Free Internet Press Newsletter - Monday November 27 2006 - (813)

Monday November 27 2006 edition
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Bush To Meet With NATO Leaders On Afghanistan For First Time In Two Years 2006-11-27 15:49:55 President Bush will seek fresh troops and equipment for the fight in Afghanistan and fewer restrictions on how they can be used when he sits down this week with NATO allies to review the state of the dangerous mission there, according to senior U.S. officials. Bush was flying Monday to this scenic capital of Estonia, on his way to a summit of NATO's leaders in Riga, Latvia, beginning Tuesday. U.S. officials are hoping for a re-commitment to the long-term success of the mission in Afghanistan, where a stepped-up insurgency from the Taliban militia is posing stiff new challenges for some 33,000 NATO troops seeking to pacify the country. Following the summit Bush will fly from Riga to Amman, Jordan, Wednesday for meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki about how to arrest the deteriorating conditions in the other country in which the United States made a dramatic post-9/11 intervention. Read The Full Story At least Three People Tested For Radiation Exposure In Spy Death Case 2006-11-27 15:48:21 The British government "should be able to expect cooperation" from the Russian authorities over the death of the former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, Britain's home secretary said Monday. Three people have been tested so far for exposure to polonium 210, the radioactive substance that killed  Litvinenko. The Russian ambassador was "called in" to the Foreign Office last Friday over the incident, John Reid revealed, as the government made its first official statement on the mystery death. Read The Full Story U.S. Supreme Court Sides With Philip Morris - OK For Company To Lie 2006-11-27 15:46:41 The Supreme Court on Monday sided with Philip Morris USA, refusing to disturb a court ruling that threw out a $10.1 billion verdict over the company's "light" cigarettes. The court issued its order without comment. Last year, the Illinois Supreme Court threw out the massive fraud judgment against Philip Morris, a unit of the Altria Group Inc., in a class-action lawsuit involving "light" cigarettes. Because the Federal Trade Commission allowed companies to characterize their cigarettes as "light" and "low tar," Philip Morris could not be held liable under state law even if the terms it used could be found false or misleading, said the state court. Read The Full Story Rift Over Afghan Mission Looms For NATO 2006-11-27 14:31:52 NATO is bigger than ever, and it is reaching further than ever before, by taking the lead in the war in Afghanistan,  but the Afghan mission threatens a rift within the Atlantic alliance between those nations willing and able to participate fully in combat operations in Afghanistan and those nations that are not. The challenge represents a third generational test for the allies - one fraught with argument and angst like the others were. The first test was how best to face off against the Soviet threat, a challenge that gave birth to NATO in 1949. The second was whether to move beyond the boundaries of NATO’s members in the 1990s to halt ethnic bloodshed in the Balkans. NATO’s 26 members and 11 non-alliance partners have committed 32,000 troops to Afghanistan, with 12,000 Americans assigned to the NATO portion of the mission. (Another 8,000 American troops are in Afghanistan carrying out counterterrorism missions solely under American command.) Read The Full Story Democrats Vow Investigations Into Medicare, Halliburton and Cheney's Energy Task Force 2006-11-26 23:56:17 The incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is promising an array of oversight investigations that could provoke sharp disagreement with Republicans and the White House. Rep. John Dingell, D-Michigan, pledged that Democrats, swept to power in the Nov. 7 elections, would govern “in the middle” next year, but the veteran lawmaker has a reputation as one who has never avoided a fight and he did not back away from that reputation on Sunday. Among the investigations he said he wants the committee to undertake: -- The new Medicare drug benefit. “There are lots and lots and lots of scandals,” he said, without citing specifics. -- Spending on government contractors in Iraq, including Halliburton Co., the Texas-based oil services conglomerate once led by Vice President Dick Cheney. -- An energy task force overseen by Cheney. It “was carefully cooked to provide only participation by oil companies and energy companies,” said Dingell. Read The Full Story Jordan's King Paints Grim Picture Of Middle East, Sees Civil Wars Erupting 2006-11-26 23:54:57 Jordan’s King Abdullah said Sunday the problems