Morning Papers - continued

EuroNews

G8 talks open in Russia ahead of July summit
Russia, which is presiding over the Group of Eight industrialised nations for the first time, is hosting talks set to focus on energy disputes and Moscow's long-time request to ease visa procedures.
The meeting, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, is expected to set the tone for a G8 meeting in July. Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana are among the EU officials attending. Talks are likely to include a range of issues such as the Iranian nuclear crisis, Western concerns over democracy in Russia and the situation in the Middle East.
But top of the agenda are Western worries over energy security. Russian company Gazprom provides a quarter of Europe's gas needs. Brief disruptions of supplies from Russia in January amid a row with its neighbour Ukraine caused dismay among many Europeans.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has increased the Kremlin's control over Gazprom. The EU wants to break the Russian company's export monopoly and has requested access to its pipelines - demands flatly rejected by the Kremlin.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_info&article=360580&lng=1


Palestinian factions start peace talks
Talks have begun between rival Palestinian factions in a bid to end hostilities that have frequently erupted into open conflict. Leaders from the governing Hamas Islamist movement are meeting counterparts of the Fatah group loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
It comes after a week of clashes in Gaza that have left at least 10 people dead. Top Hamas chiefs are taking part via a video link from Gaza. The discussions will also address the financial sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority since Hamas came to power. While the dialogue marks an attempt to tackle the power struggle between Hamas and the more moderate Fatah, which dominated politics for decades, few expect any breakthroughs.
President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to urge Hamas to moderate its views on Israel and sign up to a plan that seeks a negotiated settlement on Palestinian statehood. The US and the EU have suspended financial aid to the Palestinian Authority until Hamas recognises Israel and renounces violence.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_info&article=360578&lng=1


Landmark divorce ruling could open floodgates to thousands of claims
The UK's highest court has found in favour of multi-million Euro settlements for two women involved in high-profile divorce cases. The landmark rulings took into account compensation for the loss of earnings during a relationship, whether children were involved or not. Five judges dismissed an appeal by a multi-millionaire financier who claimed a lower court had awarded his former wife too much money.
In the other ruling they allowed an appeal by an ex-wife who claimed she had not been given enough. The court's decision could have an impact on how much the multi-millionaire Paul McCartney might have to pay Heather Mills, his wife of four years, if they divorce following their separation. The ex-Beatle is estimated to be worth 1.2 billion euros.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_info&article=360530&lng=1


Spanish PM denies immigration crisis
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has defended his government's handling of the current upsurge of illegal immigration into the Canary Islands.
He denied accusations from the conservative opposition Popular Party that the country had become what it termed "a sieve".
"There is no overflow," he told parliament, adding that despite the increased numbers of immigrants in recent weeks the authorities could cope.
Zapatero outlined the measures the government was taking. He also gave details of cooperation with the EU on the issue. Brussels is to set up reception centres in some West African states to deal with those repratriated from the Canaries.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_info&article=360447&lng=1


Iran-India pipeline deal hits pricing hitch
Pakistan, Iran and India are to hold more talks on gas pricing before finalising a deal on building a pipeline that would carry Iranian gas to India, through Pakistan.
Energy officials met for two days in Islamabad to review progress on the controversial 5.5 billion euro project.
It would carry some 150 million cubic metres of gas per day, for 25 years.
The pipeline is vehemently opposed by the United States, which is trying to discourage both India and Pakistan from doing business with Iran.
Pakistan's Petroleum Secretary Doctor Ahmed Waqar said Islamabad had to look at ways of meeting its mounting energy requirements.
He said: "We need energy and Iran is one of the sources of energy and any decision in this regard, I would repeat, has to be taken keeping in view the national interests."
However he said Pakistan was also pursuing another planned pipeline which would run from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan.
Talks will continue in Delhi in July, when it is hoped an agreement on pricing can be reached.
Pakistan envisages itself becoming an energy corridor for China, with its thirsty economy.
In return, it is looking to Bejing to build more nuclear power plants to offset Washington's refusal to extend the Indo-US deal on civilian nuclear energy to Islamabad.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_eco&article=360495&lng=1


Germany moves closer to higher taxes to close budget gap
Germany's lower house of parliament has voted through a controversial new budget law. Chancellor Angela Merkel's government says it needs the changes in order to raise money to cut the budget deficit.
The law upper house is expected to approve the law next month. It paves the way for Germany's biggest tax increase in 60 years. Value added tax on goods and services will rise from 16% to 19% at the start of next year. Tax loopholes will be closed and the hope is to generate 25 billion euros of extra revenue.
Opposition MP's attacked the measures, but finance minister Peer Steinbruck told them: "What you're doing is like telling people they can go on a diet without any major effort. That's not going to work. Plus, you seem to believe you can promise people that further tax breaks are possible - despite the problematic financial situation."
The VAT increase is Germany's first since 1998. It has been criticised by economists, business groups and the media as unnecessary. Concerns have been expressed that it will reduce domestic consumption which is already weak because of high energy prices and an unemployment rate of over 11%.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_eco&article=359821&lng=1


World's biggest dam close to completion
After 13 years, the main construction work has been completed on the world's largest hydroelectric project - the Three Gorges Dam in central China. The controversial barrier will create a reservoir covering 660 kilometres and displacing 1.1 million people.
The Chinese government says as well as producing power it will reduce deadly flooding on the Yangtze River but environmental Dai Qin disputes that. She said: "The dam is supposed to prevent floods, generate electricity, improve ship navigation and the lives of the people who've been moved, but the electricity produced will actually be much more expensive as it costs so much to relocate local people."
It will take two more years for all the power generating turbines to be installed at Three Gorges, but in the meantime China is boosting the amount of hydroelectricity it produces and even before the new facility goes on line the annual output will be 85 billion kilowatt hours. When Three Gorges is fully operational, in 2009, that should double.
Beijing has said the almost 20 billion euro dam will be an environmental benefit as the country will burn less fossil fuels to generate power for its rapidly growing economy. Environmentalists worry to cost will be too high if the weight of water in the reservoir does trigger landslides or even earthquakes, as some geologists fear.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_eco&article=359823&lng=1


Giant Airbus A380 tests London airport facilities
The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, has landed at London's Heathrow airport for the first time. It was the latest in a series of test landings at the airports that the plane will use. It arrived from the Berlin Air Show and along the way flew over the UK plants that produce the wings and other components so that workers could see the fruits of their labours.
Heathrow is spending over 660 million euros on changes to the airport to handle the super jumbo A380. Expanded terminals are needed to process higher passenger loads. The plane is built to carry at least 555 people.
So far Airbus has 159 orders for the A380 from 16 customers, including London-based Virgin which is buying six. Since it made its first flight in April last year the A380 has visited more than 20 airports, including Frankfurt, Singapore and Sydney, Australia carrying test equipment and liquid filled barrels to simulate the full passenger load. Among the dignitaries at Heathrow for the super-jumbo's arrival was the British finance minister Gordon Brown who called it "one of the great commercial success stories of our time".

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_eco&article=359617&lng=1


EADS announces strong quarterly results as Berlin Air Show opens
The Berlin Air Show is underway with Airbus a big presence.That is not surprising as this year the event is hosting a meeting of ministers of countries that are partners in the Airbus project.
The Russian display is the largest as the country is looking to pick up Western orders, but Airbus' main rival Boeing was a notable absentee.
German economics minister Michael Glos opened the show for trade visitors and celebrated booming times in the local aerospace industry. He said: "This is a very important element in the German economy, especially in the eastern states. In Brandenburg the air and space industries have become important and we are of course proud of the international co-operation."
Part of that international co-operation involves Airbus with the help of which EADS has just been able to announce strong performance in the first-quarter.
Co-chief executives Noel Forgeard said the first-quarter highlighted EADS' powerful momentum, but he added: "We have plenty of ongoing operational challenges."
The company's revenues rose 31% to 9.1 billion euros; pre-tax profit was up 19% at 780 million euros and since January Airbus has delivered 101 planes. It is predicting delivery of a record 430 aircraft this year
EADS, which owns 80% of Airbus, also confirmed its full-year earnings forecast.
However, the companies shares fell after the quarterly figures were released.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_eco&article=359303&lng=1


Hyundai goes ahead with Czech plant signing despite chairman's arrest
Hyundai has signed a contract to build a one billion euro car plant in the Czech Republic despite uncertainty over the project after the arrest of the South Korean company's chairman Chung Mong-koo on bribery charges. Kia, which is part of the Hyundai group, is building a factory in neighbouring Slovakia.
Government officials said the Czech plant is expected to open in late 2008. It would produce about 300,000 cars and twice as many vehicle transmissions each year and employ 3,500 workers. Carmakers are increasingly turning to eastern European EU members to reduce costs. The average annual salary for a car worker in Germany is 22,000 euros, while in the Czech Republic it is 4,500.
Six months of talks preceded the Hyundai factory contract signing, which has political significance.
The signing - which was moved from Prague to South Korea - comes just two weeks before an election in the Czech Republic.
The ruling left wing party, the Social Democrats, have been trailing in opinion polls. They have built part of their election campaign on their government's success in attracting the Hyundai plant, citing that as proof that foreign investors trust their economic policies. The plant is to be built in the eastern Czech region of Nosovice, but because of the arrest of Hyundai's boss a ground breaking ceremony at the site was postponed.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_eco&article=359628&lng=1


General Motors cuts 900 jobs in UK
General Motors has confirmed that 900 workers from its Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port in the north west of England are to lose their jobs as fewer Astra cars are made there.
At the same time, British Finance Minister Gordon Brown and Trade and Industry Minister Alistair Darling visited the factory to talk with GM bosses about building the replacement for the Astra there, which would mean investment of nearly 150 million euros.
Brown said: "What we are determined to do is everything in our power to ensure that this new investment - which is one of the biggest that could be made in the car industry - comes not only to Britain, but comes to Ellesmere Port."
The unions say the UK plant was targeted, rather than GM's German and Belgian factories, because it is easier to get rid of workers in Britain.
Transport Workers Union leader Tony Woodley said manufacturing in the UK is being "massacred" and he called for help from the government: "If manufacturing matters to the economy of our country, then we've got to produce manufacturing champions. That means putting public money into supporting those companies you want to take advantage of that, you should do it."

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_eco&article=359470&lng=1


Belarussian ambassador to the EU talks to Euronews ahead of the presidential election
With a presidential election taking place this weekend in Belarus, Euronews has been speaking with Vladimir Senko, the country's ambassador to the European Union
There will be close international scrutiny for the polling. President Alexandre Lukashenko enjoys genuine support from older voters and in the rural sectors of the country, but the European Union has complained about the treatment of his political opponents, some of whom have been arrested.
Western governments have warned Lukashenko of economic sanctions if the elections are not conducted fairly.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=interview&article=349722&lng=1


Portugal's President Cavaco Silva on the European Constitution, EU-US dialogue and freedom of movement
Aníbal Cavaco Silva is Portugal's president having been elected in the first round of voting. An economist and university professor, he was the country's prime minister for ten years, from 1985 to 1995. The centre-right politician now has to work with Portugal's Socialist government.
When EuroNews' Maria Barradas interviewed him, as he prepared to be sworn in, Portugal's new president called for a fresh draft of the European Constitution to be drawn up and spoke out in support of freedom of movement of labour and services.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=interview&article=347189&lng=1


The Prime Minister of Montenegro Milo Djukanovic
Montenegro goes to the polls next month to vote on whether to become independent from Serbia. An interview with the pro-independence Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic. The small Republic of Montenegro has been part of a loose union with Serbia since 2003. Both states have separate government institutions and economic policies and work together on some issues.
On the 21st of May the people of Montenegro will take part in a referendum on whether to keep the union going or to vote for full independence from Belgrade. The Prime Minister of Montenegro Milo Djukanovic sat down with our reporter Valerie Gauriat to talk about this high stakes vote.
EuroNews: "The date of the referendum on the independence of Montenegro is approaching yet more than 30 percent of of the population is against independence, many are undecided and worried about the economy. Won't independence cost Montenegro a lot?"
Milo Djukanovic: "I am confident that in Montenegro we have a clear pro-independence majority and this will be sufficent and we will be able to meet the norms of Montenegro's referendum law. I am also confident that a Montenegro with its independence restored will help the country gain momentum in its European and Euro-atlantic goals."

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=interview&article=356642&lng=1


President Chen: "Taiwan is not a part of China nor is it subordinate to China"
Chen Shui-bian, President of Taiwan, meets EuroNews to talk about his conditions to eventual talks with China, the role of the European Union in the region and Taipei's current efforts to become an observer at the World Health organisation (WHO).
Taiwan is striving to assert its identity as it emerges into the millenium. For over 50 years Taiwan's chief preoccupation has been its relationship with its big brother China, just 180 kilometers away across the Taiwan strait. Beijing considers the island part of its territory and has threatened military action should Taipei ever formally declare independence.
Most Taiwanese are content with the existing situation, representing neither independence or integration...but recognizing a historic and cultural link with the mainland.
Today the Taiwanese can't avoid feeling overshadowed by their giant neighbour with its burgeoning economic power.
Taipei is striving to express its own personality and this sometimes leads to diplomatic tensions...
President of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian, (elected in 2000 and re-elected in march 2004 for a second and last mandate) met EuroNews to talk about his conditions to eventual talks with China, the role of the European Union in the region, and Taipei' s current efforts to become an observer at the World Health Organisation (WHO).

