More tornadoes strike Kansas, Okla.

California Twin Tornadoes
Link :: http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?clip=10861&from=36hr_outlet_video&from=36hr_outlet_video

Rains Bring Flooding to NE Kansas (click here for video)
Posted: 1:45 PM May 22, 2008
Last Updated: 1:45 PM
May 22, 2008
One resident in Whiting, Kansas says 8 inches of rain fell in Whiting causing ditches to fill with water and some into raging streams. Water covered roads, washing out gravel covering the roads.
Highway 9 leading to Whiting was covered with water in a couple places.
In Valley Falls, the Delaware River and Peters creek was running strong with logs and other debris floating down stream.

May 22, 2008
Holton, Kansas
Photographer states :: These are pictures of the floods that swept Jackson and Jefferson Counties in Kansas on the morning/evening of May 22nd, 2008. This particular picture was taken of a dirt road that was completely flooded over. This was a common scene on many county roads.


May 22, 2008

Effingham, Kansas

Photographer states :: These are pictures of the floods that swept Jackson and Jefferson Counties in Kansas on the morning/evening of May 22nd, 2008. This particular picture was taken of HWY K-116 just outside of Larkinburg, KS. The road was completely flooded over because of the Delaware River and Elk Creek





May 22, 2008
Effingham, Kansas
Photographer states :: These are pictures of the floods that swept Jackson and Jefferson Counties in Kansas on the morning/evening of May 22nd, 2008. This particular picture was taken near Larkinburg, KS. The "Lake" you see is actually a field.




May 22, 2008
Holton, Kansas
Photographer states :: These are pictures of the floods that swept Jackson and Jefferson Counties in Kansas on the morning/evening of May 22nd, 2008. This Picture was taken out my friends back porch. Normally, you can't see the creek. Well, now you can.

May 23, 2008

Qinter, Kansas

Photographer states :: Photo of a large tornado near Quinter, Kansas on May 23rd, 2008.

-deputy coroner for Weld County, identified the victim as Oscar Michael Manchester, 52, who had been living in a camper in the area for several years.

New Round of Tornadoes (click here) - This is NOW. This is TODAY.
...Anyone in this region should stay tuned to local broadcasts, have an emergency plan in place for seeking shelter and be aware of any watches and warnings in effect....

May 22, 2008
Windsor, Colorado

The tornadoes and winds are toppling brick walls.


May 22, 2008
Windsor, Colorado
Photographer states :: Damage from today's Tornado in Windsor, Colorado


May 23, 2008
0330z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of North and West Earth Hemisphere (click here for current 12 hour loop)


May 23, 2008
0330z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite USA

May 22, 2008

Grainfield, Kansas

Photographer states :: Photo os a wallcloud with a developing tornado passing just to the north of our location on May 22nd, 2008. Photo copyright Mike Theiss

An old barn stands in a wheat field as a sever thunderstorm passes in the distance near Ogallah, Kan., Thursday, May 22, 2008. Severe thunderstorms dropped tornadoes across much of northwest Kansas. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

in Oberlin, KS, May 22 2008, while tornado sire...

escape forming tornado

Two Kansas Tornadoes

"We have a tornado, there is debris."

Tornado near Grainfield, KS, 22 May 2008

...another tornado the size of a small town? Really ? In Colorado ? Really ?

Rotating storm May 22, 2008 in Trego County Kansas

Barack Obama needs to stand his ground and do it without apologies. He's right. The conversation of the nation needs to be rehabilitated.

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

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