Seattle Post Intelligencer
Gore says carbon emission cuts essential
By DOUG MELLGREN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OSLO, Norway -- Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore said Sunday that reducing carbon dioxide emissions is essential to the "survival of our civilization" - and reiterated he had no plans to run for president.
At a joint news conference with the U.N.'s chief climate scientist, Gore called for grass-roots movements worldwide to push political leaders into action to curb the emissions that contributed to global warming.
"It is a question of the survival of our civilization," Gore told reporters at the Nobel Institute in downtown Oslo. "CO2 increases anywhere are a threat to the future of civilization everywhere."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103ap_gore_nobel.html
Cyclone skirts populated parts of Fiji
By PITA LIGAIULA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NADI, Fiji -- A powerful cyclone packing wind gusts up to 154 mph pounded small islands in northern Fiji on Friday, but missed heavily populated areas of the South Pacific nation, officials said.
Cyclone Daman remained a Category 4 storm early Saturday, forecaster Alipate Waqaicelua said, "but we've got to be thankful that it missed the two larger islands of Fiji."
Officials had feared many of the flimsy thatched homes of farmers and fishermen would be blown away.
"While the cyclone is weakening (slowly) it's still packing a very strong punch," Waqaicelua told The Associated Press from Fiji's Nadi weather center.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106ap_fiji_cyclone.html
Tropical storm possible in Atlantic
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI -- A weather system off Puerto Rico has the potential to become a tropical storm, forecasters said Sunday, a little more than a week after the Atlantic hurricane season ended.
At 5 p.m. EST, the system was about 550 miles east-northeast of Puerto Rico. It was moving west at about 15 to 20 mph and was expected to continue that general motion over the next day or two, according to the National Hurricane Center.
It could become a tropical or subtropical storm during the next 24 hours, forecasters said. Tropical storms have winds of at least 39 mph.
The Atlantic hurricane season, which ended Nov. 30, had 14 named storms this year. Six of those were hurricanes.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_tropical_weather.html
So is the launch for NASA in January before or after the hurricanes ?
Shuttle launch off until January
By MARCIA DUNN
AP AEROSPACE WRITER
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA on Sunday delayed the launch of space shuttle Atlantis until January after a gauge in the fuel tank failed for the second time in four days.
With only a few days remaining in the launch window for the shuttle's mission to the international space station, senior managers decided to stand down until next month in hopes of better understanding the perplexing and persistent fuel gauge problem.
"We're determined to get to the bottom of this," said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501ap_space_shuttle.html
Bush declares state flooding major disaster; funds on way
By BRAD WONG
P-I REPORTER
CHEHALIS -- President Bush has declared Washington's flooding a major disaster, clearing the way for federal aid, and Gov. Chris Gregoire said Saturday $300,000 in state emergency assistance was available to help those affected by the recent storm.
Bush's declaration allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse six southwestern counties -- Grays Harbor, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pacific and Thurston -- at least 75 percent of debris-removal costs, and up to 75 percent of emergency measures.
However, Bush has not yet approved individual assistance funding for Washington residents. FEMA spokeswoman Debbie Wing said more types of assistance could be granted and more counties could be covered as floodwaters recede and officials get a better look at the damage.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342849_flooding09.html
Bush attends star-filled holiday benefit
By NATASHA T. METZLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The nation's capital rolled out the red carpet - and holiday garlands - Sunday for music stars like Alan Jackson and Katharine McPhee, who performed for President Bush and the first lady at the annual "Christmas in Washington" concert.
TV host "Dr. Phil" McGraw and his wife, Robin, hosted the festivities for the fourth time. The event, which took place at the National Building Museum, benefited Children's National Medical Center.
"This event is one of the season's great traditions," Bush said. "After all, when else can you see a world-class tenor, country music legend and Dr. Phil all in the same place?"
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151ap_bush_christmas.html
US military deaths in Iraq at 3,886
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
As of Sunday Dec. 9, 2007, at least 3,886 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,165 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is one higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EST.
The British military has reported 173 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107ap_iraq_us_deaths.html
Syria sinking in flood of refugees from Iraq
By LARRY JOHNSON
P-I FOREIGN DESK EDITOR
The P-I's Larry Johnson was part of a group sponsored by the Seattle chapter of the United Nations Association that recently went to Syria to look at how Iraqi refugees are coping and how their presence in such high numbers is affecting their host country. See the blog from the trip: blog.seattlepi.com/piinsyria.
