World Refugee Day

Poster of World Refugee Day


Refugee Status is a complicated issue. It is only staved off from tragedy by global relief to the people that suffer through it. A day is not enough to understand the complicated dynamics that CAUSE refugees to take shelter elsewhere.

Refugees are caused by HIV/AIDS in Africa losing both parents.

Refugees are caused by war as in Iraq.

Refugees are caused by hate as in Darfur.

Refugees are caused by tsunamis as in the Indian Ocean nations.

Refugees are caused by political instabilty and civil chaos as in Liberia.

Stopping the incidents that cause people to become refugees requires vision of the First World to stop the CAUSES of this tragedy of humanity.

The above link is to a book store of publications to educate the reader about refugees.

Come to understand the issues. Become an owner of the problem. Demand the First World Nations to stop the tragedy.

Thank you.

Morning Papers - continued

San Francisco Chronicle

Land of really, really cheap gas
Venezuelans pay 12 cents a gallon -- and not a penny more
06-20) 04:00 PDT Caracas, Venezuela -- Taxi driver Victor Serrano burns a tank of gasoline every day whizzing around the streets of Caracas.
But he has no problem coming up with money to pay for his daily trips to the service station. Serrano pays only $1.80 for a whole tank.
"I don't worry about that because gas is so cheap," Serrano says as he fills up. "If we live in an oil-producing country, we can't pay a lot for gas."
While a gallon of gasoline in California costs well over $3, Venezuelans pay 12 cents per gallon, about the same price as a banana.
Drivers in the world's fifth-largest oil-exporting nation say they consider cheap gasoline their birthright.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/20/BUGEEJFP3O59.DTL



Equifax: Laptop With Employe Data Stolen
Equifax Inc., one of the nation's three major credit bureaus, said Tuesday a company laptop containing employee names and Social Security numbers was stolen from an employee who was traveling by train near London.
The theft, which could affect as many as 2,500 of the Atlanta-based company's 4,600 employees, happened May 29 and all employees were notified June 7, spokesman David Rubinger said.
Employee names and partial and full Social Security numbers were on the computer's hard drive, though Rubinger said it would be almost impossible for the thief to decipher the information because it was streamed together.
"It would be very difficult to link this information and determine they were actual Social Security numbers in the first place," he said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/06/20/financial/f080029D51.DTL


North Korea Insists It Can Test Missiles
North Korea declared Tuesday it is not bound by its own moratorium on long-range missile tests, a Japanese news report said, prompting Japan and South Korea to pledge to cooperate to stop Pyongyang's apparent plans for a launch.
The Tokyo-Seoul agreement came during a 25-minute phone conversation late Tuesday between Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso and his counterpart, Ban Ki-moon, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Aso told Ban that a missile test would be a threat to regional security, while Ban replied it was necessary to cooperate to get Pyongyang to call off the launch, according to the statement.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/06/20/international/i063306D66.DTL


Senate swayed by analyst's immigrant count
How conservative think tank's estimate led to changes in bill
(06-20) 04:00 PDT Washington -- As obvious as the question seemed, nobody had really calculated how many more people the Senate's immigration bill would add to the U.S. population when the Senate opened debate on the issue last month.
So when a think tank analyst projected more than 100 million over the next 20 years -- raising the U.S. population by a third, or nearly three Californias and perhaps even twice that -- it landed like a perfectly timed statistical bomb.
Now, as the bill moves forward, the debate isn't just about the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already living in the county -- but the tens of millions of new legal immigrants the legislation might produce in the future.
Within 24 hours of the report's publication, the Senate passed an amendment sharply limiting the new guest worker program, a key provision of the bill. Before final passage, the Senate had capped the number of new employment visas -- including relatives of workers -- that could be issued in any year.
Now the numbers are questioned as too high and based on faulty estimates.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/20/MNGL4JH1A41.DTL&type=politics


REDWOOD CITY
Trial involving body found in storage starts
Alleged marriage broker accused in woman's slaying
Xiu Li Jiang hoped a sham marriage to a U.S. citizen would let her escape the life of an illegal immigrant living in San Francisco's Tenderloin, working in a Mission Street massage parlor.
Two to three years after Bobby Tran allegedly arranged for Jiang to marry a local man, someone shot her to death, dismembered her body and sealed the pieces in a Daly City storage facility. No one found her until June 7, 2002 -- more than three years after the 22-year-old Jiang was reported missing.
Today, San Mateo County prosecutors are expected to begin laying out their case in a Redwood City courtroom against Tran, who they say murdered Jiang in a dispute over money after he brokered the fake marriage. Tran, 31, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors contend that Tran is a short-tempered, violence-prone con man and thief who profited from arranging sham marriages.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/20/BAGACJH13G1.DTL



AT THE WORLD CUP
Cold water aside, this has been great ride
(06-20) 04:00 PDT Nuremberg, Germany -- Today I turn in my motorhome, the Roadenhoggenblogginwagen.
The rig has been a good companion for two weeks, although to the end it withheld many of its secrets, such as how to heat its water. But when you start every morning with a cold shower, you don't need no Starbucks.
Another mystery: The whereabouts of the blankets, towels and pillows the rental folks were supposed to stock. These deprivations would have been a drag for my family if they weren't such good sports. They never complained, and they could have, because I phoned 'em back home every day.
I'm not griping about minor inconveniences. It's not like "Pancho and Lefty," the song by Townes Van Zandt: "Livin' on the road, my friend, was gonna make you free and clean/Now you wear your skin like iron, your breath's as hard as kerosene."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/20/SPG07JH1BO1.DTL&hw=cold+water+aside&sn=001&sc=1000


SAN FRANCISCO
Mission Bay buzz -- library branch
It's the system's newest addition in 40 years
Even as San Francisco's newest neighborhood, Mission Bay has been able to boast for years of its landmarks: A waterfront stadium for the Giants. A regional Caltrain commuter hub. An emerging UCSF campus.
It's been only in recent years, however, that the neighborhood could talk of its basic amenities, including two grocery stores that opened in 2004.
Three weeks from now, the still-developing community likely will be buzzing about another milestone, as the new Mission Bay Branch Library opens its doors.
For the San Francisco Public Library system, it will be the first completely new branch to open in 40 years. For residents and workers in Mission Bay, it will be not only a place to borrow books but also a place to gather -- the kind of public center that established neighborhoods take for granted.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/20/BAGACJH1381.DTL


A welcome milestone
WHEN Katharine Jefferts Schori received a bachelor's of science degree from Stanford in 1974, no one could have anticipated that two decades later she would abandon a career as an oceanographer to become a minister in the Episcopal Church.
When she received a master's degree in divinity from Berkeley's Church Divinity School of the Pacific in 1994, no one could have predicted that a mere dozen years later she would be selected as the first woman to head the 2.4 million strong church in the United States.
Her rapid rise is extraordinary, not only because she is a woman, but also because of her support for several controversial positions within the church. She is currently bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada, which allows the blessing of same-sex unions. She also supported the consecration of the church's first openly gay bishop, Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, in 2003.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/06/20/EDGDOILMRE1.DTL


Feinstein's phased pandering
HOW IS AMERICA supposed to win the war in Iraq when so many partisans in Washington -- including high-profile Democrats who voted for the October 2002 war resolution -- aren't doing everything in their power to make sure America prevails in Iraq?
Many Washington Dems seem to have devoted the last month instead to answering the question: With friends like these, who needs enemies?
The answer is: Not U.S. troops.
The "phased deployment" crowd -- to use Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's euphemism for cut-and-run -- does not seem to understand that when elected officials vote in favor of a war resolution, they assume a solemn responsibility to the troops who carry out their mandate. To wit, Congress is not supposed to follow a war vote with actions that undermine the war effort.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/06/20/EDGDOILMR81.DTL


Michael Moore Today


http://www.michaelmoore.com/


On February 15th and 16th, 2003, close to 10 million people in over 50 countries tried to stop George's war before it started

"I don't think anybody anticipated the level of violence we encountered."
-- Dick Cheney, June 19th, 2006

FLASHBACK: "...I really do believe that
we will be greeted as liberators."
-- Dick Cheney, March 16th, 2003

Cheney Says U.S. Underestimated Iraq Insurgency
June 19 (Bloomberg) -- Vice President Dick Cheney said that while the administration underestimated the strength of anti- American violence in Iraq, he still believes the insurgency is in its ``last throes,'' as he asserted last year.
``I don't think anybody anticipated the level of violence we encountered,'' Cheney said in a question-and-answer session following a speech today at the National Press Club in Washington.
The past 18 months will be viewed by history and a crucial period for democracy in Iraq as ``Iraqis increasingly took over responsibility for their own affairs,'' Cheney said.
Asked if he still believed the insurgency was in its final throes, as he said in a CNN interview on May 31, 2005, Cheney said, ``I do.'' He cited election of an interim government, a constitutional referendum and parliamentary elections in December that established a unity government as evidence the insurgency is being pushed to the margins.
Insurgent and sectarian violence has flared during the same period, and Cheney as well as President George W. Bush previously have acknowledged errors in dealing with the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion and coping with resistance.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7302


A Cheney Reminder
Meet the Press: 03/16/03
Russert: If your analysis is not correct, and we’re not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?
Cheney: Well, I don’t think it’s likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators.
I’ve talked with a lot of Iraqis in the last several months myself, had them to the White House. The president and I have met with them, various groups and individuals, people who have devoted their lives from the outside to trying to change things inside Iraq. And like Kanan Makiya who’s a professor at Brandeis, but an Iraqi, he’s written great books about the subject, knows the country intimately, and is a part of the democratic opposition and resistance. The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question but what they want to the get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that."

