Let me get this right. McCain's answer to the USA Energy Crisis and failing economy is to increase the production of the most expensive and extensive energy source in the world.
Oil pervades every aspect of investment globally, including food sources. To that reality, McCain wants to increase oil production so this 'fininte' source of fuel will continue to cause problems with economies at every level.
I
DON'T
THINK
SO !!!!
Exxon Mobil 2Q profit sets US record, shares fall
By JOHN PORRETTO – 1 hour ago
HOUSTON (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation, but the results were well short of Wall Street expectations and its shares fell.
The world's largest publicly traded oil company said net income for the April-June period came to $2.22 a share, up from $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, a year ago.
Revenue rose 40 percent to $138.1 billion from $98.4 billion in the year-earlier quarter.
Excluding an after-tax charge of $290 million related to an Exxon Valdez court settlement, earnings amounted to $11.97 billion, or $2.27 per share.
Analysts on average expected Exxon Mobil to earn $2.52 a share on revenue of $144 billion, according to a survey by Thomson Financial. The estimates typically exclude one-time items.
The record-setting results were largely expected, given that crude prices in the second quarter were nearly double what they were a year ago. Natural gas prices were significantly higher too....
The oceans are warming and with the loss of the Arctic Ocean ice expected in September, it is obvious our fisheries are a worry.
As food prices rocket, relief from the depths (click here)
Lobster costs fall, but demand still weakAs food prices rocket, relief from the depths
Boston GlobeConsumers, squeezed by rising prices on everything from milk to eggs to bread, are finding a rare - and surprising - bargain at the fish counter: The price of lobster is going down.
Lobster prices have declined, but demand has not increased, which has hurt lobstermen and such firms as James Hook in Boston, where Mario Hernandez checked stock.
(David L. Ryan/Globe staff)
By Devra First
Globe Staff / July 30, 2008
Consumers, squeezed by rising prices on everything from milk to eggs to bread, are finding a rare - and surprising - bargain at the fish counter: The price of lobster is going down.
Last year at this time, Boston-area lobstermen were getting $5 to $5.25 per pound, according to the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association. This year they're getting only $4.50 a pound. That's translating to lower retail prices.
At Yankee Lobster and James Hook & Co., both located in Boston, the price for soft-shell lobsters - those that have recently molted and have less meat - is currently $6.99 a pound, down from last year's price of $7.99. Soft-shell lobsters represent the bulk of the local catch right now.
The harvest has been plentiful, yet demand has declined, say those in the industry. Consumers view lobster as a splurge, and with money tight, it's not a priority on the shopping list....
Rising school costs mean fewer bus routes, higher food prices (click here)
Districts will enforce 2-mile walking radius, make changes in cafeterias
BY KIMBERLINA ROCHA AND VICTOR GARCIA krocha@visalia.gannett.com and vdgarcia@visalia.gannett.com
July 30, 2008
Tulare County students will walk more and spend more this year as a result of cost-saving measures at area school districts.
Going down: The number of bus stops. Going up: The price of food.
Tulare Joint Union High School District estimates it will save $37,843 by eliminating 15 bus stops and enforcing its 2-mile walk radius. Students who live within 2 miles of a school site must walk to a "cluster" bus stop or directly to school.
Other transportation-related measures will have less of an effect on students' routines, officials say....
Thursday, July 31, 2008
A soldier stands next to the body of a suicide bomber in Peshawar December 4, 2007. A woman suicide bomber blew herself up near a military checkpost in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, but caused no casualties among the troops, police said.
REUTERS/Ali Imam (PAKISTAN)
Female suicide bomber killed in Pakistan blast: police
Tue Dec 4, 5:01 AM ET
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - A burka clad female suicide bomber blew herself up at a checkpost in northwest Pakistan Tuesday, in the country's first such attack involving a woman, police said. There were no other casualties in the blast in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, which is near the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan where troops are battling Islamic militants, they said.
It happened in a high-security zone where intelligence services buildings and also a Christian convent school are located, provincial police chief Mohammad Sharif told AFP.
"This is the first suicide attack carried out by a woman in Pakistan. She was the single casualty," Sharif said.
Other officials also confirmed that the bomber was female."
The suicide bomber was a woman," senior police official Kadir Khan told AFP."
She came to the army checkpost, she was stopped but she blew herself up. No soldiers were injured in the blast.
"Military personnel and police cordoned off the area, an AFP reporter at the scene said. Shreds of a blue burka, a foot and pieces of flesh were lying on the road.
A security official at the scene said that the woman was thought to be an Afghan refugee aged about 40.
"She blew herself up. Nobody was injured or died," the official said.
Police earlier said the bombing was outside St Mary's convent school, one of Peshawar's top schools, and that it had killed one person.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in Pakistan on November 3, citing the need to curb a wave of Islamic militant violence in the northwest of the country.
Pakistani officials have previously said that militancy is thriving in giant refugee camps in the northwest and southwest where more than two million displaced Afghans are registered
"The Surge" failed on all counts. With men depleted in
We have witnessed female suicide bombers before. In Palestine and with the attack in Amman, Jordan (click here), the 'desperation' that leads women to mass killings is more than alarming.
In Palestine, women were the 'last straw' before the issue of peace became a serious one pursued by Palestine and Israel.
The Amman bomber was unsuccessful, but, she fully bought into the idea that her religious obligation, along with her husband would be fulfilled in such a violent act.
It is my guess that women in Iraq that are becoming suicide bombers are doing so because of the profound loss they are experiencing in this hideous war. We need to leave Iraq and allow the people in that country a 'respite' from occupation so they can find their own sense of 'civil peace.'
Violence In Iraq Takes On New Face
Number Of Suicide Bomb Attacks Carried Out By Women Has More Than Tripled Since Last Year
(CBS) In Iraq's volatile mix of race, religion and tribal rivalry, police say there's a common denominator in the continuing violence - gender.
According to the U.S. military in Iraq, women have carried the bombs in at least 27 attacks so far this year - more than triple the number of female suicide bombers in all of 2007, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth.
A joint assessment by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security obtained by CBS News says the statistics reflect a growing combat role for females, aided by the fact that bombs are easy to hide under traditional women's clothing.
"It's much more difficult to inspect a female Muslim woman than it is a male Muslim because of religious sensitivities," said Steven Emerson, of the Investigative Project on Terrorism....
The Faces of Female Suicide Bombers (click here)
10/07/2007
By Fatima el Issawi
London, Asharq Al-Awsat- It no longer comes as a shock when one hears that a woman has carried out a suicide bomb attack. Lately, the media has made frequent reports of suicide operations, both successful and failed, that were carried out by women. Today, females are rivaling men in a field that was once regarded by Jihadi literature and fiqh to be strictly a man's job.
But who were the first women to actually sacrifice themselves for the sake of a cause? What do we know about the psychological motives and the political and social backgrounds surrounding these women and which are responsible for transforming them into ferocious female ‘jihadists’?
A look at the information available through the press reveals little about these women, however it is useful in defining an outline that may answer some questions. These limited sources reveal that female suicide bombers can be split into two groups, generally speaking, in terms of social profiles and motives behind their involvement.
In the first group women, venture into ‘martyrdom’ driven by a dedication to the cause, or as a means of expressing their resentment of the gross injustice for which there remains no other resort except sacrificing their own lives. Moreover, these women are encouraged by the fact that their brothers or relatives have been killed in circumstances related to this unjust reality and as such, that loss becomes the decisive factor in undertaking a suicide operation....
In Palestine, women were the 'last straw' before the issue of peace became a serious one pursued by Palestine and Israel.
The Amman bomber was unsuccessful, but, she fully bought into the idea that her religious obligation, along with her husband would be fulfilled in such a violent act.
It is my guess that women in Iraq that are becoming suicide bombers are doing so because of the profound loss they are experiencing in this hideous war. We need to leave Iraq and allow the people in that country a 'respite' from occupation so they can find their own sense of 'civil peace.'
Violence In Iraq Takes On New Face
Number Of Suicide Bomb Attacks Carried Out By Women Has More Than Tripled Since Last Year
(CBS) In Iraq's volatile mix of race, religion and tribal rivalry, police say there's a common denominator in the continuing violence - gender.
According to the U.S. military in Iraq, women have carried the bombs in at least 27 attacks so far this year - more than triple the number of female suicide bombers in all of 2007, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth.
A joint assessment by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security obtained by CBS News says the statistics reflect a growing combat role for females, aided by the fact that bombs are easy to hide under traditional women's clothing.
"It's much more difficult to inspect a female Muslim woman than it is a male Muslim because of religious sensitivities," said Steven Emerson, of the Investigative Project on Terrorism....
The Faces of Female Suicide Bombers (click here)
10/07/2007
By Fatima el Issawi
London, Asharq Al-Awsat- It no longer comes as a shock when one hears that a woman has carried out a suicide bomb attack. Lately, the media has made frequent reports of suicide operations, both successful and failed, that were carried out by women. Today, females are rivaling men in a field that was once regarded by Jihadi literature and fiqh to be strictly a man's job.
But who were the first women to actually sacrifice themselves for the sake of a cause? What do we know about the psychological motives and the political and social backgrounds surrounding these women and which are responsible for transforming them into ferocious female ‘jihadists’?
A look at the information available through the press reveals little about these women, however it is useful in defining an outline that may answer some questions. These limited sources reveal that female suicide bombers can be split into two groups, generally speaking, in terms of social profiles and motives behind their involvement.
In the first group women, venture into ‘martyrdom’ driven by a dedication to the cause, or as a means of expressing their resentment of the gross injustice for which there remains no other resort except sacrificing their own lives. Moreover, these women are encouraged by the fact that their brothers or relatives have been killed in circumstances related to this unjust reality and as such, that loss becomes the decisive factor in undertaking a suicide operation....
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The USA economy is not in recession. It is simply crashing. Everywhere.
From Starbucks to foreclosures, the American economy is taking a nose dive unmatched by its recent past.
The university students of Massachusetts are now facing more hurdles to success. This is just more of the same in sequelae of Bush's Fiscal Disaster !
Student lender won't have loan money this season (kindly click on title to entry)
July 28, 2008 11:16 AM
The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority today said it will not be able to provide any student loans this fall, which could leave tens of thousands of families in the lurch just weeks before college classes begin.
The nonprofit lending authority said it was unable to secure funding to provide private student loans. It is contacting more than 40,000 students and families to whom it has made loans in the past, to urge them to seek other options.
"As a result of our problems and the continued dislocation of the capital markets, we have been unable to raise funds for the coming academic year,'' said Thomas M. Graf, executive director of the group....
Sunday, July 27, 2008
The week wouldn't be complete without recognizing the success of Michael Moore's Coup !
Mike's relentless focus today and over the years, of our USA Constitution, has culminated in hearings at the US House of Representatives lead by the honorable and distinguished Dennis Kucinich.
There have been an incredible number of Americans in leadership positions that have come before the House Judiciary Committee to be heard. The overwhelming concensus that cannot be ignored is the overt illegal activities of the Bush/Cheney Administration.
It was astounding to realize Elizabeth Holtzman was actually repeating history with still another Republican aristocrat, again abusing the US Constitution. (Click here)
Bush un-impeachment bill gets hearing
by Katie Fretland and updated
Critics of President George W. Bush got the chance to air grievances against him Friday at a House Judiciary Committee "non-impeachment hearing" before a packed audience of political activists.
Even Cindy Sheehan, the famous anti-war mother, was there until she got kicked out for being loud.
Committee members and witnesses, including Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, spoke for almost six hours on allegations the Bush administration, among other things, misled the public into the Iraq War, manipulated intelligence and selectively prosecuted Democrats. Northwestern University professor Stephen Presser offered expert analysis.
The session was not an impeachment hearing, because the House of Representatives had not given authorization for such proceedings. Ranking Republican committee member Lamar Smith of Texas called the hearing an "anger management class" that only serves to impeach Congress' credibility....
