Morning Papers - It's Origins

China Daily

Top leaders of China, DPRK hold talks in Beijing
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-18 20:44
Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese President, held talks in Beijing with Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the National Defense Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513432.htm


China announces new human case of bird flu
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-18 21:03
China's Ministry of Health on Wednesday announced another human case of bird flu, in which the victim had died.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513434.htm



$10m earmarked to fight against bird flu
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-18 12:22
The Chinese government will donate 10 million U.S. dollars to support the global fight against avian influenza, said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao here Wednesday.
"The Chinese government will continue to provide assistance within our capacity to the neighbouring countries and those needed," Wen said at the Ministerial Session of the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza.
The spread of avian influenza already threatens regional and global security and stability and the effective containment of the disease has become a common task for the international community, Wen said.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513384.htm


lling stampede shuts down Tokyo stock
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-18 17:29
A stampede of sell orders forced the shut-down of the world's second-biggest stock exchange on Wednesday as investors fled the Tokyo market, spooked by fall-out from an investigation into Internet company Livedoor.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513424.htm



Beijing urges talks on Iran nuclear issue
Qin Jize
2006-01-18 06:16
Beijing yesterday reiterated the need for diplomacy to solve Iran's nuclear issue while urging all parties to remain restrained and return to negotiations.
Talks between Iran and the three European countries called the EU3 Britain, France and Germany are the most feasible approach and are "in the interest of everyone," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told a regular news briefing.
He hoped that all parties are patient and try their best to restart negotiations.
"We hope the Iranian side can co-operate with the efforts by the international community to restart diplomatic negotiations, and resolve the nuclear issue," said Kong.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513096.htm


"gap between haves and have-nots...is growing"
Closing gap between haves and have-nots
....by Fu Jing...page 1...
Closing gap between haves and have-nots
By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-17 07:12
A new report is urging the Chinese Government to focus on giving migrant workers and farmers a fair chance since the gap between the haves and have-nots has already become a threat toward the country's social harmony.
A set of policy suggestions to close the gap between them and other social groups in China was found in the China National Human Development Report 2005 released on Friday, which was commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The government should take actions to ensure the punctual payment of salaries, provision of shelter, access to education for children, social security entitlements and union membership, the report said.
"Achieving development with greater equity and ensuring that all people, including the disadvantaged groups, have equal opportunities and a decent life free from poverty should be the future focus of China's future development plans," said Khalid Malik, UN Resident Co-ordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in China, in an interview with China Daily.

http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/viewthread.php?tid=499035&extra=page%3D1



Welcome home - return of a Shanghai Jew
By Adam Minter (LA Times)
Updated: 2006-01-17 10:43

http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-shanghai3jan15,0,1838881.story?page=1&coll=la-home-magazine

After decades of trying to forget the miseries of his refugee childhood during World War II, a Southern Californian circles back to China to embrace the people who saved his life.
At the market, Gaoyang Road widens and hooks toward a set of encroaching Shanghai high-rises. Below, in their shadows, is a gray, run-down, two-story building that holds a tobacco shop, a beauty parlor and a noodle restaurant on its first floor. The top level is residential, and it juts over the first, creating a covered lane hung with laundry. Just south of the building, Jerry Moses, a retired Southern California businessman, squints and looks up, hands clasped behind his back. "I don't know, I don't know," he says with long vowels stretched by his German accent. "This isn't right." He takes a deep breath and walks slowly toward the lane, brow furrowed. "All this is new. I can't recognize it."

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/17/content_513005.htm



China has 111 million Internet users
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-18 08:53
Chinese netizens had paid 100 billion yuan (12.5 billion U.S. dollars) for the Internet services last year, said China Internet Information Center in Beijing Tuesday.
According to a report released by the center, China has 111 million netizens. Both the numbers of the Internet users and broadband users in China are ranking the second in the world.
The report said the actual Internet expense of each Chinese netizen amounted to 103.6 yuan (12.9 U.S. dollars) per month on the average, excluding the charges of various kinds of services like the e-commerce provided many websites.
Currently the Internet popularization ratio in China is 8.5 percent, much higher than the world's average of 1.52 percent.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513289.htm



Jackson wants to consult for entertainment
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-18 09:20
Michael Jackson seems to be settling in to the Persian Gulf. The pop star has shopped for real estate here, been spotted in glitzy malls — and now appears to be interviewing for a job.
Michael Jackson, shown in this April 12, 2005 file photo. Jackson, who was acquitted on child molestation charges in California last year, is negotiating a position as a consultant with a Bahrain-based company that plans to set up theme parks and music academies in the Middle East, according to a press release. [AP]
Jackson, who was acquitted on child molestation charges in California last year, is negotiating a position as a consultant with a Bahrain-based company that plans to set up theme parks and music academies in the Middle East, according to a press release.
AAJ Holdings Ltd., owned by Ahmed Abu Bakr Janahi, said it wants to hire 47-year-old Jackson to give advice on setting up entertainment businesses.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/18/content_513320.htm



Seattle Post Intelligencer

Mt. Baker Ski Area closed
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
The Mt. Baker Ski Area is expected to remain closed until Wednesday because of unusual weather, according to its Web site. The ski area has received a record amount of snow recently, much of it in warmer weather, but a cooling trend is expected to stabilize the snowpack. Mt. Baker plans to reopen at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The ski area's snow report can be accessed at www.mtbaker.us/snowreport or by calling 360-671-0211.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/255859_tl117.html

Snow Report
New Snowfall:
2 in
5 cm

24 hour Snowfall:
5 in
13 cm

Temperature:
27°F
-3°C

Weather:
Partly Cloudy

Slope Conditions:
Powder/Packed Powder

Base at Heather Meadows:
135 in
343 cm

Base at Pan Dome:
150 in
381 cm

Operation Info:
Normal midweek operation out of White Salmon Lodge.

