Free Internet Press Newsletter - Wednesday February 28 2007 - (813)

Wednesday February 28 2007 edition
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Gen. Pace: U.S. Military Capability Eroding 2007-02-27 22:31:12 Strained by the demands of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a significant risk that the U.S. military won't be able to quickly and fully respond to yet another crisis, according to a new report to Congress. The assessment, done by the nation's top military officer, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, represents a worsening from a year ago, when that risk was rated as moderate. The report is classified, but on Monday senior defense officials, speaking on condition on anonymity, confirmed the decline in overall military readiness. And a report that accompanied Pace's review concluded that while the Pentagon is working to improve its warfighting abilities, it "may take several years to reduce risk to acceptable levels." Pace's report comes as the U.S. is increasing its forces in Iraq to quell escalating violence in Baghdad. And top military officials have consistently acknowledged that the repeated and lengthy deployments are straining the Army, Marine Corps and reserve forces and taking a heavy toll on critical warfighting equipment. Read The Full Story Women's Health Office Funds Cut 2007-02-27 22:29:37 When is $4 million really $2.8 million? One answer is "When you're a woman," as the Labor Department has repeatedly found that women earn about 75 cents for every dollar that men earn for the same work. But this week's answer is "When you are the Office of Women's Health" within the Food and Drug Administration. That office, which was at the center of a politically damaging storm over the emergency contraceptive "Plan B," just had more than one-quarter of this year's $4 million operating budget quietly removed, insiders say. The office funds research on male-female biological differences to ensure that women receive the most appropriate drug doses and treatments. It also produces heavily requested health information about menopause, pregnancy, birth control, osteoporosis and other topics. The administration had requested - and Congress had budgeted - $4 million for the office in fiscal 2007, just as they have for several years running. Last week, however, word came down that the FDA intends to withhold $1.2 million of that, apparently for use elsewhere in the agency. Because the remaining $2.8 million has already been spent or allocated for salaries and started projects, the office must effectively halt further operations for the rest of the year, according to a high-level agency official with knowledge of the budget plan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official is not authorized to speak publicly. Read The Full Story India's Missing Girls - Over 10 Million In Two Decades 2007-02-27 22:28:35 Bhavia is sleeping swaddled in a woolly peach cardigan amid the wailing and flailing limbs of 20 other babies. Nurses in lilac saris and face masks scoop the bundles from rockers and jig them under the wintry Delhi sun. Two days ago, the baby girl became the newest arrival at Palna, an orphanage in the capital's Civil Lines district. But Bhavia is not an orphan. She is what used to be known as "a foundling", abandoned by her mother in a local hospital. When Bhavia came to Palna she was nameless, with no date of birth. What is certain, from a cursory glance at the line of babies, is that an orphanage is one of the few places in India where males are outnumbered. For every boy lying in the sunny courtyard, there are four girls. Some have been dumped outside police stations, some in railway toilets, crowded fairgrounds, or the dark corners of bus stations. Others were left outside the orphanage in a wicker cradle, in a specially built alcove by a busy road. The weight of a child here will set off an alarm, alerting Palna's staff to a new arrival. Almost always, it is girls who are left in the cradle. Healthy boys are only deserted in India if born to single mothers; boys left by a married couple are the disabled ones. Not all abandoned girls come from families too poor to feed them, however. Some have been found with a neatly packed bag containing a change of clothes, milk formula and disposable nappies. Girls such as Bhavia are survivors in an India where it has never been more dangerous to be conceived female. A preference for boys, who carry on the family bloodline and inherit wealth, has always existed in Indian society. But what has made being a girl so risky now, is the lethal cocktail of new money mixed with medical technology that makes it possible to tell the sex of a baby while it is still in the womb. Read The Full Story Hillary Clinton Forgets To Declare $5 Million Family Charity 2007-02-27 22:27:47 Hillary Clinton suffered an embarrassment in her campaign for the Democratic nomination yesterday after it was reported that she did not fully disclose her finances in her annual Senate ethics report. The Washington Post reported that Ms. Clinton had failed to include a family charity she operates with Bill Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, in her report to the Senate for the last five years. The Clintons established the charity in 2001 and have donated more than $5 million (£2.54 million) over the years, deducted from their taxable income. The foundation, which lists Hillary Clinton as treasurer and secretary, has given $1.25 million to their church, universities, the Unicef tsunami fund, charities in the memory of Jordan's King Hussein and Israel's Yitzhak Rabin, and a women's development organization. The family charity is separate from the Clinton Foundation which has helped raise more than $10 billion to fight AIDS. Read The Full Story An Inconvenient Truth: Al Gore's Household Utilities 20 Times National Average 2007-02-27 22:26:03 Al Gore knows a thing or two about the vicissitudes of public life. Six years ago he was virtually written off as a has-been vice-president after he won the popular vote only to lose the 2000 race for the White House. On Sunday night his rehabilitation was completed as he was crowned the moral mouthpiece of Hollywood, receiving an Oscar for his global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth". In front of the cream of the movie industry and the world's cameras, he stood alongside fellow eco-warrior Leonardo DiCaprio and proclaimed the ceremony the first in the Academy Awards' history to be run on "environmentally intelligent" lines. "And you know what?" he told the adoring crowd. "It's not as hard as you might think. We have a long way to go but all of us can do something in our own lives to make a difference." Twenty four hours is a long time in green politics. By Monday night Gore found himself back in that all-too familiar place - the eye of the storm. A little-known group based in his home state, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, had the idea of looking up Gore's energy bills for his large home in the Belle Meade area of Nashville to see whether he practised what he preached. Read The Full Story Oil Finishes At $61.46 A Barrel After Volatile Day 2007-02-27 16:37:33 Oil prices finished slightly higher Tuesday, after a volatile day that saw prices fall by more than $1 per barrel and then rebound to a 2007 high. Light, sweet crude for April delivery added 7 cents to settle at $61.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. During morning trading, fears about weakening oil demand from China helped prices drop as low as $60.06. By afternoon, traders instead focused on expectations of declining petroleum product inventories, and prices crossed the $62 threshold for the first time this year to climb as high as $62.25. Brent crude for April rose 3 cents to settle at $61.36 a barrel Tuesday on the ICE Futures exchange. Read The Full Story Honey Bees Vanish, Leaving Keepers In Peril 2007-02-27 16:37:00 David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing. In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable. “I have never seen anything like it,” said Bradshaw, 50, from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.” The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country. Read The Full Story Commentary: Resurgent Insurgents 2007-02-27 03:18:38 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by Guardian columnist Simon Tisdall who writes on the Guardian Unlimited's edition for Tuesday, February 27, 2007, that experts across the political spectrum agree that al-Qaeda is enjoying a renaissance. Mr. Tisdall's column follows: Fears that a revitalized al-Qaeda is planning a stepped-up offensive against "soft" western targets are driving an intensifying debate both inside and outside the Bush administration over how to counter the threat. But terrorism experts say the deepening quagmire in Iraq is fatally hampering U.S. efforts while simultaneously fuelling a sevenfold increase in fatal jihadist attacks. George Bush and his officials have maintained until relatively recently that the al-Qaeda organization and leadership had been severely degraded since 9/11. "Absolutely we're winning. Al-Qaeda is on the run," Mr. Bush declared last October. But as Peter Bergen, a leading, non-government terrorism expert and New York University research fellow noted last month, the administration's assessment is now increasingly open to question. "In Washington the consensus view is that while Bush's foreign policy has been an overall disaster, he can still lay claim to one key achievement: severely weakening al-Qaeda in the five years since September 11," Mr. Bergen wrote in The New Republic. "But today, from Algeria to Afghanistan, and from Britain to Baghdad, the organization once believed to be on the verge of impotence is again ascendant. Read The Full Story Iraq's Cabinet Backs Contentious Oil Measure 2007-02-27 03:18:08 Iraq's cabinet approved draft legislation Monday that would enable the government to manage the country's vast oil resources and distribute revenue throughout the country, a step toward meeting a U.S. demand that the country's parliament pass such a law. In a reminder of Iraq's continuing instability, Adel Abdul Mahdi, one of the country's two vice presidents, narrowly avoided assassination Monday morning when a bomb exploded inside a crowded third-floor conference room at a government ministry in Baghdad's Mansour district. Abdul Mahdi, one of Iraq's most influential Shiite politicians, was walking toward the podium at an awards ceremony at the Public Works Ministry when explosives detonated beneath the seats, striking him with shrapnel but causing only minor wounds, according to Zuhair Hamadi, an adviser to the vice president. The harrowing security breach, in which at least five people were killed and more than 15 wounded, police said, illustrated the perils of political life in Iraq even as U.S. and Iraqi forces attempt to pacify the capital. Abdul Mahdi's brother was killed in 2005, and last year a bomb exploded outside his house in Baghdad. Read The Full Story Cheney Uninjured In Blast Outside U.S. Base In Afghanistan 2007-02-27 03:17:23 An explosion outside the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan killed at least two people Tuesday during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, though the vice president was apparently not in danger, officials said. The blast happened near the first security gate outside the base at Bagram, killing two people and wounding 12, said Kabir Ahmad, the district chief of the Bagram region. Maj. William Mitchell said it did not appear the explosion was intended as a threat to the vice president. "He wasn't near the site of the explosion," said Mitchell. "He was safely within the base at the time of the explosion."  