2003 Miscellany News Archive

MISCELLANY NEWS ARCHIVE 2003 ARCHIVES
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20031231
- - "New restrictions ban ill cattle in food supply." ... "The Agriculture Department dramatically upgraded the country's defenses against mad cow disease Tuesday, banning meat from all so-called downer cows and promising to create a nationwide animal tracking system, steps long advocated by critics." ... "These are ``very aggressive actions,'' Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Tuesday, one week after the first case of mad cow disease surfaced on U.S. soil in a Washington state Holstein slaughtered on Dec. 9." -AP via -StarTribune.com
20031230
"FedEx to expand with $2.4bn Kinko's deal." ... "FedEx is to acquire Kinko's, the print services chain, for $2.4bn in an effort to expand both its US package delivery business and its ability to serve as a "one-stop" shop for corporate customers." ... "The acquisition, expected to close in the first quarter of 2004, takes FedEx into a new line of business beyond shipping packages and supply chain management. Kinko's, 75 per cent-owned by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the New York-based private equity firm, is best known for offering photocopying and printing services at 1,200 stores." -By Betty Liu -FT.com
- "FDA Expected to Ban Herbal Weight-Loss Treatment Ephedra." ... "After years of debate, federal health officials are expected today to announce they will act to remove the herbal weight-loss treatment Ephedra from the marketplace, the first time the Food and Drug Administration has moved to ban a dietary supplement, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported." ... "Ephedra, once widely taken to enhance athletic performance and as a weight- loss aid, has been linked to heart problems and strokes and was fingered in the death earlier this year of 23-year-old Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler." -Contributions by Sarah Lueck, Anna Wilde Mathews and Stefan Fatsis -WSJ.com -DJ via -Quicken.com
- - "Prison terms for female offenders now common in U.S.." ... "Nowhere has there been more attention focused on that trend than in Oklahoma, where the incarceration rate for women is more than double the national average. The Legislature set up a task force this year to learn why. Nationally, from 1993 through 2002, while overall crime was falling, the number of women arrested rose 14.1 percent, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. In the same period, the number of men arrested fell 5.9 percent." ... "Some individual crimes show even more striking disparities. While the number of men arrested on charges of aggravated assault fell 12.3 percent in the decade, the number of women arrested on the same charge rose 24.9 percent. Drug arrests rose 34.5 percent a year for men in this period, 50 percent for women. And the number of women arrested on embezzlement charges increased 80.5 percent, actually surpassing the number of men arrested on the same charges, the only crime for which that is true." -By Fox Butterfield -NYTimes via -IHT.com
- - - - "US expands air marshal plan abroad: Foreign flights must comply if request issued." ... "The Department of Homeland Security announced yesterday that it will require all foreign air carriers to place an armed guard on any flight over United States airspace if counterterrorism officials ask them to do so." ... "The move, described as an "emergency" rules change that is effective immediately, reflects growing concern that the Al Qaeda terrorist network may try to exploit foreign carriers as a gap in US air security by hijacking their planes and flying them into populated areas or high-risk industrial sites." -By Charlie Savage -Boston/Globe
20031229
- "The Growing Web." ... "When the Pew Internet and American Life Project began chronicling the online medium in March 2000, 52 million Americans logged onto the Internet each day. By this past August, that figure had swelled 27 percent, to 66 million." -By Lisa Napoli -NYTimes via -Google-News
- - "Electronic voting firm acknowledges hacker break-in." ... "A Bellevue, Wash., company developing security technology for electronic voting suffered an embarrassing hacker break-in that executives think was tied to the rancorous debate over the safety of casting ballots online." ... "VoteHere confirmed Monday that U.S. authorities are investigating a break-in of its computers months ago, when someone roamed its internal computer network. The intruder accessed internal documents and may have copied sensitive software blueprints that the company planned eventually to disclose publicly." -By Ted Bridis -AP via -USATODAY
"Sick cow's meat may have gone to 8 states." ... "Meat from a Holstein sick with mad cow disease could have reached retail markets in eight states and one territory, but poses no health risk, Agriculture Department officials said yesterday." ... "Dr. Kenneth Petersen, an Agriculture Department veterinarian, said investigators have determined that some of the meat from the diseased dairy cow slaughtered Dec. 9 in Washington state could have gone to Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, and Guam. Earlier, officials had said most of the meat went to Washington and Oregon, with lesser amounts to California and Nevada, for distribution to consumers." -By Emily Gersema -AP via -Boston/Globe
