The Moscow Times
Ivanov Calls Report 'Bull'
The Associated Press
Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov on Tuesday said a report that Moscow had provided information to Saddam Hussein's regime on U.S. troop movements was "total rubbish."
Ivanov joined a chorus of denials from Russian officials following a Pentagon report that said seized Iraqi documents indicate Moscow obtained information from sources inside the U.S. Central Command and passed battlefield intelligence to Iraqi officials.
"There is nothing to comment on here. ... I believe it is total rubbish. Thank you. Without using the proper American word starting with 'bull,'" Ivanov said at a news conference.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice planned to discuss the matter directly with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, by telephone this week or in person Thursday, when they meet in Berlin for a gathering of the foreign ministers of the permanent UN Security Council members.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/29/017.html
President Puts Off His New Term
By Anatoly Medetsky
Staff Writer
Belarussian election officials said Tuesday that President Alexander Lukashenko had delayed his inauguration from Friday until the first half of April, fueling speculation about his health after he was declared the landslide winner of a presidential election condemned by the West as fraudulent.
Lukashenko had not been seen in public since March 20, the day after the vote. He made his first appearance Tuesday on Belarussian television -- ordering officials to remove his portraits from their offices -- and he did not look well, an opposition official said.
It was unclear why Lukashenko had decided to put off his inauguration.
"The head of state determines the date of the inauguration. We expect it to be in the first half of April," said Nikolai Lozovik, secretary of the Central Elections Commission, Interfax reported.
Lozovik did not give a reason for the delay.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/29/001.html
Yushchenko Meets the 2 Big Winners
By Anna Melnichuk
The Associated Press
Yushchenko with Yanukovych, who later said they did not discuss a coalition.
KIEV -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko met Tuesday with his estranged Orange Revolution ally Yulia Tymoshenko amid pressure to reunite their pro-Western team and keep the country on a reformist path.
Yushchenko also held talks with pro-Russian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych, who won the most votes -- but not a majority -- in weekend parliamentary elections.
Tymoshenko has said only a united front can keep Yanukovych out of power and safeguard the reformist ideals championed in the Orange Revolution. The Orange parties won more votes combined, but it remains unclear whether they will be able to overcome personal animosity and forge a coalition.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/29/011.html
The Trick to Understanding Ukraine
By Anders Aslund
To Our Readers
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Ukraine has held its first elections after the Orange Revolution. Without any qualification, they were free and fair with a high participation of 67 percent, showing that Ukraine has matured as a democracy. At the same time, Ukraine has become a parliamentary system, which will reinforce democracy in the country. The Communists have been further marginalized, and party consolidation has proceeded well, with only five parties likely to make it into parliament.
The main results of the vote reflect an amazing constancy. In December 2004, Viktor Yushchenko defeated Viktor Yanukovych with a margin of 8 percentage points, which will probably be the balance between the orange and blue, or more accurately western and eastern, coalitions. The geographic dividing line runs exactly where it did in 2004, or where it has gone for most of the last 300 years.
International media have focused on Yanukovych's Party of the Regions becoming the largest single party, but what matters in proportional elections is which parties can form a ruling majority, and that is the Orange coalition.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/29/006.html
Russia Sees Kosovo as the Answer
By Simon Saradzhyan
Staff Writer
Vladimir Mukagov / Itar-Tass
Ossetian leaders Mamsurov, left, and Kokoity attending last week's meeting.
Russian officials are floating the idea of making the world's largest country a little bit bigger by adding a new region called Alania -- an area that would consist of a merged North and South Ossetia.
The proposed expansion hinges on Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia voting for independence -- a vote that would mirror a similar plebiscite planned for Kosovo. Russia insists that Kosovo's vote could be copied to resolve conflicts in separatist regions across the former Soviet Union.
While talk of uniting the two regions into a single Russian subject might be a trial balloon, Russia would face potentially deep repercussions if it were to set the precedent of embracing the supremacy of a people's right to self-determination.
Gennady Bukayev, an assistant to Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, told a joint session of the leaders of South and North Ossetia on March 22 that the federal government had agreed in principle to incorporate South Ossetia.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/29/002.html
Swedish Spy 'The Eagle' Dead at 99
Combined Reports
Wennerstrom, who was a Swedish air force general, entering a court in 1963.
STOCKHOLM -- Stig Wennerstrom, a Swedish air force brigadier general spied for the Soviet Union for 15 years has died. He was 99.
Wennerstrom, known to his Soviet spymasters by the code name "The Eagle," was arrested in Sweden in June 1963, on charges of providing the Soviet Union with military information on Sweden, the United States and NATO.
He was caught after a tip-off from a housemaid who had been recruited by suspicious Swedish counterintelligence agents and saw him hiding films in the attic of his Stockholm house.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/29/018.html
Yukos Is Put Under External Manager
By Mikhail Yenukov
Reuters
The Moscow Arbitration Court on Tuesday put Yukos under external supervision until June 27 in a move that could lead to its bankruptcy and nationalization.
Tuesday's ruling to put Yukos under external supervision means that the existing management and board will remain in place, but major decisions will have to go through Eduard Rebgun, a temporary manager appointed by the court on Tuesday.
Rebgun, who was proposed by Rosneft, will carry out a financial analysis, determine the amount of liabilities, draw up a list of creditors and organize the first meeting of the creditors' committee.
Based on the committee's recommendations, the court may choose from two possible fates for Yukos -- external management or bankruptcy administration and sale of assets.
Adam Landes, an analyst at Renaissance Capital, predicted a quick end.
"Given that Rosneft, and the state, appear to be holding all the cards, we foresee a fairly quick decision. Closure of the 'Yukos Affair' as quickly and cleanly as possible is needed to support Rosneft's planned IPO," he wrote Tuesday.
Landes said Rosneft was claiming about $10 billion from Yukos, roughly on a par with the state's remaining tax claim.
The market is watching to see whether Yukos will be broken up and sold off in pieces or fully taken over by Rosneft, thus leaving some value for its minority shareholders.