Hours:
9:00 am - 3:30 pm

Other Info
Please take a minute to review the "tree well and deep snow safety" section here on our webstite. You can link to it from the home page at www.mtbaker.us

Snow Phone: 360-671-0211

http://www.mtbaker.us/snowreport/


Virtual Editorial Board

Biofuels, Boycott and Eco-terror
Editorials planned for Thursday's P-I.
BIOFUELS -- The Legislature is moving forward with a bill to mandate ethanol and biofuels in Washington. It's a boost to farmers -- and a way to get more fuel without relying on imports. Is it good for Washington state?
ECOTERROR -- Burning houses down is not a political statement. It's a crime -- an act by people who think nothing about imposing there values on the rest of society.
BOYCOTT -- Boycott, schmoycott
What is really immoral?
The Rev. Ken Hutcherson, a conservative Eastside preacher, has called his flock and others to a boycott of Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and other companies with enlightened human resources policies for gay employees.
It makes one wonder if Hutcherson could envision a segregationist group in the late 1960s calling on white Americans to boycott corporations that had integrated their work force or, heaven forbid, actually encouraged blacks and other minorities to come to work for them.
Yes, we know, the Rev refuses to see a connection between the denial of one group of humans having been denied civil liberties and equal treatment in employment, housing and lending and another group facing the same denial today.
Hutcherson talks of morality, "We're tired of sitting around thinking that morals can be ignored in our country," Hutcherson said Monday. So what of the morality of how a corporation deals with its employees? The cover of this week's New York Times Magazine asks the question: "Is how much you pay a worker a moral issue?"
So, has the Rev called for boycotts of corporations that pay lousy wages, that deny their workers health care and family leave or risk their workers' lives in unsafe working conditions, that welsh on employee pensions?
There seem to be some true moral questions about corporate behavior that the pastor could demand. There seem to be some areas of morality in which Rev. Hutcherson could lead his followers in acts of liberation, not discrimination.
Comment on these subjects now. (To post for consideration as an instant letter to the editor, include your name and city where you live.)
Posted by P-I Editorial Board at January 18, 2006 10:03 a.m.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/veb/archives/101133.asp



Thousands in dark after Northeast storm
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- High winds knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers in the Northeast on Wednesday and wreaked havoc for commuters, blowing trees across railroad tracks, overturning tractor-trailers, and making for wild ferry rides.
More than 285,000 homes and businesses across the region lost power, and several airports reported delays of two hours or more.
The wind was blamed for at least one death, a 52-year-old man killed just north of New York City when a tree fell on his car, according to a Sound Shore Hospital spokesman in New Rochelle.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Windy_Weather.html



AFL-CIO head blasts corporate policies
By WILL LESTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Corporate policies are driving millions of workers out of good-paying jobs, stripping them of health care and killing pension plans in a strategy that is "just suicidal" for the economy, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said Wednesday.
Sweeney outlined a state-by-state effort that he said was aimed at allowing organized labor "to break free from the gridlock of Washington" and fight for worker benefits such as stronger health care plans and a higher minimum wage.
"Wounded workers aren't the only casualties of the corporate job-killing strategy," Sweeney said. "It is also a self-destructive strategy because it leaves businesses with consumers who don't have enough money to spend or save. It leaves government with more demand for public services and subsidies - and fewer taxpayers to pay for them."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Labor_Sweeney.html



Abducted reporter's family makes appeal
BOSTON -- The family of an American reporter abducted in Baghdad appealed for mercy after her captors threatened to kill her if U.S. authorities don't release all Iraqi women in military custody by Friday.
Jill Carroll, 28, a freelancer for the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped Jan. 7. On Tuesday, she was seen for the first time since her abduction on a silent, 20-second video clip released to Al-Jazeera television. Station officials said the video also included the threat to kill her if the Iraqi women weren't freed.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Iraq_Kidnapped_Journalist.html



Church is a curious choice for IRS inquiry
By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST
Of the multiple efforts to intimidate free speech in America, none is more ominous than the Internal Revenue Service's demand that a Pasadena, Calif., church do penance over a 2004 election-eve sermon by its former pastor.
All Saints Episcopal Church declined to turn the other cheek and admit to "culpability." It is confronting the IRS' threat to revoke its tax-exempt status over a homily by its retired pastor titled: "If Jesus Debated Sen. Kerry and President Bush."
"It does look as though they wanted to go after a progressive church raising serious questions about the (Iraq) war in light of the teachings of Jesus," said the Rev. George Regas, who built All Saints into one of Southern California's largest congregations.
Why? "To send a chill through the world of progressive people of faith," Regas said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
Regas will speak Thursday at 7 p.m. in St. Mark's Cathedral, as part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by the Church Council of Greater Seattle.
He is a churchman who believes in keeping Peter from becoming the servant of Caesar.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/256107_joel18.html



Lawmakers hear friends, foes of gay-rights bill
Measure not new to Legislature
By RACHEL LA CORTE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OLYMPIA -- Dozens of people made emotional arguments during a public hearing Tuesday on a gay civil rights bill, with some insisting the measure was a long-overdue change to the state's anti-discrimination laws, and others contending it only creates special status for one group of people.
Some opponents argued that the measure would put an undue burden on business; others said it would create confusion for the state's children. One woman simply read from the Bible until the committee chairwoman cut her off.
Supporters told the House State Government Operations & Accountability Committee hearing that all people deserve protection from discrimination in housing and jobs.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256076_fill18.html



U.S.-Canadian border closes after suspicious car is stopped
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
The U.S.-Canadian border passing at Blaine was closed Tuesday night after a “suspicious” car heading northbound on Interstate-5 was stopped by Canadian officials after it passed through the border, said Mike Milne, spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.
The incident occurred at about 9 p.m., said Milne. As of 10:30, traffic going both directions was being diverted to Route 99.
The car and its driver are still being investigated, he said, and it is unclear if anything illegal or dangerous is inside the vehicle.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256119_border17ww.html


A dose of exercise to thwart dementia
Study adds to belief that lifestyle may delay disease
By JULIE DAVIDOW
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Three or more days of exercise a week could stave off dementia in older people, according to a new study led by Seattle researchers.
The study, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, followed 1,740 people age 65 and older for an average of six years. None showed signs of Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia when the study began.
Those who reported exercising three or more days a week were 30 percent less likely to develop dementia than others who exercised less or not at all.
In addition, three days of exercise appeared to be most helpful for the least fit of the study participants.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/255929_exercise17.html



High water probably won't mean lower bills
By GORDY HOLT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Yes, it's still raining, and still snowing in the hills. The reservoirs are full and the snowpack is deepening, and that could foretell a fine summer of sprinkler play and green, green parks.
But don't expect your water bill to drop any time soon, if ever, water managers say.
Andy Ryan, a spokesman for Seattle Public Utilities, said long periods of heavy rain such as the one we're enduring come with costs.
"You'd think it would be a matter of supply and demand, but it doesn't work like that," he said Friday.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/255927_waterbill17.html



Controversial Boston sculpture removed
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON -- A sculpture hailed by some as a moving tribute to freedom fighters but deplored by others as depressing is headed back to its owner after 23 years on the Boston Common.
The "Partisans" sculpture by Polish immigrant Andrew Pitynski depicts five weary, emaciated horsemen. It was inspired by Poles who fought the Nazis, then the communists, and was meant as a tribute to freedom fighters around the world.
The foundation that owns the 8,000-pound sculpture loaned it to Boston for six months in 1983 but never reclaimed it.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Sculpture_Removed.html



