President Clinton presented The Medal of Freedom to Former and now Late President Gerald Ford. 
Ford: Bush made 'big mistake' on Iraq justifications (click on) from CNN
Story Highlights• NEW: Ford to Bob Woodward: Bush made "big mistake" in justifying Iraq• NEW: Ford made the comments in a four-hour interview in 2004 • NEW: Interview appears in Washington Post• NEW: Ford disagreed with Bush's approach to spreading democracy
The Washington Post
Ford Disagreed With Bush About Invading Iraq
By Bob WoodwardWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, December 28, 2006; Page A01
Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford's own administration.
In a four-hour conversation at his house in Beaver Creek, Colo., Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq and said he would have pushed alternatives, such as sanctions, much more vigorously. In the tape-recorded interview, Ford was critical not only of Bush but also of Vice President Cheney -- Ford's White House chief of staff -- and then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who served as Ford's chief of staff and then his Pentagon chief.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701558.html
Gerald Ford and the Press
Ron Nessen
Press Secretary to President Ford, 1974 - 1977Thursday, December 28, 2006; 11:00 AM
Ron Nessen, press secretary to President Gerald Ford from 1974 - 1977, will be online Thursday, Dec. 28, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the former president, from his rise to the presidency after the Watergate scandal to his unsuccessful bid to be elected president.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/12/27/DI2006122701251.html
38th President Leaves A Legacy of Healing
Ford to Lie in State at Capitol Before Service At Cathedral
By Peter BakerWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, December 28, 2006; Page A01
A nation deeply polarized by war and partisanship came together yesterday to mourn Gerald Rudolph Ford as a healer during a previous era of division, while Washington began preparing an elaborate farewell for the most modest of presidents.
Ford, who died at his California home Tuesday night at age 93, will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol for two days starting Saturday and will be memorialized at a service at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday, following the pattern set by Ronald Reagan's death two years ago.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122700727.html
Somalia Gov't Troops Enter Mogadishu
By SALAD DUHUL
The Associated PressThursday, December 28, 2006; 9:51 AM
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Somali government troops rolled into Mogadishu unopposed Thursday, the prime minister said, hours after an Islamic movement that tried to establish a government based on the Quran abandoned the capital.
The Islamic militia promised a last stand in southern Somalia.
"We are in Mogadishu," Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi said after meeting with local clan leaders to discuss the handover of the city. "We are coordinating our forces to take control of Mogadishu."
Gedi was welcomed to the town of Afgoye on the outskirts of Mogadishu by dozens of traditional leaders from the capital and hundreds of government and Ethiopian troops who have been fighting for more than a week against the Islamic militia. The Islamic fighters had at one point taken over the capital and most of southern Somalia.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122800275.html
Medicare Premiums Will Surge For Some
Capital Gains Can Sharply Raise Part B Payments
By Marc KaufmanWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, December 28, 2006; Page A15
When new income-based premiums for Medicare's Part B program go into effect next month, some seniors will get an unwelcome surprise: Their monthly costs will be going up considerably more than expected because of the government's method of counting their income.
In addition to income from investments, pensions and wages, seniors will find that big but unusual windfalls -- from house sales, for instance, or from taking cash from an individual retirement account -- will also be included in government calculations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701585.html
New SEC Pay Rule To Benefit Executives
About-Face on How To Report Options
By David S. HilzenrathWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, December 28, 2006; Page D01
The incoming chairman of the House Financial Services Committee suggested it was a Christmas present for corporate executives from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
But SEC Chairman Christopher Cox yesterday defended the agency's recent action to modify stock option disclosures, saying it "will provide the maximum clarity and consistency for investors."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701553.html
Universal Studios Parks Ban Trans Fats
By ALICIA CHANG
The Associated PressThursday, December 28, 2006; 4:57 AM
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. -- The early reviews are mostly positive at the Universal Studios theme park in Hollywood where the menu changed on Christmas Eve to cut unhealthy trans fats from many junk food favorites.
Twelve-year-old Jack Xu noticed something different about his french fry. "It tastes drier and not too salty," he said, then added: "I still like it."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122800189.html
Judge Won't Reinstate Abortion Charges
Departing Kansas Attorney General Appoints Special Prosecutor
By John Hanna
Associated PressThursday, December 28, 2006; Page A18
WICHITA, Dec. 27 -- A judge refused Wednesday to reinstate criminal charges against a Wichita abortion doctor, only hours after the outgoing attorney general named a special prosecutor to handle the case.
