Morning Papers - continued

Michael Moore Today

http://www.michaelmoore.com/


Thursday, May 15th, 2008
My Life after 'Fahrenheit 9/11' ...by Corporal Abdul Henderson
Four years ago, I was involved in the most prolific documentary film in the history of the world, and looking back, I can still say that I am quite humbled by that experience. My participation in "Fahrenheit 9/11" would catapult me into a limelight that I was not looking for nor ever expected, but I took it all in stride.
I was a Marine, and as crazy as it seemed at the time, I was opposed to my country’s involvement in what I believed was an illegal invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq. The political climate indicated that the majority of Americans were in favor of the war, and then along comes little ole me with a small band of brothers and sisters and something contrary to popular belief.
Upon returning from Iraq, I felt that I had participated in an injustice, and with the help of Michael Moore, I did everything I could to try to make that wrong, right. Unfortunately, the 2004 presidential election would go to the incumbent, giving the War President another four years in office.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=1009



May 19th, 2008 1:08 pm
US soldier removed from Iraq for shooting at Quran
By Kim Gamel / Associated Press
BAGHDAD - An American sniper was removed from Iraq after he used a copy of the Quran for target practice, the military said Sunday, a day after a U.S. commander held a formal ceremony apologizing to Sunni tribal leaders.
The elaborate ceremony — in which one U.S. officer kissed a new copy of Islam's holy book before giving it to the tribal leaders — reflected the military's eagerness to stave off anger among Sunni Arabs it has been cultivating as allies.
The tribesmen have become key in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq militants, who depict the American forces as anti-Islamic occupiers. One anti-U.S. Iraqi Sunni group condemned the Quran shooting, calling it "a hideous act." Similar perceived insults to Islam have triggered protests throughout the Muslim world.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11512



"It is unfortunate that Mr. Rove has failed to cooperate with our requests." – Rep. John Conyers, Jr.


May 22nd, 2008 5:22 pm
House panel subpoenas Rove
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday served a subpoena on former top Bush aide Karl Rove to compel his testimony concerning allegations that the Department of Justice had dismissed U.S. attorneys based on party affiliation.
The committee ordered Rove to appear July 10 to testify on allegations he was a key player in pressing the Justice Department to dismiss some U.S. attorneys and to prosecute Democrats.
It had authorized the subpoena earlier, but only delivered it Thursday after Rove's attorney said he would not appear voluntarily, Chairman John Conyers, D-Michigan, said in a written statement.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11538



May 22nd, 2008 5:46 pm
Petraeus: Diplomacy, Not Force, With Iran
By Karen DeYoung / Washington Post
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, President Bush's nominee to lead U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, supports continued U.S. engagement with international and regional partners to find the right mix of diplomatic, economic and military leverage to address the challenges posed by Iran.
In written answers to questions posed by the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he will testify today, Petraeus said the possibility of military action against Iran should be retained as a "last resort." But he said the United States "should make every effort to engage by use of the whole of government, developing further leverage rather than simply targeting discrete threats."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11539



May 21st, 2008 8:50 pm
Guantanamo detainee attempted suicide : laywer
WASHINGTON (AFP) — A Saudi held in Guantanamo Bay military jail and often described as the 20th hijacker in the September 11 attacks attempted to commit suicide in April, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Mohammed al-Qahtani, who was facing the death penalty, "felt the Saudi government has thoroughly abandoned him and as if he is surrounded by people -- the US military -- who want to kill him," Gitanjali Gutierrez said.
In Feburary, the Pentagon announced that it planned to call for the death penalty against six detainees held at the US military prison in southern Cuba who were implicated in the 2001 attacks in which almost 3,000 people died.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11535



May 21st, 2008 8:33 pm
Valley Soldier Murdered
By Itica Milanes / KFSN
Squaw Valley, CA -- A valley soldier is dead but he wasn't killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.
A representative from the Fort Benning Army base in Columbus, Georgia says a fellow soldier is accused of fatally stabbing 23- year old Ricky Bulmer. The killing happened in the base barracks.
Relatives say Bulmer wanted nothing more in life than to join the army. He left his hometown of Squaw Valley May 5th for Ft. Benning, Georgia.
Bulmer had been in basic training for about two weeks when his sister says, Sunday night he walked in on a soldier doing something wrong in the barracks. Ashley Salazar, sister, says "My brother had confronted him for trying to break into other soldiers' lockers and as soon as he confronted him the other soldier immediately attacked him."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11534



May 22nd, 2008 5:53 pm
U.S. Airstrike Kills 8 Civilians in Iraq
By Stephen Farrell / New York Times
BAGHDAD — An American helicopter strike killed eight civilians, including two children, during an assault near the northern Iraqi town of Baiji, the Iraqi police said Thursday.
The American military confirmed that two children were among the people killed Wednesday night during an operation against “known terrorists” working with the Sunni insurgent group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.
But while the military expressed regret and confirmed that an investigation was under way, it said the children were “unfortunately” killed while traveling in a vehicle whose other occupants “exhibited hostile intent.” It did not identify the other people killed.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11540



May 21st, 2008 8:12 pm
Congress Grills Oil Execs on Record Pump Prices
By Chris Baltimore / Reuters
WASHINGTON - Democrats in the Senate on Wednesday attempted to link record gasoline prices to cozy ties between President George. W. Bush - a former Texas oil man - and five big energy companies who logged $36 billion in profits in the first quarter of 2008.
For the second time this year, executives from Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp and three other big energy companies were called to testify before Congress to explain their record profits as gasoline prices hit a new record average $3.79 a gallon.
"The President once boasted that with his pals in the oil industry, he would be able to keep prices low," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. "Instead, it is his pals in the oil industry who have benefited."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11533


May 21st, 2008 5:04 pm
Veterans peace group blocked from parade
By Stephen Manning / Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A veterans group that opposes the war in Iraq has been blocked from marching in a Memorial Day parade in Washington after being told its plans, which once included a casket representing war dead, would be too political for the event.
Veterans for Peace was initially granted a spot in the May 26 parade that is scheduled to travel down Constitution Avenue, past landmarks that include the Washington Monument and the White House.
But the American Veterans Center, a nonprofit that organizes the parade, has pulled that approval, saying it does not allow the expression of political viewpoints.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11530



Send Comments in regard to this level of disrespect to the American Veterans Center...

http://www.americanveteranscenter.org/AVC_contactus.html


Attention: JIM

jroberts@americanveteranscenter.org



May 21st, 2008 8:33 pm
Valley Soldier Murdered
By Itica Milanes / KFSN
Squaw Valley, CA -- A valley soldier is dead but he wasn't killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.
A representative from the Fort Benning Army base in Columbus, Georgia says a fellow soldier is accused of fatally stabbing 23- year old Ricky Bulmer. The killing happened in the base barracks.
Relatives say Bulmer wanted nothing more in life than to join the army. He left his hometown of Squaw Valley May 5th for Ft. Benning, Georgia.
Bulmer had been in basic training for about two weeks when his sister says, Sunday night he walked in on a soldier doing something wrong in the barracks. Ashley Salazar, sister, says "My brother had confronted him for trying to break into other soldiers' lockers and as soon as he confronted him the other soldier immediately attacked him."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11534



May 20th, 2008 5:37 pm
Aguirre finds fault in permits for facility
Sanders halts work at Blackwater site
By Tanya Mannes / San Diego Union-Tribune
OTAY MESA – Mayor Jerry Sanders yesterday ordered work to stop on Blackwater Worldwide's proposed military training facility in Otay Mesa.
The mayor was prompted by a legal opinion issued earlier in the afternoon by San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre. The opinion found problems with Blackwater's permits.
A Blackwater vice president responded last night by accusing Sanders and Aguirre, who are running for re-election June 3, of political posturing in an election year.
Blackwater, based in North Carolina, has drawn protests and scrutiny for its work in providing security for officials in Iraq. In March 2004, Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah killed four Blackwater employees, and in September 2007, Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11526



Monday, April 21st, 2008
My Vote's for Obama (if I could vote) ...by Michael Moore
Friends,
I don't get to vote for President this primary season. I live in Michigan. The party leaders (both here and in D.C.) couldn't get their act together, and thus our votes will not be counted.
So, if you live in Pennsylvania, can you do me a favor? Will you please cast my vote -- and yours -- on Tuesday for Senator Barack Obama?
I haven't spoken publicly 'til now as to who I would vote for, primarily for two reasons: 1) Who cares?; and 2) I (and most people I know) don't give a rat's ass whose name is on the ballot in November, as long as there's a picture of JFK and FDR riding a donkey at the top of the ballot, and the word "Democratic" next to the candidate's name.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=225



National Day of Protest Against Health Insurance Corporations: June 19th!

http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/node



Those opposed to war in Iraq invited to join vigil
Ever since Feb. 15, 2003, local residents have stood on the Messalonskee Bridge on Kennedy Memorial Drive every Sunday as a way to publicly support a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Iraq.
The March 16 vigil was planned by Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice and Colby College League of Progressive Voters. It marked the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion and occupation.
It was also an opportunity to show support for the soldiers testifying at the "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan" hearings (www.ivaw.org) at which they shared their experiences in the field and after their return.
We also chose to walk toward the military recruiting center to draw attention to the need for young people to get all the facts before signing up (www.afsc.org). Many join the military as our economy falters and college aid decreases. Recruitment promises are often not kept. Many returning soldiers don't get the services and benefits promised.