Dissatisfied Jews, Christians share ideas
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. -- Every time Rabbi Dov Gartenberg led the Sabbath service at Congregation Beth Shalom, he would see bored faces among the worshippers and wonder how long he could hold their interest.
"I could say, 'That person's going to leave in 30 minutes and that person's going to leave in 45 minutes.' And I was right," he said. "I was powerless to stop it. I felt like I was in chains."
Frustrated, Gartenberg quit his congregation two years ago and opened a nonprofit for Jews who feel most synagogues have forsaken them.
This week, Gartenberg took another unusual step: He and 15 other Jewish leaders met with evangelical Christians who set out on a similar path a decade ago and sparked a mini-revolution in the process.
Over two days, representatives from nearly 30 emergent Jewish and Christian worship groups talked about abandoning traditional worship in search of a more personal connection with God that they said they can't find in temple or church. They also shared their vision with more traditional Jewish leaders who hope this new "emergent Judaism" might help bring young Jews back at least to some style of worship.
"We've got to learn from what our Christian colleagues are doing," said Shawn Landres, a rabbi with Synagogue 3000, a progressive Jewish think tank that set up the meeting at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute about 45 miles north of Los Angeles.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Emergent_Church_Judaism.html



Estrada plays down info passed by American
By JIM GOMEZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
A Sept. 12, 2005 file artist rendering of Michael Ray Aquino of New York, left, and Leandro Aragoncillo of Woodbury, N.J., foreground right, during their arraignment before Judge Patty Schwartz at U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J. By the time the FBI was convinced one of its own intelligence analysts was a spy, investigators found evidence the accused employee had spent months rummaging through the bureau's computers to read and print secret reports unrelated to his office work. The FBI analyst, Leandro Aragoncillo, 47, is negotiating to plead guilty to charges he revealed secrets to officials in the Philippines. Prosecutors said he sometimes used the FBI's own computers to e-mail secret reports there. (AP Photo/Andrea Shepard, Files)
MANILA, Philippines -- A deposed president Wednesday played down the value of classified U.S. information that he and other leaders allegedly received from a Philippine-born FBI intelligence analyst.
Former President Joseph Estrada, who admitted receiving information from Leandro Aragoncillo, said most of the material amounted to little more than news summaries and assessments about politicians already heard.
"I don't believe the guy sent those materials in bad faith," Estrada told The Associated Press by telephone. "What's spying there when there was nothing new in the downloaded materials? Everybody knew the contents. ... I read them in newspapers."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Philippines_US_Missed_Spying.html



Roadside bomb kills two Americans in Iraq
By SAMEER N. YACOUB
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
British troops secure the scene of a roadside attack on a private security convoy, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006, outside of the southern city of Basra, Iraq. A roadside bomb blast struck a private security team convoy northwest of Basra, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, killing at least two people whose nationalities were unknown. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurjani)
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A roadside bomb hit a convoy carrying a U.S. security team near the southern city of Basra on Wednesday, killing two American civilians and seriously wounding a third, the U.S. Embassy said.
Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, held out hope that kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll would be released, and the sister of Iraq's interior minister was freed by her abductors about two weeks after being seized in Baghdad, an official said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html



Vatican paper hits 'intelligent design'
By NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing during his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006. The Pontiff announced that his first encyclical on the different aspects of God's love will be published Jan. 25, saying it was "providential" that it would be released at the end of a week of prayer for unifying all Christians. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican newspaper has published an article saying "intelligent design" is not science and that teaching it alongside evolutionary theory in school classrooms only creates confusion.
The article in Tuesday's editions of L'Osservatore Romano was the latest in a series of interventions by Vatican officials - including the pope - on the issue that has dominated headlines in the United States.
The author, Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, laid out the scientific rationale for Darwin's theory of evolution, saying that in the scientific world, biological evolution "represents the interpretative key of the history of life on Earth."
He lamented that certain American "creationists" had brought the debate back to the "dogmatic" 1800s, and said their arguments weren't science but ideology.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Vatican_Evolution.html



Colombian troops try to rid park of coca
By DAN MOLINSKI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Colombia's Police Chief Gen. Hector Castro speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, Jan.17, 2006. More than 700 police officers were deployed to the Macarena's National Park to detroy coca fields. (AP Photo/William Fernando Martinez)
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Some 3,000 armed troops were deployed to one of Colombia's most pristine national parks Wednesday as part of a bold operation to clear the rebel-controlled region of cocaine laboratories and the plants used to make the drug.
It is the largest coca eradication drive in Colombia's history and could lead to battles with the country's main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which makes money by cocaine trafficking, warned Gen. Jorge Daniel Castro.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Colombia_Coca_Parks.html



More than 3,200 still missing from Katrina
BATON ROUGE, La. -- More than 3,200 people are officially still unaccounted for nearly five months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
A total of nearly 11,500 people were reported missing to the Find Family National Call Center, a center run by federal and state workers. The reports included people from throughout the Gulf Coast area, but most were from Louisiana.
As of Wednesday, all but about 3,200 had been located, the agency said.
Some of those still listed as missing likely have already been found by their relatives but the center hasn't been notified of their status, it said.
More than 1,300 Katrina-related deaths have been reported across five states, with 1,101 of those from Louisiana.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Katrina_Missing.html?source=mypi


Hindustan Times

King cuts off Kathmandu from rest of world
Nepal's King Gyanendra on Thursday once again cut off Kathmandu valley from the rest of the world, snapping all telephone links, in a chilling repetition of last year when he staged a coup and unleashed a series of draconian curbs.
People of the valley, already reeling under an extended period of curfew clamped from 9 pm to 4 am by the home ministry from Wednesday for an indefinite period, woke up to find telephones and mobile phones out of order.
Though landlines were restored after 8 am, mobile phones still remained disconnected.
It revived the memory of the nightmare last year when all phone lines were cut immediately after the king's announcement on the state-run Nepal Television channel February 1 that he was dismissing the government.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7598_1602370,000500020003.htm


RIA NOVOSTI

Monument to homeless dog
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Anatoly Korolyov.) The Moscow Metro will soon have a monument to a dog. The finished sculpture was recently displayed in the art shop of Alexander Tsigal. Right now the dog is made of clay, but by the New Year it will be cast in bronze and put up in the hall of the Mendeleyevskaya Station.
This story took place two years ago. A stray dog called Malchik (Boy) lived underground inside the Mendeleyevskaya Station for about three years. He was of good character, and the Metro employees used to feed him. There are many stray dogs roaming the city streets now, abandoned by their owners because of economic hardships. (The Moscow budget for 2006 has set aside 74 million rubles ($2.58 million) to "regulate the upkeep of animals," or simply, to neuter them.) Today, it is almost a luxury to keep a dog.
To continue the story, Malchik had a stroke of bad luck. One day, a fashion model, Yuliana R., was out with her Staffordshire terrier of impeccable breed. She noticed Malchik and started setting her dog against him. In effect, it was a parody of social conflict.

