Free Internet Press Newsletter - Wednesday December 27 2006 - (813)

Wednesday December 27 2006 edition
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Report: China Will Use Huge Foreign Exchange Reserves On Resources 2006-12-27 03:25:06 China will take advantage of its massive foreign exchange reserves to expand its stock of strategic resources such as oil and minerals, state media reported Wednesday, citing a top economic official. Vice Prime Minister Zeng Peiyan told leaders of the national legislature that the government plans to step up exploration for key resources such as oil, gas and coal. It also intends to use the opportunity afforded by the country's more than $1 trillion in foreign reserves to improve strategic resource bases, the state-run newspaper China Business News and other reports said. The reports did not provide details on exactly how the government would use funds backed by the foreign exchange reserves, which cannot directly be used for such purposes because they belong to the central bank. Zeng, who is a top economic planner, decried China's relatively weak resource base compared with its huge population of 1.3 billion people. Read The Full Story U.S. Wants Polar Bears Listed As Threatened Species 2006-12-27 03:24:19 The Bush administration has decided to propose listing the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, putting the U.S. government on record as saying that global warming could drive one of the world's most recognizable animals out of existence. The administration's proposal - which was described by an Interior Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity - stems from the fact that rising temperatures in the Arctic are shrinking the sea ice that polar bears need for hunting. The official insisted on anonymity because the department will submit the proposal today for publication in the Federal Register, after which it will be subject to public comment for 90 days. Identifying polar bears as threatened with extinction could have an enormous political and practical impact. As the world's largest bear and as an object of children's affection as well as Christmastime Coca-Cola commercials, the polar bear occupies an important place in the American psyche. Because scientists have concluded that carbon dioxide from power-plant and vehicle emissions is helping drive climate change worldwide, putting polar bears on the endangered species list raises the legal question of whether the government would be required to compel U.S. industries to curb their carbon dioxide output. Read The Full Story Commentary: Iraq, Long A Catastrophic Tragedy, Now A Horrific Farce 2006-12-27 03:22:44 Intellpuke: In the following commentary, Roy Hattersley writes that the attack by British forces in Basra on the police force it trained confirms that Iraq is a worse disaster than the Suez crisis in 1956. Mr. Hattersley's column appears at the Guardian Unlimited's website edition for Wednesday, December 27, 2006. The column follows: Iraq - which for years has been an unmitigated tragedy - has turned into Grand Guignol, and, true to the traditions of that genre, horror and farce combine in equal measure. No doubt we should rejoice that al-Jamiat police station in Basra has been destroyed and its prisoners taken to the relative security of a compound in which detainees are hopefully not routinely tortured. But if a sick satire on an obscure television channel included a sketch about British troops attacking a unit of the police that they established and with whom they had been theoretically working for nearly four years, the outcry would not have been limited to complaints about undermining the morale of our troops under fire. We would have been told that the whole idea was too fantastical to sustain the lampoon. Yet that is what really happened on Monday, and although the sound of the exploding bar-mines should presumably be music to the ears of everyone who supports the rule of law, a number of important questions lie unanswered in the rubble of what was, until Christmas morning, the headquarters of the Basra serious crimes unit. A witty military press officer suggested that the name related to what the 400 associated police officers did rather than what they prevented. But he did not make clear how long the British authorities have known that, among their regular activities, they crushed prisoners' hands and feet, electrocuted them and burned them with cigarettes. You will recall that one of the reasons given to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq was the obligation to save the people from that sort of atrocity. It now appears that, at least in al-Jamiat police station, the arrival of what is bravely described as democracy has not made much difference. Read The Full Story In Iraq, December Second Deadliest Month For U.S. Soldiers 2006-12-27 03:21:27 Seven more American service members have been killed in Iraq, the U.S. military reported Tuesday. It is the second deadliest month of the year for troops. With five days left in December, 87 service members have died, according to figures provided by the military and news releases of combat deaths. The deadliest month this year was October, when attacks in Baghdad and the western Iraqi province of Anbar killed 105 U.S. troops. The total number of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq war announced by the Pentagon is 2,961. Military officials and analysts have attributed the rise in U.S. casualties in recent months to the larger number and greater visibility of American troops in Baghdad, plus the intensity of the Sunni insurgency in Anbar. Read The Full Story U.S. Death Toll In Iraq For December Hits 90 2006-12-26 16:50:13 At least 54 Iraqis died Tuesday in bombings, officials said, including a coordinated strike that killed 25 in western Baghdad. Separately, the U.S. military announced the deaths of seven American soldiers, raising the death toll significantly in one of the bloodiest months for the military this year. The three coordinated car bombs in western Baghdad injured at least 55 people, a doctor at Yarmouk hospital, where the victims were taken, said on condition of anonymity because of safety concerns. The attacks occurred in a