"Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
Friday, February 24, 2006
January 21, 2006.
The Japanese Imperial Palace.
Japan the birthplace of Kyoto Protocol.
So say the Japanese people have found civility in the 21st Century is an understatement. The warrior culture that was Japan decades ago is still a warrior but one for peace, prosperity and harmony with Earth.
Thank you, Japan.
Just one thing. Leave the whales alone. Either that or create a mariculture program that brings them back to abundance first.
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Global Warming/Climate Change
Global warming affects bird count
Quesnel Christmas Bird Count took place on New Year’s Day and was hampered by a dense fog.
This made spotting our feathered friends more of a challenge than usual, especially in the downtown area.
The field teams include: Bouchie - Manfred and Mary Roschitz; Downtown-Phil Ranson and Kris Andrews; Dragon - Adrian and Debbie Leather, and Madeline Sheppard; East Fraser - Sandra Kinsey and Alex and Luanne Coffey; North - Laird Law, Yvonne Wentzel and Gay Cuglietta; Red Bluff & Richbar - Cathy and Clara Antoniazzi, Sally Hofmeier, Betty Pascuzzo; West Fraser - Tracy Bond and Kathy Wrath; and West Quesnel - Todd Heakes and Lorna and Marv Schley.
In addition to the field teams, we were supported by feeder watchers who phoned their reports in.
Birders located 5,315 birds of 44 species.
http://www.quesnelobserver.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=27&cat=43&id=595164&more=
From Cronulla to the world, Clinton's climate for change
BILL CLINTON is upbeat about this century, which he says is likely to be less bloody than last. And he is confident about democracy - that it can withstand controversial election wins in Palestine and Iran. But he is truly worried about climate change.
About 700 people heard the Clinton world view faultlessly delivered at the Sydney Convention Centre, despite an illness which scuttled a later press conference.
At the Global Business Forum, the former US president suggested climate change was a threat as devastating as that posed by nuclear weapons during the Cold War.
"With the bombs, it was either/or. With this, the question is when, if we don't change," he said. "The fundamental problem is that for most people, the consequences of climate change seem so remote, it's been difficult to get people to do things in the here and now to avert it."
On the violence around the world since the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, Mr Clinton said it was time to "take all of this brouhaha … and use it to force a dialogue". Likewise, on racial tension in Sydney and the Cronulla riots: "Get people together and talk beyond the superficial and to really have contact, and find out they have more in common than what separates them."
On Australia's "special relationship" with the US, events in East Timor proved it existed. "The Australians were determined to take the lead, not to have a genocide, not to have almost a tribal slaughter in that little place."
John Howard had called him for help, which he gave. "I said 'are you kidding?' Every time we needed the Australians, whether we were right or wrong, you were always there with us figuring out how to do it," Mr Clinton said.
While the well-heeled paid $2400 to hear him speak for 78 minutes, his appearance at a 12.30pm press conference with the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, and the chairwoman of Qantas, Margaret Jackson, was cancelled when he became ill. By mid-afternoon, several hundred people assembled outside the Westin Hotel. He appeared at 3pm in an orange shirt and chinos, smiling, and when the Herald asked about his health, he dismissed the episode as "something I ate" and said "I feel great now".
He shook hands, posed for photos, and delayed the police entourage while he signed a book for a beaming university student. Then the Clinton roadshow rolled on - Melbourne today, Auckland tomorrow - around the globe he can call his own.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/from-cronulla-to-the-world-clintons-climate-for-change/2006/02/22/1140563858634.html
Evangelical Call to Action on Climate Change
by Michael J. McManus
February 25, 2006
Two weeks ago 86 prominent Evangelical leaders issued an unprecedented statement, "Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action." Among the signers: Dr. Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life;" David Neff, editor of "Christianity Today;" and a score of denominational and university presidents.
They acknowledged that "Many of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that climate change is a real problem and that it ought to matter to us as Christians." They now support "four simple but urgent claims," and asserted that "evidence demands action:"
1. Human-Induced Climate Change is Real.
"Everything hinges on scientific data," they said, noting that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world's most authoritative body of scientists and experts on global warming, "has documented the steady rise in global temperatures over the last fifty years, projects that the average global temperatures will continue to rise in the coming decades and attributes 'most of the warming' to human activities" such as burning fossil fuels.
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3651
Mexican Industry Takes Voluntary Action Against Climate Change; Government Gives Public Recognition
MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s environment ministry (SEMARNAT) recognized fifteen major companies today for publicly reporting their greenhouse gas emissions through a voluntary public-private initiative known as the Mexico Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Program.
“Mexico is committed to fight global warming,” said Secretary of Environment Jose Luis Luege Tamargo. “Collaborating with industry is a key part of our strategy.”
The Mexico GHG Program, the first of its kind in a developing country, is a voluntary program established in 2004 through an agreement between the Mexican Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Mexico-based CESPEDES is also involved as a program administrator.
The companies being recognized are: Altos Hornos de Mexico, Grupo Cementos Chihuahua, Cooperativa La Cruz Azul, CEMEX, Cementos Portland Moctezuma, Ford de México, Grupo Modelo, Grupo Porcícola Mexicano, Holcim Apasco, Mittal Steel Lázaro Cárdenas, NHUMO, PEMEX, SICARTSA/Villacero, Siderúrgica Tultitlán, and Sumitomo Corporativo de México. The GHG emissions reported by this group represent roughly 25 percent of total national emissions generated by stationary combustion (heat and electricity generation) and industrial processes.
http://www.socialfunds.com/news/release.cgi/5090.html
Seeds of Hunter climate change
Thursday, 23 February 2006
Two solo bicycle riders will converge from the eastern and western boundaries of the Hunter Valley, one from Scone and the other Taree, and meet at Elderslie, near Branxton, this weekend with the intention of helping start a climate change action group in the Hunter Valley.
They will both carry an ironbark gum tree seedling each which will be planted on Sunday morning to begin a foundation meeting.
A Hunter group would seek to stimulate debate and focus public attention on the cause of climate change and actions to adddress it.
Climate change includes extreme and destructive weather which is triggered by pollution from mankind's excessive use of fossil fuels such as coal for electricity generation and petrol for motor vehicles.
This issue can be addressed by a grassroots action that includes reducing electricity and car use, planting trees, reducing waste and convincing decision-makers at all levels of government, industry and commerce to also act.
The ironbark seedlings have been donated by Tony Doherty (phone 6553 9727), a retired school teacher who instigated an umbrella action group, Climate Change Australia (CCA), after a community forum at Taree in October 2004.
Branches of CCA have since formed in the Manning, Clarence and Hastings areas and interest has been shown in establishing branches at Kempsey and in the Hunter.
"These groups are all about local people setting their own agendas and deciding what action, or projects, they want to undertake," Mr Doherty said.
Taree's and Scone's ironbark seedlings will be cycled to the Hunter by people who believe a lot of the hard work to address climate change will be done quietly and anonymously by ordinary people like themselves.
The trees will be planted on the Elderslie Road property of Julie and Paul Maguire, 6.6 kilometres off the New England Highway at Branxton, during a Community Action Workshop on Sunday between 10.45am and 3pm (phone the Maguires on 4938 2032 or mobile 0434 494 316).
Mrs Maguire said the trees symbolise new life and hope that the tiny seedlings will reach their potential.
"The Scone tree will symbolise the need for all in the valley to think and act on this issue as it winds its way past some of the major contributors to global warming," she said.
"Our personal energy usage decisions can determine the future directions of these companies."
Mr Doherty and the Maguires are seeking people to attend Sunday's meeting who are interested in helping form a group, establish its aims and be involved in a variety of ongoing positive actions with regional relevance.
http://scone.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&story_id=460983&category=General%20News&m=2&y=2006
Al-Arabiya Journalists Murdered
JEDDAH, 24 February 2006 — Three journalists working for Dubai’s Al-Arabiya satellite channel were kidnapped and murdered in Iraq Wednesday night sending another wave of shock, fear and sadness in the media industry.
“According to eyewitnesses and the official account given by the Iraqi security forces, armed individuals ambushed Atwar Bahjat and her colleagues Adnan Khairallah and Khalid Mahmoud while she was interviewing people on the outskirts of Samarra, kidnapped them and then killed them,” Al-Arabiya spokesman Jihad Ballout said by telephone from the satellite channel’s headquarters in Dubai.
“This is the official story but I don’t have anything to confirm or refute this,” he said.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=78289&d=24&m=2&y=2006
US Asks Yemen to Arrest Prominent Scholar
Khaled Al-Mahdi, Arab News
SANAA, 24 February 2006 — The United States has officially asked Yemen to arrest a prominent scholar whom Washington accuses of funneling funds to terror groups, Yemeni state media said yesterday.
Sheikh Abdul-Majid Al-Zindani, 56, is listed by the United Nations and the United States as one of the financiers of terror activities.
“The American side has asked the Yemeni government to arrest Sheikh Al-Zindani, freeze his assets and prevent him from traveling abroad,” said the Defense Ministry’s newspaper ‘26 September’.
Quoting official sources, the paper said President Ali Abdullah Saleh has received a message from US President George W. Bush in which he criticized Saleh for letting Al-Zindani join the official delegation that accompanied him to the OIC summit held in Makkah last December.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=78287&d=24&m=2&y=2006
Classroom Language Barrier Leaves Students in Quandary
Essam Al-Ghalib, Arab News
JEDDAH, 24 February 2006 — Listening to Professor S.M.B discuss “The Stochastic Process”, one can tell that he has a passion for, and is familiar with, the complexities of university-level statistics.
A soft-spoken Indian, he takes his profession seriously and exudes every effort to bring understanding and clarity forth to his students. His students however, encounter difficulty in understanding his lectures.
It is not the intricate analysis and interpretation of numerical data in terms of samples and populations that has them stumped so much, but the fact they don’t share a common language with their professor. Simply put, S.M.B. doesn’t speak Arabic, and his students don’t speak English.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=78290&d=24&m=2&y=2006
STC Gets GCC’s Economic Leader Award
Mohammed Rasooldeen, Arab News
STC’s president, Saud Al-Daweesh, right, receiving the award from former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. At left is Prince Saud Ibn Mohamed Ibn Thunayan, chairman of the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu.
RIYADH, 24 February 2006 — Saudi Telecom Company scooped the GCC Economic Leader award for Saudi Arabia at the annual GCC Economic Award’s ceremony Wednesday, the company announced here yesterday.
Held at the Burj Al-Arab Hotel in Dubai, the awards ceremony was attended by members of the Royal family, ministers, diplomats, senior government officials and CEOs including guest speaker former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=6§ion=0&article=78329&d=24&m=2&y=2006
A Filipino Guide in Norway
Rasheed Abou-Alsamh, Arab New
LONDON, 24 February 2006 — TRAVEL guides never seem capable of capturing the real feel for a place that one intends to visit, and it was no different with Bergen, Norway, which I visited over the weekend.
I bought two books on Norway before my trip, but neither really prepared me for the stunning beauty of Bergen and the quiet friendliness of Norwegians. Yet before I could be pleasantly surprised by that Nordic country I had to endure delayed British trains which caused me and many others to nearly miss our flight from Stansted airport to Bergen.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=78346&d=24&m=2&y=2006
Classroom Language Barrier Leaves Students in Quandary
Essam Al-Ghalib, Arab News
JEDDAH, 24 February 2006 — Listening to Professor S.M.B discuss “The Stochastic Process”, one can tell that he has a passion for, and is familiar with, the complexities of university-level statistics.
A soft-spoken Indian, he takes his profession seriously and exudes every effort to bring understanding and clarity forth to his students. His students however, encounter difficulty in understanding his lectures.
It is not the intricate analysis and interpretation of numerical data in terms of samples and populations that has them stumped so much, but the fact they don’t share a common language with their professor. Simply put, S.M.B. doesn’t speak Arabic, and his students don’t speak English.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=78290&d=24&m=2&y=2006
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Yoga balls and W-2 tape make fine trash fashion
This runway walk shows how much stuff people throw away
By D. PARVAZ
P-I REPORTER
It may seem excessive, even misguided, to throw a fashion show to spread the word about the importance of sustainability. Unless, of course, the models are wearing outfits made entirely of salvaged and recycled items as they did at the Trash Fashion Bash at Seattle's Asian Art Museum.
If the bash Wednesday night sounds like a little bit like the Derelicte homeless-inspired fashion show in "Zoolander," rest assured, it wasn't. Mimi Gates didn't show up wearing a banner as a jacket to promote the wearing of trash as clothing. Rather, the show was a literal interpretation of what happens to our waste -- no one really wears a dress made of table skirts tossed out after Bumbershoot (as one model did), but in a sense, we all wear our trash. Trainloads of our waste get shipped out to be buried in Oregon, but they don't disappear. Our landfills aren't black holes, and everything we dump there makes its way back into our ecosystem and our bodies.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/260773_trashfashion24.html
Icy roads make for a nasty commute
Motorists advised to go slowly
By BRAD WONG
P-I REPORTER
Seattle and Seattle-bound drivers grappled with ice on the roads and dodged numerous traffic accidents in making their way to work this morning.
The state Department of Transportation had heard of no major accidents as of 7:50 a.m. today.
But motorists spun out, rolled over and hit trees in several locations, and commuters spent more time on the roads than they ordinarily do during the morning drive, spokeswoman Myly Posse said.
Around 3 a.m. today, the region received freezing rain and snow, creating sheets of ice across the roads.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/260780_weather24ww.html
Iraqi curfew extended for second day
By BASSEM MROUE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Shiite Muslims flagellate themselves during a protest rally in Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad,Iraq,Friday,Feb.24, 2006. Religious leaders summoned Iraq's Shiites and Sunnis to joint prayer services Friday amid an extraordinary daytime curfew aimed at halting a wave of sectarian violence that has killed nearly 130 people since the bombing of one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines. On left is the photograph of Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. (AP Photo/Nabil Al-Jurani)
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's most influential Shiite political leader called Friday for Sunni-Shiite unity and condemned all killings of Iraqis in a bid to pull the nation back from the brink of civil war after the bombing of a Shiite shrine and a wave of deadly reprisal attacks.
An extraordinary daytime curfew in Baghdad and nearby provinces appeared to have blunted the surge in sectarian violence.
There had been fears that mosque sermons during Friday prayers would be the occasion for further violence, though a Shiite official said gunmen did fire two rockets at a tomb sacred to Shiites south of Baghdad, causing damage but no casualties.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Analysis: Of a sudden, all sides are blaming U.S.
By SALLY BUZBEE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO, Egypt -- It may seem bewildering to Americans who see themselves as helping Iraq.
The rush to blame the United States for the shrine bombing is a sign not only of the deteriorating situation in Iraq, but the tense state of West-Mideast relations overall. From riots over the prophet drawings to the United Arab Emirates ports dispute to Hamas' election win, little is going right for the United States across the Arab world.
Even a supposed friend -- a top Iraqi Shiite leader, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, whom President Bush once praised at the White House -- took a poke after Wednesday's attack on the Askariya shrine in Samarra, saying the U.S. ambassador "gave a green light to terrorist groups."
The outcry, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was on a troubled visit to the region, is a sign of just how much America's Mideast policy has unraveled in recent months.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/260750_blamingus24.html
Wal-Mart to expand health benefits
By MARCUS KABEL
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., under attack for its health care coverage for its employees, plans improvements that would include expanding the availability of its lowest cost plan and shortening the waiting periods to enroll part-time workers and their children.
At the same time, Wal-Mart Chief Executive Lee Scott said Thursday that employers cannot continue to meet the rising costs of health care and urged a government-business partnership to find an answer.
The announcement marks the second time in six months that the world's largest retailer has moved to improve health benefits. They also come before Scott's speech Sunday about the issue to the nation's governors, who are looking for ways to cap rising costs for taxpayer-funded health plans that cover the uninsured. Details of Wal-Mart's new health benefit plans are expected to be unveiled in the coming months.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/260688_walmart24.html
True democracy has independent media
By KENNETH F. BUNTING
P-I ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Anyone who has ever met him will confirm that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is no shrinking violet.
