"Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Guns and hand grenades for Palestinian boys.
January 24, 2006.
Palestinian children dressed as militants at a Gaza Rally.
Morning Papers - It's Origins
USA Wildfires
Firefighter braves wildfires deep in the heart of Texas
By JOHN MOORE Staff writer
WAGENER — David Widener has 22 years of experience fighting fires with the S.C. Forestry Commission, but the recent Texas wildfires were unlike anything he has seen before.
Widener, a bulldozer operator, spent 15 days battling wildfires that burned thousands of acres in central Texas.
He arrived Jan. 1, the day after a fire burned more than 35,000 acres and 60 homes in the area.
“The fires were running 200-300 feet per minute,” Widener said. “We didn’t really have to do much plowing. We mostly handled water. There were fires all over. You can’t get in front of it plowing. We just had to wait for the wind to die down or for it to hit natural barriers.”
Widener said helicopters dropped water on the fires, and much of the work plowing was done to protect property and houses.
“A lot of times we had to flank a fire and run the sides of it,” Widener said. “Sometimes we had to get 20 miles ahead of the fire to plow. We had to make a good break to slow it down.”
Widener said the weather was extremely windy.
“The fire causes the wind to blow even stronger,” Widener said. “When I left, the wind was getting to 30 mph even during the middle of the night.”
Widener said no significant rainfall is expected in some parts
Please see FIREFIGHTER, page 8A
of Texas until spring.
“I wouldn’t want to live in Texas now,” Widener said. “The place hasn’t seen a decent rain since September.”
Widener returned home Monday morning.
“The least hours we worked a day was 12 hours,” Widener said. “We worked 15, 16 or 17 hours some days — we worked a lot of hours.”
While the work was difficult, Widener enjoyed the experience.
“I love my job,” Widener said. “It’s a great job. It is a very flexible job. I can do something else working for the forestry commission.”
When there is a call, Widener drives brings his bulldozer to fight the fire.
“I plow out fires in state, but I can go anywhere in the Southeast,” Widener said. “We have a compact with other states. If they need us we will go to them, if we need them they will come to us.”
Widener has fought fires in Florida and California, but the Texas experience was very different.
“California had similar terrain but more mountainous,” Widener said. “The terrain was nothing like I expected it to be. That was the first time I’ve ever been in Texas. When they show pictures of Texas, they show the good parts.”
Widener said the area surrounding McGregor, Texas, where he fought most of the fires, was flat grassland with a few cedar trees.
Widener said even the leader of the firefighting efforts had not seen fires like the ones that were burning during the first part of the month.
“This was all new to him,” Widener said. “He had to learn how to do things he never had to do before.”
Widener said there 12 people from the SC Forestry Commission now in Texas fighting wildfires.
Contact John Moore at jmoore@aikenstandard.com
http://www.aikenstandard.com/122306.ihtml
Local fireman battles Texas wildfires
From staff and wire reports
An Horry County firefighter has returned home after 15 days of fighting Texas wildfires so severe that President Bush declared a major disaster in the state.
Bulldozer operator and wildfire veteran Matt Schlaefer of Myrtle Beach was among five S.C. Forestry Commission firefighters who went to the Lone Star State on New Year's Day.
Twelve more Forestry Commission firemen are still fighting the Texas blazes.
According to the Forestry Commission, Schlaefer served in central Texas as an initial attack firefighter, being among the first to respond to a wildfire.
After hundreds of destructive wildfires in recent weeks, President Bush on Wednesday declared a major disaster in Texas, enabling residents of stricken communities to tap into a broad range of federal assistance.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram last week reported that since Jan. 1, more than 240,000 acres have burned across Texas.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/13646014.htm
Currently there are two fires still ablaze on the Map.
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Fierce winds whip through Southern Calif.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- Fierce Santa Ana winds whipping through Southern California on Monday fanned brush and house fires, knocked out power to 77,000 utility customers and littered roads with palm fronds and trash cans.
The dry wind, gusting near 70 mph in some places, roared out of the desert and down mountain passes and canyons to the coast, sending firefighters chasing outbreaks and toppling big rigs on highways.
One fire destroyed a home and damaged five others in the Tujunga section, and a blaze in suburban La Canada Flintridge forced evacuation of 15 homes before it was contained.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_California_Winds.html
Earthquake strikes off coast of Vanuatu
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY, Australia -- A magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck Monday near Vanuatu in the South Pacific, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The earthquake occurred just after 5 p.m. local time about 40 miles northwest of the Vanuatu capital of Port Vila, the USGS said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at Ewa Beach, Hawaii, said the quake could cause a localized tsunami but ruled out a Pacific-wide tsunami.
New Zealand's High Commissioner to Vanuatu, Paul Willis, said the earthquake was "short and sharp."
"As far as I can see there was no damage," he said in a telephone interview.
A phone call to the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office in Port Vila was not immediately answered.
Vanuatu is an 80-island archipelago located about 1,400 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia. A volcano on one of the country's islands began erupting in November after a 10-year slumber, causing thousands of residents to flee to makeshift camps.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Vanuatu_Quake.html
Wildfires rage in southern Australia
By DENNIS PASSA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Wildfires raged across southern Australia on Monday, and a firefighter was killed as a fire truck overturned speeding to a blaze, police said. Distraught ranchers shot cattle injured by the flames.
Three other firefighters were injured in the accident at an intersection 56 miles northeast of Melbourne, police spokesman Greg Jenkins said.
