Seattle Post Intelligencer

2 ships run aground in gales off Britain
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON -- Massive waves and violent winds battered two ships, forcing them aground during storms overnight off Britain's northwestern coast, the coast guard said Friday.
The gale force winds were hampering attempts to rescue the 14-member Spanish crew of a trawler on rocks off St. Kilda in Scotland's Western Isles, coast guard spokesman Fred Caygill said.
The coast guard successfully rescued 23 people off a ferry that ran aground near England's Blackpool beach hours after a freak wave left it listing on its side Thursday night, Caygill said.
The Spaniards were trapped on the rocks under a cliff at St. Kilda, an uninhabited volcanic archipelago 40 miles west of Benbecula. The gale-force winds swirling around the cliff were making it difficult for a helicopter to approach, Caygill said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103ap_britain_sea_rescues.html


Bitter Canadian weather kills 2
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TORONTO -- Two young sisters wearing only diapers and T-shirts froze to death on a Canadian Indian reservation and police were investigating if alcohol use by their father played a role in the tragedy, officials said Wednesday.
The deaths came as fierce winter weather sweeping the country delayed flights, cut electrical power and forced highway closures.
The scantily clad bodies of 3-year-old Kaydance Pauchay and her 1-year-old sister Santana were found at the Yellow Quill reservation east of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where officials said wind chills approached 50 degrees below zero. The girls' father, Christopher Pauchay, 25, who had apparently been caring for the girls, was hospitalized with frostbite and hypothermia.
Police said they were investigating reports that Pauchay had been drinking and that it might have contributed to the tragedy.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101ap_canada_winter_weather.html



Michigan town split over disaster firm
By JOHN FLESHER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PELLSTON, Mich. -- Officials in this small, job-starved community hope disaster pays.
They're welcoming plans by a startup company to build a $79 million center that would help people across the nation prepare for catastrophic events such as terrorist attacks and killer storms.
Sovereign Deed LLC says it will design custom survival plans - alerts, guidance, high-tech gear, food and water, even evacuations - for up to $50,000 up front plus $15,000 a year.
The company plans to build a complex at Pellston's regional airport that would include supply warehouses, training grounds, a hangar for an eventual aircraft fleet and a communications system.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_disaster_capitalism.html


Let impeachment process begin
RICHARD W. BEHAN
GUEST COLUMNIST
"The War on Terrorism" is a facade.
It was launched, we were told, to apprehend Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and to effect regime change in Iraq.
President Bush was handed opportunities to achieve each of those purposes quickly and without resorting to warfare, but he literally refused to do so.
Saddam Hussein offered in February 2002, a month before his country was invaded, personally to leave Iraq for exile in Egypt or Saudi Arabia. His offer was kept secret -- and rejected. Regime change was in fact a facade for a more ambitious objective: The Bush administration was already committed to the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Also kept secret was a standing offer from the Taliban to the Bush administration to surrender Osama bin Laden -- an offer made long before the Trade Towers fell and the Pentagon burned. Three times before 9/11 and twice afterward, the administration refused the surrender. Bin Laden's capture was in fact a facade for a more ambitious objective: The administration already was committed to the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/349590_behan01.html



Snowstorm blankets Midwest, heads east
By CARLA K. JOHNSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
View related video
CHICAGO -- Heavy, wet snow made for treacherous roads and delayed commutes Friday as a huge winter storm that stretched from Texas to the Great Lakes blanketed Illinois and the rest of the nation's midsection Friday.
At least 5 inches of snow was reported at Chicago's Midway Airport by early Friday. More than 600 flights were canceled Thursday at O'Hare International Airport, where hundreds of stranded travelers spent the night awaiting planes from other cities also affected by the storm. Low visibility continued to be a problem.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_severe_weather.html


Tornado victims billed for cable damage
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WHEATLAND, Wis. -- Having a tornado demolish her home was bad enough. But weeks later when Ann Beam received a $2,000 cable bill for destroyed equipment, she was floored.
"I just couldn't believe it," Beam said. "I was like, 'What are they thinking?'"
Time Warner Cable billed a number of Wheatland residents for equipment damaged in the Jan. 7 twister. Beam's bill covered five cable boxes and five remote controls.
She immediately called the cable company, but a man who identified himself as a manager said there was nothing the company could do.
"They said I would have to take the bill and turn it in to my insurance company," Beam told the Kenosha News for a story on the paper's Web site Thursday.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120ap_odd_cable_bill_tornado.html?source=mypi


Rabbi makes office calls for busy execs
By VERENA DOBNIK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW YORK -- Jewish doctors, lawyers and business executives too busy for the formal study of their faith can now order in religious lessons, thanks to an organization whose rabbis make office calls.
Aish HaTorah, an Orthodox Jewish educational network based in Israel, has four rabbis on call in New York City as part of its Executive Learning Program, and similar outreach programs in cities around the world including Los Angeles and Washington.
One of the New York rabbis is Stuart Shiff, who was crisscrossing Manhattan on a recent wintry day to give free private lessons to clients including a partner in an accounting firm and a neuroscientist at a prominent hospital.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_religion_today.html


Solution to health care crisis needs shot of economic reality
ROGER STARKGUEST COLUMNIST
Our country faces some very serious financial problems in the coming years. The largest is the funding of health care previously promised and the funding of the proposed expansion of the recipient base to include the underinsured and the uninsured.
Recently, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office testified that the cost of our current government programs (Medicare and Medicaid) was growing at an unsustainable rate and that some type of major overhaul would be necessary for the programs to survive. Not surprising is the fact that one of the top two issues in voters' minds this election cycle is health care.
So where do presidential candidates stand on the health care issue and what are their respective solutions?

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/349585_healthcare01.html



CDC pins name on slaughterhouse illness
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS -- Investigators are closer to understanding a mysterious illness reported by pork plant workers in Minnesota and Indiana and now have pinned a name on it, officials said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report Thursday summarizing the investigation so far that gives the condition a name - progressive inflammatory neuropathy.
Minnesota officials said they were broadening their investigation to thousands of former employees at the Quality Pork Processors Inc. plant in Austin, going back a decade to when a powerful compressed air system was installed to remove brain tissue from pig heads.
Investigators have been trying to determine whether pig brain tissue, sprayed into the air as droplets during removal by the compressed air system, was inhaled by workers and made them sick.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_slaughterhouse_illness.html


Dumplings stir China food scare in Japan
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TOKYO -- Japanese supermarkets, restaurants and schools cleared Chinese food products from their shelves and kitchens Friday in a spiraling nationwide scare over insecticide-tainted dumplings.
The government said at least 10 people have fallen ill since December after eating imported dumplings produced by Tianyang Food Processing. Media reports said the number of victims could be as high as 500.
Heightening the scare, investigators said they found a tiny hole in a dumpling bag recovered from a sickened family, suggesting the food may have been deliberately contaminated, said Kenichi Mizuno, a police official in Hyogo prefecture where three people were hospitalized.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104ap_japan_china_tainted_products.html