Read The Full Story	Dow Plummets More Than 416 Points 2007-02-27 22:29:49 U.S. stocks fell sharply Tuesday, with all three major indexes falling more than 3 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average plummeting more than 416 points. These losses followed an overnight sell-off that began in Asian markets and continued through Europe. Recent increases in oil prices, edginess about the standoff over Iran's pursuit of nuclear technology, and expectations of a slowing U.S. economy added to a string of losses that have pushed the Dow down steadily since last week. The Dow opened down about 130 points and then fell close to 200 by mid-day. Shortly before 3 p.m., stocks took a sharp decline, falling at one point 546 points, more than 4 percent. The index righted itself briefly, regaining more than 200 points but then began falling again. Officials later said the precipitous fall was caused by a technical problem that caused a backlog of sales orders to come through suddenly. Read The Full Story Launch Postponed As Hail Damages Fuel Tank On Space Shuttle 2007-02-27 22:29:22 A brief hailstorm at the Kennedy Space Center significantly damaged the external fuel tank of the space shuttle Atlantis on Monday, and NASA officials said yesterday that a mid-March launch of the spaceship will have to be postponed as a result. The golf-ball-size pieces of ice, which fell only in a small area around the Cape Canaveral launchpad, left hundreds of "dings and divots" that officials said will require repair. Shuttle program manager N. Wayne Hale, Jr., said he hoped the work could be finished in time for a launch in April or May, although it could take longer. The shuttle will be rolled back to the center's assembly building for a detailed inspection that will determine how long the repairs will take. Hale said that for now, NASA's ambitious plan to launch five shuttle missions to the space station this year remains unchanged. The delay came on the same day that a congressionally mandated review of the international space station program warned that NASA will face a major problem in resupplying the station after 2010. That is when the space shuttles are scheduled to be retired and assembly of the space station completed. Read The Full Story Mississippi Jury Refuses To Indict For Civil Rights Era Murder 2007-02-27 22:28:19 A last hope of justice over one of the most painful episodes in the racial history of the U.S. was apparently lost Tuesday when a Mississippi grand jury refused to issue an indictment for the killing of Emmett Till, the teenager whose murder 50 years ago galvanized the civil rights movement. Fifty-two years after Till's kidnap and murder, and two years after his remains were exhumed from his grave by federal investigators, a jury declined to issue charges against one of the few people left alive and implicated in his death. The prosecution had sought manslaughter charges against Carolyn Bryant, now 73, the widow of one of the two white men who confessed to Till's killing after their earlier acquittal by an all-white jury. Read The Full Story Israeli Army Pulls Out Of Nablus, West Bank 2007-02-27 22:26:33 The Israeli army pulled its troops and armored vehicles out of Nablus on Tuesday after a three-day operation targeting Palestinian militants that brought life in the West Bank city to a standstill, said Palestinians. An estimated 50,000 people were confined to their homes in Nablus, the West Bank's commercial center, as troops combed houses and alleys for wanted men. One Palestinian man was killed, and the army said five militants were arrested and three weapons laboratories found. At dawn, no Israeli forces were visible in Nablus. The army said it had lifted the curfew that shut down large parts of the city in recent days. But it would not confirm the end of the raid, the largest military operation in the West Bank in months, raising the possibility that troops might return. Read The Full Story Wall Street Plummets After Chinese Stocks Take Big Hit 2007-02-27 16:37:46 Stocks plunged in New York Tuesday after a sell-off in China rattled markets worldwide and surprisingly weak economic data fanned fears that the economy may be more vulnerable to a downturn than widely thought. A wide sell-off had pushed the benchmark Standard and Poor’s 500 stock index and the Dow Jones industrial average down around 1 percent for most of the trading day. But minutes before 3 p.m., stock prices plummeted, sending the Dow briefly down more than 500 points, or 4 percent. The S&P also fell about 4 percent at the same time. Both indexes later regained some of their value but remained down about 3 percent from Monday’s close. After reaching record highs on Monday, China’s stock markets reversed course drastically Tuesday, plummeting in one of the biggest sell-offs in their history. Read The Full Story Bush Administration Trying To Launch New Talks With Iran and Syria On Iraq 2007-02-27 16:37:22 The United States and the Iraqi government are launching a new diplomatic initiative to invite Iran and Syria to a ''neighbors meeting'' on stabilizing Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday. ''We hope that all governments seize this opportunity to improve their relations with Iraq and to work for peace and stability in the region,'' Rice said in remarks prepared for delivery to a Senate committee. Excerpts were released in advance by the State Department. The move reflects a change of approach by the Bush administration, which previously had resisted calls by members of Congress and by a bipartisan Iraq review group to include Iran and Syria in diplomatic talks on stabilizing Iraq. Read The Full Story Is This Really The Last Resting Place Of Jesus, His Wife, Mary, And Son? 2007-02-27 03:18:52 If it really were the most important archaeological discovery in history, the point of truth came with very little song or dance. There was no drum roll or fanfare, just the sweeping aside of black felt drapes to reveal a pair of simple stone boxes sitting side by side. But for the panel of film-makers, theologians and statisticians at New York's public library Monday, this really was the moment. As James Cameron, the director of the film "Titanic" who has lent his name to the project, said: "It doesn't get bigger than this". The claim that was being presented to the world's media and which will be aired on the Discovery Channel on Sunday was that the two boxes once contained the bones of Jesus of Nazareth and his wife Mary Magdalene. Another box, not present at Monday's event but coincidentally on display in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contained, so the theory goes, the bones of their son, Judah. The boxes, which housed human bones and are known as ossuaries, are made out of Jerusalem limestone with its distinctive colour of clotted cream. The smaller of the two bears the inscription Jesus, son of Joseph, while the larger and more lavishly decorated is marked in the name of Mariamene e Mara. According to the Canadian documentary-maker, Simcha Jacobovici, the inscription translates as Mary Magdalene the Master. It is his contention that he and his team of advisers have conclusively found the tomb of Jesus and his family. Read The Full Story Grand Slam! Honus Wagner Card Sells For $2.35 Million 2007-02-27 03:18:24 The "Holy Grail of baseball cards," the famous 1909 Honus Wagner tobacco card once owned by hockey great Wayne Gretzky, has sold for a record-setting $2,350,000, the seller of the card said Monday. The anonymous buyer has only been identified as a Southern California collector. SCP Auctions Inc., a company that holds sports memorabilia auctions, said it bought a small share of the card. It is scheduled to be shown at a news conference at Dodger Stadium Tuesday. There are about 60 of the tobacco cards in existence featuring the Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop, one of the first five players to be inducted in Baseball's Hall of Fame. The seller, Brian Seigel, paid a then-record $1,265,000 in 2000 for the prize card, which is in much better shape than the others. Read The Full Story Egyptian Blogger Appeals Prison Sentence 2007-02-27 03:17:39 Lawyers filed an appeal Monday on behalf of a blogger who was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and Egypt's president. Abdel Kareem Nabil, a former law student at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, used his blog to advocate secularism and criticize conservative Muslims. He accused Al-Azhar, Egypt's foremost Islamic institute, of encouraging extremism, calling it "the university of terrorism". One of Nabil's lawyers, Rawda Ahmed, said an appeal was filed Monday and a court hearing was set for March 12. Read The Full Story
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Free Internet Press Newsletter - Monday February 26 2007 - (813)

Monday February 26 2007 edition