Anger over WHAT exactly !
Breaking the law.
Circumventing the USA Constitution for crony wars and profits?
Anger?
There have been an incredible number of Americans in leadership positions that have come before the House Judiciary Committee to be heard. The overwhelming concensus that cannot be ignored is the overt illegal activities of the Bush/Cheney Administration.
It was astounding to realize Elizabeth Holtzman was actually repeating history with still another Republican aristocrat, again abusing the US Constitution. (Click here)
Bush un-impeachment bill gets hearing
by Katie Fretland and updated
Critics of President George W. Bush got the chance to air grievances against him Friday at a House Judiciary Committee "non-impeachment hearing" before a packed audience of political activists.
Even Cindy Sheehan, the famous anti-war mother, was there until she got kicked out for being loud.
Committee members and witnesses, including Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, spoke for almost six hours on allegations the Bush administration, among other things, misled the public into the Iraq War, manipulated intelligence and selectively prosecuted Democrats. Northwestern University professor Stephen Presser offered expert analysis.
The session was not an impeachment hearing, because the House of Representatives had not given authorization for such proceedings. Ranking Republican committee member Lamar Smith of Texas called the hearing an "anger management class" that only serves to impeach Congress' credibility....
Anger over WHAT exactly !
Breaking the law.
Circumventing the USA Constitution for crony wars and profits?
Anger?
Over the compromise of the National Security of the USA !
Over what !
The Unnecessary Deaths of 4124 American Soldiers. (click here)
July 25th, 2008 4:51 pm
Bush critics get an unimpeachable forum
By Jim Abrams / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Call it the un-impeachment hearing.
The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Friday it insisted was not about removing President Bush from office. But critics of Bush's policies couldn't pass up the chance to charge the president with a long list of impeachable "high crimes and misdemeanors."
Leading the way was Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the former Democratic presidential candidate who has brought repeated impeachment resolutions on the House floor against Bush and Vice President Cheney.
Kucinich got a rock star welcome of whistles, hoots and clapping as he walked into the hearing room, holding hands with his wife, from hundreds of anti-war, anti-Bush people crammed into the room and lining the hallways outside. T-shirts reading "Arrest Bush" and "Veterans for Impeachment" illustrated the sentiments of many.
"The decision before us is whether to demand accountability for one of the gravest injustices imaginable," Kucinich testified, avoiding use of the "I" word....
Al-Qaida returns to Afghanistan to protect Bin Laden. It was far easier to protect him and defeat 'The West' while Halliburton was making profits in Iraq. Maybe this time next year, Bin Laden will actually be captured or killed. It won't take forever to achieve that goal. It should not have taken forever to do it this time. We should have been in and out of Afghanistan within two years living behind ONLY the reparations of war to begin Afghanistan 'anew.'
Ambassador: al-Qaida leaving Iraq for Afghanistan (click here)
By PAMELA HESS – 3 days ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaida's foreign fighters who have for years bedeviled Iraq are increasingly going to Afghanistan to fight instead, the Iraqi ambassador to the United States said Wednesday.
"We have heard reports recently that many of the foreign fighters that were in Iraq have left, either back to their homeland or going to fight in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is now seeming to be more suitable for al-Qaida fighters," said Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie.
Al-Qaida had training camps and a headquarters in Afghanistan, under the protection of the then-ruling Taliban, until the U.S. invaded after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. With al-Qaida forced out of Afghanistan, the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 quickly drew outside fighters there....
Endangered Species - Honest Iraqi Government Official
Two women walk past the main building housing the National Iraqi Olympic Committee in Baghdad
The IOC in a letter dated July 23 confirmed the prohibition of seven Iraqi Olympic athletes after first imposing the ban on the war-ravaged country's sporting officials for political interference last month.
"In spite of all the joint efforts of IOC and OCA (Olympic Council of Asia), over the last months to find a positive solution with the Iraqi government authorities, we regretfully inform you that the decision of the IOC executive board dated 4 June 2008 to suspend the National Olympic Committee of Iraq is confirmed," said the letter.
In a separate statement issued Thursday the IOC said it was "disappointed they have been so ill-served by their own government's actions," and that the deadline to register athletes had expired.
You know, you gotta love it when the USA newspapers declare there is a stabilization in Baghdad for the sake of an election strategy. Today, 'the happy talk' about Iraq is that the Mahdi Army is waning and there is greater security in Baghdad.
Right.
There are finite people in Iraq available for security of any kind. I would think that journalists would be able to discern the fact that although the numbers of Mahdi Army members are waning the number of Iraqi soldiers are increasing. Hm?
Iraqi Forces Continue to Grow in Number. (click here)
In September 2004, there were only 96,000 trained and equipped Iraqi Security Forces. By November 2005, there were more than 212,000. As of May 30th, there were nearly 350,000 trained and equipped Iraqi Security Forces.
That doesn't necessarily lend itself to the 'idea' that Iraq is secured by people that are approved of by Bush. The fact is that more militia members are accepting 'salaried' employment in the Iraqi military. It's called a 'transition' of authority. The added comfort zone for Iraqis is there providing one is affiliated strongly with the 'correct' Shi'ite group.
Iraq bomber kills 8 U.S.-allied Sunni fighters (click here)
From the Associated Press
July 25, 2008
BAGHDAD -- A woman blew herself up Thursday near U.S.-allied Sunni Arab fighters walking in a crowded area of Baqubah, killing at least eight members of the Awakening movement and wounding 24 people, police said.The attack comes as the U.S.-backed Iraqi military is promising to launch a major offensive in Diyala province aimed at taming the last major insurgent belt north of Baghdad. Baqubah is the provincial capital....
Iraq pledges $100 million to rebuild Sadr City slum (click here)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will spend $100 million to rebuild the east Baghdad slum of Sadr City and create jobs for many of its two million residents after years of violence and neglect, a government official said on Sunday.
The Shi'ite slum is a stronghold of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army, whose fighters clashed with U.S. and government troops there in March and April until a ceasefire halted hostilities.
Sadr City was largely outside the government's control until the truce allowed Iraqi soldiers to deploy.
"The government has ordered an allocation of $100 million to reconstruct and develop Sadr City," Tahseen al-Sheikhli, civilian spokesman for security operations in Baghdad, told a news conference.
He did not give a timeframe for spending the money....
All that death of Iraqi civilians does actually 'add up' to less of one group and more of the other. Then the actions of the USA military and it's 'fumbling around' doesn't help a darn thing. It only 'adds' to the anxiety of who dies next in Baghdad.
Military says US troops killed Iraqi editor's son (click here)
By KIM GAMEL – 1 day ago
BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. military said Friday that bullets fired by American soldiers killed the 14-year-old son of the chief editor of a U.S.-sponsored newspaper during a gunbattle a day earlier in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
The military said Arkan Ali Taha was hit Thursday when soldiers came under heavy gunfire from a passing taxi and shot back. The boy was riding in the cab and the driver was later taken into custody, the statement said.
The father said his son was not involved with extremist groups and didn't know how to use weapons. He said the boy had hired the cab to bring a set of keys to the newspaper.
American and Iraqi security forces have been cracking down on insurgents in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul and in the restive Diyala province north of Baghdad, where violence has been slower to decline than elsewhere in Iraq....
Some of the violence has actually waned into political furvor. That is a good thing, so long as there is no oppression of freedom of expression or the freedom to deny expression in the name of peace.
Baghdad muralists resist push for sectarian themes (click here)
Young Iraqi artists continue attempts to boost spirits, kindle optimism at Baghdad ‘blast walls’.
By Brian Murphy – BAGHDAD
It's art ornamenting life: murals of soothing landscapes and historical heroes covering the blast walls that are now as much a part of Baghdad's cityscape as date palms and desert dust.
The idea took off last year when Iraqi aid groups sought to provide work for young artists — and offer a bit of hope and a splash of color to a city whose signature hue is oatmeal brown.
But fully rising above Iraq's sectarian suspicions has proved a challenge.
Many members in the founding group of artists are putting down their brushes to protest requests from neighborhood councils to depict politically charged sectarian themes such as Sunni shrines in Sunni districts or Shiite saints in Shiite areas....
Iraq says election ads can‘t show non-candidates Staff and agencies (click here)
03 July, 2008
By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer 29 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government on Thursday ordered that campaign materials in upcoming provincial elections can only feature pictures of candidates, in an apparent attempt to keep followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr from using his image to court voters.
Shiite politicians flooded the country with posters of the country‘s main Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and others during elections in 2005, capitalizing on their prestige to win power.
Pictures of al-Sadr, who comes from one of Iraq‘s most esteemed Shiite families, line the streets of places like Baghdad‘s Sadr City. The powerful cleric has built a large following among disgruntled Shiites in Baghdad and southern Iraq who haven‘t benefited from the rise of a Shiite-led government in the country.
Al-Sadr‘s followers hope to use the elections to loosen the grip on power that their Shiite rivals have enjoyed since the 2005 elections, which the Sadrists boycotted....
The 'peace' that is desired for Iraq is far from achieved. The fact of the matter is that Iraq will 'settle down' but it will with a Shi'ite majority and bias against all others. That is why the provinces and their minority 'rule' are important. I think Baghdad truly belongs to Shi'ites and leave it at that.
Iraq is not ready for anything else.
The Middle East is not a 'melting pot' as Bush would like to see it. There are differences that are profound and they stem from interpretations of Islamic doctrine. That is allowed in life. The Christians have innumberable denomiations and benefit from it. There is no 'stronghold' of religious authority in the USA. It's called a democracy and benefits from peaceful coexistence of all belief systems.
Baghdad's walls keep peace but feel like prison (click here)
By HAMZA HENDAWI – Jun 27, 2008
BAGHDAD (AP) — Baghdad hasn't been this quiet in years. But the respite from bloodshed comes at a high price.
Up to 20 feet high in some sections.
Rows after rows of barrier walls divide the city into smaller and smaller areas that protect people from bombings, sniper fire and kidnappings. They also lead to gridlock, rising prices for food and homes, and complaints about living in what feels like a prison.
Baghdad's walls are everywhere. They have turned a riverside capital of leafy neighborhoods and palm-lined boulevards into a city of shadows that separate Sunnis from Shiites.
The walls block access to schools, mosques, churches, hotels, homes, markets and even entire neighborhoods — almost anything that could be attacked. For many Iraqis, they have become the iconic symbol of the war.
"Maybe one day they will remove it," said Kareem Mustapha, a 26-year-old Sadr City resident who lives a five-minute walk from a wall built this spring in the large Shiite district.
"I don't know when, but it is not soon."
Indeed, new walls are still going up, the latest one around the northwestern Shiite neighborhood of Hurriyah, where thousands of Sunnis were slaughtered or expelled in 2006. They could well be around for years to come, enforcing the capital's fragile peace and enshrining its sectarian divisions....
Iraq will find stronger ties to each other as tourism grows and Baghdad finds itself with an identity of an 'International' city. There isn't that foucs because there is too much insecurity for the Shi'ites of the region. They have existed under very oppressive government in Iraq for a long time by sheer numbers. When 50,000 were killed in Southern Iraq in 2002 in a conflict with Saddam that didn't even begin to decry the end to the Shi'ites there.
A lot has to be settled in the way of security for these people and right now separating the provinces into ethnic and religious preferences is an adequate answer. As a side note, Turkey needs to prudent regarding its incursions into Northern Iraq. The Kurds have a right to their culture.
Baghdad boosts security for religious festival (click here)
1 day ago
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Baghdad has ramped up security ahead of one of Shiite Islam's most important religious festivals amid heightened concerns of attacks on a holy pilgrimage site, the Iraqi military said on Friday.