Payrolls drop for 1st time since 2003
By JEANNINE AVERSA
AP ECONOMICS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Nervous employers cut 17,000 jobs in January - the first such reduction in more than four years and a fresh sign that the economy is in danger of stalling.
The Labor Department's report, released Friday, also showed that the unemployment rate dipped slightly to 4.9 percent, from 5 percent, as the civilian labor force shrank slightly.
Job losses were widespread. Manufacturers, construction firms and a variety of professional and business services eliminated jobs in January - reflecting the toll of the housing and credit debacles. The government cut jobs, too. All those cuts swamped job gains in education, health care, retailing and elsewhere.
Wage growth also slowed, another indication that employers are tightening their belts amid the economic slowdown.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1311ap_economy.html?source=mypi


Exxon Mobil posts record profits
By JOHN PORRETTO
AP BUSINESS WRITER
HOUSTON -- Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company - $40.6 billion - as the world's biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from historic crude prices at year's end.
Exxon also set a U.S. record for the biggest quarterly profit, posting net income of $11.7 billion for the final three months of 2007, beating its own mark of $10.71 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005.
The previous record for annual profit was $39.5 billion, which Exxon Mobil made in 2006.
The eye-popping results weren't a surprise given record prices for a barrel of oil at the end of 2007. For much of the fourth quarter, they hovered around $90 a barrel, more than 50 percent higher than a year ago.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310ap_earns_exxon_mobil.html?source=mypi


Bangladesh hit by bird flu outbreak
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Livestock officials slaughtered more than 27,000 chickens and ducks in northern Bangladesh after bird flu was confirmed at a poultry farm near the border with India, a report said Friday.
Officials in India's West Bengal state, which borders Bangladesh, have been struggling to contain that country's worst-ever outbreak of the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus.
Several hundred chickens died at the poultry farm in Dinajpur district, 170 miles north of Dhaka, and laboratory tests confirmed that the H5N1 virus was responsible, the United News of Bangladesh news agency reported.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104ap_bangladesh_bird_flu.html


Court won't reconsider Guantanamo ruling
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court refused Friday to reconsider a ruling broadening its own authority to scrutinize evidence against detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
The Supreme Court is also closely watching that issue.
The decision is a setback for the Bush administration, which was displeased by the court's three-judge ruling in July and had urged all 10 judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review it.
The ruling held that, when Guantanamo Bay detainees bring a court challenge to their status as "enemy combatants," judges must review all the evidence, not just the evidence the military chooses.
When detainees are brought before military combatant status review tribunals, they are not allowed to have lawyers and the Pentagon decides what evidence to present. Unlike in criminal trials, the government is not obligated to turn over evidence that the defendant might be innocent.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155ap_guantanamo_detainees.html


Canada may end Afghan mission, Bush told
By ROB GILLIES
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TORONTO -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper told President Bush on Wednesday that Canada will end its military mission in Afghanistan if another NATO country does not put more soldiers in the dangerous south, officials said.
Harper's Conservative government is under pressure to withdraw its 2,500 troops from Kandahar province, the former Taliban stronghold, after the deaths of 78 Canadian soldiers and a diplomat. The mission is set to expire in 2009 without an extension by Canadian lawmakers.
The refusal of some major European allies to send significant number of troops to the southern front lines has opened a rift within NATO. Troops from Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and the United States have borne the brunt of a resurgence of Taliban violence in the region, with support from Denmark, Romania, Estonia and non-NATO nation Australia.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101ap_canada_afghanistan.html



Lawmakers: Extend energy tax breaks
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITE
WASHINGTON -- Unable to extend tax breaks as part of a broad energy bill two months ago, lawmakers are trying to attach some of them to an emergency economic aid package containing rebates for millions of taxpayers.
But that strategy may also falter when the Senate votes next week on the $193 billion economic stimulus bill that has been expanded over what already was approved by the House. Both President Bush and Senate GOP leaders have warned against adding to the House-passed bill.
But as it emerged this week from the Senate Finance Committee, among the items added was a string of energy tax credits aimed at helping people lower their heating and cooling costs and give a boost to wind and solar energy industries.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153ap_stimulus_energy.html


World captivated by US presidential race
By WILLIAM J. KOLE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Germans are gaga over Barack Obama. He's got Japan pretty jazzed, too, along with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Russia's leaders, not so much: They prefer a Republican - as long as it's not Kremlin critic John McCain.
And Mexico's president? He doesn't have much use for any of them.
America's extraordinary presidential campaign has captivated politicians and ordinary people around the globe. With so much at stake in the race for the White House, the world is watching with an intensity that hasn't been seen since the Clinton era began in 1992.
After eight years of President Bush, the latest mantra in U.S. politics - "transformational change" - is resonating across the rest of a planet desperate for a fresh start.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1131ap_campaign_watching_world.html


Today on the presidential campaign trail
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
IN THE HEADLINES
People focus on candidates' personalities and their views keep changing, AP-Yahoo poll shows ... CNN announces plans for 2 Feb. presidential debates in Ohio ... Obama races to trim Clinton's lead among Latinos as multistate primary day approaches ... Mormon leader's death renews focus on Romney's faith; candidate less reticent ---
Poll: Focus now on candidates' traits
WASHINGTON -- For all the millions the presidential campaigns have spent, it still comes down to this: Ask people what they think of Hillary Rodham Clinton and they say female and feminist. For Barack Obama, it's inexperience. Mitt Romney is known as a Mormon, John McCain for his military service.
And oh, yes, he's old.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1131ap_2008_race_rundown.html



UN says more than 5M will lose jobs
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GENEVA -- More than 5 million people will lose their jobs this year as the world economy slows, an official at the U.N. labor agency said Thursday.
Most job losses will occur in rich countries, but millions of "working poor" in the developing world who won't be counted also will suffer, said Dorothea Schmidt, an economist at the International Labor Organization.
Schmidt said the latest global growth figures from the International Monetary Fund prompted the labor agency to review its jobs forecast for 2008. The Washington-based IMF cut its growth projection from 4.4 percent to 4.1 percent Tuesday.
The Geneva-based ILO published a report last week predicting that the number of unemployed worldwide would increase to about 195 million from 190 million last year.
But with the IMF's revised growth rate, "there will be a larger impact than the 5 million we estimated," Schmidt said. She added it was too soon to give precise figures as job losses would depend on growth rates in individual countries.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103ap_un_global_unemployment.html


UN: climate change may cost $20 trillion
By JOHN HEILPRIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
UNITED NATIONS -- Global warming could cost the world up to $20 trillion over two decades for cleaner energy sources and do the most harm to people who can least afford to adapt, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warns in a new report.
Ban's report provides an overview of U.N. climate efforts to help the 192-nation General Assembly prepare for a key two-day climate debate in mid-February. That debate is intended to shape overall U.N. policy on climate change, including how nations can adapt to a warmer world and ways of supporting the U.N.-led negotiations toward a new climate treaty by 2009, U.N. officials said Wednesday.
The treaty, replacing the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012, could shape the course of climate change for decades to come. The Kyoto pact requires 37 industrial nations to reduce greenhouse gases by a relatively modest 5 percent on average.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101ap_un_global_warming.html


Prince Charles: Skyscrapers ruin London
By REGAN MCTARSNEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LONDON -- Prince Charles warned Thursday that historic sites like the Tower of London have been "vandalized" by high-rise construction that threatens to ruin the character of the capital.
The heir to the British throne, who spoke at a conference on city planning, argued that poor planning could damage the integrity of Britain's historical areas - particularly criticizing tall buildings that dwarf smaller structures.
"We seem to be determined to vandalize these few remaining sites which retain the kind of human scale and timeless character that so attract people to them and which increase in value as time goes by," Charles said at St. James' Palace.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103ap_people_prince_charles.html


