The signals coming out of the nation's heartland regarding crop production are mixed

July 4, 2007
Buhler, Kansas
Photographer states :: Kansas wheat harvest - Wheat Truck awaiting load from combine.

It's probably dependant on elevation. There is some difference in elevation in Kanas, the terrain more or less rolls, gently up and down hills, but the elevation differences are very small. This is the time when 'Winter Wheat' is harvested. There will be crops to follow this harvest this year, but, depending on the saturation of the soil and/or the chance erotion and/or oil contamination has changed it's fertility and/or tillability there could be significant impacts on the American harvest.

July 1, 2007

Ottawa, Kansas

Photographer states :: Our surfeit of water requires rather larger than normal bailing devices. All punning aside these large bales swept here from somewhere upstream and moored on a flat between the levees. Water levels are slowing receding but more rain is forecast for this afternoon.

The opportunity for America's drug ecomony moves inside it's borders.

Big-time pot growers use area homes
Since 2005, agents have uncovered large-scale growing operations in more than 100 houses. Many of the raids were linked to a major investigation of a Kent garden-supply store.

Morning Papers - continued...

Ottawa Citizen

Troop death toll climbs to 66
Bomb kills six 'great young Canadians' in armoured vehicle
Don Martin, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Canadian military casualty count in southern Afghanistan reached 66 early yesterday after six soldiers and an interpreter died when their armoured vehicle was demolished by an improvised explosive device planted in a gravel road.
"This was a convoy that was returning from a forward operating area to their home base," said Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant, the Canadians' commanding officer, adding the attack occurred about 20 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City.
Four of the dead are: Capt. Matthew Johnathan Dawe, Cpl. Cole Bartsch and Pte. Lane Watkins, all of 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, and Master Cpl. Colin Bason, a reservist from The Royal Westminster Regiment, B.C.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=901b0eb6-8ebc-4f00-88e4-710775ddb461&k=98927



Military deaths raise questions about Canada's Afghan mission
Mike Blanchfield, CanWest News Service
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007
OTTAWA -- How many is too many?
That is a question Canadians will be asking themselves today in the aftermath of six more soldiers' deaths in Afghanistan. Sixty-six soldiers and one diplomat have now died since the boot of a regular Canadian soldier first touched Afghan soil in early 2002.
So, with all this carnage, is it time to bring the troops home?
Capt. Matthew Johnathan Dawe was one of six Canadian soldiers to die Wednesday about 20 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City.
Canadian politicians are asking themselves that question, too, and while the answers may vary depending on the colour of their party stripes, all of the country's political combatants are united by one imperative: How their stand on the war in Afghanistan translates into votes at home.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants Parliament to reach a consensus on whether to extend the mission beyond February 2009, the Liberals want NATO put on notice that Canada is done with combat operations by then, the NDP wants Canada's 2,500 troops brought home immediately, and the Bloc Quebecois is vaguely calling for a "recalibration" of the mission's focus from combat operations to development.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=4b2fc0bf-a6d2-43d6-85c3-378238518fe3&k=53116



How many more?

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/index.html



Billions spent on defence, but bombs still biggest killer
Richard Foot, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007
Canada and its NATO allies have spent billions of dollars and dispatched a small army of sleuths to Afghanistan and Iraq in the hope of stemming an increasingly deadly tide of enemy roadside bombs.
Yet makeshift bombs -- technically known as improvised explosive devices -- are killing more coalition soldiers than ever and this year have become the greatest single threat to Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
Since the removal of the Taliban regime in 2001, 366 coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan by hostile enemy action, including the six Canadians killed yesterday. As many as 110 of those deaths -- 30 per cent -- were due to improvised explosive devices (IEDs), according to U.S. military data. Twenty-seven of the 66 Canadians killed in Afghanistan -- 41 per cent -- have now been killed by IEDs. And that percentage is climbing.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=633fbc82-b3a9-4e6f-9fa9-776b430b9b0a&k=79070



Cluster of homicides puts strain on police: chief
Five 2007 killings still under investigation
Neco Cockburn, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007
Six homicides in about two weeks and a pair of unsolved cases from earlier this year have created a "taxing" situation for Ottawa's police force, according to Chief Vernon White.
"It certainly is more taxing right now than normal," he said yesterday, adding that the workload has reached a peak since former tax court judge Alban Garon, 77, his wife, Raymonde, 73, and their friend and neighbour, Marie-Claire Benis-kos, 78, were found slain in a 10th-floor luxury condominium at 1510 Riverside Dr. on Saturday.
The investigation is still in an early stage, with the deaths occurring in a challenging location that requires hours of canvassing.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=b28b7c9e-682f-4702-a3a3-b29c42b84f7e&k=87563



'Exceptional' Riopelle donation tied up in bureaucratic red tape
Tax-receipt process keeps 69 works, four donors on shelf
Jean-Francois Bertrand, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007
Since February 2006, a group of donors has been trying to give Gatineau's municipal art gallery, Galerie Montcalm, a valuable collection of work by Canadian master Jean Paul Riopelle.
But because of a bureaucratic ordeal of Byzantine proportions and drawn-out political decision making, 69 precious engravings and lithographs by the internationally renowned artist have not yet been accepted by the gallery -- and it could take another year before they will be.
When the anonymous donors -- three from Montreal and one from the Outaouais -- first approached the city early last year, they found out that giving a gift to the city can require as much patience as generosity.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=3b20f759-dfaa-43f4-9ebd-85c542fa0fb9&k=2389


Chinese subcompact to be cheapest car you can buy
Chrysler finalizes deal to bring tiny Chery to North America
William Lin, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007
Made-in-China cars will soon arrive in North American driveways, with price stickers that could undercut competitors by thousands of dollars.
No one yesterday was willing to predict specific pricing for the Chery Automobile Co. models that Chrysler Group will introduce in Canada and the U.S., but according to analyst Dennis DesRosiers, one thing is certain:
They will be the cheapest cars in North America.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=11bc31dd-3da1-460b-82fa-db90616c12f3&k=437



No dumbing down for Harry Potter's Hermione
The once-shy girl has matured into a poised, articulate actress
Jamie Portman, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007
LONDON - It's late afternoon, and Emma Watson is in a mood for relaxing after a long day of press conferences and interviews. So before she settles down in her Claridges Hotel suite for her interview, she produces a grey Edinburgh University sweat shirt, casually pulls it over her head, and snuggles into its fleecy comfort.
In the process she covers up the eye-catching black Chanel number that was attracting the attention of reporters earlier, and that has made her today's class act when it comes to doing publicity for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
That dress and those gleaming, knee-high boots (a marked contrast to the jeans worn by costars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint) represent one aspect of Watson -- the fashion-conscious teenage star who knows the importance of making a good impression when she's on public display. But the sweatshirt reveals another, more natural side to the 17-year-old actress who enjoys an international fan following because of her performance as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=2f12535b-b34f-4214-8382-2b654392a91b&k=57837


Wry and gentle, homegrown Moose TV is a delight to watch
Alex Strachan, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007
Moose TV is funky, gnarly, wise TV -- small-time, light-hearted and a joy to watch.
At first glance, this new, homegrown comedy series looks like an aboriginal version of SCTV -- Trailer Park Boys meets North of 60, on an SCTV budget. Adam Beach plays George Keeshig, an ambitious entrepreneur and would-be media mogul who, after 10 years in Toronto, returns to Moose, the small northern Quebec community where he grew up. Moose acquired a TV station while he was away, but it has since fallen into disrepair. George is determined to get it up and running again, with the help of the friends he grew up with, local eccentrics and anyone else who cares to lend a hand. He goes at his task with an almost missionary zeal, drawing up a goofy schedule of cheap, easy-to-produce local programming -- Ernie Makes a Drum, Me and My Beaver -- that's fun to watch.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=153f5d14-3afe-4c7c-abbf-de4d69bde3dd&k=79394