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/view/letters/4944269.html



Make Sure Your Rep. Supports H.R. 676

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/what-can-i-do/boxscore/index.php?action=print



"Healthcare NOT Warfare"

http://pdamerica.org/articles/misc/2008-02-29-14-19-42-misc.php



It is my pleasure to invite you all to the IRAQ ENERGY EXPO AND CONFERENCE
October 17-19, 2008.
The year 2008 marks a tremendous new opportunity for investment in Iraq’s upstream and downstream oil and gas infrastructure. To help facilitate this process, the Government of Iraq is working tirelessly to pass the new hydrocarbon law. As a result of this landmark legislation, companies from around the world will be able to participate in increasing Iraq’s oil and gas capacity in the 2nd largest oil reserve in the world.
As a result of this momentous achievement, and on behalf of the Iraqi Government and the Ministry of Oil, we would like to invite all international oil companies to participate in this historic event. The location for this international exhibition will be the newly constructed Baghdad Convention Center at the Baghdad International Airport.
The Ministry of Oil and its technical staff are very interested to see the latest technologies in this ever-changing industry. In return, the Ministry is prepared to provide detailed explanations of its needs for the coming years. Your participation at the expo is essential to helping us understand your company’s capabilities. We look forward to seeing you there.
Dr. Hussein Al-Shehrestani
Minister of Oil

http://www.iraqenergyexpo.com/invetation_letter.php



Tuesday, April 4th, 2006
Be It Resolved: You Can Impeach the President
Official State Impeachment Text
Impeachment Text for Cities & Towns
Impeachment Text for County Democratic Committees
Impeachment Text for State Assemblies and/or Legislatures
Jefferson's Manual, Section LIII, 603
You Can Impeach the President

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=622



Sydney Morning Herald

Doctors to trial pain relief with cannabis
Simon Webster
May 18, 2008
EXCLUSIVE
DOCTORS will prescribe cannabis-based drugs to cancer, multiple sclerosis and AIDS patients in a planned NSW Government trial.
NSW Health Minister Reba Meagher will write to Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon in the next few weeks for permission to import and trial a drug expected to be Sativex, which delivers cannabis compounds through an oral spray.
"While the Iemma Government is opposed to the legalisation of marijuana, we do support a therapeutic trial of a cannabis-based drug," a spokeswoman for Ms Meagher said.
"We want the trial to start as soon as possible. However the support of the Rudd Government would be needed to get TGA [Therapeutic Goods Administration] approval of the drug for use in the trial. We're hopeful the Government will approve."
The Australian Medical Association welcomed the trial.
"We believe medicinal cannabis may be of benefit in HIV-related wasting and cancer-related wasting," said chairman of the association's public health committee Dr John Gullotta, adding that it might also relieve nausea and vomiting in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
The Cancer Council NSW welcomed the move.
Ms Meagher may also ask for approval for other cannabis-based drugs.
UK company GW Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Sativex, grows cannabis then extracts cannabinoids CBD and THC. "The formulation is believed to enhance the pain relief of THC while modulating the unwanted psychotropic and other THC-related side effects, such as tachycardia [rapid heartbeat]," the company says.
Source: The Sun-Herald

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/doctors-to-trial-cannabis/2008/05/18/1210765250875.html



Audit says Medicare will bear the brunt
Josh Gordon
May 18, 2008
THE Federal Government has grossly underestimated the number of people set to abandon private health insurance following its changes to Medicare, says an independent audit.
The PriceWaterhouseCoopers audit has found that the move to dramatically increase the threshold for the Medicare levy will short-change the states by an estimated $1.76billion over four years, with NSW alone set to lose $480million.
The audit, obtained by The Sun-Herald, shows that on the Government's assumptions, almost 1 million people covered by private insurance are likely to dump their cover, or not take it up, and flock to the public system - double the number claimed by Treasurer Wayne Swan.
This would impose an enormous burden on Australia's already overstretched public hospital system, raising the possibility of large compensation claims by the state governments responsible for running them.
Under budget plans announced on Tuesday, the annual income threshold at which the levy kicks in will rise from $50,000 to $100,000 for singles and from $100,000 to $150,000 for couples.
The measure means the Government will collect less surcharge revenue, but will save a larger amount by no longer having to pay the 30percent rebate to people previously in the private system.
The budget papers show a net saving of $232million in 2008-09, or about $299million over four years.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/audit-says-medicare-will-bear-the-brunt/2008/05/18/1210765248330.html



Agent orange town
Matthew Benns and Frank Walker
May 18, 2008
THE Australian Army tested chemical weapons on a town which now has deaths from cancer 10 times the state average.
Military scientists sprayed the toxic defoliant Agent Orange in the jungle that is part of the water catchment area for Innisfail in Queensland's far north at the start of the Vietnam War.
The Sun-Herald last week found the site where military scientists tested Agent Orange in 1966. It is on a ridge little more 100 metres above the Johnstone River, which supplies the drinking water for Innisfail.
Forty years later the site - which abuts farmer Alan Wakeham's land - is still bare, covered only in tough Guinea grass, but surrounded by thick jungle.
"It's strange how the jungle comes right up to this site and then just stops. It won't grow any further," Mr Wakeham said.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/bspecial-investigationb-agent-orange-town/2008/05/18/1210765247617.html



Rudd knocks back pleas for inquiry into Brethren
Michael Bachelard
May 18, 2008
PRIME MINISTER Kevin Rudd has rejected the pleas of former members of the Exclusive Brethren for a broad-ranging inquiry into the sect, saying it would unreasonably interfere with members' rights to practise their faith freely and openly.
Last year Mr Rudd said the Brethren was an extremist cult whose activities broke up families. In the days leading up to the election in November, he called on four federal agencies - the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Electoral Commission, and the anti-money-laundering agency Austrac - to investigate the Brethren's activities.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/rudd-rejects-inquiry-into-brethren/2008/05/17/1210765256428.html



There's more pain for Rudd's 110,000 'rich' households
May 17, 2008
MORE than 110,000 Sydney households concentrated in the city's north, north-west and key inner suburbs will be caught by the Federal Government's new $150,000 benchmark for identifying the undeserving rich.
Census figures show that one in 10 Sydney households had a gross income of more than $3000 a week in August 2006, putting them above the new income cut-off for family benefits announced in this week's budget.
These families live not only in well-to-do suburbs such as Mosman, Pymble and Wahroonga but in the "working middle class" north-west, in suburbs like Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills, Cherrybrook and West Pennant Hills.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/05/17/1210765188978.html



Burmese jaunta still hampering aid efforts
Mex Cooper May 17, 2008 - 1:40PM
Tens of thousands of Burmese are still waiting for aid 13 days after cyclone Nargis devastated their country and killed as many as 200,000 people.
World Vision chief executive Tim Costello said the Burmese military government was still hampering aid efforts while its people endured an "unprecedented level" of human suffering.
On his return from a 10-day visit to the ravaged country, Mr Costello said he would "reluctantly bite his tongue" so as not to jeopardise aid efforts.
"I will simply leave the commentary to others, except to say that this is the most narrow and unprecedently difficult place in which we've ever mounted a humanitarian relief operation," he said.
Mr Costello said while aid had reached 100,000 people, up to 40 per cent of the cyclone's victims had not received any rice.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/burmese-jaunta-still-hampering-aid-efforts/2008/05/17/1210765234811.html



Italian crims flaunt dress sentence
May 16, 2008 - 11:57AM
The models strutted past, the celebrities sized up the fashions and the prison guards kept a close eye on the catwalk.
Welcome to Milan's San Vittore prison, where female inmates showcased a collection on Wednesday of three wedding dresses at a glamorous fashion show to launch their own womenswear line.
Having learnt tailoring skills from a local cooperative that aims to help women behind bars, prisoners and former inmates displayed stylish dresses alongside creations by big Italian names like Giorgio Armani, Prada and Alberta Ferretti.
"It is like a dream has come true," said Ecuadorian Mariuxi, who left San Vittore last year and works for the Cooperative Alice, which runs the project.
"It is work that brings happiness after an ugly period."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/fashion/italian-crims-flaunt-dress-sentence/2008/05/16/1210765123707.html



Federal law grants MySpace immunity
May 17, 2008 - 9:28AM
A federal appeals court has ruled that MySpace.com is immune from a lawsuit over the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl by a man she met on the social networking website.
The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals' decision today upholds the dismissal of the lawsuit.
The Texas girl's family had sued MySpace and its parent company, News Corp, claiming that MySpace did not protect young users from sexual predators.
The court says federal law bars such lawsuits against web-based services like MySpace.
It also noted that the girl, identified as Julie Doe in court papers, was 13 but indicated she was 18 when she created a MySpace profile in 2005. She was 14 when authorities say a then-19-year-old man sexually assaulted her.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/federal-law-grants-myspace-immunity/2008/05/17/1210765221267.html



Lori Drew charged over MySpace suicide
May 16, 2008 - 7:52AM
A Los Angeles federal grand jury has indicted a woman for her alleged role in a MySpace online hoax played on a 13-year-old girl who later committed suicide.
Lori Drew of St Louis, Missouri was indicted on Thursday on one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorisation to obtain information to inflict emotional distress.
Each of the four counts carries a maximum possible penalty of five years in prison.
Drew allegedly helped create a fake MySpace account to contact neighbour Megan Meier who thought she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans.
At the time of the incident, the Drews and the Meiers lived four doors apart in Waterford Crystal Drive, in the town of Dardenne Prairie. The Drew's teenage daughter and Megan were friends.
The online relationship between "Josh" and Megan bloomed for several weeks before the tone suddenly changed.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/lori-drew-charged-over-myspace-suicide/2008/05/16/1210765091402.html



Madam or slave owner?
Karen Kissane
An appeal before the High Court will decide how Australia defines slavery, giving the legal system a platform to deal with cases of exploitation of migrant sex workers.
IT WAS probably one of the more mixed audiences that Australia's seven High Court judges have had. Up the back sat a quiet Filipino nun in a habit and veil, interested to see what this nation's highest court made of issues surrounding the people she works with in her homeland: women trafficked for sex.
In the front row, taking meticulous notes of the complex proceedings, sat sex-worker representative Elena Jeffreys. Her hair was dyed lime-green and coin-gold; she wore a leopard-print coat and fake-croc platform shoes over blue ankle socks; and her top had purple words running down the sleeves — rentboy, slag, slut, harlot, hooker …

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/05/16/1210765176472.html?s_rid=smh:top5



Twin found in nine-year-old's stomach
May 16, 2008 - 8:50AM
A nine-year-old girl who went to hospital in central Greece suffering from stomach pains was found to be carrying her embryonic twin, doctors said.
Doctors at Larissa General Hospital examined the girl and surgically removed a growth they later discovered was an embryo more than two inches long.
"They could see on the right side that her belly was swollen, but they couldn't suspect that this tumour would hide an embryo," hospital director Iakovos Brouskelis said.
The girl has made a full recovery, he said.
Andreas Markou, head of the hospital's pediatric department, said the embryo was a formed foetus with a head, hair and eyes, but no brain or umbilical cord.
Markou said cases where one of a set of twins absorbs the other in the womb occurs in one of 500,000 live births.
The girl's family did not want to be identified, hospital officials said.
AP

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2008/05/16/1210765108680.html?s_rid=smh:top5