FDA warns of risks from epilepsy drugs
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Epilepsy drugs used by millions of people may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior, the Food and Drug Administration warned Thursday in an alert to doctors.
The FDA analyzed almost 200 studies of 11 anti-seizure drugs, some that have been on the market for decades. The studies tracked almost 28,000 people given the medications and another 16,000 given dummy pills.
Very rarely were suicidal thoughts or behavior reported. Still, the FDA found drug-treated patients did face about twice the risk: 0.43 percent of drug-treated patients experienced suicidal thoughts or behavior, compared with 0.22 percent of placebo-takers.
Overall, four people in the drug-treated groups committed suicide, and none in the placebo groups.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500ap_epilepsy_drugs.html


NASA launching Beatles tune into space
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- The Beatles are about to become radio stars in a whole new way. NASA on Monday will broadcast the Beatles' song "Across the Universe" across the galaxy to Polaris, the North Star.
This first-ever beaming of a radio song by the space agency directly into deep space is nostalgia-driven. It celebrates the 40th anniversary of the song, the 45th anniversary of NASA's Deep Space Network, which communicates with its distant probes, and the 50th anniversary of NASA.
"Send my love to the aliens," Paul McCartney told NASA through a Beatles historian. "All the best, Paul."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/1403ap_beatles_space.html?source=mypi

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501ap_beatles_space.html


Canadian doctor tearfully apologizes
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TORONTO -- A doctor whose expert testimony led to at least seven wrongful convictions gave a tearful apology Thursday to one of his victims, who spent more than a decade in prison for the death of his niece.
Twenty cases are being investigated after experts questioned Dr. Charles Smith's work. Twelve cases led to convictions, and at least seven have been thrown out.
Smith said Monday that he taught himself pediatric forensics and was ignorant of the criminal justice system.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101ap_canada_pathologist.html


Shuttle disaster memories linger in town
By MONICA RHOR
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- The bronze medallion embedded in the pavement behind the Commercial Bank of Texas is easy to overlook. About the size of a DVD, it barely registers as a bump for the cars pulling into the drive-thru window.
But it is there - engraved with the name of the space shuttle Columbia and the date five years ago Friday that the spacecraft exploded over the skies of eastern Texas.
The metal disc serves as a quiet tribute to the spot where a piece of the shuttle's wing crashed to Earth in downtown Nacogdoches, and the day this tranquil town of about 30,000 was catapulted



Israeli Embassy in Mauritania attacked
By AHMED MOHAMED
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania -- At least one gunman opened fire on the Israeli Embassy in Mauritania early Friday, setting off a gunbattle with guards that wounded three people, Israeli and Mauritanian officials said.
The assailant opened fire at 2:20 a.m. (9:20 p.m. EST Thursday), Israeli Ambassador Boaz Bizmuth told Israel Radio.
"The local security forces who guard our embassy returned fire," he said. "As of now, we know of one casualty: a Mauritanian citizen who lives near our embassy. All embassy staff are fine."
A Mauritanian government spokesman, Aziz Ould Dahi, confirmed the attack but said three people were wounded. The French Foreign Ministry also said three French citizens, two men and a woman, were wounded.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105ap_mauritania_embassy_attack.html


Doctors' group pulls staff from Somalia
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS -- Doctors Without Borders has pulled all of its international staff out of Somalia after three of its aid workers were killed in a land mine explosion earlier this week, the group said Friday.
The international aid group, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, said in a statement it was "deeply shocked by the murder of its team" in an attack that it called "probably premeditated." It evacuated its 87 foreign employees this week.
Three staff members of MSF-Holland were killed and one wounded when their vehicle hit a land mine Monday on a road between the international staff members' home and the hospital where they worked in the southern Somali town of Kismayo, said Malika Saim at the group's headquarters in Paris.
Those killed were a Kenyan surgeon, a French logistics expert and a Somali driver, she said. Saim said the road was one the aid workers took almost daily, and that the car was clearly marked as belonging to MSF, suggesting the group had been targeted.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105ap_france_somalia_aid_workers.html


France sends more troops to Chad
By JENNY BARCHFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PARIS -- France has sent about 150 supplementary troops to Chad as a "precautionary measure" in response to a rebel offensive in the central African nation, a French Defense Ministry official said Friday.
The troops, stationed in Gabon, arrived in the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, early Friday morning aboard two transport planes to help "respond to the evolution of the situation" on the ground in Chad, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said.
The troops were not to take any combat role and were in Chad to "if it should prove necessary, assure the security of our citizens" there, Burkhard said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105ap_france_chad.html


Mexico seeks US probe of border tear gas
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico has formally requested the United States investigate recent incidents in which Border Patrol officers fired tear gas onto the Mexican side of the border, the government said Thursday.
After being upbraided by the country's top human rights agency for failing to press Washington enough on the issue, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department issued a statement calling the tactic "unacceptable."
The Border Patrol says the tactic is necessary to protect its officers from increasing attacks by people hurling rocks and other objects at them from Mexico.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102ap_mexico_us_border.html


Police: New evidence in Holloway case
By MARGARET WEVER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
View related video
ORANJESTAD, Aruba -- Aruban prosecutors said Thursday that authorities are investigating new information in the Natalee Holloway case provided by a Dutch crime reporter.
Information from reporter Peter R. de Vries "may help considerably" in resolving what happened to the American, who vanished during a May 2005 school vacation to the Dutch Caribbean island, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The statement did not specify the new material, but said it "may shed a new light on the mode" in which Holloway died and the "method by which her body disappeared."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102ap_aruba_missing_teen.html


Separation Of Powers: It is the law
If Congress shared half the public concern about the moral and security dangers inherent in pursuing a permanent military adventure in Iraq, there would already be a firestorm over President Bush's latest anti-constitutional signing statement.
As The Boston Globe revealed, one of the self-described Decider's latest such statements targeted a section of a massive defense spending bill that forbids using federal money to create permanent bases or to control Iraq's oil. While the signing statement is remarkably vague, the president seemed to signal an intent to defy Congress' constitutional power of the purse in order to spend money on bases and control of Iraq's oil.
Several Democratic senators and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denounced the latest Bush-Cheney power grab. But there ought to be a much sterner, bipartisan response. The Constitution is clear about spending authority. Any curbing of congressional spending power threatens the founding ideas of checks and balances. We disapprove of congressional restrictions on spending for abortions, but we respect Congress' authority. We would applaud a president working with Congress to erase the restrictions; a president defying Congress would shock us.
On Iraq, the public generally understands that permanent bases or U.S. control of the oil will threaten any progress toward stability. Congress should consider how to rein in the president so he cannot pursue permanent bases or oil to the detriment of the Constitution, U.S. security and the nation's international standing.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/349589_signinged.html


Program keeps farmers on their land
RANDY UHRICH
GUEST COLUMNIST
The P-I's Jan. 18 editorial, "Farm Bill: A cry for reform," indicated a poor understanding of what is happening in rural America.
I am fortunate to be a fourth-generation wheat farmer in Douglas County. Having grown up with stories of my grandfather and father farming helped me understand how the industry has evolved. This year marks the 100th anniversary of our farm.
I did not have the opportunity to farm after graduating from college, since the farm was not large enough to support two families. I spent 15 years working and waiting for the call that Dad was ready to retire. When it came 10 years ago, I accepted, but times were not as I remembered. Inflation and low prices had ravaged the industry.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/349591_farmbillrebut01.html

continued...

