The Arab News
Editorial: Moral Vacuum
13 July 2006
FIRST Madrid, then London, now Bombay — terrorists have once again chosen to massacre innocent commuters. But why? What possible good could ever be achieved by slaughtering ordinary decent people as they go about their daily business? The hearts of the world have gone out to the citizens of Bombay to this act of horror. The agony of the relatives of the dead and maimed as they searched through the city’s many hospitals for news of their loved ones was evident from heart-breaking television pictures. The question must be asked how terrorists could view those awful pictures and not feel the slightest remorse for their crime. Yet incredibly it seems clear that these disturbed nihilists actually greet such horrors with perverse satisfaction. The perpetrators of this and other attacks reside in a moral vacuum. Nothing engenders universal contempt by all right-thinking people more than the calculated slaughter of innocent people riding a subway in India, London, or Madrid, or, for that matter, taking a bus in Tel Aviv, going to a wedding in Amman, vacationing in Bali, or taking a commercial flight in the US. What some foreign commentators appeared to forget in their early reports of this latest outrage is that Bombay is no stranger to terror, having suffered the first assault in 1987. In the past, attacks have been blamed on Kashmiri terror groups or other Al-Qaeda offshoots, both of which are apparently based in Pakistan.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=85260&d=13&m=7&y=2006
Hezbollah Seizes Two Soldiers
Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News
GAZA CITY/BEIRUT, 13 July 2006 — Israel pounded southern Lebanon with airstrikes and artillery and sent ground troops over the border for the first time in six years yesterday after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in an explosion of violence between the two countries.
And Israel sharply escalated its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, dropping a quarter ton bomb on a home yesterday in an attempt to assassinate top Hamas leaders. Nine members of a family, including seven children, were killed.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=85245&d=13&m=7&y=2006
Manmohan Says Terror War Will Be Won; Police Hunt for Train Bombers
Shahid Raza Burney, Arab News
BOMBAY, 13 July 2006 — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh struck a note of defiance yesterday saying the war against terror will be won and India will never be beaten by terrorists, a day after bombs ripped through trains in India’s financial hub Bombay. Police began a massive hunt for the bombers in an attack that police say bore all the hallmarks of extremists.
Manmohan said the return to work in Bombay after the blasts during evening rush hour Tuesday, showed the determination of the country to fight terrorism.
“They have not yet understood that we will never let them win,” he said in a nationally televised address as investigators picked through the debris seeking clues to the country’s worst attack in more than a decade.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=85246&d=13&m=7&y=2006
Saudi Arabia: Some Hopeful Developments, Promising Signs
Abeer Mishkhas, abeermishkhas@arabnews.com
Three different events have made me think of all the changes we are going through in Saudi Arabia. The events posed puzzling questions as well.
The first was actually a group discussion about a Saudi novel called “Terrorist Number 20”. I attended the function where the author talked about his book and the message he wanted to convey.
The book, which I was told was being sold in Saudi bookstores, discusses about how terrorists are created, how some groups use religion to attract young people, filling their heads and hearts with hatred for everything around them.
The author explained the title of his book by saying that his hero could have been the 20th terrorist in the Sept. 11 attacks had he not started questioning the fanatic group and its ideas. It’s not just people, misguided or not, who play a role in brainwashing some youths, the author said; the education they receive too plays a part.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=85256&d=13&m=7&y=2006
Yemen Court Reviews Acquittal of 19
Khaled Al-Mahdi, Arab News
SANAA, 13 July 2006 — A Yemeni court of appeals began hearing yesterday an appeal by the prosecution against the acquittal of 19 men, including five Saudis, charged with plotting to attack Americans in Yemen.
A state security court acquitted the men on Saturday citing lack of sufficient evidence.
When the trial began on Feb. 22, the men were charged with plotting to attack Americans in Yemen on orders from the Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Jordanian Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, who was killed last month in a US airstrike.