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=interview&article=359031&lng=1


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas talks about tensions and prospects for peace
Against a background of continued gun battles between Hamas and Fatah security forces in Gaza City, the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been speaking to Euronews about the problems facing the Palestinian people and the political tensions that created this situation.
He spoke before Friday's clashes and before the discovery of a senior Hamas official trying to smuggle 640,000 euros into Gaza.
While in Strasbourg the Palestinian leader warned EU deputies of a humanitarian disaster in the Palestinian territories, if European financial aid is not restored.
EuroNews: Mr. President, how do you see the situation in the Palestinian territories? Is it realistic to talk about returning to the negotiating table when right now the area is in such crisis?
Mahmoud Abbas: The economic situation is undoubtedly very difficult, even catastrophic. Financial aid to the Palestinian people has been cut off for two months. The important thing now is to find the fastest possible means of restoring that aid.
With regard to the peace process, we call on the Israeli government and the Middle East Quartet - the EU, UN, Russia and the US - to work at getting ourselves and the Israelis back to the negotiating table on the basis of the road map.
And I think a meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister is possible when he returns from Washington, so we can seriously debate this.
EuroNews: What has come from your visit to Strasbourg and what can you say about the EU's position since Hamas came to power?
Mahmoud Abbas: The EU's position with regard to Hamas is clear. That is to say that it cannot deal with Hamas as long as it fails to respond to Brussels' three conditions - that is renunciation of violence, recognition of Israel and respect of agreements concluded with Israel.
That said, I would like to stress an important point: the EU has been given the task by the Quartet of finding a means of getting financial aid to the Palestinian people. And we hope that will be done in the quickest possible time to address the people's needs.
Moreover, the European Parliament in general and the heads of the various political groups in the Parliament were very receptive to the need to continue to help the Palestinian people, because they are aware that the elections were democratic and the outcome is not important. For that reason, the financial aid must continue.
EuroNews: You met with Russia's President Putin at the Black Sea port of Sochi this week. Did that help in the search for answers to the various issues?
Mahmoud Abbas: I think it was a very important and successful visit. My meeting with President Putin was excellent considering the close links between us. We have talked about ways of ending the crisis; Russia has a positive role to play.
We've also talked about direct aid. You know that Russia has given us tens of millions of dollars for projects that Moscow has approved. There's also other aid in kind, things like training on the equipment used by our security forces, and general aid for the people.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=interview&article=359873&lng=1


Michael Moore Today

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Iran Requests Direct Talks on Nuclear Program
By Karl Vick and Dafna Linzer / Washington Post
TEHRAN, May 23 -- Iran has followed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent letter to President Bush with explicit requests for direct talks on its nuclear program, according to U.S. officials, Iranian analysts and foreign diplomats.
The eagerness for talks demonstrates a profound change in Iran's political orthodoxy, emphatically erasing a taboo against contact with Washington that has both defined and confined Tehran's public foreign policy for more than a quarter-century, they said.
Though the Tehran government in the past has routinely jailed its citizens on charges of contact with the country it calls the "Great Satan," Ahmadinejad's May 8 letter was implicitly endorsed by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and lavished with praise by perhaps the most conservative ayatollah in the theocratic government.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=6988


U.S. keeps refusing direct talks with Iran
By Nedra Pickler / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The United States will not negotiate directly with Iran on its nuclear program, President Bush's spokesman said Wednesday, although he left open the door for talks if Tehran proves it has permanently stopped all nuclear weapons activities.
"Until they do that, there is going to be no change in the administration's posture (or) in the president's posture when it comes to one-on-one negotiations," said White House press secretary Tony Snow. "We will continue to use appropriate international forums and work with and through our allies when it comes to dealing with the government in Iran."
Snow repeated the administration's demand that Iran must suspend all uranium enrichment and processing in a verifiable, credible and permanent manner.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7002


Newspaper apologizes for anti-Iran report
Tehran summons envoy to explain Canadian leader's remarks
OTTAWA, Canada (Reuters) -- A Canadian newspaper apologized Wednesday for an article that said Iran planned to force Jews and other religious minorities to wear distinctive clothing to distinguish themselves from Muslims.
The National Post ran the piece on its front page Friday along with a large photo from 1944 that showed a Hungarian couple wearing the yellow stars that the Nazis forced Jews to sew to their clothing.
The story, which included tough anti-Iran comments, was picked up widely by Web sites and by other media.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=6998


7 arrested during Wash. anti-war protests
Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Seven people have been arrested while protesting the delivery of military vehicles to the Port of Olympia for shipment to Iraq, authorities said.
Five people were arrested Tuesday for blocking the convoys at a crosswalk, police said. Another man was arrested and accused of trespassing after police said he tried to put a bicycle lock on one of the gates to the port Tuesday.
Another person was arrested Monday for trying to block military vehicles.
The first of about 20 convoys began arriving Monday from Fort Lewis, between Tacoma and Olympia, with vehicles from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
The unit, the Army's first Stryker Brigade Combat Team, has about 4,000 soldiers and is being sent to Iraq next month, said Joseph W. Hitt, a Fort Lewis spokesman.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=6999


US Calls Afghan Airstrike Self-Defense
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S. military on Wednesday defended an airstrike earlier this week on a southern Afghan village that killed at least 16 civilians, saying its troops had the right to defend themselves against incoming fire. Meanwhile, a new fire fight in southern Afghanistan, also involving coalition airstrikes, killed at least 24 Taliban militants and five Afghan soldiers Tuesday evening, officials said.
U.S. military spokesman Col. Tom Collins apologized to the families of the civilians killed late Sunday and early Monday, saying "we never wanted this to happen." He said the coalition has offered assistance but didn't disclose any details.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7005


U.S. soldier killed in Iraq
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. soldier died when his patrol was attacked by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in Iraq, the military said Wednesday.
The soldier's convoy was conducting an anti-roadside-bomb operation south of Balad, which is 50 miles north of Baghdad, when Tuesday's attack occurred, the U.S. command said.
The killing raised to at least 2,460 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7004


Rights Group Criticizes U.S. Over 'Outsourcing' in Iraq
By Alan Cowell / New York Times
LONDON, May 23 — Amnesty International on Tuesday assailed the use of military contractors by the United States to detain prisoners, provide security and gather intelligence in Iraq as "war outsourcing," and said the behavior of some contractors had diminished America's moral standing.
"War outsourcing is creating the corporate equivalent of Guantánamo Bay — a virtual rules-free zone in which perpetrators are not likely to be held accountable for breaking the law," Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in Washington after the group presented its annual report in London.
In both cities, senior figures of Amnesty International — a private human rights group that has commonly focused on false imprisonment and torture — used the annual report to highlight what they called pressing concerns about the campaign against terrorism.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=6991


Vote goes against Wal-Mart
Council OKs using eminent domain to block retailer
San Francisco Chronicle
HERCULES, CA -- The Hercules City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to take the unprecedented step of using eminent domain to prevent Wal-Mart from building a big-box store on a 17-acre lot near the city's waterfront.
The vote caused most of the 300 people who had packed Hercules City Hall for the meeting to break out in cheers and applause.
"The city of Hercules is very unique. People from the outside have to understand that,'' said Hercules Vice Mayor Ed Balico just before the vote.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=6997


US House open to narrower Senate bill on decency
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives would accept a narrower Senate bill to boost fines on television and radio stations for decency violations if differences cannot be worked out between the two chambers, a top lawmaker said on Wednesday.
The Senate approved a bill hiking fines to $325,000 per violation from the current $32,500. The House passed a measure that would boost fines to $500,000 and make it easier to fine individuals who violate the decency standards.
The House legislation would also require the Federal Communications Commission, which enforces the decency standards, to consider revoking a broadcaster's license after three violations.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7003


Pentagon Finds China Fortifying Its Long-Range Military Arsenal
By Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post
China's military buildup is increasingly aimed at projecting power far beyond its shores into the western Pacific to be able to interdict U.S. aircraft carriers and other nations' military forces, according to a Pentagon report released yesterday that outlines continued concerns over China's rising strategic influence in Asia.
Chinese military planners are focusing to a greater degree than in the past on targeting ships and submarines at long ranges using anti-ship cruise missiles, partly in reaction to Taiwan Strait crises in 1995 and 1996 that saw the U.S. military intervene with carrier battle groups, the report said.
The People's Liberation Army "is engaged in a sustained effort to interdict, at long ranges, aircraft carrier and expeditionary strike groups that might deploy to the western Pacific," the report said. Long-term trends in China's development of nuclear and conventional weapons "have the potential to pose credible threats to modern militaries operating in the region," it said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=6990


Rights Under Assault In Iraq, U.N. Unit Says
By Ellen Knickmeyer / Washington Post
BAGHDAD - Human rights in Iraq are being "severely undermined" by growing insecurity, violence and a "breakdown of law and order" caused by militias and criminal gangs, the U.N. mission here said Tuesday.
The human rights update, issued every two months by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq, cited soaring numbers of execution-style killings in Baghdad. Such slayings have increased during a surge of sectarian violence that followed the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22.
Baghdad's main morgue -- which handles only the remains of victims of violent or suspicious deaths, not including bombing victims -- issued 1,155 death certificates in April, the U.N. agency reported.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=6989


This is not an advertisement

"Avoid the NSA Wiretaps"

http://www.qwest.com/index.html


Memorial Day Observance May 28, 06

The San Jacinto Democratic Veterans Brigade, CODEPINK, and Veterans for Peace are sponsoring a Memorial Day observance, May 28 to 30, to honor U.S. military and all civilian casualties from the ongoing Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

http://gsfp.live.radicaldesigns.org/


Protest Weapons Tests in Nevada, May 28!
"Divine Strake" (link) is the military name for a 700 ton detonation at the Nevada Test Site of ammonium-nitrate-fuel oil (ANFO) bomb to simulate a "low-yeild" bunker-buster explosion. A broad coalition of groups are calling for a protest to support the Western Shoshone Defense Project on May 28.
This test is a hostile gesture during a time of tense international relations between the US and Iran. This test should be opposed in the interests of world peace. To find out more go to
http://disarmamentactivist.org/2006/03/31/did-the-washpost-miss-explosive-story/
There will be a national day of action on Sunday, May 28th at the Test Site You can start getting the word out - we'll send more information as we receive it. For directions to the Nevada Test Site Peace Camp click here.

http://www.vpeaceldf.org/


Map to "Peace Camp"

http://www.shundahai.org/peacemap.jpg


The Impeachment Project

http://www.freewayblogger.com/impeachment_project2.htm


From Three Continents to Duncan, Oklahoma
By Nathaniel Batchelder / Peace House Oklahoma City
From Nigeria, Peru, and at least six of the United States, objectors to Halliburton's global operations traveled to Duncan, Oklahoma, to protest at the corporation's annual stockholders' meeting, Wednesday, May 17th.
Some 150-200 protesters gathered outside the Simmons Center where Halliburton's meetings were held, holding signs and chanting "Shame" while stockholders filed in, and later left the meeting. All morning, a stream of Duncan citizens drove past the protest location to see the protest to the Duncan-based corporation. Many responded to the prominent "Honk For Peace" signs.
A dozen or so Duncan citizens actually joined the protest. Three Duncan ministers came to speak their support for the protest, including 99-year-old Rev. Phil Wahl, longtime advocate of abolition of the death penalty and many other social justice and peace causes.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=653


16 Citizens Attempt Citzens' Arrest of Halliburton CEO at the Shareholder's Meeting
Submitted by davidswanson on Mon, 2006-05-22 15:00. Nonviolent Resistance
By Darla Shelden - OKC Halluburton event organizer
Back row from left: ?Mary Francis, Will Covert, James ?, Josh ?, Diane Baker, Huti Reynolds, Hiram Myers, Jon Cantrell and Ivan Hutchcroft Seated from left:? ? ?Trent Goss, Joni LeViness, Maureen Haver, Chris McMullen, Katie Heim and Jennifer Rooks. Darla Shelden - OKC Halluburton event organizer
DUNCAN- Sixteen people from all over the Heartland attempted a citizens' arrest of David Lesar at the Halliburton Shareholders' meeting in Duncan Oklahoma. They were led by Hiram Myers, an attorney with a nephew deployed in Iraq who felt compelled by his conscience to prepare a legal document outlining Halliburton's violations. Myers stated, "If we the citizens don't hold Halliburton accountable, who will? Certainly not our government or the shareholders".
Among those who joined Myers in leaving the protest pen, which fell under the weight of banners, signs, and chants of "This is What Democracy Looks Like!" were Houston Global Awareness members Katie Heim, Jennifer Rooks, and Maureen Haver. Aware of the risk, they maintain that their acts are part of a proud tradition of non-violent direct action that they hope will impact shareholders in an immediate and powerful way. The sixteen involved in the action were released four hours later after facing criminal trespass charges.
Halliburton is currently under investigations by the Security Exchange Commission, Department of Justice and the Pentagon for bribery, fraud and overcharging no-bid military contracts. Additionally, Halliburton also has business dealings in Iran which are contrary to the U.S. sanctions currently being imposed. It is widely believed that Halliburton moved their shareholders' meeting to Duncan, Oklahoma from Houston, Texas where their meetings in past years have been the target of intense scrutiny, protests, and civil disobedience. Their move appears to have strengthened the resolve of corporate accountability advocates, veterans, and concerned citizens.
To download a copy of Corpwatch's new annual report "Hurricane Halliburton: Conflict, Climate Change, and Catastrophe" please visit the web at http://www.corpwatch.org/downloads/houston2006.pdf

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/10941


Casey's Mother's Day Gift
By Cindy Sheehan
I awakened last Sunday morning with an enormous pain in my heart. Every morning I wake up, as soon as I come to consciousness and figure out where I am, my first thought is of Casey and April 04, 2004, the day he was killed in BushCo's war for corporate profit. Some days, like Mother's Day, are worse than others.
That Sunday morning, I was in Washington, DC -- a city that I love as an exciting, energetic and supportive one -- on the other hand, the corruption seeps into my soul and I can't spend too many consecutive days there. I am also comforted by the constant police presence as I am followed like a hawk by a paranoid force that is afraid I am up to something--which is usually true, but that's beside the point, everything I do is legal--and paranoid that I may expose another t-shirt with the truth written on it.
After breakfast with my sister, a Camp Casey friend from Texas, Randi Rhodes, Susan Hathaway from NYC, and Annie Nelson (Willie's wife), we headed down to Lafayette Park where Code Pink was sponsoring a "Mothers Say No to War" vigil where hundreds of male and female matriots gathered together to loudly, stridently, courageously, reverently, and oftentimes joyfully proclaim to the world and the illicit administration that we have had enough of the world's children being killed for no reason other than to garner obscene profits for the war machine.
We had a wonderful day opening with a prayer/memorial service for all of the people, including innocent Iraqis, that have been lost to Bush's gigantic ego and bottomless greed. At one point, I laid my head in my friend Hillary's lap and sobbed for the chasm of emptiness that is present in my life on a daily basis. Not only do I miss Casey, but I miss my other children. I miss the life we led before Casey was killed: A life that was dominated by the children and their activities. Now I am separated by a dimension from Casey and by distance from my others. I do this so they and the worlds' children won't have to go to war and die for a racket that is as old as time. It is a hard life that I have chosen but sometimes I feel that it has chosen me.
One of my new friends whom I made this weekend is Dr. Patch Adams who is a remarkably cheerful and loving person who has devoted his life to the pursuit of love and laughter. Until I met him, I was wondering who in the heck the gigantic man was in a pink wig and pink flowered dress! When I introduced myself, he put me in a bear hug that fed my heart and soul. We had long conversations about using humor and love to change the world and talked about a "Cindy and Patch Peace Tour."
After Casey's movie mom, Susan Sarandon arrived; we were treated to a surprise guest: Dick Gregory. Dick had been on his way to Cleveland to an engagement when he saw the Code Pink protest on the news and he changed direction and he came to DC to join us. He decided to go on a fast on the way to the event. He asked me what my heart's dream was. I replied: "Troops home, now," without a second thought or a second's hesitation. He said: "So be it, I am fasting until the troops come home!"
After a particularly emotional time, Randi came up to me, crying, and asked: "How do you do this, Cindy?"
Great question. I looked all around me. At my dear friends, Medea Benjamin, Jodie Evans and Gael Murphy who founded Code Pink Alert: Women for Peace and who have been my constant cheerleaders and co-conspirators for peace longer than most people. I saw Hillary and Desiree, two Code Pinkers from Dallas who spent the night with me that first harrowing night in the ditch. I glimpsed Diane Wilson who just got out of a Texas jail after spending six months there for chaining herself to a Dow Chemicals tank. My nearly constant companion on my journeys around the country, Col. Ann Wright, was not too far from me. She resigned her job at the State Department after George Bush invaded Iraq and she runs Camp Casey each time with a competent and loving hand. Tiffany, one of my Camp Casey assistants was running around the park organizing things and wearing a picture of her "brother" Casey around her neck. I saw hundreds of Americans who came from all over our country to show George Bush that we repudiate him and his crimes against humanity.
I looked at Randi with tears streaming down my face. In answer to her question, I replied: "Casey brought all of us together. I am not doing this alone. Casey gave all of you to me to help me through this."
Casey would not allow me do this alone. He has given us the gift of lasting friendships that are not only enriching us but changing the world. He has brought the peace movement together by his unnecessary sacrifice.
George Bush could never meet with me and tell me what noble cause he killed Casey and so many others for: First of all, because war for empire and profit is not noble, secondly because the man is a coward.
The noble cause is peace.
Thank you, Casey, my son and my hero.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=652