Snoqualmie Pass still closed; new slide overnight
More than 300 cars wait to be escorted down from Snoqualmie Pass on Thursday. The cars and their passengers were stranded at the top when an avalanche closed I-90 Wednesday. State crews were working to stabilize the hillside to prevent further avalanches.

More easily noted in the Enhanced Infrared Satellite, the vortex over the North Atlantic leading to the Equator was interrupted and gives a break to the central continent of North America; through the movement of a Pacific front headed for the western seaboard.

The velocity of the approaching Pacific front is considerable and will deliver more significant weather issues to the northwest NA continent. The cold experienced by the ski resorts in the USA comes from the Canadian system which is primarily stationary at this point. The large volume snow however is due to heat transfer and the significant moisture carried with those to higher latitudes. Heat transfer systems are dependant on clouds. Clouds are water vapor and carry the heat in water's latent forms. Heat transfer systems are water dependant systems.


February 1, 2008
1415z
Enhanced Infrared Satellite (click here)


February 1, 2008

1415z

UNISYS North and West Hemisphere

Snoqualmie Pass still closed; new slide overnight (click here)
By Ashley Bach
Seattle Times staff reporter
SNOQUALMIE PASS — Snoqualmie Pass remained closed this morning as another avalanche dumped snow near the summit and whiteout conditions were reported.
Over the past six days, nearly five feet of snow has fallen on the pass, said Erin Bogenschutz, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.
She said there was no estimate when the pass might reopen, adding that it was the avalanche danger, not the snowfall, that is keeping it closed
The state had hoped to open the pass at 9 a.m. today.
According to the National Weather Service, from 12 to 16 inches of snow fell on the pass Thursday. The DOT said seven inches of snow between midnight and 6 a.m. today at the pass and another six to eight inches were forecast for today....

Wild weather battered USA in January

Stranded on Snoqualmie Pass and waiting for I-90 to reopen, this skier gets some air next to the snowy freeway. (January 31, 2008)

NORTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -- Snow blowers and snowplows are getting a workout in North Lake Tahoe as the snow continues to fall.
Back-to-back storms have many ski resorts reporting 10-day storm totals of more than seven feet, and 15 feet of new snow for the month of January alone, the North Lake Tahoe Visitors Bureau reported Thursday.
Another foot to two feet of new snow is predicted before the weekend, according to the bureau.

..."The great thing about (our recent storms) is that they're coming from the north," Herrera said. "That means they're bringing a lot of cold air, which makes for a great snow event."...

The sky resorts know when the snow arrives from the south through heat transfer directly from the Equator, the snow won't last as what follows is warm air that melts all the snow fall. I'll look at the satellite because there is no thing as 'normal' weather anymore.

Snow-covered prayer stands are seen next to the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City. A rare snowfall hit parts of Israel and the West Bank on Wednesday, closing schools and businesses. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
(January 31, 2008)

A boy becomes while playing in the snow in Amman. Snow blanketed the Jordanian capital and most of the desert kingdom, forcing the closure of schools and banks as the government announced a public holiday.

(AP Photo/Mohammad abu Gosh)

(January 31, 2008)

China is trying to cope. When one mixes Climate Change with a billion people it's a challenge.

A sick passenger is carried away from the crowd by police officers as thousands of passengers wait to get inside Guangzhou Railway Station in Guangzhou, in south China's Guangdong province. Train service was restored Thursday in southern China, thinning the massive crowds waiting to go home after the worst winter storms in half a century crippled the transport system during the nation's busiest holiday travel season. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) (January 31, 2008)

The State of the Union address forgot Bush's greatest legacy - Climate Change

A man wearing a US President George Bush mask holds up protest signs outside the Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change Agenda conference held at the East West Center, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008, in Honolulu. A group of protesters gathered outside the international conference demonstrating climate. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

Jan. 30, 2008, 11:35PM
Judges feel out delicacy of suits (click here)
KBR Iraq cases involve casualties among contractors
By BRETT CLANTON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
A federal appeals panel, meeting behind closed doors Wednesday, heard arguments over whether three cases involving KBR contractors injured or killed in Iraq should be revived and go before juries.
In the hourlong hearing, the three-judge panel at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans probed lawyers for the victims and KBR about a deadly April 2004 attack on a KBR truck convoy, in which six workers were killed, one went missing and others were injured, according to two lawyers who were present.
"The judges were extremely active" in questioning lawyers from both sides, said Tobias Cole, a Houston attorney representing Kevin Smith-Idol, a KBR contractor shot in the knee and hip during the attack.
Lawyers for the contractors argued that KBR knew the civilian convoy was heading into an active battle zone but sent it anyway, violating pledges to keep workers safe....


Halliburton dismisses Iran accusations-magazine (click here)
DUBAI, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Oilfield services company Halliburton Co (HAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has brushed aside claims the decision to set up a second headquarters in Dubai was aimed at evading U.S. sanctions to resume operations in Iran.
"These assumptions and suppositions are absolutely untrue," David Lesar, chief executive of Halliburton, told Dubai-based .Commerce magazine in an interview to be published on Jan. 31.
The Dubai move sparked controversy among U.S. politicians last March. Senator Frank Lautenberg at the time accused Halliburton of going "to extraordinary lengths in the past to do business with the terrorist government in Iran".


Mitcham Industries Names Robert Albers to Its Board of Directors (click here)

...Previously from 1990 to 1994, Mr. Albers served as Vice President and General Manager of Halliburton Geophysical Products, a $100 million global division of Halliburton. In 1982 he joined Geosource, Inc. and served as President and General Manager, Operations and Technology Group; prior to that from 1963, he held various management and leadership roles at Chevron Oil Company. Mr. Albers holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mining Engineering from Lehigh University. He is a member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the EAGE.

Mitcham Industries, Inc., a geophysical equipment supplier, offers for lease or sale, new and "experienced" seismic equipment to the oil and gas industry, seismic contractors, environmental agencies, government agencies and universities. Headquartered in Texas, with sales and services offices in Calgary, Canada; Brisbane, Australia; Singapore; Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia; and the United Kingdom and with associates throughout Europe, South America and Asia, Mitcham conducts operations on a global scale and is the largest independent exploration equipment lessor in the industry.

Kenya - A hollow democracy (click here)

Ban meets Kenyan opposition leader and negotiating teams (click here)

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, center right, and his predecessor Kofi Annan,center left, meet with government, left, and opposition officials, at a Nairobi hotel, Kenya, Friday, Feb. 1, 2008. Ban Ki-Moon is in Nairobi to hold talks to help resolve the monthlong postelection crisis that has killed more than 800 people and forced 300,000 from their homes. He was later scheduled to meet Opposition leader Raila Odinga. EPA/BERNAT ARMANGUE POOL

...It is too early to know whether the new face-to-face meetings between Kibaki and Odinga will produce the kind of answers that Kenya desperately needs to defuse the crisis. If mediation talks do succeed in quelling the violence temporarily, and if both sides agree on a comprehensive overhaul of the political system and electoral process, the current crisis will, undoubtedly, offer the country an opportunity to prepare the ground for a more comprehensive social rehabilitation process.
On the other hand, failure will propel the country towards chaos and the risk of ethnic cleansing -- something the international community would want to avoid at all costs, given the recent memories of Rwanda and of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Besada is senior researcher, working on fragile states, at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Canada. Kariithi is chief financial officer of the Unified Financial Group and a Kenyan analyst.