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20051219/42550927.html



Russia freezes as temperatures plummet
MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - Extremely low temperatures hit the Russian capital and most of the country's regions Wednesday, leaving authorities to scramble to keep the population warm amidst a bone-chilling frost that could prove to be a record.
Moscow international airports Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo have been operating according to schedule, though the temperature in Moscow nearly broke the minus 32°C (-25.6°F) record.
"All regular flights departed and arrived without delays or restrictions," a spokesman for Moscow's air-traffic control center said.
Authorities in Russia's regions have taken emergency measures to avoid fatalities and health problems with the onset of the chill, including recessing schools. To the chagrin of locals in the Khanty-Manisiisk Autonomous Region, authorities called off Epiphany bathing, a centuries-old religious ceremony in which the faithful dip into the river on the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060118/43057258.html



Power supply situation difficult but under control - ministers
MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) - Government ministers said conditions on Russia's power and heat networks were "complicated" but "under control" Thursday, as the country's infrastructure and fuel supplies struggled to cope with soaring demand amid a deepening cold spell.
Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a government session Thursday that heat supplies were being restored to the village of Tomilino in the Moscow region after a loss of supplies, but added that 21 residential buildings in the Chita Region of East Siberia were still suffering heat cuts.
Shoigu said it was crucial to prevent power cuts in Moscow itself. "A serious power failure in Moscow may cause a chain reaction," he said, adding that the situation in the city was currently under control.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060119/43077734.html



Russian foreign minister praises relations with France
MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) - Relations between Russia and France are steadily improving, Russia's foreign minister said Thursday at the opening of talks with his French counterpart.
"We have particularly noticed that Russian-French relations are improving," Sergei Lavrov told Philippe Douste-Blazy, who is on a visit to Moscow to discuss Iran's nuclear program and other global issues.
After arriving in the Russian capital Wednesday evening, Philippe Douste-Blazy clearly stated his position on Iran's decision to resume research into uranium enrichment.
"No civilian program can justify these activities," he said.
The minister had urged the international community earlier to unite efforts to resolve the issue and said he hoped that Russia would support the position of a trio of nations representing the European Union at an emergency meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog.
Thanking Sergei Lavrov for his hospitality, the French foreign minister said that despite the cold weather in Moscow, "we feel warm in our hearts."

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060119/43076819.html


President Putin: no branches of foreign banks in Russia
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Nina Kulikova.) Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the banking community's desire to restrict the activities of foreign bank branches in the country at a meeting with Russian bankers in Novosibirsk yesterday.
"I want to confirm that the Russian government agrees with our banking community that activities of foreign bank branches in Russia should today be restricted or, in fact, prohibited," Putin said. Thus, he publicly endorsed the stance adopted by many bankers and experts who had repeatedly spoken against admitting them into the country.
The problem of admitting foreigners to Russian financial markets appeared as the country began integrating in the global economy. It remains one of the main obstacles in Russia's WTO accession talks. Foreign partners demand that Russia allow branches to work in the country, but the position of Russian negotiators is firm. The country cannot afford it, because such changes may cause severe problems for its underdeveloped banking system.
At present, Russian legislation prohibits

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20051216/42524682.html


Countries can still prevent bird flu pandemic - chief vet
BEIJING, January 18 (RIA Novosti, Alexei Yefimov) - The international community still has a chance to avoid a bird flu pandemic, Russia's most senior veterinary official said Wednesday.
Yevgeny Nepoklonov, the head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Oversight, is currently attending an international conference in Beijing on financing measures to control the spread of avian flu.
"We still have a chance to fully employ veterinary resources in fighting the virus, and preventing its development in to a pandemic, and its spread to humans," he said.
In the countries where the work of veterinary services is well organized and diagnostic research is being broadly carried out, the risk of the virus spreading is minimal, Nepoklonov said.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060118/43065129.html



Possible bird flu pandemic may infect over 27 million Russians
MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian ministry issued a dire warning Wednesday that between 18% and 20% of the population could be infected with bird flu if a pandemic were to hit the country.
An analytical center working for the Emergency Situations Ministry forecasted that 27 million out of the country's population of 148 million could fall ill if the pandemic type of avian influenza emerged. Analysts were particularly concerned about potential threats emerging at airports receiving flights from China in such densely populated cities as Moscow and St. Petersburg in European Russia, and Vladivostok and Khabarovsk in the Far East.
Experts added that a pandemic of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu might become a national security threat in 2006 since the virus could mutate and become more contagious.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060118/43062127.html



North Korea secures China's support on nuclear issue
MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il secured Chinese support in resolving the international standoff over his regime's nuclear ambitions as he met with President Hu Jintao at the end of an unofficial eight-day visit to China Wednesday.
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Hu pledged help in fostering the resumption of the stalled six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program, which, along with the two Koreas and China, also involve the United States, Japan and Russia. He described the six-party talks as "the correct choice" for settling the nuclear dispute.
Kim reportedly said he remained committed to peacefully resolving the conflict surrounding Pyongyang's nuclear program. KCNA quoted him as saying "there is no change in [North Korea's] basic stand of maintaining the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, implementing the joint statement issued at the fourth round of the six-party talks and pursuing a negotiated peaceful settlement."

http://en.rian.ru/world/20060118/43063587.html



It will take us long to cure xenophobia
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Marianna Belenkaya.) "I'm certain that if society doesn't come to its senses right now, criminals armed with knives will break into every house," said chief rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar in response to an attack on a synagogue in central Moscow.
But can society "come to its senses" at all? And what should this process look like?
Many Russian experts - political analysts, scientists, journalists and public figures - have been reporting an escalation of national extremism and xenophobia in Russia, with nationalist movements on the rise. Ever since Vladimir Putin became president, the authorities have been speaking about the danger and inadmissibility of xenophobia. "We will boost the activities of law enforcement agencies and do our best to remove skinheads and fascist elements from the political map of this country," said the president in a TV conference. On December 20, Putin demanded that the Federal Security Service step up its fight against nationalism and xenophobia and expose instigators of interethnic discord. But will police and legislative actions be enough to settle the problem?

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060118/43064676.html



Large arms-cache discovered in Moscow
MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - Police in Moscow have discovered a large arms-cache in the west of the city, a source in the law enforcement bodies said Tuesday.
The source said the cache contained three Kalashnikov assault rifles, a Makarov pistol, two Taurus pistols, a small-bore rifle, a "shooting pen", 15 grenades, 14 detonators, 948 cartridges of various caliber and silencers.
According to the source, the police also discovered equipment for conducting covert surveillance, wiretaps, three portable radio stations, three sets flashing lights for official cars and nine police uniforms.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060118/43054162.html


continued …

The whale and boat occupants are doing fine.

January 19, 2006.

