Free Internet Press Newsletter - Saturday May 26 2007 - (813)

Saturday May 26 2007 edition
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Bush Administration Rejects All Proposals On Climate Change 2007-05-26 01:38:18 The U.S. government has rejected any prospect of a deal on climate change at the G8 summit in Germany next month, according to a leaked document. Despite British Prime Minister Tony Blair's declaration on Thursday that Washington would sign up to "at least the beginnings" of action to cut carbon emissions, a note attached to a draft document circulated by Germany says the U.S. is "fundamentally opposed" to the proposals. The note, written in red ink, says the deal "runs counter to our overall position and crosses multiple 'red lines' in terms of what we simply cannot agree to". "This document is called FINAL but we never agreed to any of the climate language present in the document ... We have tried to 'tread lightly' but there is only so far we can go given our fundamental opposition to the German position," it says. Read The Full Story Commentary: Usuitable, Unsustainable 2007-05-26 01:37:34 Intellpuke: The following commentary by Matt Waldman appears in the Guardian edition for Saturday, May 26, 2007. Mr. Waldman works for Oxfam, a humanitarian charity, as its policy director for Afghanistan. He writes that  when Afghan children are forced to eat mud, it is clear we have squandered billions of dollars in aid. Mr. Waldman's commentary follows: The international community is in danger of repeating in Afghanistan the mistakes made in Iraq. Millions of Afghans have seen little material improvement in their lives since 2001, and most still live in desperate poverty. From the start, the damage inflicted by a quarter-century of war was underestimated; this is not about repairing the state but building it from scratch. Rural communities have seen some improvements, but essential services are scarce or inadequate. In provinces where Oxfam works such as Daikundi, there is no mains water or electricity, and virtually no paved roads. Average life expectancy in Daikundi is 42 and one in five children dies before the age of five. Afghan children chew on mud they scratch from the walls of their homes to stave off hunger. Most reconstruction work has focused on urban centers and national institutions and structures. It has been supply-driven, not needs-driven. Development urgently needs to go local, but there is confusion among state institutions about their roles, and district councils provided for by the constitution have yet to be elected. For ordinary Afghans, the local or tribal council of elders - the shura or jirga - constitutes the central authority. Yet these bodies have been largely neglected in the state-building process. Read The Full Story Intelligence Warnings Of Iraq Chaos Were Detailed Months Before The War 2007-05-26 01:37:04 Months before the invasion of Iraq, U.S. intelligence agencies predicted that it would be likely to spark violent sectarian divides and provide al-Qaeda with new opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a report released Friday by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Analysts warned that war in Iraq also could provoke Iran to assert its regional influence and "probably would result in a surge of political Islam and increased funding for terrorist groups" in the Muslim world. The intelligence assessments, made in January 2003 and widely circulated within the Bush administration before the war, said that establishing democracy in Iraq would be "a long, difficult and probably turbulent challenge." The assessments noted that Iraqi political culture was "largely bereft of the social underpinnings" to support democratic development. More than four years after the March 2003 invasion, with Iraq still mired in violence and 150,000 U.S. troops there under continued attack from al-Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents, the intelligence warnings seem prophetic. Other predictions, however, were less than accurate. Intelligence analysts assessed that any postwar increase in terrorism would slowly subside in three to five years, and that Iraq's vast oil reserves would quickly facilitate economic reconstruction. Read The Full Story Largess To Clintons Lands CEO In Lawsuit 2007-05-26 01:35:53 For the past four years, the Clintons have jetted around on Vinod Gupta's corporate plane, to Switzerland, Hawaii, Jamaica, Mexico - $900,000 worth of travel. The former president secured a $3.3 million consulting deal with Gupta's technology firm. His presidential library got a six-figure gift, too. Gupta, whose big donations to the Democratic Party earned him a Lincoln Bedroom overnight when Bill Clinton  was president, has emerged as a key benefactor of Clinton's post-presidency - and Hillary Rodham Clinton's  presidential candidacy. Gupta's generosity toward the Clintons has proved so controversial within his firm - a major provider of database-processing services - that it prompted a shareholder lawsuit complaining that hiring the former president