The Boston Globe

VA chief tells Congress he's 'mad as hell'
"The employee promptly reported the theft to the local police and to the Department of Veterans Affairs. But it was not until May 16th that I was notified," Nicholson said. "As a veteran, I am outraged."
"It is important to note that the data did not include any of VA's electronic health records," he told the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. But he added: "I can promise you that we will do everything in our power to make clear what is appropriate and inappropriate use of data by our employees."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/05/25/va_chief_vows_accountability_for_id_theft/


Power outage snarls Northeast rail service
Three NJ Transit trains and one Amtrak train were stuck in a tunnel under the Hudson River heading into New York. A fifth train was stuck in a rail tunnel in Baltimore.
Amtrak said it planned to use diesel locomotives to remove them, and was working to restore power along the route.
The outage happened about 8 a.m. along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor line, affecting trains from Washington all the way to New York's Queens borough.
Mike Kenny of West Windsor has been commuting to Manhattan for 30 years and said the outage was "shaping up as one of the worst ever."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/05/25/power_outage_snarls_northeast_rail_service_1148563291/


Afghan hunger could exacerbate insecurity: UN
By Robert Birsel May 25, 2006
KABUL (Reuters) - Hunger could haunt millions of Afghans in coming months, with serious implications for security, unless donor countries provide help, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday.
The UN agency has already cut some food-for-work programs and rations for hundreds of thousands of school children. Without more funds, the millions could soon be going hungry.
"Hunger, real hunger, could become a serious issue in coming months," the WFP's Asia director, Anthony Banbury, told a news conference.
"On a humanitarian level, the need for this assistance is very compelling, but there's also a vital strategic consideration ... Real hunger for millions of people could become a source of insecurity."
International forces and the Afghan government are struggling against resurgent Taliban guerillas nearly five years after the hard-line Islamists were forced from power.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/05/25/afghan_hunger_could_exacerbate_insecurity_un/


Let's not lose Afghanistan again
By Tom Lantos May 25, 2006
WASHINGTON
AFGHANISTAN, the launchpad for Al Qaeda's 9/11 terrorist attacks, is slowly sliding toward instability. US and international forces, with their mandate to protect the country, are stretched impossibly thin. And yet Congress is on the verge of making an error that could help to undermine the goal of Afghan peace.
Since American and coalition troops ousted the ruling Taliban, great strides have been made along Afghanistan's path to democracy. After four years of US and international assistance and military involvement, Afghanistan now has a freely elected president and parliament, a nascent national army, and the beginnings of economic development.
But the goal of a stable, peaceful, democratic Afghanistan is still gravely threatened. A resurgent Taliban, increased terrorist attacks, slowed reconstruction and development, and rising opium poppy growth are reversing the tide of success. The risk of losing Afghanistan increases with each passing day. In the last year, deadly attacks have risen by more than 20 percent. Such assaults have killed or injured more US, Afghan, and coalition soldiers, civilians, and aid workers than in the previous three years combined. Heroin production has soared, now constituting nearly half of the Afghan economy, enriching warlords and terrorists alike while fostering government corruption.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/05/25/lets_not_lose_afghanistan_again/


Abbas threatens to call a referendum
By Mohammed Daraghmeh, Associated Press Writer May 25, 2006
RAMALLAH, West Bank --Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday he will call a national referendum on accepting a Palestinian state alongside Israel if Hamas does not agree to the idea within 10 days.
Abbas' surprise announcement was a political gamble that could either help resolve the Palestinians' internal deadlock or lead them into a deeper crisis with the militant Hamas group.
Such a vote would effectively ask Palestinians to give implicit recognition to Israel by accepting a Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel in 1967. Approval of the 18-point plan would provide a way out of the impasse over acceptance of Israel, which has led to an international freeze on aid to the Hamas-led government.
Hamas officials were divided over the idea of a referendum, with several giving their blessing, but others dismissing it as an attempt to undercut the Hamas-led government.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/05/25/palestinian_pm_hamas_fatah_need_platform/


Lawmakers demand FBI return raid files
Capitol Hill search stirs Constitution fight
By Shailagh Murray and Allan Lengel, Washington Post May 25, 2006
WASHINGTON -- In a rare bipartisan action, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and minority leader Nancy Pelosi demanded yesterday that the Justice Department immediately return documents that were seized when federal agents raided the office of Representative William Jefferson as part of a bribery probe.
Pointing out that ``no person is above the law, neither the one being investigated nor those conducting the investigation," Hastert, an Illinois Republican, and Pelosi, a California Democrat, asserted that the Justice Department must cease reviewing the documents and ensure that their contents are not divulged. Once the papers are returned, ``Congressman Jefferson can and should fully cooperate with the Justice Department's efforts, consistent with his constitutional rights," the statement said.
The demands by Hastert and Pelosi further escalated a separation-of-powers conflict between Congress and the White House. The raid last weekend on the office of Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat, was the first time in history that the FBI has executed a search warrant on the Capitol Hill office of a sitting lawmaker.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/05/25/lawmakers_demand_fbi_return_raid_files/


Cheney may be called to testify in ex-aide's perjury case
Could be asked about notes on war critic's article
By Toni Locy, Associated Press May 25, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney may be called to testify in the perjury case against his former chief of staff, special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a court filing yesterday.
Fitzgerald suggested that Cheney would be a logical government witness because he could authenticate notes he jotted on an opinion article published July 6, 2003, in The New York Times by former ambassador Joseph Wilson.
Fitzgerald said Cheney's ``state of mind" is ``directly relevant" to what I. Lewis ``Scooter" Libby might have said.
Libby spoke to FBI agents and a US grand jury about how he had learned about CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson's identity and what he subsequently told reporters.
Libby ``shared the interests of his superior and was subject to his direction," the prosecutor wrote. ``Therefore, the state of mind of the vice president as communicated to defendant is directly relevant to the issue."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/05/25/cheney_may_be_called_to_testify_in_ex_aides_perjury_case/


Pearl Jam rocks with power and purpose
By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff May 25, 2006
Remember alternative rock? Intricate arrangements of grungy guitar chords, fuzzily worded but zealously delivered meditations on big problems, acres of corduroy? Such earnest and roiling pleasures have been all but subsumed in the stylish post-punk din, but Pearl Jam is here to remind us just how heady it can be.
Tiring, too. The band's set for a near-capacity Garden audience last night was front-loaded, energy-wise. That's a nice way of saying Pearl Jam seemed to grow weary by the time mid-set rolled around. Frontman Eddie Vedder had consumed much of his bottle of wine, thanks to copious toastings. He swigged and sang for the fans (``Red Mosquito"), the college graduates (``Unemployable"), and Howard Zinn (``Down"), and conceived a clever combination slug in honor of birthday boy Bob Dylan and the ubiquitous grads (``Forever Young").

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2006/05/25/pearl_jam_rocks_with_power_and_purpose/



18,000 pounds of fireworks seized in N.Y.
May 25, 2006
WESTHAMPTON BEACH, N.Y. --Police officers who stopped a truck that was tailgating a fuel tanker on a highway say they made a potentially explosive discovery -- 18,000 pounds of fireworks.
"It would have devastated a quarter-mile radius if they had gone off," Suffolk County Police Department spokesman Robert Boden said Wednesday.
The truck carrying the explosives was found to be dangerously overloaded when it was pulled over Monday for a routine safety check, police said.
A police dog named Nitro -- a German shepherd added to the department's anti-terrorism efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks -- sniffed out the fireworks.
The driver of the truck, whose manifest said it was carrying paper goods, brought the fireworks from Maryland for illegal resale, police said.
State law prohibits the sale or possession of fireworks without a permit. The driver, who was with his adult son, faces multiple summonses for carrying hazardous materials and driving an overweight truck.
To demonstrate how powerful 18,000 pounds of fireworks could be, police exploded about 25 pounds of the sky rockets, Roman candles and other fireworks inside a car at the department's firearms range in Westhampton. The car was destroyed in a massive fireball

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2006/05/25/18000_pounds_of_fireworks_seized_in_ny/


Explosion levels new home in Middleton
May 25, 2006
MIDDLETON, Mass. --A brand new Colonial on the market for nearly one (m) million dollars blows up in the middle of the night.
Fire officials in Middleton say the explosion may be linked to flooding caused by last week's heavy rains.
No one was in the house and no one was hurt in the blast, which occurred around 3:15 a.m. on Thunder Bridge Road.
Investigators say it appears that a propane tank exploded, blowing out the front wall of the house and collapsing a three-story garage.
Broadcast reports say propane tanks were removed last week after flooding from the nearby Ipswich River. The tanks had reportedly been reconnected yesterday and the gas turned back on.
The four-bedroom, three-bath home had been listed for $929,000 but had not yet been sold. It's now a total loss.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/05/25/explosion_levels_new_home_in_middleton/


Dead horse washes ashore in woman's yard
May 24, 2006
RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. --A dead horse has washed up in Judy Roberts' backyard, and the Jackson County woman is trying to find a way to get rid of the carcass, along with the stench.
Roberts discovered the horse in the Ohio River on Friday. By Sunday, it had shifted onto her property.
"Somebody needs to move it," Roberts said. "It's contaminated the water. And I shouldn't have to live like this."
She can only hope help comes quicker than in Harrison County, where earlier this month a rotting cow carcass was hung up on the tree for several weeks at the West Milford Dam while various government agencies debated whose responsibility it was to remove it.
The cow was hauled away last week through the combined efforts of the Division of Highways and the West Milford and Nutter Fort volunteer fire departments.
Roberts said she has called several agencies -- even Gov. Joe Manchin's office -- and either was told they couldn't help or she got no response.
Roberts said the smell from the horse has gotten so bad, she plans to stay in her home until the problem is resolved.
Manchin spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg said Tuesday night she hadn't heard about the horse. DNR spokesman Hoy Murphy said since the matter doesn't involve wildlife, his office won't get involved.
A call to the Ravenswood Volunteer Fire Department went unanswered Tuesday night.

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2006/05/24/dead_horse_washes_ashore_in_womans_yard/


Lawyer for nightclub fire defendant asks to withdraw from case
May 25, 2006
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --A lawyer for one of the owners of The Station nightclub wants to drop out of the case.
Attorney Jeff Pine filed a motion today to withdraw as lawyer for Jeffrey Derderian.
He cites "economic and time considerations" in a statement released today.
A Boston lawyer, Anthony Cardinale, is seeing permission from Superior Court Judge Francis Darigan to replace Pine.
Derderian continues to be represented by Kathleen Hagerty and Thomas Dickinson.
Derderian and his brother Michael each face 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the February 2003 fire at The Station nightclub.
Michael Derderian is scheduled to stand trial on July 31. No trial date has been set for his brother

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2006/05/25/lawyer_for_nightclub_fire_defendant_asks_to_withdraw_from_case/


Top R.I. court orders new trial for man convicted in murder plot
May 25, 2006
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --The Rhode Island Supreme Court ordered a new trial for a man convicted three years ago in a plot to murder a woman who had accused him of rape.
Jose Andujar, of Pawtucket, was convicted in June 2003 of criminal solicitation of murder and sentenced to seven years in prison. He was found guilty of writing a letter from prison to his brother that gave detailed instructions on how to kill a woman.
But the letter never reached his brother, so the Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the conviction and sent the case back to Superior Court for a new trial on the charge of attempted solicitation of murder.
Andujar sent the letter from prison as he awaited trial on sexual assault charges. The note gave detailed advice on how to kill a Westerly woman who had earlier accused Andujar of rape.
The letter was sent to Andujar's brother at a New York City apartment building, but was accidentally placed in the mailbox of the building's landlord. The landlord, who was also a narcotics detective, then contacted the Westerly police.
The Supreme Court said Andujar should not have been convicted of soliciting a murder since his actual request to commit the crime was never received.
The high court also said that prosecutors referred to sexual assault charges against Andujar during his criminal solicitation trial, but never told the jury that he had been acquitted

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2006/05/25/top_ri_court_orders_new_trial_for_man_convicted_in_murder_plot/


COSATU sees S.Africa "drift toward dictatorship"
By Andrew Quinn May 25, 2006
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's powerful COSATU labor union said on Thursday the country was "drifting toward dictatorship" under President Thabo Mbeki.
In the clearest sign yet of deep political fissures in South Africa's ruling alliance, the Congress of South African Trade Unions said the power struggle involving former Deputy President Jacob Zuma marked the ANC's "worst crisis in years."
"A frightening culture has developed in the ANC of cutting corners and not only to ignore internal democratic processes but to be contemptuous of them," COSATU said in a statement following a meeting of its Central Executive Committee (CEC).
"The main concern of the CEC centers on signs that we may be drifting toward dictatorship."
COSATU is the second member of South Africa's so-called "Tripartite Alliance" to openly criticize Mbeki this week. The South African Communist Party on Sunday declared the Mbeki presidency has become "too overly powerful and concentrated."