20031223
- "U.S. Reports First Case of Mad Cow Disease." ... "The first U.S. case of the deadly mad cow disease, which devastated parts of the European agriculture industry in the 1990s, was found in a sick animal in Washington state, the Bush administration said on Tuesday." ... ""A single Holstein cow from Washington state was tested as presumptive positive for BSE or what is widely known as mad cow disease," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said at a news conference." (1, 2) -By Randy Fabi and Richard Cowan-Reuters
- - Christmas News - "Where Christmas trees will stay up until April: One Army town's bittersweet celebration." ... "The past nine months have been difficult for families of soldiers at Fort Carson, an Army post south of Colorado Springs. About 11,000 troops were deployed from Fort Carson to Iraq in April. Most aren't expected to return until spring." ... "In many homes, Christmas trees will stay up through the spring, with packages underneath for returning soldiers and their stockings full and dangling from mantles." -By Jeremy Meyer -CSMonitor
- - Anthrax News - "Judge Halts Military's Required Anthrax Shots." ... "A federal district judge ruled Monday that the Defense Department could not compel members of the armed forces to be vaccinated against anthrax without their consent." ... "The judge, Emmet G. Sullivan, issued a preliminary injunction that prohibits Pentagon officials from "inoculating service members without their consent."" ... "The judge found that the vaccine in question, intended to protect military personnel against the potentially deadly effects of inhaled anthrax, was "an investigational drug," being used for an unapproved purpose." -By Robert Pear with contributions by Thom Shanker -NYTimes via -Google-News
20031222
- - "Last Lord of the Rings film sets a box office record." ... "The final instalment of the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy sold $246m worth of tickets worldwide between Wednesday and yesterday, the highest total takings over the first five days of any motion picture." ... "The strong box office performance of The Return of the King provides a welcome boost for Time Warner, the media conglomerate that owns New Line Cinema, the film's distributor, and raises hopes that it could become only the second film after Titanic to gross more than $1bn during its run." -By Simon London -FT.com
- - "'Rings' Shows Trend Toward Global Premieres." ... "From Singapore to Stockholm to New York to Mexico City, fans lined up this weekend to see the final cinematic episode of the J. R. R. Tolkien trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," part of a growing global moviegoing phenomenon." ... "By opening in 28 countries in its first five days, "The Return of the King," made by New Line Cinema, raked in $246 million — an astonishing sum, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars — from fans eager to revisit the world of hobbits and orcs." -By Sharon Waxman -NYTimes via -Google-News
20031221
- - - Time Magazine's Person of the Year: 2003: "The American Soldier: They swept across Iraq and conquered it in 21 days. They stand guard on streets pot-holed with skepticism and rancor. They caught Saddam Hussein. They are the face of America, its might and good will, in a region unused to democracy. The U.S. G.I. is TIME's Person of the Year" ... "" -By Nancy Gibbs -Vol. 162 No. 26 20031229-20040105 -TIME.com
20031219
"US Checking to See if Flu Season Worse Than Usual." ... "U.S. health officials said on Friday they are investigating whether this year's flu epidemic, which struck earlier than usual and has killed dozens of children, is any worse than in previous years." ... "With influenza reported in all 50 states and widespread in 36, the virus has now reached its usual annual epidemic levels, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a news conference." (1, 2) -By Maggie Fox -Reuters
- - Brazil - "UN wants access to Brazil atomic enrichment plant." ... "The U.N. nuclear watchdog is negotiating with the Brazilian government to ensure that a new uranium enrichment facility due to begin operating next year is properly safeguarded, the agency said on Friday. Several Western diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Brazil was not considered a problem state and there were no concerns that it was developing nuclear weapons." ... "Brazil, which has the world's six-largest uranium reserves and the most sophisticated nuclear programme in Latin America, has said the new plant will begin enriching uranium next year to produce fuel for its atomic power plants." -By Louis Charbonneau -Reuters -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
- - - - Microsoft News - "Microsoft faces new antitrust battle." ... "A new front in the Microsoft antitrust wars was opened on Thursday as rival software maker RealNetworks accused the company of illegally trying to monopolise the market for digital media software and said it would seek damages of more than $1bn." -By Richard Waters and Scott Morrison -FT.com