An extra 5,000 soldiers fanned out in the Kadhimiyah district of Baghdad ahead of the arrival of thousands of pilgrims expected to attend a ceremony on Tuesday to mourn a revered imam who died 12 centuries ago.
"There is more than a full brigade deployed in the vicinity, entrances and exits of the city, and in the surrounding areas of Kadhimiyah city, for fear of attacks," defence ministry officials told AFP.....
Nouri Maliki asks pope to urge Christians to return to Iraq (click here)
Osservatore Romano / EPA
Pope Benedict XVI receives a gift from Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
The prime ministers, on a European trip, also invites Benedict XVI to visit Iraq.
By Ned Parker and Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers July 26, 2008
BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri Maliki asked Pope Benedict XVI in a meeting Friday in Italy to encourage Iraqi Christians who have fled their country to return, citing the improved security situation. He also invited the pontiff to visit Iraq."I . . . appealed to his holiness to encourage Christians who left the country to go back and be part of the social structure of Iraq again," Maliki told reporters after his session with the pope at the pontiff's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.
16,000-acre wildfire threatening homes
As wildfires get wilder, the costs of fighting them are untamed (click here)
By Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart : times staff writers, First of five parts
July 27, 2008
LIVE OAK COMMAND POST -- It was day 42 of the zaca fire. A tower of white smoke reached miles into the blue sky above the undulating ridges of Santa Barbara's backcountry.
Helicopters ferried firefighters across the saw-toothed terrain and bombed fiery ridges with water. Long plumes of red retardant trailed from the belly of a DC-10 air tanker. Bulldozers cut defensive lines through pygmy forests of chaparral....
This is a close up of the similiar picture below. These are our national forests that are burning by the way. (click here)
Large Incident Fires (click here)
This image provided by NASA taken Tuesday July 22, 2008 shows smoke engulfing the northern Sacramento Valley in California. Northern California, steep terrain and a lack of roads hindered efforts to get the last of California's wildfires under control. Thick smoke from the fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest near Junction City grounded firefighting aircraft. The fire covered 98 square miles and was 61 percent contained. (AP Photo.NASA)
Fire threatens Yosemite area
A growing fire about 30 miles west of Yosemite Valley triggered the evacuations of 170 homes Saturday, and more are threatened, fire officials said.
Because of the fire, authorities cut the power grid to Yosemite National Park, and it had not been restored by Saturday evening.
Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the Telegraph fire grew from about 1,000 acres to around 16,000 acres, or 25 square miles, during the day Saturday.
Fires this time of year "are extremely active," Berlant said. "The erratic behavior is because there is so much fuel out there to burn."
About 900 firefighters are battling the blaze on both sides of a steep canyon along the Merced River.
Karen Guillemin, a department spokeswoman, said most of the evacuated homes are in Midpines but that residents of other small towns are being asked to prepare to leave. In all, about 2,000 homes are threatened, officials said.
Midpines is on California 140, the thoroughfare that leads to the west entrance of Yosemite National Park. Campers on nearby Bureau of Land Management land were evacuated as a precaution.
From the Associated Press
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Barak is correct. He has a right as a US Senator to meet with global leaders. He hasn't been nominated yet.
Perparing for the nomination and the debates is more than appropriate. When he comes home, he'll be ready to face all the questions regarding his candidacy for the Presidency of the USA.
There is something wrong with being prepared? There is something wrong with being energized by allies and friends? There is something wrong with showing the electorate of the USA that he is not afraid of being welcomed by allies, while providing hope of a return of the USA all can trust?
He isn't campaigning for the Presidency in a way that states he is a candidate in the USA. I do believe Barak will be able to give speeches that sincerely reflect 'current' policies and tones of the relationships the USA shares with its allies.
The man knows what he is doing. After the nomination, he can have a campaign trail that leads to success, not guesses.
Go, Barak, Go !
There is something wrong with being prepared? There is something wrong with being energized by allies and friends? There is something wrong with showing the electorate of the USA that he is not afraid of being welcomed by allies, while providing hope of a return of the USA all can trust?
He isn't campaigning for the Presidency in a way that states he is a candidate in the USA. I do believe Barak will be able to give speeches that sincerely reflect 'current' policies and tones of the relationships the USA shares with its allies.
The man knows what he is doing. After the nomination, he can have a campaign trail that leads to success, not guesses.
Go, Barak, Go !
Chicago Tribune
Slumping economy brings boom in garage sales
Hard times offer opportunities for shoppers seeking bargains, sellers needing extra cash
By Vikki Ortiz Chicago Tribune reporter
11:39 PM CDT, July 25, 2008
Ryan Rudowicz, 6, pockets proceeds from the sale of a toy at his family's garage sale on Fieldstone Lane in Woodland Hills subdivision in Bartlett. (Tribune photo by Terry Harris / July 18, 2008)
For Sue Rolsky of Schaumburg, evidence of the tough economic times comes in a jumble of ugly vases, a 1986 Jim Thompson campaign button and other oddities put out this weekend for sale in her garage and driveway.
Rolsky and her sister-in-law are pooling their collectibles Saturday in hopes of clearing out their homes, not to mention making some extra cash.
Part of the challenge, Rolsky admits, is haggling with people who will drive hard bargains because they have less money to spend for the likes of that weird stuffed green beaver or that even weirder troll doll.
"You've got to expect that," said Rolsky, 56. "That's what they're out for, to get a bargain. . . . We're all trying to economize the best we can."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-garage-sale-both-26jul26,0,1937525.story
Daley won't rule out layoffs in tough budget times ahead
By Russell Working Chicago Tribune reporter
3:43 PM CDT, July 26, 2008
Mayor Richard Daley Saturday predicted tough times ahead financially for the City of Chicago and pointedly declined to rule out layoffs of police and other municipal employees.
Asked about a published report that the city is likely facing layoffs because of a $400 million-plus shortage in the upcoming 2009 city budget, Daley noted that the city -- unlike the federal government -- doesn't have the option of running up the deficit to fund its programs. Daley sidestepped a direct answer but left the possibility of layoffs on the table.
"I think everybody's concerned about this year's budget," Daley said at the rededication of two historic Monroe Street bridge houses. "It's going to take some tough decisions. But we're all working with people. Like everything else, we have to work together."
Daley noted that the economy nationwide is in a serious downturn that will trigger further belt-tightening at home.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-080726-daley-layoffs,0,7909165.story
Daley promises to fight to keep handgun ban
Weis urges residents to swap their guns for gift cards Saturday
By Deanese Williams-Harris and Melissa Patterson Chicago Tribune reporters
10:56 PM CDT, July 25, 2008
Mayor Richard Daley was adamant Friday about Chicago's intention to defend its handgun ban in court, despite news that a second area suburb was likely to repeal its ordinance next week.
Morton Grove, which along with Chicago and other communities was sued by the National Rifle Association, is poised to repeal its first-in-the-nation handgun ban next week. Wilmette already has suspended its handgun ordinance in the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a similar law in Washington.
"Morton Grove can do anything that it wants," Daley said at an unrelated news conference. "I don't look at this lightly—that, 'Oh, because the Supreme Court's done it we're just gonna dismiss it and all of a sudden people can arm themselves,' " he said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-gun-turnin_jul26,0,6100999.story
Firearm trade-in locations
10:55 PM CDT, July 25, 2008
The city's gun buyback program will accept guns Saturday at the following locations:
Bethlehem Star Missionary Baptist Church, 9231 S. Cottage Grove Ave.
Trinity All Nation Church, 9600 S. Vincennes Ave.
St. Stephen's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 8500 S. Maryland Ave.
Daley promises to fight to keep handgun ban
Uptown Baptist Church, 1011 W. Wilson Ave.
Wayman AME Church, 509 W. Elm St.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-gun-turn-in-listjul26,0,3322103.story
Will clotheslines turn dryers into relics?
By Sheila Simon
July 27, 2008
Hang out with me.
In my most rich environmentalist fantasies I am off the grid, self-sufficiently solar. In real life I'm still on the grid because I'm not rich.
But even in real life with a budget, my family and I have scored big with one simple lifestyle change—we hang dry all of our laundry. It has reduced our power bill, and turned us, like converts to a new faith, into proselytizers.
We had long ago taken steps to reduce our electricity use. We replaced all of our light bulbs with fluorescents, use less air conditioning in the summer and turn the heat down in the winter when we're all out of the house. But nothing made such a dent in our power bill as abandoning the dryer. That simple change dropped our average monthly bill by more than $100.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/chi-oped0727dryjul27,0,7566844.story
Green Celebrities
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/sns-green-celebrities-photos,0,5226241.photogallery
Arizona Central News
Man accused in conspiracy to kill judge dies at 63
Jul. 26, 2008 02:00 PM
Associated Press
EL PASO, Texas - Jamiel Alexander "Jimmy" Chagra, accused of leading a 1979 conspiracy to assassinate the federal judge in San Antonio set to preside over his drug trial, died Friday. He was 63.
Chagra, who was living in Mesa, had been battling cancer since November, said his sister, Patsy Chagra of El Paso.
"That's where he was living with his wife," she told the El Paso Times for its Friday editions. "He died peacefully ... ."
U.S. District Judge John Wood Jr. was fatally shot in the back on May 29, 1979, outside his San Antonio home. Hit man Charles Harrelson, the father of actor Woody Harrelson, was convicted of murder in the slaying and died in federal prison in Denver in March 2007 while serving two life sentences.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2008/07/26/20080726chagraobit-ON.html
Huge housing rescue bill passes, but experts skeptical
Jul. 26, 2008 03:00 PM
Washington Post
WASHINGTON - Even as a huge bipartisan majority in the Senate voted Saturday to send a sprawling housing bill to the White House, economists, consumer advocates and other analysts said the package of programs for cash-strapped homeowners and shaken mortgage lenders is unlikely to relieve the foreclosure crisis that is driving the nation toward recession.
“This is not the end of the housing crunch,” said Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “Housing prices have already fallen 15 percent and they need to fall 10 percent more. This bill isn't going to change that equation.”
The Senate voted 72 to 13 to approve the bill, which seeks to halt the steepest slide in house prices in a generation, rescue hundreds of thousands of families from foreclosure and restore confidence in the nation's largest mortgage-finance firms. White House officials said President Bush is likely to sign it by midweek, despite his opposition to nearly $4 billion in aid to local communities.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/07/26/20080726housing-ON.html
Boy electrocuted as storm hits Tucson ballfield
Jul. 26, 2008 10:51 AM
Associated Press
TUCSON - Fire officials say an 8-year-old boy was electrocuted as fellow spectators and ballplayers rushed to get out of a storm at a Tucson ballfield.
The Tucson Fire Department initially received a report that the boy had been hit by lightning.
However, department spokeswoman Capt. Tricia Tracy says the boy was standing in a puddle about 10 feet from a light pole and could have been shocked after lightning struck the pole Friday evening.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/07/26/20080726boyelectrocuted-ON.html
Hospital hangs purple ribbons for drowning awareness
by Beth Duckett - Jul. 26, 2008 12:34 PM
The Arizona Republic
A day after a 2-year-old Mesa girl drowned in a backyard swimming pool, volunteers convened at Phoenix Children's Hospital Saturday morning to raise awareness about the Valley wide drowning crisis.
Nine children have drowned in Maricopa County this year. In June, four children drowned in less than two weeks.
On Saturday morning, helpers tied purple ribbons on hospital trees to spread the word about drowning prevention during August.
The ribbons are purple to commemorate the favorite color of Derek Gonzalez, 3, of Mesa, who drowned in a neighbor's unfenced pool in 2004.
"We want to honor Derek and all the other children who have died from drownings," said Tiffaney Isaacson, water safety coordinator for the Water Watchers program at Phoenix Children's Hospital.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2008/07/26/20080726purpleribbon-ON.html
Wheelchair vets find they still have game
by Lisa Halverstadt - Jul. 26, 2008 08:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
When they learned they would never walk again, four local veterans couldn't imagine becoming athletes.