Around 10,000 firefighters were working to contain more than two dozen wildfires that have killed thousands of head of livestock and left two people dead late Sunday when their car plowed into a tree as they drove through a fire region.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Australia_Wildfire.html
Landslide kills eight in Papua New Guinea
By JEANNETTE FRANCIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SYDNEY, Australia -- A landslide sent mud and boulders smashing through a remote village in Papua New Guinea, killing at least eight people and leaving five more missing and feared dead, an emergency service official said Tuesday.
The landslide swept through the village of Bapa, 75 miles north of the capital Port Moresby, on Friday night after weeks of rain soaked the area, the Morobe Province disaster coordinator Tera Gauba told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
News of the extent of the devastation and loss of life in the remote and inaccessible region only emerged Tuesday in Port Moresby.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Papua_New_Guinea_Landslide.html
W.Va. lawmakers approve mine safety rules
By LAWRENCE MESSINA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- After 14 coal mining deaths in three weeks, West Virginia lawmakers unanimously passed a bill Monday that would require mines to use electronic devices to track trapped miners and stockpile oxygen to keep them alive until help arrives.
The Senate and House both acted speedily at the urging of Gov. Joe Manchin, who unveiled the legislation about 11 a.m. and pressed lawmakers to pass it by the end of the day.
"We can't afford to wait any longer," Manchin said after two miners were found dead over the weekend in a mine fire in Melville. Three weeks ago, 12 miners died after an explosion at the Sago Mine.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Mine_Fire.html?source=mypi
Gay rights bill may be just the start
Same-sex marriage also a hot topic for lawmakers
By CHRIS McGANN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT
OLYMPIA -- Gay rights and gay marriage are on a collision course in the Legislature this year, and the Democrats in power are doing everything they can to bring home the former before the latter becomes an issue.
Eight years ago, a Legislative supermajority outlawed gay marriage.
This week, lawmakers are on the verge of outlawing discrimination of gays and lesbians in employment, housing and lending at the same time the state Supreme Court is poised to hand down its ruling on their earlier work.
A worst-case scenario for Democrats would be if the high court ruled against the Defense of Marriage Act and asked the Legislature to make the fix. Democrats who have championed the gay rights bill would be forced to take a stand on the much more controversial issue of gay marriage.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256807_gayrights24.html
National Security: Yes, ban torture
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
President Bush has run into more embarrassment over his handling of questions about torture. Twenty-two former military leaders sent a letter last week asking the president to enforce the new ban on torture.
When ex-military leaders such as retired Marine Gen. Joseph Hoar and Rear Adm. John Hutson, a former Navy judge advocate general, feel they have to ask a president to enforce policy within the rest of his administration, it's a cause for national worry. It's worse that the issue is torture, which has already severely damaged U.S. credibility.
After making a show of the president's decision to sign the anti-torture legislation written by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the White House quietly issued a "signing statement" that seemed to say there are loopholes. The document said the White House "shall construe (the legislation) in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the president ... as commander in chief." Legal experts, several Republican senators and even White House officials told the Boston Globe that the statement meant the president believes he can waive the torture ban when he judges it vital to security.
The military leaders' letter told the president that troops are endangered by any suggestion torture is acceptable. They wrote, "Clear and unambiguous implementation (of the anti-torture measure) will help ensure that our brave men and women in uniform will never again feel that to prevail against the enemy they must risk their honor or the values they fight to protect." It's embarrassing enough that that needed to be said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/256719_tortured.asp
Laguna Beach tradition becomes battlefield
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- For 40 years, this quaint city overlooking the Pacific has united around its annual Patriots' Day Parade, a celebration of school marching bands, charities, civic groups and military personnel.
The small-town tradition, though, has become an unlikely battlefield in the national debate over illegal immigration.
The nonprofit group that runs the parade recently rejected a float sponsored by the Minuteman Project, a self-styled border patrol run by illegal immigration opponent Jim Gilchrist. Now, his group is threatening legal action on free-speech and discrimination grounds and has gone to the airwaves to criticize the city and its parade.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Parade_Politics.html
Super puzzle completed
Star power meshes with bit players
By DANNY O'NEIL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Seattle's stars stood out, evident in spite of the clouds that hovered over the city and shining through the confetti and fireworks that filled Qwest Field.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/256670_hawk23.html
Heiress Paris Hilton dances at the Blender Sessions party in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
(January 22, 2006)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ae/popup.asp?gtitle=Sundance%20Film%20Festival&SubID=1374&page=0&css=/photos/gtitle.css&pubdate=01/22/06
Software Notebook: Is Gates' prediction on spam a bust?
By TODD BISHOP
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
It was a prediction that captured the attention of the international media and weary Internet users alike: "Two years from now, spam will be solved," Microsoft's Bill Gates said.
Well, time's up.
As of this week, two years have passed since Gates made that declaration at the 2004 World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Microsoft and others point to progress in the struggle against unwanted e-mail, on several fronts. A Federal Trade Commission report last month concluded that the overall volume of spam "has begun to level off."
But has the problem of spam e-mail been solved?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/256579_software23.asp
Tug sinks in Elliott Bay
Foundering boat nearly pulls another one down with it
By JAKE ELLISON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The 101-foot tugboat Island Brave sank early Sunday afternoon where it was moored in Elliott Bay at the mouth of the Duwamish River, nearly dragging another tug down with it.