Prosecutors have said the men planned to bomb sites frequented by Americans living in Yemen, including a five-star hotel in the southern port city of Aden. They said some of the defendants had fought alongside militants in Iraq and that they returned from Iraq after Zarqawi ordered them to carry out attacks in Yemen. The appeals court’s three-judge panel, headed by Judge Saeed Al-Qataa, accepted the prosecution’s appeal allowing state security prosecutors to present their arguments and evidence.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=85248&d=13&m=7&y=2006
Al-Khorafi Retains His Position as Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker
Hassan A. Bari, Arab News
KUWAIT, 13 July 2006 — “A special National Assembly session will be held next Monday to discuss the draft laws for redrawing electoral constituencies, dropping interest on retirees’ loans and voting using the civil ID’,” said the re-elected National Assembly Speaker Jasem Al-Khorafi yesterday.
The first sitting of the 11th legislative term arrived at a consensus on a parliamentary request to discuss the three topics.As predicted, the National Assembly re-elected Khorafi in a secret voting, where he got 36 votes, while his rival Ahmad Al-Saadoun got 28 votes, out of the total number of 65 (50 MPs and 15 Cabinet members) with one MP abstaining from voting.
Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah extended a hand to the assembly, saying in the inaugural session that the Cabinet “stresses its sincere wish to cooperate positively.”
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=85247&d=13&m=7&y=2006
First Saudi Film Festival Kicks Off
Ebtihal Mubarak, Arab News
JEDDAH, 13 July 2006 — Saudi Arabia’s first film festival kicked off yesterday at the Jeddah Science and Technology Center in a media-only event of around 50 people consisting of both men and women.
“The First Visual Show Festival”, which is running for four weeks, began yesterday to an audience of movie scriptwriters, directors, actors, film producers and anyone else related to the movie industry. Organizers have arranged an interesting lineup of rare and unique films including action movies, dramas, narrative movies, human-interest films, comedies and cartoons.
In his opening speech, the deputy manager of the Jeddah Science and Technology Center, Muhammad Salam, said, “We are expecting the entire festival to be a huge success. Many people have called and expressed their enthusiasm. We hope to show full-length movies, documentaries and even short movies.”
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=85250&d=13&m=7&y=2006
Los Angeles Times
Voracious Desert Wildfire Feeds on Temperatures, Wind
The blaze hasn't slowed down, burning more than 40 homes and 37,000 acres.
By David Kelly and Susannah Rosenblatt, Times Staff Writers
July 13, 2006
YUCCA VALLEY — A runaway wildfire that has already charred more than 37,000 acres showed little sign of slowing Wednesday as firefighters fought to save lives and property in the 108-degree heat and gusting desert winds.
Started by lightning Sunday morning, the fire pumped huge clouds of black, white and gray smoke over the mountains and deserts, forcing many to flee their homes clutching photo albums, pets and other irreplaceables. About 100 structures have been destroyed or damaged, including more than 40 homes.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-yucca13jul13,0,5854543.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Winds Feed Ferocious Yucca Valley Fire
By David Kelly, Times Staff Writer
2:20 PM PDT, July 12, 2006
Firefighters struggled against a mushrooming desert wildfire that gutted at least 30 homes in and around the cowboy movie colony of Pioneertown and consumed more than 26,000 acres of San Bernardino County scrubland, authorities said.
Winds gusting to 40 mph propelled the fire, which continued to blacken the sky and remain out of control this afternoon.
About 1,000 people from nearby communities such as Burns Canyon, Rimrock, Gamma Gulch and Flamingo Heights were under mandatory evacuation, and more than 3,000 buildings remained threatened by the blaze, according to state fire officials.
"It's a challenging fire at this point," said Glenn Barley, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in San Bernardino County. "We really don't know when we can get it under control."
More than 1,200 firefighters were battling the wildfire, focusing on saving lives and structures.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-071206fire,0,2200320.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Can a Dead River Rise Again?
Parts of the San Joaquin have turned into a sewer, but the state has a chance to bring it back to life.
By Bill Stall, BILL STALL is a contributing editor to Opinion.
July 13, 2006
FEW RIVERS have as glorious a beginning as the San Joaquin. The headwaters are on the flanks of the Ritter Range a few miles from Mammoth Mountain in the Sierra Nevada. Anyone who has taken an upper-mountain chairlift at Mammoth instantly recognizes the jagged Minarets and the hulks of Mt. Ritter and Banner Peak on the skyline.
