L. A. Times
The African scourgeA look at AIDS-stricken Zimbabwe shows its people are ready to tackle the epidemic -- with just a little help.
By Kristen Ashburn, KRISTEN ASHBURN is an award-winning photojournalist whose work has been published in the New Yorker, U.S. News and World Report and Mother Jones magazine.
These photos are from the exhibition "BloodliDecember 1, 2006
click to enlargeTEN MILLION AFRICANS ARE infected with HIV. Eighteen million have already died from the virus. One in four children in southern Africa has been orphaned. Forty-three million more Africans will die of AIDS by 2010.
From December 2000 through the summer of 2006, I pursued some of the individual stories behind these grim statistics, in four African countries. I began in Harare, Zimbabwe, an epicenter of the AIDS epidemic, where these photos were shot. At first, it was difficult to grasp that 35% of that beautiful country's population is HIV-positive; every week, 3,000 people there die from AIDS-related illnesses. In nearly every Zimbabwean home, someone is sick or dying of AIDS.
The country's overwhelmed and largely ineffective healthcare system provides almost no access to medical treatment, no family planning and very little sex education. Indeed, the slogan of the healthcare program proclaims that "Home Care Is Better Care."
The elderly are forced take care of their adult children dying of HIV/AIDS, and their children's children, on small government pensions. Ten-year-olds are compelled to join the workforce. Young girls often fall prey to older HIV-infected men who entice them with gifts and financial support. A vicious cycle of unemployment, poverty and the spread of the virus rolls on.
A generation of factory workers, educators, medical personnel and political leaders has been lost to the disease. The subsistence farm culture is being wiped out, and the collective spirit of the nation is at risk. It is impossible to assess the ultimate emotional and cultural impact that HIV/AIDS is wreaking on the Zimbabwean people.
And yet I was struck by the strength of so many, especially in the country's HIV support groups. Despite their own desperate need, volunteers take time to care for those dying of AIDS. They bravely lend assistance to others, knowing that, ultimately, they will share the same fate. Their strength of character is remarkable.
In the U.S., people often tell me that nothing can be done to effect change in Zimbabwe. They fear that the scope and complexity of the AIDS problem there is too great. The readiness I discovered among the Zimbabwean people to tackle the problem can't be underestimated. They could serve as examples for us all, and with even a small amount of assistance, they could make great progress against the spread of HIV/AIDS.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-aidsday1dec01,0,5390440.story?coll=la-home-commentary
Typhoon Durian Kills 198 in Philippines
By OLIVER TEVES, Associated Press Writer3:28 AM PST, December 1, 2006
MANILA, Philippines -- The fourth major typhoon to hit the Philippines in four months killed 198 people and left 260 others missing, officials said Friday.
Typhoon Durian caused flash floods and sent walls of muddy volcanic ash and red-hot boulders crashing down on several villages, the officials said.
The national Office of Civil Defense reported 198 people were killed and 260 were missing. Fernando Gonzalez, governor of worst-hit Albay province, said the figures included 109 people who died in mudslides on the slopes of the Mayon volcano that also injured 130.
"The disaster covered almost every corner of this province -- rampaging floods, falling trees, damaged houses," Gonzalez said.
With power and phone lines downed by powerful winds, helicopters were carrying out aerial surveillance of cutoff areas. Officials estimated that the storm affected some 22,000 people.
The magnitude of the destruction hampered relief operations.
"Our rescue teams are overstretched rescuing people on rooftops," said Glen Rabonza, head of the national Office of Civil Defense.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top11dec01,0,121027.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines
Snow, Ice, Freezing Rain Drill MidwestBy KAREN HAWKINS, Associated Press Writer7:53 AM PST, December 1, 2006
CHICAGO -- The first major snowstorm of the season forced a plane off a runway, canceled hundreds of flights and hobbled highways in the Plains and Midwest, and more sloppy weather rolled in Friday.
A Fed Ex cargo plane arriving Friday morning at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport slipped into the mud off the only open runway, and crews were working to tow it away. There were no injuries, said Wendy Abrams, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation.
Laura and Ron Whittingham said early Friday that their United flight to Las Vegas was leaving on time from O'Hare, one of numerous airports where most flights were canceled.
"I guess we're just the lucky ones," Ron Whittingham said. "We are going to Vegas, so that's a good thing, right? We're starting off lucky."
About 2.4 million customers across central and southern Illinois and parts of Missouri were without power early Friday after ice snapped tree limbs and power limbs.
In the Chicago area, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning until noon, predicting six to 12 inches of snow. Winds gusted to over 30 mph as the storm arrived in full by the morning rush hour.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top12dec01,0,514244.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines
L.A. fire chief may step down todayBlack firefighter's lawsuit led to racially divisive debateBy Robert J. Lopez and Jim Newton, Times Staff WritersDecember 1, 2006
City officials are expected to announce today that William Bamattre, who has led the Los Angeles Fire Department for more than a decade as it struggled to overcome a history of insensitivity to minorities and women, is stepping down.
The departure would make the chief the highest-level casualty of a racial discrimination lawsuit that created a wave of public reaction and left the City Council hamstrung for weeks.
City leaders declined to discuss the details of Bamattre's departure Thursday night, but a news conference has been scheduled for today and sources familiar with the plans said they expect Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to announce that the chief is leaving.
Bamattre "became a liability for the department and the city," said one official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. "The situation became unsustainable."
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bamattre1dec01,0,2535224.story?coll=la-home-headlinesPsst! The Secret Service may have a seal for youBy Bob Pool, Times Staff WriterDecember 1, 2006
‘1600 for men’ click to enlargeAn unexpected phone call from the Secret Service is usually an unwanted phone call.
Are agents calling about that $100 bill you spent that turned out to be phony? Was there something in your snide remark about presidential politics that someone somehow terribly misinterpreted?
It turned out that when the Secret Service phoned Lesa Glucroft, they were calling about hand lotion.
Officials wanted to know if the Calabasas businesswoman was interested in sticking the U.S. presidential seal on her lotions and powders and selling them as "America's Legacy" at the White House gift shop.
At first she thought it was a hoax.
"I certainly didn't think it was a serious call," said Glucroft, a registered Democrat.
But the inquiry, from a licensing agent for the U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division Benefit Fund, was genuine. And now a line of toiletries bearing the presidential insignia is about to hit the gift shop's shelves.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-secret1dec01,0,6304121.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Lebanon builds up security forces
The move is seen as a bid to counter Iran and ally Hezbollah. Some fear it may lead to a militia -- and civil war.By Megan K. Stack, Times Staff WriterDecember 1, 2006
BEIRUT — The Lebanese government has nearly doubled the size of its security forces in recent months by adding about 11,000 mostly Sunni Muslim and Christian troops, and has armed them with weapons and vehicles donated by the United Arab Emirates, a Sunni state.
The dramatic increase in Interior Ministry troops, including the creation of a controversial intelligence unit and the expansion of a commando force, is meant to counter the growing influence of Iran and Hezbollah, its Shiite ally in Lebanon, Cabinet minister Ahmed Fatfat said in an interview this week.
The quiet, speedy buildup indicates that Lebanon's anti-Syria ruling majority, led by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, has been bracing for armed sectarian conflict since the withdrawal of Syrian forces in the spring of 2005. It also reflects growing tensions across the region between U.S.-allied Sunni Muslims who hold power in most Arab nations and the increasingly influential Shiite-ruled Iran and Hezbollah.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-lebsunnis1dec01,0,3184020.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Reid's skills on offense to be testedHis minority leadership was strong; now he'll tackle Bush head-on.By Noam N. Levey, Times Staff WriterDecember 1, 2006
- Harry Reid WASHINGTON — Sen. Harry Reid was playing tour guide as he welcomed the new class of Democratic senators to his ornate office days after last month's historic midterm election.
He chatted about Joshua trees in a wilderness area he helped create in his home state of Nevada and showed off a painting of the Mojave Desert shack where he grew up. Then, as eight nervous newcomers clustered around him, he pointed to a portrait above his desk of an aging Andrew Jackson.
