The Moscow Times
Duma Ratifies Nuclear Terror Treaty
Combined Reports
The State Duma on Friday ratified a global treaty aimed to prevent nuclear terrorism, a year after President Vladimir Putin became the first leader to sign the pact.
Lawmakers in the State Duma demonstrated their loyalty to the Kremlin by voting 424-0 in favor of ratification, following remarks by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"Ratification of this document answers to the interests of Russia and the entire international community," Lavrov said.
The Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism makes it a crime to possess radioactive material or weapons with the intent of committing a terrorist act, or to damage a nuclear facility with the intent of killing or seriously injuring someone, or substantially damaging the environment.
Russia sponsored the seven-year effort leading to the treaty's adoption by the United Nations General Assembly in April 2005, and Putin was the first leader to sign the treaty last September, followed swiftly by U.S. President George W. Bush, in a display of solidarity amid persistent fears that terrorists could acquire nuclear weapons.
Lavrov said five countries had ratified the treaty, signed by 107 nations, and that ratification by a total of 22 was needed for it to go into force.
Russia's backing of the Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism highlights the importance of the global struggle to keep nuclear weapons out of terrorists' hands, said Matthew Bunn, nuclear security scholar at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
Bunn added, however, that the convention should be complemented by "a fast-pace global effort to ensure that every nuclear weapon and every kilogram of potential nuclear bomb material worldwide is secured and accounted for."
Groups based in Chechnya have actively sought weapons of mass destruction and technology needed to stage acts of catastrophic terrorism in the past.
During the first Chechen war they acquired radioactive materials, threatened to attack domestic nuclear facilities, plotted to hijack a nuclear submarine and attempted to put pressure on the national leadership by planting a device containing radioactive materials in Moscow and threatening to detonate it.
Since armed conflict resumed in Chechnya in 1999, the rebels have scouted nuclear facilities and tried to contact an insider at one such facility.
Many scholars argue that groups of militant Islamists and other ideologically driven extremists based in the North Caucasus crossed the moral threshold between conventional and catastrophic terrorism when they seized School No. 1 in Beslan in 2004, leading to the deaths of more than 300 people.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/18/011.html
Shell Faces Sakhalin Stumbling Block
By Valeria Korchagina
Staff Writer
The Natural Resources Ministry on Monday revoked its environmental approval of Shell's Sakhalin-2 project in an apparent intensification of the state's attack on oil and gas projects operated by foreign majors under production sharing agreements.
The move effectively pulls the rug out from under the feet of the project's operator, Sakhalin Energy, and its key shareholder, Shell, by halting work on the project's second phase.
The decision is the biggest threat so far to the multibillion-dollar project, and comes after months of gradually increasing state pressure.
It could also mean that the Kremlin wants to push for a change in the terms of all of the country's three existing production sharing agreements, or PSAs, analysts said Monday.
"This is just another step in what seems a brutal effort to shake up that PSA and to shake up PSAs in general," said Adam Landes, oil and gas analyst with Renaissance Capital investment bank.
The other PSA projects are operated by Exxon and Total.
The State Expert Environmental Review, or SEER, for the second phase of Sakhalin-2, initially approved by the ministry in 2003, is a crucial document without which no further work can be done or funding secured.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/19/001.html
President Pushes for a Role in EADS
By Angela Charlton
Putin, right, and Merkel looking on as Chirac signs a guest book to end their three-way summit in Compiegne, France.
COMPIEGNE, France -- President Vladimir Putin pushed the country's interest in Airbus parent EADS and pledged to share more Russian natural gas riches with European customers during a summit Saturday with his French and German counterparts.
Putin, appearing confident and determined, also sought to allay European fears about his country's reach -- but seemed to revel in the role of friendly and increasingly wealthy neighbor, thanks to soaring oil prices.
All three leaders stressed their warm relations at their first such three-way talks, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel laughed affectionately when French President Jacques Chirac kissed her hand upon arrival at a chateau northwest of Paris.
Chirac insisted that their alliance was not aimed at forming a counterweight to the United States -- as Russia, France and Germany did in their opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
"These meetings aren't directed against anyone," he said.
Economic issues topped the agenda -- including the recent purchase by Vneshtorgbank of a 5 percent stake in Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/041.html
Stocks Slide on Fears of Worldwide Slump
By William Mauldin
Staff Writer
Investors dumped Russian stocks and bonds last week as fears of a global economic slump and falling commodity prices pushed money toward safer investments in the West.
"Sentiment toward emerging markets evidently remains bearish," MDM Bank said in a research note released Friday.
The U.S. Federal Reserve declined to raise interest rates at a meeting on Wednesday, reviving fears of a weakness in the U.S. economy that could spread throughout the world.
On Friday alone, the RTS dropped 2 percent, to 1504.90.
The index has dropped 3 percent over the last week and more than 9 percent since its recent high of 1657.20 on Aug. 11.
Investment funds focused on Russia and the CIS lost $11 million in the week ending Wednesday and $18.5 million in the week ending Sept. 13, according to figures from Emerging Portfolio Fund Research.
Funds dedicated to Brazil, Russia, India and China, known collectively as the BRIC countries, have stopped attracting additional investments and have lost $50 million over the past 10 weeks.
Among Russian commodity stocks on Friday, Gazprom closed at $10.18, down 3 percent; Norilsk Nickel closed at $117.30, down 2.7 percent; and LUKoil closed at $74.70, down 3 percent.
NYMEX crude oil futures closed at $60.55 per barrel on Friday, down 21 percent from the recent high of $76.98 on Aug. 7.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/047.html
Duma Approves 25% Bigger Budget
By Anna Smolchenko and Oksana Yablokova
Staff Writers
The State Duma on Friday gave preliminary approval to a 2007 budget that is expected to be 25 percent bigger than this year's, prompting worries of overspending and higher inflation as next year's elections near.
The hike comes on top of a 40 percent increase this year, as the government spends windfall revenues created by the bonanza of high world oil prices.
By a 343-94 vote with no abstentions, deputies passed the draft budget on first reading. Budget spending is to swell to 5.46 trillion rubles ($205 billion), or 17.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product. With expected revenues of 6.96 trillion rubles, the budget foresees a surplus of 1.5 trillion rubles, or 4.8 percent of GDP.
The projected surplus, however, will largely depend on the oil price, as the budget is based on an average price of $61 per barrel of Urals crude -- a far higher level than in previous years. Should the price fall significantly below this level, the budget could slip into deficit.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told deputies in an address that the draft budget would help the country regain economic ground and fulfill its "industrial potential."
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/001.html
Russia's debt down $5.8 billion in 1H06
RIA NOVOSTI. August 30, 2006, 9:38 PM
MOSCOW, August 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's state debt decreased by 158.7 billion rubles, or $5.8 billion, to 2.9 trillion rubles, or $109.1 billion, during the first six months of 2006, a draft government report said Wednesday.
The Russian government will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss the implementation of the federal budget in the first half of 2006.
Information exchange agreement with U.S. in doubt
RIA NOVOSTI. August 30, 2006, 9:04 PM
MOSCOW, August 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's energy ministry doubts that a Russian-U.S. agreement on information exchange, which outlines the coordination of energy strategies and is set to expire this year, will be prolonged, a ministry official said Wednesday.
The bilateral agreement was signed between the Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy in 2004.