Last week, state Attorney General Phill Kline, a vocal abortion opponent, filed 30 charges against George Tiller, accusing him of performing 15 illegal late-term abortions in 2003 on patients ages 10 to 22 and not properly reporting details to the state.
Sedgwick County Judge Paul W. Clark dismissed the charges on jurisdictional grounds later the same day. Kline this week asked Clark to reinstate the charges, but the judge rejected that request during a hearing Wednesday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701819.html
Parrots Have Colonized the Wilds of Brooklyn
By Michael PowellWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, December 28, 2006; Page A02
NEW YORK -- Alex Joseph, a West Indian-born parks worker, rakes the lawn at the grandly gothic Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn when he and his fellow laborers hear what sounds like a flock of sea gulls dive-bombing at their heads. The workers instinctively duck and whip round and look up and see -- those crazy green parrots, expertly mimicking the sea gull's caw.
"Man, they do that a couple times a week just to play with our minds," Joseph said, grinning wide and shaking his head. "They are a crazy bunch of immigrants, those birds."
They are the wild parrots of Brooklyn, these emerald-feathered yakkers with the wisenheimer sense of humor. Thought to be long-ago escapees from a container at John F. Kennedy International Airport, their ranks replenished by unauthorized releases from pet shops, the parakeets -- originally from Argentina -- have become accomplished city dwellers. There is a parrot colony along the Hudson River cliffs in New Jersey and another bunch that prefers Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. Of late, two arrivistes have taken up residency on an apartment ledge on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701474.html
Edwards Scooped by His Web Site
Presidential Bid Is Confirmed One Day Early
By Dan BalzWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, December 28, 2006; Page A03
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 27 -- Former senator John Edwards of North Carolina scooped himself Wednesday when advisers testing his campaign Web site posted the news that he is running for president in 2008. The posting came a day before Edwards's planned formal declaration of candidacy in this city's devastated Ninth Ward.
There was no secret about Edwards's presidential campaign intentions. The 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee has been running hard for two years, and campaign officials have been at work for more than a week on final arrangements for the official launching.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701197.html
Russians Open New Probe of Oil Baron
Former Yukos Head Faces Allegation of Money-Laundering
By Peter FinnWashington Post Foreign ServiceThursday, December 28, 2006; Page A22
MOSCOW, Dec. 27 -- Imprisoned Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is a suspect in a new money-laundering investigation, raising the possibility that the Kremlin foe, already serving an eight-year sentence for tax evasion and fraud, could spend many more years in prison, his attorney said Wednesday.
Khodorkovsky, his imprisoned partner Platon Lebedev, also a suspect, and their attorneys were summoned to a detention facility in the remote Siberian city of Chita to undergo questioning Wednesday. Both Khodorkovsky, founder of Yukos Oil Co., and Lebedev refused to answer questions, their attorneys said, rejecting the case as the continuation of a government vendetta that landed them in prison in the first place.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701501.html
A Journey of the Heart
Before Their Pilgrimage to Mecca, Muslims Navigate the Spiritual and the Practical
By Dina ElBoghdadyWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, December 28, 2006; Page C01
Don't wander off because if you get lost, you may end up in prison for days before someone even asks your name.
Don't try to sneak a camera into the sacred sites because the guards will grab it and smash it in front of you. Don't bend to pray when circling the holy Kaaba, revered by Muslims as the first house of worship.
"Believe me, people will walk over you, " Safi Khan warned a group of Muslims at Dar-Us-Salaam mosque in College Park, where he is the imam, one recent Saturday morning. "You'll look up at them and they'll be smiling as if to ask for forgiveness, and of course you have to forgive them."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701623.html
BBC News
Somali troops close in on capital
Ethiopian and Somali government forces have reached the outskirts of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, after Islamist forces abandoned the city.
Eyewitnesses say Somali troops were cheered by crowds, but some residents condemned the Ethiopian presence.
Ethiopia's prime minister said his men were consulting Somali officials and Mogadishu elders about what do to next.