"I like it because he's lost all his teeth," Reid said of the work he chose over more dashing renderings of the former president.
If the selection is unorthodox, it befits the man who will become Senate majority leader when Democrats assume power on Capitol Hill in January.
Unpolished and a little grandfatherly, Reid in many ways seems an unlikely torchbearer for his party.
He is uncomfortable delivering sound bites and policy pronouncements. He often interrupts his comments with awkward pauses that give the impression he has lost his train of thought. He seems to enjoy chatting about a legendary Nevada killer who eluded authorities in the 1920s and '30s as much as discussing the business of government. And he makes no secret of his indifference for the spotlight. "I don't think it's what the job calls for," Reid said in a recent interview.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-reid1dec01,0,1325643.story?coll=la-home-headlinesAbortion drug prevents tumors in mice, study saysIn those genetically predisposed to breast cancer, RU-486 blocked a key hormone.By Karen Kaplan, Times Staff WriterDecember 1, 2006
- Cancer chemotherapy is shown to impair the brain A sustained dose of RU-486, the so-called abortion pill, prevented breast cancer tumors in mice with a genetic mutation that made them highly susceptible to the disease, researchers at UC Irvine report today.
The mutation in a gene known as BRCA1 leads to uncontrolled cell growth in the mammary glands. About one in 800 women inherits a version of BRCA1 that is damaged in some way, and the National Cancer Institute estimates that up to 80% of such women will develop breast cancer.
Cancer researcher Eva Lee and colleagues figured that RU-486 could be used to block the hormone progesterone, whose unchecked production is believed to be a primary cause of hereditary breast cancer.
RU-486 binds to receptors that normally link with progesterone. It is used as an abortion pill because progesterone is needed in the uterus to maintain a pregnancy.
Progesterone also stimulates the growth of milk-producing cells in pregnant women. Women who aren't pregnant can experience the same kind of rapid cell growth if they have the BRCA1 mutation.
The UCI team, which reported its findings in the journal Science, surgically implanted 14 of the mice that had the BRCA1 mutation with RU-486 pellets, which released the drug over a two-month period. All of the mice made it to their first birthday without developing any breast cancer tumors, according to the study.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-breast1dec01,0,7228563.story?coll=la-home-headlinesOptimism is rising on housing marketData have a growing number of analysts saying the worst may be over for the sector.By Annette Haddad, Times Staff WriterDecember 1, 2006
Falling mortgage rates and a rally in home builder stocks are leading some analysts to suggest that the worst of the nation's housing slump may be over.
Although data released Thursday showed U.S. home prices making their smallest quarterly gain in eight years, some forward-looking indicators point to a stabilizing residential market.
Home builder stocks rallied sharply Thursday after an analyst's upgrade. The sector was one of the strongest in November, with the Standard & Poor's home builder index gaining 10% last month, extending a rally that began in July and suggesting that investors see an improving outlook.
"While this real estate cycle has yet to play itself out, we are skeptical of the dire warnings of pundits," Zachary Karabell and Daniel Chung, analysts at investment firm Fred Alger & Co., said Wednesday in a client note.
They joined a small but growing chorus — including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his predecessor, Alan Greenspan — in saying the sector might have bottomed out.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-homes1dec01,0,5272692.story?coll=la-home-headlinesPelosi taps Texas Democrat to chair intelligence panelFrom Associated Press7:57 AM PST, December 1, 2006
WASHINGTON -- House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has chosen a Border-Patrol-agent-turned-congressman to lead the House Intelligence Committee, according to congressional aides.
Democratic leaders are contacting congressional and other political officials to tell them Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, will be the new chairman of the committee when Democrats take over in January, said the two aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they considered it an internal party issue.
The selection of Reyes marks one of the few committee assignments that was still a question after Democrats won control of the House of Representatives last month. It set up an early challenge for Pelosi, who had sole discretion on the selection.
The California Democrat had to navigate a series of candidates -- and their supporters -- who were vying for the post. In the end, Pelosi bypassed two more senior intelligence committee members -- Reps. Jane Harman, D-Calif., and Alcee Hastings, D-Fla. -- to select Reyes.
Harman is currently the committee's top Democrat, and her leadership term expires this year. She could have been reappointed by Pelosi, but the two are said to have political differences.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-120106pelosi,0,5657035.story?coll=la-home-headlinesLawsuit stirs up guacamole labeling controversyKraft, which is not alone in putting little avocado in its product, is accused of duping consumers.By Jerry Hirsch, Times Staff WriterNovember 30, 2006
Related Stories - Recipe: Make your own guacamole Peanut butter is made from peanuts, tomato paste is made from tomatoes, and guacamole is made from avocados, right?
Wrong. The guacamole sold by Kraft Foods Inc., one of the bestselling avocado dips in the nation, includes modified food starch, hefty amounts of coconut and soybean oils, and a dose of food coloring. The dip contains precious little avocado, but many customers mistake it for wholly guacamole.
On Wednesday, a Los Angeles woman sued the Northfield, Ill.-based food company, alleging that it committed fraud by calling its dip "guacamole." Her lawyer says suits against other purveyors of "fake guacamole" could be filed soon.
The suit, which seeks class-action status, highlights the liberty some food companies take in labeling their products.
If consumers read the fine print, they would discover that Kraft Dips Guacamole contains less than 2% avocado. But few of them do. California avocado growers, who account for 95% of the nation's avocado crop, said they didn't know that store-bought guacamole contained little of their produce.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fakeguac30nov30,0,3230795.story?track=mostviewed-homepageSheriff tops LAPD in new hiresBoth agencies have extra funding for recruiting. Minorities' distrust of the Police Department is cited, but Bratton urges them to help change it.By Richard Winton and Patrick McGreevy, Times Staff WritersDecember 1, 2006
For the first time in several years, both the LAPD and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department have ample war chests to hire more officers — but Sheriff Lee Baca is leaving Chief William J. Bratton in the dust.
An aggressive recruitment effort has helped the Sheriff's Department hire 1,000 deputies this year, while the Los Angeles Police Department is lagging behind, having brought in about half that number of officers in 2006.
LAPD officials believe that their struggles are tied in part to a history of mistrust of the department by minority groups. It's an image that has been reinforced by a series of controversial incidents, including a videotaped police beating and the shooting death of a 19-month-old girl during a SWAT standoff.
Bratton went on the offensive Thursday, appearing on radio stations that appeal to young minority listeners and urging them to consider a job with the LAPD to help improve the department from within.
"We're hiring," Bratton said on KPWR-FM (105.9), whose tag line is "Where Hip-Hop Lives."
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-newcops1dec01,0,42531.story?coll=la-home-localCancer chemotherapy is shown to impair the brainFindings that it can kill cells and cause areas to shrink lend support to patients' reports of feeling mental effects.By Thomas H. Maugh II, Times Staff WriterDecember 1, 2006
Related Stories - Abortion drug prevents tumors in mice, study says Cancer chemotherapy can impair the brain, killing crucial neural cells and causing key parts of the organ to shrink, according to two studies released this week.
The new findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that "chemo brain" — the mental fuzziness, memory loss and cognitive impairment often reported by cancer patients but often dismissed by oncologists — is a serious problem.
"Those of us on the front lines have known this for a long time, but now we have some neuropathological evidence that what we are seeing involves an anatomic change," said Dr. Stewart Fleishman, director of cancer supportive services at Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York.
He said the most common question he encountered from patients during his public lectures was: "My doctor doesn't believe me. How can I convince him this is real?"
The new studies should help convince physicians who are skeptical about the issue, said Fleishman, who was not involved in the research.
Because chemotherapy is a crucial cancer treatment and cannot be abandoned, scientists are calling for increased research on shielding the brain from its toxic effects and developing more-selective cancer drugs.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-chemo1dec01,0,448764.story?coll=la-home-nation
S. Koreans divided over U.N. ban on luxury goods to N. Korea
A U.N. effort that would ban exotic goods to North Korea's Kim divides South Koreans.By Bruce Wallace, Times Staff WriterDecember 1, 2006
SEOUL — When South Koreans observe the world's attempt to choke the flow of French cognac, designer watches, flashy cars and other luxuries to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, they find themselves in a familiar situation:
Bitterly divided.