...and where was he found? Where? Pakistan that is where ! And where is Osama bin Laden? Good Question STILL !!!!

Now that isn't difficult to follow...

Top al-Qaida Figure Killed in Pakistan (click here)
One of al-Qaida's Top Commanders Killed in Pakistan; Was Among US Most-Wanted

By ROBERT H. REID and PAMELA HESS Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Feb 1, 2008 (AP)
A missile from a U.S. Predator drone struck a suspected terrorist safehouse in Pakistan and killed a top al-Qaida commander believed responsible for attacks on U.S. forces and the brazen bombing during a visit last year by Vice President Dick Cheney to Afghanistan, a U.S. official said Thursday.
The strike that killed Abu Laith al-Libi was conducted Monday night or early Tuesday against a facility in Pakistan's north Waziristan region, the lawless tribal area bordering Afghanistan. His death was reported by postings on two Islamist Web sites and confirmed by a U.S. official on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the strike publicly....

...and where is Mullah Omar supposedly leading al Qaeda? Afghansitan. Now, why would Abu Yahya al Libi state Mullah Omar was leading them in Afghanistan IF he was anywhere but Aghanistan. So, the question remains. Where has Mullah Omar, the personal clerk to Osama bin Laden, been? If not in Afghanistan, my best guess is PAKISTAN. So where is Osama bin Laden? Afghanistan? No. But, comfortably situated where he can get services for his health and comfort in Pakistan. Not the moutains of Afganistan, but, the comforts of Pakistan.

In New Video, Al Libi Claims Mullah Omar Personally Leads Battles (click here)

November 02, 2006 4:55 PM
Hoda Osman Reports:

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is personally leading the battles in Afghanistan, according to suspected al Qaeda figure Abu Yahya al Libi, who appeared in a video released today. "I stress, I swear to God, he is leading the battles himself," claims al Libi.
In the 17-minute video, entitled "Combat Not Compromise," al Libi also calls on the "mujaheddin" in Iraq to unite, indicating that he's aware of internal conflicts there.
The video was produced by al Qaeda's "media production company," al Sahab, to commemorate suspected al Qaeda figure Omar al Faruq, who was killed by British forces in Iraq in September....

continued...

"Honey, I'm home." Nothing like going to work in the morning only to die due to street violence, never returning home.

Mr. Kibaki is 'stalling.' Just that simple. Rather than ending the differences between he and his people as represented by Mr. Odinga, he is allowing the violence to take it's toll on the opposition ethnicity as noted by the 'street killing' of Mr. Were. More than likely, Mr. Were was targeted by forces sympathetic and organized 'on the street' by Mr. Kibaki.

The World Court should immediately review the dynamics of the violence in Kenya and take steps to remove Mr. Kibaki to the detention of the World Court for allowing such violence to be organized and supported by his police forces.


On Tuesday, Mr. Kibaki, center, began formal negotiations with Mr. Odinga, right. Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, has been in Kenya for a week trying to bring the two sides together. So far, neither has budged.


Fresh violence began Tuesday after Melitus Mugabe Were, a freshman member of Parliament, was dragged out of his car and shot to death. Mr. Were was an opposition politician who grew up in a slum, became a businessman and then gave back. He sponsored teenage mothers to go to college, married a woman of another ethnic group and resisted his party's often belligerent talk. As Kenya slid into chaos this past month after a disputed election, he shuttled between leaders of different ethnic groups and tried to organize a peace march.


It's happening, isn't it?

A tire burned on top of a truck serving as a makeshift roadblock in Kisumu. The town is now almost completely ethnically cleansed of Kikuyus, and mobs armed with makeshift weapons erected burning roadblocks and searched for the few Kikuyu targets remaining.


Ethnic cleansing and in all places, Kenya.

There needs to be a review of the 'lead up' to the elections in Kenya to determine whom was involved in organizing the post elections violence that has lead to the annhilation so far of the Kikuyus in one town. This type of dynamic doesn't happen in complete chaos. There needs to be weapons and soldiers ready and willing. This was an initiative planned long before the elections took place and disaffected the elections with 'on the street' fear of the outcome.

The Kenya elections need to be re-engaged and a new election planned and carried out by a United Nations third party. The African Union needs to put pressure on the leadership in Kenya to end the violence and bring about new elections because of the post election violence. Anytime there is violence following elections there needs to be a reassessment of the pre-election campaigns and the intent of their messages leading to the post-election violence. Then without delay new elections planned.

No election followed by violence in any country to this scale should be met with acceptance of the newly elected leader and economic sanctions should be an immediate response. Post election violence has to end as a strategy to 'ruling' a country and ridding it of it's competition. Becoming a national leader does not bring the 'pleasure' of power to order the deaths of people that disapprove.


US Envoy Calls Kenya Violence 'Ethnic Cleansing,' Not Genocide (click here)
By VOA News 30 January 2008
A senior U.S. diplomat says "ethnic cleansing" is underway in Kenya's Rift Valley in the aftermath of last month's disputed presidential election, but she says the violence does not rise to the level of genocide.
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer told reporters Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that the aim of the violence in the Rift Valley is to push certain people out of the region.
Frazer said the United States is reviewing its aid to Kenya in light of the political turmoil there....

end

The vortexes are cranking away. They are pulling hot, moist air off the Equator and delivering it to the colder, higher latitudes for heat exchange

January 29, 2008
1730z
Hawaii Satellite

There is also an accumulating vortex building in the area of Hawaii.

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE (click here)
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
758 AM HST TUE JAN 29 2008

...HIGH SURF ADVISORY FOR EAST FACING SHORES OF ALL ISLANDS...

...HIGH SURF ADVISORY FOR NORTH FACING SHORES IS CANCELLED...

.OVERVIEW...FRESH TRADE WINDS BLOWING ACROSS THE CENTRAL PACIFIC WILLCONTINUE TO PRODUCE ROUGH AND LARGE SURF ABOVE ADVISORY LEVELS ALONGEAST FACING SHORES. THE NORTHWEST SWELL AFFECTING THE ISLANDS ISSMALLER THAN ANTICIPATED...AND SURF ALONG NORTH FACING SHORES WILLREMAIN BELOW ADVISORY LEVELS.

A HIGH SURF ADVISORY MEANS THAT WAVES ALONG THE AFFECTED SHORESWILL BE HIGHER THAN NORMAL. BEACH GOERS ARE URGED TO STAY OUT OFTHE WATER AND WELL AWAY FROM THE SHORE BREAK DUE TO HAZARDOUSWAVE ACTION AND THE POTENTIAL FOR STRONG RIP CURRENTS.

