The Chicago Tribune
John Hits Mexico With Heavy Rains, Winds
By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press Writer
Published September 2, 2006, 4:11 AM CDT
CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico -- Hurricane John lashed the main city in the southern part of Mexico's Baja California peninsula with fierce winds and rain early Saturday after sparing the tourist resorts of Los Cabos a direct hit.
The Category 2 storm weakened slightly after it made landfall near isolated hamlets about 40 miles northeast of San Jose del Cabo, but was still packing top sustained winds of 100 mph as it passed near the state capital of La Paz -- a city of more than 150,000 people.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-hurricane-john,1,3902760.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Pipe bomb explodes at Metra station; man questioned but released
By Angela Rozas and Jeremy Gorner
Tribune staff reporters
Published September 1, 2006, 8:33 PM CDT
The maker of a sophisticated pipe bomb that exploded in a trash receptacle inside the Hinsdale Metra station early Friday still was at large late in the day, police said.
Nobody was injured in the 6:50 a.m. blast inside the ticket building, authorities said.
A man witnesses had pointed to as possibly being involved was released after a consensual search of his home turned up nothing, Hinsdale Police Chief Bradley Bloom said. The man had been seen near the receptacle and was apprehended at Union Station about an hour and a half later.
Bloom said the department has not ruled that man, or anyone else, out but said police don't have a good description of who may have left the bomb. There are no security cameras at the station, and nobody saw anyone place the bomb, he said.
U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent Thomas Ahern said authorities do not believe the incident was terrorist-related, although they do not have a motive yet. He said the device was "improvised" but not a manufactured bomb. Its remnants will be sent to a Maryland laboratory for examination, Ahern said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060901hinsdale-metra,1,2644744.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Bush film: Original or outrageous?
'Death of a President' lights up the blogosphere in advance of its Toronto Film Festival premiere.
By Tina Daunt
Times Staff Writer
Published September 1, 2006
This column explores the intersection between celebrity and politics.
A new film mixing archival footage and computer-generated special effects to portray the fictional assassination of President George W. Bush will premiere Sept. 10 at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival — and is already kicking off a firestorm of controversy.
British filmmaker Gabriel Range said "Death of a President" — which is done in a retrospective documentary style that has been described as eerily real — is intended to be a thought-provoking critique of the current political landscape.
"It's a striking premise," Range conceded in a statement. "But it's a serious film which I hope will open up the debate on where current U.S. foreign and domestic policies are taking us."
In the film, President Bush prepares to deliver a speech to business leaders in Chicago, where he is confronted by a massive antiwar demonstration. Unperturbed, Bush goes ahead with the visit, but as he leaves the venue, he is gunned down by a sniper. While the nation mourns, the hunt for his killer — a Syrian-born gunman — swings into action. Range said he reviewed hundreds of hours of footage of Bush to make the film as realistic as possible.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/la-et-cause1sep01,1,6296224.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Immigration activists begin 50-mile march
By Sara Olkon
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 1, 2006, 9:29 PM CDT
Supporters of immigrant rights streamed out of Chinatown Square at noon Friday to kick off a four-day journey that will span the western suburbs and end in Batavia.
Protesters marched west on Cermak Road, the first leg of the 45-mile Immigrant Workers Justice Walk to the home office of U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The crowd, about 400-strong, carried a united message by T-shirt and placard: Immigrants' interests matter.
"This is going to be a symbolic pilgrimage calling attention to hard-working, tax-paying people who deserve the opportunity to achieve the American dream," said David "Dino" Martino, political director of the Service Employees International Union.
Organizers said they hope to persuade Hastert, a Republican, to offer legalization for the nation's 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants and put a moratorium on raids and deportations by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Catherine Salgado of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said she expects a few hundred supporters will walk the entire distance. She predicted that thousands more would show up at the route's various rallies.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060901immigration-march,1,2866705.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Guilty verdict in rape of girl
By Carlos Sadovi
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 1, 2006, 6:57 PM CDT
Jurors took less than an hour Friday to find a convicted child molester guilty of snatching a 10-year-old girl off the streets and sexually assaulting her near her Brighton Park home in 2004.
After a three-day trial in Cook County Criminal Court, John Malinowski, 44, was found guilty of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, aggravated kidnapping and possession of child pornography.
After the verdict was read, the girl, now 13, cried as she hugged family members, prosecutors and Chicago police officers who investigated the Feb. 10, 2004, attack.
Outside court, the girl said testifying in the case was difficult, but she felt she needed to do it to put Malinowski in prison.
