HavenWorks.com/world/archive/2005| HavenWorks.com/world/archive/2005 |
/ 
/ Archive
/ 2005
US
- International
- 
Iraq
- 
Secret
- 
GOV
- 
Terrorism
- 
Intelligence
- Telecommunications
- E-Mail
- 
Privacy
- 
Politics
- 
Media
- 
Enforcement
- "US
investigates leak of spy program: Prosecutors focus
on disclosure to New York Times." ... "The Justice Department has opened
a criminal investigation into recent disclosures about a controversial
domestic eavesdropping program that was secretly authorized by President
Bush after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, officials said yesterday."
... "Justice Department prosecutors will focus on whether classified information
about the program was unlawfully disclosed to The New York Times, which
reported two weeks ago that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency
to monitor the international telephone calls and e-mails of people in the
United States without court-approved warrants, officials said." ... "The
case is the latest in a series of clashes between the media and the Bush
administration, which has aggressively enforced restrictions on classified
information and has frequently complained about media disclosures related
to terrorism or the war in Iraq." -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost
via -BostonGlobe
Pakistan
- Religious
- 
Schools
- Politics
- Terrorism
- London
bombings
- 
UK
- "Pakistan's
Islamic schools resist expulsion order: ·
Ban on foreign students followed London bombs · Leaders claim Musharraf
ruling is discriminatory." ... "Leaders of Pakistan's 13,000 madrasas have
vowed to defy a government deadline to expel foreign students by December
31, saying the regulations discriminate against religious schools." ...
"President Pervez Musharraf required Pakistan's madrasas to expel about
1,800 foreign students after the July 7 bombings in London highlighted
the extremist links of some schools. Three of the London bombers were of
Pakistani descent, and the Aldgate bomber, Shehzad Tanweer, attended a
Lahore madrasa that has since been linked to Islamist militants." -By
Imtiaz Gul -Guardian.co.uk
Ukraine
- 
Russia
- 
EU
- "Ukraine
rejects Moscow gas loan offer." ... "President Viktor
Yushchenko of Ukraine last night rejected an offer of a $3.6bn (£2bn)
loan from Russia to pay for a big increase in gas prices by Gazprom, the
Russian energy company." ... "The move has provoked the biggest rift between
the two neighbours since last year's "Orange Revolution" in Kiev. Mr Yushchenko
has turned Ukraine towards the European Union and Nato and wrenched it
out of Russia's orbit." ... "The dispute could cause shortages in western
Europe if Russia carries out a threat to reduce the gas it pumps into the
huge export pipeline that crosses Ukraine from January 1. By doing so,
however, Russia would risk damaging its claim to be a reliable energy supplier,
just as it takes over the presidency of the Group of Eight industrialised
nations with energy security as a main theme." -By
Neil Buckley -FT.com
Ukraine
- "Turkmenistan
agrees to export 40 bln cu m gas to Ukraine in 2006."
-AFXNews via -Forbes
Egypt
- 
Sudan
- 
UN
- Politics
- "10
dead in Cairo protest camp clearance." ... "Ten Sudanese
refugees, including a young girl, were killed today when Egyptian police
fired water cannon and beat migrants with clubs to break up a protest camp
in Cairo." ... "Up to 2,000 refugees had lived in the camp for three months,
demanding that the UN refugee agency resettle them." ... "The sit-in began
in September after the UN high commissioner for refugees stopped hearing
the cases of Sudanese asylum seekers, a decision which followed the signing
in January of a peace accord that ended Sudan's 21-year civil war."
-Guardian.co.uk
Iraq
- "Iraqi
protests continue in Kirkuk." ... "About 350 Arab
and Turkmen demonstrators took to the streets of Kirkuk on Thursday, protesting
preliminary results of the Dec. 15 parliamentary election and condemning
what they claim are Kurdish attempts to control the city, according to
Kirkuk Police Chief Torhan Abdul Rahman." ... "The protest is only the
latest of widespread demonstrations across the country, including one on
Wednesday in Samarra, north of Baghdad in the Sunni heartland." ... "There
has also been uproar among Sunni Arabs, secular Shiites and others over
what they say is fraud in the polling process." -Contributed
to by Mohammed Tawfeeq -CNN
EU
- Global
- Russia
- US
- 
Military
- Politics
- "EU
sends up 1st of 30 satellites in GPS network." ...
"The European Union on Wednesday launched the first satellite in its $4.5
billion Galileo global positioning system, a bid to enhance the world's
growing reliance on satellite navigation and to break the U.S. monopoly
on networks in space." ... "Many Europeans see political significance in
the project too: The world's only civilian-controlled system will give
Europe and its partner nations self-sufficiency from the United States,
which has warned it could diminish or cut off GPS satellite coverage to
countries considered enemies in times of national emergency." ... "The
launch comes at a time when Russia is moving forward with a positioning
system known as GLONASS. On Sunday it put into orbit three new satellites
for the network, which is scheduled to be operational in 2010." -By
Molly Moore-WashingtonPost
via -ChicagoTribune
EU
- Global
- Russia
- US
- Military
- 
Technology
- "Sky-High
Ambitions: Europe attempts to find its own place
in the world of satellite navigation with the launch of GIOVE-A." ... "Europe
has moved one giant step closer to operating its own long-awaited global
navigation satellite system, Galileo, designed to challenge the domination
of the U.S. military's GPS, or Global Positioning System." ... "GIOVE-A
(or Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) will be testing new technologies
— including atomic clocks, signal generators and user receivers — for what
has been a dream of the European Union since the early 1990s: a wide-ranging
navigation system that is faster and more precise than GPS, provides an
uninterrupted service under civilian control, and offers a commercial alternative
to the U.S. system and its Russian counterpart, GLONASS (Global Navigation
Satellite System)." -By Maryann Bird
-TIME.com
Russia
- Political
- 
Business
- "Russia
threatens to cut off Ukraine's gas." ... "Ukraine's
natural gas company declared Thursday that it has enough gas in storage
to see the country through the winter if Russia halts shipments in a standoff
over prices." ... "Russia's state-run natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, which
provides about a third of the gas used in Ukraine, says it will stop selling
gas to the country on Jan. 1 unless it agrees to a fourfold price increase."
... "Ukraine currently pays $50 (U.S.) per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. Gazprom
is demanding that the price in 2006 rise to $220 to $230, saying that is
more in line with world markets." -By Henry Meyer
-AP via -GlobeAndMail
Russia
- Business
- "Russia
to significantly up gas imports." ... "Russia on
Thursday agreed to significantly increase its imports of natural gas from
Turkmenistan in 2006, buying 30 billion cubic meters at US$65 (euro52)
per 1,000 cubic meters, the state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom said
in a statement." -AP
via -BusinessWeek
US
- 
Mexico
- Migrant
- 
Labor
- 
Family
- 
Calif.
- 
Iowa
- "Channeling
the Remittance Flood: In 2005, migrant workers in
the U.S. sent $52 billion back to Latin America and the Caribbean." ...
"Alvaro RamÍrez is no stranger to back-breaking work: The 29-year-old
Mexican spent six years picking apples and grapes in Wasco, Calif., earning
less than $4.50 an hour. Four years ago, having heard that meat-packing
plants paid much higher wages, he moved to a small town in Iowa, where
his wife packages pork and he works the graveyard shift maintaining plant
machinery. They each earn $12 an hour, and after income and Social Security
taxes are withheld -- yes, they do pay U.S. taxes -- they clear about $3,500
a month (see BW Online, 7/18/05, "Embracing
Illegals")." ... "That's nearly 10 times what they would earn in Mexico,
and it's enough to buy a used two-bedroom trailer and a 1998 pickup truck
to cart their two preschool daughters around town. Once a month, Ramírez
wires $250 to his 50-year-old mother in Mexico City -- something he has
done almost without fail for the 11 years he has lived in the U.S. as an
illegal alien. "I'll keep sending her money as long as she lives," he vows."
... "Ramírez (not his real name) is one of an estimated 11 million
Mexicans living in the U.S. -- some legally and some illegally -- who are
expected to send a record $20 billion to Mexico in 2005, a 20% increase
over last year. Mexico is the world's largest recipient of "remittances,"
or funds sent home by migrant workers abroad (see BW Online, 10/18/05,
"Immigration:
Is Bush Fenced In?")." -By Geri Smith
-BusinessWeek
UK
- EMail
- Business
- EU
- Privacy
- Telecommunications
- "Businessman
wins e-mail spam case." ... "A businessman has won
what is believed to be the first victory of its kind by claiming damages
from a company which sent him e-mail spam." ... "Three years ago the EU
passed an anti-spam law, the directive on privacy and telecommunications,
which gave individuals the right to fight the growing tide of unwanted
e-mail by allowing them to claim damages."-BBC
/News
Japan
- Business
- Employment
- Politics
- "Japan
backs gender equality plan." ... "Japanese Prime
Minister Junichuro Koizumi's cabinet has approved a gender equality plan
that aims to put more women in leadership positions." ... "It gave the
green light to a series of measures to improve employment conditions for
women and encourage their return to work after maternity." ... "The changes,
known as the female re-challenge plan, have been pushed through by the
prime minister himself." ... "They come in response to Japan's plunging
birth rate." -By Leo Lewis-BBC
/News
Russia
- Economics
- "Outspoken
Putin aide set to quit: An outspoken aide to Russian
President Vladimir Putin has offered his resignation in protest against
what he called the end of political freedom." ... "Economic adviser Andrei
Illarionov said Russia was no longer politically free but run by state
corporations acting in their own interests." ... ""It is one thing to work
in a country that is partly free. It is another thing when the political
system has changed, and the country has stopped being free and democratic,"
Mr Illarionov told reporters in Moscow."-BBC
/News
US
- Iraq
- Police
- "U.S.
Seeks To Escape Brutal Cycle In Iraqi City: 3rd Try
at Pullout Depends on Police." ... "On one of his last days in Iraq, Sgt.
Dale Evans looked out over the turbulent city from a rooftop tower piled
high with sandbags, manning a machine gun. Below him, rows of Bradley Fighting
Vehicles stood at the ready. Dusty streets were lined with coiled barbed
wire and abandoned houses pockmarked from gunfire -- a protective no-man's
land around a base that U.S. commanders describe as their "battleship"
in downtown Samarra." ... "This month, Evans and his company from the 3rd
Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, will leave Patrol Base Uvanni, beginning
a third attempt in as many years by U.S. forces to hand this Sunni city
over to Iraqi police. It's a major test for the U.S. military in Iraq,
and one U.S. commanders here say they can't afford to fail." ... "Since
2003, Samarra has come to symbolize the trials and errors of U.S. strategy
in Iraq -- a cycle of military offensives, lulls and new waves of lethal
insurgent attacks." (1, 2)
-By Ann Scott Tyson -WashingtonPost
Turkey
- Journalist
- Censorship
- Free
Speech - EU
- "Turkey
opens new case against journalist." ... "A Turkish
prosecutor has opened a new case against one of the country's leading Turkish-Armenians
for comments he made about an earlier prosecution." ... "Hrant Dink, editor
of the bilingual Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was convicted in October
of "insulting Turkishness" and received a six-month suspended sentence.
The case became one of several prominent prosecutions over speech that
prompted questions about Turkey's dedication to democracy from officials
of the European Union, which Turkey is trying to join."
-AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
US
- 
Iran
- 
Nuclear
- Military
- Politics
- Bill
Frist
- "Reining
in Iran." ... ""Iran's ruling mullahs have waged
a 26-year campaign to suppress dissent, support terror and pursue a nuclear
weapons program. In recent weeks, it has become clear that international
efforts to stop Iran's atomic program have failed to bear fruit. Unless
we act quickly, the United States will have a nuclear crisis on its hands."
... "If we let Tehran develop nuclear weapons covertly while IAEA negotiations
slog forward, Iran's theocrats will have little reason to negotiate with
anyone. The U.S. needs to act before a regime that has denied the real
Holocaust unleashes another. " -By Bill Frist
-LAtimes
Iran
- Russia
- "Iran
says it didn't get Kremlin nuclear plan: Deal would
move enrichment to Russia." ... "Iran denied Sunday that it received a
proposal to move its uranium-enrichment facilities to Russian soil, a compromise
Europe is seeking to resolve a standoff over Iran's nuclear program." ...
"Russia had announced Saturday that it sent the formal proposal to Tehran,
which has insisted it would not agree to moving enrichment abroad." -By
Nasser Karimi -AP
via -ChicagoTribune
Iraq
- Politics
- "Iraq
Contingent May Grow if Attacks Persist, Pace Says."
... "Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace said Sunday that the
number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase next year, not decrease, if
the insurgency continued." ... "The four-star Marine general said that
any decision to withdraw or deploy additional troops in Iraq would depend
mostly on whether the insurgency continued to launch deadly attacks against
U.S.-led forces and friendly elements of the fledgling Baghdad government."
-By Josh Meyer -LAtimes
Iraq
- Terrorism
- Police
- Politics
- "Gunmen
kill Iraqi forces, bombs shake Baghdad." ... "Guerrillas
killed 10 Iraqi policemen and soldiers in attacks north of Baghdad on Monday,
while the capital itself was rocked by five major explosions that left
at least eight dead." ... "It was one of the bloodiest days in Iraq since
the largely peaceful election on December 15, when rival ethnic and sectarian
groups took part in a vote for a new parliament. By nightfall, at least
20 were killed and over 40 injured." -By Deepa Babington
with contributions by Faris al-Mehdawi in Baquba, Aseel Kami and Gideon
Long -Reuters.co.uk
Iran
- 
Germany
- 
France
- Tourist
- 
Waters
- "Iran
detains German and French tourists." ... "Iran said
Sunday it is holding a German man and a Frenchman whose boat strayed into
its territorial waters while they were on a sailing vacation last month."
... "The Rheinpfalz newspaper reported that the 52-year-old German had
been on vacation with his wife and a French friend in the United Arab Emirates.
The two men were arrested on Nov. 29 during a fishing trip in the Straits
of Hormuz, apparently after straying into Iranian waters, it said."
-AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
US
- Iraq
- "A
look at U.S. military deaths in Iraq." ... "As of
Sunday, Dec. 25, 2005, at least 2,168 members of the U.S. military have
died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an
Associated Press count." ... "Since May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared
that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 2,029 U.S. military members
have died, according to AP's count." -AP
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
US
- Egypt
- 
Law
- "U.S.
Protests Jailing of Egyptian Opposition Leader (Update2)."
... "The U.S. government protested the conviction of Egyptian opposition
politician Ayman Nour on forgery charges and requested he be released from
jail." ... "Nour's conviction ``calls into question Egypt's commitment
to democracy, freedom and the rule of law,'' White House press secretary
Scott McClellan said in a statement. The U.S. calls on Egypt ``to release
Mr. Nour from detention.''" -By Carlos Torres -Bloomberg
Palestine
- 
Israel
- Religion
- 
Christmas
- "Christmas
Spirit Returns to Bethlehem." ... "Holiday spirit
returned to Bethlehem [West Bank] on Saturday for the first time in six
years as hundreds of pilgrims from around the world packed the town of
Jesus' birth for Christmas Eve celebrations." ... "More than 30,000 people
were expected to flock to Bethlehem in what would be the largest turnout
since fighting erupted in September 2000." ... "Israel's summer withdrawal
from the Gaza Strip and a sharp drop in violence this year contributed
to the joyful atmosphere, which buoyed the spirits of Bethlehem residents
and tourists visiting the festively decorated town." (1, 2)
-By Sarah El Deeb -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
Italy
- EU
- US
- Egypt
-Intelligence
- "Italy
court issues EU arrest warrant for CIA team." ...
"A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected
of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy's financial capital in 2003,
Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday." ... "Milan magistrates suspect
a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew
him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured."
-Reuters
Palestine
- Israel
- Religion
- Christmas
- "Isolated
Bethlehem struggles for its survival." ... "In a
street below the Church of the Nativity this week, three Palestinians were
wrestling with a gigantic blow-up Santa Claus as they attempted to add
a touch of seasonal cheer to a town that feels itself increasingly cut
off from the outside world." ... "Since Christmas 2004, Israel has completed
an eight-metre high concrete separation barrier between Bethlehem and neighbouring
Jerusalem and recently opened a $7.5m crossing point that resembles an
international frontier." ... "Most residents of Bethlehem, which is just
inside the West Bank, are no longer allowed to travel to Jerusalem, although
the army is making an exception this Christmas for Christian Palestinians
wishing to visit relatives in Israel." -By Harvey
Morris -FT.com
South
Korea - 
People
- Labor
- Business
- "Cloning
allegations put spotlight on S. Korea's competitive culture."
... "Six-day work weeks from morning until night. Companies trumpeting
bigger and bigger flat-screen TVs. A government that proclaims it wants
to be a ''hub" for everything from finance to robots. South Korea is fiercely
committed to being No. 1, and doing it yesterday." ... "As South Korea's
top scientist Hwang Woo-suk falls from his lofty perch amid a wave of allegations
questioning his research, the country's competitive culture of always hurrying
-- coupled with a healthy sense of national pride and craving for international
recognition -- could be partly to blame." ... "The dynamic culture has
its upside, helping South Koreans build their country from the ruins of
the Korean War into the world's 11th largest economy." -By
Burt Herman -AP
via -BostonGlobe
South
Korea - Stem
Cell - Cloning
- Animals
- "S.Korean
panel says stem-cell result fabricated." ... "South
Korea's most famous scientist quit under a cloud on Friday and could face
prosecution after investigators said results in a landmark 2005 paper on
producing tailored embryonic stem cells were intentionally fabricated."
... "A panel from Seoul National University has been examining the work
of Hwang Woo-suk, hitherto regarded in South Korea as a hero for bringing
the country to the forefront of stem-cell and cloning studies -- and the
world the first cloned dog." ... "Roe [Jung-hye, Seoul National University's
research office chief,] said the panel would now also investigate the dog
cloning and a 2004 academic paper on cloning the first human embryos for
research that has also fallen under suspicion." (1, 2)
-By Jon Herskovitz and Kim Yeon-hee -Reuters
South
Korea - Stem
Cells - Cloning
- Genetics
- 
Health
- US
- "S.