Water from melting snow collects in Ediza, Garnet and Thousand Island lakes and others. The new river gathers quickly, rushing past Devils Postpile National Monument and Red's Meadow before plunging over Rainbow Falls and tumbling down one of the most contorted and isolated canyons in the range to the western foothills.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stall13jul13,0,6037727.story?coll=la-home-commentary
Rampart's Redemption Rooted in Complex Forces
By Jill Leovy, Times Staff Writer
July 13, 2006
Big, bad Rampart is no more. Home to MacArthur Park, once home to the city's densest murder cluster, the Los Angeles police division has undergone a transformation so broad that for the last two years, homicides per capita have fallen to the citywide average.
Measured in murder, Rampart is now safer than Boyle Heights and is nearly as safe as the harbor area, a Times analysis shows. Although a blue ribbon report on policing in Rampart credited the LAPD for the turnaround, Rampart's crime has been falling in spurts for 15 years, with the most dramatic shift in the mid-1990s, before Chief William J. Bratton took over.
The change is especially striking because a high percentage of Rampart residents are poor minorities living in crowded and unforgiving circumstances — conditions linked to large homicide figures elsewhere.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rampart13jul13,0,569140.story?coll=la-home-local
L.A. in Peril of Another Rampart Scandal, Panel Finds
A task force urges the department to add officers and replace 'warrior policing' with methods that are community-friendly.
By Patrick McGreevy, Times Staff Writer
July 12, 2006
Despite extensive reform in the seven years since the Rampart Division police corruption scandal, Los Angeles is at risk of similar crises unless the LAPD is significantly expanded and trades its "warrior policing" model for a more community- friendly problem-solving style, a city task force warned today.
The Blue Ribbon Rampart Review Panel set out to provide a final accounting of what city officials characterize as one of the most serious police corruption scandals in American history.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-rampart12jul12,0,2149212.story?coll=la-home-headlines
USC Center Is Latest With Transplant Woes
University Hospital has among the nation's highest death rates for those receiving new livers, data show. The state plans to investigate.
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Times Staff Writers
July 13, 2006
The liver transplant program at USC University Hospital in Los Angeles has one of the highest death rates in the nation, with twice as many patients as expected dying after their surgeries, according to data released this week.
The most recent statistics show that 38 USC patients who received new livers from January 2003 to June 2005 died within a year of surgery — 19 more than expected, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. The agency, which analyzes data on behalf of the federal government, determines the expected rate for each center after adjusting for such factors as patient age and condition and organ quality.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-transplant13jul13,0,6995257.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Disney Slashing Jobs, Yearly Film Output
From Associated Press
5:00 PM PDT, July 12, 2006
Walt Disney Co. will substantially reduce its work force and slash its annual output of films from 18 to eight -- cutbacks greater than Hollywood had anticipated, it was reported Wednesday.
Additionally, Daily Variety said all the movies will be Disney-branded, suggesting diminished roles for its Touchstone label. The Hollywood trade paper said a Disney announcement was expected within 10 days.
Burbank-based Disney, basking in the glow of a record $135.6 million debut weekend box office for "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," wouldn't discuss the report.
"We are constantly evaluating our business to make it better and more efficient," Disney spokeswoman Heidi Trotta said in a prepared statement to The Associated Press.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-fi-disney13jul13,0,5351232.story?coll=la-home-headlines
The Nation of Hezbollah
The militants' raid is a sign that it sees itself as an independent force in Lebanon and beyond.
By Megan K. Stack and Rania Abouzeid, Special to The Times
July 13, 2006
BEIRUT — As Lebanon's largest political party and most potent armed force, Hezbollah has long been described as a "state within a state" — a Shiite Muslim minigovernment boasting close ties to Iran and Syria.
But Wednesday's move across the border to capture two Israeli soldiers went a step further: Hezbollah acted as the state itself, threatening to drag Lebanon into a war.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-hezbollah13jul13,0,4053216.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Rape Case Is Latest Sports Scandal in Fresno
Two community college recruits are charged with assaulting a girl, 11.