"I just feel safer. I just knew I had to do something about it. I didn't want it to happen to anyone else," the girl said. "I'm just happy I'm alive."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060901malinowski-guilty,1,2468937.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Callers may get $60 tax refund
By Mary Dalrymple
Associated Press
Published September 1, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Consumers can claim a standard $30 to $60 refund next year for a tax on long-distance telephone calls that the government declared invalid, the Internal Revenue Service announced Thursday.
Telephone customers had been paying the 3 percent federal excise tax on local and long-distance service. The government this month stopped collecting the tax on long-distance calls after businesses repeatedly fought the tax in court and won.
consumers can use their 2006 tax returns to claim a refund on long-distance telephone taxes paid since March 2003.
The standard refund starts at $30 and increases by $10 for each additional exemption claimed on a tax return, up to $60. A married couple with two dependent children, for example, could claim a $60 refund.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0609010130sep01,1,4935839.story
Kurdistan President Replaces Iraqi Flag
By Associated Press
Published September 1, 2006, 8:25 PM CDT
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq -- Kurdistan president Massoud Barzani has ordered the Iraqi national flag to be replaced with the Kurdish one in his northern autonomous region in what appeared to be another move toward more self-rule in the north, local officials said Friday.
The order was issued Thursday and applies to the Kurdish region, said Beshraw Ahmed, a spokesman for the Sulaimaniyah municipality.
According to Azad Jundiyanim, a member of President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Sulaimaniyah, Barzani issued a formal message asking for the Iraqi flag to be lowered. The message was also broadcast on Kurdish radio.
Iraq's northern Kurdish region has slowly been gaining more autonomy since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
On May 7, its parliament in the northern city of Irbil unified the Kurdish region's two long-standing administrations, one headed by Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and the other by Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/sns-ap-iraq-kurds,1,2605836.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Stolen computer holds workers' information
Tribune staff report
Published September 1, 2006, 6:38 PM CDT
Nearly 60,000 current and retired local public employees, most of them city and Cook County workers, are being notified of a possible compromise of confidential personal information, including Social Security numbers and birth dates.
The sensitive data was contained on a laptop computer stolen from the home of an employee of Nationwide Retirement Solutions, city officials said Friday. Ohio-based Nationwide offers retirement planning services.
The laptop computer was password-protected and the company has found no evidence that information from it was used to access retirement funds or account information, officials said. There also have been no reports of identity theft linked to the data on the computer, a Nationwide spokesman said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-060901theft,1,7779159.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Gates Foundation to aid Chicago high schools
The Associated Press
Published September 1, 2006, 9:24 AM CDT
SEATTLE -- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is putting $16 million into a new high school improvement program that's to be launched this year in eleven high schools in Chicago and two other districts.
The College Board testing company created its new "EXCELerator" program in New York public schools. It will use the Gates money to expand the program to Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Duval County, Florida.
The aim is to improve graduation and college readiness rates, especially for low-income and minority students.
The College Board will support college and career planning, tutoring, parent and community outreach. The program also will provide money to give teachers more planning time and more opportunities to work in teams.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-060901gates,1,7283566.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Protests stop Mexico's state of the nation speech
By Colin McMahon
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published September 1, 2006, 10:12 PM CDT
MEXICO CITY -- Facing the threat of an ugly confrontation with opposition congressmen, President Vicente Fox abandoned his reading of his state of the nation speech Friday before the Mexican congress, breaking a tradition dating back 180 years.
"Given that the posture of a group of legislators makes it impossible to read the message I have prepared for this occasion, I am leaving the hall," Fox announced after delivering a written version of the annual presidential report, called the Informe.
Half an hour earlier, legislators from the Democratic Revolution Party had swarmed the congressional stage. They waved anti-Fox posters and the tri-colored national flag, chanting "Mexico! Mexico!" And a leading senator from the party stood at the podium, refusing to yield.
"Deliver it and go," the congressman shouted.
The gambit worked. But it also showed Mexicans, again, how fractured their political system has become.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060901mexico,1,3742702.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Democrats cite Pentagon report in war criticism
By Stephen J. Hedges
Washington Bureau
Published September 1, 2006, 7:25 PM CDT
WASHINGTON -- Democrats kept up their verbal assault on President Bush and his national security team Friday over Iraq, while a new Pentagon report underscored the escalating violence there.
In a wave of statements, Democratic Party leaders targeted Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for casting the Iraq war as part of a broader war on terrorism.
"The Pentagon's new report today indicates that President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld's speeches are increasingly disconnected from the facts on the ground in Iraq," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement.
