Morning Papers - continued

Cheney Observer

Bush Team Rethinks Its Plan for Recovery
New Approach Could Save Second Term
By Peter Baker and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A01
President Bush shifted his rhetoric on Iraq in recent weeks after an intense debate among advisers about how to pull out of his political free fall, with senior adviser Karl Rove urging a campaign-style attack on critics while younger aides pushed for more candor about setbacks in the war, according to Republican strategists.
The result was a hybrid of the two approaches as Bush lashed out at war opponents in Congress, then turned to a humbler assessment of events on the ground in Iraq that included admissions about how some of his expectations had been frustrated. The formula helped Bush regain his political footing as record-low poll numbers began to rebound. Now his team is rethinking its approach to his second term in hopes of salvaging it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801517.html


The Bushes seem to have gravitational pull on exiled tycoons.

Berezovsky, Neil Bush, Latvian businessmen meet
By TBT staff
RIGA – Exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky was in Riga along with Neil Bush, the brother of the U.S. president, to discuss an educational project with Latvian businessmen.
Berezovsky and Bush are promoting new educational software developed by Ignite Learning. The software is designated for primary school students teaches curriculum by developing children's thinking and imagination, according to reports.
Much controversy surrounded the meeting, since Berezovsky is wanted for arrest in Russia, and the scandalous Russian businessman, who now lives in London, met with a relative of the U.S. president.
Russian authorities sent an official request to Latvia to extradite the former oligarch, but the request was ignored by Latvian law enforcement officials.
During the visit, Berezovsky met with Parliamentary Chairman Ingrida Udre, former PM Andris Skele, businessman Peteris Smidre and others.

http://www.baltictimes.com/hot1.php?art_id=14216


Hawaii Congressmen divided over Patriot Act
By Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) _ Hawaii's two Democratic U-S representatives were divided in their votes today to renew a modified U-S-A Patriot Act to combat terrorism.
Congressmen Neil Abercrombie voted against the bill, calling the act ``a blank check to trample civil liberties.'' Congressman Ed Case, meanwhile, favored the measure, which was approved and sent to the Senate.
The vote in the House was 251-174, with 44 Democrats joining 207 Republicans.
President Bush urged against any delay in Senate action.
Bush called the Patriot Act essential to fighting the war on terror and preventing our enemies from striking America again.

http://www.kpua.net/news.php?id=7048


Congressman's Opposition To War Attracts GOP Challenger
POSTED: 12:53 pm EST December 13, 2005
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. -- U.S. Rep. Walter Jones' call for a timetable on troop withdrawals from Iraq has attracted his first Republican primary opponent in four elections as an incumbent.
Greg Dority, a two-time Republican candidate in the 1st Congressional District, says he'll run for Jones' 3rd District in the May GOP primary.
Jones has never faced serious Democratic opposition in the military-heavy, GOP-leaning 3rd District and has never faced a Republican opponent in a primary.
Dority, 47, a managing partner in the international firm Sterling Security, lost decisively to Democrats Frank Ballance and G.K. Butterfield in the 2002 and 2004 1st District elections, respectively.
Dority said he's not running specifically against Jones but for the 3rd District seat. He said a key motivator behind his decision is their differences regarding Iraq.
Dority said he stands with Bush on the Iraq war.
"I believe history will completely vindicate President Bush and his team for his decision to go to Iraq," Dority said. "We will win this war there's absolutely no doubt in my mind."
Jones initially was a staunch supporter of President Bush's war strategy in Iraq. He joined several fellow congressmen in coining the phrases "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" in March 2003 as a protest against the French government, which had objected to the U.S. intervention in Iraq.
But the U.S. military's mounting casualties in the war led Jones this summer to support a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.
In June, Jones joined U.S. Reps. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Ron Paul, R-Texas, in co-sponsoring a resolution to begin withdrawing American soldiers from Iraq in October 2006.
The 17-county 3rd Congressional District is home to three major military bases: Camp Lejeune, Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
Dority, of Beaufort County, said he believes Jones was sincere in his call and not motivated by opinion polls.
A spokesman for Jones said he had no comment on Dority's decision.
"Walter Jones will stand on his record of service to eastern North Carolina," said Marc Rotterman.

http://www.nbc17.com/politics/5526136/detail.html


Exit plan seen as key to Bush's agenda pursuit
Experts: Domestic goals rest on resolving Iraq
By Mark Silva
Washington Bureau
Published December 13, 2005
WASHINGTON -- President Bush will have to do more than simply promote his policy to Americans on the prospects for victory in Iraq, experts say, if he is to reclaim public confidence and regain his own standing to pursue what remains of an ambitious second-term agenda.
Even Republican strategists suggest Bush will have to start charting a course for withdrawal of U.S. forces in the coming year, if he is to overcome public opposition to the war and salvage his agenda for his remaining three years as president.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512130123dec13,1,2908797.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed



Bush: Science comes before intelligent design
By Daniel A. Ricker
Questioned about the national debate over ''intelligent design,'' Gov. Jeb Bush last week said he's more interested in seeing some evolution of the science standards that Florida public school students must meet.
He wants those standards to become more rigorous -- and raising the standards should take priority over discussing whether intelligent design has a place in the public schools' curriculum, he said.
Nationally, the discussion over whether to teach intelligent design -- a concept that says life is too complex to have occurred without the involvement of a higher force -- in public school classes heated up after U.S. District Judge John E. Jones ruled that it smacked of creationism and was a violation of church and state separation. (President Bush appointed Jones to the federal bench in 2004.)
Jones, in his decision, wrote that the concept of intelligent design ''cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents,'' according to a Knight Ridder News Service report published Wednesday in The Miami Herald.
In Florida, education officials and science teachers will be reviewing the state's science curriculum in 2007 or 2008, after the governor has left office, and ''it is possible that people would make an effort to include [intelligent design] in the debate,'' Gov. Bush told The Watchdog Report on Wednesday. ''My personal belief is we ought to look at whether our standards are high first,'' he said.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487395.htm



Unraveling Abramoff
Key Players in the Investigation of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff
Compiled by washingtonpost.com
December 23, 2005
The Players Timeline Follow the Money The "A" Team Post Coverage
Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been indicted for illegal actions he allegedly took to purchase a fleet of Florida gambling boats from a businessman who was later killed in a gangland-style hit. Other efforts he took to funnel money to support causes of interest to his clients are also being probed. Post reporters Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi have written several stories about the Abramoff Affair and key players are listed below.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2005/12/23/CU2005122300939.html


The Fast Rise and Steep Fall of Jack Abramoff
How a Well-Connected Lobbyist Became the Center of a Far-Reaching Corruption Scandal
By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A01
Jack Abramoff liked to slip into dialogue from "The Godfather" as he led his lobbying colleagues in planning their next conquest on Capitol Hill. In a favorite bit, he would mimic an ice-cold Michael Corleone facing down a crooked politician's demand for a cut of Mafia gambling profits: "Senator, you can have my answer now if you like. My offer is this: nothing."
The playacting provided a clue to how Abramoff saw himself -- the power behind the scenes who directed millions of dollars in Indian gambling proceeds to favored lawmakers, the puppet master who pulled the strings of officials in key places, the businessman who was building an international casino empire.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801588.html

These men think nothing of wasting an entire life of quality living when power seems like it can protect them from lies. They always believe they are above the law and better than any of the people they are supposed to SERVE.

Abramoff's Career

1958
Jack Abramoff is born in Atlantic City. Family moves to California and he grows up in Beverly Hills.

1981
Abramoff graduates from Brandeis University, comes to Washington and runs for national chairman of the College Republicans, where he forges lifelong bonds with Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist and Adam Kidan.

1985
Abramoff and Norquist take charge of Citizens for America, conservative advocacy group created by drugstore magnate Lewis E. Lehrman. They are asked to leave after a dispute about finances.

1986
Abramoff graduates from Georgetown law school, joins brother in film company and goes to Africa to work on "Red Scorpion," a Cold War thriller released in 1989.

1994
GOP wins control of House for the first time in 40 years. Abramoff joins lobbying firm of Preston Gates & Ellis. He begins lobbying for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and quickly strikes up a political relationship with Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas).

1995
Abramoff signs up the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians as a client, the first casino-rich tribe he solicits.

1997
Abramoff arranges for lawmakers and aides to take trips to the Marianas. On one such trip, DeLay calls the lobbyist "one of my closest and dearest friends."

1999
Abramoff uses tribal money to hire Ralph Reed to run anti-gambling campaigns in the South to discourage competition for the tribes' casinos.

2000
Abramoff arranges more lawmaker trips. They include week-long visit to England and Scotland in May with DeLay, his wife and two aides, and a June trip for DeLay aides to golf's U.S. Open aboard corporate jet belonging to SunCruz Casinos. Abramoff and partners buy SunCruz in the fall.

2001
Abramoff switches lobbying firms to Greenberg Traurig in January. He leases corporate jet to ferry congressional staffers to the Super Bowl in Tampa. He and Michael Scanlon form partnership they call "Gimme Five" to share extraordinary fees charged to tribal clients. In February, the seller of SunCruz, Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, is shot to death gangland style in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

2002
Abramoff and Scanlon are collecting tens of millions of dollars in fees from Indian tribes. In one case, they quietly work with Ralph Reed to help Texas shut down a tribe's casino, then persuade the tribe to pay $4.2 million to try to get Congress to reopen it.

2003
Internal audit by the Louisiana Coushatta tribe finds that tribe spent $18 million in one year on lobbyists and lawyers, mostly to Abramoff and Scanlon.

2004
The Washington Post reports in February that Abramoff and Scanlon have received at least $45 million from tribes with casinos. Abramoff quits Greenberg a week later. Shortly thereafter, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) begins investigating Abramoff's Indian activities.

2005
August: Abramoff and Kidan are indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges in Florida in connection with their purchase of SunCruz.

September: Three men, including two associates of Kidan's, are indicted on murder and conspiracy charges in the killing of former SunCruz owner Boulis.