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U.S. Accused Of Drawing Up Plan To Bomb Iran 2007-02-26 02:43:32 President George Bush has charged the Pentagon with devising an expanded bombing plan for Iran that can be carried out at 24 hours' notice, it was reported Sunday. An extensive article in the New Yorker magazine by the investigative journalist Seymour Hersh describes the contingency bombing plan as part of a general overhaul by the Bush administration of its policy towards Iran. It said a special planning group at the highest levels of the U.S. military had expanded its mission from selecting potential targets connected to Iranian nuclear facilities, and had been directed to add sites that may be involved in aiding Shia militant forces in Iraq to its list. That new strategy, intended to reverse the rise in Iranian power that has been an unintended consequence of the war in Iraq, could bring the countries much closer to open confrontation and risks igniting a regional sectarian war between Shia and Sunni Muslims, the New Yorker says. Read The Full Story Antarctic's Secrets Revealed By Melting Ice 2007-02-26 02:42:28 The seas around the Antarctic peninsula are among the most mysterious places on Earth - what life there is has remained largely a mystery, thanks to a thick cover of ice for the past few millennia. But the collapse of some of these ice sheets has given scientists a rare opportunity for access, and Sunday they revealed that they had found a thriving underwater world that is being transformed by climate change. As well as new species, the Census of Marine Antarctic Life (CMAL) project found more common ones that were able to survive in the Antarctic because the temperature of the sea is rising. Minke whales were discovered in large numbers. The scientists also spotted a rare beaked whale off the coast of Elephant Island - the famous refuge of Ernest Shackleton's 21-man crew after a doomed attempt to cross Antarctica in 1916. Parts of the sea here were uncovered for the first time in recorded history when the Larsen A and B ice shelves collapsed, 12 and five years ago respectively, due to the higher temperatures linked to human-induced climate change. Scientists said the new survey will help to predict what will happen to biodiversity as the world warms up. Read The Full Story U.S. Patrols Still Unable To Tell Friend From Foe In Iraq 2007-02-26 02:41:25 The engineer stood aside as Iraqi and American soldiers rifled through his daughter's wardrobe and peered under her bed. He did not mind when they confiscated the second clip for his AK-47, because he knew it could be easily replaced. He demurred when asked about insurgent activity in the neighborhood, afraid to be stamped an informant and driven from his home of 14 years. Face to face with the Baghdad security plan, it seemed to him a bit absurd. "Obviously, the soldiers lack the necessary information about where to look and who to look for," said the government engineer, who declined to give his name in an interview during a sweep through his western Baghdad neighborhood last Monday. "There are too many houses and too many hide-outs." American military commanders in Iraq describe the security plan they began implementing in mid-February as a rising tide: a gradual influx of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops whose extended presence in the city's violent neighborhoods will drown the militants' ability to stage bombings and sectarian killings. But U.S. troops, Iraqi soldiers and officials, and Baghdad residents say the plan is hampered because security forces cannot identify, let alone apprehend, the elusive perpetrators of the violence. Shiite militiamen in the capital say they are keeping a low profile to wait out the security plan. U.S. commanders have noted increased insurgent violence in the Sunni-dominated belt around Baghdad and are concerned that fighters are shifting their focus outside the city. Read The Full Story Blast Kills 40 At Baghdad University, Al-Sadr Says U.S. Plan Will Fail 2007-02-25 15:04:30 A suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives and ball bearings blew himself up at a Baghdad university today, killing at least 40 people, and strewing fingers, pens, purses and bloody textbooks all over the ground. The blast, at a campus of Mustansiriya University, was one of several bombs and explosions to hit Baghdad, making today one of the worst days of violence since Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced a new security crackdown. An hour after the blast, a new challenge emerged for the prime minister and the Baghdad security plan he has helped devise. The radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr condemned the security plan in a signed statement, declaring that it had no hope of success as long as American troops were involved. Read aloud to 1,000 shouting supporters in Sadr City, the large Shiite area near the site of the university blast, the statement called on Iraqi security forces to stop cooperating with the United States military. Read The Full Story Saudi Royal Says U.S. Oil Independence Is A Myth 2007-02-25 15:04:05 The Bush administration's talk of breaking its dependency on foreign oil is a political myth, Saudi Arabia's former envoy to Washington and royal family member said on Sunday. "It has become very fashionable for (U.S.) politicians to use the word 'energy independence' or 'independence from foreign oil', and that is basically a political canard politicians and technocrats use," Prince Turki al-Faisal told an economic forum. Energy has been made into "a sensitive and a controversial political issue particularly in countries like the United States," Prince Turki said in his first public appearance after ending a relatively brief mandate in Washington. "There is no way that people, whether in the United States or in the world, other countries that consume oil, would simply give up using oil in the next few decades at least, if not more than that," he said. Read The Full Story 11 Days Till Baghdad ... And Counting 2007-02-25 03:47:57 Their camouflage on, their wives carrying infants, their older children carrying flags, the soldiers of George W. Bush's surge crowded into a gymnasium for their brigade deployment ceremony, a last public viewing before they disappeared into Iraq.  Baghdad, long an abstraction, was now imminent. Of the 21,500 additional troops President Bush decided to send to Iraq in the coming months, about 3,500 were coming from here. "Are you frightened?" a TV reporter called out. "I'm confident," one of those soldiers replied. An enormous American flag hung on the back wall. A military band lined up in formation. "Ready to go," said another soldier. Outside, snow was coming toward this isolated place. Inside, as the bleachers filled and the doors swung closed against the cold, a 41-year-old soldier near the middle of the floor began clapping his hands in anticipation. And now waved at his wife and children. And now took his position in front of the soldiers he would soon be leading into combat. Read The Full Story Rep. Murtha Stumbles On Iraq Funding Curbs 2007-02-25 03:47:05 The plan was bold: By tying President Bush's $100 billion war request to strict standards of troop safety and readiness, Democrats believed they could grab hold of Iraq war policy while forcing Republicans to defend sending troops into battle without the necessary training or equipment. But a botched launch by the plan's author, U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha (Pennsylvania), has united Republicans and divided Democrats, sending the latter back to the drawing board just a week before scheduled legislative action, a score of House Democratic lawmakers said last week. "If this is going to be legislation that's crafted in such a way that holds back resources from our troops, that is a non-starter, an absolute non-starter," declared Rep. Jim Matheson (Utah), a leader of the conservative Blue Dog Democrats. Murtha's credentials as a Marine combat veteran, a critic of the war and close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (California) were supposed to make him an unassailable spokesman for Democratic war policy. Instead, he has become a lightning rod for criticism from Republicans and members of his own party. Read The Full Story	U.S. East Braces For Deadly Winter Storm 2007-02-26 02:43:12 A huge winter storm plowed toward the U.S. East Coast on Sunday after dumping as much as 2 feet of snow in the upper Midwest, grounding hundreds of airline flights and closing major highways on the Plains. Eight traffic deaths were blamed on the storm, seven in Wisconsin and one in Kansas. Utility crews labored Sunday to restore power after the storm blacked out hundreds of thousands of homes and business in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio. One Iowa utility alone had more than 500 miles of power lines down. Moist air the storm system pulled from the Gulf of Mexico fueled violent thunderstorms in the South, sweeping cars off roads, crumpling businesses and sending mobile homes flying. Tornadoes were reported Saturday in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Read The Full Story Al Sharpton's Ancestor Was Owned By Strom Thurmond's Ancestor 2007-02-26 02:42:05 The Rev. Al Sharpton, the prominent civil rights activist, is descended from a slave owned by relatives of the late senator and one-time segregationist Strom Thurmond, a genealogical study released Sunday reported. "It was probably the most shocking thing of my life," Sharpton said of learning the findings, which were requested and published Sunday by the New York Daily News. He called a news conference to respond publicly to the report. "I couldn't describe to you the emotions I have had ... everything from anger to outrage to reflection to some pride and glory." Sharpton, 52, said he had suspected that his forebears may have been slaves but had never attempted to confirm that or find out any details. Read The Full Story Who's Killing Putin's Enemies, Part II 2007-02-25 15:30:42 Intellpuke: The following analysis is the second of a two-part report written by Michael Specter for The Observer on the corruption and gangsterism gripping Russia. You can read Part I of Mr. Specter's report elsewhere on Free Internet Press' mainpage today.  Part II of Mr. Specter's article follows: Propaganda has become more sophisticated and possibly more effective than it was during the Soviet years, when television was a tool used to sustain an ideology. The goal today is simpler: to support the Kremlin and its corporate interests. "It's a magic process now," Anna Kachkaeva, who broadcasts a weekly interview show on Radio Liberty, told me. Kachkaeva, who is also the head of the television department at Moscow State University, went on: "There is no censorship - it's much more advanced. I would call it a system of contacts and agreements between the Kremlin and the heads of television networks. There is no need to start every day with instructions. It is all done with winks and nods. They meet at the end of the week, and the problem, for TV and even in the printed press, is that self-censorship is worse than any other kind. Journalists know - they can feel - what is allowed and what is not." The Kremlin's relationship with this pliable, post-Soviet press corps becomes obvious in any political crisis. Last January, for example, every channel helped wage an information war against Ukraine during that country's price dispute with Gazprom. Oil and gas revenue is almost wholly responsible for Russia's current economic boom - not to mention the Kremlin's rapidly growing political confidence. Since Gazprom is the central instrument of that success, Putin keeps a careful watch on its interests. Dmitry Medvedev, the chairman of the Gazprom board, is also Putin's first deputy prime minister and a likely presidential candidate next year. (Many commentators have wondered if he and Putin will simply switch jobs.) In the corporatist, semi-authoritarian structure that Putin has created - the Kremlin refers to it as "sovereign democracy" - what is good for Gazprom is good for Russia, and no Russian television station would have dared to present the Ukrainian side of the story. Read The Full Story At Least 27 Injured As Tornadoes Rip Arkansas, 3 Other States 2007-02-25 15:04:18 The weather cleared Sunday as authorities searched for people door to door after severe storms swept through