Korean's Stem Cell Data Fake, Panel Says." ... "A
panel investigating the work of South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo
Suk has concluded that he deliberately fabricated key data in a landmark
paper this year, offering the first evidence of what is potentially one
of the greatest frauds in modern science." ... "The expert panel at Seoul
National University, where Hwang conducted his research, found that nine
of 11 stem cell lines he claimed to have created did not exist." ... "Hwang's
paper, published in May by the U.S. journal Science, purported to describe
the creation of 11 human embryo clones using DNA from patients suffering
from spinal cord injuries and genetic diseases. No other research group
has succeeded in cloning human embryos, though many have been trying."
... "Hwang's team claimed it used the embryos to create individualized
lines of stem cells that were perfect genetic matches to the 11 patients.
The achievement, known as therapeutic cloning, was believed to be the first
step toward creating personalized stem cell therapies for patients." (1,
2)
-By Barbara Demick and Karen Kaplan with contribution
by Jinna Park and -AP
-LAtimes
US
- Iraq
- "Rumsfeld
suggests some U.S. troops will be heading home from Iraq."
... "The reductions would bring U.S. troop levels down from about 158,000
to slightly under 130,000. But Rumsfeld warned that "until it's announced,
the government's decision hasn't been announced. Therefore it's not final.""
-By Richard Sisk -MercuryNews
Iraq
- "Objections
to Iraq vote grow louder: Sunnis, secularists join
forces in call." ... "Sunni Arab and secular political groups joined forces
yesterday to decide whether to call for a repeat of parliamentary elections
that gave the Shi'ite religious bloc a larger than expected lead." ...
"The main Sunni coalition has said the elections were tainted by fraud,
including voting centers failing to open, shortages in election materials,
reports of multiple voting, and forgery." ... "The election commission,
known as the IECI, has said it received 1,250 complaints about violations
during the Dec. 15 elections, 25 of which it described as serious. But
the commission says it does not expect the complaints will change the overall
result, to be announced in January." -By Patrick Quinn
-AP via -BostonGlobe
Russia
- 
China
- 
Environment
- Health
- "Toxic
leak reaches Russian city: A slick of chemicals from
a toxic river spill in China has reached the Russian city of Khabarovsk
after weeks of anxious waiting for residents." ... "Officials say the levels
of the deadly benzene toxins were at acceptable levels and water supplies,
which are being filtered, will not be cut." ... "The benzene spill into
the Amur river was caused by an explosion at a Chinese chemical factory
last month." ... "The explosion occurred higher up the Songhua river, in
Jilin. The Songhua flows into the Amur river on the Russian border."-BBC/News
US
- 
Arizona
- Mexico
- Drugs
- Terrorism
- Law
- Intelligence
- "Surprise
- terror war aids drug war: One Arizona border unit
sees marijuana haul triple." ... "As Congress and President Bush wrangle
over the USA Patriot Act, the Border Security bill, and other tools of
the war on terror, they may want to keep another law-enforcement group
in mind - the nation's drug-fighters." ... "That's because the war on terror
is proving to be a boon to the war on drugs. Drug seizures are up all along
the US-Mexico border. Nowhere is the trend clearer than along a desolate
118-mile patch of Arizona desert across the border from the Mexican state
of Sonora." ... "In what is rapidly becoming one of the highest drug-trafficking
and people- smuggling sectors along the border, US Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) officers there have seized 13,000 pounds of marijuana since Oct.
1, triple the amount captured in the same period last year. That year,
fiscal 2005, also set a record. The reasons for the success? Better intelligence-sharing,
increased manpower, and improved technology that border officials have
received in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks." -By
Faye Bowers -CSMonitor
Iran
- Secret
- Nuclear
- Military
- Politics
- EU
- US
- UN
- "The
West's patience wears thin with Iran's hard line."
... "When European nations resume talks with Iran in Vienna Wednesday over
that country's nuclear ambitions, two dangerous new factors are in play.
On the one hand, the patience of the Europeans and the United States with
Iran is running thin. On the other hand, Iran's newly elected president
has shocked a string of nations with some megalomanic pronouncements that
if supported by his people would plunge Iran back into isolation. The stage
is not set for compromise and consensus." ... "At issue is whether Iran's
suspected pursuit of nuclear technology for military purposes is purely
for peaceful purposes, as it claims. The European nations and the US doubt
that, pointing to a string of deceptive Iranian actions, including hiding
from the International Atomic Energy Agency its secret installations to
enrich uranium and produce plutonium." -By John Hughes
-CSMonitor
Vietnam
- Drugs
- "Bird
flu victims die after drug resistance." ... "In a
development health experts are calling alarming, two bird flu patients
in Vietnam died after developing resistance to Tamiflu, the key drug that
governments are stockpiling in case of a large-scale outbreak." ... "The
experts said the deaths were disturbing because the two girls had received
early and aggressive treatment with Tamiflu and had gotten the recommended
doses." ... "The new report suggests that the doses doctors now consider
ideal may be too little." -By Alicia Chang
-AP via-Miami/Herald
Iraq
- Religious
- "Shiite
Alliance Leads In Partial Iraq Count: Secular Parties
Failing to Win Broad Support." ... "The first results from Iraq's national
parliamentary election showed powerful support for the leading Shiite Muslim
religious alliance, and suggested that the country's splintered politics
have coalesced into a few large political groups divided along ethnic and
religious lines." ... "Election officials announced unofficial results
Monday from 11 of Iraq's 18 provinces and Baghdad, the largest city, showing
the Shiite alliance leading overwhelmingly in central and southern Iraq.
As expected, a coalition of Kurds dominated the north, while votes from
the mainly Sunni Muslim western provinces have not been reported." ...
"The results, which elections officials said were incomplete and subject
to challenge, appeared to dash the hopes of secular parties that voters
would reject the religious and ethnic-based groups." (1, 2)
-By Doug Struck with contributions by Jonathan Finer
and Omar Fekeiki and K.I. Ibrahim -WashingtonPost
Iran
- 
Entertainment
- 
TV
- 
Radio
- 
Music
- Religious
- Law
- 
History
- "Iran's
president bans all Western music." ... "Hard-line
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned all Western music from Iran's
state radio and TV stations — an eerie reminder of the 1979 Islamic revolution
when popular music was outlawed as "un-Islamic" under Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini." ... "But as revolutionary fervor started to fade, some light
classical music was allowed on Iranian radio and television; some public
concerts reappeared in the late 1980s." ... "In the 1990s, particularly
during the presidency of reformist Mohammad Khatami starting in 1997, authorities
began relaxing restrictions further." ... "Ahmadinejad's order means the
state broadcasting authority must execute the decree and prepare a report
on its implementation within six months, according to the IRAN Persian
daily." -AP
via -USATODAY
Afghanistan
- "Warlords
and women take seats in Afghan parliament: First
session of elected body for three decades · New MPs keen to make
progress despite cynicism." ... "As part of the frantic last-minute preparations
at Afghanistan's renovated parliament, officials were installing computers,
workmen hanging paintings and, out in the garden, a team of de-miners was
uprooting the flowerbeds. "We're checking for bombs," said a bearded man
in a blastproof jacket, running a screeching metal detector over a pile
of soil. "Just in case there's an unexploded one."" ... "The question is
whether the leopards have grown new spots or just cloaked the old ones.
Human Rights Watch estimates that 60% of MPs have links to warlordism.
The organisation singled out Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a powerful militia commander
whose guns ravaged Kabul in the 1990s, and Marshall Fahim, a former defence
minister accused of war crimes." -Declan Walsh
-Guardian.co.uk
Afghanistan
- US
- Military
- "Afghanistan
Convenes Newly Elected Parliament." ... "An elected
Afghan parliament was sworn in today for the first time in more than 35
years, and will face threats from drug lords, rampant corruption and a
surge in suicide bombings." ... "President Hamid Karzai, his voice breaking
with emotion, said Afghans had won the world's respect with their difficult
struggle to build a democracy, but he cautioned that a lot of hard work
still lay ahead." ... "Vice President Dick Cheney, and his wife, Lynne,
had front-row seats to the opening of parliament, along with U.S. Ambassador
Ronald E. Neumann and Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, who commands about 20,000
U.S. troops here. Many of those soldiers are still battling Taliban and
other insurgents four years after a U.S. and Afghan forces toppled the
Islamic extremists' regime." -By Paul Watson
-LAtimes
Iraq
- US
- Intelligence
- "Official:
Al-Zarqawi Caught, Freed." ... "Iraqi security forces
caught terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the Fallujah area last year
but released him because they didn't realize who he was, the deputy interior
minister said in an interview broadcast Friday." ... "CNN broadcast a similar
report late Thursday, but it could not be confirmed. But a U.S. official
said in Washington that American intelligence believed it was plausible."
-AP via-CBSNews
UK
- Gay
- Law
- Religion
- "UK
Weddings: Straights Can Wait." ... "At last. Only
40 odd years since homosexuality was decriminalized here in England, same
sex couples will shortly be able to join together in civil (if not holy)
matrimony." ... "From Wednesday, gay couples can legally combine their
financial affairs, have next-of-kin rights at hospital and share in that
once exclusively heterosexual activity – divorce. It doesn’t sound like
the law is giving them much, but more than 12 hundred same sex couples
have already registered their intent to ‘marry’." ... "Now, I am told that
these will not be marriages in the eyes of God – because apparently he
would be absolutely furious with the idea of two people who love each other
making a life-long commitment to each other and forsaking all others ‘til
death do they part."-CBSNews
Turkey
- Law
- 
Author
- EU
- "EU
watches as trial of Turkish author adjourned." ...
"The trial of best-selling Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk was adjourned on
Friday in a case that has raised concern in the European Union over freedom
of expression in Turkey and its bid for EU membership." ... "Istanbul Judge
Metin Aydin said the trial would restart on February 7, 2006, to give the
Justice Ministry time to decide whether the case was in line with judicial
procedures at the request of the state prosecutor." -By
Ercan Ersoy with contributions by Daren Butler
-Reuters
Turkey
- Law
- History
- 
Switzerland
- "Dilemma
as Turkish writer’s trial is halted." ... "The trial
of Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist accused of “insulting” his country,
was halted on Friday after the justice ministry failed to indicate whether
it wanted the trial to proceed." ... "Mr Pamuk is being prosecuted for
remarks he made in an interview with a Swiss newspaper earlier this year.
In it, he criticised Turkey for what he said was its denial of its historical
responsibility in the massacre of Armenians and Kurds starting in 1915."
... "Mr Pamuk is being tried under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code,
which makes it a criminal offence to “insult Turkishness, the republic
and state institutions” or otherwise “debase or denigrate” Turkish identity."
-By Vincent Boland -FT.com
Turkey
- Military
- Law
- Authors
- History
- Media
- TV
- Censorship
- "'Terrorised'
writers lament state's assault on free speech: Trial
of Turkey's greatest living author is focusing attention on attempts to
control public opinion." ... "Ertugrul Kurkcu has been hauled before the
judges for saying the wrong thing so many times that he has almost lost
count. "Six or seven trials, always acquitted, but I did get a 10-month
jail sentence from a military court for translating a Human Rights Watch
report," says the veteran leftwing Turkish dissident." ... "He took one
case to the European Court of Human Rights last year. The case was annulled
and the Turkish government paid him €5,000 compensation." ... "Mr
Kurkcu's problem is that he keeps colliding with the country's notion of
"Turkishness", and that spells danger for writers, historians and novelists,
who bring the wrath of the establishment down on their heads every time
they are deemed to have belittled it." ... "A raft of other regulations
make it possible for Turkey to muzzle, fine and pressure the publishing
industry, newspapers and television stations for stepping out of line.
Censorship flourishes, too, through requirements that manuscripts be submitted
to state authorities for approval and special licensing arrangements that
oblige the books industry to get official stamps before a book can be published."
-By Ian Traynor -Guardian.co.uk
Turkey
- Law
- People
- History
- "Turk
writer's insult trial halted: The trial of Turkish
novelist Orhan Pamuk, accused of insulting his nation, has been halted
on its first day." ... "An Istanbul judge said the case needed approval
by the ministry of justice." ... "The ministry's permission is being sought
because of a dispute over whether Mr Pamuk is to be tried under Turkey's
old penal code or a recent, revised version." ... "The charges relate to
a magazine interview earlier this year in which Orhan Pamuk said: "One
million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands and nobody
but me dares talk about it."" ... "Turkey maintains the deaths of Armenians
in conflicts accompanying the collapse of the Ottoman empire in the early
20th Century were not part of a genocidal campaign, arguing that many ethnic
Turks were also killed in that period." ... "Turkey also denies its efforts
to contain a separatist uprising in its Kurdish community in the 1980s
and 1990s can be classed as genocide."-BBC
/News
Turkey
- Law
- Author
- Journalists
- Switzerland
- "Judge
Halts Trial of Turkish Novelist." ... "The presiding
judge halted the trial of Turkey's best-known novelist Friday, saying the
court would need the approval of the Justice Ministry for the trial to
proceed." ... "Orhan Pamuk is accused of insulting Turkey's national identity,
a free speech case that has divided the nation." ... "He faces up to three
years in prison for saying to a Swiss newspaper in February that Turkey
is unwilling to deal with painful episodes in its treatment of the country's
Armenian minority or its continuing problems with its 12 million Kurdish
citizens." ... "Turkey has for years come under criticism for jailing journalists,
authors and activists for speaking their minds." -By
Suzan Fraser -AP
via -HoustonChronicle.com
Turkey
- Law
- Journalists
- Books
- EU
- "Trial
of Turkish author adjourned." ... "Mr Pamuk is on
trial for "denigrating" Turkishness, and faces up to three years in jail
if found guilty." ... "Mr Pamuk was charged under Article 301 of Turkey's
revised penal code, which has been widely criticised within the EU." ...
"The Independent Communications Network found 16 journalists had been put
on trial in Turkey in the first nine months of this year, with 12 of them
being found guilty." ... "The Publishers Association said that, in the
18 months until this summer, 37 authors were tried for criminal offences
in connection with the publication of 47 books." -Guardian.co.uk
Turkey
- Free
Speech - Journalism
- Law
- EU
- "Free
speech on trial in Turkey: The case of writer Orhan
Pamuk is being watched as a test of political reforms." ... "Like one of
his own characters, trapped between liberal yearnings and the reality of
an unforgiving state, Turkey's most celebrated novelist, Orhan Pamuk, is
slated to appear in court Friday to face charges of "insulting Turkish
identity."" ... "The high-profile free speech trial pits the aims of European-driven
reform in Turkey - which began EU membership talks last October - against
a fiercely nationalistic tradition that permits little challenge. Mr. Pamuk's
trial is one of more than 65 other free speech cases now under way in Turkey,
which are being closely watched by European observers, as a test of the
recent reforms." ... ""This is a tug of war in Turkey now, between those
who favor democratic and EU values, [against] those who are afraid of such
change - the hard-core nationalists who are willing to do anything to stop
that trend," says Haluk Sahin, a journalism professor at Bilgi University
and columnist for Radikal newspaper, who is also facing trial in February
under the same statute." ... ""[Nationalists] have decided that the legal
system is the soft underbelly," says Mr. Sahin. "And by using legal instruments
and their ties [to the judiciary], they can harm Turkey's prospects in
that big march toward the European goal."" -By Scott
Peterson -CSMonitor
US
- Mexico
- US
Immigration - Drugs
- Law
- California
- 
New
Mexico - 
Texas
- Arizona
- "House
Votes for 698 Miles of Fences on Mexico Border."
... "House Republicans voted on Thursday night to toughen a border security
bill by requiring the Department of Homeland Security to build five fences
along 698 miles of the United States border with Mexico to block the flow
of illegal immigrants and drugs into this country." ... "The amendment
to the bill would require the construction of the fences along stretches
of land in California, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona that have been deemed
among the most porous corridors of the border." ... "The vote on the amendment
was a victory for conservatives who had long sought to build such a fences
along the Mexican border. But the vote was sharply assailed by Democrats,
who compared the fences to the Berlin Wall in Germany. Twelve Republicans
also voted against the amendment." -By Rachel L. Swarns
-NYTimes
US
- World
- Government
- Secret
- Telecommunications
- Intelligence
- Privacy
- Terrorism
- Law
- "Bush
Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts." ... "Months
after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National
Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United
States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved
warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government
officials." ... "Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence
agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international
e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United
States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track
possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency,
they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications."
... "The previously undisclosed decision to permit some eavesdropping inside
the country without court approval was a major shift in American intelligence-gathering
practices, particularly for the National Security Agency, whose mission
is to spy on communications abroad. As a result, some officials familiar
with the continuing operation have questioned whether the surveillance
has stretched, if not crossed, constitutional limits on legal searches."
(1, 2,
3,
4,
5)
-By James Risen and Eric Lichtblau with contributions
by Barclay Walsh -NYTimes
Lebanon
- 
Syria
- Political
- Intelligence
- Terrorism
- "UN
extends Lebanon murder probe, chastises Syria." ...
"The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to extend for
six months the international probe into the murder of a Lebanese leader
and told Syria it was not co-operating fully with investigators." ... "The
resolution also authorises the U.N. commission to provide technical assistance
to the Beirut government investigating a string of other politically motivated
murders or attempted killings in the last year." ... "Detlev Mehlis, the
German prosecutor who headed the U.N. inquiry, on Monday released a 25-page
report saying new evidence had reinforced his earlier judgement that Syrian
intelligence officials and their Lebanese allies, were involved in the
killing." -By Evelyn Leopold
-Reuters
EU
- Turkey
- Author
- Law
- History
- "Turkey,
not author, on trial, EU exec says: Many see test
of free speech in Istanbul today." ... "Orhan Pamuk, 53, was expected to
appear in court in the Istanbul district of Sisli, charged with "public
denigration of Turkish identity." The charge stems from an interview he
gave to a Swiss magazine in February in which he said that "30,000 Kurds
and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares
talk about it."" ... "Pamuk, a prolific writer who has been compared to
James Joyce and Salman Rushdie, was referring to two of the most profound
issues in modern Turkey: The brutal repression of Kurdish separatists throughout
the past two decades and the genocide campaign perpetrated by Ottoman Turkish
forces from 1915 to 1918 that claimed the lives of about 1.2 million of
the collapsing empire's Armenian subjects." -By Amberin
Zaman -LAtimes
via -HoustonChronicle.com
US
- World
- Prisons
-
Florida
- 
Georgia
- "House
Defies Bush and Backs McCain on Detainee Torture."