"The agreement expires at the end of 2006, and there is a question as to whether or not we should prolong it," said Stanislav Naumov, director of the Analysis and Planning Department at the ministry.
His statement came in response to recent comments made by U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, who said Russia, along with Iran and Venezuela, was on a list of countries that used their energy resources to pressure neighboring countries.
But Naumov said the energy ministries of both countries proactively developed bilateral ties. Russia and the United States formed a working group on cooperation in the energy sector to promote the exchange of opinions on the situation in the global oil and gas markets, domestic energy strategies, investment in the energy sector, energy efficiency and environmental protection policies.
"As far as we understand, the U.S. saw the dialogue with Russia as a means to strengthen its energy security and stabilize global supplies, including through the increased supply of Russian energy resources to the global market, and the U.S. market in particular," the ministry's official said.
He said the ministry welcomed the proactive participation of U.S. businessmen and politicians in the Moscow Energy Dialogue, scheduled for October 30 in Moscow. The forum will focus on the implementation of the energy declaration adopted at the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg in July.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/doc/HotNews.html
Russia Hits U.S. Pork With Ban
Bloomberg
The government banned some pork products from Premium Standard Farms for violating health standards, carrying out a threat the country had made to the United States for blocking its membership in the World Trade Organization.
Pork processed at Premium Standard's Milan, Missouri, facility was banned for violating "veterinary-sanitary standards,'' the Agriculture Ministry said on its web site Friday, without elaborating. The ban took effect on Thursday.
The government last month threatened to tighten import barriers on U.S. meat unless it won U.S. approval to join the global trade group by October. Russia has been trying to join the WTO for more than a decade and has reached the required bilateral agreements with all 149 members except the U.S., which is seeking more concessions on agriculture.
Four days ago, Premium Standard agreed to be acquired by Smithfields Foods, the world's largest pork processor, for about $693 million in cash and stock. The deal will boost Smithfields' hog output by almost 30 percent. Premium Standard had a net income of $45.3 million in the year ending June 24 on revenue of $880 million.
Russia and the United States signed a four-year accord last year setting annual quotas for U.S. pork imports at 502,000 tons and fixed tariffs for imports that exceed the quotas, Kommersant said earlier this month. Russian poultry and pork output surged 10 percent in the first half of this year after import quotas were introduced.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/046.html
Putin Tries to Soothe France's Total Fears
Combined Reports
President Vladimir Putin tried to ease fears Friday that his country was planning to revoke French oil company Total's license to operate in the Arctic, insisting that the concerns were based on rumors.
Putin was in Paris for talks with French President Jacques Chirac on the eve of a three-way summit between the two men and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on subjects from the Middle East to business cooperation.
Putin's visit, however, came at a time of tensions over the oil field contract. The Natural Resources Ministry said last week that officials were considering canceling Total's license to extract oil at its Kharyaga project, north of the Arctic Circle.
"I want to calm you right away about the rumors about the withdrawal of the Total company's license, which are a bit exaggerated to say the least," Putin told reporters before dining with Chirac at the Elysee Palace.
"We will give an exhaustive response to French questions about the contract if they have them," he said.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/042.html
Kramnik Seizes on Topalov Blunder
The Associated Press
ELISTA -- Classical World Champion Vladimir Kramnik defeated World Chess Champion Veselin Topalov on Saturday in the first game of a three-week series of matches being played in the Kalmykia region, which are intended to end the schism that has riven the chess world for 13 years.
Russia's Kramnik had White in the first game. He opened by moving the queen's pawn in a Catalan Opening.
By the 12th move, both queens were eliminated and Topalov had seized a psychological upper hand.
Kramnik's position was uncomfortable, but he maintained his composure.
Topalov sacrificed a pawn around the 40th move, securing an opportunity to force a draw at anytime. But the Bulgarian grandmaster preferred to keep maneuvering instead, waiting for Kramnik to make a mistake.
White defended well, and on the 57th move, Topalov made an error that cost him the game.
Black could secure a draw by taking the f2 pawn with a knight, but instead, Topalov moved his bishop's pawn.
"Actually, it was a dream position for any chess player," Topalov said after the match. "Black was clearly better, although I had significant technical difficulties in converting the advantage. Vlad [Kramnik] defended well, and I eventually made a blunder."
Having missed this opportunity, Topalov was forced into an endgame with a two-pawn deficit.
Kramnik showed impeccable technique and won the opening game of the match after 6 1/2 hours of play.
"This is a world championship match, and serious mistakes are important part of the game," Kramnik said. "The struggle is tense, and mistakes are unavoidable. I understand that I was just lucky in this game."
The match is the sixth attempt to reunify the chess world since then-world champion Garry Kasparov broke away from the international chess federation in 1993.
The rift in the chess world grew after Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the impoverished Kalmykia region, became president of the federation in 1995. While Ilyumzhinov was praised for pouring millions of dollars into chess, he also introduced numerous controversial changes, including a new knockout format for the world championship (which was later abandoned under pressure from the chess world) and a new, faster time control.
The 12-game match is scheduled to conclude on Oct. 13th.
The two 31-year-old players are to share the tax-free $1 million prize no matter who wins the title.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/092.html
Yanukovych Says Gas Price to Be Settled in October
By Alex Nicholson
The Associated Press
Ukraine will ensure the smooth transit of gas to Europe this winter, the nation's prime minister said Friday after talks with President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych also said Ukraine and Russia would agree on a gas price for the final months of the year in the "coming days" and would set a price for 2007 in October. Ukraine pays $95 per 1,000 cubic meters -- a price that Yanukovych said Ukraine would seek to keep at least until the new year.
"The question of $95 is of great importance for us, although we clearly understand that this is a difficult issue," he said on television following talks with Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.
Russia strongly supported Yanukovych's fraud-marred bid to win the Ukrainian presidency in 2004, and his return as prime minister was broadly seen as a boost for the Kremlin's interests in Ukraine, as Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko tries to move his nation closer to the West.
The Kremlin said Putin met with Yanukovych late Thursday.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/043.html
Balkan pipeline deal to be signed by end of 2006
RIA NOVOSTI. August 30, 2006, 9:01 PM
MOSCOW, August 30 (RIA Novosti) - An intergovernmental agreement to build an oil pipeline in the Balkans to bypass some of the world's busiest shipping lanes may be signed by the end of the year, a senior Russian energy official said Wednesday.
The Russian, Bulgarian and Greek governments signed a memorandum on the construction of a pipeline stretching 280 kilometers (175 miles) from the Bulgarian port of Burgas on the Black Sea to Greece's Alexandroupolis on the Aegean in April 2005.
The project, which is expected to cost at least $800 million, will allow Russia to export oil through the Black Sea, bypassing the busy Bosporus Strait in Turkey. Initial throughput capacity will be 35 million metric tons (255 million bbl), before rising to 50 million metric tons (370 million bbl).
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/doc/HotNews.html
Hamas Says it Is Ready to Share Power With Abbas
The Associated Press
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- The Islamic militant Hamas Party said Sunday that it was serious about sharing power with the moderate Fatah movement, and that the leaders of both sides planned to meet for new coalition talks this week.
Hamas sent the conciliatory signal a day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who also heads Fatah, warned that his efforts to set up a government acceptable to the West were "back to zero." Abbas spoke after Hamas angrily denied Abbas' assurances to the international community that a Hamas-Fatah coalition would recognize Israel.