The cause of the tugboat's sinking was unknown Sunday. The boat's owners don't expect to determine the cause at least until today, when they hope to lift the Island Brave back to the surface.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256652_tugboat23.html
Eavesdropping leaps into 21st century
By MATTHEW FORDAHL
AP TECHNOLOGY WRITER
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In the past, intercepting communications meant just that - copying a telegram mid-route, steaming open an envelope or attaching alligator clips to the copper wires that connected every telephone in the world.
But the old ways of communicating are heading into the sunset like the Pony Express and being replaced by phone calls, instant messages, e-mail and more that are converted into digital data before they gallop across the Internet and other advanced networks.
This constant interchange of massive amounts of data, converging into speeding bitstreams on common pipes, is both a blessing and a curse for eavesdroppers.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Wiretap_Tech.html
DNA exonerates Fla. man after 24 years
By MITCH STACY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TAMPA, Fla. -- Alan Crotzer stepped into the warm sunlight outside the courthouse Monday and raised his arms to the sky, celebrating his freedom after more than 24 years behind bars for crimes he didn't commit.
A judge freed the 45-year-old Crotzer after DNA testing and other evidence convinced prosecutors he was not involved in the 1981 armed robbery and rapes that led to his 130-year prison sentence.
"It's been a long time coming," said Crotzer, his black hair graying at the temples. "Thank God for this day."
Crotzer walked free more than three years after he wrote to the Innocence Project in New York, a legal clinic that seeks to exonerate inmates through DNA testing.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_DNA_Exoneration.html
Judge orders man removed from death row
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A man convicted of three murders was taken off death row after a federal judge ruled that an IQ test administered when the inmate was 10 showed he was mentally retarded.
U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle's decision made Elton O. McLaughlin, 55, the 12th death row inmate in the state spared because of mental retardation.
Boyle ruled that a test showing McLaughlin had an IQ of 70 was valid, even though it was administered in the 1960s by a teacher and not by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, as state law requires.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_BRF_Death_Row_IQ.html
Katrina evacuees face eviction in Dallas
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS -- Some Hurricane Katrina evacuees face possible eviction from their rental housing because the Dallas Housing Authority has not paid their December rent.
Under the housing authority's rental voucher program, evacuees receive a voucher to cover their rent and utilities through February. The housing authority then makes payments directly to the landlord.
But the program has been overwhelmed by 6,600 applications and has fallen behind on rent payments, The Dallas Morning News reported in Tuesday editions.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Evacuee_Housing.html
Uganda rebels kill eight U.N. peacekeepers
By EDDY ISANGO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KINSHASA, Congo -- Ugandan rebels ambushed U.N. peacekeepers in Congo on Monday, killing eight of them in a gunbattle that also left 15 attackers dead near the Sudanese border, U.N. officials said.
The Guatemalan peacekeepers were looking for Lord's Resistance Army rebels from Uganda who were believed to be in Garamba National Park, in Congo's remote northeast, U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said.
The incident was the second largest single loss of life suffered by the 16,000-strong peacekeeping mission since it began in 1999. Nine Bangladeshi troops were killed in February 2005 by ethnic militiamen.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Congo_UN_Violence.html
Pakistanis kept from visiting attack site
By RIAZ KHAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
YUKKA GHUND, Pakistan -- Pakistani security forces stopped Islamist opposition leaders Monday from reaching a border village hit by a U.S. missile strike, curbing an anti-American protest as the prime minister visited Washington.
The opposition politicians, addressing hundreds of their supporters at a roadblock in the foothills of the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, condemned the obstruction and branded President Gen. Pervez Musharraf as an "American slave."
"The government doesn't want political parties to create awareness among the tribal people about their rights. That's why we are stopped here," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of the six-party Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) or United Action Front.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Pakistan_Al_Qaida_Attack.html
Pakistani PM plays down tension with U.S.
By FOSTER KLUG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz brushed aside tensions with the United States as he prepared for a meeting Tuesday with President Bush.
Aziz's trip to the White House comes at a strained point in U.S.-Pakistani relations, with many in the Islamic nation blasting the U.S. for a Jan. 13 airstrike in a remote area of northern Pakistan that killed at least 13 civilians, including women and children.
During a speech Monday at the Heritage Foundation, Aziz played down deteriorating relations, calling America "our friend and ally."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_US_Pakistan.html
Rahul Gandhi says he hopes to lead India
By OMER FAROOQ
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HYDERABAD, India -- Rahul Gandhi, heir to India's pre-eminent political dynasty, told supporters Monday he hopes to lead the country but urged them to be patient as he builds a following.
Gandhi, 35, whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather were all prime ministers of the giant subcontinent nation, has kept a relatively low-profile since being elected to parliament in 2004, focusing on his constituency in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
But he spoke of his aspirations in response to demands from backers of the ruling Congress party at the party's annual convention in this capital of Andhra Pradesh state.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_India_Rahul_Gandhi.html
Six killed in southwest Iran bombings
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TEHRAN, Iran -- Bombs killed six people and wounded more than 30 others Tuesday in Ahvaz, a southwestern city with a history of violence involving members of Iran's Arab minority, Iranian state media reported.
The bombs exploded outside a bank and a state environmental agency building in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad canceled a planned visit to Ahvaz Tuesday, citing a forecast calling for heavy rain, IRNA reported. The report did not say whether the blast had any bearing on the cancellation.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iran_Explosions.html
Two U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq bombing
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A roadside bomb has killed two U.S. soldiers in Baghdad and two Marines died in a vehicle accident in western Iraq, the military said Tuesday.
All four of the troops died Monday, the military said. One of the soldiers was killed at the scene of the bombing, while the other died en route to a hospital. The Marines died in a non-hostile vehicle accident near Taqaddum, about 45 miles west of Baghdad.