southern Arkansas, shredding homes and businesses and injuring at least 27 people. Residents reported seeing multiple tornadoes Saturday in Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Kansas. The National Weather Service confirmed that a twister touched down near Lucas in central Kansas. The thunderstorms knocked out electricity across the area, part of a huge weather system that also produced blizzard conditions in the Midwest, which knocked out power and grounded airline flights. Read The Full Story Al Gore, Rock Star 2007-02-25 03:48:21 In the annals of vice presidential history, Sunday night will be something different. In his black tux, the man known to his most fervent fans as "The Goracle" will arrive by hybrid eco-limo and, surrounded by fellow Hollywood greenies Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio, will stroll down the red carpet at the Academy Awards to answer the immortal question: "Al, who are you wearing?" What a year it has been for Al Gore and his little indie film. "An Inconvenient Truth," the 100-minute movie that is essentially Gore giving a slide show about global warming, is the third-highest-grossing documentary ever, with a worldwide box office of $45 million, right behind blockbusters "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "March of the Penguins." "AIT," as Team Gore calls it, is also the hot pick tonight for Best Documentary, and if its director, Davis Guggenheim, wins an Oscar, he plans to bring Gore along with him to the stage to accept the golden statuette and perhaps say a few words about ... interstitial glacial melting? (More likely, Gore will deliver a favorite line about "political will being a renewable resource.") Read The Full Story Who's Killing Putin's Enemies? 2007-02-25 03:47:35 Intellpuke: The following analysis was written by Michael Specter for The Observer edition of Sunday, February 25, 2007. Mr. Specter writes that Vladimir Putin has presided over a staggering economic boom in the six years since he took control of the Kremlin. Meanwhile, a dozen of his critics have been assassinated and the country's vast natural resources are in the pockets of a chosen few. Mr. Specter writes on the corruption and gangsterism gripping Russia in the analysis that follows: Saturday, October 7 was a marathon of disheartening tasks for Anna Politkovskaya. Two weeks earlier her father, a retired diplomat, had died of a heart attack as he emerged from the Moscow metro while on his way to visit Politkovskaya's mother, Raisa Mazepa, in hospital. She had just been diagnosed with cancer and was too weak even to attend her husband's funeral. "Your father will forgive me, because he knows I have always loved him," she told Anna and her sister, Elena Kudimova, the day he was buried. A week later she underwent surgery, and since then Anna and Elena had been taking turns helping her cope with her grief. Politkovskaya was supposed to spend the day at the hospital, but her 26-year-old daughter, who was pregnant, had just moved into her flat, on Lesnaya Street, while her own place was being prepared for the baby. "Anna had so much on her mind," Elena Kudimova told me when we met in London, before Christmas. "And she was trying to finish her article." Politkovskaya was a special correspondent for the small, liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and, like most of her work, the piece focused on the terror that pervades the southern republic of Chechnya. This time, she had been trying to document repeated acts of torture carried out by squads loyal to the pro-Russian prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov. In the past seven years Politkovskaya had written dozens of accounts of life during wartime; many had been collected in her book A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya. Politkovskaya was far more likely to spend time in a hospital than on a battlefield, and her writing bore frequent witness to robbery, rape and the unbridled cruelty of life in a place few other Russians - and almost no other reporters - cared to think about. Read The Full Story Prodi Gets Go Ahead To Continue As Italy's Prime Minister 2007-02-25 03:46:49 Three days after dramatically resigning in the wake of a narrow defeat in parliament, Romano Prodi has stiffened his crumbling coalition and received the go-ahead to push on as Prime Minister of Italy. Following two days of emergency talks with political leaders, culminating in a one-to-one talk with Prodi on Saturday morning, President Giorgio Napolitano refused Prodi's resignation and told him to return to parliament for a confidence vote, which could be held as soon as Wednesday. Prodi quit last Wednesday after his nine-party coalition was defeated by two Senate votes on a motion backing the government's foreign policy. His return is boosted by new declarations of allegiance from partners and the recruitment of a Catholic centrist senator Marco Follini, a deputy prime minister in the government of Silvio Berlusconi. Asked if he was now sure of a Senate majority, Prodi said: "I think so, but there will be a debate and we will see." Berlusconi attacked Napolitano's statement that "there was no other concrete alternative" to Prodi, claiming: "The left will never find the consensus for providing this country with the reforms it needs. The agony is set to continue." Read The Full Story
Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php

Free Internet Press Newsletter - Sunday February 25 2007 - (813)

Sunday February 25 2007 edition
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Al Gore, Rock Star 2007-02-25 03:48:21 In the annals of vice presidential history, Sunday night will be something different. In his black tux, the man known to his most fervent fans as "The Goracle" will arrive by hybrid eco-limo and, surrounded by fellow Hollywood greenies Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio, will stroll down the red carpet at the Academy Awards to answer the immortal question: "Al, who are you wearing?" What a year it has been for Al Gore and his little indie film. "An Inconvenient Truth," the 100-minute movie that is essentially Gore giving a slide show about global warming, is the third-highest-grossing documentary ever, with a worldwide box office of $45 million, right behind blockbusters "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "March of the Penguins." "AIT," as Team Gore calls it, is also the hot pick tonight for Best Documentary, and if its director, Davis Guggenheim, wins an Oscar, he plans to bring Gore along with him to the stage to accept the golden statuette and perhaps say a few words about ... interstitial glacial melting? (More likely, Gore will deliver a favorite line about "political will being a renewable resource.") Read The Full Story Who's Killing Putin's Enemies? 2007-02-25 03:47:35 Intellpuke: The following analysis was written by Michael Specter for The Observer edition of Sunday, February 25, 2007. Mr. Specter writes that Vladimir Putin has presided over a staggering economic boom in the six years since he took control of the Kremlin. Meanwhile, a dozen of his critics have been assassinated and the country's vast natural resources are in the pockets of a chosen few. Mr. Specter writes on the corruption and gangsterism gripping Russia in the analysis that follows: Saturday, October 7 was a marathon of disheartening tasks for Anna Politkovskaya. Two weeks earlier her father, a retired diplomat, had died of a heart attack as he emerged from the Moscow metro while on his way to visit Politkovskaya's mother, Raisa Mazepa, in hospital. She had just been diagnosed with cancer and was too weak even to attend her husband's funeral. "Your father will forgive me, because he knows I have always loved him," she told Anna and her sister, Elena Kudimova, the day he was buried. A week later she underwent surgery, and since then Anna and Elena had been taking turns helping her cope with her grief. Politkovskaya was supposed to spend the day at the hospital, but her 26-year-old daughter, who was pregnant, had just moved into her flat, on Lesnaya Street, while her own place was being prepared for the baby. "Anna had so much on her mind," Elena Kudimova told me when we met in London, before Christmas. "And she was trying to finish her article." Politkovskaya was a special correspondent for the small, liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and, like most of her work, the piece focused on the terror that pervades the southern republic of Chechnya. This time, she had been trying to document repeated acts of torture carried out by squads loyal to the pro-Russian prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov. In the past seven years Politkovskaya had written dozens of accounts of life during wartime; many had been collected in her book A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya. Politkovskaya was far more likely to spend time in a hospital than on a battlefield, and her writing bore frequent witness to robbery, rape and the unbridled cruelty of life in a place few other Russians - and almost no other reporters - cared to think about. Read The Full Story Prodi Gets Go Ahead To Continue As Italy's Prime Minister 2007-02-25 03:46:49 Three days after dramatically resigning in the wake of a narrow defeat in parliament, Romano Prodi has stiffened his crumbling coalition and received the go-ahead to push on as Prime Minister of Italy. Following two days of emergency talks with political leaders, culminating in a one-to-one talk with Prodi on Saturday morning, President Giorgio Napolitano refused Prodi's resignation and told him to return to parliament for a confidence vote, which could be held as soon as Wednesday. Prodi quit last Wednesday after his nine-party coalition was defeated by two Senate votes on a motion backing the government's foreign policy. His return is boosted by new declarations of allegiance from partners and the recruitment of a Catholic centrist senator Marco Follini, a deputy prime minister in the government of Silvio Berlusconi. Asked if he was now sure of a Senate majority, Prodi said: "I think so, but there will be a debate and we will see." Berlusconi attacked Napolitano's statement that "there was no other concrete alternative" to Prodi, claiming: "The left will never find the consensus for providing this country with the reforms it needs. The agony is set to continue." Read The Full Story Record FCC Fine Expected For Univision 2007-02-24 15:47:00 When Univision began broadcasting a show three years ago about the misadventures of 11-year-old identical twin girls who swapped identities after discovering they had been separated at birth, it characterized the episodes as educational programming for children. That decision is expected to cost Univision, the nation’s largest Hispanic network, $24 million in what would be the largest fine the Federal Communications Commission has ever imposed against any company. The penalty is also expected to send a strong signal to broadcasters that they will be expected to