was a "waste of corporate assets." Read The Full Story Bush Signs Iraq War Funding Bill 2007-05-26 01:34:59 President Bush signed a bill Friday to pay for military operations in Iraq after a bitter struggle with Democrats in Congress who sought unsuccessfully to tie the money to U.S. troop withdrawals. Bush signed the bill into law at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, where he is spending part of the Memorial Day weekend. In announcing the signing, White House spokesman Tony Fratto noted that it came 109 days after Bush sent his emergency spending request to Congress. Bush had rejected an earlier bill because it contained a timetable for withdrawing troops. However, the New York Times reported Friday night that the Bush administration is working on ideas for cutting U.S. forces in Iraq by as much as half, to roughly 100,000, by mid-2008. Read The Full Story John Major To Tony Blair: Stop Acting Like Nellie Melba And Go Now 2007-05-26 01:34:17 Sir John Major Saturday called on his successor to quit Downing Street and hand over power to Gordon Brown as soon as possible. In an interview with the Guardian, the former Tory prime minister criticized Tony Blair's drawn-out departure from office, mocking him for being "in the middle of the longest farewell since Dame Nellie Melba quit the stage". Sir John warns that it would be "constitutionally desirable for Gordon Brown to become prime minister with the minimum of delay". He argued that the present situation, which will see Blair continue as prime minister until the Labor Party's leadership contest is concluded late next month, is unncessary. "It is clear that Gordon Brown has the support of the majority of the Labor party and is a certainty to become prime minister," he says. "It's known that the present prime minister is going, it's certain who will be replacing him, I can't see any reason for a delay - it is not a presidency." Read The Full Story Poll: Immigration Bill Provisions Gain Wide Support 2007-05-25 13:28:47 As opponents from the right and left challenge an immigration bill before Congress, there is broad support among Americans - Democrats, Republicans and independents alike - for the major provisions in the legislation, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. Taking a pragmatic view on a divisive issue, a large majority of Americans want to change the immigration laws to allow illegal immigrants to gain legal status and to create a new guest worker program to meet future labor demands, the poll found. At the same time, Americans have mixed feelings about whether the recent wave of immigration has been beneficial to the country, the survey found, and they are sharply divided over how open the United States should be to future immigrants. Read The Full Story U.S. Resupplies Lebanon's Army 2007-05-25 13:27:48 The United States and Arab allies sent military aid to Lebanon on Friday and the Lebanese army deployed extra troops to a Palestinian camp where it has been battling Islamist militants this week. A fragile truce held between the army and the Fatah al-Islam militant group in northern Lebanon at the Nahr al-Bared camp, where the faction is based, despite sporadic overnight clashes. Lebanese Defense Minister Elias al-Murr said the government was leaving room for negotiations but the army would act if necessary. "What is required is the handing over of those terrorists and criminals," he told reporters. Murr gave no details on the talks, but a delegation from the main Palestinian factions has been holding extensive meetings with Lebanese leaders in a bid to end the crisis. Read The Full Story U.S. Army, Air Force Deny Formal Links To Christian Event 2007-05-25 13:27:18 After complaints by a government watchdog group, the Air Force and the Army partially distanced themselves yesterday from a three-day evangelical Christian event this weekend at a Georgia theme park. The Memorial Day weekend "Salute to the Troops" celebration at Stone Mountain Park is sponsored by Task Force Patriot USA, a private group that says its purpose is "sharing the fullness of life in Jesus Christ with all U.S.  military, military veterans and families," and whose Web site says "Christ is our Commander-in-Chief." In recent days, both the Task Force Patriot USA Web site and the newspaper of Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, described the celebration as "an official U.S. Air Force 60th Anniversary event." Along with speeches by evangelical ministers, church services and distribution of Bibles, the published schedule promised "hourly flyovers" by Air Force jets, performances by military bands, color guard presentations, a parachute demonstration by the Army's elite Silver Wings jump team from Fort Benning, Georgia, and exhibitions of Air Force equipment. Read The Full Story Editorial: Ignoring The Warnings, Again? 