http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2006/05/25/cosatu_sees_safrica_drift_toward_dictatorship/


Indonesia puts villagers on home quarantine
May 25, 2006
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Health experts have asked 33 people in a remote Indonesian village to quarantine themselves at home after the H5N1 bird flu virus killed as many as seven members of a family there earlier this month.
Epidemiologists have failed to track down the source of infection in Kubu Simbelang village in north Sumatra and the World Health Organization said this week limited human-to-human transmission between family members might have occurred.
"There are 33 people identified as close contacts. We've asked them to observe home quarantine. That's something they are willing to do to protect themselves and their families," said Dick Thompson, spokesman for the WHO.
Meanwhile, local tests have confirmed an Indonesian child from the city of Bandung died of bird flu, a senior health ministry official said on Thursday.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/05/25/indonesia_puts_villagers_on_home_quarantine/


The Jakarta Post

Australia to deploy 1,300 troops; South Korean man shot in Dili
CANBERRA (AP): Australia will send 1,300 troops to East Timor immediately because of the worsening fighting between dismissed soldiers and security forces, Prime Minister John Howard said Thursday.
Howard said the situation in East Timor had deteriorated significantly since he announced the deployment of 130 commandos who arrived at Dili late Thursday and secured the main airport.
"Given the deterioration, we will go ahead without any conditionality with the full deployment and the 1,300 will be in place in a very short order," Howard told reporters.
Australia's deputy chief of defense was on his way to Dili to arrange for the deployment but his aircraft turned back to the northern city of Darwin because of the worsening violence, media reported.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060525173937&irec=0


Locals anxious after Merapi emits plume of hot ash
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Mt. Merapi expelled a massive batch of hot ash early Tuesday, its second in the past eight days, frightening locals about the potential discharge of toxic gas only a day after many returned home from evacuation centers.
The smoldering volcano belched and groaned before sending a cascade of thick clouds of ash racing down its slopes six times from 7:15 a.m. to 8:40 a.m.
The clouds reached a distance between three and three and a half kilometers from the crater, moving in a southwest direction toward Magelang in Central Java and the western part of Sleman.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060524.@01&irec=1


PLN begins rotating electricity outages
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
State-owned electricity company PT PLN began to cut its power supply from the Java-Bali power grid system Tuesday after appealing to household and industrial consumers to limit usage during peak hours.
The drop in supply is due to malfunctions in several power plants that are expected to take at least two weeks to repair.
"At 8 a.m., we had to cut our electricity supply by 240 megawatts (MW) and at 2 p.m. by 250 MW," Mulyo Adji, PLN general manager of electricity supply and control for Java and Bali, said Tuesday.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060524.A02&irec=2


Soeharto in unstable condition
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Former president Soeharto's health remained unstable Tuesday as doctors attempted to halt renewed internal bleeding.
Head of the team of doctors treating him, Mardjo Soebiandono, said bleeding was found in the area where his gastrostomy feeding tube was inserted, but it was stopped through the use of drugs.
The team performed an endoscopy in the evening at South Jakarta's Pertamina Hospital and found blood clots around the tube, which they planned to treat with drug therapy.
He added the 84-year-old was in pain and very weak due to severe blood loss. "He had been bleeding since Monday night. His hemoglobin dropped to 8.2 grams per deciliter, while the normal hemoglobin level is between 13 to 15 grams per deciliter."

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060524.@03&irec=5



Two siblings believed to have bird flu
Abdul Khalik and Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Bandung
One of two new suspected bird flu patients from the same family in Bandung, West Java, died Tuesday, leading to speculation that a new cluster has surfaced.
The two, a 10-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man, were admitted to Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung on Monday evening, but the girl's condition worsened and she died at 2:50 p.m on Tuesday.
The siblings, residents of Cileunyi in Bandung regency, exhibited symptoms associated with bird flu and had known contact with dead chickens.
"They had high fevers and lower respiratory infections, which made it hard for them to breathe," said Djatnika, the deputy head of the hospital's bird flu team.
Blood samples taken from the two, he said, have been sent to a Health Ministry laboratory. Local tests, however, are not considered definitive and need confirmation from a World Health Organization (WHO)'s internationally accredited laboratory.
A previous bird flu cluster in West Java was identified earlier this year in Indramayu, where several members of the same family died. As well as a new one in Medan found last week, health authorities have pinpointed five bird flu clusters around the country.
But new cases of bird flu have continued to emerge. On Monday, a man from a North Sumatra village, who belonged to a bird flu cluster believed to total eight infections from one family, died. Local tests also confirmed two more bird flu infections in the country.
While the government put the total cases of bird flu here at 43, with 33 fatalities, WHO put the figure at 41 cases, with 32 fatalities.
The ASEAN Foundation, one arm of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has said it is time to turn to technology for help.
The foundation proposes using information and communications technology (ICT), particularly short message service (SMS), to prevent further outbreaks of the disease.
The idea is based on the successful application of ICT in Thailand and Vietnam to stop new bird flu cases in both humans and animals at village level. The foundation is now applying ICT for the same purpose in Laos and Cambodia.
The foundation's executive director, Apichai Sunchindah, said Thailand and Vietnam had been successful in dealing with bird flu through the use of information technology.
In Thailand, he said, one million volunteers -- equipped with cellular phones or computers -- were deployed at village level. They filed their reports via e-mail or text message to a central terminal for the government to follow up.
"With this system, people are involved and the government can map out the spread of bird flu to take sufficient measures," Sunchindah said on the sidelines of an international symposium on ICT for social development in Jakarta on Tuesday.
While Indonesia is struggling to contain bird flu, there have been no reports of new cases in Thailand or Vietnam this year, winning them praise from international communities.
Professor Felix Librero from the University of the Philippines, who has conducted intensive research on the use of text messages to pass on information to fight bird flu, and managing director of Malaysia's Southbound Sdn. bhd. Chin Saik Yoon, both agreed the method would work in Indonesia.
There are about 60 million cell phone users in the country.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060524.A03&irec=4



Employment growth and changing market demands
Winarno Zain, Jakarta
Indonesia's epidemic of social conflict has spread into the industrial relations area. If the tensions between employers and employees cannot be managed properly, the effect on employment growth could be serious. As the cost of labor rises as a relative share of production costs and peaceful industrial relations become rarer and rarer, it is not surprising that industries are turning to machines over labor in manufacturing.
This movement away from labor means it will be extremely difficult for industries to absorb all the new workers coming to the market at the current projected gross domestic product growth rate. This means even if investment picks up later in the year, the unemployment rate of 10.3 percent will persist for some time to come.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060524.E02&irec=3


Fed Cup team gets OK for Israel tie
Abdul Khalik and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Foreign Ministry has given its approval for the Fed Cup women's tennis team to compete in the World Group II playoff in Israel in mid-July despite the absence of diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv.
The decision removes the threat of the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) being penalized for defaulting the tie, which would have included a US$5,000 fine, reimbursement of the costs incurred from its cancellation and a temporary ban from competition.
"Since the match is organized by the International Tennis Federation and has nothing to do with Indonesian bilateral relations with Israel, it is possible for Indonesia to play in Israel," Foreign Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060524.@02&irec=3


Rude reception for 'Gus Dur' in W. Java
A group of demonstrators disrupted a planned address Tuesday by former president Abdurrahman Wahid at an interethnic and religious discussion in Purwakarta, West Java. The demonstrators -- claiming to be from several right-wing militant groups -- rudely demanded he step down from the podium, Gus Dur's daughter Zannuba "Yenny" Arifah Chafsoh Rahman said. The situation nearly became violent when members of Abdurrahman's Nahdlatul Ulama youth wing confronted the demonstrators. Abdurrahman's official website (www.gusdur.com) cited Sona Maulida Roemardhie, organizer of the event, as claiming the demonstrators were led by Asep Hamdani, the head of the local chapter of the Islam Defenders Front.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060524.@04&irec=6


GAM establishes political party
Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) formally announced the establishment of a new political party Tuesday and appointed two independent candidates to take part in the next direct gubernatorial elections in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.
The decision came at the end of a three-day meeting which focused on discussing the political programs of the former separatist group.
However, GAM representatives would not divulge the name of the party nor the identities of the candidates.
"We cannot announce our independent candidates because we are still waiting for the results of the bill deliberation," Zaini Abdullah, formerly GAM's foreign minister in exile, told the media about the ongoing deliberation of the Aceh governance bill in the House of Representatives.
Speculation about the identities of the candidates centers on Hasbi Abdullah and Muhammad Nazar of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA).
The meeting was attended by about 100 GAM figures, including former top executives in exile Malik Mahmood Al Haytar and Bakhtiar Abdullah, who returned to Aceh earlier this year after many years abroad.
Other foreign representatives came from the United States, Norway, Malaysia, Denmark, Canada, Australia and Sweden. They joined members from North Sumatra, Java and 17 other areas in the archipelago.
The meeting also decided the GAM would only nominate its independent candidates in the upcoming regional elections and not through a coalition with other parties.
"As soon as the Aceh administration bill is approved in line with the Helsinki agreement, we will disclose the names of our candidates," said Sofyan Dawood, a spokesman of the Aceh Administration Transfer Commission.
"The most important thing here is that the main points were discussed in the framework for the establishment of the local political party," Malik Mahmood said.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060524.A05&irec=8



Structural and cultural conflict within NU
Suratno, Jakarta
In his article in The Jakarta Post's May 8 edition, titled Is NU shifting toward intolerance?, Herdi Sahrasad says that Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) has begun to depart from its original character toward religious intolerance.
To support his argument, the writer presents evidence such as the NU Central Board's support for the Indonesian Ulema Council's (MUI) fatwas, which have declared Ahmadiyah heretical and ban pluralism, liberalism and secularism. The NU executive board also joined Muslim hard-liners and political parties in supporting the enactment of the pornography bill.
In my opinion, it is too simple to say, based only on what has been announced by its central board, that NU is shifting toward intolerance. NU is more than just an organization (jam'iyyah) of structural and administration management processes.
To understand NU, we must look at its elements - the Nahdliyin (the faithful members), its Pesantren (boarding school) tradition and its cultural tradition, including its young intellectuals. To see only the face of NU, its central board, is to judge a book by its cover.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060524.F01&irec=1


President says IMF debt to be repaid in 2 years
Tony Hotland and Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Mataram/Jakarta
President Yudhoyono confirmed the government's intention Tuesday of repaying ahead of schedule Indonesia's multibillion dollar debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which would be done in two stages and within two years.
"I have talked to Bank Indonesia and I think it's about time we paid. We will repay our $7.8 billion debt to the IMF in two years," he said during a visit to Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara, on the island of Lombok.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailbusiness.asp?fileid=20060524.L02&irec=1


Developing a (new) culture
Budi W. Soetjipto, Jakarta
A company's corporate culture is what determines its success. On the other hand, the business environment is becoming more turbulent. To ensure its success, a company must be flexible enough to ride such a dynamic environment.
However, a company cannot be flexible unless its culture is also flexible. The question is, how flexible can a firm's corporate culture be? To answer this question we must first understand that corporate culture encompasses norms and values that may take years to develop.
The longer the period, the stronger the culture. Additionally, the development of a business' corporate culture in the earlier stages may frame the development in later stages. Therefore, corporate culture is historical in nature, and that makes a strong culture, characterized by a long history and a strong framing, inflexible.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailsupplement.asp?fileid=20060524.R01&irec=0



The San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle launches podcast for Filipinos
First posted 04:53pm (Mla time) May 25, 2006
By Erwin Lemuel Oliva
INQ7.net
Subscribe to Breaking News alerts, send ON EXTRA BREAKING to 2207 for Globe, or send EXTRA BREAKING to 386 for Smart.
ANOTHER Filipino-oriented podcast has emerged, this time from US-based newspaper The San Francisco Chronicle.
The podcast, dubbed Pinoy Pod, is a weekly program that features interviews, news and information about the Filipino experience in Northern California and the Philippines, according to the US newspaper’s website.
People can download or listen to the Pinoy Pod at HYPERLINK www.sfgate.com/blogs/podcasts.
A podcast is a radio show that one can listen to or download from the Internet. It can be played on one's computer or downloaded to a portable digital music player, such as the popular iPod.
The first episode highlights Joey Ayala’s rendition of the Star Spangled Banner in Filipino, and the subsequent interview with him on why he translated the American anthem into Filipino.
The first episode also features famous Filipino stand-up comedian Rex Navarette who uses Filipino culture as a basis for his sketches.
The podcast episodes are mainly in English but the Filipino language will in the future be used to reach more Filipinos, the podcast’s proponents said.
Pinoy Pod is a product of the San Francisco Chronicle's Filipino journalists deputy managing editor Leslie Guevarra, editorial writer and columnist Pati Poblete, podcast producer Benny Evangelista, business reporter and Pinoy Pod producer Ben Pimentel, reporter Cicero Estrella and copy editor Michelle Louie.
Pinoy Pod will include topics on arts, culture, entertainment, business and political and social issues. It will run from 10 to 20 minutes, and will be updated Tuesdays.
According to the San Francisco Chronice, this is the first time a major American newspaper is offering a podcast for Filipinos.

http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=7&story_id=76973


Some students feel left in the lurch
Simone Sebastian, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Two weeks ago when a judge struck down California's exit exam, 17-year-old Salvador Rodriguez thought he would be graduating from high school in June with his friends.
But the state Supreme Court's decision Wednesday to reinstate the exit exam has thrown Salvador's diploma in limbo, again.
The Richmond High School senior has taken the exam twice, but doesn't know if he passed his most recent try.
"I'm anxious, nervous. There's a lot on my shoulders," said Salvador, who dreams of attending UC Berkeley. "In a way, it'd be cool to let us graduate, but that wouldn't be the honest answer. I'd rather earn my way there."
About 47,000 students across California have not yet passed the exit exam. It is not known how many of those students had earned enough credits and were on track to graduate next month.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/25/MNG53J1KQV1.DTL


California wines beat the French -- again Taste-off proves California wines age best, too
Even after 30 years of aging, state's Cabernets still tops
Who says California wines don't age?
The French do. Repeatedly.
Yet Gaul is biting its tongue today after California smoked France Wednesday in a cross-continental tasting of wines that have matured in cellars for three decades. The California Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines placed first through fifth, followed by four wines from France's hallowed Bordeaux region and then another California Cab.
Sacre bleu!
Make that red, white and blue.
The occasion marked the 30th anniversary of "The Judgment of Paris," a tasting by French and British judges that pitted California against Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignons on May 24, 1976.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/25/MNGRBJ1OS530.DTL