... "In an unusual bipartisan rebuke to the Bush administration, the House
on Wednesday overwhelmingly endorsed Senator John McCain's measure to bar
cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners in American custody anywhere
in the world." ... "Although the vote was nonbinding, it put the Republican-controlled
House on record in support of Mr. McCain's provision for the first time,
at the very moment when the senator, a Republican, is at a crucial stage
of tense negotiations with the White House, which strongly opposes his
measure." ... "Representative C. W. Bill Young of Florida, head of the
House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, was one of 121 Republicans who
voted against Mr. McCain's language. One Democrat, Jim Marshall of Georgia,
voted against it; 200 Democrats and one independent supported it." -By
Eric Schmitt -NYTimes
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Intelligence
- "Bush
Admits Mistakes but Defends War: He accepts responsibility
for acting on flawed intelligence but says the invasion was justified.
Aides hope his candor will boost his ratings." ... "President Bush said
Wednesday that he accepted responsibility for deciding to wage war in Iraq
in part on the basis of faulty intelligence, but that he remained convinced
history would conclude he had done the right thing." ... "Speaking hours
before Iraqis began arriving at the polls to elect a new government, Bush
acknowledged miscalculations and mistakes before and after the U.S.-led
coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003." ... ""It is true that much of the
intelligence turned out to be wrong," Bush told a group of political leaders
and scholars at the nonpartisan Woodrow Wilson Center. "As president, I'm
responsible for the decision to go into Iraq, and I'm also responsible
for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities.""
-By Warren Vieth
-LAtimes
Iraq
- "With
delight and fervour, Iraqis cast ballots." ... "There
may not be the same sense of history this time round, but the joy and determination
of Iraqi voters emerging from dictatorship is still evident." ... "Young
and old, able-bodied and infirm, they streamed to polls for the third time
in 11 months on Thursday, this time to elect a four-year parliament." ...
"While not as novel as the first post-Saddam Hussein election in January,
participation was more widespread. Sunni Arabs, who boycotted the earlier
poll for an interim assembly, flocked to vote this time, determined not
to miss out on power again." -By Luke Baker
-Reuters via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
Iran
- US
- 
Alaska
- 
Canada
- Germany
- History
- "Iranian
leader: Holocaust a 'myth'." ... "Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has described the Holocaust as "a myth" and suggested
that Israel be moved to Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska." ...
"Ahmadinejad sparked widespread international condemnation in October when
he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."" ... "Last week, he also
expressed doubt about the killing by the Nazis of six million Jews during
World War II, but Wednesday was the first occasion when he said in public
that the Holocaust was a myth." ... "In Berlin, German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his government had summoned the Iranian charge
d'affaires to make "unmistakably clear" its displeasure, The Associated
Press said." -CNN
US
- World
- 
Oil
- "Oil
imports help push trade gap to record high." ...
"The U.S. international trade deficit jumped to a record $68.9 billion
in October, the government said Wednesday, prompting economists to warn
that growth could be slower than forecast in the fourth quarter of 2005."
... "Still, stock markets rallied on a separate Labor Department report
showing prices for imported goods fell 1.7% in November, as oil prices
dropped from post-hurricane highs. Tamer inflation could relieve pressure
on the Federal Reserve to keep raising interest rates. Also Wednesday,
a group of top CEOs predicted strong growth ahead." -By
Barbara Hagenbaugh -USATODAY
Canada
- US
- World
- Drugs
- 
Internet
- Privacy
- "Meth
addicts' other habit: Online theft." ... "Hot on
the trail of identity thieves, veteran [Alberta, Canada] Edmonton Police
Service detectives Al Vonkeman and Bob Gauthier last winter hustled to
a local motel, a cinder-block establishment where rooms rent by the hour."
... "Inside Room 24 the detectives found meth pipes, stolen credit cards,
notebooks with handwritten notations about fraudulent transactions and
printouts of stolen identity data." ... "Evidence in the motel room would
ultimately lead them to a much bigger revelation: The Edmonton ring had
gone global." ... "It no longer relied solely on dumpster-diving, mailbox-pilfering
street addicts to supply stolen credit cards, checks and account statements,
the grist for local thefts. Instead, it had advanced to complex joint ventures,
conducted over the Internet, in partnership with organized cybercrime rings
outside the country." ... "What's happening in Edmonton is happening to
one degree or another in communities across the USA and Canada — anywhere
meth addicts are engaging in identity theft and can get on the Internet,
say police, federal law enforcement officials and Internet security experts."
-By Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz
-USATODAY
US
- World
- Iraq
- Death
Penalty - UN
- "Rice
Scolds Holdouts on Iraq Trial: Nations not aiding
the Hussein proceedings are ducking duty to law and human rights, she says."
... "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sharply criticized other nations
Tuesday for failing to provide support for the trial of Saddam Hussein,
saying that the world community's "effective boycott of Saddam's trial
is only harming the Iraqi people."" ... "U.S. officials have differed with
many other governments almost from the outset of the war on how to conduct
trials of Hussein and top aides. The U.S. and its Iraqi allies wanted the
trials to be overseen by national authorities in Iraq, whereas officials
with the U.N. and from many other countries favored hybrid proceedings
with a larger international component." ... "Officials of other governments,
including many in Europe, have said they would avoid a proceeding they
feared could be seen as an American-run show trial. They also have been
put off by the possible death penalty, which is legal in Iraq and the United
States but banned in much of the world." -By Paul
Richter with contributions by Richard Boudreaux
-LAtimes
Iraq
- TV
- "Iraqis
Grasp the Art of TV Debate, With Gloves On: The airwaves
are rife with candidate forums featuring polite speech in a nation torn
by war." ... "For the first time, the televised campaign debate has come
to Iraq, and it has brought with it a level of civility and political discourse
far different from that found on the nation's often bloody streets." ...
"Across Iraq, politicians of all stripes moved with fear as they campaigned
for Thursday's parliamentary election. On Tuesday, a Sunni Arab candidate
was slain in Ramadi, the fourth office-seeker to be assassinated in recent
weeks." ... "But in Iraqi TV studios, it's a different story." ... "Politicians
are now free to use the medium of televised debates to expose voters to
their styles, images and rhetorical flourishes. And here, the tone has
been polite." (1, 2)
-By Louise Roug with contributions by Shamil Aziz,
Saif Rasheed and Asmaa Waguih -LAtimes
Iraq
- Prison
- "Fatal
Torture of Inmates Suspected: Security forces may
have physically abused or starved two detainees, the head of an inquiry
says. In Ramadi, a Sunni Arab candidate is slain." ... "Detainees told
investigators that the two inmates were tortured or starved to death, but
prison officials say the pair died of natural causes." ... "U.S. Ambassador
Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters Tuesday that in all, at least 120 prisoners
had allegedly been abused by Iraqi security forces, more than previously
disclosed by the government of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari. As many as
18 may have died at a Baghdad detention center that was first identified
last month in a Los Angeles Times report." -By Borzou
Daragahi and Louise Roug with contributions by Richard Boudreaux
-LAtimes
Water
- US
- Turkey
- Police
- 
Connecticut
- "Congress
turns attention to cruise safety." ... "George Allen
Smith IV vanished from a Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ship in the Mediterranean
10 days after his wedding last summer. His family says he was a victim
of foul play covered up by the cruise ship line to avoid bad publicity."
... "Smith's wife, Jennifer Hagel Smith, says ship officials forced her
from the vessel after her husband's disappearance and abandoned her in
Turkey, where she ended up at a police station and later a hospital with
no food, money, clothing or ticket home." -AP
via -USATODAY
Australia
- "Racial
Violence Erupts in Sydney for Second Successive Night."
... "Sydney erupted into a second night of racial violence as gangs of
young men of Middle-Eastern appearance attacked people in streets and smashed
cars and shop windows in the city's southern and western suburbs, police
said." ... "Police tried to block bridges and roads to the beachside suburb
of Cronulla when a convoy of about 70 cars carrying armed youths drove
to the area to retaliate for the bashing of people of Middle-Eastern appearance
during a riot by about 5,000 residents protesting an attack on two volunteer
lifeguards a week ago." -By Miriam Steffens -Bloomberg
US
- Iraq
- World
- Intelligence
- Politics
- "Peace-making
a core mission in new Pentagon policy." ... "After
years of internal debate, the Pentagon has embraced a fundamental change
in policy which calls for the U.S. armed forces to be equally adept at
waging war and making peace." ... "The new course, announced in a Pentagon
directive, follows widespread criticism of the conduct of the war in Iraq,
where U.S. forces scored a swift, decisive victory over conventional opponents
but found themselves ill-equipped to deal with post-combat chaos and an
increasingly effective insurgency." ... "The directive says that establishing
order and security, restoring essential services and meeting the humanitarian
needs of the population of a vanquished country were a "core U.S. military
mission.""" ... "The directive specifies the need for better language skills,
more regional expertise, better intelligence and counterintelligence, more
emphasis on studying foreign cultures and more coordination with foreign
governments, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations."
(1, 2) -By Bernd Debusmannn -Reuters
Norway
- Animals
- Science
- "Arctic
orcas highly contaminated: Killer whales have become
the most contaminated mammals in the Arctic, new research indicates." ...
"Norwegian scientists have found that killer whales - or orcas, as they
are sometimes known - have overtaken polar bears at the head of the toxic
table." ... "The Norwegian Polar Institute tested blubber samples taken
from creatures in Tysfjord in the Norwegian Arctic." ... "The chemicals
they found included pesticides, flame retardants and PCBs - which used
to be used in many industrial processes." -By Paddy
Clark -BBC
/News
US
- 
Taiwan
- "US
diplomat had affair with spy: A former top US diplomat
has pleaded guilty to not disclosing a relationship with a Taiwanese intelligence
officer." ... "Donald Keyser, 62, also pleaded guilty to illegally removing
classified documents from the US State Department where he was employed
until 2004." -BBC
/News
France
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- "French
target 'Islamic network': Police investigating suspected
plans for attacks in France have arrested at least 20 people during raids
in and around Paris." ... "They described the arrests as a "major operation
aimed at disbanding an Islamist network linked to terrorism"." ... "Agents
of the domestic intelligence service, the DST, raided homes around Paris
before dawn." -BBC
/News
UK
- Oil
- Disaster
- Water
- Environment
- "UK
oil depot fire 'largest of kind'." ... "Firefighters
are battling blazes at three tanks still burning after Sunday's massive
explosions at a fuel depot north of London while investigators search for
clues as to what caused powerful explosions that started the blaze." ...
"Using fire suppressant foam and water, the firefighters successfully put
down fires in 10 other tanks at Buncefield Oil Depot near Hemel Hempstead
and kept the flames away from seven more after the blasts, which injured
43 people and were felt 40 kilometers (25 miles) away in London." ... "The
fire department said they were "making good progress" against the fire."
... "Fire and environmental officials spent much of the night discussing
how to tackle the blaze without polluting local water supplies."
-AP -CNN
Iran
- Israel
- Nuclear
- "Iran's
leader drawing fire: President Ahmadinejad is proving
too radical even for some Iranian conservatives." ... "Courting confrontation
both at home and abroad, Iran's hard-line president is inserting like-minded
ideologues into key positions. He's holding strong to Iran's nuclear ambitions.
And he's inviting ire in the West with more anti-Israel rhetoric." (1,
2)
-By Scott Peterson -CSMonitor
Iran
- Religious
- Nuclear
- Military
- Terrorism
- Politics
- "Iran's
not-so-secret hatred." ... "Since taking office,
Ahmadinejad has pushed Iran further into hatred, intolerance and theocratic
tyranny--quite a feat in a repressive country that funds terrorists around
the world. He has sacked many of the pragmatists in the government and
replaced them with hard-liners. There are signs that even the despotic
mullahs who run the country are getting nervous. They reportedly moved
recently to strip him of some of his power." ... "If only the threat from
Iran were limited to fierce rhetoric." ... "Just a few days ago, Mohamed
ElBaradei, the ultra-cautious head of the International Atomic Energy Agency,
hinted that Iran could be a lot closer to developing a bomb than was thought
previously. He said the international community is "losing patience" with
Iran. Robert Joseph, a top State Department official, said Friday that
Iran is "very aggressive, very determined to develop nuclear weapons.""
-ChicagoTribune
Children
- Science
- UK
- "Colds
'may trigger child cancers': Scientists have found
further compelling evidence infections such as colds may trigger childhood
cancers." ... "The University of Newcastle-led team looked at 3,000 childhood
cancers in 0 to 14-year-olds from 1954 to 1998, the European Journal of
Cancer reported." ... "Researchers found unusual clusters of brain tumours
and leukaemia which were typical of infection-related disease." ... "But
children would need genetic factors to make them susceptible, they added.
Experts said more evidence was needed." ... "It was even possible infections
caught by mothers while pregnant could trigger the cancers, the report
said." ... "But the researchers stressed the findings did not mean people
could "catch cancer"."-BBC
/News
Woman
- 
Food
- Nutrition
- 
Sweden
- "Study:
Tea may help fight ovarian cancer." ... "Swedish
researchers have found tantalizing but far-from-conclusive evidence that
drinking a couple of cups of tea every day might help reduce the risk of
developing ovarian cancer." ... "Those [women in the study] who reported
drinking two or more cups of tea a day were 46 percent less likely to develop
the disease than women who drank no tea. Drinking less than two cups also
appeared to help, but not as much." -By Lindsey Tanner
-AP via -MercuryNews
UN
- Lebanon
- Syria
- Terrorism
- "Update
7: U.N.: Evidence Solidifies Hariri Report." ...
"New evidence has reinforced investigators' belief that the Syrian and
Lebanese intelligence services played a role in the assassination of Lebanon's
former prime minister, a U.N. probe said Monday." ... "The report said
Syria was moving at a "slow pace" in meeting council demands for cooperation.
The document also cited evidence that Syrian authorities had arrested and
threatened relatives of one witness, Husam Taher Husam, shortly before
he recanted testimony that was central to the original findings, spelled
out in an October report." ... ""Preliminary investigation leads to the
conclusion that Mr. Husam is being manipulated by the Syrian authorities,"
the report said." -AP
via -Forbes
UN
- Syria
- Lebanon
- Terrorism
- "Hariri
Murder Coordinated by Spy Services, UN Says (Update2)."
... "New witnesses confirmed that Lebanese and Syrian intelligence services
plotted the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the
German prosecutor investigating the crime said, and he urged the Syrian
government to cooperate more fully with his probe." ... "Investigator Detlev
Mehlis cited additional information that ``points directly at perpetrators,
sponsors and organizers of an organized operation aiming at killing Mr.
Hariri, including the recruitment of special agents by the Lebanese and
Syrian intelligence services, handling of improvised explosive devices,
a pattern of threats against targeted individuals and planning of other
criminal activities.''" ... "Syria, led by President Bashar al-Assad, has
denied any involvement in the truck-bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others
on Feb. 14 in Beirut." -By Bill Varner
-Bloomberg
Lebanon
- Syria
- France
- UN
- Media
- Police
- "Anti-Syrian
legislator killed by Beirut car bomb." ... "A car
bomb killed Lebanese newspaper magnate and anti-Syrian legislator Gebran
Tueni in Beirut on Monday, less than 24 hours after he returned from Paris
[France] where he lived for several months fearing assassination." ...
"Several politicians blamed Syria and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said
he would ask the U.N. Security Council to investigate a series of attacks
that have rocked Lebanon since the February 14 killing of former Prime
Minister Rafik al-Hariri." ... "Syria denies any role in the attacks and
said the latest killing was timed to smear it." ... "Police said Tueni,
publisher of the An-Nahar daily newspaper, was among four people killed
in the explosion that destroyed his armoured vehicle in the Mekalis area
of mainly Christian east Beirut. More than 30 people were wounded." (1,
2,
3) -By Nadim Ladki and Lin Noueihed with contributions
by Alaa Shahine and Ayat Basma -Reuters
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Politics
- "Bush
Estimates 30,000 Iraqis Killed in War." ... "In a
rare, unscripted moment, President Bush on Monday estimated 30,000 Iraqis
have died in the war, the first time he has publicly acknowledged the high
price Iraqis have paid in the push for democracy." ... "``I would say 30,000,
more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing
violence against Iraqis,'' Bush said. ``We've lost about 2,140 of our own
troops in Iraq.''" ... "The U.S. military does not release its tally of
Iraqi dead, but there is some consensus from outside experts that roughly
30,000 is a credible number. White House counselor Dan Bartlett said Bush
was not giving an official figure but simply repeating public estimates."
-By Nedra Pickler -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
Iraq
- Law
- US
- Military
- "Early
Voting Begins in Iraq; Nine Killed." ... "Thousands
of Iraqi forces will be protecting polling stations, with U.S. and other
coalition troops ready to help in case of a major attack." ... "Most attention
has focused on Sunni Arabs, who largely boycotted the Jan. 30 election
to protest the continued U.S. military presence. That enabled the Shiites
and Kurds to dominate parliament, a move that sharpened communal tensions
and fueled the Sunni-dominated insurgency." ... "This time, more Sunni
Arab candidates are in the race, and changes in the election law to allocate
most seats by province instead of based on a party's nationwide total all
but guaranteed a sizable Sunni bloc in the next assembly." -By
Qassim Abdul-Zahra -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
Books
- US
- Iraq
- Military
- Religion
- "Iraq
war debate enters new phase." ... "You might not
expect a West Point graduate, Vietnam vet and career soldier to come out
with a book titled "The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Addicted
to War." But that's what Andrew Bacevich, who now directs the program in
International Relations at Boston University, has done." ... "A self-described
conservative, Bacevich argues that Americans have fallen prey to a "military
metaphysic." By that he means all international problems are seen as military
problems and the likelihood for finding a solution except through military
means is discounted. The result is war as a permanent condition with the
only acceptable plan for peace a loaded pistol. One has only to consider
the relative weight given to the Pentagon and the State Department to get
the point." ... "As a pastor what most interested me is Bacevich's careful
tracing of the role of leading religious conservatives in promoting a "crusade
theory of warfare," to replace the more long-standing and cautious doctrine
of just war. A crusade theory of warfare provides the mindset and justification
for offensive military action, for so-called preventive wars like the current
war in Iraq. The just war ethical tradition mandates the use of force for
defensive, not offensive, purposes." -By Anthony B.