The call by the United Nations Security Council to ban exports of luxury goods to North Korea has been met with a certain satisfaction in capitals such as Washington and Tokyo, landing at least a quick jab in negotiations over Pyongyang's nuclear program that resemble boxers in an endless clinch.
But in South Korea, where there is an ongoing loud argument over how to handle its troublesome neighbor, slapping sanctions on luxury goods has become just one more thing to quarrel about.
To South Korean hard-liners, targeting Kim's rich tastes is a welcome declaration by the international community that a leader who splurges on luxuries while his people starve is morally unfit to govern.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-luxury1dec01,0,3891162.story?coll=la-home-worldA big-picture citizenship testThe exam will focus not on facts but on a deeper knowledge of ideals.By Nicole Gaouette, Times Staff WriterDecember 1, 2006
WASHINGTON — Passing the test to become an American citizen soon will require more than knowing that there are 50 states or nine Supreme Court justices. Instead of memorizing minutiae about U.S. government and history, those seeking to put their hands on their hearts and recite the Pledge of Allegiance will be assessed on their grasp of the nation's ideals.
Unveiling the first major change to the exam in 20 years, the federal government said Thursday that applicants for citizenship would be asked to explain such phrases as "we the people" and "inalienable rights." Instead of knowing how many branches make up the U.S. government (answer: three), they will have to explain why there is more than one.
The shift in emphasis comes after years of complaints that the exam tested trivia rather than prompting prospective citizens to understand the nation's shared identity. There also were charges that it was administered unfairly, with applicants in some cities receiving harder tests than those in others.
"The goal is to make it more meaningful," said Emilio Gonzalez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. "When you raise your hand and swear allegiance to the United States, you ought to know what you're swearing allegiance to."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immig1dec01,0,3389812.story?coll=la-home-nationBrawl Breaks Out in Mexico CongressBy IOAN GRILLO, Associated Press Writer7:49 AM PST, December 1, 2006
MEXICO CITY -- Leftist lawmakers threw punches and chairs at their conservative colleagues and some tried to block the doors of the congressional chamber Friday just an hour before incoming President Felipe Calderon was to take the oath of office there.
Ruling party lawmakers, chanting "Mexico wants peace," seized the speaker's platform where Calderon was supposed to appear, while leftist opponents blocked most of the chamber's doors.
The brawl was shown on live television across Mexico.
Carlos Navarette, Senate leader for leftist Democratic Revolution, or PRD, said his party would do everything it could to keep Calderon out.
"We'll see if he can get in," Navarette said, adding: "If he does take office, it will be at his own risk."
Mexican law prevents security officials from searching lawmakers, and no police were allowed in the congressional chamber.
Anticipating Friday's standoff, the conservative Calderon took control of the presidential residence in an unusual midnight ceremony with outgoing President Vicente Fox, swearing in part of his Cabinet. In that private ceremony, broadcast live from Los Pinos, Fox handed the presidential sash to a military cadet as his term ended at midnight.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top10dec01,0,7727803.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlinesRadioactive Poison Said Found in 2nd ManBy TARIQ PANJA, Associated Press Writer7:36 AM PST, December 1, 2006
LONDON -- An Italian security expert who met with a former KGB agent the day the ex-spy fell fatally ill with radiation poisoning has also tested positive for the substance, British media reported Friday.
Britain's Health Protection Agency confirmed that one person has tested positive for the poison that killed Alexander Litvinenko, but declined to identify the person.
Sky Television and the British Broadcasting Corp. reported that the Italian, Mario Scaramella, tested positive for a significant amount of polonium-210, the rare radioactive isotope that was found in Litvinenko's body.
Scaramella met with Litvinenko at a sushi bar in London on Nov. 1 -- the day the former intelligence agent first reported the symptoms that ultimately led to his death at a central London hospital.
Scaramella has said he showed Litvinenko e-mails from a confidential source listing potential targets for assassination, including himself and Litvinenko.
In a letter released Friday by human rights activists, a former Russian security officer -- now jailed -- offered similar allegations, saying he had warned Litvinenko about a government-sponsored death squad that intended to kill him and other Kremlin opponents.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top13dec01,0,907461.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlinesH. Donald Wilson, 82; principal creator of LexisNexis databaseBy Patricia Sullivan, The Washington PostDecember 1, 2006
H. Donald Wilson, under whose leadership the commercial database service LexisNexis introduced electronic research to law firms and news organizations, died of a heart attack Nov. 12 in front of his computer at his home in Mitchellville, Md. He was 82.
From 1969 to 1973, Wilson was the first president of Mead Data Central, which developed LexisNexis, a database of information for law firms, businesses, libraries and the news industry. More recently, he worked with a company trying to improve text-to-voice technology.
"He was essentially a practical visionary," said Paul G. Zurkowski, president of the Information Industry Assn. from 1969 to 1989. "At the time, the technologies were just emerging and people were focusing on the technology, but Don focused on their application to publishing."
Wilson started by developing a business plan for an engineer's invention of how to better search text for certain words or phrases. That plan became a company that started LexisNexis, now the world's largest online electronic library of legal opinions, public records, news and business information.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-wilson1dec01,0,1041849.story?coll=la-home-obituariesThe Guardian Unlimited
Litvinenko was victim of 'Russian rogue agents'
Sandra Laville and Richard Norton-Taylor
Friday December 1, 2006The Guardian
British intelligence sources increasingly suspect that Alexander Litvinenko, the former spy killed with a radioactive poison, was the victim of a plot involving "rogue elements" within the Russian state, the Guardian has learned.While ruling out any official involvement by Vladimir Putin's government, investigators believe that only those with access to state nuclear laboratories could have mounted such a sophisticated plot.
Police were last night closing in on a group of men who entered the UK among a large crowd of Muscovite football fans. The group of five or more arrived shortly before Mr Litvinenko fell ill and attended the CSK Moscow match against Arsenal at the Emirates stadium on November 1. They flew back shortly afterwards. While describing them only as witnesses, police believe their presence could hold the key to the former spy's death.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1961546,00.htmlPublic to be sold shares in new prisons
'Buy-to-let' scheme planned to fund building of 8,000 new jail places
Alan Travis, home affairs editorFriday December 1, 2006The Guardian
The public are to be offered the chance to purchase shares in new prisons under a "buy to let" scheme being considered by the Home Office, it emerged yesterday.The idea has been floated in an attempt to overcome the refusal of the chancellor, Gordon Brown, to find the extra money needed for 8,000 new prison places at a time when the service is at breaking point.
Home Office finance directors, who are looking for alternative ways of funding the next wave of new prisons, hope that the public can be tempted to invest in a new-style property company that would build jails and then rent them out to private prison operators. This would provide a steady guaranteed dividend from the "rental income".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/prisons/story/0,,1961501,00.html
Hizbullah mass protest a threat to democracy, says Lebanon
Clancy Chassay in BeirutFriday December 1, 2006The Guardian
Fouad Siniora, Lebanon's prime minister, warned last night that his country's democracy was in danger, on the eve of mass demonstrations by Hizbullah."Lebanon's independence is threatened and its democratic system is in danger," Mr Siniora said in advance of the protest aimed at ousting his cabinet.
"Do not be afraid and do not despair. We have a rightful cause," he said. "Threats will not deter us. Manoeuvres and ultimatums will not terrorise us."
Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah's leader, called for a mass protest in Beirut today to force out Mr Siniora's western-backed government.Speaking on Hizbullah's television station, al-Manar, Mr Nasrallah called for the government to be replaced with a "political partnership" comprising both government and opposition figures.
"A national unity government should be formed. All the Lebanese, from the various regions and religions are invited to take part in the peaceful, civilised popular protest to express our beliefs ..." he said.