Love him or hate him, it's all about Barry
Wayne Scanlan, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007
The closer he got to Babe Ruth's home-run mark, the more hate mail Hank Aaron received.
Death threats. Racist insults.
The shameful reaction in some parts of North America to Aaron's assault on Ruth's sacred total of 714 scarred Hammering Hank for life.
Barry Bonds doesn't seem quite so evil when compared to some.
Robert Galbraith, Reuters
Isn't it odd, then, 34 years later, how fans seem to be warming up to one of sport's most vilified figures, Barry Bonds, as he inches ever closer to Aaron's career record of 755 home runs.
On Tuesday night -- how weird was this? -- Bonds hit No. 751 against a pitcher named Aaron. Aaron Harang of the Cincinnati Reds.
The reaction of baseball fans in Cincinnati was typical of the ambiguity involved with the exploits of Bonds.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/sports/story.html?id=ca60a7f0-f8c5-4f3b-ba0e-d9b6553b54ba&k=24291



Bluesfest: 35,000 savour big opening
Legendary R&B artist Van Morrison first in powerhouse lineup
Patrick Langston, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007
Organizers weren't kidding when they decided to call this year's edition "Attack of the Killer Bluesfest." At least, that's the case judging by last night's mammoth opening performance at the festival's new LeBreton Flats Park home.
An estimated 35,000 music lovers of every age and shape packed the site to see, hear and boogie to vintage R&B artist Van Morrison. That's a lot of people, easily outstripping any other single day in Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest's 14-year history.
It augured well for the rest of the festival, which runs until July 15 with a powerhouse lineup, including, on the MBNA main stage, Bob Dylan tonight, Manu Chao tomorrow, the White Stripes on Sunday, and the likes of INXS and Kanye West next week. Dozens of performers will also dot the festival's four other stages.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=856f03df-230c-44f1-91a8-604f1708aab6&k=8049



Asserting ourselves
The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007
In Canada's recent history we have mostly played a gentleman's game of agreeing to disagree with other nations about the claims they have on our Arctic, but at some point Canadian patience will run out.
The classic expression of polite diplomacy was Canada's agreement on Arctic Co-operation signed with the United States in 1988, after the U.S. icebreaker Polar Sea sailed through the Northwest Passage without asking permission a few years earlier. The deal basically said that the Americans would always ask permission before sailing and we would always say yes. This allows both nations to maintain their positions on the status of the Northwest Passage: Washington believes it is an international strait, while we insist it is ours.
The time for diplomatic fictions could soon be over thanks to the actions of another interested party: Russia. Just before Canada Day, Russian scientists claimed their country extends well under the Arctic ice all the way to the North Pole. The Russians clearly covet the wealth of natural resources, especially the fossil fuels, that many believe lie under the pack ice. Canada, too, is engaged in surveying the undersea geography, as are the Danes and Norwegians. Expect the Americans to come in as well, in the hope of claiming some chunks of the north.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/editorials/story.html?id=eaf6e636-24df-411b-b3b8-b19ab0acf3d4


A disordered world
The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007
Finally, a bit of encouraging news from a corner of the Muslim world: On Wednesday a radical Palestinian group that calls itself the Army of Islam released British journalist Alan Johnston after holding him hostage for some 16 weeks.
Hours later there was some very sad news from another corner of the Muslim world: Six Canadian soldiers and their Afghan interpreter died when their vehicle was hit by a bomb in Afghanistan, where they were serving with the NATO mission.
Life in the West is predictable and stable -- a world of order. The Muslim world, on the other hand, is a place of disorder. Nothing is predictable. Outcomes are never assured. Every political development is fraught with uncertainty.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/editorials/story.html?id=72a0f507-1c84-4b41-b066-a6e293c2f47e



Kansas City Star

Part 1: Hot fuel for you means cold cash for big oil, retailers
SUFFOLK, Va. Lesley “Lucky” Duke’s mood darkens with every drop of diesel that flows into his 2005 Freightliner big rig.
The 52-year-old independent trucker from Hertford, N.C., has just dropped off a load of potatoes and now is topping off his tank on a sweltering summer day.
He whips out a thermometer and takes the temperature of the $2.80-per-gallon fuel gushing into his truck’s tanks. The thermometer hits 80. Then 90. Finally, it stops at 93 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Hot” fuel is costing him the price of a good lunch today, Duke reckons, and as much as $700 a year.
It gnaws at him. Duke, you see, is one of the few Americans who realize that fuel is often sold at temperatures much hotter than the government standard of 60 degrees. It’s a standard agreed to nearly a century ago by the industry and regulators, but virtually unknown to the average consumer.
But you should understand it too — because collectively it’s costing us billions of dollars a year. An investigation by The Kansas City Star has found that at recent prices U.S. consumers are spending about $2.3 billion more for gasoline and diesel this year than they otherwise would if fuel pumps were adjusted to account for expansion of hot fuel.
It works this way.
As a liquid, gasoline expands and contracts depending on temperature. At the 60-degree standard, the 231-cubic-inch American gallon puts out a certain amount of energy. But that same amount of gas expands to more than 235 cubic inches at 90 degrees, even though consumers still only get 231 cubic inches at the pump.
Put simply, every degree over the 60-degree standard diminishes the energy a 231-cubic-inch gallon delivers to the nation’s fleet of cars, trucks, boats, buses and heavy equipment — and forces drivers to consume more and pay more for fuel.

http://www.kansascity.com/128/story/38816.html



Tracking Fuel Temperatures

http://media.kansascity.com/images/business/hot_fuel/receipt.pdf


Temperature Sensing Smart Pump

http://media.kansascity.com/images/business/hot_fuel/pump.pdf


Less energy in each gallon

http://media.kansascity.com/images/business/hot_fuel/cover.pdf


The Colder the Better

http://media.kansascity.com/images/business/hot_fuel/map.pdf


Drivers face a hit from ‘hot fuel’
A report says they will pay $1.5 billion more this summer for gas not temperature-adjusted.
By STEVE EVERLY
The Kansas City Star
U.S. consumers this summer will pay gasoline prices that include a $1.5 billion “hot fuel” premium, according to a congressional staff report released Thursday.
The report, which came prior to a congressional hearing scheduled today, concludes the oil industry has known for a century that gasoline expands with temperature.
Historically, the oil industry has used a measurement standard of 60 degrees for most transactions, including at wholesale. But the industry in America, the report states, has not extended use of that standard to retail sales, so there is no adjustment for consumers.
“As a result, consumers pay a hot fuel premium when gasoline temperatures exceed 60 degrees, as they do this summer,” according to the report by the majority staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Domestic Policy Subcommittee.
The report was issued as background for the first congressional hearing on the hot fuel topic. Witnesses scheduled to testify today include some of the oil industry’s highest-ranking executives.
The congressional staff report examined the economic effects of hot fuel during June, July, August and September. In one example, a 20-gallon purchase of gasoline at a pump price of $3.50 per gallon with the fuel at 90 degrees results in an extra cost of $1.44 for the fill-up because of the effects of hot fuel.
The $1.5 billion nationwide premium cited in the report is for gasoline sales during the summer, when gasoline usage peaks largely because of summer vacations and fuel is at peak temperatures. Consumers in virtually every state are affected, according to the report.

http://www.kansascity.com/128/story/141689.html



Loophole enhances ‘hot fuel’ profits
Hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel taxes paid by American drivers aren’t going to the government, but instead into the pockets of gas and diesel retailers.
It’s legal, the IRS acknowledges. It’s widespread, according to industry experts. And it’s the latest twist in a controversy involving how the oil industry sells fuel based on temperature fluctuations across the country.
The practice, dubbed “hot fuel,” was exposed by The Kansas City Star in August. The newspaper reported that fuel was often sold at temperatures much hotter than the standard 60 degrees — a standard agreed to nearly a century ago by the industry and regulators, but virtually unknown to the average consumer.
As a liquid, gasoline expands and contracts depending on temperature. At 60 degrees, the 231-cubic-inch U.S. gallon puts out a certain amount of energy. But fuel is often sold at much hotter temperatures, causing the gas to expand and the amount of energy, by volume, to decrease. Yet consumers still get only 231 cubic inches per gallon.
Put simply, selling the hotter, expanded fuel to consumers forces drivers to consume more, making the industry more money. The Star reported that consumers were being overcharged an estimated $2.3 billion annually at then-current prices for gasoline and diesel because of the hot fuel phenomenon. Even with the recent drop in gas prices, hot fuel still amounts to $1.7 billion a year at today’s prices.