2007-05-25 02:40:26 Intellpuke: The following editorial appears in the New York Times edition for Friday, May 25, 2007. The latest findings on Avandia, a top-selling diabetes drug, raise concerns both about its safety and about the way the manufacturer and the Food and Drug Administration have responded to signs of danger. It would be rash to make definitive judgments until the F.D.A. completes a detailed analysis. But the handling of this case bears disturbing resemblances to the Vioxx debacle, in which early warning signs were ignored by its manufacturer until the evidence of serious harm became inescapable and the drug was pulled from the market. Avandia was approved for sale in 1999 based on studies showing that it could lower blood glucose levels in patients suffering from Type 2 diabetes, also known as adult-onset diabetes. The assumption was that the drug could alleviate some of the most damaging effects of the disease, such as heart attacks and other cardiovascular ailments. But a paper just published in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that Avandia may instead increase the risk of a heart attack by 43 percent and perhaps the risk of cardiovascular deaths as well. The study - an analysis of the combined results of 42 previous studies that compared people who took the drug with people who did not - is not definitive, and the absolute risk to any given patient is small. But the study points to a risk that could potentially harm thousands of patients a year. Its lead author was Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, who blew the whistle on the cardiovascular risks of Vioxx, which adds to the sense of deja  vu. Read The Full Story Iran Interest Rate Cut Sparks Panic Selling 2007-05-25 02:39:58 Iran's financial system suffered a fresh jolt Thursday with panic selling on the stock market after the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, abruptly ordered banks to cut interest rates sharply, despite surging inflation. The order, which Ahmadinejad issued by telephone during a visit to Belarus and which flew in the face of expert advice - has triggered warnings of a financial crisis and spiralling corruption amid fears of a capital flight from the country's lending institutions. Ahmadinejad's decree forced all state-owned and private banks to slash borrowing rates to 12%. Inflation is officially 15% but is generally believed to be much higher. State banks had been offering rates of 14%, while those in the private sector ranged from 17% to 28%. The decision caused panic in the Tehran stock exchange, with private banks losing much of their share value overnight. Shareholders in one bank, Karafarin, queued on Wednesday to sell their stock when previously there had been 1.2 million applicants to buy its shares. Read The Full Story Refugees Warn Clashes May Spread Amid Fury At Lebanese Army 2007-05-25 02:39:25 Lebanon's worst internal violence for two decades is in danger of spreading throughout the country, politicians, diplomats and refugees warned Thursday, as anger grew at the tactics of the Lebanese Army fighting Islamists in a northern refugee camp. Officials representing the 400,000-strong Palestinian community in Lebanon said there is a risk of militant sympathizers in other Palestinian camps rising up, after days of clashes in and around the Nahr al-Bared camp left at least 22 militants and 32 soldiers dead, as well as a dozen civilians. Scores have been wounded. "In the other camps, we have fundamentalists," said Souheil el-Natour, of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He pointed to recent armed demonstrations by a unit known as the Soldiers of the Martyrs. "They were sending a message to say what would happen [if the Lebanese army used more force]. "If the fundamentalists want to get revenge, they will go to Sidon," he added, referring to a large refugee camp in southern Lebanon which is highly symbolic as the birthplace of the assassinated prime minister Rafik Hariri. Read The Full Story British Government Knew Of HIV Risk From Imported Blood - 1,757 Have Died 2007-05-25 02:38:38 The British government's advisers on medicine knew that patients were at risk of contracting AIDS from imported blood products as early as 1983, but ruled against a ban because of fears it would cause a shortage of supply. Minutes obtained by the Guardian of a meeting held on July 13, 1983, reveal that the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) knew that "patients who repeatedly receive blood clotting-factor concentrates appear to be at risk" of AIDS. They also knew that the risks were highest if the blood products came "from the blood of homosexual and IV drug users in areas of high incidence - for example, New York and California" and for those who repeatedly received high doses of the blood plasma products. Despite this, the committee ruled that the risk of contracting AIDS had to be balanced against the "life-saving" benefits of their use to haemophiliacs. They also argued that withdrawing the blood products was "not feasible on the grounds of supply". British patients with the rare inherited condition in which blood does not clot normally were not told of the risks. Critics say they would have preferred to carry on receiving their previous treatment, called cryoprecipitate, manufactured