The Rooster
Friday, September 29, 2006
Morning Papers
The Jakarta Post
Mudflow declared disaster zone
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Sidoarjo
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday declared areas swamped by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, a disaster zone and ordered some 3,000 affected families to be permanently relocated.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting in Jakarta, Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said the President had declared some 400 hectares affected by the mud, which has been gushing out of a Lapindo Brantas Inc. gas exploration site since May 29, as no longer fit for human habitation.
"That's why residents in the area have to be relocated," Djoko was quoted by Antara as saying after Yudhoyono met with the government team appointed to deal with the mudflow.
He said Yudhoyono had ordered 2,983 affected families to be relocated. The President also ordered they be provided with jobs as well as financial compensation.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060928.@01&irec=0
Activists bring mud to welfare minister
Ary Hermawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Environmental activists poured some 700 kilograms of toxic mud outside the office of welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie on Wednesday to protest the government's handling of the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster.
The mud was brought from Sidoarjo, East Java, where sludge has been gushing since May 29 from a gas drilling site owned by Lapindo Brantas Inc., which is linked to Aburizal's family.
Protesters from Greenpeace Southeast Asia demanded that Lapindo take full responsibility for the disaster.
"It is utterly shameless for the minister to distance himself from the disaster when his corporate group owns the controlling shares in this operation," Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director Emmy Hafild said at the rally.
The activists staged a silent protest, holding posters that read "Stop your mud Mr. Bakrie or your mud will stop you!"
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060928.@02&irec=1
Mud volcano persists, and thousands are homeless as rainy season nears
PORONG, East Java (AP): Factories that once produced watches and shoes lie under a sea of thick, stinking mud. Villagers stand on hastily constructed dams and gaze at their homes, among thousands swallowed by the brown sludge.
Almost four months ago, a torrent of hot mud from deep beneath the surface of Indonesia's seismically charged Java island began surging from a gas exploration site following a drilling accident.
In the so-called mud volcano, around 126,000 cubic meters (163,000 cubic yards) of muck pour from the hole daily, often in geyser-like eruptions that have left some 269 hectares (665 acres) of land flooded or abandoned as unsafe.
The mud, which runs as deep as five meters (16 feet) in places, has submerged or washed into houses in four villages, displacing more than 10,000 people whom the government says will have to be relocated. At least 20 factories and many hectares (acres) of rice fields and prawn farms have been destroyed.
"The volume of mud that is coming out of the hole is not just large, it's enormous," American engineer Earl Hunt Jr. said as he oversaw dredging operations at the volcano's rim.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060929103010&irec=5
Forest fires worsen again on Sumatra
PEKANBARU, Riau province (Antara): Forest fires on Sumatra Island have worsened since the recent days, sparking thicker haze in several areas of the island.
Citing data from the U.S.' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an official said Friday that hotspots across the island increased to 554 on Thursday from 178 in the previous day.
With 52 hotspots, Riau is the worse province affected by the forest fires, said Dodo, an officer on duty at the Forest and Bush Fires Monitoring Post in the provincial capital of Pekanbaru, Friday.
According to Dodo, the fires occurred in both forests and plantations in all regencies of the province.
Haze sparked by the forest fire have caused problems to motorists and pedestrians because their vision could only reach hundreds of meters.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060929112101&irec=3
RI hopes no major change in Japan's foreign policy
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
While congratulating Japan on the election of its new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry has said it hopes Japan does not deviate too far from its current foreign policy toward Indonesia and the region.
"We congratulate Japan on the election of its new prime minister. We hope there is no drastic change in its current foreign policy, which has been able to improve Japan-Indonesia bilateral relations and the condition of the region in general," Foreign Ministry secretary-general Imron Cotan told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
He was optimistic that bilateral relations would further improve, stressing that the two countries had a very firm foundation for future cooperation because of the tight ties between them.
Japan is Indonesia's largest trading partner. Two-way trade amounted to US$24.9 billion last year, with an $11.1 billion surplus in Indonesia's favor. Japan is also among Indonesia's largest investors, with approved investment plans amounting to $1.68 billion last year
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060928.@03&irec=2
PM Abe's assertive diplomacy and the almighty yen
Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In his first news conference after officially replacing Junichiro Koizumi as Japanese prime minister on Tuesday, Shinzo Abe said: "I want to make Japan a beautiful country which is trusted and respected by the countries of the world and in which children can be proud of being born."
How to achieve that? "I want to pursue an assertive diplomacy," Abe hinted.
An assertive diplomacy means that Japan will act with a higher profile and a more straightforward approach. How? Last year, in private conversations, many Japanese officials complained that Indonesia did not back Japan in its efforts to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, despite the massive amounts of money Japan has invested in and loaned to Indonesia.
Japan was reportedly upset that Indonesia refused to back its bid to join the Security Council because Jakarta was worried about upsetting Beijing. But Japanese diplomats opted to show their displeasure with vague protests, so Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda concluded that the issue was not really a serious matter for Japan.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060928.A04&irec=3
STATE ADDRESS
OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
AND
THE GOVERNMENT STATEMENT
ON
THE BILL ON THE STATE BUDGET
FOR THE 2007 FISCAL YEAR
AND
ITS FINANCIAL NOTE
BEFORE THE PLENARY SESSION OF
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF
THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
Jakarta, 16 August 2006
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,
Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,
May we all be bestowed with prosperity,
Honourable Speaker, Deputy Speakers, and Members of the House of Representatives,
Esteemed Chairpersons, Deputy Chairpersons, and Members of State Institutions,
Excellencies, the Ambassadors and Representatives of International Agencies and Organizations,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
My Fellow Countrymen,
Let us offer our praise and gratitude to Allah SWT for it is with His mercy and grace that we are able to attend the Plenary Session of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia today. I wish to thank the House, which has provided me with the opportunity to deliver this state address and the Government Statement on the Bill on the State Budget for 2007, and its Financial Note.
Tomorrow, God Willing, we shall commemorate the historic moments of the sixty-first anniversary of the Proclamation of Independence of our country. Let us take a moment to bow our heads to offer our most profound praise and gratitude to God the Almighty for the blessing of independence that has been bestowed upon us. It is also with His blessing, mercy, and grace that, for the last sixty-one years, our nation and state remain standing robustly. All of the trials and tribulations that have come alternatingly during the last sixty-one years have forged our fortitude and resilience as a nation to continur striving to reach high and noble ideals.
As a reflection of history on this auspicious day, we should all express our highest gratitude and respect to all of the patriots and heroes of the nation, who have dedicated their lives, even their body and soul, to achieve, maintain, and develop the independence. I also wish to extend my profound expression of respect to the Presidents who have preceded me, whose leadership I now perpetuate, namely Dr. Ir. Soekarno, Grand General Soeharto, Prof. Dr. B.J. Habibie, KH Abdurrahman Wahid and Ibu Megawati Soekarnoputri, for their dedication and contribution, in leading the nation and state, so that we have reached the current state of progress. A similar expression is also extended to the Prime Ministers of Indonesia --- from PM Sutan Sjahris to PM Djuanda --- who have led the government of our country, while we adopted the parliamentary system of governance in the past.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/sby_speech_2006.asp
Nobel Fever: Secrecy, speculation surrounded prizes
STOCKHOLM (AP): A Finn who helped mediate peace in Indonesia is tipped to win this year's Nobel Peace Prize, while bookmakers favor a Turkish novelist for the literature award.
But in the hyper-secretive world of the panels that have spent much of the year sifting through hundreds of nominations, it's all a guessing game until the announcements start tumbling out onMonday.
Nobel-watchers rely on complex mathematical formulas, statistical calculations and pure instinct to make their predictions, but don't get any hints whatsoever from the awarding institutions in Stockholm and Oslo.
The prizes established 111 years ago by Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite, are in the categories of literature, peace, medicine, physics, chemistry and economics.
The latter, many of whose past winners are Americans, is technically not a Nobel but a 1968 creation of Sweden's central bank.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060929171533&irec=0
KL arrests 17,700 suspected illegals, mostly Indonesians
PETALING JAYA, Malaysia (The Star\ANN): Malaysia's People's Voluntary Corps (Rela) arrested a total of 17,700 people believed to be illegal immigrants and screened 94,010 people up to Sept. 26 this year.
In a statement issued here yesterday, Rela said that out of the figure, Indonesians comprised the highest number of those arrested at 12,076, followed by those from Myanmar (2,089), Indians (963), Bangladeshis (923), Thais (402), Chinese (43) andothers (1,200).
In addition to that, four employers were also arrested.
The statement added that Rela would intensify operations to help reduce the number of illegal immigrants during the Ramadan month up to Hari Raya.
The statement also said that state Rela directors and district Rela officers had been ordered to proceed with the usual operations.
Employers were also warned not to employ illegal immigrants or harbour them because it was against the law. (**)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060929132641&irec=1
Govt acts to improve tax refund system
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As part of the effort to improve the tax refund system, the Finance Ministry will revoke the right to claim tax refunds on the part of businesses that have failed to pay their taxes.
Enterprises that have not submitted their tax returns for two consecutive years and have not paid their taxes will be publicly named and shamed and declared ineligible to file for tax refunds, Director General of Taxation Darmin Nasution said during a hearing Wednesday with a House of Representatives commission.
The tax office will, however, retain their tax registration numbers for future tax collection purposes.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060928.A06&irec=5
Woman contracts bird flu in new family cluster: health official
JAKARTA (AP): An Indonesian woman whose brother died of bird flu this month is also sick with the virus, a senior Health Ministry official said Friday, confirming the country's latest family cluster of infections.
The 21-year-old woman is being treated in a hospital in Surabaya city in east Java province, said Nyoman Kandun. Her 11-year-old brother died from bird flu on Sept. 18. He was suspected of contracting the virus from infected chickens close to his house.
"This is a family cluster," said Nyoman, adding that the source of the woman's infection was not yet known.
Most of Indonesia's 52 fatal cases have been linked to contact with infected chickens or their droppings. But the World Health Organization said the virus passed between humans in one large cluster of cases in a single family on Sumatra Island earlierthis year.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060929112837&irec=2
WHO: New drugs needed to deal with deadly bird flu virus
GENEVA (AP): New drugs are needed to treat the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed at least 148 people, because of the possibility that it could mutate and develop resistance to the most effective anti-viral medicines, a WHO scientist said Thursday.
"We know that there are (H5N1) viruses that are circulating that are resistant to these drugs, and so there is an urgent need to look at other anti-viral avenues," said Mike Perdue, a team leader with WHO's influenza program who took part in a two-daybird flu conference earlier this week sponsored by the U.N. health body.
Oseltamivir and amantadine, sold as Tamiflu and Symmetrel respectively, are the only known effective treatments for people who have contracted the virus. But there have been isolated instances in Asia where infected patients did not respond to the drugs.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060929103417&irec=4
Leaders help cool down pope's debatable remarks
Harry Bhaskara, Jakarta
Candidates for the papacy, perhaps, should have a stint living in Indonesia prior to ascending to the papal throne. After all, once he becomes pope he will command one in six human beings encompassing hundreds of culture.
It is, in a sense, not unlike being born Indonesian.
As any Indonesian knows, living in a nation comprising hundreds of ethnic groups, each with its own dialect and culture, is no easy feat. Almost nothing you do or say will be correct for every situation, even if you have the best of intentions.
Hence, sensitivity plays an important part of life for Indonesians. The downside, however, is that sensitivity tends to be so well developed that Indonesians are often powerless against erring leaders.
In terms of religious belief, Indonesia offers everything from animism and traditional beliefs to monotheism.
Pope hopefuls who put some time in here also would learn how to live as a minority, which is not something they experience living in Europe. Examples of religious violence do not have to be drawn from the 14th century, as Pope Benedict did in his controversial Sept. 12 speech, because it is happening right here and now, committed by both Muslims and Christians.
Last week three Christians found guilty of masterminding attacks on Muslims in Poso in 2000 were executed, despite an 11th hour appeal by the Vatican.
Thousands have died in religious conflicts in the country. In Poso and Ambon, two hotbeds of conflict, as well as in other places around the archipelago, hundreds of houses of worship have been burned down, and people often have to worship under the watchful eyes of security guards.
Yet the nation appears to have reached a newfound peace, with its leaders lending a voice of reason to the controversy surrounding the pope's comments that appeared to link the spread of Islam with violence.
Pope Benedict has expressed his regret three times over the reaction to his words, but stopped short of offering a full apology for his speech at the University of Regensburg in his native Germany. On Monday, he met with some 20 Muslim leaders at his summer residence near Rome, a well-received gesture.
To be fair to the pope, he is still relatively new to the job and he is living in a globalized world. Perhaps he thought he was back at the campus as a theology professor, forgetting he is now the pope and his words echo around the world.
He should have known that his speech would be relayed to billions of people. For world leaders, local news has turned global. Although he was quoting an archaic text, the pope's words traveled fast across a myriad of cultures.
In a world plagued with problems between Islam and the West, a controversial statement can easily lead to a conflagration of anger, like a spark of fire in dry grass. And any words uttered by the pope will be scrutinized instantly.
Due to limited space and time, the press has a tendency to quote statements out of context. In his weekly audience last Wednesday, the pope said the real intention of his speech at Regensburg had been to explain that religion and violence do not go together, but that religion and reason do.
It would have been more elegant if the pope also had cited past violence committed by Christians, to avoid the implication that violence was something having only to do with Islam.
Still, it would have been better if the pope had offered an unqualified apology. Perhaps it is because of his strict German upbringing, where an apology is not in order when a mistake is not perceived to have been made.
In many countries, including Indonesia, apologizing is like having breakfast. You just offer an apology as a necessary gesture each time you make a mistake, real or perceived.
Thankfully, encouraging words from world leaders such as Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Indonesia's Hasyim Muzadi, the head of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, have helped to cool down the controversy.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060929.F04&irec=3
Can Indonesia earn the respect of the world?
John A. Prasetio, Jakarta
Indonesia's world competitiveness ranking was near the bottom of all 61 economies surveyed by Swiss-based IMD at the beginning of 2006, and the country's position also fell in the World Bank's 2006 ranking on the Ease of Doing Business.
Before the Asian financial crisis, people talked of Indonesia as a potential "tiger" economy. That momentum has been lost. Today some are even wondering if our relative position in the global prosperity rankings will continue slipping in the next decade or so.
For sure, widespread poverty continues to be a number one challenge for Indonesia. And yet, relative to China, Malaysia and other neighboring countries, we do not seem to be as hungry, determined or eager to compete for a bigger slice of the global economic pie. Since the Megawati administration, we have been debating the need to lure investors by way of simplifying tax laws and reducing tax rates.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060929.E02&irec=1
Truth-seeking and the possibility of keeping its costs to a minimum
Budiawan, Yogyakarta
The government plans to set up a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate past human rights violations. However, judging from recent events, this idea is likely to stay merely an idea.
It seems Indonesia is still not ready, and perhaps will never be ready, to honestly reassess what happened on Sept. 30, 1965.
The Soeharto regime successfully brainwashed the people about what occurred during and after the aborted coup attempt and many people still blindly believe the New Order version of events.
According to this story, the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) attempted unsuccessfully to topple president Sukarno's government. This means that Sukarno, at the time closely allied to the party, was involved in a coup attempt to topple himself.
The Attorney General's Office recently questioned a group of historians responsible for academic efforts to reassess the Sept. 30 incident. Some people in government and many in society still strongly resist any attempt to reexamine the facts in Indonesia's history textbooks.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060929.E03&irec=2
Terrorist's wife tells of love, heartbreak
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor
Mira Agustina learned from the media that her husband Omar al-Farouq, alias Mahmud Ahmad Asegaff, was killed in Iraq on Monday, but is still not convinced he is dead.
"No one from the government has come to my house to tell us what really happened to my husband," Mira said Wednesday at her home in Cisalada village in Bogor, West Java, about an hour's drive from Jakarta.
Mira, wearing an all-enveloping black burqa, said she could not accept that her husband, one of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's top global lieutenants, was dead.
Raising the couple's two young daughters, ages 4 and 6, practically alone, because even when in Indonesia al-Farouq was rarely at home, Mira, 28, said she had long dreamed of the day when the man she affectionately refers to as Pak Mahmud would come home for good.
But she realizes it is now up to her to support her daughters. She has tried working in Jakarta as a babysitter, but didn't like the work and quit.
"I want to sell this house and find a smaller one so I can start a small business to support my children."
But Mira does not want to move from the village because she thinks it is a good place to raise children. She was born in Cisalada and knows everyone, and feels comfortable here.
After al-Farouq was taken by Indonesian intelligence officers and handed over to the U.S. in 2002, Mira relied on her five brothers and sisters to make ends meet and send her daughters to school.
It never occurred to Mira that she would be getting involved with one of the world's most wanted terrorists when she accepted al-Farouq's marriage proposal in 1999.
"We met at a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Jepara, Central Java. He said he saw me and fell in love at first sight. I turned him down three times but he came to my late father to ask for my hand in marriage," she said, declining to name the boarding school.
To Mira and her family al-Farouq was a businessman from Ambon who traveled and moved a lot. The newlyweds moved from one town to another, until al-Farouq sent Mira back to Cisalada to live with her family while he "took care of his business".
"People can call him a terrorist, but to me he was the best husband, the best father for our daughters and the best imam (leader) for our family," Mira said.
A neighbor, Juariah, said she had never had any problems with Mira and respected her for her staunch religious beliefs. "She does not talk much with the neighbors but maybe she doesn't like to gossip. I have know her since she was a little girl and I know the rest of the family. We heard about her husband but we never saw him around here."
Al-Farouq has been linked to thwarted plots on U.S. embassies in Southeast Asia and is alleged to have been a key link between al-Qaeda and regional terrorists.
U.S. leaders have described al-Farouq as the top al-Qaeda operative in Southeast Asia. Caught in Indonesia, al-Farouq escaped from a high-security detention center in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2005.
While on the run al-Farouq never wrote or contacted Mira, although she allows that there are "husband-and-wife matters that need not be shared".
"But now I surrender everything to God. He knows what is best for my husband. I don't know what to say about his death. If the government does not want to take care of his body and fly him back to be buried here, I hope they will help me see him wherever he is now," she said.
Mira is now focusing on raising her daughters. "I want my children to get the best Islamic education so they will grow up as strong women who the world will heed. But most of all, with a strong religious foundation, they will know which side to take, the right one or the wrong one."
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060928.A05&irec=4
Intelligence chief says unlikely al-Farouq's body will be returned to wife
JAKARTA (Antara): Mira Agustina, the wife of suspected terrorist Omar al-Farouq, is unlikely to receive the body of her husband, who was killed by British troops in Iraq on Monday, an Indonesianintelligence chief said Thursday.
British forces shot and killed suspected terrorist al-Farouq in Iraq, more than a year after he embarrassed the U.S. military by making an unprecedented escape from a maximum securitymilitary prison in Afghanistan, officials said.
Al-Farouq was gunned down after he opened fire on British forces during a raid on his home in Basra, 550 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, British forces spokesman Maj. Charlie Burbridge was quoted by AP as saying.
"(The family can) submit a proposal (for the return of his body), but the chances of that are very slim," State Intelligence Body chief Syamsir Siregar was quoted by Antara news agency as saying after meeting with House of RepresentativesCommission I for defense and foreign affairs.
According to Syamsir, Farouq held a number of passports obtained from different countries, therefore it is difficult to determine whether he was an Indonesian citizen.
But he confirmed that the man who was shot by British soldiers was Farouq, who was originally arrested in Indonesia and handed over to the U.S.
Earlier, a number of legislators called on the government to return the body of al-Farouq to Indonesia to be handed over to his wife and two children, who live in Bogor, West Java.
"The government has to immediately arrange the return of al-Farouq's body," said Ali Muchtar Ngabalin, a member of Commission I, adding that when top terrorist Azahaari was killed in Indonesia, his body was returned to his native Malaysia.
Al-Farouq was arrested in Indonesia in 2002 before being handed over to U.S. authorities. He has been linked to thwarted plots on U.S. embassies in Southeast Asia, and is alleged to have been a key link between al-Qaeda and regional terrorists. (**)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060928172620&irec=0
From the New York Times
THREATS AND RESPONSES: ARRESTS; Agents Arrest Terror Suspects Outside Buffalo
By DON VAN NATTA JR. AND PHILIP SHENON
Published: September 14, 2002
Federal authorities tonight arrested five men of Arab background in a suburb outside Buffalo on suspicion they were linked to a terrorist group operating in the United States, federal law enforcement officials said.
The officials described the arrests as ''significant'' but said they could not discuss details of the charges, which were under court seal. They said the charges and further details about the suspects may be made public on Saturday at a Justice Department news conference.
The five men, who have Yemeni backgrounds, have lived in the United States for several years within a few blocks of one other in Lackawanna, a suburb of Buffalo, officials said.
Two senior government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said tonight that the investigation that led to the arrests had been a factor in the Bush administration's decision to raise the national alert level on Tuesday. It was raised from yellow, signifying caution, to orange, the second highest among the five levels of national terrorism warnings. The orange level signifies a ''high risk of terrorist attacks,'' according to the government.
A senior government official tonight said the decision to raise the alert to the orange level was made after Omar al-Farouq, a senior Qaeda official arrested in Southeast Asia this summer, had given information to investigators that suggested terror cells were in Asia planning attacks on American facilities.
But the official did not say whether any of those arrested Friday were connected to Mr. al-Farouq.
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F30713F735550C778DDDA00894DA404482
Los Angeles Times
Legal Battle Over Detainee Bill Is Likely
The Senate approves Bush's plan for military tribunals. Limits on terror suspects' options for appeal could lead to a Supreme Court ruling.
By David G. Savage and Richard Simon, Times Staff Writers
September 29, 2006
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved President Bush's plan to question and try foreign terrorism suspects before military judges — without oversight by the federal courts.
Bush is expected to receive a bill he can sign into law in the next few days, but legal challenges almost assuredly will be pursued against the prosecution process, which the administration considers a key element in its war on terrorism.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-detain29sep29,0,142943.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Border Bill Takes a Detour
The Senate moves to vote on a 700-mile fence, but a farmworker program is now at issue.
By Nicole Gaouette, Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2006
WASHINGTON — The Senate set the stage Thursday for a vote by week's end on a bill to wall off 700 miles of the U.S. border from Mexico, but a lastminute push by senators concerned about the severe shortage of agricultural workers could derail the measure's progress.
Senators agreed, by a vote of 71-28, to limit debate on the House-passed measure — a tally that many see as an indicator of the outcome of a final vote, which could come as early as today.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fence29sep29,0,2826437.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Don't Suspend Habeas Corpus
Any bill that denies that basic right to detainees should be rejected.
September 28, 2006
EVEN IF HE SAYS SO HIMSELF, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is an expert on constitutional law. So his warning that the Supreme Court is likely to invalidate pending legislation that would create military commissions to try terrorist suspects deserves a hearing — in the Senate.
The problem with the legislation — even with the improvements forced on the White House by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — is that it would make it impossible for alleged enemy combatants to file what is known as a writ of habeas corpus, which allows them to challenge the legality of their imprisonment.
In 2004, the Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration's position and ruled that detainees at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay were entitled to file such petitions. In its decision, the high court cited a statute giving federal courts the authority to review habeas petitions. But in his majority opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens also quoted a 1945 case in which the court noted that habeas corpus is "a writ antecedent to statute … throwing its root deep into the genius of our common law." In fact, the "Great Writ" can be traced back to the Magna Carta. And although the Constitution allows Congress to suspend habeas corpus in "cases of rebellion or invasion," Specter rightly noted that "we don't have either."
The argument for allowing detainees to file habeas petitions goes beyond avoiding the embarrassment of a rebuke from the Supreme Court, which has already twice rebuffed the administration's legal strategy in the war against terrorism. Thirty-three former U.S. diplomats have sent a letter to Congress warning that "to deny habeas corpus to our detainees can be seen as prescription for how the captured members of our own military, diplomatic and NGO [nongovernmental organization] personnel stationed abroad may be treated."
On Wednesday, the House approved a bill that does not permit detainees to file habeas corpus petitions. That means that it will be up to Specter and his colleagues to preserve the Great Writ when the Senate votes, as early as today.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-habeas28sep28,0,6245504.story?coll=la-opinion-center
Declassifying the Obvious
It's not news that the Iraq war stokes jihadism, but Bush's secrecy makes it interesting.