http://www.kansascity.com/128/story/38819.html



Hodgepodge of rules enriches oil industry
When Florida officials realized that hot fuel was costing the state millions of dollars in taxes, they saw a loophole to plug.
Fuel expands when it gets hotter and Florida’s tropical climate meant the state’s consumers usually paid taxes on an expanded volume. But the fuel tax that retailers remitted to the state was based on a lesser temperature-adjusted volume measured at the wholesale level.
In response, the state’s legislature approved a fix to ensure fuel taxes were collected on the extra gallons purchased at the retail pump.
The victory was short-lived.
A move to streamline the collection of fuel taxes was passed by the legislature in 1996. But the requirement to figure the taxes due on fuel sold at the pump was dropped during negotiations with the fuel industry.
“They made some concessions and we made some concessions,” said Mark Zych, director of technical assistance and dispute resolution at the Florida Department of Revenue.
The volume used to calculate state taxes, which, depending on the state, ranges from 8 to 31 cents per gallon, hinges on how the fuel is measured. One method, which adjusts to a volume that provides the same amount of energy it would at 60 degrees, reduces the taxable volume when the temperature is above 60 degrees. The other method does not adjust for temperature, which reduces the taxable volume when the temperature falls below 60 degrees.
The Kansas City Star found a patchwork of state laws that allows deft use of measuring methods by the oil industry to keep fuel taxes paid to the government down regardless of the fuel temperature.

http://www.kansascity.com/128/story/38818.html



Payrolls, unemployment in KC up in May
More workers were on Kansas City-area establishment payrolls in May than in April, but the area’s unemployment rate inched a bit higher because more people entered the workforce to look for jobs.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning that the metro area jobless rate moved up to 4.6 percent from 4.5 percent last month. A year earlier, in May 2006, unemployment also stood at 4.6 percent.
According to a preliminary, non-seasonally adjusted count, there were 1,011,500 employees on establishment payrolls in May, compared to 1,007,400 in April. That represents a 1.2 percent jobs gain over the month and a 12.3 percent gain compared to May a year ago.
The Kansas City area’s unemployment rate was higher than the national average of 4.3 percent for May, figured on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the bureau said.
Among the 369 metro areas surveyed by the bureau, 312 had over-the-year increases in payroll jobs and 212 had lower unemployment rates.
Diane Stafford, stafford@kcstar.com.

http://www.kansascity.com/382/story/167266.html



Area teen drowns while driving through flooded area
A 16-year-old Excelsior Springs girl drowned Wednesday night after she tried crossing a flooded roadway and water swept away her sport-utility vehicle.
A Missouri Highway Patrol report identified the victim as Brooke N. Baxter.
According to the Highway Patrol, Baxter was westbound in a 2005 Ford Escape on 142nd Terrace about 8:40 p.m. when she tried passing through a low-water crossing that was flooding at Williams Creek near Excelsior Springs. The floodwaters swept her off the roadway and carried her approximately 100 yards before her SUV submerged. Baxter was unable to escape.
Baxter was pronounced dead at the scene about 12:25 a.m. today.
Robert A. Cronkleton, bcronkleton@kcstar.com

http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/177947.html



Tangled traffic has Kansas eyeing three major local road projects
By BRAD COOPER
The Kansas City Star
Denise Sprague hadn’t been on the job 3  ½ weeks before deciding she needed a new way home from work.
It took Sprague almost an hour to drive 19 miles from her job on Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park to Spring Hill in southern Johnson County.
Not good when the baby sitter checks out at 6 p.m.
Slowing down Sprague were hundreds of vehicles backed up on the long flyover ramp from westbound Interstate 435 to southbound Interstate 35.
“It’s horrible. It’s a sea of cars. No one is moving in either direction,” Sprague said. “I have a grandson to get home to.”
It’s a scenario replayed most every day where I-435, I-35 and Kansas 10 converge at the border of Overland Park and Lenexa.
Call it Grandview Triangle West.

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/177561.html



Soggy Osawatomie enjoys at least some July 4 festivities
By ERIC ADLER
The Kansas City Star
OSAWATOMIE, Kan. Every Fourth of July, Greg and Malinda Botwinik have held a giant lawn party with a disc jockey, barbecue and fireworks for friends, family and co-workers.
But with a swath of this Kansas town still submerged under river water and with hundreds of families still displaced, Greg Botwinik got on the phone Tuesday evening to call everyone and cancel.
“It just didn’t seem right, not right now,” said Malinda Botwinik, whose home on the dry outskirts of this town some 50 miles south of Kansas City is sheltering 18 people — including her family of six. “How can you celebrate when so many people have lost so much?”
Yet on Independence Day, under early morning dry blue skies, a lot of people in this town of 4,500 were celebrating. In many ways, the town stood out as a city of contrasts.

http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/177593.html



Live Earth: A briefing
The latest in a long list of concerts for causes, Live Earth will stage a multimedia assault on the world's attention span July 7, urging action against human-induced climate change.
The seven-point pledge
The Live Earth audience will be asked to sign this pledge, also available at LiveEarth.org:
I pledge
1. To demand that my country join an international treaty within the next two years that cuts global-warming pollution by 90 percent in developed countries and by more than half worldwide in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy earth;
2. To take personal action to help solve the climate crises by reducing my own CO2 pollution as much as I can and offsetting the rest to become "carbon neutral";
3. To fight for a moratorium on the construction of any new generating facility that burns coal without the capacity to safely trap and store the CO2;
4. To work for a dramatic increase in the energy efficiency of my home, workplace, school, place of worship, and means of transportation;
5. To fight for laws and policies that expand the use of renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on oil and coal;
6. To plant new trees and to join with others in preserving and protecting forests; and,
7. To buy from businesses and support leaders who share my commitment to solving the climate crises and building a sustainable, just, and prosperous world for the 21st century.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0705/p13s01-wogi.html?page=2



Our Changing Climate

http://www.kansascity.com/changing_climate/



KEEPING TRACK OF THE RELIGIOUS LEFT
As I've written about for The Kansas City Star and, as I recall, for this blog, there's been a renewed effort among faith-based groups that think of themselves as progressive or liberal to be more prominent in the public eye.
Now there's an online mapping project designed to help people locate such groups and get more active with them. It's produced by a group called Faith in Public Life, which says it's devoted to pursuing justice and the common good.
Click here for the group's longish pdf report on the project.
I'm going to be brief today to let you look around on these sites to see if there's anything that interests you or your own faith community -- and to see whether you agree with me that the more voices from various spaces on the faith spectrum the better.

http://billtammeus.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/07/july-5-2007.html



EPA proposes lower ozone limits, citing health damage; Impact would be felt in Missouri and Kansas
By Jim Polson Bloomberg News Service
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed tougher standards for ground-level ozone, or smog, for public health reasons, setting off a debate between industry and environmentalists.
The agency is required to regularly review its air quality standards to keep up with new science. An independent scientific panel recommended tighter standards in October. EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson today proposed reducing the limit to 0.07 to 0.075 parts per million units of air from .08 parts per million, set in 1997.
“The current standard is insufficient to protect public health,” Johnson said today in a press conference in Washington. “There is not scientific justification for retaining the current standard.”
About 52 percent of Americans, or 156 million people, are breathing air that is too frequently hazardous to their health, based on present ozone standards, according to EPA and Census Bureau data. About 14.9 million of them live in the Los Angeles area, which EPA says has the smoggiest air in the nation.

http://www.kansascity.com/344/story/161045.html



Stocks fall ahead of economic data
By MADLEN READ
AP Business Writer
Wall Street fell in early trading Thursday after dealmaking news lifted some sectors, but investors remained jittery about rebounding bond yields and upcoming data on the U.S. service sector.
The Institute for Supply Management's index of service sector activity in June, scheduled to be released at 10 a.m., is expected to slip to 58.1 from 59.7 in May, indicating that non-manufacturing industries saw slower expansion.
A much lower reading could signal some signs of economic weakness, while any signs that inflation is accelerating - such as a index of the prices companies themselves pay - could raise interest rate jitters. Last week, the Federal Reserve said recent data have shown inflation is moderating, but the bank wants to see more evidence.
The 10-year Treasury note's yield bounced back to 5.10 percent Thursday from 5.04 percent Tuesday, which could create problems for stock investors worried about high rates slowing down business. Bond prices, which move in the opposite direction from yields, fell as traders anticipated that the Labor Department's jobs report Friday would come in strong.