October: Former Abramoff associate David H. Safavian, head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the White House Office of Management and Budget, is indicted on charges of lying to federal investigators in the corruption investigation.

November: Scanlon pleads guilty to conspiring to bribe a congressman and other public officials and agrees to pay back more than $19 million he fraudulently charged Indian tribal clients.

December: Kidan pleads guilty in the SunCruz case. Both Scanlon and Kidan are expected to testify against Abramoff and will cooperate in the investigation of at least half a dozen lawmakers including Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2005/12/28/CU2005122801176.html



The Abramoff Galaxy
Jack Abramoff is negotiating a possible deal with federal prosecutors to plead guilty and cooperate with their investigation into corruption in Washington. For more than five years, Abramoff was one of the capital's most prominent Republican lobbyists. E-mails, documents and interviews with his former associates show that he set up many interlocking political and business entities to raise money, pay for lawmakers' trips and other favors, fund his pet projects, and gain influence for himself and his clients. The Justice Department has been looking into his relationships with half a dozen members of Congress, as well as with Hill aides, government officials and business associates.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2005/12/28/CU2005122801183.html



Homeland Security Is Faulted in Audit
Inspector General Points to FEMA, Cites Mismanagement Among Problems
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A01
Nearly three years after it was formed, the immense Department of Homeland Security remains hampered by severe management and financial problems that contributed to the flawed response to Hurricane Katrina, according to an independent audit released yesterday.
The report by Homeland Security Inspector General Richard L. Skinner aimed some of its most pointed criticism at one of DHS's major entities, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Katrina and a subsequent storm, Rita, increased the load on FEMA's "already overburdened resources and infrastructure," the report said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801515.html



Plea by Ex-Enron Accountant May Put Heat on Lay, Skilling
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page D01
Enron Corp.'s former top accountant pleaded guilty yesterday to a single securities fraud charge in exchange for a prison sentence of five to seven years, setting the stage for potentially damaging testimony against onetime chief executives Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling.
The guilty plea by Richard A. Causey, 45, gives the Justice Department's Enron Task Force another insider to help guide jurors through a maze of complex deals that helped pitch the Houston energy company into bankruptcy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122800965.html



U.S. Says It Didn't Target Muslims
Mosques Among Sites Monitored For Radiation
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page B01
Faced with angry complaints, U.S. officials defended an anti-terrorism program yesterday that secretly tested radiation levels around the country -- including at more than 100 Muslim sites in the Washington area -- and insisted that no one was targeted because of his or her faith.
One official knowledgeable about the program explained that Muslim sites were included because al Qaeda terrorists were considered likely to gravitate to Muslim neighborhoods or mosques while in the United States.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801520.html



U.S. Defends Conduct in Padilla Case
Supreme Court Asked To Overrule 4th Circuit
By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A04
A federal appeals court infringed on President Bush's authority to run the war on terror when it refused to let prosecutors take custody of "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla, the Justice Department said yesterday, as it urged the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.
The sharply worded Justice Department filing was the latest salvo in an increasingly contentious battle over Padilla, a U.S. citizen arrested in Chicago in 2002 and initially accused of plotting to detonate a radiological "dirty bomb." Padilla was held for more than three years by the military before he was indicted last month in Miami on separate criminal terrorism charges.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801463.html


Alito Urged Government Not to Appeal Black Panther Case
By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A04
As a young Justice Department lawyer, Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. urged the Reagan administration not to contest a lower court's ruling in favor of a Black Panther Party lawsuit against top government officials, according to documents released by the National Archives yesterday.
Alito, then an assistant to Solicitor General Rex E. Lee, wrote in November 1981 that the Supreme Court would probably not grant an appeal of a procedural ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The ruling said that the Panthers should be allowed to continue their suit despite having refused to give the government certain documents and other information.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122800419.html


Judge puts hold on home razing
Activists' concerns to get a hearing
Thursday, December 29, 2005
By Frank Donze
Staff writer
The planned demolition of hundreds of hurricane-ravaged homes in New Orleans has been put on hold until Jan. 6, when a judge has scheduled a hearing on a legal challenge to the controversial proposal announced last week by Mayor Ray Nagin's administration.
City Hall officials agreed to the delay Wednesday following a brief appearance before Civil Court Judge Herbert Cade, who had been asked by a coalition of activists to ban the bulldozing of up to 2,500 homes over the next several weeks.
New Orleans lawyer Bill Quigley, a longtime advocate for the poor and working-class, is seeking an injunction to stop the demolitions on behalf of the People's Hurricane Relief Fund, an umbrella group consisting of about 60 local organizations dedicated to Hurricane Katrina recovery.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1135840787161300.xml


CHIPPING AWAY AT CRIME
Until New Orleans FBI agents can return to their lakeside offices, their hub of operations has shifted to Covington Country Club
Thursday, December 29, 2005
By Meghan Gordon
St. Tammany bureau
Past the golf pro shop and tennis courts, tucked behind a fairway at the Covington Country Club sits the Federal Bureau of Investigation's New Orleans field office in exile.
With their lakefront headquarters gutted, agents and staff members work in the club's converted ballroom, where chandeliers perch above drab desks clustered in groups of four. The large room, once a common site for wedding receptions, now is southeast Louisiana's nerve center for investigating terrorism, public corruption and hurricane-related fraud.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1135841950161300.xml



Kenner mayor's father nearly monopolizes tax sale
Capitano moves to void dad's property purchases
Thursday, December 29, 2005
By Mary Swerczek
Kenner bureau
The father of Kenner Mayor Phil Capitano bought every available property save one this week at a tax sale run by the mayor's administration.
The transactions, possibly a violation of the state Ethics Code, astounded other potential buyers at the sale and spurred the mayor Wednesday to move to void the deal.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1135842216161300.xml


Lawmakers seek Red Cross records for probe
12/29/2005, 3:51 p.m. CT
By KEVIN FREKING
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers intensified their scrutiny of the Red Cross on Thursday as the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee asked the organization for correspondence, minutes of board meetings and other records.

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/washington/index.ssf?/base/politics-8/1135893557200840.xml&storylist=washington


GOP lawmaker petitions for January special session
12/29/2005, 11:10 a.m. CT
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Republican state lawmaker has launched a petition to call the Legislature into a special session next month to consider proposals including a restructuring of southeast Louisiana's levee system.

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-22/11358767583890.xml&storylist=louisiana



2005: Louisiana’s Year of Living Dangerously
State
Also By this Reporter:
I can’t wait for 2006 to get here, how about you? It has to be an improvement over the worst year Louisiana has ever experienced. During 2005, Louisiana was devastated by two monster hurricanes that killed 1,100 people, displaced 400,000 New Orleans citizens, destroyed 81,000 businesses and wrecked countless lives. It was a storm season that exposed our weaknesses, such as the intense poverty in New Orleans, the lack of political leadership and the state’s utter defenselessness in the face of strong hurricanes.

http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=5846



The Underreported Ten

1. Bush Family war profiteering on the WAR IN IRAQ. The extent of Iraq contracts going to corporations which involve members of President George W. Bush's family has not been investigated by the corporate media. Among the Bush family members profiting from the war are his brothers Neil and Marvin as well as Bucky and William. This involves contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Often Bush-related firms receive contracts where the corporations have no expertise and certainly the BUSH family members have no expertise or experience in these areas.

2. Investigate war crimes in the assault on Fallujah. The city of Fallujah had once been quiet about the occupation, but U.S. soldiers KILLING OF CIVILIANS protesting the military taking of a school led to an uprising. The result: two devastating assaults, accusations of indiscriminate bombings, killing of civilians and the use of chemical weapons. Today, as one unidentified U.S. solder says “Anyone in Fallujah can be an insurgent.” Understanding Fallujah will explain why the U.S. cannot win the IRAQ WAR.

3. The environmental and human impact of depleted uranium needs investigation. The U.S. is using armaments with depleted uranium claiming that there is no risk involved. Yet, there is evidence of danger to U.S. soldiers as well as Iraqis and the environment.

4. Is the United States losing the war in Iraq? In his recent series of speeches, Bush consistently claimed that the U.S. will leave Iraq when "we win the war". Further, he and the Vice President have been claiming that we are winning the war. They know that many Americans are willing to take U.S. casualties and spend billions of dollars if there is a chance of winning. Yet, there is strong evidence that the war cannot be won and that the U.S. is doing more harm than good by remaining in Iraq.

5. The under counting of U.S. casualties in IRAQ demeans the sacrifice of U.S. soldiers and is an unpatriotic lie of the Bush Administration. While 15,000 soldiers are reportedly casualties of the war, in fact more than 100,000 have sought medical treatment. The administration undercounts casualties as part of its efforts to hide the true costs of the war. The media should pierce this veil of dishonesty and tell the public the truth about the casualty count.

6. The need for a corporate withdrawal from Iraq as a first step toward giving Iraq back to Iraqis. The U.S. has been unable to rebuild the infrastructure of Iraq – electricity, oil production, sewage treatment, government buildings and other basic infrastructure needs – are not being rebuilt at a satisfactory pace. Evidence of widespread corruption by U.S. corporations is institutionalizing corruption in Iraq. Halliburton is a prime example of a government boondoggle – ineffective in its rebuilding efforts, unauditable in its billing practices and unfair in its treatment of workers – it is a prime example of the need for a U.S. corporate withdrawal from Iraq.

7. Impeachment of the President and Vice President needs to become a part of mainstream political dialog. The evidence of false statements by the administration, and especially Bush and Cheney, has grown in 2005. The public believes that if the President lied he should be impeached. More and more people are openly talking about impeachment, now it is time for the media to examine whether the President and Vice President are above the law. Rep. John Conyers issued a detailed report on these issues and submitted various impeachment-related bills at the end of the session.