A pleasure boat ran aground on top of a whale in Australia. As the boat sank the occupants were resuced.

It's dirty job but somebody has to do it. Stardust comes down to Earth.

January 19, 2006. The NASA probe.

January 16, 2006.

The sunset at San Francisco, California.

Morning Papers - continued

San Francisco Chronicle

First draft of Kerouac's Beat bible, 'On the Road,' arrives in San Francisco, the very city it sanctified
Last week, an airtight black suitcase passed through a security checkpoint at the Indianapolis International Airport on its way to San Francisco. A guard ordered the case opened and found inside a tattered and frayed scroll of yellowed paper 119 feet and 8 inches long.
"Oh I know what this is," the baggage screener said to Jim Canary, a conservator who was accompanying the artifact. "This is one of them religious scrolls, ain't it?"
Not a bad observation. The scroll was in fact the manuscript of one of the most famous and iconic novels of the 20th century, Jack Kerouac's stream-of-consciousness Beat generation bible, "On the Road," which is on exhibit for the next three months at the San Francisco Public Library.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/18/DDG06GO86G1.DTL



Newsom: fare theft at Muni
Mayor says cable car conductors skim cash payments from riders
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he is convinced cable car conductors are stealing fare money -- and that the Municipal Railway needs to change the way it collects cash to stop the thefts.
Newsom said he believes conductors are skimming fares from cash-paying riders because on three occasions he rode the cable cars and handed over his $5 cash fare but never received the required receipt.
The mayor said that another time he observed a conductor collecting five or six fares on a packed cable car "and didn't give one receipt for any of them." And, he added, "that's just one moment" in time.
"I am convinced, based on my own personal experience, (the money) is not going to Muni, but it's going in the pockets of some of our well-meaning operators," Newsom said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/19/NEWSOM.TMP



A nightmarish neighbor: noisy, nosy, now in jail
Police say they hauled guns, ammo, drugs from his home
Don Bertone is not your usual problem neighbor, San Francisco authorities say.
For three years, Bertone, who once worked for the city Housing Authority and ran for the Board of Supervisors in 2000, has wreaked all sorts of havoc in an otherwise quiet community in the southeastern part of the city known as Little Hollywood, officials and his neighbors said Wednesday.
Bertone, 54, just doesn't play loud music, authorities say. At all hours of the day and night, he has blasted police radio broadcasts, shrill oscillating tones, Spanish dance tunes and other noise from speakers he installed on the outside of his home at 336 Lathrop Ave. Police said they could hear the racket from 100 yards away.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/19/SFNOISE.TMP



Statewide flu plan ready for public input
Worst case sees millions sick, 35,000 dead in California
California health authorities on Wednesday unveiled a new blueprint for dealing with their worst nightmare -- the potential outbreak of an influenza pandemic capable of killing 35,000 state residents, sickening millions, and leaving the social fabric of cities and towns in tatters.
For 18 months, teams led by the California Department of Health Services have been revamping the state's last pandemic plan, a 30-page document that was released three days before Sept. 11, 2001.
Although the prior plan slipped quickly from public awareness during that national trauma, the spread of avian influenza from Southeast Asia to Turkey this past year has lent a new sense of urgency.
"An influenza pandemic could be the greatest public health challenge of our time," said Sandra Shewry, director of California's State Department of Health Services.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/19/FLU.TMP



Yahoo shares tumble after 83 percent profit rise fails to match lofty Wall Street estimate
Yahoo Inc.'s shares dropped more than 12 percent Wednesday as investors expressed their disappointment with the Internet powerhouse's inability to reap bigger gains as advertisers shift more of their spending to the Web.
The selloff came after Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company reported late Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profit nearly doubled, but fell shy of analyst expectations.
It marked the second consecutive quarter in which Yahoo reported earnings growth that investors interpreted as a sign that the company isn't capitalizing on the online advertising boom as well as its rival, online search engine leader Google Inc.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/01/18/financial/f071533S99.DTL



Laura Bush needs to get real. Or maybe we need to 'get real' over Laura Bush. Everyone always paints her as this benign little lady at the president's side. She can sling the hash when it comes down to it. Laura cannot possibly disagree with Hillary. The Democrats and their constituency has been ignored oppressed and ridiculed with the latest attacks regarding Representative Murtha. Those insults against Murtha are completely baseless and everyone knows it. Now, Laura Bush is her husband's ally to continue the victimization of half this nation. Laura is no benign person who is pulled out of the shadows every time Georgie runs into issues. If she is going to become political then she needs to ADDRESS THE ISSUE and the aesthetics surrounding the issues. I don't consider 'field trips' by Laura Bush for photo ops equivalent to Democracy. The House and Senate have been NOTHING but partisan. Laura Bush cannot deny that. Perhaps Laura can debate the issues with the Senators Clinton and Obama. The Bush Record on Civil Rights is deplorable. Their record on the Environment doesn't exist. Their record on the economy is deplorable and I would like Laura Bush to explain the mounting National Debt and Tax Breaks to the wealthy. I want Laura Bush to explain how the Sago Mine was allowed to exist in it's dangerous condition. If Laura is going to be political then let's get on with it ! Maybe Al Gore needs to join the debate as well.


First Lady Assails Sen. Clinton for Remark
Laura Bush criticized Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday for suggesting that the Republican-controlled House is run like a plantation where dissenting voices are ignored.
"It think it's ridiculous — it's a ridiculous comment," Mrs. Bush told reporters when asked about the remark during a return flight to Washington following her four-day swing through West Africa.
Clinton made the comment in Harlem at an event honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. She said the GOP was running the House "like a plantation" because ideas from the minority Democrats were not respected. The White House on Tuesday called the senator's comments "way out of line."
Mrs. Bush, who said her next trip likely will be to New Orleans to visit schools damaged in the hurricane, also reacted to a comment by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin that stirred controversy. Nagin had said: "This city will be chocolate at the end of the day." He later apologized.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/01/18/national/w092542S39.DTL



Obama Backs Clinton's Criticism of GOP
Sen. Barack Obama and other black Democrats are defending Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's description of the House of Representatives as a "plantation." First lady Laura Bush says Clinton's remark was "ridiculous."
Clinton, D-N.Y., a potential presidential candidate for 2008, did not retreat from the "plantation" remark, telling reporters the term accurately describes the "top-down" way the GOP runs Congress.
Obama said Wednesday he felt her choice of words referred to a "consolidation of power" in Washington that squeezes out the voters.
The Illinois senator told CNN's "American Morning" he believed that Clinton was merely expressing concern that special interests play such a large role in writing legislation that "the ordinary voter and even members of Congress who aren't in the majority party don't have much input."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/01/18/national/w090702S64.DTL



Michael Moore Today

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Over 3,200 Katrina victims still missing, 400 addresses to be rechecked

