Free Internet Press Newsletter - Tuesday September 25 2007 - (813)

Tuesday September 25 2007 edition
Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. Donate Today
U.N. Secretary General Calls For 'Unprecedented Action' On Climate Change 2007-09-25 01:24:03 U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that a 15-year international effort to stem global warming has not halted the buildup of greenhouse gas emissions and that governments must take "unprecedented action" to reverse the trend. "Today, the time for doubt has passed," Ban told delegates at a U.N. conference on climate change that brought together more than 80 heads of state, former U.S. vice president Al Gore and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Ban organized Monday's meeting to build political momentum for negotiations set for December in Bali, Indonesia, on a new treaty, which is expected to impose deep cuts on emissions of heat-trapping gases by industrial powers. Ban stressed the urgency of reaching agreement on a plan of action that would replace the world's principal climate accord, the Kyoto Protocol.The agreement, which the Bush administration opposes, expires at the end of 2012. Read The Full Story Salmonella More Virulent In Space 2007-09-25 01:23:23 Food poisoning bacteria become super virulent in space, according to a study on the shuttle Atlantis. Food poisoning bacteria become super-virulent in space, according to a study of salmonella that spent 12 days orbiting the Earth on the space shuttle Atlantis. The research raises fears that diseases boosted by low gravity could pose unexpected medical problems on future long-haul space journeys or for astronauts on a proposed future moon base. It is the first study to examine the effect of space flight on the virulence of a pathogen. "Given the proposed increase in both duration and distance from Earth for future manned space flight missions - including lunar colonization and a mission to Mars - the risk for in-flight infectious diseases will be increased," said Cheryl Nickerson at Arizona State University. Her team sent vials of salmonella bacteria into orbit on Atlantis's 12-day mission in September last year. They kept bacteria from the same strain in conditions as close to the space shuttle as possible on Earth. When they fed the samples to different groups of mice they found that the bacteria that had been in space were nearly three times as likely to kill the animals. Read The Full Story At Columbia University, Ahmadinejad Parries And Puzzles 2007-09-25 01:22:18 He said that there were no homosexuals in Iran - not one - and that the Nazi slaughter of six million Jews should not be treated as fact, but theory, and therefore open to debate and more research. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, aired those and other bewildering thoughts in a two-hour verbal contest at Columbia University Monday, providing some ammunition to people who said there was no point in inviting him to speak. Yet his appearance also offered evidence of why he is widely admired in the developing world for his defiance toward Western, especially American, power. In repeated clashes with his hosts, Ahmadinejad accused the United States of supporting terrorist groups, and characterized as hypocritical American and European efforts to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “If you have created the fifth generation of atomic bombs and are testing them already, who are you to question other people who just want nuclear power,” said Ahmadinejad, adding, pointedly: “I think the politicians who are after atomic bombs, politically, they’re backwards. Retarded.” Read The Full Story Bomber Kills 16 At Iraqi Reconciliation Banquet 2007-09-25 01:21:04 A suicide bomber blew himself up on Monday at a banquet intended to be a reconciliation feast between provincial officials and former Sunni insurgents in Diyala Province, killing 16 people and wounding at least 28. Among the wounded were the provincial governor, the regional police chief and the local military commander, local police officials said. At least one former insurgent leader was killed, they said. The gathering was of the type that is a cornerstone of American plans to reconcile former insurgents with the Iraqi government and enlist their help in fighting Sunni extremist groups. The strategy has produced security gains in Sunni areas in western Iraq, and the military is trying to repeat that success in places like Diyala, a mixed area of Sunnis and Shiites north of Baghdad. The American military confirmed that American officers had attended the meeting, held at a Shiite mosque in an outlying district of Baquba, the provincial capital. It said soldiers had been attacked by a suicide bomber, but said nothing about any wounded or dead among the Americans. Read The Full Story FBI Investigating Unisys In Homeland Security, TSA Data Breach 2007-09-24 15:30:20 The FBI is investigating a major information technology firm with a $1.7 billion Department of Homeland Security  contract after it allegedly failed to detect cyber break-ins traced to a Chinese-language Web site and then tried to  cover up its deficiencies, according to congressional investigators. At the center of the probe is Unisys Corp., a company that in 2002 won a $1 billion deal to build, secure and manage the information technology networks for the Transportation Security Administration and DHS headquarters. In 2005, the company was awarded a $750 million follow-on contract. On Friday, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) called on DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner to launch his own investigation. As part of the contract, Unisys, based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, was to install network-intrusion detection devices on the unclassified computer systems for the TSA and DHS headquarters and monitor the networks. According to evidence gathered by the House Homeland Security Committee, Unisys's failure to properly install and monitor the