September 28, 2006
THE JUDGMENT OF THE National Intelligence Estimate partly made public this week — that "the Iraq conflict has become the 'cause celebre' for jihadists" — did not unveil an especially novel viewpoint or theory. So why has the report, assembled by U.S. intelligence agencies in April, caused such a sensation?
Partly it's the official pedigree of the document; partly it's the unconvincing attempt by President Bush to explain it away. In announcing Tuesday that he would declassify parts of the report, he testily suggested that the actual language would discredit "speculation" that it had linked the war in Iraq to a heightened terrorist threat. But the material released to the public came to essentially that conclusion (though it also backed Bush's contention that if jihadists failed in Iraq, they would recruit "fewer fighters" in the future).
Yet even before Bush declassified parts of the report, the document exerted a fascination that cannot be explained solely by its conclusions. Some of the report's mystique stems from the fact that, until Tuesday, it had been a secret.
Several of its observations — not just about the relationship between the U.S. presence in Iraq and the growth of "a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world" — are by now conventional wisdom: Jihadism is fostered not only by the Iraq war but also by corruption and repression in Muslim societies; countering the movement will require more than a military response; greater political participation in Muslim societies could drive a wedge between jihadists and political reformers, though it might also cause "destabilizing transitions." Yet because these conclusions were pried from a classified document, there is a frisson that would have been missing if the administration had made them public last spring.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-nie28sep28,0,846225.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
Suspect in Slaying of Fla. Deputy Is Shot and Killed
From Associated Press
7:20 AM PDT, September 29, 2006
LAKELAND, Fla. -- A man suspected of fatally shooting a Polk County sheriff's deputy was killed today, officials said.
SWAT team members shot the man numerous times after finding him in thick brush, just 100 yards away from where Deputy Vernon Matthew Williams was killed in a burst of gunfire a day earlier, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
The suspect refused to show both of his hands when officers commanded him to, Judd said. He appeared to have the .45-caliber weapon that belonged to Williams, Judd said.
Judd still did not know the man's name, but said he saw the man's body in the brush and matched it to the photo of the suspect that had been released Thursday.
Williams' family had been told of the suspect's death, he said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-092906deputyshot,0,7902679.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Wary Eye Cast on Abe's 'New Japan'
The freshly minted premier seeks to revamp the pacifist constitution and instill patriotism in classrooms. His backers deny they're militaristic.
By Bruce Wallace, Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2006
TOKYO — For those who view Japan's swelling nationalism through suspicious eyes, there is plenty of evidence that the World War II loser is straining at its pacifist shackles.
New Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to rewrite Japan's war-renouncing constitution. He yearns for a robust role in world affairs, and has even mused about the possibility of a pre-emptive military strike against North Korean missile sites.
Abe's talk of a "new Japan" also includes a plan to inculcate patriotism in schools and put an end to teaching what he calls a "masochistic" version of Japanese history. His newly minted Cabinet tilts so far to the hawkish side of Japanese politics that Mizuho Fukushima, the opposition socialist leader, has christened it "a Cabinet to prepare for war."
So as Abe took power this week, wary observers warned of a virulent form of nationalism they say is moving into the mainstream for the first time since Japan's defeat in 1945. Those voices came from American and European analysts, not just from China and Korea (the usual suspects, to Abe supporters), where memories of Japan's imperial aggression still burn. When Abe suggested during the summer that it might be necessary to take out North Korea's missile bases in self-defense, South Korea's government spokesman said the declaration "unveiled Japan's expansionist nature."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-newjapan29sep29,0,3394400.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Capitol Records Tower to Be Sold
The $50-million deal could lead to the development of a nearby building to help ease the area's office shortage.
By Roger Vincent, Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2006
The Capitol Records Tower, a Hollywood landmark with its cylindrical structure resembling a stack of records, is being sold in a deal that could lead to the development of an adjacent building designed to address the area's growing office shortage.
Music giant EMI Group said Thursday that it agreed to sell the 13-story tower and adjacent properties for $50 million to New York-based developer Argent Ventures. EMI said the lease-back deal allows its Capitol Records label and Capitol Studios to continue operations for "many years" at the site north of Hollywood Boulevard on Vine Street.
The new owners are expected to propose the construction of another building on an Argyle Avenue parking lot southeast of the iconic tower that was included in the deal. Argent didn't respond to a request for comment, but its Los Angeles real estate brokers, Chris Bonbright and John Tronson of Ramsey-Shilling, said Argent hoped to build a mixed-use high-rise.
"Hollywood is desperately in need of new office space," Bonbright said.
Contributing to the office shortage has been the conversion over the last three years of 30% of Hollywood's office space into housing, which is also highly sought after. Indeed, some of the competitors bidding on the Capitol tower were residential developers interested in turning it into condominiums, Tronson said
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-fi-capitol29sep29,0,5886755.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Corporate Gifts Help Governor Fund Bill-Signing Ceremonies
His use of private money saves tax dollars, but critics say it lets him circumvent campaign finance rules.
By Peter Nicholas and Dan Morain, Times Staff Writers
September 29, 2006
SACRAMENTO — A tax-exempt group set up to create jobs is being used by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to bankroll a pair of splashy bill-signing events designed to attract publicity as he runs for reelection.
Unlike contributions to Schwarzenegger's campaign account, donations to the nonprofit are not subject to caps or disclosure requirements.
Schwarzenegger this week staged carefully choreographed ceremonies against the picturesque backdrops of Malibu and San Francisco Bay's Treasure Island, signing legislation to curb emissions that contribute to global warming.
The events were meant to showcase the governor's environmental credentials at a time when he wants to maximize his appeal to independent voters.
Part of the cost is being picked up by the Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth, a nonprofit panel that Schwarzenegger launched in 2004 to lure business to California. The commission is planning to raise about $25,000 to help pay for the events, according to executive director Mark Mosher.
Among the commission's donors are major California companies with business before the state, including PG&E and Southern California Edison.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-gov29sep29,1,1782394.story?coll=la-center-politics-cal
California Politics
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/
Crime a Key Issue in Race for Top Lawman
Brown and Poochigian battle over criminal justice credentials as they campaign for attorney general.
By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2006
OAKLAND — His brow furrowed in concentration, Mayor Jerry Brown sat before a police computer, tracking a parolee by global positioning satellite. It was a chance to appraise the latest law-and-order technology he helped bring to this city — and bolster his crime-fighting credibility as the Democratic candidate for state attorney general.
Three hundred miles south, his Republican opponent, state Sen. Chuck Poochigian of Fresno, vowed at a Los Angeles conference on DNA policing that as attorney general he would boost "CSI"-style forensics. He also jabbed at Brown, noting that Oakland police failed for a year to nab a child molester identified by DNA, allowing him to molest again.
Crime might trail education and illegal immigration in surveys of what is important to Californians, but it still commands center stage in the race for top state lawman.
In television ads and on the stump, Brown and Poochigian are warring over criminal justice credentials and crime-fighting philosophies. Brown calls Poochigian, a three-term legislator, an extremist on the conservative right. Poochigian labels Brown, a two-term former governor and three-time presidential contender, an extremist of the liberal left.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-crime29sep29,0,1201493.story?coll=la-home-local
Rookie Has the Vision to Succeed
September 29, 2006
DENVER — Crazy doesn't cut it. Absurd is too abstract.
There is only one way to describe the weirdness that flaked on Coors Field Thursday afternoon, decorating the Dodgers' championship hopes like so much multicolored confetti.
It was Loney Tunes.
It was a kid with eight RBIs in 45 games driving in nine runs in what seemed like 45 minutes.
It was a kid who has never hit more than 11 homers in any professional season hitting two in a span of five innings.
It was a kid making his first start in 25 days, having an afternoon to last a lifetime.
"We've had a lot of magic over these last couple of weeks," James Loney said afterward, staring wide-eyed at the reporters surrounding him. "Sitting on the bench and watching it, I wanted to be part of it."
For one game, he was that magic.
For four sweet swings, the 22-year-old rookie first baseman who has been dragged through September by this veteran-led team actually carried it.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-plaschke29sep29,0,1678992.column?coll=la-home-headlines
House Panelists Rail at HP
By Jim Puzzanghera, Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2006
WASHINGTON — The main players in Hewlett-Packard Co.'s corporate spying drama faced outraged lawmakers Thursday, agreeing on only one thing: Someone else caused the mess.
Chief Executive Mark V. Hurd said responsibility ultimately rested with him. But then he asserted he had been unaware of just how far HP had gone in snooping on board members and journalists.
Former board Chairwoman Patricia C. Dunn, who initiated the probe into boardroom leaks, said she had assumed that HP executives were running a legal investigation.
And three executives — all of whom have resigned over the scandal — along with seven private detectives and contractors who may have improperly obtained phone records in the probe, didn't say much at all. That's because they exercised their 5th Amendment right not to testify on the advice of their lawyers in the face of criminal investigations.
"It's a sad day for this proud company," Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said.
Thursday began with HP announcing the resignation of General Counsel Ann O. Baskins, who executives and documents indicated helped direct the investigation. She later declined to testify.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hp29sep29,0,3559439.story?coll=la-home-business
More Home Buyers Stretch Truth, Budgets to Get Loans
As Southland housing cools off, reports of fraud grow, raising fears of a wave of foreclosures.
By David Streitfeld, Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2006
Mortgage fraud continues to escalate in Southern California, FBI figures show, raising concerns of increased defaults and foreclosures as the housing market cools down.
Lenders filed 4,228 reports of suspicious activity in the region during the first 11 months of the government's fiscal year, which ends Saturday, the FBI said. That puts 2006 on track to nearly double last year's total.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-loanfraud29sep29,0,4385219.story?coll=la-home-headlines
RIA Novosti
Post-Soviet security group urges Georgia to free Russians
MOSCOW, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a security alliance between seven former Soviet republics, has urged Georgia to free four Russian servicemen detained in the country, the CSTO secretariat said Friday.
Four Russian officers were detained Wednesday on spying allegations, sparking a row between Tbilisi and Moscow.
The CSTO said in a statement released after consultations between member countries' representatives that parties "expressed concern over the escalating situation, which could lead to unpredictable consequences, and called on the Georgian side to take a considered approach to resolving the current problem, and called for the immediate release of the Russian servicemen detained in Georgia."
The consultations were held through an extraordinary session of the CSTO Permanent Council, chaired by Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha.
The CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Two court sessions to decide whether four Russian servicemen accused of espionage should be remanded in custody will be held Friday behind closed doors.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060929/54378807.html
Banned antiaircraft gun found in Georgia-S.Ossetia conflict zone
TBILISI, September 28 (RIA Novosti) - A 23-mm antiaircraft gun, banned under a ceasefire and disengagement agreement, has been discovered in a conflict zone between Georgia and its breakaway province of South Ossetia, the Georgian Defense Ministry said Thursday.
It said the gun, a ZU-23-2 towed short-range air defense cannon, was found in a South Ossetia-controlled village by a team of Georgian, Russian and South Ossetian monitors and observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
"The members of the monitoring group were not allowed to approach the antiaircraft cannon and confiscate it," the ministry said. "Servicemen of an unofficial South Ossetian armed unit, the so called home guards, offered armed resistance."
It also said the Russian side had taken no action to enable the military observers to perform their functions and confiscate the illegal weapon.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060928/54351601.html
Wrap: Espionage scandal strains Georgian-Russian relations further
MOSCOW, September 28 (RIA Novosti) - Tension between Russia and Georgia increased Thursday as the two countries traded toughly-worded statements over an alleged spying scandal involving six Russian servicemen.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it was recalling its ambassador to Tbilisi for consultations and was evacuating some embassy staff and all family members over safety concerns. The defense minister opened a new front in the war of words by accusing the Georgian authorities of acting like gangsters.
The Georgian leadership defended the Wednesday arrests, saying that they had been conducted in line with international law, and advised Moscow against imposing sanctions on the South Caucasus country over the increasingly acrimonious scandal. The interior minister also said he was willing to provide the press with audio and video recordings of the alleged spies in action.
Russia's move to recall its top diplomat in Tbilisi came amid a perception that there was an increasing security risk in the Georgian capital, which also prompted the withdrawal of non-essential mission staff.
"Due to the growing security threat to staff of Russian organizations in Georgia and members of their families, a decision has been made to begin their partial evacuation from the country," a ministry statement said. "The first Russian Emergencies Ministry flights to carry this out are scheduled for September 29."
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060928/54351335.html
Russia accuses new NATO members of supplying arms to Georgia
PORTOROZ (SLOVENIA), September 28 (RIA Novosti) - Certain new members of NATO are supplying Georgia with weapons earlier brought to them by the U.S.S.R. without the right to re-export them, Russia's defense minister said Thursday.
Moscow and Tbilisi, whose relations have been tense in the last few years, have become embroiled in a new dispute after Georgia arrested six Russian servicemen in the country Wednesday on suspicion of espionage.
And Sergei Ivanov, who is also a deputy prime minister, appeared to open a new front in the increasingly acrimonious spat when he told journalists, "Certain NATO member states... are supplying Georgia with armaments that were earlier delivered to these countries by the Soviet Union with a ban on re-export."
Former members of the communist-bloc in Europe, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia became member countries of NATO in 2004.
Ivanov, who will take part in a session of the Russia-NATO Council Friday, said conventional weapons laws were being violated. "This is piracy," he said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060928/54348683.html
Russian air carrier to rejoin Navy by end of 2006
MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti) - The Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia's only aircraft carrier, will join the Northern Fleet by the end of the year after modernization, the Navy's chief said Wednesday.
The ship, also known as Project 1143.5 heavy aircraft carrier, was commissioned in the Russian Navy in 1991 and became fully operational in 1995. But it was plagued by technical problems, including faulty arrester gear, and was put into dock earlier this year for a technical overhaul.
"All preparatory work has been completed on the Admiral Kuznetsov and it will leave port for a combat training mission at the beginning of next week," Admiral Vladimir Masorin said after a visit on board the ship.
The Navy commander also said that several Su-33 Flanker-D fighters assigned to the aircraft carrier would return to the ship after a brief technical overhaul. The vessel is capable of carrying up to 26 fixed-wing fighters and 24 helicopters.
Russia's military leadership is considering building several modern aircraft carriers after 2015.
"The Russian Navy will operate several aircraft carriers in future," Masorin said in February, adding that Admiral Kuznetsov would probably remain in service until 2030.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060927/54312935.html
Ambassador's recall is Russia's internal affair - Georgia
TBILISI, September 28 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia considers Moscow's decision to recall its ambassador for consultations to be Russia's internal affair, a senior Georgian diplomat said Thursday.
Russia also decided Thursday to evacuate some of the staff at its embassy in Tbilisi along with their families, following a series of arrests of Russian officers in the South Caucasus country on suspicion of spying, with some Russian troops allegedly being beaten.
"The decision to recall the ambassador is an internal affair of the Russian Federation," said Valery Chechelashvili, Georgia's first deputy foreign minister.
The official said the Georgian Foreign Ministry had informed the ambassadors of European Union member countries and the United States accredited in the country on the detention of Russian officers.
"Our aim was to provide unbiased information on the latest events. These countries are our friends and partners, and we have nothing to hide," he said.
Six Russian soldiers and officers have been detained over the last 24 hours for alleged involvement in espionage.
"The files reliably show officers of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate personally conducting intelligence activities, personally recruiting Georgian nationals and carrying out unlawful activities," Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said, adding that Georgia had taken into account all international norms during the arrest.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the accusations were "unsubstantiated" and called them "the latest gross attack that confirms that anti-Russian course of the Georgian leadership."
Tensions between Russia and Georgia have been rising in the past few years over the presence of Russian peacekeepers in the breakaway Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the current scandal has done nothing to improve the atmosphere.
Sergei Ivanov, Russia's defense minister and also a deputy prime minister, said earlier Thursday that seven other Russian servicemen - a junior officer and six soldiers - had been subjected to violence when their car was stopped in the western city of Batumi on Wednesday night.
But Shota Khizanishvili, a spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry, categorically denied the assault accusations. "That did not happen," he said. "Police did not beat up the Russian servicemen."
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060928/54351020.html
Wrap: Russia-Georgia clash over "spying" claims
MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti)--Relations between Russia and Georgia hit new lows Wednesday when Tbilisi said it had detained four senior Russian army officers and more than 10 alleged local agents on suspicion of spying.
The accusations brought a predictably stinging response from Moscow, with the Foreign Ministry branding the claims unsubstantiated and demanding that the officers be released immediately.
Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said: "Four Russian intelligence officers and their local agents have been detained. The suspects were conducting illegal intelligence gathering in Georgia."
Russian peacekeepers have been stationed in the zones of conflicts between Tbilisi and two breakaway regions since the early 1990s, and the military contingent has a headquarters in the Georgian capital.
But the minister focused his claims on the Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate, better known by its Russian acronym, the GRU.
"GRU Colonel Alexander Sava, the leader of the spy ring, and Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Kazantsev have been detained in Tbilisi," the minister said, adding that two other intelligence officers had been arrested in the western city of Batumi.
The Russian Embassy in Tbilisi provided details of the arrest of two senior Russian officers saying the fate of the other two was unclear.
"One of them was arrested when police stopped his car on a street in the capital, Tbilisi, and another was taken from his apartment in Batumi," said Ivan Volynkin, an embassy officer.
The Georgian interior minister said a fifth intelligence officer was believed to be hiding at the Russian headquarters and a special operation, including the cordoning off the headquarters building, would continue until he was arrested.
A duty officer the Russian headquarters said earlier Wednesday evening that he could see the police cordon from the window but the situation in the building was calm.
Moscow reacts
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued an immediate denial of Tbilisi's claims, saying the arrests were unfounded and represented the latest attack made by the Georgian government on its peacekeeping missions in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
"The Georgian authorities are creating obstacles to the work and living conditions of Russian servicemen in Georgia despite the commitments they have undertaken," a ministry statement said. "They have put forward unsubstantiated accusations. The number of arrests of Russian officers from the Russian Group in the South Caucasus made by the Georgian authorities on September 27 is the latest gross attack that confirms that anti-Russian course of the Georgian leadership."
Relations have been tense since West-leaning Mikheil Saakashvili came to power in Georgia on the back of the 2003 "rose revolution." Georgia has accused Russia of meddling in its internal affairs, particularly with regard to the two breakaway regions and energy supplies, while Russia slapped a ban on mineral water and wine coming from its southern neighbor over health concerns.
Parliamentarians in Georgia have demanded the pullout of Russian peacekeepers from the conflict zones, accusing the country of supporting separatists, a charge Moscow has repeatedly denied.
Today's arrests followed the detention in February of three Russian soldiers in South Ossetia over visa problems after they sought to investigate a road traffic accident involving a Russian military truck that led to hundreds of armed Georgians arriving at the scene.
Russian diplomats and lawmakers reacted angrily then and today the Russian Embassy in Georgia also said it had delivered a note of protest to the Georgian Foreign Ministry demanding the release of the Russian servicemen and that the cordon around the military contingent's headquarters be lifted.
The embassy statement said the detention was "clearly an unfriendly act [staged by] those people who do not want an improvement in Russian-Georgian relations."
"Despite the inquiry by the Embassy and the headquarters of the Russian troops in the South Caucasus with the Georgian foreign, defense and interior ministries, the whereabouts of the Russian officers remain unclear," the embassy statement said.
Withdrawal
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the detained officers had been conducting routine work to ensure the withdrawal of military hardware and troops from two Soviet-era bases in the South Caucasus country.
"Russian servicemen in the Russian Group in the South Caucasus in Georgia are ensuring the withdrawal of Russian military bases under the relevant Russian-Georgian agreement," the ministry said in a statement. "The Russian side is precisely fulfilling its commitments in line with bilateral agreements. At the same time, our military officers are constantly subjected to provocations from the Georgian side."
Under an agreement signed by Russia and Georgia on March 31, Russian troops and military hardware are to leave the bases in the southern city of Akhalkalaki and Batumi by 2008. In September, Russia said the withdrawal was proceeding smoothly and could be completed ahead of schedule, but did not specify the date.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060927/54322377.html
Airliner crashes with U.S. combat aircraft in Kyrgyzstan-1
(Recasts lead, adds details paragraphs 2, 4, 6, adds paragraph 3)
BISHKEK, September 26 (RIA Novosti) - Sixty one passengers and crew on a Kyrgyz airliner had a lucky escape Tuesday after the plane crashed on take-off into a U.S. combat aircraft in the Central Asian state's international airport Tuesday, a source at the airport said.
No one is reported to have been hurt in the incident, which happened at 8.pm. local time (2 p.m. GMT).
The United States has maintained an airbase at the capital's Manas airport since 2001 to aid its operations in Afghanistan.
A Kyrgyz Airlines Tu-154, which is thought to have been flying to Moscow, made an emergency landing after hitting the American refueller, a Hercules, which was reportedly on the wrong runway. The U.S. aircraft had just landed
The refueller caught fire but the blaze was quickly extinguished.
The airport will be closed until 6 a.m. local time (midnight GMT).
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060926/54288895.html
Discrimination against Russian in Ukraine cannot be ignored
MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti) -Discrimination against the Russian language in Ukraine can no longer be ignored, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
The status of the Russian language in the former Soviet country was one of the hotly debated issues that delayed the signing of a national unity agreement on key policies by President Viktor Yushchenko and parliamentary leaders before Viktor Yanukovych's appointment as prime minister last month.
The sides eventually agreed to keep Ukrainian as the main state language, without entrenching it as the only official language.
The ministry said that local authorities in some western regions of Ukraine have taken a tougher stance on the status of Russian.
"The persecutors of the Russian language in Ukraine should at last understand that bilingualism in Ukraine is a historical phenomenon, and that attempts to eradicate Russian by such means is counterproductive," the ministry said.
Yanukovych said last month that granting Russian the status of an official language in the country was impossible under current conditions, but that Ukraine needed a law to regulate the use of the Russian language, in line with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Ukraine's Communist leader, Petro Symonenko, earlier said his party will push the government for a referendum on granting Russian the status of an official language, and that the party will advocate budget spending in full on programs to enable the Charter to be applied in Ukraine.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060927/54306147.html
Fidel and Cuba are inseparable
MOSCOW.(Vitaly VOROTNIKOV's RIA Novosti interview) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro Ruz, who marked his 80th birthday last month, has been and remains a bright political figure.
He leaves neither his friends nor foes indifferent. What kind of man is Fidel? Why has he attracted millions of supporters and followers? Former Soviet Ambassador to Cuba and Chairman of the RSFSR Council of Ministers (1983-1989) Vitaly VOROTNIKOV gave an interview about Fidel Castro to RIA Novosti defense commentator Viktor LITOVKIN.
Question: As you know, I asked you for an interview about Fidel Castro in connection with his 80th birthday and his illness. Let's wish him a speedy recovery. You worked with him for many years, met him often, and discussed different subjects. When did you first see him? What impression did he produce on you?
Answer: It is both easy and difficult to answer this question. It is easy because I've already written several books about Fidel Castro and am now finishing another one. I know a lot about him and met him often. But it is difficult to describe him in a medium as laconic as an interview. Moreover, it is impossible to talk about him without talking about Cuba's relations with the Soviet Union and Russia. Fidel and Cuba are inseparable... But let's try.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060926/54285310.html
Progress cargo ship to be undocked from ISS, sink in Pacific
MOSCOW, September 18 (RIA Novosti) - The Progress M-56 cargo spacecraft, filled with garbage, will undock from the International Space Station and crash into the Pacific Tuesday morning, a Mission Control center said Monday.
The spokesman told RIA Novosti that the parts of the craft that will not burn up in the atmosphere will sink in a "spacecraft cemetery" at 40° longitude in the Pacific, a short distance from Christmas Island. The Russian Mir station ended its life in the area in February 2000, after 15 years of service.
The new cargo spacecraft Progress M-58 will be launched October 18 and will be docked with the ISS October 20. It will deliver 2.5-tons of cargo to the station, including fuel, equipment, food, water, air, and gifts for the crew.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060918/54007152.html
Russia is feeling 'squeezed' by the allogations of spying and the increase in size in NATO. NATO however is far too busy in Afghanistan to assist Georgia in anything. Bush might try some yelling of subliminal threats at Putin, but, he isn't capable of carrying them out. NATO is not the best of friends with the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld White House either. The inability of Don Rumsfeld to defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan while diverting substantial assets to an unnecessary war in Iraq has left NATO with the burden of fighting the war the USA should have fought. The London Bombings has dictated that. Also an EU while forming it's own military would face far different dynamics if NATO didn't take over the war in Afghanistan.