In recent days Ethiopian troops have helped the interim government capture ground previously held by Islamists.
"People are cheering as they wave flowers to the troops," resident Abdikadar Abdulle told Reuters news agency, adding that military vehicles had passed the Somalia National University.
However another resident told the BBC: "The entire people of Somalia are ready and working against the Ethiopian armed forces... As Muslims, God willing we will defeat the enemies of Islam and their lackeys."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6214379.stm
Deadly wave of violence hits Rio
At least 15 people have been killed in a string of gang attacks on buses and police stations in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, reports say.
In one incident, six passengers were burnt to death when gunmen attacked their bus and set fire to it.
The wave of violence across the city started on Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning.
Officials said the co-ordinated attacks had probably been planned from jail by imprisoned gang leaders.
Rio state Security Secretary Roberto Precioso said the gangs were trying to put pressure on the authorities to gain concessions and privileges in the prisons, O Globo Online reported.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6214299.stm
'Hijack' drama on Russian plane
A Russian passenger plane has made an emergency landing in Prague after a drunken man reportedly tried to enter the cockpit, saying he had explosives.
A spokesman for the airline, Aeroflot, said the Russian citizen wanted the Moscow-Geneva flight diverted to Cairo.
Czech police described the incident as an attempted hijacking, but Aeroflot said it was a case of "hooliganism".
The drunken man has been detained, and all the 168 passengers on the Airbus A-320 are said to be well.
The plane taxied to an isolated area of Prague's Ruzyne airport after landing, where it was surrounded by emergency vehicles.
Police have been carrying out checks on the plane itself, and on the luggage.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6214191.stm
Muslims begin the Hajj pilgrimage
An estimated three million Muslims are beginning the Hajj pilgrimage rituals in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, amid enhanced security.
The authorities say they have implemented new safety measures to prevent stampedes that have killed hundreds of people previously.
In January, almost 400 people were killed and some 300 injured in a stampede during one of the rituals.
The Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is due to end on Monday.
It is an obligation for all Muslims to undertake the pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime, if they are physically and financially able.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6212003.stm
Zimbabwe holds 16,000 over mining
Police in Zimbabwe are reported to have arrested more than 16,000 people as part of a government drive to curb illegal mining.
The three-week-long campaign targeted settlements around the mining fields and seized large quantities of gold and diamonds, state media said.
During the raids, police officers burnt temporary homes used by panners.
Tens of thousands have turned to mining following the collapse of commercial agriculture, correspondents say.
People dig or pan for gold or diamonds, risking their lives in shallow mines which frequently collapse, says the BBC's Tony Andoh-Korsah.
Critics say President Robert Mugabe has ruined what was one of Africa's most developed economies.
Zimbabwe has the world's lowest life expectancy, highest inflation rate and chronic unemployment.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6214431.stm
So where are Zimbabweans going?
The BBC News website has been speaking to Zimbabweans who have left the country in recent years about their reasons and the risks they took. Justin Pearce looks at the reality behind the emigration figures.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4416820.stm
Seventeen die in Baghdad blasts
At least 17 people have been killed in a number of explosions in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, police say.
In the bloodiest attack, at least 10 people died and about 25 were injured when a car bomb went off near the al-Shaab stadium in central Baghdad.
Separately, two roadside bombs in the central Baab al-Sharji area killed at least seven people.
Earlier, the US military said three of its soldiers were killed on Wednesday in two separate attacks in the capital.
The car bomb exploded at a petrol station near the al-Shaab stadium on Thursday morning, reports say.
Many of the victims were civilians who were queuing up to buy kerosene.
In the Baab al-Sharji, the two roadside bombs went off shortly after 1000 local time (0700 GMT), police said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6213921.stm
Harlem plans James Brown farewell
The body of the late soul star James Brown is to be taken through New York's Harlem in a horse-drawn carriage before lying in state at the Apollo Theater.
A close friend of Brown, civil rights leader Al Sharpton, described the occasion as "a royal day in Harlem".
His casket will then travel to his hometown of Augusta, Georgia, for a public funeral on Saturday.