meet their required quota of shows that educate and inform children, after years of permissive oversight in this area. The commission has decided to impose the heavy fine - disclosed by Kevin J. Martin, the chairman of the commission, in an interview - as a tough rebuke to Univision for claiming to meet its obligations to broadcast educational children’s programs by showing the Latino soap opera “Complices al Rescate” (“Friends to the Rescue”) and other so-called telenovelas. Read The Full Story 2 Die In Guatemala City 300-Feet Deep Sinkhole 2007-02-24 15:45:19 A 330-foot-deep sinkhole killed two teenage siblings when it swallowed about a dozen homes early Friday and forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people in a crowded Guatemala City neighborhood. Officials blamed the sinkhole on recent rains and flow from a ruptured underground sewage main. The bodies were found near the enormous fissure, floating in a river of sewage. From the pit came foul odors, loud noises and tremors that shook the surrounding ground. A rush of water could be heard, and authorities feared the pit could widen or others open up. Edward Ramirez, 26, said he and other residents had been hearing noises and feeling tremors for about a month before the ground opened, waking many before dawn in the impoverished neighborhood. Read The Full Story Commentary: Tony Blair Makes 'Comical Ali' Seem The Voice Of Reason 2007-02-24 00:16:46 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by Marina Hyde and is posted on the Guardian Unlimited's website edition for Saturday, February 24, 2007. In her column, Ms. Hyde writes that the former Iraqi regime spokesman's boasts seem almost prophetic ... unlike the British prime minister's deluded declarations. Her column follows: If one is to endure a prime ministerial discourse on Iraq for any length of time these days, it is necessary - in the name of sanity - to cultivate strategies of detachment. Destroying another radio solves nothing, and there may be health risks associated with beginning one's waking day shouting dementedly at the glottal-stopped voice drifting over the airwaves. And so it was, listening to Tony Blair sing the praises of his Iraq adventure on the Today programme on Thursday, that my mind began to wander. If it wasn't all such a bleeding mess, I thought vaguely, the prime minister's delusions of success would be almost comical. Comical ... comical ... the word triggered some neural connection. But what? Gradually but inexorably, the memory of another charismatic proselytiser for Iraq's rude health began to resolve itself. Cast your mind back to the Iraq war as it was originally billed - the one where we won in three weeks - and which revisionist historians may just come to classify as a kind of phoney war curtain-raiser to the prolonged horror that succeeded it. Quite the most entertaining cameo of the day - even counting Clare Short's hilarious insistence on staying in the cabinet so she could oversee the reconstruction effort - was that played by Saddam's information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, who we came to know as Comical Ali (or as Baghdad Bob by some). Not for him the relentless negativity that so exasperates Tony Blair where critics of his mission's success are concerned. "There are only two American tanks in the city," the information minister would beam beatifically during one of his must-watch daily briefings in early 2003, surrounded by reporters who would have been to able to count at least three if they stood on a low chair. Or recall his declaration as news channels screened footage of coalition troops patrolling Saddam international airport: "They are not in control of any airport." Read The Full Story	11 Days Till Baghdad ... And Counting 2007-02-25 03:47:57 Their camouflage on, their wives carrying infants, their older children carrying flags, the soldiers of George W. Bush's surge crowded into a gymnasium for their brigade deployment ceremony, a last public viewing before they disappeared into Iraq.  Baghdad, long an abstraction, was now imminent. Of the 21,500 additional troops President Bush decided to send to Iraq in the coming months, about 3,500 were coming from here. "Are you frightened?" a TV reporter called out. "I'm confident," one of those soldiers replied. An enormous American flag hung on the back wall. A military band lined up in formation. "Ready to go," said another soldier. Outside, snow was coming toward this isolated place. Inside, as the bleachers filled and the doors swung closed against the cold, a 41-year-old soldier near the middle of the floor began clapping his hands in anticipation. And now waved at his wife and children. And now took his position in front of the soldiers he would soon be leading into combat. Read The Full Story Rep. Murtha Stumbles On Iraq Funding Curbs 2007-02-25 03:47:05 The plan was bold: By tying President Bush's $100 billion war request to strict standards of troop safety and readiness, Democrats believed they could grab hold of Iraq war policy while forcing Republicans to defend sending troops into battle without the necessary training or equipment. But a botched launch by the plan's author, U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha (Pennsylvania), has united Republicans and divided Democrats, sending the latter back to the drawing board just a week before scheduled legislative action, a score of House Democratic lawmakers said last week. "If this is going to be legislation that's crafted in such a way that holds back resources from our troops, that is a non-starter, an absolute non-starter," declared Rep. Jim Matheson (Utah), a leader of the conservative Blue Dog Democrats. Murtha's credentials as a Marine combat veteran, a critic of the war and close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (California) were supposed to make him an unassailable spokesman for Democratic war policy. Instead, he has become a lightning rod for criticism from Republicans and members of his own party. Read The Full Story Justice Department Fires 8th U.S. Attorney 2007-02-24 15:47:12 An eighth U.S. attorney announced her resignation Friday, the latest in a wave of forced departures of federal prosecutors who have clashed with the Justice Department over the death penalty and other issues. Margaret Chiara, the 63-year-old U.S. attorney in Grand Rapids, Michigan, told her staff that she was leaving her post after more than five years, said officials. Sources familiar with the case confirmed that she was among a larger group of prosecutors who were first asked to resign Dec. 7. Chiara is the second female U.S. attorney to be dismissed. The other is Carol Lam of San Diego. Before the firings, 15 of 93 U.S. attorneys were women, department records show. The firings have been criticized by lawmakers in both parties and have prompted proposals in Congress to restrict the ability of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to appoint interim prosecutors indefinitely. Read The Full Story Truck Bomb Kills At Least 35 At Baghdad Sunni Mosque 2007-02-24 15:46:45 A truck exploded Saturday as worshippers left a Sunni mosque west of Baghdad, killing at least 35 people and injuring more than 60 in an apparent sign of increased internal Sunni battles between insurgents and those opposing them. The imam of the mosque in Habbaniyah, about 50 miles west of Baghdad, had spoken out against militants fighting the U.S.-backed government, including the group al-Qaida in Iraq. At least 35 people were killed and 62 injured, said Lt. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed in Habbaniyah, which lies between the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah - both hotbeds of the insurgency. There was no claim of responsibility, but suspicion fell on battles between Sunni groups in Anbar province west of Baghdad. Militants have increased attacks against Sunni leaders who support the government and denounce violence. Read The Full Story Britain Supports Call For Ban On Cluster Bombs 2007-02-24 00:16:57 Britain has signed up to a new arms control declaration calling for an international ban on cluster bombs to protect civilians, despite having used the weapon in conflicts in Kosovo and Iraq and still stockpiling so-called "smart" versions of the munition. Its position, praised by humanitarian groups, puts it at odds with the U.S., Russia, China and Israel, which did not attend the Oslo conference where the declaration was agreed by 46 countries Friday. The U.K.'s Foreign Office strongly denied Britain had changed tack or would now back a blanket ban, saying the move would "complement" parallel United Nations-organized disarmament efforts in Geneva, Switzerland. Read The Full Story Former President Clinton Tops Speakers' Earnings List 2007-02-24 00:16:25 Former president Bill Clinton, who came to the White House with modest means and left deeply in debt, has collected nearly $40 million in speaking fees over the past six years, according to interviews and financial disclosure statements filed by his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York). Last year, one of his most lucrative since he left the presidency, Clinton earned $9 million to $10 million on the lecture circuit. He averaged almost a speech a day - 352 for the year - but only about 20 percent were for personal income. The others were given for no fee or for donations to the William J. Clinton Foundation, the nonprofit group he founded to pursue causes such as the fight against AIDS. His paid speeches included $150,000 appearances before landlord groups, biotechnology firms and food distributors, as well as speeches in England, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia that together netted him more than $1.6 million. On one particularly good day in Canada, Clinton made $475,000 for two speeches, more than double his annual salary as president. Read The Full Story
Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php

Free Internet Press Newsletter - Saturday February 24 2007 - (813)

Saturday February 24 2007 edition
Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. Donate Today