He is outspoken, articulate, personable and, from all outward appearances, candid. He seems to enjoy mixing it up and fielding tough questions from just about anyone.
Although it wasn't televised, it's a better than even bet that Rumsfeld was comfortable and at ease last week when he spoke to the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations and fielded questions from the scholars, big thinkers, business leaders and foreign policy experts who make up that venerable group.
But in that appearance before the CFR last Friday, and in a PBS television interview afterward, Rumsfeld made an uncharacteristic blunder and misstated a central fact he later had to correct.
Rumsfeld said last week that the military's controversial practice of paying to plant stories favorable to the United States in the Iraqi media had been brought to an end.
But three days later, he clarified the statement, explaining that the practice and its propriety were "under review," but yet to be prohibited.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/260680_bunting24.html
S.D. House approves abortion ban bill
By CHET BROKAW
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PIERRE, S.D. -- The Legislature on Friday approved a ban on nearly all abortions in South Dakota, setting up a direct legal assault on Roe v. Wade.
Republican Gov. Mike Rounds said he was inclined to sign the bill, which would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless it was necessary to save the woman's life. The measure would make no exception in cases of rape or incest.
Many opponents and supporters of abortion rights believe the U.S. Supreme Court is more likely to overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion now that Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito are on the bench.
Planned Parenthood, which operates the only abortion clinic in South Dakota, has pledged to sue over the measure, which would become law July 1. The clinic does about 800 abortions a year.
The House passed the bill 50-18 on Friday. The Senate approved the measure 23-12 earlier this week.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Abortion_South_Dakota.html
The Japan Times
One man's drive to clean up the Earth
By ERIC PRIDEAUX
Staff writer
Every foreigner in Japan learns one thing pretty quickly: This being the land of harmony, courtesy trumps candor. Hanging back works best, everywhere and every time.
Imogen M. Greene, though, has little time for such niceties.
That's because Greene -- an American who has lived in a leafy suburb outside Tokyo for years -- is on a mission to rid the world of pollution. He does it by bluntly telling drivers, one by one, to stop leaving their cars idling and polluting the air with exhaust fumes. To date, he estimates he has confronted an average of two drivers a day, over eight years, for a total of about 5,000 people.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20060219x4.html
You can't get too much snow up here
By CHRIS BAMFORTH
Special to The Japan Times
Glaciers are in retreat, global weather patterns are going haywire and the Earth's climate is the warmest it's been in a millennium. Nonetheless, every winter, as regular as clockwork, winds from Siberia howl across the Sea of Japan, siphon up moisture, and dump it on Hokkaido as some of the world's heaviest precipitations of snow. One such place that never suffers from any shortfall in the snowfall is Niseko, a collection of ski resorts in southwestern Hokkaido that is blanketed each winter by over 15 meters of the white stuff.
Complaints about too much snow, though, are seldom voiced in Niseko, basking as it does in its reputation as offering some of the finest conditions for powder skiing to be found anywhere in the world. Attractive though Japan may be as a place for skiing, it doesn't appeal to all skiers. Intermediate and advanced skiers frequently bemoan the lack of challenging slopes. Niseko suffers from no such dearth, offering more mogul runs and steep terrain than practically any other Japanese resort. And with its 57 runs on terrific snow, a vertical drop of 960 meters, 38 lifts and almost 50 km of groomed slopes, Niseko is Hokkaido's biggest ski resort.
Size, of course, isn't everything: Niseko also happens to be Hokkaido's prettiest ski resort. Dominating the Niseko landscape is the spectacular cone of Mount Yotei -- known for obvious reasons as the "Fuji of Hokkaido." And the attractive scenery of the Niseko area is one of alpine meadows, swift-flowing green rivers and spacious woodlands of pine and silver birch.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fv20060224a1.html
Red Army founder gets 20 years
Court calls Shigenobu key player in seizure of embassy
By MAYUMI NEGISHI
Staff writer
The Tokyo District Court sentenced Japanese Red Army guerrilla group founder Fusako Shigenobu to 20 years in prison Thursday for plotting and aiding the 1974 occupation of the French Embassy in The Hague and for passport forgery.
Police take up positions in front of the French Embassy in The Hague during the Japanese Red Army's seizure in 1974.
Shigenobu, 60, was found guilty of conspiring with three Red Army members to storm the embassy and take the French ambassador and 10 other staff members hostage to secure the release of a Red Army member from a French prison.
Two police officers were shot and seriously wounded in the attack.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060224a1.html
Arakawa great on grandest stage
Gives Japan first medal of Games with gold in figure skating
TURIN, Italy (AP) She was elegance on ice, her spirals superb, her skating sublime. That she was standing in the end didn't hurt, either.
Shizuka Arakawa performs in the free program at the Turin Winter Games.
Shizuka Arakawa made this one look easy.
Her brilliant performance Thursday night gave Japan its first medal of these Olympics -- a gold in the showcase event.
What a way to end a shutout!
"I'm just surprised right now," Arakawa said. "I can't find the words for it."
Try mesmerizing, even spellbinding.
Everything American champion Sasha Cohen and Russian star Irina Slutskaya were not. They gave Arakawa plenty of help by tumbling to the ice often enough to make it a rout.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/so20060225a1.html
Confidential MSDF info leaked on Internet via Winny
Confidential information from the Maritime Self-Defense Force has been leaked on the Internet via the peer-to-peer file-sharing program Winny, the MSDF said Thursday.
The leak includes personal data on dozens of MSDF members, cipher-related documents, and documents on the planning of combat exercises, the MSDF said.
The information is believed to have come from a personal computer owned by a chief petty officer in charge of communications on the destroyer Asayuki, which is deployed to the MSDF's base in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, it said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060224a3.html
Michael Moore Today
Bush campaigns for Republicans in Indiana and Ohio
Associated Press
MISHAWAKA, Ind. — President Bush tried to give a lift to two loyal Republicans in re-election fights Thursday, and the White House said GOP candidates elsewhere were clamoring for his help despite his low poll ratings.
On a day when Bush faced open rebellion from leading Republicans as well as Democrats for his administration's approval of a United Arab Emirates company's takeover of significant U.S. port operations, the president flew here to raise over $600,000 for Rep. Chris Chocola, R-Ind. While not in serious jeopardy for re-election in this fall's congressional elections, Chocola is considered by analysts to be more vulnerable than two years ago.
Later, Bush went to Cincinnati to help scoop up more Republican campaign cash, an expected $1 million or more on behalf of Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, who is in a toss-up re-election race with Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5962
Protesters gather at Bethel College
WNDU-TV
Mishawaka, IN - The president met some resistance outside Bethel College on Thursday.
Protesters of all ages and races, with a variety of agendas hoped to send a message to George W. Bush with their signs.
"This is the heartland. You go to New York or San Francisco and see protesters. This is the heartland, this is the Midwest. This is where he thinks ordinary Americans live and we don't like him," says Paul Mishler of the Michiana Peace & Justice Coalition.
More than 400 people gathered just north of Bethel College, waiting for the president to arrive.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5964
Protesters greet President in northern Indiana
MISHAWAKA, Ind. (AP) - President Bush said Thursday that the U.S. must continue fighting in Iraq until Iraqis are trained well enough to fight themselves.
"When a country adopts democracy in their own style, adapting to their own history and own tradition, they become a peaceful nation," Bush said.
Bush spoke for about a half-hour at Bethel College, defending many of his administration's policies, such as lowering taxes and trying to reform Social Security.
His main reason for visiting northern Indiana for the seventh time in the past six years was to raise money for Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Chocola, who is running for his third term in Congress. The luncheon attended by 560 people raised slightly more than $600,000.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5963
Protest groups hoped Bush would see them
By Howard Wilkinson and Gregory Korte / Cincinnati Enquirer
Two separate but related groups of protesters played a guessing game Thursday, trying to figure out where the odds were best that President Bush would pass by in his motorcade and, perhaps, notice them.
The Madeira group won out over the Montgomery group.
Democratic and left-wing organizations used their e-mail lists to drum up participants in two protests Thursday afternoon - one at Euclid and Miami avenues in Madeira and another at Montgomery and Cooper roads in Montgomery.
Both protests drew dozens of sign-waving activists, who, at times, were mixed with Bush supporters shouting encouragement and waving their own pro-Bush signs.
Mark and Marjorie Hauser hosted the late afternoon fundraiser for Sen. Mike DeWine at their home in Indian Hill.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5973
Motorcade Speeds by without Regard for Protestors
How rude is that !
Indiana
http://www.wndu.com/video/player.php?broadbandcontinue=1&vid=733
Ohio
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/video/7396633/index.html
Local protesters call for end to U.S. wiretapping
By Alan Morrell / Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
(February 23, 2006) — About 75 people gathered Wednesday in Brighton to chastise the Bush administration for wiretapping Americans without obtaining warrants and to call for a congressional inquiry.
The gathering, called a "Constitution Vigil," was held in the triangular area of Brighton's Twelve Corners. Participants carried lit candles or signs, then read aloud the Bill of Rights.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5965
Citizens' vigil seeks probe of wiretapping
Des Moines Register
About two dozen concerned citizens gathered in front of the Federal Building in downtown Des Moines on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to investigate President Bush's wiretapping program.
The "Constitution Vigil" at Second Avenue and Walnut Street was sponsored by the political action committee MoveOn. Members read from the Bill of Rights and explained why they believed that Bush's wiretapping — used to prevent possible terrorist attacks — was wrong.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5966
Free voice in jeopardy?
Daily Tribune
HIBBING, Mn. — Dave Mlakar looked at the sign displayed at a Constitution vigil being held Wednesday and felt frustrated with the Bush Administration.
“Those who sacrifice liberty for security — deserve neither,” was the famous quote from Ben Franklin displayed on the sign being held by two attendees at a Constitution vigil held in front of the City Hall Statue of Liberty.
“That saying was said by Ben Franklin years ago — it held true then and it still holds true today,” said Mlakar. “How can George Bush talk about secrecy when he is wiretapping his own people?”
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5968
Nationwide vigil draws a small crowd to protest Bush policies
By Eric Morrison / Juneau Empire
Paul Nelson believes every voice makes a difference when standing up for beliefs.
"I think a lot of people today think, 'Well, geez, my vote doesn't matter, my voice doesn't matter,' so they just don't bother," said the Haines resident, who came to Juneau to organize Wednesday's "Constitution Vigil" in Marine Park. The event protested domestic spying.
"What they're forgetting is the idea of the mosquito in your bedroom when you're trying to go to sleep," Nelson said. "That voice does make a difference and you're not going to go to sleep until you take care of that mosquito. Your voice counts."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5970
City protest targets Bush spying
By Emily Aronson / Portsmouth Herlald
PORTSMOUTH - Thirty protesters gathered in Market Square Wednesday night to remind Americans that no one is above the law - not even the president. With signs like, "Impeach the King," the event was one of 270 nationwide protests to call attention to President Bush’s domestic spying program. It was sponsored by the political action group MoveOn.
The administration has said Bush’s presidential powers allow him to authorize domestic wiretapping without a warrant and has defended the program as a terrorism-fighting tactic. But protesters called the program an affront to democracy and a violation of the Constitution.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5971
Terrorism Spy Program Protest
KEYT 3
In Santa Barbara, in Ventura, and in cities all across the U.S. demonstrators gathered for what they called a "Constitution Vigil." It was a mass protest to denounce the Bush administration's terrorism spy program.
Demonstrators accuse the president of breaking the law, and urge congress to hold Mr. Bush accountable. Passing drivers honked their horns in support of a vigil in Santa Barbara. Members of the political action group Moveon.org organized the local vigil. They're calling on Americans to contact their congressional representatives and demand that congress hold the president accountable.
White House Advisor Karl Rove defended the controversial wiretapping policy at the Republican National Committee's winter meeting. Rove says eavesdropping is allowed without a warrant when deemed appropriate by the National Security Agency.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5967
'Constitution Vigil' calls for investigation of domestic spying
By Angelo Bruscas / Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Reading the Bill of Rights might not normally seem like an act of protest, but a group of about 60 Seattle-area citizens joined a nationwide effort Wednesday night to protest the administration's wiretapping program by reading excerpts from the Constitution in a candlelight vigil in Westlake Plaza.
The event, sponsored by a group called MoveOn, is intended to persuade members of Congress to call for an independent investigation of the president's secret authorization of wiretaps on U.S. citizens without court approval.
"Congress has got to hold the administration accountable," said John Dunn, one of the local organizers. "The founders set up the checks and balances for that purpose."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5969
Drinks query revives Cheney row
By Suzanne Goldenberg / Guardian
Vice-President Dick Cheney faced fresh questions yesterday about the shooting of his hunting companion on a Texas ranch, with the release of conflicting witness statements about whether alcohol had been consumed.
The statements released by the local sheriff's office broadly confirm the circumstances under which Mr Cheney, wheeling about to shoot a covey of quail on February 11, sprayed Texas lawyer Harry Whittington with birdshot, wounding him in the face, chest and torso.
But statements from Mr Cheney's host and other companions gave conflicting accounts about whether alcohol had been consumed amid accusations that the hunters had broken Texas laws on drinking and hunting.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5957
FROM MSNBC's "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann
OLBERMANN: And as Mr. Whittington‘s brief appearance before the cameras showed, his black-and-blue and other marks were on the right side of his face, which is not where they are placed on the official diagram that is part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife hunting accident and incident report form filed over this shooting.
Look carefully. The figure on the far left, the frontal view, shows shading areas indicating injuries on the left side of Mr. Whittington‘s body. His injuries, of course, occurred on the right side. In fact, the figure on the far right of the diagram indicates injuries on the right side of Mr. Whittington. That part is correct, though it is obviously inconsistent with the frontal view on the left side.
Not too confused, Texas game warden James Duke, who filled out the report, made a mistake, so says Lydia Saldana (ph), spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife in comments to the “Newsday” newspaper of New York. “That‘s human error,” Saldana said.
As for the final police report, none of the affidavits of witnesses have been released with it.
Look, 78-year-old men who get accidentally hit by up to 200 pieces of birdshot and then have a heart attack, and then leave the hospital in the span of one week, they‘re entitled to make a mistake. And a local game warden trying to sketch the wounds is entitled to make a mistake, even though filling out these forms and doing these drawings is part of his job.
But if you wanted to create an environment of suspicion and doubt, you couldn‘t have done a better job than the one that started last Saturday when the accident was not reported, nor the principals interviewed, and that continued today with Mr. Whittington saying and the appearance of the latest flaw in the local investigation.
The record seems to present a clearer and cleaner picture of a true story of James Frey than it does the Cheney-Whittington accident.
To discuss the efficacy of the investigation, I‘m George—I‘m joined by George Parnham, criminal defense attorney well known for his work in high-profile cases, including that of Andrea Yates.
Mr. Parnham, thanks for your time this evening.
GEORGE PARNHAM, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Thank you for asking me.
OLBERMANN: Mr. Whittington wrote in his statement, and read aloud, “Friday,” and the full response we got from the vice president‘s press office, which is back on the job after apparently having spent much of the last week off, the statement read, “Mr. Whittington misspoke. We are trying to reach the hospital to inform them of that fact, but the incident, as noted in the sheriff‘s report, happened Saturday, and the V.P. got there late on Friday night.”
There‘s no chance the day is wrong, correct? I mean, Mr. Whittington did just get his days confused?
PARNHAM: Well, probably so. You know, the individual, 78 years of age, and a horrific situation involving trauma, being shot by a firearm, with all the political ramifications, and the attention being drawn to that situation by the media, the man almost had a heart attack, well, as a matter of fact, did have a heart attack, and how do we know how close to death he was? And I don‘t hold that any real level of significance, quite frankly.
OLBERMANN: The second bit of confusion about the Texas Parks and Wildlife hunting accident and incident report form, we hear that hunters getting injured in accidents is not uncommon. But is there any way to gauge how uncommon it is for the game warden to write injuries to the right side of the face and then draw the injuries on the left side of the face?
PARNHAM: You know, obviously, the injuries were to the other side of the face, other than the one that the game warden accentuated. Where he got his information, who knows? I don‘t know if there was any type of interview, any looking at any medical records, any conversations that the game warden had with anybody.