http://www.kansascity.com/382/story/177901.html



Oil, gas futures rise on Nigeria attacks
By JOHN WILEN
AP Business Writer
Prices for three grades of fuels are seen as Lester Greenhouse fills his car with gas at a station in Zelienople. Pa. Tuesday, July 3, 2007. Oil and gasoline futures prices rose in lethargic preholiday trading Tuesday on renewed concerns about gasoline supplies and positioning in advance of Thursday's government inventory report.
Oil and gasoline futures rose Thursday on renewed violence in Nigeria, despite expectations that a U.S. government inventory report will show gasoline supplies rose last week.
The market was on edge after gunmen on Wednesday attacked a Royal Dutch Shell PLC oil rig in Nigeria's southern oil heartland and seized five foreign workers. Shell said no production was lost. The attack came as a Nigerian opposition group threatened to end a one-month truce in its attacks against the government and the nation's oil industry.
"The honeymoon in Nigeria may be coming to a close, as members of MEND, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, threatened yesterday to resume attacks on oil installations in their primary area of operation," wrote Peter Beutel, president of U.S. energy risk management firm Cameron Hanover, in a research note.
Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and one of the top overseas suppliers to the United States.

http://www.kansascity.com/382/story/177904.html



Area Peace Group Launches $10,000 Campaign to Support Peace and Democracy in the Middle East
The May 31 kickoff fundraiser dinner for Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem exceeded organizers’ expectations, bringing in $1700 at Holy Land Café in Overland Park. There were 45 people attending the event to launch the $10,000 fundraising campaign.
Hope Flowers is an independent private K-7 school located on a hillside of South Bethlehem, where 220 children are given a progressive education based on Montessori methods with an intercultural, interfaith, conflict-resolution and democratic emphasis. Hope Flowers seeks funding support, educational contacts and volunteers to help in teaching and project development at the school. The support of concerned Americans can make a huge difference in the Hope Flowers school program.
"The Hope Flowers School provides a ray of hope for the world and, in particular, Palestinian families and children who believe that peace is possible for Israeli and Palestinian people," according to Peter Waasdorp, who, with his wife Nancy, is co-facilitator of the US Friends of Hope Flowers School. Citizens for Justice in the Middle East is working with US Friends of Hope Flowers School to raise $100,000 nationally, and has set a goal to raise $10,000 from Kansas City area donors.

http://pressreleases.kcstar.com/?q=node/2429



Report: UK house used as bomb factory
By DAVID RISING
Associated Press Writer
A Scottish house had been used as a makeshift bomb factory to carry out the terror attacks in London and Scotland, British media reported Thursday.
Meanwhile, a subway derailed in the capital during rush-hour, raising jitters in the wake of the foiled terror plots and the Saturday's anniversary of the deadly 2005 suicide bombings.
Police said the train derailment on London's Central line was unrelated to the terror plots. At least one person was injured in the accident, which was reportedly caused because of an obstruction on the tracks.
Britain's terrorism threat level has been lowered following the capture of eight people connected with the three failed car bombings but authorities were still investigating the possibility of a sleeper cell operating in the country.

http://www.kansascity.com/449/story/177008.html



Mosque leader foresees end of siege
By MUNIR AHMAD
Associated Press Writer
A radical cleric arrested while fleeing his government-besieged mosque in a woman's burqa and high heels said Thursday that the nearly 1,000 followers still inside should flee or surrender.
The comments by Maulana Abdul Aziz raised hopes that the standoff could end without further bloodshed, but his brother remained inside the mosque with followers and said there was no reason to surrender.
Gunfire erupted repeatedly around the Red Mosque, or Lal Masjid Aziz, but no large-scale fighting was reported. Four helicopters hovered over the area, from which journalists were barred.
At least 16 people, including eight militants, have been killed and scores injured in the standoff between Pakistan's U.S.-backed government and Aziz, who has challenged President Gen. Pervez Musharraf with a drive to impose Taliban-style Islamic law in the city.
The bloodshed in the heart of the capital has added to a sense of crisis in Pakistan, where Musharraf faces emboldened militants near the Afghan border and a pro-democracy movement triggered by his botched attempt to fire the country's chief justice.
Aziz's brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, remains inside the mosque and an Interior Ministry official estimated that the cleric had about 30 diehard supporters with him. Intelligence officials said there could be as many as 100.

http://www.kansascity.com/449/story/177892.html



KC Fed offers new consumer protection Web site
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has launched a new consumer protection Web site.
The site at http://www.kansascityfed.org/home/subwebs.cfm?subWeb=4 features answers to the most commonly asked consumer questions related to banking and includes a link allowing consumers to ask specific questions.
The site also offers financial education tools. If consumers have a concern with a specific financial institution, the site will direct them to the appropriate regulatory agency to file a complaint.

http://www.kansascity.com/382/story/177964.html



Benoit was named in DEA steroid probe
Chris Benoit’s mother said she wonders whether her son would still be alive if federal agents had been more aggressive when they discovered that Benoit, a professional wrestler, was buying large quantities of steroids.
The Drug Enforcement Administration acknowledged this week that Benoit’s name surfaced in an investigation before he killed his wife, son and himself. But Benoit wasn’t charged, and his supply continued until at least May, a month before the murder-suicide, according to a review of records by The Associated Press.
Benoit’s mother said she is also concerned by another disclosure that police were previously aware Benoit’s doctor, Phil Astin, may have been improperly prescribing medications.
Asked if quicker action by authorities could have helped her son, Margaret Benoit said in a telephone interview from her home in Alberta, Canada, “We would certainly hope so. We just don’t know.”

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/177542.html



Investment in Parent Power pays off
By JOE ROBERTSON
The Kansas City Star
In her weaker moments, Angela Norton sometimes wonders if she wasn’t cut out to get a college degree.
“I’m not as strong as some people,” she says.
She holds a 1-year-old daughter, Cadence, in her arms on a summer evening. Her 14-year-old, Chryssalyn, hears her.
“Yes, you are,” the teenager objects.
She knows how her mother tried twice to go to college — to move beyond the GED she earned after leaving North Kansas City High School a year early 15 years ago — and how life always got in the way.
She knows her mother has been spending evenings in the Kansas City School District’s new Parent Power Institute, a program that teaches the skills and strategies parents need to navigate the obstacles standing between them and college degrees.

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/177701.html



Sparring escalates between Gov. Matt Blunt and Attorney General Jay Nixon.
By TIM HOOVER
The Star’s Jefferson City correspondent
JEFFERSON CITY The political battle between Missouri Republican Gov. Matt Blunt and his likely 2008 Democratic challenger, Attorney General Jay Nixon, is heating up.
Much of the drama is playing out on official state letterheads from the governor and attorney general as the two spar publicly in news releases and letters.
In June, Blunt’s administration attacked the attorney general four times — faulting his lack of involvement in the case of a missing Belton teenager, and his handling of the Taum Sauk reservoir collapse investigation, the arrest of a former state employee in an identity-theft scam, and the state’s Second Injury Fund.
Meanwhile, Nixon’s ongoing legal challenge continues over Blunt’s plan to tear down an old railroad bridge in Boonville that recreation-trail enthusiasts want to preserve. Nixon has also been publicly critical of the governor’s efforts to use student-loan proceeds for college construction projects. Also, earlier this year, Nixon’s office notified the Blunt administration that it would no longer allow janitorial workers in the attorney general’s office because some workers had criminal records and lacked proper identification.
In the latest salvo, fired last week, Blunt suggested that Nixon was deficient in the case of a 17-year-old Belton girl who has been missing since May 4. In a letter to Nixon, Blunt said “many Missourians” were concerned that the attorney general’s office “has not been engaged in this case,” adding that Nixon should assist in the investigation of the girl’s disappearance.