"Even the Pentagon acknowledges Iraq is tipping into civil war," the Nevada senator said. "Failed Republican policies have left America bogged down in Iraq, with our military stretched thin and less able to fight and win the war on terror."
Bush, in a speech to the American Legion in Utah on Thursday, said, "The war we fight today is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st Century."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060901rumsfeld,1,1029350.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Gunmen Slay 13 Pilgrims Near Baghdad
By ELENA BECATOROS
Associated Press Writer
Published September 2, 2006, 5:44 AM CDT
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric Saturday to discuss the country's deteriorating security situation, while attacks killed 13 Pakistani and Indian pilgrims south of the capital and three bombings left six people dead.
Al-Maliki met with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, the cleric's office said. In July, al-Sistani was credited with restraining the Shiite community from widespread retaliation against minority Sunnis following horrific attacks on Shiite civilians.
"If the government does not do its duty in imposing security and order to the people and protecting them, it will give a chance to other powers to do this duty and this a very dangerous matter," al-Sistani's office quoted him as saying.
The meeting came two days after a barrage of coordinated attacks across mainly Shiite eastern Baghdad killed 64 people and wounded 286. Hundreds of Iraqis have been killed in violence this week, despite a massive security operation in the capital involving an extra 12,000 Iraqi and U.S. troops that has targeted some of Baghdad's most problematic neighborhoods.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-iraq,1,7982944.story?coll=chi-news-hed
British Soldier Killed in Afghanistan
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press Writer
Published September 1, 2006, 2:51 PM CDT
KABUL, Afghanistan -- An insurgent attack killed one British soldier and seriously wounded another Friday in the latest fighting to wrack southern Afghanistan, while suspected Taliban gunmen ambushed and shot dead a district chief, officials said.
Insurgents attacked the British soldiers in the southern province of Helmand at 4 p.m., according to statements from NATO and the British Ministry of Defense. One militant was killed in the fighting. The wounded soldier was evacuated for medical treatment.
Britain has nearly 4,000 troops deployed in Helmand as part of a NATO-led security force battling to bring security to turbulent southern Afghanistan.
Twenty-two British soldiers have died in the country since November 2001, 17 of them in March when the NATO force moved into Helmand, the hub of Afghanistan's world-leading heroin industry.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-afghanistan,1,6935765.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Iran Jetliner Accident Kills 29
By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press Writer
Published September 1, 2006, 5:46 PM CDT
TEHRAN, Iran -- A landing Iranian passenger plane skidded off the runway and raked its wing along the ground, sparking a fire that killed 29 of the 148 people on board Friday in the latest deadly crash of a Russian-made aircraft.
Rescue workers in the northeastern city of Mashhad carried survivors on stretchers out of the gutted craft, which lay in a pool of water near the runway with its middle charred and its roof collapsed. Iranian television footage showed firefighters spraying the engines with water.
"The plane was shaking badly during the landing, then it suddenly lurched to the left," one survivor, Sahar Karimi, told The Associated Press by telephone from a hospital in Mashhad.
"Then it caught fire, and all the passengers rushed to the emergency exit," she said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-iran-plane-crash,1,2640317.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Weakened Ernesto Drenches Mid-Atlantic
By KASEY JONES
Associated Press Writer
Published September 2, 2006, 6:55 AM CDT
BALTIMORE -- Disrupting the start of the Labor Day weekend, Ernesto drenched the Mid-Atlantic region, cut power to more than 400,000 customers and forced evacuations as it weakened to a tropical depression.
Flash flood watches were posted early Saturday for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Flood warnings were issued for North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Ernesto was blamed for at least five deaths in Virginia and North Carolina, where it swirled ashore late Thursday as a tropical storm, a day after severe thunderstorms had already drenched the region.
Eastern North Carolina got 8 to 12 inches of rain, while southeastern Virginia measured up to a foot. Seven inches fell in Worcester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and a wind gust of 61 mph was recorded in Ocean City, said Ed McDonough, spokesman for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-ernesto,1,4377455.story?coll=chi-news-hed
The Globe and Mail
Business leaders urge a fight against new U.S. border rules, fees
STEVEN CHASE
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — Business groups are urging the Stephen Harper government to fight Washington's move to bolster its northern border inspections and force Canadian shippers and air travellers to bear the annual $77-million (U.S.) cost.
Nancy Hughes Anthony, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, called the measure “a bold-faced cash grab,” warning it will cost companies sales to the United States by slowing down border crossings and further taxing trade.
“There's already a higher Canadian dollar and now there's an inspection fee — it could be the last straw.”