The "Godfather of Soul", who was 73, died of heart failure brought on by pneumonia in Atlanta on Monday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6213823.stm
Tongan royal mourning is broken
Tonga's royal family is preparing to end 100 days of mourning for the late king by releasing 40 royal undertakers from a pampered three-month captivity.
The undertakers, known as nima tapu, meaning sacred hands, are forbidden from using their hands after preparing King Tupou IV's body for burial.
The nima tapu have spent the last three months confined in a special house where they are fed by other people.
After an end-of-mourning ceremony, the undertakers are allowed to return home.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6213843.stm
The US government's Department of the Interior has announced plans to list polar bears as an endangered species.
There are growing concerns the bears' ice-bound habitat is melting away. Tim Allman reports.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ifs_news/hi/nb_wm_fs.stm?clippos=0&clipurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/news/video/71000/nb/71686_16x9_nb!asx&title=Polar%20bears%20could%20get%20US%20help&wintype=normal&rhs=http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ifs_news/hi/newsid_6210000/newsid_6213300/nb_wm_6213369.stm&cs=news&fsname=nb_wm_fs&bw=nb
Will Iraq be better off with Saddam hanged?
What will be the impact of Saddam Hussein's death in Iraq?There is now no legal obstacle to the hanging of the former Iraqi leader. The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has let it be known he wants the execution to take place as soon as possible. In a letter released on Wednesday, Saddam said his execution will be a "sacrifice for the country".What difference will his death make to Iraqis and to people in Iraq? Do you think he should be executed? Do you expect the violence in Iraq to worsen on news of his death?
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=5091&&edition=2&ttl=20061228151031
Canaries migrant death toll soars
About 6,000 African migrants have died or gone missing on the sea journey to the Canary Islands in 2006, Spanish immigration officials say.
They say more than 31,000 migrants reached the islands in the Atlantic - more than six times as many as in 2005.
The coastguard intercepted fewer than 5,000 of them in small wooden - and often overcrowded - boats.
The Canaries is one of the most popular destinations for Africans trying to reach Europe to escape poverty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6213495.stm
Argentine banks to repay savings
The Supreme Court in Argentina has ordered the country's banks to repay in full savings that were frozen during the economic crisis of 2001-02.
The government had frozen US dollar accounts held by some 50,000 depositors then forcibly converted them to devalued pesos.
The court upheld the government's right to issue that decree.
Its ruling gives savers the same amount in pesos their savings had been worth in dollars when the crisis ensued.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6213367.stm
Large families 'bad for parents'
Having a large number of children is bad for parents' health - particularly that of mothers, a study suggests.
US researchers looked at 21,000 couples living in Utah between 1860 and 1985, who bore a total of 174,000 children.
It was found the more children couples had, the worse their health and the more likely they were to die early.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science study is historical, but the experts say it helps explain both the menopause and modern family planning.
In other species, the high physical costs of bearing and raising offspring explain why having as many offspring as possible is not ideal - even though it might appear to be the most successful way of continuing the species' existence.
Research had not concluded whether or not the same was true for human reproduction.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6202707.stm
Peers give clues to human evolution
The family trees of aristocratic British families have offered insights into the way women unknowingly "traded" a long life for large numbers of children.
A study just published in a Royal Society journal is strong evidence to support the theory which says that women who have many offspring sacrifice longevity in the process.
Researchers believe that bearing children uses up valuable energy, which would otherwise be used to repair cells and slow down the ageing process - the so-called "disposable soma" theory.
Scientists, from the Max-Planck Institute in Germany, and the University of Cambridge, UK, used the Hollingsworth computerised genealogy, which carries the records of 30,000 peers and their families between 1603 and 1959.
The records of men and women who died after the age of 50 were analysed, to exclude women who died in childbirth.
Using a complex mathematical formula, the researchers worked to compensate for the fact that women who were naturally frail and unhealthy were less likely to have big families, rather than the other way around.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2978454.stm
Hunt for CIA 'black site' in Poland
I stood at the end of the frozen runway, peering through the mist, trying to make out the terminal building in the distance.
It was exactly at this spot, and under the cover of darkness, that the CIA planes did their business.
"They always followed the same procedure," says Mariola Przewlocka, the manager at the remote Szymany airport in north-east Poland when the strange flights arrived during 2003.