Testimony: Cheney angered over envoy's column on war
Prosecutor says issue is key to Libby's focus on CIA agent's husband
R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Washington -- Vice President Dick Cheney was personally angered by a former U.S. ambassador's newspaper column attacking a key rationale for the war in Iraq, and he repeatedly instructed his former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to "get all the facts out" related to the critique, according to excerpts from Libby's 2004 grand jury testimony released late Wednesday by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.
Libby also told the grand jury that Cheney raised as an issue that the former ambassador's wife worked at the CIA and that she allegedly played a role in sending him to investigate the Iraqi government's interest in acquiring nuclear weapons materials. That issue formed the basis of former ambassador Joseph Wilson's published critique.
In his evening court filing, which included the formerly secret testimony, Fitzgerald did not assert that Cheney instructed Libby to tell reporters the name and role of Valerie Wilson, Joseph Wilson's wife. But he said Cheney's interactions with Libby on that topic were a key part of the reason that Libby allegedly made false statements to the FBI about his conversations with reporters around the time her name was disclosed in news accounts.
"The state of mind of the vice president as communicated to defendant (Libby) is directly relevant to the issue of whether defendant knowingly made false statements to federal agents and the grand jury regarding when and how he learned about Ms. Wilson's employment and what he said to reporters regarding this issue," Fitzgerald said.
The prosecutor also left open the possibility that Cheney will be called as a witness during Libby's trial, scheduled to begin next year, and denied an assertion last week by Libby's lawyers that Cheney would not be called.
Fitzgerald was appointed in late 2003 to investigate the disclosure of Valerie Wilson's name to the media. His probe has led to a series of disclosures about efforts by the White House to rebut Joseph Wilson's published critique, but no official has been directly charged with leaking Valerie Wilson's name.
Instead, Libby was accused of making false statements, obstruction of justice and perjury, mostly based on his statements that he did not confirm Valerie Wilson's employment at the CIA and alleged involvement in Joseph Wilson's trip when he was talking with two journalists. Libby has denied wrongdoing.
Fitzgerald has sought to build a case that Libby was preoccupied with the task of rebutting Joseph Wilson's July 2003 column, which accused the White House of twisting intelligence to support its invasion of Iraq -- and that this preoccupation stemmed from Cheney's own intense focus on Wilson's assertions. Wednesday's court filing included Libby's March 5, 2004, testimony when he recalled that he and Cheney discussed Wilson's article on multiple occasions each day after it appeared.
Cheney saw it as attacking his own credibility, Libby said.
"He wanted to get all the facts out about what he had or hadn't done, what the facts were or were not. He was very keen about that and said it repeatedly. Let's get everything out," Libby testified.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/05/25/MNGSDJ21111.DTL


INSECURITY
Bugged by phone companies
Database debate helping one local telecom provider
Privacy promises draw more to Working Assets
Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, May 25, 2006
While some telephone companies have taken it on the chin lately over allegations of sharing customer phone records with the government, one San Francisco telecommunications business is benefiting from the controversy.
Working Assets, a small long-distance and wireless provider known for its contributions to progressive causes, has enjoyed an increase in subscriptions and added attention lately because of its public promises of customer privacy and its vocal opposition to any sharing of phone records with the National Security Agency.
The company said it signed up more than 1,000 long-distance and wireless customers last week after the NSA phone database story broke, triple what it normally does in a week.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/25/BUGK8J1JRI1.DTL&type=tech


Hurricanes may bring flying FEMA trailers
Even big winds treat them like tuna cans
Chad Heeter
Sunday, May 21, 2006
I'm standing on the coast, staring not at the Gulf of Mexico, but inland, into the nothingness that used to be Waveland, Miss. Where once homes, a library and City Hall stood, there's only rubble, ghostly slabs of concrete, sun-bleached pants, nightgowns and curtains eerily draped high in the trees, and a single, green minivan crumpled like an aluminum can. Oh yes, and then there are the "travel trailers" -- supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- that sit on tombstonelike slabs and house many of the residents who remain in this small town.
Now your basic travel trailer is great for a family vacation to Yellowstone, but as protection against a storm? Even when tethered to the ground (and some of these aren't), trailers can rock back and forth in relatively mild winds and be heavily damaged in your ordinary thunderstorm. But in Waveland, where Katrina hit with devastating Category-4 force nearly nine months ago -- and, far more important, it's only a week or so before the new hurricane season begins on June 1 -- these trailers shelter hundreds of families.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/05/21/ING7CISDH11.DTL


Some skeptical Libya's Khadafy is really changing
Critics say shifty leader's move a ploy to gain America's help -- and money
Jonathan Curiel, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Before he was murdered by agents of Moammar Khadafy, before toughs kidnapped him from his Cairo hotel room and silenced him forever, Mansour El-Kikhia wrote a trenchant book about the Libyan leader that aptly described Khadafy as a "quick learner and a survivor ... a master of the art of manipulation. Central to his complex personality is his unpredictability, which at times, when combined with his ability to manipulate, provides for a dangerous domestic and international Libyan policy."
The dangers of that policy are evident today, according to Human Rights Watch, which keeps a laundry list of grievances against Khadafy's regime, including arbitrary detention of women and girls in "social rehabilitation" facilities, the jailing and killing of government opponents, and the lack of a free press and political parties.
For years, the United States subscribed to this view of Libya, as one of the most vile, repressive, brutal states in the world.
How quickly foes can become friends.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/05/21/ING8IISS4G1.DTL

continued …

The 1943 masterpiece "Roots" by Frida Kahlo sold for $5.62 million.

The facade of a modern Russian Hotel, mixing 'Old World Russian' culture with modern day charm.

Morning Papers - continued

The Moscow Times

Caspian Complicates Iran-Russia Relations
By Stephen Boykewich
Staff Writer
Hooshang Amirahmadi was still a boy when the Russians came to his hometown on Iran's Caspian Sea shore in the late 1960s.
Almost 40 years and a run for the Iranian presidency later, Amirahmadi remembers how the natural gas pipeline they built transformed the entire region.
"I used to like that pipeline," Amirahmadi said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Princeton, New Jersey. "It became the cause for highway development as the Russians had to build a highway for trucks and other construction machinery. ... Particularly for rural people, it created connections between places that would have taken decades to get connected otherwise."
The Soviet-built gas trunk line was a boon for both sides, supplying the Soviet Union with gas from southern Iranian oil fields in exchange for Soviet help building a key steel plant in Isfahan.
And when price disputes led Iran to shut down the trunk line in 1980, one year after the country's Islamic revolution toppled the U.S.-backed regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, it was a sign that "cooperation and conflict," as Amirahmadi said, would always go hand in hand.
Russia's balancing act with Iran has never been more evident -- or more precarious. While the two countries are trade and energy partners, especially in the nuclear field, old suspicions and competition for influence in the energy-rich Caspian region continue to cloud the waters.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/05/25/002.html



Money Brings Pain in Beslan
By Yuras Karmanau
The Associated Press
Valiko Margiyev sitting by the grave of his daughter Elvira, who was 12 when she was killed in the Beslan attack.
BESLAN, North Ossetia -- A year ago, Elvira Tuayeva had to wade through mud to visit the plot where her son and daughter were laid to rest after they were killed in the Beslan school.
Today, huge red granite tombstones stand over every grave, neat paths wind between the rows, and a "Tree of Grief" statue soars above, showing children as angels. All were financed by the state.
"The authorities understand they are guilty, so money and aid are just raining down on Beslan," said Tuayeva, 44, who was held captive with her 12-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son.
"It's painful for me to see what's showing up in Beslan, because I think it has all been bought with my children's blood," she said, still wearing mourning black 20 months after the tragedy.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/05/25/013.html



Dollar Is a Dirty Word for the Duma
Combined Reports
The State Duma gave initial approval on Wednesday to a bill that would punish government ministers for saying "dollar" when they could have used the word "ruble" instead.
The Duma also passed in first reading a bill that would force stores, restaurants and other businesses to list all prices in rubles.
"The ruble is on the move," Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, said, drawing a parallel with the Soviet Red Army's victorious march across Europe at the end of World War II. "The next stop is Berlin."
Duma deputies backed the first bill with 384 votes, with one abstention. The bill outlawing prices other than in rubles passed by 375-2 with one abstention. Both bills must pass a further two readings.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/05/25/012.html



Deputy governor in South Urals charged with abuse of office
RIA NOVOSTI. May 25, 2006, 3:04 PM
YEKATERINBURG (South Urals), May 25 (RIA Novosti) - A deputy governor in the South Urals has been charged with abuse of office for illegal purchase of art, local prosecutors said Thursday.
Konstantin Bochkaryov, a deputy governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, allegedly used budget funds on behalf of the governor to buy art worth about 180 million rubles ($6.7 mln) from a Moscow-based supplier to decorate a regional administration building. An expert committee evaluated the price of the art collection at only 68 million rubles ($2.5 mln).
Prosecutors asked the Chelyabinsk Central Court to sanction Bochkaryov's arrest, but the court opted to bind him over until the trial.
The case comes against the backdrop of a pledge made by President Vladimir Putin to tackle corruption in his May 10 state of the nation address and a court ruling Wednesday sanctioning the arrest of a governor in Russia's extreme north on fraud charges.
Putin said that corruption remained a major barrier in the way of Russia's economic prosperity and that the government must fight all attempts by state bodies and business to profit personally at the expense of the common good.
Russia's chief prosecutor also said Thursday that new high-profile anti-corruption cases could be opened in the near future.


Prosecutor hints at new anti-corruption cases in near future
RIA NOVOSTI. May 25, 2006, 2:55 PM
(Recasts headline, lead, adds paragraphs 3-5)
MINSK, May 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's top justice official said Thursday that new high-profile anti-corruption criminal cases could be launched in the near future.
Vladimir Ustinov said the Prosecutor General's Office was focusing on the fight against corruption, which remains a key problem facing Russia and was highlighted by President Vladimir Putin in his state of the nation address May 10.
Putin said in his speech that anti-corruption efforts would be intensified, and investigators said Thursday that they had started 20 investigations into the economics ministry and customs services. One case concerns the issue of licenses for meat imports that cost the state 27 million euros ($35 million), investigators said.
Following his address, Putin fired a number of senior security officers from the Federal Security Service (FSB), and Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov dismissed high-ranking officials from the Federal Customs Service as investigators launched a major probe into corruption.
The latest high-profile case hit the headlines Tuesday, as Alexei Barinov, governor of the mineral-rich Nenets Autonomous Area in Russia's far north, was arrested May 23. Barinov and his aides are suspected of involvement in fraudulent activities to the tune of 19 million rubles ($700,000).


Yekhanurov govt. resigns as new Ukraine parliament convenes
RIA NOVOSTI. May 25, 2006, 2:09 PM
KIEV, May 25 (RIA Novosti) - The Ukrainian government headed by Yuriy Yekhanurov has officially resigned after the newly elected parliament started its first session Thursday.
But Yekhanurov's cabinet will remain in place until the Supreme Rada forms a new government, which under the Ukrainian Constitution should happen within the next 60 days.
The Constitution says parliament must first agree on a parliamentary coalition in the next 30 days, and then put forward a candidate prime minister and cabinet members for the president's consideration. If parliament fails to form a coalition and does not put forward candidates within the time limit, President Viktor Yushchenko has the right to disband the Rada and call new elections.
The former Soviet republic has been in parliamentary limbo since the March 26 vote ended in deadlock, as the pro-Russia Party of Regions finished 10% ahead of its nearest rival in the vote but has been frozen out of the coalition-building process as three other movements sought to do a deal.
The eponymous bloc of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, pro-presidential Our Ukraine and the Socialist Party agreed to form a coalition earlier Thursday and said they would prepare the text of the agreement by June 7.
Tymoshenko, the heroine of the "orange revolution" that swept Yushchenko to power in 2004, has made no secret of her ambition to come back as prime minister - a post from which Yushchenko sacked her in a very public fallout in September 2005 - while Our Ukraine seems likely to insist on its own candidate, Yekhanurov.
Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych, a former prime minister, who was Yushchenko's main rival in the 2004 presidential elections, also has a good chance of getting the post, given his experience and his party's win in the parliamentary elections, analysts say.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/doc/HotNews.html


Pakistan Halts MMK's First Foreign Deal
By Yuriy Humber
Staff Writer
Magnitogorsk Steel & Iron's bid to expand through acquisitions abroad hit a snag Wednesday after Pakistan's Supreme Court halted the steelmaker's first foreign buy.
The court halted the transfer of shares of Pakistan Steel Mills from the country's state property fund to a three-firm winning consortium, which includes Magnitogorsk, or MMK, after labor unions protested, Bloomberg reported, citing India's GEO Television.
Workers at Pakistan Steel Mills protested the outcome of last month's auction of 75 percent for the plant, which MMK's consortium won with a bid of $362 million, calling the sale too cheap, the agency said. The share transfer is stopped until June 30. MMK could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Majority-owned by board its chairman Viktor Rashnikov, MMK operates Russia's largest single steel factory and has no assets outside of the country.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/05/25/041.html


A Church for Something
By Georgy Bovt
To Our Readers
The Moscow Times welcomes letters to the editor. Letters for publication should be signed and bear the signatory's address and telephone number.
Letters to the editor should be sent by fax to (7-495) 232-6529, by e-mail to oped@imedia.ru, or by post. The Moscow Times reserves the right to edit letters.
The recent Moscow premiere of the controversial film "The Da Vinci Code" was greeted by a small picket line of people claiming to be Orthodox Christians and representing an organization called the True Bearers of the Banner of Orthodoxy. The protest was along the lines of the old Soviet tradition of "I haven't seen the film but will tell you my opinion."
The Orthodox Church apparently decided to put in an appearance. These days, the church tries not to miss any significant social event. In this case, a church representative even proposed creating a kind of Orthodox Hollywood in Russia. Right now anti-Americanism is fashionable in Russia, so why not join in? You never know; you might get something out of it.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/05/25/008.html


The Trouble With Women
The Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater presents a new production of "Cosi Fan Tutte" in honor of Mozart's 250th birthday.
By Jennifer Butler
Published: May 19, 2006
Mozart's works are not a common fixture of the Russian opera scene; local audiences are more likely to encounter the composer onstage as the idiot savant depicted by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in his one-act, Pushkin-based opera "Mozart and Salieri," and last year, Leonid Desyatnikov dragged the composer and his uncouth genius onstage again in his opera "The Children of Rosenthal." Despite such irreverence, this year's 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth has attracted serious attention here. In April, Nizhny Novgorod hosted an international conference called "Mozart in Russia"; here in Moscow, the Alexander Pushkin Museum recently organized an exhibition of Mozart autographs, letters, sketches and other curiosities called "The Russian Mozart Myth"; and, on Wednesday, the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre is presenting a new production of Mozart's "immoral" opera "Cosi Fan Tutte."