Now, despite their injuries, they're competing in the National Wheelchair Games.
They are part of a 31-member team from the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System competing in such sports as power soccer, softball and weightlifting. More than 500 veterans from the U.S., Puerto Rico and Great Britain have gathered in Omaha, Neb., for the five-day event that began Friday.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2008/07/26/20080726phx-wheelchair0726.html
Snickers ad called homophobic pulled off TV
Jul. 25, 2008 10:38 AM
The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. - U.S.-based candy maker Mars says it is pulling a Snickers television advertisement in the United Kingdom that prompted a complaint from a gay rights group.
A statement from McLean, Virginia-based Mars Inc. issued late Thursday said the ad featuring the actor Mr. T is the second in a series that was meant to be funny and has been received well there.
But Mars says the ad is not meant to be offensive and it is pulling it.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation criticized the ad as using stereotypes of gay men.
It's the second time in a year-and-a-half that the privately held company has pulled an ad after receiving complaints that it was homophobic.
In the ad, Mr. T berates a speedwalking man as a "disgrace to the man race."
http://www.azcentral.com/business/consumer/articles/2008/07/25/20080725biz-snickerad25-ON.html
Foreclosures: Worst still to come, experts say
by Michael Clancy - Jul. 24, 2008 10:54 AM
The Arizona Republic
Phoenix had a staggering 534 percent increase in foreclosures in the first half of 2008, and it appears the worst may be yet to come.
The percentage gain represents an increase of about 5,000 homes foreclosed from year to year, according to data provided by Information Market.
"This is not surprising," said Phoenix City Councilman Claude Mattox, who represents the hardest-hit areas of the city. "We're well aware of the problem, and we are doing all we can to mitigate it."
The real tidal wave may be yet to come.
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2008/07/24/20080724phx-foreclosures0725-CP.html
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Bands thrill fans from 5 stages
By LYNSI BURTON
P-I REPORTER
One of Seattle's biggest summer music events is this weekend, and if you weren't at the Capitol Hill Block Party on Friday, Saturday is your last chance to check it out.
The nightclub strip on East Pike Street was buzzing with alternative music fans Friday, crowding around the Block Party's five stages under the beaming sun. In addition to music, there were abundant snack and drink stands, clothing vendors and voter registration drives, among other eclectic fare.
The party started at 4 p.m. with Black Eyes & Neckties, a rowdy Bellingham garage-rock band with a morbid dark side. The band's set at the Neumo's Stage was theatrical with an energetic urgency, complete with bloody makeup -- though when the band thanked the crowd at the end, you'd feel as though you could introduce the musicians to your mother.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/372330_blockparty26.html
Another e-mail scandal rocks port
8 workers fired over offensive messages
By VANESSA HO
P-I REPORTER
A year after a scandal engulfed the Port of Seattle's Police Department over smutty, derogatory e-mails, 15 more employees in a different section of the port have been caught exchanging similar e-mails, some for nearly a year, authorities said Friday.
"This is especially disappointing as we have been clear with staff about our expectations that employees read, understand and abide by the port's policies," Port Chief Executive Tay Yoshitani said in a written statement.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/372276_port26.html
Divers come up with new hook on lake's spikes
By KATHY MULADY
P-I REPORTER
Spikes pulled from the bottom of Green Lake, now a total of 86, may turn out to be less ominous and more practical than originally thought and have probably been in the water much longer than the month or two park officials originally estimated.
Several of the 2-foot or longer pieces of metal recovered by divers and snorkelers Friday had hooked tops like candy canes. Some speculated that the spikes, about as thick as pencils, had been used long ago to tether something to the bottom of the lake.
"Not in the last 20 years," said park officials.
When looked at closely, it appeared that the hook tops on some had corroded and fallen off the metal rods. What's left looks like a spike.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/372218_greenlake26.html
Obama defends tour, says McCain shifting on war
By DAVID ESPO
AP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
LONDON -- Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama brushed aside Republican criticism of his overseas trip on Saturday and stood outside the famed 10 Downing Street to say that both President Bush and Sen. John McCain were moving his way on the key issues of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hours before flying home, Obama also suggested his poll numbers might dip in the coming days, adding: "We have been out of the country for a week. People are worried about gas prices and home foreclosures."
At the same time, he said the journey to two war zones, the Mideast and Europe was important because "many of the issues that we face at home are not going to be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1131ap_obama.html?source=mypi
No 'blank check' for Iraq war, Democrats say
By ANDREW MIGA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jack Reed says America can't afford the Republican strategy of continuing to write blank checks for the Iraq war.
"At a time when the war in Iraq costs $10 billion each month, Americans are paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, and our economy is struggling, we cannot continue down the path that President Bush and Senator McCain propose: writing blank check after blank check," Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said Saturday in his party's weekly radio address.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153ap_democrats_iraq.html?source=mypi
Falling tree kills firefighter in California
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
REDDING, Calif. -- Federal forestry officials say a firefighter has died after being struck by a falling tree while working on a wildfire in Northern California.
Andrew Jackson Palmer was injured Friday while working on a forest fire near Junction City, about 50 miles west of Redding.
A U.S. Forest Service spokesman says the 18-year-old Palmer died while being flown to a hospital in Redding.
Palmer was a based at Olympic National Park in Port Angeles, Wash.
The fire near Junction City Eagle is one of more than 2,000 blazes ignited during a huge lightning storm June 21.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_wildfires_fatality.html
Calif. fire threatens homes near Yosemite Valley
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIDPINES, CALIF. -- Authorities say a wildfire is threatening several hundred homes near the main entrance road to Yosemite National Park.
Cheryl Goetz, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, says the 1,000-acre fire is burning in steep, rugged terrain along both sides of the Merced River.
The Mariposa Sheriff's Department is warning residents of the town of Midpines to prepare to evacuate. Midpines is located along Highway 140, the thoroughfare to the west entrance of Yosemite National Park.
Campers on nearby Bureau of Land Management land were evacuated as a precaution.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_wildfires.html
Bodies of missing R.I. couple found in septic tank
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WARREN, R.I. -- Police have found the bodies of a missing Rhode Island couple in a septic tank in their yard.
Sixty-year-old James A. Soares Sr. and 53-year-old Marian F. Soares had last been seen at the beginning of the month. They were reported missing by family members July 15 after they missed a family reunion.
Police went to the couple's house in Warren on Saturday and excavated the yard with a backhoe.
Police removed two body bags with their remains, along with several bags of dirt.
The Providence Journal reported that a family member has been arrested, but no one has been charged. Authorities did not elaborate.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_bodies_found.html
Gunman at Pa. radio station bipolar, ex-wife says
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- The ex-wife of a gunman fatally shot by police outside a central Pennsylvania radio station says the man struggled with bipolar disorder.
Coroner Scott Sayers says the gunman is 50-year-old Brian Neiman of Pottersdale.
Police say Neiman was killed Friday after he fired at officers and tried to run them over with his vehicle outside a radio station in State College.
Jean Neiman of Mifflin County says her ex-husband became angry when he didn't take his medication. She says they used to listen to the Christian station together before divorcing in 2006.
Police got a tip that an armed man was heading to the station and stopped him outside. No one at the station was injured.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_radio_station_shooting.html
Al Gore: Carbon-free juice
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Al Gore has challenged the nation to produce 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and carbon-free sources within 10 years. A few months ago, when folks suggested Gore run again for president, he declined, preferring to promote solutions to the national energy and environmental challenges.
We think Gore is on track with a practical approach to global warming -- it's the do-it-now alternative to gloom and doom. But he's not alone in this quest. Oilman T. Boone Pickens has offered his own plan. It's different (less about carbon, more about energy) but with a similar overall goal in mind -- energy independence. Pickens says we import 70 percent of our energy, essentially giving $700 billion each year to other nations.
"Scientists have confirmed that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the Earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world's energy needs for a full year. Tapping just a small portion of this solar energy could provide all of the electricity America uses," Gore said. "Enough wind power blows through the Midwest corridor every day to also meet 100 percent of U.S. electricity demand."
The time has come for our generation's Manhattan Project. One that balances the challenges of global warming mitigation with our need for energy (and economic) independence.
Can it be done? Yes. A carbon-free future can become reality -- if the nation is willing to invest money, creativity and national spirit. This type of impossible goal is exactly the sort of dream that's made America, well, America.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/372106_gored.html
WA firefighter dies in California wildfire
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
REDDING, Calif. -- A Washington state firefighter died when he was hit by a falling tree while assisting in a wildfire in California.
Andrew Palmer, 18, based at the Olympic National Park in Port Angeles, Wash., was part of a four-member park engine crew that was dispatched Tuesday to a fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, about 50 miles east of Redding, Calif.
Officials said they are investigating the death. Steve Ritchie, a spokesman for the Redding-area fire command center, said the 18-year-old suffered multiple injuries and died while being airlifted to a hospital on Friday.
Ritchie said the Eagle Fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest has burned more than 21,000 acres and was 68 percent contained as of Saturday morning.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_firefighter_dead.html
continued...
Slumping economy brings boom in garage sales
Hard times offer opportunities for shoppers seeking bargains, sellers needing extra cash
By Vikki Ortiz Chicago Tribune reporter
11:39 PM CDT, July 25, 2008
Ryan Rudowicz, 6, pockets proceeds from the sale of a toy at his family's garage sale on Fieldstone Lane in Woodland Hills subdivision in Bartlett. (Tribune photo by Terry Harris / July 18, 2008)
For Sue Rolsky of Schaumburg, evidence of the tough economic times comes in a jumble of ugly vases, a 1986 Jim Thompson campaign button and other oddities put out this weekend for sale in her garage and driveway.
Rolsky and her sister-in-law are pooling their collectibles Saturday in hopes of clearing out their homes, not to mention making some extra cash.
Part of the challenge, Rolsky admits, is haggling with people who will drive hard bargains because they have less money to spend for the likes of that weird stuffed green beaver or that even weirder troll doll.
"You've got to expect that," said Rolsky, 56. "That's what they're out for, to get a bargain. . . . We're all trying to economize the best we can."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-garage-sale-both-26jul26,0,1937525.story
Daley won't rule out layoffs in tough budget times ahead
By Russell Working Chicago Tribune reporter
3:43 PM CDT, July 26, 2008
Mayor Richard Daley Saturday predicted tough times ahead financially for the City of Chicago and pointedly declined to rule out layoffs of police and other municipal employees.
Asked about a published report that the city is likely facing layoffs because of a $400 million-plus shortage in the upcoming 2009 city budget, Daley noted that the city -- unlike the federal government -- doesn't have the option of running up the deficit to fund its programs. Daley sidestepped a direct answer but left the possibility of layoffs on the table.
"I think everybody's concerned about this year's budget," Daley said at the rededication of two historic Monroe Street bridge houses. "It's going to take some tough decisions. But we're all working with people. Like everything else, we have to work together."
Daley noted that the economy nationwide is in a serious downturn that will trigger further belt-tightening at home.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-080726-daley-layoffs,0,7909165.story
Daley promises to fight to keep handgun ban
Weis urges residents to swap their guns for gift cards Saturday
By Deanese Williams-Harris and Melissa Patterson Chicago Tribune reporters
10:56 PM CDT, July 25, 2008
Mayor Richard Daley was adamant Friday about Chicago's intention to defend its handgun ban in court, despite news that a second area suburb was likely to repeal its ordinance next week.
Morton Grove, which along with Chicago and other communities was sued by the National Rifle Association, is poised to repeal its first-in-the-nation handgun ban next week. Wilmette already has suspended its handgun ordinance in the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a similar law in Washington.