Also Tuesday, a car bomb exploded in eastern Baghdad shortly before the resumption of the Saddam Hussein trial, wounding at least one policeman and one civilian, said police Maj. Qusai Ibrahim.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Violence.html
Sunnis in Iraq urged to defend themselves
By PAUL GARWOOD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A leading Sunni Arab party Tuesday urged fellow Sunnis to confront armed attacks on their community following a raid on a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad in which three men were killed and more than 20 abducted.
Also Tuesday, two German engineers were kidnapped north of Baghdad by gunmen in two cars, police said. The U.S. military said a roadside bombing in Baghdad killed two U.S. soldiers Monday and two Marines died in a vehicle accident west of the capital.
The call for Sunnis to defend themselves was made in a statement issued by the Iraqi Islamic Party a day after gunmen, some wearing uniforms of the Shiite-led government security forces, swept into the Toubji area of Baghdad, raiding houses, abducting males and shooting three men dead.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Report: Sharon's doctors concealed info
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's health problems were more serious than doctors indicated before the stroke that has left him comatose, an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday.
The Haaretz newspaper said Sharon had a large aneurysm in the septum between the chambers of his heart. He also suffered from a shunt that causes blood to flow in the wrong direction through a tiny hole in the septum, the newspaper said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Israel_Sharon.html
Harper wins narrow victory in Canada
By BETH DUFF-BROWN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OTTAWA -- Conservative leader Stephen Harper narrowly lost his chance at becoming prime minister in the 2004 elections after opponents painted him as a scary right-winger who would reshape the landscape like a U.S.-style evangelical Republican.
This time around the scare tactics didn't work.
Despite the fears that Liberals conjured up, Harper won a narrow victory over Prime Minister Paul Martin in Monday's general elections.
The 46-year-old economist, who often makes fun of his lackluster personality, will become the 22nd prime minister when he's sworn in, likely in the next week or so.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101AP_Canada_Harper.html
The Jerusalem Post
Security forces arrest one of Sasson Nuriel's murderers
Abdullah Arar, 29, a Hamas fugitive who planned and participated in the abduction and murder of Sasson Nuriel in September last year, was arrested by security forces overnight Monday in Ramallah.
Sources in the Shin Bet said that most of the cell members involved in Nuriel's abduction and murder were arrested in the days after the incident, and details gleaned from them revealed that Arar was the key planner of the attack; he also participated in Nuriel's murder.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605903156&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
IDF kills Palestinian near Shvut Rahel
Talkbacks for this article: 2
IDF soldiers deployed south-east of Shvut Rahel, near El Muair in the Binyamin District, shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian youth in his chest after he and a companion repeatedly ignored soldiers' warnings to halt their actions.
The army summoned a helicopter to transport the youth to a hospital, but he died before arrival.
The military said on Tuesday morning that it was investigating the incident.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1137605900036&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Hamas kidnaps, kills J'lem candy maker
A 50-year-old Jewish resident of Jerusalem was kidnapped and brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists, police said in late September.
The body of Sasson Nuriel of the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev was found on September 26 in the West Bank village of Beitunya, near Ramallah, five days after he was reported missing.
A court gag order which had been in place at the police's request was partially lifted that afternoon after a news blackout on the abduction.
Nuriel's body was found after a four-day joint Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), IDF and police manhunt which resulted in the capture of one of the suspected members of the Hamas cell believed responsible for the killing, Jerusalem police said.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1137605903678&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Ezra: Barghouti won't be PA minister
Talkbacks for this article: 6
The government won't allow jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti to serve as a minister in the Palestinian Authority following Wednesday's elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
"He won't be a minister from prison. How can he be a minister from prison?" Ezra said. "There is someone sitting in jail who has been elected mayor of Kalkilya. [Do you think] he serves as the mayor of Kalkilya? He is in jail."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605901205&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
US won't cut PA ties if Hamas in cabinet
Talkbacks for this article: 3
The US won't deal with Hamas ministers in a future Palestinian Authority government, but will also not cut off ties with the PA as a result of Hamas's inclusion, diplomatic officials said Monday.
According to the officials, the US formula for dealing with a PA government following Wednesday's elections would be based on the "Lebanese model." In Lebanon, the officials said, the US continues to have strong ties with the government in Beirut even though Hizbullah is part of it. It does not, however, have any contact with the one Hizbullah minister.
The officials said that since Hamas was on the US list of terrorist organizations, the US would be legally proscribed from having contact or dealing with Hamas officials, even if they were PA ministers.
At the same time, they said, the law would not necessarily proscribe the US from continuing to deal with the PA or contributing money to it.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605901460&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Analysis: Franklin case shows what's in store at the AIPAC trial
Friday's sentencing of Larry Franklin, the former Pentagon analyst who was convicted of communicating classified information to staffers at the America Israel Public Affairs Association and to an Israeli diplomat, is only the first of the trials in the case, but it can serve as an indicator to what can be expected when the second begins in late April.
Judge T.S. Ellis of the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, set forth two important principles when sentencing Franklin to 12 1/2 years in prison: The first was accepting Franklin's claim that he had no intention other than helping what he believed to be American interests, and the second was that no matter what the intentions might have been, the law is the law and whoever breaks it faces harsh punishment.
