Free Internet Press Newsletter - Friday December 1 2006 - (813)

Friday December 1 2006 edition
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U.S. May Abandon Reconciliation Efforts With Sunnis 2006-12-01 03:32:59 The Bush administration is deliberating whether to abandon U.S. reconciliation efforts with Sunni insurgents and instead give priority to Shiites and Kurds, who won elections and now dominate the government, according to U.S. officials. The proposal, put forward by the State Department as part of a crash White House review of Iraq policy, follows an assessment that the ambitious U.S. outreach to Sunni dissidents has failed. U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that their reconciliation efforts may even have backfired, alienating the Shiite majority and leaving the United States vulnerable to having no allies in Iraq, according to sources familiar with the State Department proposal. Some insiders call the proposal the "80 percent" solution, a term that makes other parties to the White House policy review cringe. Sunni Arabs make up about 20 percent of Iraq's 26 million people. Read The Full Story Electronic Voting Condemned, 'Cannot Be Made Secure' 2006-12-01 03:31:40 Paperless electronic voting machines used throughout the Washington region and much of the country "cannot be made secure," according to draft recommendations issued this week by a federal agency that advises the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The assessment by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), one of the government's premier research centers, is the most sweeping condemnation of such voting systems by a federal agency. In a report hailed by critics of electronic voting, NIST said that voting systems should allow election officials to recount ballots independently from a voting machine's software. The recommendations endorse "optical-scan" systems in which voters mark paper ballots that are read by a computer and electronic systems that print a paper summary of each ballot, which voters review and elections officials save for recounts. Read The Full Story Abbas Says Palestinian Unity Talks Are At An Impasse 2006-12-01 03:30:34 Talks to form a Palestinian unity government are at a dead end, the Palestinian Authority's president, Mahmoud Abbas, said Thursday, ensuring that the Bush administration’s plan to start pushing hard for a Middle East peace initiative will stay in a deep freeze for now. Abbas gave his grim assessment about the state of talks between his Fatah faction and Hamas, the militant faction that controls the Palestinian government, after a one-hour meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Ricein Jericho, in the West Bank. And while this is the second time Abbas has declared the unity talks dead - he did so in October, and talks resumed this month - there was a sense of defeat at the press briefing, which Abbas conducted with Rice. “We wanted a cabinet capable of easing the suffering of our people,” said Abbas. “This is very painful for us because we know how badly the people have been suffering over the last nine months.” Read The Full Story Special Commentary: Free Speech And The Delusion Of Grandeur 2006-11-30 22:29:13 Intellpuke: The following commentary is by Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's "Countdown" program. In it, Mr. Olbermann responds to recent comments by New Gingrich advocating that America should curtail free speech. Mr. Olbermann's commentary begins here: Here, as promised, a special comment about free speech, failed speakers and the delusion of grandeur. "This is a serious long-term war," the man at the podium cried, "and it will inevitably lead us to want to know what is said in every suspect place in the country." Some in the audience must have thought they were hearing an arsonist give the keynote address at a convention of firefighters. This was the annual Loeb First Amendment Dinner in Manchester, New Hampshire - a public cherishing of freedom of speech - in the state with the two-fisted motto "Live Free Or Die." And the arsonist at the microphone, the former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, was insisting that we must attach an "on-off button" to free speech. Read The Full Story 100 Feared Dead As Typhoon Durian Hits Philippines 2006-11-30 22:28:11 Philippine officials said early Friday that 100 people may have been killed or injured in the onslaught of Typhoon Durian. The storm tore through the eastern Philippines earlier on Thursday with winds of up to 139 mph, blowing away small houses, uprooting trees and cutting off power to thousands of homes, said officials. Durian lashed the eastern island province of Catanduanes, but later veered south to likely to spare the bustling capital of Manila. Even so, forecasters warned relieved residents to brace for potentially destructive winds. “We should not be complacent, metro Manila, please,” chief forecaster Nathaniel Cruz told