The bankruptcy suit was filed earlier this month by a group of Western banks, following their deal with Rosneft for Rosneft to buy back $482 million of Yukos debt that was secured on Yugansk oil and being chased by the banks.
Most of the banks that were lenders to Yukos are also creditors to Rosneft and have huge business interests at stake.
And the action by the 14 banks, which include Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, ING, BNP Paribas and Commerzbank, leaves Rosneft poised to reap most benefit from Yukos' winding up.
The bankruptcy is also likely to unite a bevy of international court proceedings brought against Yukos by creditors in places ranging from Amsterdam to New York.
"Now you have a situation where each creditor is going after Yukos in different courts around the world, suing it for debt. But now, all the other lawsuits are likely to be suspended until the Russian bankruptcy proceedings are settled," said Peter Clateman, a Moscow lawyer who heads the legal team of Russian investment group Sputnik.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/29/040.html
Court postpones verdict on Yukos official to April 12
RIA NOVOSTI. March 29, 2006, 4:47 PM
MOSCOW, March 29 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow City Court has postponed until April 12 appeal hearings in the case of a former manager of embattled oil giant Yukos convicted of money laundering, a defense lawyer said Wednesday.
"The session has been postponed since one of the prisoners [in the case] was not brought to the court," said Dmitry Yampolsky, a lawyer for Alexei Kurtsin.
Kurtsin, currently serving a 14-year sentence, was to appear in court via video link-up on March 15, but hearings were postponed until March 29 as the court said it needed more time to study the case.
On December 1, Moscow's Lefortovo court handed down a guilty verdict on all those involved in the Yukos-Moskva case, sentencing eight former managers to different prison terms.
Investigators said Kurtsin and Yukos-Moskva Senior Vice President Mikhail Trushin, who is still at large, laundered 342 million rubles ($11.9 million) through fictitious charities registered in several large Russian cities. Investigators claim the bulk of laundered funds went directly to Trushin and Kurtsin.
Elections in Israel create local sensations
RIA NOVOSTI. March 29, 2006, 4:44 PM
BEIRUT/TEL AVIV, (RIA Novosti's Marianna Belenkaya, Artur Gabdrakhmanov) -- The March 28 elections to the Israeli Knesset (parliament) created a local sensation, but will not influence the future of the region. Just as polls predicted and all parties to the Middle East peace process expected, the election victory went to Israel's governing party, Kadima, led by Ehud Olmert.
For the first time in Israel's history, its voters were not torn between the right- and the left-wing parties, the "hawks" and the "doves". The Israeli political scene is such a mishmash right now, that it is difficult to draw a line between the two sides. This mean many voters were left feeling indecisive. In general, Israelis have grown weary of politics, which is why only 63.2% of the country's eligible voters came to polling stations and quite a few voted for the third option.
The defeat of Likud , which had led either the ruling coalition or the opposition, came as a surprise, even more so because it actually came in fifth, after the biggest ultra-religious party Shas and Avigdor Lieberman's party Yisrael Beiteinu (Our Home Israel).
All the recent polls predicted that the Russian-speaking politician would surge ahead in the election race. The majority of the Russian-speaking population voted for him.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/doc/HotNews.html
No Break for Arts School for Disabled
By Natalya Krainova
Special to The Moscow Times
Michael Eckels / MT
Students with hearing impairments acting in a role-playing workshop at the State Specialized Institute of the Arts.
For most of the out-of-town students at the State Specialized Institute of the Arts -- one of a small number of art schools tailored to the needs of disabled students -- a typical day involves a five-hour commute from their hostel in the Moscow region to the school's campus, near the Studencheskaya metro station.
Painting classes for Rimma Hadiyeva, a third-year graphic arts student at the institute who suffers from cerebral palsy, require a special effort to start with. Instead of sitting in front of an easel, she finds it easier to sit or lie on the floor, holding the paper on her knees or putting it in front of her. Hadiyeva is one of the lucky few students who have lodgings near the institute, but she is still pressed for study time.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/29/015.html
Charitable Bowling for a Big Change
The Moscow Times
The Big Change Educational Center and Charitable Fund is holding a bowling competition on April 18 to raise money for its Moscow school.
Sixteen lanes are to be booked at the Samolyot entertainment complex on Presnensky Val, and teams of four are invited to enter.
Money raised at the bowling competition is to help fund an educational trip to the Pskov region this summer, following on a trip to St. Petersburg last year. It is also to be used to pay for additional lessons.
The entrance fee per four-person team is 15,000 rubles ($540).
Students at the Big Change school were all formerly at orphanages, and are between 17 and 30 years old.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/29/025.html
Even Cats Can Be Dangerous
By Yulia Latynina
As she was walking to her car from the office of the United Civil Front last Tuesday, Marina Litvinovich, a top aide to Garry Kasparov, was attacked from behind. Litvinovich, a 31-year-old political activist and public relations specialist, was knocked unconscious by a blow to the head. Her assailants then set to work on her face. When she came to about 40 minutes later, two men were standing over her. "You need to be more careful, Marina," one of them said. When Litvinovich asked how the man knew her name, he replied: "You told us yourself."
To Our Readers
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Letters to the editor should be sent by fax to (7-495) 232-6529, by e-mail to oped@imedia.ru, or by post. The Moscow Times reserves the right to edit letters.
No, this isn't another article about the brutality of a bloodthirsty regime. During the terror of the late 1930s, they wouldn't have stopped at knocking out a couple of Litvinovich's teeth. I'm struck by something else. You attack someone from behind when you're afraid that your victim will either recognize you or turn out to be stronger than you. The first motive doesn't apply in Litvinovich's case, because her attackers waited around until she woke up to deliver their message.
The government has defeated an enormous number of enemies lately. It exposed those infamous British spies and their magic rock. It stuck it to all those nongovernmental organizations bankrolled by foreign powers that were spying on us. In the Khabarovsk region, counterintelligence agents rounded up -- count 'em -- 40 spies working for China, the very country President Vladimir Putin is working so hard to befriend.
When it comes to foreign enemies, the Kremlin is taking care of business. But it's enjoying less success in dealing with its domestic adversaries.