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/06/19.html


Soldier's Iraq war stance backed
Watada has right to refuse to go, retired officer says
By Brad Wong / Seattle Post-Intelligencer
With his Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade possibly deploying to Iraq in the coming weeks, Lt. Ehren Watada has picked up the public endorsement of a retired Army colonel and diplomat who also contends the war there is illegal.
Speaking at University Lutheran Church in Seattle, retired Col. Ann Wright said Monday night that the artillery-targeting officer has the right to disobey "illegal orders."
Under principles established during the Nuremberg trials after World War II, she noted, people have an obligation to oppose a government that is conducting a war of aggression.
"The country of Iraq did nothing to the United States of America," said Wright, who resigned from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2003 because of the war.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7307


Tanker Inquiry Finds Rumsfeld's Attention Was Elsewhere
By R. Jeffrey Smith / Washington Post
The topic was the largest defense procurement scandal in recent decades, and the two investigators for the Pentagon's inspector general in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's office on April 1, 2005, asked the secretary to raise his hand and swear to tell the truth.
Rumsfeld agreed but complained. "I find it strange," he said to the investigators, on the grounds that as a government official "the laws apply to me" anyway.
It was a bumpy start to an odd interview, as Rumsfeld cited poor memory, loose office procedures, and a general distraction with "the wars" in Iraq and Afghanistan to explain why he was unsure how his department came to nearly squander $30 billion leasing several hundred new tanker aircraft that its own experts had decided were not needed.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7308


Missing G.I.'s Are Found Dead in Iraq
By Dexter Filkins / New York Times
BAGHDAD, June 20 — The Iraqi military said today that the bodies of two American soldiers missing since Friday were found this morning outside the town where they were captured and that the two bodies had marks showing that they had been brutally tortured.
An American military spokesman, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, said that the remains believed to be those of the missing soldiers were spotted last night in the vicinity of an electrical plant in Yusufiya, but due to the "unstable condition" of the area they were not retrieved until this morning.
While General Caldwell provided few specifics about the conditions of the remains, an Iraqi military official, Major General Abdul Aziz Mohammed, said that they had been "killed in a brutal way and tortured."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7305


Al-Zarqawi's successor gets the credit
By Nadia Abou El-Magd / Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - The new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq killed two U.S. soldiers whom the group abducted last week, an insurgent umbrella group said in a Web statement posted Tuesday. The statement, which could not be authenticated, said the two soldiers were "slaughtered," suggesting they had been beheaded by Abu Hamza al-Muhajer.
The Arabic word used in the statement, "nahr," is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.
The claim of responsibility was posted on an Islamic militant Web site where insurgent groups regularly post statements.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7306


Pentagon lists homosexuality as disorder
By Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A Pentagon document classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, decades after mental health experts abandoned that position.
The document outlines retirement or other discharge policies for service members with physical disabilities, and in a section on defects lists homosexuality alongside mental retardation and personality disorders.
Critics said the reference underscores the Pentagon's failing policies on gays, and adds to a culture that has created uncertainty and insecurity around the treatment of homosexual service members, leading to anti-gay harassment.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jeremy M. Martin said the policy document is under review.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7310


Safavian Guilty of Lying, Obstruction of Justice
By William Branigin / Washington Post
David H. Safavian, a former Bush administration official with close ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, was found guilty today in federal court of four of five felony charges against him in connection with the Abramoff corruption and influence-peddling scandal.
The verdict was announced shortly after the jury of two men and 10 women began their fifth day of deliberations in Washington following the trial of Safavian on charges of making false statements to federal officials and obstruction of justice.
Safavian, 38, a former chief of staff of the General Services Administration and top federal procurement officer, was accused of lying about a 2002 golfing trip to Scotland with Abramoff and obstructing an investigation by the GSA inspector general and other investigators. He was also charged with concealing his efforts to help Abramoff acquire control of two federally managed properties in the Washington area.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7309


Midterms Matter

Double Duty
The Midterms Matter Tour showed a little split personality this weekend, touching down at Wakarusa in Lawrence, Kansas, while also hitting moe. and the North Mississippi Allstars in Philadelphia. At Wakarusa, we hosted intimate solo performances by Michael Franti, Bela Fleck, Reid Genauer, and Trevor Garrod (Tea Leaf Green). They each spent nearly an hour at the "Porch Stage" next to the HeadCount booth performing and spreading the word about the upcoming elections.

http://www.headcount.org/

"Troops Home Fast"

Sign-up below to support the fast that begins on July 4!
You can fast with us in Washington, DC in front of the White House, or in your own community. You can fast as an individual, or organize a rolling fast (each one taking one day) in a public place such as a congressional office, a recruiting station, a federal building or a church. And if you live outside the United States, we encourage you to fast on July 4th outside a U.S. Embassy or consulate. While the U.S. officials are enjoying their barbeques and festivities, we will be reminding them of the ongoing suffering of Iraqis and soldiers in this unjust war.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/codepink/signUp.jsp?key=1289&t=F.dwt


Syria Times

President receives cartoonist Raed Khalil
President Bashar al-Assad received yesterday morning at al-Rawda Palace Cartoonist Raed Khalil.
first ‏
20-6-2006 ‏
summary: President Bashar al-Assad received yesterday morning at al-Rawda Palace Cartoonist Raed Khalil. ‏
During the meeting, talks dealt with Cartoon and the mechanism of developing it and deepening the knowledge of this art. ‏
The talk also dealt with activities of the 2nd international cartoon exhibition which has recently been organized in Damascus. ‏

http://syriatimes.tishreen.info/_default.asp?FileName=102206283820060620122236


The Jakarta Post

Islamic nations must set aside differences
JAKARTA (AP): The Islamic world must settle internal divisions before it can tackle broader problems of conflict and poverty, leaders from Malaysia and Indonesia told a conference opening Tuesday in the capital, Jakarta.
Scholars and politicians from 53 countries, many of them Islamic, discussed the roots of terrorism and challenges facing Muslim followers in Western societies. Around 300 delegates joined prayers at the start of three days of talks.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in an opening speech that the "Muslim world must be firmly united in the global fight against terrorism," and spoke out against rising Islamophobia in non-Islamic countries.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060620172305&irec=0



Islamic scholars to discuss terrorism causes, solutions
JAKARTA (AP): Scholars and politicians from 53 countries gathered in Indonesia Tuesday to discuss the roots of terrorism and challenges facing Muslim followers in Western societies.
Around 300 delegates took part in joint prayers at the start of three days of talks in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in an opening speech that the "Muslim world must be firmly united in the global fight against terrorism," and spoke out against rising Islamophobia in non-Islamic countries.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060620121821&irec=6



Examining state identity, Islam and social justice
Juwono Sudarsono, Jakarta
It is a measure of our times of political transition that the debate about Pancasila as state identity (dasar negara) continues even after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's recent reaffirmation of the precepts as the "fundamental basis of our national life" on June 1, 2006, at the 61st anniversary celebrations of the Pancasila speech by president Sukarno on June 1, 1945.
At the celebration, President Yudhoyono appealed to all Indonesians to adhere to the basic consensus since 1945: Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, The Unitary State of Indonesia, Unity in Diversity. A "Declaration on 'Indonesian-ness'" was read before the President and a capacity crowd at the Jakarta Convention Center.
In recent weeks some Islamist groups had alarmed minority and non-Islamic communities with their fervent call for adherence to a stricter Islamic code of social, economic and political conduct by pushing for an all-encompassing official ban on "amoral and lewd" behavior, giving rise to fears among non-Muslims communities that they may be subjected to legal norms contravening their respective personal and public code of conduct.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060620.A01&irec=1


More mudflow victims suffer from breathing difficulties
Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Sidoarjo
Medical workers report a jump in the number of villagers with respiratory problems near the gas well accident in Porong district, East Java, with the authorities still puzzled about stemming the uncontrolled toxic mudflow.
A total of 901 ailing villagers from Siring, Renokenongo and Jatirejo near Sidoarjo were treated Monday, up from 538 reported last week.
The head of the environment research center at Surabaya-based Airlangga University, Mukono, said the increase was due to the inhalation of poisonous hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas from the mudflow. The gas gives off a putrid rotten-egg odor.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060620.@02&irec=3



Scientist fears rain could trigger landslides of volcanic debris
MOUNT MERAPI, Yogyakarta (AP): Indonesia's most active volcano spewed burning ash and gas clouds Tuesday as scientists expressed fears that rain could send deadly flows of volcanic debris to villages below.
If forecasts of rain on Wednesday and Thursday hold, millions of metric tons of built-up ash and rock fragments could be sent down Merapi's steep slopes in mudslides, a vulcanologist warned.
Meanwhile, avalanches of new debris tumbled 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) down the flanks of the volatile mountain earlier Tuesday, said the government volcanologist, who used the singlename Subandrio.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060620134503&irec=4


