathy, anger and outrage swirled around the zoo's staff, who had waited 22 months for the 345-pound baby to arrive July 31. The zoo's director of public relations, Sarah Fedele, answers a few questions about life at the zoo during the last few weeks.
http://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/112452699586041.xml&coll=1
Dodge Answers the 'Call of the Wild' During Zoo Adventure Tour at the Denver Zoo
Monday August 22, 3:05 pm ET * Twelve-city tour to showcase Dodge vehicles and their family-friendly features visits the Denver Zoo on August 27, 2005 * Each two-day event includes six Dodge Zoo Adventure activity areas, featuring animal-themed Dodge vehicles
DENVER, Aug. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A herd of Dodge vehicles will be coming soon to a zoo near you. Dodge will unleash its "beasts" at the Denver Zoo on August 27, 2005, as part of the Dodge Zoo Adventure Tour, a four-month tour of 12 zoos throughout the country. The vehicles will be the main attraction, featuring the all-new 2006 Dodge Charger and appearances by the Dodge Magnum, Grand Caravan, Durango, Ram and Dakota.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050822/dem019.html?.v=19
Jaipur zoo to get heritage look:- Jaipur
August 23, 2005 8:25:05 AM IST Keeping up with the old world charm of heritage buildings, forts and palaces, the Jaipur zoo too is going for a heritage look.This will come from the Rs.12 million the Rajasthan government has sanctioned for the zoo's renovation. Its old museum will also be developed.
"To give it a heritage look we will not only develop the old museum but also raise a huge and royal gate at the main entrance of the zoo," said Gopal Bihari Jhalani, the zoo superintendent.
In the initial phase of renovation, the focus will be on improving the rudimentary infrastructure.
"Our primary focus will be on improving the basic and primary living condition of animals. Roads in the zoo premises would be replaced by the new cement block roads, which will be in accordance with a high quality drainage system specially designed to do away the problem of water logging during rains," said Jhalani.
Improving the living condition of the animals and construction of the roads will cost about Rs.2.6 million, while another Rs. 500,000 will be spent on cells housing lions, white tigers and leopards.
As part of the renovation, the authorities are also planning to install garden benches and sheds for visitors.
Idaho Falls Looking at Increasing Zoo Fee
August 22, 2005
Soon it may cost more to go to the Tautphaus Park Zoo.
That’s if the Idaho Falls City Council approves a mix of fee increases for the 2005-2006 budget.
For Rick Mitchell and his family, a day at the Tautphaus Park Zoo costs about $12, but that could be changing.
The city is proposing to increase fees by 25 cents for children and 50 cents for adults and seniors.
http://www.localnews8.com/home/1790907.html
What a zoo! (12 pictures we took on Third Line)
By Tyler SimpsonSooToday.comSunday, August 21, 2005
Madison Tyynela took some time out this week to hang out with Kitty the Goat at Spruce Haven Zoo at 2016 Third Line West.
All though Madison says the goats and pigs are nice, her favorites are the ponies.
The family attraction has been open since 1988.
It's a 24-7 job for Helen Marshall and her family, who've operated the zoo since its opening.
School groups are the most frequent visitors, but over the summer months the zoo hosts more than 6,000 tourists and other visitors.
On site are cougars, Arctic wolves, an African lion, Canadian lynx and the rare ibex mountain goats.
For more information on Spruce Haven Zoo call 779-2423 or click here.
View Photo Gallery for this Story
For Zoo curator, animals are never-ending puzzle
Ken Kawata is retiring at the end of this year after 46 years in the field Sunday, August 21, 2005
By STEPHEN HART ADVANCE STAFF WRITER After 46 years in the field, you'd figure that Ken Kawata would have this animal stuff down pat.
Guess again.
"Each species is a surprise -- they're a puzzle and you don't have all the pieces. After so many years, they continue to throw me off altogether," said Kawata, set to retire as the general curator of the Staten Island Zoo at the end of December. "I'm finally beginning to recognize the vastness and depth of the field. I've just started to scratch the surface after 40-50 years."
http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/112463025112061.xml&coll=1
New reality TV show is the panda lifeAug 21, 2005, 15:10 GMT
WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- The Animal Planet Web site has gotten a new type of reality show -- this one involving giant pandas at the National Zoo in Washington.
The Animal Planet site is one of many now showcasing a feed from the Friends of the National Zoo. A new Web cam at the zoo`s Panda House has people enthralled with the up-close view one gets of the panda life since the panda cam launched July 11, two days after a cub was born to Mei Xiang, The Washington Post reports.
The cam features the two in all stages of life, including one that captured Claudia Tejada Riley`s heart. Both mother and cub sleeping, the mother licking it in slow motion.