Earlier this month, Hamas said it was ready to bring Fatah into the government, in hopes of ending a crippling international aid boycott on the Palestinian Authority. The coalition deal included a tacit, but not explicit, recognition of Israel, and the United States and Israel said they wanted clear commitment from any new government.
Despite their ideological differences, Hamas and Abbas appear to have little choice but to govern together.
Hamas needs Fatah to win international recognition and to restore foreign aid. Abbas could fire the current government and install a new one, but would require the approval of the parliament, which is controlled by Hamas. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Sunday signaled willingness to compromise. Haniyeh and Abbas are to meet in Gaza on Monday or Tuesday.
"We are going to resume talks on the formation of a national coalition government," Haniyeh said in a statement. "We hope that the talks will resume soon."
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/252.html
Violence Rages on the Eve of Ramadan
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- At least 20 people were killed and 37 injured Sunday in scattered violence around Iraq, including a mortar attack on the Health Ministry, followed by a car bombing targeting a police patrol.
In the wake of the sectarian violence, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis on Sunday to use the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to put aside their differences.
"Either we live as ... brothers side by side and undivided by sectarianism, or Iraq will shift into an area for settling accounts of political parties," he said.
Police also discovered another 13 bodies, the apparent victims of sectarian death squads. The Health Ministry in northern Baghdad was hit by two mortar shells. As police patrolled the area later, a roadside bomb exploded, killing four policemen and wounding four more, and killing two civilians and injuring two others, police said. In eastern Baghdad a car bomb targeting another patrol killed five people and wounded 17.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/253.html
Kondopoga Chechens Move Out
By Carl Schreck
Staff Writer
Some 50 Chechens who fled ethnic violence in the northwestern industrial town of Kondopoga have begun to leave the summer camp near Petrozavodsk, the Karelian capital, where they have been living for three weeks.
Hamzat Magamadov, a representative of the group living at the Aino summer camp, said last Friday that the families were deciding whether to return to their homes in Kondopoga or to move elsewhere.
Magamadov denied reports Friday that the Chechens were being evicted from the two-story dormitory on Lake Lososinnoye, where they were put under police protection after ethnic Russians attacked and looted Kondopoga businesses, prompting most of the several hundred natives of the Caucasus living in the town to flee.
"We have met with local and regional officials and expressed our concerns. Now the families are deciding where they want to go," Magamadov said by telephone from the camp Friday.
"Some have already returned to Kondopoga, some want to go back to Chechnya and others want to move to Petrozavodsk or somewhere else in Karelia," he said.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/011.html
North Caucasus Lawmaker Killed
The Associated Press
Unidentified attackers shot and killed a local lawmaker and wounded a police officer in separate attacks in the North Caucasus on Saturday, officials and witnesses said.
The lawmaker, a member of a district legislature in Dagestan, was gunned down in the town of Khasavyurt as he was driving, a police spokesman said.
Meanwhile, in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkariya, a law enforcement officer was injured when the police van he was riding in exploded, said Marina Kyasova, a spokeswoman for the regional branch of the Interior Ministry.
Kyasova said that, according to preliminary findings, a homemade explosive device placed inside the van caused the blast. She said the officer's life was no longer in danger.
Witnesses said the van was parked near a building housing state-run media located in the vicinity of a regional government building.
The attacks deal a blow to a government amnesty plan intended to persuade militants in Chechnya and surrounding regions to disarm and surrender to authorities, which came into effect Saturday.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/017.html
Chechen Amnesty Plan Breezes Through Duma
Combined Reports
The State Duma on Friday approved a government amnesty plan intended to persuade militants in Chechnya and surrounding regions of the North Caucasus to disarm and surrender to authorities.
Deputies quickly passed the legislation, proposed by President Vladimir Putin, in a 350-80 vote, with one abstention. The amnesty, part of an effort to end more than a decade of separatist resistance following the deaths of rebel leaders this summer, would remain in effect until Jan. 15.
The amnesty would also apply to servicemen suspected of committing crimes while serving in Chechnya and the North Caucasus.
Pavel Krashennikov, head of the Duma's Legislation Committee, denied speculation that the amnesty might apply to servicemen convicted or indicted of serious crimes, such as the murder of civilians, Interfax reported Saturday.
The amnesty does not apply to soldiers who have committed crimes, such as murder, theft, robber and rape, Krashennikov said. He stated specifically that Colonel Yury Budanov, convicted in July 2003 of murdering an 18-year-old Chechen woman, would not be covered by the amnesty.
A temporary amnesty measure announced in July by Federal Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev is nearing its end. It first gave militants about two weeks to surrender, but was extended through Sept. 30.
Like the initial amnesty proposal, the measure approved Friday promised that militants would not be prosecuted if they surrendered and were not suspected of grave crimes such as murder, rape or terrorism.
Nearly 300 militants have surrendered under the initial amnesty, said Vladimir Bulavin, deputy head of the Federal Security Service. "The approval of the bill will help uproot terrorism," Bulavin told lawmakers.
Militants have to disarm to avoid prosecution; the amnesty will not apply to servicemen accused of selling or stealing weapons.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/015.html
Russia Muscles Past U.S. in Davis Cup
Dmitry Tursunov put Russia into the Davis Cup final after holding off Andy Roddick 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 17-15 Sunday, giving his country an unassailable 3-1 lead over the United States.
Russia will host the Davis Cup final against Argentina in December and will hope to add to its single previous Davis Cup title, won in Paris in 2002.
Roddick struggled from the start on the clay court at the Olimpiisky Sports Complex, losing his first service game.
Roddick won only three points in his opponent's first five service games in the third set, but held serve and upped his game at the crucial moment to break Tursonov at 6-5 to avoid a tiebreaker and stay in the match.
As Roddick gained confidence, his opponent seemed to falter. They traded service wins until Tursonov netted an easy forehand and Roddick converted his third break point with a backhand volley to take a 5-3 lead.
In the marathon 32-game final set, both players survived scares and held serve until Tursunov netted an easy forehand to go down 30-40 in the 11th game. He saved one break point, but hit two shots wide at deuce.
But the home favorite, roared on by the partisan crowd, broke straight back to even it at 6-6 when Roddick sent a return wide after saving one break point.
The two then traded service wins until Roddick netted a forehand slice to give Tursunov his fourth match point. The Russian held his nerve to send a backhand down the line for the victory.
Tursunov, who was knocked out of the U.S. Open in the third round and struggled with his backhand in Saturday's doubles, was an unexpected pick by Russia coach Shamil Tarpishchev.
Nikolay Davydenko is Russia's best clay-court player, but he withdrew from the Chinese Open last weekend with dizziness, and Tarpishchev instead picked Marat Safin to play Roddick in the opening singles.
Safin beat Roddick 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (5) and Mikhail Youzhny beat Blake 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 on Friday, putting the U.S. squad down 2-0.
On Saturday, Bob and Mike Bryan overcame Youzhny and Tursunov with little trouble, reviving U.S. hopes with a commanding 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win.