She predicted it would discourage investment in Canada because it makes the border a larger hurdle to overcome when selling to the United States. “It creates an impression for outside investors that it's yet another reason not to locate in Canada because [crossing] the border is not only possibly five minutes longer because of this inspection, but it's also that many dollars more expensive.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060901.wxr-border02/BNStory/Business/home
Ottawa to regulate and certify organic foods
Canadian Press
Ottawa — Faced with a year-end trade deadline from the European Union, the federal government is moving to regulate and certify organic foods.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is proposing national regulations that would allow agricultural producers to display a “Canada Organic” label on their food products.
Organic foods in Canada are currently certified by a hodgepodge of authorities, many of them accredited by the U.S. Agriculture Dept., which requires certification for organic foods imported from other countries.
Only two governments in Canada — Quebec and British Columbia — currently regulate organic produce within their borders.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060901.worganicf0902/BNStory/National/home
She spotted fires for 18 years, then vanished without a trace
KATHERINE HARDING
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
HINTON, ALTA. — The secluded orange-and-white watchtower and log cabin where Stephanie Stewart worked alone every summer for 13 years remains fenced off by yellow police tape.
It's been seven days since the tiny, 70-year-old fire lookout worker vanished from her post. The RCMP — who have described Ms. Stewart as not your “typical old lady” — don't know what happened to her, but they fear foul play may be involved.
Ms. Stewart's daughter, Lorie, travelled to Edmonton Thursday to make a public plea for clues in the search for her mother.
“Mom's a hell of a woman,” she said. “She's very strong, she's very capable. She's been on towers for 18 years. She's spent 13 years at Athabasca. The tower life is her life.”
Fire spotters are the first line of defence for the forest service, with 128 active watch towers sprinkled throughout Alberta. Pay depends on level of experience, but the top pay is $20.13 an hour.
Each day, Ms. Stewart would climb an outside ladder to an observation post where she spent the bulk of her day using binoculars to watch for smoke, sending her observations to headquarters by radio, and going to the cabin only to eat and sleep.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060901.wxmissing02/BNStory/National/home
UN forces arrive in Lebanon
TODD PITMAN
Associated Press
TYRE, Lebanon — Italian soldiers began arriving Saturday in Lebanon, part of the first large contingent of international troops dispatched to boost the U.N. force keeping the peace between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.
Italian marines wearing blue berets arrived by helicopter in the Mediterranean port city of Tyre to secure two beaches where the remainder of an 880-strong battalion of Italian soldiers will land through the day. Another 200 Italian troops are expected Sunday in the capital, Beirut.
International troops have been slow to arrive in Lebanon since an Aug. 14 cease-fire brought an end to 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, in part because it took time to hammer out details over the troops' mandate.
Besides the Italian contingent, just 250 extra French soldiers have made it to the country, though France has said it will send a total of 2,000 troops.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060902.wpeace0902/BNStory/Front/home
Syria open to diplomatic relations with Lebanon: Annan
ZEINA KARAM
Associated Press
BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar Assad told the U.N. secretary-general Friday that his government is prepared to establish formal diplomatic relations with Lebanon and delineate the border, steps Syria has resisted for six decades.
Many in Lebanon expressed skepticism, saying Assad's promises to U.N. chief Kofi Annan would likely remain just talk unless international pressure mounted on Damascus.
For Syria, the step would be seen as recognition that its decades-long domination of its smaller neighbour is truly over after crumbling the last year.
Many Lebanese suspect Syria has never really accepted Lebanon's independence and remains angry that parts of their country were carved out of the former Syrian province of the Ottoman Empire in 1920.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060901.wsyria0901/BNStory/International/home
‘We must do something about Pakistan'
GRAEME SMITH
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
MAYWAND, AFGHANISTAN — Under a waning moon, with no electricity for light, the headquarters of Afghan forces in the Maywand district of southern Afghanistan was cloaked in heavy darkness.
Despite the late hour, district leader Haji Safullah remained awake in his concrete bunker, sitting cross-legged on ragged carpets, talking with police commanders about how to defeat the Taliban.
“Pakistan,” the former mujahedeen warrior said, his voice a growl in the dark. “We must do something about Pakistan.”
As the Taliban insurgency grows in southern Afghanistan, so do suspicions about Pakistan's role in the war. Afghans tend to blame their old nemesis for everything wrong in their country, but their accusations about the Taliban finding money, shelter, weapons and fighters on the other side of the border are getting more specific these days. Mr. Safullah rhymed off the names of Taliban leaders living in neighbourhoods and compounds around Quetta, in west-central Pakistan, and complained bitterly that his men can't hunt insurgents in those havens.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060902.wxpakistan02/BNStory/International/home
Ottawa to keep safe-injection site open
PETTI FONG
Globe and Mail Update
Vancouver's safe injection site will be kept open until December of 2007, after getting a last-minute reprieve from federal Health Minister Tony Clement.