Economic sanctions against Georgia possible - Russian deputy speaker
MOSCOW, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia could impose financial and economic sanctions against Georgia following a series of arrests of Russian officers in Tbilisi, a senior member of Russia's lower chamber of parliament said Friday.
Six men were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of spying. Four Russian officers were officially charged Friday morning and one was released during the night. The Georgian Interior Ministry said Friday the sixth man was a Georgian rather than Russian as originally thought.
Lyubov Sliska, the first deputy speaker of the State Duma, said, "All these demonstrations - the arrest of the opposition earlier and now the arrest of Russian officers for allegedly spying - are ruthless and unacceptable for any European state."
A number of members of Georgia's political opposition were arrested in early September for allegedly preparing a coup.
Sliska said the Duma could discuss a draft resolution on Georgia, which has been on bad terms with its former Soviet stable mate over its two breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on October 4. Russia has had peacekeepers stationed in the zones of the conflicts since they erupted in the early 1990s, but Georgia's parliament has been seeking to remove them.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060929/54369978.html
Iran says again: no uranium enrichment moratorium
TEHRAN, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Iran's foreign minister reiterated Friday the Islamic Republic's position that it does not see any reason to announce a moratorium on its uranium enrichment program.
"There are no grounds for establishing a moratorium on nuclear research," Manouchehr Mottaki said in an interview with Iranian television.
Iran has been at the center of an international dispute this year over its nuclear ambitions. Some countries suspect Iran of pursuing a covert weapons program, but Tehran has consistently denied the claims and says it needs nuclear energy for civilian needs.
The minister said the West had recognized that the Iranian nuclear problem could not be resolved through threats of sanctions and reports to the UN Security Council.
"There is no other way but to conduct negotiations [on the issue]," Mottaki said.
Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier said the Iranian nuclear program was transparent and that Iran had the right to develop civilian nuclear technology in line with international laws.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060929/54365109.html
Russian MP urges vigorous action against Georgia over scandal
MOSCOW, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - A senior Russian MP launched a vitriolic attack on the Georgian leadership Friday and called on Russia's government to use every available lever to pressure Tbilisi over an acrimonious espionage scandal.
Six men were arrested Wednesday by Georgian security services on suspicion of spying. Four Russian officers were officially charged Friday morning and one serviceman was released during the night. The Georgian Interior Ministry said Friday the sixth man was a Georgian rather than Russian as originally thought.
Yury Volkov, a deputy speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said the measures against Georgia could comprise diplomatic action and economic sanctions, including freezing bank accounts, and suspending or annulling business contracts.
"The current Georgian leadership has constantly displayed an intolerable proneness to conflict in international affairs bordering on paranoia," said Volkov, who is a member of Kremlin-backed majority-party United Russia.
He said Georgia's incumbent president, Mikheil Saakashvili, was a temperamental politician, whose irrational actions could only be stopped by a vigorous response from Russia with support from international organizations.
The MP reminded journalists that the West-leaning leader had once allegedly received a text message on his mobile phone near the Russia border that said "Welcome to Russia" and had immediately denounced it as an attempt to annex his country.
"The whole history of relations between states shows that global powers, as well as the global community, never hesitated to apply pressure, including the threat of force, on so-called rogue-states," Volkov said.
The deputy speaker added that Russia's steps would be well-balanced, taking account for traditionally close ties between the two countries.
Russia has vehemently protested Georgia's actions and demanded the immediate release of its officers.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060929/54373511.html
Russia worried by NATO expansion
PORTOROZ (Slovenia), September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is concerned about the expansion of NATO's infrastructure in the new member states of the northern alliance, Russia's defense minister said.
Sergei Ivanov, who is also deputy prime minister, said at a session of the Russia-NATO Council: "We are worried by the reconfiguration of NATO's infrastructure without prospects for the ratification of the Adapted Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe [CFE]."
The CFE treaty establishes limits on military hardware and troop numbers for all countries from the Atlantic to the Urals, and aims to establish a military balance on the European continent. The Istanbul Commitments, signed along with the Adapted CFE treaty in Istanbul in 1999, concern Russia's military presence on its southern flank.
The minister's comments came against the backdrop of a diplomatic scandal caused by the arrest of Russian officers in Tbilisi for allegedly spying. Relations between the countries have been tense in the last few years over Georgia's two separatist republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, where Russian peacekeeping forces have been stationed since the bloody conflicts of the early 1990s.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060929/54376256.html
continued …
Mudflow declared disaster zone
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Sidoarjo
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday declared areas swamped by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, a disaster zone and ordered some 3,000 affected families to be permanently relocated.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting in Jakarta, Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said the President had declared some 400 hectares affected by the mud, which has been gushing out of a Lapindo Brantas Inc. gas exploration site since May 29, as no longer fit for human habitation.
"That's why residents in the area have to be relocated," Djoko was quoted by Antara as saying after Yudhoyono met with the government team appointed to deal with the mudflow.
He said Yudhoyono had ordered 2,983 affected families to be relocated. The President also ordered they be provided with jobs as well as financial compensation.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060928.@01&irec=0
Activists bring mud to welfare minister
Ary Hermawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Environmental activists poured some 700 kilograms of toxic mud outside the office of welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie on Wednesday to protest the government's handling of the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster.
The mud was brought from Sidoarjo, East Java, where sludge has been gushing since May 29 from a gas drilling site owned by Lapindo Brantas Inc., which is linked to Aburizal's family.
Protesters from Greenpeace Southeast Asia demanded that Lapindo take full responsibility for the disaster.
"It is utterly shameless for the minister to distance himself from the disaster when his corporate group owns the controlling shares in this operation," Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director Emmy Hafild said at the rally.
The activists staged a silent protest, holding posters that read "Stop your mud Mr. Bakrie or your mud will stop you!"
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060928.@02&irec=1
Mud volcano persists, and thousands are homeless as rainy season nears
PORONG, East Java (AP): Factories that once produced watches and shoes lie under a sea of thick, stinking mud. Villagers stand on hastily constructed dams and gaze at their homes, among thousands swallowed by the brown sludge.
Almost four months ago, a torrent of hot mud from deep beneath the surface of Indonesia's seismically charged Java island began surging from a gas exploration site following a drilling accident.
In the so-called mud volcano, around 126,000 cubic meters (163,000 cubic yards) of muck pour from the hole daily, often in geyser-like eruptions that have left some 269 hectares (665 acres) of land flooded or abandoned as unsafe.
The mud, which runs as deep as five meters (16 feet) in places, has submerged or washed into houses in four villages, displacing more than 10,000 people whom the government says will have to be relocated. At least 20 factories and many hectares (acres) of rice fields and prawn farms have been destroyed.
"The volume of mud that is coming out of the hole is not just large, it's enormous," American engineer Earl Hunt Jr. said as he oversaw dredging operations at the volcano's rim.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060929103010&irec=5
Forest fires worsen again on Sumatra
PEKANBARU, Riau province (Antara): Forest fires on Sumatra Island have worsened since the recent days, sparking thicker haze in several areas of the island.
Citing data from the U.S.' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an official said Friday that hotspots across the island increased to 554 on Thursday from 178 in the previous day.
With 52 hotspots, Riau is the worse province affected by the forest fires, said Dodo, an officer on duty at the Forest and Bush Fires Monitoring Post in the provincial capital of Pekanbaru, Friday.
According to Dodo, the fires occurred in both forests and plantations in all regencies of the province.
Haze sparked by the forest fire have caused problems to motorists and pedestrians because their vision could only reach hundreds of meters.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060929112101&irec=3
RI hopes no major change in Japan's foreign policy
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
While congratulating Japan on the election of its new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry has said it hopes Japan does not deviate too far from its current foreign policy toward Indonesia and the region.
"We congratulate Japan on the election of its new prime minister. We hope there is no drastic change in its current foreign policy, which has been able to improve Japan-Indonesia bilateral relations and the condition of the region in general," Foreign Ministry secretary-general Imron Cotan told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
He was optimistic that bilateral relations would further improve, stressing that the two countries had a very firm foundation for future cooperation because of the tight ties between them.
Japan is Indonesia's largest trading partner. Two-way trade amounted to US$24.9 billion last year, with an $11.1 billion surplus in Indonesia's favor. Japan is also among Indonesia's largest investors, with approved investment plans amounting to $1.68 billion last year
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060928.@03&irec=2
PM Abe's assertive diplomacy and the almighty yen
Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In his first news conference after officially replacing Junichiro Koizumi as Japanese prime minister on Tuesday, Shinzo Abe said: "I want to make Japan a beautiful country which is trusted and respected by the countries of the world and in which children can be proud of being born."
How to achieve that? "I want to pursue an assertive diplomacy," Abe hinted.
An assertive diplomacy means that Japan will act with a higher profile and a more straightforward approach. How? Last year, in private conversations, many Japanese officials complained that Indonesia did not back Japan in its efforts to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, despite the massive amounts of money Japan has invested in and loaned to Indonesia.
Japan was reportedly upset that Indonesia refused to back its bid to join the Security Council because Jakarta was worried about upsetting Beijing. But Japanese diplomats opted to show their displeasure with vague protests, so Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda concluded that the issue was not really a serious matter for Japan.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060928.A04&irec=3
STATE ADDRESS
OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
AND
THE GOVERNMENT STATEMENT
ON
THE BILL ON THE STATE BUDGET
FOR THE 2007 FISCAL YEAR
AND
ITS FINANCIAL NOTE
BEFORE THE PLENARY SESSION OF
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF
THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
Jakarta, 16 August 2006
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,
Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,
May we all be bestowed with prosperity,
Honourable Speaker, Deputy Speakers, and Members of the House of Representatives,
Esteemed Chairpersons, Deputy Chairpersons, and Members of State Institutions,
Excellencies, the Ambassadors and Representatives of International Agencies and Organizations,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
My Fellow Countrymen,
Let us offer our praise and gratitude to Allah SWT for it is with His mercy and grace that we are able to attend the Plenary Session of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia today. I wish to thank the House, which has provided me with the opportunity to deliver this state address and the Government Statement on the Bill on the State Budget for 2007, and its Financial Note.
Tomorrow, God Willing, we shall commemorate the historic moments of the sixty-first anniversary of the Proclamation of Independence of our country. Let us take a moment to bow our heads to offer our most profound praise and gratitude to God the Almighty for the blessing of independence that has been bestowed upon us. It is also with His blessing, mercy, and grace that, for the last sixty-one years, our nation and state remain standing robustly. All of the trials and tribulations that have come alternatingly during the last sixty-one years have forged our fortitude and resilience as a nation to continur striving to reach high and noble ideals.
As a reflection of history on this auspicious day, we should all express our highest gratitude and respect to all of the patriots and heroes of the nation, who have dedicated their lives, even their body and soul, to achieve, maintain, and develop the independence. I also wish to extend my profound expression of respect to the Presidents who have preceded me, whose leadership I now perpetuate, namely Dr. Ir. Soekarno, Grand General Soeharto, Prof. Dr. B.J. Habibie, KH Abdurrahman Wahid and Ibu Megawati Soekarnoputri, for their dedication and contribution, in leading the nation and state, so that we have reached the current state of progress. A similar expression is also extended to the Prime Ministers of Indonesia --- from PM Sutan Sjahris to PM Djuanda --- who have led the government of our country, while we adopted the parliamentary system of governance in the past.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/sby_speech_2006.asp
Nobel Fever: Secrecy, speculation surrounded prizes
STOCKHOLM (AP): A Finn who helped mediate peace in Indonesia is tipped to win this year's Nobel Peace Prize, while bookmakers favor a Turkish novelist for the literature award.
But in the hyper-secretive world of the panels that have spent much of the year sifting through hundreds of nominations, it's all a guessing game until the announcements start tumbling out onMonday.
Nobel-watchers rely on complex mathematical formulas, statistical calculations and pure instinct to make their predictions, but don't get any hints whatsoever from the awarding institutions in Stockholm and Oslo.
The prizes established 111 years ago by Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite, are in the categories of literature, peace, medicine, physics, chemistry and economics.
The latter, many of whose past winners are Americans, is technically not a Nobel but a 1968 creation of Sweden's central bank.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060929171533&irec=0
KL arrests 17,700 suspected illegals, mostly Indonesians
PETALING JAYA, Malaysia (The Star\ANN): Malaysia's People's Voluntary Corps (Rela) arrested a total of 17,700 people believed to be illegal immigrants and screened 94,010 people up to Sept. 26 this year.
In a statement issued here yesterday, Rela said that out of the figure, Indonesians comprised the highest number of those arrested at 12,076, followed by those from Myanmar (2,089), Indians (963), Bangladeshis (923), Thais (402), Chinese (43) andothers (1,200).
In addition to that, four employers were also arrested.
The statement added that Rela would intensify operations to help reduce the number of illegal immigrants during the Ramadan month up to Hari Raya.
The statement also said that state Rela directors and district Rela officers had been ordered to proceed with the usual operations.
Employers were also warned not to employ illegal immigrants or harbour them because it was against the law. (**)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060929132641&irec=1
Govt acts to improve tax refund system
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As part of the effort to improve the tax refund system, the Finance Ministry will revoke the right to claim tax refunds on the part of businesses that have failed to pay their taxes.
Enterprises that have not submitted their tax returns for two consecutive years and have not paid their taxes will be publicly named and shamed and declared ineligible to file for tax refunds, Director General of Taxation Darmin Nasution said during a hearing Wednesday with a House of Representatives commission.
The tax office will, however, retain their tax registration numbers for future tax collection purposes.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060928.A06&irec=5
Woman contracts bird flu in new family cluster: health official
JAKARTA (AP): An Indonesian woman whose brother died of bird flu this month is also sick with the virus, a senior Health Ministry official said Friday, confirming the country's latest family cluster of infections.
The 21-year-old woman is being treated in a hospital in Surabaya city in east Java province, said Nyoman Kandun. Her 11-year-old brother died from bird flu on Sept. 18. He was suspected of contracting the virus from infected chickens close to his house.
"This is a family cluster," said Nyoman, adding that the source of the woman's infection was not yet known.
Most of Indonesia's 52 fatal cases have been linked to contact with infected chickens or their droppings. But the World Health Organization said the virus passed between humans in one large cluster of cases in a single family on Sumatra Island earlierthis year.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060929112837&irec=2
WHO: New drugs needed to deal with deadly bird flu virus
GENEVA (AP): New drugs are needed to treat the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed at least 148 people, because of the possibility that it could mutate and develop resistance to the most effective anti-viral medicines, a WHO scientist said Thursday.
"We know that there are (H5N1) viruses that are circulating that are resistant to these drugs, and so there is an urgent need to look at other anti-viral avenues," said Mike Perdue, a team leader with WHO's influenza program who took part in a two-daybird flu conference earlier this week sponsored by the U.N. health body.
Oseltamivir and amantadine, sold as Tamiflu and Symmetrel respectively, are the only known effective treatments for people who have contracted the virus. But there have been isolated instances in Asia where infected patients did not respond to the drugs.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060929103417&irec=4
Leaders help cool down pope's debatable remarks
Harry Bhaskara, Jakarta
Candidates for the papacy, perhaps, should have a stint living in Indonesia prior to ascending to the papal throne. After all, once he becomes pope he will command one in six human beings encompassing hundreds of culture.
It is, in a sense, not unlike being born Indonesian.
As any Indonesian knows, living in a nation comprising hundreds of ethnic groups, each with its own dialect and culture, is no easy feat. Almost nothing you do or say will be correct for every situation, even if you have the best of intentions.
Hence, sensitivity plays an important part of life for Indonesians. The downside, however, is that sensitivity tends to be so well developed that Indonesians are often powerless against erring leaders.
In terms of religious belief, Indonesia offers everything from animism and traditional beliefs to monotheism.
Pope hopefuls who put some time in here also would learn how to live as a minority, which is not something they experience living in Europe. Examples of religious violence do not have to be drawn from the 14th century, as Pope Benedict did in his controversial Sept. 12 speech, because it is happening right here and now, committed by both Muslims and Christians.
Last week three Christians found guilty of masterminding attacks on Muslims in Poso in 2000 were executed, despite an 11th hour appeal by the Vatican.
Thousands have died in religious conflicts in the country. In Poso and Ambon, two hotbeds of conflict, as well as in other places around the archipelago, hundreds of houses of worship have been burned down, and people often have to worship under the watchful eyes of security guards.
Yet the nation appears to have reached a newfound peace, with its leaders lending a voice of reason to the controversy surrounding the pope's comments that appeared to link the spread of Islam with violence.
Pope Benedict has expressed his regret three times over the reaction to his words, but stopped short of offering a full apology for his speech at the University of Regensburg in his native Germany. On Monday, he met with some 20 Muslim leaders at his summer residence near Rome, a well-received gesture.
To be fair to the pope, he is still relatively new to the job and he is living in a globalized world. Perhaps he thought he was back at the campus as a theology professor, forgetting he is now the pope and his words echo around the world.
He should have known that his speech would be relayed to billions of people. For world leaders, local news has turned global. Although he was quoting an archaic text, the pope's words traveled fast across a myriad of cultures.
In a world plagued with problems between Islam and the West, a controversial statement can easily lead to a conflagration of anger, like a spark of fire in dry grass. And any words uttered by the pope will be scrutinized instantly.
Due to limited space and time, the press has a tendency to quote statements out of context. In his weekly audience last Wednesday, the pope said the real intention of his speech at Regensburg had been to explain that religion and violence do not go together, but that religion and reason do.
It would have been more elegant if the pope also had cited past violence committed by Christians, to avoid the implication that violence was something having only to do with Islam.
Still, it would have been better if the pope had offered an unqualified apology. Perhaps it is because of his strict German upbringing, where an apology is not in order when a mistake is not perceived to have been made.
In many countries, including Indonesia, apologizing is like having breakfast. You just offer an apology as a necessary gesture each time you make a mistake, real or perceived.
Thankfully, encouraging words from world leaders such as Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Indonesia's Hasyim Muzadi, the head of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, have helped to cool down the controversy.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060929.F04&irec=3
Can Indonesia earn the respect of the world?
John A. Prasetio, Jakarta
Indonesia's world competitiveness ranking was near the bottom of all 61 economies surveyed by Swiss-based IMD at the beginning of 2006, and the country's position also fell in the World Bank's 2006 ranking on the Ease of Doing Business.
Before the Asian financial crisis, people talked of Indonesia as a potential "tiger" economy. That momentum has been lost. Today some are even wondering if our relative position in the global prosperity rankings will continue slipping in the next decade or so.
For sure, widespread poverty continues to be a number one challenge for Indonesia. And yet, relative to China, Malaysia and other neighboring countries, we do not seem to be as hungry, determined or eager to compete for a bigger slice of the global economic pie. Since the Megawati administration, we have been debating the need to lure investors by way of simplifying tax laws and reducing tax rates.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060929.E02&irec=1
Truth-seeking and the possibility of keeping its costs to a minimum
Budiawan, Yogyakarta
The government plans to set up a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate past human rights violations. However, judging from recent events, this idea is likely to stay merely an idea.
It seems Indonesia is still not ready, and perhaps will never be ready, to honestly reassess what happened on Sept. 30, 1965.
The Soeharto regime successfully brainwashed the people about what occurred during and after the aborted coup attempt and many people still blindly believe the New Order version of events.
According to this story, the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) attempted unsuccessfully to topple president Sukarno's government. This means that Sukarno, at the time closely allied to the party, was involved in a coup attempt to topple himself.
The Attorney General's Office recently questioned a group of historians responsible for academic efforts to reassess the Sept. 30 incident. Some people in government and many in society still strongly resist any attempt to reexamine the facts in Indonesia's history textbooks.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060929.E03&irec=2
Terrorist's wife tells of love, heartbreak
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor
Mira Agustina learned from the media that her husband Omar al-Farouq, alias Mahmud Ahmad Asegaff, was killed in Iraq on Monday, but is still not convinced he is dead.
"No one from the government has come to my house to tell us what really happened to my husband," Mira said Wednesday at her home in Cisalada village in Bogor, West Java, about an hour's drive from Jakarta.
Mira, wearing an all-enveloping black burqa, said she could not accept that her husband, one of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's top global lieutenants, was dead.
Raising the couple's two young daughters, ages 4 and 6, practically alone, because even when in Indonesia al-Farouq was rarely at home, Mira, 28, said she had long dreamed of the day when the man she affectionately refers to as Pak Mahmud would come home for good.
But she realizes it is now up to her to support her daughters. She has tried working in Jakarta as a babysitter, but didn't like the work and quit.
"I want to sell this house and find a smaller one so I can start a small business to support my children."
But Mira does not want to move from the village because she thinks it is a good place to raise children. She was born in Cisalada and knows everyone, and feels comfortable here.
After al-Farouq was taken by Indonesian intelligence officers and handed over to the U.S. in 2002, Mira relied on her five brothers and sisters to make ends meet and send her daughters to school.
It never occurred to Mira that she would be getting involved with one of the world's most wanted terrorists when she accepted al-Farouq's marriage proposal in 1999.
"We met at a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Jepara, Central Java. He said he saw me and fell in love at first sight. I turned him down three times but he came to my late father to ask for my hand in marriage," she said, declining to name the boarding school.
To Mira and her family al-Farouq was a businessman from Ambon who traveled and moved a lot. The newlyweds moved from one town to another, until al-Farouq sent Mira back to Cisalada to live with her family while he "took care of his business".
"People can call him a terrorist, but to me he was the best husband, the best father for our daughters and the best imam (leader) for our family," Mira said.
A neighbor, Juariah, said she had never had any problems with Mira and respected her for her staunch religious beliefs. "She does not talk much with the neighbors but maybe she doesn't like to gossip. I have know her since she was a little girl and I know the rest of the family. We heard about her husband but we never saw him around here."
Al-Farouq has been linked to thwarted plots on U.S. embassies in Southeast Asia and is alleged to have been a key link between al-Qaeda and regional terrorists.
U.S. leaders have described al-Farouq as the top al-Qaeda operative in Southeast Asia. Caught in Indonesia, al-Farouq escaped from a high-security detention center in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2005.
While on the run al-Farouq never wrote or contacted Mira, although she allows that there are "husband-and-wife matters that need not be shared".
"But now I surrender everything to God. He knows what is best for my husband. I don't know what to say about his death. If the government does not want to take care of his body and fly him back to be buried here, I hope they will help me see him wherever he is now," she said.
Mira is now focusing on raising her daughters. "I want my children to get the best Islamic education so they will grow up as strong women who the world will heed. But most of all, with a strong religious foundation, they will know which side to take, the right one or the wrong one."
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060928.A05&irec=4
Intelligence chief says unlikely al-Farouq's body will be returned to wife
JAKARTA (Antara): Mira Agustina, the wife of suspected terrorist Omar al-Farouq, is unlikely to receive the body of her husband, who was killed by British troops in Iraq on Monday, an Indonesianintelligence chief said Thursday.
British forces shot and killed suspected terrorist al-Farouq in Iraq, more than a year after he embarrassed the U.S. military by making an unprecedented escape from a maximum securitymilitary prison in Afghanistan, officials said.
Al-Farouq was gunned down after he opened fire on British forces during a raid on his home in Basra, 550 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, British forces spokesman Maj. Charlie Burbridge was quoted by AP as saying.
"(The family can) submit a proposal (for the return of his body), but the chances of that are very slim," State Intelligence Body chief Syamsir Siregar was quoted by Antara news agency as saying after meeting with House of RepresentativesCommission I for defense and foreign affairs.
According to Syamsir, Farouq held a number of passports obtained from different countries, therefore it is difficult to determine whether he was an Indonesian citizen.
But he confirmed that the man who was shot by British soldiers was Farouq, who was originally arrested in Indonesia and handed over to the U.S.
Earlier, a number of legislators called on the government to return the body of al-Farouq to Indonesia to be handed over to his wife and two children, who live in Bogor, West Java.
"The government has to immediately arrange the return of al-Farouq's body," said Ali Muchtar Ngabalin, a member of Commission I, adding that when top terrorist Azahaari was killed in Indonesia, his body was returned to his native Malaysia.
Al-Farouq was arrested in Indonesia in 2002 before being handed over to U.S. authorities. He has been linked to thwarted plots on U.S. embassies in Southeast Asia, and is alleged to have been a key link between al-Qaeda and regional terrorists. (**)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060928172620&irec=0
From the New York Times
THREATS AND RESPONSES: ARRESTS; Agents Arrest Terror Suspects Outside Buffalo
By DON VAN NATTA JR. AND PHILIP SHENON
Published: September 14, 2002
Federal authorities tonight arrested five men of Arab background in a suburb outside Buffalo on suspicion they were linked to a terrorist group operating in the United States, federal law enforcement officials said.