DAMASCUS, Syria -- It's the biggest outpouring of refugees in the Middle East in more than 50 years. Not since the creation of Israel in 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were uprooted, has the region seen such a flood of human beings.
Some 2.6 million Iraqis have fled their homeland since the start of the war in 2003. The overwhelming majority -- 1.5 million -- are in Syria. And most of them are in Damascus, where a group of us from Seattle went last month.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/342804_refugee08.html?source=mypi
UK PM Brown visits Iraq before handover
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BASRA, Iraq -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown flew into southern Iraq Sunday to rally troops who are handing over the last region under their control to Iraqi forces this month.
Britain plans to give responsibility for Basra province to Iraqi forces in mid-December, relinquishing the last of four regions of southern Iraq it occupied after the 2003 invasion.
Soldiers lined the staircases of an airport base to watch Brown arrive for his hourlong visit, offering thunderous applause as he praised their efforts to maintain security in the south.
"We have managed now to get Iraq to a far better position ... we're able to move to provincial control and that is thanks to what you have achieved," Brown told soldiers.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103ap_iraq_britain.html
Why is it, that Syria has so many refugees but is on the Bush/Cheney/Gates hit list ? Why is it that the British are handing over provinces all the time and withdrawing troops while the USA forces see nothing but aggression and killing as a resolve to any PRECEIVED instability. Why is it the provinces where the USA forces exist are always in upheaval ?
Iraq plans crackdown in violent province
By LORI HINNANT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD -- Iraq's defense minister promised on Sunday to wage a new crackdown in a volatile province northeast of Baghdad where militants are trying to regroup after being routed from their urban stronghold there last summer.
Suicide attacks have killed more than 20 people in the last three days in Diyala province, a tribal patchwork of Sunni Arabs, Shiites and Kurds that stretches from Baghdad to the border with Iran.
Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi told The Associated Press that preparations had begun for a fresh military operation in the provincial capital, Baqouba, about 35 miles from Baghdad.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107ap_iraq.html
Vigilantes kill 40 women in Iraq's south
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD -- Religious vigilantes have killed at least 40 women this year in the southern Iraqi city of Basra because of how they dressed, their mutilated bodies found with notes warning against "violating Islamic teachings," the police chief said Sunday.
Maj. Gen. Jalil Khalaf blamed sectarian groups that he said were trying to impose a strict interpretation of Islam. They dispatch patrols of motorbikes or unlicensed cars with tinted windows to accost women not wearing traditional dress and head scarves, he added.
"The women of Basra are being horrifically murdered and then dumped in the garbage with notes saying they were killed for un-Islamic behavior," Khalaf told The Associated Press. He said men with Western clothes or haircuts are also attacked in Basra, an oil-rich city some 30 miles from the Iranian border and 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107ap_iraq_women_killed.html
Search for snowboarders ends; men presumed dead
By CRAIG HARRIS AND CASEY MCNERTHNEY
P-I REPORTER
The search for three snowboarders missing since last weekend at Crystal Mountain officially ended Saturday evening and will not resume. Rescue workers believe an avalanche probably killed the men.
Kevin Carter, 26, Devlin Williams, 29, and Phillip Hollins, 41, have been missing since they failed to return from a weekend trip that began Nov. 30. The men worked as bike messengers at Seattle's Fleetfoot Messenger Service.
"It was a clear day and they had helicopters up and they couldn't find anything," said Hollins' mother, Sally Hollins. "He was my help and support. He certainly did a lot for me, and I sure as heck will miss him."
Ed Troyer, a Pierce County Sheriff's Department spokesman, said as many as 35 rescue workers searched for the men for the last five days.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342848_snowboard-search.html
Man reports $50,000 loss to car prowler
By BRAD WONG
P-I REPORTER
Seattle Police often remind people to be careful leaving valuables in their cars, particularly during the holidays.
One man learned that lesson the hard way Friday, when he reported that a thief broke into his silver 2007 Cadillac Escalade and made off with $50,000 worth of goods.
The thief's new loot includes cash, diamonds, a laptop computer, a passport and a pilot's license, according to a police report.