in the U.K. from single donors, even though it meant going to a hospital. Read The Full Story Ex-CIA European Chief: Rendition Flights Put Allies In Difficult Position 2007-05-25 02:38:05 The former head of CIA covert operations in Europe admitted last night that "extraordinary rendition" - the practice of transferring detainees to camps, including Guantanamo Bay, where they risked being tortured - had caused serious problems for America's allies. Tyler Drumheller, who was in charge of the CIA's clandestine activities in Europe until 2005, said: "We have put our allies in a very difficult position." He said the way the issue of rendition flights was handled was one of the reasons he resigned. He told BBC2's Mystery Flights program last night that it affected "the willingness of other countries to work with us - the intelligence services and police forces of other countries we go to". He said: "It makes it difficult even if those countries do want to help us ... because there's all this bad publicity and they're at risk of violating their own laws and that sort of thing." Read The Full Story FIP Chat 2007-05-25 01:36:04   We've added yet another feature to Free Internet Press.    Using the 'Live Chat' link on the left, you may hop in and discuss anything you'd like.  This is intended for the discussion of today's topics, but may be used for anything you'd like.   We would appreciate it if you kept the conversation to news topics.   Please don't be abuse towards your others.  We know conversation will get heated, but try to keep it under control.   You must be logged into your user account to join the chat.   User accounts are free, although we do appreciate your donations.    JWSmythe   Editor   Free Internet Press Read The Full Story	'Noah's Ark' Of 5,000 Rare Animals Found Floating Off China's Coast 2007-05-26 01:38:06 Endangered, hunted, smuggled and now abandoned, 5,000 of the world's rarest animals have been found drifting in a deserted boat near the coast of China. According to the local media, the cargo included 31 pangolins, 44 leatherback turtles, 2,720 monitor lizards, 1,130 Brazilian turtles as well as the bear paws. Photographs showed other animals, including an Asian giant turtle. All of these southeast Asian species are critically endangered, banned from international trade and yet openly sold in restaurants and markets in China's southern province of Guangdong, which is famous for its exotic cuisine. The pangolins, Asian giant turtles and lizards were crushed inside crates on a rickety wooden vessel that had lost engine power off Qingzhou island in the southern province of Guangdong. Most were alive, though the cargo also contained 21 bear paws wrapped in newspaper. Read The Full Story Pentagon Warns That China Is Building More Missiles 2007-05-26 01:37:22 China is modernizing its military in ways that give it options for launching surprise attacks, potentially on targets far from its borders, the Pentagon said Friday. The Chinese are acquiring better missiles, submarines and aircraft and should more fully explain the purpose of their military buildup, the Defense Department said in an annual report to Congress. The Pentagon said China's short-term focus remains the Taiwan Straits, where the nation continues to position more short-range ballistic missiles. By October, China had increased its force of mobile short-range missiles based in garrisons opposite Taiwan to 900, the report said, an increase of at least 14 percent. In late 2005, between 710 and 790 missiles were based there, according to the Pentagon. More broadly, the Defense Department concluded, Beijing is pursuing a strategy that appears designed to give it a capability to fight wars farther from its shores and to thwart any U.S.advances. Read The Full Story Top Foreign Talents Could Lose Fast-Track To U.S. Under Immigration Bill 2007-05-26 01:36:31 Would America open its doors for the next Albert Einstein? Under the new immigration bill, the answer is maybe, but maybe not. For years, foreign-born Nobel Prize winners, corporate officers, and top talents in sports, arts and sciences have had a fast track to permanent residency, and eventually citizenship, in the United States. In the name of attracting the world's greatest and brightest, authorities have granted these luminaries priority access to green cards under a little-known provision offered to "aliens of extraordinary abilities". It has provided a way for a host of notable foreigners - among them John Lennon and Yoko Ono and Venezuelan-born New York Yankee Bobby Abreu - to make America their home. Read The Full Story Mahdi Army Vows Revenge On British Troops After Basra Leader Is Killed 2007-05-26 01:35:27 The Mahdi army Shia militia vowed last night to conduct revenge attacks on British soldiers in southern Iraq after its Basra leader was killed by Iraqi special forces in an operation supported by U.K. troops. Wissam Abu Qader, described by British officials as responsible for criminal activities and attacks against foreign troops, was killed shortly after leaving Friday prayers. A