"Morton Grove can do anything that it wants," Daley said at an unrelated news conference. "I don't look at this lightly—that, 'Oh, because the Supreme Court's done it we're just gonna dismiss it and all of a sudden people can arm themselves,' " he said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-gun-turnin_jul26,0,6100999.story
Firearm trade-in locations
10:55 PM CDT, July 25, 2008
The city's gun buyback program will accept guns Saturday at the following locations:
Bethlehem Star Missionary Baptist Church, 9231 S. Cottage Grove Ave.
Trinity All Nation Church, 9600 S. Vincennes Ave.
St. Stephen's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 8500 S. Maryland Ave.
Daley promises to fight to keep handgun ban
Uptown Baptist Church, 1011 W. Wilson Ave.
Wayman AME Church, 509 W. Elm St.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-gun-turn-in-listjul26,0,3322103.story
Will clotheslines turn dryers into relics?
By Sheila Simon
July 27, 2008
Hang out with me.
In my most rich environmentalist fantasies I am off the grid, self-sufficiently solar. In real life I'm still on the grid because I'm not rich.
But even in real life with a budget, my family and I have scored big with one simple lifestyle change—we hang dry all of our laundry. It has reduced our power bill, and turned us, like converts to a new faith, into proselytizers.
We had long ago taken steps to reduce our electricity use. We replaced all of our light bulbs with fluorescents, use less air conditioning in the summer and turn the heat down in the winter when we're all out of the house. But nothing made such a dent in our power bill as abandoning the dryer. That simple change dropped our average monthly bill by more than $100.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/chi-oped0727dryjul27,0,7566844.story
Green Celebrities
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/sns-green-celebrities-photos,0,5226241.photogallery
Arizona Central News
Man accused in conspiracy to kill judge dies at 63
Jul. 26, 2008 02:00 PM
Associated Press
EL PASO, Texas - Jamiel Alexander "Jimmy" Chagra, accused of leading a 1979 conspiracy to assassinate the federal judge in San Antonio set to preside over his drug trial, died Friday. He was 63.
Chagra, who was living in Mesa, had been battling cancer since November, said his sister, Patsy Chagra of El Paso.
"That's where he was living with his wife," she told the El Paso Times for its Friday editions. "He died peacefully ... ."
U.S. District Judge John Wood Jr. was fatally shot in the back on May 29, 1979, outside his San Antonio home. Hit man Charles Harrelson, the father of actor Woody Harrelson, was convicted of murder in the slaying and died in federal prison in Denver in March 2007 while serving two life sentences.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2008/07/26/20080726chagraobit-ON.html
Huge housing rescue bill passes, but experts skeptical
Jul. 26, 2008 03:00 PM
Washington Post
WASHINGTON - Even as a huge bipartisan majority in the Senate voted Saturday to send a sprawling housing bill to the White House, economists, consumer advocates and other analysts said the package of programs for cash-strapped homeowners and shaken mortgage lenders is unlikely to relieve the foreclosure crisis that is driving the nation toward recession.
“This is not the end of the housing crunch,” said Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “Housing prices have already fallen 15 percent and they need to fall 10 percent more. This bill isn't going to change that equation.”
The Senate voted 72 to 13 to approve the bill, which seeks to halt the steepest slide in house prices in a generation, rescue hundreds of thousands of families from foreclosure and restore confidence in the nation's largest mortgage-finance firms. White House officials said President Bush is likely to sign it by midweek, despite his opposition to nearly $4 billion in aid to local communities.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/07/26/20080726housing-ON.html
Boy electrocuted as storm hits Tucson ballfield
Jul. 26, 2008 10:51 AM
Associated Press
TUCSON - Fire officials say an 8-year-old boy was electrocuted as fellow spectators and ballplayers rushed to get out of a storm at a Tucson ballfield.
The Tucson Fire Department initially received a report that the boy had been hit by lightning.
However, department spokeswoman Capt. Tricia Tracy says the boy was standing in a puddle about 10 feet from a light pole and could have been shocked after lightning struck the pole Friday evening.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/07/26/20080726boyelectrocuted-ON.html
Hospital hangs purple ribbons for drowning awareness
by Beth Duckett - Jul. 26, 2008 12:34 PM
The Arizona Republic
A day after a 2-year-old Mesa girl drowned in a backyard swimming pool, volunteers convened at Phoenix Children's Hospital Saturday morning to raise awareness about the Valley wide drowning crisis.
Nine children have drowned in Maricopa County this year. In June, four children drowned in less than two weeks.
On Saturday morning, helpers tied purple ribbons on hospital trees to spread the word about drowning prevention during August.
The ribbons are purple to commemorate the favorite color of Derek Gonzalez, 3, of Mesa, who drowned in a neighbor's unfenced pool in 2004.
"We want to honor Derek and all the other children who have died from drownings," said Tiffaney Isaacson, water safety coordinator for the Water Watchers program at Phoenix Children's Hospital.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2008/07/26/20080726purpleribbon-ON.html
Wheelchair vets find they still have game
by Lisa Halverstadt - Jul. 26, 2008 08:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
When they learned they would never walk again, four local veterans couldn't imagine becoming athletes.
Now, despite their injuries, they're competing in the National Wheelchair Games.
They are part of a 31-member team from the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System competing in such sports as power soccer, softball and weightlifting. More than 500 veterans from the U.S., Puerto Rico and Great Britain have gathered in Omaha, Neb., for the five-day event that began Friday.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2008/07/26/20080726phx-wheelchair0726.html
Snickers ad called homophobic pulled off TV
Jul. 25, 2008 10:38 AM
The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. - U.S.-based candy maker Mars says it is pulling a Snickers television advertisement in the United Kingdom that prompted a complaint from a gay rights group.
A statement from McLean, Virginia-based Mars Inc. issued late Thursday said the ad featuring the actor Mr. T is the second in a series that was meant to be funny and has been received well there.
But Mars says the ad is not meant to be offensive and it is pulling it.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation criticized the ad as using stereotypes of gay men.
It's the second time in a year-and-a-half that the privately held company has pulled an ad after receiving complaints that it was homophobic.
In the ad, Mr. T berates a speedwalking man as a "disgrace to the man race."
http://www.azcentral.com/business/consumer/articles/2008/07/25/20080725biz-snickerad25-ON.html
Foreclosures: Worst still to come, experts say
by Michael Clancy - Jul. 24, 2008 10:54 AM
The Arizona Republic
Phoenix had a staggering 534 percent increase in foreclosures in the first half of 2008, and it appears the worst may be yet to come.
The percentage gain represents an increase of about 5,000 homes foreclosed from year to year, according to data provided by Information Market.
"This is not surprising," said Phoenix City Councilman Claude Mattox, who represents the hardest-hit areas of the city. "We're well aware of the problem, and we are doing all we can to mitigate it."
The real tidal wave may be yet to come.
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2008/07/24/20080724phx-foreclosures0725-CP.html
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Bands thrill fans from 5 stages
By LYNSI BURTON
P-I REPORTER
One of Seattle's biggest summer music events is this weekend, and if you weren't at the Capitol Hill Block Party on Friday, Saturday is your last chance to check it out.
The nightclub strip on East Pike Street was buzzing with alternative music fans Friday, crowding around the Block Party's five stages under the beaming sun. In addition to music, there were abundant snack and drink stands, clothing vendors and voter registration drives, among other eclectic fare.
The party started at 4 p.m. with Black Eyes & Neckties, a rowdy Bellingham garage-rock band with a morbid dark side. The band's set at the Neumo's Stage was theatrical with an energetic urgency, complete with bloody makeup -- though when the band thanked the crowd at the end, you'd feel as though you could introduce the musicians to your mother.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/372330_blockparty26.html
Another e-mail scandal rocks port
8 workers fired over offensive messages
By VANESSA HO
P-I REPORTER
A year after a scandal engulfed the Port of Seattle's Police Department over smutty, derogatory e-mails, 15 more employees in a different section of the port have been caught exchanging similar e-mails, some for nearly a year, authorities said Friday.
"This is especially disappointing as we have been clear with staff about our expectations that employees read, understand and abide by the port's policies," Port Chief Executive Tay Yoshitani said in a written statement.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/372276_port26.html
Divers come up with new hook on lake's spikes
By KATHY MULADY
P-I REPORTER
Spikes pulled from the bottom of Green Lake, now a total of 86, may turn out to be less ominous and more practical than originally thought and have probably been in the water much longer than the month or two park officials originally estimated.
Several of the 2-foot or longer pieces of metal recovered by divers and snorkelers Friday had hooked tops like candy canes. Some speculated that the spikes, about as thick as pencils, had been used long ago to tether something to the bottom of the lake.
"Not in the last 20 years," said park officials.
When looked at closely, it appeared that the hook tops on some had corroded and fallen off the metal rods. What's left looks like a spike.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/372218_greenlake26.html
Obama defends tour, says McCain shifting on war
By DAVID ESPO
AP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
LONDON -- Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama brushed aside Republican criticism of his overseas trip on Saturday and stood outside the famed 10 Downing Street to say that both President Bush and Sen. John McCain were moving his way on the key issues of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hours before flying home, Obama also suggested his poll numbers might dip in the coming days, adding: "We have been out of the country for a week. People are worried about gas prices and home foreclosures."
At the same time, he said the journey to two war zones, the Mideast and Europe was important because "many of the issues that we face at home are not going to be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1131ap_obama.html?source=mypi
No 'blank check' for Iraq war, Democrats say
By ANDREW MIGA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jack Reed says America can't afford the Republican strategy of continuing to write blank checks for the Iraq war.
"At a time when the war in Iraq costs $10 billion each month, Americans are paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, and our economy is struggling, we cannot continue down the path that President Bush and Senator McCain propose: writing blank check after blank check," Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said Saturday in his party's weekly radio address.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153ap_democrats_iraq.html?source=mypi
Falling tree kills firefighter in California
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
REDDING, Calif. -- Federal forestry officials say a firefighter has died after being struck by a falling tree while working on a wildfire in Northern California.
Andrew Jackson Palmer was injured Friday while working on a forest fire near Junction City, about 50 miles west of Redding.
A U.S. Forest Service spokesman says the 18-year-old Palmer died while being flown to a hospital in Redding.
Palmer was a based at Olympic National Park in Port Angeles, Wash.
The fire near Junction City Eagle is one of more than 2,000 blazes ignited during a huge lightning storm June 21.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_wildfires_fatality.html
Calif. fire threatens homes near Yosemite Valley
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIDPINES, CALIF. -- Authorities say a wildfire is threatening several hundred homes near the main entrance road to Yosemite National Park.
Cheryl Goetz, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, says the 1,000-acre fire is burning in steep, rugged terrain along both sides of the Merced River.
The Mariposa Sheriff's Department is warning residents of the town of Midpines to prepare to evacuate. Midpines is located along Highway 140, the thoroughfare to the west entrance of Yosemite National Park.
Campers on nearby Bureau of Land Management land were evacuated as a precaution.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_wildfires.html
Bodies of missing R.I. couple found in septic tank
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WARREN, R.I. -- Police have found the bodies of a missing Rhode Island couple in a septic tank in their yard.
Sixty-year-old James A. Soares Sr. and 53-year-old Marian F. Soares had last been seen at the beginning of the month. They were reported missing by family members July 15 after they missed a family reunion.
Police went to the couple's house in Warren on Saturday and excavated the yard with a backhoe.
Police removed two body bags with their remains, along with several bags of dirt.
The Providence Journal reported that a family member has been arrested, but no one has been charged. Authorities did not elaborate.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_bodies_found.html
Gunman at Pa. radio station bipolar, ex-wife says
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- The ex-wife of a gunman fatally shot by police outside a central Pennsylvania radio station says the man struggled with bipolar disorder.
Coroner Scott Sayers says the gunman is 50-year-old Brian Neiman of Pottersdale.
Police say Neiman was killed Friday after he fired at officers and tried to run them over with his vehicle outside a radio station in State College.
