The Daily Star (Lebanon)
Explosion rocks the area of Zouk Mosbeh
Thursday, June 07, 2007
A bomb went off in an area north of Beirut on Thursday, in the latest string of explosions that have shaken Lebanon since fighting erupted between army troops and Islamic militants in a northern refugee camp three weeks ago.
Security officials said the blast occurred in an industrial area in the town of Zouk Mousbeh, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Beirut and near the town of Jounieh. There was no immediate word on casualties.
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The explosion set off large fires and black smoke was seen billowing from the area.
Four explosions in Beirut and nearby areas have killed least one person and wounded 40 others since the clashes between Fatah Islam militans and Lebanese army troops started May 20 in the northern Nahr el-Bared refugee camp.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=82823
Conflicting reports of possible Turkish incursion into Iraq
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Hundreds of Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq early Wednesday to chase Kurdish guerrillas who attack Turkey from bases there, Turkish security officials said. One official said the troops had returned to their bases by the end of the day, but Turkey's foreign minister denied its troops had ever entered Iraq.
The senior security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, characterized the raid as a "hot pursuit" raid that was limited in scope. They told The Associated Press it did not constitute the kind of large incursion that Turkish leaders have been discussing in recent weeks.
One official said several thousand troops went 3 kilometers inside Iraq and were still there in late afternoon.
"It is a hot pursuit, not an incursion," one official said.
Another official said by telephone that it was "not a major offensive and the number of troops is not in the tens of thousands." He also said the Turkish troops went into a remote, mountainous area.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=82822
'Israel does not want war with Syria' - PM
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sought to calm speculation in Israel that war with Syria could erupt soon, saying Wednesday he wanted peace with Damascus and to avoid any miscalculations that could lead to hostilities. The apparent attempts to ease tensions with Syria came as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called off a summit with Olmert, seeking commitments that Israel will release frozen Palestinian funds and renew a cease-fire. Even so, the Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr said Abbas and Olmert are likely to meet later in the month in Egypt under the auspices of the "Quartet" of Mideast peacemakers.
Olmert told a closed-door session of his powerful security Cabinet that although Israel has seen no signs that Syria plans to attack, there are concerns that Damascus might
misinterpret routine Israeli military activity as hostile and be spooked into a pre-emp-tive strike.
"Israel does not want war with Syria," a statement from Olmert's office quoted him as telling the meeting.
"We must avoid miscalculations that are liable to lead to a security deterioration," it
said, adding that Olmert had sent the same message to Syria through undisclosed diplomatic channels.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=82821
Iraqi premier warns against foreign 'conspiracies'
Militants abduct chaldean catholic priest as car bombings rock baghdad
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Iraq's beleaguered Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned on Wednesday against "conspiracies" in foreign capitals against his government calling on his generals to wield "iron fists" against those who would "lay the red carpet" for outside interference in Iraq. Violence continued unabated with the abduction of a Chaldean Catholic priest and five of his parishioners were kidnapped in Baghdad and the separate kidnapping of an Iraqi official in a raid on a ministry.
Car bombings shook the streets leading to Baghdad's most revered Shiite shrine on Wednesday, and police reported at least seven people killed while a local representative of revered Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani was gunned down outside his home.
In his toughly worded speech, at a conference of Iraqi Army division commanders, Maliki didn't specify which Iraqis or foreigners he fears may be working to oust him, but his largely ineffectual, year-old leadership has been under criticism both at home and abroad, including in the US Congress.
Former Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a Parliament member, is believed to be working to gather additional political support to try to replace Maliki, whom he regards as a sectarian Shiite Islamist.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=82806
Oil experts expect fallout from Cyclone Gonu to be short-lived
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Thursday, June 07, 2007
KUWAIT: Oil prices will soar if Cyclone Gonu halts shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the route for about a quarter of world crude supplies, but its impact will be temporary if oil facilities remain intact, experts said on Wednesday. Most oil and gas exports from the Gulf region, amounting to between 17 and 20 million barrels a day, pass through the strait between Oman and Iran, making it the world's most important oil passage.
"If shipping is halted through Hormuz, I think there is going to be a panic in world oil markets and prices could shoot to as high as $80, but of course for a very short period," Kuwaiti oil expert Kamel al-Harami said.
Cyclone Gonu, the strongest tropical storm to hit the region in decades, lashed Oman with heavy rains and winds on Wednesday, as thousands were evacuated from low-lying
areas there and in Iran.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=82802
Baghdad merchants wonder if blast walls are worth it
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Monday, June 04, 2007
BAGHDAD: Tall concrete blast walls surrounding hotels and government buildings have long been a feature of Baghdad's wartorn urban landscape, but now these tombstones are swallowing up the city's historic markets, much to the chagrin of merchants. The newest barriers, erected as part of a three-month-old security crackdown, are there to shield the city's main outdoor markets from the massive car bombs that have killed hundreds of people in recent months.
But local merchants complain that the new measures drive away customers, harden the country's sectarian rifts and disfigure the city.
"These concrete barriers hurt our businesses as much as they help us," says Ahmed Yas, a shopkeeper on Palestine Street, an upscale shopping thoroughfare in eastern Baghdad. "They prevent customers from approaching our shops because they completely cover the shopfronts, and the customers cannot park their cars anywhere close because there is no parking."
But at the same time, he grudgingly accepts the presence of the barriers "because they protect us from the danger of car bombs and the violent acts that frighten us."
The concrete caterpillars have crawled from the ironically named Green Zone, home of the US Embassy and Iraqi government, to the rest of the city, cutting off markets from main streets and slicing through battleground neighborhoods in several parts of the capital.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=82711
Banking on Baghdad: Inside Iraq's 7,000-Year History of War, Profit, and Conflict (Hardcover)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/047167186X?ie=UTF8&tag=thedailystar-20&link_code=em1&camp=212341&creative=380429&creativeASIN=047167186X&adid=ccafbfb5-36b9-406b-9c1b-d3846a98281c
Saudi group agrees to provide oil for planned Malacca pipeline
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Malaysian, Indonesian and Saudi Arabian firms on Monday signed agreements for construction of a pipeline that aims to divert 20 percent of oil flowing through the strategic Malacca Strait, the project owner said. Malaysia's Trans-Peninsula Petroleum said it signed an agreement with Malaysia's Ranhill Engineers and Constructors.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=82566
Lebanese Army claims 'less resistance' at Nahr al-Bared
Èatah al-islam threatens to expand battle 'within the next two days'
By Rym Ghazal
Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 07, 2007
NAHR AL-BARED, North Lebanon: Heavy bouts of shelling and gunfire alternated with long periods of quiet on Wednesday as the Lebanese Army pounded away at the remaining posts held by Fatah al-Islam militants along the southern part of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp.
There were no new reports of casualties on Wednesday, keeping the official death toll at 114 people, including 46 soldiers and 38 militants, since fighting broke out on May 20. While an army source would not confirm any new troop injuries, medical sources said at least three wounded soldiers were taken to nearby hospitals on Wednesday.