8. Examine the real costs of the Iraq War – not just the hundreds of billions appropriated for the war, but what these appropriations are costing Americans in their daily lives. With the U.S. budget in high-level deficit spending continued occupation of Iraq – at a cost of $6 billion per month – means the U.S. cannot fund other projects. Sen. Edward Kennedy has put out a list of what the U.S. could do with the money – in health care, education, housing and other necessities of the people. It is time for the American public to know what this war is really costing.

9. Is the U.S. becoming the enemy we abhor? Reports of torture, civilian casualties, use of weapons of mass destruction make the United States more and more similar to Saddam Hussein's Iraq every day.

10. The politics of the Iraq War in 2006. Are Democrats at risk of turning off their anti-war base by being unable to enunciate a position on Iraq? Are Republicans risking loss of control of either or both Houses of the Congress? How many voters feel like Cindy Sheehan who says she will not support any pro-war candidate – Republican or Democrat? Is the anti-war movement organizing to support anti-war candidates and oppose pro-war candidates?


Courthouse rehab may cost $187 million
BOSTON, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- The renovation of a Boston courthouse is coming under fire as contractors and the state battle in court and judges claim it is too lavish.
The John Adams Courthouse remodeling originally was projected to cost $50 million, the Boston Herald reports. The cost has risen to $147 million and could climb another $40 million.
The courthouse is home to the state Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court.
The Suffolk Construction Co. Inc. claims the state failed to disclose problems in design before it went to bid, and wants more money for the job. The Division of Capital Asset Management says the company balked on agreements and improper change orders.
Junior judges say the state's highest courts already have great digs while lower courts across Massachusetts have more serious problems, like asbestos, and need renovation first.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20051228-18444400-bc-us-courthouse.xml

Credentials won't save him from lies and putting the nation at risk.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby
Chief of Staff to the Vice President
Project for the New American Century: Founding member
Northrop Grumman: Former adviser
Institutional Affiliations
Project for the New American Century: Signed PNAC's founding statement of principles and its August 1999 letter on the defense of Taiwan (8)
American Bar Association: Member, American Bar Association Standing Committee on Law and National Security (1)
Rand Corporation: Member, Advisory Board of the Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies (1) Government Service
Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney
Department of Defense: Deputy Under Secretary for Policy during George Sr. administration (1)
Department of Defense: Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Strategy and Resources during George Sr. administration (1)
U.S. House of Representatives: Legal Advisor, Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China (Cox Committee) (2)
Department of State: Director, Special Projects, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (1982-1985) (2)
Department of State: Policy Planning Staff, Office of the Secretary (1981) (2) Corporate Connections/Business Interests
Dechert, Price & Rhoads: Former managing partner, Washington Office (2)
Northrop Grumman: Former adviser (7) Education
Columbia University: J.D. (1975) (1)
Yale University: BA, magna cum laude (1972) (1)

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1271



No Cause for Cheer
We were practically giddy—indictments related to wrongdoings at the highest level of the administration, falling approval ratings, overdue admissions that things had not gone well in Iraq.
Vice President Dick Cheney’s attempts to give Rep. John Murtha the swift-boat treatment after the decorated marine called for an end to the war in Iraq backfired. The president calling the Constitution “just a goddamn piece of paper” and pronouncing it OK to spy on Americans wasn’t sitting well with those in his own party. The Senate refusing to reauthorize the Patriot Act signaled dissent. The sheen was off. The impenetrable bubble was cracking.
Those who had foreseen trouble coming from the beginning may feel vindicated, but there’s hardly cause for rejoicing. We as a nation are weakened, our good name besmirched at home and abroad. Unsavory acts have been committed in our name, including a war based on faulty intelligence and documented cases of torture that defy the Geneva Convention. Where is the delight in that?

http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2005/voices_2005-12-29.cfm



Storm over Katrina batters Bush
By Edward Alden
Published: December 29 2005 02:00 Last updated: December 29 2005 02:00
On the morning of August 30, President George W. Bush stood at a US naval base in San Diego delivering a speech he had given so many times before: the war in Iraq, he said, was part of a global struggle with fanatics, and the US had no choice but to win that war or find itself at their mercy.
That same morning, half a continent away in New Orleans, Americans were just waking up to the consequences of Hurricane Katrina, which would prove the costliest natural disaster in American history. The winds and flooding that followed claimed nearly 1,400 lives, and caused an estimated $75bn (€63bn, £43bn) in damage.
It was also a turning point for Mr Bush's presidency, one from which he spent the rest of the year struggling to recover. It would take five more days for the US government to bring help to the thousands of people stranded by the floods in New Orleans, and in those days the image of Mr Bush as a decisive leader in a crisis was badly damaged.
Mr Bush won re-election last year because voters trusted him to lead the war on terrorism. But the mishandling of Katrina shattered that public confidence, with his approval rating falling to the lowest level of his presidency.
For the second half of the year, there was hardly a single piece of good news for the president. Even the robust US economy was overshadowed by the jump in petrol prices that followed the summer hurricanes.
His ambitious plan for reforming US Social Security was quietly dropped in the face of united opposition from Democrats and tepid endorsement by congressional Republicans. One of his top White House aides - Lewis Libby, chief of staff to Vice-President Dick Cheney - was indicted on perjury charges. The investigation into who leaked the name of a covert CIA agent has also focused on his top political aide, Karl Rove, and with Mr Rove distracted the White House seemed politically adrift.
That was most apparent in Mr Bush's selection of Harriet Miers, his chief counsel and long-time Texas confidante, for the US Supreme Court. Ms Miers withdrew after a revolt by Republican conservatives, who charged that she lacked both the ideological rigour and intellectual mettle for the nation's highest court.
Most significant was the loss of public confidence over his handling of the Iraq war, and growing demands that the president set a timetable for withdrawing US troops next year. The Iraqi election this month and a series of strong speeches by Mr Bush have helped restore some optimism about Iraqi prospects, and has bought him more time. But both supporters and critics of the war agree that 2006 will be a decisive year

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/666bab92-780f-11da-9670-0000779e2340.html


Appeals court considers DeLay case
Dec 29, 2005, 1:25 GMT

AUSTIN, TX, United States (UPI) -- A Texas court said it would consider whether to hear an appeal from U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, regarding money-laundering charges.
DeLay has sought to have the charges dismissed or have an expedited trial as he works to regain his position as majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congress reconvenes late next month and DeLay is trying to have the case completed by then.
DeLay, who says the allegations are politically driven, was forced to resign the leadership position when he was indicted Sept. 28. Last Friday, DeLay`s attorneys asked the court to either dismiss all charges or order an immediate trial.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/article_1072060.php/Appeals_court_considers_DeLay_case


AIR FORCE CARGO PLANE DELIVERS CHENEY LIMOS TO IDAHO FALLS
Dec 28, 2005
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- The big Air Force C-17 Globemaster Tactical Transport plane that's sitting on the tarmac of the Idaho Falls airport this week has drawn more than a few curious stares and questions.
It landed Monday night and airport employees say Secret Service agents unloaded several limousines for Vice President Dick Cheney. The vehicles were driven to Jackson, Wyoming, where the plane was originally scheduled to land and where Cheney has a home. The plane was diverted to Idaho Falls because of foggy conditions at the Jackson airport Monday evening.
Airport employees said the transport aircraft is expected to leave Idaho Falls later this week.

http://www.kpvi.com/index.cfm?page=nbcheadlines.cfm&ID=30281


Alan Colmes Speaks Truth To FOX/GOP Spin About Spying On Americans
Alan Colmes was in rare form last night during a Hannity & Colmes discussion of Bush’s unauthorized spying on Americans. FOX News tried to frame the discussion as a national security debate but Colmes and civil rights attorney Michael Gross refused to budge from the position that the issue is about following the law.
The Hannity & Colmes website makes it pretty clear that FOX News is trying to spin the controversy away from Bush's illegal actions. "Will there be a Congressional investigation into who leaked the NSA secret spying story? Should there be? Isn't this story just as important as the Valerie Plame/CIA leak? "
Substitute co-host Mike Gallagher’s introduction to the discussion also conveniently skirted the criminal element. “President Bush continues to defend his decision to approve a program for domestic surveillance without warrants, saying it’s vital for American security. He’s also blasting the recent leaks of this and related programs as ‘shameless.’ Some conservatives are calling for investigations into the leaks.”
Attorney Gross started off by contrasting the NSA leaker, whom he described as a whistle blower, with the Valerie Plame leak, which he said was for retribution. “Don’t throw a smokescreen over what really went wrong here.”

http://www.newshounds.us/2005/12/28/alan_colmes_speaks_truth_to_foxgop_spin_about_spying_on_americans.php



Qinetiq IPO clears last hurdle
By Peter Spiegel and James Boxell in London
Published: December 27 2005 22:17 Last updated: December 27 2005 22:17
The controversial £1.1bn ($1.9bn) initial public offering of Qinetiq, the UK defence ministry’s advanced research laboratory, could go ahead as soon as next month after Treasury officials granted approval for the flotation.
Formal ministerial approval is still pending but people involved in the negotiations said the Treasury officials’ sign-off had removed the last major hurdle preventing the deal.
Now that the Treasury has signed off, a flotation is expected by February at the latest.
The offering is expected to produce a huge gain for both the MoD, which owns 56 per cent of Qinetiq, and the Carlyle Group, the US private equity group, which gained a 31 per cent stake for an initial equity investment of £42.4m when the defence group was privatised in 2002.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6e4a6c60-7704-11da-a7d1-0000779e2340.html



Comedy of terror
Tony Blair, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld - you're my prize guys
Terry Jones
Tuesday December 27, 2005
The Guardian
Well the end of the year is as good a time as any to distribute prizes. And first is the Gary Glitter Cup for Self-Restraint, to Tony Blair. It can't have been an easy couple of years for him, and yet he has somehow managed to keep that smile on his lips and that cheerful sparkle in his eye with a degree of self-restraint that impressed the judges.
Over the past two years, Tony has seen all his Iraq policies turn into unmitigated disasters. Instead of his stated aim of bringing peace and happiness to the people of Iraq, he has brought them chaos, bloodshed, violence and misery. Instead of making Britain safer, his policies have made this country a target for terrorism for the foreseeable future.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,1673936,00.html