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/05/19/108.html


Friendly Fire
A new book by historian John Lukacs explores the relationship between Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin in the years leading up to German-Soviet conflict.
By Gerhard L. Weinberg
Published: May 19, 2006
In "June 1941: Hitler and Stalin," John Lukacs, the author of numerous books on World War II, offers his personal assessments of the events leading up to and following the June 22, 1941, German invasion of the Soviet Union. Lukacs first came to the attention of the scholarly world in 1953, a few years after he left his native Hungary for the United States, with a major book titled "The Great Powers and Eastern Europe." He then accompanied a teaching career at Chestnut Hill College with a succession of more than 25 works. In "June 1941," he focuses on Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin's views of each other, their plans and hopes for political relations, and their decisions -- or failure to make them -- during the summer of 1941.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/05/19/106.html


Global Eye
Gates of Eden
By Chris Floyd
Published: May 19, 2006
Beneath the thunder of the mighty cataclysms unleashed by the Bush administration -- the war crime in Iraq, the global torture gulag, the epic corruption, the gutting of the U.S. Constitution, the open embrace of presidential tyranny -- a quieter degradation of American society has continued apace. And this slow descent into barbarism didn't begin with President George W. Bush, although his illicit regime certainly represents the apotheosis of the dark forces driving the decay.
With the world's attention diverted by the latest scandals and shameless posturings of the Bush faction -- domestic spying, bribes and hookers at the CIA, military units roaring down to the border to scare unarmed poor people looking for work -- few noticed a small story that cast a harsh, penetrating light on the corrosion of the national character.
Earlier this month, the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College London released its annual World Prison Population List. And there, standing proudly at the head of the line, towering far above all others, is that shining city on the hill, the United States of America. But strangely enough, the Bush gang and its media sycophants failed to celebrate -- or even note -- yet another instance where a triumphant America leads the world. Where are the cheering hordes shouting "U.S.A! U.S.A!" at the news that the land of the free imprisons more people than any other country in the world, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of its population?

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/05/19/120.html


Posh Future Awaits Ex-Pioneer Camp
By Maria Levitov Much infrastructure is yet to be built.
PUSHCHINO, Moscow Region -- A resort hotel that is set to open this summer on the Oka River, 80 kilometers south of Moscow, will become the testing ground for the Marshall Capital Partners investment fund's new Tsargrad hotel chain.
Construction crews are working around the clock at the Spas-Teshilovo resort to finish the two four-story residential buildings and the main entertainment complex, which is to house several restaurants, a conference center, bars and other amenities. By the beginning of next year's vacation season, the complex, spanning some 100 hectares, will offer 108 rooms and 24 cottages, at rates starting from $163 per guest, according to Marshall Capital.
"We wanted to find a niche that is not too full yet," said Alexander Provotorov, managing director at Marshall Capital Partners, which manages more than $500 million -- the lion's share of which is invested in the food processing industry.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/05/25/046.html


Survivors From the Soviet Era
The Moscow Times
Out with the old and in with the new -- that's the Moscow hotel scene in 2006. Yet, as old Soviet behemoths like the Intourist, Moskva and Rossiya disappear from the city's skyline and elite, international brand-name hotels take their place, some classics of Soviet hotel architecture and design remain. These gems include the Sovietsky, where upgrading has only enhanced the features of historical interest; the Ukraina, expected to close soon for renovations; and the Peking, where little of the past remains except on the outside.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/05/25/051.html


Houston Chronicle

THE GULF COAST REVISITED
Down in the delta, going is slow don't need credit on front pics
Some tiny towns felt the wrath of both storms
By TONY FREEMANTLE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
FIFTH OF A SIX-PART SERIES
PORT SULPHUR, LA. - Driving south from the the ruined city of New Orleans on Highway 23 toward the mouth of the Mississippi River, one can be momentarily lulled by the order, the lush orange groves and cattle grazing in spring-green meadows.
To the left, the superstructures of oceangoing ships glide along the top of the giant levee that tames the mighty river. To the right a smaller earthen wall protects the road from the marshes of the rivers' delta as they stretch across Barataria Bay toward the Gulf of Mexico.
We leave Belle Chase, cruise through Naomi, Myrtle Grove and Socola. There is the odd downed tree, the occasional blue tarp on a roof. A little of the numbness accumulated over many days and many miles begins to seep away.
And then we arrive in Port Sulphur, where it becomes apparent why, possibly, it is insane to live here in the delta, huddled on a narrow strip of land lower than the surface of one of the world's great rivers.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3887082.html


THE ENRON TRIALS
Jury seeks 3 exhibit lists, full transcript
Latest in series of requests may signal thoughtful, slow deliberation
By MARY FLOOD
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
The jury in the fraud and conspiracy trial of former Enron top executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling spent a fifth day in the deliberation room Wednesday and is due back today.
Just before the jurors went to lunch, they sent a note to the judge requesting three more copies of the lengthy exhibit list and asking whether they could get the transcript of the entire trial. The note was signed by the forewoman, one of eight women on the jury.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3887122.html


Leader in space tourism wins prize
The $500,000 Heinlein award named for writer honors spaceflight breakthroughs
By MARK CARREAU
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
The inaugural Heinlein Prize, a $500,000 award established in Houston from the earnings of the late science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, will go to Peter Diamandis, who spurred the global competition that produced the first privately financed human spaceflight.
The annual award was created to recognize individual contributions to commercial spaceflight.
The Diamandis-led X-Prize Foundation raised the $10 million won by maverick aircraft designer Burt Rutan and Paul Allen, the Microsoft Co. co-founder, in 2004 for achieving back-to-back spaceflights with their privately built SpaceShipOne. The Los Angeles entrepreneur will be honored in ceremonies at Houston's St. Regis Hotel on July 7.
"Peter Diamandis has certainly catalyzed the development of commercial space activities for the whole world," said Houston attorney Art Dula, a longtime associate of Heinlein. "People now talk about it just like they talk about climbing Mount Everest, not like it's something crazy."
Heinlein died in 1988. With the death of his wife, Virginia, three years ago, Dula fulfilled the couple's wish for a trust awarding such breakthroughs.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3887126.html



Local collector parting with Frida
'Time to let her go,' the owner says of Kahlo's 1943 self-portrait, likely to sell for millions
By PATRICIA C. JOHNSON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
Roots, one of Frida Kahlo's most memorable self-portraits, has belonged to Houston collector Marilyn Oshman for a quarter century. But Oshman has decided to put it on the auction block. Sotheby's, in New York, predicts that Roots will fetch $5 million to $7 million at its auction next week.
The low estimate is around the $5,065,750 paid for a 1929 Kahlo self-portrait in a Sotheby's sale in May 2000. That painting set the record for Kahlo and, according to the auction house, for the most expensive work of Latin American art sold at auction.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/3868676.html


Kahlo's Roots sets two records
Most expensive work by the artist and all Latin work sold at auction
By PATRICIA C. JOHNSON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
Roots, the 1943 painting by Frida Kahlo, sold Wednesday night at Sotheby's auction house in New York for $5,616,000, a record for a Kahlo painting, and the most expensive work of Latin American art sold at auction.
Sotheby's did not release the winning bidder's identity at the buyer's request.
The previous record for a Kahlo painting was $5,065,750 in 2000, for a 1929 self-portrait.
"Somebody got a very good picture at a very good price," said Peter Marzio, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
The self-portrait in oils on metal shows the legendary Mexican artist lying on her side with leafy roots growing out of her body into a sere landscape.
Marilyn Oshman, a private collector from Houston, sold the painting after owning it for 25 years. Prior to that, Dolores Olmedo, trustee of the estates of both Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera, in Mexico City, owned the work.
Roots, 12 inches by 20 inches, is one of about 150 works Kahlo created.
The price includes Sotheby's commission — 20 percent of the first $200,000 of the hammer price and 12 percent on any amount in excess of $200,000.
Total sales for the evening, the first of two sessions, exceeded $18.6 million. That's approximately $5 million more than the previous record for a Latin American auction set in 1994, said Carmen Melian, director of Sotheby's Latin American department.
"It was terribly exciting," Melian said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3887031.html



BRAZIL
Google will rein in popular Web site
RIO DE JANEIRO - Google Inc. said Wednesday that it has agreed to shut down some communities on its popular Orkut social networking site because the Brazilian government says they advocate violence and human rights violations. Google agreed to shut down any sites that violate Orkut's terms of service, which forbid "any illegal or unauthorized purpose," after the company met Tuesday with a Brazilian human rights commission, which presented evidence that Brazilians have been using the invitation-only networking site to promote crimes and violence. Orkut is extremely popular in Brazil. In recent years, news reports have linked drug dealing operations and fights between soccer fans to Orkut communities. One community allegedly advocated killing the president and planting a bomb in Congress.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3886891.html



Foreign Peacekeepers Deploy to East Timor
By GUIDO GUILLIARD Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
DILI, East Timor — Gunbattles killed at least three people and wounded more than a dozen in East Timor's capital, as Australia and New Zealand sent troops Thursday to help the tiny nation quell a rebellion by disgruntled ex-soldiers.
Firefights between the army and dismissed soldiers erupted in several areas around the capital, Dili, and homes and business were torched.
Two former soldiers and an army captain have been killed since late Wednesday, said the military and Letnan Gastao Salsinha, a spokesman for the ex-soldiers. Fourteen ex-soldiers have been wounded.
The latest deaths bring the total number of people killed in the unrest this week to five. The fighting has prompted the fledgling nation's government to ask for international troops just days after celebrating East Timor's fourth anniversary of independence from Indonesia.
The U.S. Embassy started evacuating nonessential personnel.
"We can't control the situation," Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta said, adding that troops from Malaysia and Portugal also had been asked to help "disarm renegade troops and police rebelling against the state."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3887332.html



2-Year-Old Killed Outside Ga. McDonald's
By CHARLES ODUM Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
COVINGTON, Ga. — A man accused of driving a car that struck two sisters and their three small children outside a McDonald's restaurant hit them intentionally, authorities said Wednesday. One of the children died later Wednesday at a hospital, a relative said.
"There was clear intent to injure the people. It was obvious," Police Chief Stacey Cotton said. "This was absolutely not an accident."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3887357.html



5 Run Over at Ga. McDonald's; 3 Are Tots
By CHARLES ODUM Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
COVINGTON, Ga. — A driver ran over three young children and two women in the parking lot of a McDonald's restaurant Tuesday, police said. One witness described the man as having a smile on his face.
A 2-year-old girl was in critical condition Tuesday night; two other children and a pair of adult sisters were in stable condition, authorities said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3884372.html



Ex-Fla. Official Pleads Guilty to Fraud
By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A former West Palm Beach commissioner and state legislator pleaded guilty Wednesday to using his powers as a city official to harass business owners in exchange for bribes from investors who wanted to buy the businesses below market value.
Ray Liberti, 59, pleaded guilty in federal court to fraud and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors say he accepted $66,000 in cash and a $2,000 wristwatch from the investors for his actions against the owners of a massage parlor and a nightclub.
One "investor" was an undercover FBI agent, and most of Liberti's meetings and phone calls were tape recorded, said federal prosecutor John Kastrenakes.
Liberti made false health and city code violation complaints about the businesses, persuaded police to conduct a prostitution investigation involving them and even posed over the telephone as a newspaper reporter, threatening to write a negative story.
The aim was to drive down the businesses' sale prices for the investors, Kastrenakes said.
Liberti quit his city post shortly after the charges were made public.
The charges carry prison time totaling a maximum of 50 years. He is to be sentenced Aug. 25.
Liberti's attorney, Richard Lubin, said his client is giving authorities information about possible wrongdoing by others, which could lead to a lighter sentence.
Liberti was a state representative from 1978 to 1992. He was elected to the West Palm Beach commission in 2003 and re-elected in 2005.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3887254.html



Taliban appear to be getting stronger
At least 24 militants killed in latest fighting
By NOOR KHAN
Associated Press
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - Fighting in rugged southern Afghan mountains killed at least 24 militants and five Afghan forces, while the U.S. military acknowledged Wednesday that the Taliban have grown in "strength and influence" in recent weeks.
The violence came after a week of some of the deadliest violence since the Taliban regime's ouster in 2001. As many as 336 people have died, mostly militants, according to officials.
The Afghan military said up to 60 rebels had died in the latest fighting in Uruzgan province, which involved ground forces and a U.S. airstrike. The U.S.-led coalition, however, said 24 militants had died. The reason for the discrepancy in the figures was unclear.
Uruzgan was one of three southern provinces where U.S. military spokesman Col. Tom Collins said the insurgents have bolstered their numbers.
He said the militants are recruiting poor villagers.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3886813.html



4 Palestinians die in Israeli undercover operation
The timing of the military raid in Ramallah is said to show bad faith
By GREG MYRE
New York Times
JERUSALEM - An Israeli undercover arrest operation on Wednesday turned into a chaotic gunbattle in the center of Ramallah, leaving four Palestinians dead and about 50 wounded.
It was the second time in two days that the Israeli military had raided Ramallah, the Palestinian political headquarters in the West Bank, to seize a Palestinian on its most-wanted list. But, unlike Tuesday's raid, which led to the arrest of Hamas leader Ibrahim Hamed, and caused no casualties, the action on Wednesday quickly degenerated into a shootout.
Palestinian leaders said the timing of the raid, while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was visiting Washington, showed bad faith. "Israel is trying its best to block any effort to calm the situation," said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, an aide to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president.
The Israeli military described Muhammad Shubaki, the target of the raid on Wednesday, as a senior figure in Islamic Jihad, the group responsible for many suicide bombings against Israel in the past year.
An Israeli undercover unit, disguised as Palestinian civilians, seized Shubaki in a building on Manara Square in the center of Ramallah, Palestinian security officials said.
But word quickly spread that the Israeli forces were in the area, and youths began throwing rocks. A civilian car used by the Israelis was set ablaze, and gunbattles broke out. Shortly afterward, uniformed Israeli soldiers in jeeps arrived, and the conflict escalated.
Four Palestinians, including a member of the Palestinian security forces, were killed, and about 50 were injured, hospital officials in Ramallah said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3886994.html