ABS-CBN television. Read The Full Story Microsoft Unveils New Operating System 2006-11-30 22:26:44 Microsoft today rolled out new versions of its dominant desktop programs, Windows and Office, beginning a series of new offerings that the company will introduce over the next year to combat a rising challenge from Internet-based software. The products, led by Windows Vista and Office 2007, are being made available immediately to business customers, but they will not arrive in the consumer market until after the holiday shopping season, on Jan. 30. Vista has suffered repeated delays, coming five years after the previous version of the Windows operating system, a lengthy gap Microsoft has vowed will not happen again. At a marketing event for businesses held in New York, Microsoft emphasized not only its desktop products, but also how they will work with its server software to increase productivity by making it easier for workers to collaborate in online teams, retrieve and reply to e-mail by phone using voice-recognition software, and easily search for information inside their laptops or across their corporation. Read The Full Story Homeland Security Official Admits Taking Bribes To Help Immigrants 2006-11-30 15:10:15 A Department of Homeland Security supervisor pleaded guilty today to pocketing more than $600,000 in bribes in exchange for falsifying immigration documents to help Asian immigrants obtain U.S. citizenship. Prosecutors said Robert T. Schofield issued fake documentation for hundreds of immigrants during an 10-year scheme he ran out of his Fairfax County, Virginia, office. Schofield, 57, was a supervisor for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which processes immigration applications, until he resigned in November. Court documents said Schofield employed a network of brokers who brought him immigrants needing citizenship, a green card or entry into the United States. Earning up to $10,000 per immigrant, he used some of the money to buy his $387,000 Fairfax County home and to pay down the mortgage, the documents said. When Schofield was arrested in June, federal agents found $3,900 cash in his jacket pocket inside his office. Read The Full Story Radiation Found At 12 Sites In Litvinenko Case, More Sites Expected 2006-11-30 14:25:51 The number of sites contaminated in the public health alert linked to the death of the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko has doubled to around 12, it was revealed Thursday. The home secretary, John Reid, told the Commons the number is likely to rise again. Also today, a spokesman for the former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar, who fell badly ill after attending a conference in Ireland, said doctors believe he was deliberately poisoned. "Doctors don't see a natural reason for the poisoning, and they have not been able to detect any natural substance known to them [in his body]," said Valery Natarov. Read The Full Story Iraq Study Group To Call For Major Troop Withdrawal 2006-11-30 03:23:39 The Iraq Study Group, which wrapped up eight months of deliberations yesterday, has reached a consensus and will call for a major withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, shifting the U.S. role from combat to support and advising, according to a source familiar with the deliberations. The recommendation includes a series of conditions and qualifications that would govern any drawdown of forces, said the source. "It describes a process by which combat brigades could be pulled out, but there wasn't a specific timetable on it," he said. The source demanded anonymity because members of the bipartisan panel have been pledged to secrecy until the report is officially issued Dec. 6. The issue of a timeline for drawing down troops - both a specific date to begin a withdrawal and the pace - had been major points of contention within the panel. The Bush administration has firmly rejected specifying a date for withdrawal, but Democrats have favored setting a time frame as a way to put pressure on the Iraqi government. Read The Full Story U.S. State Dept. Official: Tony Blair's U.S. Influence A 'Myth' 2006-11-30 03:22:04 In a devastating verdict on Tony Blair's decision to back war in Iraq and his "totally one-sided" relationship with President Bush, a U.S. State Department official has said that Britain's role as a bridge between America and Europe is now "disappearing before our eyes". Kendall Myers, a senior State Department analyst, disclosed that for all Britain's attempts to influence U.S. policy in recent years, "we typically ignore them and take no notice - it's a sad business". He added that he felt "a little ashamed" at Bush's treatment of the Prime Minister, who had invested so much of his political capital in standing shoulder to shoulder with America after 9/11. Read The Full Story Turkey Furious As E.U. Suspends Portion Of Talks On Membership 2006-11-30 03:20:31 Turkey reacted furiously yesterday to