However, Mr. Clement said he was unable to approve a request that would have extended the life of the Vancouver site for another 31/2 years.
The site, which is North America's only supervised injection facility, must have a federal exemption from drug laws in order to allow addicts to shoot up inside without fear of being arrested.
News that the site was being kept open spread quickly in the Downtown Eastside by early evening yesterday.
"People are feeling very grateful and very relieved," said Dan Small, a manager with the Portland Hotel Society, a non-profit organization that helps run the facility.
"The Prime Minister and Health Minister have done the right thing. They've responded to the evidence and the community," he said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060901.wsisite0901/BNStory/National/home
Mexican presidential address disrupted
JULIE WATSON
Associated Press
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MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Vicente Fox was forced to forego the last state-of-the-nation address of his presidency Friday after leftist legislators stormed the stage of Congress to protest against disputed July 2 elections.
Instead, he gave his speech on television and called on Mexico to mend deep divisions he said threaten the country's democracy.
It was the first time in modern Mexican history a president hasn't given the annual address to Congress. Mr. Fox arrived at the door of the Legislative Palace, handed in a written copy — as the constitution requires — and announced over the loudspeaker he wouldn't appear before legislators. He did not enter the chambers and Congress was adjourned.
Appearing on television later as thousands of protesters occupied Mexico City's centre, Mr. Fox said the country "requires harmony, not anarchy."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060901.wmexico0901/BNStory/International/home
Germs, ahoy!
ANNE MCILROY
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
You open the door of the gas station washroom, scanning and sniffing for biohazards. It seems safe. No overflowing urinals or toilets. No sewer stench and your shoes don't stick to the floor.
But research suggests that the riskiest part of your pit stop may come after you flush. Hot water taps usually have far more fecal bacteria on them than toilet seats do, University of Arizona microbiologist Charles Gerba says.
"I'm good at using my elbow," he says.
Scientists, Dr. Gerba in particular, have made a number of discoveries about public washrooms that could turn even the most laissez-faire traveller into a germaphobe.
Consider that when you flush with the lid up, fecal bacteria are propelled into the air, landing on the tank, the floor, the seat and the toilet paper, unless it is protected by a dispenser. Hot-air dryers can also propel bacteria around the room.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060902.wtoilets0902/BNStory/Front/home
'I liked my teacher . . . honestly!'
Eight prominent Canadians . . . as students.
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Adrienne Clarkson loathed gym. Jake Gold failed — and aced — accounting. And it turns out even the head of Trinity College has had a detention or two (or three). As Canadian kids head back to school, Amy Verner leads a few of their role models down memory lane.
Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor General
Age: 67
Home town: Toronto.
Rita Judd prepares her classroom for the upcoming school year at Oak Ridges Public School in Richmond Hill, Ont. (Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail)
Academic CV: Lisgar Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, Trinity College at the University of Toronto and the Sorbonne in Paris.
Current homework assignment: I'm finishing all the details on my book, Heart Matters. It's being published simultaneously in both languages, which is extremely rare.
Would your teachers have predicted what you do now? My high school English teacher Mr. Mann was particularly inspiring. He picked me out as someone who could be a public speaker. I don't know what one would do as Governor General — giving 627 speeches in six years — without that skill.
Favourite subject: Math, probably because I found it very easy and so satisfying on an intellectual level.
Dreaded subject: I really didn't like gym. In my day, we wore these hideous blue rompers (you should dig them out of a museum some time). I'm not good at hand-eye co-ordination. Baseball and basketball were just terrible for me. I hated the competitiveness and I didn't want people to run into me.
Locker standbys: It was filled with books — and a change of shoes, because when I was at school we walked everywhere and nobody had more than two pairs each season.
Detention tally: None. I was dreadfully good.
Memorable reading: The Anne of Green Gables series. For an immigrant child, they offered Canadian history and a personal idea of what it was like to be a Canadian.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060902.wbacktoschool0902/BNStory/National/home
Dismissed Public Works adviser says he was exceeding expectations
DANIEL LEBLANC
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — A government adviser whose controversial contract was terminated this week said he had just received a 15-per-cent bonus and a top-level evaluation from Public Works Canada.