A Top Hamas Fugitive Caught in West Bank
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
RAMALLAH, West Bank — A top Hamas fugitive blamed for attacks that killed dozens of Israelis and five Americans surrendered to Israeli troops Tuesday after they ringed his West Bank hideout and threatened to demolish it with him inside.
The capture of Ibrahim Hamed, 41, was a blow to Hamas' morale as the Islamic militants engaged in an increasingly bloody power struggle with gunmen and police loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Army Col. Amir Abulafiyeh, who oversaw the capture, described Hamed as "creative and cruel" in plotting attacks on a Jerusalem university, where the Americans were killed; an Israeli fuel depot; Israel's rail system; and a pool hall.
Troops acting on a tip surrounded Hamed's hideout in a two-story building in a well-to-do district of Ramallah, just 200 yards from Abbas' residence. A dozen jeeps and two armored personnel carriers surrounded the cement-block building, which had a yellow awning, and soldiers called on Hamed over loudspeakers to surrender.
Soldiers warned him in Arabic that the building would be razed if he did not come out.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3883614.html


Hamas militant captured, blamed for 78 deaths
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH
Associated Press
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- A top Hamas military commander, linked by Israel to attacks that killed 78 people, including five Americans, surrendered today after Israeli troops surrounded his hideout and threatened to demolish it with him inside.
The army said Ibrahim Hamed, 41, masterminded "some of the most deadly terror attacks against Israel in recent years," including suicide bombings at a pool hall in central Israel, an outdoor cafe in Jerusalem and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where five Americans and four Israelis died.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/world/3881978.html



The New Zealand Herald

French sugar tax fights obesity
Thursday May 25, 2006
A sugar tax on "alcopop" drinks in France - leading to a big fall in sales - shows regulating the sales of unhealthy food and drinks can be effective, a visiting French lawmaker has told local MPs.
Parliament's health select committee is conducting an inquiry into obesity and yesterday heard from the Vice-President of France's Parliament, Yves Bur.
Mr Bur, a representative of French President Jacques Chirac's conservative UMP party, has championed several initiatives aimed at cracking down on unhealthy habits, including banning snack machines in schools and a sugar tax on alcopop drinks.
He said the tax on alcopop drinks, which are predominantly marketed at young people, appeared to stop sales growth of sugar-rich drinks in its tracks.
Over 2003 and 2004 sales increased 10-fold, but a year after the tax was introduced sales dropped 40 per cent.
Mr Bur said the ban on snack-vending machines in schools was also effective. He later said New Zealand should institute a similar move.
His comments were backed by the New Zealand Medical Association, which told the committee it supported a ban on school vending machines.
Schools should also be encouraged to move away from selling junk food in their canteens.
Mr Bur said another proposed French initiative was requiring snack food companies to put health warnings on advertisements aired in peak children's television viewing times.
If they failed to do this they would have to pay a 1.5 per cent tax on their advertising budget.
The initiative was stalled at present while lawmakers and industry groups debated the proposed wording of the health warnings.
Mr Bur said it was important to be firm with the food industry and its powerful corporate lobby.
"We must say to these industries that marketing has its own limits specifically when children are concerned and we need to have very clear information."
He said a long-term campaign aimed at changing attitudes was necessary to combat obesity.
If action was not taken now in countries with a moderate burden of obesity, then in 15 years they could find themselves in the United States' position where the problem was almost too big to tackle.
Green MP and health committee chairwoman Sue Kedgley yesterday reiterated her call for a ban on junk food being sold from school canteens.
She said new research published by the Obesity Action Coalition suggested that unhealthy food was contributing to obesity and reducing children's ability to concentrate in the classroom.
"This research shows that poor nutrition is often linked to short attention spans, disruptiveness, and other behavioural and emotional issues which can all have a seriously detrimental effect on children's learning."
In its written submission to the committee the Medical Association also called for a ban on TV ads of unhealthy food in children's peak viewing times.
It said New Zealand had one of the highest rates of child obesity in the world and the saturation of junk food advertising in children's viewing times was growing.
It said a taskforce spanning several Government departments was also necessary to ensure activities like walking and cycling were encouraged in towns and cities.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10383432


Timorese ask NZ to help quell rebellion
UPDATED 8.10am Thursday May 25, 2006
By Mike Houlahan and Derek Cheng
New Zealand soldiers are poised to fly to East Timor to help end fighting between the military and disgruntled former soldiers.
Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos-Horta, said yesterday that New Zealand and Australian troops would "disarm renegade troops and police rebelling against the State".
Mr Ramos-Horta said both countries had agreed to the request.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383437


Troops on way to tense East Timor
12.35pm Thursday May 25, 2006
East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta said the situation in the capital Dili today was one of uneasy calm.
The army and disgruntled ex-soldiers exchanged fire in gun battles yesterday for a second day running, but Mr Horta said order was holding this morning.
However, he said foreign troops - including a possible deployment from New Zealand - were still required. Australia said its forces could begin arriving there this afternoon.
There has been trouble in the country since five people were killed late last month during a protest by 600 soldiers sacked for desertion. A sixth person was killed on Tuesday.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10383471



Chile top court asked to muzzle Fujimori
Wednesday May 24, 2006
SANTIAGO - Chile's government asked its Supreme Court to muzzle former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori - who is out on bail in Chile - to keep him from commenting about Peru's presidential election, Chile's president said on Tuesday.
Fujimori is a fugitive from justice in Peru, where prosecutors want him to face trial on charges he embezzled millions of dollars from the state and condoned death squads.
Peru said on Monday it sent a diplomatic note to Chile asking the government to stop Fujimori from commenting publicly about the two candidates for its June 4 presidential vote or about his extradition.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383282



Chilean cult leader gets 20-year sentence for abuse
12.20pm Thursday May 25, 2006
SANTIAGO - The German leader of a former religious cult in Chile has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexual abuse of 25 children, local media has reported.
Paul Schaefer, 84, fled Chile in 1997 when authorities began investigating sex abuse accusations against him.
He lived in hiding in Argentina until last year when he was discovered and sent to Chile to face trial.
He had been convicted of the sex crimes in absentia, but was retried after he was brought back to Chile.
Judge Hernan Gonzalez also ordered Schaefer to pay US$1.4 million($2.25 million) in reparation to his victims, media reported.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10383482



Myanmar may want stronger global ties, UN says
1.00pm Thursday May 25, 2006
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS - Myanmar appears to want to strengthen its ties with the international community, a senior UN official has said, after visiting the reclusive Asian state.
Ibrahim Gambari, UN undersecretary-general for political affairs said he encouraged the ruling junta to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as a sign it wanted to work more closely with other nations.
"There appears to be a willingness to turn a new page in the country's relations with the international community. What better signal than this one?" he told reporters

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383474


Rescuers search for Thai flood victims
1.20pm Thursday May 25, 2006
Rescue workers in northern Thailand have been continuing their search for scores of people missing after widespread flooding.
Relief teams have so far pulled 30 bodies from receding floodwaters, but officials fear over 100 people could have died.
Heavy monsoonal rain has caused massive flooding in five northern provinces, leaving some towns under two metres of water.
Uttaradit, 500km (310 miles) north of Bangkok, was the worst-hit province with 22 known dead and 75 missing in the worst floods in 60 years.
"From what we've seen at the affected sites, we believe the toll will rise to a hundred as many might have still been buried under the mud," Uttaradit's deputy provincial health chief said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10383486



African Union accepts Nato help in Darfur
1.00pm Thursday May 25, 2006
BRUSSELS - The African Union has accepted a Nato offer to extend its assistance in Sudan's violent Darfur region, the Western military alliance has said.
Nato provided training and transport to African Union (AU) troops struggling to quell the violence in Darfur earlier this year and has signalled its willingness to provide more help.
"The AU has asked Nato to extend its support. Nato has already taken a decision to be willing to do it, so that will now go forward," Nato spokesman James Appathurai said.
He added that the AU had requested more help in airlift of troops and training until end-September, noting that by then it should have handed over leadership of the peace mission to the United Nations.
"It means a limited number of Nato personnel there.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383444



Bombs kill 25 in Baghdad violence
1.00pm Wednesday May 24, 2006
At least 25 people have been killed in four separate attacks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
A bomb in a motorcycle exploded outside a Shi'ite mosque in the Tunis district of the city, killing at least 11 people in a nearby shop.
Four people were also killed by a bomb at a Baghdad bakery and two car bombs were detonated.
One of the car bombings killed five people in Shi'ite east Baghdad and another - aimed at police commandos - left five civilians dead.
Shaken Iraqis stood around examining burnt-out cars and shops where the car bomb aimed at the police detonated.
"The bomb exploded and flipped a minibus. What can we do? We just try to earn a living," said shopkeeper Abu Mohammad.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383309



Property council backs regional rates rise to fund transport
Thursday May 25, 2006
By Mathew Dearnaley
Auckland local bodies seeking higher regional rates for public transport found an unlikely ally yesterday in the New Zealand Property Council.
National director Connal Townsend, whose organisation represents about 500 property firms and professionals, stunned the Auckland Regional Council by advocating a more liberal approach to its transport funding woes. He called a proposal to limit regional rates rises to around 5 per cent for each of the next 10 years "far too tight" given the shortfall, which could exceed $1.4 billion after lost Government public transport subsidies are added to a $710 million council deficit.
"You need to be more flexible," he told councillors.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10383421


Kurdish separatists claim Turkish airport blaze
2.20pm Thursday May 25, 2006
By Paul De Bendern
ISTANBUL - A Kurdish separatist group has claimed responsibility for a fire that swept through a cargo area at Istanbul's main Ataturk Airport on Wednesday afternoon local time.
Officials had said the blaze - which injured three people, caused extensive damage and delayed flights - was probably caused by an electrical fault.
Officials did not mention the possibility of foul play, but the Kurdistan Liberation Hawks (TAK) claimed responsibility, according to the Europe-based Firat news agency, which is the group's mouthpiece.
TAK said it was an "act of sabotage" to protest against Turkey's treatment of the Kurdish minority. There was no way of independently confirming the claim.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10383496


Indian PM calls separatists home at Kashmir talks
Thursday May 25, 2006
By Palash Kumar
SRINAGAR- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told Kashmiri militants in Pakistan to "come home", as he presses forward with peace talks.
Despite tight security for the talks in India's summer capital, Srinagar, separatist rebels set off five grenades, injuring at least 19 civilians and nine policemen.
An Islamist revolt in Indian Kashmir has killed more than 45,000 people since it began in 1989.
"In the light of the changing environment, we are reviewing the cases of all detainees," Mr Singh said in his opening address at the two-day roundtable conference.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383449


Australian politicians to discuss Aboriginal violence
10.20am Thursday May 25, 2006
The issue of Aboriginal violence and abuse is to be discussed in Canberra today.
Australia's Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough will meet with the Northern Territory's Chief Minister to look at ways to tackle domestic and gang violence.
The meeting follows reports of child rape and abuse of women in Aboriginal communities.
A correspondent told Newstalk ZB Mr Brough had stoked things up by claiming there may be paedophile rings operating in aboriginal communities.
He said while Mr Brough may have overstated the case by saying paedophiles had been operating in rings, there was plenty of evidence paedophilia was rampant.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383465


Missile shield to counter Iran
Thursday May 25, 2006
By Rupert Cornwell
WASHINGTON - In a move that is raising hackles in Moscow, the US is proposing to install an anti-missile defence system in central Europe to counter any future attack from a nuclear-armed Iran.
The plan, for which the Pentagon has requested US$56 million of exploratory funding from Congress, would cost US$1.6 billion ($2.55 billion) and involve 10 interceptor units.
The most likely base for the system was Poland, followed by the Czech Republic, officials said. For the moment, the scheme - first reported in the New York Times and which would parallel the anti-missile shield being built in Alaska and California against attacks from North Korea - is largely symbolic and hypothetical.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383412


Eight arrested in British terror raids
5.20am Thursday May 25, 2006
Around 500 British police officers raided houses last night in an operation targeting people suspected of planning terrorist attacks overseas.
Seven people were arrested in Manchester and one in Merseyside.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383415


Australia faces tough choices on nuke future
Thursday May 25, 2006
By Greg Ansley
CANBERRA - Australia is facing a reinvigorated anti-nuclear movement as Prime Minister John Howard increases his support for expanded uranium mining and the prospect of its own reactors.
The Opposition Labor Party has dumped its earlier equivocation on the issue to front a campaign likely to repeat the furious hostility that capped uranium production two decades ago.
The Government is also facing division within its own ranks on the economic viability of nuclear power, and more general debate over its supposed environmental benefits.
Even so, Howard has firmly put uranium mining and nuclear energy on the political agenda, further defining the growing policy gap between the ruling Coalition and Labor.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383362


World's largest democracy rests on communist whims
Thursday May 25, 2006
By Rahul Bedi
NEW DELHI - There is a certain irony to the fact that recent elections in India saw communist parties become the main power-brokers in the world's largest democracy.
Broadly pursuing an agenda that many say will stilt the nation's development, the communists gained power in two of five provinces, claim 63 seats in Parliament and form the backbone of a new coalition Government.
In eastern Bengal state, the Communist-led Left Front was celebrating its seventh consecutive victory, making it the world's longest-running elected Communist Administration: in office uninterruptedly for nearly three decades.
A Communist-led coalition of nine parties also comfortably wrested power from the Congress Party in Kerala state.
In India's federal structure that includes 29 states and six centrally administered regions, provincial legislatures are responsible for everything other than defence, currency, railways and communication, which are federal areas.
The 63 seats represented the communist bloc's best election performance, and made them architects of a Congress Party-led coalition that displaced the Hindu nationalist-headed Government.
Their new political muscle also resulted in Parliament electing its first ever Marxist speaker, Somnath Chatterjee. However, despite supporting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's new coalition, they declined to join due to policy differences.
Such a move, opponents say, will see holding power from the outside of government which could be used to topple coalition leaders.
Critics also say their communist principles will act like a dead weight on the country's economic growth and global profile.
Marxist Governments in Bengal, Kerala and Tripura have insisted on market reforms with a human face, and have consistently opposed labour reforms, seen as essential for attracting overseas investment and boosting the economy.
They have also stalled privatising state-run, loss-making industrial behemoths as their employees constitute a committed vote bank for the communists.
In Bengal unions have paralysed the state's industrial growth, forcing its once booming businesses and manufacturing units to either close down or move.
Over the past two years, however, communist leaders have attempted to pacify India's booming financial markets by claiming that they welcome foreign investment provided it augmented existing productive capacities, upgraded technology and generated jobs.
The communists make no secret of their dislike for the US, especially at a time when PM Singh is edging strategically and militarily closer to Washington.
India's Communist Party - before it split in 1964 into the CPM supported by Beijing and the other rump the CPI backed by Moscow - was the world's first to be democratically elected in Kerala in the late 1950s.
This caused alarm at home and abroad, and led to the US stepping up its obsessive covert anti-Communist drive in India and for decades looked upon it with ill-informed suspicion.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383361