So again, I think that is simply evidence of a sloppy and somewhat negligent reporting on the part of one of the investigators in this case. One would expect that that not take place. I‘m not a hunter. I don‘t know. But I have some observations about the criminal investigation that was conducted by the sheriff‘s department.
OLBERMANN: And to the, that point, the entirety of the investigation, I don‘t get involved in enough hunting accidents, apparently, or other events that involve local law enforcement, but from the delay Sunday to actually going to the accident scene, interviewing the vice president, from that on to what we‘re seeing now, how would you characterize this investigation? Is it good, bad, or indifferent?
PARNHAM: Well, I would say it would be bad and possibly indifferent. It‘s not a good investigation. My many years of being in criminal defense practice, I‘ve seen many instances of law enforcement investigating shootings. Individuals with law enforcement are dispatched immediately to that scene. Sketches are drawn of the location.
The information then is turned over to the—either the county attorney or the district attorney for review, and the DA Will then make a determination whether or not to present it to a grand jury or dispose of the case at that time, absent any other insight or information made relevant to that (INAUDIBLE), to that investigation.
That didn‘t happen here. The sheriff summarily simply just said, It‘s an accident, case closed. And what‘s ironic about that is that we have in Texas a standard of conduct, a mental element known as criminal negligence. And that basically is defined as an individual who deviates from a standard of conduct, and that deviation is based upon a gross, basically, not understanding or not realizing that there was a danger.
That‘s a criminal state of mind, and in this situation, the most important individual that could give some information on that standard of care and the gross deviation, if any, would be the hunting guide, Mr. Hubert, who, at the time the (INAUDIBLE) report is disseminated to the public, had never been interviewed. And I think that‘s not the way to go about it.
And I‘m not suggesting that there‘s anything here that would evidence criminal conduct on the part of the vice president. All I‘m saying is that it could have been done in a more efficient way, should have been done in a more efficient way, questions that could have easily been answered had it been done in that fashion.
OLBERMANN: So on the public record, or (INAUDIBLE) in the actual public record, we‘ve got a witness—the victim probably accidentally saying Friday instead of Saturday. The witness, the shooter keeps identifying as the most reliable saw everything from 100 yards away and thought at first that Mr. Cheney had been injured or was sick.
There‘s been three versions of this. There‘s some alcohol, there‘s no alcohol, there‘s a beer, there‘s a cocktail. The sheriff doesn‘t interview anybody for 14 hours. Is there a point at which some higher authority has to step in in Texas to clean the investigation up?
PARNHAM: You know, the next-higher authority would be the district attorney or county attorney, perhaps, of Kenedy County in this case. I think that somebody ought to come in and take a look at what has been done. Obviously, the crime scene hasn‘t changed, other than maybe mowing grass, if you will. But take a look at this situation. Lay to rest these questions once and for all about what actually happened.
And again, we‘re talking about the objectivity of a standard of care that should have been taken into consideration in making a determination as to whether or not this was an accident or is basically an act of negligence that borders on possible criminal conduct.
You just—you don‘t—you know, we‘re not talking about a situation where a gun was dropped and went off accidentally. We‘re talking about an individual who was shot with a firearm. And you just got to get out there and do your job if you‘re law enforcement. And unfortunately, what we‘ve seen so far speaks to just the opposite.
OLBERMANN: The criminal defense attorney George Parnham. Our great thanks for your perspective and your time tonight, sir.
PARNHAM: Thank you, sir.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11256386/
Lawsuits Filed to Block Ports Takeover
By Ted Bridis / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The White House on Friday praised as helpful the offer by a United Arab Emirates company to postpone indefinitely its takeover of significant operations at six major U.S. seaports. The delay gives President Bush time to convince skeptical lawmakers the deal poses no increased risks from terrorism. Lawsuits to upset the $6.8 billion transaction were filed Friday in New Jersey and London.
The White House said it still supports the agreement and said that Bush will continue to oppose any effort by lawmakers to block it.
But Thomas Kean, a Republican, former New Jersey governor and chairman of the Sept. 11 commission, said Friday the deal should not have been brokered. "It shouldn't have happened, it never should have happened," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5976
Union members demonstrate at Port of Wilmington against United Arab Emirates sale
Delaware News Journal
Members of the Teamsters and Longshoreman’s unions gathered in front of the Port of Wilmington today as part of a demonstration held in 20 cities to protest the sale of significant portions of six U.S. ports to a United Arab Emirates company.
About 15 protesters gathered in a parking lot in front of the port’s gates at noon, holding signs that read “Goodbye Dubai, secure American ports.” The protesters represented unions whose members work as security guards, truck drivers and dock workers at the port.
The rally was held in response to the pending sale of British-owned Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. to Dubai Ports World, a United Arab Emirates-owned shipping company, for $6.8 billion. The deal would give Dubai Ports a 50 percent stake in a company that handles cargo at the Port of Wilmington.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5974
Underage soldiers don't fade away
By Matt Barnwell / Macon Telegraph
WARNER ROBINS - The small group of men - many now silver-haired and wrinkled - who gathered Thursday at the Museum of Aviation to trade war stories had one thing in common: They signed up for military service at the age most of today's teens get their driver's licenses.
They're the Veterans of Underage Military Service. Their one requirement for membership: a stint in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard that began before their 17th birthday.
The national organization has 44 members in Georgia, including Houston County Commission Chairman Ned Sanders.
"Some of those guys were like 15 years old when they went active duty," Sanders said. "It's amazing." Sanders was 16 when he volunteered in 1948 for active duty with the South Carolina National Guard.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5975
Global warming affects bird count
Quesnel Christmas Bird Count took place on New Year’s Day and was hampered by a dense fog.
This made spotting our feathered friends more of a challenge than usual, especially in the downtown area.
The field teams include: Bouchie - Manfred and Mary Roschitz; Downtown-Phil Ranson and Kris Andrews; Dragon - Adrian and Debbie Leather, and Madeline Sheppard; East Fraser - Sandra Kinsey and Alex and Luanne Coffey; North - Laird Law, Yvonne Wentzel and Gay Cuglietta; Red Bluff & Richbar - Cathy and Clara Antoniazzi, Sally Hofmeier, Betty Pascuzzo; West Fraser - Tracy Bond and Kathy Wrath; and West Quesnel - Todd Heakes and Lorna and Marv Schley.
In addition to the field teams, we were supported by feeder watchers who phoned their reports in.
Birders located 5,315 birds of 44 species.
http://www.quesnelobserver.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=27&cat=43&id=595164&more=
From Cronulla to the world, Clinton's climate for change
BILL CLINTON is upbeat about this century, which he says is likely to be less bloody than last. And he is confident about democracy - that it can withstand controversial election wins in Palestine and Iran. But he is truly worried about climate change.
About 700 people heard the Clinton world view faultlessly delivered at the Sydney Convention Centre, despite an illness which scuttled a later press conference.
At the Global Business Forum, the former US president suggested climate change was a threat as devastating as that posed by nuclear weapons during the Cold War.
"With the bombs, it was either/or. With this, the question is when, if we don't change," he said. "The fundamental problem is that for most people, the consequences of climate change seem so remote, it's been difficult to get people to do things in the here and now to avert it."
On the violence around the world since the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, Mr Clinton said it was time to "take all of this brouhaha … and use it to force a dialogue". Likewise, on racial tension in Sydney and the Cronulla riots: "Get people together and talk beyond the superficial and to really have contact, and find out they have more in common than what separates them."
On Australia's "special relationship" with the US, events in East Timor proved it existed. "The Australians were determined to take the lead, not to have a genocide, not to have almost a tribal slaughter in that little place."
John Howard had called him for help, which he gave. "I said 'are you kidding?' Every time we needed the Australians, whether we were right or wrong, you were always there with us figuring out how to do it," Mr Clinton said.
While the well-heeled paid $2400 to hear him speak for 78 minutes, his appearance at a 12.30pm press conference with the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, and the chairwoman of Qantas, Margaret Jackson, was cancelled when he became ill. By mid-afternoon, several hundred people assembled outside the Westin Hotel. He appeared at 3pm in an orange shirt and chinos, smiling, and when the Herald asked about his health, he dismissed the episode as "something I ate" and said "I feel great now".
He shook hands, posed for photos, and delayed the police entourage while he signed a book for a beaming university student. Then the Clinton roadshow rolled on - Melbourne today, Auckland tomorrow - around the globe he can call his own.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/from-cronulla-to-the-world-clintons-climate-for-change/2006/02/22/1140563858634.html
Evangelical Call to Action on Climate Change
by Michael J. McManus
February 25, 2006
Two weeks ago 86 prominent Evangelical leaders issued an unprecedented statement, "Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action." Among the signers: Dr. Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life;" David Neff, editor of "Christianity Today;" and a score of denominational and university presidents.
They acknowledged that "Many of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that climate change is a real problem and that it ought to matter to us as Christians." They now support "four simple but urgent claims," and asserted that "evidence demands action:"
1. Human-Induced Climate Change is Real.
"Everything hinges on scientific data," they said, noting that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world's most authoritative body of scientists and experts on global warming, "has documented the steady rise in global temperatures over the last fifty years, projects that the average global temperatures will continue to rise in the coming decades and attributes 'most of the warming' to human activities" such as burning fossil fuels.
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3651
Mexican Industry Takes Voluntary Action Against Climate Change; Government Gives Public Recognition
MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s environment ministry (SEMARNAT) recognized fifteen major companies today for publicly reporting their greenhouse gas emissions through a voluntary public-private initiative known as the Mexico Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Program.
“Mexico is committed to fight global warming,” said Secretary of Environment Jose Luis Luege Tamargo. “Collaborating with industry is a key part of our strategy.”
The Mexico GHG Program, the first of its kind in a developing country, is a voluntary program established in 2004 through an agreement between the Mexican Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Mexico-based CESPEDES is also involved as a program administrator.
The companies being recognized are: Altos Hornos de Mexico, Grupo Cementos Chihuahua, Cooperativa La Cruz Azul, CEMEX, Cementos Portland Moctezuma, Ford de México, Grupo Modelo, Grupo Porcícola Mexicano, Holcim Apasco, Mittal Steel Lázaro Cárdenas, NHUMO, PEMEX, SICARTSA/Villacero, Siderúrgica Tultitlán, and Sumitomo Corporativo de México. The GHG emissions reported by this group represent roughly 25 percent of total national emissions generated by stationary combustion (heat and electricity generation) and industrial processes.
http://www.socialfunds.com/news/release.cgi/5090.html
Seeds of Hunter climate change
Thursday, 23 February 2006
Two solo bicycle riders will converge from the eastern and western boundaries of the Hunter Valley, one from Scone and the other Taree, and meet at Elderslie, near Branxton, this weekend with the intention of helping start a climate change action group in the Hunter Valley.
They will both carry an ironbark gum tree seedling each which will be planted on Sunday morning to begin a foundation meeting.
A Hunter group would seek to stimulate debate and focus public attention on the cause of climate change and actions to adddress it.
Climate change includes extreme and destructive weather which is triggered by pollution from mankind's excessive use of fossil fuels such as coal for electricity generation and petrol for motor vehicles.
This issue can be addressed by a grassroots action that includes reducing electricity and car use, planting trees, reducing waste and convincing decision-makers at all levels of government, industry and commerce to also act.
The ironbark seedlings have been donated by Tony Doherty (phone 6553 9727), a retired school teacher who instigated an umbrella action group, Climate Change Australia (CCA), after a community forum at Taree in October 2004.
Branches of CCA have since formed in the Manning, Clarence and Hastings areas and interest has been shown in establishing branches at Kempsey and in the Hunter.
"These groups are all about local people setting their own agendas and deciding what action, or projects, they want to undertake," Mr Doherty said.
Taree's and Scone's ironbark seedlings will be cycled to the Hunter by people who believe a lot of the hard work to address climate change will be done quietly and anonymously by ordinary people like themselves.
The trees will be planted on the Elderslie Road property of Julie and Paul Maguire, 6.6 kilometres off the New England Highway at Branxton, during a Community Action Workshop on Sunday between 10.45am and 3pm (phone the Maguires on 4938 2032 or mobile 0434 494 316).
Mrs Maguire said the trees symbolise new life and hope that the tiny seedlings will reach their potential.
"The Scone tree will symbolise the need for all in the valley to think and act on this issue as it winds its way past some of the major contributors to global warming," she said.
"Our personal energy usage decisions can determine the future directions of these companies."
Mr Doherty and the Maguires are seeking people to attend Sunday's meeting who are interested in helping form a group, establish its aims and be involved in a variety of ongoing positive actions with regional relevance.
http://scone.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&story_id=460983&category=General%20News&m=2&y=2006
Al-Arabiya Journalists Murdered
JEDDAH, 24 February 2006 — Three journalists working for Dubai’s Al-Arabiya satellite channel were kidnapped and murdered in Iraq Wednesday night sending another wave of shock, fear and sadness in the media industry.
“According to eyewitnesses and the official account given by the Iraqi security forces, armed individuals ambushed Atwar Bahjat and her colleagues Adnan Khairallah and Khalid Mahmoud while she was interviewing people on the outskirts of Samarra, kidnapped them and then killed them,” Al-Arabiya spokesman Jihad Ballout said by telephone from the satellite channel’s headquarters in Dubai.
“This is the official story but I don’t have anything to confirm or refute this,” he said.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=78289&d=24&m=2&y=2006
US Asks Yemen to Arrest Prominent Scholar
Khaled Al-Mahdi, Arab News
SANAA, 24 February 2006 — The United States has officially asked Yemen to arrest a prominent scholar whom Washington accuses of funneling funds to terror groups, Yemeni state media said yesterday.
Sheikh Abdul-Majid Al-Zindani, 56, is listed by the United Nations and the United States as one of the financiers of terror activities.
“The American side has asked the Yemeni government to arrest Sheikh Al-Zindani, freeze his assets and prevent him from traveling abroad,” said the Defense Ministry’s newspaper ‘26 September’.
Quoting official sources, the paper said President Ali Abdullah Saleh has received a message from US President George W. Bush in which he criticized Saleh for letting Al-Zindani join the official delegation that accompanied him to the OIC summit held in Makkah last December.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=78287&d=24&m=2&y=2006
Classroom Language Barrier Leaves Students in Quandary
Essam Al-Ghalib, Arab News
JEDDAH, 24 February 2006 — Listening to Professor S.M.B discuss “The Stochastic Process”, one can tell that he has a passion for, and is familiar with, the complexities of university-level statistics.
A soft-spoken Indian, he takes his profession seriously and exudes every effort to bring understanding and clarity forth to his students. His students however, encounter difficulty in understanding his lectures.
It is not the intricate analysis and interpretation of numerical data in terms of samples and populations that has them stumped so much, but the fact they don’t share a common language with their professor. Simply put, S.M.B. doesn’t speak Arabic, and his students don’t speak English.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=78290&d=24&m=2&y=2006
STC Gets GCC’s Economic Leader Award
Mohammed Rasooldeen, Arab News
STC’s president, Saud Al-Daweesh, right, receiving the award from former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. At left is Prince Saud Ibn Mohamed Ibn Thunayan, chairman of the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu.
RIYADH, 24 February 2006 — Saudi Telecom Company scooped the GCC Economic Leader award for Saudi Arabia at the annual GCC Economic Award’s ceremony Wednesday, the company announced here yesterday.
Held at the Burj Al-Arab Hotel in Dubai, the awards ceremony was attended by members of the Royal family, ministers, diplomats, senior government officials and CEOs including guest speaker former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=6§ion=0&article=78329&d=24&m=2&y=2006
A Filipino Guide in Norway
Rasheed Abou-Alsamh, Arab New
LONDON, 24 February 2006 — TRAVEL guides never seem capable of capturing the real feel for a place that one intends to visit, and it was no different with Bergen, Norway, which I visited over the weekend.