More Than 3,200 Still Missing From Katrina
By Michelle Roberts / Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS -- More than 3,200 people are officially still unaccounted for nearly five months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, and the state medical examiner wants the search to resume for those missing from the most devastated neighborhoods.
A total of nearly 11,500 people were reported missing to the Find Family National Call Center, a center run by federal and state workers. The reports included people from throughout the Gulf Coast area, but most were from Louisiana.
As of Wednesday, all but about 3,200 had been located, the agency said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5577



Alumni group offers cash to students who report 'radical' professors at UCLA
LOS ANGELES (AP) - An alumni group is offering students up to $100 US per class to supply tapes and notes exposing professors who allegedly express extreme left-wing political views at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Bruin Alumni Association says it is concerned about professors who use lecture time to press positions against President George W. Bush, the military and multinational corporations, among other things. Its website has a list of what it calls the college's 30 most radical professors.
"We're just trying to get people back on a professional level of things," said the group's president and founder, Andrew Jones, a 2003 UCLA graduate and former chairman of the student Bruin Republicans.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5573



US torture undermines global rights drive: report
By Paul Eckert / Reuters
WASHINGTON - A human rights group said on Wednesday that torture and other abuses committed by the United States in its war on terrorism have damaged American credibility and hurt the global human rights cause.
In a survey of world conditions, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said Washington should appoint a special prosecutor and Congress should set up an independent panel to investigate U.S. abuses. The annual report covered rights developments in more than 70 countries.
"The U.S. government's use and defense of torture and inhumane treatment played the largest role in undermining Washington's ability to promote human rights," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5574



SYRIA? SYRIA? WHAT THE HECK?

McClellan On Extraordinary Rendition To Syria: “That’s A New One”
At today’s press conference Scott McClellan claimed he has never heard reports that the United States sent detainees to Syria, where they were tortured:
QUESTION: There are allegations that we sent people to Syria to be tortured…
MCCLELLAN: To Syria?
QUESTION: Yes. You’ve never heard of any allegations like that?
MCCLELLAN: No, I’ve never heard that one. That’s a new one.
QUESTION: Syria? You haven’t heard that?
MCCLELLAN: That’s a new one.
QUESTION: Well, I can assure you it’s been well publicized. My question is…
MCCLELLAN: By what, bloggers?
Actually it was reported on page A1 of the Washington Post more than two years ago:
A Canadian citizen who was detained last year at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as a suspected terrorist said Tuesday he was secretly deported to Syria and endured 10 months of torture in a Syrian prison.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/18/mcclellan-extraordinary-rendition/



Missile brought down US chopper in Iraq
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A Russian-made surface-to-air missile launched by anti-American insurgents brought down a US military helicopter that crashed in Iraq on Monday, US television reported, citing unnamed Pentagon officials.
The ABC News network said the shootdown represented "a troubling new development" because there are hundreds and possibly thousands of SA-7 missiles that remain unaccounted for in Iraq.
The AH-64 Apache went down north of Baghdad, killing its two crew members and becoming the third US helicopter to be shot down in 10 days.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5575



Veterans groups accuse Pentagon of planning to cut health benefits
By Dale Eisman / Virginian-Pilot
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon hopes to reap billions of dollars to pay for ships, aircraft and other weapons by doubling or tripling health insurance premiums paid by military retirees and driving 600,000 of those pensioners out of the military medical system, a coalition of veterans organizations charges.
Groups representing more than 1 million military pensioners - those who served at least 20 years - are organizing a telephone and letter-writing campaign to block the idea if it surfaces in Congress or to persuade the Bush administration to abandon it.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5572



Called-up reservists sue over expenses
Class action lawsuit seeks reimbursement for travel, food and lodging
By Ron Allen / NBC News
Retired Army Captain Louis Tortorella signed up again, right after 9/11. His Massachusetts National Guard unit helped protect sites like reservoirs and military bases.
"I've always learned and appreciated that the military treats everyone equal," Tortorella says. "We all wear the same uniform and defend the same country."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5570



High-level, 2002 intelligence assessment reported Niger's yellowcake supply to be secure

2002 Memo Doubted Uranium Sale Claim
By Eric Lichtblau / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 - A high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was "unlikely" because of a host of economic, diplomatic and logistical obstacles, according to a secret memo that was recently declassified by the State Department.
Among other problems that made such a sale improbable, the assessment by the State Department's intelligence analysts concluded, was that it would have required Niger to send "25 hard-to-conceal 10-ton tractor-trailers" filled with uranium across 1,000 miles and at least one international border.
The analysts' doubts were registered nearly a year before President Bush, in what became known as the infamous "16 words" in his 2003 State of the Union address, said that Saddam Hussein had sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5565



Report from February, 2002 Mission:
What Joseph Wilson Didn't Find in Africa;
"In short, there's simply too much oversight over too small an industry for a sale to have transpired."
Published on Sunday, July 6, 2003 by the New York Times
What I Didn't Find in Africa
by Joseph C. Wilson 4th

Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq?
Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.
For 23 years, from 1976 to 1998, I was a career foreign service officer and ambassador. In 1990, as chargé d'affaires in Baghdad, I was the last American diplomat to meet with Saddam Hussein. (I was also a forceful advocate for his removal from Kuwait.) After Iraq, I was President George H. W. Bush's ambassador to Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe; under President Bill Clinton, I helped direct Africa policy for the National Security Council.

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm



2003 State of the Union:
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
Excerpts from the State of the Union regarding Iraq
Excerpt from President's Remarks
Click here for full transcript
Our nation and the world must learn the lessons of the Korean Peninsula and not allow an even greater threat to rise up in Iraq. A brutal dictator, with a history of reckless aggression, with ties to terrorism, with great potential wealth, will not be permitted to dominate a vital region and threaten the United States. (Applause.)
Twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein faced the prospect of being the last casualty in a war he had started and lost. To spare himself, he agreed to disarm of all weapons of mass destruction. For the next 12 years, he systematically violated that agreement. He pursued chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, even while inspectors were in his country. Nothing to date has restrained him from his pursuit of these weapons -- not economic sanctions, not isolation from the civilized world, not even cruise missile strikes on his military facilities.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-23.html



"Our Hearts Are With You"
Ex-CBS Anchor Cronkite, Who Called for U.S. to Leave Vietnam in '68, Says the Same Now of Iraq
By David Bauder / Associated Press
PASADENA, Calif. Jan 15, 2006 — Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he'd say the same thing today about Iraq.
"It's my belief that we should get out now," Cronkite said in a meeting with reporters.
Now 89, the television journalist once known as "the most trusted man in America" has been off the "CBS Evening News" for nearly a quarter-century. He's still a CBS News employee, although he does little for them.
Cronkite said one of his proudest moments came at the end of a 1968 documentary he made following a visit to Vietnam during the Tet offensive. Urged by his boss to briefly set aside his objectivity to give his view of the situation, Cronkite said the war was unwinnable and that the U.S. should exit.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=584