Bird flu kills 14-year-old boy
JAKARTA (AP): Indonesia moved a step closer to becoming the world's hardest-hit bird flu country Tuesday after tests confirmed a 14-year-old boy died from the disease, bringing its human toll to 39.
The boy from Jakarta died last week, and tests sent to a World Health Organization-approved laboratory in Hong Kong came back positive, senior Health Ministry official Hariadi Wibisono said.The teen had a history of contact with dead birds.
The results were announced a day before some of the world's top bird flu experts were set to meet with Indonesian officials to try to map out a plan to get a handle on the H5N1 virus.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060620152527&irec=3


Arrest warrant issued for East Timor's former interior minister
DILI (AP): East Timor prosecutors ordered the arrest of the former interior minister Tuesday for allegedly supplying weapons to a hit squad tasked with eliminating the prime minister's political opponents, a U.N. official said.
International troops, meanwhile, tightened security across the capital as hundreds of protesters gathered to demand Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's ouster, some handing out fliers calling him a terrorist and a murderer.
"If we are not confident in him to administer this government, it is our obligation to call on him to step down," Augusto Junior Tidade of the National Youth Forum told the crowd of mostly young men who gathered across the street from the Government Palace, in full view of Alkatiri's office window.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060620163546&irec=2


ASEAN lawmakers want suspension of Myanmar
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi spent her 61st birthday under house arrest Monday, parliamentarians of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) demanded the grouping's leaders suspend Myanmar from the regional groups.
The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) also condemned the recent extension of Suu Kyi's detention and the continued confinement of 14 elected parliament members as it called for stronger support for the UN Security Council to have a binding resolution on Myanmar.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060620.A03&irec=4



Yudhoyono to discuss nuclear tensions with N. Korea leaders
JAKARTA (Bloomberg): President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono plans to visit North Korea in an attempt to ease nuclear tensions after reports that North Korea is preparing a long-range missile test.
The U.S., Australia and Japan have warned North Korea against carrying out such a test. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday it would be "a provocative act." Japan wouldtake severe action, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Monday in Tokyo.
"Indonesia could help cool tension in the Korean peninsula," Dino Patti Djalal, a spokesman for the president, said Tuesday in Jakarta. He didn't give a date for the vis it.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060620125404&irec=5


High schoolers left to rue failed exam
Slamet Susanto and Oyos Saroso H.N., Jakarta/Yogyakarta/Bandarlampung
The numbers did not quite add up for Heri Hendro Satrio to graduate high school.
His 3.5 math score on the national exam was a failing grade according to the standard, which requires a grade above 4.50 in each subject tested.
High scores in the other subjects -- 9.8 for English and 8.5 for Indonesian -- could not help the 18-year-old finally graduate and enroll at Yogyakarta's prestigious Gadjah Mada University (UGM), which accepted him last year before he failed the exam for the first time.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060620.@01&irec=0



Swedish ship's crew learns the ropes during short stint in the tropics
Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The 50-strong volunteer crew of the G”theborg could not wait to go ashore to explore the city Monday after the Swedish ship docked at Tanjung Priok Seaport in North Jakarta.
Clammy, teeming Jakarta is a shock to the senses for some of them, including 19-year-old Simon Mšller.
"I know of Jakarta, but nothing else about it, so we're going ashore later at 4 p.m. just to look around," the crewman from the vessel's home port of Gothenburg told The Jakarta Post.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060620.A02&irec=2


Is a presidential instruction on Papua really necessary?
Neles Tebay, Rome
Last month, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono disclosed his intention to issue a new presidential instruction on Papua in an effort to speed up the development and implementation of poverty eradication, infrastructure, education, and health care programs in Papua province, as well as to create a mechanism to better measure the region's progress.
The instruction will be the second presidential instruction on Papua after the approval of the 2001 Special Autonomy Law for Papua Province.
The first presidential instruction was issued by then President Megawati Soekarnoputri in 2001 on the controversial policy of the division of Papua into three separate provinces.
If the government repeats Megawati's blunder in 2001, then, Yudhoyono's new policy will create another political upheaval for Papua.
In order to avoid conflict, the government needs to fulfill seven conditions before producing the instruction.
First, The central government must be very sure that the second presidential instruction is not going to violate the Papuan Autonomy Law. Otherwise, the second Instruction will become another contradictory policy, taken by Jakarta, to deliberately undermine the Autonomy Law.
The government's basic assumption here is that the implementation of the Autonomy Law has faltered in Papua Province due to the absence of a presidential instruction.
Second, the government needs to enumerate all the problems in Papua province before producing the second instruction. Such a clarification is badly needed both for the government and the Papuans.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060620.E02&irec=3


Rio Tinto plans $1 billion investment in RI nickel mine
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
London-based Rio Tinto Group is planning to invest some US$1 billion to develop a nickel mine in Sulawesi, a move that could lead to other previously reticent international miners investing in the country's rich natural resources.
With the new investment, the world's third largest mining company is expected to produce around 46,000 metric tons of nickel and employ about 5,000 workers, the company's chief executive for copper and exploration, Tom Albanese, said here Monday.
"We have been successful with exploration, but before we can move to the next stage, we need to put together a contract of work in conjunction with the government of Indonesia and the provinces of Sulawesi," he said after meeting Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060620.A04&irec=5


Investor's Business Daily

Stocks Look To Snap Two-Day Slump
BY VINCENT MAO
Posted 6/20/2006
Stocks remained higher in late Tuesday trade. The Dow and S&P 500 gave back some of their earlier gains, but were poised to snap a two-day losing streak. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq fluttered between positive and negative territory.
As of 3:10 p.m. Eastern, the Dow gained 52 points, or 0.5%, to 10,994; the S&P 500 rose 2 points, or 0.2%, to 1242 and the Nasdaq rose 1 point to 2111. The S&P SmallCap 600 lost another 0.3% after tumbling 1.6% Monday.
Nasdaq volume was tracking 6% lower than Monday. NYSE volume fell 2%.

http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=1&artnum=2&issue=20060620


Experts Can't Agree If Near-$3 Gasoline Is Sapping Demand
BY ALAN R. ELLIOTT
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 6/19/2006
A shutdown at Exxon Mobil's (XOM) massive Baytown, Texas, refinery Friday affected production of over 8.5 million gallons of gasoline per day. The unit generally supplies fuel to the Atlantic coast.
Industry experts downplayed the impact on supply. But the interruption comes as analysts scour reports for any sign that high gasoline prices are curbing demand.
May gasoline deliveries, a measure of demand, sank 3.3% vs. a year earlier, the American Petroleum Institute said. Prices during that period shot up 35%.

http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=5&issue=20060619


Intel, Cisco Push Home Health Field
BY JAMES DETAR
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 6/19/2006
An aging U.S. population sounds like a good trend for makers of tech-oriented home health care products, but something ails that market — a lack of technical standards.
Thus, chip leader Intel (INTC) and more than 20 other big tech companies have banded together to tackle this problem — looking to unlock a market with healthy potential. This month, they announced the formation of a consortium called Continua, a plural reference to the health continuum.
Continua plans to develop standards to enable home health equipment makers to develop gear that works with that of other companies. So someone could, for example, quickly and easily take a do-it-yourself blood test and send results via a computer and the Internet to a health firm, and the health firm could quickly and easily read the results.
The group aims to put out its first guidelines within 18 months. Gear that adheres to the standard will get a Continua logo, so doctors and consumers will know it's Continua-certified.

http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=17&artnum=1&issue=20060619


Zoos

Giant panda's future looks brighter, study says
1.00pm Tuesday June 20, 2006
NEW YORK - Giant pandas may not be in as much danger of extinction as feared with a new British-Chinese study finding there could be twice as many living in the wild as previously thought, scientists have said.
"This finding indicates that the species may have a significantly better chance of long-term viability than recently anticipated, and that this beautiful animal may have a brighter future," the scientists said in a statement.
Until now scientists thought there were about 1590 giant pandas living in reserves in the mountains of China. Pandas, one of the world's most endangered and elusive animals, are dependent on bamboo found in that area.
But scientists from Britain's Cardiff University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences now think there could be as many as 3000 there after a survey using a new method to profile DNA from panda faeces revealed there was more than double the number of estimated pandas in one reserve.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387445



CALIFORNIA
Pinnacles to capture, test condors that fed on rodent carcasses
Digesting lead shot from squirrels can cause paralysis
Officials at the Pinnacles National Monument are trying to trap most of the park's California condors and test them for lead poisoning, which could be fatal to the endangered species.
Eleven of the Pinnacles' 13 condors were observed outside the monument last week feeding on carcasses of squirrels that were shot and killed with lead bullets, said Denise Louie, the park's chief of natural resources.
Even microscopic traces of lead can result in to paralysis of the condors' digestive system and leave them unable to process food, park officials said. The birds become weak, mentally impaired and either starve to death or become prey to other predators.
Park officials laid traps for the birds over the weekend. Once captured, the condors' blood will be tested for lead. The birds will also be checked for rodenticides, which were used to poison some of the squirrels and could harm the birds, Louie said.
Birds found with high levels of contamination will be taken to the Los Angeles Zoo, where they might have to undergo surgery to remove lead from their crops or be treated with a compound that eliminates lead from their system.
It was unclear if the squirrels were killed for sport or because they had become a nuisance, Louie said.
"We don't know who shot the rodents or why," Louie said. "We just want to raise awareness around this issue. If rodents have to be shot, maybe their carcasses can be buried to protect not only condors but other carrion eaters and raptors."
California condors were first listed as endangered in 1967. Twenty years later, the last wild condors were taken to zoos for an intensive breeding program. The population has grown to about 300 birds.
Pinnacles is a historic breeding area for the condors. In 2003, it became the fifth area in the state to reintroduce condors into the wild.
The park is surrounded by undeveloped ranchland and the ranchers have shown steady support for the reintroduction program, park officials said.
"There has been an effort to raise awareness," Louie said. "We really need to put more effort into it because more needs to be done."
E-mail Cicero A. Estrella at cestrella@sfchronicle.com.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/20/BAGACJH16F1.DTL