I bought two books on Norway before my trip, but neither really prepared me for the stunning beauty of Bergen and the quiet friendliness of Norwegians. Yet before I could be pleasantly surprised by that Nordic country I had to endure delayed British trains which caused me and many others to nearly miss our flight from Stansted airport to Bergen.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=78346&d=24&m=2&y=2006
Classroom Language Barrier Leaves Students in Quandary
Essam Al-Ghalib, Arab News
JEDDAH, 24 February 2006 — Listening to Professor S.M.B discuss “The Stochastic Process”, one can tell that he has a passion for, and is familiar with, the complexities of university-level statistics.
A soft-spoken Indian, he takes his profession seriously and exudes every effort to bring understanding and clarity forth to his students. His students however, encounter difficulty in understanding his lectures.
It is not the intricate analysis and interpretation of numerical data in terms of samples and populations that has them stumped so much, but the fact they don’t share a common language with their professor. Simply put, S.M.B. doesn’t speak Arabic, and his students don’t speak English.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=78290&d=24&m=2&y=2006
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Yoga balls and W-2 tape make fine trash fashion
This runway walk shows how much stuff people throw away
By D. PARVAZ
P-I REPORTER
It may seem excessive, even misguided, to throw a fashion show to spread the word about the importance of sustainability. Unless, of course, the models are wearing outfits made entirely of salvaged and recycled items as they did at the Trash Fashion Bash at Seattle's Asian Art Museum.
If the bash Wednesday night sounds like a little bit like the Derelicte homeless-inspired fashion show in "Zoolander," rest assured, it wasn't. Mimi Gates didn't show up wearing a banner as a jacket to promote the wearing of trash as clothing. Rather, the show was a literal interpretation of what happens to our waste -- no one really wears a dress made of table skirts tossed out after Bumbershoot (as one model did), but in a sense, we all wear our trash. Trainloads of our waste get shipped out to be buried in Oregon, but they don't disappear. Our landfills aren't black holes, and everything we dump there makes its way back into our ecosystem and our bodies.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/260773_trashfashion24.html
Icy roads make for a nasty commute
Motorists advised to go slowly
By BRAD WONG
P-I REPORTER
Seattle and Seattle-bound drivers grappled with ice on the roads and dodged numerous traffic accidents in making their way to work this morning.
The state Department of Transportation had heard of no major accidents as of 7:50 a.m. today.
But motorists spun out, rolled over and hit trees in several locations, and commuters spent more time on the roads than they ordinarily do during the morning drive, spokeswoman Myly Posse said.
Around 3 a.m. today, the region received freezing rain and snow, creating sheets of ice across the roads.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/260780_weather24ww.html
Iraqi curfew extended for second day
By BASSEM MROUE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Shiite Muslims flagellate themselves during a protest rally in Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad,Iraq,Friday,Feb.24, 2006. Religious leaders summoned Iraq's Shiites and Sunnis to joint prayer services Friday amid an extraordinary daytime curfew aimed at halting a wave of sectarian violence that has killed nearly 130 people since the bombing of one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines. On left is the photograph of Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. (AP Photo/Nabil Al-Jurani)
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's most influential Shiite political leader called Friday for Sunni-Shiite unity and condemned all killings of Iraqis in a bid to pull the nation back from the brink of civil war after the bombing of a Shiite shrine and a wave of deadly reprisal attacks.
An extraordinary daytime curfew in Baghdad and nearby provinces appeared to have blunted the surge in sectarian violence.
There had been fears that mosque sermons during Friday prayers would be the occasion for further violence, though a Shiite official said gunmen did fire two rockets at a tomb sacred to Shiites south of Baghdad, causing damage but no casualties.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Analysis: Of a sudden, all sides are blaming U.S.
By SALLY BUZBEE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO, Egypt -- It may seem bewildering to Americans who see themselves as helping Iraq.
The rush to blame the United States for the shrine bombing is a sign not only of the deteriorating situation in Iraq, but the tense state of West-Mideast relations overall. From riots over the prophet drawings to the United Arab Emirates ports dispute to Hamas' election win, little is going right for the United States across the Arab world.
Even a supposed friend -- a top Iraqi Shiite leader, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, whom President Bush once praised at the White House -- took a poke after Wednesday's attack on the Askariya shrine in Samarra, saying the U.S. ambassador "gave a green light to terrorist groups."
The outcry, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was on a troubled visit to the region, is a sign of just how much America's Mideast policy has unraveled in recent months.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/260750_blamingus24.html
Wal-Mart to expand health benefits
By MARCUS KABEL
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., under attack for its health care coverage for its employees, plans improvements that would include expanding the availability of its lowest cost plan and shortening the waiting periods to enroll part-time workers and their children.
At the same time, Wal-Mart Chief Executive Lee Scott said Thursday that employers cannot continue to meet the rising costs of health care and urged a government-business partnership to find an answer.
The announcement marks the second time in six months that the world's largest retailer has moved to improve health benefits. They also come before Scott's speech Sunday about the issue to the nation's governors, who are looking for ways to cap rising costs for taxpayer-funded health plans that cover the uninsured. Details of Wal-Mart's new health benefit plans are expected to be unveiled in the coming months.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/260688_walmart24.html
True democracy has independent media
By KENNETH F. BUNTING
P-I ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Anyone who has ever met him will confirm that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is no shrinking violet.
He is outspoken, articulate, personable and, from all outward appearances, candid. He seems to enjoy mixing it up and fielding tough questions from just about anyone.
Although it wasn't televised, it's a better than even bet that Rumsfeld was comfortable and at ease last week when he spoke to the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations and fielded questions from the scholars, big thinkers, business leaders and foreign policy experts who make up that venerable group.
But in that appearance before the CFR last Friday, and in a PBS television interview afterward, Rumsfeld made an uncharacteristic blunder and misstated a central fact he later had to correct.
Rumsfeld said last week that the military's controversial practice of paying to plant stories favorable to the United States in the Iraqi media had been brought to an end.
But three days later, he clarified the statement, explaining that the practice and its propriety were "under review," but yet to be prohibited.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/260680_bunting24.html
S.D. House approves abortion ban bill
By CHET BROKAW
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PIERRE, S.D. -- The Legislature on Friday approved a ban on nearly all abortions in South Dakota, setting up a direct legal assault on Roe v. Wade.
Republican Gov. Mike Rounds said he was inclined to sign the bill, which would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless it was necessary to save the woman's life. The measure would make no exception in cases of rape or incest.
Many opponents and supporters of abortion rights believe the U.S. Supreme Court is more likely to overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion now that Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito are on the bench.
Planned Parenthood, which operates the only abortion clinic in South Dakota, has pledged to sue over the measure, which would become law July 1. The clinic does about 800 abortions a year.
The House passed the bill 50-18 on Friday. The Senate approved the measure 23-12 earlier this week.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Abortion_South_Dakota.html
The Japan Times
One man's drive to clean up the Earth
By ERIC PRIDEAUX
Staff writer
Every foreigner in Japan learns one thing pretty quickly: This being the land of harmony, courtesy trumps candor. Hanging back works best, everywhere and every time.
Imogen M. Greene, though, has little time for such niceties.
That's because Greene -- an American who has lived in a leafy suburb outside Tokyo for years -- is on a mission to rid the world of pollution. He does it by bluntly telling drivers, one by one, to stop leaving their cars idling and polluting the air with exhaust fumes. To date, he estimates he has confronted an average of two drivers a day, over eight years, for a total of about 5,000 people.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20060219x4.html
You can't get too much snow up here
By CHRIS BAMFORTH
Special to The Japan Times
Glaciers are in retreat, global weather patterns are going haywire and the Earth's climate is the warmest it's been in a millennium. Nonetheless, every winter, as regular as clockwork, winds from Siberia howl across the Sea of Japan, siphon up moisture, and dump it on Hokkaido as some of the world's heaviest precipitations of snow. One such place that never suffers from any shortfall in the snowfall is Niseko, a collection of ski resorts in southwestern Hokkaido that is blanketed each winter by over 15 meters of the white stuff.
Complaints about too much snow, though, are seldom voiced in Niseko, basking as it does in its reputation as offering some of the finest conditions for powder skiing to be found anywhere in the world. Attractive though Japan may be as a place for skiing, it doesn't appeal to all skiers. Intermediate and advanced skiers frequently bemoan the lack of challenging slopes. Niseko suffers from no such dearth, offering more mogul runs and steep terrain than practically any other Japanese resort. And with its 57 runs on terrific snow, a vertical drop of 960 meters, 38 lifts and almost 50 km of groomed slopes, Niseko is Hokkaido's biggest ski resort.
Size, of course, isn't everything: Niseko also happens to be Hokkaido's prettiest ski resort. Dominating the Niseko landscape is the spectacular cone of Mount Yotei -- known for obvious reasons as the "Fuji of Hokkaido." And the attractive scenery of the Niseko area is one of alpine meadows, swift-flowing green rivers and spacious woodlands of pine and silver birch.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fv20060224a1.html
Red Army founder gets 20 years
Court calls Shigenobu key player in seizure of embassy
By MAYUMI NEGISHI
Staff writer
The Tokyo District Court sentenced Japanese Red Army guerrilla group founder Fusako Shigenobu to 20 years in prison Thursday for plotting and aiding the 1974 occupation of the French Embassy in The Hague and for passport forgery.
Police take up positions in front of the French Embassy in The Hague during the Japanese Red Army's seizure in 1974.
Shigenobu, 60, was found guilty of conspiring with three Red Army members to storm the embassy and take the French ambassador and 10 other staff members hostage to secure the release of a Red Army member from a French prison.
Two police officers were shot and seriously wounded in the attack.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060224a1.html
Arakawa great on grandest stage
Gives Japan first medal of Games with gold in figure skating
TURIN, Italy (AP) She was elegance on ice, her spirals superb, her skating sublime. That she was standing in the end didn't hurt, either.
Shizuka Arakawa performs in the free program at the Turin Winter Games.
Shizuka Arakawa made this one look easy.
Her brilliant performance Thursday night gave Japan its first medal of these Olympics -- a gold in the showcase event.
What a way to end a shutout!
"I'm just surprised right now," Arakawa said. "I can't find the words for it."
Try mesmerizing, even spellbinding.
Everything American champion Sasha Cohen and Russian star Irina Slutskaya were not. They gave Arakawa plenty of help by tumbling to the ice often enough to make it a rout.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/so20060225a1.html
Confidential MSDF info leaked on Internet via Winny
Confidential information from the Maritime Self-Defense Force has been leaked on the Internet via the peer-to-peer file-sharing program Winny, the MSDF said Thursday.
The leak includes personal data on dozens of MSDF members, cipher-related documents, and documents on the planning of combat exercises, the MSDF said.
The information is believed to have come from a personal computer owned by a chief petty officer in charge of communications on the destroyer Asayuki, which is deployed to the MSDF's base in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, it said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060224a3.html
Michael Moore Today
Bush campaigns for Republicans in Indiana and Ohio
Associated Press
MISHAWAKA, Ind. — President Bush tried to give a lift to two loyal Republicans in re-election fights Thursday, and the White House said GOP candidates elsewhere were clamoring for his help despite his low poll ratings.
On a day when Bush faced open rebellion from leading Republicans as well as Democrats for his administration's approval of a United Arab Emirates company's takeover of significant U.S. port operations, the president flew here to raise over $600,000 for Rep. Chris Chocola, R-Ind. While not in serious jeopardy for re-election in this fall's congressional elections, Chocola is considered by analysts to be more vulnerable than two years ago.
Later, Bush went to Cincinnati to help scoop up more Republican campaign cash, an expected $1 million or more on behalf of Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, who is in a toss-up re-election race with Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5962
Protesters gather at Bethel College
WNDU-TV
Mishawaka, IN - The president met some resistance outside Bethel College on Thursday.
Protesters of all ages and races, with a variety of agendas hoped to send a message to George W. Bush with their signs.
"This is the heartland. You go to New York or San Francisco and see protesters. This is the heartland, this is the Midwest. This is where he thinks ordinary Americans live and we don't like him," says Paul Mishler of the Michiana Peace & Justice Coalition.
More than 400 people gathered just north of Bethel College, waiting for the president to arrive.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5964
Protesters greet President in northern Indiana
MISHAWAKA, Ind. (AP) - President Bush said Thursday that the U.S. must continue fighting in Iraq until Iraqis are trained well enough to fight themselves.
"When a country adopts democracy in their own style, adapting to their own history and own tradition, they become a peaceful nation," Bush said.
Bush spoke for about a half-hour at Bethel College, defending many of his administration's policies, such as lowering taxes and trying to reform Social Security.
His main reason for visiting northern Indiana for the seventh time in the past six years was to raise money for Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Chocola, who is running for his third term in Congress. The luncheon attended by 560 people raised slightly more than $600,000.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5963
Protest groups hoped Bush would see them
By Howard Wilkinson and Gregory Korte / Cincinnati Enquirer
Two separate but related groups of protesters played a guessing game Thursday, trying to figure out where the odds were best that President Bush would pass by in his motorcade and, perhaps, notice them.
The Madeira group won out over the Montgomery group.
Democratic and left-wing organizations used their e-mail lists to drum up participants in two protests Thursday afternoon - one at Euclid and Miami avenues in Madeira and another at Montgomery and Cooper roads in Montgomery.
Both protests drew dozens of sign-waving activists, who, at times, were mixed with Bush supporters shouting encouragement and waving their own pro-Bush signs.
Mark and Marjorie Hauser hosted the late afternoon fundraiser for Sen. Mike DeWine at their home in Indian Hill.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5973
Motorcade Speeds by without Regard for Protestors
How rude is that !
Indiana
http://www.wndu.com/video/player.php?broadbandcontinue=1&vid=733
Ohio
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/video/7396633/index.html
Local protesters call for end to U.S. wiretapping
By Alan Morrell / Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
(February 23, 2006) — About 75 people gathered Wednesday in Brighton to chastise the Bush administration for wiretapping Americans without obtaining warrants and to call for a congressional inquiry.
The gathering, called a "Constitution Vigil," was held in the triangular area of Brighton's Twelve Corners. Participants carried lit candles or signs, then read aloud the Bill of Rights.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5965
Citizens' vigil seeks probe of wiretapping
Des Moines Register
About two dozen concerned citizens gathered in front of the Federal Building in downtown Des Moines on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to investigate President Bush's wiretapping program.
The "Constitution Vigil" at Second Avenue and Walnut Street was sponsored by the political action committee MoveOn. Members read from the Bill of Rights and explained why they believed that Bush's wiretapping — used to prevent possible terrorist attacks — was wrong.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5966
Free voice in jeopardy?
Daily Tribune
HIBBING, Mn. — Dave Mlakar looked at the sign displayed at a Constitution vigil being held Wednesday and felt frustrated with the Bush Administration.
“Those who sacrifice liberty for security — deserve neither,” was the famous quote from Ben Franklin displayed on the sign being held by two attendees at a Constitution vigil held in front of the City Hall Statue of Liberty.
“That saying was said by Ben Franklin years ago — it held true then and it still holds true today,” said Mlakar. “How can George Bush talk about secrecy when he is wiretapping his own people?”
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5968
Nationwide vigil draws a small crowd to protest Bush policies
By Eric Morrison / Juneau Empire
Paul Nelson believes every voice makes a difference when standing up for beliefs.
"I think a lot of people today think, 'Well, geez, my vote doesn't matter, my voice doesn't matter,' so they just don't bother," said the Haines resident, who came to Juneau to organize Wednesday's "Constitution Vigil" in Marine Park. The event protested domestic spying.
"What they're forgetting is the idea of the mosquito in your bedroom when you're trying to go to sleep," Nelson said. "That voice does make a difference and you're not going to go to sleep until you take care of that mosquito. Your voice counts."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5970
City protest targets Bush spying
By Emily Aronson / Portsmouth Herlald
PORTSMOUTH - Thirty protesters gathered in Market Square Wednesday night to remind Americans that no one is above the law - not even the president. With signs like, "Impeach the King," the event was one of 270 nationwide protests to call attention to President Bush’s domestic spying program. It was sponsored by the political action group MoveOn.