"It`s so intimate," said Riley, a legislative advocate working with wildlife protection groups.
The panda cams are run by volunteers of Friends of the National Zoo and fed to computer screens around the World Wide Web via the National Zoo`s Web site as well as that of Animal Planet.
This is the only way to view the pandas until Panda House reopens in October. http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1042756.php/New_reality_TV_show_is_the_panda_life
Cincinnati Zoo manatees take step toward ocean release
Associated Press
CINCINNATI - Two manatees at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden are headed to SeaWorld Florida, where they will be prepared for release into the wild.
The goal is to help them to relearn after years in captivity the migration route from waters off the Carolinas to Florida. Manatees head south every year when the water starts turning cold.
The Cincinnati manatees, named Stoneman and Rodeo, are to be flown to Orlando, Fla., by cargo jet on Aug. 27.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/12434911.htm
L.A. mayor wants elephant study
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- The mayor of Los Angeles wants an independent review of the elephant quarters at the Los Angeles Zoo, to help determine the future of the animals.
Related Headlines 10,000 elephants may be destroyed
September 21, 2005) -- The South African government plans to end its 10-year ban on culling elephants, which may result in the slaughter of up to 10,000 of the beasts. But ... > full story
Elephants besiege resort in Zimbabwee
(August 16, 2005) -- Six elephants went on a rampage in the Zimbabwean resort town of Kariba, trampling gardens, damaging homes and forcing people to flee. The ... > full story
Lawsuit seeks to bar transfer of elephants
(June 17, 2005) -- An animal rights group has filed a lawsuit to stop the transfer of four elephants from Illinois to an Oklahoma group it says is affiliated with a ... > full story
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who promised to improve conditions at the Los Angeles Zoo during his campaign, has noted that some zoos across the nation have closed their exhibits in a growing movement to send elephants to accredited sanctuaries, reported the Los Angeles Daily News Saturday.
"I have been reviewing the elephants' situation at the Los Angeles Zoo and have concerns that warrant an independent review and analysis," Villaraigosa wrote in an Aug. 12 letter to Chief Administrative Officer Bill Fujioka. "I want an insightful study on the whole issue so we can do what is best for the zoo and, especially, for the elephants."
One plan for the elephants is to build a two-acre pachyderm exhibit, but some wildlife activists said elephants walk some 30 miles a day in the wild and would be best suited to a 100-acre elephant sanctuary.
Carter Lake alligator doing fine
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa The Carter Lake gator is doing just fine.
That's the word from the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, where the two and a-half foot alligator was taken after it was trapped this summer.
The gator was caught in the lake near Council Bluffs twice. It escaped the first time in June -- with its mouth taped shut. It was caught again in July, and turned over the zoo.
The zoo's Jessi Krebs says the gator suffered wounds from the tape around its snout, had some fungal growth on its belly, and was very thin.
Krebs says the snout wounds have almost healed and fungus is gone.
As for the gator's appetite - "he's eating like a champ."
Krebs says the alligator will remain in quarantine for several more months so it gain weight to be put on display.
To zoo animals from kids: Get wellFriday, August 19, 2005JEREMIAH STETTLERTHE SAGINAW NEWS Days after a traumatic attack that left three animals dead and others wounded at Saginaw's Children's Zoo at Celebration Square, the survivors are getting "get well" mail.
Director Nancy Parker has received a half-dozen cards -- each hand-drawn and colored -- wishing the surviving sheep, goats and cattle a speedy recovery.
http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-16/1124461236170170.xml&coll=9
2 panda birthdays celebrated at Zoo By: North County
Times wire services
SAN DIEGO - It was "pandamonium" at the San Diego Zoo Friday, where one giant panda celebrated his second birthday, while his 2-week-old sibling continued to attract attention.
Mei Sheng celebrated his second birthday with two iced cakes topped with bamboo candles and filled with carrots and other goodies, zoo officials said.
Mei Sheng tore into his presents -- prepared by young zoo summer campers -- filled with some of his favorites, including apples and biscuits.
One of the cakes was decorated with a panda face replicated in eggplant.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/08/20/news/sandiego/15_19_498_19_05.txt
National Zoo: Panda Cub Doing Well
August 19, 2005 8:04 a.m. EST
Hector Duarte Jr. - All Headline News Staff Reporter
Washington, DC (AHN) - Veterinarians say The National Zoo's six-week old panda cub is making serious developmental strides.
The toothless, nameless cub was born July 9. In two weeks, vets found the panda had more than doubled its weight and grown from 12 to 17 inches.
