|
|
- "New
Year's Eve security especially tight: New York security
at record level." ... "U.S. authorities from coast to coast were on heightened
alert Wednesday for signs of possible terrorist attacks at New Year's Eve
celebrations, as the nation's alert status remained at high, or Code Orange."
... "New York City officials are putting thousands of police officers in
place. Times Square will be cleared of traffic at 4 p.m., and all visitors
who want to attend the night's celebration will have to go through magnetometers
-- or metal detectors -- and have their bags checked in order to get to
viewing areas." -CNN
- "NY
Mayor Hits Times Square Celebration Critics." ...
"New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg accused the head of a House of Representatives
panel on terrorism of lacking courage on Wednesday for shunning the traditional
Times Square New Year's eve celebration because of security worries."
-Reuters
- 
- "Ashcroft
steps aside from CIA leak probe." ... "John Ashcroft,
US attorney-general, on Tuesday stepped aside from a politically charged
investigation into the leak of the identity of an undercover Central Intelligence
Agency officer." ... "Patrick Fitzgerald, the US attorney in Chicago, will
take over the inquiry and report to James Comey, Mr Ashcroft's deputy at
the Department of Justice, which is running the investigation, and Christopher
Wray, assistant attorney-general." -By Marianne Brun-Rovet
-FT.com
- 
- "New
restrictions ban ill cattle in food supply." ...
"The Agriculture Department dramatically upgraded the country's defenses
against mad cow disease Tuesday, banning meat from all so-called downer
cows and promising to create a nationwide animal tracking system, steps
long advocated by critics." ... "These are ``very aggressive actions,''
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Tuesday, one week after the first
case of mad cow disease surfaced on U.S. soil in a Washington state Holstein
slaughtered on Dec. 9." -AP
via -StarTribune.com
-
- 
- "Ridge:
U.S. tightens security for New Year's." ... "With
New Year's on the way, security efforts across the United States have been
"ramped up in an unprecedented way" through the end of the week, Homeland
Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Tuesday." ... "The U.S. government will
keep the terror threat alert level at orange -- the second-highest on the
five-tiered, color-coded scale -- for the rest of the week as officials
remain concerned about airline security, Ridge said."
-CNN
- "FDA
Expected to Ban Herbal Weight-Loss Treatment Ephedra."
... "After years of debate, federal health officials are expected today
to announce they will act to remove the herbal weight-loss treatment Ephedra
from the marketplace, the first time the Food and Drug Administration has
moved to ban a dietary supplement, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported."
... "Ephedra, once widely taken to enhance athletic performance and as
a weight- loss aid, has been linked to heart problems and strokes and was
fingered in the death earlier this year of 23-year-old Baltimore Orioles
pitcher Steve Bechler." -Contributions by Sarah Lueck,
Anna Wilde Mathews and Stefan Fatsis -WSJ.com
-DJ via -Quicken.com
-
- "Prison terms
for female offenders now common in U.S.." ... "Nowhere
has there been more attention focused on that trend than in Oklahoma, where
the incarceration rate for women is more than double the national average.
The Legislature set up a task force this year to learn why. Nationally,
from 1993 through 2002, while overall crime was falling, the number of
women arrested rose 14.1 percent, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime
Report. In the same period, the number of men arrested fell 5.9 percent."
... "Some individual crimes show even more striking disparities. While
the number of men arrested on charges of aggravated assault fell 12.3 percent
in the decade, the number of women arrested on the same charge rose 24.9
percent. Drug arrests rose 34.5 percent a year for men in this period,
50 percent for women. And the number of women arrested on embezzlement
charges increased 80.5 percent, actually surpassing the number of men arrested
on the same charges, the only crime for which that is true." -By
Fox Butterfield -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
- 
-
-
- "US
expands air marshal plan abroad: Foreign flights
must comply if request issued." ... "The Department of Homeland Security
announced yesterday that it will require all foreign air carriers to place
an armed guard on any flight over United States airspace if counterterrorism
officials ask them to do so." ... "The move, described as an "emergency"
rules change that is effective immediately, reflects growing concern that
the Al Qaeda terrorist network may try to exploit foreign carriers as a
gap in US air security by hijacking their planes and flying them into populated
areas or high-risk industrial sites." -By Charlie
Savage -Boston/Globe
-
- 
- 
- 
- 
-
- 
- 
- "Iraq
arms hunt may hinder other U.S. aims." ... "In nine
months, not a single item has been found in Iraq from a long and classified
intelligence list of weapons of mass destruction which guided the work
of dozens of elite teams from Special Forces, the military, the CIA and
the Pentagon during the most secretive, expensive and fruitless weapons
hunt in history." ... "For U.S. allies, arms control experts and some involved
in the hunt, the lack of evidence in a war premised on the threat of proliferation
will have far reaching consequences in the coming year for the United States
in its efforts to curb Iran, North Korea, Syria and others." ... "While
some argue the Iraq war helped push open the doors of closed regimes such
as Libya and Iran, others say it has only strengthened convictions that
negotiations, U.N. inspections and sanctions work." -By
Dafna Linzer -AP
via -MercuryNews-BayArea
- "The
Growing Web." ... "When the Pew Internet and American
Life Project began chronicling the online medium in March 2000, 52 million
Americans logged onto the Internet each day. By this past August, that
figure had swelled 27 percent, to 66 million." -By
Lisa Napoli -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- 
- "Electronic
voting firm acknowledges hacker break-in." ... "A
Bellevue, Wash., company developing security technology for electronic
voting suffered an embarrassing hacker break-in that executives think was
tied to the rancorous debate over the safety of casting ballots online."
... "VoteHere confirmed Monday that U.S. authorities are investigating
a break-in of its computers months ago, when someone roamed its internal
computer network. The intruder accessed internal documents and may have
copied sensitive software blueprints that the company planned eventually
to disclose publicly." -By Ted Bridis
-AP via -USATODAY
- 
Sniper
- "Jury
sharply split in sparing sniper Malvo." ... "The
Virginia jury that spared the life of teen sniper Lee Boyd Malvo was apparently
sharply split, with five jurors favoring a death sentence but others saying
he was too young to be executed." ... "The jurors decided Tuesday -- after
nine hours of deliberation over two days -- to sentence the 18-year-old
to life without parole for his role in the Washington-area sniper slayings."
-CNN
- "U.S.
Reports First Case of Mad Cow Disease." ... "The
first U.S. case of the deadly mad cow disease, which devastated parts of
the European agriculture industry in the 1990s, was found in a sick animal
in Washington state, the Bush administration said on Tuesday." ... ""A
single Holstein cow from Washington state was tested as presumptive positive
for BSE or what is widely known as mad cow disease," U.S. Agriculture Secretary
Ann Veneman said at a news conference." (1, 2)
-By Randy Fabi and Richard Cowan-Reuters
-
- Christmas
News
- "Where
Christmas trees will stay up until April: One Army
town's bittersweet celebration." ... "The past nine months have been difficult
for families of soldiers at Fort Carson, an Army post south of Colorado
Springs. About 11,000 troops were deployed from Fort Carson to Iraq in
April. Most aren't expected to return until spring." ... "In many homes,
Christmas trees will stay up through the spring, with packages underneath
for returning soldiers and their stockings full and dangling from mantles."
-By Jeremy Meyer -CSMonitor
- 
- Anthrax
News
- "Judge
Halts Military's Required Anthrax Shots." ... "A
federal district judge ruled Monday that the Defense Department could not
compel members of the armed forces to be vaccinated against anthrax without
their consent." ... "The judge, Emmet G. Sullivan, issued a preliminary
injunction that prohibits Pentagon officials from "inoculating service
members without their consent."" ... "The judge found that the vaccine
in question, intended to protect military personnel against the potentially
deadly effects of inhaled anthrax, was "an investigational drug," being
used for an unapproved purpose." -By Robert Pear with
contributions by Thom Shanker -NYTimes
via -Google-News
Christmas
News
- "Last
Christmas Shopping Weekend Disappoints." ... "The
critical last weekend before Christmas didn't deliver the sale bonanza
merchants were hoping for, with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT,
news)
announcing that last-minute buying showed "some improvement" but wasn't
enough to offset weak business in the early part of the month." ... "In
the past few years, the Saturday before Christmas has been the busiest
day of the season. Last year, the Monday before Christmas was the second-biggest
sales day." -AP
via -Quicken.com
- "Attacks
possible during holidays; alert level raised to Orange."
... "The head of the Department of Homeland Security on Monday urged people
to "just go about your business" despite the decision to raise the national
terror-attack warning to its second-highest level." ... "After briefing
President Bush on Monday, Ridge reiterated to reporters that the intelligence
community considered the new threat "the most significant threat" to the
country since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." ... ""The information
we have indicates that extremists abroad are anticipating near-term attacks
that they believe will either rival or exceed" the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks,
Ridge had said in announcing the upgraded alert status on Sunday."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
-
- "[UK]
Intelligence officers had role in [Libya] deal."
... "MI6 officers and senior Foreign Office officials held a series of
secret meetings with Colonel Gadafy's closest advisers before agreement
with Libya was announced by Tony Blair and - soon afterwards - by George
Bush on Friday." ... "A key meeting took place at the Travellers Club in
Pall Mall, a traditional haunt of the intelligence community, last Tuesday.
It was attended by William Ehrman, director general of defence and intelligence
at the FO, David Landsman, head of the FO's counter-proliferation department,
and two MI6 officers." -By Richard Norton-Taylor
-Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- Time
Magazine's Person of the Year: 2003:
"The
American Soldier: They swept across Iraq and conquered
it in 21 days. They
stand guard on streets pot-holed with skepticism and rancor. They caught
Saddam Hussein. They are the face of America, its might and good will,
in a region unused to democracy. The U.S. G.I. is TIME's Person of the
Year" ... "" -By Nancy Gibbs
-Vol.
162 No. 26 20031229-20040105
-TIME.com
-
- "Nation's
Threat Level Rising to Orange: Government Raising
National Threat Warning From Yellow to Orange, Federal Official Says."
... "The government is raising the national threat warning from yellow,
the midpoint on its five-color scale, to orange, a federal official said
Sunday." ... "The warning was prompted in part by a raised level of ominous
intercepted communications that has not quieted for months. The significance
of the sustained level of intelligence "chatter" is unclear, the officials
said." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
- "120,000
in S.F. lose power after substation fire: First attempt
to restore some electricity falters." ... "Pacific Gas & Electric was
struggling to restore electricity in San Francisco late Saturday after
a fire at a major utility substation caused a massive power outage and
left 120,000 residential and business customers in the dark." -By
John Woolfolk -MercuryNews-BayArea
-
- 
- 
- Microsoft
News - "Microsoft
faces new antitrust battle." ... "A new front in
the Microsoft antitrust wars was opened on Thursday as rival software maker
RealNetworks accused the company of illegally trying to monopolise the
market for digital media software and said it would seek damages of more
than $1bn." -By Richard Waters and Scott Morrison
-FT.com
-
- 
- "Justice
Department endorses congressional redistricting by Texas Republicans."
... "The U.S. Department of Justice approved a Republican-backed congressional
redistricting map Friday, disappointing Democrats who staged two legislative
boycotts over redistricting and have sued over the new plan." ... "A federal
court panel considering legal challenges to the new map also gave Republicans
a victory Friday, ruling that that mid-decade redistricting is permissible
under state law." -By April Castro
-AP via -SFGate.com
- Sniper
- "Malvo
found guilty of capital murder." ... "Lee Malvo was
convicted Thursday of two counts of capital murder in the sniper attacks
that killed 10 people and terrorized the Washington, D.C., area just more
than a year ago." ... "Malvo was charged in the killing of Linda Franklin,
47, who was shot Oct. 14, 2002, in a Home Depot parking lot in Falls Church,
Va. In the first charge, the jury had to find that Malvo killed Franklin
and at least one other person within the past three years. Malvo also was
charged under Virginia's new anti-terrorism law, which makes killing while
committing a terrorist act a capital offense." -By
Laura Parker -USATODAY
-
-
- "Court:
President cannot detain U.S. citizen as enemy combatant."
... "In a setback to the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies,
a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the president does not have
the power to detain an American citizen seized on U.S. soil as an enemy
combatant." ... "In a 65-page decision, a three-judge panel of the 2nd
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 that the U.S. government must release
Jose Padilla from military custody within 30 days."
-CNN
- "Schwarzenegger
to Declare Money Emergency: Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger
to Declare Financial Emergency, Bypass Legislature to Help Cities." ...
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to declare a financial emergency and
bypass the Legislature to provide millions of dollars due cities and counties,
administration sources said." ... "To make up for $4 billion lost when
he cut the unpopular car tax, the governor will make a $40 million payment
to local governments to keep them from closing facilities and laying off
police officers and fire fighters, aides said Wednesday, speaking on condition
of anonymity." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- 
- 
- 
-
-
- "Iraq
Debt Relief Backing Rises, Hard Work Remains." ...
"The Paris Club of creditor states can agree a debt relief deal for Iraq
quickly but the agreement can be signed only when the country has an internationally
recognized leadership, the Paris Club's president said on Thursday." ...
"Increasing hopes that a deal will be reached, Britain said during a European
tour by U.S. special envoy James Baker that it backed the idea of a substantial
reduction in debts estimated at $120 billion." ... "The British comment
echoed similar political pledges made this week by France, Germany and
Italy after talks with Baker, who was visiting Britain and Russia on Thursday."
(1, 2)
-By Brian Love -Reuters
-
- "Ex-Ill.
Gov. Ryan Indicted on Corruption." ... "Former Gov.
George Ryan, who gained a worldwide reputation as a critic of the death
penalty, was indicted Wednesday on charges of taking payoffs in a corruption
scandal that shadowed his entire four years in office and cut short his
political career." ... "Prosecutors said the 69-year-old Republican and
his family took cash, gifts, vacations and other favors to steer state
business to friends and associates while he was governor and, before that,
Illinois secretary of state." -By Mike Robinson
-AP via-AJC
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "As
rivals sense a weak spot, Dean defends his stance on Iraq:
Kerry, Lieberman sharpen attacks." ... "Democrats trailing Howard Dean
in the presidential race said yesterday his statement that America is not
made safer by the capture of Saddam Hussein raises questions about his
political and national security judgment. The former Vermont governor responded
by casting himself as the victim of unjustified attacks and said such criticism
risks alienating the voters their party needs to win the White House in
2004." -By Glen Johnson
-Boston/Globe
-
-
- "Explosion
in Baghdad Kills at Least 10: Truck Loaded With Explosives
Rams Into a Small Bus in Baghdad, Killing at Least 10 People." ... "A truck
loaded with explosives rammed into a small bus near a police station Wednesday,
killing at least 10 Iraqis, an Iraqi deputy minister said. He blamed the
attack on Saddam Hussein loyalists angry over the former dictator's capture."
... "The explosion occurred before dawn in al-Bayaa, a poor district in
southwest Baghdad, police said. Two cars nearby were destroyed. U.S. soldiers
and Iraqi police secured the area after the explosion."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
-
- Consumer
News
- "Calpers
files lawsuit against NYSE." ... "The largest U.S.
public pension fund is taking the unprecedented step of suing the New York
Stock Exchange, alleging the embattled exchange condoned fraudulent practices
by specialist trading firms that cost investors at least $155-million (U.S.)."
... "The California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers), which
has assets of $148-billion (U.S.), filed the suit in U.S. court yesterday,
and is asking other investors to join it in a class action." -By
Shawn McCarthy -GlobeAndMail
- 
-
"Groups
Around the Nation Re-enact the Wright Brothers' First Flight."
... "One hundred years ago, a telegram arrived in Dayton, Ohio, at the
home of the Rev. Milton Wright." ... ""Success four flights thursday [sic]
morning all against twenty one mile wind," it began. "longest 57 seconds
inform Press home Christmas." It was signed with the misspelled name of
Orville Wright." ... "It makes history's first airplane flight sound almost
easy — as if the Wright Flyer had leapt into the air. But in fact, the
Wrights crept forward. The first flight was only 120 feet, and the plane
broke several struts when it landed." -By Ned Potter
-ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
-
-
- 
- "EU
Agrees to Share Airline Passenger Data." ... "The
European Union has agreed to share information about its airline passengers
with the United States, in a deal announced yesterday that ends year-long
negotiations over a new U.S. law intended to fight terrorism." ... "International
airlines will turn over data about their U.S.-bound passengers, such as
a traveler's name, e-mail address, telephone number and credit card number
to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection
unit." -By Sara Kehaulani Goo
-WashingtonPost
- 
- "US
Airways pilots union wants CEO, CFO out." ... "Pilots
union leaders at US Airways on Tuesday called for the removal of airline
CEO David Siegel and Chief Financial Officer Neal Cohen. Management's "failed
business strategies," not high labor costs, are behind the airline's continued
losses since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, union leaders
charged." -By Daniel Reed
-USATODAY
-
-
-
- "Coalition
fears confirmed as blasts kill eight." ... "Iraqi
insurgents confirmed US and British government fears that the arrest of
Saddam could galvanise them by mounting two attacks yesterday on police
stations, killing eight and injuring 22." ... "The fatal explosion occurred
at Husseiniya, north of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber sped through a fence
protecting a police station in a four-wheel drive packed with explosives.
It hit another car and detonated after guards opened fire. Six policemen
were killed, as well as the driver; about 20 people were wounded." -By
Ewen MacAskill and Richard Norton-Taylor -Guardian.co.uk
-
- Consumer
News - "It's
not called 'Can' Spam for nothing." ... "After six
years of wrangling over legislative ways to stop spam, Congress was still
faced with a fundamental choice: Give consumers control over the growing
flood of unwanted spam e-mail that fills their in-boxes, or give in to
the powerful advertising and marketing industries who want to be the ones
filling consumer in-boxes." ... "In the end, consumers lost." ... "The
Can-Spam Act, signed
into law Tuesday, is being touted as relief for the millions of consumers
beset with unwanted e-mail. But careful readers will notice that the law
is not called the "Can't-Spam" Act. There's a good reason: The law is little
more than an instructional guide for how to keep pumping out millions of
e-mails per hour while avoiding legal liability." -By
Ray Everett-Church -CNET/News
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Court
to enter fray over energy-policy task force: Supreme
Court will hear case alleging that industry leaders played a key role that
must be disclosed." ... "The US Supreme Court delivered a victory to the
White House Monday by agreeing to enter the long-running dispute over whether
Vice President Dick Cheney must publicly disclose details about the Bush
administration's energy policy task force." ... "The Supreme Court's decision
to take up the case is important for both political and constitutional
reasons. Even if a majority of justices rule against the White House, the
Supreme Court action could help the administration keep the task force
information under wraps for several more months and perhaps until after
the 2004 election, analysts say." -By Warren Richey
-CSMonitor
- ELECTION
2004 - "Senator
Breaux Won't Seek Re-election." ... "John B. Breaux,
a moderate Democratic senator and one of the few bipartisan dealmakers
left in Congress, announced Monday that he would not run for re-election
next year, becoming the fifth Southern Democrat to abandon the Senate."