Police Destroy Seized Explosives
12.26.2005
Rivers State Police Command at the weekend announced the destruction of explosives it recovered from premises of Halliburton Energy Services in Port Harcourt.
There had been speculations that the three-hectare premises, used by the company as a warehouse, harbour such items since last year.
A statement by the command’s Public Relations Officer, Mrs Ireju Barasua, confirmed that the explosives had been recovered.
Barasua said the explosives, which were recovered during a joint inspection exercise, were destroyed by the anti-bomb squad at its joint range with the army at Eneka, near Port Harcourt between Decemmber 21 and December 23.
“The anti-bomb squad of Rivers Command of the Nigerian Police Force, took this measure to ensure that the circulation of explosives is closely monitored and kept out of the reach of unauthorised persons,” he said.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=36613



Los Alamos blogger to shut down site
December 26, 2005 4:01 PM PST
A blogger whose Internet site became a forum for Los Alamos National Laboratory employees to vent about management problems said he's shutting the site down a half year from now.
Doug Roberts, who retired from LANL in 2005 after working at the New Mexico laboratory for 20 years, said Monday he'll shut down his LANL: The Real Story site on July 1. Roberts launched the site Dec. 28, 2004, as a place to publish letters critical of lab management that the lab's internal newsletter refused.
The blog drew national media attention as an aggregation of often anonymous complaints about lab director George "Pete" Nanos, who resigned in May. Since then, attention has shifted to other management concerns.

http://news.com.com/2061-11204_3-6009262.html



LANL: The Real Story

http://lanl-the-real-story.blogspot.com/



Neil Bush Meets the Messiah
By John Gorenfeld, AlterNet. Posted December 5, 2005.
Why is the President's younger brother, Neil, touring with the leader of the Moonies?
Standing center left, Neil Bush. Standing second from the right, the Korean Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
"Those who stray from the heavenly way," the owner of the flagship Republican newspaper the Washington Times admonished an audience in Taipei on Friday, "will be punished."
This "heavenly way," the Rev. Sun Myung Moon explained, demands a 51-mile underwater highway spanning Alaska and Russia. Sitting in the front row: Neil Bush, the brother of the president of the United States.

http://alternet.org/story/29054/



Halliburton's latest travesty
By Jim Hightower
MinutemanMedia.org
This giant government contractor with tentacles running straight into the White House has previously been caught overcharging U.S. taxpayers and shortchanging U.S. troops for its work in Iraq. But now we learn that Halliburton has been profiting in Iraq by mistreating foreign workers.
By "foreign," I don't mean Iraqis, even though thousands of folks there are desperate for jobs. Instead, I mean impoverished Asian laborers brought by the thousands into Iraq from southern India, Thailand, and the Philippines to work for Halliburton on U.S. bases as cooks, electricians, launderers, custodians, etc. They are mostly 20-somethings, powerless... and exploited.

http://cjonline.com/stories/122405/opi_mm6.shtml



Novak Says Goodbye To CNN
Robert Novak had his last day at CNN today, ending his 25 year career with the network with a long interview with Wolf Blitzer.
CNN put together a nice video montage of Novak's career and, as it played, it was hard not to notice how integral Novak was to the network's history and success. Accordingly, it was hard not to feel some regret and sadness at the bittersweet manner in which Novak's accomplished career at CNN has come to a close.
The interview produced little in the way of news. Novak said he couldn't talk about why he couldn't talk about his involvement in Plame-gate. He regetted--but wouldn't deny--his recent comment at the John Locke Foundation that "I'm confident the president knows who the source is." He regrets--somewhat--his column that outted Valerie Plame not because he did anything wrong but "because it's caused me so much trouble."
He concluded the interview with a final thought: "Can I say one other thing? I want to thank CNN for making this network available to me for 25 years. Never censored me once, ever. And I said some outrageous things. And it was a wonderful opportunity for me. I think I worked hard for CNN, but it was a wonderful opportunity, and I want to thank them."

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/networks/novak_says_goodbye_to_cnn_29935.asp


The Case against Karl Rove
by Jason Leopold
http://www.opednews.com
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald met with the second grand jury investigating the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson for several hours Friday. Unless Rove's attorney intervenes at the 11th hour yet again, Fitzgerald is expected to ask the grand jury to indict Rove - at the very least - for making false statements to the FBI and Justice Department investigators in October 2003, lawyers close to the case say.
People close to Fitzgerald say the special prosecutor has long believed that Rove's story concerning his role in the Plame case, as well as what he knew and when he knew it, is filled with holes. One thing Fitzgerald has been struggling with for months now, these people say, is whether to believe Rove hid or destroyed evidence that would have incriminated him and proven that he was a source for at least two reporters who unmasked Plame Wilson's identity and covert status, lawyers close to the case said.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jason_le_051217_the_case_against_kar.htm



The Onion: Karl Rove Behind Recent Leak Revealing Santa Claus As "Your Mommy And Daddy"...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2005/12/21/the-onion-karl-ro_n_12703.html


The Liberal on Karl Rove's Case
Politics Aside, Robert Luskin May Be Just What the Bush Aide Needs
By Richard Leiby
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 7, 2005; Page C1
Karl Rove's greatest defender in Washington these days is a Democratic lawyer and onetime newspaper reporter named Robert Luskin. He is Rove's attorney in the high-stakes CIA leak case, and is widely credited with sparing his client from indictment so far.
But perhaps more intriguing is Luskin's other role. He plays the Anti-Rove.
Robert Luskin, left, with his high-profile client: "Karl didn't do anything wrong." (By Ron Edmonds -- Associated Press)
Transcript
On Woodward
Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. discussed Bob Woodward's revelation that he may have been the first reporter told of Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA operative.
Just look at the guy: Luskin, 55, wears a gold hoop earring and Euro-hip eyeglasses. He's buff and bald. (But bald in a good way.) He rides a black Ducati Monster motorcycle, which its maker touts as the bike of choice of "top designers" and "Hollywood stars." In his office he spins the CDs of antiwar balladeer Steve Earle and ex-punk Paul Westerberg.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/06/AR2005120601689.html



The Pall of "Normalcy" Has Once Again Fallen Over the Radical, Rogue Regime
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
The pall of "normalcy" has once again fallen over the rogue, radical, lawbreaking, bumbling, national security threatening, lying, character assassinating administration.
By that we return to one of our favorite BuzzFlash themes, how Karl Rove has turned incompetence, lying and lawbreaking into what Hannah Arendt, a philospher, called the banality of evil.
So now we are treated to an Associated Press story that announces Bush's grand plans for 2006. We see photos of "Baby Doc" and Laura carrying their photo-op dogs for that warm fuzzy feeling. There are articles in every paper about what books Bush is allegedly -- and we emphasize allegedly -- reading while the world burns. (Of course, these are actually books that Bush carries in his hand on photo-ops to give the impression that he is reading them because they create a certain image about him; in this case a book about rough rider Teddy Roosevelt, and one about the heroism of U.S. soldiers. Just more props. We dare a White House "reporter" to ask Bush a substantive question about either book. They will just get a blank stare. The last book he read in full was "My Pet Goat" on 9/11.)
And the Washington Post runs a long story about the Bush Administration plan for political "recovery." Shouldn't that just be about a rehabilitation program for people after they get out of jail?
It's as though we weren't being ruled by a bunch of Constitution shredding, incompetent, fanatical thugs. These guys should be in the hoosegow, not guffawing about how Scott McClellan is so good at never answering a question, as Christmas goose gravy drips from their chins.
This sort of "pall of normalcy" settles over the media after every Bush debacle and horrid revelation that any other president would be impeached for. In part, it's because the Democratic leadership (although acting a bit tougher on occasion than in the past) doesn't push back hard enough -- and doesn't sustain the outrage and demand for accountabilty appropriate for the situation.
And then there's the press, which just rides the crest of each news cycle without providing any historical context to the latest propaganda from the White House. And today, historical context for an evening story would mean just remembering what the White House said in the morning, which is often just the opposite of what it is declaring by the evening. But the media obliviously trudges on like good stenographers, making crime breaking seem like a routine function of government.
There's little doubt now that you could have a pumpkin as president and the mainstream corporate press would still print the same "business as usual" stories as they do about Bush.
After all, having a cabbage head as president isn't that different from having a pumpkin.
Except that this cabbage head is something that you would serve up for a prison meal, not treat with deference and complacency.

http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/05/12/ana05061.html

continued ...

New Zealand is in a unique place in the world.

December 29, 2005.

New Zealand Satellite.

New Zealand is southeast of Australia and directly north of Scott Base, Antarctica. New Zealand has glacier and is a layover station to Antarctica.

New Zealand is a land of fire and ice. Very much like Iceland.

April 21, 2005.

Rotorua, New Zealand.

This is Whakarewarewa Te Puia geyser terrance and river. (Thermal reserve).

The sad truth of severe drought.

December 29, 2005.

Fire of Granbury subdivision of Canyon Creek, Texas.