The administration has said Bush’s presidential powers allow him to authorize domestic wiretapping without a warrant and has defended the program as a terrorism-fighting tactic. But protesters called the program an affront to democracy and a violation of the Constitution.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5971
Terrorism Spy Program Protest
KEYT 3
In Santa Barbara, in Ventura, and in cities all across the U.S. demonstrators gathered for what they called a "Constitution Vigil." It was a mass protest to denounce the Bush administration's terrorism spy program.
Demonstrators accuse the president of breaking the law, and urge congress to hold Mr. Bush accountable. Passing drivers honked their horns in support of a vigil in Santa Barbara. Members of the political action group Moveon.org organized the local vigil. They're calling on Americans to contact their congressional representatives and demand that congress hold the president accountable.
White House Advisor Karl Rove defended the controversial wiretapping policy at the Republican National Committee's winter meeting. Rove says eavesdropping is allowed without a warrant when deemed appropriate by the National Security Agency.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5967
'Constitution Vigil' calls for investigation of domestic spying
By Angelo Bruscas / Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Reading the Bill of Rights might not normally seem like an act of protest, but a group of about 60 Seattle-area citizens joined a nationwide effort Wednesday night to protest the administration's wiretapping program by reading excerpts from the Constitution in a candlelight vigil in Westlake Plaza.
The event, sponsored by a group called MoveOn, is intended to persuade members of Congress to call for an independent investigation of the president's secret authorization of wiretaps on U.S. citizens without court approval.
"Congress has got to hold the administration accountable," said John Dunn, one of the local organizers. "The founders set up the checks and balances for that purpose."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5969
Drinks query revives Cheney row
By Suzanne Goldenberg / Guardian
Vice-President Dick Cheney faced fresh questions yesterday about the shooting of his hunting companion on a Texas ranch, with the release of conflicting witness statements about whether alcohol had been consumed.
The statements released by the local sheriff's office broadly confirm the circumstances under which Mr Cheney, wheeling about to shoot a covey of quail on February 11, sprayed Texas lawyer Harry Whittington with birdshot, wounding him in the face, chest and torso.
But statements from Mr Cheney's host and other companions gave conflicting accounts about whether alcohol had been consumed amid accusations that the hunters had broken Texas laws on drinking and hunting.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5957
FROM MSNBC's "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann
OLBERMANN: And as Mr. Whittington‘s brief appearance before the cameras showed, his black-and-blue and other marks were on the right side of his face, which is not where they are placed on the official diagram that is part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife hunting accident and incident report form filed over this shooting.
Look carefully. The figure on the far left, the frontal view, shows shading areas indicating injuries on the left side of Mr. Whittington‘s body. His injuries, of course, occurred on the right side. In fact, the figure on the far right of the diagram indicates injuries on the right side of Mr. Whittington. That part is correct, though it is obviously inconsistent with the frontal view on the left side.
Not too confused, Texas game warden James Duke, who filled out the report, made a mistake, so says Lydia Saldana (ph), spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife in comments to the “Newsday” newspaper of New York. “That‘s human error,” Saldana said.
As for the final police report, none of the affidavits of witnesses have been released with it.
Look, 78-year-old men who get accidentally hit by up to 200 pieces of birdshot and then have a heart attack, and then leave the hospital in the span of one week, they‘re entitled to make a mistake. And a local game warden trying to sketch the wounds is entitled to make a mistake, even though filling out these forms and doing these drawings is part of his job.
But if you wanted to create an environment of suspicion and doubt, you couldn‘t have done a better job than the one that started last Saturday when the accident was not reported, nor the principals interviewed, and that continued today with Mr. Whittington saying and the appearance of the latest flaw in the local investigation.
The record seems to present a clearer and cleaner picture of a true story of James Frey than it does the Cheney-Whittington accident.
To discuss the efficacy of the investigation, I‘m George—I‘m joined by George Parnham, criminal defense attorney well known for his work in high-profile cases, including that of Andrea Yates.
Mr. Parnham, thanks for your time this evening.
GEORGE PARNHAM, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Thank you for asking me.
OLBERMANN: Mr. Whittington wrote in his statement, and read aloud, “Friday,” and the full response we got from the vice president‘s press office, which is back on the job after apparently having spent much of the last week off, the statement read, “Mr. Whittington misspoke. We are trying to reach the hospital to inform them of that fact, but the incident, as noted in the sheriff‘s report, happened Saturday, and the V.P. got there late on Friday night.”
There‘s no chance the day is wrong, correct? I mean, Mr. Whittington did just get his days confused?
PARNHAM: Well, probably so. You know, the individual, 78 years of age, and a horrific situation involving trauma, being shot by a firearm, with all the political ramifications, and the attention being drawn to that situation by the media, the man almost had a heart attack, well, as a matter of fact, did have a heart attack, and how do we know how close to death he was? And I don‘t hold that any real level of significance, quite frankly.
OLBERMANN: The second bit of confusion about the Texas Parks and Wildlife hunting accident and incident report form, we hear that hunters getting injured in accidents is not uncommon. But is there any way to gauge how uncommon it is for the game warden to write injuries to the right side of the face and then draw the injuries on the left side of the face?
PARNHAM: You know, obviously, the injuries were to the other side of the face, other than the one that the game warden accentuated. Where he got his information, who knows? I don‘t know if there was any type of interview, any looking at any medical records, any conversations that the game warden had with anybody.
So again, I think that is simply evidence of a sloppy and somewhat negligent reporting on the part of one of the investigators in this case. One would expect that that not take place. I‘m not a hunter. I don‘t know. But I have some observations about the criminal investigation that was conducted by the sheriff‘s department.
OLBERMANN: And to the, that point, the entirety of the investigation, I don‘t get involved in enough hunting accidents, apparently, or other events that involve local law enforcement, but from the delay Sunday to actually going to the accident scene, interviewing the vice president, from that on to what we‘re seeing now, how would you characterize this investigation? Is it good, bad, or indifferent?
PARNHAM: Well, I would say it would be bad and possibly indifferent. It‘s not a good investigation. My many years of being in criminal defense practice, I‘ve seen many instances of law enforcement investigating shootings. Individuals with law enforcement are dispatched immediately to that scene. Sketches are drawn of the location.
The information then is turned over to the—either the county attorney or the district attorney for review, and the DA Will then make a determination whether or not to present it to a grand jury or dispose of the case at that time, absent any other insight or information made relevant to that (INAUDIBLE), to that investigation.
That didn‘t happen here. The sheriff summarily simply just said, It‘s an accident, case closed. And what‘s ironic about that is that we have in Texas a standard of conduct, a mental element known as criminal negligence. And that basically is defined as an individual who deviates from a standard of conduct, and that deviation is based upon a gross, basically, not understanding or not realizing that there was a danger.
That‘s a criminal state of mind, and in this situation, the most important individual that could give some information on that standard of care and the gross deviation, if any, would be the hunting guide, Mr. Hubert, who, at the time the (INAUDIBLE) report is disseminated to the public, had never been interviewed. And I think that‘s not the way to go about it.
And I‘m not suggesting that there‘s anything here that would evidence criminal conduct on the part of the vice president. All I‘m saying is that it could have been done in a more efficient way, should have been done in a more efficient way, questions that could have easily been answered had it been done in that fashion.
OLBERMANN: So on the public record, or (INAUDIBLE) in the actual public record, we‘ve got a witness—the victim probably accidentally saying Friday instead of Saturday. The witness, the shooter keeps identifying as the most reliable saw everything from 100 yards away and thought at first that Mr. Cheney had been injured or was sick.
There‘s been three versions of this. There‘s some alcohol, there‘s no alcohol, there‘s a beer, there‘s a cocktail. The sheriff doesn‘t interview anybody for 14 hours. Is there a point at which some higher authority has to step in in Texas to clean the investigation up?
PARNHAM: You know, the next-higher authority would be the district attorney or county attorney, perhaps, of Kenedy County in this case. I think that somebody ought to come in and take a look at what has been done. Obviously, the crime scene hasn‘t changed, other than maybe mowing grass, if you will. But take a look at this situation. Lay to rest these questions once and for all about what actually happened.
And again, we‘re talking about the objectivity of a standard of care that should have been taken into consideration in making a determination as to whether or not this was an accident or is basically an act of negligence that borders on possible criminal conduct.
You just—you don‘t—you know, we‘re not talking about a situation where a gun was dropped and went off accidentally. We‘re talking about an individual who was shot with a firearm. And you just got to get out there and do your job if you‘re law enforcement. And unfortunately, what we‘ve seen so far speaks to just the opposite.
OLBERMANN: The criminal defense attorney George Parnham. Our great thanks for your perspective and your time tonight, sir.
PARNHAM: Thank you, sir.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11256386/
Lawsuits Filed to Block Ports Takeover
By Ted Bridis / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The White House on Friday praised as helpful the offer by a United Arab Emirates company to postpone indefinitely its takeover of significant operations at six major U.S. seaports. The delay gives President Bush time to convince skeptical lawmakers the deal poses no increased risks from terrorism. Lawsuits to upset the $6.8 billion transaction were filed Friday in New Jersey and London.
The White House said it still supports the agreement and said that Bush will continue to oppose any effort by lawmakers to block it.
But Thomas Kean, a Republican, former New Jersey governor and chairman of the Sept. 11 commission, said Friday the deal should not have been brokered. "It shouldn't have happened, it never should have happened," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5976
Union members demonstrate at Port of Wilmington against United Arab Emirates sale
Delaware News Journal
Members of the Teamsters and Longshoreman’s unions gathered in front of the Port of Wilmington today as part of a demonstration held in 20 cities to protest the sale of significant portions of six U.S. ports to a United Arab Emirates company.
About 15 protesters gathered in a parking lot in front of the port’s gates at noon, holding signs that read “Goodbye Dubai, secure American ports.” The protesters represented unions whose members work as security guards, truck drivers and dock workers at the port.
The rally was held in response to the pending sale of British-owned Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. to Dubai Ports World, a United Arab Emirates-owned shipping company, for $6.8 billion. The deal would give Dubai Ports a 50 percent stake in a company that handles cargo at the Port of Wilmington.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5974
Underage soldiers don't fade away
By Matt Barnwell / Macon Telegraph
WARNER ROBINS - The small group of men - many now silver-haired and wrinkled - who gathered Thursday at the Museum of Aviation to trade war stories had one thing in common: They signed up for military service at the age most of today's teens get their driver's licenses.
They're the Veterans of Underage Military Service. Their one requirement for membership: a stint in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard that began before their 17th birthday.
The national organization has 44 members in Georgia, including Houston County Commission Chairman Ned Sanders.
"Some of those guys were like 15 years old when they went active duty," Sanders said. "It's amazing." Sanders was 16 when he volunteered in 1948 for active duty with the South Carolina National Guard.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5975
Morning Papers - Europe has sustained unspeakable drought
Global Warming/Climate Change
Global warming the biggest worry, Clinton tells forum
24 February 2006
By JANNA HAMILTON
Former American president Bill Clinton told 600 of New Zealand's top business people their greatest worry in the world was global warming.
Mr Clinton held his audience in Auckland captive for one hour as he talked about global conflicts, global warming and how the richer nations could help.
He was introduced by Prime Minister Helen Clark who welcomed him back for his third visit.
After his speech he answered four submitted questions read by Miss Clark. Organisers would not allow questions from the floor.
Mr Clinton was speaking at a high-powered business forum in Auckland which also featured Michael Eisner, the former chief executive of Walt Disney, Carly Fiorina, the chief executive of Hewlett Packard for six years until last year, and Jack Perkowski, the chairman and chief executive of ASIMCO Technologies, the most successful western business in China.
It was one of the most costly business functions the country has seen.
A single ticket cost $2400 but that reduced to $1895 if it was bought before January 31.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Private meetings with Mr Clinton cost a lot more.
Small group hourly bookings cost $5000 a head (excluding GST). For that paying guests got a handshake, a photograph and a chance to mingle with the only Democratic president in the last 60 years to win two terms.
Larger group bookings of about 50 people cost up to $150,000.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3583391a11,00.html
Global Warming Shifts from Theory to Reality
BY CHRISTINE NIELSEN
Anyone who has lived in the Northeast of the United States for at least a couple of years can testify that this winter has been abnormally warm. Though winter has cracked back occasionally and with a vengeance—such as the largest snowstorm in New York on record, which hit the city the week before last—in general the words most often used to describe the weather recently are “unseasonable” and downright “weird.” Another phrase that has been frequently thrown around is “global warming.” Though there has always been some disagreement in the scientific community about the real and significant results of the greenhouse effect, the evidence to support the theory of human-induced, worldwide, and significant climate change is accumulating. Though the anecdotal evidence felt by the Bard community does not have scientific weight, many studies published recently do.
To start with, climatologists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies published a report last month stating that 2005 was the warmest year in a century, adding that the Earth has warmed a total of 1.44 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 100 years, but 1.08 degrees in the past 30 years. Though 1.44 degrees may sound like a pittance, its effects are proving otherwise. The results of global climate change, once a far-off seeming prediction, are now being seen and felt all over the world, from Greenland, to Tanzania, to the Gulf Coast of the United States.
A little less than the size of Mexico, the Greenland Ice Sheet would raise the ocean levels by 23 feet if it melted altogether. And according to research conducted at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, the rate at which the Ice Sheet is melting has more than doubled in the past ten years. In 1996 the Ice Sheet was losing 90 cubic kilometers of ice per year—last year it lost 224 cubic kilometers of ice. This research, the first of its kind to be done regarding Greenland, was published in last month’s edition of the journal Science. Of course, given the magnitude of the Earth’s oceans, even a loss of 224 cubic kilometers of ice per year only contributes .5 millimeters to the over 3 millimeters of global water level increase per year. More disturbing than the increase of water level, however, is the effect that overall colder ocean waters could have on climate change. Europe, for one, and also much of North America, rely heavily on hot currents within the ocean to warm their peripheries. With the oceans becoming colder due to the melting of polar ice, those hot currents could cool and possibly cease altogether, leaving Europe in a mini Ice Age.
In 2002, Lonnie Thompson, professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University, and his fellow researches made the prediction that the ice fields of Mt. Kilimanjaro would recede and eventually disappear between 2015 and 2020 due to global warming. Though Thompson had some skeptics at the time, it is now evident that his prediction is coming true, maybe even faster than was anticipated. According to data collected by Thompson and colleagues, 56 feet of ice has melted off of the top of the fields since 1962, meaning that the fields are melting at an average rate of more than half a meter per year, and that rate is only accelerating—no new ice has formed on the peak for six years now.
While the melting of polar ice happens at such a rate that it may be hard to foresee the effects in the next decade, Mt. Kilimanjaro is another story. If the ice fields melt entirely by 2020 as is expected, both the income brought in by tourism and the water supplied to local people by ice melts will be in jepoardy.
Though it is true that the Earth has experienced other periods of global warming in its history, a new study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, states that the rate of warming today is 30 times what it would have been at any other time. James Zachos, a professor of earth sciences at Santa Cruz and a leading expert on the episode of global warming known as the palaeocene-eocene thermal maximum, was quoted by the Independent as saying, “The emissions that caused this past episode of global warming probably lasted 10,000 years. By burning fossil fuels, we are likely to emit the same amount over the next three centuries.” Though the oceans are always working to remove carbon from the air, Zachos says the magnitude of past and continuing greenhouse gas emissions have overwhelmed the oceans’ natural capacity for cleansing. “It will take tens of thousands of years before atmospheric carbon dioxide comes down to pre-industrial levels,” says Zachos. “Even after humans stop burning fossil fuels, the effects will be long-lasting.”
More than a year has passed since Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the official Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shocked the Bush administration--which lobbied strongly for his appointment--and many others by issuing the dire statement, “Climate change is for real. We have just a small window of opportunity and it is closing rather rapidly. There is not a moment to lose,” adding, “We are risking the ability of the human race to survive.” Though the Bush administration has admitted that global warming poses a significant threat to the welfare of the country, it has yet to take serious action to severely curb the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions, even at this critical juncture.
http://observer.bard.edu/articles/news/186
Frisco addresses global warming
Get News Feeds
HARRIET HAMILTON
summit daily news
February 23, 2006
The town of Frisco took its first steps last week toward addressing the issue of global warming when the town council approved a resolution to adopt an official environmental stewardship policy.