... "Mr. Breaux, who has represented Louisiana in Congress for 31 years,
was often the senator Democrats and Republicans turned to when they needed
to cut through partisan gridlock and broker compromises, as Mr. Breaux
did on the recent Medicare legislation. His departure is seen not only
as a crippling blow to Democratic efforts to regain control of the Senate
but also as a setback to across-the-aisle cooperation, which is increasingly
rare these days." -By Jeffrey Gettleman -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
-
- Execution
News - "Analysis:
Putting Saddam on trial: The Iraqi Governing Council
intends to put Saddam Hussein on trial by an Iraqi court." ... "It is determined
to resist calls for an international tribunal. Saddam Hussein could face
the death penalty. It has been suspended by the occupation authorities
but could be reinstated by an Iraqi government." ... "That in itself would
be controversial. Britain, as a coalition partner, objects to execution
on principle. But Iraqis may want it." ... "The British Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw said that Iraqis would "express a strong preference" for a trial
in Iraq. International law, he said, also called for a domestic trial in
such cases if possible." ... "The United States is firmly behind the Iraqi
desire to try Saddam Hussein themselves" -By Paul
Reynolds
-BBC/News
-
-
- "Hussein's
Hovel Hideaway: Desposed Leader Told Captors He Wanted
to 'Negotiate'." ... "When the deposed Iraqi leader was pulled by U.S.
troops from a dank hole adjacent to the farmhouse Saturday, he told them
in English: "My name is Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq and
I want to negotiate."" ... "A U.S. Special Forces soldier replied: "Regards
from President Bush."" -By Alexandar Vasovic
-AP via -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "A
tip, high-tech surveillance and a GI with a shovel nab Saddam."
... "Perhaps a mile from his nearest palace, Saddam spent his final minutes
of freedom in an underground chamber of hard-packed dirt, just wide enough
to permit a man to recline. After decades as self-proclaimed heir to the
iconic 12th-century warrior known in the West as Saladin, Saddam surrendered
meekly without a shot from the pistol he clutched in his lap." ... "The
clues that led to Saddam's capture emerged three weeks ago, officials said,
when intelligence analysts and Special Operations forces shifted the focus
of their hunt from Saddam's innermost circle to the more distant relatives
and tribal allies who they suspected had been sheltering the deposed president."
... "The U.S. military and the CIA had formed a task force devoted exclusively
to finding Saddam and his top allies. Called Task Force 121, it is an interagency
team of CIA paramilitaries and "black," or unacknowledged, Special Operations
forces." -By Barton Gellman and Dana Priest with contributions
from Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Bradley Graham -WashingtonPost
via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
-
-
- "Ace
in the Hole: Saddam Hussein Captured Near Tikrit By U.S. Forces."
... "Saddam was in a six-to-eight-foot-deep "spider hole" that had been
camouflaged with bricks and dirt. The soldiers saw the hole, investigated
and found him inside, armed with a pistol, said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno,
the commander of the 4th Infantry Division that assisted in capturing the
leader." ... "Forces from the 4th Infantry Division along with Special
Forces captured Saddam, the U.S. military said. There were no shots fired
or injuries in the raid, called "Operation Red Dawn," said Lt. Gen. Richardo
Sanchez." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "Saddam
Captured Hiding in Hole Near Tikrit." ... "U.S. troops
captured Saddam Hussein hiding in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit in
a major coup for Washington's beleaguered occupying force in Iraq." ...
"Grubby, bearded and "very disorientated," the 66-year-old fallen dictator
was dug out by troops from a cramped hiding pit during a raid on a farm
in Ad-Dawr village late Saturday, U.S. Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno told a news
conference in Tikrit." (1, 2,
3)
-By Joseph Logan -Reuters
-
-
- GENETICS
- "DNA
meets Death Row: Testing guilt and the system." ...
"Inside a walk-in freezer in a Richmond, Calif., laboratory sits a tiny
vial that holds one-fifth of one drop of a 20-year-old sperm sample. It
is forensic DNA evidence extracted from the body of a brutally murdered
young bride, evidence that no one is permitted by law to touch, evidence
that-if tested-could determine whether an innocent man was executed in
Virginia 11 years ago." ... "Since DNA “fingerprinting” began to revolutionize
criminal forensics in the late 1980s with precise identifications, it has
freed more than 130 convicts, 12 of whom have walked off death row. But
in other cases, prosecutors have successfully blocked the testing of DNA
before an execution and then fought posthumous tests just as vigorously."
-By Lois Romano with contributions by researchers
Lucy Shackelford and Alice Crites -WashingtonPost
-
-
-
-
- "Bush:
Halliburton Must Pay for Overcharge: Bush Says U.S.
Expects Halliburton to Repay Money if Company Overcharged for Gasoline
in Iraq." ... "President Bush said Friday that Vice President Dick Cheney's
former company should repay the government if it overcharged for gasoline
delivered in Iraq under a controversial prewar contract." ... "Pentagon
auditors say the company charged up to $61 million too much for delivering
gasoline to Iraqi citizens under a no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq's dilapidated
oil industry. Halliburton denies overcharging."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
-
-
- "Prosecutors
get delay in case against ex-chaplain." ... "The
criminal proceedings against Captain James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain
at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, charged with mishandling classified data,
fell into confusion and stalled as prosecutors asked for extra time to
determine whether documents found in Yee's luggage when he was leaving
the base were, in fact, classified." ... "The hearing was postponed Tuesday
until Jan. 19 to give the prosecutors time to review the documents that
set off a major investigation into whether Yee was a spy, a contention
from which the government has since distanced itself." -By
Neil A. Lewis -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
- 
- 
- "US,
China find a new middle way: Chinese premier's visit
reflects a relationship characterized less by rivalry than moderation."
... "The welcome accorded Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Washington
this week highlights how much US-Chinese relations have improved since
the first months of the Bush administration." ... "This doesn't mean these
two giants of the world economy have become strategic partners, as Clinton
officials had hoped. From trade to Taiwan, there are too many differences
between them for that. But neither have they become strategic competitors,
as the Bush team once predicted they might." -By Peter
Grier and Amelia Newcomb -CSMonitor
- "Religious
upsurge brings culture clash to college campuses."
... "It's a rainy Thursday night, a few days before finals, and Northwestern
University's campus is deserted. But students can hear the raucous music
emanating from one old stone building long before they step inside." ...
"Religion on campus - particularly evangelical groups like this one - is
thriving these days, but it doesn't always find an easy home in the intellectual,
secular world of higher education. For instance, Campus Crusade for Christ,
which sponsors the Thursday gatherings, has butted heads with the administration
here over a questionnaire on religious interest that the group gives to
freshmen. Other schools are dropping the college chaplaincy, seeing it
as an outdated tradition." -By Amanda Paulson
-CSMonitor
-
-
-
-
-
-
- "Pentagon
Bars Three Nations From Iraq Bids." ... "The Pentagon
has barred French, German and Russian companies from competing for $18.6
billion in contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, saying it was acting
to protect "the essential security interests of the United States."" ...
"The directive, issued Friday by Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense
secretary, represents the most substantive retaliation to date by the Bush
administration against American allies who opposed its decision to go to
war in Iraq." ... "Under the guidelines, only companies from the United
States, Iraq and 61 countries designated "coalition partners" will be allowed
to bid on the contracts. France, Germany and Russia are not on the list."
(1, 2)
-By Douglas Jehl -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- Water
- "High
Court Rules For Va. Over Md. In Water Dispute: Potomac
Battle Dates Back Centuries." ... "The Supreme Court yesterday settled
a centuries-old dispute over control of the Potomac River in favor of Virginia,
ruling that Maryland has no right to regulate the commonwealth's withdrawals
of drinking water from the river." ... "By a vote of 7 to 2, the justices
essentially affirmed what a court-appointed special master had already
decided: that although an 1877 arbitration decision affirmed Maryland's
sovereignty over the entire riverbed, it also preserved Virginia's rights
to extend water-intake pipes into the middle of the stream -- and Virginia
had not forfeited those rights by submitting to some Maryland regulation
in recent years." (1, 2)
-By Charles Lane and Maria Glod with contributions
by Craig Whitlock
-WashingtonPost
- 
-
- "Supreme
Court upholds 'soft money' ban." ... "A sharply divided
Supreme Court upheld key features of the nation's new law intended to lessen
the influence of money in politics, ruling Wednesday that the government
may ban unlimited donations to political parties." ... "Those donations,
called "soft money," had become a mainstay of modern political campaigns,
used to rally voters to the polls and to pay for sharply worded television
ads." ... "The new rules have been in force during the early stages of
preparation for the 2004 elections for president and Congress."
-AP via -CNN
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Campaign
Finance Law's Key Parts Upheld." ... "The U.S. Supreme
Court on Wednesday upheld the two key parts of landmark campaign finance
law designed to curb the influence of money in politics, a ruling affecting
the 2004 and future presidential and congressional elections." -By
James Vicini -Reuters
via -Wired
-
-
- 
- 
-
- "Rigging
election boundaries: When does it go too far? The
Supreme Court Wednesday takes up a case on political gerrymandering that
could affect districts across the US." ... "Now, for the first time in
17 years, the US Supreme Court has taken up a case to determine whether
at some point political gerrymandering becomes so egregious as to violate
safeguards in the Constitution." ... "There are alternatives to heavily
partisan gerrymandering. Four states -Arizona, Iowa, New Jersey, and Washington
- use commissions to draw congressional districts. But the combination
of increasingly detailed census information and mapping software has made
gerrymandering too attractive to party leaders." -By
Warren Richey -CSMonitor
-
-
- "War
Crimes Court Established for Iraq." ... "Iraq's U.S.-appointed
interim government established a war crimes tribunal Wednesday to try former
members of Saddam Hussein's regime, and two U.S. soldiers were killed and
four wounded in a northern city." ... "Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, president of
Iraq's Governing Council, said the new tribunal will cover crimes committed
from July 17, 1968 the day Saddam's Baath Party came to power until May
1, 2003 the day President Bush declared major hostilities over."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "Bush
sides with China over Taiwan referendum." ... "President
George W. Bush yesterday underlined the growing importance the US attaches
to its relationship with China by bluntly telling Taiwan to drop plans
for a referendum that would be interpreted as a unilateral move towards
independence." ... "Mr Bush urged both sides to refrain from provocative
actions and not to challenge the status quo of the "one China" policy."
... "But typically loyal neo-conservatives, who have long viewed China
as the emerging strategic threat to the US, rounded on Mr Bush, accusing
him of suppressing the democratic aspirations of the Taiwanese." -By
Guy Dinmore -FT.com
- 
- "Inspired
by a Movie, Brothers Win a National Science Contest."
... "In the 1999 movie "October Sky," the teenage sons of coal mine workers
in rural West Virginia build rockets and improbably wind up winning a national
science contest." ... "That movie inspired two brothers from Connecticut,
the sons of a nuclear engineer and a special education teacher, who took
top honors as a team in this year's Siemens Westinghouse Math, Science
and Technology competition." -By David M. Herszenhorn
-NYTimes
via-Google-News
-
- 
-
- "Effects
of Pennsylvania remap case may ripple to Texas: High
court to hear arguments on whether state's lines too partisan." ... "Along
the banks of the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, there's a street
called Lincoln Avenue in a town called Charleroi. And improbable as it
seems, the future of Texas politics could reside there." ... "On one side
is the home of Frank Mascara. On the other is the rest of the U.S. House
district he used to represent. Such craftsmanship cost Mr. Mascara and
three other Democratic congressmen their jobs last year." ... "The Supreme
Court has never thrown out a redistricting plan on the grounds of partisan
gerrymandering. But it will hear arguments Wednesday on the Pennsylvania
map, and the implications could be huge for Texas, whose own new districts
are under assault in federal court this week." -By
Todd J. Gillman -DallasNews.com
ELECTION
2004 - "Transcript:
Democratic Presidential Debate in Durham, N.H." (1,
2,
3,
4,
5)-WashingtonPost
ELECTION
2004 - "Al
Gore endorses Howard Dean: Gore: 'One candidate clearly
now stands out'." ... "Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean's bid for the Democratic
Party's presidential nomination on Tuesday, substantially deepening Dean's
fast-developing drive for dominance in the nine-candidate field of would-be
challengers to President Bush." ... ""I'm very proud and honored to endorse
Howard Dean to be the next president of the United States of America,"
Gore said." -Contributed to by John King and Kelly
Wallace -CNN
-
-
- "Exceptions
to Miranda rule: Are they constitutional? The Supreme
Court hears three cases this week that could clarify the scope of defendant
rights." ... ""You have the right to remain silent. If you give up this
right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of
law; you have a right to counsel ..."" ... "Although such warnings have
become widely known, they have remained a source of controversy within
the law-enforcement community ever since the US Supreme Court endorsed
the practice in the 1966 landmark case Miranda v. Arizona. This week, the
US Supreme Court takes up three cases all dealing with police attempts
to bypass the Miranda warnings at crucial stages of an investigation."
-By Warren Richey -CSMonitor
-
- "Car
Bomb Injures 31 U.S. Troops in Iraq." ... "A car
bomb attack on barracks near the northern city of Mosul early Tuesday wounded
31 American soldiers, mainly with flying debris and glass, the military
said. The injuries were not life-threatening." ... "The attack came less
than a day after insurgents shot and killed a soldier from the Army's 101st
Airborne Division as he guarded a gas station in Mosul, 250 miles north
of Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said in Baghdad." ... "A total of 448
U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion on March 20.
Of those, 308 died in hostile action." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "Iraq's
students say, 'Welcome back, professor'." ... "In
recent months, university presidents report that dozens of professors have
returned from exile and are looking to get their jobs back. At the US-led
Ministry of Higher Education, staffed by expatriate professors, hundreds
more have e-mailed from England, the US, and the Netherlands to inquire
about returning. They also want to offer donations and scholarships, and
to start partnerships." -By Christina Asquith
-CSMonitor
-
-
- "Bush
Whacked Online: Search Engine Trick Lists President
as ‘Miserable Failure’" ... "Type in "miserable failure" on the Google
Web site and the first Web link most likely to show up will take you directly
to the official online biography for the current occupant of the Oval Office.
(The trick will also sometimes work on Yahoo! and other search engines.)"
... ""This is not a political statement from Google, but rather a reflection
of a recent Web phenomenon," says a spokesman for Google in Mountain View,
Calif. "In this case, a select group of Web masters used the words [miserable
failure] to describe and link to George Bush's Web site."" ... "In other
words: the president has just been the latest victim of a "Google bomb,"
a crafty but simple manipulation of how the well-known online search engine
works." (1, 2,
3))
-By Paul Eng -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Justices
sympathetic to execution appeal: Criticize prosecutors
in 1980 Texas trial." ... "Even conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin
Scalia, a staunch death penalty supporter, couldn't help the lawyer for
the state of Texas on Monday to defend the conduct of prosecutors during
a 1980 capital murder trial." ... "In the end, it appeared to be a very
good day for Delma Banks Jr., one of the country's longest-serving death
row inmates and whose execution the high court halted with 10 minutes to
spare earlier this year." ... "The justices will decide Banks' case by
next summer." -By Patty Reinhart
-HoustonChronicle.com
-
-
- "More
women aspiring to be doctors." ... "For the first
time ever, women outnumbered men among people applying to U.S. medical
schools for this fall -- a milestone in the slow but steady increase in
the number of aspiring female doctors." ... "Women have yet to surpass
the number of men actually entering medical school. Nationwide this fall,
women were closer than ever to making up the majority of new students,
constituting 49.7 percent of the entering class of more than 16,500."
-AP via -CNN
-
- "No
Exams Required: Pharmacist Nailed for Online Drug Sales."
... "Francine Haight will never forget the day she found her son Ryan,
a high school senior, lifeless, in his bed." ... "It turned out that some
of the drugs that killed the La Mesa, Calif., teen on Feb. 12, 2001 came
from nationpharmacy.com, a Norman, Okla.-based Internet drug store owned
by pharmacist Clayton Fuchs, who also ran other similar Web sites." ...
"In October, a federal jury convicted Fuchs, 33, on six felony offenses
including conspiracy to dispense a controlled substance, operating a continuing
criminal enterprise and money laundering. Prosecuted under the Drug Kingpin
Statute, he faces 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Feb.
11." (1, 2,
3)
-By Greg Hunter -ABCNEWS.com
-
- 
- 
-
-
-
- "North
Korea guarantee may pave way to accord." ... "The
Bush administration has agreed with South Korea and Japan to a broadly
worded set of principles to end North Korea's nuclear program, calling
for a ``coordinated'' set of steps in which five nations would offer North
Korea a security guarantee as it begins a verifiable disassembly of its
nuclear facilities, according to Bush administration and Asian officials."
... "The statement is being sent to China's leaders today, the officials
said, in hopes that Beijing will pass them on this week to Kim Jong Il,
the North Korean leader. But officials said that North Korea may judge
the offer far too vague, in part because it sets no timetable for energy
or economic aid to the country, and because it would require inspections
of suspect facilities that have never before been opened." -By
David Sanger -NYTimes
via -RegisterGuard
-
- "Bush
Signs $400B[illion] Medicare Overhaul Bill." ...
"Overall, the new law will carry out the most extensive changes since Medicare's
creation in 1965. It adds a prescription drug benefit beginning in 2006.
At the same time, it encourages insurance companies to offer private plans
to millions of older Americans who now receive health care benefits under
terms fixed by the federal government. Leading Democrats have charged this
would lead to the destruction of the Medicare program as it was designed
at its inception during the Johnson administration."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- Civil
Liberties News
- "Outkast
Denied By U.S. Supreme Court In Rosa Parks Case."
... "The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition by Outkast and
their record labels asking the court to intervene in a lawsuit involving
civil-rights icon Rosa Parks and the rap duo's Grammy-nominated single
bearing her name. The move clears the way for Parks to sue Outkast for
what she claims is false advertising." -MTV.com
/ News
- 
-
"Major
Afghan offensive launched." ... "The U.S. military
has launched a major ground operation in Afghanistan in an effort to eliminate
the remnants of al Qaeda and the Taliban regime overthrown in 2001." ...
"Military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty described "Operation Avalanche",
which began over the weekend, as the largest ground operation yet in Afghanistan."
... "Between 2,000 and 11,500 soldiers will be dispatched in east and south
Afghanistan to go after Taliban and al Qaeda militants, he said."