http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/177663.html


New Zealand Herald

State of emergency after tornadoes hit Taranaki
9:15PM Thursday July 05, 2007
Photo / Bay of Plenty Times
A state of emergency has been declared in the New Plymouth district tonight after a series of tornadoes ripped through the region.
Police said about seven tornados hit the region during an electrical storm in Oakura, Egmont Village, Inglewood and the Waitara area about 5.30pm.
A Taranaki Civil Defence spokesperson said the most serious damage was centred on Oakura where tornados had travelled right through the township.
Up to 50 houses were damaged, with some sustaining damage of up to 70 to 80 per cent. Many were uninhabitable, the spokesperson said.
One woman had been injured and an unknown number of people trapped in a vehicle by power lines on the corner of Wiremu Rd and Ihaia Rd towards Opunake.
A welfare centre was being set up in Oakura to provide somewhere for local victims to go and to assess what people need.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10449944



Reward considered to catch vandals as contractors race to shore up beach
5:00AM Thursday July 05, 2007
A reward may be offered to help catch the person who sabotaged erosion protection and weakened Dunedin's defences against a threatening Pacific Ocean.
After Dunedin City Council contractors worked through the night to get emergency sand to a rapidly eroding beach, a "very angry" Mayor Peter Chin said yesterday he would consider posting a reward.
He urged Dunedin people to contact police if they knew the culprit.
"This is serious stuff that threatens the city," he said.
"Sand sausages" - bags filled with sand and laid to protect sand hills from erosion - were slashed at St Clair beach this week, leaving the council in a race against time to protect the beach before the arrival of predicted southerly swells later this week.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10449745


Man fined for poisoning tree
12:45PM Thursday July 05, 2007
Ginkgo biloba. File photo
A resident of the Auckland suburb of Mt Albert has been fined $3500 for poisoning a protected tree on a neighbouring property.
Rajesh Kumar Lallubhai Patel was fined after pleading guilty to a charge of poisoning a generally protected gingko tree at the Horticulture and Food Research Institute in Mt Albert.
The Auckland District Court heard earlier this week Patel was seen drilling holes in the tree and stuffing cotton wool soaked in weedkiller into the holes.
The court heard the tree was likely to survive.
Had the tree been seriously damaged, the fine would have been between $10,000 and $15,000, Judge Fred McElrea said in sentencing.
Patel was also ordered to pay costs of $1392.
- NZPA

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10449821


Rain, fires deliver the grim news
5:00AM Tuesday July 03, 2007
By David Usborne

Fighting forest fires in Greece. Photo / Reuters
Is global warming to blame, or is this just normal weather extremes?
No one has worked harder than former American Vice-President Al Gore to raise awareness of the threat of climate change, and on Saturday he takes it to the next level with Live Earth, a series of concerts around the world that will be watched or heard by as many as two billion people.
But many millions of us don't need Gore to tell us something is up with the weather. Not if you have been driven from your home in recent days by cyclones in Pakistan, by raging floods in Texas or Yorkshire, by forest fires in California or have sweltered in intense heat in southern Europe.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10449187


Police bust illegal Amazon logging ring - reports
5:00PM Saturday June 30, 2007
BRASILIA - Brazilian police have broken up a logging ring whose members are suspected of using fake permits to fell a half million trees in the biologically sensitive Amazon rain forest, media reports said.
Computer hackers and former state employees tapped into the government's electronic system and forged the permits so loggers could transport illegal lumber, the reports said.
"These are gangsters not loggers," police officer Sergio Rovani from Belem, a city at the mouth of the Amazon river, told Globo television on Friday local time. "This is a million-dollar fraud."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10448839


Churches see their mission to care for creation
5:00AM Monday July 02, 2007
By Angela Gregory
Churches are urging their congregations to take action on climate change and other green issues.
Anglican, Catholic and other denominations are trying to address concerns about environmental challenges caused by global warming.
An Anglican diocesan climate change action group in Auckland is, for instance, running educational programmes on faith responses to "global climate change and the ecological crisis".
A series of seminars, which began in Mt Albert yesterday, is being run over the next six weeks, covering issues from a practical and theological perspective.
They are taken by Patrick Doherty, a member of St Benedict's Catholic parish in Newton, from the St Lukes Church hall in New North Rd each Sunday and are open to members of all faiths.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10448960



UN declares Ecuador's Galapagos Islands in danger
1:15PM Wednesday June 27, 2007
QUITO - A United Nations committee meeting in Christchurch yesterday declared Ecuador's Galapagos islands in danger as booming tourism and immigration threaten giant tortoises and blue-footed boobies unique to the archipelago.
"They are threatened by invasive species, growing tourism and immigration," UNESCO's world heritage committee said a statement.
The volcanic islands, located 1000km west of Ecuador's coast, inspired British naturalist Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Maria Espinosa said the committee's statement "will help the government's efforts to solve the complex problems of the Galapagos."
President Rafael Correa declared the islands at risk in April and has vowed to impose more rigorous population restrictions and temporarily suspend some tourism permits.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10448218



C02 target report on the table
5:00AM Saturday June 30, 2007
The European Parliament Environment Committee is debating the draft Davies report on further reducing CO2 emissions from cars.
The report, drawn up by the British Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, suggests the car industry should have until 2015 to meet a target for the average new car emitting no more than 120g of CO2 per kilometre.
The Davies report is a response to the commission's proposal earlier this year that the European Commission's original target of 120g/km by 2012 should be changed to an average of 130g/km, and the remaining 10g met through other measures.
The European vehicle manufacturers' trade association, ACEA, supports the fact that the Davies report recognises the need for sufficient lead time for the European automotive industry. It has been arguing for an extension of the deadline to 2015. However, ACEA also argues that the targets for CO2 emission reductions from cars mentioned are "far too stringent".
ACEA also argues that the Davies report focuses only on vehicle technology, disregarding the need for a combination of efforts and measures to achieve better, cost-effective results for the environment, the industry and society as a whole.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10448529



Toyota's hybrid sales hit $1m mark
5:00AM Saturday June 30, 2007
A decade after the first Prius went on sale, Toyota's global sales of hybrid vehicles have hit a landmark 1 million, underlining the Japanese carmaker's lead in green technology that has changed the face of the automotive industry.
Toyota's cumulative sales of petrol-and-electric-powered vehicles totalled 1.047 million as of the end of May.
Of those, nearly 345,000 hybrids were sold in Japan, while 702,000 were sold abroad.
Sales of Toyota hybrids have climbed from just 18,000 in 1998 to 312,500 last year, the company said.
Demand for hybrids, which deliver superior mileage by switching between a petrol engine and electric motor, has soared amid higher fuel prices and greater consumer concern about pollution and global warming.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10448525



Vector trials micro-turbines to generate power
6:30PM Wednesday June 27, 2007
By Kent Atkinson
Electricity distribution company Vector has started importing micro wind turbines from Scotland for trials in Auckland and Wellington.
The first turbine was today erected on the Waitakere City Council building.
The award-winning Swift turbines have been installed across Britain as some UK city councils have required homes in new subdivisions to generate 10 per cent of their energy-needs on-site from renewable resources.
The former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Morgan Williams, said last year that some New Zealand households could generate about a third of their electricity requirements by fitting the Swift turbines to the roof of their home on a pole in their backyard.
Such rooftop-mountable wind turbines with an output of 1.5kW could provide between 2000 and 3000kW-hours of electricity a year.
"This is equivalent to one third of the total electricity requirement for the average New Zealand household," he said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10448254



Chance for livestock to breathe easy
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 5:00AM Monday July 02, 2007
By Errol Kiong
Satellite images of greenhouse gas clouds over New Zealand suggests methane from livestock may not be as big a problem as first thought.
And the New Zealanders who found the satellite discrepancy believe that if their theory proves true, the find could have major implications on taxpayers and the country's Kyoto responsibilities.
The cost of meeting obligations under the Kyoto climate change treaty falls entirely on taxpayers.
The Treasury's estimate of the bill is just shy of $600 million for the period between 2008 and 2012.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10448961



Lucy Siegle: Is my habit of playing golf polluting the planet?
5:00AM Monday July 02, 2007
By Lucy Siegle
This week's question comes from a male reader - alerted by his girlfriend, who thinks his love of golf might be incompatible with his Greenpeace membership. However, he claims the sport nurtures his green sensibilities.
He's not the first to face this quandary, because golf looks eco-friendly until you get to the greens. Living in fear of fusarium, a fungus that scars the carpet-like appearance of the grass, greenkeepers have increasingly favoured strong pesticides. Naturally, this doesn't please eco warriors who allege that the 17,000 golf courses in the US use more pesticides than anyone else, including farmers. Then there's evidence like the 1996 University of Iowa study that showed higher rates of brain and prostate cancers and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in golf-course workers than in the general population. The golf fraternity refutes charges of being major polluters, and another US study concluded in 1999 that the pesticide run-off into local watercourses was "virtually nil".