The government dismissed the protest as a Syrian-Iranian plot. "It will not succeed; we are not going to resign under a fatwa from Iran or the Ba'ath regime in Syria," Marwan Hamade, the communications minister told the Guardian,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,1961574,00.html
Carrying the fight against Aids
Much has been achieved by taking treatment into communities, writes MSF's Susan Sandars, but much remains to be done
Friday December 1, 2006Guardian Unlimited
Just five years ago, many in the international community argued that it was impossible to provide HIV/Aids care in poor countries. Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) and other organisations have shown that not only can treatment be provided, but it can be done with great success. Since then that same international community has endorsed a target of universal access to treatment by 2010.Significant progress has been made but, today, on World Aids Day 2006, we are still very far from that goal. The latest UN/Aids report shows that more people are dying and more are becoming infected than ever before. Less than a quarter of the 6.5 million people who urgently require antiretroviral treatment (ART) receive it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/christmasappeal2005/story/0,,1961119,00.html
Pope defies security fears to visit Virgin Mary's house
John Hooper in Efes, western TurkeyThursday November 30, 2006The Guardian
Pope Benedict XVI with Ecumenical Patriarch Batholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians. Photograph: Murad Sezer/AP Pope Benedict is unlikely ever to conduct a more intimate or hazardous mass in public than the one he held yesterday at the house some believe was the home of Jesus's mother, Mary.As he sat, resplendent in white and gold robes, before a congregation that would not have filled the average parish church, he quoted from the autobiography of John XXIII, who served as papal nuncio (ambassador) to Turkey. "I love the Turks," his predecessor had exclaimed. "I appreciate the natural qualities of these people, who have their place reserved in the march of civilisation."
Benedict XVI, speaking just 11 weeks after he provoked outrage in the Muslim world with another, less flattering quotation, must have been aware that he had come to a sniper's paradise. The house of the Virgin Mary, the Meryemana evi, as it is known in Turkish, looks out over a valley to two heavily wooded hillsides. The only way in or out is along a two-lane road overlooked by crags and copses that winds up from the ruins of classical Ephesus on the plain below.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,1960257,00.htmlNato deal likely over Afghan troop deficit
Ewen MacAskill in RigaWednesday November 29, 2006The Guardian
France and other Nato countries which have been resisting Anglo-US pressure for months to send troops to hotspots in southern Afghanistan last night offered a compromise.The deal, under which the countries would now send reinforcements "in extremis", emerged on the first day of the Nato summit in the Latvian capital at which President George Bush urged them to play a full part in the action.
The US, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands have suffered 90% of the casualties in Afghanistan, most of them in fierce fighting with the Taliban in the south, where there is a 20% shortfall in troops.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/nato/story/0,,1959452,00.htmlMinister's remarks threaten to widen rift with Kremlin
Patrick WintourMonday November 27, 2006The Guardian
Britain's strained relations with Russia worsened yesterday when a cabinet minister questioned whether Vladimir Putin's government may have been connected with the death of Alexander Litvinenko.The Northern Ireland secretary, Peter Hain, also said British relations with Russia were at a very tricky stage. "The promise that President Putin had brought to Russia when he came to power has obviously been clouded by what's happened since and including some extremely murky murders." He referred to the death of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a friend of Mr Litvinenko.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1957873,00.htmlFour soldiers die in boat bomb as Blair prepares shift on Iraq
Attack on river patrol raises fears that insurgents becoming more confident
Patrick Wintour and Richard Norton-TaylorMonday November 13, 2006The Guardian
The prime minister Tony Blair at the Remembrance Sunday Service at The Cenotaph on November 12, 2006 in London. Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty images Four British servicemen were killed in a bomb attack on their patrol boat in Basra yesterday, intensifying pressure on the government to set a clear timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.Three of their colleagues were also severely injured by the improvised explosive device, as they patrolled the Shatt Al Arab waterway, a vital supply line bordering Iran. The attack took place just over an hour before the Queen led a two-minute silence on Remembrance Sunday in honour of Britain's war dead.
The casualties took the total British military death toll in Iraq to 125 since 2003, and came on a day in which the bodies of almost 100 Iraqi civilians were recovered and three US soldiers were killed.The Lib Dem defence spokesman, Nick Harvey, said the deaths were tragic, and added: "You have to ask whether we are doing more harm than good in Iraq."
The news came as the prime minister, Tony Blair, was preparing a delicate but critical shift in his Iraq policy by using a set-piece foreign policy speech today to argue that "as the conflict has evolved, our strategy must evolve with it".
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1946355,00.htmlWe've lost battle for Baghdad, US admits
· President concedes war may be at turning point· Mounting death toll brings comparison with Vietnam
Suzanne Goldenberg in WashingtonFriday October 20, 2006The Guardian
Victims of a roadside bomb in Baghdad yesterday. Photograph: Hadi Mizban/AP A day after George Bush conceded for the first time that America may have reached the equivalent of a Tet offensive in Iraq, the Pentagon yesterday admitted defeat in its strategy of securing Baghdad.The admission from President Bush that the US may have arrived at a turning point in this war - the Tet offensive led to a massive loss of confidence in the American presence in Vietnam - comes during one of the deadliest months for US forces since the invasion.
Yesterday the number of US troops killed since October 1 rose to 73, deepening the sense that America is trapped in an unwinnable situation and further damaging Republican chances in midterm elections that are less than three weeks away.
In Baghdad a surge in sectarian killings has forced the Pentagon to review its entire security plan for the capital, Major General William Caldwell, a US military spokesman, said yesterday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1926809,00.htmlFour-month-old son of Gordon and Sarah Brown diagnosed with cystic fibrosis
· Condition identified in screening programme· Couple issue statement saying Fraser is doing well
Sandra Laville and Alex KumiThursday November 30, 2006The Guardian
Gordon Brown and Sarah with their son Fraser. Photo: David Cheskin/PA.
The younger son of Gordon Brown is suffering from cystic fibrosis, the Treasury said last night.Fraser, who is four months old, was diagnosed with the life-threatening condition, which attacks the lungs, shortly after his birth. The baby was found to be suffering with the inherited condition after undergoing a series of blood tests in a Scottish hospital.
It is understood that Fraser is well, but his mother Sarah has taken him into hospital on a few occasions fearing he is suffering minor chest infections, often a classic symptom of the disease.
When Fraser, the second of the couple's sons, was born in July, his father joked that he was going to be a footballer. It is understood the Browns have vowed to ensure that their little boy is sporty and active, which is one of the ways that the condition can be kept under control.The Browns' first child, Jennifer Jane, died in 2002 after suffering a brain haemorrhage at just 10 days old, a tragedy which provoked sympathy across the nation for the parents. Their elder son John was born in 2003.
Cystic fibrosis is the UK's most common life-threatening, inherited disease and affects more than 7,500 babies, children and young adults. Average life expectancy for sufferers is 31.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/economics/story/0,,1960328,00.html
Insecurity over Queen's speech
Friday November 17, 2006The Guardian
The need to combat the terrorist threat was again the centrepiece of the Queen's speech with new legislation headlined that is likely to further curtail citizen's rights at the behest of the need for security. In the lead-up to the speech, politicians and security chiefs made a series of choreographed contributions. First, there was the head of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, warning of at least 30 terror plots. Then the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Ian Blair, called for extended detention for terror suspects. Finally, chancellor Gordon Brown declared how he would make the fight against terror his main priority.