20031218
- - "France to Ban Religious Symbols from Schools." ... "French President Jacques Chirac has voiced support for a law which would ban the wearing of Muslim headscarves, Christian crosses and other religious symbols in public schools." ... "Chirac's announcement came in response to a report published last week by a government commission, which proposed the ban of religious symbols in the country's state-run schools. "In all conscience, I consider that the wearing of dress or symbols which conspicuously show religious affiliation should be banned in schools," Chirac said." ... "The decision comes after months of debate on the role of religion in French society and the difficulties the nation has encountered in the integration of its five million-strong Muslim population." -DW-World.de/english
20031217
- - - Christmas News - "Christmas boxes bring Afghan mob scene." ... "Attempts by Canadians to hand out almost 2,000 Christmas gift boxes to impoverished Afghan children Wednesday turned into a melee as some of their parents beat back the young people trying to reach the presents and soldiers had to stop them." ... "A Canadian Forces truck was quickly surrounded by hundreds of children as it arrived at a hillside camp in Kabul, where internally displaced people (IDPs, as they are known by the military) live destitute lives in makeshift housing." -GlobeAndMail
- - - Consumer News - "Calpers files lawsuit against NYSE." ... "The largest U.S. public pension fund is taking the unprecedented step of suing the New York Stock Exchange, alleging the embattled exchange condoned fraudulent practices by specialist trading firms that cost investors at least $155-million (U.S.)." ... "The California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers), which has assets of $148-billion (U.S.), filed the suit in U.S. court yesterday, and is asking other investors to join it in a class action." -By Shawn McCarthy -GlobeAndMail
- - "Groups Around the Nation Re-enact the Wright Brothers' First Flight." ... "One hundred years ago, a telegram arrived in Dayton, Ohio, at the home of the Rev. Milton Wright." ... ""Success four flights thursday [sic] morning all against twenty one mile wind," it began. "longest 57 seconds inform Press home Christmas." It was signed with the misspelled name of Orville Wright." ... "It makes history's first airplane flight sound almost easy — as if the Wright Flyer had leapt into the air. But in fact, the Wrights crept forward. The first flight was only 120 feet, and the plane broke several struts when it landed." -By Ned Potter -ABCNEWS.com
- - - - - - - "EU Agrees to Share Airline Passenger Data." ... "The European Union has agreed to share information about its airline passengers with the United States, in a deal announced yesterday that ends year-long negotiations over a new U.S. law intended to fight terrorism." ... "International airlines will turn over data about their U.S.-bound passengers, such as a traveler's name, e-mail address, telephone number and credit card number to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection unit." -By Sara Kehaulani Goo -WashingtonPost
- - "US Airways pilots union wants CEO, CFO out." ... "Pilots union leaders at US Airways on Tuesday called for the removal of airline CEO David Siegel and Chief Financial Officer Neal Cohen. Management's "failed business strategies," not high labor costs, are behind the airline's continued losses since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, union leaders charged." -By Daniel Reed -USATODAY
20031216
- - Consumer News - "It's not called 'Can' Spam for nothing." ... "After six years of wrangling over legislative ways to stop spam, Congress was still faced with a fundamental choice: Give consumers control over the growing flood of unwanted spam e-mail that fills their in-boxes, or give in to the powerful advertising and marketing industries who want to be the ones filling consumer in-boxes." ... "In the end, consumers lost." ... "The Can-Spam Act, signed into law Tuesday, is being touted as relief for the millions of consumers beset with unwanted e-mail. But careful readers will notice that the law is not called the "Can't-Spam" Act. There's a good reason: The law is little more than an instructional guide for how to keep pumping out millions of e-mails per hour while avoiding legal liability." -By Ray Everett-Church -CNET/News
- - ELECTION 2004 - "Court to enter fray over energy-policy task force: Supreme Court will hear case alleging that industry leaders played a key role that must be disclosed." ... "The US Supreme Court delivered a victory to the White House Monday by agreeing to enter the long-running dispute over whether Vice President Dick Cheney must publicly disclose details about the Bush administration's energy policy task force." ... "The Supreme Court's decision to take up the case is important for both political and constitutional reasons. Even if a majority of justices rule against the White House, the Supreme Court action could help the administration keep the task force information under wraps for several more months and perhaps until after the 2004 election, analysts say." -By Warren Richey -CSMonitor