Britain Supports Call For Ban On Cluster Bombs 2007-02-24 00:16:57 Britain has signed up to a new arms control declaration calling for an international ban on cluster bombs to protect civilians, despite having used the weapon in conflicts in Kosovo and Iraq and still stockpiling so-called "smart" versions of the munition. Its position, praised by humanitarian groups, puts it at odds with the U.S., Russia, China and Israel, which did not attend the Oslo conference where the declaration was agreed by 46 countries Friday. The U.K.'s Foreign Office strongly denied Britain had changed tack or would now back a blanket ban, saying the move would "complement" parallel United Nations-organized disarmament efforts in Geneva, Switzerland. Read The Full Story Former President Clinton Tops Speakers' Earnings List 2007-02-24 00:16:25 Former president Bill Clinton, who came to the White House with modest means and left deeply in debt, has collected nearly $40 million in speaking fees over the past six years, according to interviews and financial disclosure statements filed by his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York). Last year, one of his most lucrative since he left the presidency, Clinton earned $9 million to $10 million on the lecture circuit. He averaged almost a speech a day - 352 for the year - but only about 20 percent were for personal income. The others were given for no fee or for donations to the William J. Clinton Foundation, the nonprofit group he founded to pursue causes such as the fight against AIDS. His paid speeches included $150,000 appearances before landlord groups, biotechnology firms and food distributors, as well as speeches in England, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia that together netted him more than $1.6 million. On one particularly good day in Canada, Clinton made $475,000 for two speeches, more than double his annual salary as president. Read The Full Story War Authorization Battle Looms In U.S. Senate 2007-02-23 19:49:46 Senate Democratic leaders intend to unveil a plan next week to repeal the 2002 resolution authorizing the war in Iraq in favor of narrower authority that restricts the military's role and begins withdrawals of combat troops. House Democrats have pulled back from efforts to link additional funding for the war to strict troop-readiness standards after the proposal came under withering fire from Republicans and from their party's own moderates. That strategy was championed by Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pennsylvania) and endorsed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California). "If you strictly limit a commander's ability to rotate troops in and out of Iraq, that kind of inflexibility could put some missions and some troops at risk," said Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas), who personally lodged his concerns with Murtha. Read The Full Story 4 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Iraq 2007-02-23 19:47:58 Four American soldiers were killed Thursday in Iraq, the U.S. military announced Friday. Three soldiers died while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, an insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad. The military offered no details about the attack. The soldiers were assigned to the Multi-National Force-West unit. Their names were withheld by the military pending notification of next of kin. Read The Full Story U.S. Detains Son Of Prominent Shiite Iraqi Politician 2007-02-23 19:47:22 The son of a prominent Iraqi Shiite Muslim politician was detained for several hours Friday by U.S. forces as he returned from a trip to neighboring Iran, and the U.S. ambassador later apologized for the arrest and said it was being investigated. Amar al-Hakim, son of prominent Shiite political leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, was taken into custody when his convoy was stopped Friday morning after crossing the Iraqi border with Iran, according to officials of the elder Hakim's political party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SCIRI). Amar al-Hakim was then transferred to a U.S. facility in the city of Kut. A U.S. military spokesman said Friday night that he was gathering information about the detention and could not immediately comment on the case. U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said Hakim was detained during a routine security operation. Read The Full Story Scientists Worry About Earth's Overheating 2007-02-23 01:08:45 Until recently, it looked like the depleted ozone layer protecting the earth from harmful solar rays was on its way to being healed. Thanks in part to an explosion of demand for air-conditioners in hot places like India and southern China -  mostly relying on refrigerants already banned in Europe and in the process of being phased out in the United States - the ozone layer is proving very hard to repair. Four months ago, scientists discovered that the “hole” created by the world’s use of ozone-depleting gases - in aerosol spray cans, aging refrigerators and old air-conditioners - had expanded again, stretching once more to the record size of 2001. An unusually cold Antarctic winter, rather than the rise in the use of refrigerants, may have caused the sudden expansion, which covered an area larger than North America. Read The Full Story IAEA: Iran Expanding Nuclear Effort 2007-02-23 01:08:15 In open defiance of the United Nations, Iran is steadily expanding its efforts to enrich uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)reported Thursday. In response, the Bush administration immediately pressed for more severe sanctions against the country, at a moment of greatly increased tensions between Washington and Tehran. In a mild surprise to outside experts, the nuclear agency reported that Iran was now operating or about to switch on roughly 1,000 centrifuges, the high-speed devices that enrich uranium, at its nuclear facility at Natanz. “They are very serious,” said David Albright, a former inspector who is now president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a private nuclear study group. “They are installing faster than was commonly expected.” Read The Full Story Blair Administration Moves To Close Serious Fraud Office 2007-02-23 01:07:15 Ministers in the Blair Administration have begun working on proposals to disband Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), merging operations with other agencies, the Guardian has learned. The plan comes three months after relations between the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, and SFO director Robert Wardle reached an all-time low over the latter's two-year investigation into kickback allegations linked to a BAE Systems contract with Saudi Arabia. According to well-placed sources, one of the proposals favoured by the attorney general is partially merging the SFO within the much larger Serious and Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), which was launched last year and characterized as an FBI-style organization. The remaining SFO lawyers would join the Crown Prosecution Service. Lord Goldsmith has ordered an independent review of the body, which will inform any decision. Any move to disband the SFO is likely to be seen as controversial after the government's insistence that the agency abandon its BAE inquiry. It will also be fiercely resisted by Wardle. However, pressure on his fraud unit has been building for several years amid disappointing conviction rates and a handful of high-profile courtroom failures. Read The Full Story	Commentary: Tony Blair Makes 'Comical Ali' Seem The Voice Of Reason 2007-02-24 00:16:46 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by Marina Hyde and is posted on the Guardian Unlimited's website edition for Saturday, February 24, 2007. In her column, Ms. Hyde writes that the former Iraqi regime spokesman's boasts seem almost prophetic ... unlike the British prime minister's deluded declarations. Her column follows: If one is to endure a prime ministerial discourse on Iraq for any length of time these days, it is necessary - in the name of sanity - to cultivate strategies of detachment. Destroying another radio solves nothing, and there may be health risks associated with beginning one's waking day shouting dementedly at the glottal-stopped voice drifting over the airwaves. And so it was, listening to Tony Blair sing the praises of his Iraq adventure on the Today programme on Thursday, that my mind began to wander. If it wasn't all such a bleeding mess, I thought vaguely, the prime minister's delusions of success would be almost comical. Comical ... comical ... the word triggered some neural connection. But what? Gradually but inexorably, the memory of another charismatic proselytiser for Iraq's rude health began to resolve itself. Cast your mind back to the Iraq war as it was originally billed - the one where we won in three weeks - and which revisionist historians may just come to classify as a kind of phoney war curtain-raiser to the prolonged horror that succeeded it. Quite the most entertaining cameo of the day - even counting Clare Short's hilarious insistence on staying in the cabinet so she could oversee the reconstruction effort - was that played by Saddam's information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, who we came to know as Comical Ali (or as Baghdad Bob by some). Not for him the relentless negativity that so exasperates Tony Blair where critics of his mission's success are concerned. "There are only two American tanks in the city," the information minister would beam beatifically during one of his must-watch daily briefings in early 2003, surrounded by reporters who would have been to able to count at least three if they stood on a low chair. Or recall his declaration as news channels screened footage of coalition troops patrolling Saddam international airport: "They are not in control of any airport." Read The Full Story Canadian High Court Unanimously Strikes Down Indefinite Detention 2007-02-23 19:50:02 One of Canada's most contentious anti-terrorism provisions was struck down Friday by the Supreme Court, which declared it unconstitutional to detain foreign terror suspects indefinitely while the courts review their deportation orders. The 9-0 ruling was a blow to the government's anti-terrorism regulations. Five Arab Muslim men have been held for years under the ''security certificate'' program, which the Justice Department had insisted is a key tool in the fight against global terrorism and essential to Canada's security. The court found that the system violates the Charter of Rights and Freedom, Canada's bill of rights. It suspended the judgment from taking effect for a year, to give Parliament time to rewrite the part of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that covers the certificates. The security certificates were challenged on constitutional grounds by three men from Morocco, Syria and Algeria - all alleged by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to have ties to al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks. Read The Full Story Investigation Launched Into Walter Reed Outpatient Care 2007-02-23 19:48:30 U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates Friday announced the formation of an independent panel to look into what he called an "unacceptable situation" with outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and he vowed that those responsible will be held accountable. Some people who were "directly involved" in the problems at the Washington, D.C., complex already have been relieved of their duties, Gates disclosed, but he did not elaborate. In a news briefing after touring the facility and speaking to wounded soldiers there, Gates said he was "dismayed" to learn from a Washington Post series published Sunday and Monday that some injured troops have not been receiving "the best possible treatment at all stages of their recovery". Read The Full