-CNN
-
-
-
-
- "Iraq
delays hand Cheney firm $1bn: ·Key contract
decisions postponed again. ·Blair drawn into row over lack of 'level
playing fields'." ... "Halliburton, the engineering group formerly run
by US vice-president Dick Cheney, has been given $1 billion worth of reconstruction
work in Iraq by the US government without having to compete for it, thanks
to repeated delays in opening up a key contract to competition." ... "The
cost-plus contract means the amount spent by the US Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE), which is running the work, is open-ended, rather than being fixed
at the outset, because the scope of the damage was unknown. The USACE described
the contract as a 'bridge to competition', but original plans to award
the work competitively in August have repeatedly slipped. So far, $1.7bn
has been made available to Halliburton for the work." -By
Oliver Morgan -Observer.co.uk
via -Guardian.co.uk
- Christmas
News
- Water
- "Powerful
storm buries Northeast in foot of snow." ... "The
finale of a powerful, two-day storm roared across the New York metropolitan
area and played out over the Northeast yesterday, burying parts of the
region in a foot of snow that set records, slowed travel, challenged Christmas
shoppers and transformed the landscape into vistas as uncluttered as early
maps of America." ... "The snowstorm, a 450-mile-wide galaxy swirling counterclockwise
on satellite pictures and a thing of awesome beauty on the ground, was
the biggest on record for early December in New York, and it packed the
wallop of heavy-duty winter blows more typical of January and February."
-NYTimes
and -AP via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
-
-
-
- "Passing
on the lessons from Pearl Harbor: Those who lived
through the attack and WWII reflect on impact of war." ... "On Dec. 7,
1941, six Japanese aircraft carriers positioned 200 miles north of Oahu
launched 181 attack planes toward the slowly waking port of Pearl Harbor
and at U.S. military airfields elsewhere on the island. The two- stage
attack killed 2,403 Americans, including 68 civilians -- men, women and
children." ... "The attack destroyed or damaged 21 ships of the U.S. Pacific
fleet and 347 airplanes. The Japanese lost 29 planes." -By
Matthew B. Stannard -SFGate.com
-
- 
- "Tough
New Tactics by U.S. Tighten Grip on Iraq Towns."
... "As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American
soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire." ... "In selective
cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by
Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected
guerrillas, in hopes of pressuring the insurgents to turn themselves in."
... "The Americans embarked on their get-tough strategy in early November,
goaded by what proved to be the deadliest month yet for American forces
in Iraq, with 81 soldiers killed by hostile fire. The response they chose
is beginning to echo the Israeli counterinsurgency campaign in the occupied
territories." (1, 2)
-By Dexter Filkins -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
-
-
- "Arizonans
to visit Cuba base: McCain, Flake to inspect Guantanamo."
... "Sen. John McCain and U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake will make separate visits
next week to the U.S. detention center where suspected terrorists are being
held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." ... "The trips by the two Republican lawmakers
from Arizona come as the government, under increasing domestic and international
pressure, moves toward releasing 100 or more prisoners and putting others
on trial in military courts after as long as two years." -By
Billy House and Jon Kamman -azcentral.com
-
-
- "Spy
Satellites Used to Look for Damage on Space Station."
... "NASA has enlisted U.S. spy satellites and taken other measures to
inspect the exterior of the international space station for signs of any
damage that might explain a strange metallic crunching noise that was heard
by the two astronauts on board in the middle of the night of Nov. 26."
... NASA has also shifted steering control of the orbiting laboratory to
Russian-built thrusters while engineers study a new problem in the ailing
U.S.-built gyroscope system, spaceflight officials said yesterday." -By
Kathy Sawyer -WashingtonPost
-
- "Iraq
council wishes to stay on; Washington seen likely to grant extension."
... "Most members of Iraq's Governing Council want the U.S.-appointed body
to stay beyond July 1, the date set for a provisional Iraqi government
to take office." ... "The coalition agreement on handing sovereignty back
to Iraqis says the 25-seat interim body must cease to exist. But the Bush
administration, faced with mounting military casualties in Iraq and a re-election
campaign, could consider granting the council members' wishes to stay as
a small price to pay for the implementation of the political plan." -By
Hamza Hendawi -AP
via -Boston/Globe
- 
- 
-
-
- "Rumsfeld
Visits Georgia to Bind a Strategic Partnership."
... "The United States views Georgia as a strategic partner, in part for
its location, along an arc of instability in a region thought to be a crossroads
for terrorists. A pipeline set to open in 2005 linking Azerbaijan, which
Mr. Rumsfeld visited Thursday, and Turkey, NATO's only Islamic member,
runs across Georgia, as well." ... "Georgia's leaders, describing the desperate
state of their temporary government, said the treasury was so empty that
they had asked the United States to consider helping pay soldiers' salaries.
Satisfying the armed forces is viewed as important to keeping the peace
ahead of Jan. 4 elections." -By Thom Shanker -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "Bush
Names Baker Envoy on Iraqi Debt: President Bush Names
Ex-Secretary of State James A. Baker III Envoy on Addressing Iraq Debt."
... "President Bush on Friday called on a longtime family troubleshooter,
former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, to oversee the job of getting
Iraq out from under its crushing $125 billion debt." ... "As the president's
personal envoy on the issue, Baker will tackle a major problem in the rebuilding
of Iraq. Iraq's debt carries annual servicing charges of $7 billion to
$8 billion." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
-
- "Guantanamo
Bay Detainee Is First to Be Given a Lawyer: Move
Is Sign That Australian Alleged Al Qaeda Fighter May Be Tried by Tribunal."
... "An Australian detainee at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba last night
became the first prisoner there to be given a lawyer, a strong indication
that he is on track to be the first alleged al Qaeda fighter in detention
to go before a military tribunal, according to informed sources." ... "But
a source said Muslim adventurer and former cowboy David Hicks may never
be tried before one of the special military courts because the U.S. government
is working on a plea bargain with him. He has been accused of associating
with al Qaeda and other terrorist groups." -By John
Mintz -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Blast
Near U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan: Explosion Occurred
Near U.S. Embassy in Afghan Capital of Kabul; No Injuries Reported." ...
"The blast occurred after U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld met
with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and held a news conference with him
at the Presidential Palace in another part of the city. But it was not
known if Rumsfeld was still in Kabul when the explosion occurred."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- Tucson
News - "High
court clears Raytheon in refusal to rehire worker:
Drug user accused Tucson [Arizona] plant of bias." ... "[U.S. Supreme Court]
Justices ruled 7-0 that a Raytheon Co. plant in Tucson has a legitimate
reason to refuse to rehire workers who break rules, including former employees
with addictions." ... "But the court dodged the more significant question,
whether the more than 5 million workers with substance-abuse problems have
workplace protection under the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act."
-By Gina Holland -AP
via -azcentral.com
-
-
-
-
- "White
House Seeks to Soften Mercury Rules." ... "The Bush
administration is working to undo regulations that would force power plants
to sharply reduce mercury emissions and other toxic pollutants, according
to a government document and interviews with officials." ... "The Nov.
26 document makes the case that the Environmental Protection Agency, under
President Bill Clinton, misread the Clean Air Act's requirements and that
there are less onerous ways to reduce the emissions." -By
Eric Pianin -WashingtonPost
-
-
-
- "Bush
Is Urged to Maintain Import Tariffs for Steel." ...
"President Bush got a taste of the treacherous nature of trade politics
on Tuesday, hearing last-ditch pleas from some of his own supporters not
to proceed with plans to lift tariffs protecting the steel industry from
international competition." ... "What was supposed to be a quick trip here,
to a town once proudly known as Steel City, turned instead into a series
of low-key but high-stakes confrontations over the prospect that Mr. Bush
will soon announce a decision to cut off the tariffs, potentially hurting
steel makers, their employees and suppliers in Pennsylvania and other industrial
states like West Virginia and Ohio that are closely divided politically."
-By Richard W. Stevenson contributions by Elizabeth
Becker -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "Iraqi
'big fish' eludes US forces." ... "US forces were
conducting a big search and sweep operation last night in the town of Hawija,
30 miles west of Kirkuk. But they denied reports they had captured or killed
Izzat Ibrahim, a longtime Saddam Hussein confidant who is No 6 on the US
list of most wanted. A $10m (£5.78m) reward has been put up for his
capture." ... ""He was definitely not captured in today's mission," said
Major Doug Vincent of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Like Saddam, Ibrahim
disappeared after the US invasion and since has been widely rumoured to
be in hiding in the northern city of Mosul and Sunni areas north of Baghdad,
coordinating guerrilla attacks against American soldiers and Iraqis working
with the coalition authority." -By Michael Howard
-Guardian.co.uk
- "Police:
12 shootings in Ohio connected." ... "Authorities
have linked 12 shootings along a five-mile stretch of interstate around
Columbus, including one that killed a woman and another that broke a window
at an elementary school." ... "Four of the shootings — three at vehicles
and one at the school last month — were from the same gun, Franklin County
Sheriff's Chief Deputy Steve Martin said Tuesday." ... "Although ballistics
tests could not link the rest of the shootings along Interstate 270, investigators
said they "are comfortable" saying all 12 are connected, he said. He would
not elaborate." -AP
via -USATODAY
- ELECTION
2004 - "Economic
news isn't so bright in key states." ... "When unexpectedly
good job numbers suggested the long U.S. economic slump was finally over,
it looked as if Democrats would lose one of the weapons they had planned
to use to unseat President Bush next year. But persistently weak job markets
in a handful of crucial states still pose a serious threat to Republicans."
-By Peronet Despeignes
-USATODAY
-
-
- "Pentagon
freezes Boeing contract: The US military has put
an $18bn deal to buy Boeing tanker aircraft on hold." ... "The Defence
Department said the deal would be frozen pending an inquiry into Boeing's
links with a former Pentagon procurement official." ... "The official,
Darleen Druyun, discussed a possible job with Boeing before she had disqualified
herself from government service." ... "Ms Druyun was involved in the Pentagon's
decision to award the tanker contract to Boeing."
-BBC/News
-
-
- WalMart
- "The
Wal-Mart You Don't Know." ... "The giant retailer's
low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure
can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs
overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line?" ...
"Wal-Mart is not just the world's largest retailer. It's the world's largest
company--bigger than ExxonMobil, General Motors, and General Electric.
The scale can be hard to absorb. Wal-Mart sold $244.5 billion worth of
goods last year. It sells in three months what number-two retailer Home
Depot sells in a year. And in its own category of general merchandise and
groceries, Wal-Mart no longer has any real rivals. It does more business
than Target, Sears, Kmart, J.C. Penney, Safeway, and Kroger combined. "Clearly,"
says Edward Fox, head of Southern Methodist University's J.C. Penney Center
for Retailing Excellence, "Wal-Mart is more powerful than any retailer
has ever been." It is, in fact, so big and so furtively powerful as to
have become an entirely different order of corporate being." ... "Wal-Mart
wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices
to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never reached. The retailer
has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change,
the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after
year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000
suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the
power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in
the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles
to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor
of outsourcing products from overseas." -By Charles
Fishman with contributions by Andrew Moesel Issue
77 -FastCompany.com
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Colo.
justices overturn voter districts: Redistricting
case could influence 2004 national elections." ... "In a decision that
could have national implications, the Colorado Supreme Court threw out
the state’s new congressional districts Monday because the GOP-led Legislature
redrew the maps in violation of the constitution. The General Assembly
is required to redraw the maps only after each census and before the ensuing
general election — not at any other time, the court said in a closely watched
decision. A similar court battle is being waged in Texas."
-AP via -MSNBC
-
- "Boeing
CEO Condit resigns From Staff and wire reports."
... "Boeing (BA)
Chairman and CEO Phil Condit resigned unexpectedly only days after the
huge aerospace manufacturer fired two other Boeing officials for an alleged
ethics breach." ... "The departure of Condit, 62, follows last week's firing
of Chief Financial Officer Michael Sears for discussing job possibilities
with Darleen Druyun while Druyun was still working as a top Air Force procurement
official and was helping Boeing win support for a major Air Force contract."
-USATODAY
-
- 
- Free-Speech
- "Texas
court to rule: Can fiction be libel?" ... "Shortly
after a Texas county judge had 13-year-old Christopher Beamon jailed for
five days for writing a Halloween essay about the shooting of a teacher,
the Dallas Observer parodied the news item with a fictional account of
its own." ... "In a satirical piece, the same judge, Darlene Whitten, was
portrayed jailing a 6-year-old girl for writing a book report on Maurice
Sendak's children's classic "Where The Wild Things Are," said to contain
"cannibalism, fanaticism, and disorderly conduct."" -By
John C. Ryan -CSMonitor
-
-
- "Iraq council
resists powerful cleric: Majority backs U.S.
plan for picking interim government." ... "A majority of Iraq’s U.S.-appointed
Governing Council has decided to support an American plan to select a provisional
government through regional caucuses despite objections from the country’s
most powerful Shiite Muslim cleric, according to several council members."
... "The council's stance, the result of intense lobbying over the past
few days by the U.S. administrator of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, could result
in a dramatic showdown with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who has insisted
that a provisional government be chosen through a national election. If
the council persists in supporting the American plan, many in Iraq’s Shiite
majority, who regard the grand ayatollah as their supreme spiritual authority,
may reject the provisional government as illegitimate." -By
Rajiv Chandrasekaran -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
-
-
- "Officer
charged with Guantanamo security breach." ... "Col.
Jackie Duane Farr is the fourth man assigned to intelligence operations
at Guantanamo Bay accused of mishandling classified information." ... "Until
recently, Farr was director of the intelligence collection operation in
the so-called Joint Interrogations Group, said Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, a
Guantanamo spokeswoman. The group has teams of interrogators and analysts
who weekly question about half of the 660 prisoners being held at Camp
Delta, a sprawling prison camp for captives taken in Afghanistan in the
War on Terror." -By Carol Rosenberg-Miami/Herald
-
-
- "Battle
lines are drawn in Chrysler's 'takeover' case." ...
"When Kirk Kerkorian (pictured) steps into the witness box on Monday or
Tuesday, the billionaire casino magnate will make an extraordinary claim:
Daimler-Benz, Germany's oldest carmaker, tricked him into selling his stake
in Chrysler, one of the biggest names in US automobile making, on the cheap."
... "He is seeking $1.2bn in damages, with a possibility of $3bn in punitive
damages." -By James Mackintosh
-FT.com
ELECTION
2004 - "Bush
reelection team looking to register 3 million voters."
... "President Bush's reelection team, anticipating another close election,
has begun to assemble one of the largest grass-roots organizations of any
modern presidential campaign, using enormous financial resources and lack
of primary opposition to seize an early advantage over the Democrats in
the battle to mobilize voters in 2004." ... "Bush's campaign website already
has signed up 6 million supporters, 10 times the number that Democratic
presidential candidate Howard Dean has, and the Bush operation is in the
middle of an unprecedented drive to register 3 million new Republican voters.
The campaign has set county vote targets in some states and has begun training
thousands of volunteers who will recruit an army of door-to-door canvassers
for the final days of the election next November." -By
Dan Balz and Mike Allen-WashingtonPost
via -Boston/Globe
-
- "U.S.
military: Iraqi rebels displayed greater coordination in Samarra ambushes."
... "One of the bloodiest engagements since the fall of Saddam Hussein
showed a new, deadlier side of the Iraqi insurgency: stepped up, coordinated
assaults by groups of guerrillas bent on battle rather than a hit-and-run
attack, the U.S. military said Monday." ... "''Here it seems they had the
training to stand and fight,'' said Capt. Andy Deponai, whose tank was
hit by a rocket-propelled grenade during the firefight Sunday in Samarra,
north of Baghdad. Residents disputed U.S. assertions that dozens of Iraqi
fighters died, saying fewer than 10 were killed and that most of those
were civilians." -By Sabah Jerges
-AP via -Boston/Globe
-
- "U.S.
Troops Kill 46 Iraqis But Allies Suffer Losses."
... "U.S. troops killed 46 Iraqis and captured eight they said tried to
ambush U.S. convoys in central Iraq on Sunday, ending a weekend in which
guerrillas killed a dozen people from four nations helping the U.S. military."
... "A U.S. military spokesman said U.S. troops killed the Iraqis when
the 4th Infantry Division repelled several coordinated ambush attacks on
U.S. convoys round Samarra, north of Baghdad." ... "Some attackers wore
the uniform of the Fedayeen, a militia formed by Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein before U.S.-led forces toppled him in April, he [Lieutenant-Colonel
William MacDonald] added." (1, 2,
3)
-By Andrew Marshall with contributions from Luke Baker,
Dean Yates, Emma Graham-Harrison, Lee Suwan, Linda Sieg, and Masayuki Kitano
-Reuters
-
-
- 
-
- 
- "Two
U.S. Soldiers Among 12 Killed in Iraq This Weekend:
Deadly Weekend Ends Deadliest Month Since March." ... "Guerrillas killed
a dozen people from four nations helping the U.S. military in Iraq in weekend
ambushes, sparking new concern among Washington's allies about the risks
of getting involved in stabilizing the country." ... "Two South Koreans
died on Sunday when their car was sprayed with bullets near Saddam Hussein's
hometown, a day after ambushes killed seven Spanish intelligence agents,
two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver, and a Colombian contractor."
(1, 2)
-By Andrew Marshall-Reuters
via -WashingtonPost
-
- "Editorial:
Big spenders/Bush & Co. remortgage nation." ...
"Someone recently called President Bush "the mother of all big spenders."
It wasn't Howard Dean or any of the other Democratic presidential candidates.
It wasn't a Democratic member of Congress. It was fiscal analysts for the
conservative-libertarian Cato Institute." ... "Right now the total accumulated
federal debt stands at $6.9 trillion. Over the next decade, Bush's policies,
if not adjusted by either raising taxes or cutting spending, or both, will
almost double that debt. Goldman Sachs, a prominent Wall Street"
-StarTribune
-
- 
- "USS
Cole Heads Out for Overseas Deployment: USS Cole
Heads Out for First Overseas Deployment Since 2000 Terrorist Bombing in
Yemen Port." ... "The USS Cole and its crew of 340 pulled out of port Saturday
for the destroyer's first overseas deployment since it was bombed by terrorists
three years ago in Yemen's port of Aden." ... "A crowd of about 100 family
members watched as the ship left the Naval Station Norfolk [Virgina] at
12:55 p.m." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Police
link two freeway shootings in Ohio: Woman killed
this week is first injured in 10 incidents." ... "Details about the possible
personality of the person shooting at motorists around Columbus were released
by authorities Friday in the hope that the public will help them catch
whoever shot and killed a woman this week."
-CNN
Thanksgiving
News
-
-
- Thanksgiving
- "Bush
Makes Secret Thanksgiving Visit to Iraq." ... "President
Bush secretly traveled to Baghdad and paid a surprise Thanksgiving Day
visit to U.S. troops on Thursday in a bid to boost the morale of forces
in Iraq amid mounting casualties." ... "In an elaborate plan to ensure
his security in the tense Iraqi capital, Bush slipped away from his Texas
ranch on Wednesday night, arrived in Iraq on Thursday and spent 2-1/2 hours
with the troops before flying back to the United States." -By
Steve Holland -Reuters
via -Wired
Thanksgiving
- "Experts
Predict Busy Thanksgiving Travel: Improving National
Economy and Flat Gas Prices Have Travel Officials Bracing for Busy Thanksgiving."