"Our attacks have lessened and are now more targeted, since we have destroyed most of Fatah al-Islam's positions," the army source told The Daily Star on Wednesday. "The militants have decreased their resistance."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=82817
Authorities seize Hizbullah weapons
Thursday, June 07, 2007
BEKAA: The Lebanese Army confiscated a truckload of weapons belonging to Hizbullah in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, security sources said Wednesday. The truck, which was seized late Tuesday at a random army checkpoint at Douriss, near Baalbek, contained rockets, machine guns, assault rifles and ammunition for the weapons.
Six Hizbullah members in the truck were let go, but the weapons were taken to a nearby army barracks.
It was not clear whether the Hizbullah members were transferring the weapons within the country or bringing the shipment in from Syria. The truck's destination was also unknown.
But An-Nahar newspaper claimed on Wednesday that the arms cache was planned for use in conflicts to be sparked in other Palestinian refugee camps after attempts failed to start a second front at the refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in Sidon.
When contacted by The Daily Star, a Hizbullah spokesman refused to comment on the issue.
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http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=82820
US to lift ban on private cargo fights to Lebanon
By Lysandra Ohrstrom
Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 07, 2007
BEIRUT: US President George Bush announced plans on Tuesday to amend the 22-year-old ban on private US aircraft operating here, in a move designed "for the purpose of promoting peace and security in Lebanon." In a June 5 memorandum, Bush authorized a partial resumption of travel to allow commercial cargo carriers contracted by the government to transport humanitarian assistance or "any other cargo or material" to and from Lebanon.
A US Embassy spokesperson would not comment on whether the prohibition was relaxed to facilitate further deliveries of military assistance, but said the US "intends to maintain its very robust support to the Lebanese armed forces as a pledge to the Lebanese to support their sovereignty and independence."
Last week, American military cargo planes delivered six loads of assistance to support the Lebanese Army, including infantry supplies, ammunition and rifles. The shipments had been promised earlier - as part of the $250-million military assistance package America pledged to Lebanon at the Paris III donor conference in January - said the US Embassy spokesperson, but the US "was pleased to be able to join other international and regional partners in fulfilling Lebanon's request to expedite deliveries."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=82819
Foreign powers weigh in on impasse in Beirut
France gives 'clear directives' to support unity government
By Mirella Hodeib
Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 07, 2007
BEIRUT: Foreign politicians promoted fresh efforts to solve the continuing political deadlock in Lebanon, while domestic political leaders expressed their hopes for a speedy end to the crisis at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. France was among the most active mediators, with recently elected President Nicolas Sarkozy voicing his country's commitment to supporting Lebanon, in a letter sent to Progressive Socialist Party head Walid Jumblatt on Wednesday.
"France will never cease to fight for the sovereignty, independence and unity of Lebanon," the letter said.
Sarkozy said imminent presidential elections in Lebanon "should be a major step toward regaining full sovereignty."
He added that France, "as well as the rest of the international community," support stability in South Lebanon and the implementation of economic and social reforms pledged at the Paris III donor summit.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=82818
US to donate $3.5 million to Nahr al-Bared refugees
Thursday, June 07, 2007
US Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman said Wednesday his country intends to contribute $3.5 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine refugees following a "Flash Appeal" from UNRWA for funds to help for residents of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli. The contribution will provide urgently needed humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees displaced by fighting between Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese Army at the camp. Feltman announced the pledge at a briefing on the Nahr al-Bared situation by Premier Fouad Siniora at the Grand Serail. The US contribution will make up 28 percent of the $12.66 million total sought by UNRWA's Flash Appeal to provide humanitarian relief to the displaced.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=82814
Arab women entrepreneurs outpace Westerners by some measures
By Nour Samaha
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
BEIRUT: Arab women entrepreneurs and business-owners are ahead of their Western counterparts with regards to firm size and revenue levels, according to a report published Tuesday. The International Finance Cooperation (IFC) has launched a report giving insight into the role of women business owners in the Middle East, declaring it as "the first step" toward a deeper understanding of their role, characteristics and challenges. The report, conducted in collaboration with the World Bank and the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR), reveals the extent of growth of women as business owners, and the constraints that they are facing.
"There is a marked lack of quantitative information on the number and growth of women-owned enterprises with which to inform policy-making," stated the report. "This is coupled with a growing need for qualitative survey-based attitudinal information capturing the self-expressed viewpoints, concerns, challenges and needs of women business owners. It is known that in the region women enjoy high levels of formal education, yet their participation in the labor force is still low, and not much is known about women who own and operate their own enterprises."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=82752
Banker fears negative GDP growth if Lebanese political crisis escalates
'Eventually investment will fall to alarming levels'
By Osama Habib
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
BEIRUT: A leading banker warned Monday that if the political dispute gets out of control Lebanon's GDP will suffer negative growth in 2007 and 2008. "In a worst-case scenario, all economic indicators will fall sharply and eventually local and foreign investments will drop to alarming levels," Markam Sader, the secretary general of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, told The Daily Star.
He added that if President Emile Lahoud formed a second government then the country would plunge into political uncertainty and probably chaos.
Businessmen, bankers and investors are holding their breaths as the presidential poll approaches with no sign that the main political groups will agree on one conciliatory candidate.
There is deep concern among investors that the financial market will be hit hard if Lahoud forms a second government.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=82751
Rival Lebanese politicians identify common socio-economic interests
EU invites opposing groups to find common ground on population's needs
Daily Star staff
Friday, June 01, 2007
BEIRUT: Rival Lebanese political parties seem to have a common interest: creating a just economic and social system. At least that's what the representatives of the main parties in the Parliament are conveying to the EU, which invited them to debate openly the future of socio-economic development of Lebanon.
Representatives of Hizbullah, Amal, the Free Patriotic Movement, Future movement, Lebanese Forces and the Phalange Party sat down with EU officials and independent economists from May 29-30 to reach a common understanding on economic and social issues that affect the entire population.
The EU said the objective of the meeting was to help develop a common vision of those economic and social policies that will benefit all of Lebanon. "The participants were able, collectively, to define a common economic and social vision of Lebanon," the EU said in a statement.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=82674
Olmert's words won't matter without Washington's genuine support
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Editorial
Two positions taken by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday represent a significant shift in the public discourse at the top of the Jewish state's political ladder. Olmert released a statement on Wednesday announcing that Israel wants peace, not war, with Syria and that Israeli officials have communicated this message to Damascus through diplomatic channels. Separately, in a commentary published in Britain's The Guardian on Wednesday, Olmert expressed interest in achieving peace with the Palestinians on the basis of the Arab initiative, while insisting that "talks must be a discussion, not an ultimatum."
These remarks, if they are to be read as sincere, mark a point of departure in Olmert's two-year-old non-approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is the first time that the Israeli premier is at least giving the appearance of actively and publicly pursuing a peace process.
Olmert's article was titled "1967: Israel cannot make peace alone," but there is plenty of reason to believe that if it is sincere, a newly open-minded policy on the part of his government might be twinned with Arab - and especially Palestinian - enthusiasm. On the same page of The Guardian, no less a hard-liner than Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyya laid out conditions that were virtually identical those of the Arab peace initiative, a thoughtful document that calls for no more than is mandated by existing United Nations Security Council resolutions. Haniyya's article was titled "1967: Our rights have to be recognized." If they are, it seems clear that Israel will have the "partner" for peace that it has long claimed to lack.