Justices wade into Clean Water Act
Close vote puts some limits on U.S. control of wetlands
The U.S. Supreme Court, in its first major environmental ruling under Chief Justice John Roberts, set some general limits Monday on the federal government's power to prevent landowners from polluting thousands of marshes, drainage ditches and other wetlands.
But the court's ruling also left the regulatory picture as murky as it was before.
The court's most conservative justices, including Roberts and fellow newcomer Samuel Alito, came up a vote short of a majority that would have severely weakened federal authority to protect wetlands. The moderate-to-liberal bloc likewise failed to muster five votes to uphold the government's broad assertion of authority to prevent the polluting or filling of small and seasonal waterways.
In the middle was Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose opinion -- joined by no other justice -- now becomes the law of the land, the standard for regulating 100 million acres of wetlands.
Kennedy said only wetlands that have a "significant nexus'' to navigable waters, such as rivers and lakes, fall within federal authority. That means, he said, that the government can protect wetlands if polluted water from a ditch or pond would flow into the larger waterway, or if the wetlands protect a river or lake by providing a filter against pollutants or a buffer against floods.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/20/MNGL4JH1A21.DTL



Sumatran tigers under threat, official says
BENGKULU, Bengkulu province (Antara): Sumatran tigers and other rare animals are under increasing threat as illegal hunters continue to operate in Sumatra's forests, an official says.
Anthoni, a ranger at the Bengkulu Natural ResourcesConservation Agency (BKSDA), said Tuesday that most of those hunting Sumatran tigers were wealthy and came from other provinces.
Sumatran tigers, which now number less than 700, are under increasing threat from habitat destruction and trafficking syndicates that sell their bones and other body parts for traditional medicines, mostly in China and other Asian countries.
The World Wide Fund for Nature estimates the number of wild tigers in the world has fallen by 95 percent over the last century to between 5,000 and 7,000 because of poaching, habitat destruction, loss of prey and conflicts with humans.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060620164045&irec=1



It's a zoo out there Wet, warm weather brings critters out of hiding Be very, very quiet
By KEILA SZPALLER
Tribune Staff Writer
When Matt Marcinek walks along river trails these days, he sees coyote, mule deer and bald eagles.
Jerry Yoder recently watched a mamma marmot and two babies play near the Missouri River.
At Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge, long-billed curlews feed on the wetland shores.
Animal sightings are abundant. Just step outside. Critters of all kinds stir in a world renewed by plentiful rainfall and sunshine.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060620/NEWS01/606200301/1002



Hutch Zoo welcomes 2 new pronghorns
By Clara Kilbourn
The Hutchinson News
Baby pronghorn twins Bert and Ernie were born at the Hutchinson Zoo at 7:05 a.m. Monday. Photo by Lindsey Bauman.
The Hutchinson Zoo population increased by two Monday with the birth of twin pronghorns.
Bert and Ernie arrived at 7:05 a.m., zookeeper Steve Crile said.
By early afternoon, both fawns had nursed and napped. Mother Nina and her newborns were doing fine, Crile said.
The two "healthy boys" weighed in at a few ounces over 6 pounds each. While they appear to be identical, subtle facial markings distinguish one from the other, Zoo Director Charlotte Poepperling said.
From the beginning, Bert and Ernie modeled the behavior of pronghorns born in the wild, Crile said. When not nursing, newborns remain quiet, lie as flat as possible and blend in with the leaves and grass to avoid coyotes and golden eagles.
"Once they reach two to three weeks old, they will get up and start running around, frolicking and having fun," Crile said.
With luck, Nina will nurse the twins for several weeks.
"We like to leave them with their mom until she weans them," Crile said.
When mature, Bert and Ernie will weigh up to 130 pounds and stand about 4 feet tall at the shoulder.
Pronghorns are native to western Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. The fastest North American mammals, they can sprint at 60 mph.
One of the babies' first visitors, Javier Berends, 6, of Hutchinson, admired the fawns and smiled.
"I like them," he said.

http://www.hutchnews.com/news/local/stories/zoo062006.shtml



AZA Applauds City Councils in Los Angeles, Tuscon; Both Approve New Habitats for Elephants Continuing National Trend
4/20/2006 4:48:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Jane Ballentine of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, 301-562-0777 ext. 252
SILVER SPRING, Md., April 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) today applauded the city councils of Los Angeles and Tucson, Ariz., for affirming the importance of keeping elephants at the Los Angeles Zoo and Reid Park Zoo, both of which are AZA-accredited institutions.
In a decisive 13-2 vote yesterday, the Los Angeles City Council approved the 3.7-acre "Elephants of Surin" exhibit that will create an enriching educational encounter for the almost 1.5 million annual visitors to the Los Angeles Zoo. Last week, the mayor and the Tucson City Council reaffirmed their decision of last year to expand the Reid Park Zoo and build a new three-acre exhibit for Connie and Shaba, the two elephants at the zoo, ensuring that they will stay in Tucson.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=64310

continued ...

June 19. 2006.
Shelton, Kansas.

This hail was in the photographer's backyard.

June 19, 2006.
Colby, Kansas

That is some kind of lightning I don't want to understand.

June 18, 2006.
Haldensleban, Germany.

Very fast approaching storm as stated by photographer with deluge of rain. The north polar votex is reaching every continent with similar results.

Houston storm floods city.

Morning Papers - continued ...

IRA Novosti

Iran's top diplomat lauds Iran 6 incentives, but gives no reply
BAKU, June 20 (RIA Novosti) -Iran's foreign minister Tuesday spoke positively about a package of incentives proposed by six international negotiators on Iran's controversial nuclear program but said it had set no deadline for a response.
"Iran has put its fair position on the table and our friends in Europe responded with fresh proposals," Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, on the sidelines of an Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting.
The minister promised to study carefully the proposals of Iran Six, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana presented a package of incentives for Iran, which many countries suspect of pursuing a secret weapons program, in return for its consent to halt uranium enrichment during his visit to the Islamic Republic on June 6.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20060620/49796519.html


Russia and the EU: energy dialogue or energy conflict?
MOSCOW, June 15. (Viktor Ivanter for RIA Novosti) - Recently, we have seen that Russia and the West - principally the European Union - have chosen a conflict method of negotiating energy problems.
We often hear statements such as "We can redirect resources from Europe to the East," or "We need to end our dependence on Russia," etc. Should Western distribution facilities be open to Russian companies? Should Russian resources be open to foreign companies? Is Russia trying to monopolize the European market? Will Russia dictate prices to Europe or will Europe dictate prices to Russia? All these approaches bring to mind conflict resolution studies. We consider them non-productive and favor the establishment of an energy union based on long-term strategic relations between energy suppliers and consumers.

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060619/49745961.html



Why does Pentagon need nonnuclear warheads?
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Viktor Litovkin.)
On May 22, 2006, The Washington Post carried an article "A Missile Strike Option We Need" by two former U.S. Secretaries of Defense - Harold Brown (1977-1981) and James Schlesinger (1973-1975).
Brown and Schlesinger suggested installing nonnuclear warheads on U.S. strategic missiles, first of all, Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), which have multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles (MIRVs). These warheads can hit terrorist bases more effectively than, say, cruise missiles or free-fall bombs. Such precise strikes could be dealt minutes after the military receive information about terrorist bases and their coordinates and would involve no bombers or carrier task forces and submarines operating in direct proximity to hostile areas.
The U.S. establishment is so fascinated with this idea that the Congress has started discussing the allocation of appropriations for nonnuclear warheads. But it appears this will not become the ultimate weapon in the fight against international terrorism because, as any sober-minded military expert knows, counter-terrorist operations require more subtle and diverse weapons systems than warheads and strategic missiles. Then why does the Pentagon need MIRVs for inter-continental ballistic missiles, and why are its high-ranking lobbyists so concerned about this?
The answer may not be as simple as one thinks.