British army spokesman said he died while trying to resist arrest. An Iraqi military intelligence officer said he was travelling in a car with two other men when it came under fire. Major David Gell, a British army spokesman in Basra, said the operation was authorized by the Iraqi government. Iraqi special forces "initiated the operation" with about 200 British troops from the 2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment and 4th Battalion the Rifles "present as advisers", the army said in a statement. The Mahdi army blamed an Iraqi army hit squad, which it says works with the British, for the killing, and promised swift revenge. "The Mahdi army will attack any British unit, they will see to avenge his killing," said a mid-ranking commander, Abu Mujtaba. "Our men are moving all over Basra now in civilian cars carrying RPGs and weapons. We have the full cooperation of the police who will inform us on any moving British vehicles." Read The Full Story Tensions Rise After Ukraine's President Makes Power Grab 2007-05-26 01:34:35 Ukraine descended into further political chaos Friday after President Viktor Yushchenko attempted to seize control of the national guard, prompting accusations he was trying to stage a coup. In a presidential decree signed yesterday, Yushchenko took command of the troops away from the interior ministry, which is loyal to the governing coalition of Viktor Yanukovich, the prime minister. An interior ministry spokesman, Konstantin Stogniy, rejected Yushchenko's decree as illegal. Yanukovich accused the president of "seriously aggravating" the situation. Read The Full Story Russia: Nuclear Power Station Talks With Iran Likely Postponed Over Payment Problems 2007-05-25 13:29:02 Russia said on Friday it is likely to postpone talks in Tehran over the construction of a nuclear power station, a project that has been caught up in an international standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Russia's state-owned nuclear contractor said persistent payment problems lay behind the expected postponement of talks in Iran at the end of May over construction at the Bushehr plant. "The likelihood is that (Atomstroiexport head Sergei) Shmatko will not go," said an official from the contractor, which is building the plant, who did not want to be identified. Read The Full Story Existing U.S. Home Prices Fall For 9th Straight Month 2007-05-25 13:28:27 Sales of existing homes fell by a larger-than-expected amount in April while the median price of a home sold during the month fell for a ninth straight month as the troubles in the subprime mortgage market acted as a further drag on housing. The National Association of Realtors reported Friday that sales of existing homes fell by 2.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.99 million units. That was the slowest sales pace since June 2003. The median price of a home fell to $220,900, an 0.8 percent fall from the midpoint selling price a year ago. It marked the ninth straight decline in the median price. Read The Full Story Israeli Strike Hits Near Hamas Official's Home 2007-05-25 13:27:34 The Israeli army continued its air campaign against the Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip late Thursday and Friday, striking at least eight different locations, said an army spokesman. One of the attacks struck a guard post close to the home of the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniya, of Hamas, in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, according to Palestinian officials. The army spokesman, who was speaking on condition of anonymity under army rules, said that Haniya was "definitely not" the target of the night-time attack on Shati. Instead, the army had aimed at, and hit, "a building used by Hamas" in the camp, he said. Read The Full Story U.S. House, Senate Pass War Funding Bill 2007-05-25 02:40:42 The U.S. Congress sent President Bush a new Iraq funding bill Thursday that lacked troop withdrawal deadlines demanded by liberal Democrats, but party leaders vowed it was only a temporary setback in their efforts to bring home American troops. War opponents dismissed the bill as a capitulation to Bush and said they would seek to hold supporters in both parties accountable. Backers said the bill's provisions - including benchmarks for progress that the Iraqi government must meet to continue receiving reconstruction aid - represented an assertion of congressional authority over the war that was unthinkable a few months ago. Bush, who had vowed to veto any legislation with restrictions on troop deployments, announced he would sign the $120 billion package, which was approved 80 to 14 last night in the Senate, after a 280 to 142 House vote. He said the 18 benchmarks should signal to the Iraq government that "it needs to show real progress in return for America's continued support and sacrifice," adding, "We're going to expect heavy fighting in the weeks and months" ahead. Read The Full Story At Least 26 Killed In Iraq Funeral Procession Bombing 2007-05-25 02:40:12 A bomb hidden in a parked car struck the funeral procession of a Sunni tribal leader who was gunned down earlier Thursday, killing at least 26 mourners as al-Qaeda appeared to turn up its campaign of frightening its growing opposition into submission. Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of six U.S. soldiers in separate roadside bombing and shooting attacks across the country. The deaths raised the American death toll for May to at least 88, putting it on pace to be one of the deadliest months for U.S. troops here in years. Last month, 104 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq. The military has warned that U.S. casualties were likely to rise as it pushed ahead with its plan to crackdown on violence in Baghdad and the surrounding areas. Read The Full Story New Home Sales Soar As Prices Plummet 2007-05-25 02:39:38 New-home sales nationwide increased in April by the biggest margin in 14 years, but industry experts remained skeptical about the health of the real estate market, citing a record decline in prices and nagging uncertainty among builders. "In terms of the home builder industry, the bad times are not over," said Gregory E. Gieber, vice president of research at A.G. Edwards,a brokerage firm. "This is probably one of the worst recessions I've ever seen for housing." The Commerce Department reported Thursday that April sales of single-family homes jumped 16.2 percent from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 981,000 homes. The sales figures far surpassed the industry expectation of a 0.2 percent increase, economists said, but fell 10.6 percent short of the April 2006 estimate of nearly 1.1 million homes. Read The Full Story Pope Benedict Faces German Revolt As Anger Grows In Latin America 2007-05-25 02:38:58 Pope Benedict was in trouble on two fronts Thursday, struggling to contain anger over remarks he made in Latin America and facing a revolt by former colleagues in Germany. Following criticism of his views on the spread of Christianity in Latin America, the Pope acknowledged to pilgrims in Rome that "shadows" accompanied the conversion of indigenous groups. He said it was impossible "to forget the suffering [and] injustices inflicted by the colonizers on the indigenous population". His latest statement stopped well short of the apology demanded by, among others, Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, and he repeated his claim that Catholicism had shaped South America's culture favorably. On a tour of Brazil earlier this month, the Pope said indigenous populations had welcomed European priests, who arrived with the conquistadores, and claimed they had been "silently longing" for Christianity. The proclamation of the gospels, he said, "did not at any point involve an alienation of the pre-Columbus cultures, nor was it the imposition of a foreign culture". Read The Full Story Wanted: World Bank President - Experience Required This Time 2007-05-25 02:38:23 As the Bush administration narrows a list of candidates to replace World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz,  experience running a large organization has emerged as a primary requirement for the job, senior administration officials said Thursday. The next World Bank president will be an American, continuing a tradition that has held since the institution's creation after World War II, said the officials, who spoke on condition that they not be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Among the chief contenders under serious consideration are former U.S. trade representative Robert B. Zoellick and Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert M. Kimmitt, said the officials. An official said it was unlikely the administration will settle on a former senator, suggesting that such a profile does not ensure competence in overseeing the bank, which has 10,000 employees in 100 offices around the world. Read The Full Story New Files Link France's 'Chirac To Secret Japanese Bank Account' 2007-05-25 02:37:52 Jacques Chirac came under renewed pressure Thursday to respond to allegations that he held a secret $60 million (£30 million) account with a Japanese bank, amid reports that documents had emerged linking the former French president to the funds. Judges quizzed a retired senior intelligence officer for nine hours over documents, described as "explosive", linking Chirac to the account. Police had swooped on the home of General Philippe Rondot, former head of the DGSE intelligence service, as part of another inquiry but found files labelled Japanese affair, PR1 affair and PR2 affair. PR stands for President of the Republic. The judges were unable to consult the documents until Chirac handed over power to Nicolas Sarkozy on May 16. After opening the files - two days after he left the Elysee Palace - they called an immediate emergency meeting and ordered Gen. Rondot to appear for questioning. Inside the files they reportedly found details of an account allegedly opened in Chirac's name at the Tokyo Sowa Bank in the 1990s and copies of statements. Read The Full Story
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