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In order for Olmert's words to be taken seriously, however, they will need to be backed up with public support from Washington. US President George W. Bush and his administration have to make clear that they have learned their lesson and are ready to engage with the region on a realistic basis that acknowledges not just the existence but also the influence of organizations like Haniyya's Hamas and Lebanon's Hizbullah. These parties cannot be wished away, and the widespread legitimacy and support they enjoy makes them, in fact, indispensable elements in any attempt to convince large swathes of the Arab population that any new peace process will be worth the effort.
A poll released this week demonstrates that America's Arab and Jewish communities are eons ahead of their government on such issues. Respondents from both groups indicated both a clearer understanding of the region's realities and a far greater appreciation of the need for dialogue and compromise. Olmert may indeed be coming around to a similar realization, but that will count for little without the overt and effective agreement of the Bush administration. If that is not forthcoming, Washington will remain out of step with the American people - and an otherwise achievable peace will remain out of reach.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&article_id=82805&categ_id=17
Chouf reserve is still recovering from war
By Maher Zeineddine
Daily Star correspondent
Thursday, June 07, 2007
CHOUF: The Chouf Cedars Nature Reserve reopened its gates to visitors in April after the ecological site incurred heavy damage during last summer's war with Israel. "Israeli raids targeted several roads leading to the reserve, having a negative impact on the reserve's biological diversity, economic situation, rural development and ecotourism," an official at the reserve told The Daily Star.
The number of visitors - who bring the reserve a vital source of revenue - has plummeted, causing development programs to regress, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The Chouf Cedars Reserve was declared a nature reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on June 29, 2005.
Covering some 500 square kilometers, the reserve is home to 32 animal species, 12 of which are at risk of extinction on the international level, such as the wolf and the badger. Three other species face the same risk on the local level, including the wildcat, tiger cat and hyena, according to the official.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=82810
Emergency panel called for in UN pact has yet to be empowered
'A cooperation plan should have been set up during the war to start immediately after the cease-fire'
By Dona Challita
Special to The Daily Star
Monday, May 28, 2007
Local environmental groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have criticized the government for what they say is the mismanagement of the clean-up effort along the coast following the oil spill that resulted from an Israeli attack during the 2006 war. Habib Maalouf, the head of the National Environmental Party (NEP).
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=25&article_id=82550
Sukleen to help environmental group sort trash
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Sukleen, a Lebanese waste-collection and cleaning company, announced on Tuesday it will provide the environmental association Nidaa al-Ard (Call of the Land) with the necessary tools and equipment for its 12-year-old project to separate waste in the southern region of Arab Salim. Sukleen's news conference was attended by Press Federation head Mohammad Baalbaki, Sukleen public-relations director Jad Neaimi and Nidaa al-Ard's president Zainab Mukalled Noureddine. "This important and fruitful cooperation coincides with the celebration of World Environment Day [on Tuesday]," Neaimi said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=82788
Winning over the Palestinian card
By Michael Young
Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 07, 2007
It is a coincidence, but a useful one, that on the 40th anniversary of an Arab-Israeli war that prompted the Palestinian national movement to break free from the stifling embrace of the Arab states, that effort is repeating itself in Lebanon, albeit with uncertain success. There is much the Lebanese state can do to sustain the effort, to its own advantage.
For decades, under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, a primary aim of the Palestinian national movement was to defend what was known as the "freedom of Palestinian decision-making." Arafat took over a Palestinian Liberation Organization that, under Ahmad al-Shuqairi, was little more than an Egyptian plaything. Even earlier, Arafat and his comrades had to bat away persistent Syrian efforts to take over control of Al-Assifa, the armed branch of the national movement. By 1977, with the Syrian Army having imposed itself in Lebanon, the Palestinians would once again have to maneuver around Syrian priorities, though Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's peace negotiations with Israel would momentarily oblige the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Syria to overcome their differences.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=82803
Can Lebanon get a fair deal from free trade?
Without wto, 'the country will go to hell - and you can quote me' - sami haddad
By Osama Habib
Daily Star staff
Monday, June 04, 2007
BEIRUT: Globalization and free trade agreements are among the most hotly debated issues, not only in developing countries but in industrialized ones as well. The debate degenerates on some occasions into open battles between anti-globalization activists and law enforcement - as in the case of Rostock, Germany, where thousands of angry demonstrators clashed with riot police on Saturday.
Thomas Friedman, a prominent New York Times columnist, once said that that "globalization is like a locomotive train which no one can stop." Supporters of globalization believe that free trade will open new markets for all countries, improve efficiency, attract foreign investment, and reduce prices of essential commodities around the world.
The backers of the World Trade organization (WTO) also argue that countries joining free trade agreements will have a very good chance to attract badly needed investments in services, advertising and information technology.
However, anti-globalization activists say that globalization and capitalism perpetuate poverty in the less advanced parts of the world. Some economists in developing countries have urged their governments not to join the WTO because in their view many productive sectors, such as industry and agriculture, will be badly hurt if the markets are widely opened to cheap imports.
In Lebanon, the debate over the benefits of free trade agreements intensified as the Economy and Trade Ministry engaged in a new round of talks with WTO officials in Geneva on May 3.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=25&article_id=82729
The State
Rain helped, but drought isn't over
By JOEY HOLLEMAN - jholleman@thestate.com
TIM DOMINICK/TDOMINICK@THESTATE.COM
Irrigation equipment stands poised over a field in Lexington County. Despite the weekend’s rain from tropical depression Barry, S.C. farmers must still contend with drought conditions.
Tropical Storm Barry was beneficial for South Carolina, but the rainfall from the system only put a dent in drought conditions.
The State Drought Response Committee meets today in Columbia to determine whether to upgrade the official drought status. It’s currently at incipient, the first of four stages in drought classification.
The Savannah River basin — one of the driest areas of the state — received about 5 inches of rain from Barry, while the parched Upstate got less than a quarter of an inch.
Monday’s storms brought 0.7 of an inch to Columbia Owens Field, but less elsewhere in the Midlands.
Here’s how the rain impacted drought symptoms:
Farms: At Walter P. Rawl and Sons farming operation in Lexington County, the irrigation ponds were nearly dry last week. “We were going to make decisions (Monday) whether to abandon crops,” said farm manager Charles Wingard. The rain recharged the greens and ponds. Even if no more rain falls soon, the weekend rainfall should be enough to keep the crops growing for two weeks, long enough to make harvesting worthwhile.
http://www.thestate.com/156/story/83468.html
Libby may be jailed during appeal
Ex-Cheney chief of staff’s 30-month sentence puts heat on Bush; judge might not OK bail
By AMY GOLDSTEIN and CAROL D. LEONNIG - The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000 for lying to investigators looking into the leak of a CIA officer’s identity.
The federal judge who presided over the case indicated that he may not be sympathetic to allowing Libby to remain free pending appeal, but scheduled a hearing on the matter for next week.
“Evidence in this case overwhelmingly indicated Mr. Libby’s culpability,” U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said moments before he handed out the sentence.