By Christine Hanley and Megan Garvey, Times Staff Writers
July 13, 2006
FRESNO — At the Elbow Room Bar and Grill, where former Fresno State basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian used to hold court and photos of legendary sports figures hang from paneled walls, patron Rick Miller sat on a stool Wednesday and ticked off the growing list of local sports scandals.
There's the point-shaving debacle at Fresno State under Tarkanian, who arrived at his alma mater three years after being forced to resign from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas after it incurred numerous NCAA violations. And the 2004 slaying of an 18-year-old woman near campus by a former basketball star who was trying to buy drugs.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fresno13jul13,0,2546673.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Zidane Cites 'Nasty' Taunts
French soccer icon says Italy defender insulted his mother and sister; he doesn't regret head butt.
By Tracy Wilkinson and Achrene Sicakyuz, Times Staff Writers
July 13, 2006
PARIS — French soccer icon Zinedine Zidane on Wednesday finally broke his silence, answering the question on everyone's mind: What was behind his shocking head butt that felled his Italian opponent in the closing minutes of the World Cup championship?
In interviews on French television, Zidane said Italian defender Marco Materazzi insulted his mother and sister, repeatedly using "harsh, nasty" words that the French captain could not bear to hear.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-zidane13jul13,0,5064774.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Wal-Mart Warms to a Green Outlook
The retailer works hard to polish its image. Environmental groups have mixed reviews.
By Claire Hoffman, Times Staff Writer
July 13, 2006
Bentonville, Ark., seemed like an Emerald City of sorts Wednesday as hometown giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. put on display its latest efforts to go green.
The company hosted former Vice President Al Gore's talk on global warming, welcomed an environmental group's plan to locate an office in the corporate neighborhood and talked about the progress it was making to improve the global effects of its worldwide operations.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart13jul13,0,3571192.story?coll=la-home-headlines
CIA Leak Case Source No. 1 Still a Mystery
Columnist reveals that he cooperated with the special prosecutor but chooses not to name the Bush official who started it all.
By Richard B. Schmitt, Times Staff Writer
July 13, 2006
WASHINGTON — Columnist Robert Novak's decision to break his silence about his role in the CIA leak investigation has left one crucial question unanswered: Who was the administration official who gave him the tip that has occupied a special prosecutor and Beltway pundits for three years?
Novak's July 14, 2003, column publicly identifying CIA officer Valerie Plame triggered a federal investigation into whether the Bush administration had retaliated against a critic of its Iraq policy by blowing the covert status of his wife.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-novak13jul13,0,4652262.story?coll=la-home-nation
350 Detained in Bombay Train Bombings
By NIRMALA GEORGE, Associated Press Writer
4:09 AM PDT, July 13, 2006
BOMBAY, India -- Indian police on Thursday detained about 350 people for questioning in the Bombay train bombings amid suspicion that Kashmiri militants could be linked to the attacks that killed at least 200 people.
The detentions came as a man claiming to represent al-Qaida said the terror network had set up a wing in Kashmir and praised Tuesday's bombings.
A senior intelligence official said the government was taking the claim seriously and authorities were trying to trace a call the man made to a Kashmiri news service.
"Our immediate effort is to locate the caller and ascertain the authenticity of the claim," the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. "The government is taking it very seriously."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top11jul13,0,313068.story
Japan Seeks Vote on N.Korea Resolution
By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer
3:26 AM PDT, July 13, 2006
BEIJING -- The U.S. nuclear envoy said Thursday that Washington was likely to give Chinese diplomatic efforts over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs only a few more days before pushing for a tough U.N. resolution.
"My sense is we're down to a number of days," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters in Beijing.
His comments came as Japan pressed for a vote on its resolution threatening sanctions for the North's missiles tests last week, while China and Russia introduced a rival proposal, intensifying jockeying over a unified response.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top13jul13,0,1099502.story
John Money, 84; Doctor Pioneered Study of Gender Identity in 1950s
By Kelly Brewington, The Baltimore Sun
July 13, 2006
BALTIMORE — Dr. John Money, a leading sex researcher who pioneered the study of gender identity and helped establish Johns Hopkins Hospital as the first one in the United States to perform adult sex-change operations, has died. He was 84.