Chavez linked to Colombian guerillas
Rory Carroll in Caracas
May 17, 2008
THE President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, is facing serious allegations about his country's links to Colombian guerillas after Interpol bolstered the credibility of intercepted rebel documents.
The international police organisation announced that a two-month forensic investigation of laptops seized in a raid by Colombian security forces concluded they belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Leaks from the collection of 16,000 files and photographs have suggested high-ranking Venezuelan officials plotted to help the Marxist group obtain weapons and funding for its decades-long insurgency against the Colombian state.
The secretary-general of Interpol, Ronald Noble, said his experts had found "no alteration of the data by Colombian officials". The amount of information - 37,872 documents and 210,880 photographs - was much greater than previously thought.
Analysts have cautioned that FARC's memos may contain misinformation or wishful thinking.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/05/16/1210765174202.html



Harbour skippers shed light on their deadly fears
Dylan Welch Police Reporter
May 23, 2008
ALMOST 60 Sydney Harbour skippers have signed a petition demanding the State Government hire more safety officers, saying it is only a matter of time before more people die due to poor boat lighting.
"There will be more deaths on the harbour before something is done about it," said Tom Hughes, a master, licensed to operate commercial craft, for more than 40 years who organised the petition after this month's harbour tragedy.
He is sick of being stonewalled for years by the Government and NSW Maritime. When the fishing trawler and runabout collided on May 1, killing six, it accelerated his thinking, he said.
"This petition has been written to avoid death, so that collisions can be avoided and more deaths can be avoided," he told the Herald.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/harbour-skippers-shed-light-on-deadly-fears/2008/05/22/1211183001194.html



How petrol is putting Sydney under the pump
Jacob Saulwick
May 23, 2008
AS PETROL surges towards the previously unthinkable $2 mark, Sydneysiders are confronting a stark choice - alter their lifestyles or be prepared to scrimp to pay even bigger bills.
The speed with which bowser prices have jumped has forced economists, politicians and planners into some hasty rethinking. Some predict the way Sydney functions - from traffic flow to suburban growth - will be fundamentally altered by the oil shock.
There are even bold claims that suburban life, which has underpinned Sydney throughout most of its modern history, is under threat.
The executive director of the Australian Retailers Association, Richard Evans, said yesterday a 10 cents-a-litre rise in the price of petrol would slow spending as much as an interest rate rise of 0.25 percentage points.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/petrol-putting-sydney-under-the-pump/2008/05/22/1211183001191.html



Former PM's home broken into
May 23, 2008
Thieves have broken into the Sydney home of former prime minister John Howard, stealing jewellery.
Police were called to the Wollstonecraft home, on Sydney's north shore, about 4pm (AEST) today after an automatic alarm was tripped.
No one was home at the time of the robbery, with Mr Howard overseas, Macquarie Radio reported.
Police have refused to confirm the home belonged to Mr Howard.
Investigations were continuing, police said.
AAP

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/john-howards-home-broken-into/2008/05/22/1211183002271.html



Zaetta sex leak an invasion of privacy: Minchin
Daniel Emerson
May 22, 2008 - 7:43PM
Page 1 of 4 Single page
The chief adviser of the Defence Force's entertainment program says the department might have badly damaged its chances of attracting artists to perform for troops after naming TV star Tania Zaetta as being under investigation over a strongly denied claim she had sex with soldiers.
The Federal Opposition has also weighed into the controversy, demanding that Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon immediately investigate who in the Department of Defence or his office leaked the allegations to media.
News Ltd today reported that Zaetta, co-host of the Who Dares Wins reality TV show in the 1990s and an Indian film star, was under departmental investigation amid allegations she had sex with Australian special forces troops while on a recent entertainment tour of Afghanistan.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/05/22/1211182949217.html


Angry storm of denial over sex with soldiers
Brendan Nicholson
May 23, 2008
LAST week Tania Zaetta was a second-tier celebrity and Bollywood star aglow with patriotism after entertaining the troops in Afghanistan.
Now she's at the centre of a row involving politics, sex and soldiers and an investigation into a serious leak of a high-level report from the Australian Defence Force to its minister.
Yesterday, newspapers published a claim that Zaetta had sex with Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan during a 17-day entertainers' tour.
The claim was contained in what the Department of Defence calls a "hot issues brief", which was sent to Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon on May 15.
In it, Defence said the claim was made by rock singer Angry Anderson. Anderson denied that he made such a claim and said he did not think it was true.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/05/22/1211183003027.html?s_rid=smh:top5


Tourist strips in wolf whistle protest
May 22, 2008 - 11:41AM
An Israeli tourist tired of wolf whistles from road workers in New Zealand stripped off her clothes in a show of defiance, police say.
The woman was about to use an ATM in the main street of Kerikeri, in the far north of the country, when the men whistled, the New Zealand Press Association reported.
She calmly stripped off, then used the cash machine, before getting dressed and walking away.
The woman told police she did not take too kindly to the whistling from the men repairing the road.
"She said she had thought 'bugger them, I'll show them what I've got'," Police Sergeant Peter Masters told NZPA.
"She gave the explanation that http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/05/22/1211182955727.html?s_rid=smh:top5


Blessing of history, as first woman bishop consecrated
Linda Morris Religious Affairs Writer
May 23, 2008
IN THE presence of her husband, her twin sons, the head of the Australian Anglican church, archbishops and bishops and veterans of a 30-year campaign for women in ministry, Kay Goldsworthy made history last night when she was consecrated the nation's first woman bishop.
Bishop Goldsworthy broke down the barriers at the male-only ecclesiastical office at Perth's St George's Cathedral, where she was ordained as a priest in 1992.
She wore to her consecration symbols and gifts of her church life. She carried a mitre, designed by a close friend and mentor, Father Nigel Wright. Around her neck was the pectoral cross, a gift from her family and from the Parish of Applecross that she received when she was made deaconess in 1984. Her episcopal ring was a gift from women deacons and priests in the diocese of Perth, and other supporters of women in ministry.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/blessing-of-history-as-first-woman-bishop-consecrated/2008/05/22/1211183001218.html



Authorities accused of ignoring threat from mine
Tim Dick
May 23, 2008
ONE in 10 Mount Isa toddlers have dangerously high levels of lead in their blood, says the Queensland Government, which proposes more education and testing to deal with the problem, despite having known about it for more than 10 years.
Its report found Aboriginal children were four times as likely to exceed the World Health Organisation alert level (10 micrograms of lead per decilitre of blood), which risks long-term intellectual, behavioural and attention problems.
Of the 400 children aged between one and four tested, one recorded 31.5 micrograms of lead, three times the alert level.
The Swiss mining giant Xstrata owns Mount Isa Mines in Queensland's north-west, which employs a quarter of the town's workers.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/authorities-accused-of-ignoring-threat-from-mine/2008/05/22/1211183001246.html



UN chief pushes junta to let aid flow more freely
Patrick Worsnip in Rangoon
May 23, 2008
THE United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, took "a message of hope" to Burma's cyclone victims yesterday and pressed the military regime to allow large-scale international aid for the 2.4 million people left destitute.
Mr Ban was met at the airport by the Foreign Minister, Nyan Win, after his arrival from Bangkok. He was later driven down an avenue in Rangoon lined with trees uprooted by the cyclone, where workers were still shovelling debris into trucks three weeks after the storm left nearly 134,000 dead or missing.
"I'm quite confident we will be able to overcome this tragedy," Mr Ban told the trustees of the Shwedagon Pagoda, the Buddhist country's most sacred site. "I've tried to bring a message of hope to your people.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/un-chief-pushes-junta-to-let-aid-flow-more-freely/2008/05/22/1211183001354.html


Sharia law part of deal to stop attacks
Declan Walsh in Islamabad
May 23, 2008
Advertisement
A PAKISTANI Government deal to bring peace to the conflict-ravaged Swat valley will introduce Sharia law in return for an end to Taliban suicide bombings, attempts to stop girls going to school and attacks on barbers who shave beards.
The peace deal was signed on Wednesday by the newly elected Government of North West Frontier Province and representatives of the cleric Maulvi Fazlullah, whose fighters battled the army last year. It could presage broader accords with militants in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
The breakthrough is a coup for Pakistan's new coalition Government, which took office seven weeks ago and has said it is willing to talk to extremists who are prepared to renounce violence.
But the US and NATO said they believed Islamic militants would use respites to strengthen and rearm. They also said militants' cross-border strikes aimed at Western troops in Afghanistan had increased since negotiations began.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sharia-law-part-of-deal-to-stop-attacks/2008/05/22/1211183001359.html



Guantanamo defenders should hang their heads
Richard Ackland
May 23, 2008
I wonder if, in the time-out room of their souls, the former government's doughty little foot soldiers of freedom feel the odd shiver of embarrassment or shame.
The extent to which Messrs Howard, Ruddock and Downer were prepared to subvert some sacred principles might have brought normal mortals unstitched. But by all appearances they have kept their chins up and their rectitude unexamined.
The principle that they nearly wrestled to the ground and choked to death was that of the "fair trial".
As they abandoned David Hicks, an Australian citizen, to the spectacularly bogus "judicial" regime at Guantanamo Bay, we were told repeatedly that our fears were baseless, that the system the Americans had devised for the detainees there was fairness itself.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/guantanamo-defenders-should-hang-their-heads/2008/05/22/1211182996658.html



Iraqis face ban from qualifiers
Michael Cockerill
May 23, 2008
FOOTBALL Federation Australia will learn today whether next month's World Cup qualifier against Iraq in Brisbane will be postponed, or possibly even cancelled.
In a move that caught the sport by complete surprise, the Iraqi government yesterday unilaterally disbanded the Iraq Football Association with immediate effect, and just three months before scheduled elections. Personality clashes are believed to be at the heart of the row, and the move not only threatens the June 1 match at Suncorp Stadium - which has almost sold-out - but Iraq's participation in the remainder of the World Cup campaign.
World governing body FIFA historically takes an unequivocal view of government interference in the running of the sport, and on many occasions has suspended national teams from playing during such disputes. It is understood the Iraqi government has already received notification from FIFA that it has three days to reinstate the IFA otherwise a ban will be applied.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/football/iraqis-face-ban-from-qualifiers/2008/05/22/1211183002653.html



Mexican donkey released from jail
May 22, 2008 - 7:51AM
TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico - A Mexican donkey has been freed from jail after doing time for acting like a jackass.
Local television today showed "Blacky" gobbling food from a bucket after spending three days in a jail that normally holds people for public drunkenness and other disturbances.
Blacky was jailed for biting and kicking two men near a ranch outside Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of the southern state of Chiapas.
Officials freed the donkey after its owner paid a fine of $US36 ($A38) and the $US115 ($A120) hospital bill of the men, who suffered bites to the chest and a broken ankle. Authorities say he also must pay $US480 ($A500) to each man for missed work days.
AP

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2008/05/22/1211182936981.html?s_rid=smh:top5



Zimbabwe opposition on 'evil crusade'
May 22, 2008 - 7:13AM
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe accused Zimbabwe's opposition of embarking on "an evil crusade" as he stepped up claims today that the Movement for Democratic Change is to blame for mounting violence.
"The MDC opposition, formed at the behest of Britain, is on an evil crusade of dividing our people along political lines as they continue to fan and sponsor heinous acts of political violence targeting innocent citizens," Mugabe said at a graduation ceremony for police recruits.
"It is unfortunate that they have decided on violent means to instill fear into our peace-loving people."
Zimbabwe has seen mounting levels of violence since disputed elections in March when the MDC won control of parliament and its leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat Mugabe into second place in a simultaneous presidential poll.
With Tsvangirai falling just short of winning an outright majority in the first round, according to official results, the pair are now due to square up in a run-off poll on June 27.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/zimbabwe-opposition-on-evil-crusade/2008/05/22/1211182934373.html

continued...