The sentence puts new pressure on President Bush, who may soon confront the choice of triggering a fresh political storm by pardoning a convicted perjurer or letting one of the early architects of his administration head off to prison.
The judge said he was sentencing Libby “with a sense of sadness. I have the highest respect for people who take positions in our government and appreciate tremendously efforts they bring to bear to protect this country.”
http://www.thestate.com/426/story/83389.html
Obama, Graham trade barbs as immigration debate boils over
By CHARLES BABINGTON - Associated Press Writer
Presidential politics and partisan resentments reached a boil in the Senate Wednesday night, as a heated exchange between Sens. Barack Obama and Lindsey Graham erupted on the chamber floor and continued in a nearby corridor.
Senators had been debating a contentious immigration overhaul for hours when Obama - the Illinois Democrat running for president - introduced an amendment that would end a key provision after five years rather than 14.
His target was a proposed point system that would make it easier for would-be immigrants to obtain visas based on their education levels or work skills rather than on having close relatives already living in the United States. "We can't weaken the essence of what America is by turning our backs on immigrants who to reunite with their family members," Obama said in his speech.
The amendment infuriated Graham, a South Carolina Republican with close ties to another presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Pacing the Senate floor and waving Obama's amendment, Graham loudly accused Obama of undermining a delicate agreement whose advocates have shown political courage.
http://www.thestate.com/312/story/84722.html
SC budget with tax cuts still in limbo with hours left in session
By SEANNA ADCOX - Associated Press Writer
With just hours left before South Carolina lawmakers are set to adjourn for the year, the $7.4 billion state budget remains in limbo, leaving the possibility that residents won't see any tax savings and state employees will continue working without a pay raise.
Though the House and Senate are controlled by Republicans, the legislative session may end with few major proposals being approved - even though $1.5 billion in new revenue was expected.
The House has refused to finalize negotiations on the state spending plan until an agreement can be reached with the Senate on how to reform the state's Transportation Department and workers' compensation system. Compromise talks have stalled for more than a week.
http://www.thestate.com/312/story/85034.html
DOT bill, budget hit snag
$40 million dispute on Transportation Department overhaul blocks other key measures
By JOHN O’CONNOR - joconnor@thestate.com
WHAT’S ON DECK?
Three things to watch today as lawmakers try to finish their work this week. For midday updates, go to S.C. Politics Today.
Cigarette taxes — Though support is strong in the Senate, proposals to raise the cigarette tax by 30 to 45 cents a pack likely are out of time this year. Still, the Senate could act today.
Workers’ compensation changes — Lawmakers must reconcile differing House and Senate bills to tighten benefits or events covered by the insurance.
The budget — The House and Senate could work out a state spending plan quickly once other issues are resolved. Cuts to grocery and income taxes are likely.
3 DAYS TO GO?
Both the S.C. House and Senate are scheduled to reconvene at noon today in a legislative session scheduled to end Thursday. However, lawmakers may have to finish their work in two weeks, when they were scheduled to return to Columbia to consider vetoes by Gov. Mark Sanford.
A $40 million roadblock stands between House and Senate negotiators trying to draft a bill to restructure the state Department of Transportation.
The question of how much money to add to the $1 billion-a-year agency’s budget is central to resolving a legislative stalemate that has held up work on the state budget and other bills and incited acrimony in Columbia.
With just three working days left before the scheduled end of the 2007 session, lawmakers have little time to approve any compromise. And with no deal on Transportation, there might be no deal on a state budget, as well.
House members insist more money is needed for maintenance and construction of roads and bridges. The Senate argued that money should be a one-time addition.
“It’s painfully obvious to me that there’ll be no reform unless there’s money,” said Sen.
http://www.thestate.com/426/story/82328.html
Groups want Columbia to make waves on park plan
With ‘Wildwater’ event coming, advocates lament lag in greenway park project
By JEFF WILKINSON - jwilkinson@thestate.com
C. ALUKA BERRY/CABERRY@THESTATE.COM
Seth Baker, left, and Breanna Hughes, right, cool off in the Saluda River near Riverbanks Zoo Friday as Donnie Rutledge helps 5-year-old Austin Baker into an inner tube. Recreation advocates say more people could enjoy the area safely with the addition of the planned park, including restrooms and a ranger and rescue station.
Three influential regional boards today will urge Columbia City Council to take control of land around Riverbanks Zoo to build a new greenway park along the Saluda River.
Regional tourism leaders are frustrated because construction of the park — considered a centerpiece of the regional greenway — has been stalled for 10 months while the city has been working to get a handle on its finances.
“It’s a shame more attention hasn’t been paid to this,” said Satch Krantz, executive director of Riverbanks Zoo.
By accepting the land from SCE&G and the zoo, the city would take more responsibility for policing the often rowdy crowds at the Mill Race Rapids, especially during an international kayaking event next month.
The land acquisition also would be a first step toward building the Saluda Riverwalk, an estimated $6 million section of the regional Three Rivers Greenway running from I-26 to the Saluda’s confluence with the Broad River.
http://www.thestate.com/154/story/83254.html
S.C. State will not increase tuition
Board chairman says move is ‘honest attempt’ at curbing student costs
By JAMES T. HAMMOND - jhammond@thestate.com
South Carolina State University trustees approved a budget Tuesday that does not increase tuition for the academic year beginning in the fall.
The historically black, state-assisted university in Orangeburg charges annual tuition and required fees of $7,278.
“There are no gimmicks,” board chairman Maurice Washington said. “This is an honest attempt to hold the line on out-of-control tuition increases.”
Two other state-assisted universities have increased tuition this year: The College of Charleston, by 7.5 percent to $7,778; and Francis Marion University, by 7.3 percent to $7,038.
Clemson University’s trustees meet this morning to vote on tuition for next year. So far, Clemson officials have said they expect an increase of less than 10 percent.
The University of South Carolina trustees’ executive committee meets Friday to vote on next fall’s tuition and fees. USC officials have not indicated what they expect next fall’s tuition to be.
http://www.thestate.com/154/story/83353.html
Richland funds schools to the limit
Richland County Council approved the maximum funding for 2007-08 allowed by law for both Richland 1 and Richland 2.
Richland 1 will get $158.9 million in funding, about $1.4 million less than the district requested. Superintendent Allen Coles said the district likely will have to consider budget cuts.
Richland 2 will get $94.8 million, about $2.7 million more than anticipated. It will use the extra funds to increase teachers’ salaries and improve media center collections, board chairwoman Melinda Anderson said.
http://www.thestate.com/154/story/83369.html
Richland panel OKs grants to preserve buildings
The Richland County Conservation Commission has OK’d seven grants totaling $199,268 for the preservation of historically significant buildings:
Harriet Barber House: (1880), Barberville Loop, Hopkins, $37,500
Old Killian School: (1875), 2621 Clemson Road, $14,000
Monteith School: (1890), 6818 N. Main St., $10,000
Pine Grove Rosenwald School: (1923), 937 Piney Woods Road, $37,500
Sesqui Log Cabin: (mid- to late 1700s), Sesquicentennial State Park, $37,500
701 Whaley St.: (1904), $50,000
Slave cabin in Lower Richland: (1830-1852), $12,768
http://www.thestate.com/154/story/83373.html
Fairfield schools have new superintendent
Samantha Ingram began Tuesday as Fairfield County’s superintendent of schools. The school board voted unanimously May 18 to name Ingram to the position. A native of Mobile, Ala., Ingram follows Clarence Willie, who is retiring.
http://www.thestate.com/154/story/83372.html
Jackson School to get additional renovations
The Kershaw County School Board approved $65,000 in extra renovations for Jackson School and six of its mobiles. Two classes and a boys’ bathroom are included in that figure.