Jean Neiman of Mifflin County says her ex-husband became angry when he didn't take his medication. She says they used to listen to the Christian station together before divorcing in 2006.
Police got a tip that an armed man was heading to the station and stopped him outside. No one at the station was injured.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_radio_station_shooting.html
Al Gore: Carbon-free juice
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Al Gore has challenged the nation to produce 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and carbon-free sources within 10 years. A few months ago, when folks suggested Gore run again for president, he declined, preferring to promote solutions to the national energy and environmental challenges.
We think Gore is on track with a practical approach to global warming -- it's the do-it-now alternative to gloom and doom. But he's not alone in this quest. Oilman T. Boone Pickens has offered his own plan. It's different (less about carbon, more about energy) but with a similar overall goal in mind -- energy independence. Pickens says we import 70 percent of our energy, essentially giving $700 billion each year to other nations.
"Scientists have confirmed that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the Earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world's energy needs for a full year. Tapping just a small portion of this solar energy could provide all of the electricity America uses," Gore said. "Enough wind power blows through the Midwest corridor every day to also meet 100 percent of U.S. electricity demand."
The time has come for our generation's Manhattan Project. One that balances the challenges of global warming mitigation with our need for energy (and economic) independence.
Can it be done? Yes. A carbon-free future can become reality -- if the nation is willing to invest money, creativity and national spirit. This type of impossible goal is exactly the sort of dream that's made America, well, America.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/372106_gored.html
WA firefighter dies in California wildfire
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
REDDING, Calif. -- A Washington state firefighter died when he was hit by a falling tree while assisting in a wildfire in California.
Andrew Palmer, 18, based at the Olympic National Park in Port Angeles, Wash., was part of a four-member park engine crew that was dispatched Tuesday to a fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, about 50 miles east of Redding, Calif.
Officials said they are investigating the death. Steve Ritchie, a spokesman for the Redding-area fire command center, said the 18-year-old suffered multiple injuries and died while being airlifted to a hospital on Friday.
Ritchie said the Eagle Fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest has burned more than 21,000 acres and was 68 percent contained as of Saturday morning.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_firefighter_dead.html
continued...
Collector's item could cost an arm and a leg
The American Alligator, a conservation success story.
5:00AM
Friday July 25, 2008
Brandon Hall and Lindsey Hord 'harvest' a nest. Photo /AP
It's 7am in the marsh and like some sort of cigar-chomping swamp cowboy, biologist Lindsey Hord is about to reach for something that could cost him a few fingers - or worse.
It's the first day of Florida's annual alligator egg collection programme, a yearly ritual to replenish stocks for the state's gator farmers.
Hord and several other airboat pilots fire up their engines and slowly glide out into a canal. The he roars up to a small island and peers into the brush for a nest that, to the untrained eye, looks just like a patch of wet dirt. Bingo.
He kneels beside the mound, carefully pulling apart the mass of dark, damp weeds. Over his shoulder, just a few metres away, mama gator's bulbous eyes float ominously on the water's surface.
He gently pulls the eggs from the dirt and places them carefully in a plastic bin lined with muck to keep them warm.
To some, this might seem, well, crazy. For Hord, who helps co-ordinate alligator management in a state with more than a million of the reptiles, it's another day at the office....
Endangered bird forces resort delay - Well, yeah. I guess so. It's natural habitat is critical to its restoration. Restoration is successful.
Success for Fairy Tern at Kaipara Harbour (click here)
Wednesday, 10 January 2007, 4:08 pm
Press Release: Department of Conservation
Media Release 10 January 2007
Success for Fairy Tern at Kaipara Harbour for the first time in five years
One of New Zealand's rarest birds, the New Zealand fairy tern, has been boosted by a chick successfully fledging at Papakanui Spit on the Kaipara Harbour, for the first time in five years....
Conservation of the endangered New Zealand fairy tern (click here)
S.M. Ferreiraa, 1, K.M. Hansenb,
, G.R. Parrishb, R.J. Pierceb, 2, G.A. Pulhamc and S. Taylora, 3
aAuckland Conservancy, Department of Conservation, PO Box 68908, Newton, Auckland, New Zealand
bNorthland Conservancy, Department of Conservation, PO Box 842, Whangarei, New Zealand
cUnit 2, 1 Parkhill Road, Birkenhead, Auckland, New Zealand
Received 30 May 2004.
Available online 31 May 2005.
Abstract
The New Zealand fairy tern Sterna nereis davisae has only one small population of c.30 individuals and its conservation is a priority. The population was declining prior to the mid 1980s. Management of the three remaining breeding sites was initiated during 1983/84 and intensified from 1991 onwards. We have collated historic data and reviewed the changes in the population since 1991. Our results illustrate that the number of chicks fledged increased since 1991. Fifty-five chicks fledged between 1991/92 and 2002/03. Demographic modelling based on productivity and age-specific survival estimates predicted that the population should increase at c.1.5% per annum. The predicted results from the demographic model contrasted against the observation of a stable resident population. This difference could have resulted from the movement of individuals out of our study area. Demographic modelling also indicated that the population may have continued to decline at a rate of c.1.4% per annum if management was not initiated. Extinction risk within 50 years has decreased from 0.52 to 0.39.
Morning Papers - continued...
5:00AM Sunday June 29, 2008By Nicola Shepheard
Smog hanging over the Auckland skyline
A town-known for its pristine mountain vistas is the most polluted in New Zealand - and its picturesque setting is partly to blame.
Alexandra, in Central Otago, tops a list of pollution hotspots supplied to the Herald on Sunday by the Ministry for the Environment.
The top five spots are all in the South Island, with Rotorua the North Island's worst offender at number six, followed by Tokoroa and Hastings at nine and 10.
The rankings are based on the number of times a year recorded pollution levels exceeded the national standard over the past three years.
Officials focused on key pollutant PM10 - essentially fine particles in the air. Alexandra exceeded the standard level 46 times in one year but Christchurch recorded the highest single concentration - 172 micrograms per cubic metre of air, more than three times the standard.
About 1000 New Zealanders die prematurely each year from air pollution, with a similar number of hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiac illnesses....
Smog hanging over the Auckland skyline
A town-known for its pristine mountain vistas is the most polluted in New Zealand - and its picturesque setting is partly to blame.
Alexandra, in Central Otago, tops a list of pollution hotspots supplied to the Herald on Sunday by the Ministry for the Environment.
The top five spots are all in the South Island, with Rotorua the North Island's worst offender at number six, followed by Tokoroa and Hastings at nine and 10.
The rankings are based on the number of times a year recorded pollution levels exceeded the national standard over the past three years.
Officials focused on key pollutant PM10 - essentially fine particles in the air. Alexandra exceeded the standard level 46 times in one year but Christchurch recorded the highest single concentration - 172 micrograms per cubic metre of air, more than three times the standard.
About 1000 New Zealanders die prematurely each year from air pollution, with a similar number of hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiac illnesses....
The New Zealand Herald
American lives become increasingly worth less
5:00AM Saturday July 12, 2008
It is not just the US dollar that is losing value. A government agency has decided that an American life is not worth what it used to be.
The "value of a statistical life" is US$6.9 million ($9 million), the US Environmental Protection Agency said in May - a drop of almost $1 million from just five years ago.
The Associated Press discovered the change after a review of cost-benefit analyses over more than a dozen years.
Though it may seem like a harmless bureaucratic recalculation, the devaluation has real consequences.
When drawing up regulations, government agencies put a value on human life, then weigh the costs versus the lifesaving benefits of a proposed rule. The less a life is worth to the government, the less the need for a regulation, such as tighter restrictions on pollution.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=281&objectid=10521092
Obama addresses 200,000 in Berlin
BERLIN - Barack Obama stood before more than 200,000 people in Berlin overnight and summoned Europeans and Americans to work together to bring the war in Iraq to an end, defeat terrorism and "dry up the well of extremism that supports it".
Obama said America and Europe must stand together in telling Iran to "abandon its nuclear ambitions" and insisted that "we must renew our resolve" to defeat the Taleban in Afghanistan.
Speaking in the Tiergarten, a park not far from where the Berlin Wall once stood, the presumptive Democratic nominee urged Americans, Berliners, and people of the world to work together for a better world.
"A new generation - our generation - must make our mark on history," he said.
Police spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski said the speech drew more than 200,000 people. No incidents were reported.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523409
CIA was told interrogations 'safe'
12:07PM Friday July 25, 2008
Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Photo / AP
WASHINGTON - The US Justice Department in 2002 told the CIA that its interrogators would be safe from prosecution for violations of anti-torture laws if they believed "in good faith" that harsh techniques used to break prisoners' will not cause "prolonged mental harm."
That heavily censored memo, released Thursday, approved the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques method by method, but warned that if the circumstances changed, interrogators could be running afoul of anti-torture laws.
The Aug. 1, 2002, legal opinion signed by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee was issued the day he wrote a memo for then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales that defined torture as only those "extreme acts" that cause pain similar in intensity to that caused by death or organ failure.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523487
Former military leader sentenced to life in prison
11:59AM Friday July 25, 2008
Luciano Benjamin Menendez, who was commander of the Third Army Corps in Cordoba for five years during Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship. Photo / AP
BUENOS AIRES - A court sentenced one of Argentina's most feared former military leaders to life in prison on Thursday for the 1977 kidnapping, torture and killing of four leftist activists.
Luciano Benjamin Menendez, 81, was commander of the Third Army Corps in Cordoba for five years during Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship and controlled one of the regime's most notorious torture centers.
Hours before the sentencing, an unrepentant Menendez read a statement in front of live television cameras saying the regime's repression had been justified in the face of a leftist militant threat.
"We had to take appropriate measures," he said.
Menendez, who was already under house arrest for previous "dirty war" convictions," will be transferred to a prison following Thursday's conviction and sentencing.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523485
Net-savvy before age 6
5:15AM Friday July 25, 2008
Children in one in five Australian households are surfing the net before their 6th birthday and 30 per cent of young people are never supervised online, says a report on internet use.
The Sensis e-Business Report interviewed 1500 people and 1800 small and medium businesses in May. It found children in 71 per cent of households with under-18s were using the internet, with most beginning between the ages of 6 and 10.
But in 18 per cent of households, internet use began when children were 5 years or younger. Two-thirds of parents reported supervising their children online and 67 per cent said computers were kept in a communal area.
Of those not providing supervision, half said they never had, and 42 per cent had stopped when their children were between 11 and 15.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523390
Drunken Wall St gets a dry Bush assessment
5:00AM Friday July 25, 2008
By Leonard Doyle
Photo / AP
Drying out is a subject on which President George W. Bush has personal insights. And when he used the metaphor of a drunk sobering up after a bender to describe America's economic travails, people sat up and listened.
"Wall Street got drunk," Bush told a private gathering in Texas as he sought to explain why the world's biggest and most complex economy was teetering on the brink of recession.
When speaking in public, the President, a Harvard MBA, usually prefers euphemisms to refer to the millions of people who are hurting and losing their homes. "Challenges in the housing and financial markets", is a favourite one. But speaking to a closed-door Republican fundraiser in Houston last week his explanation was much blunter.
"There's no question about it," Bush said. "Wall Street got drunk, that's one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras. It got drunk and now it's got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523395
'Number 16 Bus Shelter', 'Violence' among kids registered names
6:44PM Thursday July 24, 2008
Your Views
Should parents be able to name their children anything they like?
New Zealand children have been given names such as Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Benson and Hedges(twins).
But other names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Stallion, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, have been blocked by registration officials.
The revelations came during written findings by Family Court Judge Murfitt, who ordered a girl be put in court guardianship so her name - Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii - could be changed.