in the Middle East go beyond the war in Iraq and that much of the region soon could become engulfed in violence unless the central issues are addressed quickly. “We could possibly imagine going into 2007 and having three civil wars on our hands,” he said, citing conflicts in Iraq, Lebanon and the decades-long strife between the Palestinians and Israelis. “Therefore, it is time that we really take a strong step forward as part of the international community and make sure we avert the Middle East from a tremendous crisis that I fear, and I see could possibly happen in 2007,” he said. Read The Full Story Iraqi Leader Says Political Conflicts Caused Violence 2006-11-26 23:53:27 Days ahead of his meeting with President Bush to discuss security in Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq said Sunday that last week’s surge in violence in the central part of the country had been ignited by political conflicts and that Iraq’s leaders would work to resolve those differences. “These actions are at most the reflection of political backgrounds and wills and sometimes the reflection of dogmatic, perverted backgrounds and wills,” Maliki said at a news conference. “The crisis is political and they who can stop the cycle of aggravation and bloodletting of innocents are the politicians.” Maliki’s comments were an acknowledgment of the political nature of the war here and they placed responsibility for achieving any sort of peace on the shoulders of Iraq’s politicians. The civil strife is generally driven by Sunni and Shiite militias vying for dominance and has spiraled into a pattern of revenge killings and sectarian cleansing of neighborhoods. Read The Full Story Long Stints In Iraq Fracture Military Families 2006-11-26 14:47:34 As a gray dawn broke, hundreds of 3rd Infantry Division soldiers gathered on a Georgia marching ground this month and listened to a long list of names of fallen comrades. Taps rose mournfully above rows of young redbud trees planted for each of the division's 317 soldiers who have died in Iraq.  Col. John Charlton, commander of the division's 1st Brigade, which next month begins its third Iraq tour in four years, stepped forward. "Be thankful for your families, your health, and for every day that you're alive," he advised. The brigade's mission, he said, is to bring peace to Iraq's volatile western Anbar province and its capital, Ramadi, which he said despite progress remain "a dangerous area, a very dangerous area." "Take this time ... to be thinking about those soldiers represented behind or in front of you," he said, "and as you'll notice, there's still some space on the sidewalk there for more trees." This week, U.S. troops will have been fighting in Iraq longer than they did in World War II, with no relief in sight. Soldiers from 1st Brigade preparing at Fort Stewart for their third Iraq tour have been spending as much time in Iraq as at home. The rotations - a year in Iraq followed by a year at home - dictate soldiers' most intimate decisions: They mandate when troops can marry and have children. They sever relationships that cannot sustain the stress of absence or danger. And they lead some couples to pray for the war to end. Read The Full Story Spy Death Linked To Nuclear Thefts 2006-11-26 14:45:23 An investigation was under way Saturday night into Russia's black market trade in radioactive materials amid concern that significant quantities of polonium 210, the substance that killed former spy Alexander Litvinenko, are being stolen from poorly protected Russian nuclear sites. As British police drew up a list of witnesses for questioning over the death, experts warned that thefts from nuclear facilities in the former Soviet Union were a major problem. A senior source at the United Nations nuclear inspectorate, the International Atomic Energy Agency, told The Observer he had no doubt that the killing of Litvinenko was an "organized operation" which bore all the hallmarks of a foreign intelligence agency. The expert in radioactive materials said the ability to obtain polonium 210 and the knowledge needed to use it to kill Litvinenko meant that the attack could not have been carried out by a "lone assassin". Read The Full Story U.S. Finds Iraq Insurgency Has Funds To Sustain Itself 2006-11-26 14:44:05 The insurgency in Iraq is now self-sustaining financially, raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting, connivance by corrupt Islamic charities and other crimes that the Iraqi government and its American patrons have been largely unable to prevent, a classified United States government report has concluded. The report, obtained by the New York Times, estimates that groups responsible for many insurgent and terrorist attacks are raising $70 million to $200 million a year from illegal activities. It