Robinson -SeattlePI.NWsource
Japan
- "Mizuho
Says Trader Error to Cost It at Least $224 Mln (Update1)."
... "Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan's second-biggest bank, said a typing
error at its brokerage arm, which triggered $3.5 billion of trades, has
cost the bank at least 27 billion yen ($225 million)." ... "The error at
Mizuho Securities Co. sparked trades in shares of J-Com Co., a company
valued at $93 million. More than 700,000 J-Com shares changed hands in
its stock market debut yesterday, following an erroneous sell order from
Mizuho." ... "At 9:27 a.m. yesterday, Mizuho's brokerage wrongly put an
order to sell 610,000 shares for 1 yen each, [Mizuho Securities' president,
Makoto] Fukuda said. It had intended to sell 1 share for 610,000 yen for
a client." -By Takahiko Hyuga
-Bloomberg
UK
- Auto
- Transportation
- "End
of the road for the traditional London bus." ...
"The "London bus" - the iconic, ever-popular double-decker with its half-cab,
old-fashioned bell, conductor and open rear platform, the star of postcards,
guide book covers and film - will run for the last time today on a mainstream
route." ... "When the number 159 rolls into Brixton garage in south London,
an era will have ended for the Routemaster, as it is known. It also marks
the end of the road for the bus conductor in London." -By
Simon Briscoe -FT.com
US
- Iraq
- "A
tale of 2 scarred cities: Najaf and Mosul." ... "Although
President Bush said Wednesday that residents in Najaf and Mosul are "gaining
a personal stake in a peaceful future," critics in the two Iraqi cities
cite corruption, undemocratic institutions, persistent violence and stalled
reconstruction." ... "Najaf is a largely peaceful Shiite city 100 miles
south of Baghdad that has not suffered from the sectarian attacks ravaging
other parts of the country. But rivalries between Shiite factions have
occasionally become violent, and many complain that militant political
parties and militias dominate city government and security forces." -By
Alaa al-Morjani and Sindbad Ahmed -AP
via -ChicagoTribune
US
- Iraq
- Politics
- Police
- "Bus
bombing kills 30 in Baghdad: A suicide attacker has
detonated a bomb on a bus in Baghdad, killing at least 30 people, Iraqi
police said." ... "The vehicle was leaving al-Nahda bus station heading
south for the Shia town of Nasiriya when the attack occurred." ... "Witnesses
said the bus was gutted and left in flames by the explosion. Another 25
people are reported injured." ... "Iraq has been bracing for an increase
in violence by anti-US insurgents ahead of the election next Thursday for
the first full-term post-Saddam parliament." ... "Police believe the attacker
waited until the bus was pulling away slowly from the station and jumped
on board to avoid security checks." -BBC
/News
Israel
- World
- Law
- History
- "Crystal
joins Cross and Crescent: A diamond-shaped red crystal
on a white background is to join the Red Cross and the Red Crescent as
an emblem for ambulances and relief workers." ... "Geneva Convention member
states voted by a two-thirds majority for the symbol which ends a decades-old
row and opens the way for Israel to join." ... "Israel had been denied
entry because its Red Shield was not approved." ... "Relief workers and
ambulances bearing the Red Cross or Red Crescent symbols are protected
under international law." ... "The Red Shield of David - or Magen David
Adom - was not recognised by the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and Arab states
had blocked attempts to find an alternative symbol."-BBC
/News
China
- Water
- Environment
- "Chinese
toxic spill official found dead." ... "A vice mayor
in charge of evacuating a Chinese city after a chemical plant exploded
has been found dead at home, a city official said on Wednesday, as a toxic
river flow resulting from the accident continued to spread." ... "Wang
Wei, vice mayor in the northeastern city of Jilin, had been in charge of
dealing with the aftermath of the November 13 blast, state media reports
said at the time." ... "Wang was quoted as saying that the accident would
not cause widespread pollution. In fact 100 tons of cancer-causing benzene
compounds spilled into the Songhua river which provides drinking water
for the 9 million people of the city of Harbin. Tap water supplies had
to be shut off for nearly a week." (1, 2)
-By Ben Blanchard and Vivi Lin
-Reuters
Egypt
- Politics
- "Update
9: Eight Killed in Egyptian Voting Violence." ...
"Police barricaded polling stations and fired tear gas and rubber bullets
Wednesday to keep supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood from voting
in the final day of parliamentary elections. At least eight people were
killed, including a 14-year-old boy." ... "Supporters of the banned Brotherhood
fought back, hurling stones and molotov cocktails and cornering security
forces in some towns." ... "The last day of the vote, which stretched over
a month, was by far the most violent. A total of at least 10 people have
been killed during the three rounds of balloting, which began Nov. 9 and
are considered a key test of President Hosni Mubarak's pledge to open the
autocratic political system." -AP
via -Forbes
Japan
- Iraq
- "Japan
extends Iraq troops mission: Japan has extended its
military deployment in Iraq for another year." ... "The decision, announced
after a meeting of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet, means the
troops can stay until 14 December 2006." ... "Japan has about 500 troops
in Samawa in southern Iraq, training Iraqi security forces and helping
with reconstruction, but not engaging in combat roles." ... "However, there
was media speculation that the troops could be pulled out before their
new mandate is fully up." ... "The Japanese troops could be pulled out
before the new expiration date if conditions change, either on the ground,
or in the make-up of the coalition forces, Kyodo news agency said on Wednesday."-BBC
/News
US
- South
Korea - Microsoft
- 
Computer
- Business
- "Microsoft
To Appeal Korean Antitrust Ruling: The company said
it will appeal the decision, a process that could take years, and added
that it does not plan to leave the Korean market as it had previously threatened
to do." ... "Microsoft said Wednesday that it plans to appeal a sweeping
decision leveled against it by the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)
and added that it does not plan to leave the Korean market as it had previously
threatened." ... "The KFTC's six-page findings were replete with complaints
of "tying" of various Microsoft products. The regulatory agency also leveled
a $31 million fine against the firm." ... "A translated version of the
findings said, "The KFTC found that the tying practices by Microsoft proved
to have eliminated competition and exacerbated monopolization of tied product
market including streaming media server, streaming media player and instant
messenger."" (1, 2)
-By W. David Gardner-InformationWeek
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Opinion
- Economy
- "Poll:
Bush's Ratings Bump Up." ... "The President’s overall
approval rating has risen from 35 percent in October to 40 percent now,
and his ratings on handling the economy and the war in Iraq have also improved."
... "The Bush Administration continues to face criticism from many Democrats
and other war opponents about the way pre-war intelligence was handled,
and whether there truly was a compelling connection between Iraq and the
terror threat to the United States. Fifty-two percent of Americans think
the Bush Administration deliberately misled the public in making the case
for war, while 44 percent say it did not." ... "An overwhelming majority
of Americans think this Congress should be asking questions about pre-war
intelligence. Fifty-six percent call it a very important line of questioning,
and another 24 percent call it somewhat important."
-CBSNews
Iraq
- "Hussein
Trial Resumes in Ousted Dictator's Absence (Update1)."
... "The Baghdad trial of Saddam Hussein resumed today without the ousted
Iraqi dictator after a four-hour break caused by his refusal to attend."
... "``The court will continue the proceedings and will inform the defendant
about procedures during his absence,'' Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin
told the tribunal trying Hussein and seven codefendants." ... "The statutes
of the court trying Hussein entitle defendants to be tried in their presence,
while Iraq's 1971 law on criminal proceedings allows a trial to continue
in a defendant's absence if the person violated court rules." ... "Amin
cited the criminal proceedings law, saying it permitted the judges to continue
the trial in Hussein's absence." -By Alex Morales
-Bloomberg
Global
- Environment
- US
- Canada
- EU
- UN
- Technology
- "UPDATE
2-U.S. comes under pressure at climate talks." ...
"The European Union and host Canada piled pressure on the United States
on Wednesday to join an international pact to curb greenhouse gas emissions
and limit the predicted chaos from global warming." ... "But the United
States defended its policy of investing billions of dollars in cleaner
technology to reduce emissions, brushing aside calls for it to commit to
long-term U.N. discussions on slowing climate change,." ... ""One size
does not fit all," said Paula Dobriansky, the U.S. under secretary for
global affairs, who leads the American delegation to the Nov.28-Dec.9 U.N.
climate talks in Montreal [Canada]." -By David Fogarty
and Timothy Gardner -Reuters
Burns
- 
Abramoff
- Money
- Government
- Lawmaker
- 
Montana
- US
- Northern
Mariana Islands - 
Garment
- Worker
- Florida
- Sports
- 2006
Election - "Records
Show Burns' Abramoff Meetings: Senate Panel Chairman
Met Abramoff Team, Collected $12,000 in Donations While Helping Lobbying
Client." ... "[Montana Republican Senator] Sen. Conrad Burns and his staff
met Jack Abramoff's lobbying team on at least eight occasions and collected
$12,000 in donations around the time that the lawmaker took legislative
action favorable to Abramoff's clients in the Northern Mariana Islands,
records show." ... "The 2001 donations to Burns, a Montana Republican,
included money directly from Abramoff and a key garment company executive
in the Pacific islands who was part of the coalition paying Abramoff's
firm to fend off stronger U.S. [worker] regulations on the islands." ...
"In addition, two Burns staffers had accepted a trip arranged by Abramoff
to attend the Super Bowl in Florida earlier that year." ... "At the time,
Burns served on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that
was considering legislation the Marianas opposed. He also ran a Senate
appropriations subcommittee that controlled spending for the Interior Department,
which regulates U.S. territories including the islands." ... "Burns, who
is up for re-election to a fourth term in 2006, received about $150,000
in donations from Abramoff, his firm and his clients between 2001 and 2004."
(1, 2,
3)
-By Mary Clare Jalonick
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
US
- Germany
- Afghanistan
- Secret
- Military
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Prisons
- Law
- Politics
- 
VA
- "German
citizen held in secret prison sues ex-CIA director."
... "A German citizen whom the CIA abducted from Macedonia and held in
a secret prison in Afghanistan for five months sued former CIA Director
George Tenet on Tuesday, saying he'd been tortured." ... "[Khaled] Al-Masri's
lawsuit, filed by ACLU lawyers in Alexandria, Va. [Virginia], sheds light
on the CIA's secret practice of "extraordinary renditions," using special
teams to capture suspected terrorists and transport them to countries that
practice torture or to one of the agency's reported secret prisons in Eastern
Europe or Asia." ... "In the four years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the
CIA has captured about 3,000 people, including some top al-Qaida leaders,
according to a Washington Post report. Intelligence committees in Congress
have been told that the CIA's inspector general is investigating possible
"erroneous renditions."" ... "U.S. officials refuse to confirm or deny
the existence of secret prisons." -By Frank Davies
and Warren P. Strobel -MercuryNews
US
- Germany
- Intelligence
- "‘Abduction’
case tarnishes Rice’s efforts to repair ties with Berlin."
... "Attempts to repair strained relations between the US and Germany backfired
on Tuesday after Angela Merkel, Germany’s new chancellor, said Condoleezza
Rice, the US secretary of state, had admitted that in the case of a German
citizen [Khaled el-Masri] who says he was abducted and detained for several
months two years ago the US had made “a mistake”, a claim swiftly denied
by US officials." ... "“We talked about the case, which the US government
has accepted as a mistake,” Ms Merkel said after meeting Ms Rice in Berlin.
“I am very glad that the secretary of state has repeated again here that
when mistakes happen they must of course be corrected immediately.”" ...
"Ms Rice gave a more circumspect account of the meeting. “As I told the
chancellor, I cannot comment on specific aspects of our intelligence activities.
. . I have also stressed that on the political area, mistakes sometimes
happen,” she said. -By Bertrand Benoit and Hugh Williamson
-FT.com
US
- Iraq
- 
Niger
- Lewis
Libby
- Dick
Cheney - Military
- Politics
- Law
- "Plame
Is Set to Leave the CIA." ... "[Valerie] Plame, 42,
worked undercover for the CIA tracking weapons proliferation but saw her
clandestine career imperiled after she was identified as an agency operative
in the summer of 2003 in a syndicated column by Robert Novak." ... "Plame
is married to Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador, who was sent by
the CIA to Africa in February 2002 to evaluate claims that Saddam Hussein
was trying to buy weapons-grade uranium in Niger. Wilson found the claims
unverifiable and publicly criticized the intelligence used by the administration
to justify the war against Iraq." ... "Administration officials began a
campaign to discredit Wilson and identified Plame in conversations with
several journalists, potentially violating a law against unmasking undercover
agents. A federal grand jury recently indicted former [Vice President Dick]
Cheney aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on charges that he repeatedly lied
to investigators." -By Richard B. Schmitt
-LAtimes
China
- Russia
- Environment
- Health
- "Update
2: China City Rushes Water Plant Into Action." ...
"A city of 480,000 people in China's northeast rushed a new water plant
into operation as a toxic spill on a nearby river arrived Tuesday and the
city was forced to shut down other water facilities for fear of contamination,
the local government said." ... "The spill of cancer-causing benzene and
related compounds into the Songhua River has disrupted drinking water supplies
to millions of people in China, and a Russian city downstream is bracing
for the arrival of the chemicals early next week." ... "There has been
no indication that local Communist Party leaders, who are accused of initially
trying to conceal the spill, might face punishment." -Contributed
to by Helen Luk -AP
via -Forbes
Japan
- Iraq
- "Japan
Should Keep Troops in Iraq, Al-Jaafari Says (Update1)."
... "Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al- Jaafari said Japan should extend
its deployment of troops in his country." ... "Japan has about 600 troops
in Samawah helping rebuild hospitals and schools and their term ends on
Dec. 14. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi intends to extend the mission
for another year, Kyodo News reported today, citing a copy of the government's
new deployment plan." -By John Brinsley -Bloomberg
Iran
- Military
- Disaster
- "More
than 100 killed in Tehran plane crash." ... "At least
110 are dead after an Iranian military aircraft crashed into a 10-storey
building in a densely populated district of Tehran [Iran] on Tuesday."
... "According to reports, the C-130 transport plane crashed into the building
while trying to make an emergency landing at Mehrabad international airport
and exploded in a ball of fire." -CTV.ca
Iran
- EU
- France
- Russia
- US
- UN
- Politics
- "Iran
stays course on nukes: The EU has also drawn a firm
line against allowing Iran to enrich uranium." ... "Iran says it is ready
for "constructive and serious" talks over its controversial nuclear program,
but Monday spelled out a bedrock position on enriching uranium that European
negotiators deem "unacceptable."" ... "But just as Iran draws its red line,
Europeans are sticking to theirs, insisting that no enrichment can take
place in Iran." ... "France's foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy,
expressed dismay at Iran's stance Monday, saying that its insistence on
enriching uranium was a "unilateral" rejection of a Russian proposal to
resolve the standoff." ... "The Europeans and the US will support action
against Iran by the UN Security Council unless there is compromise over
what they see as a proliferation risk. But on Saturday, Iran approved a
bill that would halt international inspections of its atomic facilities
if Iran were taken before the Security Council." -By
Scott Peterson -CSMonitor
Iraq
- Police
- Military
- "Baghdad
Bombers Kill at Least 27 at Police Academy (Update2)."
... "At least 27 Iraqi police officers and students died and 50 were hurt
when two suicide bombers attacked a police academy in eastern Baghdad,
the U.S. military said." ... "Earlier reports that the bombers were women
and walked into a classroom were ``erroneous,'' according to the statement."
... "The attack was the deadliest against Iraqi forces since Feb. 28, when
a suicide car bomber struck police and Iraqi National Guard recruits in
Hillah, a mostly Shiite Muslim city 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of
Baghdad, killing 125." -By Caroline Alexander
-Bloomberg
Spain
- "Five
small ETA blasts in Madrid, no injuries." ... "Armed
Basque separatist group ETA exploded five small bombs on motorways around
Madrid on Saturday as Spain celebrated the 27th anniversary of its constitution
with a ceremony in the parliament building." ... "ETA has killed some 850
people since 1968 and in the last two years has frequently set off non-fatal
bombs." (1, 2)
-By Emma Pinedo, Emma Ross-Thomas, Blanca Rodriguez
-Reuters
Venezuela
- "Chávez
claims boost from 'landslide' victory: Less than
25 percent of eligible voters showed up to vote in Sunday's legislative
election, raising questions of legitimacy." ... "Many voting stations across
Venezuela were eerily quiet during Sunday's congressional elections as
allies of President Hugo Chávez gained almost complete control over
the country's national assembly in a landslide victory." ... "Mr. Chávez's
Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) says progovernment parties have won all 167
seats in the assembly, with MVR winning 114, far surpassing the two-thirds
majority needed to fast-track any legislation. Critics worry that Chávez
may use his strengthened position to do away with presidential term limits."
... "But five opposition parties boycotted the vote, claiming that the
nation's electoral authority was biased toward Chávez's allies.
And fewer than 25 percent of registered voters participated in the elections,
leading some critics and analysts to say there is a crisis of legitimacy."
-By Jens Erik Gould -CSMonitor
Kazakhstan
- Russia
- China
- United
States - Oil
- "Foes
call Kazakh poll invalid: Observers also see flaws
in figures." ... "Opposition leaders yesterday called for President Nursultan
Nazarbayev's election victory to be declared invalid, while Western-led
observers said the vote that gave him 91 percent support was flawed." ...
"An array of exit polls had indicated Nazarbayev would win with 70 to 80
percent of the vote." ... "Kazakhstan, which is four times the size of
Texas and borders both Russia and China, has vast oil and gas reserves
that are a potential alternative to Middle East petroleum, and its stability
matters greatly to the United States and Western Europe." -By
Jim Heintz -AP
via -BostonGlobe
Kazakhstan-
"Kazakh
president gains third term as observers attack ballot methods."
... "Nursultan Nazarbayev secured a third term as president of Kazakhstan
with 91 per cent of the vote, in the latest election in a former Soviet
state to be criticised by observers as falling short of international standards."