... "The AAA travel group expected 36 million people nationwide would travel
50 miles or more from their homes over the Thanksgiving weekend the highest
number of travelers since the 2001 terror attacks." ... ""Number one, it's
the economy. Whenever people feel more confident about their own personal
finances, usually you see a little jump in travel," AAA spokesman Mantill
Williams said." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Shift
seen in target of Iraqi guerrillas: Attacks on troops
ease;civilians bear the brunt" ... "Guerrillas thought loyal to ousted
dictator Saddam Hussein are shifting away from attacks against American
troops in favor of killing and terrorizing Iraqi civilians who cooperate
with the US-led coalition occupying the country, the chief of US Central
Command said yesterday." ... "General John Abizaid said that the aggressive
American anti-insurgency campaign underway in Baghdad and in the "Sunni
Triangle" region to the north and west has resulted in a sharp decline
in attacks on US soldiers, although the soldiers from four Army divisions
are still very much under the gun." -By Colin Nickerson
-Boston/Globe
- "Economy seen
growing faster: Third-quarter GDP expands at 8.2%
rate, strongest since ’84." ... "The economy roared ahead at an astounding
8.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the fastest pace in nearly
two decades and a much stronger performance than previously thought. It
raises hope that a long spell of lackluster business activity is finally
over." ... "The 8.2 percent growth rate —more than double the 3.3 percent
pace registered in the second quarter —represented the best showing since
the first quarter of 1984, when the economy surged at a 9 percent pace."
-AP via -MSNBC
- "Ex-Security
Trust CEO faces charges: Federal regulators order
that bank be shut down." ... "New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed
felony charges Tuesday against the former chief executive of Security Trust
and two other ex-executives, while U.S. regulators ordered that the company
be shut down." ... "The complaint alleges that former CEO Grant Seeger
as well as William Kenyon, Security Trust's former president, and Nicole
McDermott, formerly senior vice president of corporate services, acted
as middlemen and helped hedge funds engage in late trading of mutual funds."
-By Luisa Beltran
-CBSNews /MarketWatch
-
- "US
regulators shoot to kill in fund probe." ... "Federal
regulators are to close down Securities Trust, an Arizona-based company
accused of mutual fund fraud, in the first action of its kind against a
tainted institution." -FT.com
- "Rush
Hour Returns in Force at Trade Center Rail Station."
... "Hundreds of commuters using the reopened PATH [Port Authority Trans-Hudson
rail system] train station restored rush-hour chaos to the site of the
former World Trade Center today for the first time since the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." ... "The station was officially inaugurated
on Sunday with a ceremonial train ride by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of
New York; Gov. James E. McGreevey of New Jersey, and Senators Jon Corzine
and Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey. Members of victims' families also
made the trip, as the group rode aboard the last eight cars to leave the
Trade Center station on Sept. 11, 2001. After the ceremonial ride, the
link to New Jersey was opened to the public." (1, 2)
-By Christine Hauser -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "House
Approves Antispam Bill: First nationwide antispam
law expected by year's end." ... "Lawmakers are one step closer to enacting
the first nationwide antispam law. The House of Representatives on Saturday
overwhelmingly approved a bill that would fine spammers who violate restrictions
on unsolicited commercial e-mail." ... "The Controlling the Assault of
Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act was approved by
a vote of 392-5. The move follows the U.S. Senate's approval
of its version of the CAN-SPAM Act in October with a 97-0 vote." -By
Rita Chang and Laura Rohde -IDG.net
via -PCWorld.com
-
- "Many
Iraqis see little to celebrate as Ramadan ends."
... "For the first time in most of their lives, Iraqis celebrated the start
of Eid al-Fitr on Monday without Saddam Hussein and under a U.S. occupation
that some say is little better than the ousted dictator's rule." -By
Joseph Logan -Reuters
via -MSNBC
-
-
- "Seniors'
drug bill survives in House: GOP's late moves
win changes in Medicare." ... "After an extraordinary overnight session
of arm-twisting and parliamentary tricks, House Republican leaders narrowly
staved off defeat yesterday and passed a Medicare prescription drug benefit
that represented the most sweeping overhaul of the program in its 38-year
history." ... "The measure would provide nearly $400 billion in prescription
drug aid to seniors, and for the first time, allow private health care
firms to offer Medicare services long guaranteed by the federal government.
Its passage spared President Bush a political embarrassment over one of
his top priorities as the administration fought to push through his agenda
in the waning days of the legislative session." -By
Susan Milligan -Boston/Globe
-
- "Two
American soldiers pummeled by Iraqi teens; third killed in bombing."
... "Iraqi teenagers dragged two bloodied U.S. soldiers from a wrecked
vehicle [in Mosul] and pummeled them with concrete blocks Sunday, witnesses
said, describing the killings as a burst of savagery in a city once safe
for Americans." ... "Another soldier was killed by a bomb and a U.S.-allied
police chief was assassinated." ... "The U.S.-led coalition also said it
grounded commercial flights after the military confirmed that a missile
struck a DHL cargo plane that landed Saturday at Baghdad International
Airport with its wing aflame." -By Mariam Fam
-AP via -Boston/Globe
-
-
- 
-
-
-
-
- "Al Qaeda’s
terror style spreading: Analysts see a form
of franchising at work around globe." ... "Leaders of the al Qaeda
terrorist network have franchised their organization’s brand of synchronized,
devastating violence to homegrown terrorist groups across the world, posing
a formidable new challenge to counterterrorism forces, according to intelligence
analysts and experts in the United States, Europe and the Arab world."
... "The recent attacks in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Chechnya and Iraq show
that the smaller organizations, most of whose leaders were trained in al
Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, have fanned out, imbued with radical ideology
and the means to create or revitalize local terrorist groups. They also
are expanding the horizons of groups that had focused on regional issues."
-By Douglas Farah and Peter Finn with contributions
from Dana Priest, Dan Eggen, and Margot Williams -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
-
-
- "Protesters,
Miami police clash during free-trade demonstrations."
... "Police in riot gear fired rubber bullets and tear gas and used batons,
plastic shields, concussion grenades and stun guns in clashes Thursday
with hundreds of demonstrators protesting talks aimed at creating a hemisphere-wide
free-trade zone." ... "The clashes took place before and after a march
by 8,000 to 10,000 union members." -By Ken Thomas
-AP via -SFGate.com
- 
-
- "FirstEnergy
Blamed for Blackout in Report: U.S.-Canadian Probe
Blames Failures at Ohio-Based Utility FirstEnergy for August Blackout."
... "A computer malfunction at an Ohio utility played a major role in the
nation's worst blackout, but a U.S.-Canadian task force said power grid
operators still should have prevented the Aug. 14 outage from spreading
through eight states and Canada.Energy Secretary Spencer"This blackout
was largely preventable," [U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer] Abraham said.
He lamented the federal government's limited ability to take punitive action
for a blackout that put 50 million people in the dark, including all of
New York City, Cleveland and Detroit, and knocked out more than 260 power
plants." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "NYPD
to Have Access to Interpol Data." ... "The NYPD will
be the first police department in the United States to plug into a Interpol
database that allows access to fingerprints, passports and pictures." ...
"Ronald Noble, secretary general of Interpol, the world's largest international
police organization, said the heavily encrypted system, named I-24/7, will
put information about suspects anywhere in the world at police officers'
fingertips." -By Daryl Khan
-AP via -Newsday.com
-
-
-
- "US
to review police body armor: Justice Dept.
to assess reliability of material that's used in vests." ... "One day after
Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit against
the manufacturer of a popular bulletproof vest, the United States Department
of Justice has launched an intensive review of the reliability of police
body armor, which officials say may lose strength over time and potentially
put police officers' lives at risk." ... "The review will focus on vests
made with the bullet-resistant material called Zylon, manufactured by the
Japanese-based company Toyobo." -By Jared Stearns
-Boston/Globe
-
- Paul
Wellstone -
"Pilot
error caused Wellstone crash." ... "Pilots flying
too slowly on a landing approach caused the charter-plane crash that killed
Sen. Paul Wellstone, the pilots and five others last year, the National
Transportation Safety Board concluded Tuesday." ... "By voice vote, the
five-member board also adopted staff findings that the pilots lacked proper
training in crew coordination and were probably so inattentive or distracted
that they didn't react to the speed drop until too late." ... "Mild icing
from a light snowfall did not affect the descent of the twin-prop King
Air A100 before it crashed on Oct. 25, 2002, 2 miles southeast of the Eveleth-Virginia
Municipal Airport, in northern Minnesota, the panel concluded." -By
Greg Gordon -StarTribune.com
-
-
-
-
- "The
Wal-Mart You Don't Know: The giant retailer's low
prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can
crush companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas.
Are we shopping our way to the unemployment line?" ... "The retailer has
a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the
price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after
year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000
suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the
power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in
the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles
to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor
of outsourcing products from overseas." ... "Of course, U.S. companies
have been moving jobs offshore for decades, long before Wal-Mart was a
retailing power. But there is no question that the chain is helping accelerate
the loss of American jobs to low-wage countries such as China. Wal-Mart,
which in the late 1980s and early 1990s trumpeted its claim to "Buy American,"
has doubled its imports from China in the past five years alone, buying
some $12 billion in merchandise in 2002. That's nearly 10% of all Chinese
exports to the United States." -By Charles Fishman
200312Issue
77 -FastCompany.com
- "Massachusetts
backs gay marriage: The US state of Massachusetts
has ruled that same-sex couples are legally entitled to marry." ... "The
Massachusetts court ruled that barring same-sex couples from the benefits
of civil marriage was "unconstitutional."" ... ""Marriage is a vital social
institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other
nurtures love and mutual support. It brings stability to our society,"
Chief Justice Margaret Marshall wrote in the long-awaited ruling." ...
"The 4-3 ruling means the issue will now return to the state legislature,
which has 180 days to come up with a solution."
-BBC/News
-
-
- "14
states fight EPA maneuver that weakens Clean Air Act."
... "More than a dozen state attorneys general yesterday sought to block
the federal government from implementing a rule change they argued would
lead to more air pollution from the nation's power plants." ... "They want
to block the EPA's loosening of Clean Air Act regulations that would allow
older power plants, refineries, and factories to modernize without having
to install expensive pollution controls. "If these rules go into effect
even temporarily," said New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer,
"utilities will get the green light to spew forth pollution and violate
the clear meaning of a statute that has for decades protected the quality
of the air that we breathe."" -By Devlin Barrett
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- Sniper
- "Sniper
John Muhammad guilty on all counts." ... "John Allen
Muhammad faces the death penalty after being found guilty Monday of capital
murder and terrorism for his role in the sniper-style shootings that terrorized
the Washington, D.C., area last fall." ... "The Virginia jury returned
the decision after only a few hours of deliberation. Mr. Muhammad, 42,
was found guilty of all four counts, including conspiracy and using a firearm
in a crime." -By Oliver Moore
-GlobeAndMail
-
-
-
- Civil
Liberties News
- "U.S.
calls him a Qaeda pawn; ex-deportee calls himself a victim."
... "Maher Arar has been back from Syria for five weeks now, with his wife
and two children in their simple [Canadian] apartment, earnestly pleading
to all who will listen that he is an innocent casualty of the Bush administration's
war on terror." ... "As Arar tells it, U.S. officials detained him on circumstantial
evidence during what was supposed to be a brief stopover at John F. Kennedy
International Airport in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. Within days, they
packed him off to Syria, where, he says, he was locked in squalor and tortured
for nearly a year. Though he holds dual Canadian and Syrian citizenship,
he had not lived in Syria for 16 years." -By Clifford
Krauss -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
- "First
woman to be elected Louisiana gov. moves past historic win, starts transition."
... "Kathleen Blanco, moving past the victory that made her Louisiana's
first female governor, has begun sketching out her plans for health care,
education and economic development." ... "Blanco, the state's Democratic
lieutenant governor, defeated conservative Indian-American Bobby Jindal
with 52 percent of the vote in a runoff election that dashed the Republican
Party's hopes for a sweep of the Deep South." -By
Melinda Deslatte -AP
via -SFGate.com
- 
-
-
- "U.S.
Carries Out Terror Drill in Arizona: Terror
Drill Along United States-Mexico Border in Arizona Tests Law Enforcement
Readiness." ... "A mock suicide bomber and a quick succession of blasts
were part of a terrorism drill designed to test the responsiveness of health
and law enforcement officials along the U.S.-Mexico border." ... "The Arizona
Office of Homeland Security said about 1,000 people took part in the drill
Sunday morning, which started when a man walked into the Mariposa Port
of Entry compound, shouted the name of a mythical terrorist group and set
off an explosion. The man was actually a firefighter in a protective suit."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Schwarzenegger
has made deft moves, so far." ... "Through bipartisan
appointments and overtures to politicians of both parties - in California
and on Capitol Hill - he has cast himself as the moderate consensus-builder
some say the Golden State has lacked since Ronald Reagan. Moreover, politicians
themselves acknowledge that his open and friendly manner is no small relief
after the Davis administration's legendary aloofness." ... "To be sure,
Schwarzenegger has his critics, who wish for more substance amid the style
and symbolism. But even among those who offer compliments grudgingly, there
is a sense that he has maintained much of the momentum from his comprehensive
Oct. 7 election, and that this position - as well as his moderate ideals
- gives him a unique opportunity to reshape the state." -By
Daniel B. Wood and Mark Sappenfeld -CSMonitor
-
- "U.S.
Army stages massive show of force in Saddam's hometown."
... "Hundreds of U.S. troops in tanks and assault vehicles marched through
the crowded downtown area of Saddam Hussein's hometown on Monday in a show
of force intended to deliver a stern warning that armed resistance would
not be tolerated." ... "For nearly two hours, M-1 tanks, Bradley fighting
vehicles and Humvees rumbled through the center of Tikrit, past shops and
public markets, drawing crowds of onlookers and clogging traffic across
the city of 120,000 people." -By Jim Gomez
-AP via -MercuryNews-BayArea
-
-
- ""Fortress
London" readies for Bush visit." ... "Armed police
have turned the capital into "Fortress London" amid heightened fears of
a guerrilla attack on the eve of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit."
... "The White House, wary of an al Qaeda strike, has insisted on tight
precautions. Traditional events such as a horse-drawn carriage ride with
the Queen will not be staged." -By Paul Majendie
-Reuters
-
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "U.S.
must catch Saddam and soon, Clark says." ... "Retired
general Wesley Clark warned Sunday that the failure to capture Saddam Hussein
was
likely to undermine any new Iraqi government. And he said it was important
to capture Saddam alive so he could be tried for war crimes." -By
Susan Page -USATODAY
-
-
- "17
soldiers die as 2 US helicopters crash in Iraq."
... "Two US Black Hawk helicopters collided in the Iraqi city of Mosul
yesterday, killing at least 17 soldiers and injuring five in in the military's
deadliest disaster since the war began." ... "One US officer at the scene
said that one of the helicopters had been struck in its tail by a rocket-propelled
grenade, and witnesses said they collided and then went down. If that report
is confirmed, the aircraft would be the fourth and fifth US helicopters
to have been shot down in Iraq in three weeks." -By
Robert Schlesinger -Boston/Globe
-
- "U.S. to help pen
Iraq constitution." ... "We will write into that
constitution exactly the kinds of guarantees that were not in Saddam’s
constitution.,” L. Paul Bremer told ABC’s “This Week” from Baghdad, the
Iraqi capital." ... "“We’ll have a bill of rights. We’ll recognize equality
for all citizens. We’ll recognize an independent judiciary. We’ll talk
about a federal government."" ... "“All of these things will be in the
interim constitution which will also provide in a limited time, probably
two years, for a permanent constitution to be written that also embodies
those American values.”" ... "Bremer said Americans will work with the
Iraqi Governing Council in writing the interim constitution. There will
also be a side agreement dealing with security and the presence of U.S.
and coalition forces in Iraq, he said." ... "Bremer also said that the
U.S. military presence would remain for some time."
-AP and -Reuters
via -MSNBC
-
-
- "U.S. probes
deadly helicopter crash." ... "The U.S. military
on Sunday was investigating whether insurgent groundfire caused the crash
of two U.S. helicopters, killing 17 American soldiers, the worst single
loss of U.S. life since the start of the Iraq war." ... "All the casualties
were from the 101st Airborne Division, which controls northern Iraq. Five
soldiers were injured." -AP
via -MSNBC
- ELECTION
2004 - Des_Moines
- "Clinton
defers to Dem hopefuls: Iraq war split is on
display as N.Y. senator plays host to Dean, rivals." ... "The most intriguing
non-contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, New York Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton played host to the six of the nine contenders at
the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson fund-raising dinner
meeting in Des Moines on Saturday night. Although some observers had expected
prior to the event that Clinton would outshine the contenders, she played
a fairly deferential role as mistress of ceremonies." -By
By Tom Curry -MSNBC
- ELECTION
2004 - Des_Moines
- "For
Iowa Party Boss, a Time of Little Rest and Much to Do."
... "Gordon R. Fischer, the Iowa Democratic Party chairman, hunched into
the wind as he weaved through traffic on Fourth Street [Des Moines, Iowa]
in early November, late for the first of two meetings he had scheduled
at Java Joe's, a funky downtown coffeehouse that has become one of his
offices-on-the-run." ... "The annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner on Nov.
15 was days away, bursting at the seams with politicos, campaign workers
and the news media, and never enough seats to satisfy the well-connected.
Soon after, the Democratic contenders will have a debate yes,
another debate here on Nov. 24, which happens to be Mr. Fischer's
39th birthday. And in slightly more than two months, of course, Iowans
will gather at 1,994 caucuses around the state to cast the first binding
votes of the 2004 presidential race, all under the unforgiving gazes of
campaign staffs and thousands of journalists." -By
Rick Lyman -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "Guerrilla
force could number 5,000." ... ""The force of people
actively armed and operating against us does not exceed 5,000," [Army Gen.