For former AIPAC staffers, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, this means good news and bad news. The good news is that the court does not seem to see the matter as an espionage case or as an act directed at harming the US or assisting a foreign nation. The bad news is that this perception doesn't really make any difference on the legal level.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605901484&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
continued …
Firefighter braves wildfires deep in the heart of Texas
By JOHN MOORE Staff writer
WAGENER — David Widener has 22 years of experience fighting fires with the S.C. Forestry Commission, but the recent Texas wildfires were unlike anything he has seen before.
Widener, a bulldozer operator, spent 15 days battling wildfires that burned thousands of acres in central Texas.
He arrived Jan. 1, the day after a fire burned more than 35,000 acres and 60 homes in the area.
“The fires were running 200-300 feet per minute,” Widener said. “We didn’t really have to do much plowing. We mostly handled water. There were fires all over. You can’t get in front of it plowing. We just had to wait for the wind to die down or for it to hit natural barriers.”
Widener said helicopters dropped water on the fires, and much of the work plowing was done to protect property and houses.
“A lot of times we had to flank a fire and run the sides of it,” Widener said. “Sometimes we had to get 20 miles ahead of the fire to plow. We had to make a good break to slow it down.”
Widener said the weather was extremely windy.
“The fire causes the wind to blow even stronger,” Widener said. “When I left, the wind was getting to 30 mph even during the middle of the night.”
Widener said no significant rainfall is expected in some parts
Please see FIREFIGHTER, page 8A
of Texas until spring.
“I wouldn’t want to live in Texas now,” Widener said. “The place hasn’t seen a decent rain since September.”
Widener returned home Monday morning.
“The least hours we worked a day was 12 hours,” Widener said. “We worked 15, 16 or 17 hours some days — we worked a lot of hours.”
While the work was difficult, Widener enjoyed the experience.
“I love my job,” Widener said. “It’s a great job. It is a very flexible job. I can do something else working for the forestry commission.”
When there is a call, Widener drives brings his bulldozer to fight the fire.
“I plow out fires in state, but I can go anywhere in the Southeast,” Widener said. “We have a compact with other states. If they need us we will go to them, if we need them they will come to us.”
Widener has fought fires in Florida and California, but the Texas experience was very different.
“California had similar terrain but more mountainous,” Widener said. “The terrain was nothing like I expected it to be. That was the first time I’ve ever been in Texas. When they show pictures of Texas, they show the good parts.”
Widener said the area surrounding McGregor, Texas, where he fought most of the fires, was flat grassland with a few cedar trees.
Widener said even the leader of the firefighting efforts had not seen fires like the ones that were burning during the first part of the month.
“This was all new to him,” Widener said. “He had to learn how to do things he never had to do before.”
Widener said there 12 people from the SC Forestry Commission now in Texas fighting wildfires.
Contact John Moore at jmoore@aikenstandard.com
http://www.aikenstandard.com/122306.ihtml
Local fireman battles Texas wildfires
From staff and wire reports
An Horry County firefighter has returned home after 15 days of fighting Texas wildfires so severe that President Bush declared a major disaster in the state.
Bulldozer operator and wildfire veteran Matt Schlaefer of Myrtle Beach was among five S.C. Forestry Commission firefighters who went to the Lone Star State on New Year's Day.
Twelve more Forestry Commission firemen are still fighting the Texas blazes.
According to the Forestry Commission, Schlaefer served in central Texas as an initial attack firefighter, being among the first to respond to a wildfire.
After hundreds of destructive wildfires in recent weeks, President Bush on Wednesday declared a major disaster in Texas, enabling residents of stricken communities to tap into a broad range of federal assistance.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram last week reported that since Jan. 1, more than 240,000 acres have burned across Texas.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/13646014.htm
Currently there are two fires still ablaze on the Map.
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Fierce winds whip through Southern Calif.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- Fierce Santa Ana winds whipping through Southern California on Monday fanned brush and house fires, knocked out power to 77,000 utility customers and littered roads with palm fronds and trash cans.
The dry wind, gusting near 70 mph in some places, roared out of the desert and down mountain passes and canyons to the coast, sending firefighters chasing outbreaks and toppling big rigs on highways.
One fire destroyed a home and damaged five others in the Tujunga section, and a blaze in suburban La Canada Flintridge forced evacuation of 15 homes before it was contained.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_California_Winds.html
Earthquake strikes off coast of Vanuatu
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY, Australia -- A magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck Monday near Vanuatu in the South Pacific, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The earthquake occurred just after 5 p.m. local time about 40 miles northwest of the Vanuatu capital of Port Vila, the USGS said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at Ewa Beach, Hawaii, said the quake could cause a localized tsunami but ruled out a Pacific-wide tsunami.
New Zealand's High Commissioner to Vanuatu, Paul Willis, said the earthquake was "short and sharp."
"As far as I can see there was no damage," he said in a telephone interview.
A phone call to the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office in Port Vila was not immediately answered.
Vanuatu is an 80-island archipelago located about 1,400 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia. A volcano on one of the country's islands began erupting in November after a 10-year slumber, causing thousands of residents to flee to makeshift camps.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Vanuatu_Quake.html
Wildfires rage in southern Australia
By DENNIS PASSA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Wildfires raged across southern Australia on Monday, and a firefighter was killed as a fire truck overturned speeding to a blaze, police said. Distraught ranchers shot cattle injured by the flames.
Three other firefighters were injured in the accident at an intersection 56 miles northeast of Melbourne, police spokesman Greg Jenkins said.