Bush's Expansion Leaves Workers Behind, Creating a Conflict With the Fed
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- American workers have rarely taken home a smaller share of the nation's prosperity, a condition that is undermining bipartisan support for free trade and creating friction between President George W. Bush's administration and the Federal Reserve.
After 16 consecutive quarters of economic growth, pay is rising at a slower rate than in any similar expansion since the end of World War II. Companies are paying less of their cash gains in the form of wages and salaries than at any time since the Great Depression, according to government figures.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5571



Called-up reservists sue over expenses
Class action lawsuit seeks reimbursement for travel, food and lodging
By Ron Allen / NBC News
Retired Army Captain Louis Tortorella signed up again, right after 9/11. His Massachusetts National Guard unit helped protect sites like reservoirs and military bases.
"I've always learned and appreciated that the military treats everyone equal," Tortorella says. "We all wear the same uniform and defend the same country."
But now he's part of a class-action lawsuit that seeks $73 million in reimbursed expenses and damages. The suit against the Massachusetts National Guard and the Pentagon aims to include between 1,000-1,500 soldiers who were activated by the state's Guard from September 11, 2001 to the present.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5570



Pentagon forbids troops to buy better body armor
by occams hatchet
Mon Jan 16, 2006 at 11:33:31 AM PDT
In a comment thread two days ago, Margot linked to an article at Soldiers for the Truth that stated that U.S. soldiers were recently ordered not to purchase or use alternative body armor. In view of what has come to light about the shortcomings of the standard government-issue armor, I was somewhat taken aback at her comment, and read the article she linked to. I was shocked, to say the least:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/16/133331/558



SOV™ Flexible Body Armor
"Moves when you Move"
Developments in body armor over the last thirty years are numerous, but very few actually have revolutionized the industry. The last two major developments were the introduction of Kevlar and Spectra products which significantly lowered weights compared to ballistic nylon. Now, Pinnacle Armor presents a revolutionary technology called DRAGON SKIN®, the first practical, FLEXIBLE BODY ARMOR that defeats rifle rounds.

http://www.pinnaclearmor.com/body-armor/sov.php



EPA report shows no hazardous waste, chemical spills from Katrina
Associated Press
BILOXI, Miss. - A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report shows no hazardous waste or chemical spills at or near eight Mississippi Gulf Coast plants in the path of Hurricane Katrina.
Some environmentalists say the report is misleading.
EPA investigators took soil and sediment samples around the eight sites and compared the amounts of chemicals in those samples to known levels before the storm. They also compared the results to guidelines developed for lifelong exposure deemed by officials to be safe for people.
"Based on the sampling results, EPA does not believe these sites were impacted by Hurricane Katrina," the report said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5569



Sen. Clinton: House 'has been run like a plantation'
New York senator call Bush Administration 'one of the worst'
NEW YORK (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton on Monday blasted the Bush administration as "one of the worst" in U.S. history and compared the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to a plantation where dissenting voices are squelched.
Speaking during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, Clinton also offered an apology to a group of Hurricane Katrina survivors "on behalf of a government that left you behind, that turned its back on you." Her remarks were met with thunderous applause by a mostly black audience at the Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5552



White House accuses Gore of hypocrisy
By Nedra Pickler / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The White House accused former Vice President Al Gore of hypocrisy Tuesday for his assertion that President Bush broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without court approval.
"If Al Gore is going to be the voice of the Democrats on national security matters, we welcome it," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in a swipe at the Democrat, who lost the 2000 election to Bush.
Gore, in a speech Monday, called for an independent investigation of the administration program that he says broke the law by listening in - without warrants - on Americans suspected of talking with terrorists abroad.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5557



In Desperation, Gonzales Smears Gore
Here’s Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on the Larry King Live show last night:
I would say that with respect to comments by the former vice president it’s my understanding that during the Clinton administration there was activity regarding the physical searches without warrants, Aldrich Ames as an example.
I can also say that it’s my understanding that the deputy attorney general testified before Congress that the president does have the inherent authority under the Constitution to engage in physical searches without a warrant and so those would certainly seem to be inconsistent with what the former vice president was saying today.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/17/gonzales-smears-gore/



WORST PRESIDENT EVER (PICTURE)

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blbushworstpresident.htm


Statement by Former Vice President Al Gore
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a statement by former Vice President Al Gore:
"The Administration's response to my speech illustrates perfectly the need for a special counsel to review the legality of the NSA wiretapping program. The Attorney General is making a political defense of the President without even addressing the substantive legal questions that have so troubled millions of Americans in both political parties.
"There are two problems with the Attorney General's effort to focus attention on the past instead of the present Administration's behavior. First, as others have thoroughly documented, his charges are factually wrong. Both before and after the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was amended in 1995, the Clinton/Gore Administration complied fully and completely with the terms of the law.
"Second, the Attorney General's attempt to cite a previous administration's activity as precedent for theirs -- even though factually wrong -- ironically demonstrates another reason why we must be so vigilant about their brazen disregard for the law. If unchecked, their behavior would serve as a precedent to encourage future presidents to claim these same powers, which many legal experts in both parties believe are clearly illegal.
"The issue, simply put, is that for more than four years, the executive branch has been wiretapping many thousands of American citizens without warrants in direct contradiction of American law. It is clearly wrong and disrespectful to the American people to allow a close political associate of the president to be in charge of reviewing serious charges against him.
"The country needs a full and independent investigation into the facts and legality of the present Administration's program."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5559



Bush: Worst President Ever?
By Stephen Pizzo, News for Real. Posted May 20, 2005.
Herbert Hoover may have triggered the Great Depression, but he didn't invade another nation on false pretenses, authorize torture of prisoners, or try to stack the courts.
For the record, I don't like George Bush. And I don't like most of the people who work for George Bush. So, diehard Republicans can just brush aside my remarks as so much partisan blather.
But by now I suppose very few diehard Republicans ever read what I write. So do me a favor -- e-mail this to the diehards in your family and circle of friends. Ask them to tell me why I am wrong about this:
George Bush is the worst president of the United States of America, ever. Hands down.
And here are just a few reasons why I believe that statement is true.

http://www.alternet.org/story/22057/



Sydney Morning Herald

US forces admit holding Iraqi women prisoners
US forces in Iraq have admitted holding eight female prisoners, after the abductors of an American journalist threatened to kill her unless the authorities freed all Iraqi women within 72 hours.
Concern is growing for Jill Carroll with her newspaper and family making pleas for her release.
"We have eight females. They are being held for the same reasons as the others, namely that they are a threat to security," said Lieutenant Aaron Henninger, a spokesman for the US military detentions operation. Some 14,000 men are held at Abu Ghraib and other jails on suspicion of insurgent activity.
Carroll, 28, a freelance journalist working for the Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped in Baghdad on January 7.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/us-holding-eight-iraqi-women-prisoners/2006/01/19/1137553700265.html