But is terrorism really such a threat? Drug abuse and road-traffic accidents claim more lives each year but attract relatively little attention. Is the present threat greater than that posed by the IRA over 30 years of conflict in the north of Ireland and beyond? Many remember the carnage caused by bombs in Bishopsgate and Canary Wharf in London, and those in Brighton, Manchester and Birmingham. At times in the early 1990s the whole public transport system appeared thrown into chaos by bombs and hoaxes. Irish republican terrorists even managed to detonate bombs within the Palace of Westminster. Yet it was never thought necessary to construct the jumble of concrete blocks guarded by armed police that we now have.The recent pronouncements confirm the findings of a recent Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust report suggesting that politicians are "exploiting the politics of fear" to control people. There are greater threats to our way of life, but they don't have the same appeal to those seeking to control us all.Paul DonovanLondon
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/queensspeech2006/comment/0,,1950064,00.html
Rebellion brewing as MPs face Trident vote within three months
Patrick Wintour and Richard Norton-TaylorFriday December 1, 2006The Guardian
Tony Blair is personally to launch a white paper backing an expensive replacement for Britain's Trident nuclear submarine in a Commons statement on Monday.The cabinet will endorse the white paper hours earlier at a special morning session. However, some cabinet ministers have protested they were not aware until yesterday that Monday's discussion would be followed by immediate publication of the white paper, meaning in effect they will have no chance to alter the detail of a paper that will already be printed.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1961398,00.htmlMeacher blames 'error of judgment and Blair's lies' for supporting war
Patrick Wintour, political editorFriday December 1, 2006The Guardian
A potential Labour leadership candidate has admitted that supporting the Iraq war in the Commons three years ago was the "biggest error of judgment of my political life". Michael Meacher is one of a number of likely Labour leadership and deputy leadership candidates being pressed to admit that the war has proved to be a mistake. The former environment minister, writing on the Guardian's Comment is Free website, blamed the prime minister for his decision to back the war, saying: "Like millions of others, I now bitterly resent that a prime minister could use such a farrago of lies and manipulation to deceive us and to take the nation to war so dishonestly."
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labourleadership/story/0,,1961461,00.htmlThe Boston Globe
The Long War - Five Years After 911
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/the_long_war_sept_11/
Thursday, November 30, 2006Hub hits record heat mark, but it'll be cold soon By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff
Boston reached a record high temperature this afternoon, breaking a mark that had stood since 1881.
The official thermometer hit 69 degrees at 1:43 p.m., surpassing the previous record for Nov. 30 of 68 degrees, the National Weather Service said.
National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson said the balmy weather was the result of a cold weather system stalled above Alaska, which for complicated reasons has prevented the typical early winter jet stream from carrying cold weather to New England. Into this gap, a high pressure system brought in warm air from the Gulf of Mexico.
"We've been stuck in this pattern on-again, off-again all month," said Simpson.
But he said the warm times were nearly over: "We could get snow by Sunday."
Posted by the Boston Globe City & Region Desk at 02:17 PM
Despite millions spent, Boston is vulnerable
The Berge Boston, a liquefied natural gas tanker on its way to the Distrigas terminal in Everett, headed into Boston Harbor under the flight path of Logan International Airport. The weekly shipments have drawn extraordinarily tight security since the Sept. 11 terror attacks. (David L. Ryan/ Globe Staff)
By Stephen Kurkjian, Kevin Cullen, and Thomas Farragher, Globe Staff September 10, 2006
First of three parts.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts This story was reported and written by Stephen Kurkjian, Kevin Cullen, and Thomas Farragher of the Globe staff.
Under the brilliance of a late-summer sun, through a prism now tinted by terror, there is a fragile beauty about Boston seen from the air.
In every direction, the vista -- the sprawling harbor, the storied skyline -- is colored by the shadow of vulnerability: a cluster of petroleum tanks here, a terminal stacked with cargo containers there, a T train disappearing into a distant tunnel, the untraceable zigzag of ships and pleasure craft.
This is what Sept. 11 ringleader Mohamed Atta would have seen that crystalline morning five years ago if he had glanced down at the city he used as a staging area for the worst act of terrorism in American history.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/09/10/despite_millions_spent_boston_is_vulnerable/
Judge rules on road ban in forestsBy Terence Chea, Associated Press Writer November 30, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO --A federal judge has ruled that a Clinton-era ban on road construction in national forests applies to hundreds of oil and gas leases sold by the Bush administration.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte's ruling Wednesday means that holders of more than 300 leases that permit oil and gas exploration in national forests cannot build roads to access those areas.
Laporte's order follows her September ruling that reinstated the 2001 "roadless rule" prohibiting logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of wilderness in 38 states and Puerto Rico.
In that earlier ruling, Laporte said the Bush administration had failed to conduct necessary environmental studies before it instituted a process in May 2005 that required governors to petition the federal government to protect national forests in their states.
She sided with 20 environmental groups and four states -- California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington -- that had sued the Forest Service.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/11/30/judge_rules_on_road_ban_in_forests/
Biologists probe vanishing sage grouseNovember 30, 2006
FILER, Idaho --Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologists expect to find valuable clues to explain the gradual disappearance of sage grouse in the West by sorting through thousands of the birds' wings.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts In a stuffy garage on the grounds of a remote steelhead hatchery, 18 bird experts from as far as Salmon and Pocatello began examining the wings on Wednesday.
Hunters in the September season were asked to clip one wing for Fish and Game research and deposit it in one of several barrels at popular fowl hunting locations across the state. It's not mandatory, but most hunters comply. Other wings were gathered at check stations in the field.
The biologists can determine the sage grouse's sex, age and whether the bird has reproduced by examining the length and color of the wings.
"The most important thing we learn is how many chicks survive the winter," Tom Hemker, a wildlife program coordinator with Fish and Game, told the Times-News in Twin Falls. "What we're really doing is getting a good index for how the population is."
Populations of sage grouse have been dwindling throughout Idaho.
The so-called "Wing Bee" gathering happens each year, giving biologists information on the long-term health of the birds.
As the bird experts opened more than 24 burlap sacks stuffed with the wings in the unheated garage, they snacked on doughnuts and kept a warm canister of coffee on the burner.
In the cold air, dozens of feathers floated by the biologists with rulers and clipboards.
"You usually have feathers in your ears for a few weeks after this," said David Musil of the Jerome field office.
Judges fear dangers of online 'rat' databaseBy Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press Writer November 30, 2006
WASHINGTON --Police and prosecutors are worried that a Web site claiming to identify more than 4,000 informants and undercover agents will cripple investigations and hang targets on witnesses.
Al-Maliki faces revolt within government
By Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press Writer November 30, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq --Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faced a widening revolt within his divided government as two senior Sunni politicians joined prominent Shiite lawmakers and Cabinet members in criticizing his policies.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi said he wanted to see al-Maliki's government gone and another "understanding" for a new coalition put in place with guarantees that ensure collective decision making.
"There is a clear deterioration in security and everything is moving in the wrong direction," the Sunni leader told The Associated Press. "This situation must be redressed as soon as possible. If they continue, the country will plunge into civil war."
Al-Maliki's No. 2, Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie, also a Sunni, argued that the president's government failed to curb the spread of sectarian politics.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/30/shiite_official_demands_more_security/
The Web site, WhosaRat.com, first caught the attention of authorities after a Massachusetts man put it online and named a few dozen people as turncoats in 2004. Since then, it has grown into a clearinghouse for mug shots, court papers and rumors.
Federal prosecutors say the site was set up to encourage violence, and federal judges around the country were recently warned that witnesses in their courtrooms may be profiled online.
"My concern is making sure cooperators are adequately protected from retaliation," said Chief Judge Thomas Hogan, who alerted other judges in Washington's federal courthouse. He said he learned about the site from a federal judge in Maine.
The Web site is the latest unabashedly public effort to identify witnesses or discourage helping police. "Stop Snitching" T-shirts have been sold in cities around the country and popular hip-hop lyrics disparage or threaten people who help police.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/11/30/judges_fear_dangers_of_online_rat_database/
Full SJC to hear Romney's gay marriage case
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Correspondent
A single justice ruled today that the full state Supreme Judicial Court should hear a lawsuit spearheaded by out-going Governor Mitt Romney that seeks to override the Legislature and let voters decide whether to ban same-sex marriage with a constitutional amendment.
The decision by Justice Judith A. Cowin came hours after a 30-minute hearing this morning in which she peppered lawyers with questions. Oral arguments in the case have been set for Dec. 20, giving the governor one last battle in his struggle against gay marriage before he leaves office in early January.