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060607/49167280.html



Russian army to receive 250 new types of weaponry in 2006
MOSCOW, June 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Armed Forces will receive up to 250 types of advanced weaponry in 2006, a deputy defense minister said Tuesday.
"This year we will finish testing about 250 new types of weapons," General Alexei Moskovsky said. "I hope that all of them will be put into service with the Russian army."
The general said that Russia's orbital group would receive new satellites, and that Glonass system of navigational and global positioning satellites would be fully restored to operational condition.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in March that the Russian orbital group consisted of 96 satellites, of which 59 are used for military purposes. The Glonass system currently has 17 satellites and two laser reflectors in orbit.
Moskovsky also said the Russian Air Force would receive modernized Su-27 Flanker fighters, Su-24 Fencer tactical bombers, and Su-25 Frogfoot close support aircraft, and that the Land Forces would get modernized T-72 and T-80 tanks, and new T-90 main battle tanks.
A government minister said in May that Russia's state defense order would increase by 20% to 303.7 bln rubles ($11.2 bln) in 2007.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060620/49785771.html


Russia says no talks with kidnappers of diplomats in Iraq
MOSCOW, June 20 (RIA Novosti) - The speaker of the upper house of Russia's parliament said Tuesday there could be no talks with terrorists who seized Russian diplomats in Iraq and no concessions would be made.
A Web site often used by terrorists claimed Monday that the Mujahideen Shura Council, a group linked to the Iraq cell of al-Qaeda, had kidnapped four employees of the Russian Embassy in Baghdad on June 3.
"Russia has always held the position that talks on political terms with terrorists are out of the question," Sergei Mironov said.
Mironov said Russia would do everything possible to secure the release of the diplomats. "We never leave our people," he said.
One Russian diplomat was killed and four others kidnapped when unidentified gunmen attacked an embassy car in the Iraqi capital. The kidnappers are yet to make any ransom or other demands.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060620/49780239.html


The Moscow Times

Europe, Russia and Europe need alternative energy sources.

Schröder Tells Europe to Trust Gazprom
By Stephen Boykewich
Staff Writer
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schrцder speaking to investors at a conference on Monday morning. He touted Russia as a reliable energy supplier.
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said Monday that it was "foolish" to think Europe could reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas, even while he insisted Russia was a reliable energy supplier.
"One should not pretend that there is a reliable alternative to Russia," said Schröder, now an executive at a subsidiary of Gazprom, at the start of a two-day investment conference organized by Renaissance Capital.
"Mutual dependency can create trust between Russia and Europe. Europeans know that there is no truly reliable alternative to Russia as an energy partner," Schröder said.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/06/20/002.html


Gazprom, Shell Have $7Bln Plan
Reuters
Gazprom and Royal Dutch/Shell are thinking about building a gas-to-liquids plant in Western Siberia in a project potentially worth $7 billion to $8 billion, Gazprom said Monday.
"We are considering building a 12 bcm [billion cubic meter] gas-to-liquids plant in Nadym together with Shell," Gazprom deputy CEO Alexander Ryazanov said at the Renaissance Capital investors conference.
Shell confirmed it had entered talks with Gazprom, but it stressed that discussions were at an early stage and declined to put a potential value on the project.
"We are in discussion with Gazprom over a preliminary feasibility study for a gas-to-liquids project in Russia," a Shell spokesman said.
The estimate Ryazanov gave for investment in the project, Russia's first GTL plant, would put it on a a par with Shell's proposed investment in the world's biggest GTL plant in Qatar.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/06/20/042.html


Chaika Picked to Replace Ustinov
By Oksana Yablokova
Staff Writer
Mironov gesturing as he talks Monday with Chaika in the Federation Council.
President Vladimir Putin picked Justice Minister Yury Chaika as the next prosecutor general on Monday, tapping a career prosecutor who is seen as highly competent, loyal to Putin and independent of the Kremlin clans.
Chaika is one of the last relics from the era of former President Boris Yeltsin to remain in the Cabinet, and his work on prison reform has won praise from nongovernmental organizations.
Putin on Monday sent a letter to the Federation Council, asking that it confirm Chaika as prosecutor. The council set the vote for Friday, three weeks after the last prosecutor general, Vladimir Ustinov, resigned.
Chaika is expected to be easily confirmed to the post.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/06/20/001.html


Putin aide dismisses N.Korean missile reports as "psycho factor"
RIA NOVOSTI. June 20, 2006, 7:24 PM
MOSCOW, June 20 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian presidential aide said Tuesday the "imminent" launch of a North Korean ballistic missile was largely a matter of psychology.
It is widely believed that Pyongyang is stepping up preparations to fire the Taepodong-2, a two-stage ballistic missile with a range of up to 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) that could in theory deliver a warhead to Alaska, USA.
"Let them launch it first and then we will see whether it will fly, where it will fly, and whether it can reach its target in the first place," Igor Shuvalov said.
Last month, a U.S. space satellite spotted a booster rocket and several fuel tanks on a launch pad in the east of the communist country, which has claimed it already has a nuclear capability.
According to regional media reports, the missile could be fired at any moment.
Pyongyang last tested a long -range missile in 1998, when it fired the Taepodong-1 missile, with a range of 2,000km (1240 miles), over Japan. The missile landed in the Pacific Ocean, causing a shock in Tokyo.

LUKoil to place 25% of oil production, 30% of refining abroad
RIA NOVOSTI. June 20, 2006, 7:20 PM
MOSCOW, June 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's largest independent crude producer LUKoil [RTS: LKOH] plans to place up to 25% of its oil production and some 30% of refining capacities abroad, the company's vice president said Tuesday.
Speaking at an annual investors' conference organized by Renaissance Capital, Leonid Fedun said the company would earn 25-30% more in revenues than if all production units were in the country.
Fedun said LUKoil was planning projects in Central Asia and Kazakhstan, in the Middle East and Latin America, as well as West Africa.
He said taxation in Russia was "the toughest" and tax rates abroad were much lower. "That's why we are going to these regions," Fedun said.
Speaking about prospects of buying oil refineries in eastern Europe, Fedun said LUKoil had suspended investment in the region. "In 2007-2008, the investment attractiveness of capacities in eastern Europe will be much more interesting for us than now," he said.
Fedun said the issue was highly politicized at the moment, but added he hoped partners in the region would assess the economic attractiveness of such projects.
Fedun also said LUKoil was considering building a new oil refinery in Russia.

Deposit access could be granted for company access - Putin aide
RIA NOVOSTI. June 20, 2006, 7:04 PM
MOSCOW, June 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will let foreigners invest in hydrocarbon projects on its territory if Russian companies are given parity access to foreign business, a Kremlin aide said Tuesday.
Russian companies have complained about discrimination on European markets and energy giant Gazprom was on the verge of being banned from taking over Britain's largest gas-distribution company, Centrica, by British legislators in spring.
"It must be parity investment - 50 by 50 [%], or 25 by 25," said presidential aide Igor Shuvalov.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/doc/HotNews.html


The First-Class Berth
By Alastair Gee
Sometimes, a villa in Nice just doesn’t cut it. The glint of Caribbean sunlight off a private jet fails to tug at the heartstrings like it once did, and, for all the waxing and resprays, the luster of the classic Bentley’s bodywork seems to have dimmed.
Russia’s super-rich have turned to a pricey new hobby to get their spending fix, and aren’t looking beyond their native shores to enjoy the purchases. The popularity of yachting on the country’s seas and waterways has skyrocketed in the past five years, with the wealthy spurning the usual Mediterranean playgrounds for the delights of the Moscow region, Volga River and even Novosibirsk.
Customers can buy boats from showrooms in the capital, and even have a super-yacht built to their specifications in the center of town. Yacht clubs are springing up along the banks of the Moscow River and reservoirs, and their posh restaurants are now the places to be seen. In a city as landlocked as this one, something strange is happening: Yachting is coming of age.

http://www.go-magazine.ru/articles/show/745


Rebel Leader Sadulayev Shot Dead
By Carl Schreck
Staff Writer
The body identified as Sadulayev
Chechen rebel leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev was killed by special forces over the weekend in an operation that Chechnya's prime minister trumpeted as a fatal blow to the insurgency.
Sadulayev, however, is credited with persuading warlord Shamil Basayev not to carry out any major terrorist attacks since Beslan.
Chechen warlord Doku Umarov is to take over as rebel leader.
Details of Sadulayev's death remained sketchy Sunday.
Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov said he was shot dead Saturday in his hometown of Argun during a raid prompted by a tip from someone in his inner circle.
Kadyrov, posing and grinning for television cameras next to a battered, half-naked body that resembled Sadulayev, said the informant had tipped off police for drug money.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/06/19/001.html



Rein In Racism Now, UN Official Declares
By Anastasiya Lebedev
Staff Writer
Doudou Diene meeting journalists.
With violent attacks on the rise, the state must do more to combat racism and xenophobia, a United Nations official said Friday.
Doudou Diene, the UN's special rapporteur on racism, said he would urge Russia, in a report to be filed with the UN in the fall, to track the growth of racist attacks, adhere to international standards on protecting minority rights and encourage tolerance.
Diene spoke at a news conference in Moscow after a weeklong trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Russian officials and NGOs tend to see the current situation differently, Diene said, with authorities blaming the recent spate of attacks on a handful of marginal hate groups and NGOs saying Russia has a deeper, cultural problem.
"In Soviet times, the state encouraged friendship between different peoples," Diene said. "It doesn't do that anymore, and as a result, there is an ideological vacuum."