“It’s gone from this pink hairless glob into this white-and-black striped adorable cub,” says Suzan Murray, the zoo’s chief veterinarian. “It’s amazing that anything could grow so large so fast.”
The panda is the nation's fourth, and the National Zoo's first, panda cub to live more than a few days after being born in captivity. As a result, few veterinarians know what milestones to look for as the cub matures.
Checkups, like the one conducted Thursday, serve the purpose of gauging the cub's health, while adding to veterinary knowledge of the panda's development.
Panda handlers are now waiting to see how long it takes for his eyes and ears to open, as well as its teeth to grow. It will then report this information to other zoos nationwide.
To zoo animals from kids: Get well
Friday, August 19, 2005JEREMIAH STETTLERTHE SAGINAW NEWS Days after a traumatic attack that left three animals dead and others wounded at Saginaw's Children's Zoo at Celebration Square, the survivors are getting "get well" mail.
Director Nancy Parker has received a half-dozen cards -- each hand-drawn and colored -- wishing the surviving sheep, goats and cattle a speedy recovery.
http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-16/1124461236170170.xml&coll=9
Specialty zoos pose unique challenges
Balancing needs of animals and visitors requires strategy
By Liz Clayton - Business EdgePublished: 08/18/2005 - Vol. 1, No. 16
If Dave Bishop were to write a book, it might be called All I Need to Know I Learned From My Wolf Enclosure.
Bishop, who manages the Haliburton Forest Wolf Centre, has learned as much about business from his unusual job as he has about life.
Communication, Bishop says, and the ability to work together are two of the key things his wolf pack has taught him that translate into important business skills. For Bishop's facility, and other small specialty zoos across Ontario, keeping an eye on the bottom line goes hand-in-hand with keeping the animals in good care.
http://www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/10278.cfm
Enjoy the day at the NC Zoo
8/18/2005 5:55 AMBy: Gloria Medlock & Web Staff
Are you looking for that perfect mix of education and fun? Well the North Carolina Zoo may be your best bet.
Chatting with the chimps, kicking back with the kangaroos or how about mingling with a "meerkat"? Sounds unusual, but it's all perfectly normal at the North Carolina Zoo.
It's a place where the young and the young at heart are all up for a good time.
http://rdu.news14.com/content/headlines/?ArID=73429&SecID=2
Alipur zoo celebrity christened
Express News Service Kolkata, August 17: One of the most popular denizens of Alipur Zoo, the giant tortoise, was christened today — believe it or not, for the first time.
Formally known as the ‘‘Aldabra giant tortoise’’, ‘‘Adwaita’’ happens to be the oldest one in any Indian zoo.
The naming of the 250 -yr-old reptile, accompanied by much fanfare and even the presence of a minister, marked a departure from tradition for the zoo authorities. ‘‘Till now we have only named mammals at this zoo. This was the first time that we chose to name a reptile,’’ said Dr Subir Kumar Chaudhuri, director of the Zoological Gardens. Chaudhuri said that it was appropriate that the giant tortoise should be the first to be chosen. ‘‘It is the oldest-known animal in India, and there is not another example of such an animal in the country,’’ he said. http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=144269
Susan Tedeschi, Blind Boys Of Alabama Perform At Oregon Zoo
August 26
Portland, Oregon - What do Susan Tedeschi and the Blind Boys of Alabama have in common? In addition to being two Grammy-recognized acts, both will light up the concert lawn starting at 7 p.m. on August 26 to conclude the Oregon Zoo's "Premium" portion of the Wells Fargo Summer Concert Series.
"I can't think of a better way to end our Premium concert lineup," said Krista Swan, event coordinator for the Oregon Zoo. "With two such masterful and inspiring performers taking the stage on the same night, guests are in for a real treat."
Three-time Grammy nominee Susan Tedeschi has a voice frequently compared with Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt and Etta James and a guitar sound influenced by Johnny Guitar Watson, Magic Sam and Freddie King. She broke onto the music scene with her national debut album Just Won't Burn in 1998 and has since won numerous W.C. Handy Blues Awards, the highest honor given to artists by the blues industry.
http://www.medfordnews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=309372&cp=10997
Roger Williams Park Zoo holds dinosaur spelling bee today
PROVIDENCE, R.I. A different kind of spelling bee is taking place today at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence.
Contestants will attempt to correctly spell the names of dinosaurs or dinosaur-related words. Dozens of children who have completed grades three through six are expected to compete. The winner from each of two divisions will receive a 250 dollar college starter account.
The competition begins at 10:30 am.
The zoo has a dinosaur exhibit with 18 lifelike robotic dinosaurs.
continued ...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)