20031215
- - - - Execution News - "Analysis: Putting Saddam on trial: The Iraqi Governing Council intends to put Saddam Hussein on trial by an Iraqi court." ... "It is determined to resist calls for an international tribunal. Saddam Hussein could face the death penalty. It has been suspended by the occupation authorities but could be reinstated by an Iraqi government." ... "That in itself would be controversial. Britain, as a coalition partner, objects to execution on principle. But Iraqis may want it." ... "The British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that Iraqis would "express a strong preference" for a trial in Iraq. International law, he said, also called for a domestic trial in such cases if possible." ... "The United States is firmly behind the Iraqi desire to try Saddam Hussein themselves" -By Paul Reynolds -BBC/News
20031214
- - "Car bomb at police station in Iraq kills at least 17, police say." ... "A suspected suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside an Iraqi police station Sunday near Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding 33 others, hours before the announcement of Saddam Hussein's capture, the U.S. military said." ... "The car bombing in Khaldiyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, killed police officers, city workers and civilian bystanders, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jeff Swisher said." -By Sameer N. Yacoub -AP via -SFGate.com
20031212
- "Canada to Charge Music Royalties on MP3s." ... "The cost of an MP3 player will increase in Canada after the government's copyright agency decided Friday to charge a tax of up to $19 per unit to reimburse singers and songwriters." ... "The new levy on MP3s will use a sliding scale depending on memory size: $1.50 for units with up to 1 gigabyte, $11.25 for 1 to 10 gigabytes, and $19 for devices of more than 10 gigabytes. Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod player, for example, comes with 10, 20 or 40 gigabytes." -By Colin McClellan -AP via -WashingtonPost>TechNews
20031211
- - STEM CELL NEWS - GENETICS - "Sperm from stem cells fertilize egg: Lab-grown reproductive cells could lead to fertility treatments." ... "Mouse sperm grown from stem cells have successfully fertilized eggs. Laboratory-grown human sperm could follow." ... "The achievement follows the production of fertile eggs from stem cells earlier this year. It could lead to alternative ways to help infertile couples conceive by in vitro fertilization. Such cells could, for instance, help parents who have genetic defects to give birth to normal children." -By Helen R. Pilcher -Nature.com
- - "Annan rules out swift UN redeployment in Iraq." ... "Secretary General Kofi Annan said Wednesday that he had ruled out a swift renewal of a substantial UN presence in Iraq because of the danger there." ... ""I cannot compromise the security of our international and national staff," he said in a 26-page report to the Security Council that found the UN to be "a high-value, high-impact target for terrorist activity in Iraq for the foreseeable future."" -By Warren Hoge -NYTimes via -Google-News -IHT.com
20031210
- "Religious upsurge brings culture clash to college campuses." ... "It's a rainy Thursday night, a few days before finals, and Northwestern University's campus is deserted. But students can hear the raucous music emanating from one old stone building long before they step inside." ... "Religion on campus - particularly evangelical groups like this one - is thriving these days, but it doesn't always find an easy home in the intellectual, secular world of higher education. For instance, Campus Crusade for Christ, which sponsors the Thursday gatherings, has butted heads with the administration here over a questionnaire on religious interest that the group gives to freshmen. Other schools are dropping the college chaplaincy, seeing it as an outdated tradition." -By Amanda Paulson -CSMonitor
- - - "Man has been changing climate for 8,000 years: Agriculture may have released huge amounts of greenhouse gases into atmosphere." ... "Humans began altering the climate 8,000 years ago, long before the industrial revolution, claims a leading climate scientist¹." ... "Massive clearance and irrigation for agriculture released huge amounts greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, says William Ruddiman of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville." ... "By the time the industrial revolution got under way, we had already raised the global temperature by an average of 0.8ºC and by as much as 2 ºC at high latitudes, proposes - enough to deflect an impending ice age. Today's winters would be as much as 7 degrees cooler at high latitudes if it were not for the pre-industrial input of greenhouse gases, he says." -By Betsy Mason -Nature.com