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10448959



NZ dollar gives little ground
5:59PM Thursday July 05, 2007
The New Zealand dollar eased a few pips on its main crosses - against the US and Australian dollars - but remained close to its record on a trade-weighted index basis.
With the US market closed for Independence Day, activity was relatively quiet.
Against the greenback, the kiwi largely tracked sideways since early Tuesday, after moving up strongly from US75.80c last Thursday morning.
It hit its highest level since being floated 22 years ago of US78.40c on Tuesday night and came within a whisker of that again yesterday evening. It eased a tad to US78.16c by the close today.
Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi made a minuscule move down to A91.16c from A91.24c at 5pm yesterday.
Australia's central bank yesterday kept interest rates on hold at 6.25 percent as widely expected, but investors reckon solid growth will lead to higher rates in the months ahead.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10449880


Immigration cuts don't go far enough - NZ First
6:00PM Thursday July 05, 2007
New Zealand First says a cut to the immigration quota does not go far enough.
Persistent inflation has forced the Government to lower its resident migrants target despite ongoing skill shortages in several industries.
Immigration Minister David Cunliffe today said the New Zealand Residence Programme for the coming year would target 45,000 to 50,000 migrants, compared with 47,000 to 52,000 in the past year.
"With the economy strong and New Zealand competing in a global market for skilled migrants, our top priority at present is ensuring we get high quality migrants while not adding to inflationary pressures."
New Zealand First Deputy Leader Peter Brown said his party - which includes Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters - remains concerned at the high proportion of unskilled migrants entering the country.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10449881


Drug dealer had stun gun, nail bomb in safe
3:56PM Thursday July 05, 2007
Police found a stun gun and a stick of commercial explosive, with a variety of 6cm and 11cm-long nails wrapped around it, inside a locked safe when they searched a Napier house during a drug bust, Hastings District Court was told today.
The search in November last year was part of Operation Nacre, an undercover police investigation into the supply and sale of drugs, including cannabis and methamphetamine, in Gisborne and Hawke's Bay.
Clayton Michael O'Brien, a 25-year-old labourer, of Napier, today admitted supplying methamphetamine, producing cannabis oil, possessing cannabis, illegal possession of a sawn-off shotgun, possessing a restricted weapon - a stun gun - and possessing an explosive device, namely a homemade bomb.
He was remanded in custody by Judge Bridget MacIntosh, for sentence on September 6.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10449849


Electoral Commission can't afford to educate disinterested voters
5:00AM Friday July 06, 2007
The Electoral Commission say it does not have enough money to run an effective information campaign about next year's election at a time when the number of people who are disinterested in the political process is growing.
The commission said in its Statement of Intent that its annual budget and extra money for election information had not changed since it was set up in 1994.
It faced internal cost pressures declining buying power.
"If funding for the election information campaign is not increased for future elections then the Electoral Commission will not be able to deliver an MMP information campaign of equal reach and penetration as in 2005," the commission said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10449898



China environment chief warns pollution fuelling unrest
6:25AM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Chris Buckley
BEIJING - Chinese anger with worsening pollution is fuelling increasing protests, the nation's top environmental official said, criticising local governments who he said protected factories turning rivers into "sticky glue".
Chief of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), Zhou Shengxian, said discontent with pollution "has resulted in a rising number of 'mass incidents"' - an official euphemism for riots, protests and collective petitions - the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Wednesday.
Speaking to officials, Zhou did not give overall numbers for such acts but said SEPA had received 1814 citizen petitions in the first five months of this year demanding an improved environment, an 8 percent rise on the same period of 2006, Xinhua reported.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449889



Fifth of Chinese products fail domestic checks
7:15AM Thursday July 05, 2007
One-fifth of products made in China for domestic consumption failed quality and safety standards, the Government said yesterday.
China's dismal product safety record, within and outside its borders, has increasingly come under the spotlight in the local and foreign media as its goods make their way through global markets.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449722



China tornado kills 14
5:15AM Thursday July 05, 2007
A tornado has killed 14 people and injured 146 in eastern China.
Another 200 people have been evacuated.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449719



China 'stifles World Bank report' on deaths caused by polluted air
5:00AM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Clifford Coonan
China's poisoned air rose higher on the political agenda yesterday after reports that it forced the World Bank to censor a study for fear that one of its findings - that 750,000 people die of pollution-related illness each year - might stoke social unrest.
Beijing has also been forced to promise to remove one million cars from the streets next month in an attempt to improve the environment in time for next year's Olympic Games.
Earlier figures conceded that 400,000 people died of pollution-related illness in China each year. But the Financial Times quoted a World Bank report, produced in co-operation with Chinese government ministries over several years, which found that the number was more like three quarters of a million. These deaths are mainly caused by air pollution in cities.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449698


'Warning blasts' over Pakistan mosque occupation
1:20PM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Kamran Haider
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security forces fired a series of "warning blasts" before dawn near Islamabad's radical Red Mosque on Thursday, stepping up pressure on hundreds of militant students inside to surrender, a security official said.
There were about eight explosions at intervals of several minutes, witnesses said. Some gunfire also erupted but both the blasts and gunfire stopped after about 20 minutes.
"They were warning blasts. We have not yet entered the mosque," said the official, who declined to be identified.
The blasts were followed by an announcement from security force loudspeakers outside the Lal Masjid calling on students inside to give up, a witness said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449804


Mosque under siege after 11 die
5:00AM Thursday July 05, 2007
Students on the roof of the Red Mosque before soldiers attacked and then sealed off the area. Photo / Reuters
Islamabad - Pakistani troops sealed off the area around a mosque in the capital and imposed a 24-hour curfew yesterday after 11 people were killed in clashes between security forces and militant Islamic students.
Violence erupted after a months-long standoff between a Taleban-style movement headquartered at Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, close by Parliament and a protected enclave for foreign embassies.
As the gunfire died down yesterday, soldiers moved 12 armoured personnel carriers, mounted with machine-guns, into the area shortly before dawn.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449711


Freed BBC reporter describes Gaza captivity (+video)
8:25AM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA - The BBC journalist freed 114 days after being kidnapped in Gaza said his ordeal was like "being buried alive".
Alan Johnston was freed on Wednesday after a deal between the ruling Hamas Islamists and the al Qaeda-inspired clan group that kidnapped him in March.
"It is just the most fantastic thing to be free. It was an appalling experience," he told the British public broadcaster from the home of local Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh after his ordeal at the hands of the shadowy Army of Islam.
Johnston said he was ill at times but only at the last did they beat him during a wild midnight drive to freedom. Mostly alone with a single, moody guard, he did not see the sun for months but was comforted by messages of support on his radio.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449778


Business is good for America's Cup - or is it?
1:00PM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Jane Barrett
VALENCIA, Spain - America's Cup winners Alinghi not only run their sailing team like a business, they have also made big changes to the world's longest-running sports event, commercialising it as never before.
For some, including long-standing sponsor Louis Vuitton, the Swiss syndicate may have taken things too far.
After winning the "Auld Mug" for a second time on Tuesday, Alinghi now have carte blanche to keep changing the Cup under the rule that the winners organise the next one as they want.
Their president, billionaire businessman Ernesto Bertarelli, has said he wants to get the 156-year-old America's Cup to the point where it can fund itself. Others say that money is getting in the way of the tradition and romance of the competition.
"The America's Cup is quickly changing and maybe it's becoming too commercial," said Bruno Trouble, who sailed two French challenges in 1977 and 1980 and has since been the link between the Cup and Louis Vuitton, its main sponsor.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10449788