John] Abizaid said at a news conference at his headquarters at MacDill
Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla." ... ""People will say, well, that's a very
small number. But when you understand that they're organized in cellular
structure, that they have a brutal and determined cadre, that they know
how to operate covertly, they have access to a lot of money and a lot of
ammunition, you'll understand how dangerous they are."" -By
Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
-
-
-
-
- "New urgency,
risks in ‘Iraqification’: Some fear handover
could look like abandonment." ... "At least four factors forced the administration
to overhaul its military and political strategy in Iraq, despite the danger
that a new approach might actually diminish U.S. control over the country’s
future." ... "The foremost factor is security — from an Iraqi opposition
that has become more intense, more effective, more sophisticated and more
extensive. The other three are the failure of the Iraqi Governing Council
to act, the looming U.N. deadline of Dec. 15 for an Iraqi plan of action
and the U.S. elections just a year away, according to administration and
congressional officials and U.S. analysts." -By Robin
Wright and Thomas E. Ricks with contributions from Mike Allen
-WashingtonPost via -MSNBC
- ELECTION
2004 - "Dean
Says Iowa Win Could Lock Nomination." ... "Howard
Dean says if he wins the Iowa Democratic presidential caucus next January,
he should win the Democratic presidential nomination." ... "Dean, a former
Vermont governor, noted that he is running behind Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt
in the most recent poll of Iowa caucus-goers." -By
Nedra Pickler -AP
via -MercuryNews-BayArea
- "Massive energy
bill clears hurdle: Billions in tax breaks
for fossil fuel; ethanol also boosted." ... "Republicans on Friday finished
a massive energy bill that would double Americans’ use of ethanol in their
cars, reduce their susceptibility to power blackouts and aim tax breaks
at oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power providers. However, the measure
would deny President Bush his top energy priority: oil drilling in the
Arctic wildlife refuge." ... "The bill is expected to win easy approval
in the House but will face a tough fight in the Senate, where Republicans
need to muster 60 votes to end any Democratic filibuster."
-MSNBC
-
-
- "US
Struggles to Determine Who Is the Enemy in Iraq."
... "The Pentagon is struggling to figure out who the enemy is in Iraq,
with officials saying they remain foggy about the leadership and organization
of the insurgency and analysts decrying a huge intelligence lapse." ...
"Military commanders and U.S. intelligence officials describe resistance
forces in Iraq as some combination of loyalists of toppled President Saddam
Hussein's government, criminals paid by those loyalists to carry out attacks,
Islamic militants from outside Iraq, and isolated Shiite radicals." -By
Will Dunham -Reuters
via -Wired
-
-
- "IAEA
at odds with US over Iran." ... "The UN's nuclear
watchdog yesterday rejected US criticism of a crucial report on Iran's
nuclear programme, which stated that no evidence had been found that Iran
had been trying to build a nuclear bomb." ... "The report, which will be
presented to the IAEA board on November 20, underlines that the IAEA itself
remains uncertain of Iran's intentions." ... "While acknowledging the lack
of evidence of nuclear weapons programmes, the report states: "Given Iran's
past pattern of concealment, it will take some time before the agency is
able to conclude that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful
purposes."" -By Mark Huband and Bayan Rahman
-FT.com
-
- "9/11
Victims' Relatives Want Deal Details: Relatives of
9/11 Victims Urge Commission to Disclose Details of Deal With White House."
... "Relatives of people who perished in the Sept. 11 terror attacks are
urging a federal commission to disclose the fine print of its deal with
the White House that gives the panel restricted access to sensitive intelligence
documents." ... "The Family Steering Committee, a group of victims' relatives
monitoring the work of the independent commission on Sept. 11, said the
restrictions are unacceptable." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Ala. chief justice
ousted over 10 Commandments: Roy Moore showed
little reaction as the ethics court ruled that he had placed himself ‘above
the law.’" ... "Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, whose refusal to obey
a federal order to move a Ten Commandments monument from a state building
fueled a national debate over the place of God in public life, was stripped
of his office Thursday." -By Don Teague with Brian
Mooar, -AP
& -Reuters via -MS-NBC
-Water
- "Freak
storm drops 5 inches of rain, hail on SoCal commuters."
... ""It was just unbelievable," said National Weather Service meteorologist
Curt Kaplan. He said five inches of rain was recorded in just two hours
in southern Los Angeles [Wednesday night, 20031112],
nearing the previous record for the area of 5.9 inches "but that
was in an entire day." Skies mostly cleared overnight."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
-
- "Trade
gap widens as imports at record high; jobless claims up."
... "Record imports widened the U.S. trade deficit in September and last
week's jobless claims stayed at a level suggesting an improving labor market,
according to government reports Thursday that offered more signs the economy
has turned a corner." ... "The latest snapshot of the country's trade activity
showed that the trade gap grew 4.4% to $41.3 billion in September, the
Commerce Department reported Thursday. September's trade deficit was slightly
larger than the $40.2 billion shortfall that economists were forecasting."
-USATODAY
-
-
- "Back
to Qatar: Deteriorating Security in Iraq Draws
CENTCOM to Region." ... "The general running the war in Iraq, Gen. John
Abizaid, will move his headquarters back to the region beginning next week,
because of the rise in attacks on U.S., allied and Iraqi targets, military
officials told ABCNEWS." ... "Since taking command of U.S. Central Command,
which covers the Middle East, in July, Abizaid has run the Iraq war from
CENTCOM's permanent base in Tampa, Fla." -Contributions
by Martha Raddatz -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "Iran
Warns IAEA, U.S. Condemnation May Backfire." ...
"Tehran warned on Thursday of "unpredictable consequences" if the U.N.
watchdog finds it in breach of a global pact against atomic weapons, as
Washington accused the United Nations of playing down "evidence" Iran wants
a bomb." ... ""The United States wants the board [the International Atomic
Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors] to declare Iran in violation
of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which
would require it to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible
economic sanctions." -By Louis Charbonneau
-Reuters via -Wired
-
-
- "W.H.
to let 9/11 panel review briefings: The independent
commission investigating the September 11 terrorist attacks said Wednesday
the White House would let it review classified daily presidential intelligence
briefings." ... ""We believe this agreement will prove satisfactory and
enable us to get our job done," the commission said in a statement." ...
"But commission member Max Cleland, a former Democratic senator, said he
was "disgusted" by the deal." ... ""The White House gets to cherry-pick
how much access the nation's commission looking into 9/11 gets to crucial
documents," he said. "I'm ready to vote for subpoenas right now.""
-CNN
ELECTION
2004 - "Howard
Dean's Unlikely Road To a Major Boost From Labor:
AFSCME and SEIU Set to Announce Joint Endorsement." ... "When Andrew L.
Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), arrived
at the Washington condominium of Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), on the morning
of Nov. 3, he had no idea they were about to transform the battle for the
Democratic nomination." ... "With today's endorsements will come not only
more publicity for the Dean campaign, but the kind of institutional muscle
his grass-roots campaign has so far been lacking. McEntee summed up the
dividends this way: "We bring money, we bring boots on the ground, and
we bring blood and treasure to the process."" (1, 2)
-By Dan Balz-WashingtonPost
-
-
- "CIA
Report Says U.S. Losing Popular Support in Iraq."
... "A CIA report concludes that ordinary Iraqis increasingly are siding
with the insurgency amid doubts about the U.S. ability to stamp it out,
officials said on Wednesday, while the U.S. administrator in Iraq said
it was hard to figure out where the Iraqi public stands." ... "The report,
warning of possible failure for Bush's efforts to establish Iraq as a democracy
if the situation is not fixed, said aggressive U.S. counter-insurgency
measures were leaving many Iraqis disillusioned and pushing them to support
the insurgency, one U.S. official said." -By Will
Dunham -Reuters
via -Wired
-
- -
-
- "Cheney’s Long
Path to War: The Hard Sell: He sifted intel.
He brooded about threats. And he wanted Saddam gone. The inside story of
how Vice President Cheney bought into shady assumptions and helped persuade
a nation to invade Iraq." ... "Of all the president’s advisers, Cheney
has consistently taken the most dire view of the terrorist threat. On Iraq,
Bush was the decision maker. But more than any adviser, Cheney was the
one to make the case to the president that war against Iraq was an urgent
necessity. Beginning in the late summer of 2002, he persistently warned
that Saddam was stocking up on chemical and biological weapons, and last
March, on the eve of the invasion, he declared that “we believe that he
[Saddam Hussein] has in fact reconstituted nuclear weapons.” (Cheney later
said that he meant “program,” not “weapons.” He also said, a bit optimistically,
“I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators.”) After seven
months, investigators are still looking for that arsenal of WMD." (1, 2,
3)
-By Mark Hosenball, Michael Isikoff and Evan Thomas
-MSNBC 20031117
-Newsweek
- "Government
allows telephone customers to transfer numbers from home to cell phones."
... "Federal regulators approved rules Monday making it easier for consumers
to go totally wireless by allowing them to transfer their home number to
their cell phone." ... "These rules, which come on top of plans to allow
people to keep their cell number when they change wireless companies, are
aimed at boosting competition in the telecommunications industry." -By
Jonathan D. Salant -AP
via -SFGate.com
Sniper
- "Malvo
pleads innocent." ... "Sniper supsect Lee Boyd Malvo
pleaded innocent to murder Monday as his trial was opening in the slaying
of an FBI analyst shot to death during the three-week sniper spree in the
Washington, D.C., area last fall." ... "The 18-year-old responded, "Not
guilty," in a clear voice each time when asked for his plea to two counts
of capital murder and to one count of using a firearm in a felony." -By
Adrienne Schwisow -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
-
- "U.S.
Had Warning of Attack, but No Details." ... "Only
days before the bombing in Saudi Arabia on Saturday that killed at least
17 people, American intelligence agencies had been warned that such an
attack by Al Qaeda was imminent but the warnings lacked sufficient detail
to disrupt the plot, officials said Sunday." ... "The information, which
came from several sources, prompted the closing of the United States Embassy
in Riyadh, but did not provide specifics about the time or location of
an attack, officials said. It did lead American officials to conclude that
Qaeda cells were planning to go after "soft" targets "very soon," one official
said." -By James Risen
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
-
-
- "POW
Lynch was raped by Iraqi captors, biography says:
Soldier has no memory of attack, but book cites medical records." ... "Jessica
Lynch, the U.S. Army private whose capture and subsequent rescue made her
the most famous soldier of the war in Iraq, was raped by her Iraqi captors,
according to a family spokesman." ... "A new authorized biography of the
soldier accurately cites medical records showing Lynch was sexually assaulted,
said spokesman Stephen Goodwin. He said the 20-year-old former private
had no recollection of the attack. The New York Daily News obtained a copy
of the book, written by Rick Bragg and titled, "I Am a Soldier, Too: The
Jessica Lynch Story." The News published excerpts Thursday ahead of the
scheduled Tuesday release." -By William Branigin-WashingtonPost
via -SFGate.com
- "Jobs
data boost global recovery hopes." ... "Unexpectedly
strong job creation figures on Friday boosted confidence in the prospects
for a sustainable economic recovery in the US." ... "The economy generated
126,000 jobs in October, well ahead of market expectations of about half
that amount, official payroll data showed. Economists hailed the figures
as the most substantial sign yet that stronger economic growth was feeding
through into the labour market." -By Christopher Swann
-FT.com
-
-
- "Federal
judges in New York, San Francisco halt abortion ban."
... "With the ink barely dry on legislation banning a controversial abortion
procedure, federal judges in San Francisco and New York yesterday put a
halt to the measure and set the stage for the most important legal tussle
over abortion rights in three decades." ... "The judges found that the
congressional ban on the procedure — known medically as "intact dilation
and extraction" but referred to by opponents as "partial-birth abortion"
— is likely to be unconstitutional because it provides no exceptions for
a woman's health, thus running afoul of a 2000 Supreme Court ruling that
struck down a similar Nebraska statute. President Bush signed the latest
ban into law Wednesday." -By Howard Mintz -Knight
Ridder via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
-
-
- "6
Soldiers Die in Helicopter Crash in Iraq: 2
Others Killed in Separate Attacks in Mosul." ... "A U.S. Army UH-60 Black
Hawk helicopter crashed Friday morning near the Tigris River in northern
Iraq after it was apparently struck by ground fire, killing all six soldiers
on board, military officials and witnesses said." ... "It would be the
second U.S. military helicopter shot down by Iraqis in less than a week
and provided another example of the growing sophistication and lethality
of guerrillas, who have escalated their campaign along an arc that stretches
north and west of Baghdad." -By Anthony Shadid
and Vernon Loeb -WashingtonPost
- "Washington
State Man Admits to 48 Murders." ... "A truck painter
pleaded guilty on Wednesday to strangling 48 drug addicts and prostitutes
to death -- in a killing spree known as the Green River murders -- and
said in a confession, "I killed so many women I have a hard time keeping
them straight."" ... "Gary Leon Ridgway, 54, said in a confession read
by a prosecutor in open court that he murdered the women because he hated
prostitutes and knew that they would not be missed." (1, 2)
-By Chris Stetkiewicz-Reuters
-
-
-
-
- "Bush
signs $87B Iraq aid package." ... "President Bush
on Thursday signed an $87.5 billion package approved by Congress for Iraq
and Afghanistan, calling the money a financial commitment by the United
States to the global war to defeat terrorism. "
-USATODAY
-
-
- "Fox
starts diplomatic mission to three Southwestern states:
Mexican President Vicente Fox stresses the importance of dialogue on a
migration agreement with the United States." ... "In private meetings with
[Arizona] Gov. Janet Napolitano, Arizona lawmakers and mayors, Fox said
he is seeking an expanded U.S. program for Mexican guest workers and legal
status for the more than 3.5 million undocumented Mexican migrants who
now live and work in United States." -By Richard Boudreaux-LAtimes
via -Miami/Herald
-
-
- "Federal
Judge Blocks New Abortion Law for Some Doctors."
... "A federal judge in Nebraska on Wednesday blocked a new anti-abortion
law from being enforced against some doctors and their affiliates, minutes
after it was signed by President Bush." ... "Citing constitutional concerns,
U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf issued a temporary restraining order barring
U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft and the Justice Department from enforcing the
new law banning so-called partial birth abortions against four doctors
who practice in or are affiliated with practices in more than a dozen states."-Reuters
-
- "Insurgents
Attack U.S. Convoys in Iraq." ... "Insurgents attacked
three American military convoys in this northern city with rocket-propelled
grenades and roadside bombs Wednesday, killing three Iraqi civilians and
wounding five Americans, the U.S. military and hospital officials said."
... "The attacks occurred in a city long considered relatively safe for
U.S. troops, compared to Baghdad and the cities and towns in the ``Sunni
Triangle'' to the south." -By Mariam Fam with contributions
from Bassem Mroue -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "3
Blasts Seem Aimed at U.S. Compound." ... "Three powerful
explosions in rapid succession shook central Baghdad on Tuesday [20031104]
evening in what apparently was a mortar attack on the headquarters of the
American civilian authorities here." ... "Iraqi witnesses standing near
the gates said the explosions hit the sprawling, walled-in American compound
about 7:45 p.m." ... "The explosions followed the deaths of at least 15
American soldiers on Sunday, when their helicopter was shot down by a surface-to-air
missile over the town of Falluja. (Early reports from the military indicated
that 16 had been killed, but the Department of Defense is now confirming
only 15.) Last week, suicide bombers struck targets across the capital,
killing 34 people." -By
Dexter Filkins -NYTimes via
-Google-News
-
-
- "California's
search for wildfire solutions: Officials examine
everything from role of the military in firefighting to retrofitting roofs
to double-pane windows." ... "Even though the fires consumed 172,000 acres,
relatively few homes in the county were destroyed. One reason: strict laws
that order backcountry residents to clear brush from within 100 feet of
homes." ... "As mundane as it sounds, strictures like this are part of
a fundamental rethinking going on across California in the wake of the
worst fires since the Yellowstone infernos in 1978. From forest- thinning
practices to the role of the military, California officials are examining
ways to prevent a repeat of the fires that cost the state more than $2
billion." -By Randy Dotinga
-CSMonitor
-
-
- "US
workers see hard times: High-tech firms tout
outsourcing as crucial to survival." ... ["The White Collar Job Migration."]
... "In the next generation of high-tech companies, entrepreneurs and venture
capitalists are making the outsourcing of jobs overseas part of their business
plans from the start. Ruthlessly, perhaps, they see outsourcing as the
latest innovation in an industry built on innovation." ... "To the surprise
of white-collar programmers who thought themselves immune, many of their
jobs have turned into ``grunt labor'' positions exported to India, China,
Russia, and other countries and filled with skilled but less expensive
workers. IBM Corp., Oracle Corp., Microsoft Corp., EMC Corp., and other
high-tech leaders have set up software design and maintenance centers in
India, and scores of other large companies have farmed programming work
to Indian consultancies." -By Chris Gaither
-Boston/Globe
-
-
- "Missile
hits U.S. helicopter in Iraq, killing 16 troops."
... "Guerrillas shot down an Army CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter packed
with soldiers headed for a short-term break on Sunday morning, killing
16 and wounding 20 in the deadliest single attack to date on U.S. forces
in Iraq, military officials and witnesses said." ... "A shoulder-fired
missile streaked from a date palm grove through a clear blue sky and struck
the dual-rotor helicopter in its rear about 9 a.m. as it was ferrying soldiers
from bases in western Iraq to Baghdad's international airport." ... "The
attack took place just southwest of Fallujah, a city 40 miles west of Baghdad
where resistance to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq has been particularly
intense." -By Theola Labbe and Rajiv Chandrasekaran-WashingtonPostvia
-StarTribune.com with contributions
from -AP and -NYTimes
-
- "EPA
to ease sewage treatment rules." ... "The Bush administration
is shifting policy so cities and towns can skip a required treatment procedure
for sewage they pump into rivers, lakes and coastal waters during high
rains." ... "The Environmental Protection Agency plans to propose the policy
change this week, and there will be 60 days for public comment before it
can be finalized." -By Peter Eisler
-USATODAY
-
- "President
Decries General's Remarks: Bush says comments
about Muslims do not reflect his point of view. But firing doesn't seem
to be an option." ... "President Bush said Tuesday that controversial remarks
by Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin about Muslims and Islam do not "reflect
my point of view, or the view of this administration" — sharp language
from an administration that tends to circle the wagons when a member is
under attack." ... "Bush's move to distance himself from the outspoken
general was the strongest administration response to date to disclosures
of Boykin's frequent appearances before religious groups at which he characterized
the war on terrorism as a battle between Judeo-Christian tradition and
"Satan."" -By John Hendren-LAtimes
-
- "2
CIA Operatives Killed in Afghanistan." ... "The CIA
said Tuesday that William Carlson, 43, of Southern Pines, N.C., and Christopher
Glenn Mueller, 32, of San Diego were ambushed and killed Saturday near
the village in Shkin in Paktika province while ``tracking terrorists.''"
... "Both were veterans of military special operations forces, the agency
said, who were working for the CIA's Directorate of Operations that conducts
clandestine intelligence-gathering and covert operations." -By
Burt Herman -AP
via -AJC
-
- "Bush
Won't Commit to Giving Classified Reports to 9/11 Panel."
... "President Bush declined today to commit the White House to turning
over highly classified intelligence reports to the independent federal
commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, despite public
threats of a subpoena from the bipartisan panel." ... "The president said
in a brief meeting with reporters that the documents were "very sensitive"
and that the White House was still discussing the issue with the panel's
chairman, Thomas H. Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey."