“I received the maximum bonus for exceeding expectations last week,” David Rotor said in an interview yesterday, one day after losing his job as a special adviser in charge of a major reform of Ottawa's procurement system.
His salary is confidential, but it had to be approved by the Treasury Board because it was above the $140,000-$170,000 range for government employees at the same level. Government sources said he earned more than $200,000, which meant the bonus was at least $30,000.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060902.wxpublic-works02/BNStory/National/home
Fighting escalates in Darfur
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt — Sudan has launched a major offensive against rebels in war-torn Darfur, African Union officials said Friday.
The fighting began as a senior U.S. envoy was in Sudan's capital Khartoum to press the government to accept the deployment of UN troops in the western region.
Sudan rejected as illegal Thursday a UN Security Council resolution paving the way for the replacement of 7,000 African Union troops in Darfur with more than 20,000 UN troops and police.
An African Union official in Khartoum, Sam Ibok, said more than 20 civilians have been killed and more than 1,000 displaced since major clashes started early this week.
He said the northern areas are a “no-go” zone for AU forces and therefore he had no precise information.
Sudanese officials could not be reached Friday, a weekend day, to comment on the reports. Rebel commanders did not answer calls.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060901.wdarfur0901/BNStory/International/home
Pair travelling on Canadian passports arrested in New Zealand
Associated Press
Wellington — New Zealand border officials have seized 4.3 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as “ice,” concealed in the luggage of two tourists at Auckland airport, the Customs Service said Friday.
Customs officers discovered the drug packed into picture frames in the luggage of the pair who were travelling to New Zealand via Hong Kong on Canadian passports, said Eddie Kohlhase, services manager for Auckland Airport.
Officers found 43 identically sized picture frames during an X-ray examination, and discovered that each frame contained about 100 grams of crystal methamphetamine.
The street value of the seizure was about five million New Zealand dollars (about $3.6 million Cdn), Mr. Kohlhase said in a statement.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060901.wnzdrugs0901/BNStory/International/home
NASA awards Orion contract
SETH BORENSTEIN
Associated Press
Washington — NASA on Thursday gave a multibillion-dollar contract to build a manned lunar spaceship to Lockheed Martin Corp., the aerospace leader that usually builds unmanned rockets.
The nation's space agency plans to use the Orion crew exploration vehicle to replace the space shuttle fleet, take astronauts to the moon and perhaps to Mars. Reusable and like Apollo and earlier spacecraft, it is perched atop the rocket.
The last time NASA awarded a manned spaceship contract to Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Md., was in 1996 for a spaceplane that was supposed to replace the space shuttle. NASA spent $912-million (U.S.) and the ship, called X-33, never got built because of technical problems.
The only other competitors for the contract were a team made up of Northrop Grumman Corp., the world's largest shipbuilder and third-largest military contractor, and Boeing Co.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060831.worion0831/BNStory/Science/home
NASA to launch Atlantis next Wednesday
MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — After a week of weather delays, NASA officials on Thursday set a Wednesday launch time for space shuttle Atlantis on its mission to resume construction of the international space station.
The launch decision was made after a check of Kennedy Space Center following Ernesto's pass as a tropical depression on Wednesday found no serious damage.
“We're back,” said NASA spokesman Bill Johnson. “There was no water intrusion in any operational areas, and so basically we came through this one unscathed.”
The launch time was set for 12:29 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. If the shuttle doesn't lift off then, NASA has launch opportunities in the following two days.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060831.wnasashut0831/BNStory/Science/home
Scientists turn immune cells into tumour fighters
LAURAN NEERGAARD
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — U.S. government scientists turned regular blood cells into tumour attackers that wiped out all signs of cancer in two men with advanced melanoma. The striking finding, unveiled Thursday, marks an important step in the quest for gene therapy for cancer.
But the genetically altered cells didn't help 15 other melanoma victims. So scientists are trying to strengthen the shots.
Still, the U.S. National Cancer Institute called its experiment the first real success in cancer gene therapy — because it fought cancer's worst stage, when it has spread through the body, unlike earlier attempts that targeted single tumours.
And the government hopes to soon begin testing the gene therapy in small numbers of patients dying from more common cancers, such as advanced breast or colon cancer.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060831.wgenes0831/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
Daily dose of multivitamins cuts birth defects, study says
ANDRÉ PICARD
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
All women of childbearing age should be taking a daily multivitamin to reduce the risks of having a child with birth defects, according to the results of a Canadian study.
The new research shows that ensuring an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals by taking a single, cheap pill on a daily basis sharply cuts the likelihood of a wide range of severe birth defects, including neural-tube defects such as spina bifida, brain-damaging hydrocephalus, heart malformations, truncated or missing limbs, urinary-tract abnormalities and cleft palate.