FBI Concerns on Prisoner Abuse Ignored By Top Bush Officials

Waterboarding film by Amnesty International (click here). It isn't exactly as Bush described it in a news conference recently. The man is supposed to have a cloth over his face.

So the new updated version of waterboarding is simply attempted drowning. Of course this is all a surprise to the White House even though the CIA tapes have been destroyed. I wonder who 'thunk' this one up? Of course this is an 'authorized' technique according to the field manual. When in dought of getting results, try drowning the guy. The thought process must have gone like this, "...you know if we dunk them in the water, like bobbing for apples and make them inhale then it really isn't waterboarding, seems safer and we can't be held for human rights abuses, right?"

"They stick my head into the water and in the same time they punched me into my stomach so I had to inhale all this water." – Murat Kurnaz

Bush vetoes bill banning waterboarding (click here)

March 9, 2008
Bush veto keeps torture techniques on the board
Warwick McFadyen

There is no excuse for torture
US president George W Bush said today he vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding to break suspected terrorists because it would end practices that have prevented attacks.
"The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror," Bush said in a taped broadcast of his weekly radio address. "So today I vetoed it," Bush said. The bill provides guidelines for intelligence activities for the year and includes the interrogation requirement. It passed the House in December and the Senate last month.
"This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe," the president said....

Morning Papers - continued...

Police said a 16-year-old girl who called saying she had been abused by an adult male sparked the raid. Now the parents and the state of Texas are battling over custody of the 416 children.

Everyone needs to stop calling this polygamy. It is not. Legally these people have done nothing wrong. There are no legal polygamist relationships documented. There are illegitmate children born through 'spiritual contracts,' but, there are no illegal marriages in duplicate. And 16 year olds have sex all the time. In many states, including many southern states such as North Carolina, 16 and 17 year olds are treated in most instances as adults.

The fact of the matter is that many Muslims also practice 'spiritual marriages' through their Mosques. Some at a very tender age. The 'spiritual marriages' are allowed under their religions and they are 'contract marriages' with signed contracts by the witnesses that attend the ceremony.

The authorities and the media are "W"rong about calling this a polygamist issue, it is not. The ONLY issue that is debatable is that whether or not illegitimate children are supposed to be allowed as a result of 'spiritual marriage contracts' and supported by the state in any way. That is the only question the government has before it. If indeed children are born to illegitimate marriages in this manner are they then eligable to receive welfare, etc. That is the governments only right in these circumstances.

L A Times

Appellate court overturns polygamist sect custody decision
From the Associated Press
10:40 AM PDT, May 22, 2008
SAN ANGELO, Texas -- A state appellate court has ruled that child welfare officials had no right to seize more than 400 children living at a polygamist sect's ranch.
The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the grounds for removing the children were "legally and factually insufficient" under Texas law. They did not immediately order the return of the children.
Child welfare officials removed the children on the grounds that the sect pushed underage girls into marriage and sex and trained boys to become future perpetrators.
The appellate court ruled the chaotic hearing held last month did not demonstrate the children were in any immediate danger, the only measure of taking children from their homes without court proceedings

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-na-polygamy23-2008may23,0,7863188.story



Further cuts in U.S. forces in Iraq are likely, Petraeus says
The general says he expects to seek additional reductions before he gives up command in September, but they may be small.
By Julian E. Barnes and Peter Spiegel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
8:47 AM PDT, May 22, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Gen. David H. Petraeus said he expects to recommend further cuts in the size of U.S. forces in Iraq before he gives up command in September.
The military is currently cutting its forces down to 15 brigades, or about 140,000 troops. That drawdown is scheduled to be concluded by July. Last month, President Bush endorsed Petraeus' call for a 45-day pause before the troop reduction.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-na-petraeus23-2008may23,0,6397415.story



Wildfire destroys homes in Santa Cruz Mountains
The fire, in a rural area on the border of Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties, has grown to 2,000 acres. Officials say five to 10 homes have burned.
By Francisco Vara-Orta, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
11:10 AM PDT, May 22, 2008
A wildfire burning out of control destroyed a handful of homes in the Santa Cruz Mountains this morning, closing schools and prompting some evacuations, officials said.
The blaze, first reported around 5:30 a.m., had grown to more than 2,000 acres by 10 a.m. and was out of control, according to Dick Rawson, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-santacruz23-2008may23,0,5399299.story



High-wind warnings are in effect for L.A., Ventura and Santa Barbara counties
High-wind warnings are in effect this morning for mountains in Ventura and Los Angeles counties and for the southern coast of Santa Barbara County.
Winds whipped through Los Angeles County and the surrounding region late last night, gusting as high as 78 mph at Whitaker Peak in the Angeles National Forest.
The conditions complicated the work of firefighters battling a South Los Angeles blaze and caused downed power lines to briefly trap a Los Angeles Police Department officer inside her vehicle.
Winds whipping through the Mount Olympus area at about 11 p.m. blew a transformer and knocked power lines onto the vehicle of an LAPD officer on her way to take a burglary report on Mulholland Drive near Laurel Canyon Boulevard, said Officer April Harding.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wind23-2008may23,0,6545404.story



Janitor at Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village is accused of videotaping girls in locker room
The custodian is arrested and charged after a camera containing 'inappropriate images' is found on the campus.
By Andrew Blankstein and Carla Hall, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
May 22, 2008
A custodian at Oaks Christian School was arrested this week on suspicion of secretly videotaping at least 18 female students in a locker room at the Westlake Village campus.
Hilario Hernandez Medina, 39, was arrested Monday at the school and booked on charges of possession and control of child pornography, said Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Medina worked for a maintenance contractor used by the school, according to the school's headmaster. He had been at the school for about a year, Whitmore said.
Last weekend, an employee at the grades six-to-12 private school found a video camera wrapped in a T-shirt on a maintenance cart. The video camera contained what Whitmore called "inappropriate images" of girls. The school administration contacted the Sheriff's Department.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oaks22-2008may22,0,7533039.story



China's quake-ravaged areas face other dangers
Summer rains will raise the risk of landslides, avalanches and flooding, officials say. The government appeals for 3.3 million tents for homeless.
By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
9:43 AM PDT, May 22, 2008
BEIJING -- The danger is far from over in the mountainous terrain where last week's earthquake struck, with the risks of landslides, avalanches and flooding growing higher as the summer rainy season begins, Chinese officials said today.
The warning came as the death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 51,151, with nearly 30,000 people still missing. More than 5 million are homeless and may not be able to rebuild their houses any time soon, or ever, because of the instability of the terrain.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china23-2008may23,0,6788253.story



U.S. pump prices surge as oil retreats
From the Associated Press
12:23 PM PDT, May 22, 2008
Americans getting an early start on the Memorial Day weekend found that gasoline prices again sprinted to a new record high overnight, reaching a national average above $3.83 a gallon. Some analysts predict gas will break past $4 as early as next week.
Oil prices, meanwhile, fell Thursday after setting a new record of $135.09 in overnight trading. A stronger dollar gave some investors reason to sell oil futures to lock in profits from crude's record run. But concerns about falling supplies and rising demand are expected to keep propelling prices higher in the days and weeks to come.
Oil's surge is contributing directly to the pain consumers feel every time they fill up. At the pump, the average national price of a gallon of regular gas rose 2.4 cents overnight to $3.831, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices are 61 cents higher than a year ago.
Unlike last year, oil prices are setting new record highs on a daily basis. That's pushing gas prices higher, and analysts see no reason for gas not to follow.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oil23-2008may23,0,7455924.story



Cheese race is fizzling out
California no longer poses a threat to pass Wisconsin in churning out the dairy product.
By M.L. Johnson, The Associated Press
May 22, 2008
Cheese heads don't need to be bleu: Experts say predictions that California will soon overtake Wisconsin as the nation's top cheese producer are unlikely to come true.
The Golden State and its happy cows gained quickly on Wisconsin in the last decade, but plants in California are maxing out while efforts to boost production in Wisconsin are paying off, said Dick Groves, longtime owner of trade publication Cheese Reporter in Madison, Wis.
Groves helped spark the friendly competition between the states 10 years ago with an editorial that predicted California would overtake Wisconsin in cheese production by 2005. He later amended it to 2010 and then, last month, to "not any time soon."
New numbers showing a growing gap between Wisconsin and California prompted Groves to abandon his earlier prediction.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cheese22-2008may22,0,4205677.story



Hail, tornadoes bear down in Colorado

http://www.latimes.com/video/?clipId=2515791&topVideoCatNo=71782&c=&autoStart=true&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&clipFormat=


Lost parrot returns home after reciting his name and address
6:05 PM, May 21, 2008
From the Associated Press in Japan comes the story of Yosuke, an African grey parrot with lots of smarts. We'll let the AP tell the tale:
When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught — he recited his name and address to a stranger willing to help. Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbor’s roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo.
After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said. He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet.
"I’m Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2008/05/tokyo-ap-when-y.html


Iraq orchestra brings a musical dialogue to parliament
The national symphony overcomes myriad obstacles to perform a concert, with a diverse program and a visiting British conductor, in the Baghdad hall where legislators meet.
By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 22, 2008
BAGHDAD -- The sniffer dogs didn't quite trust the double bass. A rocket exploded nearby as the guests arrived. And at the last minute, the lights went out -- just some of the difficulties that arise when the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra performs in Baghdad.
But at the appointed hour Wednesday, visiting British conductor Oliver Gilmour raised his baton, and strains of Rossini's "Barber of Seville" Overture filled the hall that serves as Iraq's parliament chamber.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-concert22-2008may22,0,2887185.story