Around 10,000 firefighters were working to contain more than two dozen wildfires that have killed thousands of head of livestock and left two people dead late Sunday when their car plowed into a tree as they drove through a fire region.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Australia_Wildfire.html
Landslide kills eight in Papua New Guinea
By JEANNETTE FRANCIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SYDNEY, Australia -- A landslide sent mud and boulders smashing through a remote village in Papua New Guinea, killing at least eight people and leaving five more missing and feared dead, an emergency service official said Tuesday.
The landslide swept through the village of Bapa, 75 miles north of the capital Port Moresby, on Friday night after weeks of rain soaked the area, the Morobe Province disaster coordinator Tera Gauba told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
News of the extent of the devastation and loss of life in the remote and inaccessible region only emerged Tuesday in Port Moresby.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Papua_New_Guinea_Landslide.html
W.Va. lawmakers approve mine safety rules
By LAWRENCE MESSINA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- After 14 coal mining deaths in three weeks, West Virginia lawmakers unanimously passed a bill Monday that would require mines to use electronic devices to track trapped miners and stockpile oxygen to keep them alive until help arrives.
The Senate and House both acted speedily at the urging of Gov. Joe Manchin, who unveiled the legislation about 11 a.m. and pressed lawmakers to pass it by the end of the day.
"We can't afford to wait any longer," Manchin said after two miners were found dead over the weekend in a mine fire in Melville. Three weeks ago, 12 miners died after an explosion at the Sago Mine.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Mine_Fire.html?source=mypi
Gay rights bill may be just the start
Same-sex marriage also a hot topic for lawmakers
By CHRIS McGANN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT
OLYMPIA -- Gay rights and gay marriage are on a collision course in the Legislature this year, and the Democrats in power are doing everything they can to bring home the former before the latter becomes an issue.
Eight years ago, a Legislative supermajority outlawed gay marriage.
This week, lawmakers are on the verge of outlawing discrimination of gays and lesbians in employment, housing and lending at the same time the state Supreme Court is poised to hand down its ruling on their earlier work.
A worst-case scenario for Democrats would be if the high court ruled against the Defense of Marriage Act and asked the Legislature to make the fix. Democrats who have championed the gay rights bill would be forced to take a stand on the much more controversial issue of gay marriage.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256807_gayrights24.html
National Security: Yes, ban torture
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
President Bush has run into more embarrassment over his handling of questions about torture. Twenty-two former military leaders sent a letter last week asking the president to enforce the new ban on torture.
When ex-military leaders such as retired Marine Gen. Joseph Hoar and Rear Adm. John Hutson, a former Navy judge advocate general, feel they have to ask a president to enforce policy within the rest of his administration, it's a cause for national worry. It's worse that the issue is torture, which has already severely damaged U.S. credibility.
After making a show of the president's decision to sign the anti-torture legislation written by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the White House quietly issued a "signing statement" that seemed to say there are loopholes. The document said the White House "shall construe (the legislation) in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the president ... as commander in chief." Legal experts, several Republican senators and even White House officials told the Boston Globe that the statement meant the president believes he can waive the torture ban when he judges it vital to security.
The military leaders' letter told the president that troops are endangered by any suggestion torture is acceptable. They wrote, "Clear and unambiguous implementation (of the anti-torture measure) will help ensure that our brave men and women in uniform will never again feel that to prevail against the enemy they must risk their honor or the values they fight to protect." It's embarrassing enough that that needed to be said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/256719_tortured.asp
Laguna Beach tradition becomes battlefield
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- For 40 years, this quaint city overlooking the Pacific has united around its annual Patriots' Day Parade, a celebration of school marching bands, charities, civic groups and military personnel.
The small-town tradition, though, has become an unlikely battlefield in the national debate over illegal immigration.
The nonprofit group that runs the parade recently rejected a float sponsored by the Minuteman Project, a self-styled border patrol run by illegal immigration opponent Jim Gilchrist. Now, his group is threatening legal action on free-speech and discrimination grounds and has gone to the airwaves to criticize the city and its parade.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Parade_Politics.html
Super puzzle completed
Star power meshes with bit players
By DANNY O'NEIL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Seattle's stars stood out, evident in spite of the clouds that hovered over the city and shining through the confetti and fireworks that filled Qwest Field.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/256670_hawk23.html
Heiress Paris Hilton dances at the Blender Sessions party in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
(January 22, 2006)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ae/popup.asp?gtitle=Sundance%20Film%20Festival&SubID=1374&page=0&css=/photos/gtitle.css&pubdate=01/22/06
Software Notebook: Is Gates' prediction on spam a bust?
By TODD BISHOP
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
It was a prediction that captured the attention of the international media and weary Internet users alike: "Two years from now, spam will be solved," Microsoft's Bill Gates said.
Well, time's up.
As of this week, two years have passed since Gates made that declaration at the 2004 World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Microsoft and others point to progress in the struggle against unwanted e-mail, on several fronts. A Federal Trade Commission report last month concluded that the overall volume of spam "has begun to level off."
But has the problem of spam e-mail been solved?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/256579_software23.asp
Tug sinks in Elliott Bay
Foundering boat nearly pulls another one down with it
By JAKE ELLISON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The 101-foot tugboat Island Brave sank early Sunday afternoon where it was moored in Elliott Bay at the mouth of the Duwamish River, nearly dragging another tug down with it.
The cause of the tugboat's sinking was unknown Sunday. The boat's owners don't expect to determine the cause at least until today, when they hope to lift the Island Brave back to the surface.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256652_tugboat23.html
Eavesdropping leaps into 21st century
By MATTHEW FORDAHL
AP TECHNOLOGY WRITER
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In the past, intercepting communications meant just that - copying a telegram mid-route, steaming open an envelope or attaching alligator clips to the copper wires that connected every telephone in the world.