The girl's lawyer told the judge she was so embarrassed by her name she refused to reveal it to friends.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10523288
Looking good without the chemicals
5:00AM Monday July 21, 2008
By Brooke Donovan and Alice Neville
The natural beauty industry is booming worldwide and New Zealand, with its clean green image, is perfectly poised to capitalise.
But is natural beauty really a green proposition, or merely a marketing tool?
The answer can be found in an alarming statistic. It is thought that women ingest as much as 2kg of chemicals a year from the cosmetics and skincare they use - and there are no rules or regulations governing their ingredients.
Attention has particularly been drawn to the use of parabens as perservatives in beauty products, which some studies have linked to cancer, and phthalates, the industrial chemicals used in many cosmetic products and linked to birth defects.
As concern grows about the use of chemicals in beauty products, the natural beauty industry is becoming mainstream.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10522545
Days numbered for plastic bags in LA
7:15AM Thursday July 24, 2008
The city of Los Angeles - the second-largest city in the US with four million inhabitants - has announced it will ban all plastic bags from stores as of July 1, 2010, following similar anti-pollution regulations already enforced in San Francisco.
After that date, all store customers must provide their own bags or purchase bags made of paper or other biodegradable material from the store for US25c.
The goal is to rid the city of around 2.3 billion non-biodegradable plastic bags that are distributed each year and end up polluting waste dumps. In 2007 San Francisco, 600km north of LA, became the first US city to ban plastic bags from its stores. Both city regulations are intended to pressure state politicians who are considering a bill to eliminate plastic bags across the state by 2012.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=281&objectid=10523201
NZ 'ally' and close friend of US - Rice
4:56PM Saturday July 26, 2008
By Edward Gay and NZPA
Condoleezza Rice shakes hands with Winston Peters this morning. Photo / NZPA
Related nzherald links:
The United States Secretary of State has described New Zealand as an "ally" and a close friend.
Prime Minister Helen Clark held discussions with Condoleezza Rice at Government House in Auckland this afternoon.
They discussed the political situation in Zimbabwe and the conflict in Afghanistan.
Helen Clark said the increase in the price of fuel and food was also discussed.
Dr Rice said it had been a full agenda.
"I want to agree and underscore the points that you have made about the state of relations between New Zealand and the United States. I believe that they are in very good shape," Dr Rice said
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523625
Thousands without power, roads closed as storm batters NI (+photos)
7:00PM Saturday July 26, 2008
By James Ihaka and NZPA
A powerful storm cut a swathe across the North Island today, cutting power to tens of thousands of homes, trapping skiers and making driving hazardous.
Weather forecasters predicted gale force winds would continue across much of the North Island in the next 20 hours as the storm, tipped to be one of the worst in 10 years, moved over the country.
Northland was hit hard first, with wind gusts of up to 130km/h bringing down trees and power lines as the storm made landfall.
Thousands of homes were without power in the region, and when the storm moved down the country it took out power to 53,000 homes in Rodney, Waitakere and the North Shore.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523616
US should end ban on war games says ex-envoy
5:00AM Saturday July 26, 2008
By Audrey Young
It is time the United States relaxed its blanket ban on exercises with New Zealand defence forces, former Defence Secretary and ambassador to the United States Denis McLean said last night.
He was speaking hours before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due to touch down in Auckland.
Dr Rice's visit is another milestone in the relationship between New Zealand and the United States, which has been rapidly improving since the US reviewed relations in 2006.
After a powhiri at Government House, Dr Rice will hold talks with Foreign Minister Winston Peters, then with Prime Minister Helen Clark before being hosted at a reception and a dinner.
Trade issues, including the elusive free trade agreement with the United States, are expected to be high on New Zealand's agenda.
But security issues in the Pacific and New Zealand's military co-operation in Afghanistan and to Operation Enduring Freedom in the Gulf are also likely to figure high.
Mr McLean said it was clear that New Zealand was "pulling itsweight".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523612
We're living beyond our means
5:00AM Saturday July 26, 2008
By Brooke Donovan
As the economy boomed and the good times rolled, spending money was easy and credit was there for the taking.
But financial advisers are dismayed at the number of New Zealanders who have been living beyond their means, forgetting the basics of money management and now paying the price.
Even the well-off have proved to be vulnerable as finance companies - the latest Hanover Finance - hit the skids, potentially taking large chunks of investors' cash with them.
And the younger you are, the more you're likely to struggle with the new need for frugality.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523591
Petrol cut again but diesel price lags
5:00AM Saturday July 26, 2008
By Mathew Dearnaley
Motorists have gained their third petrol price cut in eight days, but the Automobile Association believes there is room for a bigger drop for diesel users.
The oil companies yesterday cut both petrol and diesel prices by 4c a litre, earning praise from AA spokesman Mark Stockdale for acting promptly to pass on cost reductions.
But he saw no reason why, after a period in which petrol dropped by 12c a litre, diesel was just 8c cheaper than on Thursday last week.
Mr Stockdale said industry data obtained by the AA indicated that oil companies were making a big enough margin on diesel for them to have cut that fuel by 4c on Monday, a day when they dropped petrol prices only.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523595
The Sarajevo legacy
8:10AM Saturday July 26, 2008
By Peter Popham
LONDON - The jubilation of the people of Sarajevo at the capture of Radovan Karadzic, the man they blame for the bloody siege which pinned their city down for 44 months and cost 10,000 lives, has slowly evaporated during an en extraordinary week of revelations.
What was left yesterday was a coming to terms with the bitter fact that much of what Mr Karadzic stood for has already come to pass.
"I didn't feel much jubilation," admitted Senad Slatina, a political analyst in the city.
"Some of the young people say it's a good thing but for me it's so overdue that it's almost irrelevant. Karadzic is no longer on the scene, but his ideas and his life work are almost on the verge of becoming reality."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523619
Police kick, shove as 30,000 throng for Olympics tickets
8:41AM Saturday July 26, 2008
BEIJING - A crowd of 30,000 people, baking in the heat and waiting for up to two days, swarmed a ticketing centre Friday as the final batch of Olympic tickets went on sale. Police shoved and kicked them and used metal barricades to prevent a stampede.
The August 8-24 Beijing Games are the first Olympics expected to be sold out, and some fans spent the night on thin bamboo mats and newspapers for a chance to buy the 250,000 tickets that went on sale in different parts of the city.
At the main ticket office not far from the national stadium known as the Bird's Nest, tempers flared as sticky bodies pressed against each other in the surging crowd before sales began at 9am. Police yanked more than half a dozen unruly fans from the crowd, kicking one who fell as he was being led away and dragging another by his hair.
"It was very dangerous. I was afraid," said Wang Zhenqiang, who waited 28 hours with Ji Liqiang, a fellow businessman from eastern Shandong province, to buy tickets to the diving competition.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523621
Greek fires forces evacuation of 2000
10:27AM Saturday July 26, 2008
ATHENS, Greece - More than 2000 tourists were evacuated from hotels in the island of Rhodes as forest fires raged for a fourth day, the Fire Service and municipal officials said.
Authorities said the measure was taken as a precaution and affected hotels in the Asklipios area, near the southeast coast of the island. Rhodes is popular with British and other European vacationers.
"Three hotels were evacuated as a precaution, mainly because smoke from the fire had created an unpleasant atmosphere," said Haralambos Kokkinos, the South Aegean regional governor.
"The evacuation was orderly and there were no problems. The tourists were taken to the nearby coast and will remain there until the smoke clears. Conditions have already improved and it's likely that the tourists will return to their hotels by nightfall."
The fire has destroyed thousands of hectares of dense pine forest, helped by strong winds, and came within a few meters of village homes in the centre of the island, Fire Service officials said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523629
Seven synchronised bombs in India
8:40AM Saturday July 26, 2008
BANGALORE, India - Seven synchronized small bombs shook India's high-tech hub overnight, killing two people and wounding at least five others, officials said.
Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar Bidri said the seven blasts went off within several minutes of each other at different spots across the city. One woman was killed in an explosion at a bus stop in the city's Madiwala neighbourhood, he said.
Another person died later of his injuries, federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil said.
Bidri said each of the small bombs contained the amount of explosives equal to "one or two grenades" and appeared to have been set off by timers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523620
Gunman shoots three at college in Phoenix
1:28PM Friday July 25, 2008
PHOENIX - Officials say three people have been shot at a community college in Phoenix.
Fire department division chief Mark Faulkner says a 25-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman wounded at South Mountain Community College are in critical condition, and a 17-year-old boy is in stable condition.
Faulkner says the three were taken by firefighters to a county hospital.
The shooting happened around 4 p.m. No information on the shooter was immediately available.
Officials reached at the college did not immediately have any information on the shootings.
- AP
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523503
Crew with missile launch codes fell asleep
10:15AM Friday July 25, 2008
WASHINGTON - Three ballistic missile crew members in fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices this month, triggering an investigation by military and National Security Agency experts, the US Air Force said Thursday.
The probe found that the missile launch codes were not compromised, but the incident comes on the heels of a series of missteps by the Air Force that had already put the service under intense scrutiny.
"This was just a procedural violation that we investigated," said Air Force Col. Dewey Ford, a spokesman at Patterson Air Force Base in Colorado. "We determined that there was no compromise."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523447
Lesbian mothers lose IVF lawsuit
7:15AM Friday July 25, 2008
The lesbian mothers of IVF twin girls have lost a legal bid to sue their doctor for the cost of raising one of the toddlers.
The women, whose names are suppressed, sued Canberra obstetrician Dr Robert Armellin for more than A$400,000 ($520,000) for implanting two embryos instead of the requested one.
The ACT Supreme Court yesterday ruled in favour of Armellin, and ordered the couple to pay his legal costs. The women, who earn more than A$100,000 between them, sought A$398,000 to cover the costs of raising one of the girls, including fees for a private Steiner school.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523393
Motorsport: Supercars embrace green movement
5:00AM Monday July 21, 2008
V8 Supercars will run on environmentally-friendly ethanol next year, and the 2009 championship will be shortened by a month.
V8 Supercars chairman Tony Cochrane confirmed cars in the championship would use 85 per cent ethanol-blended petrol from next year, hoping to take the lead in promoting the greener fuel's benefits to Australian motorists.
* The length of next year's championship will be shortened to 38 weeks from 42, with all 14 rounds and the Australian Grand Prix exhibition event shoehorned into a calendar with less breaks and more action.
* A final decision on whether a Sydney street race around the Olympic precinct will happen in 2009 is expected this week.
* V8 bosses are considering a night race.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10522578
Sydney Morning Herald
Small gas power plants to make the city self-sufficient
July 26, 2008
DOZENS of miniature gas-fired power plants sprinkled around the inner city and the CBD are at the heart of plans to make Sydney almost self-sufficient in energy over the next two decades.
The scheme, radical by Australian standards but routine in the context of European developments, took shape this week when an energy expert, Allan Jones, visited to pass on lessons learnt from similar projects in Britain.
"Sydney does have huge potential for sustainability," said Mr Jones, chief development officer at London's Climate Change Agency. "My impression is that Australia has held itself back from this sort of technology over the last 10 years, maybe because it has built up a reliance on coal."
The Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, wants gas trigeneration plants through the city, including sites at Circular Quay, Darling Harbour and the Hungry Mile.
In gas trigeneration, small gas turbines use their own heat as an energy source to power surrounding buildings. A single plant in a basement can power a skyscraper and feed electricity back into the grid, with less than half the greenhouse gas emissions of coal-fired electricity.
The City of Sydney has provided the concept via its "Sustainable Sydney 2030" plan.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/small-gas-power-plants-to-make-the-city-selfsufficient/2008/07/25/1216492732917.html
Breakthrough hopes in WTO talks
Several emerging nations threatened to torpedo a deal as world trade powers strode towards a new global pact today.
There were real hopes of a breakthrough after seven years of deadlock.
Key negotiators said most of the 35 key trading nations meeting in Geneva have bridged their differences, sparking a mood of optimism unseen for years in World Trade Organisation gatherings.