Yachting: Butterworth and co set to stay with Alinghi
2:18PM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Robert Lowe
VALENCIA - Alinghi's full contingent of former Team New Zealand sailors are expected to stay with the Swiss defenders for the next America's Cup.
Skipper and tactician Brad Butterworth has already said he wants to remain with the syndicate, which held on to the America's Cup by completing a 5-2 win over Team NZ off Valencia on Wednesday.
He said today that his four long-term colleagues -- Dean Phipps, Warwick Fleury, Simon Daubney and Murray Jones -- wanted to do the same.
"We stick together, that's for sure," he said.
"We're mates and we've sailed together for years. We talk about what we're going to do ahead of time. We've always been keen to sail with one another and we enjoy each other's company.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10449836



Yachting: Team NZ's exclusion leaves unpleasant taste
7:58AM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Robert Lowe
VALENCIA - Alinghi's celebrations after retaining yachting's biggest prize off Valencia have left a slightly unpleasant taste in the mouth, even among some Swiss.
Team New Zealand were largely neglected on Wednesday after the boats came back from the race course, where the defenders had completed a 5-2 victory to keep hold of the America's Cup.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10449772



Government gives Team NZ $10m to explore new challenge
7:52AM Wednesday July 04, 2007
The Government is committing $10 million to hold on to vital America's Cup team members as the viability of launching another challenge for the Auld Mug is explored.
Sport and Recreation Minister Trevor Mallard announced the interim funding shortly after a nail-biting finish to race seven overnight, which Team New Zealand lost by 1 second, ending their challenge for the 32nd America's Cup 5-2.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10449525



Getting ready to ring iPhoNZ
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 5:00AM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Peter Griffin
New Zealand's first iPhone owners are globe-trotting technology entrepreneurs who see business opportunities for themselves in Apple's sought-after gadget.
Tech sector veterans and regular visitors to the US, Steve Simms and Derek and Geoffrey Handley, picked up iPhones after the combined phone and music player was launched last week.
While the three share an interest in gadgets, their iPhone purchases also fall into the category of market research - they may soon be tailoring services to meet the new gadget's requirements.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10449696



Blog: It's a high definition world
11:08AM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Peter Griffin
I've been making good use of the high definition disc drive add-on for the Xbox 360 lately, which I've paired with a 32-inch V-series Sony Bravia to good effect.
The V-series has dropped in price quite steeply in recent months as Sony looks to replace older stock. The KLV32V300A screen is down to $1995, but is on sale for even less - my girlfriend managed to pick one up from Cherry Tree for just over $1700.
It really is a beautiful LCD TV. I was trying to steer her towards the less sophisticated but larger 40 inch S-Series, but she held out, paid less and made the right decision - a 40 inch LCD would have been too over-powering for her apartment.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10449803


Risque EU defends internet orgasm clip
11:22AM Thursday July 05, 2007
Actress Audrey Tatou in scene from film Amelie, one of the EU-funded films in the controversial clip.
BRUSSELS - Talk of monetary union and wine quotas gave way to controversy over orgasms and innuendo at the European Commission on Wednesday as it defended a risque Internet video clip highlighting its backing for European cinema.
The EU executive's usually dry daily news briefing sprung to life with questions over whether a 44-second clip of 18 couples achieving ecstasy in a variety of positions and venues was the best way to show how Brussels uses taxpayers' money.
The raunchy clip is made up of snippets from various general release films that have been funded by the EU, including "Amelie" and "Good Bye Lenin!".

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10449806


Are pylons the right solution to Auckland's power needs?
4:40PM Thursday July 05, 2007
Plans to build a line of giant pylons from Waikato into Auckland have been racked with controversy.
Final approval to the project has now been granted by the Electricity Commission. The $683 million proposal could also be fast-tracked by the Government to ensure it doesn't get bogged down in the resource consent process.
Are pylons the right solution to Auckland's power needs? Here is a selection of Your Views:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=1501154&objectid=10449786


Just two per cent extra for Australia's lowest-paid
1:45PM Thursday July 05, 2007
Australia's one million lowest paid workers will get a minimum wage rise of between A$5 and A$10 a week, which is a lot less than they were hoping for.
The Australian Fair Pay Commission announced today the latest increases, which are worth two per cent for workers on the federal minimum wage of A$511.86 a week.
Workers on minimum wage rates of up to A$700 a week would receive an increase of A$10.26 from October 1 this year.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10449808


Crops for biofuels drive up food prices
5:20PM Thursday July 05, 2007
Growing demand for biodiesel is pushing up food prices internationally.
A global switch from growing crops for food to growing them for biofuel production is boosting international prices paid for food, says a United Nations assessment of international farming trends.
"The switch to growing fuel crops will take land out of food production and increase the price of commodities," said the report, jointly prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the OECD.
The step-change in international agriculture will increase the costs of livestock farmers in countries which rely on feeds such as maize or barley, but will also be profitable for farmers in food exporting countries, - such as New Zealand - it said in the annual assessment of farming trends, OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2007-2016.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=37&objectid=10449868



Airline back to business after strike
10:55AM Thursday July 05, 2007
Air Nelson says the last few months have been challenging but the settlement it has reached with staff will allow it to move forward.
Around 100 members of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union have voted to accept a new deal, after carrying out industrial action for six weeks. Workers will receive a 9.5 percent pay increase over 30 months.
However, an Employment Court hearing may still take place, as the union alleges the Air New Zealand subsidiary carried out illegal strikebreaking measures during the action.
Air Nelson General Manager John Hambleton says the settlement means a fourth rolling strike will not go ahead.
- NEWSTALK ZB

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10449793



New Australia tourism head
5:30AM Thursday July 05, 2007
Coles Group chairman Rick Allert has been appointed the new head of Tourism Australia.
Allert will replace the tourism body's outgoing chairman Tim Fischer.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10449701



Currency hovers below 22-year peak
5:00AM Thursday July 05, 2007
The dollar firmed yesterday in quiet trading, influenced by Independence Day overnight in the US.
Dealers said the kiwi traded in a tight US78.12/25c range, but below a 22-year high of US78.40c on Tuesday night. It closed at US78.22c, up from US78.12c yesterday.
ANZ currency dealer Murray Hindley expected the New Zealand currency to remain supported above US78c overnight, partly thanks to strong trade data out of Australia.
But he did not feel it would necessarily top Tuesday night's heady heights.
"With the US out for July 4 celebrations, I would expect trading to be subdued tonight ... We're very light on data this week - we're pretty much in the hands of the external marketplace."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10449714



Tourists keep coming despite rising dollar
5:00AM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Owen Hembry
As the New Zealand dollar continues to hit new highs, an economic report released today says tourism is largely shielded from its effects.
The report, by the Ministry of Tourism, shows the exchange rate has little impact on tourist arrivals.
The kiwi hit a post-float high of US78.40c this week, and has gained more than US10c in the past three months. This has cut the spending power of tourists in New Zealand.
But the Institute of Economic Research says a 1 per cent increase in the value of the New Zealand dollar has a barely perceptible negative effect on visitor numbers - about 0.02 per cent.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10449733


Blackstone buys Hilton for $33b
5:00AM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Oliver Staley and Hui-yong Yu
Hilton Hotels, the chain founded by Conrad Hilton 88 years ago, has agreed to be taken over by buyout firm Blackstone for about US$26 billion ($33.23 billion) , the biggest acquisition of a hotel company.
Blackstone will pay US$47.50 for each share. That's 32 per cent more than its closing price yesterday.
Barron Hilton, Conrad's son and co-chairman of the company, will get US$990 million for his 20.8 million shares.
Hilton, the second-biggest US chain behind Marriott International, has more than 2800 hotels, including one on Auckland's Princes Wharf.
Blackstone, which owns the La Quinta chain, is among private-equity firms that are buying hotel companies to profit from their cash flow and real estate holdings.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10449729