The theft occurred near the Experience Music Project building and in a parking lot at Fifth Avenue North and Harrison Street.
The man parked the sport utility vehicle around 6:30 p.m. When he returned around 7:45 p.m., someone had punched the driver's side keyhole and took a black computer bag and dark brown briefcase.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342856_carprowl10.html
Nursing aide sentenced in rape of stroke victim
By TRACY JOHNSON
P-I REPORTER
She is no longer trapped inside a paralyzed body, forced to endure whatever former nursing assistant Lamin Darboe wanted to do to her as she lay unable to fight back or cry out.
So on Friday, the woman turned her wheelchair to face Darboe. She watched a judge send him to prison. And as her anguished wails filled the King County courtroom, she told him about the agony of being a stroke victim who was raped.
"Even though it was a sick act of pleasure for Darboe, it hurt me very badly," she said in a letter read aloud by an advocate. "Only I would know the great pain of biting my tongue while being raped, still unable to open my mouth after the stroke."
Darboe, 40, was sentenced to 8 1/2 years to life in prison for raping the woman, who was in his care at Kindred Hospital in Northgate last year.
Superior Court Judge Julie Spector called it one of the most tragic cases she had ever seen and noted his ultimate prison term would be up to the state parole board.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342683_darboe08.html
Levitz bankruptcy erects hurdles for customers
By DAN RICHMAN
P-I REPORTER
Some patrons of Levitz Furniture, which began closing all its stores earlier this week after declaring bankruptcy, say customer service has also gone belly up.
Difficulties in learning how to handle returns and complaints are surfacing after the purchase by Hilco Merchant Resources LLC of Levitz's assets at auction and its liquidation of the company.
Sgt. David Kasin of Fort Lewis said Thursday he and his wife were rebuffed when trying to return a sofa that was delivered damaged. The couple said they ordered the $1,900 sofa, with an extra-cost extended warranty, from Levitz's Tacoma store.
Its back was torn when it was delivered Nov. 2, and they called the next day to report the problem.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/342726_levitz08.html
Pair assaulted on bus awarded $250,000
P-I STAFF
A jury has decided that King County Metro Transit must pay a couple $250,000 for failing to protect them when they were attacked by a mob of unruly men aboard a bus.
Carmen Rollins and Wilhelm Hendershott had sued Metro for negligence because, their lawyer argued at trial, a bus driver failed to take any action to help them during an assault that began aboard his bus May 22, 2005.
Thursday, a jury agreed, awarding each $125,000.
The couple said they were on the bus when the driver allowed 25 to 30 unruly men and women to board. Some in the group targeted the couple for harassment, groping Rollins, then assaulting them when Hendershott told them to back off.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342682_bussuit08.html
Cougar nearly joins SD woman in hot tub
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DEADWOOD, S.D. -- A relaxing soak in a hot tub came to an abrupt end when Marlene Todd came eye to eye with a mountain lion in her backyard.
"I was kind of hidden, sitting with my back up against the side of the tub, and I heard a little rustling sound in the needles right beside me," she said.
Todd said she thought it might have been her house cat until she saw "this big, tan, hairy body" just 4 inches away.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120ap_odd_close_cougar.html?source=mypi
Tortoise's 3rd freedom flight foiled
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- It wasn't exactly a high-speed chase.
Willy the tortoise made a crawl for freedom this week, getting half a mile from the fenced yard where he lives in a doghouse.
Shelley Larsen figures the 200-pound shellback escaped after her 18-year-old son, Aaron, left a gate open Thursday.
Willy was corralled by a neighbor and Riverside County Department of Animal Services workers drove him to a shelter, with the 11-year-old African tortoise "rocking back and forth" in the truck, department spokesman John Welsh said.
"I don't think the public realizes how big and how very strong tortoises are," Welsh said. "The whole shelter was abuzz. Willy is the size of a small bathtub."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120ap_odd_runaway_tortoise.html?source=mypi
Poor students of color less likely to be in Seattle's gifted program
Gap reflects perceptions of elitism, racism
By PAUL NYHAN
P-I REPORTER
Seattle Public Schools' program for gifted students is saddled with perceptions of elitism and racism, and a philosophy that doesn't reflect the latest in gifted education, an outside review panel reported Monday.