James Blake beat Safin 7-5, 7-6 in the dead rubber, but it will be of little consolation to the U.S. team.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/091.html
The Chicago Tribune
Storms ease after 12 deaths
Flooding still threat in several states in South, Midwest
By Dylan T. Lovan, Associated Press. Associated Press writers Bruce Schreiner and Will Graves in Louisville; Jeff McMurray in Lexington, Ky.; Jill Zeman in Little Rock, Ark.; and Heather Hollingsworth
Published September 25, 2006
LOUISVILLE -- Stormy weather blamed for 12 deaths in the Midwest and South subsided on Sunday, though residents in some states remained shut out of their homes because of high waters.
Flood warnings remained in effect for parts of Arkansas, Kentucky and Missouri. Many Kentucky roads were still submerged Sunday, but waters in many areas began to recede.
"It looks like everything's kind of quieting down, and things are being handled on the local level right now," said Buddy Rogers, a spokesman for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management in Frankfort.
The storms that hit parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee on Friday and Saturday stranded people in cars, forced others from their homes and left thousands without power.
The death toll in Kentucky reached eight, including a father and his 1-year-old daughter in a truck that skidded in floodwaters. Two deaths were reported in Arkansas.
In Illinois, authorities say lightning evidently was the cause of a house fire that killed Roberta Russell, 89, and Lucille Stroud, 73, in the village of Spillertown. High winds destroyed three trailer homes and a log home in southern Massac County, with about a dozen homes damaged in Jackson County, said Illinois Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Patti Thompson.
The National Weather Service reported that areas of Kentucky received at least 5 inches of rain, with isolated regions getting close to 10 inches. Over 24 hours, parts of northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri received more than 10 inches of rain, the weather service reported.
In Kentucky, about 200 people at the Terrapin Hill Harvest Festival were evacuated by boats and school buses.
"It was almost Katrina-like pretty much," said Chester Craig, a lieutenant with the Mercer Central Volunteer Fire Department. "There were vehicles underwater and people were walking around in a daze."
Arkansas rivers swelled up to 8 feet above flood levels, officials said. Campers at River Bend Park in Hardy, Ark., were asked to evacuate when the Spring River began rising.
"I didn't think we were going to make it out of there," said Charles Lenderman. He and family members -- wearing life jackets -- swam from the camper to higher ground about 100 yards away.
In central and eastern Missouri, nearly 400 structures were damaged or destroyed and at least 10 people were injured by about 10 tornadoes, officials said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0609250185sep25,1,5783228.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
E. Coli Spinach Cases Rise to 173
By Associated Press
Published September 24, 2006, 7:10 PM CDT
WASHINGTON -- Two more cases of illness were blamed Sunday on the outbreak of E. coli linked to fresh spinach, raising the number of people sickened to 173, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
So far, 92 people have been hospitalized, including a Wisconsin woman who died. Two other deaths have been reported in suspected cases -- a child in Idaho and an elderly woman in Maryland -- but those cases are still being investigated.
Since the outbreak was reported two weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration has recommended people not eat fresh, raw spinach. State and federal investigators since have traced the contaminated spinach back to three counties in California's Salinas Valley.
On Friday, officials said spinach grown anywhere outside that area is safe to eat -- but industry needs to figure out how to let consumers know the origin of what they're buying before the green can return to sale, said Dr. David Acheson of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
The 25 states that have reported infections are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-tainted-spinach,1,2092844.story?coll=chi-news-hed
D.C. dispute puts security push on hold
How to protect judges, border splits Congress
By Christi Parsons
Washington Bureau
Published September 25, 2006
Many lawmakers are hoping to pass a bill chock full of spending for military communities in time for the November elections, but an aide to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said Sunday the speaker won't move that bill unless it also includes strict border security provisions.
Spokesman Ron Bonjean said the speaker also wants the bill to include a House Republican measure to improve court security, an issue championed by the Illinois delegation in Congress in the wake of the murders of family members of a federal judge in Chicago last year.
Hastert's staff partially blames Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate and a vocal proponent of improving court security across the country.
"What we don't understand is why Sen. Durbin, who is the No. 2 Senate Democrat, does not seem to have the influence over his colleagues to get this court security measure through," Bonjean said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0609250211sep25,1,1523378.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Emergency call for fire brigades
In small towns, fewer citizens able or willing to fight blazes for free
By Dahleen Glanton
Tribune national correspondent
Published September 25, 2006
McLAURIN, Miss. -- After more than two centuries as one of America's favorite community service endeavors, the glory days of the volunteer firefighter are fading. Most people, particularly younger ones, now don't have the time or the inclination to put out fires for free anymore.
As a result, some volunteer fire departments that provide emergency and rescue services, respond to natural disasters and make public service calls in addition to fighting fires are dangling on the edge of extinction. And people in small communities that rely solely on volunteers, such as McLaurin, a town of about 900 families outside Hattiesburg, increasingly risk calling 911 and not getting help.
About 73 percent of the more than 1 million firefighters in the U.S. are volunteers, as opposed to paid career firefighters, and about two-thirds of all fire departments are primarily volunteer, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council, a Washington-based lobbying group. But in two decades, the number of volunteers has declined by more than 10 percent, from 897,750 in 1984 to 800,050 in 2003. The council has begun a national recruitment campaign to rebuild the ranks.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0609250192sep25,1,4996568.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Former migrants take root
Hispanic residents stabilize populations, fuel business growth in small, Downstate town
By Greg Burns
Tribune senior correspondent
Published September 25, 2006
COBDEN, ILL. -- Mexican migrant workers have picked the crops around this farming community in the southern tip of the state for decades, and Jerry Jimenez, true to his roots, was stooping over a long row of pepper plants last week.
But contrary to the stereotypes, Jimenez owns his tidy farm here and hasn't picked vegetables for a living in decades. As he sipped coffee on the porch of his comfortable farmhouse, the 63-year-old entrepreneur outlined an ambitious plan for expanding his hot-pepper-jelly business over the Internet.
"We want to see how far we can take it," he said.
Times have changed in Cobden. Its population of 1,102 includes dozens of former migrants who have settled here permanently, boosting an otherwise dwindling community and launching some of the few new businesses around.
Across the Corn Belt, as the children of longstanding residents have moved out of rural hamlets in search of better job opportunities, Mexican workers and their families have moved in.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0609250138sep25,1,3012058.story?coll=chi-business-hed
Welcome mat never out at Dune Acres
By Jason George
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 24, 2006
Dune Acres is the place to be; no visitors to bother me.
Beach spreadin' out so far and wide; keep out Gary, this is the quiet side.
No, that's not a verse from the official song of Dune Acres, Ind., but for more than 80 years this tiny hamlet just north of Chesterton has been developing a reputation for giving uninvited guests the cold shoulder. In fact, while most Lake Michigan towns battle it out for every last tourism dollar, Dune Acres has developed a unique pitch to potential visitors: Stay away.
Residents contend that they take certain measures, such as staffing a guard shack at the town's lone entrance--on a public, state-funded road--not because they are snobs, elitists or even lepers. It's just that 4-square-mile Dune Acres wants to assist lost motorists and keep out big-city problems. They know that legally, they cannot stop people from entering the town.
Any suggestion that the stop sign that sits square in the middle of the road at the town's entrance, and the guards alongside it, are there to prevent admittance is just not true, town officials say. Think of the guards as greeters--who just happen to stop and question motorists and write down names and license plate numbers.