The new renovations push the cost of the project from $310,000 to $375,000.
The renovations are intended to keep the school up to date until a new facility can be built, a project that likely is several years away.
http://www.thestate.com/154/story/83375.html
$16 public transit fee on vehicles remains in force
Richland County Council decided Tuesday as it finalized its 2007-08 budget to leave in place a $16-per-vehicle fee for public transit.
The vote was 6-5 to delay consideration of the issue until the fall, when it will have been collected a full year. In its first year, the fee is projected to bring in $4.3 million, roughly $1 million more than needed to pay for the bus system.
http://www.thestate.com/154/story/83370.html
‘She was a good child ... too independent, sometimes’
By ADAM BEAM - abeam@thestate.com
Sara Elizabeth “Beth” Sease was a spunky, stubborn softball player who did what she set her mind to, her mother said Monday.
That’s why the 14-year-old took her sister’s boyfriend’s car after she was told not to early Sunday morning.
Sease died when she lost control of the car and it overturned on Spring Hill Road at about 12:15 a.m. Sunday, according to the Highway Patrol. She was not wearing a seat belt and was partially ejected.
Sease’s mother, Sara Berry Sease, said there were empty beer cans and beer bottles in the back seat of the car.
“With Beth, I wouldn’t say she wouldn’t drink because she probably would,” Sease said. “I know Beth would not drink and drive because she has lost too many friends to drinking and driving.”
http://www.thestate.com/426/story/82316.html
U.S. Marshals Service arrests wanted man
A man wanted by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department on charges of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature was taken into custody Tuesday by U.S. marshals.
Travis Jamal Lawson, 28, was apprehended in Atlanta by members of the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, according to a U.S. Marshals Service release.
Lawson is at Cobb County jail, awaiting extradition proceedings, the release said.
— Lee Higgins
http://www.thestate.com/154/story/83356.html
Deputy on the job again
By ISHMAEL TATE - itate@thestate.com
After a childhood of constant movement in a military family, Richland County Sheriff’s Deputy Jerry Hurd considered himself a pro at adjusting to change.
But Hurd’s life changed forever as he crossed Percival Road on May 26, 2002.
“The next thing I remember, I was facedown on the roadway, and my friend was rubbing my shoulders, waking me up.”
He had been hit by a Buick and badly injured. His back was broken, his spinal cord in shock, and his left leg so mangled it had to be amputated below the knee several days later.
He was paralyzed from the waist down.
For the next two days, Hurd was unconscious. He underwent a series of emergency surgeries, followed by months of rehabilitation.
http://www.thestate.com/156/story/84423.html
Cigarette tax hike prospects snuffed
By JOHN O’CONNOR - joconnor@thestate.com
Efforts to raise South Carolina’s lowest-in-the nation cigarette tax have failed as lawmakers will adjourn today without resolving the issue.
With record state revenues and disagreement on whether to spend the money on health care or tax cuts, lawmakers said there was no reason to raise the tax in the session’s final hours.
The bill made historic progress this year after a seven-year push, with the House approving a 30-cents-per-pack increase and the Senate eyeing a 45-cent increase. The state has not raised its 7-cents-per-pack tax since 1977.
The House plan would tie the state with neighboring Georgia’s levy and put it 2 cents higher than North Carolina’s. The Senate plan would give the state the 40th-highest per-pack tax, 2 cents less than in Delaware and West Virginia.
“Chances are looking slimmer and slimmer, unfortunately,” said Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Richland, who supports raising the tax. “It probably still boils down to that we haven’t reached consensus on how the money will be spent.”
http://www.thestate.com/426/story/84510.html
Budget, tax-cut logjam broken
Negotiators agree on grocery tax cut but remain split on whether income tax breaks will benefit all
By JOHN O’CONNOR - joconnor@thestate.com
State residents can expect $176 million in tax cuts next year, according to a budget agreement between House and Senate negotiators.
The plan includes reducing the state sales tax on groceries to 1 percent on Nov. 1, saving residents $90 million. In addition, lawmakers have agreed to cut income taxes by $86 million — though they have yet to decide which residents would get a larger rebate.
The budget has been uncertain for weeks, as the House held up work while trying to negotiate compromises on Transportation Department reorganization and changes in workers’ compensation rules.
House Ways and Means chairman Dan Cooper, R-Anderson, said the budget would not receive final approval until work was completed on those two bills, on which lawmakers made little progress Tuesday.
“I think we got an agreement based on the outcome of those two bills,” Cooper said. “At least we’ll have the document mostly prepared.”
http://www.thestate.com/426/story/83431.html
More data sought in prison porn investigation
The state attorney general’s office Friday asked for additional information in a pornography probe initiated at the Department of Corrections.
Attorney General Henry McMaster’s office is soliciting the hard drives from computers used by two employees at the department who were under investigation in February.
The office also is seeking reports and evidence gathered by the department surrounding the death of a former security director, George Allan Roof.
In addition, the office wants the reports and records of disciplinary sanctions involving a male lieutenant at Lee Correctional Institution accused of sexual assault by one or more female fellow employees.
http://www.thestate.com/155/story/80013.html
Detective charged in peeping Tom case
The head of Charleston County’s detectives has been arrested after neighbors told police he was on a roof, staring into the bedroom window of an adjoining home, authorities said.
Sheriff’s Capt. Jesse Gene Hammet, 43, was placed on administrative leave after North Charleston police arrested him Friday on two counts of violating the state’s peeping Tom law, Charleston County sheriff’s spokesman Capt. John Clark said.
— The Associated Press
http://www.thestate.com/155/story/83354.html
Ex-teacher sentenced for having sex with student
A former elementary school teacher pleaded guilty Friday to having sex with an 11-year-old student and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, Laurens County prosecutor Jerry Peace said.
Wendie Ann Schweikert, 37, who taught at E.B. Morse Elementary School, was arrested in May 2006 and charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor and committing a lewd act on a minor in Laurens and Greenville counties.
According to state law, Schweikert will have to register as a sex offender. She was taken to jail immediately after her plea Friday.
http://www.thestate.com/155/story/80006.html
Ex-mayor gets prison on counterfeit charges
The former mayor of Lake City was sentenced Friday to five months in prison, followed by house arrest and probation, after he pleaded guilty in federal court to possession of counterfeit currency, the U.S. attorney’s office says.
LaRue Alford, 46, will spend the first six months of his three-year probation in home confinement, U.S. Attorney Reggie Lloyd said.
Federal agents began investigating Alford after a man who gave the mayor counterfeit money started cooperating with authorities.