Putin wanted to reform the armed forces, so he put a civilian, Sergei Ivanov, in charge of the Defense Ministry and gave the green light for the trial of former Colonel Yury Budanov, who was convicted in 2003 of kidnapping and murdering a Chechen woman. Military reform is essential for the physical survival of the country, but it ran into stiff resistance from the top brass. The reform program was over before it had begun.
Early in his first term, Putin got together the top prosecutors and announced a sweeping reform of the Prosecutor General's Office as if it were a done deal. The idea was to provide independent supervision of criminal investigations, which was essential simply to prevent the appetites of the defenders of law and order from destroying the economy. By then the prosecutors had become a cross between janissaries and SS storm troopers, however. Even the Kremlin was afraid to cross them.
Putin launched a program of administrative reforms aimed at strengthening the checks and balances between agencies and ministries and reducing their number. The program was implemented. The number of agencies tripled.
We're not talking about incomprehensible concepts such as democratization of the country and liberalization of the economy. These reforms were essential for the country's survival, they were backed by the president himself, and they went absolutely nowhere.
The regime's decision-making process is no different from the approach taken by the thugs who beat up Litvinovich. Whenever the Kremlin finds an adversary blocking its path -- the military brass, the prosecutors or the bureaucracy -- it backs down. And you can't say these are fearsome foes. What does the Kremlin have to fear from a bunch of generals who steal by the trainload, drink by the gallon and lose one campaign after another?
The weaker people are, the more they need to beat up on someone who's even weaker. A fifth-grader who gets pummelled for squealing on his classmates needs nothing more than a cat he can torture.
But even cats can be dangerous. So you only attack in numbers, from behind, and only when the woman is alone. Not because you're afraid she'll see your face, but because she might scratch you.
Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/29/007.html
Moscow Market Not Yet Ripe for BlackBerry
By Conor Humphries
Staff Writer
BlackBerry terminals, which allow users to receive and reply to e-mails in real time, are still not available in Moscow.
BlackBerry, the device that brought mobile e-mail into mainstream U.S. corporate culture, remains something of a forbidden fruit in Moscow almost a year after its creator announced a deal to enter the Russian market.
The handheld terminals that allow users to effortlessly receive and reply to e-mail in real time are still not available in the city, and local operator Mobile TeleSystems refuses to give a firm date for introduction of the platform that supports them.
MTS originally planned to roll out the service in the third quarter of 2005, after signing a deal in May with Canada's Research in Motion, or RIM, which owns the technology.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/29/045.html
Russia Picks Site for New Nuclear Center
By Yuriy Humber
Staff Writer
Russia has picked the town of Angarsk as the site for its international nuclear fuel service center, part of an initiative to assume a greater role in the international nuclear processing industry, a government official said Monday.
The Federal Atomic Energy Agency will seek approval from the international nuclear watchdog to have an existing chemicals plant in Angarsk certified as an international service center, an agency spokesman said by telephone.
The Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Complex already houses uranium conversion and enrichment facilities.
The proposed location comes to light two months after President Vladimir Putin first pitched Russia as a site for one of a handful of international centers -- to be overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency -- to provide a full cycle of processing services on behalf of other countries.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/29/041.html
The Boston Globe
A March drought may yield April fires
By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff March 29, 2006
After a particularly parched March, fire officials around Massachusetts fear that April will bring widespread brush fires and wildfires in grassy areas and fields around the state.
With three days left, this month is on track to be the second-driest March on record: Less than six-tenths of an inch of rain fell in the Boston area, compared with 3.33 inches on average. Forecasters say the first half of April is likely to be equally dry.
''As we move into April and weather conditions continue to be dry and we have sun and wind, we'll get more concerned," said Jim Dimaio, acting chief of the Bureau of Forest Fire Control and Forestry in the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. ''Hopefully, there'll be rains soon."
http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2006/03/29/a_march_drought_may_yield_april_fires/
Pacific nation announces marine area
By Michael Astor, Associated Press Writer March 28, 2006
CURITIBA, Brazil --The Pacific island nation of Kiribati announced the creation of a vast protected area Tuesday at a U.N-sponsored environmental conference in Brazil, officials said.
The protected area at the Phoenix Islands, located about half way between Fiji and Hawaii, places some 73,800 sq. miles off limits for commercial fishing, protecting precious coral reefs and undersea mountains.
The restrictions, covering an area the size of Washington, were announced by Kiribati's environment minister at the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity in Curitiba, 400 miles southwest of Rio de Janeiro.
"If the coral and reefs are protected, then the fish will thrive and grow and bring us benefit," Kiribati's President Anote Tong said in a statement.
The government of Kiribati would be compensated for the loss of fishing revenue with funds from a special endowment, conservation groups said.
At the same conference, the European Union called for a global moratorium on deep-sea trawling, labeling the random fishing practice harmful to the biodiversity of oceans.
Bottom trawling is blamed for depleting the world's deep-sea fish stocks, threatening many species with extinction and radically altering undersea habitats.
Environmentalists praised the two moves as indicative of a growing trend toward protecting the world's oceans.
"These are very positive signs," said Arlo Hemphill, Conservation International's manager of marine strategy.
"Bottom trawling is like trying to capture songbirds in the forest with bulldozers," he said.
Environmentalists said the European Union's support for a moratorium on bottom trawling was important, but it was too early to say whether the ban would be approved by the full convention, which acts by consensus and runs until Friday.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/03/28/pacific_nation_announces_marine_area/
Warlord Charles Taylor arrested in Nigeria
Liberian President Charles Taylor leaves Roberts International Airport by airplane in Monrovia, Liberia, in this August 11, 2003, file photo. Former Liberian President Charles Taylor has disappeared from his haven in Nigeria, just as he was to have been handed over to face trial on war crimes charges, Nigerian officials said Tuesday, March 28, 2006. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
By Bashir Adigun, Associated Press Writer March 29, 2006
ABUJA, Nigeria --Former Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, who vanished in Nigeria after authorities reluctantly agreed to transfer him to a war crimes tribunal, has been arrested trying to cross the border into Cameroon, Nigerian police said Wednesday.
