Saturday, February 02, 2008
In the year 2013, Michael Moore will release the film entitled, Fahrenheit 911 Revisited - The Aftermath of an Illegal American War
Hussein told Rather that Iraq was permitted to have missiles of a limited range under existing United Nations resolutions. As for weapons of mass destruction, Hussein offered a clear response:
RATHER: Saddam also rejected Bush administration allegations that besides the missile delivery system, he still has weapons of mass destruction.
HUSSEIN: I think America and the world also knows that Iraq no longer has the weapons. And I believe the mobilization that's been done was, in fact, done partly to cover the huge lie that was being waged against Iraq about chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. That is why, when you talk about such missiles, these missiles have been destroyed. There are no missiles that are contrary to the prescription of the United Nations in Iraq. They are no longer there.
Hussein explained that Iraq "was empty, was void of any such weapons," but that his government accepted U.N. resolutions "in order to make the case absolutely clear that Iraq was no longer in possession of any such...weapons." U.S. reporters treated such statements as patently false.
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3255
1,000,000
January 30th, 2008 7:32 pmMore than one million Iraqis dead since 2003 invasion: study
LONDON (AFP) - More than one million Iraqis have died because of the war in Iraq since the US-led invasion of the country in 2003, according to a study published Wednesday.
A fifth of Iraqi households lost at least one family member between March 2003 and August 2007 due to the conflict, said data compiled by London-based Opinion Research Business (ORB) and its research partner in Iraq, the Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Society Studies (IIACSS).
The study based its findings on survey work involving the face-to-face questioning of 2,414 Iraqi adults aged 18 or above, and the last complete census in Iraq in 1997, which indicated a total of 4.05 million households.
Respondents were asked how many members of their household, if any, had died as a result of the violence in the country since 2003, and not because of natural causes.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10846
40% of Baghdad households have lost a family member
Find Out How Some of Them Died:
'Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan'
Thursday March 13 to Sunday March 16
Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan
Iraq Veterans Against the War:WINTER SOLDIER FACT SHEET
WHAT: Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan will feature testimony from U.S. veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, who will tell the hard truth about what is really happening, day in and day out, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The four-day event will bring together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan - and present video and photographic evidence. In addition, there will be panels of scholars, veterans, journalists, and other specialists to give context to the testimony. These panels will cover everything from the history of the GI resistance movement to the fight for veterans' health benefits and support.
WHEN: Thursday March 13 to Sunday March 16
WHERE: National Labor College, 10000 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MD (just outside of Washington, DC)
WHY: In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=963
Thursday March 13th to Sunday March 16th
January 31st, 2008 1:25 pm
Soldier Suicides at Record Level
Increase Linked to Long Wars, Lack of Army Resources
By Dana Priest / Washington Post
Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, a psychiatric outpatient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center who was waiting for the Army to decide whether to court-martial her for endangering another soldier and turning a gun on herself last year in Iraq, attempted to kill herself Monday evening. In so doing, the 25-year-old Army reservist joined a record number of soldiers who have committed or tried to commit suicide after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"I'm very disappointed with the Army," Whiteside wrote in a note before swallowing dozens of antidepressants and other pills. "Hopefully this will help other soldiers." She was taken to the emergency room early Tuesday. Whiteside, who is now in stable physical condition, learned yesterday that the charges against her had been dismissed.
Whiteside's personal tragedy is part of an alarming phenomenon in the Army's ranks: Suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007 reached their highest level since the Army began keeping such records in 1980, according to a draft internal study obtained by The Washington Post. Last year, 121 soldiers took their own lives, nearly 20 percent more than in 2006.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10847
January 31st, 2008 1:29 pm
Fort Carson soldier dies from brain injury
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A Fort Carson (Colorado)-based soldier who suffered a brain injury in Baghdad last summer has died at a Maryland hospital.
The Defense Department says 22-year-old Sergeant Mikeal Wayne Miller died Sunday at the National Naval Medical Center.
Pentagon officials say Miller was hurt when the vehicle he was in was hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on July 9th.
Miller was a native of Albany, Oregon. He was a member of the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10848
January 30th, 2008 5:56 pm
Neenah soldier's death still remains a mystery to family
By Kate McGinty / Post-Crescent
NEENAH, WI — The U.S. Army remains tight-lipped about the November death of a Neenah soldier who was due to be discharged this month.