New Zealand Herald

Gull beats big players to meet biofuel target
5:00AM Thursday May 15, 2008
By Mathew Dearnaley
Oil industry minnow Gull has laid down the gauntlet to its large competitors by declaring itself just days away from meeting a proposed mandatory sales obligation for biofuels.
Although the fate of the Biofuels Bill in Parliament remains uncertain, especially its proposed enforcement date of July 1, Gull expects by next week to have sold enough of its 10 per cent bioethanol-petrol blend to meet the first six-month instalment of the would-be mandate.
That claim was welcomed yesterday by Government energy efficiency officials keen to dispel suggestions by large oil companies that they will not be able to obtain enough biofuels from "sustainable" sources to meet a proposed requirement for biofuels to make up 3.4 per cent of their sales by 2012.
The legislation proposes that the obligation begin with 0.53 per cent of sales to be biofuel in the first six months to December.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10510232



'Tree huggers' rally to halt logging of historic Blue Lake fir woodland
5:00AM Thursday May 15, 2008
By Juliet Rowan
Rotorua National Party candidate Todd McClay addresses Tikitapu tree supporters. Photo / Alan Gibson
Jack Timmer has lived by Tikitapu, Rotorua's Blue Lake, for 16 years and fears the planned logging of decades-old Douglas firs around the shore.
"I'm sure the skyline will change," he said. "I'm sure it will have an impact on the lake."
Mr Timmer was one of more than 100 Rotorua residents who yesterday gathered at the lake to call for a halt to the logging, which they say will destroy the landscape and Tikitapu's pristine waters.
Mr Timmer told the crowd he also feared a loss of business for his Blue Lake Top 10 Holiday Park, which averages about 700 guests on a busy night over Christmas.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10510230



Getting closer to a chirpy wee New Zealander
5:00AM Thursday May 15, 2008
By Angela Gregory
The drone of chirping cicadas is the theme song of summer but few New Zealanders probably realise there are thought to be over 40 species of the little understood insect found here.
Landcare Research wants to learn more about the noisy insect and in a world first has launched a "virtual identification guide" to cicadas.
The project provides the digitisation of diagnostic information from literature, insect collections, and a private photo library to provide a freely accessible web-based identification and information retrieval tool covering the cicada fauna of the entire country.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10510227



Myanmar junta locks down cyclone zone
2:05PM Saturday May 17, 2008
YANGON - Myanmar's military rulers have thrown a tightening ring of security around Yangon, blocking aid workers, foreign diplomats and journalists from reaching cyclone-battered regions where millions need food and medicine.
New roadblocks staffed by armed police have sprung up around Myanmar's largest city. Authorities at the checkpoints record passport information and license plate numbers and sometimes interrogate drivers and their foreign passengers before ordering them to return to Yangon.
"A circle has been drawn around Yangon and expats are confined there. While you are getting aid through, it's like getting it through a 3-inch pipe, not a 30-inch pipe," said Tim Costello, president of the aid agency World Vision-Australia, in Yangon.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10510739



UN envoy claims foreigners leading Afghan death squads
5:00AM Saturday May 17, 2008
By Jerome Starkey
Secret Afghan death squads are acting on the orders of foreign spies and killing civilians inside Afghanistan with impunity, a senior UN envoy has claimed.
Professor Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on illegal killings, said "foreign intelligence agencies" had used illegal groups of heavily armed Afghans in raids against suspected insurgents. He said the attacks were beyond the legitimate military chains of command and they were "completely unacceptable" and "outside the law".
At the end of a 12-day fact-finding mission to Afghanistan, Alston said: "There have been a large number of raids for which no state or military appears to take responsibility. I have spoken with a large number of people in relation to the operation of foreign intelligence units. I don't want to name them but they are at the most senior level of the relevant places. These forces operate with what appears to be impunity."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10510597



Aid goes astray while 2.5m suffer
5:00AM Saturday May 17, 2008
Relief supplies being pushed into Myanmar by the international community remain far below the needs of up to 2.5 million victims of the country's devastating cyclone, the United Nations says.
In its latest estimate, the UN World Food Programme yesterday said it will have to rush in 390 tonnes of food every day to reach 750,000 victims it is targeting over the next month.
But less than 300 tonnes have been distributed since Cyclone Nargis struck on May 3, killing at least 43,000 people and turning the low-lying Irrawaddy delta into a quagmire of shattered villages and squalid refugee camps ringed by fetid waters.
Torrential tropical downpours lashed Irrawaddy delta yesterday, deepening the misery of an estimated 2.5 million destitute survivors of the cyclone and further hampering the military government's aid efforts.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10510622



Three airlines pull maintenance contracts with Air NZ
New 12:45PM Wednesday May 21, 2008
Three international airlines have cancelled heavy maintenance checks by Air New Zealand because of industrial action by its engineers.
But Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) national secretary Andrew Little said the action was restricted only to Air New Zealand planes.
In an internal memorandum issued to staff on Friday Air NZ's general manager technical operations Chris Nassenstein said Hawaiian Airlines cancelled airplane checks with Air NZ, and moved them to the United States.
Mr Nassenstein said the decision had "serious implications" for the five-year contract, which was still in its first year.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10511590



Fliers' prayers answered
New 10:39AM Wednesday May 21, 2008
Two men had their prayers answered when they ran out of fuel mid-flight and brought the plane down - next to a "Jesus is Lord" sign.
Grant Stubbs and Owen Wilson from Blenheim were ascending the sloped head of Pelorus Sound in a microlight plane when the engine cut out.
"When you're in a microlight if you crash, you usually die. I turned to O B (Mr Wilson) and he said we had no fuel," Mr Stubbs told the Marlborough Express.
"I asked what we should do. He said: `You just pray Grant."'

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10511547



Top jockey in intensive care after hunting plunge
8:43AM Wednesday May 21, 2008
By Eloise Gibson
Top jockey Michael Walker was in intensive care last night after falling more than 10 metres into a gorge while pig hunting.
Walker had to spend the night in the bush as one of two friends made the long trek out to raise the alarm.
The 24-year-old was winched from a steep gorge at Okau, Taranaki, yesterday morning.
He had slipped down a steep slope, before falling a further eight metres into a narrow gorge and suffered serious head injuries.
Taranaki Rescue Helicopter pilot David Manduell said Walker was saved from worse injuries by the dead pig he was carrying, which cushioned his fall into the gorge.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10511472



Proposed job cuts threat to teacher training
New 10:08AM Wednesday May 21, 2008
Are employees taking the brunt of an economic downturn?
Staff and students at Victoria University's College of Education are staging a protest tomorrow against proposed cuts they say pose a serious threat to the future quality of teacher education in Wellington.
The Association of University Staff (AUS) says the university is planning to cut over 15 per cent of staff (22 of 141 academic and advisory jobs and seven of 41 administration staff jobs).
"You cannot lose 15 per cent of teaching staff and offer the same quality of teacher education," AUS branch organiser Michael Gilchrist said today.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10511539



Hospitals go private to tackle patient rush
5:00AM Wednesday May 21, 2008
By Martin Johnston
Some district health boards do not have the capacity to cope with increased state funding for elective surgery and are contracting out much of the extra work to private hospitals.
"This year we will subcontract about 14 per cent of our elective work to the private sector," Counties Manukau chief operating officer Ron Dunham said yesterday.
"That is about 1800 patients and will cost us about $6.6 million."
A year ago the board was contracting out about 11 per cent.
The Government announced an extra $60 million a year for elective services in 2006, to increase the number of patients treated by 10 per cent; tomorrow's Budget will add $35 million more a year.
The Waitemata board's share of the 2006 fund is $7.12 million this financial year. In the past 10 months, it has spent $3.12 million of this on private hospital care, including joint replacements, gynaecology and general surgery.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10511483



More opponents fight pioneer school
5:00AM Wednesday May 21, 2008
By Martha McKenzie-Minifie
The latest phase in the trouble-plagued development of New Zealand's first state senior high is under pressure from more opponents.
Albany Senior High School establishment board chairman Simon Russell said yesterday that Auckland Regional Council, North Harbour Stadium, North Shore Domain and a residents' group called The Landing Neighbourhood Group had appealed against plans.
It was already known North Shore City Council had appealed.
The case is going to the Environment Court.
It follows a series of delays in the development of the school, forcing it to open in a makeshift, "interim" campus next year on the Albany Junior High site.
It will take students in their last three years of high school, and has been held up as an example of a new model of schooling in New Zealand.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10511433



$171.6m budget boost schools funding
12:42PM Wednesday May 21, 2008
Tomorrow's budget will include a 5 per cent boost to schools' operational funding over four years to help them meet day-to-day running costs and provide computer technology.
Education Minister Chris Carter said the $171.6 million increase spread over the four year period included $65.3 million to help schools meet the costs of Information Communication Technology (ICT).
The money would also help purchase a wide range of other resources such as library books and pay support staff.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10511589



Myanmar mourns dead as UN reports progress (+video)
8:35AM Wednesday May 21, 2008
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON - Myanmar's junta has given the World Food Program permission to use helicopters to send aid to cyclone survivors, the United Nations said on Tuesday, as flags flew at half-staff across the country to mourn the dead.
The first day of a three-day mourning period passed in torrential rain and diplomatic prodding of the reclusive generals to allow more international aid after Cyclone Nargis hit in early May, leaving 134,000 people dead or missing.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10511511



Kennedy has malignant brain tumour (+video)
9:50AM Wednesday May 21, 2008
By Glen Johnson
BOSTON - A cancerous brain tumour caused the seizure Senator Edward Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors said on Tuesday in a grim diagnosis for one of American politics' most enduring figures.
Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat said tests conducted after Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend showed a tumour in his left parietal lobe. Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma.
His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10511530



Israel contemplates giving up Golan Heights to Syria
9:36AM Thursday May 22, 2008
By Donald Macintyre
Israel and Syria are making their first attempt for more than seven years to reach a comprehensive peace which, if successful, would mean Israel giving up the Golan Heights, seized in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Both governments confirmed in closely similar terms yesterday that they were taking part in "indirect" negotiations brokered by Turkey.
The office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said: "The two sides have declared their intent to conduct these ... talks without prejudice and with openness.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10511806



US congressman quits
5:15AM Thursday May 22, 2008
US Representative Vito Fossella of New York, under pressure, announced he will not seek re-election in November.
Fossella, who had campaigned on "a family values" platform, was arrested for drink-driving and then acknowledged he fathered an illegitimate child, now 3.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10511754