- - - - - - - "Pentagon Bars Three Nations From Iraq Bids." ... "The Pentagon has barred French, German and Russian companies from competing for $18.6 billion in contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, saying it was acting to protect "the essential security interests of the United States."" ... "The directive, issued Friday by Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, represents the most substantive retaliation to date by the Bush administration against American allies who opposed its decision to go to war in Iraq." ... "Under the guidelines, only companies from the United States, Iraq and 61 countries designated "coalition partners" will be allowed to bid on the contracts. France, Germany and Russia are not on the list." (1, 2) -By Douglas Jehl -NYTimes via -Google-News
- - Water - "High Court Rules For Va. Over Md. In Water Dispute: Potomac Battle Dates Back Centuries." ... "The Supreme Court yesterday settled a centuries-old dispute over control of the Potomac River in favor of Virginia, ruling that Maryland has no right to regulate the commonwealth's withdrawals of drinking water from the river." ... "By a vote of 7 to 2, the justices essentially affirmed what a court-appointed special master had already decided: that although an 1877 arbitration decision affirmed Maryland's sovereignty over the entire riverbed, it also preserved Virginia's rights to extend water-intake pipes into the middle of the stream -- and Virginia had not forfeited those rights by submitting to some Maryland regulation in recent years." (1, 2) -By Charles Lane and Maria Glod with contributions by Craig Whitlock -WashingtonPost
20031209
- - "Inspired by a Movie, Brothers Win a National Science Contest." ... "In the 1999 movie "October Sky," the teenage sons of coal mine workers in rural West Virginia build rockets and improbably wind up winning a national science contest." ... "That movie inspired two brothers from Connecticut, the sons of a nuclear engineer and a special education teacher, who took top honors as a team in this year's Siemens Westinghouse Math, Science and Technology competition." -By David M. Herszenhorn -NYTimes via-Google-News
20031208
- - - "Bush Whacked Online: Search Engine Trick Lists President as ‘Miserable Failure’" ... "Type in "miserable failure" on the Google Web site and the first Web link most likely to show up will take you directly to the official online biography for the current occupant of the Oval Office. (The trick will also sometimes work on Yahoo! and other search engines.)" ... ""This is not a political statement from Google, but rather a reflection of a recent Web phenomenon," says a spokesman for Google in Mountain View, Calif. "In this case, a select group of Web masters used the words [miserable failure] to describe and link to George Bush's Web site."" ... "In other words: the president has just been the latest victim of a "Google bomb," a crafty but simple manipulation of how the well-known online search engine works." (1, 2, 3)) -By Paul Eng -ABCNEWS.com

Google Search:
<"miserable failure">
- - "Justices sympathetic to execution appeal: Criticize prosecutors in 1980 Texas trial." ... "Even conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a staunch death penalty supporter, couldn't help the lawyer for the state of Texas on Monday to defend the conduct of prosecutors during a 1980 capital murder trial." ... "In the end, it appeared to be a very good day for Delma Banks Jr., one of the country's longest-serving death row inmates and whose execution the high court halted with 10 minutes to spare earlier this year." ... "The justices will decide Banks' case by next summer." -By Patty Reinhart -HoustonChronicle.com
- - - "More women aspiring to be doctors." ... "For the first time ever, women outnumbered men among people applying to U.S. medical schools for this fall -- a milestone in the slow but steady increase in the number of aspiring female doctors." ... "Women have yet to surpass the number of men actually entering medical school. Nationwide this fall, women were closer than ever to making up the majority of new students, constituting 49.7 percent of the entering class of more than 16,500." -AP via -CNN
- - "No Exams Required: Pharmacist Nailed for Online Drug Sales." ... "Francine Haight will never forget the day she found her son Ryan, a high school senior, lifeless, in his bed." ... "It turned out that some of the drugs that killed the La Mesa, Calif., teen on Feb. 12, 2001 came from nationpharmacy.com, a Norman, Okla.-based Internet drug store owned by pharmacist Clayton Fuchs, who also ran other similar Web sites." ... "In October, a federal jury convicted Fuchs, 33, on six felony offenses including conspiracy to dispense a controlled substance, operating a continuing criminal enterprise and money laundering. Prosecuted under the Drug Kingpin Statute, he faces 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 11." (1, 2, 3) -By Greg Hunter -ABCNEWS.com