In recorded conversations, Alford told the informant he wanted to get more fake money to give to his nephew to buy drugs.
— The Associated Press
http://www.thestate.com/155/story/80008.html
Murder plot gets man 440 years in prison
A man found guilty of federal charges associated with conspiring to kill his sister-in-law for life insurance benefits has been sentenced to 440 years in prison.
Darry Wayne Hanna was sentenced Thursday to 20 years on each of the 22 counts against him by U.S. District Judge Terry L. Wooten.
Federal prosecutors said Darry Hanna shot and killed his sister-in-law Teresa Hanna in 2003 at the request of her husband, Davy Hanna. The brothers planned to split the insurance money, prosecutors said.
A state judge threw out murder charges against both men in 2005. Prosecutors then charged the brothers with mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy.
Davy Hanna committed suicide in jail while awaiting trial.
— The Associated Press
http://www.thestate.com/155/story/80010.html
Teen charged in slaying of neighbor, 81
A teen has been charged with murder after his 81-year-old neighbor was stabbed to death in a robbery, Spartanburg County deputies said.
Margaret Goodwin Seay was stabbed in the head, arms and chest after a man came to her home and demanded money, authorities said. Seay called 911 Wednesday morning but later died at a hospital, a police report said.
David Viron Louis Garrett, 17, was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder, armed robbery and burglary, deputies said.
— The Associated Press
http://www.thestate.com/155/story/78896.html
‘It’s time’ for I-73, federal official says
By BRUCE SMITH - The Associated Press
MYRTLE BEACH — U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters stood near a highway snarled with three miles of beach traffic Friday and said an Interstate 73, which could one day link Michigan to South Carolina, was badly needed.
“For too long this project has been stalled in an endless jam of studies, findings and reviews,” Peters said. “It’s time to move forward and move on.”
Some sections of I-73, a proposed 1,100-mile road, have been built. Eventually, plans are for the road to wind from northern Michigan to South Carolina, weaving through Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.
The interstate will run 90 miles across South Carolina, giving the 14 million tourists who visit the Myrtle Beach area each year their first direct interstate link to the Grand Strand. The area’s beaches are the heart of South Carolina’s $16 billion tourism industry.
“It should take one hour to travel the 65 miles from I-95 to Myrtle Beach. Because of all the traffic, the slower speeds and all the stoplights, it can sometimes take hours to get here,” Peters said. “What one time was a very pleasant drive has turned into a long trial of traffic and frustration.”
http://www.thestate.com/155/story/79948.html
Coastal insurance best fixed by private market
THE COASTAL INSURANCE bill that seems headed to Gov. Mark Sanford’s desk avoids some of the more severe remedies bandied about earlier this year. Instead, the Legislature, at the urging of the governor and his new insurance director, wisely has embraced some prudent measures designed to stimulate the private market for insurance, rather than usurp it with major government intervention.
The insurance crunch on the coast is real. Rates have gone way up — including increases of up to sevenfold for condo owners at the beach. That’s tremendously expensive, but it reflects the broad retrenching in the insurance markets to recognize increased risk. What’s more alarming: Some homeowners were being dumped by their companies and finding themselves unable to get new insurance.
Some remedies, however, could have been worse than the problem they were intended to fix. One knee-jerk reaction was a movement to make the state insurance director an elected post. The reaction by Gov. Sanford, including the appointment of a new director, shows that the current executive appointment model can respond to issues well.
The bill moving through the Legislature includes efforts to prompt a more stable private market for insurance and to attract more underwriters. It would offer tax incentives to make properties more durable to storms. These breaks would apply only to primary residences, not second homes at the beach — a step that correctly focuses relief on those who need it. It also requires companies to give 90 days’ notice before dropping coverage, so customers have time to shop around.
http://www.thestate.com/168/story/83522.html
Really fixing U.S. health care
By PAUL DEMARCO - Guest columnist
Imagine you were involved in a discussion about U.S. public schools when someone said: “Socialized education is ruining this country. Tuition should be provided by businesses to their employees or by the government to the very poor. Otherwise, you make your own way.”
That sounds quite strange. America is committed to a nationwide system of taxpayer-supported public schools. Only the staunchest libertarian would question that commitment. But substitute the word “medicine” for “education” in the quotation and change “tuition” to “health insurance” and you have an accurate description of the state of health care in our country.
Why the difference? Why do we so easily accept the notion of public schools but remain so suspicious of public health care?
In a word, profit. The insurance companies know that they can continue to milk the system for decades more until it finally implodes, and they are not going quietly. They are betting that you will sit idly by and watch our system bled dry by an industry ruled by shareholder profits and outrageous CEO compensation.
In a decade or two, when your middle-class neighbor goes bankrupt from an uncovered illness, change will come. But right now Big Insurance is engaged in the same song and dance that Big Tobacco bedazzled us with for years.
http://www.thestate.com/140/story/82358.html
House overrides autism veto; bill now law
The House easily overrode Gov. Mark Sanford's veto of a bill Thursday extending insurance coverage to children with autism.
The vote was 114-0.
After voting, House members turned toward the balcony and gave families representing children who have the disorder a standing ovation.
Before the vote, Rep. B.R. Skelton, R-Pickens, chastised the governor for striking down the measure.
"He has four healthy children and I don't think he has ever met anybody who didn't have healthy children," Skelton said.
The Senate had previously overrode the veto, also unanimously.
The governor' s office maintains the provision will raise health care costs.
http://thestatecom.typepad.com/ygatoday/2007/06/house_overrides.html
Protester arrested in flag desecration case
By ERIC OLSON - The Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. — A member of the Kansas group that has drawn criticism for protesting at soldiers’ funerals has been arrested for letting her 10-year-old son stomp on a U.S. flag during a demonstration. She promised Wednesday to challenge the state’s flag desecration law in court.
Shirley Phelps-Roper, 49, will be charged with flag mutilation, disturbing the peace and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said Wednesday.
Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, acknowledged that she allowed her son Jonah to stand on the flag Tuesday — something she says is protected by the U.S. Constitution.
“It’s utter nonsense,” said Phelps-Roper, a lawyer. “I don’t know what else to tell you other than that we’ll see them in federal court.”
Phelps-Roper is a daughter of Westboro’s founder, the Rev. Fred Phelps. Members have protested at more than 280 military funerals in 43 states since June 2005, she said.
http://www.thestate.com/166/story/84577.html
Transplant team’s plane crashes, killing 6
Patient awaiting lifesaving organ could become accident’s 7th victim
By COREY WILLIAMS and JEFF KAROUB - The Associated Press
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The patient lay on the operating table, prepped for transplant surgery. In the air over Lake Michigan, a twin-engine plane sped his way, carrying a team of surgeons and technicians, along with a donor organ on ice.
The plane never made it, crashing into the lake’s choppy waters and killing all six people aboard Monday.
Now the critically ill patient could become the accident’s seventh fatality.
“It was a very sad moment in the operating room” when word was received that the plane had gone down on its way from Milwaukee, said Dr. Jeffrey Punch, chief of transplant surgery at the University of Michigan Health System hospital in Ann Arbor.