Taylor, who went missing Monday night, was captured by security forces in the far northeastern border town of Gamboru, in Borno State, nearly 600 miles from the villa in southern Calabar where Taylor had lived in exile, Information Minister Frank Nweke said in a statement.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, on a visit to the United States, ordered Taylor's "immediate repatriation" to Liberia, the statement said.
Taylor disappeared just days after Nigeria, which had granted asylum to the fast-talking, U.S.-educated economist under a 2003 agreement that helped end Liberia's 14-year civil war, reluctantly bowed to pressure to surrender Taylor to face justice.
The admission that Taylor had slipped away came an hour before Obasanjo left Nigeria on a presidential jet headed for Washington, where he was scheduled to meet with President Bush on Wednesday.
Nigeria had announced it would hand Taylor over to a U.N.-backed Sierra Leone tribunal to be tried for alleged war crimes related to Sierra Leone's 1991-2001 civil war, but the government had made no moves to arrest him before he disappeared.
Taylor, a one-time warlord and rebel leader, is charged with backing Sierra Leone rebels, including child fighters, who terrorized victims by chopping off body parts. He would be the first African leader to face trial for crimes against humanity.
While the Sierra Leone tribunal's charges refer only to the war there, Taylor also has been accused of starting civil war in Liberia and of harboring al-Qaida suicide bombers who attacked the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing more than 200 people.
Obasanjo initially resisted calls to surrender Taylor. But Saturday, after Liberia's new President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf asked that Taylor be handed over for trial, Obasanjo agreed.
The U.N. Security Council had expressed surprise and concern at Taylor's disappearance and Secretary-General Kofi Annan had said he planned to talk to the Nigerian authorities about it. He urged all countries to refuse to give Taylor refuge.
The U.N. tribunal's prosecutor, Desmond de Silva, warned that Taylor was "a threat to the peace and security of West Africa."
Many of Taylor's loyalist soldiers are believed to be roaming freely in Liberia, Sierra Leone and civil-war divided Ivory Coast, from where Taylor launched his rebel incursion into Liberia on Dec. 24, 1989.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2006/03/29/warlord_charles_taylor_arrested_in_nigeria/
Infant becomes a victim of ID theft
By Maria Cramer and Cristina Silva, Globe Staff March 29, 2006
BARRE -- When a mother decided to open a savings account for her 18-month-old son this month, she was stunned to learn that someone else had beaten her to it.
Police say that a man with a record of identity fraud had taken the toddler's Social Security number and opened two accounts with Citizens Bank in Worcester and tried to obtain a Registry of Motor Vehicles identification card. By the time the boy's mother learned about the scam, the thief had deposited $19,000 in fraudulent checks, police said.
Since then, the 32-year-old mother -- who asked that she be identified only by her first name, Tracy, because she fears for her safety -- said she has been calling credit agencies, state legislators, and police to try to understand how a major banking institution allowed the fraud to happen.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/03/29/infant_becomes_a_victim_of_id_theft/
Man dies after living for two months in car at camping area
March 29, 2006
PLEASANT RIDGE PLANTATION, Maine --Investigators were trying to determine what caused the death of a Massachusetts man who was believed to have been living alone since midwinter in his car in a camping area in this Somerset County community.
John Connolly, 59, died Monday while en route to a Skowhegan hospital after a state trooper was called to the area by a passerby who spotted him sprawled across the front seat of his 1990 Buick LeSabre, Maine State Police Lt. Dale Lancaster said Tuesday.
Connolly was alive but not responding well and his breathing was labored when Trooper Randall Keaten found him in the early afternoon, Lancaster said.
Connolly's body was transported to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy, Lancaster said. He said there was no indication of foul play.
Keaten determined through a sister in New Hampshire that Connolly had lost his job in Massachusetts and had fallen on difficult times, according to Lancaster, who said a recent death in the family had made him despondent.
Stanley Giguere, the road commissioner in this community of roughly 100 people outside Bingham, said Connolly had been living in his car at the camping site for about two months, eating meals from a cooler he had placed in the back of the vehicle.
"I have been watching the guy," Giguere said. "Every time I plowed the road, he'd move the car so I could plow. He was just living in his car."
Giguere said he didn't know of anyone who tried to talk to Connolly.
"I'd pull around and wave to him and keep on going, and he'd wave back," Giguere said.
Information from: Morning Sentinel, http://www.onlinesentinel.com/
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2006/03/29/man_dies_after_living_for_two_months_in_car_at_camping_area/
Abramoff to be sentenced for wire fraud
Jack Abramoff, right, listens to his attorney Abbe Lowell on Capitol Hill in this Sept. 29, 2004 file photo. More than 260 people wrote letters asking a federal judge for leniency when Abramoff and a former partner are sentenced, which was scheduled for Wednesday March 29, 2006. Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud stemming from the 2000 purchase of a gambling boat fleet. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, Files)
By Curt Anderson, Associated Press Writer March 29, 2006
MIAMI --Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has let others lobby on his behalf in his Florida fraud case -- including rabbis, military officers and even a professional hockey referee.
More than 260 people wrote letters asking a federal judge for leniency when Abramoff and a former partner are sentenced, which was scheduled for Wednesday. Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud stemming from the 2000 purchase of a gambling boat fleet.
The letters, obtained by The Associated Press, put a new spin on the foibles and crimes of a man who became the face of Washington's latest corruption scandal.
"Jack is a good person, who in his quest to be successful, lost sight of the rules," National Hockey League referee Dave Jackson wrote, describing the time Abramoff brought 14 kids to his dressing room before a game.
Abramoff and one-time partner Adam Kidan admitted concocting a fake $23 million wire transfer to make it appear they had made a large cash contribution to the $147.5 million purchase of SunCruz Casinos. Based on that fake transfer, lenders provided the pair with $60 million in financing.
Abramoff, 47, and Kidan, 41, each face a minimum of five years and 10 months in prison, and a maximum of seven years and three months under plea agreements with prosecutors.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/03/29/jack_abramoff_faces_nearly_6_year_sentence/
Judge tosses suit to halt pig kills
March 29, 2006
LOS ANGELES --A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to stop the killing of thousands of wild pigs on Santa Cruz Island as part of an effort to protect endangered island foxes.