devices meant that DHS was not aware for at least three months of cyber-intrusions that began in June 2006. Through October of that year, Thompson said, 150 DHS computers - including one in the Office of Procurement Operations, which handles contract data - were compromised by hackers, who sent an unknown quantity of information to a Chinese-language Web site that appeared to host hacking tools. Read The Full Story 73,000 UAW Members Strike Against General Motors 2007-09-24 15:29:31 The United Auto Workers called a national strike against General Motors shortly before noon Monday and thousands of workers walked off their jobs at plants around the country, even as the two sides continued to work toward a new contract. It marked the first national autoworker walkout since 1976 and comes at a critical time for a U.S. auto industry facing surging competition from foreign automakers such as Toyota, which ended GM's 76-year reign as the world's largest automaker earlier this year. "This is nothing that we wanted. Nobody wins in a strike," UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said during a news conference Monday at Solidarity Hall, the UAW's Detroit headquarters. "But there comes a time when you have to draw a line in the sand." Talks continued Monday afternoon, and it is unclear how far apart the two sides are. At stake are several issues, including job security for union workers as well as a commitment from GM to continue to build vehicles in the United States rather than seeking cheaper labor overseas. Read The Full Story FBI Report: U.S. Violent Crime Continuing To Rise 2007-09-24 15:28:35 Significant increase in homicides and robberies since 1993 continues. The number of violent crimes increased by a larger amount than expected last year, extending the first significant rise in murders and robberies in a dozen years, according to an FBI report released Monday. The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program shows that robberies surged by 7.2 percent and murders rose 1.8 percent from 2005 to 2006. Violent crime overall rose 1.9 percent, notably more than an increase of 1.3 percent estimated in a preliminary FBI report in June. The increase was the second in two years, following a 2.3 percent jump in 2005. Taken together, the two years comprise the first steady increase in violent crimes since 1993. The FBI report presents a significant political challenge for the Bush administration, which has faced growing criticism from congressional Democrats, big-city mayors and police chiefs for presiding over cuts in federal assistance to local law enforcement agencies over the last six years. Read The Full Story Dozens Of Anti-Musharraf Activists Arrested Outside Pakistan's Supreme Court 2007-09-24 15:27:01 Riot police arrested dozens of opposition activists protesting against Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, as the supreme court Monday dismissed two challenges to his bid for re-election. Opposition parties said hundreds of members have been detained since police began taking their leaders into custody on Saturday for allegedly planning to foment unrest. Officials imposed a ban on gatherings of more than five people in the capital, Islamabad. Roads leading to the Islamabad court were blocked with barbed wire. Police arrested about 30 protesters who gathered near the court shouting anti-Musharraf slogans. Article continues "The U.S. government hired a dog in uniform," protesters shouted, referring to Gen. Musharraf's alliance with the Bush administration. At the supreme court, the presiding judge, Justice Rana Bhagwandas, dismissed without explanation papers filed by a retired government official that argued the president should step down immediately. Read The Full Story	At U.N., Britain's Environment Secretary Calls On U.S. To Adopt Binding Targets On Emission Controls 2007-09-25 01:23:42 Britain's environment secretary, Hilary Benn, Monday called on the U.S. to agree to mandatory goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, warning that the alternative was dangerous climate change. Mr. Benn made his appeal at a climate change summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The summit, attended by more than 80 heads of state and government, was intended to bolster international resolve to come to an agreement in principle on a new international global warming pact in December in Bali. President George Bush was not at the meeting, but was due to attend a post-summit dinner last night. He has called his own conference of "major emitters" for Thursday this week, at which he is expected to promote his preference for a looser global accord in which nations set their own non-mandatory targets. Benn said that approach will not work. "The only way forward must involve developed countries taking on binding emissions commitments because a voluntary approach ... isn't going to do the job," he said. "And that means all of us, including the largest economy in the world, the United States - taking on binding reduction targets. It is inconceivable that dangerous climate change can be avoided without this happening." Read The Full Story NRG Energy Seeks U.S. Approval For Nuclear Reactors 2007-09-25 01:22:42 In a bid to take the lead in the race to revive the nuclear power industry, an energy company will ask the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (N.R.C.)on Tuesday for permission to build two reactors in Texas. It is the first time since the 1970s and the accident at Three Mile Island that an American power company has sought permission to start work on a new reactor to add to the existing array of operable reactors, which now number 104. The company, NRG Energy, based in Princeton, New Jersey, wants to be the first to pour concrete in the main section of the plant, allowing it to qualify for the maximum federal benefits, David Crane, its chief executive, said in a telephone interview. NRG is applying under a new process intended to avoid the extensive delays and cost overruns in the last