"We were always told to keep away. The planes would stay at the end of the runway, often with their engines running. A couple of military vans from the nearby intelligence base would go up to them, stay a while and then drive off, out of the airport.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6212843.stm
Peru rebellion charge for Humala
Peruvian opposition leader Ollanta Humala has been charged with rebellion in connection with a 2005 siege at a police station in which six men died.
He is accused of helping to mastermind the siege, which was led by his brother Antauro to demand the resignation of the then President, Alejandro Toledo.
Mr Humala, an ex-army officer, denies any wrongdoing. He remains free on bail but is not allowed to leave Peru.
Earlier this year, Mr Humala lost the presidential election to Alan Garcia.
Mr Humala's political spokesman, Carlos Tapia, said the courts were being used to carry out campaigns of political persecution.
Mr Toledo - who faces criminal charges in an unrelated case - was also being persecuted, he added.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6214033.stm
Lula bolsters Brazil minimum wage
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said he will raise the country's minimum wage by 8.5%.
The increase takes the monthly minimum salary to $177 (134 euros, £90) and is well above inflation, but much lower than the demands of labour unions.
During his election campaign, Mr Lula pledged that the country's poor would be his top priority.
The decision to raise the minimum wage is his first major policy decision since he was re-elected in October.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6213225.stm
Vatican warns Paraguay candidate
The Vatican has made public its displeasure at the decision of a retired bishop to run in Paraguay's 2008 presidential elections.
Papal officials released the text of a letter handed last week to Fernando Lugo warning him of possible sanctions.
Mr Lugo said on Monday he hoped to lead an alliance against President Nicanor Duarte and had left the priesthood.
The Pope "can either accept my decision or punish me. But I am in politics already," the 55-year-old said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6211695.stm
Challenging times for Mexico's new leader
As Mexico prepares for the presidential inauguration of Felipe Calderon on 1 December, the BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Mexico City reports on the challenges the conservative politician faces.
Over the din of Mexico City's incessant traffic there is another, more alluring, noise. It is the haunting sound of whistles and you can hear them everywhere.
They come from the city's knife sharpeners. They whistle, you bring out your knives. Porfillo Martinez is one of them. His multi-tonal whistle is audible from several blocks away. Porfillo has been putting exquisitely sharp edges to the blades of the capital's cutlery for 27 years.
He has attached a circular grinding stone to the back of his bicycle. He props his bike onto its stand and then, using the pedals, he spins the stone and applies the edge of the knife. As he does it, he talks politics - presidential politics.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6158945.stm
Fears over Haiti child 'abuse'
A BBC investigation commissioned as part of Generation Next - a week of programmes focusing on people under 18 - has uncovered fresh allegations of the sexual abuse of children by United Nations peacekeepers. Mike Williams reports from Port au Prince, Haiti.
The heavily armoured United Nations patrol rolls through the dusty streets of Cite Soleil - the most dangerous and deprived part of a very dangerous and deprived country.
UN peacekeepers crouch low in the turrets of the armoured cars, their rifles tracking the rooftops and alleyways. They come under fire every day in this part of the capital, Port au Prince.
The week before I arrived, two of the peacekeepers were killed there.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6159923.stm
Regulators block Virgin America
The US government has blocked plans by Richard Branson's Virgin Group to launch a budget airline in America.
Officials refused to grant Virgin America an operating licence because the carrier was "not under the actual control of US citizens".
Under US law, airlines must be 75% owned and controlled by US citizens.
California-based Virgin America, part of British billionaire Mr Branson's Virgin Group, had planned to start domestic US flights in 2007.
Virgin Group has stakes in airlines in Europe, Australia and Nigeria.
Virgin America said it planned to respond to the US Department of Transportation's ruling by 10 January.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6213651.stm
Canada throws out 'Russian spy'
Canada has deported a man accused of assuming a false identity over a 10-year period to spy for Russia.
The man, who took the name Paul William Hampel, left Canada on Tuesday morning following an earlier deportation order.
Canada's intelligence agency said in court papers it believed the man to be part of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, the successor to the KGB.
The man had been arrested trying to leave through Montreal airport on 14 November with a fake birth certificate.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6211267.stm
Scant festive cheer for US stores
Last-minute shoppers boosted US retail sales in the run-up to Christmas, but not by as much as stores had expected.