says $25 million to $100 million of that comes from oil smuggling and other criminal activity involving the state-owned oil industry, aided by “corrupt and complicit” Iraqi officials. As much as $36 million a year comes from ransoms paid for hundreds of kidnap victims, the report says. It estimates that unnamed foreign governments - previously identified by American officials as including France and Italy - paid $30 million in ransom last year. Read The Full Story Deadly Pipeline Blast In East Java Linked To Volcanic Eruptions 2006-11-26 14:41:52 A gas pipeline explosion that killed at least seven people in East Java was a consequence of the volcanic mud eruptions that began in the area several months ago, government officials and drilling experts said Thursday. The accident occurred because the earth had subsided considerably as a result of the heavy outflows of mud and water, and a dike that had been built to contain the mud then collapsed on to the pipeline causing it to rupture, said officials. “The land subsided two meters,” the minister for energy and mineral resources, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, said at a news conference in Surabaya after inspecting the explosion site about 23 miles to the south. It was the kind of catastrophe that had been feared, and predicted, since the mud eruptions, which resulted from faulty mine drilling practices, began and have continued unabated for nearly six months. Nearly 126,000 cubic meters of mud and water a day are now spouting from underground. About a square mile is now inundated. Read The Full Story	Iraq President Talabani In Iran For Talks 2006-11-27 15:49:26 Iraqi President Jalal Talabani arrived in Tehran on Monday to meet with his Iranian counterpart amid increasing calls for Washington to enlist Iran's help in calming the escalating violence in neighboring Iraq. "Talabani arrived in Tehran minutes ago as the head of a high-level delegation," Iran's state-run television reported. Iran has been trying to organize a summit joining President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Talabani and Syrian President Bashar Assad in a bid to assert its role as the top regional powerbroker. Read The Full Story U.S. Air Force F-16CG Crashes In Iraq 2006-11-27 15:47:24 A U.S. Air Force jet carrying one pilot crashed in Iraq on Monday, the military said. The F-16CG was supporting coalition ground forces when it went down at about 1:35 p.m., about 20 miles northwest of Baghdad in Anbar province, the military said in a brief statement that contained no information about the cause of the crash or the fate of the pilot. Mohammed Al-Obeidi, an Iraqi who lives in the nearby town of Karmah, said he saw the jet flying up and down erratically before it nose-dived and exploded in a farm field. Read The Full Story Mahdi Army Provides Aid To Iraqi Victims 2006-11-27 14:32:54 In the chaos, Ayad al-Fartoosi thrived. Against a backdrop of death and panic in Sadr City last Thursday, he strode confidently through streets littered with burning cars and charred bodies. At one moment, he was guiding an ambulance carrying bomb victims through traffic. At another, he was searching cars at a checkpoint. By evening, he had helped to seize a would-be car bomber and to retrieve corpses. By nightfall, he was patrolling the streets of his neighborhood. Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Fartoosi has been a militiaman with the Shiite Muslim Mahdi Army of firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Last week, he also served as a relief worker, a policeman, a traffic controller and a guard. So did thousands of his militia comrades who mobilized to assist victims of the deadliest attack on Iraqis since the invasion, highlighting the power associated with the Mahdi Army's less-publicized roles in Iraqi society. Read The Full Story New York On Edge As Police Kill Unarmed Man On His Wedding Day 2006-11-27 14:31:02 The New York authorities were scrambling to contain an angry backlash Sunday after police shot a group of three unarmed black men, killing one of them on his wedding day. The shooting took place after a stag party at a strip club in Queens, a few hours before Sean Bell, 23, was due to marry the mother of his two small daughters. He was struck in the neck and arm and was dead on arrival at hospital. One of his friends, Joseph Guzman, was in a critical condition after being hit 11 times, and another, Trent Benefield, was in a stable condition with wounds to his leg and buttocks. Outrage at the shooting was compounded when it emerged that Mr Guzman and Mr Benefield had been shackled to their beds. New Yorkers have also been startled at the apparent wildness of the fusillade. The police claim to have overheard one of three men mention a gun, but no weapon was