Hospital officials and organ-donation authorities would not identify the transplant patient other than to say he was a man, and would not say what type of organ he was awaiting, citing medical privacy rules. But one of the doctors killed was a cardiac surgeon, suggesting the patient was about to get a new heart or lungs.
http://www.thestate.com/166/story/83388.html
Scientists convert skin cells into embryonic stem cells
By RICK WEISS - The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Three teams of scientists said Wednesday they had coaxed ordinary mouse skin cells to become what are effectively embryonic stem cells — without creating or destroying embryos in the process. It’s an advance that, if it works with human cells, could revolutionize stem cell research and defuse one of the hottest bioethical controversies of the decade.
In work being published online, the scientists reported two new ways of turning back the biological clocks of skin cells growing in laboratory dishes. Thus rejuvenated, the cells gave rise to daughter cells that were able to become all the parts needed to make a new mouse.
If the process works with human cells, as scientists suspect it will with some modifications, it would mean that a person’s own skin cells could be converted directly into stem cells without having to collect healthy human eggs or destroy human embryos — steps that until now have been required to obtain embryonic stem cells.
http://www.thestate.com/166/story/84425.html
Scientists say Iceman killed by arrow injury
By FRANK JORDANS - The Associated Press
GENEVA — A prehistoric hunter known as Oetzi whose well-preserved body was found on a snow-covered mountain in the Alps died more than 5,000 years ago after being struck in the back by an arrow, scientists said in an article published Wednesday.
Researchers from Switzerland and Italy used newly developed medical scanners to examine the hunter’s frozen corpse to determine that the arrow had torn a hole in an artery beneath his left collarbone, leading to a massive loss of blood.
That, in turn, caused Oetzi to go into shock and suffer a heart attack, according to the article published online in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
Even today, the chances of surviving such an injury long enough to receive hospital treatment are only 40 percent, according to the article.
http://www.thestate.com/166/story/84426.html
Senate probe at Corrections a hopeful sigh
WE DON’T WANT to let the Legislature get out of town without complimenting the Senate’s decision to launch a probe into problems documented and alleged at the Department of Corrections.
Not because we’re convinced that the department is badly run or among the worst run in the state — we don’t know whether the former is true and we seriously doubt that the latter is — but simply because this is one of those all-too-rare instances of our Legislature attempting to perform the oversight function that a legislature is supposed to perform.
As we have frequently noted, and as Sen. Vincent Sheheen recently argued on these pages, empowering the executive branch of government is only half the task our state must accomplish if we are to have a well-functioning government. The other half is turning the Legislature into a branch of government that can serve as an effective check on an empowered executive.
http://www.thestate.com/168/story/84678.html
Affordable housing
NOW THAT cities and counties can create affordable housing trust funds, they should waste no time working to ensure their communities offer adequate shelter for poor and moderate-income families.
As areas such as Columbia and Charleston grow, housing prices continue to climb, making it harder to buy or rent. It’s important that growing cities remain accessible to citizens from all walks of life. The trust funds would provide dedicated funding to help many from the state’s working class — from firefighters to dental assistants to child care workers — stay in those communities.
The new state law allows cities and counties to create and operate funds individually or by region, financing them in various ways including, but not limited to, donations, bond proceeds and grants and loans from a state, federal or private source. The law does not allow new or additional taxes. Local governments would be required to give preference to programs or projects that promote development or rehabilitation of affordable housing for individuals or families with annual incomes below 50 percent of the median income for the local area.
http://www.thestate.com/168/story/80098.html
The New Zealand Herald
G8 leaders agree 'unspecific' greenhouse gas cuts
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 7:10AM Friday June 08, 2007
By Jeff Mason and Thomas Krumenacker
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany - World leaders agreed today to pursue substantial but unspecified cuts in greenhouse gases and work with the United Nations to clinch a new deal to fight global warming by 2009.
The agreement, sealed at a G8 summit on the Baltic coast, binds the world's largest polluter, the United States, more closely into international efforts to curb the gases scientists say are causing dangerous changes to world weather patterns.
But it does not commit the club of industrialised nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- to the firm emissions reduction targets that the summit host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, had wanted.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10444312
US Congress votes to expand stem cell research
7:50AM Friday June 08, 2007
By Thomas Ferraro
Photo / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The Democratic-led US Congress defied President George W. Bush today and gave final approval to legislation to roll back his restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research.
But the 247-176 vote by the House of Representatives on the measure already passed by the Senate was short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a promised veto by Bush, who rejected a similar bill last year.
"If this bill were to become law, American taxpayers would for the first time in our history be compelled to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos," Bush said in a statement. "Crossing that line would be a grave mistake."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10444316
Paris Hilton out of jail for 'medical reasons' (+photos)
Page 1 of 2
Updated 7:45AM Friday June 08, 2007
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES - Hotel heiress Paris Hilton was let out of jail and put under house arrest today after serving three days of a three-week sentence, sparking a debate over whether fame worked for her or against her.
Officials said Hilton, 26, a symbol for many of the privileges and excesses of American celebrity culture, was released from jail for undisclosed medical reasons but was fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet to track her movements and ordered confined to her house for the next 40 days.
During a news conference, Steve Whitmore of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office declined to reveal the medical issue that led to her "reassignment" or say why she could not be treated in jail.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10444311
Peacekeeping closer for Darfur
5:00AM Friday June 08, 2007
Washington - The UN and the African Union are close to a deal on fielding 23,000 peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region, but full deployment is not expected until at least next year.
Sudan has still to agree to the "hybrid" UN-AU force, after it refused to have an operation controlled solely by the UN. Top UN and AU officials approved a revised plan, which the AU's Peace and Security Committee and the UN Security Council are expected to endorse.
Should Sudan delay approval, the US and Britain want to push for sanctions, including a no-fly zone over Darfur to help put an end to fighting that has uprooted more than two million people. Experts estimate 200,000 people have died.
In Heligendamm, Germany, US President George W. Bush said on the first day of a summit of the Group of Eight industrial nations: "I want to see people helping Darfur by joining us and sending clearer and stronger messages to President [Omar] Bashir of Sudan."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10444291
Lightning knocks out Giuliani's microphone
5:00AM Friday June 08, 2007
Rudolph Giuliani at St Anselm College, New Hampshire. Photo / Reuters
New Hampshire - As a sign from the Almighty, it could not been clearer: God does not like Rudy.
During a debate among Republican candidates at a small Catholic university college here, "America's mayor", as Rudy Giuliani now calls himself, was setting out his position on abortion. A bishop had compared his stance on abortion to Pontius Pilate's position on the crucifixion of Jesus: personally opposed to it but willing to allow it happen.
Giuliani was in mid-flow when a bolt of lightning struck the debating hall and knocked out his microphone. The sound returned, only for more lightning to bring the proceedings to a brief halt.
For religious conservatives, it may well be the sign they were hoping for.
- INDEPENDENT
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10444293
Dropped gun charge not a go-ahead to take up arms - police
5:00AM Friday June 08, 2007
By David Eames
Greg Carvell and his wife Nicola after his case was thrown out in the Auckland District Court yesterday. Photo / Dean Purcell
The dismissal of charges against an Auckland gun-shop owner who opened fire on a machete-wielding robber is not an invitation to other shopkeepers to take up arms against intruders, police warn.