... "Mr Nazarbayev's "soft authoritarian" methods, however, along with
fast-growing output from the country's vast oil and gas reserves, have
delivered higher living standards and made Kazakhstan the most advanced
central Asian state." -By Neil Buckley
-FT.com
Iraq
- Political
- History
- "Hussein
faces victims amid shouts, chaos: As trial's first
witnesses take the stand, ex-Iraqi leader 'not afraid to be executed'."
... "The first witnesses took the stand Monday in Saddam Hussein's trial
and gave gripping accounts of torture and mass executions as the defiant
ex-president and other defendants tried to intimidate those testifying."
... "The outbursts punctuated an extraordinary eight-hour session in which
Hussein faced victims of his government's massacres in court for the first
time. The first witness, Ahmad Hassan Muhammad, 38, riveted the courtroom
with the scenes of torture he had witnessed after his arrest in 1982, including
seeing a machine that "looked like a grinder" with hair and blood beneath
it." ... "Standing 10 feet from Hussein, he described Baath Party officials
hurling a young boy out a window to his death. At one point, Muhammad briefly
broke down in tears as he recalled how his brother was tortured with electrical
shocks in front of their 77-year-old father." ... ""There were mass arrests
of men and women and children," Muhammad said. "Even if a child was 1 day
old, they used to tell his parents, 'Bring him with you.' "" -By
Robert F. Worth -NYTimes
via SFGate.com
Iraq
- Political- History
- "Accounts
of Brutality Roil Hussein Trial: The deposed leader
is confronted by witnesses who tell of torture and attacks on their village.
He threatens and spars with them and the judge." ... "The first witnesses
to take the stand against Saddam Hussein confronted him Monday with chilling
testimony about an aerial assault on their village, mass arrests, torture
by electric shock, and executions after the Iraqi leader survived an assassination
attempt there." ... "Two witnesses, men now in their 30s, stood glaring
at the deposed leader a few feet away as each outlined his memory of the
horrors suffered in their youth. Hussein and some of his seven co-defendants
being tried in the slayings of 146 villagers repeatedly disrupted the proceedings
and furiously disparaged the charges." ... "Hussein and his co-defendants
are accused of ordering or carrying out the roundup, interrogation and
torture of about 1,500 villagers in Dujayl after a small group of gunmen
opened fire on the presidential motorcade July 8, 1982. They are also charged
with criminal destruction of tens of thousands of acres of village land."
(1, 2)
-By Richard Boudreaux with contributions by Borzou
Daragahi -LAtimes
Russia
- Civil
Liberties - Intelligence
- Politics
- "Russia
reins in 'foreign influence': The legislature wants
to tighten state control of 450,000 civic groups." ... "The headquarters
for Open Russia in downtown Moscow was known as "The Citadel" for its turreted
Gothic facade." ... "But these days a real bunker mentality prevails inside
the civic education center founded by now-imprisoned oil tycoon Mikhail
Khodorkovsky. Like many other Russian nonprofit groups involved with public
policy issues, it faces possible closure under new legislation that goes
before the Duma next week." ... ""I don't want to be a Cassandra, but I
fear the entire nonprofit sector in Russia is facing dark times," says
Irina Yasina, the center's program director. "There is spy mania in Russia,
and they are specially scrutinizing any organization that has foreign funding.""
... "All of Russia's estimated 450,000 civic groups - from community sports
clubs to charities and nationwide human rights movements - will need to
re-register next year with a special state agency. The sweeping amendments
to Russia's law on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), approved by a
Duma majority last month, would add up to levels of state control not seen
since Soviet times." (1, 2)
-By Fred Weir -CSMonitor
Kazakhstan
- "President
of Kazakhstan Secures a Third Term in Office." ...
"President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan secured a third term in office
over the weekend in an overwhelming victory, the country's election commission
announced today, while a prominent international observer mission said
the election did not meet democratic standards." ... "Among the problems,
Mr. George [a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe] said, were pro-government bias in the state media, voter intimidation
and restrictions of freedom of press and assembly during the campaign,
as well as ballot stuffing, multiple voting, pressure against students
to vote for Mr. Nazarbayev and irregularities of vote counting on election
day." ... "The observers placed responsibility for the shortfalls largely
on Mr. Nazarbayev himself. "This happened despite assurances from the president
that elections would be free and fair," said Audrey Glover, who also led
part of the organization's efforts in Kazakhstan." -By
C. J. Chivers -NYTimes
US
- Iraq
- Politics
- "Saddam's
defense team walks out of resumed trial." ... "The
court in the Saddam Hussein trial allowed former U.S. Attorney General
Ramsey Clark and another foreign defense lawyer to address the session
Monday, reversing a ruling that had led the defense to walk out." ... "After
a 90-minute recess, Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin allowed Clark and
ex-Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nueimi to speak on the questions of
the legitimacy of the tribunal and safety of the lawyers."
-AP via -USATODAY
US
- World
- Prison
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Law
- Arizona
- "McCain
won't concede on torture ban: Insists on language
prohibiting cruel, inhumane treatment." ... "[Arizona Republican] Senator
John McCain, a prisoner of war who was tortured in Vietnam, yesterday said
he will refuse to yield on his demands that the White House agree with
his proposed ban on the use of torture to extract information from suspected
terrorists." ... "''I won't," he said on NBC's ''Meet the Press" when asked
whether he would compromise with the Bush administration." ... "He is insisting
on his language that no person in US custody should be subject to ''cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment."" -By
Jim Abrams -AP
via -BostonGlobe
UK
- Christmas
- Business
- "One
of first Christmas cards is sold at auction." ...
"A 162-year-old Christmas card — one of the first ever printed — sold at
auction Saturday for $16,000." ... "The hand-colored card, which shows
a family celebrating around a table, is one of about 10 surviving from
an original batch of 1,000 printed in 1843, auctioneer Henry Aldridge said."
... "The cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole, a Londoner who is generally
recognized as the inventor of the commercial Christmas card. "
-AP via -USATODAY
US
- Iraq
- Politics
- "10
Marines killed near Falluja: Marines conducting 'counter-insurgency'
operations in Falluja, Ramadi." ... "A roadside bomb Thursday killed 10
Marines while they were on "foot patrol near Falluja," the Marine Corps
said Friday." ... "Eleven Marines were also wounded in the incident, and
four of them have not yet returned to duty." ... "Marines have been conducting
"counterinsurgency operations" in the Falluja and Ramadi areas ahead of
the December 15 elections." ... "This brings the number of U.S. military
deaths in Iraq to 2,123." -Contributed to by Arwa
Damon and Mohammed Tawfeeq -CNN
US
- 
North
Carolina - Legal
- History
- World
- "N.
Carolina carries out 1,000th execution." ... "Double
murderer Kenneth Lee Boyd became the 1,000th prisoner executed in the United
States since the reinstatement of capital punishment when he was put to
death by lethal injection on Friday." ... "Boyd, who was 57, died at 2:15
a.m. (0715 GMT) at Central Prison in North Carolina's state capital, Raleigh,
spokeswoman Pamela Walker of the Department of Corrections said." ... "Boyd,
a Vietnam war veteran with a history of alcohol abuse, was sentenced to
death for the murder in 1988 of his wife and father-in-law committed in
front of two of his children." ... "His execution drew world attention
because of its symbolism since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the death
penalty to be brought back in 1976 after a nine-year unofficial moratorium."
(1, 2,
3)
-By Andy Sullivan -Reuters
Australia
- US
- Business
- 
Home
- Health
- History
- "James
Hardie to Sign Asbestos Compensation Deal Today (Update3)."
... "James Hardie Industries NV, whose top executives quit last year amid
an asbestos probe, will today sign a A$1.6 billion ($1.2 billion) agreement
to compensate Australians sickened by its products." ... "James Hardie
is the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., where it gets 80 percent
of its profit. In February, the company said it doesn't expect a significant
number of compensation claims in the U.S., where its subsidiaries never
used the asbestos." ... "James Hardie started using asbestos in Australia
in the 1920s. It began to phase out blue asbestos in 1968, and all products
were asbestos-free by 1986. The fibrous mineral has been linked to lung
cancer and mesothelioma, a form of cancer affecting the chest or abdomen."
-By Miriam Steffens -Bloomberg
World
- People
- Parents
-History
- "World
AIDS Day Observances." ... "World AIDS Day is being
marked by events around the globe taking note of the millions who've died
from the disease and highlighting campaigns to control it." ... "As of
this 18th World AIDS Day the global AIDS epidemic has killed 25 million
people. Last year saw 3.1 million AIDS deaths." ... "New HIV infections
have surged to a record high: an estimated 40,300,000 people." ... "An
estimated 2.2 million of those infected are children, according to the
United Nations, which is marking World AIDS Day with a new campaign to
fight the disease in children." (1, 2)
-AP -CBSNews
US
- Iraq
- Prison
- Politics
- "General:
Americans Must Stop Iraqi Abusers." ... "The nation's
top military man, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, said American troops in Iraq
have a duty to intercede and stop abuse of prisoners by Iraqi security
personnel." ... "When Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld contradicted
Pace, the general stood firm." ... "Rumsfeld told the general he believed
Pace meant to say the U.S. soldiers had to report the abuse, not stop it."
... "Pace stuck to his original statement." ... ""If they are physically
present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation
to try to stop it," Pace told his civilian boss." -By
William C. Mann -AP
via -WashingtonPost
Pakistan
- 
Earthquake
- Disaster
- 
Flying
- "Pakistan
Earthquake Aid Flights Interrupted by Winter Storms."
... "Winter storms in Pakistan's mountainous Kashmir region forced relief
organizations to interrupt helicopter flights bringing aid to more than
3 million people left homeless by last month's earthquake." ... "Flights
carrying supplies to villages above 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) were suspended
over two days beginning on Nov. 26, the International Organization for
Migration said in an e-mailed statement late yesterday from Pakistan's
capital, Islamabad. More bad weather is forecast for the rest of this week,
it said." -By Khalid Qayum and Paul Tighe -Bloomberg
US
- Iraq
- Military
- GOV
- Secrets
- "U.S.
Military Covertly Pays to Run Stories in Iraqi Press:
Troops write articles presented as news reports. Some officers object to
the practice." ... "As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S.
military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written
by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission
in Iraq." ... "The articles, written by U.S. military "information operations"
troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with
the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials
and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times." ... "Many of the articles
are presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and
reported by independent journalists. The stories trumpet the work of U.S.
and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild
the country." ... "Though the articles are basically factual, they present
only one side of events and omit information that might reflect poorly
on the U.S. or Iraqi governments, officials said." (1, 2,
3)
-By Mark Mazzetti and Borzou Daragahi
-LAtimes
US
- EU
- Secret
- Intelligence
- Prisons
- Terrorism
- "U.S.
to Respond to EU Questions on Prisons." ... "The
European Union has formally requested answers from the Bush administration
about reports of secret U.S.-run prisons for terrorism suspects in Europe,
and the United States will reply "to the best of our ability," the State
Department said Wednesday." ... "It would be illegal for the U.S. government
to hold prisoners in isolation and difficult conditions in secret prisons
in the United States. It has long been assumed that the CIA operates overseas
sites to get around U.S. law and to keep terrorism suspects out of the
jurisdiction of U.S. courts." -By Anne Gearan
-AP via-WashingtonPost
US
- Iraq
- Police
- Politics
- "Bush
Offers 'Strategy for Victory' in Iraq: The president
again rejects a timetable for troop withdrawal." ... "Moving to deflect
criticism of the war in Iraq and lay out new conditions that would allow
the departure of U.S. troops, President Bush said today he would settle
for "nothing less than complete victory" there, and defined that success
as creating an Iraq in which Iraqis could live in peace protected by their
own security forces." ... "The president devoted much of the roughly 35-minute
speech to presenting a picture of Iraqi police and military units increasingly
being able to carry on the campaign against those he called "rejectionists,
Saddamists and terrorists."" ... "But he did not address three ongoing
concerns about the security forces: their de facto division into three
segments made up separately of Kurds, Shiites and Sunni; the fact that
some Sunnis are accepting the U.S. training and then joining the insurgency;
and the infiltration of the Iraqi government's security forces by members
of ethnic militia loyal to leaders other than those of the government."
-By James Gerstenzang, Tyler Marshall and Mark Mazzetti
-LAtimes
US
- Mexico
- US
Immigration - 2006
Election - Politics
- Police
- Worker
- Tucson
- Arizona
- "Bush
revives immigration reform push: Switching priorities,
he only touches on guest-worker plan." ... "President Bush promised a renewed
push for changes in immigration law Monday, reversing the priorities he
had set out nearly two years ago by emphasizing tougher border enforcement
and mentioning his controversial guest-worker program almost as an afterthought."
... "Bush joins several congressional Republicans in Congress, including
several likely presidential candidates, who intend to make an overhaul
of the nation's immigration laws a priority heading into the 2006 midterm
elections." ... ""Illegal immigration is a serious challenge," Bush told
a gathering of border enforcement officials in Tucson [Arizona]. "And our
responsibility is clear. We are going to protect the border."" -By
Carolyn Lochhead -SFGate.com
US
- 
Zimbabwe
- Law
- "US
labels Zimbabwe Senate election a 'nonevent'." ...
"In a sign of growing U.S. animosity toward Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe, a senior U.S. official dismissed as "a nonevent" last weekend's
Senate poll victory by the ruling party in the southern African nation."
... "Asked to comment on the election of a new upper chamber of parliament,
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Zimbabwe's new Senate was
created by Mugabe as a "source of patronage for ruling party politicians.""
... "Final results announced on Monday showed Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party
won a broad majority in the 66-seat Senate, which will have the final word
on any new laws." -Reuters
Canada
- History
- "Defeated
Canadian PM sets election date." ... "Prime Minister
Paul Martin launched an election campaign on Tuesday with a slim lead in
the polls after his minority government was toppled in Parliament on Monday
night over a corruption scandal." ... "Martin informed Governor-General
Michaelle Jean, representative of head of state Queen Elizabeth, that his
Liberal government had lost the confidence of Parliament and emerged from
her official residence to announce the election would be on January 23."
... "The Liberals, who have governed a majority of the time since Canada
was founded in 1867, will be seeking their fifth straight term since the
Conservatives went down to defeat in 1993." (1, 2)
-By Randall Palmer and David Ljunggren -Reuters
Azerbaijan
- Politics
- "Azerbaijan
protest forcefully shut down: Group driven away with
water cannons." ... "Thousands of protesters in Azerbaijan shouting "Freedom!"
and vowing to occupy downtown Baku on Saturday were beaten back by riot
police wielding truncheons and water cannons. Witnesses said hundreds of
protesters were injured, along with at least 26 police officers." ... "The
demonstration, in which opposition leaders demanding new parliamentary
elections appeared to be staging an attempt to occupy the capital's Victory
Square, ended abruptly when officers in helmets and riot shields broke
apart the speaker's stand, ripped orange flags out of protesters' hands
and began beating demonstrators and opposition leaders with batons, leaving
several people lying injured in the square." -By Kim
Murphy -LAtimes
via -SFGate.com
Azerbaijan
- Politics
- "Azerbaijani
activists clash with police." ... "Truncheon-wielding
police Saturday beat and dispersed opposition protesters demanding a redo
of disputed parliamentary elections, the first use of force against demonstrators
since the vote." ... "Some 15,000 opposition activists gathered in Azerbaijan's
capital, Baku, to protest Nov. 6 parliamentary elections they claimed were
rigged. It was latest in a series of such demonstrations in recent weeks."
-By Aida Sultanova -AP
via-MercuryNews
Egypt
- Police
- Religion
- "Turmoil
Grips Runoff Voting in Egypt." ... "Egyptian police
barricaded polls and arrested hundreds of supporters of the banned Muslim
Brotherhood movement Saturday, while armed backers of Islamist and secular
politicians clashed _ severely curbing turnout and scarring a parliamentary
runoff vote." ... "The violence came amid efforts by the fundamentalist
Muslim Brotherhood _ Egypt's largest Islamist group _ to bolster its already
impressive tally of 47 out of 186 seats decided so far in the three-stage
elections. The ruling National Democratic Party has claimed 122 seats and
is expected to maintain control of the 454-member legislature." -Contributions
by Mariam Fam and Nadia Abou El-Magd -AP
via -CBSNews
Texas
- 
Thanksgiving
- US
- Iraq
- Military
- Politics
- Cindy
Sheehan
- "Sheehan
Back in Texas for War Protest." ... "The mother of
a fallen soldier whose vigil against the war in Iraq outside President
Bush's ranch returned to Texas, saying she is "heartbroken" that the troops
are not home." ... "[Cindy] Sheehan asked protesters to return to Crawford
this week during Bush's family Thanksgiving gathering. She was unknown
when she set up camp outside Bush's ranch during his August vacation, but
as the vigil drew thousands, she attracted national attention."
-AP via
-CBSNews
US
- Zimbabwe
- Money
- "Bush
widens sanctions against Zimbabwe." ... "U.S. President
George W. Bush has widened economic sanctions against Zimbabwe, blocking
the assets of an additional 128 people and 33 entities Washington says
undermine democratic reform in the southern African state." ... "The executive
order, which took effect on Wednesday, expands sanctions imposed by the
United States against 77 Zimbabweans in March 2003."
-Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com
World
- 
Climate
- 
Air
- Ice
- Science
- History
- "Greenhouse-gas
levels highest for 650,000 years: Climate record
highlights extent of man-made change." ... "Current levels of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere are higher than at any time in the past 650,000
years, say researchers who have finished cataloguing air bubbles trapped
for millennia inside Antarctic ice. The record, which extends back over
the past eight ice ages, shows that today's concentrations of carbon dioxide
and methane far outstrip those in the past." ... "The researchers studied
air bubbles preserved in ice drilled from the Antarctic ice sheet as part
of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA). The ice core
represents a logbook of the state of the world's climate [...] and goes
back 210,000 years further than previous records." -By
Michael Hopkin -Nature
China
- Health
- Environment
- "Chemical
blast in northeast China contaminates major river."
... "An explosion at a chemical plant in northeastern China 10 days ago
caused contamination in a major river more than 100 times above national
safety levels, environmental authorities said." ... "'After the blast at
the chemical plant the monitoring station in Jilin found that benzene went
into the river and polluted the water,' the Environmental Protection Administration
(EPA) said in a statement on its website."