"The data are really very striking. It seems almost too good to be true that a prenatal multivitamin can have such an impact. But it is true," Gideon Koren, director of the Motherisk Program at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, said in an interview.
Earlier research showed that increasing the level of folic acid (a type of B vitamin) in the diet of pregnant women with supplements and fortification of foods could virtually eliminate horrific birth defects such as spina bifida.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060831.wxhbirth31/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
Blake pays tribute to Agassi
Associated Press
New York — From the Day-Glo spandex tights to the hot pink vertical bars on his shirt to the white bandanna wrapped atop his head, James Blake paid tribute to Andre Agassi at the U.S. Open on Friday.
Blake donned the sort of garish ensemble Mr. Image Is Everything dared to wear more than a decade ago and, fortunately for Blake, his game looked better than his garb in a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory over Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia in the second round.
His getup was appreciated by Friday's crowd. Before the coin toss, a group of fans chanted, "Andre! Andre! Andre!" and Blake turned to give them a thumbs-up.
"I just wanted to do it once. I know Andre, how he probably doesn't want a ton of fanfare," said Blake, who got Agassi's OK for the outfit. "Andre knows we all do care about him, we all appreciate everything he's done. I think the statement was made. Now it's back to business at hand."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060901.wtennis-open0901/BNStory/Sports/home
Would-be writers hide away for Three-Day Novel Contest
VANCOUVER
Canadian Press
Would-be authors from around the world have been fuelling up on caffeine and fast food as they prepare to write a novel this weekend.
It's the Three-Day Novel Contest and it's not for anyone with writer's block.
The gruelling event was to start as the clock ticked over into Saturday. It runs through the Labour Day weekend until midnight on Monday, at which point all writing must cease.
The contest is a way for busy people to force their creative juices to flow, contest managing editor Melissa Edwards in an interview.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060901.wnovel0901/BNStory/Entertainment/home
Pssst. You have to see
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Actors shrug it off. Directors like to think they're above it. Producers and film distributors acknowledge it, but wonder if it's real, while publicists and journalists are attracted to it like flies.
Buzz — it's what the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is all about.
So what are the must-see films everyone is already talking about, even five days before the festival opens?
Sarah Polley's feature directorial debut Away from Her, an adaptation of Alice Munro's short story The Bear Came Over the Mountain, is on everyone's lips. But equally interesting are some of the individual picks, such as the South African film Bunny Chow.
Films such as these can start out with just one person mentioning it to someone else. Suddenly, buzz is born.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060901.wxinsider02/BNStory/Entertainment/home
San Francisco Chronicle
'A CRITICAL STEP' ON WARMING
IMPACT: California's action could spur feds, other states to cut emissions, experts say
Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer
Friday, September 1, 2006
California's new effort to curb greenhouse gases will cut less than one-half of 1 percent of the world's emissions, slowing global warming by just a tiny fraction of a degree, scientists say.
But the groundbreaking program is likely to be a catalyst for other states and the federal government to curtail fossil fuel emissions and will spur development of innovative technologies and policies, experts said Thursday.
Dan Cayan, director of the climate research division of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, called the law's passage "a critical step.''
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/01/MNGBLKTIDU1.DTL&type=science
Hurricane John Makes Landfall in Mexico
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer
Friday, September 1, 2006
(09-01) 22:13 PDT CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) --
Hurricane John roared over the sparsely populated eastern tip of the Baja California peninsula late Friday but appeared to spare the glistening resorts of Los Cabos and impoverished local residents huddled in shelters.
The Category 2 storm made landfall near the isolated hamlets of Boca de la Vinorama and Los Barriles, about 40 miles northeast of San Jose del Cabo. It was moving north at 9 mph.
Forecasters expected the hurricane to lash the state capital of La Paz with top sustained winds of 110 mph before crossing the narrow stretch of land and heading out to sea.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/09/01/international/i195603D05.DTL
Great white shark introduced at Monterey Bay Aquarium
(09-01) 12:29 PDT MONTEREY -- A great white shark caught outside Santa Monica Bay has been introduced to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's massive Outer Bay exhibit, marking the second time in as many years the aquarium has attempted to keep one of the fearsome predators in captivity.
Aquarists introduced the shark, a juvenile weighing 104 pounds, to the 1 million-gallon tank late Thursday after carting it north in a 3,000-gallon tanker called the "tunabago." The shark, a male measuring 5 feet 8 inches long, seems to be adapting well, officials said.