Analysts reported a surge in takings on the Friday and Saturday before Christmas, but said mild weather and other factors had dampened demand.
One retail expert, Bill Martin of Shoppertrak, predicted that this season's holiday spending would fail to meet forecasts of 5% growth.
However, hopes are still high that post-Christmas sales will save the day.
In other US economic news, sales of new homes rose by 3.4% in November compared with the previous month, but fell by 15% compared with the same month last year.
However, the median price of a new home continued to rise, climbing from $248,500 (£127,481) in October to $251,700 last month.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6212793.stm
Latin America looks to 2007
Latin America enters 2007 with renewed political leadership and generally booming economic prospects.
New governments, especially in the Andean countries, are looking for different options to neo-liberalism and the free market approach that has dominated economic and political thinking in the region for years.
But the largest countries have voted for stability in a year of a dozen presidential elections.
In Brazil, President Lula comfortably won a second term in office, despite major political scandals in his Workers' Party.
In Colombia and Venezuela, two very contrasting leaders, Alvaro Uribe and Hugo Chavez, were also rewarded with second terms in office, while it seems likely that in Argentina, President Nestor Kirchner will also be given another four years in power in 2007.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6199641.stm
US Democrats mull climate change
The issue of climate change and global warming hardly registered on the political radar in the United States during the recent Congressional elections.
On 7 November however, the Democratic Party secured both houses of Congress and that political shift is likely to mean a change of emphasis over key environmental issues.
The US is the world's largest greenhouse gas polluter but the country has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol that sets limits on those gases.
Instead President George W Bush has emphasised the need for innovations that will reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
"America is addicted to oil," he said in this year's State of the Union address.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6200748.stm
100 things we didn't know last year
Each week, the Magazine chronicles interesting and sometimes downright unexpected facts from the news, through its strand 10 things we didn't know last week. Here, to round off the year, are some of the best from the past 12 months.
1. Pele has always hated his nickname, which he says sounds like "baby-talk in Portuguese". More details2. There are 200 million blogs which are no longer being updated, say technology analysts.More details3. Urban birds have developed a short, fast "rap style" of singing, different from their rural counterparts.More details4. Bristol is the least anti-social place in England, says the National Audit Office.More details5. Standard-sized condoms are too big for most Indian men.More details6. The late Alan "Fluff" Freeman, famous as a DJ, had trained as an opera singer.More details7. The lion costume in the film Wizard of Oz was made from real lions.More details
8. There are 6.5 million sets of fingerprints on file in the UK.More details
9. Fathers tend to determine the height of their child, mothers their weight.More details10. Panspermia is the idea that life on Earth originated on another planet.More details
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2006/12/100_things_we_didnt_know_last_2.shtml
MSNBC
John Edwards runs again for the presidency
WASHINGTON - Two years after his hopes for a Democratic takeover of the White House were narrowly dashed, former vice presidential nominee John Edwards said Thursday that he is making another run at the presidency.
Edwards — who is calling for cuts in poverty, global warming and troops in Iraq — scheduled his kickoff in New Orleans, still devastated from last year’s Hurricane Katrina. He chose the site to highlight his signature concern of the economic disparity that divides America.
“I’m here to announce I’m a candidate for president of the United States,” Edwards told NBC’s “Today Show” Thursday, one of three back-to-back interviews by the candidate on morning news shows. “I’ve reached my own conclusion this is the best way to serve my country.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16377918/
FDA poised to OK food from cloned animals
WASHINGTON - Federal scientists have concluded there is no difference between food from cloned animals and food from conventional livestock, setting the stage for the government to declare Thursday that cloned animals are safe for the human food supply.
The Food and Drug Administration planned to brief industry groups in advance of an announcement. The agency indicated it would approve cloned livestock in a scientific journal article published online earlier this month.
The agency “concludes that meat and milk from clones and their progeny is as safe to eat as corresponding products derived from animals produced using contemporary agricultural practices,” FDA scientists Larisa Rudenko and John C. Matheson wrote in the Jan. 1 issue of Theriogenology.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16372490/
Official: No known New Year’s terror threats
Homeland Security doesn’t see any heightened risk due to Saddam verdict
WASHINGTON - Americans should ring in the new year without undue worry about a terrorist attack, the White House homeland security adviser said Thursday.