-AFXNews via -Forbes
US
- Virginia
- 
Saudi
Arabia - Terrorism
- "Student
Convicted of Plotting With Al Qaeda to Kill Bush."
... "An Arab-American student from Virginia was convicted today, in one
of the most important terrorism trials since the Sept. 11 attacks, of plotting
with Al Qaeda operatives to assassinate President Bush and hijack airplanes."
... "A federal jury in Alexandria, Va. [Virginia], found Ahmed Omar Abu
Ali, 24, guilty on numerous charges of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism.
The jury rejected the defendant's accounts that his Saudi captors beat
and tortured him into confessing." -By David Stout
-NYTimes
US
- Canada
- Animals
- Health
- "U.S.
Bans Imports of Some Canadian Poultry." ... "Federal
agriculture officials banned poultry imports from mainland British Columbia
on Monday after Canadian officials reported finding a duck at a poultry
farm that was infected with the flu." ... "Canadian authorities have said
that the virus that afflicted the duck was a mild North American strain
and not the virulent strain that has killed wild and commercial bird flocks
all over Asia, as well as more than 60 people." -By
Gardiner Harris -NYTimes
Germany
- Woman
- "Chancellor
at last, Merkel constrained by coalition: Germany's
parliament votes in its first female head of state Tuesday." ... "Angela
Merkel's rapid rise from East German physicist to political heavyweight
will reach a pinnacle Tuesday when parliament officially votes her in as
the Germany's eighth postwar chancellor." ... "The famously cool Ms. Merkel
won't take much time out, however, to celebrate her double coup as Germany's
first female chancellor and its first from the eastern part of the country.
The enormous challenge of reforming Europe's largest economy to meet the
demands of globalization has infused Berlin with sober pragmatism." ...
""We want to instill trust in the people," Merkel said at the signing Friday
of the agreement between her conservative Christian Democratic Union, ally
Edmund Stoiber's Christian Social Union, and the center-left Social Democratic
Party that paved the way for Tuesday's vote." -By
Andreas Tzortzis -CSMonitor
US
- Canada
- 
Tennessee
- Georgia
- Michigan
- 
Oklahoma
- Ohio
- 
Auto
- Business
- "GM
to Close 12 North American Sites, Cut 30,000 Jobs (Update8)."
... "General Motors Corp., weighed down by its biggest losses in more than
a decade, will close 12 North American operations and purge 30,000 jobs
in its deepest round of cuts since 1991." ... "Chief Executive Rick Wagoner
said today he will idle five auto plants, four parts factories and three
non-manufacturing complexes. Among them is a Saturn plant opened 15 years
ago as an answer to the small-car threat from Asia." ... "In addition to
one of the Saturn plants in Spring Hill, Tennessee, GM will close assembly
plants in Doraville, Georgia; Lansing, Michigan; Oklahoma City [Oklahoma];
and Oshawa, Ontario [Canada]. The automaker will shut down engine plants
in St. Catharines, Ontario [Canada], and Flint, Michigan. GM will also
reduce shifts at assembly plants in Moraine, Ohio, and a second car plant
in Oshawa." -Jeff Green and John Lippert -Bloomberg
Ethiopia
- Police
- EU
- "Violence
in Ethiopia Inspires Regional Rally: Community Holds
Protests, Raises Funds to Spotlight Unrest After Elections Abroad." ...
"More than 40 people died and thousands were detained this month after
demonstrators contested the May 15 election results that favored Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi and his ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front. Medical officials have said police have killed many of
the victims; Meles contends that the opposition groups are responsible
for inciting the violence." ... "The groups say the election was rigged,
and European Union officials have said the election did not meet international
standards. But government officials say the irregularities were not significant
enough to have swayed the election." -By Aruna Jain-WashingtonPost
US
- Iraq
- Religion
- Military
- "Series
of blasts kills nearly 100 in Iraq: Mosques, hotel
area targeted." ... "Suicide bombers killed nearly 100 people yesterday
in one of the deadliest days of Iraq's insurgency, bringing houses down
on sleeping families in Baghdad and blowing up Shi'ite Muslim worshipers
in two mosques in the eastern part of the country just as the victims turned
their faces up to the preachers to hear their Friday sermons." ... "Nationwide,
the attacks were the deadliest since Sept. 14, when at least 14 insurgent
bombings in Baghdad killed more than 160 people. Al Qaeda in Iraq was believed
to have been involved in at least the Baghdad blasts yesterday. The insurgent
group said in a statement that the bombings represented retaliation for
a US military offensive still underway in far western Iraq." ... "As in
the September attacks, most of the victims yesterday were civilians." ...
"" -By Ellen Knickmeyer and Naseer Nouri -WashingtonPost
via -BostonGlobe
Azerbaijan
- "Thousands
demand fresh elections in Azerbaijan." ... ""Around
15,000 opposition supporters rallied on the outskirts of Baku on Saturday,
demanding that Azerbaijan's leaders re-run parliamentary elections that
were criticised by the West." ... "This was the third major protest since
a November 6 poll handed victory to those loyal to President Ilham Aliyev,
in a vote observers said was marred by ballot stuffing and police interference.
-Reuters
US
- Iraq
- Military
- "House
rejects Iraq pullout." ... "In a maneuver to strike
at Iraq war critics, the Republican-led House of Representatives engineered
a vote on Friday on a resolution to pull U.S. troops immediately from Iraq,
which was defeated nearly unanimously." ... "Democrats denounced it as
a political stunt and an attack on Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a
leading Democratic military hawk who stunned his colleagues on Thursday
by calling for troops to be withdrawn from Iraq as quickly as possible."
... "Unlike Murtha's proposal calling for troops to be withdrawn "as soon
as practicable," which he expected would be about six months, the Republican
resolution said deployment of the U.S. forces should be "terminated immediately.""
-Reuters
Japan
- US
- Drugs
- Psychology
- "Childhood
Deaths in Japan Bring New Look at Flu Drug." ...
"The [American] Food and Drug Administration is looking into reports of
deaths and abnormal behavior among children in Japan who took the anti-influenza
drug Tamiflu, which is being stockpiled by governments around the world
for use in a possible flu pandemic." ... "Roche, the company that sells
Tamiflu, said that the reports of these problems were rare given that millions
of people had used the drug, and that the problems might have been caused
by the flu itself." ... "The documents also said there had been 32 instances
of "neuropsychiatric events," 31 of them in Japan, including delirium,
abnormal behavior and hallucination." -By Andrew Pollack
-NYTimes
US
- Iraq
- GOV
- Business
- North
Carolina - Prison
- "Ex-Convict
Took Bribes in Iraq, U.S. Says." ... "A North Carolina
man who was charged yesterday with accepting kickbacks and bribes as a
comptroller and financial officer for the American occupation authority
in Iraq was hired despite having served prison time for felony fraud in
the 1990's." ... "The job gave the man, Robert J. Stein, control over $82
million in cash earmarked for Iraqi rebuilding projects." ... "Along with
a web of other conspirators who have not yet been named, Mr. Stein and
his wife received "bribes, kickbacks and gratuities amounting to at least
$200,000 per month" to steer lucrative construction contracts to companies
run by another American, Philip H. Bloom, an affidavit outlining the criminal
complaint says." (1, 2)
-By James Glanz -NYTimes
Iraq
- Oil
- Business
- UN
- Legal
- History
- "Scope
of oil-for-food fraud 'overwhelming'." ... "It began
with the best of intentions and achieved its major goals: feeding the Iraqi
people while keeping dangerous weapons out of Saddam Hussein's hands."
... "Along the way, the United Nations' oil-for-food program metastasized
into the worst corruption scandal in U.N. history." ... "Three weeks after
a scathing report detailed the scope of the fraud — implicating governments,
former diplomats, businessmen and corporations — a relatively small number
of criminal investigations and other probes have begun." -By
Barbara Slavin -USATODAY
India
- US
- "Outsourcing
outrage: Indian call-center workers suffer abuse."
... "While irate calls are a mainstay of customer service work in any country,
many Indian call-center workers say they regularly face particular abuse
from Americans, whose tantrums are sometimes racist and often inspired
by anger over outsourcing." ... "Such telephone tirades are fueled by outrage
over outsourcing, which is expected to move 3.4 million U.S. service-sector
jobs overseas by 2015, according to the consultancy Forrester. Most of
the work comes to India, where young, low-cost employees now handle a range
of American tasks --they draw cartoons, interpret heart scans, adjudicate
insurance claims, reserve flights and chase debtors." -By
Mike McPhate -SFGate.com
China
- Taiwan
- Tech
- "Chinese
build a high-tech army within an army." ... "In a
surprisingly short time, China has accomplished two feats. One, it has
focused its energy and wealth on creating an army within an army. It has
devoted huge amounts of capital to create a small high-tech army within
its old 2.2 million-member rifle and shoe-leather force." ... "The specialty
of this modern force, about 15 percent of the PLA [People's Liberation
Army], is to conduct lightning attacks on smaller foes, using an all-out
missile attack designed to paralyze, and a modern sea and air attack coordinated
by high-tech communications. In other words, this new modern force is designed
to attack Taiwan." ... "Second, China has taken painful but successful
steps to create a "defense industrial base," or weapons-building capability.
The PLA has improved its factory quality control and its ability to adapt
foreign technology. It is bringing an indigenous small-wing F-10 fighter
off the production line, and it is moving rapidly toward a "blue water"
Navy with ships built in China." -By Robert Marquand
-CSMonitor
Global
- Earth
- Weather
- Environment
- Science
- People
- "A
cautionary picture of water supplies as Earth warms:
New studies forecast declines for rivers in the US and elsewhere." ...
"Mountain snows and alpine glaciers represent key reservoirs of fresh water
for some 1.6 billion people worldwide. In 50 years, however, a warming
planet is likely to disrupt many of these sources, leaving millions of
people scrambling for additional supplies." ... "While conservation, additional
reservoirs, and repairs to leaky water mains can help blunt the effects
of these changes, efforts to adapt to shrinking snowpacks and vanishing
glaciers are expected to require other changes in farming techniques, industrial
practices, and lifestyles." ... "That's the warning a team of US scientists
is issuing after reviewing field measurements and modeling studies that
deal with the impact of global warming on alpine environments. Combined
with a second, independent look at stream flows in key parts of the world,
the studies are helping scientists fill in a picture of future freshwater
supplies as the planet warms. (Both studies appear Thursday in the journal
Nature.)" -By Peter N. Spotts -CSMonitor
World
- Education
- Parents
- People
- UN
- "World's
first working $100 laptop: Tech evangelist Nicholas
Negroponte wants to outfit the world's children to improve education."
... "Nick Negroponte would like to sell you a $100 laptop, especially if
you're head of state in a large developing country." ... "That's why he
is at the World Summit on the Information Society, the giant UN-sponsored
gathering that starts Wednesday in Tunis. Negroponte plans to show for
the first time a working prototype of his new device, intended for hundreds
of millions of mostly-poor students worldwide." ... "At the Media Lab at
MIT, which Negroponte founded 20 years ago, researchers are working not
only on the engineering to make such an inexpensive product possible, but
on computer interfaces to enable kids to learn without teachers, and on
a curriculum to teach them every sort of subject." -By
David Kirkpatrick -Fortune
via -CNN /Money
US
- Iraq
- Prisons
- Military
- "U.S.
Troops Discover 173 Abused Detainees In Iraq Basement:
Sunni Arab prisoners were allegedly tortured by Iraqi captors." ... "The
same day that the [US] Senate passed a resolution barring cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment of detainees in the war on terror, the Iraqi government
said Tuesday that it has ordered an investigation into the alleged abuse
of 173 detainees discovered by American troops over the weekend in the
basement of an Interior Ministry building in the Baghdad suburb of Jadriya."
... "For many Iraqis, the revelation of the secret torture center brought
back painful memories of the brutality of the Sunni-dominated Saddam Hussein
regime, blamed for killing hundreds of thousands of Shiites and Kurds[.]"
... "American officials were quick to condemn the treatment of the prisoners
with the American Embassy and U.S. military command calling the situation
"totally unacceptable," agreeing with Iraqi officials that "mistreatment
of detainees will not be tolerated."" -By Gil Kaufman
-MTV.com /News
US
- China
- Japan
- Taiwan
- Free
Speech - Religion
- "Bush
urges China to move towards democractic reform."
... "In a direct rebuke to China, President George W. Bush on Wednesday
held up Japan and Taiwan as free and open societies, and warned that the
people of China had "legitimate" demands for more freedom of speech and
religion." ... "In a speech on US-Asia relations in Kyoto, the first stop
on his four-country Asia tour, Mr Bush said: "As China reforms its economy,
its leaders are finding that once the door to freedom is opened, even a
crack, it cannot be closed."" ... ""[They want] more freedom to express
themselves, to worship without State control and to print Bibles and other
sacred texts without fear of punishment."" -By Caroline
Daniel -FT.com
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Politics
- Alaska
- "Greenfield:
Bush trying to turn the table on Dems: Campaign-style
rhetoric comes during eroding support for Iraq war." ... "President Bush
has gone on the offensive, stepping up his political rhetoric in the face
of the Iraq war's growing unpopularity." ... "In an address Monday at Elmendorf
Air Force Base in Alaska, President Bush accused war critics of "playing
politics with this issue and ... sending mixed signals to our troops and
the enemy."" ... "CNN Senior Analyst Jeff Greenfield talked with anchor
Wolf Blitzer after the speech, analyzing the Bush administration's fresh
strategy to target opponents of his Iraq policies."
-CNN
US
- Iraq
- Military
- "Senate
Urges Bush to Report Progress on Ending War (Update2)."
... "The Senate today called on President George W. Bush to explain his
strategy for ending the war in Iraq and report every three months on progress
until all U.S. troops stationed there are redeployed." ... "The measure
calls on the administration to make 2006 a year of significant political
and military transition in Iraq that will allow a phased reduction of U.S.
forces." ... "None of these measures are in the House version of the defense
authorization bill, which means they'll be the subject of negotiation when
the two chambers hammer out compromise legislation." -By
Jeff St.Onge -Bloomberg
US
- Iraq
- Vietnam
- Military
- Political
- History
- "Poll:
American attitudes on Iraq similar to Vietnam era."
... "There are enormous differences between the war in Iraq and the one
in Vietnam that defined a generation. The current conflict hasn't lasted
as long, taken nearly as many American lives or sparked the sort of massive
protests that became common in the '60s and '70s." ... "But when it comes
to public opinion, Americans' attitudes toward Iraq and the proper course
ahead are remarkably similar to public attitudes toward Vietnam in the
summer of 1970, a pivotal year in that conflict and a time of enormous
domestic unrest." ... "Some political scientists and Vietnam War historians
predict the Iraq war, like the one in Southeast Asia a quarter-century
ago, will shape American attitudes long after it's over." -By
Susan Page with contributions by Andrea Stone
-USATODAY
South
Korea - US
- 
Pennsylvania
- Stem
Cells - "Embryo
scientist quits team over ethics fear." ... "A leading
American researcher in embryology has ended a 20-month partnership with
his South Korean counterparts, claiming they flouted ethical rules and
then lied about their practices." ... "Gerald Schatten, of the University
of Pittsburgh [Pennsylvania], said he would no longer work with the cloning
pioneer Hwang Woo-Suk, following allegations that eggs were taken from
a junior scientist in violation of rules meant to prevent coercion." ...
"Professor Hwang gained worldwide attention after announcing last year
that his team at Seoul National University had cloned the world's first
human embryos and extracted stem cells from them. In May, he announced
he had created the world's first embryonic stem cells that genetically
matched injured or sick patients - a huge step in the quest to grow patients'
own replacement tissue for treating diseases." -By
Gary Younge -Guardian.co.uk
US
- World
- Mexico
- US_Debt
- Economy
- "Greenspan
says trade deficit may prove costly." ... "Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Monday that foreign investors likely
will tire of bankrolling the bloated U.S. trade deficit but the economy's
flexibility should help temper any fallout." ... "Greenspan's remarks,
delivered via video link to a conference in Mexico, referred to the broadest
measure of U.S. trade, the current account deficit, which swelled to a
record $668 billion last year. The shortfall is financed mostly by foreign
investors." -By Jeannine Aversa
-AP via -USATODAY
US
- Russia
- World
- Religious
- Terrorism
- "US
faulted on handling nuclear threat." ... "The U.S.
government is not doing enough to protect nuclear weapons from terrorists
and its handling of terrorism suspects is undermining America's image in
the Muslim world, members of a commission that investigated the September
11 attacks said on Monday." ... "Although President George W. Bush calls
arms proliferation the country's biggest threat and al Qaeda has sought
nuclear weapons for a decade, the former commission's chairman Thomas Kean
said, "the most striking thing to us is that the size of the problem still
totally dwarfs the policy response."" ... ""In short, we still do not have
a maximum effort against the most urgent threat ... to the American people,"
he told a news conference, noting that half the nuclear materials in Russia
still have no security upgrade." (1, 2)
-By Carol Giacomo -Reuters
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Intelligence
- Politics
- "The
Right Way in Iraq." ... "I was wrong." ... "Almost
three years ago we went into Iraq to remove what we were told -- and what
many of us believed and argued -- was a threat to America. But in fact
we now know that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction when our
forces invaded Iraq in 2003. The intelligence was deeply flawed and, in
some cases, manipulated to fit a political agenda." ... "It was a mistake
to vote for this war in 2002. I take responsibility for that mistake. It
has been hard to say these words because those who didn't make a mistake
-- the men and women of our armed forces and their families -- have performed
heroically and paid a dear price." ... "The world desperately needs moral
leadership from America, and the foundation for moral leadership is telling
the truth." ... "While we can't change the past, we need to accept responsibility,
because a key part of restoring America's moral leadership is acknowledging
when we've made mistakes or been proven wrong -- and showing that we have
the creativity and guts to make it right." -By John
Edwards-WashingtonPost
Azerbaijan
- "Thousands
protest in Azerbaijan." ... "More than 20,000 opposition
supporters packed a square in Azerbaijan's capital Sunday in the second
mass protest in recent days, demanding a rerun of disputed parliamentary
elections in this oil-rich Caspian Sea nation." ... "Gathering under a
sea of orange flags and chanting “Resign!” and “Freedom!”, opposition activists
railed against what they said was a fraudulent vote in a scene similar
to the protests that propelled opposition leaders to power in three other
former Soviet republics in recent years." ... "About 15,000 protesters
also demonstrated Wednesday against the Nov. 6 elections." -By
Aida Sultanova -AP
via -GlobeAndMail
US
- Iraq
- Secret
- Military
- Terrorism
- Politics
- Law
- "Asterisks
Dot White House's Iraq Argument." ... "President
Bush and his national security adviser have answered critics of the Iraq
war in recent days with a two-pronged argument: that Congress saw the same
intelligence the administration did before the war, and that independent
commissions have determined that the administration did not misrepresent
the intelligence." ... "But Bush and his aides had access to much more
voluminous intelligence information than did lawmakers, who were dependent
on the administration to provide the material. And the commissions cited
by officials, though concluding that the administration did not pressure
intelligence analysts to change their conclusions, were not authorized
to determine whether the administration exaggerated or distorted those
conclusions." ... [Furthermore] "... Bush does not share his most sensitive
intelligence, such as the President's Daily Brief, with lawmakers. Also,
the National Intelligence Estimate summarizing the intelligence community's
views about the threat from Iraq was given to Congress just days before
the vote to authorize the use of force in that country." ... "In addition,
there were doubts within the intelligence community not included in the
NIE. And even the doubts expressed in the NIE could not be used publicly
by members of Congress because the classified information had not been
cleared for release. For example, the NIE view that Hussein would not use
weapons of mass destruction against the United States or turn them over
to terrorists unless backed into a corner was cleared for public use only
a day before the Senate vote." -By Dana Milbank and
Walter Pincus-WashingtonPost
Liberia
- 
Uganda
- Political
- History
- "Blazing
a trail for Africa's women: African women are celebrating,
as Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf looks set to become the continent's
first elected woman president." ... "The 67-year-old grandmother said she
hoped her win would "raise the participation of women not just in Liberia
but also in Africa"." ... "So is Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf's apparent victory
the start of a trend?" ... "Ugandan academic Sylvia Tamale says African
patriarchal societies like to see women firmly in their place. She quotes
a Ugandan man at a woman candidate's parliamentary campaign rally in 1996
asking: "Have you ever heard a hen crow?"" ... "Yet, despite these traditional
values, African women can crow success on a number of fronts." -By
Lucy Fleming-BBC
/News
Liberia
- Politics
- US
- UN
- "Liberian
protesters face tear gas." ... "U.N. forces fired
tear gas at angry supporters of Liberian soccer star George Weah on Friday
after they stoned police and marched to the U.S. embassy to back a demand
to halt counting in an election Weah says was rigged." ... "Police from
the U.N. peacekeeping force used the gas and batons to disperse hundreds
of Weah supporters after they broke through a line of Liberian riot police
trying to hold them back from the imposing beach side U.S. embassy building."