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/06/19/011.html



Putin May Back Dark Horse in 2008
By Oksana Yablokova
Staff Writer
President Vladimir Putin says his successor could be a little-known figure, suggesting insiders like First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov might not get the president's support.
Speaking to reporters Friday in Shanghai, where he was attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Putin for the first time suggested that a dark horse could wind up in the Kremlin after he leaves.
The next president could be "someone who is not very well known ... not necessarily one of two people," news agencies quoted Putin as saying, a reference presumably to Medvedev and Ivanov.
Putin said in May that he would name a preferred successor before 2008, when his term ends, explaining that he wanted to ensure stability and that, as a Russian citizen, he has a right to express his point of view.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/06/19/002.html


The War of the Putin Succession
By Alexei Bayer
To Our Readers
The Moscow Times welcomes letters to the editor. Letters for publication should be signed and bear the signatory's address and telephone number.
Letters to the editor should be sent by fax to (7-495) 232-6529, by e-mail to oped@imedia.ru, or by post. The Moscow Times reserves the right to edit letters.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that he plans to step down after serving his constitutional limit of two terms in office. For his Kremlin entourage, this has meant that the search for a successor has been on since at least the 2004 presidential election.
The successor problem is nothing new in modern Russian history. In the 70 years of its existence, the Soviet Union never managed to solve the problem of transferring power. None of the more than half-a-dozen Great Leaders starting with Lenin was able to anoint a successor and end his days in peace and quiet. The only way to leave the Kremlin was either in an oak box tastefully lined with red bunting or in disgrace after a palace coup.
This probably makes the Soviet Union unique among known polities, from primitive tribes to modern industrial democracies. Although few can match Rome's 2,000-year record of apostolic succession, Britain and the United States have long enjoyed political continuity. Conversely, whenever succession breaks down, the entire system falls into crisis.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/06/19/006.html


And the Winner Is...
The Kinotavr film festival ends with a round of prizes for Russia's younger batch of directors, while some more established filmmakers are shut out.
By Tom Birchenough
Published: June 16, 2006
If anyone still doubted that a new generation of Russian film directors has appeared, the closing ceremony of the Kinotavr film festival in Sochi on Monday night offered further -- perhaps final -- confirmation.
And with 14 premieres out of the 15 films in its main competition, Kinotavr hit a high artistic level that it hasn't been able to boast of in many years, despite its status as Russia's main national film festival. Moreover, the fact that directors and their producers chose to bow their films there, rather than at this month's Moscow International Film Festival, served up a message that the latter event would be foolish to ignore.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/06/16/102.html



Houston Chronicle

Storms won't stall, but more rain will fall in Houston
By ERIC BERGER
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
Houston escaped the heaviest rains overnight, but forecasters warned this morning that the ingredients for violent thunderstorms remain in the area.
Before sunrise this morning major rain-producing storms formed along a line just east of Houston, from Clear Lake to downtown, over the same area where Monday morning's storms were the worst.

"For Eastern Houston that's not a good thing at all," said Patrick Blood, a forecaster at the Houston Galveston office of the National Weather Service.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3985072.html


Heavy rains prompt flood watch, road closures
Staff and wire reports
Torrential downpours created a nightmare commute for Houston-area residents early today, flooding major traffic arteries and threatening some homes.
As much as 10.5 inches of rain was reported by the heart of the morning commute today, said Rusty Cornelius, administrative coordinator for Harris County Emergency Management. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Houston and Galveston counties until 10 a.m.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3982027.html



Bodies of U.S. soldiers show signs of torture
From staff and wire reports
The bodies of two U.S. soldiers who had been reported kidnapped have been found near the checkpoint where the men disappeared after an attack, senior Iraqi and U.S. military officials said this morning.
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for killing the soldiers, and said the successor to slain terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had "slaughtered" them, according to a Web statement that could not be authenticated. The language in the statement suggested the men had been beheaded.
Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore., went missing Friday near the town of Youssifiyah, south of Baghdad. Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed in the attack.
All were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3985104.html



LOCAL SOLDIER 1 OF 2 MISSING IN IRAQ
23-year-old was apparently kidnapped in Friday attack
Chronicle News Services
BAGHDAD, IRAQ - One of two soldiers missing and reportedly held captive by insurgents in Iraq is from Houston.
The Defense Department identified the man as Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23.
Menchaca and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore., were apparently kidnapped Friday night in an attack on a checkpoint outside the restive town of Yusufiya. The Pentagon said Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed in the attack.
U.S. forces have intensified their search for Menchaca and Tucker, widening their pursuit to areas beyond Yusufiya, and drawing troops from at least three brigade combat teams.
Family members said they were awaiting word about Menchaca.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/3981775.html



Army charges 3 soldiers in Iraqis' deaths
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq — The U.S. Army has charged three soldiers in connection with the deaths of three Iraqis who were in military custody in northern Iraq last month, the military said today.
The Multinational Corps-Iraq said three members of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division have been charged in connection with the deaths of three male detainees during an operation near Thar Thar Canal in northern Salahuddin province on May 9.
"A noncommissioned officer and two soldiers each have been charged with violating several articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice including murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, communicating a threat, and obstructing justice," an announcement said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3983373.html



Jury convicts ex-Bush official in Abramoff probe
By PETE YOST
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A jury found former Bush administration official David Safavian guilty today of covering up his dealings with Republican influence-peddler Jack Abramoff.
Safavian was convicted on four of five felony counts of lying and obstruction. He had resigned from his White House post last year as the federal government's chief procurement officer.
The trial consumed eight days of testimony about Safavian's assistance to Abramoff regarding government-owned real estate and a weeklong golfing excursion the lobbyist organized to the famed St. Andrews golf course in Scotland and London. Safavian went on the trans-Atlantic trip while he was chief of staff at the General Services Administration, and other participants were Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, two Ney aides and Christian Coalition founder Ralph Reed.
The verdict came on the fifth day of jury deliberations.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3985494.html>



(PZ) Evader Joins U.S. Merchant Marine Team for Presidential Visit
© 2006 PRIMEZONE
BELLEVUE, Wash., June 15, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Bellevue, Washington-based Evader, Inc. (www.evader.us) (PinkSheets:EVDR), the maker of electric high-performance vehicles powered by their leading-edge proprietary technology, is pleased to announce that the Company has joined forces with the United States Merchant Marine Academy (www.usmma.edu) to help celebrate the opening of its Alternative Power Program Solar Hydrogen House (http://app.usmma.edu). The program and facility will be officially opened on Monday June 19, in conjunction with the Academy's 2006 commencement exercises. Presenting the commencement speech will be President George W. Bush.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/conws/3971663.html



Many evacuees find few jobs for taking
City, private groups try to get thousands on feet as federal aid diminishes
By MIKE SNYDER
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
In their Montgomery County apartment, Jules and Marie Adams toil at their computer for hours every day, combing Web sites for job prospects and faxing dozens of letters and résumés.
In his Houston City Hall office, meanwhile, John Walsh struggles to cobble together programs to help Hurricane Katrina evacuees find jobs before their federal housing assistance ends.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3981584.html



Jury selection to begin in new trial for Yates
Five years later, experts say lack of death-penalty component could work in her favor
By PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
Five years to the day after Andrea Yates systematically drowned her five children in a bathtub, a new panel of potential jurors will be summoned to downtown Houston on Tuesday in preparation for her new trial.
The first half of a 120-person panel will begin answering questionnaires intended to help attorneys gauge who can fairly and impartially decide whether Yates knew right from wrong when she killed her children in their Clear Lake-area home.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3981522.html



HOW WILL YOU FARE UNDER NEW TAX LAW?
Region's biggest bills are in Katy, which could see significant cuts
By DAN FELDSTEIN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
It's a contest that nobody would want to win. If you live in Katy, you have the highest school property taxes in the Houston region.
If you live in Winnie, in the East Chambers Independent School District, you have the lowest.
The owner of a $150,000 house in Katy ISD, with a homestead exemption, paid $2,700 last year compared with $1,481 in East Chambers. That's 82 percent more.
If its appraised value doesn't rise, the school taxes on the Katy home will drop 25 percent to $2,021 next year, according to a tax calculator developed by the Houston Chronicle.
The drop is because of a new tax structure the Legislature approved in its recent special session, after the state Supreme Court ruled the existing structure unconstitutional.

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Ag tax break draws scrutiny
Lawmakers will focus on who's not paying fair share for schools
By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
Deer play on fenced land near Spring above a huge underground reservoir holding the natural gas supply keeping Houstonians warm this winter.
The large herd also allows Houston Pipe Line Co. to receive a special agricultural valuation on its property, saving the company $400,000 in taxes it otherwise would owe Spring Independent School District.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/05/legislature/2985061.html



WARY STATE HOLDS LINE DESPITE SURPLUS
Officials' fears over storm and school costs delay $655 million for other needs
By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - With a $3.6 billion surplus sitting in the state treasury, legislative leaders wouldn't be expected to be acting as if the wolf is at the door.
But concerns about long-term costs from the recent hurricanes and the impact of a school finance ruling expected soon from the Texas Supreme Court have stalled action on Gov. Rick Perry's request to spend at least $655 million on textbooks, nursing home care, trauma center funding and some higher education programs.
The $655 million, the result of budget vetoes by Perry, sits unused alongside the $1.8 billion set aside for an education spending bill that failed to be passed this year and $1.2 billion that Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn said Texas gained in the last quarter of the 2005 fiscal year from higher oil and natural gas prices and from sales taxes.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/05/legislature/3425692.html



$400 million surplus forecast for Texas
Associated Press
AUSTIN - Texas lawmakers will have more money to work with in this year's legislative session, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn said today, but her revenue estimate is not nearly enough to fully restore cuts to state programs two years ago.
In her highly anticipated revenue report released the day before the 140-day legislative session begins, Strayhorn reported Texas will have $64.7 billion in state money for the 2006-2007 biennium. That would give the state $400 million surplus after paying for higher-than-anticipated costs and growth in existing programs.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/05/legislature/2985810.html