A visitor fortunate enough to make it past the guards and security cameras nestled next to bird feeders will see a charming architectural medley of houses in Dune Acres, home to about 250 residents and thousands of towering oak, birch and maple trees. With any luck--as the town's dozen or so roads are all disorienting dead ends--a visitor could stumble upon the white sandy beach, not that leaving one's vehicle there is recommended.
"We don't restrict access to the beach; we just control and monitor parking in the lot, which requires a parking permit," Town Council President John Wilhelm III said.
How does one go about getting a permit?
"They have to be a resident."
Cars found parked there without a sticker are towed.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-0609240335sep24,1,184801.story?coll=chi-homepagetravel-hed
Clinton, Fox Anchor Battle in Interview
By KAREN MATTHEWS
Associated Press Writer
Published September 25, 2006, 5:35 AM CDT
NEW YORK -- In a combative interview on "Fox News Sunday," former President Clinton defended his handling of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden, saying he tried to have bin Laden killed and was attacked for his efforts by the same people who now criticize him for not doing enough.
"That's the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now," Clinton said in the interview. "They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try."
Clinton accused host Chris Wallace of a "conservative hit job" and asked: "I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked, 'Why didn't you do anything about the Cole?' I want to know how many people you asked, 'Why did you fire Dick Clarke?'"
He was referring to the USS Cole, attacked by terrorists in Yemen in 2000, and former White House anti-terrorism chief Richard A. Clarke.
Wallace said Sunday he was surprised by Clinton's "conspiratorial view" of "a very non-confrontational question, 'Did you do enough to connect the dots and go after Al Qaida?'"
"All I did was ask him a question, and I think it was a legitimate news question. I was surprised that he would conjure up that this was a hit job," Wallace said in a telephone interview.
Clinton said he "worked hard" to try to kill bin Laden.
"We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody's gotten since," he said.
He told Wallace, "And you got that little smirk on your face and you think you're so clever, but I had responsibility for trying to protect this country. I tried and I failed to get bin Laden. I regret it, but I did try and I did everything I thought I responsibly could."
The interview was taped Friday during Clinton's three-day Global Initiative conference.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," also taped Friday and aired Sunday, Clinton told interviewer Tim Russert that the biggest problem confronting the world today is "the illusion that our differences matter more than our common humanity."
"That's what's driving the terrorism," he said. "It's not just that there's an unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict. Osama Bin Laden and Dr. al-Zawahiri can convince young Sunni Arab men, who have -- and some women -- who have despairing conditions in their lives, that they get a one-way ticket to heaven in a hurry if they kill a lot of innocent people who don't share their reality."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-clinton-fox-news,1,4719119.story?coll=chi-news-hed
U.S. to Allow Some Liquids on Airliners
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press Writer
Published September 25, 2006, 11:46 AM CDT
WASHINGTON -- The government is partially lifting its ban against carrying liquids and gels onto airliners, as long as they are purchased from secure airport stores, and will also permit small, travel-size toiletries brought from home, officials said Monday.
A total ban on such products, instituted after a plot to bomb jets flying into the United States was foiled, is no longer needed, said Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley.
"We now know enough to say that a total ban is no longer needed from a security point of view," Hawley told a news conference at Reagan National Airport.
He said that most liquids and gels that air travelers purchase in secure areas of airports will now be allowed on planes. He called the new procedures a "common sense" approach that would maintain a high level of security at airports but ease conditions for passengers.
That means that after passengers go through airport security checkpoints, they can purchase liquids at airport stores and take them onto their planes.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/sns-ap-air-travel-security,1,6666642.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Pope to Meet With Muslims to Defuse Anger
By Associated Press
Published September 25, 2006, 2:24 AM CDT
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy -- Muslim diplomats were meeting Monday with Pope Benedict XVI in the pontiff's latest effort to mend relations after his remarks about Islam and violence ignited the Vatican's most serious international crisis in decades.
Benedict's spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the meeting, at the Vatican summer residence, was "certainly a sign that dialogue is returning to normal after moments of ... misunderstanding." He predicted that the encounter would lead to further steps
Since the Sept. 12 speech on Islam, Benedict has said that his remarks were taken out of context and said he regreted that Muslims were offended.
Vatican Radio said that it would cover the meeting live, and the speeches were scheduled to be shown to journalists on closed-circuit Vatican TV.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-vatican-pope-muslims,1,1741246.story?coll=chi-news-hed
New Zealand Herald
Nepal helicopter search hampered by weather
1.20pm Monday September 25, 2006
Bad weather in eastern Nepal is continuing to hamper efforts to find a missing helicopter with 24 people on board.
The helicopter disappeared in a remote mountainous area during heavy rain.
Five Nepalese air search teams are struggling to carry out their mission because of incessant rain.
Police say visibility is almost zero.
Among those on board are a government minister, a foreign diplomat and members of the conservation group, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), including Australian Jill Bowling.
The director of the WWF in Nepal, Anil Manandhar, says there is still hope the passengers will be found alive.
"We still don't believe that the worst has happened," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402862
Sunburn danger this weekend
1.00pm Friday September 22, 2006
New Zealand will suffer a record "low ozone event" for spring on Sunday meaning people could burn even if the weather is cool, climate scientists are warning.
Niwa said space agencies are forecasting that there could be 23 per cent less ozone over New Zealand than the average for this time of year, making it highly likely people could burn if the weather is good.
The forecast comes from the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute and the European Space Agency. They say a sliver or filament of low ozone air circulating in the stratosphere around Antarctica will spin off and pass over much of New Zealand.
"Ozone values of about 275 Dobson Units are possible, whereas the September average at Lauder, Central Otago, is 358 Dobson Units,' says Dr Greg Bodeker of the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research.
"The forecast suggests that the ozone values around noon on Sunday are likely to be a record low for this time of the year,' says Dr Bodeker.
New Zealand ozone records began in 1970.
The forecast low ozone will push UV levels higher than usual for this time of year.
Wendy Billingsley, a spokesperson for SunSmart, says protection will be essential if the day is clear or partly cloudy.
Protection is essential when UV levels reach 6. According to Niwa, if the skies are clear, the forecast low ozone means that UV levels in the south of New Zealand are likely to increase from a typical September noon-time UV index of 4 to 5.5.
In the north of the country, the noon UV index could be as high as 8 compared to the usual September value of around 6.5.
At southern ski fields, where the snow-covered surface enhances UV levels, the reduced ozone could cause noon-time UV levels to increase from 6 to close to 8.
A UV index of 8 represents very high UV levels, though not the levels reached on a sunny summer day.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/location/story.cfm?l_id=2&ObjectID=10402498
Ozone hole kills sea life, says scientist
Thursday July 20, 2006
The ozone hole over Antarctica is having a bigger impact on life than realised, scientists believe.
The layer, 24km above Earth, acts as a shield against ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
An annual thinning of the ozone over Antarctica allows significantly more UV light to reach the ocean and damage DNA.
New Scientist magazine reported yesterday that an analysis of east Antarctic waters had shown that high levels of UV light could significantly reduce phytoplankton blooms.
These microscopic plant cells at the bottom of the food chain provide food for zooplankton, tiny marine animals that are eaten by more than 50 species of seabirds and by fish and sea mammals ranging from sardines to whales.