... "With 97 percent of polling stations' votes counted from Tuesday's
runoff ballot, Harvard-trained former Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
has an unassailable 59.4 percent. But Weah and his Congress for Democratic
Change party insist the election was rigged."
-Reuters via -CNN
Jordan
- Iraq
- "Jordan
official: Suicide bombers belong to al-Qaeda." ...
"Three "non-Jordanian" suicide bombers belonging to al-Qaeda in Iraq carried
out Amman's triple hotel attacks that killed at least 57 people, Jordan's
deputy premier said Saturday." ... "Marwan Muasher said the three were
males and that no females were among them, replying to claims by Jordanian-born
militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror group that four Iraqis — including
a husband and wife — carried out the bombings." ... ""The conclusion has
arrived. al-Qaeda is behind the attacks and specifically Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's
people," Muasher told a packed press conference in Amman [Jordan]."
-AP via -USATODAY
US
- Japan
- Music
- Entertainment
- Hacking
- Business
- "Viruses
use Sony anti-piracy CDs: Virus writers are exploiting
Sony's controversial anti-piracy software to hide their malicious creations."
... "In late October Sony was found to be using stealth techniques to hide
software that stopped some of its CDs being illegally copied." ... "Now
three virus variants have been found that use the Sony software to evade
detection by anti-virus programs." ... "The stealthy methods that Sony
BMG used to protect its anti-piracy system were uncovered by Windows programming
expert Mark Russinovich on 31 October." ... "The CDs affected are only
being sold in the US."-BBC
/News
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Intelligence
- Religious
- Politics
- "Poll:
Majority questions Bush administration ethics." ...
"Most Americans say they aren't impressed by the ethics and honesty of
the Bush administration, already under scrutiny for its justifications
for an unpopular war in Iraq and its role in the leak of a covert CIA officer's
identity." ... "Almost six in 10 — 57 percent — said they do not think
the Bush administration has high ethical standards and the same portion
says President Bush is not honest, an AP-Ipsos poll found. Just over four
in 10 say the administration has high ethical standards and that Bush is
honest. Whites, Southerners and evangelicals were most likely to believe
Bush is honest." -AP
via -HoustonChronicle.com
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Intelligence
- Opinion
- History
- Pennsylvania
- "Bush
assails Iraq critics as skewing war history." ...
"President George W. Bush lashed out at critics of his Iraq policy Friday,
accusing them of trying to rewrite history about the decision to go to
war and saying their criticism was undercutting U.S. forces in battle."
... ""While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decisions or the
conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of
how that war began," the president said in a Veterans Day speech in Pennsylvania."
... "Bush delivered his speech as part of an effort to shore up his credibility
as he faces growing public skepticism about Iraq and accusations by Democrats
and others that he led the nation into war on false pretenses." ... "Those
accusations seem to be making a dent in public confidence in him, as public
opinion polls show more people questioning the president's honesty about
Iraq and about whether American troops should remain in the fight." -By
Maria Newman -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Intelligence
- Political
- History
- Pennsylvania
- "Newsview:
Bush Returns to Campaign Playbook." ... "President
Bush seems to be turning the clock back to Election Day 2004, parrying
with ex-rival John Kerry and harshly questioning his critics' commitment
to U.S. troops." ... "You can't blame him for being nostalgic for better
political times, when most Americans felt he was a strong, honest leader
and gave him the benefit of the doubt on Iraq." ... "That's certainly not
the sentiment these days. With his approval ratings plunging, even some
Republican leaders are showing signs of abandoning Bush's listing ship."
... ""Mistakes were made," Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania
said Friday of the war effort." ... "When the president visited Pennsylvania
to defend his Iraq policies on Friday, Santorum kept his distance, literally
and rhetorically. He was 120 miles away, telling reporters the war in Iraq
has been "less than optimal" and that "maybe some blame could be laid"
at the White House." -By Ron Fournier
-AP via-WashingtonPost
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Intelligence
- History
- "Bush
Fires Back at Critics of Iraq War." ... "Knocked
on the defensive over allegations that he launched the Iraq war based on
faulty intelligence, President Bush accused his critics today of trying
to rewrite the history of how and why the war began." ... ""Some Democrats
and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and
misled the American people about why we went to war," he added. "These
critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no
evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments
related to Iraq's weapons programs. They also know that intelligence agencies
from around the world agreed with our assessments of Saddam Hussein.""
... "The bipartisan Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the
United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction the panel headed
by Judge Laurence H. Silberman and former Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.)
that examined the pre-war intelligence reported that U.S. intelligence
"was dead wrong in almost all of its prewar judgments" about Iraq's illicit
weapons." ... ""This was a major intelligence failure," the panel members
wrote." ... "However, it found no evidence that White House officials or
other administration figures pressured intelligence analysts to shade or
change their reports for political reasons." (1, 2)
-By Warren Vieth and James Gerstenzang
-LAtimes
US
- Canada
- Alaska
- Oil- Animals
- Politics
- "U.S.
House drops plans to drill in Arctic refuge." ...
"In a move certain to please Canadian politicians as well as environmentalists
on both sides of the border, U.S. House leaders abandoned plans late yesterday
to push for oil drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge." ... "They dropped
from a budget bill a provision that would open the refuge to drilling as
a salve to moderate Republicans because they feared it would jeopardize
approval of a sweeping legislation today." ... "Canadian politicians and
activists have lobbied against the plan because it would affect a migrating
caribou herd." ... "Prime Minister Paul Martin said last month that the
environmental damage from opening a coastal strip of the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil development would far outweigh any modest addition
to U.S. crude supplies." -By Oliver Moore
-GlobeAndMail
Jordan
- US
- Intelligence
- Police-
"Attacks
at U.S.-Based Hotels in Amman Were Minutes Apart."
... "Terrorist bombs ripped nearly simultaneously through three popular
hotels here [in Amman, Jordan] on Wednesday night, killing dozens and wounding
more than 100." ... "The Jordanian cabinet said in a statement that the
attacks, which killed 57 people and wounded 110, appeared to have been
carried out by suicide bombers. Amman, the capital, was placed under a
severe security lockdown late Wednesday with streets closed and the police
donning heavy armor. Members of Jordan's secret intelligence police force
were also out in full force. " -By Hassan M. Fattah
and Michael Slackman with contributions by Douglas Jehl and Suha Maayeh
-NYTimes
Jordan
- US
- Intelligence
- "Suicide
Attacks Kill at Least 57 at 3 Hotels in Jordan's Capital:
The tightly coordinated blasts bear the hallmark of Al Qaeda, intelligence
officials say, and shred the nation's reputation as a relatively safe zone."
... "The blasts struck the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn in the
Jordanian capital just before 9 p.m., sending clouds of black smoke billowing
into the sky and leaving some of the bloodied victims lying on plush-carpeted
floors." ... "At the Radisson, an assailant detonated an explosives belt
in the midst of a wedding party in a crowded banquet hall, resulting in
extensive casualties, officials said. At the Days Inn, a car bomber was
unable to breach the security perimeter outside the hotel before detonating
his explosives, Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher told reporters." -By
Ashraf Khalil, Ranya Kadri and Josh Meyer
-LAtimes
Azerbaijan
- 
Georgia
- People
- "Cautious
protest in Azerbaijan: An opposition protest of election
results occurred peacefully Wednesday. Another is planned for Saturday."
... "Thousands of protesters marched Wednesday to demand a replay of Sunday's
parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, which international observers have
judged badly tainted by voter coercion and ballot-fixing." ... ""I want
to live in a democratic country. It's our last chance," said Samir Hussein,
a businessman who joined 15,000 opposition supporters who marched peacefully,
as 500 or more riot police looked on, through a Baku suburb. "If we lose
our chance today, we will never get freedom."" ... "Azeri opposition leaders
are hoping to harness popular outrage over the flawed election to force
authorities into staging the voting again - with more democratic conditions.
Roses and orange banners betrayed the source of their inspiration: the
peaceful revolutions that brought democratic change to Georgia and Ukraine
in the past two years, following similar official attempts to rig results."
-By Daria Vaisman with contributions by Fred Weir
-CSMonitor
Azerbaijan
- "Thousands
demand fresh elections in Azerbaijan." ... "Thousands
of opposition supporters marched into Baku's Victory Square today under
a forest of orange flags to demand fresh parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan
amid a heavy police presence." ... "The opposition protests followed reports
of widespread vote fraud in Sunday's elections in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan
that were won overwhelmingly by the party of President Ilham Aliyev."
-AFXNews via -Forbes
Azerbaijan
- "Azerbaijani
Vote Annulled in Two Districts." ... "Azerbaijan's
election commission on Tuesday annulled the results of the weekend parliamentary
vote in two districts and ordered a recount in another, while the ruling
party claimed victory." ... "President Ilham Aliev on Monday acknowledged
violations in seven or eight of the country's 125 electoral districts and
said prosecutors would investigate." ... "Earlier Tuesday, opposition leader
Isa Gambar said his coalition had no faith in the authorities' commitment
to address the violations, which it has said were massive."
-AP via
-CBSNews
Iraq
- Law
- "Second
Lawyer in Saddam Trial Assassinated." ... "Three
masked gunmen in a speeding Opel assassinated a second lawyer in the Saddam
Hussein trial Tuesday, casting doubt on Iraq's ability to try the case
and leading a prominent war crimes prosecutor to urge moving the proceedings
to another Arab country." ... "Adel al-Zubeidi, lawyer for former Vice
President Taha Yassin Ramadan, died when bullets were sprayed his car in
a largely Sunni Arab neighborhood of western Baghdad. The shots also wounded
Thamir al-Khuzaie, attorney for another co-defendant, Saddam's half brother
Barazan Ibrahim." -By Robert H. Reid
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
Liberia
- "Soccer
star, Ivy Leaguer run in Liberia." ... "A soccer
star vying to become Liberia's first postwar president vowed to work for
peace as he voted Tuesday in a runoff election that many hope will herald
a new era after a quarter century of coups and conflict. His Ivy League-educated
opponent expressed confidence she would win." ... "One-time player of the
year George Weah and former Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf finished
first and second, respectively, in the Oct. 11 first round, which eliminated
20 other candidates, including warlords and rebel leaders." -By
Todd Pitman with contributions by Pewee Flomoku
-AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Pakistan
- UN
- "Death
Toll in South Asia Quake at 87,350." ... "One month
after South Asia's massive Oct. 8 earthquake, the regional death toll jumped
to 87,350 Tuesday following a new count of Pakistan's casualties, officials
said." ... "The U.N. stepped up its appeals for more money to help victims
centered in Pakistan's portion of Kashmir, urging donors to be as generous
as with other recent disasters and saying it urgently needs $42.4 million
to keep bringing help through November." -By Sadaqat
Jan -AP via
-Guardian.co.uk
US
- UK
- Global
- Business
- Climate
- CA
- "Charles
in US climate change plea: Prince Charles has made
an impassioned plea to US business leaders to take action on the "environmental
crisis" threatening the world." ... "Focusing on climate change during
a 35-minute speech in San Francisco [California], he told a 300-strong
audience: "We simply cannot go on as we are."" ... "He said the US had
the chance to use its power and influence for the "greater good of the
global community"." ... "He told the audience, drawn from the business,
public and academic sectors: "Throughout my lifetime, your country has
been willing to take responsible action for the greater good of the global
community, even when it had no direct need to do so." ... ""The environmental
crisis we face is another situation in which I believe the United States
could use its power and its influence to help create a sense of unity in
a common cause among disparate peoples and sectors of society.""-BBC
/News
Azerbaijan
- "Azerbaijan:
the next ex-Soviet revolution? Opposition leaders
question the validity of Monday's parliamentary elections in this oil-rich
nation." ... "Just one day after the last ballot was cast in Azerbaijan's
parliamentary elections, opposition parties, backed by foreign observers,
are calling the vote invalid and threatening massive street rallies to
force a replay of the vote." ... "The government of President Ilham Aliyev,
in a closely watched campaign, promised a free and fair vote on Sunday.
But Monday, the main opposition party, Azadliq, said the results in four-fifths
of the country's provinces should be invalidated." ... ""These were the
most falsified elections in Azeri history," the opposition bloc's campaign
manager, Panakh Guseinov, said." -By Daria Vaisman
-CSMonitor
Azerbaijan
- EU
- US
- "Azerbaijan's
opposition demands new election: Reports from foreign,
domestic observers cite serious problems in Sunday's vote." ... "Azerbaijan's
opposition called yesterday for a new election, armed with stinging reports
from election observers that said the vote fell well short of international
standards." ... "Officials from the Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe, the European Union and even from Azerbaijan's supporter, the
United States, expressed serious concerns about the fairness of Sunday's
parliamentary election." ... "The effect of the international condemnation
may be limited in an authoritarian state that remains a staunch military
ally and an important source of oil for Western countries. The monitors
declined to make any judgment about whether the election's flaws affected
the overall result, in which the ruling party retained firm control of
parliament." -By Graeme Smith
-GlobeAndMail
Azerbaijan
- "Fraud
mars Azerbaijan vote: Aliyev retains presidency amid
widespread violations; opposition calls for nationwide protests." ... "Western
election monitors yesterday condemned Azerbaijan's parliamentary elections
as having widespread violations, and opposition parties prepared to protest
against President Ilham Aliyev's iron-fisted regime." ... ""Elections in
Azerbaijan did not meet international standards," the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe said in a
statement." ... "Forty-three percent of ballot-counting after Sunday's
vote was "bad or very bad," Leo Platvoet, the Council of Europe delegation
head, said in Baku, capital of the oil-rich former Soviet republic. In
addition, observers saw ballot-box stuffing and people interfering with
voting, according to the OSCE." -By Sebastian Smith
-Newsday.com
World
- Switzerland
- Drugs
- "Roche
plans 10-fold increase in Tamiflu." ... "Roche Holding
(RHHBF)
said Monday that will be able to produce 300 million treatments of Tamiflu
in 2007, marking the first time the Swiss drugmaker has disclosed specific
annual production plans for its increasingly-popular antiviral drug." ...
"Tamiflu, which reduces flu symptoms, is being stockpiled by countries
as a potential treatment if a worldwide flu pandemic occurs. Governments
and health officials have pressed Roche to license manufacturing rights
to other companies so that supplies can be increased faster." -By
Julie Schmit -USATODAY
Pakistan
- India
- Politics
- "Police
Keep Kashmiris From Crossing Border." ... "Pakistani
police fired tear gas to disperse Kashmiri villagers Monday when some tried
to cross into Indian territory during an unprecedented frontier ceremony
by the South Asian rivals to exchange aid for victims of the Oct. 8 quake."
... "The border opening that India and Pakistan agreed to last month was
supposed to have been a much grander gesture: letting Kashmiris cross at
five points to check on long-lost relatives and visit relief camps set
up along the frontier." ... "But India on Saturday said it was prepared
to open only one crossing, and on Sunday officials on both sides said bureaucratic
wrangling would delay chances for people to cross, partly because India
must be assured that no Muslim militants will head into Indian territory."
-AP via
-CBSNews
US
- Iraq
- Syria
- "Troops
Fend Off Attacks in West: Four U.S. Soliders Die
in Suicide Strike South of Baghdad." ... "U.S. and Iraqi troops battled
house to house and street to street in the border town of Husaybah on Monday
in the third day of a campaign to clear out insurgents and stop the flow
of foreign arms and fighters from Syria into Iraq, the U.S. military said."
... "Troops "continue to be attacked by small groups of terrorists," the
military said, adding that there had been four incidents of insurgents
assaulting U.S. Marines and Iraqi soldiers from inside mosques and one
attack from inside a school." -By John Ward Anderson-WashingtonPost
Azerbaijan
- "Monitors
in Azerbaijan Say Election Did Not Meet Standards."