Human transmission 'possible' in bird flu case
1.00pm Wednesday May 24, 2006
An Indonesian who died of bird flu after nursing his sick son may have caught the virus in a case of direct human-to-human transmission, the World Health Organisation has said.
The WHO said it was still looking for the source of the outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in the village of Kubu Sembelang in North Sumatra, which has killed six people.
The 32-year-old Indonesian man is the latest to die and the WHO said Indonesian health officials had confirmed he was infected with the virus.
"The father was closely involved in caring for his son, and this contact is considered a possible source of infection," the WHO said in a statement.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383316


Police ambush five-year anti-war protest
Thursday May 25, 2006
LONDON - Veteran British peace activist Brian Haw was stripped of his anti-war banners and placards by up to 50 police officers mounting an early-morning ambush in Parliament Square.
Amid chaotic and farcical scenes, police wrestled with nine dishevelled protesters - led by Haw - as a 40m line of anti-war placards was dismantled and dumped in a metal container.
Two demonstrators who attempted to mount the metal container to salvage placards were arrested.
Haw has camped out in front of the Houses of Commons since 2001.
An ongoing battle between the 57-year-old protester and police has been waged for some time. Last July, the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act came into force, bringing with it powers to halt demonstrations in Parliament Square or its vicinity - a provision widely seen as having been designed with Haw in mind.
Haw, in turn, has claimed the restrictions do not apply to him because his demonstration began in June 2001, before the Act became law. But a Court of Appeal hearing this month rejected his argument and refused leave to appeal to the Lords. The court said he would have to apply to the police for authorisation to continue the dispute.
Permission to demonstrate in the square has been restricted by the police to a display that must not exceed 3m in length with not more than 20 protesters.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383409


Britain's Blair suffers another party revolt
9.00am Thursday May 25, 2006
By David Clarke
LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair's authority has again been challenged after another party revolt over flagship school reform plans.
The schools bill was passed by a huge majority of 324 in parliament at its crucial third reading thanks to support from the main opposition Conservative Party.
But 46 Labour lawmakers voted against the legislation, Labour's biggest revolt at this stage of a bill since the party first came to government in 1924.
Blair's standing within Labour has taken a battering in past weeks following dire local election results and relentless headlines of sleaze, scandal and government incompetence - and analysts said his authority was on the line.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383453


NZer involved in Everest rescue
4.00pm Thursday May 25, 2006
A former Aucklander on Mt Everest has directed the rescue of a sick climber from the summit, with a party of 18 Sherpas helping to get the commercial client back down the mountain alive.
Jamie McGuinness, a New Zealander who runs treks around Everest and leads climbing expeditions, had to take a climber he had escorted to the top of Everest back down the mountain, according to the head of another expedition, Anne Parmenter.
"Our sister expedition 'The Peace Project,' summitted on (May) 18 but have had an almost 36-hour rescue effort for one of the members," she told the mounteverest.net website, run by ExplorersWeb.
"With the support of 10 of our Sherpas and at least eight Sherpas from the Peace Project, the member was carried in a litter all the way from the North Col.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10383498


Dying Everest climber was frozen solid, says Inglis
Thursday May 25, 2006
By Jarrod Booker
Double amputee climber Mark Inglis has defended himself from criticism by Sir Edmund Hillary, saying there was little his team could have done to save an "effectively dead" Briton on Mt Everest.
Inglis is wary about returning to a storm of controversy in New Zealand today after Sir Edmund criticised climbers for failing to stop to help ill-equipped mountaineer David Sharp on their way to the summit.
Inglis said it "certainly wasn't a decision that I made" to leave Sharp 300m below the summit in a place known as the "Death Zone".
"Far more qualified people from our own team gave assistance ... to no avail. I was probably the least qualified person on that mountain that day."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10383436


Inglis faces mental stress after harsh criticism
Thursday May 25, 2006
By Angela Gregory
An experienced Himalayan guide says Sir Edmund Hillary's "harsh criticism" of Mark Inglis and other climbers for leaving a British man to die on Mt Everest could be psychologically harmful to Inglis and his team.
Australian mountaineer Adam Darragh, who teaches at the Australian School of Mountaineering and instructs guides, said Inglis would inevitably feel remorse for not doing more for 34-year-old David Sharp but that did not mean he had failed in his duty.
"The fact that someone died that day and they had walked past him does not mean they were negligent in their care," Mr Darragh said.
"You don't know people on the mountain and climbers are responsible for their own decisions."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10383425


Inglis arrives home
12.00pm Thursday May 25, 2006
Double amputee climber and Everest conqueror flew back to New Zealand today into a storm of controversy over dying British climber David Sharp.
Inglis was greeted by supporters at Auckland Airport before flying on to Christchurch.
He showed waiting media his frost-bitten fingers and artifical legs.
Inglis became the first double amputee last week to scale Mt Everest, the world's highest mountain. But on the way up he was one of 40 climbers to pass the Sharp about 300 metres from the summit.
Inglis said his team tried to help Sharp but he was so near death there was nothing they could do for him.
He could not speak, his limbs were almost frozen solid and the only sign of life was slight movement in hs eyes.
The decision from the Inglis team not to abandon their climb drew criticism from Sir Edmund Hillary, who with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first men to reach the summit of Mt Everest in May, 1953.
He said he was "gutted" at Sir Edmund's criticism but said he welcomed the debate.
Inglis was due at Christchurch Hospital today and was expected to lose the end of the ring finger on his right hand. He returned from the mountain with the tips of several fingers black with frostbite.
- NZPA, HERALD ONLINE STAFF

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10383483


Dead climber in love with mountain tops
Thursday May 25, 2006
By Derek Cheng
The British mountaineer who died after dozens of climbers passed him near the summit of Mt Everest was an ambitious young man with a love of travel and standing on mountain tops.
David Sharp, 34, developed a love for climbing while studying engineering in Nottingham.
"He probably packed as much in at 34 as some people do in a lifetime," his mother Linda told the UK-based newspaper the Northern Echo.
He had backpacked throughout southeast Asia and South America, climbed Kilimanjaro in Africa, Cho Oyu in Nepal and tried for the top of Mt Everest three times, succeeding only on his final, fatal attempt.
"He was a great son, a very able climber and we loved him," his father John said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383426


World powers inch forward in Iran nuclear talks
1.00pm Thursday May 25, 2006
By Madeline Chambers
LONDON - World powers meeting in London to discuss ways of limiting Iran's nuclear capability failed to reach consensus on their first day of talks.
Officials from UN Security Council permanent members China, Russia, the United States, France and Britain, plus Germany, had met to try to narrow divisions over how to induce Tehran to halt sensitive uranium enrichment work.
The US and some of its Western allies suspect Iran's professed bid for nuclear power for its economy is a cover for efforts to develop an atomic bomb.
The US State Department said there had been "great progress" at the talks, but that a deal "was not done yet".

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383457


Drugs worth $135m seized
3.15pm Thursday May 25, 2006
Police and customs officials have seized 95kg of methamphetamine - by far the biggest ever bust of the drug in New Zealand.
The haul has a street value of $135m, police said. The previous biggest seizure was of 8kg.
They seized the drug, also known as P, on its way into New Zealand ports and it was expected it would be sold in the country.
Six people - two New Zealanders, a Hong Kong national and three Chinese - were arrested.
Police found a handgun, an M16 assault rifle and false passports in raids.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10383510


US general denies urging use of dogs in interrogations
4.00pm Thursday May 25, 2006
By Bill Trott
FORT MEADE, Maryland - The highest ranking officer to testify in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal has denied suggesting using military dogs in interrogations of Iraqi prisoners.
Major General Geoffrey Miller was called as a defence witness by a military police dog handler charged with using his dog to abuse prisoners at the jail outside Baghdad.
"We discussed using dogs only for control - not for interrogation," Miller said under cross-examination.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10383501



Bids in for Navy's last steam warship
11.15am Thursday May 25, 2006
Five different organisations are after the navy's last steam warship, the Leander-class frigate HMNZS Canterbury.
The 36-year-old frigate was taken out of commission last year and has been sitting at the Devonport Naval Base in Auckland while a decision is made on her future.
When tenders closed last week the navy had received five -- three from organisations wanting to sink the 3000-tonne ship as a dive attraction, and two from scrap metal merchants.
The ship was moved by tug to a training berth at the entrance to the naval base a few days ago.
One of the organisations wanting to sink the old frigate is believed to be the Tutukaka Coast Promotions Society, which already has a resource consent.
The society planned to sink the ship close to a sister ship -- another Leander class frigate, the former HMNZS Waikato.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10383476



Air force plane's cockpit fills with fumes
11.35am Thursday May 25, 2006
An air force Orion surveillance aircraft declared a full emergency as it was about to take off from Whenuapai air base in Auckland today when the cockpit filled with fumes.
The RNZAF said the Orion was taxiing to take off on a training flight when the fumes became apparent and the emergency was declared.
It turned back as there was a full turnout of the emergency firefighting crews. The 14 people on board were evacuated.
Air force spokeswoman Danielle Coe said everyone on board was given a medical check and maintenance staff were trying to find out what caused the fumes.
She said there was no obvious sign of damage.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10383479



Dutch gamer finds unwelcome fame with gaming movie
Thursday May 25, 2006
THE HAGUE - The Dutch creator of a video game-based movie, which the US government says is being used as a recruitment tool by Muslim militants, says that his home-made creation was nothing more than a bit of fun.
The 11-minute video shows a man in Arab head-dress carrying an automatic weapon into combat with US invaders, and it was shown to a US Congressional Committee this month as evidence of a militant campaign to recruit Muslim youth on the internet.
"It was just for fun, nothing political," said Samir, a 25 year-old Dutch gamer, in an interview with Reuters. "It has nothing to do with recruiting people or training people."
Samir, who did not want to be identified by his full name, is a Muslim who was born and raised in the Netherlands and is a fan of US movies and rap music.
His short movie is based on a popular video game, "Battlefield 2," which usually shows US troops engaging Chinese or Middle Eastern forces.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383446


US envoy on North Korea in Beijing for talks
5pm Thursday May 25, 2006
BEIJING - The US chief negotiator to talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear programme has arrived in Beijing to meet his Chinese counterpart.
US envoy Christopher Hill was to hold talks with China's Wu Dawei before flying to Seoul later.
His trip is aimed at breathing life into the six-party talks that North Korea has refused to attend since an inconclusive session in November.
China, an old ally of the North and host to the talks that also group the two Koreas, Japan and Russia, has been seen as key to persuading Pyongyang back to the table.
But analysts said Mr Hill's visit was as much aimed at keeping China and South Korea engaged in the stalled process as to push for any leverage.
"He's going to urge China and South Korea to redouble their patience," said Jon Wolfsthal, a North Korea analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"Where the administration sees the challenge is in South Korea and China peeling off from what needs to be a co-ordinated policy," he said.
China is to host North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun next week, and South Korea's president has been quoted as saying he would be willing to meet the North's leader anytime for talks.
By contrast, Mr Hill had no substantive discussions with Pyongyang envoy Kim Kye-gwan when both were in Tokyo last month, something analysts said was hindering progress.
Washington has also been cracking down on financial institutions it suspects of assisting Pyongyang in money laundering and counterfeiting, actions whose long-term effectiveness Seoul has questioned.
The six countries agreed in principle at talks last September that North Korea would dismantle its nuclear programmes in exchange for aid, security assurances and diplomatic ties.
But the following session in November ended without progress and Pyongyang has refused to take part ever since, citing the financial crackdown.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10383507


China in the market for arms
7.20am Thursday May 25, 2006
China is buying more long-range aircraft and weapons that will allow it to compete with the United States and potentially pose a threat to other countries in the region, a Pentagon report said.
In the past year China has taken steps to buy transport and tanker aircraft from Russia, shown interest in attack planes and continued to buy short-range ballistic missiles.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383413



To combat road rage, you must first understand it
Thursday May 25, 2006
By Greg Ansley
CANBERRA - Australian crime experts are struggling to define just what is road rage as reports suggest violence by angry drivers is rising.
The statistics available indicate that tens of thousands of drivers a year are victims of violence, running from obscene gestures to being physically attacked or run off the road.
And, a new paper from the Australian Institute of Criminology says, many cases of road rage are not reported.
Principal criminologist Russell Smith's paper urges the improvement of statistics to help devise strategies to reduce driver anger.
Smith says the problem of defining road rage is notoriously difficult because it can range from "selfish" driving, to hostility involving verbal abuse and obscene gestures, to violence including severe tailgating, driving another vehicle off the road, and assault.
Because of the emotions involved, it is also hard at times to determine who was the aggressor and who was the victim.
Consequences included financial loss, public liability and insurance costs.
Smith says a 1997 Victorian survey found that 14 per cent of the 800 drivers questioned had been a victim of severe road rage in the previous year, and one-third had been a victim at least once since they began driving.
Last year a survey of 2400 drivers by insurer AAMI found that 4 per cent of victims claimed to have been physically assaulted by another driver.
A West Australian survey of 1200 drivers reported that 13.5 per cent had suffered serious road-rage attacks that involved other drivers acting aggressively or violently towards them.
Victimisation rates in Victoria of between 1 and 5 per cent would mean that between 33,000 and 165,000 of the state's 3.3 million licensed drivers have been road rage victims.
Smith says studies have indicated that road rage tends to be under-reported, especially compared with rates for other assaults.
Australian figures for the latest international crime victimisation survey showed 37 per cent of assaults or threats were reported. But in a WA survey, only 21 per cent said they had reported incidents of road violence.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383408



Study backs MRI breast cancer checks
11.20am Wednesday May 24, 2006
Detecting breast cancer with magnetic resonance imaging is cost-effective for women who carry a gene mutation that puts them at higher risk for the disease, a US study has found.
Though rare, the inherited BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations increase a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer by as much as 80 per cent.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) costs 10 times more than mammography but is capable of detecting hard-to-find tumors earlier.
Using a computer model that set a threshold of $160,000 spent for each year of life gained, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine concluded MRIs were cost-effective for women aged 35 to 54 who had the BRCA1 mutation.
MRIs were also cost-effective for women in that age group with the BRCA2 defect for whom mammographies were not sensitive enough to detect tumors it said.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded: "With substantial declines in its cost, breast MRI screening is likely to represent an acceptable value for a broader group of women."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10383302

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