The 1,300 students served by the Accelerated Progress Program don't match the racial and economic makeup of Seattle's public schools, the report found. White students make up 70 percent of the program's students, but only 40 percent of the overall district population.
"Some of the belief structures and language used to describe the students and the program contribute to a perception of the program as elitist, exclusionary and even racist," the report stated.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342176_app04.html
Patrols make downtown safer
Extra policing will continue through next year
By SCOTT GUTIERREZ
P-I REPORTER
An infusion of police officers into downtown's central shopping district has decreased 911 calls and chased away many of the thugs and dope dealers who made the area feel unsafe.
Although crime swept out of the area around Pike and Pine streets has apparently moved into neighboring districts, the city is calling its experiment a success and intends to keep extra police on the downtown beat at least through next year.
Most people downtown attest to sharp reductions in loitering, panhandling and street thuggery since the police effort began in summer. And many had hoped the city would maintain the presence next year.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342782_downtown08.html
4 shot outside Colorado Springs church
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A gunman opened fire in the parking lot of a Colorado Springs church on Sunday, striking four people, the church's pastor said.
The conditions of the people shot outside the New Life Church were not known, El Paso County Sheriff's Lt. Lari Sevene said.
Lance Coles, a pastor at New Life Church, told The Associated Press he received a report that a man was shooting at people in the church parking lot and that the gunman may have entered the church.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_church_shooting.html
Group targeted in shooting has far reach
By ERIC GORSKI
AP RELIGION WRITER
DENVER -- Begun in 1960 after a 20-year-old college student said he experienced a vision from God, Youth With a Mission has grown into one of the world's most formidable Christian missions groups.
The group, characterized by a decentralized structure and reputation for attracting zealous young people, equips missionaries to spread the Christian faith around the world, including some of the world's most dangerous corners.
In the dark early hours of Sunday morning, what was supposed to be a safe harbor - a YWAM training center in suburban Denver - turned deadly when a gunman killed two staff members and injured two others.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_church_shootings_missionaries.html
South Korean spill hits seafood industry
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SHINDURI BEACH, South Korea -- Chung Hwan-hyang surveyed the damage from South Korea's worst oil spill, saddened by the knowledge that the oyster farm she and her husband ran for 30 years was lost.
"My oysters are all dead," the 70-year-old woman said Sunday as she and thousands of others cleaned foul-smelling oil from Shinduri Beach. "I cried and cried last night. I don't know what to do."
Some 2.7 million gallons of crude gushed into the ocean after a collision Friday between a barge and a supertanker carrying more than 260,000 tons of crude oil.
For Chung and other residents of Taean County, nearly 100 miles southwest of Seoul, the spill brought despair and shock at how the pollution shattered lives and businesses.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104ap_skorea_oil_spill.html
Scientists: Seaweed could stem warming
By JOSEPH COLEMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BALI, Indonesia -- Slimy, green and unsightly, seaweed and algae are among the humblest of plants.
A group of scientists at a climate conference in Bali say they could also be a potent weapon against global warming, capable of sucking damaging carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere at rates comparable to the mightiest rain forests.
"The ocean's role is neglected because we can't see the vegetation," said Chung Ik-kyo, a South Korean environmental scientist. "But under the sea, there is a lot of seaweed and sea grass that can take up carbon dioxide."
The seaweed research, backed by scientists in 12 Asian-Pacific countries, is part of a broad effort to calculate how much carbon is being absorbed from the atmosphere by plants, and to increase that through reforestation and other steps.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104ap_seaweed_to_the_rescue.html
Suicide car bomber kills 8 in Pakistan
By ZARAR KHAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a police outpost Sunday, killing eight people in an area where the military has been battling Islamic militants loyal to a fugitive cleric, an official said.
Five civilians - including two children - and three policemen died in the attack at the Nimgole post, the headquarters of pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah, said chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. Arshad Waheed. Several others were wounded.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104ap_pakistan_suicide_attack.html
Europe, Africa stuck on key issues
By BARRY HATTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LISBON, Portugal -- The first summit between Europe and Africa in seven years came to an acrimonious end Sunday with leaders squabbling over human rights and no progress on a looming trade pact deadline.