"If you have a substantial reduction in the amount of plant material, that's going to have all sorts of knock-on effects for the rest of the food web," said Andrew Davidson, of the Australian Antarctic Division in Kingston, Tasmania.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/location/story.cfm?l_id=2&ObjectID=10392054
Antarctic waters may hold cure for heart disease
10.00am Tuesday July 18, 2006
The waters of the Antarctic may hold a cure for heart disease, a researcher says.
Canterbury University researcher Victoria Metcalf plans to travel to Scott Base in October, to fish "Eskimo-style" for research subjects.
"We get on the sea ice, drill a hole and drop in a baited hook," Dr Metcalf, 32, told the Press newspaper today.
Fish samples would then be taken to Northeastern University in Boston next year where genetic filter technology would be used to study how the fish metabolised fat.
Antarctic fish used fat as their primary fuel, whereas humans used carbohydrates.
Dr Metcalf said her research could have some "very real medical spin-offs".
Her study would centre on whether Antarctic fish suffered from heart disease. She said very little was known about fat matabolism.
"What we know is it's really well linked to heart disease. Fat metabolism pathways are really complicated."
Any research on any vertebrates would be able to link in with humans and tell us more, Dr Metcalf said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/location/story.cfm?l_id=2&ObjectID=10391796
Ice invasion under discussion
11.04.06 3.00pm
Biosecurity issues in Antarctica have been the focus of an international meeting in Christchurch.
Delegates from France, the UK, Australia and America have met with their New Zealand colleagues at the Antarctica Non-Native Species Workshop which opened yesterday.
Under scrutiny is the growing threat being posed to the Antarctic environment by invasions from outside species and what options can be considered to mitigate them.
Delegates will develop a report which will be presented to the Antarctic Treaty meeting in Scotland in June
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/location/story.cfm?l_id=2&ObjectID=10376999
Arctic sea ice disappearing
Saturday September 16, 2006
By Michael McCarthy and David Usborne
The melting of the sea ice in the Arctic, the clearest sign so far of global warming, has taken a sudden and enormous leap forward, in one of the most ominous developments yet in the onset of climate change.
Two separate studies by Nasa, using different satellite monitoring technologies, both show a great surge in the disappearance of Arctic ice cover in the last two years.
One, from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, shows that Arctic perennial sea ice, which normally survives the summer melt season and remains year-round, shrank by 14 per cent in just 12 months between 2004 and 2005.
The overall decrease in the ice cover was 720,000 sq km - an area almost the size of Turkey - gone in a single year.
The other study, from the Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, shows that the perennial ice melting rate, which has averaged 0.15 per cent a year since satellite observations began in 1979, has suddenly accelerated hugely. In the past two winters the rate has increased to 6 per cent a year - that is, it has got more than 30 times faster.
The changes are alarming scientists and environmentalists, because they far exceed the rate at which supercomputer models of climate change predict the Arctic ice will melt under the influence of global warming - which is rapidly enough.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/location/story.cfm?l_id=2&ObjectID=10401578
Climate change wreaking ecological havoc on globe
1.00pm Friday September 15, 2006
By Daniel Howden, Andrew Buncombe and Justin Huggler
In Greenland, barley is growing for the first time since the Middle Ages.
In Britain, gardeners were warned this week that the English country garden will be a thing of the past within the next 20 years.
In Italy, skiers were told yesterday that melting glaciers will mean an end to their pastime unless they can get above 2,000 metres.
Even those enjoying the warmer temperatures in unpredictable bursts by venturing into the sea have been confronted by swarms of jellyfish, who have flourished in record numbers in Europe in the warmer waters.
Those same waters are rising in Venice, prompting arguments over costly plans to seal off the lagoon from the sea.
The prospect of flooded squares on the scale of Venice's Piazza San Marco is driving plans to expand and reinforce the Thames flood barrier.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/location/story.cfm?l_id=2&ObjectID=10401423
Staff exodus threatens Pacific health systems
4.00pm Monday September 25, 2006
The World Health Organisation says the loss of health workers from Pacific nations will push the region's health systems toward collapse.
It says a human resources crisis has overtaken funding issues as the biggest threat to public health, with an estimated global shortfall of more than four million doctors, nurses, dentists and others.
The organisation, which is holding its annual western Pacific meeting in Auckland this week, says Pacific governments face a shortage of health staff and will have to make major structural and fiscal changes.
It has urged member states to examine the infrastructure, technology, supplies and financing of their health systems, to understand why workers are leaving.
WHO says the effects of staff losses are being compounded by ageing populations, the burden of chronic diseases and new threats from emerging diseases.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10402863
Sri Lanka says 11 rebel boats sunk
4.00pm Monday September 25, 2006
COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's navy sank 11 Tamil Tiger vessels and killed dozens of rebels in a fierce five-hour battle overnight, the military has said, a fortnight after the foes agreed to resume peace talks to halt renewed civil war.
"There were 25 Sea Tiger boats sailing south. Eleven boats were sunk, and about 70 cadres were killed," said Chief Inspector of Police Percy Perera of the Center for National Security. He said five navy sailors were hurt in the clash.
Perera said the Navy believed a top Tiger naval commander was killed or injured during the clash at sea around 50 miles north of the strategic northeastern harbour of Trincomalee.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were not immediately available for comment on the incident, which comes days after a suspected rebel front threatened to recapture recently lost territory on the southern lip of Trincomalee harbour.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10402864
Colombia hostages plead for freedom in video
3.20pm Monday September 25, 2006
By Patrick Markey
BOGOTA - In a video released by their rebel captors, Colombian lawmakers held hostage for more than four years pleaded with President Alvaro Uribe to negotiate with leftist guerrillas to secure their release.
The recording broadcast on local television was the latest from the 12 provincial lawmakers since their kidnapping in 2002 by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, the largest rebel group in Colombia's four-decade conflict.
Farc wants Uribe to withdraw troops from two municipalities to start an exchange of rebel prisoners for 62 hostages, including three US contract workers and Colombian-French national Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate.
With sheets pinned up behind them to disguise their whereabouts, the lawmakers read from notes greeting family members and urging the government to reach an agreement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402870
Thailand's military leaders launch corruption probe
2.20pm Monday September 25, 2006
Thailand's military leaders say a new committee has been set up to investigate corruption in the government of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thailand's military seized power from the prime minister last week, in what they said was a bid to unite the nation after months of political turmoil.
In part, the military has justified the coup by accusing Thaksin Shinawatra of graft.
And as the corruption probe starts, tanks are being removed from key sites in the capital, Bangkok, as the military presence on the streets is scaled down.
Meanwhile, our correspondent in Bangkok, Shane McLeod, says another member of Thaksin Shinawatra's ousted cabinet has arrived back in the country, pledging to co-operate with the military governing council.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402858
Police arrest 263 after clashes in Copenhagen
12.20pm Monday September 25, 2006
COPENHAGEN - Danish police arrested 263 people on Sunday after violent clashes during a protest over the closure of a youth centre in Copenhagen.
Protesters hurled bottles and stones at several dozen riot police and set fire to park benches and rubbish bins, a police spokesman said. One or two demonstrators were injured in the violence, but no police were hurt.
About 500-600 young people had joined a protest over plans to evict left-wing activists and members of the city's squatter movement from a building they have been using as their base.