Morning Papers - continued

The Moscow Times


Straight from the Wires
Jury selected for Klebnikov trial
RIA NOVOSTI. December 29, 2005, 4:08 PM
MOSCOW, December 29 (RIA Novosti) - Jurors have been selected for the trial of the three men accused of killing Forbes Russia Editor Paul Klebnikov, the Moscow City Court said Thursday.
The prosecution and defense selected a 12-person jury and 4 alternates out of 46 candidates.
Closed hearings on the case against Moscow notary Faiil Satretdinov and Chechens Musa Makhayev and Kazbek Dukuzov have been set for January 10, 2006.
"The criminal case will be heard behind closed doors because of the number of classified documents that have been included in the materials," Dukuzov's attorney, Ruslan Khasanov, said earlier.
The investigation established that Klebnikov was murdered on July 9, 2004 by members of a Moscow-based Chechen criminal group that included Kazbek Dukuzov, Magomed Dukuzov, Musa Vakhayev and Magomed Edilsultanov.
"This criminal group was formed in 2002 in Moscow to conduct extortions and contract murders," the prosecution said in a statement.
Investigators said the journalist had been killed because he planned to write about the embezzlement of funds allocated to the reconstruction of war-ravaged Chechnya. They said they had identified the person who allegedly ordered the killing: "Chechen resident Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, who offered the criminals a monetary reward for Klebnikov's murder."
Nukhayev, Edilsultanov and Magomed Dukuzov have been placed on the wanted list

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/doc/HotNews.html



Georgia undecided on sale of pipeline to Gazprom - PM
RIA NOVOSTI. December 29, 2005, 3:48 PM
TBILISI, December 29 (RIA Novosti, Marina Kvaratskhelia) - Georgia has not yet decided to sell its trunk pipeline to Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom, the Georgian prime minister said Thursday.
"We must consider this thoroughly and submit our proposals on the issue," Zurab Nogaideli said.
He said Gazprom representatives had visited Georgia last week and had said that the Georgian proposals on the formation of joint enterprise Gruzrosgazprom were unacceptable.
"They offered an alternative proposal, stating their interest in purchasing the Georgian trunk pipeline," Nogaideli said.
He added that Georgia had no issues whatsoever with Gazprom.
On Wednesday, David Morchiladze, the representative of Gazprom's export arm, Gazexport, in Georgia, said that Nogaideli was involved in negotiations on the privatization of the gas pipeline and that the Georgian side was expected to submit its proposals in the first quarter of 2006.
He added that the privatization of the pipeline would not affect natural gas deliveries to Georgia or to Armenia via Georgia.
The Gazexport representative said Gazprom would supply more than 2 billion cu m of natural gas to Georgia in 2006 at $110 per 1,000 cu m.
Georgian authorities will need to amend the law on privatization if they decide to sell the pipeline. The trunk pipeline is listed as one of the country's strategic facilities, and the privatization of such facilities is prohibited under current law.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/doc/HotNews.html


Few Surprises in Beslan Report
By Simon Saradzhyan
Staff Writer
Itar-Tass
Torshin presenting his Beslan report.
Even though he had promised surprises in his report on the Beslan attack, the head of a parliamentary investigative commission on Wednesday largely followed the lead of prosecutors in blaming local police and security officials and absolving their federal commanders of any wrongdoing.
Alexander Torshin, deputy speaker of the Federation Council, presented the long-awaited preliminary results of his commission's work to both chambers of parliament, but he said a final report would be released only next year, after several simulation tests and other research were completed.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/001.html



How a Nuclear Plant Found Time for God
By Anna Smolchenko
Staff Writer
Alexander Belenky / MT
Bells at St. Petersburg's Kazan Cathedral, made at the city's Baltiisky Zavod shipyard — one of a number of factories using their facilities to make bells.
A decade ago, Andrei Sushko, a nuclear physicist from one of Russia's top-secret cities, added another line to his resume: bellmaker.
It all started in 1991, when Sushko was standing in an honor cordon welcoming the relics of St. Seraphim to their final resting place at the Diveyevo convent, near the closed nuclear research city of Sarov. The sound of bells accompanying the procession dumbfounded him, he said.
"Diveyevo had awful bells," he said. "I really disliked their toll."

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/002.html



G8 Urged to Press Russia on NGO Bill
By Judith Ingram
The Associated Press
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged members of the Group of Eight to press Russia -- their chairman in 2006 -- on new legislation that would severely restrict nongovernmental organizations.
The bill has been approved by both chambers of parliament and is expected to go to President Vladimir Putin for his signature before the end of the year.
Critics see the measure as part of a Kremlin campaign to increase control over society and stem dissent.
Human Rights Watch said that the bill, despite some softening amendments, would have an "extremely negative impact" on Russian rights organizations and could result in the closure of foreign-affiliated NGOs.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/012.html



Abused Girl Asks Putin Not to Halt Adoptions
By Kevin O'Flynn
Staff Writer
A 13-year-old Russian girl who was molested by her adopted American father has appealed in a letter to President Vladimir Putin to take measures to protect children but also to allow foreign adoptions to continue.
The letter comes as Russian authorities are looking to restrict adoptions after several children died at the hands of their American parents in recent years. Adoption advocates in the United States are worried that adoptions from Russia might grind to a halt.
"Adoption by Americans should not stop because of what happened to me," the girl, Masha, wrote in the letter. "But we need to make things safer and better for the Russian orphans who are sent to America."
Masha was adopted at the age of 5 by Matthew Mancuso, a millionaire who sexually abused her and posted photographs of the abuse on the Internet. He is now serving a life sentence in prison on child abuse charges. Masha has been adopted by another American family.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/011.html



Belarus Drops Murder Investigation
The Associated Press
MINSK -- Prosecutors in Belarus investigating the stabbing death of an opposition journalist said Wednesday that they had halted their probe because of a lack of suspects.
Sergei Ivanov, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation, said he had decided to suspend the inquiry "owing to the absence of individuals who can be brought to justice."
But Ivanov said that it could be reopened if circumstances warranted.
Veronika Cherkasova was stabbed to death in her home in October. The 44-year-old had worked for independent media outlets since 1995, most recently for the newspaper Solidarnost.
Meanwhile, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday that Solidarnost would no longer be available at newsstands as of Sunday because the state company that has a monopoly on distribution decided not to renew its contract.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/016.html



11 Jailed Over Andijan Unrest
The Associated Press
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan -- Uzbekistan's highest court on Wednesday sentenced 11 policemen, soldiers and prison doctors to as long as 11 years in prison for negligence and complicity that purportedly paved the way for a deadly May uprising in the eastern city of Andijan.
The Supreme Court found nine police officers and military servicemen, including the Andijan police chief, guilty of neglecting their duties and allowing rebels unhindered access to government buildings and weapons, the court said in a statement.
"As a result of their negligence terrorists seized a military unit, prison and government buildings, and released hundreds of criminals," the court statement said.
Two doctors were accused of passing messages between rebels and their alleged accomplices in the Andijan prison.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/015.html



Sailors Tell of Ordeal in Nigerian Jail
By Henry Meyer
The Associated Press
Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
Valery Pakhomov, fourth from left, and other sailors waving as they leave Sheremetyevo Airport on Wednesday.
Twelve Russian sailors freed from a Nigerian jail after nearly two years in detention arrived home on Wednesday, complaining of terrible conditions during a lengthy ordeal in the African nation that strained relations between Russia and Nigeria.
The sailors flew into Sheremetyevo Airport to an emotional welcome from their family and waiting television crews, and were handed red carnations.
The 12 Russians were among 15 sailors convicted on Dec. 14 of illegally possessing crude oil from Nigeria, but they were released as part of a plea bargain.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/29/013.html


Gospel Truth
By Chris Floyd
Published: December 23, 2005
Countless words of condemnation have been heaped upon President George W. Bush and his hard-right regime -- a crescendo growing louder by the day, with voices from across the political spectrum. But the most devastating repudiation of the regime's foul ethos was actually delivered almost 2,000 years ago by the man whose birth is celebrated at this season of the year.
We speak, of course, of Jesus of Nazareth, whose Sermon on the Mount called for a revolutionary transformation of human nature -- a complete overthrow of our natural instincts for greed, aggression and self-aggrandizement. This radical vision -- erupting in the turbulent backwater of a brutal world empire -- is the true miracle of Jesus' life, not the primitive fables about virgin births, magic tricks and corpses rising from the dead. The vision's living force sears through dogma, casts down the pomp of church and state, and gives the lie to every hypocrite who evokes Jesus' name in pursuit of earthly power.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/23/120.html



Dissecting Hitler
Stalin felt betrayed by Hitler, but the German dictator also fascinated him. Why else would Stalin have commissioned a detailed study of the man who was his greatest enemy?
By David M. Glantz
Published: December 23, 2005
The demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and ensuing formation of the ostensibly democratic Russian Federation raised hopes that the fledgling government would ease or totally end the stifling censorship formerly exercised over access to state archives and the writing of Soviet and Russian history. Prior to 1991, the Soviet government and Communist Party had strictly limited the release of information from historical archives and routinely censored the work and writings of the country's official and nonofficial historians. Applicable to every realm deemed vital to state security, these restrictions were most ubiquitous in the sensitive areas of political and military affairs, past and present. Because of this censorship, books published on these subjects in the Soviet Union lacked candor and, hence, credibility.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/23/104.html