The officials described the arrests as ''significant'' but said they could not discuss details of the charges, which were under court seal. They said the charges and further details about the suspects may be made public on Saturday at a Justice Department news conference.
The five men, who have Yemeni backgrounds, have lived in the United States for several years within a few blocks of one other in Lackawanna, a suburb of Buffalo, officials said.
Two senior government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said tonight that the investigation that led to the arrests had been a factor in the Bush administration's decision to raise the national alert level on Tuesday. It was raised from yellow, signifying caution, to orange, the second highest among the five levels of national terrorism warnings. The orange level signifies a ''high risk of terrorist attacks,'' according to the government.
A senior government official tonight said the decision to raise the alert to the orange level was made after Omar al-Farouq, a senior Qaeda official arrested in Southeast Asia this summer, had given information to investigators that suggested terror cells were in Asia planning attacks on American facilities.
But the official did not say whether any of those arrested Friday were connected to Mr. al-Farouq.
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F30713F735550C778DDDA00894DA404482
Los Angeles Times
Legal Battle Over Detainee Bill Is Likely
The Senate approves Bush's plan for military tribunals. Limits on terror suspects' options for appeal could lead to a Supreme Court ruling.
By David G. Savage and Richard Simon, Times Staff Writers
September 29, 2006
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved President Bush's plan to question and try foreign terrorism suspects before military judges — without oversight by the federal courts.
Bush is expected to receive a bill he can sign into law in the next few days, but legal challenges almost assuredly will be pursued against the prosecution process, which the administration considers a key element in its war on terrorism.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-detain29sep29,0,142943.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Border Bill Takes a Detour
The Senate moves to vote on a 700-mile fence, but a farmworker program is now at issue.
By Nicole Gaouette, Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2006
WASHINGTON — The Senate set the stage Thursday for a vote by week's end on a bill to wall off 700 miles of the U.S. border from Mexico, but a lastminute push by senators concerned about the severe shortage of agricultural workers could derail the measure's progress.
Senators agreed, by a vote of 71-28, to limit debate on the House-passed measure — a tally that many see as an indicator of the outcome of a final vote, which could come as early as today.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fence29sep29,0,2826437.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Don't Suspend Habeas Corpus
Any bill that denies that basic right to detainees should be rejected.
September 28, 2006
EVEN IF HE SAYS SO HIMSELF, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is an expert on constitutional law. So his warning that the Supreme Court is likely to invalidate pending legislation that would create military commissions to try terrorist suspects deserves a hearing — in the Senate.
The problem with the legislation — even with the improvements forced on the White House by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — is that it would make it impossible for alleged enemy combatants to file what is known as a writ of habeas corpus, which allows them to challenge the legality of their imprisonment.
In 2004, the Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration's position and ruled that detainees at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay were entitled to file such petitions. In its decision, the high court cited a statute giving federal courts the authority to review habeas petitions. But in his majority opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens also quoted a 1945 case in which the court noted that habeas corpus is "a writ antecedent to statute … throwing its root deep into the genius of our common law." In fact, the "Great Writ" can be traced back to the Magna Carta. And although the Constitution allows Congress to suspend habeas corpus in "cases of rebellion or invasion," Specter rightly noted that "we don't have either."
The argument for allowing detainees to file habeas petitions goes beyond avoiding the embarrassment of a rebuke from the Supreme Court, which has already twice rebuffed the administration's legal strategy in the war against terrorism. Thirty-three former U.S. diplomats have sent a letter to Congress warning that "to deny habeas corpus to our detainees can be seen as prescription for how the captured members of our own military, diplomatic and NGO [nongovernmental organization] personnel stationed abroad may be treated."
On Wednesday, the House approved a bill that does not permit detainees to file habeas corpus petitions. That means that it will be up to Specter and his colleagues to preserve the Great Writ when the Senate votes, as early as today.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-habeas28sep28,0,6245504.story?coll=la-opinion-center
Declassifying the Obvious
It's not news that the Iraq war stokes jihadism, but Bush's secrecy makes it interesting.
September 28, 2006
THE JUDGMENT OF THE National Intelligence Estimate partly made public this week — that "the Iraq conflict has become the 'cause celebre' for jihadists" — did not unveil an especially novel viewpoint or theory. So why has the report, assembled by U.S. intelligence agencies in April, caused such a sensation?
Partly it's the official pedigree of the document; partly it's the unconvincing attempt by President Bush to explain it away. In announcing Tuesday that he would declassify parts of the report, he testily suggested that the actual language would discredit "speculation" that it had linked the war in Iraq to a heightened terrorist threat. But the material released to the public came to essentially that conclusion (though it also backed Bush's contention that if jihadists failed in Iraq, they would recruit "fewer fighters" in the future).
Yet even before Bush declassified parts of the report, the document exerted a fascination that cannot be explained solely by its conclusions. Some of the report's mystique stems from the fact that, until Tuesday, it had been a secret.
Several of its observations — not just about the relationship between the U.S. presence in Iraq and the growth of "a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world" — are by now conventional wisdom: Jihadism is fostered not only by the Iraq war but also by corruption and repression in Muslim societies; countering the movement will require more than a military response; greater political participation in Muslim societies could drive a wedge between jihadists and political reformers, though it might also cause "destabilizing transitions." Yet because these conclusions were pried from a classified document, there is a frisson that would have been missing if the administration had made them public last spring.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-nie28sep28,0,846225.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
Suspect in Slaying of Fla. Deputy Is Shot and Killed
From Associated Press
7:20 AM PDT, September 29, 2006
LAKELAND, Fla. -- A man suspected of fatally shooting a Polk County sheriff's deputy was killed today, officials said.
SWAT team members shot the man numerous times after finding him in thick brush, just 100 yards away from where Deputy Vernon Matthew Williams was killed in a burst of gunfire a day earlier, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
The suspect refused to show both of his hands when officers commanded him to, Judd said. He appeared to have the .45-caliber weapon that belonged to Williams, Judd said.
Judd still did not know the man's name, but said he saw the man's body in the brush and matched it to the photo of the suspect that had been released Thursday.
Williams' family had been told of the suspect's death, he said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-092906deputyshot,0,7902679.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Wary Eye Cast on Abe's 'New Japan'
The freshly minted premier seeks to revamp the pacifist constitution and instill patriotism in classrooms. His backers deny they're militaristic.
By Bruce Wallace, Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2006
TOKYO — For those who view Japan's swelling nationalism through suspicious eyes, there is plenty of evidence that the World War II loser is straining at its pacifist shackles.
New Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to rewrite Japan's war-renouncing constitution. He yearns for a robust role in world affairs, and has even mused about the possibility of a pre-emptive military strike against North Korean missile sites.
Abe's talk of a "new Japan" also includes a plan to inculcate patriotism in schools and put an end to teaching what he calls a "masochistic" version of Japanese history. His newly minted Cabinet tilts so far to the hawkish side of Japanese politics that Mizuho Fukushima, the opposition socialist leader, has christened it "a Cabinet to prepare for war."
So as Abe took power this week, wary observers warned of a virulent form of nationalism they say is moving into the mainstream for the first time since Japan's defeat in 1945. Those voices came from American and European analysts, not just from China and Korea (the usual suspects, to Abe supporters), where memories of Japan's imperial aggression still burn. When Abe suggested during the summer that it might be necessary to take out North Korea's missile bases in self-defense, South Korea's government spokesman said the declaration "unveiled Japan's expansionist nature."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-newjapan29sep29,0,3394400.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Capitol Records Tower to Be Sold
The $50-million deal could lead to the development of a nearby building to help ease the area's office shortage.
By Roger Vincent, Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2006
The Capitol Records Tower, a Hollywood landmark with its cylindrical structure resembling a stack of records, is being sold in a deal that could lead to the development of an adjacent building designed to address the area's growing office shortage.
Music giant EMI Group said Thursday that it agreed to sell the 13-story tower and adjacent properties for $50 million to New York-based developer Argent Ventures. EMI said the lease-back deal allows its Capitol Records label and Capitol Studios to continue operations for "many years" at the site north of Hollywood Boulevard on Vine Street.
The new owners are expected to propose the construction of another building on an Argyle Avenue parking lot southeast of the iconic tower that was included in the deal. Argent didn't respond to a request for comment, but its Los Angeles real estate brokers, Chris Bonbright and John Tronson of Ramsey-Shilling, said Argent hoped to build a mixed-use high-rise.
"Hollywood is desperately in need of new office space," Bonbright said.
Contributing to the office shortage has been the conversion over the last three years of 30% of Hollywood's office space into housing, which is also highly sought after. Indeed, some of the competitors bidding on the Capitol tower were residential developers interested in turning it into condominiums, Tronson said
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-fi-capitol29sep29,0,5886755.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Corporate Gifts Help Governor Fund Bill-Signing Ceremonies
His use of private money saves tax dollars, but critics say it lets him circumvent campaign finance rules.
By Peter Nicholas and Dan Morain, Times Staff Writers
September 29, 2006
SACRAMENTO — A tax-exempt group set up to create jobs is being used by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to bankroll a pair of splashy bill-signing events designed to attract publicity as he runs for reelection.
Unlike contributions to Schwarzenegger's campaign account, donations to the nonprofit are not subject to caps or disclosure requirements.
Schwarzenegger this week staged carefully choreographed ceremonies against the picturesque backdrops of Malibu and San Francisco Bay's Treasure Island, signing legislation to curb emissions that contribute to global warming.
The events were meant to showcase the governor's environmental credentials at a time when he wants to maximize his appeal to independent voters.
Part of the cost is being picked up by the Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth, a nonprofit panel that Schwarzenegger launched in 2004 to lure business to California. The commission is planning to raise about $25,000 to help pay for the events, according to executive director Mark Mosher.
Among the commission's donors are major California companies with business before the state, including PG&E and Southern California Edison.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-gov29sep29,1,1782394.story?coll=la-center-politics-cal
California Politics
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/
Crime a Key Issue in Race for Top Lawman
Brown and Poochigian battle over criminal justice credentials as they campaign for attorney general.
By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2006
OAKLAND — His brow furrowed in concentration, Mayor Jerry Brown sat before a police computer, tracking a parolee by global positioning satellite. It was a chance to appraise the latest law-and-order technology he helped bring to this city — and bolster his crime-fighting credibility as the Democratic candidate for state attorney general.
Three hundred miles south, his Republican opponent, state Sen. Chuck Poochigian of Fresno, vowed at a Los Angeles conference on DNA policing that as attorney general he would boost "CSI"-style forensics. He also jabbed at Brown, noting that Oakland police failed for a year to nab a child molester identified by DNA, allowing him to molest again.
Crime might trail education and illegal immigration in surveys of what is important to Californians, but it still commands center stage in the race for top state lawman.
In television ads and on the stump, Brown and Poochigian are warring over criminal justice credentials and crime-fighting philosophies. Brown calls Poochigian, a three-term legislator, an extremist on the conservative right. Poochigian labels Brown, a two-term former governor and three-time presidential contender, an extremist of the liberal left.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-crime29sep29,0,1201493.story?coll=la-home-local
Rookie Has the Vision to Succeed
September 29, 2006
DENVER — Crazy doesn't cut it. Absurd is too abstract.
There is only one way to describe the weirdness that flaked on Coors Field Thursday afternoon, decorating the Dodgers' championship hopes like so much multicolored confetti.
It was Loney Tunes.
It was a kid with eight RBIs in 45 games driving in nine runs in what seemed like 45 minutes.
It was a kid who has never hit more than 11 homers in any professional season hitting two in a span of five innings.
It was a kid making his first start in 25 days, having an afternoon to last a lifetime.
"We've had a lot of magic over these last couple of weeks," James Loney said afterward, staring wide-eyed at the reporters surrounding him. "Sitting on the bench and watching it, I wanted to be part of it."
For one game, he was that magic.
For four sweet swings, the 22-year-old rookie first baseman who has been dragged through September by this veteran-led team actually carried it.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-plaschke29sep29,0,1678992.column?coll=la-home-headlines
House Panelists Rail at HP
By Jim Puzzanghera, Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2006
WASHINGTON — The main players in Hewlett-Packard Co.'s corporate spying drama faced outraged lawmakers Thursday, agreeing on only one thing: Someone else caused the mess.
Chief Executive Mark V. Hurd said responsibility ultimately rested with him. But then he asserted he had been unaware of just how far HP had gone in snooping on board members and journalists.
Former board Chairwoman Patricia C. Dunn, who initiated the probe into boardroom leaks, said she had assumed that HP executives were running a legal investigation.
And three executives — all of whom have resigned over the scandal — along with seven private detectives and contractors who may have improperly obtained phone records in the probe, didn't say much at all. That's because they exercised their 5th Amendment right not to testify on the advice of their lawyers in the face of criminal investigations.
"It's a sad day for this proud company," Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said.
Thursday began with HP announcing the resignation of General Counsel Ann O. Baskins, who executives and documents indicated helped direct the investigation. She later declined to testify.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hp29sep29,0,3559439.story?coll=la-home-business
More Home Buyers Stretch Truth, Budgets to Get Loans
As Southland housing cools off, reports of fraud grow, raising fears of a wave of foreclosures.
By David Streitfeld, Times Staff Writer
September 29, 2006
Mortgage fraud continues to escalate in Southern California, FBI figures show, raising concerns of increased defaults and foreclosures as the housing market cools down.
Lenders filed 4,228 reports of suspicious activity in the region during the first 11 months of the government's fiscal year, which ends Saturday, the FBI said. That puts 2006 on track to nearly double last year's total.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-loanfraud29sep29,0,4385219.story?coll=la-home-headlines
RIA Novosti
Post-Soviet security group urges Georgia to free Russians
MOSCOW, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a security alliance between seven former Soviet republics, has urged Georgia to free four Russian servicemen detained in the country, the CSTO secretariat said Friday.
Four Russian officers were detained Wednesday on spying allegations, sparking a row between Tbilisi and Moscow.
The CSTO said in a statement released after consultations between member countries' representatives that parties "expressed concern over the escalating situation, which could lead to unpredictable consequences, and called on the Georgian side to take a considered approach to resolving the current problem, and called for the immediate release of the Russian servicemen detained in Georgia."
The consultations were held through an extraordinary session of the CSTO Permanent Council, chaired by Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha.
The CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Two court sessions to decide whether four Russian servicemen accused of espionage should be remanded in custody will be held Friday behind closed doors.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060929/54378807.html
Banned antiaircraft gun found in Georgia-S.Ossetia conflict zone
TBILISI, September 28 (RIA Novosti) - A 23-mm antiaircraft gun, banned under a ceasefire and disengagement agreement, has been discovered in a conflict zone between Georgia and its breakaway province of South Ossetia, the Georgian Defense Ministry said Thursday.
It said the gun, a ZU-23-2 towed short-range air defense cannon, was found in a South Ossetia-controlled village by a team of Georgian, Russian and South Ossetian monitors and observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
"The members of the monitoring group were not allowed to approach the antiaircraft cannon and confiscate it," the ministry said. "Servicemen of an unofficial South Ossetian armed unit, the so called home guards, offered armed resistance."
It also said the Russian side had taken no action to enable the military observers to perform their functions and confiscate the illegal weapon.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060928/54351601.html
Wrap: Espionage scandal strains Georgian-Russian relations further
MOSCOW, September 28 (RIA Novosti) - Tension between Russia and Georgia increased Thursday as the two countries traded toughly-worded statements over an alleged spying scandal involving six Russian servicemen.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it was recalling its ambassador to Tbilisi for consultations and was evacuating some embassy staff and all family members over safety concerns. The defense minister opened a new front in the war of words by accusing the Georgian authorities of acting like gangsters.
The Georgian leadership defended the Wednesday arrests, saying that they had been conducted in line with international law, and advised Moscow against imposing sanctions on the South Caucasus country over the increasingly acrimonious scandal. The interior minister also said he was willing to provide the press with audio and video recordings of the alleged spies in action.
Russia's move to recall its top diplomat in Tbilisi came amid a perception that there was an increasing security risk in the Georgian capital, which also prompted the withdrawal of non-essential mission staff.
"Due to the growing security threat to staff of Russian organizations in Georgia and members of their families, a decision has been made to begin their partial evacuation from the country," a ministry statement said. "The first Russian Emergencies Ministry flights to carry this out are scheduled for September 29."
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060928/54351335.html
Russia accuses new NATO members of supplying arms to Georgia
PORTOROZ (SLOVENIA), September 28 (RIA Novosti) - Certain new members of NATO are supplying Georgia with weapons earlier brought to them by the U.S.S.R. without the right to re-export them, Russia's defense minister said Thursday.
Moscow and Tbilisi, whose relations have been tense in the last few years, have become embroiled in a new dispute after Georgia arrested six Russian servicemen in the country Wednesday on suspicion of espionage.
And Sergei Ivanov, who is also a deputy prime minister, appeared to open a new front in the increasingly acrimonious spat when he told journalists, "Certain NATO member states... are supplying Georgia with armaments that were earlier delivered to these countries by the Soviet Union with a ban on re-export."
Former members of the communist-bloc in Europe, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia became member countries of NATO in 2004.
Ivanov, who will take part in a session of the Russia-NATO Council Friday, said conventional weapons laws were being violated. "This is piracy," he said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060928/54348683.html
Russian air carrier to rejoin Navy by end of 2006
MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti) - The Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia's only aircraft carrier, will join the Northern Fleet by the end of the year after modernization, the Navy's chief said Wednesday.
The ship, also known as Project 1143.5 heavy aircraft carrier, was commissioned in the Russian Navy in 1991 and became fully operational in 1995. But it was plagued by technical problems, including faulty arrester gear, and was put into dock earlier this year for a technical overhaul.
"All preparatory work has been completed on the Admiral Kuznetsov and it will leave port for a combat training mission at the beginning of next week," Admiral Vladimir Masorin said after a visit on board the ship.
The Navy commander also said that several Su-33 Flanker-D fighters assigned to the aircraft carrier would return to the ship after a brief technical overhaul. The vessel is capable of carrying up to 26 fixed-wing fighters and 24 helicopters.
Russia's military leadership is considering building several modern aircraft carriers after 2015.
"The Russian Navy will operate several aircraft carriers in future," Masorin said in February, adding that Admiral Kuznetsov would probably remain in service until 2030.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060927/54312935.html
Ambassador's recall is Russia's internal affair - Georgia
TBILISI, September 28 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia considers Moscow's decision to recall its ambassador for consultations to be Russia's internal affair, a senior Georgian diplomat said Thursday.
Russia also decided Thursday to evacuate some of the staff at its embassy in Tbilisi along with their families, following a series of arrests of Russian officers in the South Caucasus country on suspicion of spying, with some Russian troops allegedly being beaten.
"The decision to recall the ambassador is an internal affair of the Russian Federation," said Valery Chechelashvili, Georgia's first deputy foreign minister.
The official said the Georgian Foreign Ministry had informed the ambassadors of European Union member countries and the United States accredited in the country on the detention of Russian officers.
"Our aim was to provide unbiased information on the latest events. These countries are our friends and partners, and we have nothing to hide," he said.
Six Russian soldiers and officers have been detained over the last 24 hours for alleged involvement in espionage.
"The files reliably show officers of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate personally conducting intelligence activities, personally recruiting Georgian nationals and carrying out unlawful activities," Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said, adding that Georgia had taken into account all international norms during the arrest.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the accusations were "unsubstantiated" and called them "the latest gross attack that confirms that anti-Russian course of the Georgian leadership."
Tensions between Russia and Georgia have been rising in the past few years over the presence of Russian peacekeepers in the breakaway Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the current scandal has done nothing to improve the atmosphere.
Sergei Ivanov, Russia's defense minister and also a deputy prime minister, said earlier Thursday that seven other Russian servicemen - a junior officer and six soldiers - had been subjected to violence when their car was stopped in the western city of Batumi on Wednesday night.
But Shota Khizanishvili, a spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry, categorically denied the assault accusations. "That did not happen," he said. "Police did not beat up the Russian servicemen."
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060928/54351020.html
Wrap: Russia-Georgia clash over "spying" claims
MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti)--Relations between Russia and Georgia hit new lows Wednesday when Tbilisi said it had detained four senior Russian army officers and more than 10 alleged local agents on suspicion of spying.
The accusations brought a predictably stinging response from Moscow, with the Foreign Ministry branding the claims unsubstantiated and demanding that the officers be released immediately.
Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said: "Four Russian intelligence officers and their local agents have been detained. The suspects were conducting illegal intelligence gathering in Georgia."
Russian peacekeepers have been stationed in the zones of conflicts between Tbilisi and two breakaway regions since the early 1990s, and the military contingent has a headquarters in the Georgian capital.
But the minister focused his claims on the Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate, better known by its Russian acronym, the GRU.
"GRU Colonel Alexander Sava, the leader of the spy ring, and Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Kazantsev have been detained in Tbilisi," the minister said, adding that two other intelligence officers had been arrested in the western city of Batumi.
The Russian Embassy in Tbilisi provided details of the arrest of two senior Russian officers saying the fate of the other two was unclear.
"One of them was arrested when police stopped his car on a street in the capital, Tbilisi, and another was taken from his apartment in Batumi," said Ivan Volynkin, an embassy officer.
The Georgian interior minister said a fifth intelligence officer was believed to be hiding at the Russian headquarters and a special operation, including the cordoning off the headquarters building, would continue until he was arrested.
A duty officer the Russian headquarters said earlier Wednesday evening that he could see the police cordon from the window but the situation in the building was calm.
Moscow reacts
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued an immediate denial of Tbilisi's claims, saying the arrests were unfounded and represented the latest attack made by the Georgian government on its peacekeeping missions in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
"The Georgian authorities are creating obstacles to the work and living conditions of Russian servicemen in Georgia despite the commitments they have undertaken," a ministry statement said. "They have put forward unsubstantiated accusations. The number of arrests of Russian officers from the Russian Group in the South Caucasus made by the Georgian authorities on September 27 is the latest gross attack that confirms that anti-Russian course of the Georgian leadership."
Relations have been tense since West-leaning Mikheil Saakashvili came to power in Georgia on the back of the 2003 "rose revolution." Georgia has accused Russia of meddling in its internal affairs, particularly with regard to the two breakaway regions and energy supplies, while Russia slapped a ban on mineral water and wine coming from its southern neighbor over health concerns.
Parliamentarians in Georgia have demanded the pullout of Russian peacekeepers from the conflict zones, accusing the country of supporting separatists, a charge Moscow has repeatedly denied.
Today's arrests followed the detention in February of three Russian soldiers in South Ossetia over visa problems after they sought to investigate a road traffic accident involving a Russian military truck that led to hundreds of armed Georgians arriving at the scene.
Russian diplomats and lawmakers reacted angrily then and today the Russian Embassy in Georgia also said it had delivered a note of protest to the Georgian Foreign Ministry demanding the release of the Russian servicemen and that the cordon around the military contingent's headquarters be lifted.
The embassy statement said the detention was "clearly an unfriendly act [staged by] those people who do not want an improvement in Russian-Georgian relations."
"Despite the inquiry by the Embassy and the headquarters of the Russian troops in the South Caucasus with the Georgian foreign, defense and interior ministries, the whereabouts of the Russian officers remain unclear," the embassy statement said.
Withdrawal
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the detained officers had been conducting routine work to ensure the withdrawal of military hardware and troops from two Soviet-era bases in the South Caucasus country.
"Russian servicemen in the Russian Group in the South Caucasus in Georgia are ensuring the withdrawal of Russian military bases under the relevant Russian-Georgian agreement," the ministry said in a statement. "The Russian side is precisely fulfilling its commitments in line with bilateral agreements. At the same time, our military officers are constantly subjected to provocations from the Georgian side."
Under an agreement signed by Russia and Georgia on March 31, Russian troops and military hardware are to leave the bases in the southern city of Akhalkalaki and Batumi by 2008. In September, Russia said the withdrawal was proceeding smoothly and could be completed ahead of schedule, but did not specify the date.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060927/54322377.html
Airliner crashes with U.S. combat aircraft in Kyrgyzstan-1
(Recasts lead, adds details paragraphs 2, 4, 6, adds paragraph 3)
BISHKEK, September 26 (RIA Novosti) - Sixty one passengers and crew on a Kyrgyz airliner had a lucky escape Tuesday after the plane crashed on take-off into a U.S. combat aircraft in the Central Asian state's international airport Tuesday, a source at the airport said.