Story Secularist Blogger Gets 4 Years In Prison In Egypt 2007-02-23 19:47:44 An Egyptian blogger was convicted Thursday and sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and Egypt's president, sending a chill through fellow Internet writers who fear a government crackdown. Abdel Kareem Nabil, a 22-year-old former student at Egypt's Al-Azhar University, had been a vocal secularist and sharp critic of conservative Muslims in his blog. He often lashed out at Al-Azhar - the most prominent religious center in Sunni Islam - calling it "the university of terrorism" and accusing it of encouraging extremism. Nabil's attorney, Ahmed Seif el-Islam, said he would appeal the verdict, adding that it will "terrify other bloggers and have a negative impact on freedom of expression in Egypt." Nabil had faced a possible maximum sentence of nine years in prison. His conviction brought a flood of condemnations from international and Egyptian rights groups, as well as fellow government critics on the Internet. Read The Full Story Britain Not Part Of U.S. Anti-Missile Shield 2007-02-23 19:46:58 The U.K. is interested in hosting part of Washington's contentious "son of Star Wars" missile interceptor system, Downing Street said Friday, only to have U.S. officials respond by saying Britain is not currently part of its plans. If the U.K. did host a missile silo or radar site it would likely prompt considerable opposition from the anti-war movement, and might spark protests echoing those at RAF Greenham Common in the 1980s. The prime minister's office confirmed Friday it had discussed the missile system with Washington. However, a senior U.S. diplomat said the country was not as yet interested in placing it in Britain. "As we go forward there may be opportunities for us to talk to other countries about their needs, but right now we are concentrating on the Czech Republic and on Poland as the primary sites where we would be looking for this," the U.S. deputy chief of mission in London, David Johnson, told BBC Radio 4's The World at One. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency added that it had also not heard anything about involving the U.K. in the system. Read The Full Story Diplomatic Sources: U.S. Intelligence On Iran Does Not Stand Up 2007-02-23 01:08:29 Much of the intelligence on Iran's nuclear facilities provided to United Nations inspectors by American spy agencies has turned out to be unfounded, according to diplomatic sources in Vienna, Austria. The claims, reminiscent of the intelligence fiasco surrounding the Iraq war, coincided with a sharp increase in international tension as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran was defying a U.N.  security council ultimatum to freeze its nuclear program. That report, delivered to the security council by the IAEA director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, sets the stage for a fierce international debate on the imposition of stricter sanctions on Iran, and raises the possibility that the U.S.  might resort to military action against Iranian nuclear sites. At the heart of the debate are accusations, spearheaded by the U.S., that Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons. However, most of the tip-offs about supposed secret weapons sites provided by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies have led to dead ends when investigated by IAEA inspectors, according to informed sources in Vienna. Read The Full Story Commentary: U.S. Psychological Torture System Is Finally On Trial 2007-02-23 01:07:52 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by Naomi Klein, who's book on disaster capitalism is scheduled to be published this spring. In her commentary, Ms. Klein writes that America has deliberately driven hundreds, perhaps thousands, of prisoners insane and now that system and those techniques are on trial in Miami, Florida. Ms. Klein's column follows: Something remarkable is going on in a Miami, Florida, courtroom. The cruel methods U.S. interrogators have used since September 11 to "break" prisoners are finally being put on trial. This was not supposed to happen. The Bush administration's plan was to put Jose Padilla on trial for allegedly being part of a network linked to international terrorists. But Padilla's lawyers are arguing that he is not fit to stand trial because he has been driven insane by the government. Arrested in May 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare airport, Padilla, a Brooklyn-born former gang member, was classified as an "enemy combatant" and taken to a navy prison in Charleston, South Carolina. He was kept in a cell 9-feet by 7-feet, with no natural light, no clock and no calendar. Whenever Padilla left the cell, he was shackled and suited in heavy goggles and headphones. Padilla was kept under these conditions for 1,307 days. He was forbidden contact with anyone but his interrogators, who punctured the extreme sensory deprivation with sensory overload, blasting him with harsh lights and pounding sounds. Padilla also says he was injected with a "truth serum", a substance his lawyers believe was LSD or PCP. According to his lawyers and two mental health specialists who examined him, Padilla has been so shattered that he lacks the ability to assist in his own defense. He is convinced that his lawyers are "part of a continuing interrogation program" and sees his captors as protectors. In order to prove that "the extended torture visited upon Mr. Padilla has left him damaged", his lawyers want to tell the court what happened during those years in the navy brig. The prosecution strenuously objects, maintaining that "Padilla is competent" and that his treatment is irrelevant. Read The Full Story
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Free Internet Press Newsletter - Thursday February 22 2007 - (813)

Thursday February 22 2007 edition
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Gunmen, Children, Brutality And Bombs - Iraq's Dirty War 2007-02-22 02:53:00 At first they are ghost figures in the weapons' system monitor, glowing with body warmth and two-dimensional. >From inside the American Bradley fighting vehicle approaching Burhiz, an insurgent neighbourhood of Baquba, you quickly acclimatise to the reality of this representation of human life. Boys on bikes cycle backwards and forwards on a footbridge over a small canal lined with houses and groves of date palms. Women in headscarves look anxiously in groups from windows. Men walk with shopping bags. A gunman, clutching an AK-47, bobs his head around the corner of an alleyway close to a school. Once. Twice. On the third occasion a child, a boy seven or eight years old, is thrust out in front of him. The gunman holds him firmly by the arm and steps out for instant into full view of the Bradley's gunner to get a proper look, then yanks the boy back and disappears. "That is really dirty," says Specialist Chris Jankow, in the back of the Bradley, with a mixture of contempt, anger and frustration. "They know exactly what our rules of engagement are. They know we can't fire back." Read The Full Story National Guard May Be Sent To Iraq Early 2007-02-22 02:52:27 The Pentagon is planning to send more than 14,000 National Guard troops back to Iraq next year, shortening their time between deployments to meet the demands of President Bush’s buildup, Defense Department officials said Wednesday. National Guard officials told state commanders in Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma and Ohio last month that while a final decision had not been made, units from their states that had done previous tours in Iraq and Afghanistan could be designated to return to Iraq next year between January and June, the officials said. The unit from Oklahoma, a combat brigade with one battalion currently in Afghanistan, had not been scheduled to go back to Iraq until 2010, and brigades from the other three states not until 2009. Each brigade has about 3,500 soldiers. The accelerated timetable illustrates the cascading effect that the White House plan to increase the number of troops in Iraq by more than 21,000 is putting on the entire Army and in particular on Reserve forces, which officers predicted would face severe challenges in recruiting, training and equipping their forces. Read The Full Story Fatal Outbreak - 684 People Dead - Not A Cholera Epidemic, Insists Ethiopia 2007-02-22 02:51:38 Ethiopia is refusing to declare a suspected outbreak of cholera an epidemic despite the deaths of 684 people and infection of nearly 60,000 others in less than a year. Fearful of affecting revenue from food exports and tourism, the government is insisting that the disease is acute watery diarrhoea - a symptom of cholera - and maintains it is under control. The United Nations and other aid agencies in Addis Ababa say that laboratory tests show that the deaths are due to cholera. They want the government to declare the outbreak an emergency to raise local awareness and improve the international response. Paul Hebert, head of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ethiopia, said that while the disease was "not out of control", it was still spreading to new parts of the country and needed to be contained. "If it was called an epidemic by the authorities we could see a much more vigorous response from donors in terms of funding and mobilization," he said. Read The Full Story Insurgents Using Dirty Bombs Against Iraqi Civilians 2007-02-21 13:20:03 For the third time in a month, insurgents deployed a new and deadly tactic against Iraqi civilians Wednesday: A dirty bomb combining explosives with poisonous chlorine gas. A pickup track carrying canisters of the gas, which burns the skin and can be fatal after only a few concentrated breaths, exploded near a diesel-fuel station in southwestern Baghdad, killing at least 5 people and sending another 75 to hospitals, wheezing and coughing, for treatment, Interior Ministry and medical officials said. On Tuesday, a tanker truck filled with chlorine exploded north of Baghdad, killing 9 people and wounding 148, including 42 women and 52 children. At least one other attack with chlorine occurred on Jan. 28 in the Sunni-dominated province of Anbar, according to American military statements. Sixteen people died after a dump truck with explosives and a chlorine tank blew up in Ramadi. Read The Full Story Walter Reed Vows Swift Action 2007-02-21 13:19:26 The White House and congressional leaders called Tuesday for swift investigation and repair of the problems plaguing outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, as veterans groups and members of Congress in both parties expressed outrage over substandard housing and the slow, dysfunctional bureaucracy there. Top Army officials yesterday visited Building 18, the decrepit former hotel housing more than 80 recovering soldiers, outside the gates of the medical center. Army Secretary Francis Harvey and Vice Chief of Staff Richard Cody toured the building and spoke to soldiers as workers in protective masks stripped mold from the walls