But the old ways of communicating are heading into the sunset like the Pony Express and being replaced by phone calls, instant messages, e-mail and more that are converted into digital data before they gallop across the Internet and other advanced networks.
This constant interchange of massive amounts of data, converging into speeding bitstreams on common pipes, is both a blessing and a curse for eavesdroppers.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Wiretap_Tech.html
DNA exonerates Fla. man after 24 years
By MITCH STACY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TAMPA, Fla. -- Alan Crotzer stepped into the warm sunlight outside the courthouse Monday and raised his arms to the sky, celebrating his freedom after more than 24 years behind bars for crimes he didn't commit.
A judge freed the 45-year-old Crotzer after DNA testing and other evidence convinced prosecutors he was not involved in the 1981 armed robbery and rapes that led to his 130-year prison sentence.
"It's been a long time coming," said Crotzer, his black hair graying at the temples. "Thank God for this day."
Crotzer walked free more than three years after he wrote to the Innocence Project in New York, a legal clinic that seeks to exonerate inmates through DNA testing.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_DNA_Exoneration.html
Judge orders man removed from death row
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A man convicted of three murders was taken off death row after a federal judge ruled that an IQ test administered when the inmate was 10 showed he was mentally retarded.
U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle's decision made Elton O. McLaughlin, 55, the 12th death row inmate in the state spared because of mental retardation.
Boyle ruled that a test showing McLaughlin had an IQ of 70 was valid, even though it was administered in the 1960s by a teacher and not by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, as state law requires.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_BRF_Death_Row_IQ.html
Katrina evacuees face eviction in Dallas
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS -- Some Hurricane Katrina evacuees face possible eviction from their rental housing because the Dallas Housing Authority has not paid their December rent.
Under the housing authority's rental voucher program, evacuees receive a voucher to cover their rent and utilities through February. The housing authority then makes payments directly to the landlord.
But the program has been overwhelmed by 6,600 applications and has fallen behind on rent payments, The Dallas Morning News reported in Tuesday editions.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Evacuee_Housing.html
Uganda rebels kill eight U.N. peacekeepers
By EDDY ISANGO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KINSHASA, Congo -- Ugandan rebels ambushed U.N. peacekeepers in Congo on Monday, killing eight of them in a gunbattle that also left 15 attackers dead near the Sudanese border, U.N. officials said.
The Guatemalan peacekeepers were looking for Lord's Resistance Army rebels from Uganda who were believed to be in Garamba National Park, in Congo's remote northeast, U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said.
The incident was the second largest single loss of life suffered by the 16,000-strong peacekeeping mission since it began in 1999. Nine Bangladeshi troops were killed in February 2005 by ethnic militiamen.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Congo_UN_Violence.html
Pakistanis kept from visiting attack site
By RIAZ KHAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
YUKKA GHUND, Pakistan -- Pakistani security forces stopped Islamist opposition leaders Monday from reaching a border village hit by a U.S. missile strike, curbing an anti-American protest as the prime minister visited Washington.
The opposition politicians, addressing hundreds of their supporters at a roadblock in the foothills of the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, condemned the obstruction and branded President Gen. Pervez Musharraf as an "American slave."
"The government doesn't want political parties to create awareness among the tribal people about their rights. That's why we are stopped here," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of the six-party Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) or United Action Front.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Pakistan_Al_Qaida_Attack.html
Pakistani PM plays down tension with U.S.
By FOSTER KLUG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz brushed aside tensions with the United States as he prepared for a meeting Tuesday with President Bush.
Aziz's trip to the White House comes at a strained point in U.S.-Pakistani relations, with many in the Islamic nation blasting the U.S. for a Jan. 13 airstrike in a remote area of northern Pakistan that killed at least 13 civilians, including women and children.
During a speech Monday at the Heritage Foundation, Aziz played down deteriorating relations, calling America "our friend and ally."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_US_Pakistan.html
Rahul Gandhi says he hopes to lead India
By OMER FAROOQ
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HYDERABAD, India -- Rahul Gandhi, heir to India's pre-eminent political dynasty, told supporters Monday he hopes to lead the country but urged them to be patient as he builds a following.
Gandhi, 35, whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather were all prime ministers of the giant subcontinent nation, has kept a relatively low-profile since being elected to parliament in 2004, focusing on his constituency in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
But he spoke of his aspirations in response to demands from backers of the ruling Congress party at the party's annual convention in this capital of Andhra Pradesh state.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_India_Rahul_Gandhi.html
Six killed in southwest Iran bombings
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TEHRAN, Iran -- Bombs killed six people and wounded more than 30 others Tuesday in Ahvaz, a southwestern city with a history of violence involving members of Iran's Arab minority, Iranian state media reported.
The bombs exploded outside a bank and a state environmental agency building in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad canceled a planned visit to Ahvaz Tuesday, citing a forecast calling for heavy rain, IRNA reported. The report did not say whether the blast had any bearing on the cancellation.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iran_Explosions.html
Two U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq bombing
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A roadside bomb has killed two U.S. soldiers in Baghdad and two Marines died in a vehicle accident in western Iraq, the military said Tuesday.
All four of the troops died Monday, the military said. One of the soldiers was killed at the scene of the bombing, while the other died en route to a hospital. The Marines died in a non-hostile vehicle accident near Taqaddum, about 45 miles west of Baghdad.