No one is reported to have been hurt in the incident, which happened at 8.pm. local time (2 p.m. GMT).
The United States has maintained an airbase at the capital's Manas airport since 2001 to aid its operations in Afghanistan.
A Kyrgyz Airlines Tu-154, which is thought to have been flying to Moscow, made an emergency landing after hitting the American refueller, a Hercules, which was reportedly on the wrong runway. The U.S. aircraft had just landed
The refueller caught fire but the blaze was quickly extinguished.
The airport will be closed until 6 a.m. local time (midnight GMT).
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060926/54288895.html
Discrimination against Russian in Ukraine cannot be ignored
MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti) -Discrimination against the Russian language in Ukraine can no longer be ignored, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
The status of the Russian language in the former Soviet country was one of the hotly debated issues that delayed the signing of a national unity agreement on key policies by President Viktor Yushchenko and parliamentary leaders before Viktor Yanukovych's appointment as prime minister last month.
The sides eventually agreed to keep Ukrainian as the main state language, without entrenching it as the only official language.
The ministry said that local authorities in some western regions of Ukraine have taken a tougher stance on the status of Russian.
"The persecutors of the Russian language in Ukraine should at last understand that bilingualism in Ukraine is a historical phenomenon, and that attempts to eradicate Russian by such means is counterproductive," the ministry said.
Yanukovych said last month that granting Russian the status of an official language in the country was impossible under current conditions, but that Ukraine needed a law to regulate the use of the Russian language, in line with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Ukraine's Communist leader, Petro Symonenko, earlier said his party will push the government for a referendum on granting Russian the status of an official language, and that the party will advocate budget spending in full on programs to enable the Charter to be applied in Ukraine.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060927/54306147.html
Fidel and Cuba are inseparable
MOSCOW.(Vitaly VOROTNIKOV's RIA Novosti interview) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro Ruz, who marked his 80th birthday last month, has been and remains a bright political figure.
He leaves neither his friends nor foes indifferent. What kind of man is Fidel? Why has he attracted millions of supporters and followers? Former Soviet Ambassador to Cuba and Chairman of the RSFSR Council of Ministers (1983-1989) Vitaly VOROTNIKOV gave an interview about Fidel Castro to RIA Novosti defense commentator Viktor LITOVKIN.
Question: As you know, I asked you for an interview about Fidel Castro in connection with his 80th birthday and his illness. Let's wish him a speedy recovery. You worked with him for many years, met him often, and discussed different subjects. When did you first see him? What impression did he produce on you?
Answer: It is both easy and difficult to answer this question. It is easy because I've already written several books about Fidel Castro and am now finishing another one. I know a lot about him and met him often. But it is difficult to describe him in a medium as laconic as an interview. Moreover, it is impossible to talk about him without talking about Cuba's relations with the Soviet Union and Russia. Fidel and Cuba are inseparable... But let's try.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060926/54285310.html
Progress cargo ship to be undocked from ISS, sink in Pacific
MOSCOW, September 18 (RIA Novosti) - The Progress M-56 cargo spacecraft, filled with garbage, will undock from the International Space Station and crash into the Pacific Tuesday morning, a Mission Control center said Monday.
The spokesman told RIA Novosti that the parts of the craft that will not burn up in the atmosphere will sink in a "spacecraft cemetery" at 40° longitude in the Pacific, a short distance from Christmas Island. The Russian Mir station ended its life in the area in February 2000, after 15 years of service.
The new cargo spacecraft Progress M-58 will be launched October 18 and will be docked with the ISS October 20. It will deliver 2.5-tons of cargo to the station, including fuel, equipment, food, water, air, and gifts for the crew.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060918/54007152.html
Russia is feeling 'squeezed' by the allogations of spying and the increase in size in NATO. NATO however is far too busy in Afghanistan to assist Georgia in anything. Bush might try some yelling of subliminal threats at Putin, but, he isn't capable of carrying them out. NATO is not the best of friends with the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld White House either. The inability of Don Rumsfeld to defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan while diverting substantial assets to an unnecessary war in Iraq has left NATO with the burden of fighting the war the USA should have fought. The London Bombings has dictated that. Also an EU while forming it's own military would face far different dynamics if NATO didn't take over the war in Afghanistan.
The issue here is that Iran will seek to pander to any preceived threat to Russia as an alliance to a front against Bush's military in Iraq. It would be a mistake for all superpowers, including Russia and China, to engage in any 'fantasy' about expanding the Iraq war into anything greater. The Iraqi central government needs to settle it's internal disputes about either allowing a secondary tier of government that is Provincial and keeping the collective Iraqi treasury, assets and debts or to dissolve into independant nations. To begin a broader war with Iraq would enhance the Neocon agenda of Bush and prolong any peace for the people of Iran or Iraq.
Peace has to prevail in this region. Dialogue is the only weapon and the USA needs to step down it's military involvement in Iraq. All dangerous munitions needs to be removed this time and not left for the UN to come back later to place seals on bunkers. The greatest justice at this point the USA military could do for the Iraqi people is to completely remove all munitions from Iraq and prevent any power struggle between ethnic groups.
Russia still has a right to be in Georgia and the Georgians need to accept that while looking forward to the day they are completely autonomous without influence by Russia or China or the USA.Economic sanctions against Georgia possible - Russian deputy speaker
MOSCOW, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia could impose financial and economic sanctions against Georgia following a series of arrests of Russian officers in Tbilisi, a senior member of Russia's lower chamber of parliament said Friday.
Six men were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of spying. Four Russian officers were officially charged Friday morning and one was released during the night. The Georgian Interior Ministry said Friday the sixth man was a Georgian rather than Russian as originally thought.
Lyubov Sliska, the first deputy speaker of the State Duma, said, "All these demonstrations - the arrest of the opposition earlier and now the arrest of Russian officers for allegedly spying - are ruthless and unacceptable for any European state."
A number of members of Georgia's political opposition were arrested in early September for allegedly preparing a coup.
Sliska said the Duma could discuss a draft resolution on Georgia, which has been on bad terms with its former Soviet stable mate over its two breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on October 4. Russia has had peacekeepers stationed in the zones of the conflicts since they erupted in the early 1990s, but Georgia's parliament has been seeking to remove them.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060929/54369978.html
Iran says again: no uranium enrichment moratorium
TEHRAN, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Iran's foreign minister reiterated Friday the Islamic Republic's position that it does not see any reason to announce a moratorium on its uranium enrichment program.
"There are no grounds for establishing a moratorium on nuclear research," Manouchehr Mottaki said in an interview with Iranian television.
Iran has been at the center of an international dispute this year over its nuclear ambitions. Some countries suspect Iran of pursuing a covert weapons program, but Tehran has consistently denied the claims and says it needs nuclear energy for civilian needs.
The minister said the West had recognized that the Iranian nuclear problem could not be resolved through threats of sanctions and reports to the UN Security Council.
"There is no other way but to conduct negotiations [on the issue]," Mottaki said.
Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier said the Iranian nuclear program was transparent and that Iran had the right to develop civilian nuclear technology in line with international laws.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060929/54365109.html
Russian MP urges vigorous action against Georgia over scandal
MOSCOW, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - A senior Russian MP launched a vitriolic attack on the Georgian leadership Friday and called on Russia's government to use every available lever to pressure Tbilisi over an acrimonious espionage scandal.
Six men were arrested Wednesday by Georgian security services on suspicion of spying. Four Russian officers were officially charged Friday morning and one serviceman was released during the night. The Georgian Interior Ministry said Friday the sixth man was a Georgian rather than Russian as originally thought.
Yury Volkov, a deputy speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said the measures against Georgia could comprise diplomatic action and economic sanctions, including freezing bank accounts, and suspending or annulling business contracts.
"The current Georgian leadership has constantly displayed an intolerable proneness to conflict in international affairs bordering on paranoia," said Volkov, who is a member of Kremlin-backed majority-party United Russia.
He said Georgia's incumbent president, Mikheil Saakashvili, was a temperamental politician, whose irrational actions could only be stopped by a vigorous response from Russia with support from international organizations.
The MP reminded journalists that the West-leaning leader had once allegedly received a text message on his mobile phone near the Russia border that said "Welcome to Russia" and had immediately denounced it as an attempt to annex his country.
"The whole history of relations between states shows that global powers, as well as the global community, never hesitated to apply pressure, including the threat of force, on so-called rogue-states," Volkov said.
The deputy speaker added that Russia's steps would be well-balanced, taking account for traditionally close ties between the two countries.
Russia has vehemently protested Georgia's actions and demanded the immediate release of its officers.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060929/54373511.html
Russia worried by NATO expansion
PORTOROZ (Slovenia), September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is concerned about the expansion of NATO's infrastructure in the new member states of the northern alliance, Russia's defense minister said.
Sergei Ivanov, who is also deputy prime minister, said at a session of the Russia-NATO Council: "We are worried by the reconfiguration of NATO's infrastructure without prospects for the ratification of the Adapted Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe [CFE]."
The CFE treaty establishes limits on military hardware and troop numbers for all countries from the Atlantic to the Urals, and aims to establish a military balance on the European continent. The Istanbul Commitments, signed along with the Adapted CFE treaty in Istanbul in 1999, concern Russia's military presence on its southern flank.
The minister's comments came against the backdrop of a diplomatic scandal caused by the arrest of Russian officers in Tbilisi for allegedly spying. Relations between the countries have been tense in the last few years over Georgia's two separatist republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, where Russian peacekeeping forces have been stationed since the bloody conflicts of the early 1990s.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060929/54376256.html
continued …
September 29, 2006.
A traffic accident involved a livestock trailer full of horses set to be euphanized. They more than likely had a destination for animal food. Compassion for the horses took over and while some succumbed of their injuries in the collision the others were brought to a protective facility to live out their lives.
2006 - Northern Europe Arctic Area - An amateur photographer took this picture of an auroa borealis.
If that isn't a northern vortex picture don't ask me what is. This is ionic excitation of the upper troposphere. In order for a vortex to be ionically excited it has to have that capacity if it doesn't already. And the entire phenomena is illuminated, not just a portion. It has been my contention that these 'storms' are ionic and highly dominant to the weather patterns of Earth.
Morning Papers - continued
San Francisco Chronicle
State's war on warming
Governor signs measure to cap greenhouse gas emissions -- sweeping changes predicted in industries and life in cities
Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Wednesday setting California on course to reduce the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, a major political victory for the governor and a step that environmental and political leaders predict will have worldwide ramifications.
In a ceremony on San Francisco's Treasure Island with the city's skyline as a backdrop, Schwarzenegger declared the beginning of "a bold new era of environmental protection in California that will change the course of history" as he approved AB32, which calls for the state to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases by 25 percent by 2020.
The new law, the first of its kind in the nation, could lead to a dizzying array of changes in industry and elsewhere that will be seen in cities, on farms and on freeways.
During the next decade, state regulators could require more public transportation, more densely built housing, a major new investment in projects that tap into the wind and sun to generate electricity, millions of new trees and even new ways for farmers to handle animal waste.
Aides to the governor said he also planned to sign legislation later this week that will prohibit the state's electric utilities from buying electricity from high-polluting out-of-state power plants, a key step toward cleaning up the state's power supply.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/28/MNG89LEBTN1.DTL
09/27/06
Mark Fiore is a San Francisco cartoonist and animator whose work also appears in the Washington Post, L.A. Times and other publications
http://www.sfgate.com/comics/fiore/
Police Say Owens Accidentally Overdosed
By JAIME ARON, AP Sports Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
(09-28) 20:57 PDT Irving, Texas (AP) --
Police closed the Terrell Owens case Thursday, calling it nothing more than an "accidental overdose." The 911 call that started it all was released, too, revealing little beyond what was already known: that T.O. swallowed "too many pills."
Even Cowboys coach Bill Parcells conceded that "there must be a reason" his star receiver was released from the hospital 15 hours after arriving groggy and incoherent.
Each piece of evidence that came to light Thursday seemed to square with T.O.'s version of events — that he made a mistake, had a bad reaction and was by no means trying to kill himself.
Owens, meanwhile, was back at practice for the first time since breaking his hand Sept. 17 and might play Sunday in Tennessee. Said fellow receiver Sam Hurd: "I asked him how he felt and he said, `I feel good to go. All good.'"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2006/09/28/sports/s165854D84.DTL
SAN FRANCISCO
Crackdown in Golden Gate Park
Few homeless leave on deadline; city wants to offer help, services
Cecilia M. Vega and Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, September 29, 2006
Jim Robinson knows the highs and lows of living in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park all too well.
During the 13 years he has camped there, Robinson has contracted meningitis and his head has been bashed with a pipe while he slept.
But it's home. The shrubs and bushes offer a quiet place to spend the night, open meadows provide space to relax during the day, and it sure beats what he calls "curb surfing" -- sleeping on sidewalks -- or moving into a homeless shelter where his dog isn't allowed.
"What am I supposed to do? I clean up after myself and others every day," said 50-year-old Robinson, who has lived in the park so long that other homeless people who also live there half-jokingly call him their leader. "I'm not doing anything illegal."
In San Francisco, however, camping in Golden Gate Park amounts to a misdemeanor crime,and last week city officials gave Robinson and the more than 200 other people believed to be living in the park until today to pack up their belongings, or have them confiscated. On Thursday, officials conceded that deadline would not be enforced, but the rule could be soon.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/29/PARK.TMP
Livermore residents warned to watch for pipe bombs
Bay City News
Friday, September 29, 2006
(09-29) 00:07 PDT -- Livermore police said today that they don't know what the intended target was in two incidents in the last five days in which improvised explosive devices were found in public areas.
Capt. Mark Weiss said that in both incidents the devices were found in isolated areas so there weren't any obvious targets.
No one was injured in either case.
Weiss said police don't have any evidence at this time to indicate that the two cases are related but aren't ruling anything out.
Weiss said the first incident occurred at 8:27 a.m. Friday in an industrial area next to an open field not far from the Livermore Municipal Airport.
He said a Livermore public works employee noticed a suspicious object, Livermore police secured the area and the Alameda County bomb squad disabled the device with a water cannon.
Weiss said the device, which appeared to be a pipe bomb, was 12 inches long and 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter. It was made of plastic and contained liquid acid and aluminum foil.
The device wouldn't detonate unless it was moved, causing the acid to contact the foil, he said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/baycitynews/archive/2006/09/29/livermore29.DTL
WESTFIELD SAN FRANCISCO CENTRE
Long-awaited grand opening draws huge crowds downtown
Urban mall's gala celebrates arrival of shopping mecca
Victoria Colliver, Marni Leff Kottle and Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
(09-28) 18:48 PDT -- The much-trumpeted Westfield San Francisco Centre opened Thursday with all the subtlety of a brass band.
The official ribbon cutting started as vocal artist Kim Nalley sang the jazz classic "At Last." An aerial dancer harnessed by climbing ropes rappelled 98 feet from a 13-inch hole at the top of the center's historic dome, unfurling a red length of fabric. Cheerleaders chanted "Shop at Bloomies" in front of the complex's Bloomingdale's store.
"This is my first mall opening. If they're all like this, I'm going to come to all mall openings," quipped California first lady Maria Shriver, who joined San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and top executives from the Westfield Group and developer Forest City for the festivities.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/28/BUG78LEJC79.DTL
Saving the condemned: Cass Williams comforts one of 26 rescued horses brought to the St. Clair (Mo.) Saddle Club following a highway accident that killed 16 other horses. Veterinarians and volunteers like Cass treated the surviving horses, whose future remains uncertain. They were being transported to a slaughterhouse when the crash occurred.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/dip?f=/g/archive/2006/09/28/dip.DTL
SALINAS VALLEY
Spinach processor responds to E. coli outbreak
Company proposes new safety measures and medical reimbursements for victims as officials announce state's 2nd case
John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
(09-28) 21:33 PDT -- Natural Selection Foods, the company at the center of an E. coli outbreak traced to tainted spinach that has sickened more than 180 people and killed one, offered Thursday to pay victims' medical costs.
"We know it's the right thing to do for these people affected by this outbreak," said Charles Sweat, the company's chief operating officer.
The company also announced Thursday that it has introduced new safety measures, including regular testing for E. coli on produce arriving at Natural Selection plants. The measures are similar to safety procedures used in the beef industry.
As of Thursday, nine bags of spinach collected from victims in various states have tested positive for E. coli and have been linked to one of Natural Selection's San Benito County processing facilities in San Juan Bautista, said Kevin Reilly, deputy director for prevention services at the California Department of Health Services. All nine bags were marketed under the Dole brand, he said.
In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Reilly said there is one new case of E coli sickness in California, bringing the state total to two. He said the case involved a Riverside County resident who became ill but was not hospitalized. The most recent data provided by the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday showed 183 people sickened by E. coli in 26 states and Canada, including a death in Wisconsin and 29 cases of kidney failure.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/28/BAG52LEMQJ7.DTL
Pelosi stirs up Democrats for election push
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Friday, September 29, 2006
(09-29) 04:00 PDT Washington -- Thus saith Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, 40 days before an election in which hungry members of her minority party sense they finally will savor a feast: Remember the biblical significance of the number 40, and don't forget that a tough, relentless campaign lies ahead.
"Forty is a number fraught with meaning in the Bible, whether it is the Jews and the Gaza, Noah and his wife and the ark, or Christ in the desert,'' Pelosi said she reminded the House Democratic caucus.
"I said we must not be tempted to be overconfident, and we must understand that we will have a barrage of negative ads poured upon us, and the Republicans will not be constrained by money, by truth or by sense of decency.
"But we will not be constrained in our optimism for the future, our enthusiasm for moving forward in a new direction and our determination to win,'' added Pelosi, who unlike many of her colleagues refuses to publicly predict what will happen in the upcoming elections. The San Francisco congresswoman probably would become the first female House speaker if Democrats picked up a net 15 seats on Nov. 7.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/29/CONGRESS.TMP
Slain bicyclist called a mother to people in the neighborhood
Jason B. Johnson, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Gail Breda would often ride around her West Oakland neighborhood on one of the three bicycles she owned. She had kids bring their bikes to her to get a chain or wheel spokes fixed.
Police found the 52-year-old woman's body sprawled over her bike when they responded to a shooting early Tuesday in a neighborhood reeling from violent crime.
Breda and Shirley Hill, 53, were both fatally wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a group of people standing near Martin Luther King Jr. Way and 31st Street. Police said they had made no arrests Wednesday and did not have a motive.
"These were nice ladies," said Paulette Santos, 60, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1967 and knew both women. "They were just standing there talking. I just don't understand."
Sidewalk memorials of candles, flowers and stuffed animals were erected Wednesday on the spot where the shooting took place and outside of Breda's 31st Street apartment.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/28/BAG3CLE72T1.DTL
Details of Deadly School Attack Emerge
By CATHERINE TSAI, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
(09-28) 19:32 PDT Bailey, Colo. (AP) --
The gunman who killed a student and committed suicide during a high school standoff methodically selected six girls as hostages — apparently favoring blondes — and sexually assaulted at least some of them, authorities and witnesses said Thursday.
Sheriff Fred Wegener said the assaults went beyond touching or fondling.
"It was pretty horrific," Wegener said, without elaborating.
The killer was identified as 53-year-old Duane Morrison, a petty criminal who had a Denver address but had apparently been living in his battered yellow Jeep when he walked inside the school Wednesday with two handguns and a backpack that he claimed contained a bomb. Investigators did not immediately say what was in the backpack.
Authorities said they knew of no connection between Morrison, his hostages or anyone else at Platte Canyon High School in this mountain town of about 3,500.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/09/28/national/a145331D08.DTL
Southwest sued over alleged sex harassment
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
(09-28) 12:07 PDT OAKLAND -- A federal civil rights agency has sued Southwest Airlines for allegedly allowing a male employee to sexually harass female co-workers at Oakland International Airport, an agency official said today.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the male employee made sexually suggestive comments to co-worker Adriana Martin and other female employees beginning in November 2002.
The man, who was not named, also flaunted nude pictures of women in front of Martin and supervisors, "loudly simulated sex acts" and made "vulgar references to his sexual exploits," according to the suit.
The harassment made the women cry every day, and everyone at Southwest Airlines' Oakland center knew of the man's reputation as a "serial harasser," the suit said.
The man received two written warnings from supervisors about his behavior after the women complained, the suit said. After that he accosted Martin in the parking lot and threatened to run her over, an incident that led to a two-day suspension, according to the federal agency.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/28/BAGEOLEII218.DTL
Governor signs 'lemon' teacher legislation -- 503 more bills to go
Lynda Gledhill and Matthew Yi, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Friday, September 29, 2006
(09-29) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Thursday to end the so-called "dance of the lemons" in which unsuccessful teachers move from one low-performing school to another and principals are powerless to stop it.
Separately, the governor rejected for the second year in a row legislation seeking to grant driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.
Those bills were two of more than 100 pieces of legislation that Schwarzenegger acted on Thursday. The governor still has 503 bills that he needs to sign or veto before the Saturday midnight deadline.
SB1655 authored by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, will give school principals the flexibility to reject a voluntary transfer of a teacher and change hiring deadlines so that promising new teachers can be hired earlier.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/29/BILLS.TMP
BBC News
Russian officers on spying charge
Four Russian officers detained in Georgia have been charged with spying, officials in Tbilisi have said.
The men were expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing shortly, a Georgian interior ministry spokesman said.
Russia is recalling its ambassador to Tbilisi after Wednesday's arrests and is beginning a partial evacuation of its personnel from Georgia.
Georgia's president described Moscow's reaction to the arrests as "hysteria".
In a separate development, Russia's ambassador to the UN has called on the Security Council to censure Tbilisi for "dangerous and unacceptable" actions in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5391250.stm
Georgia urges Russian withdrawal
The Georgian parliament has called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the separatist regions of Abhazia and South Ossetia.
The resolution seeks an international force to replace the Russians.
But is not expected to lead to any immediate practical steps, and the leaders of both breakaway regions want the Russian troops to stay.
The MPs' vote is likely to anger Moscow. Georgia has previously accused Russia of siding with the separatists.
Abhazia and South Ossetia have run their own affairs with Russian support since the wars of the 1990s and have resisted the effort of the central government in Tbilisi to rein them in.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5190856.stm
Georgia charges 13 with coup plot
Thirteen opposition activists in Georgia have been charged with conspiring to overthrow the government.
They are among 29 people arrested across Georgia on Wednesday.
Among them are prominent members of two small pro-Russian opposition parties - the Justice Party and the Conservative Monarchists.
They deny the charges of planning to bring the former head of Georgian state security, Igor Giorgadze, back from Russia to take power.
Mr Giorgadze fled Georgia after being accused of trying to assassinate then President Eduard Shevardnadze in 1995 - a charge he denies.
Lawyers for those arrested deny the coup accusations, saying the arrests amount to political persecution.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5324706.stm
Saddam judge relative 'shot dead'
The brother-in-law of Mohammad Oreibi al-Khalifa, the new chief judge in the genocide trial of Saddam Hussein, has been shot dead, police sources say.
Gunmen opened fire on Kadhem Abdul Hussein's car as he was driving in West Baghdad on Thursday evening, they say.
Reports said his son was with him at the time and may also have died.
All involved in the trials of the former Iraqi leader are regarded to be at high risk. Three defence lawyers have been murdered since last October.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5391674.stm
Attack on Baghdad mosque kills 10
At least 10 people have been killed in the Iraqi capital at a shoot-out near a Sunni mosque, police say.
The incident happened at the al-Mashahada mosque in the Hurriya district, when gunmen opened fire on worshippers attending evening prayers.
Eleven people were wounded in the attack, police said.
The incident came as a US military spokesman in Baghdad, Maj Gen William Caldwell, said that suicide attacks were at the highest level ever.
Gen Caldwell said there had been a spike in violence coinciding with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on Monday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5387154.stm
Iraq war fuels terror - US report
The Iraq conflict has become a "cause celebre" for Islamic militants worldwide, declassified parts of a US intelligence report say.
The war has helped recruit "supporters for the global jihadist movement," the National Intelligence Estimate says.
President George W Bush had promised to release parts of the report following earlier leaks to the US media.
He said he disagreed with those who guessed at what was in the report and concluded invading Iraq was an error.
But Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf also weighed in to the dispute, saying in an interview for CNN that he stood by remarks in his new book that he opposed the invasion because he feared it would encourage terrorism.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5382762.stm
Leak highlights a complex relationship
By Mark Urban
Diplomatic editor, BBC Newsnight
How much more difficult could a relationship be?