HIZ001-003-007-013-014-019-291900-/O.CAN.PHFO.SU.Y.0006.000000T0000Z-080130T0400Z/NIIHAU-KAUAI LEEWARD-OAHU NORTH SHORE-MOLOKAI LEEWARD-LANAI MAKAI-MAUI CENTRAL VALLEY-758 AM HST TUE JAN 29 2008

...HIGH SURF ADVISORY IS CANCELLED...

SURF ALONG NORTH FACING SHORES WILL BE BELOW 15 FEET.

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/data/HFO/CFWHFO

i
January 29, 2008
1630z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite (click title of entry for 12 hour loop)

The vortices are supplying the current weather systems that are causing chaos over much of the North American continent. As the hot tropical air meets the colder Arctic air there is percipitation in huge amounts. These abnormal weather patterns occur because of heat transfer. They are unpredictable and dangeous. They can cause floods or drought depending on the continued movement of heat and moisture from the Equator to the Arctic Circle.

Storm Hits Western States

Several cars and trucks block the south bound lanes of I-15 after they were involved in an multi car accident in Payson, Utah, Monday, Jan. 28, 2008. This was one of several accidents along I-15 in the Payson area that closed both north and south bound lanes for several hours. (George Frey / AP)

By Matthew Williams

16:51, January 29th 2008

(click here)

Western states are to face a hard winter as heavy snow has fallen from Washington to Arizona, triggering power cuts, chaos on the streets and the overwhelming at one ski resort. In northern Idaho roofs from several businesses fell under the pressure caused by the weight of snow. Due to avalanches, several people had to be evacuated. Nobody was injured.
Referring to the residents, John Livingston, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said: "They got clobbered," the Associated Press informs.
The bad weather is due to a storm system which arrived from California and met with another system from the Gulf of Alaska. It has stopped over eastern Washington and northern Idaho.
A new storm is expected on Tuesday, which could bring 1 to 3 inches of snow in the low areas and about 2 to 4 inches in the mountains. Heavy snow warnings are posted for Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
Because of the snow schools in Coeur d'Alene had to be closed on Monday. According to officials, this is the first time since 1996 the schools were closed.
Almost 2,800 people from Idaho suffered from power cuts due to storm, but the service came back late Monday.
Some 30 inches of snow has fallen in Colorado's San Juan Mountains and 13.7 inches in Spokane, Washington.
Because of avalanches in Idaho four houses were destroyed. Police in Ketchum evacuated 71 homes just as a precaution.
Many roads were closed all over Utah and Idaho, including Interstate 84 at the Idaho-Utah line.
Spokeswoman Laura Schaffer said that because Little Cottonwood Canyon was closed to traffic for avalanche, skiers remained stranded at Utah's Snowbird resort.
As snow started to melt warnings of flooding triggered an emergency declaration on the Navajo reservation.
Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. said: "Protecting life, limb and property is always our first priority. Real dangers exist in our remote areas miles from paved roads."

January 28, 2008
1630z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite

Noted vortices over the center of North American continent and off shore eastern seaboard as well. A mass of turbulence is building over the Pacific headed for the western seaboard.

Blizzards in China costing lives.

More than 3.4 million people in east China's Anhui Province have been affected by a heavy snow since Friday, officials said on Wednesday.
(Xinhua File Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>(click here)


Tens of thousands of passengers crowd Guangzhou Railway Station, in southern China's Guangdong province, January 28, 2008. Some 100,000 passengers have been stranded at the station as trains are delayed by snow in other parts of the country. Forecasters warned of more snowstorms in central and eastern China, telling local governments to brace for further pressure on already severely strained transport, power and communications. (AP Photo/EyePress)


Lesotho Red Cross responds to severe weather conditions (click here)
By Mark South
In the wake of a freak tornado, the Lesotho Red Cross are stocking up on tents in case of a repeat strike.The twister which struck the country in early January is just one example of the extreme weather Southern Africa has been experiencing over the past few weeks, in many cases the worst on record.
Torrential rains and related heavy flooding have been the major challenges with Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe all suffering inundations which have forced thousands from their homes.
Lesotho was different in that it was wind rather than rain which caused problems. "We are very lucky because we haven't had floods, so it makes it much easier to get out to the villages to help people," explained Teboho Kitlehi, director General of the Lesotho Red Cross.
"We did experience extremely heavy rain and hail storms, but it was the tornado and high winds which have done the majority of the damage."...

The Report that would end Arctic Drilling for Oil and Gas has been CENSORED by the Bush/Cheney White House.

Arctic environmental perils: In the colder environment, it could be harder to clean up tanker spills or leaks from faulty pipelines.

OIL AT THE NORTH POLE
Politicians Censor Report on Dangers of Arctic Drilling
By Christoph Seidler in Tromsø, Norway
There's black gold beneath the snow white Arctic -- and oil companies are gearing up to exploit it on a massive scale. Scientists had hoped to warn of the scope of the environmental dangers of Arctic drilling in a new report, but 60 passages have been removed following pressure from the United States and Sweden.
By all accounts, this ought to be a triumphant day for John Calder. The graying director of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Arctic Research division spent four years writing his report titled "Arctic Oil and Gas" -- together with 150 scientists with the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP). And now it's finally time for Calder to publicly present his first summary of the report. His presentation in the large auditorium at the University of Tromsø is the highlight of the Arctic Frontiers Conference, at which 500 experts will spend the remainder of the week discussing the outlook for oil and gas production in the ever-warming Arctic (more...).


ESA
Arctic environmental perils: In the colder environment, it could be harder to clean up tanker spills or leaks from faulty pipelines."All nations with territory bordering the polar region are working overtime to exploit their oil and natural gas reserves in the Arctic (more...)," says Calder, as small beads of sweat collect on his forehead. But it is high time, he adds, to systematically address the potential dangers and problems. "We have compiled a document summarizing the facts on oil and gas production in the Arctic."...

Morning Paper - continued...

New Zealand Herald

French paraglider pilot fined $1500 for Queenstown stunt
New 3:31PM Monday January 28, 2008
A French paraglider pilot has been fined $1500 for flying low past a train near Queenstown earlier this month.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) launched an investigation after media reports that two French tourists stunned passengers when they flew past the Kingston Flyer train in motorised paragliders on January 9.
CAA said today it had issued one of the pilots with two infringement notices totalling $1500.
The first notice and $500 fine relates to a breach of minimum height rules. The other relates to the requirement to hold a New Zealand pilot certificate and attracts a $1000 fine.
The second paraglider pilot involved in the incident was understood to have left New Zealand and efforts were being made to find him to discuss the matter.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10489207


Businessman faces court over death of tagger
11:25AM Monday January 28, 2008
By Beck Vass and Wayne Thompson
A 50-year-old businessman was remanded in custody when he appeared in a south Auckland court today charged with the murder of a teenage boy.
Bruce William Emery was remanded in custody by consent to reappear in Manukau District Court on Thursday. He was not required to enter any plea.
Emery was charged over the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Pihema Clifford Cameron in Southview Place, Manurewa, on Saturday night.
His address was given as Mahia Road, off which Southview Place runs.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10489186