Romney, a likely presidential candidate, and 10 other plaintiffs have alleged that legislators subverted the democratic process on Nov. 9 when they met in joint session as a constitutional convention and took no action on the ban. The Legislature voted, 109 to 87, to recess before taking a vote on whether to put the proposed amendment on the 2008 ballot.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2006/11/full_sjc_to_hea.html
Amsterdam to shut prostitution 'windows'
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands --City officials say they will turn off the red lights and shutter a third of the prostitution "windows" in Amsterdam's famed Red Light District, where scantily-clad ladies of the night have beckoned customers for hundreds of years.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts The move is part of a crackdown on crime in the area.
"We're not knights on a morality crusade, and this is intended to target financial crime, not prostitution per se," city spokesman Martien Maten said Thursday. "But we do think it will change the face of the Red Light District."
The Dutch government legalized prostitution in 2000 to make it easier to tax and regulate.
Maten said the city was now making use of a new law to revoke brothels' licenses when it suspects operators have used them for money laundering or other illegal financial activity.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/11/30/amsterdam_curbs_prostitution_windows/
AP: Feds rate travelers for terrorism
WASHINGTON --Without notifying the public, federal agents for the past four years have assigned millions of international travelers, including Americans, computer-generated scores rating the risk they pose of being terrorists or criminals.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these risk assessments, which the government intends to keep on file for 40 years.
The scores are assigned to people entering and leaving the United States after computers assess their travel records, including where they are from, how they paid for tickets, their motor vehicle records, past one-way travel, seating preference and what kind of meal they ordered.
The program's existence was quietly disclosed earlier in November when the government put an announcement detailing the Automated Targeting System, or ATS, for the first time in the Federal Register, a fine-print compendium of federal rules. Privacy and civil liberties lawyers, congressional aides and even law enforcement officers said they thought this system had been applied only to cargo.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/11/30/government_rates_travelers_for_terrorism/
Review: 3 smart phones target consumersBy Bruce Meyerson, AP Business Writer November 30, 2006
NEW YORK --In a blink of mere months, the mobile "smart" phone has been transformed from pricey corporate gadget to an affordable alternative for ordinary folk.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts In the last month alone, Cingular Wireless has unveiled three devices priced as low as $200 (after jumping through the assorted contractual hoops and rebates). That's well below the $300 to $500 that BlackBerries, Treos and Pocket PCs have generally fetched even with promotional savings.
The shift began in May with the "Q" from Motorola Inc., a slender handset with a full QWERTY keyboard for typing e-mail that Verizon Wireless introduced for $200 and now sells for as low as $100 -- a price cut that happens to coincide with an increasingly crowded field of rivals vying for consumer dollars.
T-Mobile struck twice over the summer with the launch of the Pearl, the first BlackBerry with a camera and music features, and a hybrid cellular and Wi-Fi device called the Dash. Both were priced as low as $200, though the Dash can now be had for $150.
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/11/30/review_3_smart_phones_target_consumers/
Army scammed into buying golf balls
By Brian Witte, Associated Press Writer November 30, 2006
BALTIMORE --On paper, the U.S. Army was supposed to be getting "a ball bearing assortment" for $1,409. It was bad enough that the order form marked up the price from $682.50. But there was something about the order that was way out of bounds: It was for 420 golf balls for a civilian employee at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts Douglas Atwell is now facing up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court Wednesday to bribery in a scam to defraud the government.
Atwell, 51, placed orders from 2003 to 2004 with co-defendant Wayne Silbersack, a salesman for Lawson Products. The orders were for more than $429,500 in equipment that was paid for by the Army, federal prosecutors said.
"It is disgraceful that a company salesman conspired with a government employee to engage in this scheme to defraud the taxpayers and line their own pockets," U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said in a statement.
http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2006/11/30/army_scammed_into_buying_golf_balls/
Democrats offer incentives to avoid rush of states moving up nominating calendar
By Nedra Pickler, Associated Press Writer November 30, 2006
WASHINGTON --States willing to hold back in the rush to move up presidential nominating contests would be rewarded with extra delegates to the Democratic National Convention under a proposal being presented to party leaders.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts The plan is an attempt to avoid a free-for-all in the Democratic presidential race, with states such as California and Michigan threatening to move up their nominating dates to get more attention and favor from national leaders.
States that have traditionally come late in the process and gotten little attention in the process would get a "small bonus" of delegates to the 2008 convention if they stay put. States willing to move their events later in the year would get "significant bonuses." The party wouldn't say how many delegates such states would get.
No state would lose delegates under the plan if they follow DNC rules.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2006/11/30/democrats_offer_incentives_to_avoid_rush_of_states_moving_up_nominating_calendar/
Man pleads guilty for role in revenge killingNovember 29, 2006
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. --A man has pleaded guilty for his role in the July 2005 murder of a woman who was shot, strangled and then dumped into a river in Connecticut.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts Shea Cook, 22, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He could serve a maximum of 40 years in prison under the terms of his plea agreement.
Cook was among three people indicted in the murder of Stacy Ann Brisett, 19, which authorities say was carried out to avenge her boyfriend's death.
Brisett was killed a month after her boyfriend, Dwayne Sampson, was shot to death on his porch. Cook was Sampson's cousin, and the other two defendants, Shonda Northup and Tawanna Sampson, were his sisters. Police say the three suspected Brisett of setting up Sampson's murder.
Northup pleaded no contest this past May to charges including second-degree murder.
Sampson is set to stand trial starting Jan. 30 after a plea deal for her fell through earlier this month.
Authorities say the three defendants drove Brisett to Narragansett Indian tribal lands in Charlestown, where court records show that Northup shot her three times.
Brisett was then strangled and thrown over a footbridge. Her body was found partially submerged in the Yantic River in Norwich, Conn.
Information from: The Providence Journal, http://www.projo.com/
Plans in the works for first inaugural ball and parade since 1999By Susan Haigh, Associated Press Writer November 30, 2006
HARTFORD, Conn. --Plans are under way for Connecticut's first inaugural parade and ball in eight years.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts But the traditional evening gala for Gov. M. Jodi Rell could hit a snag, given the state's heightened focus on ethics laws and rules for political fundraising.
The First Company Gov.'s Foot Guard, which traditionally organizes and manages the state inaugural balls as a fundraising event, is working with the new Office of State Ethics to determine how it can legally host the event.
"Because we are in a new era .... we know that we cannot accept gifts unless they are gifts to the state and they have to be a certain amount," said Rell on Thursday. "So we're in the process of determining how we proceed with a ball. It could be small, it could be large."
The Republican governor, who won her first election as a gubernatorial candidate on Nov. 3, said there are three committees working on her Jan. 3 inauguration. One is working on the parade, one on the inauguration ceremony and one on the ball.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/11/30/plans_in_the_works_for_first_inaugural_ball_and_parade_since_1999/
Episcopal leaders make concessions; California conservatives back off threat of split
By Rachel Zoll, AP Religion Writer November 30, 2006
NEW YORK --Episcopal leaders offered conservatives more independence from the national church Thursday, as a California diocese quietly backed down from its threat of a swift break with the denomination.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts The Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno, made the change as it came under pressure from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and her advisers to ease off a proposal to leave.
Church leaders are trying to heal divisions over the Bible and sexuality that erupted in 2003 when the denomination consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Traditionalists contend that gay partnerships violate Scripture.
The church's latest plan is meant to accommodate conservatives while searching for a permanent solution to the crisis.
The proposal would create a leadership position called a "primatial vicar." The vicar would work with conservative dioceses, performing functions that normally fall to Jefferts Schori, including consecrating local bishops.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2006/11/30/episcopal_leaders_make_concessions_to_conservatives_as_california_diocese_mulls_a_split/
Legally blind woman, 94, bowls a 244
November 30, 2006
CENTRALIA, Wash. --Esther Medley of Centralia is legally blind, but when she bowls she can glimpse a bit of the floor to line up with the lane.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts Medley, 94, can't see straight ahead, so her 86-year-old husband Ralph tells her which pins are left after her first ball.
That's how Medley recently bowled a score of 244, which included eight strikes, at Fairway Lanes in Centralia. It was the second-highest score of the year for her league.