U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian said in a ruling Tuesday he disagreed with a claim that the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy rushed to eradicate the animals before developing an environmental plan.
The organizations, which co-own the island, say the pigs are causing erosion, uprooting native plants and helping spread invasive species.
"The decision is a win for the island fox, and the nine plant species that are endangered because of the feral pigs," said Julie Benson, a spokeswoman for the Nature Conservancy.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/03/29/judge_tosses_suit_to_halt_pig_kills/
EU says had worries on Vista
Lawyers talk behind a Microsoft sign in the European Union's Court of First Instance in Luxembourg in this September 30, 2004 file photo. Microsoft has a last chance to convince EU regulators this week that the software giant should not be fined up to 2 million euros ($2.4 million) daily for failing to carry out antitrust sanctions. (REUTERS/Francois Lenoir)
March 29, 2006
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Wednesday it told Microsoft that it had competition worries about the firm's new operating system Vista, another antitrust concern that the software giant must answer in Europe.
Microsoft is already embroiled in a long-running battle with Europe's top anti-trust body after the Commission decided in 2004 that the company had abused the dominance of its Windows system and fined it half a billion euros.
"We are concerned about the possibility that the next Vista operating system will include various elements which are currently available separately from Microsoft or other companies," Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/03/29/eu_told_microsoft_had_competition_concerns_on_vista/
Teens arrested in break-in at town water supply
By Ray Henry, Associated Press Writer March 29, 2006
BLACKSTONE, Mass. --Three teenagers are being held Wednesday in connection with a break-in at a water storage facility in this central Massachusetts town, where residents continued to stockpile water and many businesses and schools were closed.
Officials have told the 9,000 residents of Blackstone and about four dozen homes in neighboring North Smithfield, R.I., not to drink the water, let it contact their skin or use it for washing clothes or dishes. Tests on the water were pending.
"I took a shower this morning," 40-year-old Charlene Gignac, a clerk at the White Hen Pantry convenience store on Main Street, said Tuesday.
"I'm wondering, 'OK, how bad is it?' But I still have a pulse and I'm still kicking."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/03/29/terrorism_ruled_out_as_towns_probe_water_supply_break_in_1143613009/
U.S. must act for Agent Orange victims, veterans say
By Ho Binh Minh March 29, 2006
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam War veterans and social activists from several countries demanded on Wednesday that Washington take responsibility for victims of the Agent Orange defoliant used by the U.S. military.
The call for U.S. action came at the end of a two-day conference in Hanoi where deformed children were shown as dramatic evidence of the effects of 20 million gallons of herbicides, including Agent Orange, poured on the country.
"We demand that the United States government be held responsible for making contributions to overcoming the consequences of toxic chemicals," the closing statement said.
Last March, a federal court dismissed a suit on behalf of millions of Vietnamese who charged the United States committed war crimes by its use of Agent Orange, which contains dioxin, to deny communist troops ground cover.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/03/29/us_must_act_for_agent_orange_victims_veterans_say/
Miami students hold sit-in to support striking janitors
By Jennifer Kay, Associated Press Writer March 29, 2006
MIAMI --About 20 University of Miami students ended a more than 12-hour sit-in on the Coral Gables campus early Wednesday after university officials agreed to several demands regarding campus janitors striking over alleged unfair labor practices.
University officials said they will hold a meeting within 48 hours with representatives from different labor, student and faculty groups to discuss whether Unicco Service Co. employees want the option to have union representation.
"The University reiterates its position not to employ contractors who do not respect workers' rights to unionize and commits to encouraging Unicco and the SEIU (Service Employees' International Union) to adopt a process that will provide the employees of Unicco with the ability to determine whether or not they want union representation free of any coercion or intimidation," according to a statement released shortly after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday by university officials.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/03/29/miami_students_hold_sit_in_to_support_striking_janitors/
Saudi Arabia arrests 40 suspected militants
March 29, 2006
(Recasts, adds details, background
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it had arrested 40 suspected militants, including eight who were linked to al Qaeda's attack on the world's largest oil processing plant last month.
Security forces also seized a cache of explosives and firearms in simultaneous raids in several parts of the kingdom, an interior ministry spokesman said.
There has been a spate of attacks in Saudi Arabia and last month the authorities foiled an al Qaeda attack on Abqaiq, the world's biggest oil processing plant, in which two militants were killed.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/03/29/saudi_arabia_arrests_40_suspected_militants/
Study: gaps between blacks, whites remain
By Erin Texeira, AP National Writer March 28, 2006
Even though the economy has picked up, stubborn gaps between blacks and whites remain -- a reality highlighted by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the National Urban League reports in a new study.
"Two years ago, we saw that things were tough, but there was a recession," Urban League President Marc H. Morial said. "Now that things are better, we're still suffering. The jobless recovery is a real thing for black Americans."
The Urban League's annual State of Black America report, released Tuesday, pulls together government data and academic analysis to measure black progress and problems. The nearly 300-page report includes charts, essays and suggested policy changes.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/03/28/study_gaps_between_blacks_whites_remain/
Venezuela says 14M to get measles shots
March 28, 2006
CARACAS, Venezuela --Measles vaccinations will be given to 14 million Venezuelans this year to combat an outbreak of the viral infectious disease in the capital, officials announced Tuesday.
Adults under 39 years old and children are already receiving vaccinations, but the program will be expanded starting April 9, Health Minister Francisco Armada said in a statement.
Twelve people in Caracas and its suburbs have been diagnosed with the disease in the last month, the first reported cases of measles in this South American nation of 26 million since 2002. The last outbreak affected some 2,500 people.
Armada said this year's outbreak in Venezuela's crowded capital had been controlled. But authorities were taking preventive measures nationwide, he added, vaccinating roughly 67,000 people since February.
Health officials believe the outbreak began with the infection of a 33-year-old Caracas pilot and several members of his immediate family.