The controversial scholar, who coined the term "gender role," died Friday at St. Joseph Medical Center in Baltimore of complications from Parkinson's disease.
As director of the Psychohormonal Research Unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Money did groundbreaking research. He developed hormonal treatment to improve self-control of sex offenders and dedicated research to the virtually unexplored topic of infants born with ambiguous sex organs.
"People never thought about that. Before, you had male animals and female animals, and that was it," said Dr. Gregory K. Lehne, an assistant professor of medical psychology at Hopkins and a protege of Money.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-money13jul13,0,793477.story?coll=la-home-obituaries
Steak and lobster? Dream on
You can't fence chefs in these days when it comes to surf-and-turf plates. They're imagining all sorts of seafood and meat combinations -- with fantastic results.
By Betty Hallock, Times Staff Writer
July 12, 2006
HALIBUT cheeks and short ribs. Scallops and foie gras. Squid and pig's ears. Lobster and squab. Recognize the theme? It's surf and turf.
For the guy shuffling chips at a Vegas craps table, hoping for a hot roller — or at least a meal comped by the pit boss — surf and turf means a thick steak and a fat lobster tail. But chefs are navigating uncharted waters and ranging beyond the plains to create new takes on the steakhouse standby.
Their sometimes wild iterations continue to evolve and proliferate despite the fact that some food lovers think the classic American pairing is based on an uneasy marriage of meat and fish. And whether inspired by the land-sea combinations of international cuisines or maybe just the American dream of having it all, especially on one plate, today's surf-and-turf combinations are more varied than the possible rolls on a pair of six-sided dice.
"So many meats go really well with seafood because they'll add richness or fat that a lot of seafood doesn't have," says Water Grill executive chef David Lefevre. "With a flounder or a sole or a John Dory or a flakier, whiter-fleshed seafood, a rich piece of meat contrasts with the lean fish and adds a new dimension of flavor."
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-surfnturf12jul12,0,4745269.story?coll=la-home-food
The New Zealand Herald
Wildfire burns out of control in California desert [video report]
4.00pm Thursday July 13, 2006
LOS ANGELES - A 10,500-hectare wildfire burned out of control in the California desert today, threatening thousands of homes after destroying structures in a town used for filming Hollywood westerns.
Authorities in San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles, have declared a state of emergency and asked Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for disaster relief as more than 2000 firefighters worked to contain the blaze.
The fire, which officials believe was started on Sunday by lightning and whipped through bone dry brush by hot desert winds, was burning in the Yucca Valley area north of the resort city of Palm Springs.
Mandatory evacuation orders were in place for several desert communities, including Pioneertown, which has served as the backdrop for Hollywood westerns since the 1950s.
Officials said about 30 structures, some in Pioneertown, had been destroyed and that nine people had suffered minor injuries.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10391125
Israel attacks Beirut airport, Israeli town hit
UPDATED 5.40pm Thursday July 13, 2006
By Nadim Ladki
BEIRUT - Israeli aircraft attacked Beirut airport and killed 22 civilians in strikes on south Lebanon on Thursday, dramatically widening its reprisals after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight.
Hizbollah retaliated for "Israeli massacres" by firing 60 rockets at Nahariya. The Israeli army said Katyusha rockets had hit the northern Israeli city and that one civilian was killed.
The violence was the worst between Israel and Lebanon since 1996 when Israeli troops still occupied part of the south. It coincided with an major Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip to retrieve a captured soldier and halt Palestinian rocket fire.
Lebanese security sources said Israeli aircraft fired at least six rockets at runways of Rafik al-Hariri International Airport and a nearby road, forcing flights to divert.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10391126
Hang Mumbai bombers, locals say
1.00pm Thursday July 13, 2006
By Justin Huggler
MUMBAI - The message was scrawled in chalk on a brick wall outside Bandra station, just 50 metres from where the first bomb went off inside a packed commuter train on Tuesday night local time (early Wednesday morning NZT).