Star Telegram

'Devastated'
Residents left to sift through the ashes
By MELODY McDONALD
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
John Offenbaker stared at the charred remnants of his Hood County home Wednesday morning, reached into his pocket and pulled out the only thing he was able to salvage: a small tin bookmark emblazoned with the words "Jesus is Lord."
"I kept trying to envision the worst, but I didn't envision this at all," said Offenbaker, who wasn't at home when the fire broke out. "I can't even haul off my debris. It burnt the handles off my wheelbarrow."
In addition to his newly remodeled two-story house, Offenbaker lost his boat, his car -- even his trampoline -- in the fast-moving grass fire that swept through the Lakeside Hills and Canyon Creek subdivisions near Texas 144, south of Granbury.
"This was going to be my last and final home," he said. "I was getting ready for retirement."
By the time the sun came up Wednesday morning, it was clear that Offenbaker had plenty of company.
At least 18 homes, seven travel trailers, some of which were used as living quarters, and 23 vehicles were destroyed Tuesday afternoon by the blaze, which may have been started by children with a lighter in the Canyon Creek subdivision, said Roger Deeds, the Hood County fire marshal.
"I'm still trying to determine whether it was accidental or intentional," Deeds said late Wednesday. "It doesn't appear that fireworks were involved," he said.
No residents were injured, but at least eight Hood County firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation or heat exhaustion, Deeds said. One firefighter who was taken by helicopter ambulance to a Fort Worth hospital was released Wednesday.
Four other firefighters were treated at local hospitals and released Tuesday, while three were treated at the scene, Deeds said.
Anita Foster, the Metroplex spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said the agency has provided temporary housing to three Hood County families. Others displaced by the fire are staying with friends or relatives, she said.
The fire, which burned an estimated 250 acres, was the worst anyone could remember.
"I've seen larger areas burned, but nothing like this magnitude with the structure fires," said County Judge Andy Rash, who has lived in Hood County all his life.
Railea Cramer and her family returned to their home Wednesday morning to find it -- and their beloved pets -- gone.
"I'm numb. Utterly devastated," said Cramer, wiping away tears as her daughter and son frantically searched the smoldering rubble, calling out for their two cats, ferret, bearded dragon and dog.
Cramer's daughter, Kephra, 15, and son, Xan, 12, were home alone when a neighbor alerted them to the fast-approaching fire.
Kephra said she called her mother, then 911.
She and her brother, who was carrying their miniature dachshund, Princess, ran outside in their bare feet as a county official stopped and ordered them to come with him.
"I told him we had animals still in the house," Kephra said, her eyes brimming with tears. "He said, 'Our main priority is to get y'all out.'"
As Kephra and her brother rode away, she looked back at the house they had lived in for almost a year.
"Our whole front yard was caught" on fire, she said.
Across the street, David Bailey, 32, was also sifting through the ruins of his newly built three-bedroom rental house. He and his wife were planning on buying it soon.
"I was fixing to mortgage this place," he said, shaking his head.
In addition to his home, Bailey, a trucker, lost his 18-wheeler in the fire. His friend Kenny Wright, who was staying with him, lost his Mustang and a classic motorcycle.
Much smaller things, like the Christmas presents he bought for his 8-year-old son, whom he hadn't seen in about a month because he had been on the road, were also reduced to ashes.
Like the Cramers, Bailey said he and his wife barely made it out in time.
"It was licking at our heels," Bailey said. "My shoes were singed."
FOR HELP
A Red Cross service center has been set up at the TXU Building in Granbury at 1300 Farm Road 51 N.
Officials are providing financial assistance, food, clothing, shelter and prescription medication. Counseling is also being offered.
To contact the Red Cross, call (817) 335-9137.
Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to:
American Red Cross
P.O. Box 37243
Washington, D.C. 20013
Online: www.redcross.org
SOURCE: Anita Foster, Metroplex spokeswoman for the American Red Cross
PROPERTY DESTROYED IN HOOD COUNTY
18 homes
29 outbuildings
23 vehicles
7 travel trailers
7 boats with trailers
1 18-wheeler

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/13507030.htm


Families sift through the remains of homes
By MARK AGEE, and SUSAN SCHROCK
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITERS
Bernice Alvarez's family spent Wednesday sifting through the ashes of what used to be her southeast Arlington home.
A grass fire Tuesday afternoon burned through her double-wide trailer in a matter of minutes leaving a metal frame, a charred thimble from a collection grown through the years and 20 or so charred pages from a family Bible. They were from the Book of Revelation.
Alvarez described watching through her dining room window as the fire burned east, toward her home of 22 years, along Mitchell Parkway.
"It moved so fast," the 61-year-old woman said, clutching the Bible's pages in her left hand and the thimble in her right. "It was like pouring water out of a cup."
Six trailer homes, plus close to 20 outbuildings and a few vehicles, were destroyed in the 20-acre blaze. Another 110 acres in Arlington burned in other grass fires along the Kennedale border and along West Pioneer Parkway on Tuesday afternoon, but no other structures were damaged, city spokesman Bob Johnson said.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/13507019.htm


Damage widespread from grassfires - slide show

http://www.dfw.com/multimedia/dfw/news/FWslideshows/1229Fire/index.html

Fire in the holidays
Being Texans and all, we believe we have a God-given right to do whatever we want to do on our property. But that does not include creating a fire hazard.
Given Tuesday's explosion of grass fires, perhaps the commissioners in Parker County might want to rethink their decision not to join all the surrounding counties in North Central Texas in banning bottle rockets and aerial rockets with fins during this holiday season.
State law lets counties ban such fireworks when drought creates a high risk of wildfires.
Fire risk is high all over the state, with the Texas Department of Public Safety reporting Wednesday that 158 counties statewide are under fire bans.
It's dry, warmer than normal and windy. A single spark, a carelessly discarded cigarette butt, a wind-whipped trash-barrel fire can trigger a blaze that will destroy everything in its path.
Tuesday was a bad day for wildfire in North Texas and even brought one fatality. And there's no relief in sight.
Parker County ought to be especially aware of the danger. In February 1996, a fire that began with a burning barrel of trash raged for three days, blackened 16,000 acres, destroyed 55 homes and injured 52 people near Poolville. The Star-Telegram reported at the time that damage could reach $10 million.
It's impossible to completely avoid wildfires -- they can start with something so simple as a lawnmower blade striking sparks from a rock. But the DPS points out that humans cause about 90 percent of all Texas wildfires, and "the greatest single cause is burning debris that escapes from an area where it should have been contained."
The DPS offers these tips in these kinds of dangerous weather conditions:
Avoid burning trash. Even a barrel covered with a screen can allow a spark to escape, igniting nearby vegetation.
If you smoke in your car, extinguish cigarettes in vehicle ashtrays. Never toss a cigarette out of a car window, and don't put cigarettes out on the ground.
Be careful when pulling off a road or driving into a field. Hot catalytic converters can ignite vegetation.
Keep a fire extinguisher and water handy when working outdoors with equipment that gets hot or involves sparks, such as welding equipment. Water down outdoor work areas in advance if possible.
Do not use fireworks during the holidays.
Aw, man. That last one is a bummer.
But it is something that everyone can do. And you'd better hope that the people upwind from you are following all these tips.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/13506938.htm


Going too far? editorials
Star-Telegram
Escalating healthcare costs are eating up the bottom lines of U.S. companies large and small.
Corporate presidents, CEOs and benefit providers are seeking strategies that will encourage their employees to make healthy lifestyle choices to avoid the absenteeism and medical costs associated with heart and lung disease, obesity and diabetes -- all linked to bad choices.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/13506939.htm


BMI - Body Mass Index: BMI Calculator

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm



The Washington Post

Aceh: One Year Later
Aceh, an isolated Indonesian province on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, was hit hardest by the tsunami that occured there on Dec. 26, 2004. At least 131,338 people in Indonesia were killed by the tsunami and more than 25,000 people remain missing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2005/12/22/CU2005122201141.html


Three Lessons From Vietnam

… First, there must be a unified structure that combines military and civilian pacification efforts. In Vietnam that organization was called CORDS, for Civil Operations and Rural Development Support. Formed in 1967, it placed the disjointed and ineffective civilian pacification programs under the military. This was accomplished only at the insistence of President Lyndon Johnson, who took an active interest in seeing the pacification process function smoothly under a single manager: Gen. William Westmoreland. CORDS gave the pacification effort access to military money and personnel, allowing programs to expand dramatically. In 1966 there were about 1,000 advisers involved in pacification, and the annual budget was $582 million; by 1969 that had risen to 7,600 advisers and almost $1.5 billion. This rapid progress was possible only because of CORDS's streamlined system under Defense Department control.
In Afghanistan, the provincial reconstruction teams have viewed CORDS as a model, but there is no truly integrated system yet. In Iraq, the old Coalition Provisional Authority suffered from the same problems that caused the formation of CORDS, in particular a dual chain of command that failed to coordinate military and civilian efforts. Not enough has been done since the CPA's dissolution in 2004 to integrate nation-building into military planning.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801144.html


Two Americans Killed in Afghan Incidents
Reuters
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A15
KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 28 -- Two soldiers, an American and an Afghan, were killed and two U.S. service members were wounded in a roadside bomb attack Wednesday in eastern Afghanistan, a U.S. military spokesman said.
Another U.S. service member was killed and four were injured when their armored vehicle overturned in an accident in the southern province of Kandahar, a military statement said. The accident was not caused by hostile activity, the statement said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801324.html



Yemeni Predicts Germans Will Be Released
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 29, 2005; 8:28 AM
SAN'A, Yemen -- A family of five German tourists held hostage in Yemen should be released on Thursday, an official in the province where they were kidnapped said.
Armed tribesmen kidnapped a former German diplomat and four members of his family on Wednesday as they were touring the mountains of eastern Yemen. The kidnappers demanded the Yemeni government release detained members of their al-Abdullah bin Dahha tribe, Yemeni officials said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/29/AR2005122900103.html



Facing Servitude, Ethiopian Girls Run for a Better Life
By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A01
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- Virtually the only way for Tesdale Mesele, 13, to avoid soon being married into a life of housework and childbearing was to run.
So that's what the spunky girl with matchstick legs and a ponytail did. She ran along the rutted dirt roads of the Ethiopian highlands, barefoot or in torn sneakers, trying to improve her endurance. She ran up the wide, cracked steps to Meskel Square in the capital, while goats wandered by and clouds of pollution turned the air charcoal gray.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801369.html



D.C. Targets Rising Pedestrian Deaths
Education Effort Emphasizes Safety
By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page B01
Steve Laterra ignored the red "Don't Walk" signal and waded into four lanes of midday traffic on 14th Street NW yesterday. The Woodbridge man made it easily through the first two lanes but was forced to stop in the middle of the street to let a taxi whiz by -- inches away. Then, his eyes darting back and forth, he dashed across the final northbound lane.
"I'm from Manhattan, so it's not scary at all," he said from the safety of a sidewalk. "I make the assumption that the car will stop."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801431.html


Manassas Changes Definition Of Family

Defining the Family
A new Manassas ordinance narrows, for zoning, what the city considers a family:
A. An individual;
B. Two or more persons related to the second degree of collateral consanguinity by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship, or otherwise duly authorized custodial relationship, as verified by official public records such as driver's licenses, birth or marriage certificates, court orders or notarized affidavits, living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit, exclusive of not more than one additional unrelated person;
C. A number of persons, not exceeding three, living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit though not related by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship; or
D. Not more than two unrelated persons and their dependent children living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit.
SOURCE: City of Manassas
GRAPHIC: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/27/AR2005122701216.html?nav=most_emailed_emailafriend


Activists Criticize New Housing Limits As Anti-Immigrant
By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 28, 2005; Page A01
The inspector slid into his Crown Victoria, a police radio on his belt, addresses in hand. It was after 5 p.m., and he and his interpreter rolled into Manassas, down a street of benign ranch houses strung with lights. They parked, walked to a door and knocked.
"Mrs. Chavez?" Victor Purchase asked in the quiet evening.