Measles can cause ear infections, pneumonia and swelling of the brain, and is potentially fatal. Symptoms include cold-like coughing, fever and rash.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2006/03/28/venezuela_says_14m_to_get_measles_shots/
Kindergarten student brings gun to school
March 29, 2006
FIRCREST, Wash. --A kindergarten student was expelled for 10 days after he brought a .22-caliber gun to school, officials said.
The 5-year-old boy climbed from a chair onto a washer-dryer and got an unloaded pistol out of a cupboard at home, police said. He showed a friend the gun on the Whittier Elementary School playground, then put it into a friend's backpack, Police Chief John Cheesman said.
The boy never made any threat and told the principal what he had done Monday but was expelled immediately, said Patti Holmgren, a spokeswoman for the Tacoma school system. Police confiscated the gun.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2006/03/29/kindergarten_student_brings_gun_to_school/
Transplanted mice cells ease rat paralysis
By Malcolm Ritter, AP Science Writer March 28, 2006
NEW YORK --Scientists eased the paralysis of rats with spinal cord injury by transplanting cells taken from the brains of adult mice, an encouraging sign for developing a human treatment, researchers reported.
Someday, such cells might be taken from the brains of patients with spinal cord injuries for their own treatment, said researcher Dr. Michael Fehlings.
In addition, similar cells are found in the spinal cord, so perhaps researchers may find a way to activate them to improve a person's mobility, he said.
Fehlings, of the University of Toronto and the Toronto Western Research Institute in Canada, and colleagues report the rodent experiment in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2006/03/28/transplanted_mice_cells_ease_rat_paralysis/
Lice infestations plague Alaska wolf packs
A gray wolf is show in the Alaska wilderness in this undated file photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (AP Photo/US Fish and Wildlife Service, File)
March 28, 2006
FAIRBANKS, Alaska --Scientists working to eradicate infestations of lice in packs of interior wolves said it might be a losing battle.
"We already know lice is part of Interior Alaska now, but can it be managed? That's the question," said Craig Gardner, a biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks. "I think it's going to be tough."
Canine lice have been spreading in Alaska's wolf population since first being found on wolves on the Kenai Peninsula in the early 1980s. They were probably passed from sled dogs and don't infest human hair.
The lice showed up on wolves in the Matanuska Valley in the late 1990s and last year, biologists confirmed the first case in wolves north of the Alaska Range.
"It was speculated it wouldn't get past the Alaska Range because wolves wouldn't be able to survive because it would be too cold," said state wildlife veterinarian Kimberlee Beckmen. "We've had some wolves with hair loss and you could see lice on them but they certainly aren't dying."
The resilient pests are ruining the quality of the animals' coats and hurting business for trappers. Wolves damage their own fur by rubbing and scratching the bites, bringing the value of their pelts down.
"Lousy wolves," are worthless to trappers because the fur is no good, said Alaska Trappers Association president Randy Zarnke. Most of the wolves caught on the Kenai Peninsula are unusable, Zarnke said.
When the Department of Fish and Game announced last year that lice had been found on a wolf trapped in the Alaska Range 50 miles south of Fairbanks, the association sent a letter to Gov. Frank Murkowski urging him to eradicate lice in Alaska wolves.
The Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks has had small-scale success treating lice-infested wolves in the Alaska Range.
Last April, biologists captured and treated the lice-ridden pack of five wolves by injecting them with a cattle dewormer commonly used in dogs.
The goal was to keep the wolves free of lice during denning so the pups would be clean, said Gardner. The biologists also put radio collars on the five wolves.
After a litter of seven pups was born in May, biologists continued treating the pack by dropping beaver and lynx meat treated with the medicine from planes. They repeated the drop three times over several weeks.
When biologists recaptured four of the pups in November, tests showed they were lice free. Two additional pups from the pack caught by trappers were also lice free.
"We know treatment has worked for at least a year now," Gardner said.
Gardner suspects at least one more pack in the Alaska Range has lice. He wants to fit radio collars on wolves in those packs so they can monitor and treat them with medicine-filled baits.
"We're just trying to see if we can manage lice and keep the wolves' pelts looking good going into winter so trappers will want to trap them," said Beckmen.
Cleansing lice from a pack of wolves doesn't mean it will stay louse free. Young wolves break off from their packs each year and join other groups of roving lupines.
"Let's say a wolf disperses and gets with a pack that was treated and is clean. Boom, you've got lice again," said Gardner.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/03/28/lice_infestations_plague_alaska_wolf_packs/
Study: Cruise ships distress harbor seals
In this 2000 file photo, a young harbor seal lounges on top of seaweed that covers partially submerged Cedar Ledge near Cundy's Harbor, Maine. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach, FILE)
March 28, 2006
ANCHORAGE, Alaska --When large cruise ships get too close to harbor seals, the animals become distressed, according to a new federal study.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report Monday on seal behavior in Disenchantment Bay, a Southeast fjord that cruise ships frequent for a view of the Hubbard Glacier.
The study, which was a cooperative effort involving NOAA, the cruise industry and the Yakutat Tlingits, found that when the large ships got closer than 1,600 feet, seals were more likely to jump off the ice floes they haul out on.
The closer the ships got, the more likely the seals were to dive into the water, according to the Anchorage Daily News. When a ship was about 300 feet away, a seal was 25 times more likely to jump into the water than when the ship was 1,600 feet way, the study found.
The researchers said one concern is that if seals are routinely disturbed, it will drain their energy reserves, possibly resulting in lower reproduction or reduced survival.
"It really confirms what has been known for some time: that as ships get closer to seals, the seals will get off the ice floes," said John Hansen, president of the North West CruiseShip Association. He said as a result the association has operating practices in place to minimize disturbance of the animals.
However, that's not always possible because of weather, navigational and other reasons, including not being able to see the seals, said John Jansen, the study's lead author.
During the study, biologists documented many times when the ships got within 300 feet of seals, he said.
The study also found that the more time ships spend in Disenchantment Bay, the closer the seals come to one another. Such huddling behavior is common among animals that feel threatened, said Jansen.