-By Philip Shenon -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "More homes lost
in Calif. wildfires." ... "Wildfires destroyed 25
more homes in Southern California overnight, and thousands more were under
threat. Officials urged businesses to let employees stay home Monday as
forecasters warned of hotter weather and strong, dry winds — perfect fuel
for blazes that have been blamed for at least 13 deaths and the destruction
of 850 homes since last week." ... "The fires have consumed more than 330,000
acres — the equivalent of 500 square miles. In many parts of the region,
the fires kept growing despite the frantic efforts of more than 7,000 firefighters."
-MS-NBC
-
- "Senate
votes unanimously for do-not-spam list: A registry
would block unwanted e-mail solicitation." ... "The Senate voted unanimously
Wednesday to · build on the new do-not- call registry's success
by adopting a plan for a national do-not-spam list to block the tidal wave
of e-mail solicitations for everything from get-rich schemes to pornography
that threatens to engulf the Internet." ... "But the effort faces an uncertain
future in the House and the marketing industry pledged to fight the creation
of an anti-spam registry -- even if it is technically feasible." -By
Edward Epstein -SFGate.com
-
- "Attacks
on Troops on Rise, Commander Says." ... "Attacks
on U.S. troops in Iraq have increased sharply over the past two weeks,
reaching a high of 35 a day, the commanding American general here said
on Wednesday." ... "Over much of the summer, military officials had said
there were between 10 and 15 attacks on U.S. soldiers most days. Since
early October, however, the number of daily attacks has fluctuated between
20 and 35, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said at a news conference." ... "A
summary provided by the U.S. military to private contractors working in
Iraq listed 30 so-called security incidents on Tuesday, including two mortar
strikes on American bases, nine attacks with roadside bombs and several
drive-by shootings." -By Rajiv Chandrasekaran with
contributions from Anthony Shadid -WashingtonPost
- ELECTION
2004 - "Dean's
New Iowa Ads Attack Rivals." ... "Former Vermont
governor Howard Dean launched new ads in Iowa and New Hampshire attacking
his major rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination on Iraq and
health care. Those rivals say Dean is worried that his momentum has slowed
and that he is in danger of slipping back." ... "New polls in Iowa show
that Dean and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) are in a virtual tie for the
lead there, after a period in which Dean had slipped ahead of the man who
won the state in 1988. In New Hampshire, most new polls show Dean holding
a double-digit lead over Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), although one showed
his lead in single digits." -By Dan Balz -WashingtonPost
- Tucson
News - WEST
NILE VIRUS
- "Tucson
woman contracts West Nile: Victim near Downtown
has severe form of disease." ... "The West Nile virus has now struck at
the heart of Tucson, infecting an elderly woman near Downtown, who is struggling
to recover from severe illness." ... "This is the second human in Arizona
known to have contracted the disease in-state. Both cases have occurred
in Pima County, with the first reported west of the city - in Sells on
the Tohono O'odham Reservation - last week." -By Carla
McClain and Joseph Barrios -DailyStar.com
-
-
-
- "Iran
Still Has Nuclear Deadline, U.S. Says." ... "The
Bush administration intends to press Iran to comply with an Oct. 31 deadline
for opening the books on its past nuclear activities, senior officials
said yesterday, as U.S. skepticism grew toward this week's surprise agreement
by Iran to stop enriching uranium." ... "Iran's ruling clerics hailed Tuesday's
nuclear accord with France, Germany and Britain. But U.S. and U.N. officials
awaited the handover of new documents from Iran spelling out how and why
the oil-rich nation built a number of sophisticated nuclear factories and
laboratories in a rugged area south and west of Tehran." -By
Joby Warrick -WashingtonPost
-
-
-
- "Iran
to curb nuclear program: As Europe plays good
cop to Washington's bad cop, Iran agreed Tuesday to a closer monitoring
of its nuclear effort." ... "Iran pledged Tuesday to suspend uranium enrichment
and allow tough international checks of its nuclear program, defusing a
looming crisis and crowning European diplomatic efforts to avert a conflict
between Washington and Tehran." ... "Iran's moves to assuage Western fears
that it is building a nuclear bomb came after senior officials met with
three European foreign ministers who pressed the authorities to comply
with demands by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In return,
the ministers promised technical help with Iran's civilian nuclear power
project." -By Peter Ford with contributions by Michael
Theodoulou and Faye Bowers -CSMonitor
-
-
-
- "Senate votes
to ban abortion practice: Body, 64-34, joins
House in barring controversial ‘partial birth’ procedure." ... "The Senate
on Tuesday voted to ban the practice that critics call partial birth abortion,
sending President Bush a measure that supporters and foes alike said could
alter the future of U.S. abortion rights. A court challenge is certain."
... "Years in the making, the bill imposes the most far-reaching limits
on abortion since the Supreme Court in 1973 confirmed a woman’s right to
end a pregnancy." -AP
via -MSNBC
Osama
bin Laden -
"CIA
says bin Laden tape probably authentic." ... "A CIA
technical analysis has determined that the latest audio tape broadcast
over the weekend is probably the voice of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
recorded during the past six months, a CIA spokesman says."-Reuters
-
-
- "Vietnam
atrocities revealed in report: Elite unit said
to kill hundreds of civilians." ... "An elite unit of American soldiers
mutilated and killed hundreds of unarmed villagers over seven months in
1967 during the Vietnam War, and an Army investigation was closed with
no charges filed, The Blade reported yesterday." ... "Soldiers of the Tiger
Force unit of the Army's 101st Airborne Division dropped grenades into
bunkers where villagers -- including women and children -- hid, and shot
farmers without warning, the newspaper reported. Soldiers told The Blade
that they severed ears from the dead and strung them on shoelaces to wear
around their necks." ... "The Army's 4 1/2-year investigation, never before
made public, was initiated by a soldier outraged at the killings. The probe
substantiated 20 war crimes by 18 soldiers and reached the Pentagon and
White House before it was closed in 1975, The Blade said."
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- 
-
- "Targets
of File-Sharing Lawsuits Warned: Recording
Industry Sends Out Warnings Before Next Wave of Lawsuits Over Illegal File
Sharing." ... "The record industry's trade group has warned 204 people
suspected of illegally swapping music over the Internet that it plans to
file lawsuits against them." ... "The letters give the recipients 10 days
to contact the RIAA to discuss a settlement and avoid a formal lawsuit.
The RIAA declined to identify the individuals, but said they were sharing
an average of more than 1,000 songs on their computers."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "A
Young Hacker Buys Options, Borrowing an Investor's Identity."
... "A Pennsylvania youth has been accused of a complex scheme to unload
worthless stock options by hacking into another investment account and
using it to buy the securities from him." ... "According to court filings
yesterday by the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors
in Boston, Van Dinh, 19, a college student, used a singular blend of computer
crime, securities fraud and identity theft to dump stock options in Cisco
Systems last July, about a week before they were scheduled to expire
and cost Mr. Dinh as much as $100,000." -By John Schwartz
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
- "Ambush
kills 2 U.S. soldiers in Baghdad: Two U.S. soldiers
on a routine patrol in Baghdad's Sadr City were ambushed and killed Thursday
night, according to the Coalition Press Information Center." ... "Since
the Iraq war began in March, 326 U.S. troops have been killed, 209 in hostile
attacks." -CNN
-
-
-
-
- "Evicted
Diego Garcia Residents Lose Case." ... "Hundreds
of people who were evicted from an Indian Ocean island chain 30 years ago
to make way for a U.S. military base have no right to return home or get
compensation, a British judge ruled Thursday." ... "Still, Judge Duncan
Ouseley at London's High Court said he was ``acutely conscious''
of the position of at least some of the claimants from the Chagos Islands.
They were removed from the British territory between 1967 and 1973 to make
way for the U.S. base on the island of Diego Garcia." ... "``It does appear
that, in the absence of unexpectedly compelling evidence to the contrary,
at least some claimant Chagossians could show that they were treated shamefully
by successive U.K. governments,'' he said. " -By Michael
McDonough -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "UN
nuclear agency warns Iran 'time is running out'."
... "The chief United Nations nuclear inspector on Thursday called on Iran
to accelerate its co-operation with his agency. He warned that time was
running out for Tehran to comply with an end of October deadline and provide
full transparency to allay international concerns over its nuclear programme."
... "Tehran insists its nuclear programme is aimed at peaceful energy production,
but the US maintains it is a front for developing nuclear weapons." -By
Roula Khalaf -FT.com
-
- "Arnie
warns of challenges ahead: Film star Arnold
Schwarzenegger has admitted huge challenges lie ahead after his election
as governor of California." ... "Republican activists had triggered the
recall vote - the first in 82 years - following frustration at the budget
deficit, high levels of unemployment and struggling schools." ... "Only
one other governor has been recalled in United States history - North Dakota's
Lynn Frazier, in 1921." ... "Mr Schwarzenegger won with 48.7% support.
His closest rival, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat, garnered
31.7%." -BBC/News
-
-
-
- "House unit
votes for sanctions on Syria: As White House
ends opposition, test for Arab ties is seen." ... "The House International
Relations Committee voted 33-2 for the Syria Accountability Act, which
demands that Damascus halt support for terrorism, end any programs to develop
weapons of mass destruction and withdraw its troops from Lebanon." ...
"The full House, where 275 of 435 members co-sponsored the bill, is expected
to pass the measure next week. The bill also has strong bipartisan support
in the Senate, where the Foreign Relations Committee is planning to examine
the measure this month." -By Brian Knowlton
-IHT.com
-
- -
- Tucson
News - "Limits
of disability act tested: The high court considers
Wednesday whether a former addict should be afforded employment protections."
... "Would a company that refuses to rehire somebody who says he's overcome
his drug and alcohol addiction be guilty of violating the Americans With
Disabilities Act (ADA)?" ... "That is the question the US Supreme Court
takes up Wednesday in an Arizona case with major implications for companies
with zero-tolerance hiring and firing policies." ... "The case stems from
a lawsuit filed by Joel Hernandez, a 25-year employee of the Hughes Missile
Systems Company in Tucson." -By Warren Richey
-CSMonitor
-
- "Bush
Unsure if Name Leaker Will Be Caught: Bush
Expresses Doubt That Leaker of CIA Official's Name Will Be Caught." ...
"Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, urged some 2,000 White House employees
to turn over any relevant documents by Tuesday night. White House lawyers
will screen the materials and decide which ones to send to the Justice
Department as part of a criminal inquiry into the leak, Bush spokesman
Scott McClellan said." ... "Investigators are trying to determine who leaked
to columnist Robert Novak and two Newsday journalists the identity of Valerie
Plame, a CIA operations officer who has served overseas. She is married
to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who publicly accused the Bush administration
of manipulating intelligence to exaggerate the threat from Iraq."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Appeals
Court OKs Do Not Call Registry: Federal Appeals
Court OKs Do Not Call Registry Pending Court Challenge." ... "The 10th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham's
order barring the FTC from enforcing the law."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "Voters
back Arnold, oust Davis." ... "Californians staged
a historic revolt Tuesday by voting to throw Gov. Gray Davis out of office
and electing action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger — a Hollywood ending to
one of the most extraordinary political melodramas in the nation's history."
... "Davis, 60, banished from office less than a year after being elected
to a second term, becomes only the second governor in the nation's history
to be recalled." -By Kathy Kiely
-USATODAY
- ELECTION
2004 - "Clark's
campaign manager quits in fued over direction of presidential bid."
... "Wesley Clark's campaign manager quit Tuesday in a dispute over the
direction of the Democratic presidential bid, exposing a rift between the
former general's Washington-savvy advisers and his 3-week-old Arkansas
campaign team." ... "Donnie Fowler, 35, told associates he was leaving
over widespread concerns that supporters who used the Internet to draft
Clark into the race are not being taken seriously by top campaign officials."
-AP via -USATODAY
- "Amid
uncertainty, controversy, Calif. heads to the polls."
... "In the campaign's closing hours, Schwarzenegger insisted that allegations
that he had groped as many as 15 women had not affected his popularity
-- and yet was forced to confront one more allegation of misconduct late
yesterday. Many of his supporters contended the negative stories were part
of a political smear campaign." ... "The election today caps a recall effort
that started almost as soon as Davis was sworn in for his second term as
governor earlier this year, following a close and bitter reelection campaign
last fall. After struggling with the state's energy crisis and a deficit
that ballooned to $38 billion this year, Davis bore the brunt of the anger
of the electorate: More than 1 million voters signed the required petition
to launch the recall effort." -By Anne E. Kornblut
-Boston/Globe
-
-
-
-
- "White
House stops blocking Syria bill." ... "Rep. Eliot
Engel, D-N.Y., the chief author of the Syria Accountability Act, says he
was told on Friday that the legislation had been put on the calendar for
a vote Wednesday by the House International Relations Committee. The measure
has support from a majority in both the House of Representatives and the
Senate." ... "The legislation had been blocked by the White House in the
run-up to the Iraq war while the administration sought to blunt Syrian
opposition to overturning Saddam Hussein's regime." -By
Barbara Slavin -USATODAY
-
- "Ex-Iraq
Soldiers Riot in Baghdad, Basra: Ex-Iraq Troops
Riot in Baghdad, Basra Over Pay; Ambush Kills U.S. Soldier in Northern
Iraq." ... "Former Iraqi soldiers angry over rumors their pay would be
cut off clashed Saturday with coalition troops in Baghdad and in the southern
city of Basra in riots that left two Iraqis dead and dozens injured. Elsewhere,
a U.S. soldier from the 4th Infantry Division was killed and another was
wounded in an ambush early Saturday in Sadiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad."
... "The death brought to 88 the number of American soldiers killed by
hostile fire since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "Costly
aircraft lease stirs ire in Congress: Air Force
says deal for in-flight refuelers makes sense. Critics see $5.7 billion
giveaway to Boeing." ... "At issue is a replacement for the Air Force's
aging KC-135 aerial tankers, those gas stations in the sky that enable
bombers and fighters to attack targets halfway around the world (Afghanistan,
for example) and return home without having to land." ... "Boeing and the
Air Force are pushing a deal to convert 100 of the aircraft company's 767-model
airliners into tankers. The controversy starts with an agreement to lease
- rather than buy - the big jets." -By Brad Knickerbocker
-CSMonitor
-
-
-
- "Panel
Fires Shot Across FCC's Bow: Stevens Amendment
Maintains Cap on TV Networks' Size." ... "The Senate Appropriations Committee
dealt another potential setback to the Federal Communications Commission's
new media ownership rules yesterday, adding an amendment to a spending
bill that would prevent the agency from raising its cap on the size of
large broadcast television networks." ... "The Senate action follows similar
action by the House in July, in defiance of a threatened presidential veto.
It comes one day after a federal appeals court issued an emergency stay
preventing the new rules from taking effect until the court hears briefings
and conducts a review of the rules' merits." -By Frank
Ahrens -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Bush
Looks to U.N. to Share Burden on Troops in Iraq."
... "President Bush agreed today to begin negotiations in the United Nations
Security Council to authorize a multinational force for Iraq but insisted
that the troops be placed under American command, according to senior administration
officials." ... "The White House acted just as a new Congressional study
showed that the Army lacked the active-duty troops to keep the current
occupation force in Iraq past March, without getting extra help from either
other services and reserves or from other nations, or without spending
tens of billions to vastly expand its size." -By David
E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "U.S. to boost
number of air marshals: 5,000 more armed law
enforcement agents to be added." ... "Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge
will announce plans on Tuesday to make 5,000 more armed law enforcement
agents available to act as federal air marshals, officials said."-Reuters
via -MSNBC
-
-
-
- "Bomb rocks
Baghdad police station: 1 dead in blast; also
U.S. soldier killed in copter crash." ... "A car bomb exploded near the
headquarters of U.S.-trained police in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing one
policeman and wounding many bystanders. Separately, a U.S. soldier was
killed in a helicopter crash, a day after a roadside bomb killed two American
soldiers." ... "The explosion damaged the office of the U.S.-appointed
Baghdad police chief, Hassan al-Obeidi, who was not in the complex at the
time of the attack, Iraqi police said." -AP
& -Reuters via -MSNBC
ELECTION
2004 - "GOP
surges in campaign money race." ... "Bush is on course
to have $200 million to spend for the primaries; by comparison a Democratic
nominee who accepts public financing can spend no more than $45 million."
... "Although this money theoretically is for the primaries, Bush has no
primary opponent. He is thus able to spend his money from now to the Republican
convention in September 2004, giving him a major edge for the fall campaign."
-By Michael Kranish and Anne E. Kornblut
-Boston/Globe
-
-
-
- "U.N. to stay
in Iraq despite bombing." ... "U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan said Wednesday that U.N. staff would remain in Iraq despite
the devastating bombing of the world body’s headquarters in Baghdad that
killed its top envoy and at least 16 others. In Tikrit, meanwhile, guerrillas
ambushed a U.S. military convoy on Wednesday, killing a contractor with
a U.S. firm and wounding two soldiers, a U.S. military officer said." ...
"In Baghdad, workers continued to dig through the rubble of Tuesday’s explosion,
but the rescue operation appeared to have turned into a grim search for
bodies in the deadliest attack on the United Nations in its history." -Contributed
to by Linda Fasulo, Andrea Mitchell, and Carl Rochelle, Robert Windrem,
-AP & -Reuters
via -MS-NBC
-
-
- "Consensus
to fix power grid, but no unity on how: Blackout
has led to calls for more regulation and for Congress to pass long-delayed
energy bill." ... "The worst blackout in US history has moved improvement
of the nation's electrical grid to the top of Washington's fall policy
agenda." ... "Congress is already planning a range of hearings into what
went wrong, while administration officials are calling again for passage
of the mammoth energy bill now plodding through the legislative process."
... "But agreement about the issue's importance doesn't mean consensus
about what should be done. The politics of electricity are so complicated
they make, say, Medicare reform look routine by comparison." -By
Peter Grier and Faye Bowers with contributions from Gail Russell Chaddock
-CSMonitor
- 
- 
- "In
Africa, US looks beyond Liberia: Continent's
many failed states attract attention as security risks loom." ... "As a
US military commander heads into Liberia to help stabilize its war-torn
capital, it won't be the first time American forces have carried out new
operations in Africa lately." ... "On the continent's east coast, a US
antiterror base in Djibouti recently expanded to include some 2,000 troops.
In northwest desert nations such as Mali, US advisers have given all-terrain
vehicles and special-operations training to military and police units."