“People ought to come, have a good time, they ought to feel confident,” Frances Fragos Townsend said in a nationally broadcast television interview.
Townsend said that while the Bush administration takes every threat seriously, it has heard of no plot or plan that should cause alarm as the nation celebrates New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16379144/
Ford disagreed with Bush on invading Iraq
Former president made comments in embargoed interview in July 2004
Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush had launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford's own administration.
In a four-hour conversation at his house in Beaver Creek, Colo., Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq and said he would have pushed alternatives, such as sanctions, much more vigorously. In the tape-recorded interview, Ford was critical not only of Bush but also of Vice President Cheney — Ford's White House chief of staff — and then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who served as Ford's chief of staff and then his Pentagon chief.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16372929/
Existing home sales edge up in November
But price of homes sold falls for a record fourth consecutive month
WASHINGTON - Sales of existing homes managed to eke out a small increase in November, but the price of homes sold fell for a record fourth consecutive month a real estate trade group reported Thursday.
The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of previously owned homes rose 0.6 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.28 million units. That followed a 0.5 percent sales increase in October and marked the first back-to-back sales gains since the spring of 2005.
The slight increases in sales were not enough to halt a slide in home prices. The median price for an existing home sold in November dropped to $218,000, down 3.1 percent from the price a year ago. It was the first time on record that sales prices compared to a year ago have fallen for four straight months.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16380303/
Apple ‘falsified’ files on Steve Jobs’ options
Sources: CEO handed 7.5 million stock options without authorization
Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computer, was handed 7.5 million stock options in 2001 without the required authorization from the company’s board of directors, according to people familiar with the matter.
Records that purported to show a full board meeting had taken place to approve Mr. Jobs’ remuneration, as required by Apple’s procedures, were later falsified. These are now among the pieces of evidence being weighed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as it decides whether to pursue a case against the company or any individuals over the affair, according to these people.
News of the irregularities, which is expected to be revealed in a regulatory filing by Apple before the end of this week, will add to pressure that has been growing on one of Silicon Valley’s most highly-regarded companies since the middle of 2005.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16373057/
IRAQI POLICE LEAD BAGHDAD PATROL
Increasingly, U.S. combat troops are becoming de-facto advisors to the fledgling Iraqi National Police force. An NBC News team was recently embedded with C Troop, 1-14 Cavalry as the troopers accompanied, usually in the rear, about 100 National Police officers on a house-to-house search for gunmen and weapons in the dangerous Dora neighborhood, south of Baghdad.
This was the first time Iraqi police actually led a mission from its inception. At a time when U.S. forces are accelerating efforts to hand over battle space to the Iraqis, Sgt. Charles Smith told NBC News that the operation went well, despite some communication problems.
http://onthescene.msnbc.com/baghdad/2006/12/iraqi_police_le.html
James Brown returns to Apollo one last time
‘It’s going to be a royal day in Harlem’ says Rev. Al Sharpton
NEW YORK - Fans of the late “Godfather of Soul” began lining up outside Harlem’s Apollo Theater early Thursday to pay their last respects as James Brown’s body was driven from Georgia for his last date on the historic stage.
A horse-drawn carriage waited to take Brown’s casket through the streets of Harlem to the theater to begin three days of wakes, remembrances and a funeral of the kind normally reserved for royalty.
Norman Brand, 55, paused to touch the top of the white caisson, then recalled hearing Brown’s anthem, “Say it Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud,” for the first time in his native Alabama.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16374409/
Apple 'falsified' files on Jobs' options
Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computer, was handed 7.5m stock options in 2001 without the required authorisation from the company's board of directors, according to people familiar with the matter.
Records that purported to show a full board meeting had taken place to approve Mr Jobs' remuneration, as required by Apple's procedures, were later falsified. These are now among the pieces of evidence being weighed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as it decides whether to pursue a case against the company or any individuals over the affair, according to these people.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16373027/from/RS.1/
Breathing problems linked to busy streets
Living near main road increases breathlessness and wheezing, study finds
NEW YORK - The closer people live to a main road, the more likely they are to suffer from respiratory symptoms such as breathlessness and wheezing, a new study from Switzerland shows.