"We condemn the ones who did a terrorist bomb here," it said in English. "The culprits should be hanged to death."
It was a message from the wrong side of the tracks.
As the death toll from the Mumbai bombings was confirmed as crossing 200, suspicions as to who was behind them centred on Islamic militants.
The simple message chalked on the wall was the heartfelt response from a dirt-poor Muslim suburb of Mumbai where the people had watched in horror as the bomb went off and immediately rushed to help the injured.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10391080
Blair's chief party fundraiser arrested
1.00pm Thursday July 13, 2006
By Adrian Croft
LONDON - Lord Levy, the chief fundraiser for Labour Party, was arrested today by police probing allegations that state awards had been given in return for cash.
The "cash-for-favours" row has dented Prime Minister Tony Blair's standing in opinion polls and sparked calls for his resignation. The arrest of Blair's Middle East envoy, close friend and tennis partner makes the prime minister's position even more precarious.
Levy, who denied any wrongdoing and accused the police of using their arrest powers "totally unnecessarily", was later released on bail without charge pending further enquiries.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10391102
Iraq PM says 'last chance' for peace
1.00pm Thursday July 13, 2006
By Kristin Roberts and Ross Colvin
BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told Iraqis today they had one last chance for peace as US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld held talks with Iraqi leaders on the escalating sectarian violence in the country.
The US commander in Iraq said Shi'ite "death squads" were fuelling a spike in the violence in which scores of people have been killed in street fighting, reprisal attacks and bombings in Baghdad neighbourhoods in the past few days. The US ambassador said communal bloodshed was now a bigger threat than al Qaeda.
Several hours after Maliki spoke, clashes erupted between gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades and police and residents in Um al-Maalif, a mainly Shi'ite neighbourhood in southern Baghdad. Police said at least two people were killed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10391114
Putin to press Bush on Russian nuclear sales in US
1.20pm Thursday July 13, 2006
By Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin said today he planned to press President George W Bush to open up the US market for nuclear material at talks this week.
Putin, in answers to emailed questions that were posted on the Kremlin's website www.kremlin.ru, said he wanted an end to US limits on the sale of Russian nuclear materials.
Russian nuclear officials say they want changes to agreements that give US uranium supplier USEC the right to buy uranium recovered from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons and an end to US anti-dumping duties on other uranium sales.
Asked if he would discuss the direct sale of nuclear fuel to US customers at a meeting with Bush, Putin said: "The problem that you have touched on does exist and we will have something to discuss on this topic with Mr Bush." "I would note that we do not agree with discriminatory measures which currently are in force in the US for enterprises in the Russian atomic sector," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10391104
US pressures Iran on atomic offer
Thursday July 13, 2006
PARIS - The United States has stepped up pressure on Iran, warning it faced UN Security Council action for failing to respond swiftly enough to a package of incentives aimed at defusing a nuclear standoff.
Foreign ministers of the world's top powers meet in Paris today to decide how to handle Iran after Tehran said it needed more time to consider the June 6 offer.
"If in fact we are not on a path of negotiations and the Iranians have decided not to take that path, then we will have no choice but to return to the Security Council," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters as she flew into Paris, referring to today's meeting.
"We have to decide tonight which path we are on. ... If we have not received that, 'Yes we are on the path of negotiations', then I think it is pretty clear by process of elimination that we are on the path of the Security Council."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10391059
Bloodied South Koreans protest US trade deal
Thursday July 13, 2006
SEOUL - Tens of thousands of South Koreans clashed with police firing water cannons on the rain-soaked streets of central Seoul yesterday to protest against bilateral free trade talks with the United States.
South Korea and the United States kicked off a second round of talks on a free trade pact on Monday in Seoul. Protesters say a pact would hurt the country's farmers and workers. South Korean and US negotiators said it would be a "win-win" deal.
An estimated 30,000 protesters gathered in torrential rain that hit the capital, including a group that seized the roof of a major post office and unfurled a banner reading: "Let's Break Through the Oppression of Capitalism".