Cororner revisits 1961 missing girl case
11:48AM Monday January 28, 2008
Wellington coroner Garry Evans plans to revisit the mystery disappearance of an attractive teenager nearly half a century ago.
Mr Evans' office confirmed today an inquest into the baffling case of 16-year-old Wendy Mayes would be held in the next few months but no date has been set.
Wendy Mayes answered an advertisement in a Wellington newspaper on September 15, 1961 for a photographer's model and an interview was arranged for three days later on September 18.
At 7.30am that morning Ms Mayes left her home for work in the city - the last time her parents saw her alive.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10489200


Kiwis tuck into record pork consumption
1:13PM Monday January 28, 2008
New Zealanders tucked into a record 21.4kg of pork per capita last year but producers are struggling with rising costs.
The Pork Industry Board';s annual report states there has been an increase of 0.8 kilograms in pork consumption in the year to September 2007.
Board chairman, Chris Trengrove says New Zealanders' appetite for pork, bacon and ham continues to grow, which is good news.
However he says pork producers have been unable to benefit from the increasing demand because they are being squeezed between increasing costs and decreasing returns.
Mr Trengrove says the most pressing issue is the rising cost of feed, which is being driven by a global demand for grain as biofuel production steps up.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10489204


'Sexual' Charlie's Soda ad is branded indecent
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
A complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about a "crude" and "sexual" advertisement for Charlie's Soda has been upheld.
The complaints board ruled the TV advert was indecent, used sexual appeal to sell an unrelated product and did not meet the required sense of social responsibility.
The complainant objected to the cartoon-style depiction of two young boys spying on a woman sunbathing nude in her backyard before cutting to the boys squeezing lemons to make homemade lemonade.
"It was not cute, funny or entertaining," he said. "Making a point of focusing on the woman's barely hidden breast, then the boys simultaneously squeezing/rotating lemons ... is a very crude sexual innuendo."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10489116


Obama, Clinton face challenges heading to 'Super Tuesday'
12:29PM Monday January 28, 2008
COLUMBIA - Next week's sprawling "Super Tuesday" is the biggest single day of voting in a presidential nominating campaign - and Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton approach it with unique and separate challenges.
Two dozen states vote on February 5, including big prizes like California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey, as the campaign goes coast-to-coast after Obama's crushing win on Saturday over Clinton in South Carolina.
The two are neck-and-neck after splitting the first four contests, with Obama winning Iowa and South Carolina and Clinton winning New Hampshire and Nevada.
The goal for all candidates in the early state battles had been to build enough momentum to roll into February 5 on a wave of energy that would carry them to a decisive and clinching win.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489202


Whale-watching vessel will take hydrogen power to sea
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
A view of the Elding boat in Reykjavik.
At first glance, the red ship hardly looks like a herald of the future. Even its owner admits the hull needs a coat of paint and the interior some spit and polish.
But in a few weeks, the Elding - Icelandic for Lightning - will be transformed into the world's first hydrogen-equipped commercial vessel, the latest sign that Iceland is pushing hard to become the first nation to break free from the constraints of fossil fuel.
Come April, visitors to Reykjavik, Europe's northernmost capital, will get a taste of that future by taking whale-watching tours on the ship, or renting one of the world's first hydrogen-powered hire cars.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489107


Comic take on whaling
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008By Lincoln Tan
He used to eat whales. But now Hiroshi Nakatsuji feels so strongly about the killing of the giant sea mammals he is staging a protest against it.
The stand-up comedian will do what he does best, use a comedy stage show as a platform to drive home his anti-whaling message.
He is also gathering signatures for an anti-whaling petition addressed to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda which he will hand to the Japanese Consul-General next week.
In an interview with the BBC the Japanese PM was quoted as saying: "We should try to continue with our efforts to try to explain that we are engaged in this research whaling activity from a scientific viewpoint."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489124


Charles becomes longest serving king in waiting
11:32AM Monday January 28, 2008
A milestone today for Prince Charles, as he become Britain's longest serving king in waiting at the age of 59 years and 74 days.
That surpasses the age of his great great grandfather Edward VII when he succeeded Queen Victoria to the throne in 1901.Last month the Queen became Britain's oldest monarch, at the age of 81.
Newstalk ZB


Strongman Suharto dies, leaving controversial legacy
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
Former Indonesian President Suharto (C) in 1996. Photo / Reuters
Former President Suharto, hailed as the father of development by some Indonesians during his 32 years in power - and accused of corruption and rights abuses by others - died yesterday after a long illness.
He was 86. He died in hospital after lapsing into a coma and suffering multiple organ failure.
The former strongman steered Indonesia through three decades of rapid economic growth and stability, only to see much of his work unravel in months as the country was plunged into chaos.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489155


Palestinians mourn founder of PFLP
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
RAMALLAH - George Habash, the founder of a radical movement that staged hijackings and kidnappings to highlight the Palestinian struggle, died in Jordan on Saturday, Palestinian officials said. He was 80.
Habash founded the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1968.
A refugee from fighting which broke out over the creation of Israel in 1948 in British-ruled Palestine, he lived in exile and died of a heart condition in a hospital in Amman, the officials said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' office declared a three-day mourning period.
The PFLP favours armed struggle to establish a Palestinian state and was sidelined in 1993 when Yasser Arafat, then leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, signed interim peace deals with Israel.
- REUTERS

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489142


Woods clinches 62nd PGA Tour title by eight shots
2:03PM Monday January 28, 2008
SAN DIEGO - Tiger Woods shrugged off three consecutive bogeys on the back nine on his way to an eight-shot victory at the Buick Invitational on Sunday for his 62nd PGA Tour golf title.
Eight ahead of the chasing pack overnight, the American world number one fired a one-under-par 71 in increasingly blustery conditions on the South Course at Torrey Pines.
Woods, hunting his fourth successive victory at the coastal venue and sixth overall, piled up five birdies and four bogeys for a 19-under total of 269.
Japan's Ryuji Imada closed with a 67 to finish a distant second at 11 under, two ahead of South Africa's Rory Sabbatini (67) and American Stewart Cink (73).

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10489205


$8b on domestic travel
7:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
New Zealanders spent $8 billion on domestic travel in the year to September 30, $1 billion more than the year before, according to a Tourism Ministry survey.
Tourism Minister Damien O'Connor, who released the figures, said it was good news for local businesses. He said domestic tourism was the backbone of the tourism industry, which now contributed 9 per cent of New Zealand's gross domestic product.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10489174


Irrigation pumps make men too tired for sex
7:15AM Saturday January 26, 2008
Malawi will investigate fears that labour-intensive manual irrigation pumps distributed to poor farmers are hurting their sexual performance.
The farmers say using the pump makes them too tired for sex and have voiced their anger to the Government.
"The Government is aware of the problem, the parliamentary committee on irrigation is also concerned about it and we intend to start probing and finding out if the pumps are really to blame for the problem," said an official.
The high-capacity treadle pump, touted as a leading reason for improved food security in the southern African country, is designed to lift water from shallow wells.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10488867


Gwynne Dyer: Might loses fight in new-look Thailand
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008By Gwynne Dyer
The Thai Army hasn't the faintest idea what to do next. Sixteen months ago, after weeks of anti-Government demonstrations by opposition party supporters in Bangkok, the military overthrew the elected Government of billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, accusing him and his wife of corruption.
They put in a former general as interim Prime Minister, promised a swift return to democracy, and set about rewriting the constitution to give themselves a bigger permanent role in politics. They also raised the military budget sharply, presumably as a reward to themselves for saving the country from Thaksin.
For a while, things went well. The coup was popular at first, at least in Bangkok. In May the military regime got the courts to order the dissolution of Thaksin's party, Thai Rak Thai, and to ban 110 of its senior officials from taking part in politics for five years.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489114