Sgt. James McDonald, 26, was found dead the morning of Nov. 12 in his barracks at Fort Hood, Texas.
Army officials still are silent about how McDonald, an armor crew member, died.
"That death investigation is still open. To protect the integrity of our investigation, I will not be releasing any details at this time," said Chris Grey, a spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command.
Grey, who said the Criminal Investigation Command investigates all soldiers' deaths regardless of circumstance, declined to say whether he has McDonald's autopsy and toxicology reports.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10843
January 30th, 2008 5:19 pm
Lawmakers: Authority to use Guard troops in Iraq has expired
By Lisa Rathke / Associated Press
MONTPELIER, Vt. - Fed up that Washington hasn't done more to end the war, a group of Vermont lawmakers said Tuesday that the president no longer has the authority to use Guard troops in Iraq.
State Rep. Michael Fisher, D-Lincoln, said the authority to call up Guard members for Iraq duty has expired because that country no longer poses a threat to U.S. national security.
"The mission authorized in 2002 does not exist," said Fisher, who plans to introduce a bill backed by 30 colleagues Wednesday that calls on Gov. Jim Douglas to join the effort. "Unless Congress grants a new authorization, the Vermont Guard should revert back to state control."
Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin said the Senate would take up similar legislation.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10842
The Iraqi People are taking back their country. The USA is in the way.
Refugee Camp near Baghdad (click here)
This is an image of Baghdad from 2004. IF those boys are still alive they are close to four years older and very well rehersed to their purpose. The young people of Baghdad do no attend school regularly and the economy to support schools and infrastrcutrure cannot exist.
The USA has occupied Iraq for nearly five years. It's time to leave the people of that nation to decide their fate. The 'interactive' at the title to this entry makes it clear, the people of Iraq have been continually seeking their own existance as they define it and not Saddam or George Bush, Richard Cheney and Halliburton.
Prosecute the Former Secretary to the Commerce (Economy), Don Evans. No one else. An oppressed nation has no will of it's own.
...The greater reliance of lower-income households on government-backed loans reflects several factors. Dollar limits on the amount of FHA loan insurance or VA loan guarantees make these government-backed loans unavailable or less attractive to households seeking to buy more expensive properties. Also, the low downpayment requirements and ability to finance closing costs make FHA and VA loans particularly attractive to lower-income households and first-time homebuyers, who are likely to have fewer financial resources than other homebuyers do....
American Troops don't want to fight this war. The American people don't....
...in a world of billions of people, the ONLY ones interested in fighting an unconsionable war are a handful of Neocons that found their way into the Executive Branch of the USA power structure and have fed their consitutency of promises through judicial assignments that undermine the USA Constitution, while Bush and Cheney seek through that access to promote more and more corrupt power. Sounds like Musharraf's mentor to me !
What came first, the coup in Pakistan or the planned assault on the Executive Branch of the USA Constitution? Oh. A Democrat I guess this is 'off message' - we should be focusing solely on 'the message of the candidates' and their 'control of the electorate.' "W"rong. As a country we should be focusing on impeachment based up on Human Rights abuses and the conscious abuse of government power which has resulted in complete degradation of the USA economy, both domestically and abroad.
What came first, the coup in Pakistan or the planned assault on the Executive Branch of the USA Constitution? Oh. A Democrat I guess this is 'off message' - we should be focusing solely on 'the message of the candidates' and their 'control of the electorate.' "W"rong. As a country we should be focusing on impeachment based up on Human Rights abuses and the conscious abuse of government power which has resulted in complete degradation of the USA economy, both domestically and abroad.
While the Bush/Cheney White House seeks to 'blame' bad business AGAIN. The fault for this free for all economy of the USA is directly the responsibility of the 'deregulators' in the Republican Party that promoted corruption through spending programs designed to that end and the 'idea' that a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card awaited anyone darning enough to break the back of the American economy. Bush/Cheney floated their economy based on 'the hope' corruption would succeed 'enough' that no one would notice or CARE TO MAKE NOTE OF IT and the world would cooperate in being every American's oyster of personal profitability and early retirement.
Bush didn't see the need for the working class but simply the military class to export fiscal stability for any accessable global resource, allowing the 'wealthy class' it's 'maintenance allowances.'