-By Abraham McLaughlin
-CSMonitor
-
-
- Tucson
News - "Focus
on conservation as Bush visits the West: Trip
attempts to counter controversial environmental record." ... "President
Bush opened a three-week drive Monday to bolster his environmental image
by drawing attention to conservationist elements of White House policies
embraced by the oil, gas and logging industries." ... "Republican strategists
said the swing through the West was designed as insurance against expected
campaign portrayals of Bush as a negligent steward of the air, water and
land." ... "Bush flew from his ranch in Texas to a national forest near
Tucson to view the aftermath of the Aspen fire, an 85,000-acre wildfire
that destroyed 333 cabins and other buildings in June and July." -By
Mike Allen -WashingtonPost
via -SFGate.com
-
-
- "Merrill
Lynch rocked by $43m embezzlement claim: Wall
Street bank's former chief energy trader under investigation over offshore
cash." ... "Merrill Lynch was plunged into fresh controversy yesterday
when allegations emerged that a former energy trader had embezzled $43m
(£28m) from the firm." ... "The former chief energy trader, Daniel
Gordon, is being investigated by US and Canadian authorities for allegedly
disguising a payment made in 2000 to Falcon Energy Holdings, an offshore
company he controlled, as an insurance contract to cover power shortages."
-David Teather -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Calif.
candidates hit campaign trail: Poll: Schwarzenegger
has the edge for now." ... "Californians will vote Oct. 7 in the nation’s
first gubernatorial recall election in 82 years. The race has attracted
193 candidates, including actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former baseball
commissioner Peter Ueberroth, political commentator Arianna Huffington,
and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat who says he opposes the recall
but wants to be on the ballot as an alternative in case it passes."
-AP and -Reuters
via -MSNBC
-
-
- "Taylor
prepares to leave Liberia: Liberia’s President
Charles Taylor prepared to step down reluctantly on Monday under pressure
from the United States to end slaughter that has gripped Liberia and West
Africa for nearly 14 years." ... "The former warlord is due to hand over
power to Vice-President Moses Blah, a former brother-in-arms from the Liberian
leader’s days of bush war and in Libya’s guerrilla training camps, at a
ceremony on Monday." -AP
and -Reuters via -MSNBC
-
- "Our
Mission In Liberia." ... "The past weeks of waffling
in Washington over what role, if any, U.S. forces would play in bringing
peace to Liberia has sorely eroded America's credibility in West Africa,
a region that is supplying an increasing amount of oil to the United States.
Besides calling for Taylor to leave the country and helicoptering in approximately
a half-dozen Marines, President Bush has failed to adequately handle a
humanitarian crisis in which timely and decisive American action could
have saved countless lives." ... "The establishment of a humanitarian corridor
in Monrovia and the funneling of aid supplies and staff to the city will
not, by itself, dispel the overwhelming sense among Liberians that they
were abandoned by the United States and left to die. Only visible and concerted
U.S. leadership on the ground in Liberia can change the perception among
the people of West Africa and the rest of the world that the indiscriminate
shelling and shooting of civilians was not deemed in America's national
interest to stop." -By Raymond C. Offenheiser and
Kenneth H. Bacon -WashingtonPost
- "Anglican
leader moves to halt split: Church's top clerics
will meet to discuss gay bishop in U.S.." ... "The archbishop of Canterbury
[Rowan Williams], spiritual leader of the world's 79 million Anglican Christians,
said on Friday that he would convene an extraordinary meeting of church
leaders here in October to avert a schism over the confirmation of the
first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church [Rev. Gene Robinson] in
the United States." ... "His office declined to elaborate on the precise
agenda for the meeting, which immediately drew sharp criticism from both
supporters and critics of homosexual priests, underscoring the broader,
emotional debate threatening a church spread across 164 countries from
Africa and elsewhere to the United States." -By Alan
Cowell -NYTimes
with the -WashingtonPost
via -SFGate.com
- "US
experts debate 'mini-nukes'." ... "Defence officials
in the United States say that a one-day conference on nuclear weapons is
taking place at the Strategic Air Command headquarters in Nebraska." ...
"Arms control groups say the conference is to discuss whether to build
a new generation of nuclear bombs, known as "mini-nukes", capable of destroying
underground bunkers." -By David Bamford-BBC/News
-
- "Schwarzenegger
to run for governor: Film star Arnold Schwarzenegger
has announced he will run as a Republican candidate for governor of California."
... "Mr Schwarzenegger, best known for his role in the Terminator films,
revealed his intention during a taping of the American television programme
The Tonight Show, despite widespread rumours that he would not run because
of concerns expressed by his wife."-BBC/News
-
- "Violence
signifies long stay in Iraq." ... "A truck bombing
that killed at least 11 people and battles that left two American soldiers
dead marked one of the bloodiest 24 hours in this capital [Baghdad] since
it fell to coalition forces on April 9." ... "U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo
Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, said Thursday the attacks
underscore why U.S. forces will be in Iraq for two years as an "absolute
minimum" and "probably longer."" ... "The two deaths brought to 56 the
number of U.S. military personnel killed by hostile action since May 1,
when President Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq."
-By Jim Michaels and Donna Leinwand
-USATODAY
-
- "Bush sends
small team of Marines to Liberia." ... "After at
least two months of studying ways to help Liberia, President George W.
Bush on Wednesday sent a half-dozen Marines to assist West African peacekeepers."
... "Though an additional dozen or so could be added to the team, no decision
has been made to send any more than 20, three officials said."
-AP via -IHT.com
WEST
NILE VIRUS
- "West
Nile virus cases triple in one week." ... "Cases
of West Nile virus tripled in the past week and are well ahead of last
year's pace, federal health officials said Thursday. Armed with the most
recent data, they warned that the worst might be ahead." ... "Health experts
urged Americans to take steps to protect themselves and head off an epidemic."
-By Anita Manning -USATODAY
-
-
- "Kurds
block Turkish mission into Iraq." ... "Kurdish leaders
have refused a US request to allow 12,000 Turkish troops through northern
Iraq for a possible peacekeeping assignment in the city of Falluja, a Kurdish
official said on Wednesday." ... "Turkish peacekeepers could be airlifted
into central Iraq, where they could patrol areas dominated by fellow Sunni
Muslims, but it would be expensive." -By Charles Clover
and Semih Idiz with contributions from Peter Spiegel
-FT.com
-
-
-
- "Pressure
mounts for new UN resolution on Iraq." ... "US hopes
of further internationalising the stabilisation effort in Iraq may still
depend on United Nations endorsement, despite signs that agreement is close
on deployment of a large Turkish peacekeeping force there." ... "Abdullah
Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, signalled on Monday, following talks in
Ankara with Sergio de Mello, UN representative for Iraq, that Ankara was
willing to assist in efforts to secure law and order." -By
Semih Idiz, Charles Clover, Mark Turner -FT.com
Karl
Rove - 
Gordon
Smith - Environmental
- Science
- Politics
- 
River
- 
Animals
- 
Agricultural
- Corporation
- Government
- 
Hatch
Act - Law
- 2002
Election - 
WVa
- California
- Portland
- 
Oregon
-
-
- 
- "Air
Force punishes Boeing by taking 7 contracts." ...
"Handing down some of the harshest penalties ever against a defense contractor,
the U.S. Air Force on Thursday stripped Boeing (BA) of seven rocket-launch
contracts and also indefinitely suspended Boeing's rocket defense units
from competing for military contracts." ... "The penalties cap a yearlong
Air Force probe into allegations that Boeing, the nation's No. 2 defense
contractor after Lockheed Martin, used thousands of pages of stolen Lockheed
documents in 1998 to beat its rival for contracts to build a military satellite-launch
rocket." -By Edward Iwata
-USATODAY
- "Report:
FBI Informant Knew 9/11 Hijackers." ... "An FBI informant
knew two of the Sept. 11 hijackers but never suspected they were terrorists,
according to a congressional report that nonetheless concludes no single
piece of information could have prevented the attacks." ... "The unidentified
informant was with Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi in San Diego during
the summer of 2000, although the nature of their relationship was unclear."
... "Almihdhar and Alhazmi recently had been linked by U.S. intelligence
officials to possible terrorist activity, but that information apparently
had not been shared with the FBI, the report said. Nothing the two men
said or did in the presence of the informant aroused suspicion." -By
Curt Anderson with contributions by Ken Guggenheim
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
- Civil
Liberties News
- "Agency
Documents Abuse Under Patriot Act: Justice
Department Report Finds 34 `credible' Civil Rights Complaints Under Patriot
Act." ... "Justice Department investigators found that 34 claims were credible
of more than 1,000 civil rights and civil liberties complaints stemming
from anti-terrorism efforts, including allegations of intimidation and
false arrest." ... "According to a report Monday, Glenn A. Fine, the Justice
Department's inspector general, looked into allegations made between Dec.
16, 2002, and June 15 under oversight provisions of the USA Patriot Act.
Many complaints were from Muslims or people of Arab descent who claimed
they were beaten or verbally abused while being detained."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "US
facing guerrilla war, general says: Attacks
claim an Iraqi mayor, American soldier." ... "The new commander of American
forces in Iraq [General John Abizaid] said yesterday that US troops there
are facing a ''classical guerrilla-type campaign,'' the first high-level
acknowledgement that anti-US attacks in Iraq reflect organized resistance
and not just isolated acts of violence." ... "A grenade attack on an American
convoy near Baghdad killed a US soldier and wounded three others. The soldier's
death raised the number of combat fatalities in the Iraq war to 146, one
shy of the combat death toll of US soldiers in the 1991 Gulf War. Also
yesterday, attackers fired a surface-to-air missile at a US C-130 transport
plane as it was landing in Baghdad, but missed their target, and a pro-US
mayor in a northwestern Iraqi town was gunned down in his car." -By
Robert Schlesinger -Boston/Globe
- "Fall
Creek [Oregon] wildfire hits 1,200 acres, growing."
... "Word spread through the command center late Tuesday afternoon that
crews battling the stubborn Clark Fire in rugged terrain along Fall Creek
were no longer in danger of getting skunked." ... "After two full days
of scratching fire lines through steep ravines and running an endless parade
of helicopter water drops on the hottest flare-ups, firefighters made it
onto the command center's scoreboard - the 1,200-acre blaze was 5 percent
contained." ... ""They're trying to establish a line on the south end,
just to give us a little bit of a foothold," said Nancy Lee Wilson, fire
behavior analyst for the interagency command team." -By
Joe Mosley -RegisterGuard
-
- -
- "Trust
Betrayed? School Security Tapes of Kids Undressing
Viewed on Net, Suit Says." ... "A Tennessee school district where security
cameras were installed in a middle school's locker rooms is accused of
allowing images of children changing their clothes to be viewed over the
Internet." ... "The parents of 17 children, ages 10 to 12, have filed lawsuits
in federal and state courts against the Overton County School Board and
Edutech Inc., the company that installed the cameras in the district's
Livingston Middle School. The suits seek more than $4 million in damages."
-By Dean Schabner -ABCNEWS.com
- "Thousands flee
Arizona wildfire." ... "The governor [Janet Napolitano]
declared a state of emergency in two counties as a forest fire swept across
an Indian reservation, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes
as a precaution. Elsewhere in the Southwest, Mesa
Verde National Park in Colorado was closed to visitors for the second time
in two years because of wildfires." ... "As many as 5,000 people had fled
their homes in Whiteriver [Arizona], headquarters of the White Mountain
Apache Tribe, and other communities on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.
On Wednesday, the [Kinishba] fire was just two miles west of Whiteriver,
threatening 700 homes." -AP
via -MSNBC
-
-
- "U.S. military
plane fired at over Iraq: Other attacks kill
U.S. soldier and 3 Iraqis." ... "Suspected pro-Saddam Hussein insurgents
fired a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. military aircraft approaching
Baghdad on Wednesday — a day in which another U.S. soldier was killed,
along with an Iraqi child and a mayor and his son. The missile missed the
C-130 transport plane, but the attack marked a new level of resistance,
which until now had relied largely on ground attacks." ... "The soldier
killed Wednesday was the 33rd to die in hostile action since President
Bush declared an end to major hostilities on May 1."
-AP and -Reuters
via -MS-NBC
- "Recall
heard 'round the country? With signatures to
spare, California strides into political history - and havoc." ... "American
partici-patory democracy is headed for one of its most compelling and controversial
tests in decades, courtesy of California." ... "Under a century-old voter
reform law, the first successful recall election of any modern US governor
appears on target for this fall or next spring. With 1.6 million voter
signatures turned in Monday to the secretary of state - roughly twice what's
required to put Gov. Gray Davis to a special vote - Californians will likely
get their chance to toss out the silver-coifed Demo-crat with the lowest
approval rating of any governor in state history." -By
Daniel B. Wood -CSMonitor
- 2004
ELECTION - "Deficit
outlook soars to $455B." ... "The Bush administration
estimated Tuesday that the federal budget deficit will reach a record $455
billion this year, 50% larger than it predicted just five months ago."
... "The acknowledgement touched off a war of words sure to be fought through
the 2004 elections. The White House noted that its new forecast, including
a $475 billion deficit in 2004, represents a smaller percentage of the
nation's economy, or gross domestic product, than during the Reagan administration
in the 1980s. Democrats warned of even larger deficits to come once the
costs of occupying Iraq are included." -By William
M. Welch and Laurence McQuillan -USATODAY
-
-
- "North
Korean nuclear claims 'serious,' U.S. official says:
North Korea told a Bush administration official last week it has completed
reprocessing spent fuel rods into plutonium, a White House official said."
... ""This is serious" because North Korea also made it clear it intends
to start making weapons, another government official said." ... "On Monday,
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "North Korean officials did
indicate to the United States that they had completed reprocessing. Now
this is something that we are evaluating."" ... "He added that White House
has no way of confirming the information and that North Korea has made
"a lot of claims in the past."" -Contributed to by
Dana Bash -CNN
-
- 
- "CIA approved
Bush remarks on Iraq: State of Union speech
referring to nuclear weapons claim was cleared." ... "Amid increasing criticism
and doubts cast on U.S. intelligence that led to the war against Iraq,
the Bush administration Friday continued its defense of President Bush’s
case for ousting Saddam Hussein. U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza
Rice said the CIA had cleared Bush’s January State of the Union speech
in its entirety, including a sentence — now labeled false — alleging Iraq
was looking to buy uranium from Africa." ... "If CIA Director George Tenet
had any misgivings about that sentence in the president’s speech, “he did
not make them known” to Bush or his staff, said Rice." -Contributed
to by David Gregory and -AP
via -MSNBC
-
-
-
- "CIA asked Britain
to drop Iraq claim: Advice on alleged uranium
buywas refused." ... "The CIA tried unsuccessfully in early September 2002
to persuade the British government to drop from an official intelligence
paper a reference to Iraqi attempts to buy uranium in Africa that President
Bush included in his State of the Union address four months later, senior
Bush administration officials said yesterday." ... "“We consulted about
the paper and recommended against using that material,” a senior administration
official familiar with the intelligence program said. The British government
rejected the U.S. suggestion, saying it had separate intelligence unavailable
to the United States." -By Walter Pincus with
contributions by Karen DeYoung-WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
-
- "CBS:
White House Ignored CIA Over Iraq Uranium Claim."
... "The White House ignored a request by the CIA to remove a statement
in President Bush's State of the Union address that Iraq was seeking uranium
from Africa for its nuclear weapons program, CBS Evening News reported
on Thursday." ... "The CIA checked the parts Bush's speech dealing with
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction for accuracy and CIA officials warned
White House National Security Council staff that the intelligence was not
strong enough to flatly state that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa,
CBS News said." -CBSNews-Reuters
-
-
- 2004
Presidential Election
- "Sept.
11 probers complain of delays: White House
slow in providing access to key documents, federal commission says." ...
"Leaders of a federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
complained Tuesday that the Bush administration had been too slow to provide
access to key documents and was intimidating witnesses by insisting that
CIA and FBI "minders" attend sensitive interviews." ... "The chairman of
the commission, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, said the delays were
threatening the panel's ability to meet its congressionally imposed deadline
and produce a final report before the 2004 presidential election." ...
"Kean and commission Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton were particularly critical
of the administration's insistence that interviews with intelligence or
law enforcement officials be supervised." -By Greg
Miller-LAtimes
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Ecstatic
Liberians welcome U.S. military team." ... "In a
human cascade of welcome and relief, chanting crowds of Liberians swarmed
the motorcade carrying a team of U.S. military
experts as they ventured into Liberia's capital Tuesday morning to assess
the city's humanitarian and security situation for a possible deployment
of U.S. troops." ... "Bush, who is considering dispatching troops to lead
an "international stabilization force" in the West African nation of 3
million, said his decision will hinge in part on the assessment by the
team of about 30." -By Karl Vick-WashingtonPost
via -StarTribune.com
-
-
- "White
House downplays role of faulty report." ... "The
Bush administration defended on Wednesday its decision to go to war against
Iraq and downplayed the role of discredited intelligence in the decision."
... "At a Washington news conference hosted by the Arms Control Association,
a former senior official in the State Department's intelligence bureau
said the problem was not bad information but the tendency of policymakers
to exaggerate intelligence on Iraq." ... ""The administration has had a
faith-based intelligence attitude: 'We know the answers, give us the intelligence
to support those answers,' " said Greg Thielmann, who resigned last September
as chief arms proliferation analyst." -By John Diamond
-USATODAY
-
-
- "Bush
Defends Iraq War as Nuclear Claims Called Wrong (Update1)."
... "In the United States, Joseph Wilson, the man sent by the Central Intelligence
Agency to Niger to investigate the report of Iraq's effort to buy uranium,
said the administration knew the information was wrong before Bush's speech."
... ""That information was erroneous and they knew about it well ahead''
of the president's Jan. 28 address, Wilson said." ... ""Either the administration
has some information that it has not shared with the public or, yes, they
were using the selective use of facts and intelligence to bolster a decision
in a case that had already been made -- a decision that had been made to
go to war,'' Wilson told NBC's ``Meet the Press'' on Sunday. He made similar
comments on other news shows and in a New York Times op-ed article."
-Bloomberg
-
-
- "White
House Issues Retraction of Allegations in Bush State of the Union Address."
... "The White House has issued a rare retraction of allegations from the
president's January State of the Union Address. Officials say President
Bush's accusation that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein tried to buy
uranium in Africa, was based on what turned out to be a forged document."
... "Making his case against Saddam Hussein six months ago, President Bush
said British intelligence reported that the then-Iraqi leader had tried
to buy significant quantities of uranium from Niger." ... "The United Nations
later concluded that those documents were forgeries and White House spokesman
Ari Fleischer now admits that the information should not have been included
in the State of the Union." -By Scott Stearns -VOANews.com
-
-
- 
- "Bush
touches down in Africa, denounces American slavery."