"There will be people who take from [yesterday's] decision the message that it's okay to arm yourself against the possibility of attack," spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty said yesterday.
"The dismissal of the charges should not be seen to carry the message that people in business, or anywhere, should have weapons at the ready for self-defence."
Her comments come after two justices of the peace threw out a charge of illegal possession of a pistol against Auckland gunstore owner Greg Carvell, ruling the Crown failed to prove a prima facie case.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10444307
Team NZ riding the wave
5:00AM Friday June 08, 2007
By Julie Ash
The partying lasted until 6am in the Team New Zealand headquarters when the last of the jubilant crew staggered back to their hotel, their grins as wide as the winning margin in the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Around 300 people made up of crew, their families and guests, including the Minister for the America's Cup Trevor Mallard, celebrated the win New Zealand-style with a vast barbecue, a bouncy castle for the kids and copious quantities of beer and wine.
Even members of the defeated Luna Rossa team swallowed their pride and left their own post-match party to join the Kiwi celebrations as a band formed from Team NZ crew members belted out homegrown pop favourites by The Exponents and Dave Dobbyn.
"It was quite a big night and fair enough frankly," said Grant Dalton.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10444309
Hubbard already planning revamp for hosting America's Cup
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 5:00AM Friday June 08, 2007
By Stuart Dye
The America's Cup final doesn't start in Spain for two weeks yet - but planning is already under way for Auckland to host the next series.
Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard said last night that a marine events precinct would be needed to capitalise on the chance for Auckland to "secure its place on the international marine events calendar".
Many Kiwis were bleary-eyed yesterday after watching Emirates Team New Zealand's last race in their 5-0 demolition of Italian syndicate Luna Rossa. Others were still celebrating after waking up to the news that Team NZ had claimed the Louis Vuitton Cup and won the right to a rematch against America's Cup holders Alinghi.
And while the nation crosses its fingers for the cup series beginning on the morning (NZ time) of Sunday, June 24, provision is already being made for a defence of the cup in 2010.
Judith Bassett, chairwoman of Auckland Regional Holdings, said the existing America's Cup bases from 2003 would be made available again.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10444306
Dolphin sanctuary proposed
New 8:00AM Friday June 08, 2007
A marine mammal sanctuary is New Zealand's last chance of saving Maui's dolphin from extinction, Forest and Bird said yesterday as it announced a proposal for a sanctuary off the north-west coast of the North Island.
The dolphin, the North Island sub-species of Hector's dolphin, is listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union, and just 111 remain. The sanctuary would be set up along the northwest coast of the North Island, from Maunganui Bluff near Dargaville in the north to Cape Egmont, Taranaki, in the south, including the inner harbours and estuaries.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10444286
Sedition trial for Tongan legislators
New 7:00AM Friday June 08, 2007
Five Tongan legislators will stand trial on sedition charges for their alleged role in a riot last year that left eight dead and destroyed much of the centre of the capital.
After a preliminary hearing, a police magistrate ruled that the MPs should be tried in the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court. The five have been campaigning for the Government to speed up political reforms.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10444284
Bicycle helmets recalled
5:00AM Friday June 08, 2007
The Warehouse has recalled one of its stocked bicycle helmets, saying there is a risk the polystyrene inner may detach from the plastic shell.
It wants all customers who bought a Hud bicycle helmet in the last year to return it to their nearest Warehouse store. Customers will receive a full refund or replacement helmet.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10444282
It's just money down the drain
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 5:00AM Friday June 08, 2007
By Bernard Orsman
The leaking fire hydrant site in Penrose which has been left unfixed by Metrowater for weeks. Photo / Kenny Rodger
Ratepayers' money is pouring down the drain in Penrose because Metrowater has not responded to repeated calls to fix a big leak.
"It's like a river running down the street. Swimming pools, Olympic-sized swimming pools of water being wasted," builder Sam Finnie said.
Mr Finnie and factory project manager Wayne Prendergast have contacted the Auckland City Council-owned water business three times since May 11 about the leak in Autumn Place. Four weeks later, water is still spilling from the broken hydrant.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10444255
Scramble to keep babies safe after torrent floods hospital
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 5:00AM Friday June 08, 2007
By Beck Vass
Patients and staff had to wait outside after the break in the water pipe flooded the hospital. Photo / Martin Sykes
North Shore Hospital staff scrambled to get portable heaters to a baby unit yesterday as they dealt with a flood.
The torrent of water from a broken pipe cut heating to the building and threatened medical equipment worth millions of dollars.
Staff and patients were evacuated and ambulances were diverted to Waitakere and Auckland City Hospitals.
A valve on a large heating and hot water pipe burst, sending water through the emergency care, radiation and outpatient areas from 8.20am.
Equipment was being tested last night, and the extent of any damage and how much it will cost to repair had not been assessed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10444294
Crippled US windsurfer determined to battle on
5:00AM Friday June 08, 2007
Bruce Kendall
A former top American windsurfer who suffered debilitating long-term injuries after a water collision involving Olympic champion Bruce Kendall says what caused the accident needs to be determined before she will accept a settlement.
Kimberly Birkenfeld now uses a wheelchair after the accident in August 2002 when her windsurfer and a boat being driven by Kendall collided in waters off Greece.
Birkenfeld originally sought US$15 million ($19.86 million) in damages from Yachting New Zealand (YNZ) and Kendall, her former coach.
However, YNZ and Kendall won orders limiting the amount of funds payable to about $500,000, which was upheld by the High Court and the Supreme Court after Birkenfeld appealed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10444290
Maori remains handed over
5:00AM Thursday June 07, 2007
The remains of 11 Maori and Moriori are returning to New Zealand today after a handover ceremony in Hobart, Tasmania.
The ancestral bones were donated to the Royal Society of Tasmania by individual collectors and amateur scientists between 1848 and 1879.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery indigenous collections curator (repatriation) Zoe Rimmer said the skeletons were never put on display.
Te Awanuiarangi Black and Susan Forbes, from Te Papa, collected the remains yesterday. They said it was the end of a long and painful chapter.
Ms Forbes said the remains known as "koiwi tangata" were mostly Maori but three were Moriori from the Chatham Islands.
Members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre attended the ceremony, where Mr Black paid respects to his people in Maori.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=252&objectid=10444078
Bishop wages war for Maori vets
5:00AM Tuesday June 05, 2007
Archbishop Whakahuihui Vercoe of Rotorua has made a claim - reportedly for $170 million - to the Waitangi Tribunal backing Maori Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange.
Wairoa lawyer Paul Harman lodged the claim with the tribunal in Wellington on behalf of the archbishop, who served as a chaplain in Vietnam in 1968, and the Vietnam Veterans Action Group, representing about 2000 Maori Vietnam veterans and their families.
Archbishop Vercoe is the former head of the Anglican Church in NZ.
Speaking on behalf of Archbishop Vercoe, who is ill, the Rev Tom Poata said while the Anglican prelate had developed a close relationship with all soldiers, the only way forward he could see for veterans was for a claim to be made through the tribunal.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=252&objectid=10443625
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