The resolution calls for all town employees to consider environmentally sustainable practices in all operating and budgetary decisions.
"It will have an impact on every single department in the town," Frisco community development director Mark Gage said.
Buying recycled paper products, putting timers on building lights, increasing thermal efficiency when building new buildings and using biodiesel energy are all possible ways for the town to implement the policy, Gage added.
The resolution addresses environmental sustainability in general, but is specific about the issue of global warming.
"The international scientific community has reached consensus that human activities are warming the planet, and with its mountain setting and proximity to some of Colorado's major ski resorts, Frisco is on the front lines of climate change ...," the resolution reads.
Buildings account for about half of U.S. energy consumption, Gage said, and energy consumption leads to global warming.
"Where change really needs to start is with buildings," he said.
Gage emphasized the importance of action at the local level.
Global warming is becoming an important issue for mountain communities that depend on ski resorts for economic viability. Snowpack is already decreasing over much of the American West, according to "Less Snow, Less Water: Climate Disruption in the West" - a report released by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (RMCO), a Louisville-based advocacy group that monitors climate change in the region.
What snowpack there is, the report goes on to say, melts earlier. A small increase in nighttime temperatures could have a devastating effect on the ski industry.
The town of Frisco joined forces with a handful of other Colorado municipal governments, including Aspen, Boulder and Fort Collins, when it became a member of RMCO last fall. Councilmember Tom Looby credited Frisco's town character with the impetus for the resolution.
"We (the town council) reflect the strong environmental emphasis of our citizens," he said.
The city of Aspen is taking a particularly aggressive approach to reducing its climate-warming emissions. Last spring, the city launched its "Canary Initiative," named after the traditional practice of keeping a caged canary in underground mines to detect deadly gases. As part of the initiative, the city, in partnership with the Aspen Skiing Company and area environmental groups, formed the Aspen Global Warming Alliance to study the area's climate change and facilitate implementation of environmentally sustainable policies.
Frisco is keeping its eye on Aspen, Gage said.
"We're waiting to see where the Canary Initiative goes," he said. "It may be that we can partner with them down the road. It's a possibility that we can use a lot of information they're generating."
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20060223/NEWS/102230037
Global warming the real terror
By Judy Cannon - posted Friday, 24 February 2006
Can we ease up for a moment? Desist from the drum-beating and the alarums? Hush the television interviews, the pronouncements and the what-ifs? Put the terror button on pause for a spell and maybe stop and think? What is the extent of current dangers to us and in what form do they lurk?
What do the facts and figures tell us? For within them maybe we can discern some context, some sense of balance, some reality.
In October 2002, Muslim terrorists detonated two powerful bombs that destroyed Paddy's Club Café and Sari Club Café in Bali’s tourist district when 88 of the 202 people killed were Australian.
We had earlier grieved and been horrified at New York’s loss of life after al-Qaeda supporters flew aircraft, and passengers, into the Twin Towers. We were saddened at the loss of life at Madrid, London and other targets of terrorist activity. We sincerely feel for those families who have had to endure the bad news.
It is sensible to guard against terrorism but it also necessary to see it in perspective and in context with other dangers. Britain was attacked for years by IRA terrorists but sought to deal with it within democratic limits and controlled alarm.
Fear of terrorism and new technology have provided governments with the open sesame to introduce severe (and maybe anti-democratic) anti-terrorism legislation. People in power can always be tempted to go too far, clamping down on the freedom of people and freedom of speech. Once politicians get the bit between their teeth, they don’t seem able to stop themselves. It is the public that has to reign them in.
Fear breeds fear. Look at the US, now with a presidential licence to spy on its own citizens; look at the past bad ways of the old Communist Soviet Union and consider Putin’s Russia; and wonder too about China.
In Australia recent severe anti-terror legislation, including the reintroduction of sedition laws, caused deep consternation, but nevertheless it was passed by parliament with the help of the Opposition. Now the Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has decided it is necessary to have legislation to allow police to tap the phones of people not suspected of crime (ABC, February 16, 2006).
He has introduced a Bill into parliament designed to formalise the powers of police and intelligence agencies to access phone calls, text messages and emails of suspects. The law would also allow police to tap the phones of friends and family of a person under investigation for major crimes or terrorism offences. That could be your emails, phone calls and text messages, as well as mine. This is all under the terrorism-fear umbrella.
Therefore it is useful to consider current facts and figures to put terror concerns in context and perspective. Regretfully, we lost 88 Australians in the Bali terror bombing, but, concurrently we lose nearly 1,500 Australians each year in road fatalities. In 2005 the number of road deaths was 1,635, the previous year the figure was 1,598. Since record-keeping commenced in 1925, there have been over 169,000 road fatalities in Australia. This dreadful and unnecessary loss of life receives scant publicity given the huge number of people who die on the roads annually.
Other unexpected deaths include the victims of murder which in 2004 numbered 254 for the whole of Australia, (attempted murder 304), and manslaughter, 35. The 2005 totals are not yet available.
Australian service people killed on operations to date (February 21, 2006) since March 2003 total eleven. Nine were on a humanitarian helicopter mission at Nias Island, Indonesia; one serviceperson died in the Solomon Islands and one in the Middle East.
These figures prompt the question: is the terrorism drum being banged too loudly? Especially, when other hazards are mammoth in comparison?
Take for example, the dangers of climate change, the watered down name for “global warning”. Scientists around the world have been telling us that the danger is real enough. And that although hopefully something still in the future, action to minimise its effects needs to be undertaken immediately. To do that of course, we first have to debate and discuss.
However, recently a senate committee was informed that the former minister for science, Peter McGauran, had tried to influence the CSIRO to sever ties with the Wentworth Group of Respected Scientists who are concerned about the environment (Sydney Morning Herald, February 17, 2006).
The CSIRO's chief executive, Geoff Garrett, has denied that his organisation "gagged" scientists after a Labor senator, Peggy Wong, questioned him on allegations that scientists, including CSIRO’s Professor Mike Young, a member of the Wentworth Group, and former CSIRO scientist Dr Graeme Pearman, who advocated government involvement in reducing greenhouse gases, had been prevented from speaking about climate change. Dr Pearman told ABC Four Corners (February 13, 2006) that CSIRO scientists were muzzled and he had at times been censored. He said, “Just before I was made redundant I was actually head of CSIRO’s climate program. This is a multi divisional program that tries to bring together the researchers in 14 of CSIRO’s 20 divisions that have relationships to the climate change issue.” In other words, he knows what he is talking about.
To look again at some facts and figures: recent natural disasters have included the earthquake and resulting Boxing Day 2004 tsunami when about 275,000 people died in Sumatra, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South India, Thailand, and other countries including the east coast of Africa. The furthest recorded death occurred at Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 8,000kms away from the epicentre.
There was the earlier Papua New Guinea earthquake in 1998 which killed at least 3,000; Hurricane Katrina, which hit US New Orleans, killed about 1,300 in January 2006 and the current Philippines mud slide is believed to have claimed about 1,800.
Global warming has been mooted as the likely cause of Hurricane Katrina. To claim global warning as the cause for all natural disasters mentioned would be to initiate a scientific bun fight, but people died just the same. So perhaps we (and the government) should start to listen to the scientists more carefully. The first warnings about global warming could be heard in the 1980s but most of us did not grasp the significance.
Is Nature in revolt? Or are we really doing it to ourselves? And what should we and governments do about it? This is the really urgent matter.
We need to pull the heads of the government out of our communication garbage bins and instead, persuade them to face up to the most important threat of the century. We need to get them to really listen to the scientists, both here and overseas, for they are warning about a much greater terror.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=4194
Ctrip Cites Global Warming As Growth Catalyst
CTRP, Ctrip, Internet
Posted by: elias on Feb 24 09:02
Apparently, small rises in the global temperature are helping Chinese online travel services provider Ctrip sell more air tickets and hotel reservations.
During Ctrip's fourth quarter conference call, in response to a question from Jason Breuschke of Citigroup about Ctrip's suprisingly strong fourth quarter, Ctrip chairman James Liang said "the weather is getting warmer every year; the fourth quarter [this year] was not as cold as in earlier years, so leisure travel picks up a little bit and that contributes to hotel [bookings] and the air [ticketing business] and [travel] packages. So that also helps us a little bit."
When I am sitting in my uninsulated Shanghai aparment in February, I sometimes begin to think that maybe global warming could help me out a little bit too.
Have any analysts factored the annual global temperature change into their projections for Ctrip's future earnings?
http://www.pacificepoch.com/blog/54223_0_27_0_C/
The Copenhagen Post
24.02.2006
Friday
Partly to mostly sunny.
Highs between 1 and 4° C.
Friday night: Clear.
Lows down to -8° C.
Saturday
Clouds on the increase as a front moves down from the north.
Flurries possible.
Temperatures between 0 and 3° C.
Saturday night: Clearing.
Lows between -5 and -1° C.
Sunday
Partly cloudy.
Highs around 0° C.
Sunday night: Chance of snow or flurries.
Temperatures falling to between -5 and -1° C.
Monday
Partly sunny.
Temperatures between -3 and 0° C.
Monday night:
Clouding up.
Flurries possible.
Temperatures between -8 and -3° C.
DMI
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/94180.html
City councillors tired of illegally parked caravans want to build a five-star campground on Amager
Copenhagen city councillors are considering whether to build a new five-star campground in the Amager district, daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende reported on Friday.
The council will take up the proposal at its next meeting, but Claus Bondam, the deputy mayor for infrastructure and environmental issues, said the proposal was likely to pass.
'Copenhagen lacks a camping site close to the city,' he said, adding that the best choice for a site would be Amager Fælled, a large common on the outskirts of Copenhagen.
'It's close to the city, green spaces, the beach, and it's very, very easy to find,' he said.
The site is 15 minutes from the centre of the city, close to an underground station, and an existing hostel.
The city said a possible campground would have room for as many as 300 guests, and would aim for a rating of four or five stars.
Construction and operation would be contracted out to a private firm, but preparing the area would cost the city as much as DKK 400,000.
The Danish Camping Union was positive about the idea, as long as it lived up to modern campers' expectations.
'There's enough room and demand for another campground in Copenhagen, but it needs to be something where the surroundings, the facilities, and the sanitary facilities are top-shelf,' said Bjarne Jensen, president of the camping union.
Copenhagen already has a campground at the other end of the city, in the Bellahøj neighbourhood. But Bondam said age and increased interest in city camping meant the city needed a second one.
Bondam pointed out that the proposal to create a second campsite in the city comes as police report an increasing number of illegally parked caravans.
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/94184.html
Housing price increases will level off during the coming year, predict major banks
Major Danish banks expect a soft landing for a red-hot real estate market in 2006 after years of double-digit increases.
Economists expected a mere 5 percent increase in housing prices compared to a nationwide average of 21.6 percent last year.
The booming real estate market, especially in Copenhagen and other major cities, had led some analysts to fear that the market was inflated. They were also concerned that speculation had contributed to the price rises.
Now, they predict that rising interest rates would slow the galloping market, after surprisingly strong German business figures led to a rate hike for the seventh day in a row.
The development will directly affect homeowners with variable interest rate loans that are closely linked to the European Central Bank.
Senior analyst Jes Asmussen of Nordea bank welcomed the development.
'It's actually quite reasonable since interest rate increases take the top off the drastic housing price increases,' said Asmussen to financial daily Børsen. 'We expect continued interest rate hikes, but not to a degree that will be a problem and lead to a collapse of the real estate market.'
Dansk Bank's senior Steen Bocian also predicted a gradual levelling off.
'A quarter percentage increase in interest rates reduces price increases on the housing market by 2.5 percent in the long run,' he said. 'In other words, it's nothing dramatic, and we expect continued housing price increases despite the higher rate.'
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/94183.html
Warnings of the imminent arrival of bird flu has not meant that consumers are passing up the chicken for other meat
Concern that bird flu may be making its way towards Denmark is not causing consumers to stop buying poultry, several of the nation's supermarket chains say.
In other EU countries, the sale of poultry has fallen by as much as 70 percent. Danish consumers, however, continue to dish up fowl.
'We haven't really noticed many consumers asking about it,' said Jens Juul Nielsen, a spokesman for supermarket chain Coop Denmark, to daily newspaper Politiken.
As news began to spread last week that birds in Germany had died of the H5N1 influenza virus, grocers began fearing the worst.
A knee-jerk reaction by consumers resulted in a 50 percent drop in the sale of chicken, according to the Association of Danish Grocers.
Though neither Coop nor other major grocery chains have noticed a sustained fall in sales, they have created working groups to prepare for a possible outbreak in Denmark.
One of the primary tasks of the groups is to keep an open line to food and health authorities and poultry suppliers.
'There's not much else we can do. There's no reason to panic about something that isn't even here,' said Morten Petersen of Dansk Supermarked.
The government has repeatedly told consumers that bird flu is primarily an economic worry for poultry farmers.
Health officials continue to test dead birds found in the wild to determine the cause of death. None of the tests have been positive, but experts say the virus will arrive at some point.
Members of parliament supported the government's measures to prevent fear of bird flu from running amok.
'It's important that we let people know what the risks are involved with bird flu, and tell consumers that there's no reason not to eat poultry,' said opposition MP Bjarne Laustsen.
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/94067.html
BBC Europe
Hosepipe bans call in South East
Drought-hit region needs water
Water companies in south-east England are being urged to bring in hosepipe bans to avoid the introduction of more extreme water-saving measures.
A report from the Environment Agency made the recommendation, saying the region was in a "serious situation".
The period from October 2004 to January 2006 was the driest in some parts of the South East since 1921.
Rainfall has been low across most of England and Wales, but the south of England has been the driest area.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/4744862.stm
Winter drought fears for wildlife
By Mark Kinver
BBC News science and nature reporter
Low rainfall has raised concerns of a drought this summer
Concern is growing for flora and fauna in some parts of the UK because rainfall levels are well below the average for winter months.
Scientists say trees and fish could suffer in the summer because of the lack of rain to replenish water stocks.
A second successive dry winter has left some areas with groundwater and river levels well down on what they should be for this time of the year.
South-east England is the area worst affected by the lack of rainfall.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4739922.stm
Worse than 1976?
By Alexis Akwagyiram
BBC News
Bewl Water Reservoir on the Kent/ Sussex border is only 37% full
Extreme water-saving measures may be necessary in parts of England if a shortage is not addressed. BBC News considers how the situation compares to the drought of 1976 and how water can be conserved.
Parts of south-east England face a "serious situation" regarding water shortages, according to the Environment Agency.
By way of explanation, it points out that the period from October 2004 to January 2006 was the driest in some parts of the South East since 1921.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4746368.stm
Not feeling the heat over fuel price rises
By Stephen Robb
BBC News
Energy price rises have prompted fresh warnings about more Britons shivering into "fuel poverty", with campaigners complaining some people are forced to choose "between heating and eating".
The government aims to eradicate fuel poverty in vulnerable homes
Sixty-five-year-old Pam Greenhalgh, who lives alone in Northwich, Cheshire, admits she "will skip a meal here or there, or have hot drinks sometimes instead of a meal" to make savings.
"As long as I have got my cup of tea, I don't care," she adds stoically.
Fuel poverty is defined as spending more than 10% of income on heating and power.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4744866.stm
Milosevic medical plea rejected
Mr Milosevic's health problems have delayed his trial
The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague has rejected a request by Slobodan Milosevic to be allowed to go to Russia for medical treatment.
The former Yugoslav president, on trial for alleged war crimes, has high blood pressure and a heart condition.
The court said his lawyers had not satisfactorily proved that Mr Milosevic's medical needs could not be met in the Netherlands.
It also said it feared Mr Milosevic might not return to continue the trial.
Mr Milosevic, 64, is facing charges of genocide and other war crimes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4746232.stm
Suspected bird flu on French farm
The German military has been deployed to collect dead birds
France has found a suspected case of the deadly bird flu virus H5N1 on a poultry farm, the farm ministry says.
If confirmed, it would be the first time a farm bird has been infected in France, where two wild ducks have tested positive in the south-east.