British troops are being killed in Afghanistan and the Pakistani army could make a difference.
The head of the Pakistani military is also the president, by virtue of a coup. Both Britain and the United States, however, wish to foster democracy rather than having a general in charge.
Add to this conundrum the fact that Pakistan has nuclear weapons, Islamic militancy is surging and anything resembling a collapse of order could trigger regional meltdown, and the picture is complete.
Musharraf's 'fix'
In June, a small delegation from Britain's Defence Academy travelled around Pakistan, meeting academics, military officers and politicians. Their discussions about how the country might emerge from its current time of troubles naturally touched on many sensitive areas.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5390742.stm
Generals urge Musharraf rethink
By Barbara Plett
BBC News, Islamabad
Pakistan's beleaguered president General Pervez Musharraf has suffered another blow, this time on the domestic front.
He was already being criticised for his foreign policy - by the Americans for not doing enough to stop Taleban infiltration into Afghanistan across Pakistan's border, and by India for harbouring Islamist militants allegedly involved in the recent Mumbai bombings.
Now a group of retired generals, sitting and former politicians and academics has urged him to end the military's role in politics by separating the two offices of state he holds.
"The office of president of Pakistan is also a political office, and combining the presidency with the office of army chief of staff politicises the latter post as well as the army," said a letter leaked to several local newspapers this week.
'Conciliation'
It was addressed to the president, the prime minister and heads of political parties.
It called for a neutral caretaker government to ensure free and fair parliamentary elections due next year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5218668.stm
Analysis: Pakistan's deal with 'Taleban'
By Barbara Plett
BBC News, Islamabad
The visit to Afghanistan by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf comes on the heels of a deal that could have ramifications for Afghan complaints about cross-border militancy.
On Tuesday the Pakistani government signed a peace agreement with pro-Taleban militants in North Waziristan, a semi-autonomous tribal area next to the Afghan border.
Over the past year the army has been targeting Taleban and al-Qaeda fugitives who use the lawless region as a base to launch attacks in Afghanistan.
But their supporters among the local tribes were drawn into the fight, leading to fierce battles that killed hundreds.
The accord is meant to end the violence, and it is viewed here as an implicit admission that the government's military strategy has failed.
Deal brokered
According to the terms of the deal, the tribesmen promised to stop attacking the army and to stop crossing the border to fight in Afghanistan.
The government agreed to halt major ground and air operations, free prisoners, retreat to barracks, compensate for losses and allow tribesmen to carry small arms.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5320692.stm
Nato struggles in Afghanistan
By Jonathan Marcus
BBC diplomatic correspondent
For now there is not going to be a Polish solution to Nato's problems in Afghanistan.
Nato spokesmen are making it clear that Poland's decision to send 1,000 troops to the country early next year - a few months earlier than planned - has nothing to do with the alliance's current military problems in the south of the country.
Nato is still struggling to find up to 2,500 extra troops for southern Afghanistan and it needs them urgently.
If they cannot be found then the success of Nato's mission could be called into question and this in turn could have a considerable impact upon future perceptions of the alliance itself.
Nato leaders accept that Afghanistan represents a fundamental test for the alliance.
The crucial problem for any international institution is relevance. Is it still useful to its members? Can it re-invent itself for a world that is very different from that in which it was founded?
Into the unknown
So far Nato has not done too badly. In the wake of the ending of the Cold War, Nato lost an enemy but it soon found a new role in exporting stability.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5345452.stm
Rebel killing raises stakes in Pakistan
Guest journalist Ahmed Rashid assesses what the killing of a rebel tribal leader in Balochistan province means for the Baloch rebel movement and for the Pakistani government.
In his death and the manner in which it was carried out, Sardar Akbar Bugti is likely to become a martyred hero for Baloch nationalism and nationalists elsewhere in Pakistan - rather than the anti-government renegade and reactionary tribesman Islamabad would like to portray him as.
Bugti, the Sardar or chief of more than 200,000 Bugti tribesmen, was killed along with more than 35 of his followers when the Pakistan Air Force bombed his hideout in the Bambore mountain range in the Marri tribal area.
Pakistani officials say that at least 16 soldiers including four officers were killed after they went in to mop up the remnants of the Baloch guerrilla group. A fierce battle ensued which led to their deaths.
Bugti, a 79-year-old invalid who could not walk due to arthritis, is reported to be buried in the rubble of the cave where he was hiding.
For months, Pakistani politicians including members of the ruling party had been insisting that the military regime agree to hold talks with the Baloch leaders in order to stop what was becoming an ever-widening civil war in the province.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5290966.stm
Japan PM seeks better Asian ties
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made clear his determination to repair relations with his Asian neighbours.
In his first policy speech since taking office, he said he wanted to strengthen ties with China and South Korea.
Mr Abe told the lower house of parliament that he wanted to emphasise patriotism and hard work at home, with a more assertive presence abroad.
But he ruled out diplomatic relations with North Korea until the issue of Japanese abductions had been resolved.
Japan's relations with China and South Korea have deteriorated sharply since Mr Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, took office in 2001.
Both countries were infuriated by his visits to the controversial Yasukuni shrine, which honours war criminals alongside Japan's war dead.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5390960.stm
Japan's new prime minister has sketched out a robust foreign policy in his first major speech to parliament.
Shinzo Abe said he wants to repair relations with China and South Korea. Chris Hogg reports from Tokyo.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ifs_news/hi/newsid_5390000/newsid_5391400/nb_wm_5391414.stm
UN 'must drop' Darfur peace force
Top UN officials say the world body must abandon efforts to pressure Sudan to accept UN peacekeepers in Darfur.
UN Sudan envoy Jan Pronk says the existing African Union force should instead be strengthened.
Sudan has always argued that the AU should remain in charge of peacekeeping in Darfur, rather than the UN.
Outgoing deputy secretary general Mark Malloch Brown has meanwhile said the US and UK's use of "megaphone diplomacy" is almost "counterproductive" in Sudan.
The cash-strapped and poorly equipped AU force currently stationed in Darfur was meant to leave at the end of the month but its mission was recently prolonged until the year's end.
The 7,000 AU troops have not been able to stop the conflict, which has worsened in recent months.
The UN Security Council has approved sending a larger, better equipped UN peacekeeping force to protect civilians and guarantee the security of aid workers.
But this was dependent on Sudan's approval, and Khartoum rejected the resolution.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5390974.stm
Traditional drink unites Ugandans
By Barney Afako
A bitter drink known as mato oput by the Acholi people of northern Ugandan may have the ingredients for peace between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
Mato oput is the ritual climax of an Acholi justice process for bringing reconciliation in the wake of a homicide within the community.
This ceremony was placed on the agenda of peace talks held in the southern Sudanese capital, Juba, reflecting the earnest search for alternatives to address the grave crimes which have characterised two decades of war in northern Uganda.
Apart from the killings, abductions, rapes and sexual enslavement of children, the war has inflicted a humanitarian disaster on the region, with more than a million huddled into the squalor and degradation of camps.
Having seen the LRA escape to neighbouring DR Congo and UN troops abort a mission to arrest suspects - including LRA leader Joseph Kony - Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni has said the LRA should instead acknowledge their crimes to victims and subject themselves to traditional justice within Uganda.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5382816.stm
Pakistan rapped over detentions
Pakistan has been accused of detaining hundreds of alleged terror suspects without legal process by human rights organisation Amnesty International.
The group says some were tortured or otherwise ill-treated, others were sold to the US military, and others have vanished without trace.
Some of the missing, says Amnesty, were known al-Qaeda suspects, but others included women and children.
The report comes while the Pakistani leader is visiting the UK.
President Pervez Musharraf had earlier denounced a British Ministry of Defence (MoD) research paper that accused Pakistani security forces of indirectly helping al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taleban.
After two hours of talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday, a UK government spokesman said Gen Musharraf had accepted assurances that the document did not represent government policy.
The accusations in Amnesty's report are based in part on testimony from former detainees at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who have since been released without charge.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5390824.stm
Kurdish rebel boss in truce plea
Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan has called on his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to implement a ceasefire, a Kurdish news agency says.
Ocalan also urged the PKK to seek a peaceful solution to their conflict with Turkey, Firat news agency says.
Ocalan's statement was released from prison through his lawyers.
The PKK separatists implemented a five-year unilateral ceasefire after Ocalan was arrested in 1999, but resumed armed activities in 2004.
"The PKK should not use weapons unless it is attacked with the aim of annihilation," Ocalan's statement said.
It said it was "very important to build a democratic union between Turks and Kurds. With this process, the way to democratic dialogue will be also opened".
Ocalan is serving a life sentence on the prison island of Imrali after being convicted for treason in 1999.
After his conviction, the PKK dropped its demands for an independent Kurdish state within Turkey.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5389746.stm
Union fears over Airbus job cuts
Major job cuts at Airbus could be up for debate when its parent company EADS holds a board meeting later on Friday, unions at the planemaker have claimed.
With Airbus continuing to be hit by delay problems to its A380 super-jumbo, the CGT union fears the pan-European firm will deepen cost-cutting measures.
Analysts say Airbus, which makes its wings in north Wales, is likely to reduce short term contracts.
UK firm BAE Systems recently agreed to sell its 20% stake in Airbus to EADS.
The 2.75bn euro (£1.87bn; $3.53bn) sale will give Franco-German EADS complete ownership of Airbus.
BAE Systems said it was pulling out of Airbus as it saw the problems at the planemaker getting worse before they get better.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5391310.stm
US imposes sanctions on Thailand
The United States has imposed sanctions against Thailand in response to the military coup which ousted civilian Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The move involves cutting off $24m (£12.8m) in military assistance, according to the US state department.
The US has urged the ruling generals to call elections as soon as possible.
Last week's coup has been widely welcomed in Thailand, but it has been condemned by most Western governments as a step backwards.
State department spokesman Sean McCormack said the aid cut involved military education and training, peacekeeping operations and counter-terrorism.
Funding for humanitarian purposes would however continue, he said.
"The United States continues to urge a rapid return to democratic rule and early elections in Thailand," said Mr McCormack, adding that funds would be reinstated once an elected government was in office.
Thailand's military rulers said on Thursday they had selected a new prime minister who would serve until the promised elections in October 2007.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5390284.stm
Nations vie for giant telescope
By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News
The final design of the SKA has yet to be settled
Australia or South Africa will get to host one of the great scientific projects of the 21st Century.
The countries have been shortlisted to be the home of the 1bn-euro-plus Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a giant next-generation radio telescope.
The SKA's huge fields of antennas will sweep the sky for answers to the major outstanding questions in astronomy.
They will probe the early Universe, test Einstein's theory of gravity and even search for alien intelligent life.
The steering committee tasked with pushing the project forward has now settled on the two prime locations where the exacting technical demands of the telescope could be met.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5388690.stm
Age law 'threat to minimum wage'
By Julian Knight
Personal finance reporter, BBC News
Young people get a lower minimum wage than the over-21s
Laws being introduced on Sunday, which ban age discrimination at work, could endanger the minimum wage system, a business group has warned.
Workers aged over 21 currently receive more than their younger colleagues.
The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) said this may be considered discriminatory and be open to legal challenge under the new legislation.
But the government said the different rates were allowed by the law to protect younger workers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5389842.stm
Madonna breaks earnings record
Madonna performed at Wembley during her Confessions tour
Pop star Madonna has been awarded a Guinness World Record for being the highest paid female singer.
The star, famous for constantly re-inventing her image, knocked singer Britney Spears from the top spot she had held since 2001.
It is thought Madonna made an estimated $50m (£26.7m) in 2004.
Billboard magazine recently reported the singer broke another record for having the highest earning tour for a female performer.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5391154.stm
Snap decisions
The winning entry in this year's BBC News website photo competition is a startling image of the aurora borealis that any keen photographer would be thrilled to have taken. But how did winner Max Pickering and some of the other finalists get their pictures?
If there's one lesson to be learned from Max Pickering's winning picture, it is that persistence pays off. The picture was taken by Max earlier this year, while on holiday in Lapland - his seventh visit to within the Arctic Circle.
"I go primarily for the photography," says Max, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. "It's pretty much become an annual holiday because of the aurora, which is at its best around the spring and autumn equinox."
The winning picture was taken on the last night of his week-long visit and owes much to his careful planning.
"In the evening at about 9pm I'd go out to a location and set up the cameras and plant myself there for several hours, just trying to stay warm."
Temperatures at the time were averaging -25C, he says.
With light levels so low, long exposures of 20-30 seconds were required for each shot. But so as not to miss a shot if one camera was in the middle of an exposure, Max took three cameras - all digital SLRs (single lens reflexes) - which snapped in rotation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5390326.stm
China acts on funeral strippers
Chinese villages are being told to end the practice
Five people have been detained in China for running striptease send-offs at funerals, state media say.
The once-common events are held to boost the number of mourners, as large crowds are seen as a mark of honour.
But the arrests, in the eastern province of Jiangsu, could signal the end of the rural tradition.
Local officials have since ordered a halt to "obscene performances" and say funeral plans have to be submitted in advance, Xinhua news agency said.
The arrests, in Donghai county, followed striptease acts at a farmer's funeral, the agency said.
Two hundred people were said to have attended the event, which was held on 16 August.
The Beijing News said the event was later revealed by a Chinese TV station. The leaders of five striptease troupes were held, it said, including two involved in the farmer's funeral.
"Striptease used to be a common practice at funerals in Donghai's rural areas to allure viewers," Xinhua agency said.
"Local villagers believe that the more people who attend the funeral, the more the dead person is honoured."
As well as ordering an end to the practice, officials have also said residents can report "funeral misdeeds" on a hotline, earning a reward for information.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5280312.stm
Dutch arrest 12 in flight alert
Despite the alert no extra security measures are in place at Schiphol
Dutch police have arrested 12 passengers after a US flight en route to India had to return to Amsterdam because of a security alert.
The pilot turned back over German airspace after the crew said a number of passengers on the flight to Mumbai (Bombay) were behaving suspiciously.
Two Dutch air force jets escorted the the Northwest Airlines plane back to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.
Police are questioning other passengers and crew members.
No further details of the arrests have been given.
Police began questioning several of the 149 passengers on board once the flight had landed.
The airline said flight 42 had turned back after "a couple of passengers displayed behaviour of concern".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5278092.stm?ls
Austrian girl 'found' after years
The young woman says she was held captive for eight years
A girl who disappeared in Austria eight years ago in a case which gripped the nation may have been found, according to officials.
In 1998 Natasha Kampusch, then aged 10, vanished on her way to school, sparking a hunt which extended into Hungary.
Now a young woman who claims she is Ms Kampusch has been found and is undergoing DNA testing to establish her identity, police say.
She apparently said a man had held her captive in a house near Vienna.
Reports from Austria suggest police are confident she is Ms Kampusch, and hundreds of officers have been searching for her alleged 44-year-old abductor.
Natasha Kampusch vanished as she walked to school
Herwig Haidinger, head of the Federal Crime Office (BKA), told Austrian television he hoped to have the results of the DNA analysis on Thursday.
But he said the girl had already been identified by relatives.
Ms Kampusch's disappearance in 1998 shocked Austria and triggered a search that included the dragging of riverbeds.
"She is white-pale, looking as if she had been out of the light of day for a long time, but she articulated well and could read and write," the Austria Press Agency quoted a police investigator as saying.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5280472.stm
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
From Victim To Accused Army Deserter
Harassment Allegations Have Galvanized Activists
By Donna St. George / Washington Post
EUGENE, Ore. -- Suzanne Swift remembers standing in her mother's living room, hours away from her second deployment to Iraq. Her military gear had already been shipped -- along with her Game Boy, her DVDs and books, her favorite pink pillow, her stash of sunflower seeds. She had the car keys in her hand, ready to drive to the base. Suddenly, she turned to her mother.
"I can't do this," she remembers saying. "I can't go."
The Army specialist, now 22, recalls her churning stomach. Her mother's surprise. All at once, she said, she could not bear the idea of another year like her first. She was sexually harassed by one superior, she said, and coerced into a sexual affair with another.
"I didn't want it to happen to me again," she said in an interview.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7897
Peaceful Iraq war protests prompt 71 arrests
By Lisa Goddard / CNN
WASHINGTON -- Two Presbyterian ministers were among 71 people arrested during a series of peaceful protests against the Iraq war Tuesday, said a spokeswoman for a group participating in the protests.
Demonstrators held sit-ins, prayer services and sing-alongs at four locations in the Capitol complex, including the central atrium of the Senate Hart Office Building.
The demonstrations were reminiscent of the Vietnam era, with protesters strumming guitars, singing peace songs, holding flowers and wearing hats made of balloons.
Senate staffers watched the demonstrators from their offices. Protesters said that several workers gave them a thumbs-up or other signs of approval.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7962
This is simply disgraceful.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/wake_up_congress.mov
Schwarzenegger challenger vows fight to bring the Guard back home
Calif. candidate wants state troops home
By Juliet Williams / Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - California's Democratic gubernatorial candidate said Tuesday he'd fight to withdraw California National Guard troops from Iraq if elected, a proposal that has drawn mixed reviews in a state with a deep military tradition.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign already has attacked the idea, noting that while the governor has responsibility for Guard troops deployed within the state, those deployed overseas are under federal control.
Phil Angelides, the state treasurer, in a speech Tuesday pledged to petition the Bush administration to begin withdrawing the state's troops from Iraq immediately, lobby Congress and, if necessary, sue to bring the troops home. He then would mobilize governors "to force a change in national policy."
"When a shameful and phony war compromises the governor's basic ability to meet the needs of our people, when it puts us at greater risk of injury and fatality when a disaster strikes our state, then you'd better believe that it's an issue in the race for governor of the state of California," he told about 200 cheering students.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/the06fix/index.php?id=210
"The people driving by are waving, thumbs up, giving peace signs."
Four peace activists are arrested
By Steve Liewer / Union-Tribune
SAN DIEGO, CA -- A piece of anti-war political theater resulted in the arrest for four colorfully dressed peace activists after their protest blocked traffic in front of Horton Plaza downtown for a half-hour yesterday afternoon.
Cindy Piester, Hal Brody, Gary Stewart and Omar Clay – all members of the San Diego Civil Disobedients – were detained briefly at police headquarters, San Diego police Capt. Chris Ball said.
The four were cited for resisting and delaying police officers and obstructing traffic, Ball said. Brody and Stewart were arrested during a similar demonstration a year ago.
About 300 people attended the side-by-side protests sponsored by the Civil Disobedients and another peace group, the San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice. They are part of a national weeklong “declaration of peace” campaign.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7959
The Declaration of Peace
http://www.declarationofpeace.org/
Army Recruiter Admits to Forging Parental Signature
Amanda Butterfield Reporting / 5KSL-TV
From the early days of World War I, through World War II, and into the present time, "Uncle Sam" has always wanted you to join the military. But Uncle Sam never wanted his recruiters to lie or forge signatures. Well, that's what the Army now admits happened to a young Utah recruit.
Eyewitness News broke this story a few weeks ago, and at the time, a lot of people doubted the young man's story.
When you're only 17, you need your parent's signature to get into the army, but for an Ogden teenager, a recruiter forged his Dad's signature.
Dean Price couldn't be more proud of his son, a private first class in the Army.
Dean Price: "Awesome, he's awesome. He's above and beyond."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7964
Top aide to N.H. congressman resigns
By Anne Saunders / Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. - A top aide to U.S. Rep. Charles Bass resigned Tuesday after disclosures that he posed as a supporter of the Republican's opponent in blog messages intended to convince people that the race was not competitive.
Operators of two liberal blogs traced the postings to the House of Representatives' computer server. Bass' office traced the messages to his policy director, Tad Furtado, and issued a statement announcing Furtado's resignation Tuesday.
"Tad Furtado posted to political Web sites from my office without my knowledge or authorization and in violation of my office policy," said Bass, who apologized to the bloggers and said he referred the matter to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
Posting as IndyNH and IndieNH, Furtado professed support for Democrat Paul Hodes but scoffed at a poll showing him tied with Bass and suggested Democrats should invest their time and money elsewhere.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/the06fix/index.php?id=208
Peaceful Iraq war protests prompt 71 arrests
By Lisa Goddard / CNN
WASHINGTON -- Two Presbyterian ministers were among 71 people arrested during a series of peaceful protests against the Iraq war Tuesday, said a spokeswoman for a group participating in the protests.
Demonstrators held sit-ins, prayer services and sing-alongs at four locations in the Capitol complex, including the central atrium of the Senate Hart Office Building.
The demonstrations were reminiscent of the Vietnam era, with protesters strumming guitars, singing peace songs, holding flowers and wearing hats made of balloons.
Senate staffers watched the demonstrators from their offices. Protesters said that several workers gave them a thumbs-up or other signs of approval.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7962
All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx
Torture Victim Had No Terror Link, Canada Told U.S.
By Scott Shane / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 — When the United States sent Maher Arar to Syria, where he was tortured for months, the deportation order stated unequivocally that Mr. Arar, a Canadian software engineer, was a member of Al Qaeda. But a few days earlier, Canadian investigators had told the F.B.I. that they had not been able to link him to the terrorist group.
That is one of the disclosures in the 1,200-page report released last week after a two-year Canadian investigation of Mr. Arar’s case found him to be innocent of any terrorist ties. The report urges the Canadian government to formally protest the American treatment of Mr. Arar, a recommendation Canadian officials are considering.
Mr. Arar, 37, who now lives in British Columbia, has a lawsuit against United States officials and agencies that is on appeal, and he has demanded an explanation for his treatment from the Bush administration.
A close reading of the Arar Commission report offers a rare window on American actions in the case, describing seemingly flimsy evidence behind the American decision in 2002 to send Mr. Arar to a country notorious for torture; a deliberate attempt by American officials to deceive Canada about where Mr. Arar was; and lingering confusion among top American officials about the two countries’ roles in the case.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7958>
CIA paid Pakistan for catching al Qaeda: Musharraf
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The CIA has paid Pakistan millions of dollars for catching al Qaeda fighters during the five years since the September 11 attacks on the United States, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf wrote in a memoir published on Monday.
"We've captured 689 and handed over 369 to the United States. We've earned bounties totaling millions of dollars," wrote Musharraf, who elsewhere in his book titled "In the Line of Fire" described how the U.S. administration persuaded him with threats to join a global 'war on terrorism'.
"Those who habitually accuse us of "not doing enough" in the war on terror should simply ask the CIA how much prize money it has paid to the government of Pakistan," Musharraf added, while ruing a failure to catch Osama bin Laden, who carries a $25 million reward.
Hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters fled to Pakistan to escape U.S.-backed forces that overran Afghanistan in late 2001. Pakistan had hitherto supported the Taliban militia's rule in Afghanistan, partly out of fear that India, Iran and Russia were supporting the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7956
Iraq is 'cause celebre' for extremists
By Katherine Shrader / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The war in Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for Islamic extremists, breeding deep resentment of the U.S. that probably will get worse before it gets better, federal intelligence analysts conclude in a report at odds with President Bush's contention of a world growing safer.
In the bleak report, declassified and released Tuesday on Bush's orders, the nation's most veteran analysts conclude that despite serious damage to the leadership of al-Qaida, the threat from Islamic extremists has spread both in numbers and in geographic reach.
Bush and his top advisers have said the formerly classified assessment of global terrorism supported their arguments that the world is safer because of the war. But more than three pages of stark judgments warning about the spread of terrorism contrasted with the administration's glass-half-full declarations.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7960
Declassified NIE Shows Cheney and Bush Misled Americans
The National Intelligence Estimate — “the most authoritative document[] that the intelligence community produces” — was delivered to President Bush and Vice President Cheney in April 2006. It was declassified today. Here’s a key excerpt:
The Iraq conflict has become the ’cause celebre’ for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/26/bush-cheney-nie/
Students, parents unite to stop calls from military recruiters
By Sarah Horner / Deluth News Tribune
When East High School senior Jamie Payne hit her junior year, she started getting mail from colleges and other post-secondary institutions urging her to consider them after graduation. One agency even started calling her at home: the military.
"They were absolutely friendly," Payne said about the recruiters. "But that didn't make it any less annoying."
It was especially irritating when the calls started coming every other month, some from military branches Payne had already told she wasn't interested in joining.