Half of Aussie women sexually unsatisfied - survey
8:55PM Thursday May 22, 2008
More than half of Australian women have difficulty getting sexual satisfaction, according to sex researchers who are urging women to prioritise time in the bedroom.
The survey found rates of sexual desire were similar to those shown in international studies, but Australian women appeared to have more problems with arousal and orgasm, said Deakin University psychology professor Marita McCabe.
"All up we found 55 per cent of women had a difficulty with sexual satisfaction," said Professor McCabe, who presented the data at a recent sexuality conference on the Gold Coast.
"It seems women go into the bedroom and expect it will happen quickly, automatically, with orgasm, even be multi-orgasmic, but without spending the time to do so.
"They're busy and stressed and not taking the time for their sexual expression."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10511936


Yoko Ono scores in feud over rare Lennon footage
12:17PM Thursday May 22, 2008
By Julie Masis
Yoko Ono, the widow of former Beatle and outspoken pacifist John Lennon. Photo / Reuters
John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, made big strides on Wednesday in a legal feud over footage of the former Beatle smoking pot, writing songs and discussing putting the hallucinogenic drug LSD in President Richard Nixon's tea.
Ono is in a legal dispute to stop World Wide Video, a New England consortium of Beatles collectors, from releasing the black-and-white footage as a two-hour film titled "3 days in the life" about Lennon during a pivotal and turbulent time for the most celebrated band of the 1960s.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10511845



Mbeki deploys troops as South African violence spreads
10:19AM Thursday May 22, 2008
By Ian Evans
Xenophobic violence in South Africa, which has caused 24 deaths and forced 13,000 people to flee their homes, has spread from Johannesburg to the volatile Zulu heartland, prompting President Thabo Mbeki to deploy the army on the streets for the first time since the end of apartheid.
The presidential decision was announced after police said a mob of up to 150 armed men attacked a bar owned by Nigerians in the suburb of Umbilo on Tuesday night, injuring six people, one of whom was hit with an axe. Yesterday 100 people returned to Umbilo, demanding foreigners leave the KwaZulu-Natal province.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10511811



Ethiopian food emergency
6:15AM Thursday May 22, 2008
The United Nations children's agency says 126,000 Ethiopian children urgently need food and medical care because of severe malnutrition.
The UN World Food Programme estimates 2.7 million Ethiopians will need emergency food aid because of late rains.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10511756



ETA terror leader's arrest hailed as 'heavy blow'
5:00AM Thursday May 22, 2008
PARIS - French police have arrested the leader of the Basque separatist group ETA after more than 20 years on the run.
Francisco Javier Lopez Pena, also known as Thierry, and three other ETA leaders were arrested in a raid in the centre of the southwestern city of Bordeaux.
French Interior Minister Michele Alliot Marie said Lopez Pena was a "historic figure" of the ETA who had been sought for more than 20 years. A Spanish spokesman said the arrest was a "heavy blow" against ETA.
Lopez Pena and three other ETA leaders were said not to have resisted arrest.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10511726



Devil endangered as cancer takes it toll
5:00AM Thursday May 22, 2008
HOBART - The Tasmanian devil has been listed as an endangered species by the Tasmanian Government.
A deadly and disfiguring facial cancer, which often kills within months, has cut the island state's wild devil population by as much as 60 per cent.
The reclassification from vulnerable to endangered status highlights the severe nature of the threat to the iconic marsupial.
Primary Industries Minister David Llewellyn said yesterday that the upgrading to endangered status reflected the plunge in the devil population resulting from the facial tumour disease.
"The order has now been gazetted, and the new status becomes official today," Llewellyn said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10511718



Welcome to Brittlestar City (+photos)
5:00AM Tuesday May 20, 2008
Marine scientists surveying a large undersea mountain chain south of New Zealand are amazed to have found millions of tiny starfish swirling their arms for food in the undersea current.
The discovery of the brittlestars on the flat top of an undersea volcano shows that underwater mountaintops share similarities to other parts of the sea, the scientists say.
Expedition leader and marine biologist Dr Ashley Rowden said: "It was unique in that it [such a vast brittlestar grouping] hasn't been found on the tops of sea mounts before ... [and] it was over a relatively large area" of about 100 sq km.
The expedition was studying the geology and biology of eight Macquarie Ridge sea mounts.
- AP

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10511266



Paying the cost to change the climate
5:00AM Monday May 12, 2008
By Brian Fallow
What is emissions trading?
It is a market in a new commodity - the right to emit the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming ("carbon" for short).
The idea is to limit the supply of those rights and progressively reduce it, by international agreement, to a level of emissions the planet can handle.
As demand rises and supply falls the price of carbon will climb, creating an ever-stronger financial incentive to figure out ways of reducing emissions.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10509453

continued...

There were several helicopters that just left Massachusetts General Hospital

I doubt sincerely any of Senator Kennedy's committee work will be held up at all.

The mountains skid down hill.

Hengduanshan Mountain Range Situated at the juncture of Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan in the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it has an average elevation of 2,000 to 6,000 meters (click here). Its highest peak, Gonggashan, is 7,556 meters above sea level.

That is just the mountain range elevations and doesn't account for the continental crust below the range where the friction point was that caused the epicenter to be defined.

10 kilometers beneath these mountains - 10 kilometers is the depth of the mountain crust. Earth's crust upto 50 in places.

In south-central China’s Sichuan Province, the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau cascades steeply downward toward a deep, round basin. The ruggedness of the terrain and the heights of the mountains are testaments to the tremendous geologic forces shaping the land. On May 12, 2008, the population of Sichuan Province got a more tangible and tragic reminder...

If one examines this image closely it begins to become very clear that the region was bound to achieve a major earthquake in its history. The dynamics of the geology is clearly illustrated in this image. There was a lot of pressure to cause the quake and its epicenter. It was destined to happen. This was no accident, it just needed the right 'push' and it was over.

The earthquake damage isn't contained. It is questionable it will be.

...Earthquake dams present a dual danger. Apart from the upstream floods that occur as a lake builds behind the natural dam, the piles of rubble that form the dam may be unstable. Another quake or simply the pressure of water behind it could burst the dam, sending a wall of water downstream. Downstream floods may also occur when water begins to cascade over the top of the dam. Thousands of people were evacuated from Beichuan on May 17 when one such lake threatened to burst, said China Daily.


Residents from Qingchuan county are evacuated after warnings that a lake formed when the nearby Qingzhu River blocked by landslides could burst its banks. [Xinhua]

Water overflows from a lake formed after landslides blocked a river in Qingchuan county, Sichuan, yesterday. The natural overflow eased the threat of flooding. Xu Jingxing (click here)

21 lakes formed, 'no danger yet' (click here)

CHENGDU: Twenty-one lakes have formed after landslides blocked rivers in Sichuan, but they "do not pose a serious danger at the moment", the vice-governor of the province said yesterday.
Expert teams have reached all the lakes to monitor the situation, Li Chengyun told a media briefing, adding that various water projects in the province are basically safe.
At least two water conservancy specialists, accompanied by at least 10 People's Liberation Army personnel, are monitoring each of the lakes.
"Preliminary monitoring stations have been set up near each lake," he said....

USA ranked 96 of 140 (Which is Iraq's Rank) countries on the Global Peace Index

Japan is ranked 5th, China ranks 67, France is 36, United Kingdom is 49, Russia is ranked 132 (The five legitimate nuclear nations are China, France, the UK, Russia and the USA) and Myanmar is ranked at 126.

World map of the Global Peace Index. Countries appearing more blue are ranked as more peaceful on the Index, countries appearing more red are ranked as less peaceful.

The Methodogy (click here)

The indicatorsTwenty-four indicators of the existence or absence of peace were chosen by the panel, which are divided into three key thematic categories. Many of the indicators have been "banded" on a scale of 1-5; qualitative indicators in the index have been scored by the Economist Intelligence Unit's extensive team of country analysts, and gaps in the quantitative data have been filled by estimates. Indicators of quantitative data such as military expenditure or jailed population have been normalised on the basis of:

x = (x-Min(x)) / (Max (x) - Min (x))

Where Min (x) and Max (x) are respectively the lowest and highest values in the 140 countries for any given indicator. The normalised value is then transformed from a 0-1 value to a 1-5 score to make it comparable with the other indicators. Measures of ongoing domestic and international conflict...

Jailed members of a society are considered to be 'internal conflict.' Think about it. Laws are created to govern domestic peace and tranquility, when the laws create criminals of their populous due to strife and/or culture, that clearly indicates the government has turned against the people. The USA has a large number of its population in prison under the current regime, as well as the international crimes they exhibit in regard to invasion and coveting of sovereign countries. Of those that remain 'out of jail' such as Tom DeLay, are they appropriately out of jail and how much of the populous have 'changed' behaviors adversely to primary belief systems to remain out of peril with its govenment?

In the case of a country such as the USA which states to practice democracy based in a capitalistic economy, how much of the behaviors of its 'businesses' both government and private have changed in order to survive a hostile regime in DC ? As a result what has happened to the middle class, labor force, unions and instruments of democracy that empowers upward economic movement through opportunity ?

Bush apologises over Quran row

Morning Papers - continued...

Iraq - Also known as The Bush/Cheney/McCain Regime

"The Dead Enders of the USA"

Senator Changes Course, Balks at Funding Iraq War
by David Welna
Listen Now [3 min 45 sec]
All Things Considered
May 20, 2008 · The Senate's No. 2 Democrat voted for years to fund a war he opposed from the start, but he now says such votes are over. Majority Whip Dick Durbin has declared in recent weeks that he has no intention of voting for President Bush's final emergency supplemental spending request to fund the Iraq war.