- - - - - - - "North Korea guarantee may pave way to accord." ... "The Bush administration has agreed with South Korea and Japan to a broadly worded set of principles to end North Korea's nuclear program, calling for a ``coordinated'' set of steps in which five nations would offer North Korea a security guarantee as it begins a verifiable disassembly of its nuclear facilities, according to Bush administration and Asian officials." ... "The statement is being sent to China's leaders today, the officials said, in hopes that Beijing will pass them on this week to Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader. But officials said that North Korea may judge the offer far too vague, in part because it sets no timetable for energy or economic aid to the country, and because it would require inspections of suspect facilities that have never before been opened." -By David Sanger -NYTimes via -RegisterGuard
20031207
- - - "Dirty Bomb Warheads Disappear: Stocks of Soviet-Era Arms For Sale on Black Market." ... "In the ethnic conflicts that surrounded the collapse of the Soviet Union, fighters in several countries seized upon an unlikely new weapon: a small, thin rocket known as the Alazan. Originally built for weather experiments, the Alazan rockets were packed with explosives and lobbed into cities. Military records show that at least 38 Alazan warheads were modified to carry radioactive material, effectively creating the world's first surface-to-surface dirty bomb." ... "The radioactive warheads are not known to have been used. But now, according to experts and officials, they have disappeared." ... "The last known repository was here, in a tiny separatist enclave known as Transdniester, which broke away from Moldova 12 years ago. The Transdniester Moldovan Republic is a sliver of land no bigger than Rhode Island located along Moldova's eastern border with Ukraine. Its government is recognized by no other nation. But its weapons stocks -- new, used and modified -- have attracted the attention of black-market arms dealers worldwide. And they're for sale, according to U.S. and Moldovan officials and weapons experts." (1, 2, 3) -By Joby Warrick -WashingtonPost
-Search Google:
<Moldova -[News]>
-CIA - The World Factbook -- Moldova
- - - - - "Iraq delays hand Cheney firm $1bn: ·Key contract decisions postponed again. ·Blair drawn into row over lack of 'level playing fields'." ... "Halliburton, the engineering group formerly run by US vice-president Dick Cheney, has been given $1 billion worth of reconstruction work in Iraq by the US government without having to compete for it, thanks to repeated delays in opening up a key contract to competition." ... "The cost-plus contract means the amount spent by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which is running the work, is open-ended, rather than being fixed at the outset, because the scope of the damage was unknown. The USACE described the contract as a 'bridge to competition', but original plans to award the work competitively in August have repeatedly slipped. So far, $1.7bn has been made available to Halliburton for the work." -By Oliver Morgan -Observer.co.uk via -Guardian.co.uk
20031206
- - - - - "Arizonans to visit Cuba base: McCain, Flake to inspect Guantanamo." ... "Sen. John McCain and U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake will make separate visits next week to the U.S. detention center where suspected terrorists are being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." ... "The trips by the two Republican lawmakers from Arizona come as the government, under increasing domestic and international pressure, moves toward releasing 100 or more prisoners and putting others on trial in military courts after as long as two years." -By Billy House and Jon Kamman -azcentral.com
"White House is hoping to renew space intrigue: Manned lunar and Mars trips envisioned." ... "The Bush administration is developing a new strategy for the U.S. space program that would send American astronauts back to the moon for the first time in more than 30 years, according to administration and congressional officials who said the plan also included a manned mission to Mars." ... "A lunar mission - possibly establishing a permanent base there - is the focus of high-level White House discussions on how to reinvigorate the space program following the space shuttle Columbia accident this year, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity." -By Bryan Bender -Boston/Globe via -IHT.com
- - - "Spy Satellites Used to Look for Damage on Space Station." ... "NASA has enlisted U.S. spy satellites and taken other measures to inspect the exterior of the international space station for signs of any damage that might explain a strange metallic crunching noise that was heard by the two astronauts on board in the middle of the night of Nov. 26." ... NASA has also shifted steering control of the orbiting laboratory to Russian-built thrusters while engineers study a new problem in the ailing U.S.-built gyroscope system, spaceflight officials said yesterday." -By Kathy Sawyer -WashingtonPost
- "Suicide bomber on Russian train kills 42." ... "A suspected suicide attacker set off a bomb that ripped through a crowded commuter train near the rebellious region of Chechnya in southern Russia yesterday, killing at least 42 people and injuring 170." ... "President Vladimir Putin immediately called the attack an attempt to destabilize the country before tomorrow's parliamentary elections." ... "Authorities said a man set off an explosive device packed with screws, bolts, and wire on a morning rush hour train jammed with students as it traveled through the spa town of Yessentuki on the way to nearby schools and universities." -By David Filipov -Boston/Globe