Rescue workers inflated large orange cushions at the base of the building in case anyone fell off.
Some 15,700 riot police were dispatched to the scene and about 100 people were taken into custody for fighting, a police official said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10391026
US racist leaders in mass trial for murders over 32 years
1.00pm Thursday July 13, 2006
By David Usborne
NEW YORK - A white supremacist prison gang known as the Aryan Brotherhood maintains its grip on gambling and drug trafficking both inside and outside the walls of America's penitentiaries by ruthlessly murdering anyone who gets in its way or dares to cross its leadership, a US prosecutor told a jury this week.
Chilling details of the gang's modus operandi, including the smuggling of weapons concealed in genitals and the sending of messages between prisons with disappearing ink made from urine, were disclosed in closing arguments at a trial of four alleged leaders of the gang in Santa Ana, California.
It is the first of several trials expected in the wake of a sprawling federal investigation into the gang that ended in 2002.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10391106
US wants passenger info before overseas flights
2.20pm Thursday July 13, 2006
By John Crawley
WASHINGTON - Homeland security officials proposed today making airlines transmit passenger names and other information to the government before an international departure, a change designed to keep suspected terrorists off US-bound flights.
If approved, the security initiative would reverse current policy of requiring that manifests for flights originating in foreign countries be transmitted shortly after takeoff.
The proposal seeks to improve security as well as end the inconvenient and sometimes embarrassing practice of ordering flights diverted or turned around if manifest information raises suspicion with US authorities or is incomplete.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10391118
Colombian volcano spews ash, people evacuated
10.20am Thursday July 13, 2006
BOGOTA, Colombia - The Galeras volcano in southwest Colombia shot rocks, gas and ash in an eruption today that prompted the government to evacuate about 10,000 nearby residents.
Television images showed thick clouds of ash hanging over the town of Pasto in Narino province. No injuries were immediately reported.
"The negative health effects could be serious and this could be only the beginning of a series of eruptions," government disaster response coordinator Eduardo Gonzalez told reporters.
A 1993 Galeras eruption killed at least 10 people. It is one of the 15 volcanoes most closely monitored in the world due to the threat it poses to local communities.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10391076
Canadian blogger turns paper clip into house
3.20pm Thursday July 13, 2006
TORONTO - A Canadian man was handed the keys to a three-bedroom house today, exactly a year after he offered a red paper clip online, asking to trade it for "bigger or better" things.
In his latest trade, Kyle MacDonald, 26, swapped a bit role in a Hollywood movie for a house in the small Western Canadian town of Kipling, Saskatchewan.
When he started his quest with the paper clip, MacDonald said getting a house was his goal.
He traded in the paper clip for a fish pen and eventually moved up to an afternoon with rocker Alice Cooper before snagging the Hollywood movie role in his 14th trade.
Today, the mayor of Kipling presented MacDonald with the house in return for a role in the movie Donna on Demand, starring Corbin Bernsen.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10391124
Poland wins name change for Auschwitz
5.20am Thursday July 13, 2006
WARSAW - The United Nations has agreed to rename Auschwitz concentration camp to stress that Nazi Germans, not Poles, were responsible for the world's most notorious death camp, Poland's Culture Ministry said on Wednesday.
"Auschwitz Concentration Camp", a UN heritage site, will be renamed "the Former Nazi German Concentration Camp of Auschwitz", the ministry of culture said in a statement.
Poland asked the UN in April to rename Auschwitz, where 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, died in World War Two.
Warsaw objects to references to "Polish gas chambers" at the "Polish concentration camp" in foreign media. Nearly 3 million non-Jewish Poles died at Nazi hands, and Poles see themselves as victims of the war.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10391027
Killer kangaroo, 'demon duck of doom' roamed Outback
Thursday July 13, 2006
SYDNEY - Forget cute, cuddly marsupials. A team of Australian palaeontologists say they have found the fossilised remains of a fanged killer kangaroo and what they describe as a "demon duck of doom".
A University of New South Wales team said the fearsome fossils were among 20 previously unknown species uncovered at a site in northwest Queensland state.