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90645095



Investigations into civilian abuse in Basra
The January 2008 Aitken report discussed six cases of abuse investigated by the Royal Military police
Wednesday May 14 2008
Baha Mousa
Mousa, 26, died on September 15 2003. The Iraqi hotel worker suffered 93 injuries at the hands of British soldiers. He was detained along with other Iraqis by members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment. They were hooded, stressed and deprived of food and sleep. A postmortem found Mousa's injuries consistent with a "systematic beating".
In spite of a £20m military investigation and court martial, a proper narrative of how Mousa came to die has never emerged because of what Mr Justice McKinnon, a military judge advocate, described as a "closing of ranks".
Last year's court martial led to the conviction of one member of the regiment, Corporal Donald Payne, 35, who became the first British convicted war criminal after he admitted treating the Iraqis inhumanely. He was jailed for a year and dismissed from the army. Others in the regiment, including the former commander in Iraq, Colonel Jorge Mendonca, 43, were cleared on a judge's orders due to lack of evidence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/14/iraq.military



Swimming to Iraq...
It's another photo out of Iraq, another scene of children in a tortured piece of real eastate, Sadr City.
But unlike a photo that moved many to tears a couple weeks ago, a photo of a dying child in the aftermath of a bomb, this is one that inspires, at least to smile.
The photo is simple: A bunch of boys frolicking in a pond. One poses in a little boy flex for the camera. And smiles, widely. The others are oblivious to the camera, having too much fun with the water, as dark and questionable as it might look to adult eyes.
In that sense, it's a vacation photo we've all seen before. Boys acting like fools, ignoring the world around them and focused completely on the moment, and on having fun.
What's different in this photo, of course, is the world around them. Look at the building in the background. How many times have explosives hit it? Look at the water they're playing in? Is it rain runoff? Is it percolating up from broken water mains?

http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/11898



How Iran pulls the strings in Iraq
By Roger Hardy
BBC Middle East analyst
Iran played a crucial role in securing the recent ceasefire in the Sadr City area of Baghdad, just as it helped broker an earlier truce in the southern city of Basra.
Its role in curbing fighting between Iraqi Shia factions sheds a revealing light on the extent of its influence in the country.
It also appears that the Iraqi president, Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani, has been a key intermediary between the Iraqi government and the Iranians.
Phase One: Basra
The latest phase in the Shia power struggle in Iraq began in March when, without warning, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki sent his forces to break the power of the militias who had taken over Basra.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7401438.stm




Maliki's Southern Strategy
Iraqi Security Forces have succeeded in temporarily pacifying Basra.
Even the most diehard Iraq hawks want to reduce the U.S. military footprint in Iraq and lean more heavily on Iraqi Security Forces to do the hard work of defeating insurgents and sectarian militias. Which is why recent developments in Basra have been so encouraging. At first, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's decision to confront Moqtada al-Sadr's Iranian-backed militas looked like a major strategic misstep. Now it appears to have transformed Iraqi politics, potentially paving the way for real reconciliation between Sunni and Shia.
Maliki had long depended on Sadr's support, on the street and in Iraq's parliament, where 32 Sadrists form a crucial bloc. And, so, understandably, Sadr's Sunni opponents -- who see him, rightly, as a power-mad half-literate street tough with delusions of grandeur -- were reluctant to trust Maliki. The same was true of Sadr's Shia rivals.

http://thecurrent.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/malikis-southern-strategy.php




Nearly 40,000 troops to be deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan
Soldiers will be replacements for those coming home
By David Wood Sun reporter
1:01 PM EDT, May 19, 2008
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has alerted nearly 40,000 active duty and National Guard soldiers that they will be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan starting this fall, in a sign that it expects hard fighting to continue on both fronts in what Pentagon officials call "the long war."
The Pentagon suggested that the troops will deploy for not more than 12 months rather than the 15-month rotations that have become the rule in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The units will deploy beginning in late fall and will continue through the end of the year, Army officials said.
They are replacements for units slated to rotate home from the war. There are 155,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and 33,000 in Afghanistan now.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/world/bal-troops0519,0,1396878.story



Iraq: Normalcy returns to beleaguered Baghdad suburb
BAGHDAD, 18 May 2008 (IRIN) - Residents of Baghdad's mainly Shia district of Sadr City are breathing a sigh of relief as a ceasefire between Shia militiamen loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr and US-backed government forces has brought to an end seven weeks of clashes that left daily life all but paralysed.
Schools, government offices and businesses have re-opened, mine clearing operations have begun and aid teams are bringing much needed relief items to those who had been cut off.
"We went through very bad and hard days since the clashes began," said Ammar Wathiq Yousif, a 39-year-old father-of-two from Sadr City. "We weren't able to leave our home and it was very hard to get food and other essentials.
"But since yesterday, when Iraqi security forces came into the area and the militants left, we've returned to our normal lives; I can drive my taxi in the streets, my two daughters have gone back to school and businesses have re-opened," he added.
But Yousif, like many of the other 2.5 million people living in this run-down area on the eastern side of the capital, complained about poor public services and a dilapidated infrastructure.
"We've only returned to our normal daily suffering, which is of course better than what we've been through the past few weeks. We lack many basic services, electricity is available for about six hours a day at best, and some streets are frequently flooded with sewage," he said.
10-point truce agreement
A 10-point truce agreement came into effect on 11 May but it was shaky from the start with sporadic clashes occurring in different parts of Sadr City. However, order was restored when Iraqi security forces fully took over the area on 16 May.
The main points of the agreement stipulate that Iraqi forces would take over security in Sadr City and would refrain from seeking US help to restore order. In return, the Mahdi Army militia would stop fighting US and Iraqi forces in the area.
Mine clearing operations
On 17 May, Iraqi authorities said they had already begun clearing mines planted by militants around Sadr City to trap Iraqi and US forces.
"Our military engineering teams started mine clearing operations on Friday [16 May] and so far have managed to dismantle 50 mines and roadside bombs," Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi, an Iraqi army spokesman, said in a statement.
"We are still in the first phase of the campaign and it will last for the coming few days to purge Sadr City from all these explosives. Residents are cooperating with our teams effectively," al-Mousawi said.
He added that the Iraqi government had allotted US$150 million to improve public services in Sadr City and create job opportunities.
Humanitarian aid
Awad Khalaf Hadi, a spokesman of al-Zahra, a non-governmental organisation in Sadr City, told IRIN that aid teams had resumed the delivery of relief items to areas they had been unable to access for weeks.
"Now, the municipality teams can go out and work normally in the streets, and we can reach all those in need and all the hospitals. Schools and other government offices are open after being deserted," Hadi said.
sm/at/ed
[END]

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/RMOI-7ERJUS?OpenDocument




Who profits from Iraq war? We all do
Monday, May 19, 2008, 09:41 AM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Columnist Nick Turse writes that it is no longer just defense contractors who profit heavily from the Iraq war- a wide variety of consumer companies rake in hundreds of millions from Pepsi to Krispy Kreme - and thus we all profit.
“In 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his famous farewell address as president, warned of the “acquisition of unwarranted influence” by what he called the “military-industrial complex” in the United States,” writes Turse. “Today, however, the “large arms industry” of Eisenhower’s day is only part of a complex equation. Civilian companies such as PepsiCo and IBM form the backbone of what more accurately can be described as a “military-corporate complex.” These businesses allow the Pentagon to function, to make war and to carry out foreign occupations.” Read full column here.
Does widespread profit contribute to the public acceptance of war - and does that prolong the war?

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/opiniontalk/entries/2008/05/19/who_profits_fro.html




Morocco 'holds 11 over planned attacks'
RABAT (AFP) — Moroccan police have broken up a "terrorist network" of 11 people with links to Al-Qaeda that was planning attacks in Morocco and Belgium, the MAP national news agency said Monday.
The 11, who include a Moroccan resident in Belgium, were picked up in the central city of Fes and in Nador, in the north of the country, MAP said.
They had links with "groups sending volunteers to Iraq and camps of Al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa," the agency added, giving no names.
A source close to the government told AFP that the 11 were not connected to another group arrested earlier this year allegedly led by Abdelkader Belliraj, who has dual Moroccan and Belgian nationality.
That group faces charges including murder and attempted murder with firearms, robbery, money laundering, criminal association with terrorist intent and forging official and identity documents.
Belliraj is also reported to have been in the pay of Belgium's domestic intelligence service for years, but Moroccan authorities said he had confessed to several unsolved murders committed in Belgium in 1989.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h8mazbYsyx3BcColu60-U3MxX6SA




US Soldier Killed in Iraq;
Qur'an Desecrated;
Maliki Said to Replace Division Commander
' A U.S. soldier was killed Sunday and another injured when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Salahuddin province, the military said. At least 4,078 U.S. personnel have been killed since the Iraq war began in 2003, according to the independent website icasualties.org. A car bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol in east Baghdad killed two soldiers and a civilian, police said. Ten people, including four soldiers, were injured.'

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/05/19/18500214.php




US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,080
By The Associated Press – 20 hours ago
As of Sunday, May 18, 2008, at least 4,080 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The figure includes eight military civilians killed in action. At least 3,326 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is the same as the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EDT.
The British military has reported 176 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Georgia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.

The latest deaths reported by the military:A soldier was killed Sunday when an explosive struck his vehicle in Salahuddin province.

The latest identifications reported by the military: No identifications reported.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqgQCcv26kB1dkgZRZNHmbn_1J8gD90OBJ2G0




FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, May 19
Mon May 19, 2008 9:09am EDT
May 19 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq at 1300 GMT on Monday:

NINEVEH PROVINCE - The Iraq army killed one militant and arrested 78 others on Monday in Nineveh Province, in northern Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

* SUWAYRA - Iraqi police recovered two bodies with gunshot wounds and signs of torture from the Tigris river in Suwayra, 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said. They said one of the bodies was beheaded.

* SUQ AL-SHIYUKH - A local Iraqi police chief was killed on Monday when a bomb placed under his bed exploded while he slept, in Suq al-Shiyukh, 320 km (200 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.

SALAHUDDIN PROVINCE - A leader of an al-Qaeda unit in Mosul was arrested on Monday in a nearby province, Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, told Reuters.

BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers killed an attacker placing a roadside bomb north of Baghdad and seized munitions in others districts on Sunday, the U.S. military said.

NEAR RUTBA - Two dead bodies were found with gunshot wounds and signs of torture in a deserted area near Rutba, 360 km (220 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

SULAIMANIYA PROVINCE - Iranian artillery shells were fired at the border area of Iraq's Sulaimaniya province. There were no casualities, a local government official said.

BAGHDAD - One Katyusha rocket wounded five people near Hurriya district in northwestern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb wounded three people in Doura district in southern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi army forces surrounded a Shi'ite mosque and arrested five men and confiscated weapons in Shaab district in northern Baghdad, the Iraqi military said.

TIKRIT - A car bomb killed one person and wounded six others in central Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Three bodies were found in various districts of Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

BASRA - Gunmen killed two policemen in a drive-by shooting on a police patrol on Sunday in central Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.