THE LEGISLATURE
Perry blames lobbyists and lawmakers' lack of will
He won't call another special session, saying special interests ruled the last one
By JANET ELLIOTT and R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry on Friday said the Legislature failed to pass school finance reform and property tax cuts in two special sessions because it was too influenced by business lobbyists and lacked the will to act.
"Today I share the tremendous disappointment of millions of taxpayers, teachers, parents over the Legislature's failure to act on property tax relief and education reform," Perry said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/05/legislature/3318294.html



THE LEGISLATURE
Perry ponders special session to finish work on school financing
By R.G. RATCLIFFE,, POLLY ROSS HUGHES and JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday he is considering a special legislative session if House and Senate leaders can come to an agreement on public school finance and property tax cuts — something they couldn't do in the regular session.
"The final chapter is not written," Perry said. "There is a very good chance we'll be back here, and hopefully legislators will address it."
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he is eager to start a new round of negotiations next week with Perry and House Speaker Tom Craddick.
"It's not rocket science," he said. "If America can send astronauts to the moon, the Texas Legislature can solve school finance."
Craddick said he's willing to meet but remained pessimistic, saying that the House and Senate are "universes apart" on writing a tax plan to pay for school property tax cuts. "I think we need to look at it," he said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/05/legislature/3206299.html



Perry hints he'd deal on schools bill
He might sign a measure with a teacher pay raise but with no relief on property taxes
By R.G. RATCLIFFE and CLAY ROBISON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry on Monday indicated he would accept a scaled-back school finance bill with a pay raise for teachers and no property tax relief if that is all he can get from the Legislature this summer.
Legislative leaders were reluctant to endorse that approach, although Speaker Tom Craddick admitted the House still didn't have enough votes to increase state taxes, which would be necessary to pay for property tax cuts.
Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst also indicated the House and the Senate — after months of wrangling — still had major differences on how to restructure the school finance system.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/05/legislature/3291821.html



Perry argues Senate's plan will not pass
The proposed business taxes will be difficult to get past the House and the governor
By JANET ELLIOTT and R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - The Senate's latest plan to broaden the business tax base could make it more difficult for the House and Senate to agree on a school finance tax bill, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry said Friday.
The Senate Finance Committee late Thursday voted 9-5 to pass a bill that links property tax cuts to voter approval of a tax on all business entities, other than sole proprietorships. Under current law, only corporations are taxed, and many of those have used legal loopholes to avoid the franchise tax.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/05/legislature/3258970.html



Tax bill hits Senate roadblock
Plan to lower property tax, raise sales tax squeaks through House
By R.G. RATCLIFFE and JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - A $7.5 billion bill to cut property taxes with higher consumer taxes squeezed out of the Texas House on Thursday but immediately ran into opposition in the Texas Senate.
The Senate Finance Committee set aside the House plan for a scaled-back property tax cut with the potential for future cuts if voters approve a statewide referendum to authorize a new income tax on business partnerships.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/crimelab/3257544.html



$1.5 million sought to finish lab probe
Mayor isn't sure city will approve additional funding
By MATT STILES
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
The independent investigator examining past problems at the Houston police crime lab said Monday that he needs $1.5 million to finish his work — a price Mayor Bill White isn't sure the city will pay.
The investigator, Michael Bromwich, told a City Council committee that he needs the extra money to study recommendations for improving the lab's operations.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/crimelab/3963795.html



HPD lab chemist's error gets case tossed
She realized her testimony was inaccurate and told prosecutors
By DALE LEZON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
The troubled Houston police crime lab is investigating inaccurate testimony by one of its chemists that led to the abrupt end of a drug possession trial.
Although the mistake forced the dismissal of charges, lab director Irma Rios said it does not signal a return to the problems that led to an ongoing investigation of the lab. She said she doesn't know when her own investigation will be completed.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/crimelab/3793552.html



More problems found in HPD crime lab cases
By STEVE McVICKER and ROMA KHANNA
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
The special investigator trying to get to the bottom of the Houston Police Department crime laboratory debacle reports today that 43 DNA cases and 50 serology cases dating back to 1980 have now been identified as having "major issues."
Previously, he had identified a total of 45 cases.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/crimelab/3855792.html



THE LEGISLATURE
Perry's plan to juggle taxes draws criticism
By JANET ELLIOTT and CLAY ROBISON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - The special session on school finance started Tuesday where the regular session left off three weeks ago — with lawmakers miles apart on how to cut local property taxes and fund education.
Gov. Rick Perry outlined a "middle ground" plan that he said would lower local taxes by $7 billion over the next two years and pump additional money into the public schools, but it drew criticism from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Speaker Tom Craddick.
Both leaders, however, promised to work with the governor and with each other to find agreement on a way to overhaul the school finance system, after failing twice during the past year. The most recent failure occurred at the end of the regular session, which adjourned May 30.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/05/legislature/3235763.html



New Zealand Herald

IWC calls for reduced oil industry impact on whales
12.50pm Tuesday June 20, 2006
FRIGATE BAY, St Kitts and Nevis - The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has called for the oil and gas industry to find ways to reduce the impact of seismic air guns on marine species.
The guns use noise loud enough to cross entire oceans in the search for oil.
The IWC acknowledged that the air guns were a possible threat to whales, dolphins, squid and other species in the world's oceans, and called for more research and for "mitigation" procedures to be developed.
The guns, which are used to map potential oil and gas deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, Australia's Northwest Shelf and elsewhere, were found to damage hearing, migratory patterns and to reduce fish catches.
"The idea that sound-sensitive species can co-exist with this is simply incredible," said Joel Reynolds of the Natural Resources Defence Council, lauding the step taken by the IWC.
He said the noise generated was so explosive that the sound of an air gun used off the coast of California traveled all the way to Asia.
The report and recommendations on air guns from the IWC's scientific committee were unanimously endorsed on Monday local time at the commission's annual meeting in the Caribbean island state of St Kitts and Nevis.
US oil major Exxon Mobil Corp., which is represented at the IWC as a non-governmental organisation, said the images of the subsurface created by seismic surveys were "critical in the search for tomorrow's oil and gas resources."
"We are not aware that these surveys have ever resulted in physical injury or adversely affected any marine mammal population," the company said in a statement distributed in St. Kitts.
But Exxon said that it and other energy companies had set up an US$8 ($13.15) million research programme to investigate the impact of the air guns.

Conservation groups

Meanwhile, conservation groups called on governments to redouble their efforts to save endangered whales after pro-whaling nations led by Japan yesterday won a majority at the meeting for the first time in more than 20 years.
The pro-whaling nations pushed through a statement declaring a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling unnecessary and blaming whales for depleting fish stocks.
Environmental activists said it should serve as a catalyst to stir US public opinion, in particular, and lead to a counteroffensive by anti-whaling nations at the next IWC meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, next year.
"For those governments that have failed to wake up and smell the coffee, this is the final wake-up call," said Greenpeace International spokesman Mike Townsley.
A coalition of animal welfare groups planned to launch an international campaign called "Save the Whales, Again!" to remind people about the perils that whales and dolphins face, said Jeff Pantukhoff, founder of The Whaleman Foundation.
In addition to scientific whaling, the IWC permits some indigenous communities to hunt a limited number of whales under subsistence whaling permits, including Alaska's Eskimos.
The Eskimos' quota of 41 bowhead whales a year has helped tie Washington's hands to some extent because it needs Japanese support for the quota to be approved.
The quota will be up for renewal again at the 2007 IWC meeting in Anchorage. The United States is also expected to seek a gray whale hunting quota for Washington state's Makaw tribe.
The United States was in a difficult position as "a whaling nation that is anti-whaling," noted Japan's alternate commissioner Joji Morishita.
Conservation groups say they have no intention of challenging aboriginal whaling quotas.
But they said that after the approval of the pro-whaling declaration in St Kitts, it was more important than ever that the United States stand firm against the whaling nations in the run-up to the Anchorage gathering.
" The US cannot cut any deals over the bowhead quota," said Kitty Block of the Humane Society International.
- REUTERS

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387443



Canterbury prepares for another icy front
5.30pm Tuesday June 20, 2006
Supermarkets around Canterbury have been preparing for another run on stocks, as the snow-covered region braces for a further icy front expected late on Wednesday.
Canterbury emergency planners reactivated alert systems today ahead of a MetService severe weather warning predicting snow down as low as 100m in the afternoon.
Cold southerlies were forecast to sweep north across the province about midday tomorrow, bringing further snow to the already-blanketed Canterbury Plains.
MetService spokesman Bob McDavitt said last week's massive snow dump throughout Canterbury had been followed by southwest fronts that had skirted around the plains.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10387481



Immigration law review could breach human rights
12.50pm Tuesday June 20, 2006
The Human Rights Commission says some proposed changes to the Immigration Act could breach international treaties.
Concern centres on the possible exclusion of immigrants on health grounds, New Zealand's Chief Human Rights Commissioner Rosslyn Noonan said today.
He told National Radio: "It's very clear that the international covenant on civil and political rights require states not to discriminate on a number of bases; race, ethnic origin, social status and so on and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act itself has a very strong anti-discrimination provision which includes non discrimination on the basis of ability."
In its submission, the commission lists several areas of concern about the immigration review paper.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10387434