... "International election monitors said today that Azerbaijan's parliamentary
election was tainted by range of government abuses and failed to meet democratic
standards, expressing evident Western disappointment that the country had
not lived up its president's pledges to hold a fair vote." ... "The unsparing
assessment, issued by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, lent credibility to a bloc of opposition parties that had already
declared the vote fraudulent, and moved this small, oil-rich state toward
the possibility of clashes between angry opposition members and the police,
who have dispersed anti-government street rallies this year with force."
... "The bloc, known as Azadliq, the Azeri word for Freedom, vowed to hold
peaceful demonstrations beginning Wednesday, seeking to overturn many of
the results in districts throughout the country." -By
C. J. Chivers -NYTimes
Azerbaijan
- United
States - "U.S.
Raises Concerns About Azerbaijan Vote: U.S. Raises
Concerns About Azerbaijan Elections, Backing Group's Findings of Irregularities."
... "The United States called on the Azerbaijani government "to take immediate
investigations into these irregularities and fraud consistent with Azerbaijan's
laws," [State Department spokesman Adam] Ereli said." ... "Ereli also said
the United States was urging that "all protests and demonstrations need
to be peaceful."" -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
Azerbaijan
- "Azerbaijan
Votes, Amid Accusations of Fraud and Abuse." ...
"After months of pre-election tension in a nation that has never had a
free and fair election under its ruling family, voters in Azerbaijan cast
their ballots for Parliament on Sunday amid new accusations of fraud and
government abuses." ... "What is at stake in the election is the international
reputation of Azerbaijan, a small, oil-rich nation on the Caspian Sea that
has built close ties with the United States, as well as that of its young
president, Ilham Aliyev, 43." ... "Mr. Aliyev was the political heir of
his father, Heydar Aliyev, who ruled the country through most of its independence.
The younger Mr. Aliyev came to power in October 2003 in an election marred
by fraud and followed by violence. His father died in December of that
year." (1, 2)
-By C. J. Chivers -NYTimes
US
- Iraq
- Dick
Cheney
- Military
- Intelligence
- Politics
- 
Listen
- "Cheney
Positions on Iraq, Detainees Under Scrutiny." ...
"Criminal charges against former White House aide I. Lewis Libby have focused
new attention on the man he worked for. Vice President Dick Cheney's support
for the Iraq war and for exempting detainees in the war on terror from
the conventional rules of treatment and interrogation has brought him in
conflict with strong forces elsewhere in the government, including Congress."
-By Don Gonyea -NPR
/News
Australia
- Police
- Intelligence
- "Australia
foils terrorist attack." ... "Australian authorities
arrested 17 people on Tuesday on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack,
raiding homes in Melbourne and Sydney less than a week after parliament
passed tougher anti-terror laws." ... "One man was shot in the Sydney raids
and the police bomb squad was examining a backpack at the scene. Outspoken
Muslim cleric Abu Bakr, who has voiced support for al Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden, was among those arrested in Melbourne." ... "The Australia Security
Intelligence Organization (ASIO), last week acknowledged for the first
time that Australia had home-grown extremists, some of whom trained overseas."
(1, 2)
-By Joanne Collins with contributions by Michelle
Nichols -Reuters
France
- Belgium
- Germany
- "Rioting
in France Spreads to 300 Towns." ... "Rioting by
French youths spread to 300 towns overnight and a 61-year-old man hurt
in the violence died of his wounds, the first fatality in 11 days of unrest
that has shocked the country, police said Monday." ... "As urban unrest
was reported in neighboring Belgium and Germany, the French government
faced growing criticism for its inability to stop the violence, despite
massive police deployment and continued calls for calm. One riot-hit town
in suburban Paris said it was preparing to enforce a curfew." ... "Meanwhile,
governments worldwide urged their citizens to be careful in France." -By
Angela Doland with contributions by Emmanuel Georges-Picot, Thierry Boinet
and Jan Sliva -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
US
- World
- Dick
Cheney - Military
- Intelligence
- Politics
- Law
- Arizona
- "Cheney
Fights for Detainee Policy: As Pressure Mounts to
Limit Handling Of Terror Suspects, He Holds Hard Line." ... "Over the past
year, Vice President Cheney has waged an intense and largely unpublicized
campaign to stop Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department from imposing
more restrictive rules on the handling of terrorist suspects, according
to defense, state, intelligence and congressional officials." ... "Just
last week, Cheney showed up at a Republican senatorial luncheon to lobby
lawmakers for a CIA exemption to an amendment by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.
[Arizona]) that would ban torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners.
The exemption would cover the CIA's covert "black sites" in several Eastern
European democracies and other countries where key al Qaeda captives are
being kept." (1, 2)
-By Dana Priest and Robin Wright with contributions
by Charles Babington and Josh White-WashingtonPost
UN
- World
- US
- Russia
- "US
and Russia back 'nuclear fuel bank'." ... "Mohamed
ElBaradei, head of the UN nuclear monitor, said on Monday he had won commitments
from the US and Russia for an initiative to create an international nuclear
fuel bank." ... "The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said
only such an international approach could resolve the problem of countries
being able to develop a nuclear bomb through their own development of the
fuel cycle." -By Guy Dinmore with contributions by
-FT.com via
-MSNBC
US
- Guantanamo
Bay - 
Cuba
- Military
- Terrorism
- "Supreme
Court to rule on Guantánamo trials." ... "The
US Supreme Court agreed on Monday to rule on whether President George W.
Bush has the power to use specially established military commissions to
try detainees held in the war on terrorism." ... "The court's decision
to hear the case will delay further the Pentagon's efforts to find a legal
mechanism for dealing with hundreds of detainees at Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba, some of whom have been held there for nearly four years." -By
By Edward Alden -FT.com
via -MSNBC
Ethiopia
- Politics
- "Ethiopia
PM regrets protest dead: Ethiopian Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi has said he regrets the deaths of at least 46 people killed
in last week's anti-government protests." ... "But he said it was understandable
that police had panicked when facing protesters with hand grenades and
guns." ... "Speaking in Germany, Mr Zenawi accused the opposition of provoking
unrest." ... "The unrest first erupted on Tuesday after the opposition
accused the government of rigging the 15 May elections and there are fears
of more protests." ... "The elections saw Mr Zenawi's Ethiopian Peoples
Revolutionary Democratic Front take control of two-thirds of the country's
parliament." ... "After the clashes, many opposition leaders were detained."-BBC
/News
US- World
- Karl
Rove
- Political
- Government
- Radio
- Television
- Language
- Media
- "Rove
friend is at center of inquiry." ... "Kenneth Tomlinson,
who is also a close friend of Karl Rove, the White House political guru,
was removed last week from the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
after its inspector general concluded an investigation that was critical
of him. That examination looked at his efforts as chairman to seek more
politically conservative programs on public radio and television in the
United States." ... "But Tomlinson remains an important official as the
chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, whose members include
the secretary of state. It supervises the U.S. government's foreign broadcasting
operations, including the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Sawa
and Alhurra, transmits programs in 61 languages and says it has more than
100 million listeners each week." ... ""People involved in the inquiry
said that investigators had already interviewed a significant number of
officials at the agency and that if the accusations were substantiated,
they could involve criminal violations." -By Stephen
Labaton with contributions by Steven R. Weisman
-NYTimes via -IHT.com
Water
- "Cruise
ship attack highlights threat from Somalia." ...
"A pirate attack on a ship full of Western holidaymakers has jolted East
Africa's bomb-scarred tourist industry and reminded the world of the threat
posed by Somalia, an anarchic state awash with weapons." ... "Woken by
machinegun fire and a rocket-propelled grenade crashing into their cruise
ship at dawn on Saturday, the tourists gazed in disbelief as attackers
in two small boats tried, but eventually failed, to seize their vessel."
-By Daniel Wallis -Reuters
via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
France
- Cars
- "French
Police Arrest 186; Paris Riots Continue for 10th Night."
... "French police arrested 186 people overnight as gangs burned cars and
buildings for the 10th consecutive night in Paris suburbs, other cities
around France, and, for the first time, within the city of Paris itself.
More than 900 vehicles were set ablaze across the nation." ... "More than
550 people have been arrested and more than 2,100 vehicles have been torched
since Oct. 27." -By Alan Katz
-Bloomberg
France
- Economic
- Religious
- "Youths'
poverty, despair fuel violent unrest in France: Islamic
underclass vents frustration." ... ""Islamic leaders and social commentators
acknowledge that most of the looters and arsonists are Muslims of Arabic
or black African heritage. But they insist that root causes of the violence
are economic, not religious -- even though the rioters often use slogans
of radical fundamentalism." ... "France has the largest Islamic population
in Western Europe, about 5 million, many of whom dwell in communities beset
by high unemployment, savage crime, blighted housing, and bad schools."
... "Unemployment in Islamic communities is estimated to be at 30 percent,
more than three times the national average. Islamic leaders and social
analysts say that racial and religious discrimination are rampant. Jobs
available to even French-born Muslims, they say, tend to be menial positions."
-By Colin Nickerson with contributions by Petra Krischok
-Boston/Globe
Azerbaijan
- Russia
- Georgia
- Turkey
- Iran
- Energy
- "Azerbaijan
Braces for Election: Riots Threatened If Fraud Is
Seen." ... "Flame licks the hills outside of this city on the Caspian Sea,
spontaneous little eruptions jumping from the earth and testifying to the
energy riches that this Muslim country with a large impoverished population
is about to transform into billions of dollars in cold cash." ... "Between
now and 2024, a new oil pipeline to Turkey will generate an estimated $124
billion, a bonanza for this nation of 8 million with a state budget this
year of $1.4 billion." ... "Azerbaijan, a small former Soviet republic
squeezed between Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Iran, is on the verge
of an oil boom. On Sunday it will go to the polls in parliamentary elections,
and the outcome, amid charges of strong-arm tactics and fears of vote-rigging,
might prove just as pivotal to the country's future." -By
Peter Finn-WashingtonPost
Argentina
- US
- Mexico
- Canada- 
Chile
- Business
- Politics
- "Summit
Protests Turn Violent in Argentina." ... "More than
1,000 demonstrators angry about President Bush's policies clashed with
police, shattered storefronts and torched businesses Friday, marring the
inauguration of the Summit of the Americas as leaders began debating creation
of one of the world's largest free trade zones." ... "The chaos reflected
the often violent, worldwide debate on free trade as the United States
and Mexico pushed to relaunch talks on a zone stretching from Canada to
Chile. Past summits on the issue _ including last year's gathering of Asian-Pacific
leaders in Chile _ have drawn bitter opposition and similarly angry protests."
-Contributed to by Alan Clendenning, Dan Molinski,
Nestor Ikeda, and Vivian Sequera -AP
via -CBSNews
EU
- US
- 
Poland
- 
Romania
- Military
- Terrorism- Secrets
- "EU
Accepts Polish, Romanian Denials of Secret Jails (Update1)."
... "The European Union's executive agency said it is satisfied with Poland's
and Romania's denials that the U.S. is running secret terrorist jails on
their soil, saying there's no proof of human rights violations." ... "The
Polish and Romanian governments rebutted reports in the Washington Post
and Financial Times, citing U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, that the Central
Intelligence Agency has operated covert interrogation centers in those
countries." -By John Rega
-Bloomberg
Ethiopia
- Politics
- "Ethiopian
unrest spreads." ... "Gunfire echoed sporadically
around Addis Ababa for a fourth day on Friday as reports emerged that unrest
had spread beyond the capital, a development likely to deepen international
concern for Ethiopia's stability." ... "Residents contacted by telephone
said students in Dessie town, 400 km (250 miles) north of Addis Ababa had
thrown stones at police who dispersed them by firing in the air." ... "Amhara
region is the base of the Amhara people who make up about a fifth of the
ethnically-diverse nation of 77 million, sub-Saharan Africa's second most
populous after Nigeria." (1, 2)
-By Tsegaye Tadesse -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
US
- Iraq
- Listen
- "Attacks
on Road to Baghdad Airport Decrease." ... "Incidents
of violence on the road to Baghdad's airport are on the decline. The U.S.
Army attributes the downturn in attacks to new, more-comprehensive security
operations. Jackie Spinner of The Washington Post tagged along with the
unit charged with securing the road." -WashingtonPost-NPR
/News
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Politics
- Listen
- "Former
Aide's Criticisms Ignite Iraq War Debate." ... "The former
chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell has accused the administration
of allowing a small group of senior officials to control the pre- Iraq
war intelligence and post-war planning." -PBS
/NewsHour
US
- Iraq
- Lewis
Libby
- Dick
Cheney
- Intelligence
- Politics
- 2006
Election - "Ex-Cheney
aide pleads not guilty in CIA leak case." ... "Vice
President Dick Cheney's former top aide [I. Lewis Libby Jr.] pleaded not
guilty Thursday to five criminal charges of lying to or impeding investigators
in the case of the leaked identity of a covert CIA agent whose husband
was a prominent critic of the Iraq war." ... "It was left unclear when
a trial - in which Cheney and other top officials might be called to testify
- would begin. But chances appeared considerable that it would unfold over
several weeks next year, which is a midterm election year in the United
States, giving Democrats a prime opening to assail the Bush administration's
handling of Iraq war intelligence." -By Brian Knowlton
-IHT.com
Ethiopia
- Politics
- "More
violence in Ethiopia capital: Three more people have
been killed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, in a third day of clashes
between opposition supporters and the police." ... "The riots were part
of protests against the general election in May, which the governing party
won. The opposition says voting and counting were rigged." ... "The main
opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, resumed protests
this week after its members refused to attend parliamentary sessions."
... "Security officers have arrested all 15 members of the CUD's Central
Committee and about 1,000 supporters according to a lawyer for the party."-BBC
/News
US
- Australia
- Canada
- 
New
Zealand - Britain
- Germany
- Consumer
- Money
- "U.S.
Health Care Costs Big Money: Survey Says Americans
Pay More, Get Disorganized Care." ... "Americans pay more when they get
sick than people in other Western nations and receive more confused, error-prone
treatment, according to the largest survey to compare U.S. health care
with other nations." ... "The survey of nearly 7,000 sick adults in the
United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and Germany found
Americans were the most likely to pay at least $1,000 in out-of-pocket
expenses. More than half went without needed care because of cost, the
survey found, and more than a third endured mistakes and disorganized care
when they did get treated." ... "While patients in every nation sometimes
run into obstacles to getting care and face deficiencies in treatment,
the United States stood out for having the highest error rates, most disorganized
care and highest costs, the survey found." -By Rob
Stein-WashingtonPost
France
- "Paris
Rioting Continues for Eighth Night." ... "Rioters
fired at police, stoned commuter trains and torched a school, shops and
hundreds of vehicles in tough immigrant suburbs Thursday, spurring French
authorities to deploy 1,000 riot police on an eighth night of street violence."
... "The main spark for the riots came Oct. 27 in the town of Clichy-sous-Bois
when two teenagers died by electrocution while hiding from police in an
electrical substation. One youth was of Tunisian descent, and the other
was born in Mauritania. The two were at a soccer game when police arrived;
the teenagers reportedly fled to the fatal hiding place, though investigators
say police were not chasing them. Nonetheless, neighborhood youths began
setting fires, destroying property and attacking police and firefighters."
-By Sebastian Rotella-LAtimes
US
- Iraq
- Military
-Secrets
- Politics
- "Democrats
Force Secret Senate Session: Democrats Force Secret
Senate Session to Highlight Differences Over How Iraq Intelligence Handled."
... "Unable to win their way with votes, outnumbered Democrats used a rarely
invoked Senate rule to force a secret session as a way to dramatize their
assertions that the Bush administration misused intelligence in the run-up
to war in Iraq." ... "Republicans angrily derided the use of Rule 21 which
dates back to 1795 as a political stunt but agreed two hours later to have
a bipartisan group check on how the Senate Intelligence Committee is coming
along in its investigation of prewar intelligence." ... "The Senate is
authorized to have secret sessions by the Constitution." (1, 2)
-By Liz Sidoti -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
US
- Afghanistan
- 
Thailand
- Guantanamo
Bay - Cuba
- Military
- Terrorism
- Secret
- Prisons
- Law
- Noteworthy
- "CIA
Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons: Debate Is
Growing Within Agency About Legality and Morality of Overseas System Set
Up After 9/11." ... "The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of
its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern
Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement."
... "The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the
CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight
countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern
Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba,
according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from
three continents." ... "The hidden global internment network is a central
element in the CIA's unconventional war on terrorism. It depends on the
cooperation of foreign intelligence services, and on keeping even basic
information about the system secret from the public, foreign officials
and nearly all members of Congress charged with overseeing the CIA's covert
actions." ... "It is illegal for the government to hold prisoners in such
isolation in secret prisons in the United States, which is why the CIA
placed them overseas, according to several former and current intelligence
officials and other U.S. government officials." (1, 2,
3, 4) -By Dana Priest with contributions by Julie
Tate -WashingtonPost
Australia
- Police
- Terrorism
- Civil
Liberties - Law
- "Australia
says has intelligence on terror threat." ... "Australia
has received specific information about a possible "terrorist threat" to
the country, Prime Minister John Howard said on Wednesday, but Australia's
medium security alert remained unchanged." ... "Howard refused to give
any details about the nature or location of the threat, but said the government
would rush through changes to anti-terror laws to enable police to respond."
... "The new laws, which have been criticised by human rights and civil
liberties groups, will allow police to detain suspects for seven days without
charge, and use electronic tracking devices to keep tabs on suspects."
-By James Grubel -Reuters
via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Politics
- 
Kansas
- "White
House ducks prewar intel questions." ... "The White
House sought to deflect politically charged questions Wednesday about President
Bush's use of prewar intelligence in Iraq, saying Democrats, too, had concluded
Saddam Hussein was a threat." ... "Democrats sought assurances that Intelligence
Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan. [Kansas], would complete the second
phase of an investigation of the administration's prewar intelligence -
as he said he was doing anyway." ... "A six-member task force - three members
from each party - was appointed to review the Intelligence Committee's
work and report to their respective leaders by Nov. 14." -By
Liz Sidoti -AP
via -SeattlePI .NWsource