Professor Michael Archer said yesterday the remains of a meat-eating kangaroo with wolf-like fangs were found as well as a galloping kangaroo with long forearms that could not hop like a modern kangaroo.
"Because they didn't hop, these were galloping kangaroos, with big, powerful forelimbs. Some of them had long canines (fangs) like wolves," Archer told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10391029
EU hits Microsoft with unprecedented fine
Thursday July 13, 2006
By David Lawsky and Sabina Zawadzki
BRUSSELS - European Union regulators fined Microsoft €280.5 million ($578 million) on Wednesday for defying a 2004 antitrust ruling, and warned the company to comply or face bigger fines from next month.
The tough new penalty is the first of its kind and comes on top of a record €497 million fine the Commission imposed in its landmark antitrust decision against Microsoft in March 2004.
"Microsoft has still not put an end to its illegal conduct. I have no alternative but to levy penalty payments for this continued non-compliance," Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said. "No company is above the law."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10391030
Organised fraudsters steal millions in UK tax credits
2.20pm Wednesday July 12, 2006
LONDON - Organised fraudsters tried to steal more than half a billion pounds from Britain's tax credit system in 2005/06, figures released today showed.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said that of the £540 million it knows about, it lost £131 million to fraud, up from an earlier estimate of £15 million.
Some 53,000 fraudulent claims were only discovered after payment - although HMRC stopped 91,000 other attempts.
The Child and Working Tax Credits are designed to assist low-paid workers and families.
The credits, a flagship welfare policy of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government introduced in 2003, are paid to almost 20 million people, HMRC said.
They try to integrate the social security system with the tax system, rather than offering straight handouts.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10390953
Delhi pantomime warns women of rape threat
Thursday July 13, 2006
By Sunil Kataria
NEW DELHI - Beating drums and ringing bells, a group of young boys, girls and middle-aged men, their faces painted, go through New Delhi's poorer settlements calling on housewives to come and watch a pantomime - on rape.
An unusual topic for a community play in conservative India. But given the city's reputation as the country's "rape capital", it is not surprising the group has found a large audience.
Performing in streets and parks across the capital, the troupe has struck a chord with thousands of women who are often too shy to seek information or too ignorant to understand the dangers stalking them.
Using mimes, the performers enact tales of women falling victim to rape - sometimes to strangers but more often to their own family or friends.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10390990
Wealthiest countries at bottom of list of happiest societies
3.20pm Wednesday July 12, 2006
By Philip Thornton
The Beatles told us that money can't buy love but it takes an economist to tell us it can't buy happiness.
A new index of well-being shows that the world's wealthiest countries do very badly when it comes to true contentment.
The index attempts to measure how well countries use their resources to deliver improved livelihoods and satisfaction. It finds that true happiness can be found in the Pacific island of Vanuatu.
By contrast the Group of Eight (G8) rich nations, whose leaders for their annual summit in St Petersburg this weekend, languish near the bottom of the list.
The host, Russia, comes 172nd out of 178, followed by the United States at 150 and France and 128. The UK comes in 108th - just below Libya but above Laos.
The list appears in a "happy planet index" published by the UK-based New Economics Foundation that attempts to log the progress of nations based on the amount of the Earth's resources they use on the one hand, and the length and happiness of people's lives on the other.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10390951
Gangsters resume attacks on Brazil police, 5 dead
12.20pm Thursday July 13, 2006
By Eduardo Lima
SAO PAULO, Brazil - Police stations and bank branches were riddled with bullets and dozens of buses firebombed in Sao Paulo state overnight, leaving five people dead, in what police said today was a new round of attacks ordered by a powerful prison gang.
Police said the violence, which started yesterday and continued through until today, left one police officer and his sister dead in Sao Paulo city, Brazil's financial capital. Three security guards were also gunned down in the nearby coastal town of Guaruja.
Police had previously said that the adult son of a prison guard in Sao Paulo had been murdered by the gang but said that his killing was unrelated.
The bloodshed was the latest chapter in a tense battle between security forces and a notorious criminal gang known as the First Command of the Capital, or PCC, which police said was behind the attacks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10391098
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