“These findings from a general population provide strong confirmation that living near busy streets leads to adverse respiratory health effects,” Dr. Lucy Bayer-Oglesby of the University of Basel and colleagues write in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
While outdoor air pollution — especially tiny particles that can be breathed deep into the lungs — is known to be hazardous to people’s health, to date no researchers have looked at how proximity to main roads affects respiratory symptoms in a general population, Bayer-Oglesby and her team note.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16371772/from/RS.3/
American Muslims make a journey of the heart
Before pilgrimage to Mecca, Muslims navigate the spiritual and the practical
Don't wander off because if you get lost, you may end up in prison for days before someone even asks your name.
Don't try to sneak a camera into the sacred sites because the guards will grab it and smash it in front of you.
Don't bend to pray when circling the holy Kaaba, revered by Muslims as the first house of worship.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16377470/
Colorado braces for more snow
Denver area still recovering from last week’s storm
DENVER - Still recovering from last week’s blizzard, Colorado cities braced Wednesday for another storm that could bring more than a foot of snow and high winds to the state and cause planes to be grounded at Denver International Airport again.
The National Weather Service said a storm, expected Thursday, could pack gusts up to 45 mph, whipping the heavy snow into blinding whiteouts. Denver could get 18 inches of snow by Friday morning, and up to 2½ feet were forecast for the foothills, the weather service said.
Weather Service forecasters said flights from Denver’s airport could be delayed or even canceled but cautioned the storm’s path and intensity were difficult to predict.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16374748/?from=ET
Murder rates up in New York, other cities
After years on the decline, number of homicides reached pinnacles in 2006
NEW YORK - After many years of decline, the number of murders climbed this year in New York and many other major U.S. cities, reaching their highest levels in a decade in some places.
Among the reasons given: gangs, drugs, the easy availability of illegal guns, a disturbing tendency among young people to pull guns when they do not get the respect they demand, and, in Houston at least, an influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
In New York, where the city reported 579 homicides through Dec. 24 — a nearly 10 percent increase from the year before — the spike is mostly the result of an unusually large number of “reclassified homicides,” or those involving victims who were shot or stabbed years ago but did not die until this year. Thirty-five such deaths have been added to this year’s toll, compared with an annual average of about a dozen.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16371091/
Head-banging snakes may predict quakes
Officials monitor snakes via video cameras linked to broadband Internet
BEIJING - China has come up with an earthquake prediction system which relies on the behavior of snakes, state media said on Thursday, two days after two quakes struck off neighboring Taiwan.
The earthquake bureau in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi autonomous region in southern China, had developed its system using a combination of natural instinct and modern technology, the China Daily newspaper said.
Experts at the bureau monitor snakes at local snake farms via video cameras linked to a broadband Internet connection. The video feed runs 24 hours per day.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16379707/
Deputy who arrested Mel Gibson feels harassed
After leak of police report to Web site, officer says superiors targeted him
LOS ANGELES - The sheriff’s deputy who arrested Mel Gibson for drunken driving six months ago says his superiors have harassed him ever since a report detailing the star’s anti-Semitic tirade was leaked to a celebrity news Web site.
Deputy James Mee was transferred to another assignment, interrogated for several hours, and investigators seized a computer and phone records during a search of his home, his attorney told the Los Angeles Times for its Thursday editions.
“His life and career would be a lot different had he not made that arrest,” attorney Richard Shinee said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16379573/
Cartoon penises have their say on syphilis
Ad campaign proves effective in encouraging testing among men
SAN FRANCISCO - An advertising campaign featuring cartoon characters shaped like male genitalia encouraged more men to get tested for syphilis in San Francisco, according to a new study.
In the neighborhoods where the Health Penis ads ran on billboards and bus shelters, men who saw the comic strips were most likely to have been tested for the sexually transmitted disease, according to researchers from the city’s Department of Public Health.
The health department sponsored the humorously risque ads between 2002 and 2005 to combat rising syphilis rates among gay and bisexual men.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16371442/continued …
December 27, 2006
Oro Valley, Arizona
These clouds can be accompanied by tornadoes, but, not necessarily. December 27, 2006
Oro Valley, Arizona
Wild Oats XI along the coastline of Tasmania.