and tore up soiled carpets. At the White House, press secretary Tony Snow said that he spoke with President Bush Tuesday about Walter Reed and that the president told him: "Find out what the problem is and fix it." Read The Full Story Iraq: The British Endgame - All Gone By End Of 2008 2007-02-21 02:11:59 All British troops will be pulled out of Iraq by the end of 2008, starting with the withdrawal of 1,000 in the early summer, the Guardian has learned. Tony Blair is to announce the moves - the result of months of intense debate in Whitehall - within 24 hours, possibly later Wednesday, according to officials. The prime minister is expected to say that Britain intends to gradually reduce the number of troops in southern Iraq over the next 22 months as Iraqi forces take on more responsibility for the security of Basra and the surrounding areas. Ministers have taken on board the message coming from military chiefs over many months - namely that the presence of British troops on the streets of Basra is increasingly unnecessary, even provocative. The reduction of just 1,000 by early summer cited by officials Tuesday is significantly less than anticipated in reports that British troops in southern Iraq, presently totalling 7,200, would be cut by half by May. Read The Full Story Commentary: West May Yet Come To Regret Bullying Of Russia 2007-02-21 02:11:28 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by Guardian correspondent Simon Jenkins, reporting from Moscow, Russia, and posted on the Guardian Unlimited's website edition for Wednesday, February 21, 2007. Mr. Jenkins writes that Russian President Putin has no interest in a new cold war and is struggling to modernize his economy. Yet he is rebuffed and insulted. Mr. Jenkins' commentary begins here: Countries, too, have feelings. So I am told by a Russian explaining the recent collapse in relations between Vladimir Putin and his one-time western admirers. "We have done well in the past 15 years, yet we get nothing but rebuffs and insults. Russia's rulers have their pride, you know." The truth is that Putin, like George Bush and Tony Blair, has an urgent date with history. He can plead two terms as president in which he has stabilized, if not deepened, Russian democracy, forced the pace of economic modernization, suppressed Chechen separatism and yet been remarkably popular. But leaders who dismiss domestic critics crave international opinion, and are unaccustomed to brickbats. Hence Putin's outburst at the Munich security conference this month, when he announced he would "avoid extra politesse" and speak his mind. Putin's apologists ask that he be viewed as victim of an epic miscalculation by the west. Here is a hard man avidly courted at first by Bush, Blair and other western leaders. After 9/11 he tolerated U.S. intervention along his southern border with bases north of Afghanistan. Yet when he had similar trouble in Chechnya, he was roundly abused. When he induced Milosevic to leave Kosovo (which he and not "the bombing" did), he got no thanks. Read The Full Story	Great Forests Hold Fateful Role In Climate Change 2007-02-22 02:52:46 Here on the edge of the silent and frozen northern tier of the Earth, the fate of the world's climate is buried beneath the snow and locked in the still limbs of aspen trees. Nearly half of the carbon that exists on land is contained in the sweeping boreal forests, which gird the Earth in the northern reaches of Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and Russia. Scientists now fear that the steady rise in the temperature of the atmosphere and the increasing human activity in those lands are releasing that carbon, a process that could trigger a vicious cycle of even more warming. The prospect of the land itself accelerating climate change staggers scientists, as well as woodsmen such as Bob Austman, who stopped recently in a quiet stand of birch on the edge of the boreal forest to examine a jack rabbit's tracks. "There are big forces out there," he said succinctly. Read The Full Story Analysis: Britain's Move Renews Iraq War Doubts In U.S. 2007-02-22 02:52:07 As the British announced the beginning of their departure from Iraq Wednesday, President Bush's top foreign policy aide proclaimed it "basically a good-news story." Yet for an already besieged White House, the decision was doing a good job masquerading as a bad-news story. What national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley meant was that the British believe they have made enough progress in southern Iraq to turn over more of their sector to Iraqi forces. To many back in Washington, though, what resonated was that Bush's main partner in Iraq is starting to get out just as the president is sending in more U.S. troops. No matter the military merits, the British move, followed by a similar announcement by Denmark, roiled the political debate in Washington at perhaps the worst moment for the White House. Democrats seized on the news as evidence that Bush's international coalition is collapsing and that the United States is increasingly alone in a losing cause. Even some Republicans, and, in private, White House aides, agreed that the announcement sent an ill-timed message to the American public. "What I'm worried about is that the American public will be quite perplexed by the president adding forces while our principal ally is subtracting forces," said Sen. John W. Warner (R-Virginia), a longtime war supporter who opposes Bush's troop increase. "That is the burden we are being left with here." Read The Full Story Prodi Resigns As Italian Prime Minister 2007-02-22 02:51:17 Romano Prodi resigned last night as Italy's prime minister after his government had suffered an unexpected defeat in parliament over its alliance with the United States and its role in NATO. Giorgio Napolitano, who as Italy's president oversees the making and breaking of governments, is to open consultations on the political future Thursday. It was not ruled out that Prodi could be asked to form a new government, and a grouping of core parties in his coalition said last night that they were prepared to back him again. But his spokesman said: "He is ready to carry on as prime minister if, and only if, he is guaranteed the full support of all the parties in his majority from now on." That support was signally lacking in the senate a few hours earlier, when the government sought a vote of approval for its foreign policy. Discontent on the left of his sprawling, nine-party coalition over the extension of an American military base and Italy's open-ended commitment to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan lay behind a two-vote defeat. Since he had not lost a formal confidence vote, Prodi was not obliged to stand down. But, amid raucous scenes, members of the rightwing opposition claimed he had been stripped of his credibility. "There is no majority any more," declared a jubilant Renato Schifani, chief senate whip to Silvio Berlusconi, whom  Prodi defeated in a general election last year. "There is no Prodi government any more." Read The Full Story Iraqi Official Fired After Seeking Rape Investigation 2007-02-21 13:19:51 Political tensions are running high in Iraq Wednesday as Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki ordered the dismissal of a top Sunni official who called for an international investigation into the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by Iraqi security forces. Maliki did not give a reason for his decision to dismiss Sheikh Ahmad Abdul Ghafoor al-Samaraei, the head of the Sunni Endowment, whose organization cares for Sunni mosques and shrines in Iraq. Samaraei, speaking to the Al-Arabiya television network from Amman, Jordan, said that he knew of many cases of rape by Iraqi security forces, but victims were reluctant to come forward because of the stigma attached to the crime. He also said he also knew of cases of rape by Sunni clergy members. Read The Full Story Inflation Slightly Higher Than Expected 2007-02-21 13:18:33 Consumer prices accelerated last month on a wide range of items, from food to health care to hotel rooms, nudging the overall rate of inflation a bit higher than expected. The Labor Department said Wednesday that overall inflation climbed 0.2 percent in January after a rise of 0.4 percent in December. And a less volatile measure of consumer prices that excludes energy and food costs rose 0.3 percent last month after climbing 0.1 percent in December. Investors on Wall Street, who were expecting that inflation would rise at a slower rate, reacted to the new data by pushing stock prices lower. In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average, the Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index and the Nasdaq composite were all trading off Tuesday’s closing levels. Read The Full Story McCain: Rumsfeld 'One Of Worst Secretarys of Defense In History' 2007-02-21 02:11:44 John McCain, in an effort to reinvent himself as the candidate of the Republican establishment in the 2008 elections, has denounced the former Pentagon chief, Donald Rumsfeld, as one of the worst in history. McCain's comments, made during a campaign swing through South Carolina, were seen today as part of a delicate balancing act for the senator from Arizona, who is trying to shed his image as a maverick and win over conservatives and the religious right. In that vein, McCain has positioned himself as a strong supporter of the war on Iraq - as are the majority of Republican primary voters, but he accused Rumsfeld of compromising that mission by failing to send enough troops for the invasion. "We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement - that's the kindest word I can give you - of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war," McCain told a community for retired people near the resort area of Hilton Head. "The price is very, very heavy and I regret it enormously." He added: "I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history." Read The Full Story Guantanamo Detainees Lose Federal Court Appeal 2007-02-21 02:11:06 A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that hundreds of detainees in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, do not have the right to challenge their imprisonment in federal courts, a victory for the Bush administration that could lead to the Supreme Court again addressing the issue. In its 2 to 1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld one of the central components of the Military Commissions Act, the law enacted last year by a then-Republican-controlled Congress that stripped Guantanamo detainees of their right to such habeas corpus petitions. Lawyers have filed the petitions on behalf of virtually all of the nearly 400 detainees still at Guantanamo, challenging President Bush's right to hold them indefinitely without charges. Tuesday's ruling effectively dismisses the cases. Attorneys for the detainees vowed to quickly petition the Supreme Court to hear the case. Read The Full Story
Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php