The research, which began in 2002, also compared harbor seal numbers in Disenchantment Bay with those of Icy Bay, a nearby glacial fjord with similar natural characteristics. The only major difference between the two bays is that cruise ships do not visit Icy Bay, Jansen said.
Icy and Disenchantment Bays started out with roughly the same number of seals in May, between 1,000 and 1,500, Jansen said. The study found that seal populations in Icy Bay increased from May to August, while in Disenchantment Bay, they peaked in June and then declined slightly. Icy Bay ended the summer with 5,400 seals while Disenchantment Bay had only 1,800.
Whether the seals are leaving Disenchantment Bay and heading to Icy Bay is unknown because scientists have yet to track the movements of individual seals with radio transmitters. Hopefully that will be the next phase of the research, Jansen said.
With the increase in cruise ships in Disenchantment Bay since the 1970s, the Tlingits have become concerned about whether ships are disturbing the seals, especially during pupping season in May and June.
"We feel strongly that they do affect the seals during those months," said tribal member Bert Adams Sr., a charter captain and former president of Yakutat's tribal council.
"The local people are saying that the seals are moving from Disenchantment Bay to Icy Bay because there is less disturbance there," Adams said.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/03/28/study_cruise_ships_distress_harbor_seals/
New Zealand Herald
Powerful cyclone threatens Western Australia coast
29.03.06 1.00pm
CANBERRA - A powerful cyclone with winds of up to 300 kph menaced northern parts of Western Australia today, less than two weeks after a cyclone devastated houses and farms on the other side of the country.
Some oil and gas operations were shut ahead of the arrival of Cyclone Glenda in an area known as "cyclone alley" because it is regularly swept by tropical storms at this time of year.
The storm, ranked in the most powerful grade for cyclones, category five, was about 380km north/northeast of the town of Port Hedland and moving slowly south along the coast, said forecaster Adam Conroy from the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Perth, the capital of Western Australia.
"Tomorrow's really the day where things could happen," he said.
The remote Pilbara region under threat is home to around 10,000 people and includes Woodside Petroleum's A$14 ($16.55) billion North West Shelf liquefied natural gas (LNG) project at Karratha, about 700km north of Perth.
Oil and gas producer Santos Ltd. shut its 40,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Mutineer-Exeter oil field on Monday and BHP Billiton's 10,600 bpd Griffin oil field has been closed since Saturday, because of the threat from a smaller storm.
Mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both have operations in the Pilbara, which is home to large deposits of iron ore.
Australia's northeastern coast was devastated by another category five storm, Cyclone Larry, last week.
It ripped roofs off houses, uprooted trees and decimated sugar and banana crops, causing damage worth up to A$1.5 billion.
BHP Billiton said its operations had not yet been affected by Cyclone Glenda.
Rio Tinto was not immediately available for comment, but said on Tuesday bad weather meant the company would fall 5 million tonnes short of its first-quarter iron ore output target.
It still expected 2006 output to rise 14 per cent on last year's 158 million tonnes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10375018
New Orleans to be emptied for next storm
29.03.06 1.20pm
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Everyone in New Orleans must evacuate the low-lying city the next time a hurricane threatens and no shelters will be offered for those who stay, officials said on Tuesday.
Hoping to avoid a repeat of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when thousands struggled to survive after ignoring evacuation orders, they said planes, trains and buses would be used to move people out and the Superdome football stadium would not be open for refuge.
"Today the population stands around 200,000 to 225,000 people in New Orleans," said Orleans Parish Homeland Security Advisor Terry Ebbert. "Our goal is to ensure that we create an environment where it makes more sense to leave than to stay,"
"We want all 225,000 people to get out of the city," he said. Before Katrina, New Orleans had nearly half a million residents, but many who fled the storm have not returned.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10375026
NZ 'must play world role' on climate change
29.03.06 1.00pm
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said New Zealand has a significant role to play in persuading other governments to tackle global warming.
He said by video link from Auckland to a conference in Wellington today that the country could be an agent for change.
Mr Blair said: "There's a lot that can be done from countries like New Zealand to give a signal to the rest of the world."
It could persuade others to adopt reasonable policies for sustainability, he told the climate change and governance conference at Te Papa.
Mr Blair, who is in New Zealand on a 24-hour visit, said the pressure must be kept on governments to address climate change whether or not they are signatories to the Kyoto Protocol Agreement.
Ordinary people could also put the onus on governments to take action, he said.
"One of the things you and other people can do is keep up the pressure... there are going to be some difficult decisions for government".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10375034
Jury returns to ask judge question in police rape case
29.03.06 6.25pm
Two hours into deliberations the jury in the historic police rape case, came out of the jury room to ask whether police officers owned their own uniforms.
The jury of seven women and five men retired at 1pm today to decide verdicts on Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards, 45, and former policemen Brad Shipton, 47, and Bob Schollum, 53.
The men face twenty charges of rape, indecent assault and sexual violation against Louise Nicholas.
Judge Tony Randerson answered the jurors by directing them to sections of the 300 page transcript of evidence from the three week trial.
Mrs Nicholas alleges Rickards and Shipton visited her at her Corlett Street flat in Rotorua, between six to 12 times in the mid 1980s for sexual intercourse and oral sex without her consent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10375060
US agrees to release Abu Ghraib pictures
29.03.06 5.20pm
NEW YORK - The Defence Department on Tuesday agreed to release 74 photos and three videos -- many that have already been published -- that depict prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib and were sought by civil rights groups.
The Defence Department had appealed an order by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein that said the government must release photos provided by Sgt. Joseph Darby, whose photos set off the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.
After initially arguing the publication of the images could incite more violence in Iraq, the government withdrew their appeal and promised to release the images within seven days of the court's approval.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10375040
Bush wants Al-Jaafari to be replaced as Iraqi PM
29.03.06 1.00pm
By Patrick Cockburn
ARBIL - President George W Bush has made clear that he does not want Ibrahim al-Jaafari to remain prime minister of Iraq in a move likely to increase hostility between the US and the Shia community.
Mr Bush has written to the Shi'ite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Shi'ite Alliance asking him to nominate somebody else for the post.
"The Americans are very firm about this," said a senior official.