Victor Purchase, an assistant fire marshal, and interpreter Adriana Vallenas question Jose Ortiz about the number of people living in his townhouse. A new law in Manassas essentially limits households to immediate relatives. (By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)
Defining the Family
A new Manassas ordinance narrows, for zoning, what the city considers a family:
A. An individual;
B. Two or more persons related to the second degree of collateral consanguinity by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship, or otherwise duly authorized custodial relationship, as verified by official public records such as driver's licenses, birth or marriage certificates, court orders or notarized affidavits, living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit, exclusive of not more than one additional unrelated person;
C. A number of persons, not exceeding three, living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit though not related by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship; or
D. Not more than two unrelated persons and their dependent children living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit.
There had been a complaint, he said. The city needed to know not just how many people lived there but how they were related. He handed Leyla Chavez a form and explained that she could be prosecuted for lying.
"Okay," she said and, in a mild state of shock, began filling it out.
There was Chavez and her husband. Their two sons. A nephew. The man who rented downstairs. His girlfriend.
"Your nephew, under our law, is considered unrelated," Purchase said, then delivered the verdict: Two people had to go.
That is because a zoning ordinance adopted this month by the city of Manassas redefines family, essentially restricting households to immediate relatives, even when the total is below the occupancy limit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/27/AR2005122701216.html?nav=most_emailed_emailafriend


Philadelphia, the Last Stand for Urban Murals
Real Estate Appreciation Has Trumped the Art Elsewhere
By Michael Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A03
PHILADELPHIA -- They are the hidden gems of this old city, running up the side of down-at-the-heels Victorian rowhouses and dominating vacant lots with a surreal intensity. A child reaches for a star painted onto a chimney, a grandmother sews a purple quilt, six lifer inmates seek salvation.
They are haunting and passionate, and these vast murals are like wildflowers that took root in urban decay and never died.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801310.html


Life and Romance in 160 Characters or Less
Brevity Gains New Meaning as Popularity of Cell Phone Text Messaging Soars
By Yuki Noguchi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A01
Andrew Weigle can fully express himself in several dozen characters or less.
That's the amount of space he gets on his Motorola Razr phone to compose text messages, which he sends mostly to friends and, on at least one occasion, to a girlfriend to break up.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801430.html


Women Narrow the Internet Gender Gap, Survey Finds
By Yuki Noguchi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page D01
Traditionally, women have lagged behind men in adoption of Internet technologies, but a study released yesterday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that women under age 65 now outpace men in Internet usage, though only by a few percentage points. But the survey also noted that the disparity between women and men on the Web is even greater among the 18-to-29 age group and African Americans.
The report, "How Women and Men Use the Internet," examined use by both sexes, looking at what men and women are doing online as well as their rate of adopting new Web-based technologies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801403.html


New Zealand Herald

Blizzards cover Britain in thick snow

29.12.05
Blizzards left large parts of Britain covered in thick snow as motorists faced treacherous driving conditions with more bitter weather due this week.
Up to 5cm fell in Sussex, southeast England, and there were reports of 12cm in higher areas.
Motorists were yesterday urged to stay indoors as heavy snow fell across the east of England, creating perilous driving conditions.
Temperatures dropped to -2C when the blizzard arrived on Tuesday night but colder weather, as low as -5C in England and -8C in Scotland, is anticipated.
Train services across the southeast of England were disrupted by the blizzards, brought on by North Sea storms blowing heavy snow.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361789


Carter refutes Japanese whaling claims

29.12.05 1.00pm
Conservation Minister Chris Carter has refuted claims by Tokyo that he is misleading the public about Japan's whaling programme.
Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research is accusing Mr Carter of mixing science with a politically motivated anti-whaling position.
The Institute was reacting to the release by Mr Carter of a damning critique of Japan's whaling programme that will see them killing more than 1000 whales a year for scientific purposes.
Mr Carter says it is ironic that Japan is now accusing New Zealand of the very thing that it is now doing, cloaking a hunting programme with a so-called scientific rational.
He says it is not about scientific enquiry, it is about an excuse to use existing international regulations to hunt as many whales as possible to sell the flesh.
Mr Carter says the programme is just an excuse to hunt whale and sell the meat on the Japanese fish market.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10361810



Poachers could drive paua to extinction

29.12.05
By John Lichfield
Sylvain Huchette plunges his arm into a large plastic tank and plucks out a shellfish the size of a mobile telephone.
The creature has a shell which vaguely resembles a human ear. It is gnarled on the outside, brilliantly coloured inside and serially perforated along one edge. If this were truly an ear, it would have to be the ear of an ageing punk rocker.
Dr Huchette, a young Frenchman who speaks excellent English with a cheerful "no worries" Melbourne accent, turns over the strange shell, and reveals an even stranger creature inside. Dark, secretive and slimy-looking, this is the abalone, the most expensive and most endangered seafood in the world.
Here, in a nondescript, beige-coloured shed close to the seashore in Plouguerneau, Finistere, in western Brittany, baby and adolescent abalone are thriving, by the millions. Elsewhere, their outlook is grim.
The abalone - paua to New Zealanders, ormeau to the French, takabushi to the Japanese - is a delicacy which drives Asian, and especially Chinese, gourmets wild. In Japan and Korea, they are mythical beings, considered to be an unfailing male aphrodisiac.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361758



UN vet dismisses fish farming as bird flu risk

29.12.05 1.00pm
ROME - The widespread use of poultry excrement to fertilise fish farms does not greatly increase the risk of bird flu, a senior United Nations expert said today.
Joseph Domenech, chief veterinary officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, dismissed a wildlife group's claim that using animal faeces to boost fish farming was a serious danger.
Global environmental group Birdlife International said wild birds have been unfairly blamed for the virus.
It says human practices like the trade in poultry and wild birds, and modern agricultural methods, probably play a major role in spreading the virus.
The FAO, which is monitoring the global spread of bird flu, supports the practice whereby faeces from farm animals are used to boost fish production.
The excrement is used to boost nutrients in water for the organisms the fish feed on.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10361809



Endangered birds laughing now

29.12.05
Organisers of a breeding plan to help bolster the endangered native hihi, or stitchbird, are celebrating a baby boom at Wellington's Karori Wildlife Sanctuary.
Numbers have more than doubled since 64 of the small birds were transferred from Tiritiri Matangi Island and Mt Bruce National Wildlife Centre earlier this year.
The birds have produced 75 chicks, 53 of which have left their nests. Sanctuary conservation scientist Raewyn Empson said the result exceeded expectations.
The programme was now believed to be the most successful hihi breeding season ever recorded - either in captivity or in the wild.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10361769



Second look at Blair nominees for House of Lords

28.12.05 1.00pm
By Colin Brown
LONDON - Tony Blair has been embroiled in a fresh 'cash for favours' row over his nomination of prominent Labour Party donors for peerages.
The parliamentary sleaze watchdog has blocked the Prime Minister's working list of 28 peers, including some high-profile businessmen who have donated thousands of pounds to his party.
He submitted the list of 11 Labour peers, eight Tory peers, five Lib Dem peers, and four Northern Ireland peers in November, which was first revealed in the Independent on Sunday newspaper.
Now the House of Lords Appointments Commission has put a hold on the peerages, pending further checks.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361721



UK human rights worker and parents kidnapped in Gaza

29.12.05 1.00pm
By Donald Macintyre
JERUSALEM - A British human rights worker and her parents were kidnapped yesterday close to the Gaza border with Egypt in the latest of a series of seizures by militants of foreigners in the Strip.
The woman, Kate Burton, and her parents - thought to be visiting her for the Christmas holidays - were apparently forced out of the car they were using in the southern border town of Rafah and into another vehicle, said to have been a white Mercedes, which drove northwards.
Ms Burton, who according to unconfirmed reports comes from Scotland, and is believed to have a master's degree in international law, has worked for the Al-Mezan, a Palestinian human rights organisation in Gaza for the last three to four months as co-ordinator for international affairs.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361817



Israel fires to enforce Gaza strip 'no-go zone'

29.12.05 1.00pm
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA - Israel shelled the northern Gaza Strip today to enforce a "no-go zone" it says is aimed to stop cross-border rocket fire by militants, and the Palestinian Authority condemned the move.
At least 12 artillery shells landed after the new measure went into force at 6pm (5.00am NZDT), wounding a militant and a teenage bystander. Another shell narrowly missed a car, whose occupants fled. Witnesses said a rocket crew was nearby.
Israel called the shelling a response to Palestinian rocket salvoes at its border towns. Palestinians condemned the buffer zone, calling it tantamount to re-occupying land Israel withdrew from in September after 38 years of occupation.
"Israel has left the Gaza Strip and has no right to come back," President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters in Gaza. "They should not make any pretext."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361828



Jets attack militant base in Lebanon

29.12.05
JERUSALEM - Israeli aircraft attacked a militant training base south of Beirut yesterday in response to rocket attacks on Israel.
An Army spokeswoman said the attack targeted a training base used by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. There was no immediate information on casualties or damage.
The attack came after three rockets were fired from Lebanon into the Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona.
"Israel has a right to defend its citizens. The Lebanese Government is responsible for not dismantling terror organisations," the spokesman said.
Yesterday, Israel dropped leaflets over northern Gaza telling residents "if you continue to stay in the area from which rockets are fired, you are putting your life in danger".
The PFLP, opposed to peace talks with Israel, is a secular, leftist Palestinian group which has launched attacks on the Jewish state in the past.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Palestinian factions to halt rocket fire and renew a truce that expires this year.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361764