Police said it was not clear how many people would face charges after the protests.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402855
Sudan says to impose travel ban on US officials
11.20am Monday September 25, 2006
KHARTOUM - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, under international pressure over wartorn Darfur, has said his government would impose a travel ban on US officials that would confine them to the capital Khartoum.
Bashir, in his first news conference since returning from a trip to New York, said the ban was in response to similar restrictions placed on Sudanese officials in the United States.
"The (US) decision was that any Sudanese official has only 25km (as a radius) from the White House in Washington," Bashir told journalists.
"Any American official who comes to Sudan, we will stamp his passport for only 25km from the presidential palace," he added.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402842
More demonstrations against Hungary PM
8.20am Monday September 25, 2006
Protesters vowed last night to keep up their effort to topple Hungary's Prime Minister after their biggest rally yet but analysts said Ferenc Gyurcsany was likely to survive despite admitting lying to win re-election.
Some 40,000 people poured into Budapest's Parliament Square after a week of demonstrations calling for him to step down.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402768
Pakistan denies coup rumours while Musharraf away
1.00pm Monday September 25, 2006
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has denied rumours of a coup attempt against President Pervez Musharraf while he is visiting the United States.
Newspaper offices and journalists were inundated with telephone calls and text messages inquiring about the rumours, which coincided with a widespread power cut.
But television programmes did not allude to them until Geo Television ran a ticker headline saying Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani had accused "rumour mongers" of exploiting the power cut.
Reuters made checks with senior government as well as military officials, and journalists saw nothing unusual in the capital or the neighbouring garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Durrani, who is travelling with Musharraf, told Reuters from New York: "These rumours were sparked by the power breakdown. These are baseless. These rumours spread because televisions were off and telephones were on."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10402853
Palestinian prime minister sees hope of unity deal
1.00pm Monday September 25, 2006
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA - Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said talks on a Palestinian unity government could still succeed, brushing aside President Mahmoud Abbas's comment that they had reached "point zero" and must start from scratch.
"We will resume the consultations over the formation of a national unity government and I believe we have gone a long way down the road," Haniyeh told reporters in the Gaza Strip. "There is a real hope that it will succeed."
Abbas plans to travel to Gaza on Monday or Tuesday local time to resume talks, which he froze a week ago before attending the UN General Assembly in New York, senior aide Saeb Erekat said.
Erekat said Abbas would tell Hamas: "If you want a unity government, there are international requirements that need to be met, and that's the only way to form a unity government."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10402849
US detains Venezuela's Foreign Minister at airport
Monday September 25, 2006
CARACAS - The United States has apologised after Venezuela's Foreign Minister, Nicholas Maduro, was detained at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York while flying home.
A State Department spokesman said the US regretted the incident.
Venezuelan television said Maduro was stopped for an hour and a half and stripped of his travel documents.
"This is a provocation from Mr Devil," said President Hugo Chavez, referring to US President George W. Bush.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402755
White House rejects blame for rise in terrorism
7.55am Monday September 25, 2006
WASHINGTON - A newspaper report that a US intelligence analysis said the Iraq war gave rise to a new generation of Islamic radicals and made the overall terrorism problem worse was "not representative of the complete document," the White House said on Sunday.
The New York Times in its Sunday editions reported that a classified National Intelligence Estimate completed in April said Islamic radicalism had mushroomed worldwide and cited the Iraq war as a reason for the spread of jihadist ideology.
It was the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by US intelligence agencies since the Iraq war began in March 2003 and represents a consensus view of the 16 spy services.
"The New York Times' characterisation of the NIE is not representative of the complete document," White House spokesman Peter Watkins said.
"Their (terrorists') hatred for freedom and liberty did not develop overnight, those seeds were planted decades ago. Instead of waiting while they plot and plan attacks to kill innocent Americans, the United States has taken the initiative to fight back," he said.
The spokesman said he would not comment on information contained in the classified document.
President George W. Bush has steadfastly insisted that his decision to invade Iraq was the right action to take to head off a potential threat.
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Ethnic civil war rages through Iraq
1.00pm Monday September 25, 2006
By Patrick Cockburn
Civil war is raging through the Iraqi countryside.
Sunni insurgents have largely taken control of the province of Diyala, where local leaders believe the insurgents are close to establishing a 'Taleban republic'. Officials in the strategically important, mixed Sunni and Shia province with a Kurdish minority, have no doubt about what is happening.
Lt Col Ahmed Ahmed Nuri Hassan, a weary looking commander of the federal police, says: "Now there is an ethnic civil war and it is getting worse every day."
At the moment the Sunni seem to be winning it. As the violence has escalated in Iraq over the past three years it has become too dangerous for journalists to find out what is happening in the provinces outside the capital.
The UN said last week that 5106 civilians were killed in Baghdad in July and August and 1493 in the provinces outside it.
Insurgents have cut the roads out of the capital to the west and the north.
Pasted from <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10402824
Ramadan bomb kills 34 in Baghdad Shi'ite slum
9.00am Sunday September 24, 2006
By Peter Graff and Mussab Al-Khairall
BAGHDAD - A bomb killed 34 people in Baghdad's Sadr City Shi'ite slum on Saturday as Iraq's minority Sunnis began the fasting month of Ramadan, which US commanders said might see a rise in sectarian bloodshed.
The bomb - most likely a car bomb, according to police - struck near a tanker distributing kerosene for stoves in Sadr City, whose two million or more poor residents are the power base of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia.
Among other violent incidents across the country, police in Tikrit said gunmen had beheaded nine people including some policemen after dragging them out of two cars in a nearby town.
Three US soldiers were killed by two roadside bombs, in Baghdad and near the violent northern oil city of Kirkuk, and an American working for the State Department and a Danish soldier died in attacks around the Shi'ite southern city of Basra.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402698
Russia holds out olive branch to Shell
1.00pm Monday September 25, 2006
By Susie Mesure
Russia attempted to defuse the growing diplomatic crisis over its threats to strip Shell of its licence to operate the US$20bn Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project yesterday, insisting it was a "long way" from breaking the deal it struck in the early 1990s.
Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, offered the oil major an olive branch in an attempt to calm down a row that has embroiled most Western governments and raised serious concerns over the Kremlin's plans for its vast natural resources.
Over the weekend, the US government added its voice to the international condemnation of Moscow's decision last week to withdraw ecological permits for Shell's Sakhalin-2 venture, saying it was "very concerned" by Russia's actions.
The British, Dutch and Japanese governments have all publicly criticised Russia's move.
Speaking in New York, Mr Lavrov said: "We are a long way from backing out of agreements we have reached, no matter how difficult the conditions were when they were agreed to."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10402830
Blair critics march before party rally
8.45am Sunday September 24, 2006
By Adrian Croft
MANCHESTER - Tens of thousands of protesters marched on Saturday against Prime Minister Tony Blair on the eve of a rally of his Labour Party where a struggle over the leadership looked set to steal the headlines.
Activists shouting "Blair must go!" and chanting opposition to the Iraq war and to nuclear weapons streamed through the centre of the Manchester, which will host Labour's annual conference from Sunday until Thursday.
It will be Blair's final conference as party leader after nine years in office and three successive election victories.
Blair's backing for the US-led war on Iraq, his policies in the Middle East and his reforms of public services have angered many in Labour, leading to a slide in his popularity.