Olmert offers to resume peace talks where Sharon left off
JERUSALEM: Israel's acting Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, is willing to resume peace talks with the Palestinians if they meet longstanding Israeli demands to break up armed factions.
But Palestinian elections on January 25 could further complicate peace efforts. The Islamic faction Hamas is expected to do well and might become part of the Palestinian government.
Hamas, which has carried out many attacks against Israel, says it will not lay down its weapons after the poll. Israel insists it will not deal with Hamas, which it labels a terrorist organisation.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/olmert-offers-to-resume-peace-talks-where-sharon-left-off/2006/01/18/1137553646149.html



A whale of a time
A sailor's insistence on giving his five children as many as four surprise lifeboat drills a day saved their lives when the family launch sank after hitting a whale off New Zealand's Bay of Islands.
Valentine Picton's youngsters, aged from 4 to 15, were asleep about 7.30am yesterday morning when he yelled "lifejackets!", the New Zealand Herald reported.
It said the pyjama-clad children raced from their bunks to the stern of the 15-metre boat and had donned their lifejackets in what Picton said was about 40 seconds.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/whale-sinks-boat-not-family/2006/01/19/1137553687746.html


NASA ecstatic over star dust
NASA is "ecstatic" and surprised over the condition and visibility of comet particles contained inside the tightly sealed canister that returned from a far-flung corner of the solar system on Sunday.
The Stardust capsule was opened late on Tuesday at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston after a top security transport from the Dugway Proving Grounds in western Utah, where it ended its seven-year four-billion-kilometre journey to the comet Wild 2.
Bill Jeffs, a spokesman for NASA, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that some of the particles were so large they could be seen by the naked eye. He said NASA officials were "ecstatic" and "surprised" by the condition of the particles.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/nasa-ecstatic-over-particles/2006/01/19/1137553685820.html


Corby's 20-year sentence reinstated
By Mark Forbes and AAP
January 19, 2006 - 7:45PM
Schapelle Corby's original 20-year sentence for smuggling marijuana into Indonesia has been reinstated.
Corby was granted a five-year sentence reduction in October after she appealed the original sentence.
Despite the reduction, she told lawyers to keep fighting to have the conviction overturned.
However, court officials confirmed this evening that the original sentence had been reimposed on January 12 after an appeal from prosecutors.
Corby's lawyers and prosecutors did not know about the latest decision until late today.
Her Bali lawyer, Erwin Siregar, said he had been told about the Indonesian Supreme Court's decision to reinstate the sentence.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/general/corbys-20year-sentence-reinstated/2006/01/19/1137553705401.html


Corby's brother on drug charge
A Queensland court's been told convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby's half brother broke into a home because he believed the occupants had information that could help his sister's bid for freedom.
James Sioeli Kisina, 18, from Loganlea, south of Brisbane, was remanded in custody after a brief appearance today at Beenleigh Magistrates Court.
Police claim Kisina and two of his friends stole a large quantity of cannabis and cash during a home invasion in Rochedale in Brisbane's south on Tuesday.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/corbys-brother-on-drug-charge/2006/01/19/1137553692261.html


Riot charge analyst's 'reputation in tatters'
January 19, 2006 - 4:04PM
A finance analyst accused of kicking a man in the stomach during the Cronulla race riot has been granted bail in a Sydney court.
Peter Higgs, 33, of Engadine, appeared in Sutherland Local Court today charged with riot, affray and offensive behaviour.
Higgs allegedly kicked a man in the stomach, knocking him to the ground as the man fled from an unruly crowd at Cronulla's Dunningham Park on December 11.
The court was told the crowd was in a "frenzy", its members lashing out at the man with their legs and fists as he ran to police for protection.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/riot-charge-analysts-reputation-in-tatters/2006/01/19/1137553700131.html


Sydney tunnel collapse: no one cause
Geological factors have been blamed for the partial collapse late last year of Sydney's Lane Cove Tunnel, severely damaging a unit block and forcing the evacuation of about 50 residents.
The tunnel gave way during construction on November 2, opening a 10-metre hole beneath an adjacent unit block in a major embarrassment to the NSW Government, already reeling from anger over the Cross City Tunnel.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sydney-tunnel-collapse-no-one-cause/2006/01/19/1137553696217.html



The high cost of losing our religion
The rebels of the 1970s failed to understand the power of the church as a social force writes Julia Baird.
IN 1970, a Sydney University student, Irina Dunn, was reading a 19th-century philosophy text on atheism for her English honours course when she stumbled across a phrase: "A man needs God like a fish needs a bicycle."
Being, as she later described herself, "a bit of a smart-arse", she changed the words to "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle" and graffitied it on two toilet doors: one at Sydney University and another at a wine bar in Woolloomooloo.
From there it was telegraphed almost immediately to the rest of the Western world.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/the-high-cost-of-losing-our-religion/2006/01/18/1137553646213.html



Guilty by association, racial science makes a bid for rehabilitation
January 19, 2006
Page 1 of 2
… but there is a danger that unreflective denial of race will be replaced by equally uncritical acceptance, writes Marek Kohn.
RACIAL science has discovered the art, and the power, of flattery. A paper published last year, Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence, argued that Ashkenazi Jews were considerably more intelligent than other Europeans, because their history of moneylending and other financial occupations favoured genes associated with cleverness.
The principle was essentially the same as the one underlying The Bell Curve, in which Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein suggested that black people might be innately less intelligent than white people, that race is biologically real and that some races are intellectually superior to others. But the public reaction was strikingly different. There was none of the outrage that followed The Bell Curve's appearance in 1994. Instead there were thoughtful commentaries on the paper's arguments, and an undertone of complacency.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/racial-science-makes-a-bid-for-rehabilitation/2006/01/18/1137553646219.html



Apple acts on iTunes
Apple has sought to defuse controversy surrounding the MiniStore data collection technology in the latest version of iTunes, as it simplifies the process for customers wanting to opt out of the service.
The MiniStore feature was rolled out in version 6.0.2 of iTunes. It tracks songs in customer playlists so as to send customers other relevant song recommendations.
Although the feature can be deactivated, consumers complained they were not warned about it before downloading the new version, and had not received adequate explanation of how much data was being collected about them or their purchases.
Privacy has emerged as a highly sensitive topic in music media ever since a disastrous attempt by Sony BMG to introduce copy protection software on music CDs that caused technical problems for customers.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking/apple-acts-on-itunes-privacy-concerns/2006/01/19/1137553690775.html


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