SALAHUDDIN PROVINCE - One U.S. soldier was killed on Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers killed three militants after coming under attack on Sunday in Sadr City, in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

NINEVEH PROVINCE - Iraqi security forces arrested 56 wanted men during operations in in Nineveh province in northern Iraq, Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.
(Compiled by Aws Qusay, editing by Michael Georgy)

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL19570284




Monday, May 19, 2008 - 10:17 AM HAST
4,500 Hawaii-based soldiers to deploy to Iraq by end of the year
Pacific Business News (Honolulu)
Some 4,500 soldiers based at Hawaii's Schofield Barracks will be deployed to Iraq later this year, the Pentagon announced Monday.
Approximately 1,000 soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division Headquarters and 3,500 soldiers from the 25th Infantry's 3rd Brigade will deploy to Iraq starting in the fall and continuing through the end of the year. A spokeswoman at the 25th Infantry Division's public affairs office said the Pentagon has not set a firm date for their departure.
The Hawaii soldiers are part of a deployment involving about 25,000 soldiers from the 25th Infantry division headquarters and seven brigade combat teams.
There are currently 4,000 Hawaii-based soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade serving in Iraq. Those soldiers left in November and December for 15-month deployments.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2008/05/19/daily7.html




May 19, 2008, 11:42PM
More Texas troops headed to Iraq, Kuwait
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — More troops from Texas will be heading to Iraq and Kuwait.
The Defense Department on Monday announced four brigades from the Army National Guard will head overseas, including the 72nd Brigade Combat Team of the Texas National Guard.
DOD says the tasks will include base defense and route security in Iraq and Kuwait.
The Texas National Guard troops will begin deploying in spring 2009.
Also, the department said additional major units are scheduled to deploy, including one division headquarters and seven brigade combat teams.
Units receiving deployment orders include the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood. The deployment to Iraq begins in the fall.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/5790891.html




40,000 troops told of fall deployment
Some have served multiple tours; strength in Iraq, Afghanistan would be maintained
By David Wood Sun reporter
May 20, 2008
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon alerted about 40,000 active-duty and National Guard soldiers yesterday that they will be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in the fall, a sign that the military expects hard fighting to continue through late next year.
The new orders will maintain the overall strength in Iraq at 15 combat brigades, about 130,000 troops, for next year. That is approximately the number of troops deployed in Iraq before President Bush ordered 25,000 additional troops deployed in January 2007.
The new deployments also will enable the Pentagon to keep the number of troops in Afghanistan at about 33,000, the current level. But senior Pentagon officials have said they are weighing a request to increase the troop levels in Afghanistan by two or possibly three brigades, about 10,000 troops.
The deployment plans announced yesterday will involve units and soldiers who have served two or three tours lasting as long as 15 months. Several of the units have been home less than 12 months, apparently violating a Pentagon goal of allowing soldiers at least a year between combat deployments.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/world/iraq/bal-te.troops20may20,0,6573372.story



Despite Iraq alert, troops ready for storm season
by Paul Purpura, The Times-Picayune
Tuesday May 20, 2008, 5:07 PM
The day after the Defense Department announced a Louisiana Army National Guard infantry brigade has been alerted for an Iraq deployment, the Guard said it has the manpower and equipment needed to respond to storms in the hurricane season that begins in coming weeks.
More than 1,200 high-water military vehicles, from Humvees to tactical trucks, are available, and another 320 vehicles are due to arrive in the state before the end of June, Lt. Col. Michael Deville, the Guard's acting logistics officer, said in a statement released this afternoon.
The Guard has about 8,000 troops available for this year's hurricane season, according to the statement.
"If the governor directs, the soldiers and airmen of the Louisiana National Guard are fully prepared to assist civil authorities in the event of another natural disaster or catastrophic event," the Guard said in the statement.

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/05/despite_iraq_alert_troops_read.html



Local Guard units may return to Iraq
By Matthew Pleasant
Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 3:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 12:19 p.m.
HOUMA -- Local National Guard units may be deployed to Iraq in 2010, officials say, the second time they have traveled to the war-torn country in the past five years.
Units in Houma and Thibodaux are among more than 3,000 soldiers statewide attached the 256th Brigade Combat Team, who were alerted Monday for possible deployment by the Department of Defense.
The Houma and Thibodaux units have about 100 soldiers each, according to Maj. Michael Kazmierzak, a spokesman for the Louisiana National Guard.
"It’s an alert; they have not received mobilization orders," Kazmierzak said. "I can tell you that the entire brigade is alerted, and they are part of that brigade."

http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20080520/ARTICLES/805200325/1211/NEWS01&title=Local_Guard_units_may_return_to_Iraq




Local U.S. Army National Guard Soldiers To Be Deployed
POSTED: 1:27 pm EDT May 20, 2008
UPDATED: 1:36 pm EDT May 20, 2008
WASHINGTON, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania U.S. Army National Guard unit based in Washington, Washington County, will be going back to Iraq.
This is the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division.
The deployment includes the 128th Brigade Support Battalion in Beechview, the 110th Infantry Regiment in Mount Pleasant, the 107th Field Artillery in New Castle and the Second Brigade Troops Battalion in Johnstown.
The unit is expected to be deployed in late 2009.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/16340029/detail.html




256th Brigade alerted for Iraqi duty in 2010
By SANDY DAVIS
Published: May 20, 2008 - Page: 5A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.
The Department of Defense announced Monday that more than 3,000 soldiers from the Louisiana Army National Guard’s 256th Brigade Combat Team have been placed on alert for deployment to Iraq in 2010.
“An alert is a get ready to go, but it’s not a done deal,” said Maj. Michael Kazmierzak, a Louisiana National Guard spokesman.
“More than likely, the alert will be followed up with deployment orders and the soldiers need to be prepared to go.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/19089519.html




Four National Guard brigades alerted for 2009 Iraq Operations
May 19, 2008
The Department of the Army today joined the Department of Defense in announcing May 19 the alert of four Army National Guard Brigade Combat Teams for planned rotations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
More than 14,000 Army National Guard Soldiers are being notified by the Army to prepare for deployment to Iraq in 2009. These units are being informed in advance to provide them the opportunity to plan, conduct world-class training, and to provide some degree of predictability for the Citizen-Soldiers, their Families and their respective employers.
The 72nd Brigade Combat Team, Texas National Guard traces its lineage and honors back to the first iteration of the 36th Infantry Division, which was originally organized at Camp Bowie (Fort Worth), TX, on 18 July 1917, and which drew from units of the Texas and Oklahoma National Guard. The 72nd Brigade Combat Team includes Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 72nd Brigade; the 536th Forward Support Battalion; and the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 141st Infantry Regiment.

http://www.army.mil/-newsreleases/2008/05/19/9263-four-national-guard-brigades-alerted-for-2009-iraq-operations/




NC-based brigade scheduled for another Iraq tour
Posted: May. 19, 2008
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — The Department of Defense says a brigade of paratroopers from Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division will return to Iraq later this year as part of a regular rotation of troops.
The 3,500-member 3rd Brigade Combat Team is scheduled to deploy in the fall along with seven other major Army units. The 82nd Airborne said its brigade returned to North Carolina last September after a 15-month deployment to Iraq.
The Pentagon said the latest units will be deployed for 12 months instead of 15 months.
The 82nd said last week its 1st brigade would return from Iraq in July. Until the 3rd brigade leaves, the entire division will be at its home base for the first time in three years.

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/2908479/




DoD Announces Force Adjustments
The Department of Defense announced today the alert of additional major units scheduled to deploy in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The announcement involves four brigades from the Army National Guard.

All four brigades will have a security force mission and be assigned tasks to assure freedom of movement and continuity of operations in the country. Those tasks will include base defense and route security in Iraq and Kuwait.

These deployments will involve approximately 14,000 personnel who will begin deploying in the spring of 2009. They are receiving alert orders now in order to provide them the maximum time to complete their preparations. It also provides a greater measure of predictability for family members and flexibility for employers to plan for military service of their employees.

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=11933



Ghost Squadron Operates Out of a Historical Combat Outpost in Baghdad
1st BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq - A 'b-roll' video package story and Windows Media File radio beeper concerning Soldiers from 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, MND-B conducting operations from a historical combat outpost, is now available.
Soldiers from Bulldog Troop, 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment conduct clearing and security operations from a former Christian college and provide security for a historical Christian seminary and chapel in Baghdad's East Rashid District.
For the broadcast quality version of this video, please contact the Media Relations Staff with DVIDS at 678-421-6612 or e-mail news@dvidshub.net.
judythpiazza@newsblaze.com

http://newsblaze.com/story/20080519071708tsop.nb/newsblaze/IRAQ0001/Iraq.html




Maine unit alerted to possible deployment
By Portland Press Herald
Staff Report
May 20, 2008 09:40 AM
A Maine-based unit of a National Guard brigade received an alert order for possible deployment to Afghanistan in 2010 on Monday night, according to the Maine Army National Guard.
The unit in Brewer is one of the components of the 86th Brigade Combat Team from the Vermont National Guard. The approximately 160-member unit, Bravo Company, is part of the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry. The tour would be for 12 months.

http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/027336.html




DoD Announces Grey Wolf Deployment
By MAJ Steven Lamb, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs
May 20, 2008 - 11:20:48 AM
Blackanthem Military News
FORT HOOD, Texas - The Department of Defense announced the deployment of eight units to Iraq beginning in late fall and continuing through the end of 2008. The 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division is among those eight according to the May 19 news release.
"Our forces have been training and are ready to answer the call," says Maj. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger, commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division.
This marks the third tour for the combined arms, heavy-armored brigade, which is now under the command of Col. Gary Volesky.
Grey Wolf first deployed in 2004 for a year-long rotation in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II and has recently returned from a 15-month long deployment in support of OIF 06-08 in Iraq’s Diyala Province.

http://www.blackanthem.com/News/living/DoD-Announces-Grey-Wolf-Deployment16691.shtml

continued...

When there is a truce, normalcy in Iraq returns immediately. The USA Troops need to leave.

Sadr City, the truce is based on the fact the USA troops will not attend to security issues. The longer the USA deployments continue, the greater the risk for returning violence.

One might ask, why aren't the USA troops welcome?

US: 500 youths detained in Iraq; 10 in Afghanistan
Associated Press - May 19, 2008 5:43 AM ET
NEW YORK (AP) - The U.S. military is holding about 500 juveniles suspected of being "unlawful enemy combatants" in detention centers in Iraq.
A total of 2,500 youths under the age of 18 have been detained for periods of up to a year or more since President Bush's anti-terrorism campaign began in 2002. Almost all those who have been detained are in Iraq. About 10 are currently being held in Afghanistan.
The disclosure has been made by the United States to a U.N. committee on children.
The ACLU and other civil liberties groups have denounced the practice as abhorrent. And they say it's in violation of U.S. treaty obligations.

http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/story.asp?S=8344658&nav=8H3x

The Budapest Zoo