20031205
- - - "Bush Names Baker Envoy on Iraqi Debt: President Bush Names Ex-Secretary of State James A. Baker III Envoy on Addressing Iraq Debt." ... "President Bush on Friday called on a longtime family troubleshooter, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, to oversee the job of getting Iraq out from under its crushing $125 billion debt." ... "As the president's personal envoy on the issue, Baker will tackle a major problem in the rebuilding of Iraq. Iraq's debt carries annual servicing charges of $7 billion to $8 billion." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20031204
"Study Links Drinking, Brain Tissue Loss: Low to Moderate Drinking May Cause People to Lose Brain Tissue, Study Says." ... "Low to moderate drinking may cause a loss of brain tissue in middle-age people, a study found." ... "The researchers also found that such alcohol consumption does not lower the risk of a stroke contradicting findings from previous studies." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- - - - - "Guantanamo Bay Detainee Is First to Be Given a Lawyer: Move Is Sign That Australian Alleged Al Qaeda Fighter May Be Tried by Tribunal." ... "An Australian detainee at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba last night became the first prisoner there to be given a lawyer, a strong indication that he is on track to be the first alleged al Qaeda fighter in detention to go before a military tribunal, according to informed sources." ... "But a source said Muslim adventurer and former cowboy David Hicks may never be tried before one of the special military courts because the U.S. government is working on a plea bargain with him. He has been accused of associating with al Qaeda and other terrorist groups." -By John Mintz -WashingtonPost
20031203
- - - - "Bush Is Urged to Maintain Import Tariffs for Steel." ... "President Bush got a taste of the treacherous nature of trade politics on Tuesday, hearing last-ditch pleas from some of his own supporters not to proceed with plans to lift tariffs protecting the steel industry from international competition." ... "What was supposed to be a quick trip here, to a town once proudly known as Steel City, turned instead into a series of low-key but high-stakes confrontations over the prospect that Mr. Bush will soon announce a decision to cut off the tariffs, potentially hurting steel makers, their employees and suppliers in Pennsylvania and other industrial states like West Virginia and Ohio that are closely divided politically." -By Richard W. Stevenson contributions by Elizabeth Becker -NYTimes via -Google-News
20031202
- - - "Pentagon freezes Boeing contract: The US military has put an $18bn deal to buy Boeing tanker aircraft on hold." ... "The Defence Department said the deal would be frozen pending an inquiry into Boeing's links with a former Pentagon procurement official." ... "The official, Darleen Druyun, discussed a possible job with Boeing before she had disqualified herself from government service." ... "Ms Druyun was involved in the Pentagon's decision to award the tanker contract to Boeing." -BBC/News
- - "Google stops accepting ads from unlicensed pharmacies." ... "Google Inc. has stopped accepting advertisements from unlicensed pharmacies, joining other popular sites that have bowed to pressure to limit access to the drugs, such as Vicodin." ... "The crackdown on unlicensed pharmacies comes as regulators and Congress intensify their focus on third parties - Web sites, credit companies and shipping companies - that make it easier for illicit operators to sell potentially dangerous drugs." -By Michael Liedtke -AP via -Miami/Herald
20031201
- - "China Releases 3 Internet Writers, but Convicts 1 Other." ... "China released three Internet essayists who were detained a year ago for criticizing the government, including a college student in Beijing whose arrest on subversion charges had attracted international attention, a human rights group based in Hong Kong reported Sunday." -By Philip P. Pan -WashingtonPost
- - "Boeing CEO Condit resigns From Staff and wire reports." ... "Boeing (BA) Chairman and CEO Phil Condit resigned unexpectedly only days after the huge aerospace manufacturer fired two other Boeing officials for an alleged ethics breach." ... "The departure of Condit, 62, follows last week's firing of Chief Financial Officer Michael Sears for discussing job possibilities with Darleen Druyun while Druyun was still working as a top Air Force procurement official and was helping Boeing win support for a major Air Force contract." -USATODAY
- - - Free-Speech - "Texas court to rule: Can fiction be libel?" ... "Shortly after a Texas county judge had 13-year-old Christopher Beamon jailed for five days for writing a Halloween essay about the shooting of a teacher, the Dallas Observer parodied the news item with a fictional account of its own." ... "In a satirical piece, the same judge, Darlene Whitten, was portrayed jailing a 6-year-old girl for writing a book report on Maurice Sendak's children's classic "Where The Wild Things Are," said to contain "cannibalism, fanaticism, and disorderly conduct."" -By John C. Ryan -CSMonitor