the proposed suspension of a large section of its talks on joining the European Union as a punishment for its refusal to open trade with Cyprus. Eight of 34 areas of negotiation will be frozen under the European Commission's plan until Ankara fulfils an agreement signed last year to open its ports to Cyprus, an E.U. member that it does not recognize. The Commission’s move was criticised by Britain, Sweden and Spain, but - in a sign of the faultlines within the Community over Turkish accession - was applauded by France and Germany. Turkey was defiant, insisting that it was not prepared to make any further concessions. “We have set out the framework [for progress on Cyprus],” Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, said. “If they are approaching the issue with the idea that they might grab a new concession, then we have no concession to make.” Read The Full Story	Russia Energy Giant Gazprom Seeks U.S. Markets 2006-12-01 03:32:18 For a company that has a market capitalization about the size of Microsoft or Citigroup and natural gas reserves that would make most OPEC members blush, Gazprom still finds itself with a lot of explaining to do. The Russian state-controlled natural gas monopoly has openly proclaimed its goal of becoming the world's dominant oil and gas company, and in the process it has raised hackles everywhere, from neighboring Ukraine to the boardrooms of major international oil companies and the capitals of Europe and the United States. It has jacked up gas prices to once-subsidized neighboring countries, pressured U.S. and European companies for stakes in overseas projects and pipelines, blocked access to its pipeline network in order to leverage its way into existing exploration deals and shelved a prized gas project because it wasn't satisfied with foreign bids. Now the company is seeking to polish its image in the United States, where it has a small office in Houston looking for investment opportunities. Moreover, among the biggest Gazprom shareholders are U.S.-based emerging-market mutual funds. Read The Full Story Typhoon Durian Kills At Least 109 In Philippines 2006-12-01 03:31:05 Typhoon Durian tore through the eastern Philippines on Thursday with winds of up to 139 mph, killing at least 109 people and cutting off power to thousands of homes, said officials. Dozens of people were missing, and 200 body bags were being shipped to the disaster zone at the request of provincial officials. With power and phone lines downed by powerful winds, helicopters were carrying out aerial surveillance of cut off areas. "Our rescue teams are overstretched rescuing people on rooftops," said Glen Rabonza, head of the national Office of Civil Defense. Read The Full Story Intelligence Sources: Litvinenko Was Victim Of Russian 'Rogue Elements'? 2006-11-30 22:29:51 British intelligence sources increasingly suspect that Alexander Litvinenko, the former spy killed with a radioactive poison, was the victim of a plot involving "rogue elements" within the Russian state, the Guardian has learned. While ruling out any official involvement by Vladimir Putin's government, investigators believe that only those with access to state nuclear laboratories could have mounted such a sophisticated plot. Police were last night closing in on a group of men who entered the U.K. among a large crowd of Muscovite football fans. The group of five or more arrived shortly before Litvinenko fell ill and attended the CSK Moscow match against Arsenal at the Emirates stadium on November 1. They flew back shortly afterwards. While describing them only as witnesses, police believe their presence could hold the key to the former spy's death. Read The Full Story 3 Percent Of U.S. Population Was In Criminal System At The End Of 2005 2006-11-30 22:28:39 About 3 percent of the U.S. adult population was incarcerated or on parole or probation at the end of last year, a government report said today. All told, a record seven million men and women were in the U.S. correctional population, which includes parolees or those on probation at the end of 2005, according to a report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. That includes about 2.2 million people who were being held in federal, state or local facilities, an increase of 2.7 percent from 2004. Women were being incarcerated at a faster rate than men last year, said the report. Read The Full Story Hezbollah Sets Anti-Government Protest 2006-11-30 22:27:27 In a dramatic day of dueling statements, Hezbollah's leader called on his supporters and allied forces to pour into Beirut on Friday to bring down the U.S.