Old divisions surfaced at the two-day summit as leaders swapped accusations over the crises in Zimbabwe and Darfur, and postcolonial tensions deepened over free trade deals.
The World Trade Organization has ruled that the EU's 30-year-old preferential trade agreement with Africa was unfair to other trading nations and violated international rules. New deals are meant to be finalized by Dec. 31.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103ap_eu_africa_summit.html
Idaho test reactor opens to universities
By KEITH RIDLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BOISE, Idaho -- The U.S. Department of Energy is making available to university researchers a nuclear reactor test facility in southeast Idaho so they might learn how to build better nuclear power plants.
The Idaho National Laboratory's Advanced Test Reactor earlier this week issued a call for proposals from universities to conduct irradiation experiments.
"There has been a resurgence of interest in commercial nuclear power," Ivonne Couret, public affairs officer with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "The NRC has been very busy and has had an increase of applications received and expects to receive more in 2008."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501ap_nuclear_research.html
Canada reactor woes delay medical tests
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TORONTO -- Thousands of cancer patients in the U.S., Canada and other countries have had their medical tests postponed because of a problem with a Canadian nuclear reactor that produces medical isotopes used to diagnose and treat such cases.
The isotope shortage is the result of a prolonged shutdown of the reactor in Chalk River, Ontario, which supplies about two-thirds of the multibillion-dollar medical isotopes market to hospitals around the world.
Doctors warned that a shortage of nuclear material due to the shutdown of the federally owned reactor is getting worse by the day, causing many patients to worry.
"Last week, I guess you could describe it as struggling. This week it's devastating, and next week potentially catastrophic," said Dr. Chris O'Brien, president of the Ontario Association of Nuclear Medicine.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101ap_canada_nuclear_medicine.html
Venezuela's Chavez promises Belarus oil
By IAN JAMES
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez promised to supply the oil needs of Belarus for years to come Saturday and dismissed Western accusations that former Soviet republic's leader is a dictator.
Concluding his first visit to Venezuela, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko promised to help the South American country beef up its military.
Chavez said both he and his counterpart are wrongly labeled "dictators" by their critics.
"The international media dictatorship ... calls him 'Europe's last dictator,' and me the last dictator of Latin America. Here we are, the last dictators," Chavez said, laughing. "They demonize us ... (because) we're leading a process of liberating our nations, uniting our nations."
Venezuela and Belarus share similarly hostile stances toward Washington. The U.S. government calls the leftist Chavez a threat to Latin America's stability and Belarus an "outpost of tyranny," accusing Lukashenko of stifling dissent and free speech.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102ap_venezuela_belarus.html
Sub-Saharan Africans cannot count blessings
LARRY DONOHUE
I am sitting by the fireplace. The aroma of freshly brewed Celebration Blend coffee, the newest offering from our son's Blue Star Coffee Roasters, competes with yet complements the bouquet from the cinnamon cider steeping on the stove.
We are mostly healthy. Our children and grandchildren seem happy as they pursue their life choices. Our great grandchild's choices seem limitless. Life is good for us.
The end-of-year holidays are a good time to recall how blessed we are that we were born in the Northern Hemisphere. Much of our comfort is tied to that lucky stroke of fate. Admittedly, we may have worked hard to get an education and may have worked hard in our professions and careers, but how different these holidays would be had our birth cry been sounded in sub-Saharan Africa.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/342717_firstperson10.html
Living Food: Cut farm subsidies
Thanks to a veto threat from President Bush, the U.S. Senate has a choice between wasting its time passing a subsidy-laden farm bill or making substantive reforms. For the sake of Americans' health, the Senate should have the courage to make major changes.
In its current form, the farm bill is as bloated as the waistlines of those who partake a bit too much in our super-sweetened, high-calorie and overprocessed food fare. When it begins voting on amendments as early as Tuesday, the Senate should choose to phase out the system of huge subsidies for major crops.
We don't like many of the president's veto threats, but he is right here. The subsidy system is outdated, favorable to rich farm owners and out of step with free and fair trade concepts.
Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., have offered an excellent alternative that phases out subsidies -- in a different way than Bush has proposed -- while improving environmental programs and paying more attention to promoting healthy fruit and vegetable crops. Their plan deserves broad support, including from Washington's Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/342716_farmed.html
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