....As I went through the process which led to my decision to refuse deployment to Iraq for the second time, I was torn between thoughts of abandoning the soldiers that I serve with, or following my conscience, which tells me: war is the ultimate in destruction and waste of humanity....
The Joint Chiefs of Staff need to stop the global escalation of USA terror. It's going to cause a world war.
The 'Axis of Evil' speech was the imputus to WW III. It was a speech intended to threaten and escalate. It was a speech designed to terrorize the global community and start 'grass roots' uprisings. Up to now, the global community has done magnificent work to oppress and contain that threat. But, if there is another Neocon in the White House after November 2008, all plans are off as McCain/Romney will ramp up the escalation to satiate their electorate and Iran will be the target. Not Pakistan as it should be, but, Iran and the propaganda to promote it.
By the way, what happened to the internet cables off Egypt to India? Iranian Stelth Sub? No? Sounds like a good reason to be more concerned with hate toward the only Shia nation on Earth though, doesn't it?
I believe World War III is about 15 months away if it's not consciously averted NOW ! The reason we are not at war on a global scale is because Russia isn't interested for several reasons.
While Russia is enjoying some of the best times that country has ever experienced, it's lazily put nulcear subs at sea, armed itself with advanced high speed bombers, but, left it's military in conscription and attempting to limit it's commitments to one year to enhance the 'optimism' of it's young people that seek peace above all else.
If necessary Russia and China will engage in a global war to defend themselves if the USA doesn't stop it's occupation in Iraq.
By Peter Spiegel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 2, 2008 (click title to entry. thank you)
WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday that no decision had been made to stop the withdrawal of troops in Iraq this summer, a subtle rebuke of the top U.S. commander there, who suggested that reductions would pause after the current round of cuts was completed in July....
By the way, what happened to the internet cables off Egypt to India? Iranian Stelth Sub? No? Sounds like a good reason to be more concerned with hate toward the only Shia nation on Earth though, doesn't it?
I believe World War III is about 15 months away if it's not consciously averted NOW ! The reason we are not at war on a global scale is because Russia isn't interested for several reasons.
While Russia is enjoying some of the best times that country has ever experienced, it's lazily put nulcear subs at sea, armed itself with advanced high speed bombers, but, left it's military in conscription and attempting to limit it's commitments to one year to enhance the 'optimism' of it's young people that seek peace above all else.
If necessary Russia and China will engage in a global war to defend themselves if the USA doesn't stop it's occupation in Iraq.
By Peter Spiegel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 2, 2008 (click title to entry. thank you)
WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday that no decision had been made to stop the withdrawal of troops in Iraq this summer, a subtle rebuke of the top U.S. commander there, who suggested that reductions would pause after the current round of cuts was completed in July....
National Security by Abstinence
National security, a blanket phrase that conceals the deception
Billions extorted from the fearful masses
By creating a new adversary
The government tries to enforce civility
While a covert operation takes place
Destroying more countries in the name of capitalistic democracy
While we deplete the world's resources
Conservative or liberal is all irrelevant
To a starving child in a wealthy society such as ours
Timeless greed with little concern for the consequences
In 200 years homosapiens have morphed this planet
Into a world extremely difficult to survive within
There is no way I could locate much of an internet site for Abstinence. When one tries it comes up with all this 'mess' about promoting 'abstinence.' What are ya goin' to do?
Billions extorted from the fearful masses
By creating a new adversary
The government tries to enforce civility
While a covert operation takes place
Destroying more countries in the name of capitalistic democracy
While we deplete the world's resources
Conservative or liberal is all irrelevant
To a starving child in a wealthy society such as ours
Timeless greed with little concern for the consequences
In 200 years homosapiens have morphed this planet
Into a world extremely difficult to survive within
There is no way I could locate much of an internet site for Abstinence. When one tries it comes up with all this 'mess' about promoting 'abstinence.' What are ya goin' to do?
Friday, February 01, 2008
Morning Papers - It's Origins
The Rooster
"Okeydoke"
Tomorrow "We don't Belong in Iraq" - Appreciate your patience. I've been involved recently in some activism to save the planet one forest at a time. It's rewarding but I miss addressing the issues of the day here as well.
...tomorrow then...
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...
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....
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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....
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.
November 02, 2006 4:55 PM
Hoda Osman Reports:
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....
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...
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
"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 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
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
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
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."
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."
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