"They don't want Jaafari at any price."
Friction between the Americans and Shia, who make up 60 per cent of Iraq's 27 million population, escalated sharply after at least 16 Shi'ites were killed in the al-Mustafa mosque by Iraqi and American Special Forces on Sunday night.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10375002
West softens UN draft on Iran
29.03.06 1.00pm
UNITED NATIONS - Western powers have watered down a draft UN Security Council on reining in Iran's nuclear ambitions but still called on Tehran to suspend uranium-enrichment efforts that could be used to make a bomb.
The text was distributed to the full UN Security Council by Britain and France, who drafted the compromise document supported by the United States.
The three Western nations hope to convince Russia and China to agree on the document on Wednesday, a day before their foreign ministers meet in Berlin on strategy towards Iran.
But Russia, which has the toughest position, and China, have not signed on to all points in the new Security Council draft so the West's self-imposed deadline may not be met.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10375033
Solar eclipse draws tourists to Libya
29.03.06 10.20am
TRIPOLI - Thousands of Western visitors are flooding into Libya to view a solar eclipse due on Wednesday in the largest tourist event ever held in the long-isolated north African country, officials said.
The big oil exporting country hopes the influx of foreigners to remote viewing stations in its spectacular desert outback will boost a fledgling tourist industry that is anticipating a boom as a thaw in ties with the West erodes years of isolation.
Deputy Tourism Minister Arebi Mazoz told Reuters Libya had issued visas to 7,000 tourists from 53 nationalities, as well as a number of scientists from the US National Aeronautics Space Administration who would help Libyan experts study the eclipse.
Ahmed Aziz, head of the tourism ministry's information department, said it would be the largest and biggest event in the history of Libyan tourism.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10375007
Kenyan government tries to block corruption report
29.03.06 12.20pm
NAIROBI - The Kenyan government moved on Tuesday to block a report to parliament on a multimillion dollar corruption scandal that has forced two ministers to resign.
The scandal has damaged the ruling coalition government of President Mwai Kibaki, which swept to power in 2002 vowing to fight corruption plaguing east Africa's biggest economy.
The report on a scam in which state contracts worth some US$200 million went to a fictitious firm was to be presented on Tuesday to parliament by Uhuru Kenyatta, who is chairman of a parliamentary watchdog committee and the opposition leader.
But Internal Security Assistant Minister Mirugi Kariuki said a similar report had been presented last year and rejected by the assembly so the matter could not be debated.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10374988
Afghan Christian convert is released
29.03.06 8.30am
KABUL - An Afghan Christian convert who faced a possible death sentence for denying Islam has been freed after a chorus of Western pleas that his religious freedom be respected, the Afghan justice minister said today.
Abdur Rahman, 40, was jailed this month for abandoning his faith. Judicial officials said he could have faced trial under Islamic sharia law stipulating death as punishment for apostasy.
"I can confirm that he was released," said Justice Minister Sarwar Danish. "He is not in detention. I do not know if he is with his family or where, but he has been acquitted."
Danish said he could not comment on the legal grounds for Rahman's release.
Earlier a senior judicial official said that Rahman had been moved from Kabul's main prison to a medical facility but was still in the custody of judicial authorities and would undergo psychiatric tests.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10374986
Schroeder to sell Russia to West, says report
29.03.06
MOSCOW - Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is offering to help the Kremlin set up a lobby firm to improve Russia's image in the West, the Kommersant newspaper said.
Schroeder, under fire at home for business ties with Russia that he established soon after leaving office, is visiting Moscow this week and plans to set out his idea at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
The former Chancellor will propose that Russian companies fund the lobby firm, which would be based in Germany. He has suggested that former German Defence Minister Volker Ruehe head the firm.
Kommersant did not reveal the source of its information. It was not immediately possible to verify the report.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10374892
Greece busts Bulgarian baby trafficking ring
29.03.06 11.20am
ATHENS - Greek police have arrested 10 people in the act of selling a 20-day old Bulgarian girl to a Greek couple, the third such baby-trafficking ring busted this month, officials said on Tuesday.
Police detained six Bulgarians and four Greeks, including the couple, in a central Athens park, where the couple was about to pay around 15,000 euro ($30,229.74) for the infant.
The arrests come as Bulgaria, Greece's poor northern neighbour, struggles to prove it is ready to join the European Union next January by cracking down on human trafficking and other types of organised crime.
Among those detained was a Greek lawyer who would provide the Greek couple documents showing they had legally adopted the girl, police said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10375005
Tasteless tourism threatens image of beautiful Barcelona
29.03.06
By Elizabeth Nash
MADRID - Catalonia is planning a summer crackdown on rowdy visitors from northern Europe, alarmed that Barcelona's architectural landmarks and Costa Brava resorts are gaining an unsavoury reputation as "booze and babes" playgrounds.
Barcelona, long a magnet for Europeans for its beauty, its cuisine and its free-and-easy Mediterranean lifestyle, has become a favourite destination for hard-drinking stag and hen-night crowds and graduation parties.
Last summer British, German and Dutch tourists invaded Catalonia's beach resorts and handsome urban squares, and outraged locals with their noisy, all-night partying, promiscuity and vomiting in Gothic passageways and Art Nouveau doorsteps.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10374886
Mammoth Vegas spread is world's larget buffet
29.03.06 2.20pm
LAS VEGAS - Even in this over-the-top town famed for all-you-can-eat spreads, nobody had ever seen one quite like this: Forty soups, 100 salads and 150 desserts perched upon a 152m maze of tables.
It was enough - 510 different dishes in all - to qualify on Tuesday for a Guinness record for the World's Largest Buffet.
"I'm interested in trying some of the desserts now," said tired and hungry Guinness official Nadine Causey, who flew in from London to certify that Las Vegas Hilton Executive Chef George Bargisen had assembled at least 500 unique offerings to create the new record buffet.
Bargisen spent 24 hours straight overseeing the mammoth spread, which included dishes from a dozen ethnic cuisines and offered everything from salmon Wellington to fried alligator, and from pumpkin pie to baklava and pistachio truffles.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10375024
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