Also Tuesday, a car bomb exploded in eastern Baghdad shortly before the resumption of the Saddam Hussein trial, wounding at least one policeman and one civilian, said police Maj. Qusai Ibrahim.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Violence.html
Sunnis in Iraq urged to defend themselves
By PAUL GARWOOD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A leading Sunni Arab party Tuesday urged fellow Sunnis to confront armed attacks on their community following a raid on a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad in which three men were killed and more than 20 abducted.
Also Tuesday, two German engineers were kidnapped north of Baghdad by gunmen in two cars, police said. The U.S. military said a roadside bombing in Baghdad killed two U.S. soldiers Monday and two Marines died in a vehicle accident west of the capital.
The call for Sunnis to defend themselves was made in a statement issued by the Iraqi Islamic Party a day after gunmen, some wearing uniforms of the Shiite-led government security forces, swept into the Toubji area of Baghdad, raiding houses, abducting males and shooting three men dead.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Report: Sharon's doctors concealed info
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's health problems were more serious than doctors indicated before the stroke that has left him comatose, an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday.
The Haaretz newspaper said Sharon had a large aneurysm in the septum between the chambers of his heart. He also suffered from a shunt that causes blood to flow in the wrong direction through a tiny hole in the septum, the newspaper said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Israel_Sharon.html
Harper wins narrow victory in Canada
By BETH DUFF-BROWN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OTTAWA -- Conservative leader Stephen Harper narrowly lost his chance at becoming prime minister in the 2004 elections after opponents painted him as a scary right-winger who would reshape the landscape like a U.S.-style evangelical Republican.
This time around the scare tactics didn't work.
Despite the fears that Liberals conjured up, Harper won a narrow victory over Prime Minister Paul Martin in Monday's general elections.
The 46-year-old economist, who often makes fun of his lackluster personality, will become the 22nd prime minister when he's sworn in, likely in the next week or so.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101AP_Canada_Harper.html
The Jerusalem Post
Security forces arrest one of Sasson Nuriel's murderers
Abdullah Arar, 29, a Hamas fugitive who planned and participated in the abduction and murder of Sasson Nuriel in September last year, was arrested by security forces overnight Monday in Ramallah.
Sources in the Shin Bet said that most of the cell members involved in Nuriel's abduction and murder were arrested in the days after the incident, and details gleaned from them revealed that Arar was the key planner of the attack; he also participated in Nuriel's murder.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605903156&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
IDF kills Palestinian near Shvut Rahel
Talkbacks for this article: 2
IDF soldiers deployed south-east of Shvut Rahel, near El Muair in the Binyamin District, shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian youth in his chest after he and a companion repeatedly ignored soldiers' warnings to halt their actions.
The army summoned a helicopter to transport the youth to a hospital, but he died before arrival.
The military said on Tuesday morning that it was investigating the incident.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1137605900036&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Hamas kidnaps, kills J'lem candy maker
A 50-year-old Jewish resident of Jerusalem was kidnapped and brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists, police said in late September.
The body of Sasson Nuriel of the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev was found on September 26 in the West Bank village of Beitunya, near Ramallah, five days after he was reported missing.
A court gag order which had been in place at the police's request was partially lifted that afternoon after a news blackout on the abduction.
Nuriel's body was found after a four-day joint Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), IDF and police manhunt which resulted in the capture of one of the suspected members of the Hamas cell believed responsible for the killing, Jerusalem police said.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1137605903678&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Ezra: Barghouti won't be PA minister
Talkbacks for this article: 6
The government won't allow jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti to serve as a minister in the Palestinian Authority following Wednesday's elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
"He won't be a minister from prison. How can he be a minister from prison?" Ezra said. "There is someone sitting in jail who has been elected mayor of Kalkilya. [Do you think] he serves as the mayor of Kalkilya? He is in jail."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605901205&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
US won't cut PA ties if Hamas in cabinet
Talkbacks for this article: 3
The US won't deal with Hamas ministers in a future Palestinian Authority government, but will also not cut off ties with the PA as a result of Hamas's inclusion, diplomatic officials said Monday.
According to the officials, the US formula for dealing with a PA government following Wednesday's elections would be based on the "Lebanese model." In Lebanon, the officials said, the US continues to have strong ties with the government in Beirut even though Hizbullah is part of it. It does not, however, have any contact with the one Hizbullah minister.
The officials said that since Hamas was on the US list of terrorist organizations, the US would be legally proscribed from having contact or dealing with Hamas officials, even if they were PA ministers.
At the same time, they said, the law would not necessarily proscribe the US from continuing to deal with the PA or contributing money to it.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605901460&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Analysis: Franklin case shows what's in store at the AIPAC trial
Friday's sentencing of Larry Franklin, the former Pentagon analyst who was convicted of communicating classified information to staffers at the America Israel Public Affairs Association and to an Israeli diplomat, is only the first of the trials in the case, but it can serve as an indicator to what can be expected when the second begins in late April.
Judge T.S. Ellis of the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, set forth two important principles when sentencing Franklin to 12 1/2 years in prison: The first was accepting Franklin's claim that he had no intention other than helping what he believed to be American interests, and the second was that no matter what the intentions might have been, the law is the law and whoever breaks it faces harsh punishment.
For former AIPAC staffers, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, this means good news and bad news. The good news is that the court does not seem to see the matter as an espionage case or as an act directed at harming the US or assisting a foreign nation. The bad news is that this perception doesn't really make any difference on the legal level.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605901484&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
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