"I think the situation looks strong. I think we can be very hopeful now," said European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson as he left talks late today.
"What is emerging is a deal that is not perfect, not beautiful, but is good for the global economy and good for development."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/breakthrough-hopes-in-wto-talks/2008/07/26/1216492779202.html
Teen buried under hot asphalt
July 26, 2008 - 9:13AM
A 15-year-old working on a Canadian construction site just north of Winnipeg, Manitoba, has died after being buried in hot asphalt.
Wallace Drysdale, fire chief for the Stony Mountain area, said today the department received a call about an accident and found the teenager under the asphalt with only his hair visible.
Drysdale believes the load of asphalt may have been prematurely dumped from a truck onto the boy. He says it took crews and bystanders 14 minutes to uncover the boy.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police and workplace health and safety officials are investigating.
AP
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/teen-buried-under-hot-asphalt/2008/07/26/1216492778059.html
Italy puts soldiers on streets to fight crime
Nick Pisa in Rome
July 26, 2008
SOLDIERS will patrol Italian cities from next month under a controversial new law-and-order drive by Silvio Berlusconi's Government.
The soldiers, to be drawn from ranks who have served abroad, will patrol alongside regular state police and the carabinieri (paramilitary police).
They will be able to stop, search and identify suspects but will have no powers of arrest.
Mr Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, was returned to power two months ago after campaigning on a strong law-and-order manifesto. He assured worried Italians that he would deal with rising crime rates, which many blame on illegal immigrants.
The troops will patrol Rome, Milan, Naples, Florence, Genoa, Bologna, Turin, Palermo, Bari and Venice from 6pm to 2am.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/italy-puts-soldiers-on-streets-to-fight-crime/2008/07/25/1216492734180.html
Hackers get hold of critical internet flaw
July 25, 2008 - 10:14AM
Internet security researchers warned that hackers have caught on to a "critical" flaw that lets them control traffic on the internet.
An elite squad of computer industry engineers that labored in secret to solve the problem released a software "patch" two weeks ago and sought to keep details of the vulnerability hidden for at least a month to give people time to protect computers from attacks.
"We are in a lot of trouble," said IOActive security specialist Dan Kaminsky, who stumbled upon the Domain Name System (DNS) vulnerability about six months ago and reached out to industry giants to collaborate on a solution.
"This attack is very good. This attack is being weaponised out in the field. Everyone needs to patch, please. This is a big deal."
DNS is used by every computer that links to the internet and works similar to a telephone system routing calls to proper numbers, in this case the online numerical addresses of websites.
The vulnerability allows "cache poisoning" attacks that tinker with data stored in computer memory caches that relay internet traffic to destinations.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/security/hackers-get-hold-of-critical-internet-flaw/2008/07/25/1216492691922.html
Egyptian Facebook protesters jailed
July 25, 2008 - 10:25AM
Police have arrested 26 internet activists in the port of Alexandria, and 14 of them were jailed for more than two weeks for "threatening national security," a security official said today.
Around 30 young Egyptians who belong to the so-called "6 April" group on social networking site Facebook, a group which earlier this year called for a day of protests at rising prices, gathered in Alexandria on Wednesday.
"We were heading for Sidi Beshr beach but a policeman prevented us getting there because we had a large kite painted with the Egyptian flag and we were wearing T-shirts with 'April 6 Movement' on," said Mohammed Abdel Aziz.
He said that in the evening the group was walking along the seafront singing nationalist songs when police arrived and arrested 14 of them, he said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/egyptian-facebook-protesters-jailed/2008/07/25/1216492692657.html
Facebook: soon to be even more in your face
July 24, 2008 - 3:09PM
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, delivers a keynote address at the company's annual conference in San Francisco.
The founder of Facebook has told of his plans to make deeper inroads into the web, even while apologising for past excesses.
Mark Zuckerberg, 24, told an audience of 1000 industry executives, software makers, media - and his mother and father - at Facebook's annual conference of how the company's features will run on affiliated sites outside its own.
"Facebook Connect" will transform the social network from a private site where activity occurs entirely within a "walled garden" to a Web-wide phenomenon where software makers, with user permission, can tap member data for use on their sites.
"Facebook Connect is our version of Facebook for the rest of the web," Zuckerberg told the second annual F8 conference.
Facebook, begun in 2004 as a socializing site for students at Harvard University, has seen its growth zoom to 90 million members from 24 million a little over a year ago, overtaking rival MySpace to become the world's largest social network.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/articles/facebook-even-more-in-your-face/2008/07/24/1216492618444.html
Scrabulous makers sued by Hasbro
July 25, 2008 - 10:12AM
T-R-O-U-B-L-E could loom for a Scrabble knockoff that has become one of the most popular activities on Facebook.
Hasbro, the company that owns the word game's North American rights, sued the creators of the Scrabulous program on Thursday, less than two weeks after the release of an authorised version of Scrabble for Facebook.
Hasbro said in its lawsuit that Scrabulous violates its copyright and trademarks. Separately, Hasbro asked Facebook to block the game.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/scrabulous-makers-sued/2008/07/25/1216492691802.html
Google launches Wikipedia clone
July 24, 2008 - 1:25PM
Google is taking the wraps off an internet encyclopedia designed to give people a chance to show off - and profit from - their expertise on any topic.
The service, dubbed "knol" in reference to a unit of knowledge, had been limited to an invitation-only audience of contributors and readers for the past seven months.
Now anyone with a Google login will be able to submit an article and, if they choose, have ads displayed through the Internet search leader's marketing system. The contributing author and Google will share any revenue generated from the ads, which are supposed to be related to the topic covered in the knol.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/biztech/google-launches-wikipedia-clone/2008/07/24/1216492611201.html
Travel world cashes in on iPhone mania
Kay O'Sullivan
July 26, 2008
Smart Traveller
Apple of their eye
The world of travel is tripping over itself to cash in on iPhone mania.
British Airways is claiming a first with an application that allows owners of the new 3G model to download BA's timetable, obtain real-time information about arrivals and departures, and book flights.
Meanwhile, Lonely Planet is trumpeting the fact it has released 10 audio phrasebooks for the iPhone and iPod Touch. More are expected to come online and each download contains more than 600 spoken and phonetically written phrases covering a wide range of needs (where can I find the pub?) and emergencies (where can I find the pub?) for travellers.
It's a natural fit. A recent Lonely Planet survey of 18,000 travellers found that 80 per cent always use their phone when travelling and 56 per cent won't leave home without their iPod.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/travel-world-cashes-in-on-iphone-mania/2008/07/23/1216492515085.html
Group threatens Olympic terror
A Uighur Islamic separatist group has taken credit for a deadly bus bombing in Shanghai in May and warned of new attacks in China during the Olympics, a group monitoring threats by extremists on the internet said today.
In a video statement, Commander Seyfullah of the Turkestan Islamic Party claimed credit for several attacks.
They include the May 5 Shanghai bus bombing which killed three; another Shanghai attack; an attack on police in Wenzhou on July 17 using an explosive-laden tractor; a bombing of a Guangzhou plastic factory on July 17; and bombings of three buses in Yunnan province on July 21.
Three people were killed by the explosion on the crowded bus in Shanghai on May 5, police and witnesses said.
The morning traffic rush hour attack in northwest Shanghai also left 12 people injured.
At the time, authorities attributed the blast to flammable materials carried by a passenger.
But Seyfullah said the blast was the work of his group and warned of more explosions to come.
"Through this blessed jihad in Yunnan this time, the Turkestan Islamic Party warns China one more time,'' Seyfullah says in the video dated July 23, according to a transcript from the Washington-based Intel Centre.
"Our aim is to target the most critical points related to the Olympics. We will try to attack Chinese central cities severely, using the tactics that have never been employed.''.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/beijing2008/group-threatens-olympic-terror/2008/07/26/1216492786185.html
AFP accused of secrecy over Haneef
July 26, 2008 - 2:53PM
The case against Mohamed Haneef collapsed for lack of evidence.
Photo: Namas Bhojani
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has been accused of denying Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef a lawyer and the chance to protest his innocence before a magistrate when he was arrested last year.
The Indian doctor's legal team, Maurice Blackburn lawyers, also say the AFP could have broken the law by failing to provide five records of interviews taken with him to his lawyers.
Partner Rod Hodgson said the transcripts were released to him about two weeks ago with a letter from AFP chief Counsel James Watson bringing the total number of transcripts to seven from the presumed two.
Dr Haneef was arrested at Brisbane International Airport as he boarded a plane for Bangalore on July 2, 2007, after police linked his mobile phone SIM card to botched terror attacks in Britain.
The Gold Coast-based doctor was returning to India to visit his wife and newborn baby girl, who was ill.
He was held for 12 days before he was charged with supporting a terrorist organisation.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/afp-accused-of-secrecy-over-haneef/2008/07/26/1216492781306.html
Iran planning mass execution
July 26, 2008 - 4:28PM
Iran is planning a mass execution of 30 people convicted of murder and drug trafficking, a press report said today.
"Thirty people convicted of murder, drug trafficking, illegal relationships... will be executed on Sunday at dawn," the Aftab newspaper quoted Tehran's prosecutor office as saying.
It would the largest mass execution in the Islamic republic in recent years.
Human rights groups have accused Iran of making excessive use of the death penalty, but Tehran insists it is an effective deterrent that is carried out only after an exhaustive judicial process.
Iran has hanged at least 126 people so far this year, according to an AFP count.
Amnesty International reported that in 2007 Iran applied the death penalty more often than any other country apart from China, executing 317 people during the year.
Capital offences in the Islamic republic include murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery.
AFP
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/iran-planning-mass-execution/2008/07/26/1216492795418.html
Roped together family plunge to deaths
July 25, 2008 - 11:17AM
A Dutch woman watched her husband and three children fall to their deaths today while climbing near Mont Blanc, Europe's highest peak, Italian rescuers said.
The 56-year-old man, who was roped to his son and two daughters, plunged 500 metres down a slope of rock, ice and snow as their mother watched from below, said Oscar Tajola, head of the mountain rescue corps in the nearby town of Courmayeur.
"We had to take her to hospital because she was in shock," Tajola said by telephone. "We think one of them slipped and pulled the others down."
The woman, 50, was later released from hospital and identified the bodies of her husband and her children, aged 17 to 23, police in the ski-resort town said.
The family was climbing 3,800-metre Mont Dolent, which is part of the Mont Blanc massif. The 4,810-metre Mont Blanc straddles Italy and France and attracts hundreds of climbers a year. Dozens of them die on the massif each year.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/roped-together-family-fall-to-deaths/2008/07/25/1216492696502.html
Retailers told: pass on full petrol price fall
Jonathan Dart
July 26, 2008
PETROL should be almost four cents cheaper this weekend but motorists are still being ripped off, the federal petrol commissioner has warned.
Regional oil prices have fallen by almost 12 per cent since they exceeded $US150 a barrel a fortnight ago.
Average prices at the terminal gate, where retailers pay for petrol, have dropped by 11.1 cents a litre since July 14 in Sydney, but consumers only saw an average drop of 3.7 cents.
There has been little joy for the petrol commissioner, Patrick Walker, since he was appointed to his role on February 16. The average price of unleaded petrol in Sydney has risen by 24 per cent in that time, settling at about 161 cents a litre yesterday.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/petrol-savings-not-passed-on/2008/07/25/1216492732896.html
X marks the dud
2008-07-23 21:52:16
Mulder and Scully make sad return, kung fu is king & marriage kills you.(04:18)
http://media.smh.com.au/?rid=39846
A long dark knight of Batman
2008-07-15 13:52:50
Batman's deep Dark Knight is bigger, and longer than even an Olympic Salute.(04:00)
http://media.smh.com.au/?rid=39846
continued...
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