He was forced earlier this month to say he would resign within a year as rows over the succession exploded into public.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402697
Brown sets out progressive agenda but Blair refuses to endorse him
8.17am Monday September 25, 2006
By Andrew Grice
LONDON - Gordon Brown will pledge today to bring in more "progressive" reforms than Tony Blair if he becomes Labour leader but will promise to keep the party firmly in the political centre ground.
In what is seen as the most important speech of his life, the Chancellor will stake his claim at the Labour conference to succeed Mr Blair by making clear he would offer change as well as continuity. He will praise the Prime Minister's record since 1997 and endorse changes such as the personalisation of public services as he tries to deliver a unifying and forward-looking speech about the challenges facing Britain in the next 10 years.
In a highly personal speech, Mr Brown will outline a moral vision of what he will call "the good society" and a "new Britain".
His promise of "progressive" change will be seen as a signal that he would give greater priority to the fight against poverty.
He will pledge to create "a new politics" and restore people's trust in politicians.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402819
Islamists poised to take Somalia's third city
7.20am Monday September 25, 2006
KISMAYO, Somalia - Islamist forces were poised to take over Somalia's strategic southern port city of Kismayo after the warlord in charge of the region fled, witnesses and officials said.
Colonel Abdikadir Adan Shire, also known as Barre Hiraale, is defence minister in Somalia's weak interim government and led the Juba Valley Alliance, an independent authority that has controlled the region around Somalia's third largest city.
His deputy, Yusuf Mire Mahmud, confirmed Barre Hiraale's hasty exit on Sunday following a split within the Alliance on how to respond to the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which seized Mogadishu and other parts of southern Somalia earlier this year.
"I wanted to talk to the ICU, and he did not. He sent a delegation to Ethiopia and that was the final straw for me," Mahmud said.
"Tomorrow the people of Kismayo will welcome the courts," he said, adding that Islamist forces were some 100km away.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402811
Saudi Arabia says no evidence bin Laden dead
7.25am Monday September 25, 2006
WASHINGTON - Saudi Arabia has said it has no evidence Osama bin Laden is dead, shedding further doubt on a secret document leaked in France that said Saudi secret services believed he died last month.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said that as far as he knew the Saudi-born al Qaeda leader was still alive.
"To my knowledge Osama bin Laden is not dead," he said on LCI Television. But he added he had not seen a French secret service report, printed by a newspaper, which said Saudi Arabia was convinced bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan last month.
France, the United States and Britain all said earlier they were unable to confirm the report in French regional daily L'Est Republicain, which quoted the DGSE foreign intelligence service.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402812
'Jihad' car commercial upsets US Muslims
9.20am Monday September 25, 2006
CINCINNATI - A car commercial proclaiming a jihad on the US auto market and offering "Fatwa Fridays" with free swords for the kids is offensive and should not be aired, Muslim leaders said on Sunday.
The radio advertisement for the Dennis Mitsubishi car dealership in Columbus, Ohio, has "a whole jihad theme," said Adnan Mirza, director of the Columbus office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"They are planning on launching a jihad on the automotive market and their representatives would be wearing burqas ... ," Mirza said.
"They mentioned the Pope in there and also about giving rubber swords out to the kiddies -- really just reprehensible-type comments."
Details of the radio ad, which has not yet been broadcast, have been reported in the local media, but officials at the dealership declined to comment about the content of the radio spot.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402828
More languages close to extinction
Monday September 25, 2006
By Derek Cheng
About half the planet's languages are facing extinction and with them a differing vision of the world, says a leading language expert.
Professor David Crystal, of the University of North Wales, said: "This is the big crisis. Of the 6000 or so languages in the world, half are so seriously endangered they are unlikely to last the century.
"Each language in the world is a unique vision of the world. Each has something to offer everyone else. The more visions of the world, the more you understand notions of tolerance."
Professor Crystal is in New Zealand to give a series of lectures on linguistics and language.
"The number of speakers go from the two billion or so that speak English, to about 60 languages in the world where there is one speaker left. These are the ones in danger. Ninety-six per cent of the world's languages are spoken by 4 per cent of the people."
But revitalising languages is not difficult as long as the community wants it to survive, "like here with Maori".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10402731
PM seeks details on academic funding 'corruption' [+audio]
1.00pm Monday September 25, 2006
Prime Minister Helen Clark today said she would be seeking more information on claims academics awarded themselves funds while sitting on a judging panel.
The $38 million Marsden Fund annual round came under fire in the Sunday Star-Times yesterday after nine of the panellists judging the awards were given $6m funding themselves.
Panellists were awarded almost 20 per cent of the total set aside for senior researchers in the hotly contested government-funded awards. Less than one application in 10 is successful.
Helen Clark said today: "Normally these funds are surrounded by the strictest of rules and evaluations and one would certainly be concerned if there was less than the normal high standard.".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10402839
Rocket launch ushers in cheap space flight
1.00pm Monday September 25, 2006
NEW MEXICO - A rocket packed with cargo is set to blast off into space from a desert launch range in New Mexico, an event backers say will usher in a new era of cheap public access to space.
UP Aerospace plans to launch the SpaceLoft XL rocket early on Monday local time from Spaceport America, a remote desert launch site near the town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
The telephone pole-sized rocket will carry around 50 items of payload -- including a Ziploc bag of Cheerios, some cremated remains and several high school science projects -- on a brief sub-orbital flight 110km above Earth.
The rocket is not the first privately funded bid to reach for the stars.
Two years ago, SpaceShipOne brushed the edge of space with a man on board, scooping up a US$10 million ($15 million) prize for its backers.
But Connecticut-based UP Aerospace says the brief 13-minute flight will inaugurate a new era that puts space within reach of large numbers of paying customers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10402836
Good oil: Coupe in clean clothing
Saturday September 23, 2006
Peugeot's hydrogen-powered concept has a range of 320km, gets to 100km/h in a dawdling 15 seconds, has a top speed of 130km/h. It will be unveiled at next week's Paris motor show. Called the 207 Epure, it's a thinly disguised version of Peugeot's 207 coupe/cabriolet. It is powered by an electric motor and battery pack combined with a 20kW fuel cell designed in partnership with the French Atomic Energy Commission. The hydrogen cylinders are stored under the boot floor, allowing space for the folding metal hard top and luggage.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/9/story.cfm?c_id=9&objectid=10402526
Golf: UK media put Clarke centre stage
4.00pm Monday September 25, 2006
By Ken Ferris
Darren Clarke was the toast of the British media today, as newspapers paid tribute to his bittersweet celebrations after Europe's crushing Ryder Cup victory over the United States.
Exactly six weeks after his wife Heather died of breast cancer Clarke stood soaked in champagne and tears as he celebrated an 18-9 win that gave Europe an historic third success in a row and matched their biggest victory.
Under the headline "Pure Genius" -- a reference to the adverts for the pints of Guinness Ireland is famous for -- the Daily Mirror wrote: "Hero Darren sinks putts, sinks Yanks... then sinks a pint in one!"
It added: "Darren Clarke drank a cocktail of champagne, Guinness and tears after inspiring Europe to the most emotional Ryder Cup triumph ever".
The Daily Express described it as "The Cup of Tears" on its back page adding, "Europe dedicate victory to Heather".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=4&ObjectID=10402869
concluding ….