EU rivals 'focusing on non-tariff trade barriers'
4.00pm Tuesday June 20, 2006
Farmers can expect to face new competitive pressures as trade rivals in the northern hemisphere are forced to reduce subsidies and tariffs, Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton has said.
"We know Europe's history of protectionism," he told meat and wool farmers in Wellington today.
"As the pressure grows on them to get rid of direct subsidies, creative new replacements are being found."
One focus in Europe was on the "food miles" involved in shipping produce to consumers, and Mr Anderton said talk about the carbon emissions from shipping produce around the world was directly targeting the shipments from New Zealand.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10387474



Crisis meetings at Airbus
1.00pm Tuesday June 20, 2006
The four bosses of Airbus parent EADS met for closed-door talks today, days after the European group was hit by costly new delays to the A380 superjumbo and questions about stock sales beforehand, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The meeting came amid growing pressure on Noel Forgeard, the company's French co-chief executive, who made a 2.5 million euro ($5 million) profit exercising stock options in March - weeks before management ordered an internal assessment of the production hitches.
Investors wiped more than 5 billion euro off the company's market value on Wednesday after it announced a further seven-month delay to the superjumbo.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10387451



Deadly prison riot ends in Brazil
12.50pm Tuesday June 20, 2006
RIO DE JANEIRO - At least two inmates died and one of the bodies was beheaded in a three-day prison riot in Brazil that ended on Monday with the release of more than 250 hostages, security officials said.
A spokeswoman for the Espirito Santo state security secretariat said authorities negotiated the release of the hostages without giving in to the demands of the riot leaders in the Viana maximum-security prison. It was the third prison riot in the state in the past few days.
The prisoners demanded that drug-gang kingpins, who are isolated in a federal police detention centre, be transferred back to the prisons where they were initially sent to serve their sentences.
"There was no pact, no conditions were met," said the spokeswoman. Eighty troops from the National Public Security Force also arrived in the state to help contain prison rebellions, she added.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10387435



Australian stocks: Miners, banks drag shares lower
10.20pm Tuesday June 20, 2006
Australian stocks fell for a second consecutive day on Tuesday, losing 0.8 per cent as miner BHP Billiton dropped on weaker commodity prices, while National Australia Bank was hit by concerns credit growth might slow.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index closed down 39.8 points at 4,861.4, according to the latest available data. The index is now about 10.1 per cent below its May 10 peak.
"You are in environment of rising interest rates. At this stage we don't think it's enough to kill off the commodity boom," said Eric Betts, equities strategist at Nomura Australia.
"But people will get concerned that the monetary authorities will overkill. So this period of volatile commodity prices looks like it will persist in the short-term at least."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10387557



US National Guard to fight New Orleans crime
4.25pm Tuesday June 20, 2006
By Peter Henderson
NEW ORLEANS - National Guard troops and state police are being deployed to New Orleans to fight rising violence after five teenagers were shot and killed, Louisiana State Governor Kathleen Blanco has said.
The brutal pre-dawn shooting on Saturday was one of the most deadly attacks in the history of New Orleans and raised fear among residents that crime is returning before the city can completely recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
"The situation is urgent and we will accelerate our plans to deploy law enforcement to the city tomorrow," Blanco said in a statement after Mayor Ray Nagin and the city council called for reinforcements for city police.
"We will respond with personnel from the State Police and National Guard," she said, adding that 300 National Guard troops and 60 state police would start arriving on Tuesday local time.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387477



Apple in talks with Hollywood over film downloads for iTunes
Tuesday June 20, 2006
By Stephen Foley
NEW YORK - Apple's chairman Steve Jobs is heading for another showdown with the media industry over plans to start selling film downloads at the company's iTunes online store.
The big Hollywood studios are resisting Mr Jobs' plan to sell feature-length films at a flat rate of US$9.99 and are refusing to license any content to iTunes unless he agrees to flexible pricing.
The studios want consumers to pay twice that amount for new releases fresh out the cinema.
Apple is gearing up for the launch of a new generation of video iPods in the northern autumn, according to rumours swirling through the industry, and Mr Jobs is said to want to launch films on iTunes at the same time.
A New Zealand iTunes online store is yet to be launched.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10387433



Palestinian factions near agreement on manifesto
1.45pm Tuesday June 20, 2006
GAZA - Palestinian factions neared a deal on Tuesday on a political platform that might avoid a referendum showdown between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas-led government, officials said.
Tensions have escalated between Abbas' Fatah movement and Hamas since the president called a referendum for July 26 on a platform for statehood that implicitly recognises Israel. Some fear their violent power struggle could lead to civil war.
But after four hours of talks early on Tuesday in Gaza, spokesmen for both Hamas and Fatah were optimistic an agreement was within reach on a manifesto drawn up by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
"An agreement has become a done deal. There is no big difference over the remaining points," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu-Zuhri said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387454



Mexican presidential rival 'will not cause trouble' if defeated
12.20pm Tuesday June 20, 2006
MEXICO CITY- Mexico's leftist candidate would not stir up trouble on the streets if he is narrowly defeated in a presidential election, but would fight any vote fraud in the courts, a top campaign aide has said.
Investors worry that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a former Indian welfare officer, could summon supporters to into the streets if he loses the July 2 election, causing political gridlock and perhaps violence that would roil financial markets.
But Ricardo Monreal, one of Lopez Obrador's top campaign aides, said the left would steer clear of rabble-rousing.
"We will not shut down or occupy offices, cause chaos or problems," he said in an interview. "We will go to the courts."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10387444



US state to vote on abortion ban
10.20am Tuesday June 20, 2006
KANSAS CITY - South Dakotans will vote in November on the fate of a new state law, one of the most restrictive anti-abortion measures in the United States, banning the procedure even for women made pregnant by rape or incest.
Abortion rights supporters have gathered enough signatures to let voters decide whether South Dakota should keep or reject the measure, crafted by conservative state lawmakers to give the US Supreme Court a platform for overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalised abortion.
South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson certified on Monday that the required 16,728 signatures had been gathered and the repeal initiative would appear on the ballot.
"We will encourage all South Dakotans to join us in repealing this extreme law that has embroiled our state in controversy and threatens our government with million dollar lawsuits," said Jan Nicolay, who led the petition drive for the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387418



Benefits of IVF treatment outweigh costs, study says
2.20pm Tuesday June 20, 2006
PRAGUE - The benefits of providing free fertility treatments to couples in Britain could far outweigh the costs to the government, according to new research reported on Tuesday.
Professor William Ledger, a fertility expert at the University of Sheffield in England, looked at the average cost of producing a baby through in-vitro fertilisation and the benefit to the government over the person's lifetime.
He and a group of mathematicians and economists used a modelling exercise and calculated that for the average £13,000 ($39,393.93) it costs to produce a child through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) the government would recoup £143,000 in taxes alone.
"Helping people with infertility have children is not just a benefit to themselves and their families but also to society," he told a news conference.
"Overall there is a huge net positive benefit to society over that child's lifetime," he added.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10387459



First female Episcopal bishop
6.20am Tuesday June 20, 2006
The Episcopal Church has elected Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as the first female chief pastor of the denomination and the first female leader in the history of the Anglican Communion. Only two other Anglican provinces - New Zealand and Canada - have female bishops.
The presiding bishop represents the Church in meetings with other Anglican leaders and with leaders of other religious groups.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387362



Ancient Silk Road revived
Tuesday June 20, 2006
BEIJING - China and India have agreed to reopen border trade at the historic Nathu-la pass after more than 40 years, a symbol of rapprochement between Asian giants who fought a Himalayan war in 1962.
The pass, at an altitude of around 4300m, will open on July 6, China's Xinhua news agency reported, and handle trade between the tiny northernmost Indian state of Sikkim and southern Tibet. "The reopening of border trade will help end economic isolation in this area," Tibet Vice-Chairman Hao Peng said.
The agreement to reopen the ancient Silk Road route was the latest sign of warming relations. China now recognises Sikkim, a former Buddhist kingdom, as part of Indian territory, and although much of their 3500km border remains in dispute, last year they agreed to settle the issue politically.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387324



American philanthropy on a natural high
7.20am Tuesday June 20, 2006
Three major natural disasters - the tsunami in Asia, earthquake in Pakistan and hurricanes Rita, Katrina and Wilma - drove up American philanthropy.
The Giving USA foundation estimates that in 2005 Americans gave US$260.28 billion ($426.96 billion), an increase of 6.1 per cent, and the highest figure since 2000.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387363



Phoney Chinese army general gets life for fraud
4.30pmTuesday June 20, 2006
BEIJING - A bogus Chinese army general who swindled 27 million yuan ($5.54 million) from a company has been jailed for life by a court in Beijing, a newspaper reported.
In 2002, Dong Kunlun, 58, duped China Xinyi Group into signing a contract with a fictitious army company for the sale of "large amounts of military supplies", the Beijing News reported.
During business discussions, Dong wore a general's uniform, drove a luxury car with military number plates and travelled with two bogus security guards, the paper quoted a company vice-president surnamed Zhao as saying.
The company never had any suspicions, Zhao said.
Dong, who had previously been jailed for fraud in 1998, had spent 17.31 million yuan of the company's money, the paper said, buying six houses, three cars and settling millions in debts.


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