found. Read The Full Story U.S. Supreme Court To Hear Pivotal Global Warming Case 2006-11-26 23:55:42 The Supreme Court hears arguments this week in a case that could determine whether the Bush administration must change course in how it deals with the threat of global warming. A dozen states as well as environmental groups and large cities are trying to convince the court that the Environmental Protection Agency must regulate, as a matter of public health, the amount of carbon dioxide that comes from vehicles. Carbon dioxide is produced when fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas are burned. It is the principal "greenhouse" gas that many scientists believe is flowing into the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate, leading to a warming of the earth and widespread ecological changes. One way to reduce those emissions is to have cleaner-burning cars. Read The Full Story Tens Of Thousands In Turkey Protest Pope's Upcoming Visit 2006-11-26 23:54:13 Tens of thousands of protesters chanted "No to the pope!" and waved anti-Vatican banners Sunday in a defiant display of the pro-Islamic anger that could await the pontiff on his first papal trip to a mostly Muslim nation. About 25,000 people filled a square in a working-class district of Istanbul at a rally organized by an Islamist political party whose leaders have denounced the pope's remarks in September that linked violence and Islam. "The pope is not wanted here," said Kubra Yigitoglu, a 20-year-old protester in a head scarf, ankle-length coat and cowboy boots who called Turkey "an Islamic republic". The demonstration highlighted the deep strains in Turkey ahead of the pope's four-day visit beginning Tuesday. Read The Full Story Free Internet Press - Distress Update and Thank You 2006-11-26 22:08:55   First, I'd like to thank everyone for all your support.  I'm sorry I couldn't reply to every one of you directly.  We've been reading your mail from all over the world.  Thanks for all your kind words and advice.   PayPal Donations:   B.L.   $50   T.R.   $20   C.C.&n! bsp;  $20   Somewhere.com $25   G.L.  $10   Hardware Donation:   Anonymous: Dual Opteron 240 Server w/ 1Gb RAM and 325Gb RAID5   Colocation Services:   Energenesis - Bandwidth and rack space Read The Full Story Cellphones And Web Spread Threats And Fear In Iraq 2006-11-26 14:46:05 In the aftermath of one of the deadliest spasms of violence, a new level of fear and foreboding has gripped Baghdad, fueled in part by sectarian text messages and Internet sites, deepening tensions in an already divided capital. In interviews across Baghdad on Saturday, Sunnis and Shiites said they were preparing themselves for upheaval, both violent and psychological. They viewed the bombings that killed more than 200 people Thursday in the heart of Baghdad's Shiite Muslim community of Sadr City as a trigger for more reprisal killings. "We feel our world has become narrow, and we are being squeezed," said Karar al-Zuheari, 31, a Shiite taxi driver. "We have no place to run." Read The Full Story Dying Spy Accused Kremlin Agent 2006-11-26 14:44:47 The former Russian spy who died last week from radiation poisoning named a senior Kremlin agent as the man he believed responsible for targeting him. Alexander Litvinenko, who died after mysteriously absorbing polonium210, a rare and highly toxic radioactive material, said in his last full interview from hospital that he knew he was an “active case” for Russian intelligence. He named the agent in charge of monitoring him as "Viktor Kirov". A mand called Anatoly V. Kirov worked at the Russian embassy in London, where he was listed as a diplomat, until late last yeare. He is believed to have left the diplomatic service in October 2005 and returned to Russia. But Litvinenko claimed just days before he died that Kirov was an intelligence agent who continued to target him. Read The Full Story IAEA Freezes Iran Reactor Aid Over Plutonium 2006-11-26 14:42:16 The U.N. nuclear watchdog's board of governors on Thursday indefinitely blocked Iran's bid for technical aid for a reactor project over concerns it could be secretly used to yield bomb-grade plutonium. But diplomats said the ruling, which the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board adopted by consensus after days of haggling between industrialized and developing nations, left a theoretical possibility of revisiting Iran's request in future. In a compromise hammered out in negotiations ahead of the board meeting, Iranian requests for IAEA technical assistance on seven other nuclear energy projects judged not to pose a risk of being diverted to bomb-making were approved by the board. Read The Full Story test story 2006-11-26 03:02:47 test main text Read The Full Story
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