mixed Sunni and Shiite neighborhood. In other attacks, a car bomb exploded near a Sunni mosque in northern Baghdad at the beginning of the evening rush hour, killing 17 people and wounding 35, a doctor at Al-Nuaman hospital said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. A bomb also exploded in a central Baghdad market, killing four people and wounding 15, police said. Two roadside bombs targeted an Iraqi police patrol in an eastern neighborhood of the capital, killing four policemen and injuring 12 people. Read The Full Story Ethiopian Forces Near Seizing Somalian Capital Of Mogadishu 2006-12-26 16:49:17 Ethiopia Tuesday pressed on with its offensive against Somali Islamists and threatened to seize the Somali capital, Mogadishu. At least two Ethiopian jets fired missiles on retreating Islamist forces, prompting the interim Somali government to claim a partial victory. Hundreds of troops have been killed during a week of heavy artillery and mortar fighting amid fears that it could spark a wider regional conflict in the Horn of Africa. "Ethiopian forces are on their way to Mogadishu. They are about 40 miles away and it is possible they could capture it in the next 24 to 48 hours," Somalia's ambassador to Ethiopia, Abdikarin Farah, told reporters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Read The Full Story Cleanup Begins After 2 Tornadoes Hit Florida On Christmas Day 2006-12-26 16:47:16 At least two Christmas Day tornadoes damaged hundreds of Florida homes, with one flipping airplanes at a flight school and tearing the roofs off three apartment buildings, officials confirmed Tuesday. ``It's all gone,'' said Estelle Hunter, 25, who left her home five minutes before the wind uprooted a tree and slammed it through the roof. ``All of my baby's Christmas presents are under water,'' she said as she tried to salvage what she could. The tornado that hit Daytona Beach on Monday was an F-2, with wind speeds between 113 mph and 157 mph. Its wind tore the roofs off three apartment buildings, extensively damaging many of the 240 units. At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, it hurled an airplane into a wall, sparking a fire, and snapped off wings or flipped about 50 others. Read The Full Story Saudi Arabia Frees 18 Ex-Gtimo Detainees 2006-12-26 16:46:04 The Saudi government said Tuesday it had released 18 men who were detained after returning to their homeland from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay. The Saudis, who returned to the kingdom in May and June, were released after they finished their sentences, Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said. His comments, which did not specify the men's alleged crimes, came in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. Read The Full Story Internet Cafes In Front Line Of New Gaza Violence 2006-12-26 03:29:11 Using political violence be-tween Hamas and Fatah as cover, radical Islamists are bombing internet cafés, pool halls and chemists in Gaza to impose their own brand of fundamentalism. Cybercafés have been singled out for allegedly allowing customers to download pornography. Chemists have been bombed for selling hallucinogens smuggled from Israel or through tunnels from Egypt, while pool halls are accused of encouraging immoral behaviour. A group calling itself the Swords of Islamic Righteousness is believed to have carried out more than a dozen attacks in recent weeks. The previously unknown group issued a warning letter late last month threatening to “execute the laws of God”. It claimed responsibility for “shooting rocket-propelled grenades and planting bombs at internet cafés in Gaza, which are trying to make a whole generation preoccupied with matters other than jihad and worship”. The group also claimed unverifiable attacks on unveiled women, music shops and motorists playing loud music. Read The Full Story	Fears For Machu Picchu As Mayor Builds Bridge 2006-12-27 03:24:44 A Peruvian mayor has built a bridge leading to Machu Picchu, Peru's Inca citadel, despite warnings it will wreck the archaeological gem and open a route for drug smugglers. The 80-meter (260-feet) long bridge over the Vilcanota river is due to open this week in defiance of a court order and protests from the government, which fears hordes of backpackers will swamp the site. The United Nations conservation agency UNESCO is due in February to inspect the mountaintop ruins, a world heritage site deep in the Andean jungle, amid concern that there are already too many visitors. Yet Fedia Castro, mayor of Convencion province, said the bridge would end her community's isolation and give tourists a cheaper option than a train which, until now, had a monopoly on transport through the Sacred Valley. "It's almost ready, so they can't stop it," she said. Locals have welcomed the bridge for opening their remote province to commerce and tourism. Instead of a treacherous 15-hour drive over mountain passes farmers can truck coffee and fruit to Cusco in just three hours. Read The Full Story S.E.C. Changes Reporting Rules On Bosses' Pay To Make Them Seem Lower 2006-12-27 03:23:19 The Securities and Exchange Commission, in a move announced late on the last business day before Christmas, reversed a decision it had made in July and adopted a rule that would allow many companies to report significantly lower total compensation for top executives. The change in the way grants of stock options are to be explained to investors is a victory for corporations that had opposed the rule when it was issued in July, and a defeat for institutional investors that had backed the S.E.C.’s original rule. “It was a holiday present to corporate America,” Ann Yerger, the executive director of the Council of Institutional Investors, said Tuesday. “It will certainly make the numbers look smaller in 2007 than they would otherwise have looked.” Read The Full Story Former President Gerald R. Ford Dies At 93 2006-12-27 03:22:09 Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr., 93, who became the 38th president of the United States as a result of some of the most extraordinary events in U.S. history and sought to restore the nation's confidence in the basic institutions of government, has died. His