Officials in Germany say further tests carried out on a domestic duck thought to be infected with the H5N1 strain have shown it does not have the virus.
Meanwhile, Slovakia has found its first H5N1 cases in a wild falcon and grebe.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4742536.stm
Chirac leads Jewish youth service
Mr Chirac (C) led religious and political leaders at the service
French President Jacques Chirac has attended a memorial for a young French Jew whose killing shocked the nation.
Ilan Halimi was held for three weeks then found naked with horrific injuries, dying on the way to hospital.
The suspected head of the kidnap gang, Youssouf Fofana, has been held in Ivory Coast and his extradition is expected to be completed shortly.
French ministers have suggested the crime may be anti-Semitic but Ivorian police say Mr Fofana has denied this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4744676.stm
Design probe after Moscow deaths
The designer of a collapsed Moscow market has been questioned as construction flaws are suspected of having contributed to 57 deaths there.
Heavy lifting gear is being used to clear the rubble, as the authorities believe no more survivors can be found.
The market's designer Nodar Kancheli had also planned Moscow's Transvaal water park, which collapsed in 2004, killing 28 people, Russian media said.
A huge build-up of snow on the market's roof was also blamed for the disaster.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4746500.stm
Bird disaster hits Estonia coast
By Laura Sheeter
BBC News, Estonia
The authorities still do not know who caused the oil spill
International volunteers and Estonian conservationists are trying to save the last surviving birds caught in an oil spill in the frozen Baltic Sea.
The slick appeared off Estonia's north-west coast in late January.
"I'm wearing four layers of clothes, a down suit and a dry suit, and you can still feel the cold through all that," says one rescuer standing on the ice.
"But what else can we do? We can't just leave the birds to die."
The spill, the source of which is still unknown, is estimated to have killed 35,000 birds, making it by far the worst Estonia has experienced.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4733418.stm
Russia's abandoned HIV children
By Emma Simpson
BBC News, Moscow
Russia has one of the fastest growing Aids epidemics in the world, with 100 new infections every day. Increasingly, women and their infants are being affected.
Latest figures show 22,000 babies have been born to HIV-positive women. And many are being abandoned by their mothers into the care of the state.
Many HIV-positive mothers give up their babies to the Russian state
The four babies in the maternity ward in the city of Tver were just a few days old and blissfully content.
But two of them had been abandoned by their HIV-positive mothers, who were either too ashamed or unable to cope.
They ought soon to have been heading to one of Russia's regular baby orphanages, but the two newborns are likely to be stuck here in this state-run infectious diseases hospital instead.
If they are lucky it will be only for 18 months - the time it takes doctors in Russia officially to diagnose whether children are HIV-positive.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4735006.stm
Living with race hate in Russia
By Patrick Jackson
BBC News website, Moscow
Juldas Okie Etoumbi, a postgraduate international relations student at Moscow's RUDN university, remembers well his first encounter with a Russian.
Gabriel Kotchofa says the number of prosecutions is minute
Standing in a Moscow Metro carriage for the first time, the young Gabonese man was thrown forward when the train started with a jolt and he grabbed a pole to keep his balance, brushing the Russian man's hand.
Without a word, the Russian withdrew his hand, produced a handkerchief and proceeded to wipe it demonstratively in front of the other passengers.
Christian, a former electrical engineering student from Cameroon now working in Moscow, was recently assaulted by a group of about 10 teenagers on a Metro train in the city centre.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4737468.stm
Mayor is suspended over Nazi jibe
Mr Livingstone said he was expressing his honestly-held view
London's mayor has been suspended from office for four weeks for comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard.
The Adjudication Panel for England ruled Ken Livingstone had brought his office into disrepute when he acted in an "unnecessarily insensitive" manner.
The ban is due to begin on 1 March, but Mr Livingstone's representative said he may appeal to the High Court.
The hearing followed a complaint from the Jewish Board of Deputies.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4746016.st
Family escape harm in gun attack
Two shots were fired in the attack in Londonderry
A couple and their two-year-old daughter have escaped injury in a gun attack at their home in Londonderry.
The 22-year-old woman said she believed paramilitaries had "mistaken her partner for someone else".
A masked gunman fired two shots shattering a window in the house at Bradley Park in the Shantallow area at about 2330 GMT on Thursday.
Two accomplices then kicked the front and back doors of the house, but failed to gain entry.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4746268.stm
Third person held over £50m raid
Raid reconstruction
A third person has been arrested by detectives investigating the raid on a Securitas depot in Kent in which armed robbers got away with up to £50m.
Police said the woman, 41, was detained in Bromley, south-east London, at the Portman Building Society on Thursday.
It followed the arrest of a man, 29, and a woman, 31, in south London on conspiracy-related charges.
Three vehicles involved in the robbery have been found, but not the lorry used to transport the money, police said.
Officers said the depot manager's car, the Nissan Almera, had been found, together with the Volvo used to pull over Colin Dixon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/4745856.stm
Go-ahead for Europe ice mission
By Helen Briggs
BBC News science reporter
Cryosat: Mission guide
The Cryosat mission lost in the Arctic Ocean last year minutes after launch from northern Russia will fly again.
The European Space Agency (Esa) has agreed to build a copy of the original £90m (135m-euro) craft.
Early estimates suggest Cryosat-2 could be ready to launch in three years.
The mission will study how the Earth's ice sheets are responding to climate change amid mounting evidence that some areas are thinning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4745168.stm
Global warming the biggest worry, Clinton tells forum
24 February 2006
By JANNA HAMILTON
Former American president Bill Clinton told 600 of New Zealand's top business people their greatest worry in the world was global warming.
Mr Clinton held his audience in Auckland captive for one hour as he talked about global conflicts, global warming and how the richer nations could help.
He was introduced by Prime Minister Helen Clark who welcomed him back for his third visit.
After his speech he answered four submitted questions read by Miss Clark. Organisers would not allow questions from the floor.
Mr Clinton was speaking at a high-powered business forum in Auckland which also featured Michael Eisner, the former chief executive of Walt Disney, Carly Fiorina, the chief executive of Hewlett Packard for six years until last year, and Jack Perkowski, the chairman and chief executive of ASIMCO Technologies, the most successful western business in China.
It was one of the most costly business functions the country has seen.
A single ticket cost $2400 but that reduced to $1895 if it was bought before January 31.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Private meetings with Mr Clinton cost a lot more.
Small group hourly bookings cost $5000 a head (excluding GST). For that paying guests got a handshake, a photograph and a chance to mingle with the only Democratic president in the last 60 years to win two terms.
Larger group bookings of about 50 people cost up to $150,000.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3583391a11,00.html
Global Warming Shifts from Theory to Reality
BY CHRISTINE NIELSEN
Anyone who has lived in the Northeast of the United States for at least a couple of years can testify that this winter has been abnormally warm. Though winter has cracked back occasionally and with a vengeance—such as the largest snowstorm in New York on record, which hit the city the week before last—in general the words most often used to describe the weather recently are “unseasonable” and downright “weird.” Another phrase that has been frequently thrown around is “global warming.” Though there has always been some disagreement in the scientific community about the real and significant results of the greenhouse effect, the evidence to support the theory of human-induced, worldwide, and significant climate change is accumulating. Though the anecdotal evidence felt by the Bard community does not have scientific weight, many studies published recently do.
To start with, climatologists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies published a report last month stating that 2005 was the warmest year in a century, adding that the Earth has warmed a total of 1.44 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 100 years, but 1.08 degrees in the past 30 years. Though 1.44 degrees may sound like a pittance, its effects are proving otherwise. The results of global climate change, once a far-off seeming prediction, are now being seen and felt all over the world, from Greenland, to Tanzania, to the Gulf Coast of the United States.
A little less than the size of Mexico, the Greenland Ice Sheet would raise the ocean levels by 23 feet if it melted altogether. And according to research conducted at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, the rate at which the Ice Sheet is melting has more than doubled in the past ten years. In 1996 the Ice Sheet was losing 90 cubic kilometers of ice per year—last year it lost 224 cubic kilometers of ice. This research, the first of its kind to be done regarding Greenland, was published in last month’s edition of the journal Science. Of course, given the magnitude of the Earth’s oceans, even a loss of 224 cubic kilometers of ice per year only contributes .5 millimeters to the over 3 millimeters of global water level increase per year. More disturbing than the increase of water level, however, is the effect that overall colder ocean waters could have on climate change. Europe, for one, and also much of North America, rely heavily on hot currents within the ocean to warm their peripheries. With the oceans becoming colder due to the melting of polar ice, those hot currents could cool and possibly cease altogether, leaving Europe in a mini Ice Age.
In 2002, Lonnie Thompson, professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University, and his fellow researches made the prediction that the ice fields of Mt. Kilimanjaro would recede and eventually disappear between 2015 and 2020 due to global warming. Though Thompson had some skeptics at the time, it is now evident that his prediction is coming true, maybe even faster than was anticipated. According to data collected by Thompson and colleagues, 56 feet of ice has melted off of the top of the fields since 1962, meaning that the fields are melting at an average rate of more than half a meter per year, and that rate is only accelerating—no new ice has formed on the peak for six years now.
While the melting of polar ice happens at such a rate that it may be hard to foresee the effects in the next decade, Mt. Kilimanjaro is another story. If the ice fields melt entirely by 2020 as is expected, both the income brought in by tourism and the water supplied to local people by ice melts will be in jepoardy.
Though it is true that the Earth has experienced other periods of global warming in its history, a new study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, states that the rate of warming today is 30 times what it would have been at any other time. James Zachos, a professor of earth sciences at Santa Cruz and a leading expert on the episode of global warming known as the palaeocene-eocene thermal maximum, was quoted by the Independent as saying, “The emissions that caused this past episode of global warming probably lasted 10,000 years. By burning fossil fuels, we are likely to emit the same amount over the next three centuries.” Though the oceans are always working to remove carbon from the air, Zachos says the magnitude of past and continuing greenhouse gas emissions have overwhelmed the oceans’ natural capacity for cleansing. “It will take tens of thousands of years before atmospheric carbon dioxide comes down to pre-industrial levels,” says Zachos. “Even after humans stop burning fossil fuels, the effects will be long-lasting.”
More than a year has passed since Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the official Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shocked the Bush administration--which lobbied strongly for his appointment--and many others by issuing the dire statement, “Climate change is for real. We have just a small window of opportunity and it is closing rather rapidly. There is not a moment to lose,” adding, “We are risking the ability of the human race to survive.” Though the Bush administration has admitted that global warming poses a significant threat to the welfare of the country, it has yet to take serious action to severely curb the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions, even at this critical juncture.
http://observer.bard.edu/articles/news/186
Frisco addresses global warming
Get News Feeds
HARRIET HAMILTON
summit daily news
February 23, 2006
The town of Frisco took its first steps last week toward addressing the issue of global warming when the town council approved a resolution to adopt an official environmental stewardship policy.
The resolution calls for all town employees to consider environmentally sustainable practices in all operating and budgetary decisions.
"It will have an impact on every single department in the town," Frisco community development director Mark Gage said.
Buying recycled paper products, putting timers on building lights, increasing thermal efficiency when building new buildings and using biodiesel energy are all possible ways for the town to implement the policy, Gage added.
The resolution addresses environmental sustainability in general, but is specific about the issue of global warming.
"The international scientific community has reached consensus that human activities are warming the planet, and with its mountain setting and proximity to some of Colorado's major ski resorts, Frisco is on the front lines of climate change ...," the resolution reads.
Buildings account for about half of U.S. energy consumption, Gage said, and energy consumption leads to global warming.
"Where change really needs to start is with buildings," he said.
Gage emphasized the importance of action at the local level.
Global warming is becoming an important issue for mountain communities that depend on ski resorts for economic viability. Snowpack is already decreasing over much of the American West, according to "Less Snow, Less Water: Climate Disruption in the West" - a report released by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (RMCO), a Louisville-based advocacy group that monitors climate change in the region.
What snowpack there is, the report goes on to say, melts earlier. A small increase in nighttime temperatures could have a devastating effect on the ski industry.
The town of Frisco joined forces with a handful of other Colorado municipal governments, including Aspen, Boulder and Fort Collins, when it became a member of RMCO last fall. Councilmember Tom Looby credited Frisco's town character with the impetus for the resolution.
"We (the town council) reflect the strong environmental emphasis of our citizens," he said.
The city of Aspen is taking a particularly aggressive approach to reducing its climate-warming emissions. Last spring, the city launched its "Canary Initiative," named after the traditional practice of keeping a caged canary in underground mines to detect deadly gases. As part of the initiative, the city, in partnership with the Aspen Skiing Company and area environmental groups, formed the Aspen Global Warming Alliance to study the area's climate change and facilitate implementation of environmentally sustainable policies.
Frisco is keeping its eye on Aspen, Gage said.
"We're waiting to see where the Canary Initiative goes," he said. "It may be that we can partner with them down the road. It's a possibility that we can use a lot of information they're generating."
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20060223/NEWS/102230037
Global warming the real terror
By Judy Cannon - posted Friday, 24 February 2006
Can we ease up for a moment? Desist from the drum-beating and the alarums? Hush the television interviews, the pronouncements and the what-ifs? Put the terror button on pause for a spell and maybe stop and think? What is the extent of current dangers to us and in what form do they lurk?
What do the facts and figures tell us? For within them maybe we can discern some context, some sense of balance, some reality.
In October 2002, Muslim terrorists detonated two powerful bombs that destroyed Paddy's Club Café and Sari Club Café in Bali’s tourist district when 88 of the 202 people killed were Australian.
We had earlier grieved and been horrified at New York’s loss of life after al-Qaeda supporters flew aircraft, and passengers, into the Twin Towers. We were saddened at the loss of life at Madrid, London and other targets of terrorist activity. We sincerely feel for those families who have had to endure the bad news.
It is sensible to guard against terrorism but it also necessary to see it in perspective and in context with other dangers. Britain was attacked for years by IRA terrorists but sought to deal with it within democratic limits and controlled alarm.
Fear of terrorism and new technology have provided governments with the open sesame to introduce severe (and maybe anti-democratic) anti-terrorism legislation. People in power can always be tempted to go too far, clamping down on the freedom of people and freedom of speech. Once politicians get the bit between their teeth, they don’t seem able to stop themselves. It is the public that has to reign them in.
Fear breeds fear. Look at the US, now with a presidential licence to spy on its own citizens; look at the past bad ways of the old Communist Soviet Union and consider Putin’s Russia; and wonder too about China.
In Australia recent severe anti-terror legislation, including the reintroduction of sedition laws, caused deep consternation, but nevertheless it was passed by parliament with the help of the Opposition. Now the Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has decided it is necessary to have legislation to allow police to tap the phones of people not suspected of crime (ABC, February 16, 2006).
He has introduced a Bill into parliament designed to formalise the powers of police and intelligence agencies to access phone calls, text messages and emails of suspects. The law would also allow police to tap the phones of friends and family of a person under investigation for major crimes or terrorism offences. That could be your emails, phone calls and text messages, as well as mine. This is all under the terrorism-fear umbrella.
Therefore it is useful to consider current facts and figures to put terror concerns in context and perspective. Regretfully, we lost 88 Australians in the Bali terror bombing, but, concurrently we lose nearly 1,500 Australians each year in road fatalities. In 2005 the number of road deaths was 1,635, the previous year the figure was 1,598. Since record-keeping commenced in 1925, there have been over 169,000 road fatalities in Australia. This dreadful and unnecessary loss of life receives scant publicity given the huge number of people who die on the roads annually.
Other unexpected deaths include the victims of murder which in 2004 numbered 254 for the whole of Australia, (attempted murder 304), and manslaughter, 35. The 2005 totals are not yet available.
Australian service people killed on operations to date (February 21, 2006) since March 2003 total eleven. Nine were on a humanitarian helicopter mission at Nias Island, Indonesia; one serviceperson died in the Solomon Islands and one in the Middle East.
These figures prompt the question: is the terrorism drum being banged too loudly? Especially, when other hazards are mammoth in comparison?