"It's kind of an invasion of privacy," Payne said. "I think we should have the choice if we want to have our contact information released."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7961
Military Free Zone
Students, parents unite to stop calls from military recruiters
By Sarah Horner / Deluth News Tribune
When East High School senior Jamie Payne hit her junior year, she started getting mail from colleges and other post-secondary institutions urging her to consider them after graduation. One agency even started calling her at home: the military.
"They were absolutely friendly," Payne said about the recruiters. "But that didn't make it any less annoying."
It was especially irritating when the calls started coming every other month, some from military branches Payne had already told she wasn't interested in joining.
"It's kind of an invasion of privacy," Payne said. "I think we should have the choice if we want to have our contact information released."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7961
American Blackout
http://www.americanblackout.com/
The Brave New Theater
http://blackout.bravenewtheaters.com/screenings/us
Democracy Now
http://tour.democracynow.org/
Rumsfeld says can't measure if terrorism growing
By Kristin Roberts / Reuters
PORTOROZ, Slovenia - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday there was no way to measure if more Islamic extremists were being created than killed in American-led operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Asked about a U.S. intelligence report that concluded the Iraq war had spread Islamic radicalism, Rumsfeld said intelligence could be faulty and sometimes "flat wrong."
Rumsfeld, who was speaking to reporters after a NATO meeting in Slovenia, would not comment on the details of the report, a portion of which was declassified by President George W. Bush.
Bush faced criticism from political foes after parts of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate leaked out, revealing intelligence experts' conclusion that Islamic extremists were "increasing in both number and geographic dispersion" due to the Iraq war.
The White House said the disclosures offered an incomplete assessment, and Rumsfeld deferred to Bush's statements.
Rumsfeld said there still was no clear way to determine if more extremists were being funded and trained than killed in current U.S. operations in Iraq and the war on terror.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7984
'Lift Your Head' ...by Cindy Sheehan
I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life. Gandhi
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, having its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Declaration of Independence
"71 peaceful protestors arrested at Capitol."
"Four peace activists arrested at Sen. Charles Grassley's office in Iowa."
"Students, parents united to stop calls from military recruiters."
"AWOL soldier to surrender at Army base."
"25 arrested in front of U.N."
"One dozen arrested at Sen. Santorum's office."
All of the above are recent headlines which show that North Americans, citizens of the USA, are getting fed up with bowing their heads to the criminals du jour who inhabit our White House.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=737
Poll: Iraqis back attacks on U.S. troops
By Barry Schweid / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, and slightly more than that want their government to ask U.S. troops to leave within a year, according to a poll in that country.
The Iraqis also have negative views of Osama bin Laden, according to the early September poll of 1,150.
The poll, done for University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, found:
_Almost four in five Iraqis say the U.S. military force in Iraq provokes more violence than it prevents.
_About 61 percent approved of the attacks — up from 47 percent in January. A solid majority of Shiite and Sunni Arabs approved of the attacks, according to the poll. The increase came mostly among Shiite Iraqis.
_An overwhelmingly negative opinion of terror chief bin Laden and more than half, 57 percent, disapproving of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
_Three-fourths say they think the United States plans to keep military bases in Iraq permanently.
_A majority of Iraqis, 72 percent, say they think Iraq will be one state five years from now. Shiite Iraqis were most likely to feel that way, though a majority of Sunnis and Kurds also believed that would be the case.
The PIPA poll, which included an oversample of 150 Sunni Iraqis, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7975
Council OKs impeachment referendum
Times Argus
MONTPELIER, VT — Voters in the city will have a chance in November to voice their opinions on the legality of actions taken by President Bush and Vice President Cheney after the City Council agreed Wednesday to place a referendum on the ballot.
The referendum asks city residents to authorize the city to urge the state's representative in Congress to call for investigations into Bush and Cheney and move for impeachment if any criminal wrongdoing is found.
Resident Craig Hill has been pushing the issue and said Wednesday that he has collected the 310 signatures necessary to place the question on the ballot.
City councilors approved the wording and the placement pending Hill's submission of the completed signature sheets by the close of business today.
The referendum is the latest in a nationwide movement by cities, states and counties to call for impeachment. In March, five southern Vermont towns passed similar resolutions, calling on Rep. Bernie Sanders to push for impeachment.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/the06fix/index.php?id=216
Arlington West Memorial
http://www.addictedtowar.com/arwest.html
Too Many Crosses to Bear: Veterans for Peace needs volunteers to cover the 8-10 AM and 4:30-5:30 PM shifts at Arlington West. E-mail Rod. Thanks.
oldrodbrown@aol.com oldrodbrown@aol.com
YOUR GOVERNMENT, on the basis of outrageous lies, is waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with other countries in their sights.
YOUR GOVERNMENT is openly torturing people, and justifying it.
YOUR GOVERNMENT puts people in jail on the merest suspicion, refusing them lawyers, and either holding them indefinitely or deporting them in the dead of night.
YOUR GOVERNMENT is moving each day closer to a theocracy, where a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism will rule.
YOUR GOVERNMENT suppresses the science that doesn't fit its religious, political and economic agenda, forcing present and future generations to pay a terrible price.
YOUR GOVERNMENT is moving to deny women here, and all over the world, the right to birth control and abortion.
YOUR GOVERNMENT enforces a culture of greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance.
People look at all this and think of Hitler - and they are right to do so. The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come.
http://www.worldcantwait.org/
continued ...
State's war on warming
Governor signs measure to cap greenhouse gas emissions -- sweeping changes predicted in industries and life in cities
Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Wednesday setting California on course to reduce the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, a major political victory for the governor and a step that environmental and political leaders predict will have worldwide ramifications.
In a ceremony on San Francisco's Treasure Island with the city's skyline as a backdrop, Schwarzenegger declared the beginning of "a bold new era of environmental protection in California that will change the course of history" as he approved AB32, which calls for the state to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases by 25 percent by 2020.
The new law, the first of its kind in the nation, could lead to a dizzying array of changes in industry and elsewhere that will be seen in cities, on farms and on freeways.
During the next decade, state regulators could require more public transportation, more densely built housing, a major new investment in projects that tap into the wind and sun to generate electricity, millions of new trees and even new ways for farmers to handle animal waste.
Aides to the governor said he also planned to sign legislation later this week that will prohibit the state's electric utilities from buying electricity from high-polluting out-of-state power plants, a key step toward cleaning up the state's power supply.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/28/MNG89LEBTN1.DTL
09/27/06
Mark Fiore is a San Francisco cartoonist and animator whose work also appears in the Washington Post, L.A. Times and other publications
http://www.sfgate.com/comics/fiore/
Police Say Owens Accidentally Overdosed
By JAIME ARON, AP Sports Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
(09-28) 20:57 PDT Irving, Texas (AP) --
Police closed the Terrell Owens case Thursday, calling it nothing more than an "accidental overdose." The 911 call that started it all was released, too, revealing little beyond what was already known: that T.O. swallowed "too many pills."
Even Cowboys coach Bill Parcells conceded that "there must be a reason" his star receiver was released from the hospital 15 hours after arriving groggy and incoherent.
Each piece of evidence that came to light Thursday seemed to square with T.O.'s version of events — that he made a mistake, had a bad reaction and was by no means trying to kill himself.
Owens, meanwhile, was back at practice for the first time since breaking his hand Sept. 17 and might play Sunday in Tennessee. Said fellow receiver Sam Hurd: "I asked him how he felt and he said, `I feel good to go. All good.'"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2006/09/28/sports/s165854D84.DTL
SAN FRANCISCO
Crackdown in Golden Gate Park
Few homeless leave on deadline; city wants to offer help, services
Cecilia M. Vega and Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, September 29, 2006
Jim Robinson knows the highs and lows of living in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park all too well.
During the 13 years he has camped there, Robinson has contracted meningitis and his head has been bashed with a pipe while he slept.
But it's home. The shrubs and bushes offer a quiet place to spend the night, open meadows provide space to relax during the day, and it sure beats what he calls "curb surfing" -- sleeping on sidewalks -- or moving into a homeless shelter where his dog isn't allowed.
"What am I supposed to do? I clean up after myself and others every day," said 50-year-old Robinson, who has lived in the park so long that other homeless people who also live there half-jokingly call him their leader. "I'm not doing anything illegal."
In San Francisco, however, camping in Golden Gate Park amounts to a misdemeanor crime,and last week city officials gave Robinson and the more than 200 other people believed to be living in the park until today to pack up their belongings, or have them confiscated. On Thursday, officials conceded that deadline would not be enforced, but the rule could be soon.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/29/PARK.TMP
Livermore residents warned to watch for pipe bombs
Bay City News
Friday, September 29, 2006
(09-29) 00:07 PDT -- Livermore police said today that they don't know what the intended target was in two incidents in the last five days in which improvised explosive devices were found in public areas.
Capt. Mark Weiss said that in both incidents the devices were found in isolated areas so there weren't any obvious targets.
No one was injured in either case.
Weiss said police don't have any evidence at this time to indicate that the two cases are related but aren't ruling anything out.
Weiss said the first incident occurred at 8:27 a.m. Friday in an industrial area next to an open field not far from the Livermore Municipal Airport.
He said a Livermore public works employee noticed a suspicious object, Livermore police secured the area and the Alameda County bomb squad disabled the device with a water cannon.
Weiss said the device, which appeared to be a pipe bomb, was 12 inches long and 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter. It was made of plastic and contained liquid acid and aluminum foil.
The device wouldn't detonate unless it was moved, causing the acid to contact the foil, he said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/baycitynews/archive/2006/09/29/livermore29.DTL
WESTFIELD SAN FRANCISCO CENTRE
Long-awaited grand opening draws huge crowds downtown
Urban mall's gala celebrates arrival of shopping mecca
Victoria Colliver, Marni Leff Kottle and Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
(09-28) 18:48 PDT -- The much-trumpeted Westfield San Francisco Centre opened Thursday with all the subtlety of a brass band.
The official ribbon cutting started as vocal artist Kim Nalley sang the jazz classic "At Last." An aerial dancer harnessed by climbing ropes rappelled 98 feet from a 13-inch hole at the top of the center's historic dome, unfurling a red length of fabric. Cheerleaders chanted "Shop at Bloomies" in front of the complex's Bloomingdale's store.
"This is my first mall opening. If they're all like this, I'm going to come to all mall openings," quipped California first lady Maria Shriver, who joined San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and top executives from the Westfield Group and developer Forest City for the festivities.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/28/BUG78LEJC79.DTL
Saving the condemned: Cass Williams comforts one of 26 rescued horses brought to the St. Clair (Mo.) Saddle Club following a highway accident that killed 16 other horses. Veterinarians and volunteers like Cass treated the surviving horses, whose future remains uncertain. They were being transported to a slaughterhouse when the crash occurred.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/dip?f=/g/archive/2006/09/28/dip.DTL
SALINAS VALLEY
Spinach processor responds to E. coli outbreak
Company proposes new safety measures and medical reimbursements for victims as officials announce state's 2nd case
John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
(09-28) 21:33 PDT -- Natural Selection Foods, the company at the center of an E. coli outbreak traced to tainted spinach that has sickened more than 180 people and killed one, offered Thursday to pay victims' medical costs.
"We know it's the right thing to do for these people affected by this outbreak," said Charles Sweat, the company's chief operating officer.
The company also announced Thursday that it has introduced new safety measures, including regular testing for E. coli on produce arriving at Natural Selection plants. The measures are similar to safety procedures used in the beef industry.
As of Thursday, nine bags of spinach collected from victims in various states have tested positive for E. coli and have been linked to one of Natural Selection's San Benito County processing facilities in San Juan Bautista, said Kevin Reilly, deputy director for prevention services at the California Department of Health Services. All nine bags were marketed under the Dole brand, he said.
In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Reilly said there is one new case of E coli sickness in California, bringing the state total to two. He said the case involved a Riverside County resident who became ill but was not hospitalized. The most recent data provided by the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday showed 183 people sickened by E. coli in 26 states and Canada, including a death in Wisconsin and 29 cases of kidney failure.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/28/BAG52LEMQJ7.DTL
Pelosi stirs up Democrats for election push
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Friday, September 29, 2006
(09-29) 04:00 PDT Washington -- Thus saith Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, 40 days before an election in which hungry members of her minority party sense they finally will savor a feast: Remember the biblical significance of the number 40, and don't forget that a tough, relentless campaign lies ahead.
"Forty is a number fraught with meaning in the Bible, whether it is the Jews and the Gaza, Noah and his wife and the ark, or Christ in the desert,'' Pelosi said she reminded the House Democratic caucus.
"I said we must not be tempted to be overconfident, and we must understand that we will have a barrage of negative ads poured upon us, and the Republicans will not be constrained by money, by truth or by sense of decency.
"But we will not be constrained in our optimism for the future, our enthusiasm for moving forward in a new direction and our determination to win,'' added Pelosi, who unlike many of her colleagues refuses to publicly predict what will happen in the upcoming elections. The San Francisco congresswoman probably would become the first female House speaker if Democrats picked up a net 15 seats on Nov. 7.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/29/CONGRESS.TMP
Slain bicyclist called a mother to people in the neighborhood
Jason B. Johnson, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Gail Breda would often ride around her West Oakland neighborhood on one of the three bicycles she owned. She had kids bring their bikes to her to get a chain or wheel spokes fixed.
Police found the 52-year-old woman's body sprawled over her bike when they responded to a shooting early Tuesday in a neighborhood reeling from violent crime.
Breda and Shirley Hill, 53, were both fatally wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a group of people standing near Martin Luther King Jr. Way and 31st Street. Police said they had made no arrests Wednesday and did not have a motive.
"These were nice ladies," said Paulette Santos, 60, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1967 and knew both women. "They were just standing there talking. I just don't understand."
Sidewalk memorials of candles, flowers and stuffed animals were erected Wednesday on the spot where the shooting took place and outside of Breda's 31st Street apartment.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/28/BAG3CLE72T1.DTL
Details of Deadly School Attack Emerge
By CATHERINE TSAI, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
(09-28) 19:32 PDT Bailey, Colo. (AP) --
The gunman who killed a student and committed suicide during a high school standoff methodically selected six girls as hostages — apparently favoring blondes — and sexually assaulted at least some of them, authorities and witnesses said Thursday.
Sheriff Fred Wegener said the assaults went beyond touching or fondling.
"It was pretty horrific," Wegener said, without elaborating.
The killer was identified as 53-year-old Duane Morrison, a petty criminal who had a Denver address but had apparently been living in his battered yellow Jeep when he walked inside the school Wednesday with two handguns and a backpack that he claimed contained a bomb. Investigators did not immediately say what was in the backpack.
Authorities said they knew of no connection between Morrison, his hostages or anyone else at Platte Canyon High School in this mountain town of about 3,500.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/09/28/national/a145331D08.DTL
Southwest sued over alleged sex harassment
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
(09-28) 12:07 PDT OAKLAND -- A federal civil rights agency has sued Southwest Airlines for allegedly allowing a male employee to sexually harass female co-workers at Oakland International Airport, an agency official said today.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the male employee made sexually suggestive comments to co-worker Adriana Martin and other female employees beginning in November 2002.
The man, who was not named, also flaunted nude pictures of women in front of Martin and supervisors, "loudly simulated sex acts" and made "vulgar references to his sexual exploits," according to the suit.
The harassment made the women cry every day, and everyone at Southwest Airlines' Oakland center knew of the man's reputation as a "serial harasser," the suit said.
The man received two written warnings from supervisors about his behavior after the women complained, the suit said. After that he accosted Martin in the parking lot and threatened to run her over, an incident that led to a two-day suspension, according to the federal agency.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/28/BAGEOLEII218.DTL
Governor signs 'lemon' teacher legislation -- 503 more bills to go
Lynda Gledhill and Matthew Yi, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Friday, September 29, 2006
(09-29) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Thursday to end the so-called "dance of the lemons" in which unsuccessful teachers move from one low-performing school to another and principals are powerless to stop it.
Separately, the governor rejected for the second year in a row legislation seeking to grant driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.
Those bills were two of more than 100 pieces of legislation that Schwarzenegger acted on Thursday. The governor still has 503 bills that he needs to sign or veto before the Saturday midnight deadline.
SB1655 authored by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, will give school principals the flexibility to reject a voluntary transfer of a teacher and change hiring deadlines so that promising new teachers can be hired earlier.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/29/BILLS.TMP
BBC News
Russian officers on spying charge
Four Russian officers detained in Georgia have been charged with spying, officials in Tbilisi have said.
The men were expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing shortly, a Georgian interior ministry spokesman said.
Russia is recalling its ambassador to Tbilisi after Wednesday's arrests and is beginning a partial evacuation of its personnel from Georgia.
Georgia's president described Moscow's reaction to the arrests as "hysteria".
In a separate development, Russia's ambassador to the UN has called on the Security Council to censure Tbilisi for "dangerous and unacceptable" actions in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5391250.stm
Georgia urges Russian withdrawal
The Georgian parliament has called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the separatist regions of Abhazia and South Ossetia.
The resolution seeks an international force to replace the Russians.
But is not expected to lead to any immediate practical steps, and the leaders of both breakaway regions want the Russian troops to stay.
The MPs' vote is likely to anger Moscow. Georgia has previously accused Russia of siding with the separatists.
Abhazia and South Ossetia have run their own affairs with Russian support since the wars of the 1990s and have resisted the effort of the central government in Tbilisi to rein them in.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5190856.stm
Georgia charges 13 with coup plot
Thirteen opposition activists in Georgia have been charged with conspiring to overthrow the government.
They are among 29 people arrested across Georgia on Wednesday.
Among them are prominent members of two small pro-Russian opposition parties - the Justice Party and the Conservative Monarchists.
They deny the charges of planning to bring the former head of Georgian state security, Igor Giorgadze, back from Russia to take power.
Mr Giorgadze fled Georgia after being accused of trying to assassinate then President Eduard Shevardnadze in 1995 - a charge he denies.
Lawyers for those arrested deny the coup accusations, saying the arrests amount to political persecution.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5324706.stm
Saddam judge relative 'shot dead'
The brother-in-law of Mohammad Oreibi al-Khalifa, the new chief judge in the genocide trial of Saddam Hussein, has been shot dead, police sources say.
Gunmen opened fire on Kadhem Abdul Hussein's car as he was driving in West Baghdad on Thursday evening, they say.
Reports said his son was with him at the time and may also have died.
All involved in the trials of the former Iraqi leader are regarded to be at high risk. Three defence lawyers have been murdered since last October.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5391674.stm
Attack on Baghdad mosque kills 10
At least 10 people have been killed in the Iraqi capital at a shoot-out near a Sunni mosque, police say.
The incident happened at the al-Mashahada mosque in the Hurriya district, when gunmen opened fire on worshippers attending evening prayers.
Eleven people were wounded in the attack, police said.
The incident came as a US military spokesman in Baghdad, Maj Gen William Caldwell, said that suicide attacks were at the highest level ever.
Gen Caldwell said there had been a spike in violence coinciding with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on Monday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5387154.stm
Iraq war fuels terror - US report
The Iraq conflict has become a "cause celebre" for Islamic militants worldwide, declassified parts of a US intelligence report say.
The war has helped recruit "supporters for the global jihadist movement," the National Intelligence Estimate says.
President George W Bush had promised to release parts of the report following earlier leaks to the US media.
He said he disagreed with those who guessed at what was in the report and concluded invading Iraq was an error.
But Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf also weighed in to the dispute, saying in an interview for CNN that he stood by remarks in his new book that he opposed the invasion because he feared it would encourage terrorism.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5382762.stm
Leak highlights a complex relationship
By Mark Urban
Diplomatic editor, BBC Newsnight
How much more difficult could a relationship be?
British troops are being killed in Afghanistan and the Pakistani army could make a difference.
The head of the Pakistani military is also the president, by virtue of a coup. Both Britain and the United States, however, wish to foster democracy rather than having a general in charge.
Add to this conundrum the fact that Pakistan has nuclear weapons, Islamic militancy is surging and anything resembling a collapse of order could trigger regional meltdown, and the picture is complete.
Musharraf's 'fix'
In June, a small delegation from Britain's Defence Academy travelled around Pakistan, meeting academics, military officers and politicians. Their discussions about how the country might emerge from its current time of troubles naturally touched on many sensitive areas.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5390742.stm
Generals urge Musharraf rethink
By Barbara Plett
BBC News, Islamabad
Pakistan's beleaguered president General Pervez Musharraf has suffered another blow, this time on the domestic front.
He was already being criticised for his foreign policy - by the Americans for not doing enough to stop Taleban infiltration into Afghanistan across Pakistan's border, and by India for harbouring Islamist militants allegedly involved in the recent Mumbai bombings.
Now a group of retired generals, sitting and former politicians and academics has urged him to end the military's role in politics by separating the two offices of state he holds.
"The office of president of Pakistan is also a political office, and combining the presidency with the office of army chief of staff politicises the latter post as well as the army," said a letter leaked to several local newspapers this week.
'Conciliation'
It was addressed to the president, the prime minister and heads of political parties.
It called for a neutral caretaker government to ensure free and fair parliamentary elections due next year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5218668.stm
Analysis: Pakistan's deal with 'Taleban'
By Barbara Plett
BBC News, Islamabad
The visit to Afghanistan by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf comes on the heels of a deal that could have ramifications for Afghan complaints about cross-border militancy.
On Tuesday the Pakistani government signed a peace agreement with pro-Taleban militants in North Waziristan, a semi-autonomous tribal area next to the Afghan border.
Over the past year the army has been targeting Taleban and al-Qaeda fugitives who use the lawless region as a base to launch attacks in Afghanistan.
But their supporters among the local tribes were drawn into the fight, leading to fierce battles that killed hundreds.
The accord is meant to end the violence, and it is viewed here as an implicit admission that the government's military strategy has failed.
Deal brokered
According to the terms of the deal, the tribesmen promised to stop attacking the army and to stop crossing the border to fight in Afghanistan.
The government agreed to halt major ground and air operations, free prisoners, retreat to barracks, compensate for losses and allow tribesmen to carry small arms.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5320692.stm
Nato struggles in Afghanistan
By Jonathan Marcus
BBC diplomatic correspondent
For now there is not going to be a Polish solution to Nato's problems in Afghanistan.
Nato spokesmen are making it clear that Poland's decision to send 1,000 troops to the country early next year - a few months earlier than planned - has nothing to do with the alliance's current military problems in the south of the country.
Nato is still struggling to find up to 2,500 extra troops for southern Afghanistan and it needs them urgently.
If they cannot be found then the success of Nato's mission could be called into question and this in turn could have a considerable impact upon future perceptions of the alliance itself.
Nato leaders accept that Afghanistan represents a fundamental test for the alliance.
The crucial problem for any international institution is relevance. Is it still useful to its members? Can it re-invent itself for a world that is very different from that in which it was founded?
Into the unknown
So far Nato has not done too badly. In the wake of the ending of the Cold War, Nato lost an enemy but it soon found a new role in exporting stability.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5345452.stm
Rebel killing raises stakes in Pakistan
Guest journalist Ahmed Rashid assesses what the killing of a rebel tribal leader in Balochistan province means for the Baloch rebel movement and for the Pakistani government.
In his death and the manner in which it was carried out, Sardar Akbar Bugti is likely to become a martyred hero for Baloch nationalism and nationalists elsewhere in Pakistan - rather than the anti-government renegade and reactionary tribesman Islamabad would like to portray him as.
Bugti, the Sardar or chief of more than 200,000 Bugti tribesmen, was killed along with more than 35 of his followers when the Pakistan Air Force bombed his hideout in the Bambore mountain range in the Marri tribal area.
Pakistani officials say that at least 16 soldiers including four officers were killed after they went in to mop up the remnants of the Baloch guerrilla group. A fierce battle ensued which led to their deaths.
Bugti, a 79-year-old invalid who could not walk due to arthritis, is reported to be buried in the rubble of the cave where he was hiding.
For months, Pakistani politicians including members of the ruling party had been insisting that the military regime agree to hold talks with the Baloch leaders in order to stop what was becoming an ever-widening civil war in the province.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5290966.stm
Japan PM seeks better Asian ties
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made clear his determination to repair relations with his Asian neighbours.
In his first policy speech since taking office, he said he wanted to strengthen ties with China and South Korea.
Mr Abe told the lower house of parliament that he wanted to emphasise patriotism and hard work at home, with a more assertive presence abroad.
But he ruled out diplomatic relations with North Korea until the issue of Japanese abductions had been resolved.
Japan's relations with China and South Korea have deteriorated sharply since Mr Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, took office in 2001.