wife, Betty, reported the death in a statement. "My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age," Betty Ford said in a brief statement issued from her husband's office in Rancho Mirage, Calif. "His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country." The statement, released by the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, did not say where Ford died or give a cause of death. Ford had battled pneumonia in January and underwent two heart treatments - including an angioplasty - in August at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "With his quiet integrity, common sense, and kind instincts, President Ford helped heal our land and restore public confidence in the Presidency," President Bush said last night in a statement. Ford was the longest living president, followed by Ronald Reagan, who also died at 93. Ford had been living at his desert home in Rancho Mirage, about 130 miles east of Los Angeles. Read The Full Story 7.1 Earthquake Strikes Off Taiwan, At Least 1 Person Killed 2006-12-26 16:50:30 A powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck off southwestern Taiwan on Tuesday, prompting fears of a potentially destructive tsunami on the second anniversary of the quake and deadly waves that killed thousands in south Asia. An official at Japan's Meteorological Agency said there was no longer any danger of a destructive tsunami headed for the Philippines, as had been predicted. "The expected waves did not materialize," said Hiroshi Koide of the agency's earthquake section. "The danger has passed." The quake was felt throughout Taiwan. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake registered magnitude 7.1, while Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau measured it at 6.7. It was followed eight minutes later by an aftershock registering 7.0, said the USGS. Read The Full Story Iraqi Court Upholds Hussein's Death Sentence 2006-12-26 16:49:41 An Iraqi appeals court on Tuesday upheld a ruling to execute deposed leader Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity and said he could hang within 30 days. "From tomorrow, any day could be the day of implementation," chief judge Aref Abdul-Razzaq al-Shahin said at a news conference in Baghdad. On Nov. 5, a five-judge panel unanimously sentenced Hussein and two of his seven co-defendants to death by hanging. Four other defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 years to life, and an eighth was acquitted. The high court also upheld the death penalty of two of Hussein's co-defendants, Shahin said, but returned the case of another convicted man to the high tribunal after deciding his life sentence was too lenient. Read The Full Story At Least 260 Killed In Nigerian Pipeline Explosion 2006-12-26 16:48:06 At least 260 people were killed outside Lagos, Nigeria, when ruptured gasoline pipeline burst into flames Tuesday as scavengers in the impoverished neighborhood collected spilling fuel according to the Red Cross. Scores of bodies could be seen jumbled and fused together in the raging flames at the blast site. Intense heat kept rescue workers back as smoke billowed over the heavily populated Abule Egba neighborhood in Lagos. At least 60 others were injured with burns, said Nigerian Red Cross Secretary General Abiodun Orebiyi. Witnesses said thieves had broken into the pipeline after midnight and hundreds of men, women and children had been collecting leaking fuel in plastic buckets, cans and bags for hours before the explosion. It was unclear what ignited the gasoline. Read The Full Story 3.5 Earthquake Sets Scots' Kilts Aquivering 2006-12-26 16:46:52 An earthquake that has shaken a Scottish town is the biggest in the U.K. this year, according to experts. Hundreds of people in the Dumfries area reported their houses shaking violently at around 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Seismologists said the tremor, which lasted around 10 seconds, measured 3.5 on the Richter scale - the largest in the U.K. this year. Bennett Simpson, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, Scotland, said: "This was a significant earthquake. But we would expect one or two of this magnitude every year, however. Read The Full Story Justice Department Interagency Data Base Raises Privacy Fears 2006-12-26 03:29:30 The Justice Department is building a massive database that allows state and local police officers around the country to search millions of case files from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal law enforcement agencies, according to Justice officials. The system, known as "OneDOJ," already holds approximately 1 million case records and is projected to triple in size over the next three years, Justice officials said. The files include investigative reports, criminal-history information, details of offenses, and the names, addresses and other information of criminal suspects or targets, officials said. The database is billed by its supporters as a much-needed step toward better information-sharing with local law enforcement agencies, which have long complained about a lack of cooperation from the federal government. Civil-liberties and privacy advocates say the scale and contents of such a database raise immediate privacy and civil rights concerns, in part because tens of thousands of local police officers could gain access to personal details about people who have not been arrested or charged with crimes. Read The Full Story Analysis: Iran Oil Revenue Quickly Drying Up 2006-12-26 03:28:50 Iran is suffering a staggering decline in revenue from its oil exports, and if the trend continues income could virtually disappear by 2015, according to an analysis published Monday in a journal of the National Academy of Sciences. Iran's economic woes could make the country unstable and vulnerable, with its oil industry crippled, Roger Stern, an economic geographer at Johns Hopkins University, said in the report and in an interview. Iran earns about $50 billion a year in oil exports. The decline is estimated at 10 to 12 percent annually. In less than five years, exports could be halved, and they could disappear by 2015, Stern predicted. Read The Full Story
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