Afghans want general not Ashdown
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
LONDON - Afghanistan wants a British Nato commander to become its UN envoy rather than politician Paddy Ashdown, said the country's Ambassador to the United Nations.
A Western source close to talks over the post said this month that Britain's Ashdown, the former UN High Representative and EU special envoy for Bosnia, had agreed with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to take the job.
However, Afghan President Hamid Karzai had been seeking clarity about Ashdown's role, newspapers reported.
UN Ambassador Zahir Tanin told the BBC World Service that Afghanistan had now proposed Britain's General John McColl as its preferred candidate.
"Our current proposal is that we would like to see General McColl as the new special representative for Afghanistan. That is what President Karzai has made clear to the Secretary-General."
- REUTERS

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489141


Sicilian governor quits after Mafia conviction
8:48AM Sunday January 27, 2008
SICILY - Sicily's governor has resigned after being convicted of helping people linked to the Mafia.
Salvatore Cuffaro denied all charges and said he did not know at the time that the people he was helping were involved with the Mafia. He plans to appeal.
After his conviction by an Italian court last week, Cuffaro said he would not quit.
His resignation on Saturday followed reports that the national government was planning a move to oust him.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489073


Falling spy satellite may hit Earth
9:52AM Sunday January 27, 2008
An American spy satellite has lost power and may hit Earth in late February or March, according to government sources.
Officials told Associated Press that the satellite can no longer be controlled and may contain hazardous materials.
The quoted source remained anonymous as the information is classified as secret.
- NZ HERALD STAFF

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489078


Key Mexican drug hitman arrested near US border
2:39PM Sunday January 27, 2008
TIJUANA - A key hitman for Mexico's Arellano Felix drug cartel was arrested on Saturday in this crime-ridden border city, in another coup for President Felipe Calderon's clampdown on traffickers.
After an anonymous tip-off, soldiers stormed a house and arrested Alfredo Araujo Avila, also known as Popeye, Tijuana's military chief Gen. German Redondo told reporters.
"He is considered one of the most dangerous hitmen of the Arellano Felix cartel," Gen. Redondo said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489098


Can't shake that passion for plastic
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
American shoppers use around 100 billion plastic shopping bags a year. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey
Australia and China are phasing them out, Germany and Ireland tax them, but in the United States, the plastic shopping bag is still king.
Outside supermarkets across the country, Americans push shopping carts laden with a dozen or more plastic bags full of groceries to their cars. Even the smallest purchase, such as a magazine at a news-stand, seems to come in a plastic bag.
Americans use 100 billion plastic shopping bags a year, according to Washington-based think tank Worldwatch Institute, or more than 330 a year for every person in the country. Most are thrown away.
A handful of US cities and states have made moves to cut that number and Whole Foods Market, a supermarket pitched at the organic and natural food shopper, said last week that it would phase out plastic bags out by Earth Day on April 22. But critics say the United States is years behind countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.

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Amazon rain forest destruction quickens
5:00AM Monday January 21, 2008
Deforestation of the Amazon has accelerated, in recent months and is likely to increase this year for the first time in four years, says a senior Brazilian government scientist.
The rise raises questions over Brazil's assertion that its environmental policies are effectively protecting the world's biggest rain forest, the destruction of which is a major source of carbon emissions that cause global warming.
"I think the last four months is a big concern for the government and now they are sending people to do more law enforcement," Carlos Nobre, a scientist with Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, told a seminar in Washington. "But I can tell you that it [deforestation] is going to be much higher than 2007."
Nobre, whose government agency monitors the Amazon, said that 6000sq km of forest had been lost in the past four months.
That compares with about 9600sq km in the year to July, which Brazil officials hailed as the lowest deforestation rate since the 1970s.

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US blocks Arctic report as oil and gas get go-ahead
5:00AM Thursday January 24, 2008
By Daniel Howden
The United States has blocked the release of a landmark assessment of oil and gas activity in the Arctic as it prepares to sell off exploration licences for the frozen Chukchi Sea off Alaska, one of the last remaining intact habitats of the polar bear.
Scientists at the release of the censored report in Norway said there was "huge frustration" that the US had derailed a science-based effort to manage the race for the vast energy reserves of the Arctic.
The assessment was meant to bring together work by scientists in all eight Arctic nations to give an up-to-date picture of oil and gas exploitation in the region. It was also supposed to give recommendations on how to extract safely what are thought to be up to one quarter of the world's energy reserves.
Speaking from Tromso, Norway, one of the report's lead authors, who asked not to be named, said: "They [the US] have blocked it. We have no executive summary and no plain language conclusions."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=37&objectid=10488409


Aussie floods upset coal market
5:00AM Saturday January 26, 2008
BHP Billiton and other coal miners in Australia's Queensland state may lose at least 10 million tonnes of coking coal due to flooding, driving up prices, Merrill Lynch & Co said.
The price for annual contracts for coal used in steelmaking may surge to at least US$210 ($272) a tonne in the Japanese fiscal year starting April 1, up from US$98 this year, due to the loss of supplies, Merrill said in a report on Thursday.
Discussions on the annual contract price would be "prolonged", it said.
BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance, the world's biggest exporter of the type of coal used in steelmaking, said deliveries would be delayed due to "extreme" wet weather in northeastern Australia.

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Fight against global warming goes into the deep
5:00AM Friday January 11, 2008
Scientists will send an unmanned submersible to track climate change by studying coral at unprecedented depths.
In the United States-Australian project, the submersible will dive to 2.5km in seas south of Tasmania to locate and film live and fossilised deep-sea coral, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation said.
Growth rings on coral reflect changes over centuries and millennia in ocean chemistry and environment, Australia's science agency said.
"Deep ocean corals are a litmus test of the deep ocean when it comes to identifying how temperature and salinity have changed over decades and centuries," said Ron Thresher, chief scientist on the voyage.
The Autonomous Benthic Explorer, on loan from the US, will be launched during the 23-day voyage which leaves Hobart today.

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Greenpeace quits whale fleet effort
9:04AM Sunday January 27, 2008
Greenpeace has been forced to abandon its efforts against the Japanese whaling fleet.
The protest ship Esperanza has managed to disrupt the whalers in the Southern Ocean for two weeks, but is running low on fuel and has to return to port.
Expedition leader Karli Thomas says the ship sent a last radio message to the whalers on board the factory ship the Nisshin Maru.
She says Greenpeace Japan campaigner Sakyo Noda told the fleet that the activists believe the whalers are under orders from Tokyo not to allow anyone to witness their "fake science programme."

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'Weirdos' are close to dying
5:00AM Wednesday January 23, 2008
What do a blind salamander that can go without food for a decade, a frog so small that it fits on a drawing pin and another that lives only in human burial grounds have in common?
The answer is that, as well as being among the weirdest amphibians on the planet, they are some of the most endangered, yet they have been ignored by conservationists and the public. London Zoo's new list of 10 of the world's most unique and threatened amphibians is part of a project to pinpoint the most unusual species of imperilled animals and plants.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10488166

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