Take for example, the dangers of climate change, the watered down name for “global warning”. Scientists around the world have been telling us that the danger is real enough. And that although hopefully something still in the future, action to minimise its effects needs to be undertaken immediately. To do that of course, we first have to debate and discuss.
However, recently a senate committee was informed that the former minister for science, Peter McGauran, had tried to influence the CSIRO to sever ties with the Wentworth Group of Respected Scientists who are concerned about the environment (Sydney Morning Herald, February 17, 2006).
The CSIRO's chief executive, Geoff Garrett, has denied that his organisation "gagged" scientists after a Labor senator, Peggy Wong, questioned him on allegations that scientists, including CSIRO’s Professor Mike Young, a member of the Wentworth Group, and former CSIRO scientist Dr Graeme Pearman, who advocated government involvement in reducing greenhouse gases, had been prevented from speaking about climate change. Dr Pearman told ABC Four Corners (February 13, 2006) that CSIRO scientists were muzzled and he had at times been censored. He said, “Just before I was made redundant I was actually head of CSIRO’s climate program. This is a multi divisional program that tries to bring together the researchers in 14 of CSIRO’s 20 divisions that have relationships to the climate change issue.” In other words, he knows what he is talking about.
To look again at some facts and figures: recent natural disasters have included the earthquake and resulting Boxing Day 2004 tsunami when about 275,000 people died in Sumatra, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South India, Thailand, and other countries including the east coast of Africa. The furthest recorded death occurred at Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 8,000kms away from the epicentre.
There was the earlier Papua New Guinea earthquake in 1998 which killed at least 3,000; Hurricane Katrina, which hit US New Orleans, killed about 1,300 in January 2006 and the current Philippines mud slide is believed to have claimed about 1,800.
Global warming has been mooted as the likely cause of Hurricane Katrina. To claim global warning as the cause for all natural disasters mentioned would be to initiate a scientific bun fight, but people died just the same. So perhaps we (and the government) should start to listen to the scientists more carefully. The first warnings about global warming could be heard in the 1980s but most of us did not grasp the significance.
Is Nature in revolt? Or are we really doing it to ourselves? And what should we and governments do about it? This is the really urgent matter.
We need to pull the heads of the government out of our communication garbage bins and instead, persuade them to face up to the most important threat of the century. We need to get them to really listen to the scientists, both here and overseas, for they are warning about a much greater terror.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=4194
Ctrip Cites Global Warming As Growth Catalyst
CTRP, Ctrip, Internet
Posted by: elias on Feb 24 09:02
Apparently, small rises in the global temperature are helping Chinese online travel services provider Ctrip sell more air tickets and hotel reservations.
During Ctrip's fourth quarter conference call, in response to a question from Jason Breuschke of Citigroup about Ctrip's suprisingly strong fourth quarter, Ctrip chairman James Liang said "the weather is getting warmer every year; the fourth quarter [this year] was not as cold as in earlier years, so leisure travel picks up a little bit and that contributes to hotel [bookings] and the air [ticketing business] and [travel] packages. So that also helps us a little bit."
When I am sitting in my uninsulated Shanghai aparment in February, I sometimes begin to think that maybe global warming could help me out a little bit too.
Have any analysts factored the annual global temperature change into their projections for Ctrip's future earnings?
http://www.pacificepoch.com/blog/54223_0_27_0_C/
The Copenhagen Post
24.02.2006
Friday
Partly to mostly sunny.
Highs between 1 and 4° C.
Friday night: Clear.
Lows down to -8° C.
Saturday
Clouds on the increase as a front moves down from the north.
Flurries possible.
Temperatures between 0 and 3° C.
Saturday night: Clearing.
Lows between -5 and -1° C.
Sunday
Partly cloudy.
Highs around 0° C.
Sunday night: Chance of snow or flurries.
Temperatures falling to between -5 and -1° C.
Monday
Partly sunny.
Temperatures between -3 and 0° C.
Monday night:
Clouding up.
Flurries possible.
Temperatures between -8 and -3° C.
DMI
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/94180.html
City councillors tired of illegally parked caravans want to build a five-star campground on Amager
Copenhagen city councillors are considering whether to build a new five-star campground in the Amager district, daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende reported on Friday.
The council will take up the proposal at its next meeting, but Claus Bondam, the deputy mayor for infrastructure and environmental issues, said the proposal was likely to pass.
'Copenhagen lacks a camping site close to the city,' he said, adding that the best choice for a site would be Amager Fælled, a large common on the outskirts of Copenhagen.
'It's close to the city, green spaces, the beach, and it's very, very easy to find,' he said.
The site is 15 minutes from the centre of the city, close to an underground station, and an existing hostel.
The city said a possible campground would have room for as many as 300 guests, and would aim for a rating of four or five stars.
Construction and operation would be contracted out to a private firm, but preparing the area would cost the city as much as DKK 400,000.
The Danish Camping Union was positive about the idea, as long as it lived up to modern campers' expectations.
'There's enough room and demand for another campground in Copenhagen, but it needs to be something where the surroundings, the facilities, and the sanitary facilities are top-shelf,' said Bjarne Jensen, president of the camping union.
Copenhagen already has a campground at the other end of the city, in the Bellahøj neighbourhood. But Bondam said age and increased interest in city camping meant the city needed a second one.
Bondam pointed out that the proposal to create a second campsite in the city comes as police report an increasing number of illegally parked caravans.
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/94184.html
Housing price increases will level off during the coming year, predict major banks
Major Danish banks expect a soft landing for a red-hot real estate market in 2006 after years of double-digit increases.
Economists expected a mere 5 percent increase in housing prices compared to a nationwide average of 21.6 percent last year.
The booming real estate market, especially in Copenhagen and other major cities, had led some analysts to fear that the market was inflated. They were also concerned that speculation had contributed to the price rises.
Now, they predict that rising interest rates would slow the galloping market, after surprisingly strong German business figures led to a rate hike for the seventh day in a row.
The development will directly affect homeowners with variable interest rate loans that are closely linked to the European Central Bank.
Senior analyst Jes Asmussen of Nordea bank welcomed the development.
'It's actually quite reasonable since interest rate increases take the top off the drastic housing price increases,' said Asmussen to financial daily Børsen. 'We expect continued interest rate hikes, but not to a degree that will be a problem and lead to a collapse of the real estate market.'
Dansk Bank's senior Steen Bocian also predicted a gradual levelling off.
'A quarter percentage increase in interest rates reduces price increases on the housing market by 2.5 percent in the long run,' he said. 'In other words, it's nothing dramatic, and we expect continued housing price increases despite the higher rate.'
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/94183.html
Warnings of the imminent arrival of bird flu has not meant that consumers are passing up the chicken for other meat
Concern that bird flu may be making its way towards Denmark is not causing consumers to stop buying poultry, several of the nation's supermarket chains say.
In other EU countries, the sale of poultry has fallen by as much as 70 percent. Danish consumers, however, continue to dish up fowl.
'We haven't really noticed many consumers asking about it,' said Jens Juul Nielsen, a spokesman for supermarket chain Coop Denmark, to daily newspaper Politiken.
As news began to spread last week that birds in Germany had died of the H5N1 influenza virus, grocers began fearing the worst.
A knee-jerk reaction by consumers resulted in a 50 percent drop in the sale of chicken, according to the Association of Danish Grocers.
Though neither Coop nor other major grocery chains have noticed a sustained fall in sales, they have created working groups to prepare for a possible outbreak in Denmark.
One of the primary tasks of the groups is to keep an open line to food and health authorities and poultry suppliers.
'There's not much else we can do. There's no reason to panic about something that isn't even here,' said Morten Petersen of Dansk Supermarked.
The government has repeatedly told consumers that bird flu is primarily an economic worry for poultry farmers.
Health officials continue to test dead birds found in the wild to determine the cause of death. None of the tests have been positive, but experts say the virus will arrive at some point.
Members of parliament supported the government's measures to prevent fear of bird flu from running amok.
'It's important that we let people know what the risks are involved with bird flu, and tell consumers that there's no reason not to eat poultry,' said opposition MP Bjarne Laustsen.
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/94067.html
BBC Europe
Hosepipe bans call in South East
Drought-hit region needs water
Water companies in south-east England are being urged to bring in hosepipe bans to avoid the introduction of more extreme water-saving measures.
A report from the Environment Agency made the recommendation, saying the region was in a "serious situation".
The period from October 2004 to January 2006 was the driest in some parts of the South East since 1921.
Rainfall has been low across most of England and Wales, but the south of England has been the driest area.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/4744862.stm
Winter drought fears for wildlife
By Mark Kinver
BBC News science and nature reporter
Low rainfall has raised concerns of a drought this summer
Concern is growing for flora and fauna in some parts of the UK because rainfall levels are well below the average for winter months.
Scientists say trees and fish could suffer in the summer because of the lack of rain to replenish water stocks.
A second successive dry winter has left some areas with groundwater and river levels well down on what they should be for this time of the year.
South-east England is the area worst affected by the lack of rainfall.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4739922.stm
Worse than 1976?
By Alexis Akwagyiram
BBC News
Bewl Water Reservoir on the Kent/ Sussex border is only 37% full
Extreme water-saving measures may be necessary in parts of England if a shortage is not addressed. BBC News considers how the situation compares to the drought of 1976 and how water can be conserved.
Parts of south-east England face a "serious situation" regarding water shortages, according to the Environment Agency.
By way of explanation, it points out that the period from October 2004 to January 2006 was the driest in some parts of the South East since 1921.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4746368.stm
Not feeling the heat over fuel price rises
By Stephen Robb
BBC News
Energy price rises have prompted fresh warnings about more Britons shivering into "fuel poverty", with campaigners complaining some people are forced to choose "between heating and eating".
The government aims to eradicate fuel poverty in vulnerable homes
Sixty-five-year-old Pam Greenhalgh, who lives alone in Northwich, Cheshire, admits she "will skip a meal here or there, or have hot drinks sometimes instead of a meal" to make savings.
"As long as I have got my cup of tea, I don't care," she adds stoically.
Fuel poverty is defined as spending more than 10% of income on heating and power.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4744866.stm
Milosevic medical plea rejected
Mr Milosevic's health problems have delayed his trial
The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague has rejected a request by Slobodan Milosevic to be allowed to go to Russia for medical treatment.
The former Yugoslav president, on trial for alleged war crimes, has high blood pressure and a heart condition.
The court said his lawyers had not satisfactorily proved that Mr Milosevic's medical needs could not be met in the Netherlands.
It also said it feared Mr Milosevic might not return to continue the trial.
Mr Milosevic, 64, is facing charges of genocide and other war crimes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4746232.stm
Suspected bird flu on French farm
The German military has been deployed to collect dead birds
France has found a suspected case of the deadly bird flu virus H5N1 on a poultry farm, the farm ministry says.
If confirmed, it would be the first time a farm bird has been infected in France, where two wild ducks have tested positive in the south-east.
Officials in Germany say further tests carried out on a domestic duck thought to be infected with the H5N1 strain have shown it does not have the virus.
Meanwhile, Slovakia has found its first H5N1 cases in a wild falcon and grebe.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4742536.stm
Chirac leads Jewish youth service
Mr Chirac (C) led religious and political leaders at the service
French President Jacques Chirac has attended a memorial for a young French Jew whose killing shocked the nation.
Ilan Halimi was held for three weeks then found naked with horrific injuries, dying on the way to hospital.
The suspected head of the kidnap gang, Youssouf Fofana, has been held in Ivory Coast and his extradition is expected to be completed shortly.
French ministers have suggested the crime may be anti-Semitic but Ivorian police say Mr Fofana has denied this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4744676.stm
Design probe after Moscow deaths
The designer of a collapsed Moscow market has been questioned as construction flaws are suspected of having contributed to 57 deaths there.
Heavy lifting gear is being used to clear the rubble, as the authorities believe no more survivors can be found.
The market's designer Nodar Kancheli had also planned Moscow's Transvaal water park, which collapsed in 2004, killing 28 people, Russian media said.
A huge build-up of snow on the market's roof was also blamed for the disaster.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4746500.stm
Bird disaster hits Estonia coast
By Laura Sheeter
BBC News, Estonia
The authorities still do not know who caused the oil spill
International volunteers and Estonian conservationists are trying to save the last surviving birds caught in an oil spill in the frozen Baltic Sea.
The slick appeared off Estonia's north-west coast in late January.
"I'm wearing four layers of clothes, a down suit and a dry suit, and you can still feel the cold through all that," says one rescuer standing on the ice.
"But what else can we do? We can't just leave the birds to die."
The spill, the source of which is still unknown, is estimated to have killed 35,000 birds, making it by far the worst Estonia has experienced.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4733418.stm
Russia's abandoned HIV children
By Emma Simpson
BBC News, Moscow
Russia has one of the fastest growing Aids epidemics in the world, with 100 new infections every day. Increasingly, women and their infants are being affected.
Latest figures show 22,000 babies have been born to HIV-positive women. And many are being abandoned by their mothers into the care of the state.
Many HIV-positive mothers give up their babies to the Russian state
The four babies in the maternity ward in the city of Tver were just a few days old and blissfully content.
But two of them had been abandoned by their HIV-positive mothers, who were either too ashamed or unable to cope.
They ought soon to have been heading to one of Russia's regular baby orphanages, but the two newborns are likely to be stuck here in this state-run infectious diseases hospital instead.
If they are lucky it will be only for 18 months - the time it takes doctors in Russia officially to diagnose whether children are HIV-positive.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4735006.stm
Living with race hate in Russia
By Patrick Jackson
BBC News website, Moscow
Juldas Okie Etoumbi, a postgraduate international relations student at Moscow's RUDN university, remembers well his first encounter with a Russian.
Gabriel Kotchofa says the number of prosecutions is minute
Standing in a Moscow Metro carriage for the first time, the young Gabonese man was thrown forward when the train started with a jolt and he grabbed a pole to keep his balance, brushing the Russian man's hand.
Without a word, the Russian withdrew his hand, produced a handkerchief and proceeded to wipe it demonstratively in front of the other passengers.
Christian, a former electrical engineering student from Cameroon now working in Moscow, was recently assaulted by a group of about 10 teenagers on a Metro train in the city centre.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4737468.stm
Mayor is suspended over Nazi jibe
Mr Livingstone said he was expressing his honestly-held view
London's mayor has been suspended from office for four weeks for comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard.
The Adjudication Panel for England ruled Ken Livingstone had brought his office into disrepute when he acted in an "unnecessarily insensitive" manner.
The ban is due to begin on 1 March, but Mr Livingstone's representative said he may appeal to the High Court.
The hearing followed a complaint from the Jewish Board of Deputies.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4746016.st
Family escape harm in gun attack
Two shots were fired in the attack in Londonderry
A couple and their two-year-old daughter have escaped injury in a gun attack at their home in Londonderry.
The 22-year-old woman said she believed paramilitaries had "mistaken her partner for someone else".
A masked gunman fired two shots shattering a window in the house at Bradley Park in the Shantallow area at about 2330 GMT on Thursday.
Two accomplices then kicked the front and back doors of the house, but failed to gain entry.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4746268.stm
Third person held over £50m raid
Raid reconstruction
A third person has been arrested by detectives investigating the raid on a Securitas depot in Kent in which armed robbers got away with up to £50m.
Police said the woman, 41, was detained in Bromley, south-east London, at the Portman Building Society on Thursday.
It followed the arrest of a man, 29, and a woman, 31, in south London on conspiracy-related charges.
Three vehicles involved in the robbery have been found, but not the lorry used to transport the money, police said.
Officers said the depot manager's car, the Nissan Almera, had been found, together with the Volvo used to pull over Colin Dixon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/4745856.stm
Go-ahead for Europe ice mission
By Helen Briggs
BBC News science reporter
Cryosat: Mission guide
The Cryosat mission lost in the Arctic Ocean last year minutes after launch from northern Russia will fly again.
The European Space Agency (Esa) has agreed to build a copy of the original £90m (135m-euro) craft.
Early estimates suggest Cryosat-2 could be ready to launch in three years.
The mission will study how the Earth's ice sheets are responding to climate change amid mounting evidence that some areas are thinning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4745168.stm
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)