round of nuclear construction. In the 1970s and ’80s, more than 100 of the reactor projects were canceled, some abandoned in late stages of construction, mostly because they no longer made financial sense. Read The Full Story Junta Threatens Burma's Protesting Monks 2007-09-25 01:21:51 100,000 take part in biggest demonstrations for nearly 20 years, but fears of crackdown grow. Myanmar's (formerly Burma) military rulers last night threatened to "take action' after up to 100,000 demonstrators protesting against the regime flooded the streets of Rangoon in the biggest show of dissent in almost two decades. Tens of thousands of Buddhist monks and pink-robed nuns led the marchers who snaked for nearly a mile through the former capital, one of several marches that slowed traffic to a crawl and prompted the closure of shops and schools. The monks, carrying flags and banners proclaiming the peaceful nature of the demonstration, were flanked by even greater numbers of people who joined the parade, clapping and chanting in what many described as a carnival atmosphere. The mood of elation among the ranks on the sixth straight day of marches sparked by crippling fuel price rises reflected the surprise that the generals had not crushed the anti-government movement. But in the regime's first response to the protests, the minister for religious affairs Brigadier General Thura Myint Maung was quoted on state-owned radio as saying "actions will be taken against the monks' protest marches according to the law if they cannot be stopped by religious teachings". He blamed the protests on "destructive elements who do not want to see peace, stability and progress in the country". Read The Full Story U.S. Homeland Security Dept.'s Second-In-Command Resigns 2007-09-25 01:20:27 The Homeland Security Department's second-in-command resigned Monday, citing personal financial reasons. Michael P. Jackson, the department's deputy secretary, has had a major hand in running the large department, particularly in putting the current management team in place. In an e-mail to staff Monday, said Jackson, "The simple truth, however, is that after over five years of serving with the president's team, I am compelled to depart for financial reasons that I can no longer ignore." Read The Full Story IMF Warns World Markets That Economic Turmoil Will Continue 2007-09-24 15:30:03 U.S. will bear brunt of economic slowdown. The impact from the turmoil in financial markets will continue to be felt next year with the U.S. bearing the brunt of the slowdown in economic growth, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted Monday. IMF managing director Rodrigo de Rato said that world growth should remain firm, but will be below levels seen this year and last as downside risks intensify due to the global credit crunch. The longer the crisis continues, the worse the impact will be, De Rato warned in the IMF's twice-yearly Global Financial Stability report, published Monday. "The consequences of the turmoil should not be underestimated. The implications will be significant and far reaching. Credit markets are correcting, but slowly. We aren't at a stage of normality," said De Rato. De Rato added that most countries should be able to cope with the financial conditions, which he said will have a particular impact on America next year. Read The Full Story Freak Storms, Tornadoes, Downpour Hit Britain 2007-09-24 15:28:57 Up to 11 tornadoes struck the U.K. Monday, ripping off roofs and flattening trees as widespread heavy rain led to long delays for rail commuters. Residents reported hearing howling winds hurl debris across streets Monday morning. However, the time that many of the storms struck - just after dawn - meant most people were at home and no injuries were reported. Twisters were reported in Farnborough, Luton, Nuneaton, Breaston, in Derbyshire, and Eye, in Cambridgeshire. Other freak storms in Northampton, Nottingham, Scunthorpe, Whittlesey, in Cambridgeshire, Long Eaton, in Derbyshire, and Ollerton, in Nottinghamshire, could later be confirmed as tornadoes. Read The Full Story Iraq's Prime Minister Maliki Insists Blackwater Must Pay For Shootings 2007-09-24 15:27:46 The Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, showed an unexpected streak of stubbornness Sunday in his stand-off with the U.S. over the Blackwater shootings, insisting that action had to be taken against the private security firm. In an interview with the Associated Press, Maliki, who is in New York for the United Nations general assembly, said Blackwater posed "a serious challenge to the sovereignty of Iraq and cannot be accepted". His comments were at odds with a briefing of journalists by an Iraqi official in Baghdad who said the expulsion of Blackwater, which has 1,000 staff in the country and provides protection for the U.S. ambassador and other U.S.  diplomats, would leave a security vacuum. Read The Full Story Syria Expected To Avoid Middle East Talks 2007-09-24 15:26:29 Syria is expected to rebuff an invitation from the U.S. to attend a grand Middle East peace conference later this year because it does not believes that either the Bush administration or Israel wants to reach a comprehensive regional settlement. President Bashar al-Assad has made no comment on Sunday's call by Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state. But diplomats said Sunday the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Mouallem, will decline the offer when he holds talks at the United Nations this week - unless he receives ironclad assurances that the event will be more substantial than currently appears likely. "Syria attaches more importance to the content than the formalities," said a senior official. "We have no interest in going just to have our photos taken." The conference, centered on the Palestinians and Israel, is expected to be held in the Washington, D.C., area in mid-November, but the details of the agenda and wider Arab attendance remain uncertain. 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