Both countries were infuriated by his visits to the controversial Yasukuni shrine, which honours war criminals alongside Japan's war dead.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5390960.stm
Japan's new prime minister has sketched out a robust foreign policy in his first major speech to parliament.
Shinzo Abe said he wants to repair relations with China and South Korea. Chris Hogg reports from Tokyo.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ifs_news/hi/newsid_5390000/newsid_5391400/nb_wm_5391414.stm
UN 'must drop' Darfur peace force
Top UN officials say the world body must abandon efforts to pressure Sudan to accept UN peacekeepers in Darfur.
UN Sudan envoy Jan Pronk says the existing African Union force should instead be strengthened.
Sudan has always argued that the AU should remain in charge of peacekeeping in Darfur, rather than the UN.
Outgoing deputy secretary general Mark Malloch Brown has meanwhile said the US and UK's use of "megaphone diplomacy" is almost "counterproductive" in Sudan.
The cash-strapped and poorly equipped AU force currently stationed in Darfur was meant to leave at the end of the month but its mission was recently prolonged until the year's end.
The 7,000 AU troops have not been able to stop the conflict, which has worsened in recent months.
The UN Security Council has approved sending a larger, better equipped UN peacekeeping force to protect civilians and guarantee the security of aid workers.
But this was dependent on Sudan's approval, and Khartoum rejected the resolution.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5390974.stm
Traditional drink unites Ugandans
By Barney Afako
A bitter drink known as mato oput by the Acholi people of northern Ugandan may have the ingredients for peace between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
Mato oput is the ritual climax of an Acholi justice process for bringing reconciliation in the wake of a homicide within the community.
This ceremony was placed on the agenda of peace talks held in the southern Sudanese capital, Juba, reflecting the earnest search for alternatives to address the grave crimes which have characterised two decades of war in northern Uganda.
Apart from the killings, abductions, rapes and sexual enslavement of children, the war has inflicted a humanitarian disaster on the region, with more than a million huddled into the squalor and degradation of camps.
Having seen the LRA escape to neighbouring DR Congo and UN troops abort a mission to arrest suspects - including LRA leader Joseph Kony - Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni has said the LRA should instead acknowledge their crimes to victims and subject themselves to traditional justice within Uganda.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5382816.stm
Pakistan rapped over detentions
Pakistan has been accused of detaining hundreds of alleged terror suspects without legal process by human rights organisation Amnesty International.
The group says some were tortured or otherwise ill-treated, others were sold to the US military, and others have vanished without trace.
Some of the missing, says Amnesty, were known al-Qaeda suspects, but others included women and children.
The report comes while the Pakistani leader is visiting the UK.
President Pervez Musharraf had earlier denounced a British Ministry of Defence (MoD) research paper that accused Pakistani security forces of indirectly helping al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taleban.
After two hours of talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday, a UK government spokesman said Gen Musharraf had accepted assurances that the document did not represent government policy.
The accusations in Amnesty's report are based in part on testimony from former detainees at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who have since been released without charge.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5390824.stm
Kurdish rebel boss in truce plea
Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan has called on his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to implement a ceasefire, a Kurdish news agency says.
Ocalan also urged the PKK to seek a peaceful solution to their conflict with Turkey, Firat news agency says.
Ocalan's statement was released from prison through his lawyers.
The PKK separatists implemented a five-year unilateral ceasefire after Ocalan was arrested in 1999, but resumed armed activities in 2004.
"The PKK should not use weapons unless it is attacked with the aim of annihilation," Ocalan's statement said.
It said it was "very important to build a democratic union between Turks and Kurds. With this process, the way to democratic dialogue will be also opened".
Ocalan is serving a life sentence on the prison island of Imrali after being convicted for treason in 1999.
After his conviction, the PKK dropped its demands for an independent Kurdish state within Turkey.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5389746.stm
Union fears over Airbus job cuts
Major job cuts at Airbus could be up for debate when its parent company EADS holds a board meeting later on Friday, unions at the planemaker have claimed.
With Airbus continuing to be hit by delay problems to its A380 super-jumbo, the CGT union fears the pan-European firm will deepen cost-cutting measures.
Analysts say Airbus, which makes its wings in north Wales, is likely to reduce short term contracts.
UK firm BAE Systems recently agreed to sell its 20% stake in Airbus to EADS.
The 2.75bn euro (£1.87bn; $3.53bn) sale will give Franco-German EADS complete ownership of Airbus.
BAE Systems said it was pulling out of Airbus as it saw the problems at the planemaker getting worse before they get better.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5391310.stm
US imposes sanctions on Thailand
The United States has imposed sanctions against Thailand in response to the military coup which ousted civilian Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The move involves cutting off $24m (£12.8m) in military assistance, according to the US state department.
The US has urged the ruling generals to call elections as soon as possible.
Last week's coup has been widely welcomed in Thailand, but it has been condemned by most Western governments as a step backwards.
State department spokesman Sean McCormack said the aid cut involved military education and training, peacekeeping operations and counter-terrorism.
Funding for humanitarian purposes would however continue, he said.
"The United States continues to urge a rapid return to democratic rule and early elections in Thailand," said Mr McCormack, adding that funds would be reinstated once an elected government was in office.
Thailand's military rulers said on Thursday they had selected a new prime minister who would serve until the promised elections in October 2007.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5390284.stm
Nations vie for giant telescope
By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News
The final design of the SKA has yet to be settled
Australia or South Africa will get to host one of the great scientific projects of the 21st Century.
The countries have been shortlisted to be the home of the 1bn-euro-plus Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a giant next-generation radio telescope.
The SKA's huge fields of antennas will sweep the sky for answers to the major outstanding questions in astronomy.
They will probe the early Universe, test Einstein's theory of gravity and even search for alien intelligent life.
The steering committee tasked with pushing the project forward has now settled on the two prime locations where the exacting technical demands of the telescope could be met.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5388690.stm
Age law 'threat to minimum wage'
By Julian Knight
Personal finance reporter, BBC News
Young people get a lower minimum wage than the over-21s
Laws being introduced on Sunday, which ban age discrimination at work, could endanger the minimum wage system, a business group has warned.
Workers aged over 21 currently receive more than their younger colleagues.
The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) said this may be considered discriminatory and be open to legal challenge under the new legislation.
But the government said the different rates were allowed by the law to protect younger workers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5389842.stm
Madonna breaks earnings record
Madonna performed at Wembley during her Confessions tour
Pop star Madonna has been awarded a Guinness World Record for being the highest paid female singer.
The star, famous for constantly re-inventing her image, knocked singer Britney Spears from the top spot she had held since 2001.
It is thought Madonna made an estimated $50m (£26.7m) in 2004.
Billboard magazine recently reported the singer broke another record for having the highest earning tour for a female performer.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5391154.stm
Snap decisions
The winning entry in this year's BBC News website photo competition is a startling image of the aurora borealis that any keen photographer would be thrilled to have taken. But how did winner Max Pickering and some of the other finalists get their pictures?
If there's one lesson to be learned from Max Pickering's winning picture, it is that persistence pays off. The picture was taken by Max earlier this year, while on holiday in Lapland - his seventh visit to within the Arctic Circle.
"I go primarily for the photography," says Max, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. "It's pretty much become an annual holiday because of the aurora, which is at its best around the spring and autumn equinox."
The winning picture was taken on the last night of his week-long visit and owes much to his careful planning.
"In the evening at about 9pm I'd go out to a location and set up the cameras and plant myself there for several hours, just trying to stay warm."
Temperatures at the time were averaging -25C, he says.
With light levels so low, long exposures of 20-30 seconds were required for each shot. But so as not to miss a shot if one camera was in the middle of an exposure, Max took three cameras - all digital SLRs (single lens reflexes) - which snapped in rotation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5390326.stm
China acts on funeral strippers
Chinese villages are being told to end the practice
Five people have been detained in China for running striptease send-offs at funerals, state media say.
The once-common events are held to boost the number of mourners, as large crowds are seen as a mark of honour.
But the arrests, in the eastern province of Jiangsu, could signal the end of the rural tradition.
Local officials have since ordered a halt to "obscene performances" and say funeral plans have to be submitted in advance, Xinhua news agency said.
The arrests, in Donghai county, followed striptease acts at a farmer's funeral, the agency said.
Two hundred people were said to have attended the event, which was held on 16 August.
The Beijing News said the event was later revealed by a Chinese TV station. The leaders of five striptease troupes were held, it said, including two involved in the farmer's funeral.
"Striptease used to be a common practice at funerals in Donghai's rural areas to allure viewers," Xinhua agency said.
"Local villagers believe that the more people who attend the funeral, the more the dead person is honoured."
As well as ordering an end to the practice, officials have also said residents can report "funeral misdeeds" on a hotline, earning a reward for information.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5280312.stm
Dutch arrest 12 in flight alert
Despite the alert no extra security measures are in place at Schiphol
Dutch police have arrested 12 passengers after a US flight en route to India had to return to Amsterdam because of a security alert.
The pilot turned back over German airspace after the crew said a number of passengers on the flight to Mumbai (Bombay) were behaving suspiciously.
Two Dutch air force jets escorted the the Northwest Airlines plane back to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.
Police are questioning other passengers and crew members.
No further details of the arrests have been given.
Police began questioning several of the 149 passengers on board once the flight had landed.
The airline said flight 42 had turned back after "a couple of passengers displayed behaviour of concern".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5278092.stm?ls
Austrian girl 'found' after years
The young woman says she was held captive for eight years
A girl who disappeared in Austria eight years ago in a case which gripped the nation may have been found, according to officials.
In 1998 Natasha Kampusch, then aged 10, vanished on her way to school, sparking a hunt which extended into Hungary.
Now a young woman who claims she is Ms Kampusch has been found and is undergoing DNA testing to establish her identity, police say.
She apparently said a man had held her captive in a house near Vienna.
Reports from Austria suggest police are confident she is Ms Kampusch, and hundreds of officers have been searching for her alleged 44-year-old abductor.
Natasha Kampusch vanished as she walked to school
Herwig Haidinger, head of the Federal Crime Office (BKA), told Austrian television he hoped to have the results of the DNA analysis on Thursday.
But he said the girl had already been identified by relatives.
Ms Kampusch's disappearance in 1998 shocked Austria and triggered a search that included the dragging of riverbeds.
"She is white-pale, looking as if she had been out of the light of day for a long time, but she articulated well and could read and write," the Austria Press Agency quoted a police investigator as saying.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5280472.stm
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
From Victim To Accused Army Deserter
Harassment Allegations Have Galvanized Activists
By Donna St. George / Washington Post
EUGENE, Ore. -- Suzanne Swift remembers standing in her mother's living room, hours away from her second deployment to Iraq. Her military gear had already been shipped -- along with her Game Boy, her DVDs and books, her favorite pink pillow, her stash of sunflower seeds. She had the car keys in her hand, ready to drive to the base. Suddenly, she turned to her mother.
"I can't do this," she remembers saying. "I can't go."
The Army specialist, now 22, recalls her churning stomach. Her mother's surprise. All at once, she said, she could not bear the idea of another year like her first. She was sexually harassed by one superior, she said, and coerced into a sexual affair with another.
"I didn't want it to happen to me again," she said in an interview.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7897
Peaceful Iraq war protests prompt 71 arrests
By Lisa Goddard / CNN
WASHINGTON -- Two Presbyterian ministers were among 71 people arrested during a series of peaceful protests against the Iraq war Tuesday, said a spokeswoman for a group participating in the protests.
Demonstrators held sit-ins, prayer services and sing-alongs at four locations in the Capitol complex, including the central atrium of the Senate Hart Office Building.
The demonstrations were reminiscent of the Vietnam era, with protesters strumming guitars, singing peace songs, holding flowers and wearing hats made of balloons.
Senate staffers watched the demonstrators from their offices. Protesters said that several workers gave them a thumbs-up or other signs of approval.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7962
This is simply disgraceful.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/wake_up_congress.mov
Schwarzenegger challenger vows fight to bring the Guard back home
Calif. candidate wants state troops home
By Juliet Williams / Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - California's Democratic gubernatorial candidate said Tuesday he'd fight to withdraw California National Guard troops from Iraq if elected, a proposal that has drawn mixed reviews in a state with a deep military tradition.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign already has attacked the idea, noting that while the governor has responsibility for Guard troops deployed within the state, those deployed overseas are under federal control.
Phil Angelides, the state treasurer, in a speech Tuesday pledged to petition the Bush administration to begin withdrawing the state's troops from Iraq immediately, lobby Congress and, if necessary, sue to bring the troops home. He then would mobilize governors "to force a change in national policy."
"When a shameful and phony war compromises the governor's basic ability to meet the needs of our people, when it puts us at greater risk of injury and fatality when a disaster strikes our state, then you'd better believe that it's an issue in the race for governor of the state of California," he told about 200 cheering students.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/the06fix/index.php?id=210
"The people driving by are waving, thumbs up, giving peace signs."
Four peace activists are arrested
By Steve Liewer / Union-Tribune
SAN DIEGO, CA -- A piece of anti-war political theater resulted in the arrest for four colorfully dressed peace activists after their protest blocked traffic in front of Horton Plaza downtown for a half-hour yesterday afternoon.
Cindy Piester, Hal Brody, Gary Stewart and Omar Clay – all members of the San Diego Civil Disobedients – were detained briefly at police headquarters, San Diego police Capt. Chris Ball said.
The four were cited for resisting and delaying police officers and obstructing traffic, Ball said. Brody and Stewart were arrested during a similar demonstration a year ago.
About 300 people attended the side-by-side protests sponsored by the Civil Disobedients and another peace group, the San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice. They are part of a national weeklong “declaration of peace” campaign.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7959
The Declaration of Peace
http://www.declarationofpeace.org/
Army Recruiter Admits to Forging Parental Signature
Amanda Butterfield Reporting / 5KSL-TV
From the early days of World War I, through World War II, and into the present time, "Uncle Sam" has always wanted you to join the military. But Uncle Sam never wanted his recruiters to lie or forge signatures. Well, that's what the Army now admits happened to a young Utah recruit.
Eyewitness News broke this story a few weeks ago, and at the time, a lot of people doubted the young man's story.
When you're only 17, you need your parent's signature to get into the army, but for an Ogden teenager, a recruiter forged his Dad's signature.
Dean Price couldn't be more proud of his son, a private first class in the Army.
Dean Price: "Awesome, he's awesome. He's above and beyond."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7964
Top aide to N.H. congressman resigns
By Anne Saunders / Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. - A top aide to U.S. Rep. Charles Bass resigned Tuesday after disclosures that he posed as a supporter of the Republican's opponent in blog messages intended to convince people that the race was not competitive.
Operators of two liberal blogs traced the postings to the House of Representatives' computer server. Bass' office traced the messages to his policy director, Tad Furtado, and issued a statement announcing Furtado's resignation Tuesday.
"Tad Furtado posted to political Web sites from my office without my knowledge or authorization and in violation of my office policy," said Bass, who apologized to the bloggers and said he referred the matter to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
Posting as IndyNH and IndieNH, Furtado professed support for Democrat Paul Hodes but scoffed at a poll showing him tied with Bass and suggested Democrats should invest their time and money elsewhere.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/the06fix/index.php?id=208
Peaceful Iraq war protests prompt 71 arrests
By Lisa Goddard / CNN
WASHINGTON -- Two Presbyterian ministers were among 71 people arrested during a series of peaceful protests against the Iraq war Tuesday, said a spokeswoman for a group participating in the protests.
Demonstrators held sit-ins, prayer services and sing-alongs at four locations in the Capitol complex, including the central atrium of the Senate Hart Office Building.
The demonstrations were reminiscent of the Vietnam era, with protesters strumming guitars, singing peace songs, holding flowers and wearing hats made of balloons.
Senate staffers watched the demonstrators from their offices. Protesters said that several workers gave them a thumbs-up or other signs of approval.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7962
All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx
Torture Victim Had No Terror Link, Canada Told U.S.
By Scott Shane / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 — When the United States sent Maher Arar to Syria, where he was tortured for months, the deportation order stated unequivocally that Mr. Arar, a Canadian software engineer, was a member of Al Qaeda. But a few days earlier, Canadian investigators had told the F.B.I. that they had not been able to link him to the terrorist group.
That is one of the disclosures in the 1,200-page report released last week after a two-year Canadian investigation of Mr. Arar’s case found him to be innocent of any terrorist ties. The report urges the Canadian government to formally protest the American treatment of Mr. Arar, a recommendation Canadian officials are considering.
Mr. Arar, 37, who now lives in British Columbia, has a lawsuit against United States officials and agencies that is on appeal, and he has demanded an explanation for his treatment from the Bush administration.
A close reading of the Arar Commission report offers a rare window on American actions in the case, describing seemingly flimsy evidence behind the American decision in 2002 to send Mr. Arar to a country notorious for torture; a deliberate attempt by American officials to deceive Canada about where Mr. Arar was; and lingering confusion among top American officials about the two countries’ roles in the case.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7958>
CIA paid Pakistan for catching al Qaeda: Musharraf
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The CIA has paid Pakistan millions of dollars for catching al Qaeda fighters during the five years since the September 11 attacks on the United States, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf wrote in a memoir published on Monday.
"We've captured 689 and handed over 369 to the United States. We've earned bounties totaling millions of dollars," wrote Musharraf, who elsewhere in his book titled "In the Line of Fire" described how the U.S. administration persuaded him with threats to join a global 'war on terrorism'.
"Those who habitually accuse us of "not doing enough" in the war on terror should simply ask the CIA how much prize money it has paid to the government of Pakistan," Musharraf added, while ruing a failure to catch Osama bin Laden, who carries a $25 million reward.
Hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters fled to Pakistan to escape U.S.-backed forces that overran Afghanistan in late 2001. Pakistan had hitherto supported the Taliban militia's rule in Afghanistan, partly out of fear that India, Iran and Russia were supporting the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7956
Iraq is 'cause celebre' for extremists
By Katherine Shrader / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The war in Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for Islamic extremists, breeding deep resentment of the U.S. that probably will get worse before it gets better, federal intelligence analysts conclude in a report at odds with President Bush's contention of a world growing safer.
In the bleak report, declassified and released Tuesday on Bush's orders, the nation's most veteran analysts conclude that despite serious damage to the leadership of al-Qaida, the threat from Islamic extremists has spread both in numbers and in geographic reach.
Bush and his top advisers have said the formerly classified assessment of global terrorism supported their arguments that the world is safer because of the war. But more than three pages of stark judgments warning about the spread of terrorism contrasted with the administration's glass-half-full declarations.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7960
Declassified NIE Shows Cheney and Bush Misled Americans
The National Intelligence Estimate — “the most authoritative document[] that the intelligence community produces” — was delivered to President Bush and Vice President Cheney in April 2006. It was declassified today. Here’s a key excerpt:
The Iraq conflict has become the ’cause celebre’ for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/26/bush-cheney-nie/
Students, parents unite to stop calls from military recruiters
By Sarah Horner / Deluth News Tribune
When East High School senior Jamie Payne hit her junior year, she started getting mail from colleges and other post-secondary institutions urging her to consider them after graduation. One agency even started calling her at home: the military.
"They were absolutely friendly," Payne said about the recruiters. "But that didn't make it any less annoying."
It was especially irritating when the calls started coming every other month, some from military branches Payne had already told she wasn't interested in joining.
"It's kind of an invasion of privacy," Payne said. "I think we should have the choice if we want to have our contact information released."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7961
Military Free Zone
Students, parents unite to stop calls from military recruiters
By Sarah Horner / Deluth News Tribune
When East High School senior Jamie Payne hit her junior year, she started getting mail from colleges and other post-secondary institutions urging her to consider them after graduation. One agency even started calling her at home: the military.
"They were absolutely friendly," Payne said about the recruiters. "But that didn't make it any less annoying."
It was especially irritating when the calls started coming every other month, some from military branches Payne had already told she wasn't interested in joining.
"It's kind of an invasion of privacy," Payne said. "I think we should have the choice if we want to have our contact information released."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7961
American Blackout
http://www.americanblackout.com/
The Brave New Theater
http://blackout.bravenewtheaters.com/screenings/us
Democracy Now
http://tour.democracynow.org/
Rumsfeld says can't measure if terrorism growing
By Kristin Roberts / Reuters
PORTOROZ, Slovenia - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday there was no way to measure if more Islamic extremists were being created than killed in American-led operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Asked about a U.S. intelligence report that concluded the Iraq war had spread Islamic radicalism, Rumsfeld said intelligence could be faulty and sometimes "flat wrong."
Rumsfeld, who was speaking to reporters after a NATO meeting in Slovenia, would not comment on the details of the report, a portion of which was declassified by President George W. Bush.
Bush faced criticism from political foes after parts of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate leaked out, revealing intelligence experts' conclusion that Islamic extremists were "increasing in both number and geographic dispersion" due to the Iraq war.
The White House said the disclosures offered an incomplete assessment, and Rumsfeld deferred to Bush's statements.
Rumsfeld said there still was no clear way to determine if more extremists were being funded and trained than killed in current U.S. operations in Iraq and the war on terror.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7984
'Lift Your Head' ...by Cindy Sheehan
I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life. Gandhi
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, having its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Declaration of Independence
"71 peaceful protestors arrested at Capitol."
"Four peace activists arrested at Sen. Charles Grassley's office in Iowa."
"Students, parents united to stop calls from military recruiters."
"AWOL soldier to surrender at Army base."
"25 arrested in front of U.N."
"One dozen arrested at Sen. Santorum's office."
All of the above are recent headlines which show that North Americans, citizens of the USA, are getting fed up with bowing their heads to the criminals du jour who inhabit our White House.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=737
Poll: Iraqis back attacks on U.S. troops
By Barry Schweid / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, and slightly more than that want their government to ask U.S. troops to leave within a year, according to a poll in that country.
The Iraqis also have negative views of Osama bin Laden, according to the early September poll of 1,150.
The poll, done for University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, found:
_Almost four in five Iraqis say the U.S. military force in Iraq provokes more violence than it prevents.
_About 61 percent approved of the attacks — up from 47 percent in January. A solid majority of Shiite and Sunni Arabs approved of the attacks, according to the poll. The increase came mostly among Shiite Iraqis.
_An overwhelmingly negative opinion of terror chief bin Laden and more than half, 57 percent, disapproving of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
_Three-fourths say they think the United States plans to keep military bases in Iraq permanently.
_A majority of Iraqis, 72 percent, say they think Iraq will be one state five years from now. Shiite Iraqis were most likely to feel that way, though a majority of Sunnis and Kurds also believed that would be the case.
The PIPA poll, which included an oversample of 150 Sunni Iraqis, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7975
Council OKs impeachment referendum
Times Argus
MONTPELIER, VT — Voters in the city will have a chance in November to voice their opinions on the legality of actions taken by President Bush and Vice President Cheney after the City Council agreed Wednesday to place a referendum on the ballot.
The referendum asks city residents to authorize the city to urge the state's representative in Congress to call for investigations into Bush and Cheney and move for impeachment if any criminal wrongdoing is found.
Resident Craig Hill has been pushing the issue and said Wednesday that he has collected the 310 signatures necessary to place the question on the ballot.
City councilors approved the wording and the placement pending Hill's submission of the completed signature sheets by the close of business today.
The referendum is the latest in a nationwide movement by cities, states and counties to call for impeachment. In March, five southern Vermont towns passed similar resolutions, calling on Rep. Bernie Sanders to push for impeachment.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/the06fix/index.php?id=216
Arlington West Memorial
http://www.addictedtowar.com/arwest.html
Too Many Crosses to Bear: Veterans for Peace needs volunteers to cover the 8-10 AM and 4:30-5:30 PM shifts at Arlington West. E-mail Rod. Thanks.
oldrodbrown@aol.com oldrodbrown@aol.com
YOUR GOVERNMENT, on the basis of outrageous lies, is waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with other countries in their sights.
YOUR GOVERNMENT is openly torturing people, and justifying it.
YOUR GOVERNMENT puts people in jail on the merest suspicion, refusing them lawyers, and either holding them indefinitely or deporting them in the dead of night.
YOUR GOVERNMENT is moving each day closer to a theocracy, where a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism will rule.
YOUR GOVERNMENT suppresses the science that doesn't fit its religious, political and economic agenda, forcing present and future generations to pay a terrible price.
YOUR GOVERNMENT is moving to deny women here, and all over the world, the right to birth control and abortion.
YOUR GOVERNMENT enforces a culture of greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance.
People look at all this and think of Hitler - and they are right to do so. The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come.
http://www.worldcantwait.org/
continued ...
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