The Medleys have been bowling in the senior league since 1979.
French wine found rich in ingredients that protect heart
By Theresa Barry, Bloomberg November 30, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Red wine surrendered a clue to its health benefits in a study suggesting Madiran, a traditional French wine, may be brimming with one of the more valuable ingredients for protecting the heart.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts Scientists found the most potent form of polyphenols, which help reduce the risk of artery damage, in Madiran, and lesser amounts in other wines from southwestern France and Italy's Sardinian province of Nuoro.
People in those regions also tend to live longer than those in surrounding areas, according to the study, in today's issue of the journal Nature.
Consumers have shifted to smoother wines over the past 15 years, while studies of health benefits focused on groups of people who drink more robust traditional red wines as part of a healthy diet, lead investigator Roger Corder said in a telephone interview from Cornwall, England.
"This may be highlighting that not all wines confer the same benefit," said Corder, a professor of experimental therapeutics at Queen Mary, University of London. "The Madiran wines are by far the best in terms of their style and their structure and just the classical way that they're made."
The Tannat black grape used to produce Madiran contained the most potent of the ingredients, called procyanidins, according to research conducted primarily at William Harvey Research Institute at Queen Mary in London. Old-fashioned winemaking also extracts the most procyanidins from grapes, the scientists said.
"Grape seeds are the main source of these polyphenols called procyanidins," Corder said. "We also know that dark chocolate is another rich source of it."
Nuoro Province on the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean has about 24 people 100 years old or older per 100,000 people, compared with an average of about seven to 10 per 100,000 in most populations, Corder said.
Madiran is produced in the department of Gers, an area of France that has twice as many 90-year-olds as other areas, he said.
Corder has received funding for research and to attend symposia from Catena Wines, made by Bodegas Catena Zapata SA in Mendoza, Argentina, and Canandaigua Wine Co., owned by Constellation Brands Inc. in Fairport, N.Y.
He said he expects to see clinical trials with dark chocolate and grape-seed extract and possibly a pill containing the most beneficial ingredients in at least a decade. The red wines researched are those best consumed with food, Corder said.
He himself enjoys good wine.
"I can't deny that that was the stimulus to start me on the research about 10 years ago," Corder said.
Calif. adult prisons chief resigns
November 30, 2006
SACRAMENTO, Calif. --California's adult prisons chief resigned days after reports surfaced that he improperly altered disciplinary reports, according to a memo made public Thursday.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts John Dovey, director of the Division of Adult Institutions, made no mention of the accusations in a resignation memo to Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation employees.
His resignation came after a subordinate who has since retired, Cheryl Pliler, testified in a personnel case that Dovey altered her recommended punishments for nine guards at Salinas Valley State Prison in November 2004.
The nine were accused of beating an inmate. Pliler told the State Personnel Board in August that she decided four or five of the guards should be fired and the rest suspended.
She learned a week later that Dovey fired all nine guards but left her signature on the disciplinary documents. One guard has since been reinstated, and the rest are using her testimony in an appeal to get their jobs back.
There was no phone book listing for a John Dovey.
Dovey's deputy, Scott Kernan, was named acting director. Department officials otherwise declined to comment.
Roman sarcophogus found at London siteNovember 30, 2006
LONDON --Archaeologists discovered a rare Roman limestone sarcophagus containing a headless skeleton at the site of an historic London's church, authorities said Friday.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts The find dates to about 410 A.D. and lay 10 feet below the grounds of the St. Martin-in-the-Fields church near central London's busy Trafalgar Square, outside the boundaries researchers had established for London's Roman city walls.
"The find has opened up an exciting new area of Roman London for study," said Taryn Nixon, director of the Museum of London Archaeology Service.
Excavators and archaeological teams discovered 24 medieval burial sites in the area above and around the Roman sarcophagus during work on the church grounds this summer. The discovery lies in view of the National Gallery art museum and the square, which is often congested with tourists.
The sarcophagus was made from a single piece of limestone from Oxfordshire or Northamptonshire, about 60 miles northwest of London, researchers said. The skeleton, headless and missing fingers, is a 5-foot-6-inch male who died in his 40s. Researchers speculated that Victorian workmen building a sewer stumbled upon the sarcophagus and took the head.
The site is about a mile west of the boundary of Roman London established by researchers, said Roman history expert Hedley Swain.
Archaeologists made two similar finds in London during the 1970s and once at Westminster Abbey during the 19th century.
Colombia Congress investigates president
By Javier Baena, Associated Press Writer November 30, 2006
BOGOTA, Colombia --Colombia's Congress will look into allegations that President Alvaro Uribe has links to the country's far-right paramilitaries, a member of the committee responsible for the investigation said Thursday.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts The 15-member multiparty commission is the sole authority allowed to investigate charges against the president and high-ranking government officials. It must decide whether to dismiss the allegations or present them to Congress, which could potentially recommend censure.
Reynaldo Duque, the secretary for the lower house's Commission of Accusations, told The Associated Press that a lead investigator will be selected next week.
Uribe has been haunted by accusations of collusion with the paramilitaries, and he has always denied them. Investigations against sitting presidents are routine in Colombia, but this is the first time for Uribe.
Analyst Jaime Castro said the investigation will likely have little effect. "The president always has the majority of support in the Congress, so these investigations are always filed away," said Castro, a former mayor of Bogota and constitutional expert.
Some 11 politicians, almost all of them Uribe supporters, are being investigated by the country's Supreme Court for allegedly conspiring with the paramilitaries and four have already been jailed.
The paramilitaries, originally created by landowners and drug traffickers to fight leftist rebels, are accused of some of the worst massacres in Colombia's long-running conflict. They are also accused of exporting hundreds of tons of cocaine abroad.
Bush brings faith to foreign aidAs funding rises, Christian groups deliver help -- with a message
President Bush, shown addressing a conference on faith-based initiatives in March, has said he made changes "on my own."
(Doug Mills/ The New York Times)
October 8, 2006
This story is the first of four parts. It was reported and written by Farah Stockman, Michael Kranish, and Peter S. Canellos of the Globe Staff, and Globe correspondent Kevin Baron.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts LAKARTINYA, Kenya -- The herders of this remote mountain village know little about America, but have learned from those who run a US-funded aid program about the American God.
A Christian God.
The US government has given $10.9 million to Food for the Hungry, a faith-based development organization, to reach deep into the arid mountains of northern Kenya to provide training in hygiene, childhood illnesses, and clean water. The group has brought all that, and something else that increasingly accompanies US-funded aid programs: r egular church service and prayer.
President Bush has almost doubled the percentage of US foreign-aid dollars going to faith-based groups such as Food for the Hungry, according to a Globe survey of government data. And in seeking to help such groups obtain more contracts, Bush has systematically eliminated or weakened rules designed to enforce the separation of church and state.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/10/08/bush_brings_faith_to_foreign_aid/
Abortion pill thwarts breast cancer gene
By Lauran Neergaard, AP Medical Writer November 30, 2006
WASHINGTON --Scientists used the abortion drug RU-486 to keep tumors at bay in mice bred with a gene destined to give them breast cancer.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts No one is suggesting women use the abortion pill that way. But the provocative experiment helped illustrate how the notorious breast cancer gene BRCA1 does its dirty work, by spurring a hormone called progesterone that RU-486 happens to block.
If researchers could create a safer hormone blocker, it might offer a long-awaited alternative for women with the bad gene. They have few good options today to prevent breast cancer.
"All of us have to be cautious," said cell biologist Eva Lee of the University of California, Irvine, who led the research published in Friday's edition of the journal Science. "But I do think if there is a better anti-progesterone available, hopefully there will be other options in the future for these women."
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/women/articles/2006/11/30/abortion_pill_thwarts_breast_cancer_gene/
AIDS said cuts S.Africa teens' life span
By Clare Nullis, Associated Press Writer November 30, 2006
CAPE TOWN, South Africa --Fewer than half of South Africa's 15-year-olds will live to see their 60th birthday because of HIV/AIDS, according to a new report.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts An estimated 950 people died per day during 2006 from AIDS-related diseases and a further 1,400 were infected each day -- a total of 530,000 new infections, said the report by the Actuarial Society of South Africa and the Medical Research Council.