-backed government, a move Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora compared to a coup attempt. He insisted that the government would fall only through a vote of parliament, not a show of force in the streets. The call Thursday by Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah for a protest and open-ended sit-in marks the sharpest escalation yet in a month-long crisis that may decide the direction of Lebanese politics for years ahead, and it represents a potentially precarious step along Beirut's many fault lines of politics, ideology and sect. Lebanese newspapers have described Nasrallah's call as the "zero hour"; Siniora, in a forceful nighttime speech, repeatedly characterized the coming period as "decisive days". "Lebanon's independence is threatened and its democratic system is in danger," the prime minister said in a televised address from the government headquarters. "Threats will not deter us. Maneuvers and ultimatums will not terrorize us." Read The Full Story Bush: Calls For Iraq Pullout Are Unrealistic 2006-11-30 15:11:30 President Bush delivered a staunch endorsement of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Thursday morning and dismissed calls for U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq as unrealistic, following a summit meeting in which the two leaders discussed cracking down on sectarian violence and speeding the turnover of security responsibilities. "He's the right guy for Iraq," Bush said an a news conference in the Jordanian capital, as he stood next to a somewhat stiff and unsmiling Iraqi premier. Bush sought to preempt a growing clamor to start a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, a policy shift advanced by the results of the Nov. 7 midterm elections and expected to be endorsed by a high-level commission headed by former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Indiana). Read The Full Story Kerkorian Selling Another 14 Million GM Shares 2006-11-30 15:09:44 Dissident General Motors Corp. shareholder Kirk Kerkorian is selling another 14 million shares in the troubled automaker, dropping his stake by a third to 4.95 percent for a price of just over $400 million. The billionaire's move disclosed Thursday represents an even larger retreat from his ownership of the world's biggest automaker than previous indications. The investor's stock sale was disclosed even as GM announced it has completed a deal announced in April to sell a 51 percent stake in its finance unit to private investors for about $14 billion. Read The Full Story Analysis: Al-Sadr Casts Shadow Over Bush-Maliki Talks 2006-11-30 03:24:23 When President Bush meets Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Amman, Jordan, on Thursday, it will be clear that the real power in Iraq rests with radical cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr. In one swift maneuver Wednesday, Sadr cast a shadow over the diplomacy in Amman and issued a reminder of his growing influence in Iraq when a bloc of his party's lawmakers and cabinet members suspended their participation in the government to protest Maliki's decision to meet with Bush in Jordan. The move raises concerns about the ability of Maliki and Iraq's fragile unity government - beset by political paralysis, feuding rivalries and corruption - to survive. If Sadr decides to prolong his departure from government, it could lead to deeper crisis in a nation already divided by sectarian strife. Read The Full Story EPA Backtracks On Easing Toxin Rule 2006-11-30 03:22:55 Under pressure from Democratic senators, the Bush administration has modified its proposal to ease public reporting requirements for companies that handle or release toxic chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new rules for the Toxics Release Inventory, an annual accounting of more than 650 chemicals that industry releases into the air, land and water. The changes would raise the threshold for reporting releases of toxic chemicals in detail from 500 to 5,000 pounds and would allow companies to report every other year instead of annually. In response, New Jersey Democratic senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez in July blocked confirmation of Bush's nominee to head the EPA's Office of Environmental Information, Molly O'Neill. Read The Full Story U.S. Will Pay $2 Million To Lawyer Wrongly Jailed 2006-11-30 03:21:17 The federal government agreed to pay $2 million Wednesday to an Oregon lawyer wrongly jailed in connection with the 2004 terrorist bombings in Madrid, Spain, and it issued a formal apology to him and his family. The unusual settlement caps a two-and-a-half-year ordeal that saw the lawyer, Brandon Mayfield, go from being a suspected terrorist operative to a symbol, in the eyes of his supporters, of government overzealousness in the war on terrorism. “The United States of America apologizes to Mr. Brandon Mayfield and his family for the suffering caused” by his mistaken arrest, the government’s apology began. It added that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which erroneously linked him to the Madrid bombs through a fingerprinting mistake, had taken steps “to ensure that what happened to Mr. Mayfield and the Mayfield family does not happen again”. Read The Full Story
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