Thirty bodies found in Iraq

28.12.05 1.00pm
By Anne Penketh
Iraqi construction workers in the southern city of Karbala have uncovered a mass grave less than a kilometre from one of Shia Islam's holiest sites.
Iraqi police announced yesterday that about 30 bodies were contained in the mass grave.
It is believed they are among the victims of Saddam's vicious suppression of the 1991 uprising by the Shia majority in southern Iraq at the end of that year's Gulf War.
Some 300 possible mass graves have been reported since Saddam was overthrown by the US-led invasion in April 2003, many in southern Shia areas of the country and in Kurdish areas of the north.
But potential evidence has been taken by relatives who have converged on the sites in search of their loved ones.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361716



Guards and inmates die in Baghdad jail battle

29.12.05 1.00pm
By Omar al-Ibadi and Alastair Macdonald
BAGHDAD - At least nine prisoners and guards were killed in a gun battle at an Iraqi high-security jail after detained guerrilla suspects, some of them foreign, grabbed weapons and tried to flee, officials said.
One inmate snatched a Kalashnikov rifle from a guard as a handful of high-risk prisoners were taken out at dawn to clean the yard, a guard from the Baghdad prison said. After raiding the prison armoury, the group freed more comrades but US and Iraqi troops based around the jail quelled the revolt.
Five staff and four inmates were killed and five prisoners and a US soldier were wounded, the US military said, denying assertions by police that at least 20 detainees, who include some of the most violent of Iraq's insurgents, died.
A Russian, Tunisian and Saudi were involved, officials said.
In other violence, rebels ambushed an Iraqi army patrol yesterday near Dujail, 60km north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding seven, police said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361808



More charges for sex worker murder-accused

29.12.05 1.00pm
A man charged with the murder of a Christchurch sex worker now faces charges of abducting and raping another woman four days earlier.
Five charges were before the court when the 28-year-old man appeared before Judge Philip Moran in Christchurch District Court today.
He is charged with raping, murdering, and kidnapping 24-year-old sex worker Anna Louise Wilson on December 15. Her name was suppressed until today's hearing.
He is also charged with abducting another woman for sex and raping her on December 11 at Christchurch.
The name of the unemployed man, who has no fixed address, remains suppressed.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10361833



Girl unconscious after violent sex attack

29.12.05 3.15pm
A 14-year-old girl has been found unconscious after being viciously attacked and sexually assaulted.
The attack took place behind a library in Lower Hutt last night.
The girl was found unconscious and bloodied by a family out for a walk in the area about 8pm.
Detective Sergeant Tusha Penny said the girl was seen talking to a man who was sitting on a park bench outside the Taita Library on Taine St.
Witnesses saw them walk behind the library where she was attacked, she said.
The man was last seen walking from behind the library and along Taine St, towards High St.
A team of police were investigating the attack and urged anyone who saw the pair or knew the man's identity to come forward, Ms Penny said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10361839



'Dr Death' back in NZ to outline suicide pill

29.12.05 1.00pm
A suicide pill for elderly and seriously ill people will be explained and promoted by a controversial Australian doctor during a visit to New Zealand next month.
Dr Philip Nitschke, known as "Dr Death" because he advocates voluntary euthanasia, plans workshops in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch next month
The Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New Zealand said the "Peaceful Pill" allowed people to kill themselves without the co-operation of politicians or the medical profession.
Dr Nitschke co-wrote a book called 'Killing Me Softly' which would be launched during his visit to New Zealand, the society said.
The workshops would discuss the pill and "developing strategies that provide real end of life choice," said the society.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10361807



UN vet dismisses fish farming as bird flu risk

29.12.05 1.00pm
ROME - The widespread use of poultry excrement to fertilise fish farms does not greatly increase the risk of bird flu, a senior United Nations expert said today.
Joseph Domenech, chief veterinary officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, dismissed a wildlife group's claim that using animal faeces to boost fish farming was a serious danger.
Global environmental group Birdlife International said wild birds have been unfairly blamed for the virus.
It says human practices like the trade in poultry and wild birds, and modern agricultural methods, probably play a major role in spreading the virus.
The FAO, which is monitoring the global spread of bird flu, supports the practice whereby faeces from farm animals are used to boost fish production.
The excrement is used to boost nutrients in water for the organisms the fish feed on.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361809



Satellite launch challenges GPS

29.12.05 1.00pm
By Richard Balmforth
MOSCOW - The European Union launched its first Galileo navigation satellite on Wednesday, moving to challenge the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS).
Russian space agency Roskosmos said the 600kg satellite named Giove-A (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) went into its orbit 23,000km from the earth.
It was launched on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the middle of Kazakhstan's steppe.
"The launch of Giove is the proof that Europe can deliver ambitious projects to the benefit of its citizens and companies," said EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot in a statement.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361818



Whistleblower 'stopped from visiting the US'

29.12.05
BEIJING - A military doctor who exposed China's Sars cover-up has been barred from visiting the United States, in keeping with curbs imposed after he asked for a re-appraisal of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, sources said yesterday.
Jiang Yanyong's request to quit the People's Liberation Army was also refused, apparently to allow the military to continue to rein him in, two sources familiar with his plight told Reuters.
"They won't let him leave the country or retire," said one source who met Jiang recently, requesting anonymity.
Jiang's wife, Hua Zhongwei, left in July to visit their daughter in California but the 74-year-old semi-retired surgeon was unable to join them. He declined to comment on whether he wanted to quit the military.
His employer, the No. 301 Hospital, refused to comment.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361763



US secret surveillance up sharply since Sept 11

28.12.05 4.00pm
WASHINGTON - Federal applications for a special US court to authorise secret surveillance rose sharply after the September 11, 2001, attacks, and the panel required changes to the requests at an even greater rate, government documents show.
President George W Bush acknowledged this month that he had secretly ordered the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on the international phone conversations and email of Americans suspected of links to terrorists without approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The domestic-spying order has set off a furious debate over whether the war on terrorism gives Bush a blank cheque when it comes to civil liberties and whether the president, in fact, broke the law.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361733



Greece to investigate torture allegations

28.12.05 4.00pm
By Jason Bennetto and Elinda Labropolou
ATHENS - The Greek justice ministry has launched an inquiry into the alleged torture of Pakistani terror suspects after their lawyer announced he would press charges against Greek intelligence officers named by a newspaper.
The weekly Proto Thema revealed on Sunday the identities of the alleged British MI6 station chief in Athens and that of 15 Greek officers.
They are alleged to have taken part in the arrest and abuse of 28 Pakistani terrorism suspects after the July 7 bombings in London.
Frangiskos Ragoussis, a lawyer representing several of the Pakistanis, yesterday said he would launch a formal complaint against the Greek intelligence officers named in the report.
The charges were not specified, but he asked that the officers be called to testify in front of his clients.
The newspaper's decision to identify the officers infuriated Greek authorities, while Britain has banned publication of the British agent's name.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361719



Beslan massacre probe blames Russian authorities

29.12.05 1.00pm
By Oliver Bullough
MOSCOW - Negligence and incompetence by Russian police and officials contributed to the bloodbath at a school in the southern town of Beslan last year, the head of a parliamentary investigation said today.
Alexander Torshin, who headed the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the September 2004 hostage siege, stressed that terrorists were mainly to blame for the killings of 331 hostages, half of them children.
But he had harsh words for regional police and intelligence services and said police had ignored orders to impose tight security at schools at the beginning of the school year.
"The Interior Ministry, the FSB (security service) and other government organs basically did not carry out preventive, organisational, operative and other steps to uncover and halt the criminal activities of the terrorist groups," Torshin told deputies in an interim report on his probe.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361815



Shadows still haunt entry port to Dover

28.12.05
By John Lichfield
Night is falling on the port of Calais. Shadows walk wearily in twos and threes. The shadows meet other shadows, wearing cheap anoraks and woolly hats and trainers.
Even on the brightest, sunniest day, this is one of the most unforgiving places in Europe: a maze of oil refineries, cranes, rusting railway tracks, oblong mountains of containers, scrub-infested waste-ground and ferry terminals defended by razor wire and chain-link fences.
From every dark, freezing corner of the port, the shadows converge silently on the unlit platform of an old freight terminal, beside a tall lighthouse.
Five minutes down the street is the Holiday Inn, full of British holidaymakers paying €145 ($256) a night. They have crossed the Channel to buy heaps of cheap booze.
The "shadows" live in a different world. They form a long and well-behaved queue, waiting for their only warm meal of the day, a chicken and potato stew served by four elderly women.
The shadows materialise into a line of 250 young men, and four young women, from an unlikely collection of nationalities: Afghans, Iranians, Iraqis, Somalis, Eritreans, Sudanese and Pakistanis.
Most nights, 400 people come to eat here. There are fewer tonight because the French police have just held one of their periodic purges of the sans papiers (people without papers). Tonight is also one of the busiest nights for freight in the port of Calais. Many young men have chosen to skip the warm meal in the hope of stowing away aboard one of the Dover-bound trucks queueing to enter the freight terminal.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361643



Kuwait sentences al Qaeda-linked militants to death

28.12.05 1.00pm
KUWAIT - A Kuwaiti court on Tuesday sentenced to death six suspected militants linked to al Qaeda for bloody attacks in the country.
The six were among 37 Islamists on trial as members of the "Peninsula Lions" group believed to be linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
They include 25 Kuwaitis, seven stateless Arabs, two Jordanians, a Saudi, an Australian and a Somali.
A Reuters reporter who was at the court said none of the defendants was present when the verdict was announced.
Other suspects received jail terms of between four months to 15 years, and one received a life term.
Seven were acquitted including Islamist cleric Sheikh Hamed al-Ali, lawyer Osama al-Munawer who represents Islamists as well as the wife of Amer al-Enezi -- one of al Qaeda's top leaders in Kuwait who died in custody in February.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10361724


continued …