Al Gore's son busted for drugs in hybrid car
11:00AM Thursday July 05, 2007
By David Usborne
NEW YORK - The Gores do love their hybrids.
And now we have new evidence of their versatility.
Al Gore III, the 24-year-old son of the former Vice President managed to crank up his Toyota Prius to a paint-stripping 100 mph on the San Diego Freeway yesterday.
Trouble was the police saw him do it.
Even worse, when they pulled the young man over, they smelled marijuana and, on further investigation, found less than a small quantity of the illegal substance inside the car alongside a collection of other medications including Xanax, Vicodin and Adderall.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449781



Overdose final scandal for outrageous aristocrat
5:00AM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Andy McSmith
Count Gottfried von Bismarck
The scandalous life of Count Gottfried von Bismarck, playboy descendant of Germany's greatest statesman, has ended with a heroin overdose.
The 44-year-old count was found dead by ambulance men who broke into his Chelsea flat.
They were called by the estate agent selling the property, who had been unable to contact the count for several days.
Drugs equipment was found near the body.
Bismarck achieved lifelong notoriety as a student in 1986, when he hosted a drug-fuelled party in his rooms in Christchurch College, Oxford, which resulted in the death from a heroin overdose of Olivia Channon, 22-year-old daughter of then- Cabinet minister Paul Channon.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449694


Israeli forces kill two Hamas gunmen in Gaza raid
3:15PM Thursday July 05, 2007
GAZA - Israeli troops and armour crossed into the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing two Hamas gunmen in clashes, Palestinian witnesses and hospital officials said.
They said the gunmen were killed in Gaza's al-Maghazi refugee camp.
An Israeli military spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
The Islamist Hamas movement seized control of Gaza last month after routing the Fatah forces of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation, but has carried out armed incursions and air strikes in efforts to stop Palestinian militants firing rockets into the Jewish state.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449840



Military prevent broadcaster from leaving Fiji
1:15PM Thursday July 05, 2007
Fiji's military have prevented the former CEO of the national broadcaster from leaving the country.
Francis Herman, who has just stepped down as head of Fiji Broadcasting, was to have flown to Australia to address a conference of communications professionals.
However, when Mr Herman tried to board his flight at Nadi International Airport last night, he was told that the military had orders not to allow him to leave.
He was not detained, and was said to be on his way back to Suva.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449822


China nightclub blast kills 25, injures 33
4:16PM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Chris Buckley
BEIJING - An explosion in a nightclub in northeast China killed 25 people and injured 33, state media reported as investigators sought to pin down the cause.
The blast hit an entertainment club in Benxi county, Liaoning province, at about 9pm on Wednesday (1am NZT Thursday), the China News Service reported.
After authorities finished rescue efforts on Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency reported the death toll, citing province officials, but it did not say how badly hurt the injured were or explain the cause of the explosion.
A county official at the scene told Reuters that investigators were trying to work out whether the blast was accidental or deliberate.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449851



Yemen arrests al Qaeda-linked suspects after blast
10:45AM Thursday July 05, 2007
SANNAA - Yemeni authorities have arrested dozens of people with suspected links to al Qaeda since Monday's suicide bombing that killed seven Spanish tourists and two Yemenis, according to security sources.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh and other senior officials have said they believe al Qaeda was behind the car bomb suicide attack at the Queen of Sheba Temple in the Marib province, about 150km east of the capital.
"Tens of suspects who we believe have links to al Qaeda have been arrested in three regions, Sanaa, Abyan and Aden," one source, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Saleh, whose country joined the US-led war on terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks, offered a $75,500 ($97,000) reward for information leading to the capture of militants behind the attack.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449795



East Timor coalition likely
8:15AM Thursday July 05, 2007
East Timor was headed for a coalition Government after election results last night showed no party would win an overall majority.
With 86 per cent of the 426,237 votes cast counted, the ruling Fretilin party had a lead of more than 22,000 over second-placed National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449724



US helicopter forced down in Iraq, one killed
7:40AM Thursday July 05, 2007
BAGHDAD - One person on board a US military helicopter was killed when the aircraft was forced down in northern Iraq on Wednesday, a military spokesman said.
The spokesman said it was unclear if the helicopter had taken ground fire, adding the incident was under investigation. He declined to give the type of helicopter or provide more details on the victim.
Another person on board had been hurt, he added.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449766



Billions of eyes turn to green
5:00AM Monday July 02, 2007
By David Smith
Nowhere, perhaps, will be more important than Shanghai. One of eight cities hosting Live Earth concerts for Al Gore's crusade against climate change next weekend, it will help deliver a vast audience across China.
And with the world's most populous country on board, organisers believe they can reach 2 billion people and eclipse even Live8 as the biggest global media event of all time.
It will begin at 12.10pm in Sydney, then roll around the globe with concerts in Tokyo, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Hamburg, London, New York and finally, at 8pm, Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach. A special performance at the British Antarctic Survey Station in Antarctica will ensure all seven continents are included.
There will be saturation coverage from TV, radio and the internet in 119 countries.
Critics have argued the 24-hour spectacular - featuring more than 150 acts including Madonna, Lily Allen, Genesis, Bon Jovi, Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, Black Eyed Peas and Jack Johnson - will do more for the stars' careers than raising awareness of climate change.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10449002


Live Earth's first green test: clean up own mess
Workers set up the site for the Live Earth concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo / Reuters
12:40PM Thursday July 05, 2007
OSLO - Live Earth concerts on Saturday meant to spur action to fight global warming must first tackle another environmental hazard -- mountains of trash and thousands of tons of greenhouse gases caused by the events.
"We want to set a new global standard for dealing with waste and recycling," said John Rego, environmental adviser for the eight concerts meant to rock the world around the clock on a rolling basis from Sydney to New York and organized by an alliance led by former US Vice President Al Gore.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449819



Australia slams security lid on high-profile events
5:00AM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Greg Ansley
Prime Minister John Howard vows not to be intimidated by the terrorist threat
CANBERRA - Australia's already heavy security precautions have been further tightened as counter-terrorism officers continued questioning an Indian-born doctor implicated in last week's attempted bombings in London and Glasgow.
As Prime Minister John Howard vowed not to be intimidated by the terrorism threat against Australia, police patrols were strengthened for last night's rugby league State of Origin match in Brisbane.
The security ring around today's meeting of Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum trade ministers in Cairns will also be tightened, and protection for September's Apec leaders summit in Sydney is being reviewed.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449715



Australian police race deadline to question doctor
9:05AM Thursday July 05, 2007
BRISBANE - Australian and British counter-terrorism officers are on a tight deadline to quiz an Indian doctor detained in Brisbane about the foiled UK bomb attacks.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) are understood to have a court order allowing them to hold Indian national Mohammed Haneef, 27, only until late tonight without charge.
An unidentified female chief inspector from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Unit is expected to arrive in Brisbane this morning to speak to Dr Haneef about the foiled attacks in London and Glasgow.
Haneef, who has been working as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital, is one of six doctors arrested in connection with the plot and the only person detained outside Britain.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449784


Men disguised as Muslim women rob bank
12:40PM Thursday July 05, 2007
SARAJEVO - Two armed men disguised as Muslim women in burqas held up a bank in Sarajevo and got away with some US$40,000 ($52,000), Bosnian police said on Tuesday.
They said the pair entered a Union bank branch in the capital wearing head-to-toe black dresses and veils typical of women adhering to the orthodox Islamic code and trained guns on customers. They then made customers lie on the floor while the emptied the tills, police added.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449818



American eats record 66 hotdogs in 12 minutes
10:03AM Thursday July 05, 2007
By Maureen Madden
NEW YORK - An American competitive eater devoured a record 66 hotdogs in 12 minutes on Wednesday to win the July 4 annual Coney Island hotdog eating competition, defeating a six-time champion from Japan in a photo finish.
Defending champion Takeru Kobayashi, a 28-year-old from Japan who weighed in at 170 pounds, went into the competition with a jaw injury but still managed to down 63 hotdogs.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449787



Napoleon's love letter sells for $720,000
6:15AM Thursday July 05, 2007
A love letter written by Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine, Viscomtesse de Beauharnais, his future wife, has fetched more than $720,000, five times the estimate, in London.
The letter is one of only three known from Napoleon to Josephine before they were married.
It had been expected to sell for about $131,000.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10449721

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