The report, issued every two years and widely used as a model for predicting the course of the disease and its impact, included an estimate that 5.4 million of South Africa's 48 million people were infected with the AIDS virus by the middle of 2006 -- a figure in line with the government's own estimates issued earlier this year.
Only India is believed to have more people infected with HIV than South Africa.
The report said life expectancy dropped from 63 in 1990 to 51 in 2006. In the hardest hit province of KwaZulu-Natal, it was as low as 43.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2006/11/30/aids_said_cuts_safrica_teens_life_span/
Okla. cities among least healthy in U.S.
November 30, 2006
OKLAHOMA CITY --Oklahoma's two largest cities rank near the bottom in a new national survey of the country's healthiest cities.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts Of the 100 largest metropolitan areas analyzed in Self magazine's seventh-annual "America's Healthiest Places" survey, Oklahoma City remained at No. 98 and Tulsa climbed from 99th last year to 94th this year.
The results came as no surprise to Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, who said the state created sedentary citizens by building its communities around the automobile.
"I don't doubt the statistics," Cornett said. "If they show that we are overweight and don't eat correctly, I bet that's right."
The survey singled out Tulsa as having the worst eating habits overall, but Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor questioned those findings. She points to Tulsa's seasonal outdoor produce markets and says her city has one of the most successful organic supermarkets in the nation, which is doubling its size.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/women/articles/2006/11/30/okla_cities_among_least_healthy_in_us/
Louisville official seeks trans fat ban
November 30, 2006
LOUISVILLE, Ky. --Amid a national push for healthier food, a Louisville official is proposing to ban the city's restaurants from using artificial fat.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts Metro Councilman Dan Johnson said he plans to file an ordinance that would ban the use of trans fatty acids in food in the city's 2,600 eateries. Johnson, a Democrat, said the restriction would be in line with the health department's mission to protect public health.
"They wouldn't let a restaurant serve rat poison, and I think this is similar to rat poison," Johnson said. "It's just a little slower in killing you."
Trans fat is made when vegetable oils high in unsaturated fats are chemically modified to turn them from a liquid into a solid at room temperature. The process changes the oil's molecular structure. Health experts say that results in higher bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol, and can cause obesity, heart disease and death.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2006/11/30/louisville_official_seeks_trans_fat_ban/
Extra pay urged at poorest schools
Teachers' unions propose incentives
By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff November 30, 2006
The state's teachers' unions are calling for extra pay for teachers in high-poverty schools, marking the first time that the unions have banded together behind a new type of teacher pay.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts Leaders of the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers said yesterday that their proposal proves they are willing to embrace change at a time when school systems across the nation are experimenting with new ways to pay teachers.
Union officials say teachers in high-poverty schools deserve extra pay because they generally work longer hours and serve more challenging students. Officials said they would have to work out with lawmakers the amount of the incentive and how many of the nearly 600 high-poverty schools would qualify. They said the incentives are part of a broader union proposal to close the achievement gap between wealthy and disadvantaged students. The unions plan to release their proposal publicly today.
"It is absolutely essential that in high-poverty schools that students get more and better services," said Thomas J. Gosnell , president of AFT Massachusetts. "I don't see how they can get better services if there are not incentives for teachers to provide additional time and programs for the students."
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2006/11/30/extra_pay_urged_at_poorest_schools/
Students get cars, iPods for attendance
By Mead Gruver, Associated Press Writer November 30, 2006
CASPER, Wyo. --Sixteen-year-old Kaytie Christopherson was getting ready to do her homework on a Friday when she got a call that made a big improvement in her life: She had won a brand-new pickup truck for near-perfect school attendance.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts And not just any truck, but a $28,000 Chevrolet Colorado crew cab, in red, with an MP3 player. Freedom comes standard.
"I take it everywhere. To work, school. I don't know, anything I do, I have it out with me," the high school junior said. "I pay attention to where I park it, though."
Public schools commonly reward excellent attendance with movie tickets, gas vouchers and iPods. But some diligent students like Kaytie are now hitting the ultimate teenage jackpot for going to school: They have won cars or trucks.
School districts in Hartford, Conn.; Pueblo, Colo.; South Lake Tahoe, Calif.; and Wickenburg and Yuma, Ariz., are also giving away vehicles this school year.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2006/11/30/students_get_cars_ipods_for_attendance/
Source of water bacteria sought at caveBy Mark F. Barnett, Associated Press Writer November 30, 2006
LOUISVILLE, Ky. --Travelers know the warning: Don't drink the water. But tourists to Mammoth Cave National Park might be better off learning a new one: Don't let the water drip on you.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts National Park Service employees and Western Kentucky University researchers are working on finding out why water at Mammoth Cave has shown spikes in fecal coliform and E. coli bacteria. And to protect visitors, park workers have installed a plexiglass and steel cover at the cave's historic entrance where dripping water naturally finds its way downhill and onto visitors to the world's longest cave.
Part of the historic section of the cave was closed in late October after a WKU researcher found the presence of the contaminants at the cave's waterfall, Charons Cascade. The historic section was reopened in mid-November after the shelter was installed.
"The first thing I need to say is that the historic section of the cave is open and safe," Superintendent Patrick Reed said in a statement. "We still don't have all the answers regarding the spikes in E. coli that we have found recently in the cave water."
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/11/30/source_of_water_bacteria_sought_at_cave/
New type of slow earthquake detected
By Andrew Bridges, Associated Press Writer November 30, 2006
WASHINGTON --Japanese researchers have discovered a new and sluggish kind of seismic activity that helps reveal the inner workings of faults capable of producing massive earthquakes like the one that generated the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts The so-called "very low frequency" earthquakes join two other types of slow quakes previously detected in the deep portion of subduction zones, where one section of the Earth's crust dives under another. The new kind of seismic activity can itself produce earthquakes of magnitudes 3 to 3.5, but the temblors are too slow to produce shaking felt by humans.
Researcher Yoshihiro Ito said the newfound activity, along with the two other phenomena -- non-volcanic deep tremors and slow slip -- may contribute to the build up of stress in what are known as megathrust quake rupture zones.
"We are considering the monitoring of these activities to have an accurate grasp of the stress condition for the megathrust rupture zone," Ito said in an e-mail interview. Ito and colleagues from Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention describe their work this week in Science Express, the online edition of the journal Science.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/11/30/new_type_of_slow_earthquake_detected/
Dinosaur nest up for auction in L.A. November 30, 2006
LOS ANGELES --An extremely rare and well-preserved dinosaur nest containing fossil eggs with the embryos exposed goes up for auction this weekend, but at least one scientist is demanding the artifact be returned to a museum.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts Auction house Bonhams & Butterfields estimated the dino nest, belonging to a predatory raptor, will fetch between $180,000 and $220,000 at auction Sunday.
"To have a wonderful complete nest like this is amazing," said Thomas Lindgren, director of the natural history division at Bonhams.
The Cretaceous-era dinosaur nest was unearthed in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong in 1984 and privately sold. An American collector bought it in 2003.
The nest contained 22 unhatched eggs arranged in a circular pattern along the edge. Embryonic remains were uncovered in 19 eggs and one egg was removed for study. Some eggs were so well-preserved that the embryo curled inside is visible.
Gerald Grellet-Tinner, a dinosaur expert at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, said such a fossilized nest is a "bonanza" find that can tell scientists a great deal about dinosaur growth and development. He contends the nest should be housed in a museum in China, where it was uncovered, and not in private hands.
"I'm totally outraged," he said. "A lot of scientific information will be lost."
Lindgren said the collector did not have a contact in the museum world and had hoped that by auctioning the dinosaur nest, it may one day end up in a museum.
Judging by the nest size and egg shape, Grellet-Tinner said he suspects the dinosaur was an oviraptor, a meat-eater with a large beak that ran on powerful hind legs.
continued ...