Aquarium collectors caught the fish with a hook and line Aug. 17 and placed it in a 4 million-gallon, open-water pen off the coast of Malibu. Researchers from the aquarium's White Shark Research Project saw the animal swimming actively and feeding on fish within the pen, suggesting it would be a good candidate for the aquarium's Outer Bay exhibit.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/01/MNG1IKTP904.DTL
A smashing finale to lunar mission
Astronomers prepare to glimpse crater and debris Saturday when European craft ends voyage by plunging into moon
David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor
Saturday, September 2, 2006
A European spacecraft orbiting the moon will crash on the lunar surface Saturday night or Sunday morning, blasting out a small crater and a cloud of rocky debris that could be visible briefly on Earth to astronomers -- both professional and amateur -- but only to those with powerful telescopes.
The box-shaped little craft, a yard wide and weighing less than 700 pounds, was designed primarily to test a new type of propulsion engine for future voyages to distant planets, but for the past 16 months it has sent back to Earth hundreds of images of lunar craters and has analyzed the moon's surface soils with its instruments.
Named SMART-1, the spacecraft was the European Space Agency's first lunar mission. In preparation for its end, the agency's scientists and engineers have programmed SMART-1's thrusters to send it plunging at 4,473 mph into a target on the moon called the Lake of Excellence, a rocky plain studded with craters and their mountainous rims.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/02/MOON.TMP&type=science
OAKLAND
'Vicious attack': Woman tied up, set afire
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, September 2, 2006
Police are trying to find the person who beat and tied up a woman and set her on fire behind a North Oakland art center Friday, a crime that shocked neighbors and parents whose children attend an adjacent school.
Investigators are treating the case as an attempted homicide and are seeking witnesses to the "vicious attack," police Lt. Ersie Joyner said.
Firefighters responding to reports of a blaze at 5 a.m. near 44th Street and Shafter Avenue in the city's Temescal neighborhood found what they believed to be a burning pile of debris behind the Studio One Art Center, fire Capt. Melinda Drayton said….
To their horror, they realized that it was a woman who had been badly beaten and set ablaze, Drayton said.
...Residents said they had noticed an increase in prostitution, drug dealing and burglaries in the neighborhood.
"It's pretty awful," said Beth Maher, 41, who has lived on Shafter Avenue for eight years and whose children attend Park Day School.
"It was pretty freaky that she was burned," said Lise Dahms, 40, holding her 2 1/2-year-old son in her arms. Dahms said she had been up all night with a newborn and hadn't heard anything out of the ordinary.
Tamar Carson, 45, another parent at the school, said, "I feel like we're living in really dark times. These things are a reflection of it."
Neighbor Jean Lutwak, 43, agreed, saying the recent criminal activity "makes us very scared, and when we leave the house now, we hide things."
Lutwak said she found it ironic that she was never the victim of a crime while living in the Bronx. Her old home in Oakland, just five blocks away, was broken into twice in one year, she said.
"The funny thing is, I don't know how to feel safe," Lutwak said.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/02/BURNED.TMP
Mexican Lawmakers Block Fox's Speech
By JULIE WATSON, Associated Press Writer
Friday, September 1, 2006
(09-01) 23:47 PDT MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) --
Vicente Fox was forced to forego the last state-of-the-nation address of his presidency Friday after leftist lawmakers stormed the stage of Congress to protest disputed July 2 elections.
It was the first time in modern Mexican history a president hasn't given the annual address to Congress. Instead, Fox handed in a written copy of his report, and his office said he would address the nation in a televised speech later Friday.
A text of the speech Fox had planned to deliver to Congress called on Mexico to mend deep divisions that he said threatened the country's newfound democracy.
"Whoever attacks our laws and institutions also attacks our history and Mexico," he said, a thinly veiled reference to leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/09/01/international/i173711D97.DTL
Pentagon Says Iraq Violence Spreading
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
Friday, September 1, 2006
(09-01) 11:28 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
Sectarian violence is spreading in Iraq and the security problems have become more complex than at any time since the U.S. invasion in 2003, the Pentagon said Friday.
In a notably gloomy report to Congress, the Pentagon said illegal militias have become more entrenched, especially in Baghdad neighborhoods where they are seen as providers of security as well as basic social services.
The report described a rising tide of sectarian violence, fed in part by interference from neighboring Iran and Syria and driven by a "vocal minority" of religious extremists who oppose the idea of a democratic Iraq.
Death squads targeting mainly Iraqi civilians are a growing problem, heightening the risk of civil war, it said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2006/09/01/national/w081151D47.DTL
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