... "President Bush opened his five-day African trip Tuesday with a forceful
denunciation of America's slave-holding past and a pledge to
work more closely with African nations to help them build a prosperous
and peaceful future." ... "After meeting with the West African leaders
and his host for the day, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Bush rode
Wade's presidential yacht across Dakar's harbor to Goree Island, the westernmost
tip in Africa and the point of embarkation centuries ago for at least 1
million slaves." ... ""At this place, liberty and life were stolen and
sold," the president said. "One of the largest migrations of history was
also one of the greatest crimes of the century."" ... "Bush condemned slavery
in strikingly religious terms. "For 250 years, the captives endured
an assault on their culture and their dignity," he said. "The spirit of
Africans in America did not break. Yet the spirit of their captors was
corrupted. . . . Christian men and women became blind to the clearest commands
of their faith and added hypocrisy to injustice. A republic founded on
equality for all became a prison for millions."" -By
Richard W. Stevenson -NYTimes
with contributions by the -WashingtonPost
via -StarTribune.com
- Quad
Cities -
"House
OKs funds for [Illinois' Rock Island] Arsenal."
... "The U.S. House of Representatives approved a $368 billion defense
spending bill Tuesday that allocates several million to the Rock Island
Arsenal." ... "Meanwhile, a Senate appropriations panel approved a bill
Tuesday that would mean $27 million for the island. Included is funding
for the development of a new mortar system for the U.S. Marine Corps that
could mean a lot more work for the Arsenal in the future, officials say.
The spending bills are for fiscal year 2003-04, which begins in October."
-By Ed Tibbetts -QCTimes
-
-
- "CIA
Calls Hussein Recording Authentic." ... "The Central
Intelligence Agency said yesterday that a taped message broadcast Friday
from Saddam Hussein appears to be authentic, the most definitive indication
that the former Iraqi president survived the war and is seeking to rally
opposition to the U.S. occupation." ... "As anti-American attacks grow
in number and sophistication, inflicting additional U.S. casualties daily,
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is reviewing whether troops are needed
beyond the 146,000 in Iraq and 63,000 in neighboring Kuwait or whether
U.S. forces can safely be reduced." ... "Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
is urging President Bush to at least keep total U.S. and international
troop levels near the current number until the danger has passed and Iraq
is stable, according to U.S. officials familiar with Powell's thinking.
They added that his preference is to recruit more forces from foreign countries."
-By Thomas E. Ricks and Walter Pincus with contributions
by Peter Slevin -WashingtonPost
-
-
- Tucson
News - "Firefighters
work to keep blaze from homes in exclusive Arizona enclave; cooler weather
helps." ... "Cooler, more humid weather gave firefighters
an assist Monday as a wildfire that already had ravaged a mountain community
burned to within a half-mile of an exclusive enclave in the foothills on
the [Tucson] city's northern fringe." ... "The Aspen fire, which started
June 17 and has burned at least 70,000 acres in the Santa Catalina Mountains,
skirted fire lines last week and destroyed six cabins higher in the mountains
during the weekend." -By Arthur H. Rotstein
-AP via -SFGate.com
- Tucson
News - "Firefighters
take to hills above Tucson." ... "Officials urged
residents and guests of a desert resort to evacuate an exclusive enclave
on the city's northern fringe Sunday after a wildfire sped downhill, surprising
firefighters and threatening about 200 homes." ... "The area, called Ventana
Canyon, is a high desert enclave in the foothills of the Santa Catalina
Mountains. It includes upscale homes and the 400-room Loews Ventana Canyon
Resort, said George Heaney, a bureau chief with the Pima County Sheriff's
Department." -AP
via -CNN
-
-
- "Baghdad
council starts work but can only advise." ... "Delegates
held the inaugural session on Monday of a new Baghdad city council, hailed
by the United States as a major step towards democracy in Iraq even though
it has only an advisory role." ... "Iraq's U.S. administrator Paul Bremer
praised the 37 councillors, chosen at neighbourhood meetings across the
city, for taking up their posts when other Iraqis cooperating with the
occupying authorities have come under violent attack." -By
Andrew Gray -Reuters
via -MSNBC
-
- "US
soldiers killed in Baghdad: Two American soldiers
and two Iraqis have been killed in three separate attacks on US patrols
in Iraq." ... "The first soldier was killed in an exchange of fire with
two Iraqis in Baghdad, one of whom was shot dead, the US military said."
... "A second soldier was killed by a homemade explosive device in the
north of the Iraqi capital." ... "In the town of Ramadi, 100 kilometres
(60 miles) west of Baghdad, attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at
US vehicles, wounding four soldiers." ... "The Americans responded, killing
one Iraqi and wounding another."-BBC/News
-
- "Two
U.S. Soldiers Killed in New Attacks in Iraq."-Reuters
-
- "Is
US inching toward intervention? Heading to
Africa Tuesday, Bush has built a stage where Liberian peacekeeping is possible,
but not inevitable." ... "President Bush has long expressed skepticism
about committing US military forces as peacekeepers overseas." ... "Now,
on the eve of his first presidential visit to Africa, he appears willing
to do just that in a corner of the world few Americans can point to on
a map. But if US forces do wind up in Liberia - a West African nation at
a crucial moment in its 13-year civil war - the administration can frame
its involvement in a way that limits the impression that the United States
is becoming sheriff of the world, analysts say." -By
Linda Feldmann -CSMonitor
-
- "Lies
and half truths on Iraqi streets complicate America's mission."
... "Lies and half-truths -- readily believed by a nation of people who
learned long ago to be skeptical of rulers' motives -- are complicating
America's mission in Iraq, fueling anti-U.S. sentiment as troops struggle
to quell a growing uprising." ... "When a newspaper reported that American
night vision equipment can be used to see through women's clothing, U.S.
civil affairs troops visited the editors personally to let them look through
the goggles." ... "Despite these efforts, Iraqis, who grew up on a steady
diet of anti-American rhetoric, are being bombarded by a fresh wave of
disinformation, much of it coming from an explosion of new newspapers.
The country now has about 150 newspapers, up from 14 before the war." -By
Steven Gutkin -AP
via -SFGate.com
- "New
Wildfire Erupts In Arizona." ... "Crews battled a
wildfire Sunday in a ponderosa pine forest in central Arizona where residents
were urged to evacuate about 100 homes, while a 2½-week-old mountaintop
blaze in the southern part of the state destroyed six cabins." ... "The
latest fire erupted late Saturday about eight miles south of Prescott near
Walker, a community of cabins and houses in the Prescott National Forest,
said forest spokesman Steve Sams." -AP
via -CBSNews
-
- "Bush
pushes for new nukes." ... "If the Bush administration
succeeds in its determined but little-noticed push to develop a new generation
of nuclear weapons, this sun-baked desert flatland [in Nevada] 65 miles
northwest of Las Vegas could once again reverberate with the ground-shaking
thumps of nuclear explosions that used to be common here." ... "The nuclear-weapons
test areas are now a wasteland that is home mostly to lizards and coyotes.
Throughout the Nevada Test Site, the ground is strewn with mangled buildings
and pockmarked with craters, the ghostly evidence of the 928 nuclear tests
the government conducted here from 1951 to 1992." -By
Tom Squitieri -USATODAY
-
- "Violence
in Iraq spreads beyond military targets." ... "The
point-blank shooting of an unarmed British reporter on a Baghdad street
and a grenade attack on a U.N. compound raised concern Sunday that Iraq's
worsening insurgency until now targeting only coalition troops and
Iraqis accused of U.S. collaboration will spread to Westerners in general."
... "On Sunday, an assailant shot and killed a U.S. soldier waiting to
buy a soft drink at Baghdad University, firing once from close range in
the third such assault in nine days. The style was coldly similar to the
killing of the young British freelance cameraman, who was shot in the head
outside a Baghdad museum on Saturday." -AP
via -USATODAY
-
-
- "Taylor
accepts Nigerian asylum offer." ... "Liberian President
Charles Taylor on Sunday accepted Nigeria's offer of political asylum,
paving the way for his departure, a requirement President Bush laid down
for any U.S.-led peacekeeping force in the West African nation." ... "Neither
Taylor nor Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who made the offer during
a 90-minute meeting in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, indicated when Taylor
would actually leave. Both warned that too hasty a departure could spark
new fighting in the country, where hundreds were killed in a failed rebel
push into the capital last month." -By Tom Squitieri
-USATODAY
-
-
- "Bomb
Kills 7 New Iraqi Policemen: Bremer Says Attackers
Show Panic and 'Disdain'." ... "A bomb exploded on a sidewalk here today
[20030705]
as the first class of U.S.-trained Iraqi police recruits was marching from
its graduation ceremony to a police station, killing seven of the new policemen
and injuring at least 40 other people, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.
It was the most lethal attack yet against Iraqis participating in U.S.-sponsored
nation-building efforts." ... "U.S. and British soldiers have been the
targets of increasing numbers of shootings, ambushes and other assaults
in recent days. Iraqi police stations, where American troops are training
new local police forces, have also been attacked, along with Iraqi businesses
that sell products or services to U.S. forces or private contractors."
-By
Souad Mekhennet and Molly Moore -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Turkey
Seeks Release of Special Forces: Turkey Demands
Release of 11 Turkish Special Forces Detained by U.S. Troops in Northern
Iraq." ... "Turkey demanded on Saturday the immediate release of 11 Turkish
special forces detained by U.S. troops in northern Iraq over what a newspaper
said was a plot to kill a senior official in the oil-rich Iraqi city of
Kirkuk." ... "It was the second time that U.S. forces detained Turkish
soldiers in northern Iraq." ... "In April, the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne
Brigade caught a dozen Turkish soldiers, dressed in civilian clothes and
trailing an aid convoy. U.S. forces suspected that the Turkish team was
sent in to inflame local ethnic Turks, who already have tense relations
with the city's Kurds and Arabs." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "U.S.
to send small military team to Liberia: Goal
is to assess needs for possible peacekeeping mission." ... "The team of
about a dozen people will depart from Europe as soon as air transport can
be arranged, the official said." ... "The team's task will be to determine
the requirements for a peacekeeping mission in Liberia, which could include
troops from the United States and the Economic Community of West African
States." ... "A Pentagon official stressed that sending a U.S. assessment
team does not signal the beginning of a larger movement of troops to the
region." -CNN
July
4th News
- Tucson
News - "Wildfire
Spreads in Ariz.; Trees Thinned." ... "The fire pushed
toward the foothills of the Catalina Mountains, coming within about three
miles of the visitor center of Sabino Canyon, a popular recreation area.
Heavy smoke forced the canyon's closure Wednesday, and fire officials were
asking residents of about 50 upscale homes in the area to evacuate."
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
July
4th News
- "History,
hot dogs hallmarks of July Fourth: Events marking
the 227th birthday of the United States on Friday featured hot dogs, history
and a recognition of the trailblazing spirit of America."
-CNN
- "Poll:
Majority back recall for California's Davis:
Enough signatures for ballot?" ... "A majority of voters believe Gov. Gray
Davis should be recalled in a special election, according to a poll published
Friday, hours after recall leaders claimed they had enough support to put
the question on the ballot." ... "The Los Angeles Times statewide poll
of 1,412 adults, 1,127 of them registered voters, found 51 percent want
Davis ousted, while 42 percent would reject a recall. The rest said they
didn't know what to do." -AP
via -CNN
- July
4th News
- "Wildfire
danger high as July Fourth holiday begins." ... "Another
wildfire started Thursday as Oregonians began flocking to mountain and
lake recreational areas that are under high fire alert." ... "The grass
fire, one of four wildfires burning in the state, was located about 25
miles east of Pendleton and had burned about 300 acres." ... "Several fires
were burning in Washington." ... "The fire season has arrived about three
weeks early, just in time for one of the busiest recreational weekends
of the year. Enough dry weather, dry fuel and recreationalists are mixing
this sunny July Fourth that fire specialists are pleading with people to
be careful." -By Carol McGraw-OregonLive.com/Oregonian
-
- July
4th News
- "Sombre
celebrations for US Iraq troops: American Independence
Day celebrations have been tinged with sadness for US troops in Iraq."
... "As well as being away from home, the 150,000 troops are having to
deal with the loss of another colleague as the resistance attacks against
them continue." ... "There were some distractions to take minds off the
sombre side of their mission -including a "burger giveaway", a six-mile
(10-kilometre) race, a visit from film star Arnold Schwarzenegger and the
chance to blow up some old Russian tanks." ... "To make up for lack of
a traditional firework display, army soldiers destroyed Soviet-made Iraqi
tanks with missiles fired from their Bradley fighting vehicles."-BBC/News
-
- -
-
- "U.S.
sanctions Chinese company for sales to Iran." ...
"The United States has imposed sanctions on one Chinese company and extended
sanctions on five companies from China and North Korea for sensitive arms
sales to Iran, the State Department said on Thursday." -Reuters
via -MSNBC
- "Recall
milestone claimed: Backers of Gov. Davis doubt
reported totals." ... "The activists who are trying to recall Gov. Gray
Davis from office said Wednesday they had turned in enough signatures to
qualify for the ballot, and predicted they will surpass their goal of 1.2
million signatures by next week." ... "Recall opponents said they doubted
the numbers, because the pro-recall forces had inflated them early on."
-By Laura Kurtzman and Julie Patel
-MercuryNews-BayArea
-
- "Arizona
fire flares again; firefighters intensify effort."
... "High winds breathed new life into a southern Arizona wildfire that
has already destroyed more than 300 buildings, and threatened Thursday
to funnel the flames northeast into other developed areas." ... "The human-caused
fire, which started June 17, grew to 56,000 acres overnight and its containment
fell from 70 percent to 60 percent. The fire skirted control lines on the
southeast corner as it moved east and northeast." ... "Winds were continuing
to gust on Thursday, and fire weather forecasters issued a so-called red-flag
warning -- a combination of high winds, high temperatures and low relative
humidity creating the potential for extreme flames." -By
Arthur H. Rotstein -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- July
4th News
- "The
4th that almost wasn't." ... "Stricter rules and
recent changes to the Homeland Security Act created a jurisdictional feud
between federal agencies, halting fireworks rail shipments for five months."
... "The dispute wasn't resolved until June 6, leaving firework manufacturers
and wholesalers to pay millions in trucking costs to get their wares in
time to put on the traditional displays." ... "The embargo started Feb.
6, the result of a wrangle between Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
(ATF) and the Department of Transportation over which had jurisdiction
over explosives shipments, which the ATF broadly defined to include large
fireworks displays." -By Dee DePass
-StarTribune.com
-
- "Court:
Anonymous P2P no defense: Operators of peer-to-peer
networks cannot escape copyright infringement claims by giving their members
the ability to mask the content that changes hands on their networks, a
federal appeals court ruled Monday." ... "Calling the tactic a form of
"willful blindness," the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld
a lower court's injunction against the Madster file-swapping network that
had ordered the service shut down pending a trial. But, in a mixed decision,
the court also bolstered a key defense argument invoking a comparison between
file-swapping software and personal home video recording." -By
Paul Festa -CNET/News
-
- Tucson
News - "Calmer
winds help out Arizona firefighters: Benefiting
from calmer winds, firefighters made progress Wednesday against a wildfire
northeast of Tucson, Arizona, that has charred more than 30,000 acres since
it began last week and has destroyed more than 300 homes and businesses."
... "Thursday's forecast calls for more of the same with winds at 10 mph
to 20 mph, instead of the 40 mph to 50 mph gusts seen only a few days earlier."
-CNN
-
- "Fed trims
key rate to lowest in 45 years: Central bank
signals it remains worried over weak growth." ... "Seeking to deal a death
blow to the long U.S. economic downturn, the Federal Reserve cut short-term
interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point Wednesday, taking rates
to their lowest level since 1958." ... "The reduction was smaller than
a half-point cut the Fed had considered, and officials said in a statement
that the U.S. economy appeared to be improving." ... "But the central bank
signaled that it remained worried the weak growth of the last three years
had a small chance of turning into deflation, a sustained decline in prices
that can cause wages to fall and debts to become effectively larger." -By
David Leonhardt -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
-
- "Musharraf
to U.S.: Appease Muslims: Pakistan President
Pervez Musharraf has urged the United States to do more to ease Muslim
grievances around the world, which he described as the "root causes" of
terrorism." ... "Musharraf said Washington's war on terrorism needed to
focus on the cause of terrorism rather than just the symptoms, adding that
the conflicts in Kashmir and the Middle East were important in improving
the United States' image in the Muslim world." -CNN
-
- "Research:
Teens victimized in police Explorers program:
At least a dozen teenagers assigned to work with police departments as
part of the Boy Scouts' Law Enforcement Explorers program have allegedly
been sexually abused by officers during the past year. In the past five
years, such molestations number at least 25, according to criminologists'
research being released Wednesday." ... "Law Enforcement Explorers is a
co-ed program affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America. The broader scouts
Exploring program also places 14- to 20-year-olds with firefighters, medical
providers, lawyers and others to learn about those careers. In 2002, about
43,000 Explorers were assigned to police and sheriff's departments around
the United States." -AP
via -CNN
-
-
-
- "Nuke
component unearthed in Baghdad back yard: U.S.
officials: Find is not smoking gun." ... "The CIA has in its hands the
critical parts of a key piece of Iraqi nuclear technology -- parts needed
to develop a bomb program -- that were dug up in a back yard in Baghdad,
CNN has learned." ... "The parts, with accompanying plans, were unearthed
by Iraqi scientist Mahdi Obeidi who had hidden them under a rose bush in
his garden 12 years ago under orders from Qusay Hussein and Saddam Hussein's
then son-in-law, Hussein Kamel." ... "U.S. officials emphasized this was
not evidence Iraq had a nuclear weapon -- but it was evidence the Iraqis
concealed plans to reconstitute their nuclear program as soon as the world
was no longer looking." -CNN
- Tucson
News - "Wildfire's
growth rate slows: Arizona firefighters increase
containment." ... "The growth rate of a southern Arizona wildfire slowed
Tuesday evening as conditions improved and firefighters slowly built a
containment line around the fire that has raged for a week." ... "Firefighters
have faced six straight days of extreme fire conditions, the longest stretch
anyone involved in the firefighting effort can remember, said Rick Barton,
a spokesman for the firefighters. Conditions on Wednesday are forecast
to moderate." -CNN
- "A
rare recall bid imperils Gray Davis." ... "In California's
153-year history, no governor has faced a recall. But as citizens line
up around the block to put one on the ballot, what was once seen as fantasy
has now taken a rock-hard reality." ... "Blame it on a $38 billion deficit,
the energy crisis, or Governor Davis's lack of charisma. Regardless, the
momentum has changed the political calculus in America's most influential
state capital." -By Mark Sappenfield
-CSMonitor
-
- "Bush
pledges $3bn aid to Pakistan." ... "US president
George Bush has pledged $3bn (£1.8bn) in aid to Pakistan in return
for its help in the fight against global terrorism." ... "Following a meeting
with Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, at Camp David yesterday, Mr
Bush praised his counterpart as "a courageous leader and a friend of the
United States", and proposed the aid package to "help advance security
and economic opportunity for Pakistan's citizens"." ... "The $3bn package,
which must be ratified by the US congress, is in addition to the cancellation
of $1bn in debts owed by Pakistan and will be paid over five years, Mr
Bush said." -By George Wright
-Guardian.co.uk</