20031130
- - - - "Web sites vanish so fast scientific papers just can't keep up: Disappearing links cause consternation -- it's not academic." ... "In research described in the journal Science last month, the team [dermatologist Robert Dellavalle and his co-workers] looked at footnotes from scientific articles in three major journals -- the New England Journal of Medicine, Science and Nature -- at three months, 15 months and 27 months after publication. The prevalence of inactive Internet references grew during those intervals from 3.8 percent to 10 percent to 13 percent." ... ""I think of it like the library burning in Alexandria," Dellavalle said, referring to the 48 B.C. sacking of the ancient world's greatest repository of knowledge. "We've had all these hundreds of years of stuff available by interlibrary loan, but now things just a few years old are disappearing right under our noses really quickly."" -By Rick Weiss-WashingtonPost via -SFGate.com
- - - - "Officer charged with Guantanamo security breach." ... "Col. Jackie Duane Farr is the fourth man assigned to intelligence operations at Guantanamo Bay accused of mishandling classified information." ... "Until recently, Farr was director of the intelligence collection operation in the so-called Joint Interrogations Group, said Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, a Guantanamo spokeswoman. The group has teams of interrogators and analysts who weekly question about half of the 660 prisoners being held at Camp Delta, a sprawling prison camp for captives taken in Afghanistan in the War on Terror." -By Carol Rosenberg-Miami/Herald
- - - "Battle lines are drawn in Chrysler's 'takeover' case." ... "When Kirk Kerkorian (pictured) steps into the witness box on Monday or Tuesday, the billionaire casino magnate will make an extraordinary claim: Daimler-Benz, Germany's oldest carmaker, tricked him into selling his stake in Chrysler, one of the biggest names in US automobile making, on the cheap." ... "He is seeking $1.2bn in damages, with a possibility of $3bn in punitive damages." -By James Mackintosh -FT.com
20031129
- - "Editorial: Big spenders/Bush & Co. remortgage nation." ... "Someone recently called President Bush "the mother of all big spenders." It wasn't Howard Dean or any of the other Democratic presidential candidates. It wasn't a Democratic member of Congress. It was fiscal analysts for the conservative-libertarian Cato Institute." ... "Right now the total accumulated federal debt stands at $6.9 trillion. Over the next decade, Bush's policies, if not adjusted by either raising taxes or cutting spending, or both, will almost double that debt. Goldman Sachs, a prominent Wall Street" -StarTribune
- - "USS Cole Heads Out for Overseas Deployment: USS Cole Heads Out for First Overseas Deployment Since 2000 Terrorist Bombing in Yemen Port." ... "The USS Cole and its crew of 340 pulled out of port Saturday for the destroyer's first overseas deployment since it was bombed by terrorists three years ago in Yemen's port of Aden." ... "A crowd of about 100 family members watched as the ship left the Naval Station Norfolk [Virgina] at 12:55 p.m." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20031127
- - "Bullet-riddled body that of missing exec in Colombia." ... "A bullet-riddled body found outside Bogota was positively identified Tuesday as 55-year-old Chikao Muramatsu, kidnapped in February 2001 and held by leftist guerrillas." ... "Muramatsu served as vice president of Yazaki-Ciemel Ltd., a joint venture of auto parts maker Yazaki Corp., based in Tokyo's Minato Ward." -By Satoshi Izumi -Asahi Shimbun>English
20031126
- - "Iran Faces Censure for Nuclear Cover-Ups: Iran Faces Censure for Past Nuclear Cover-Ups Under Draft Resolution at U.N. Atomic Energy Meeting." ... "Iran faces censure for past nuclear cover-ups but escapes a direct threat of sanctions under a draft resolution to be presented at a U.N. atomic energy meeting." ... "A session of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors is set Wednesday to approve the draft, which papers over the dispute between the United States and France, Germany and Britain." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20031124
- - "House Approves Antispam Bill: First nationwide antispam law expected by year's end." ... "Lawmakers are one step closer to enacting the first nationwide antispam law. The House of Representatives on Saturday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would fine spammers who violate restrictions on unsolicited commercial e-mail." ... "The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act was approved by a vote of 392-5. The move follows the U.S. Senate's approval of its version of the CAN-SPAM Act in October with a 97-0 vote." -By Rita Chang and Laura Rohde -IDG.net via -PCWorld.com
- - "Many Iraqis see little to celebrate as Ramadan ends." ... "For the first time in most of their lives, Iraqis celebrated the start of Eid al-Fitr on Monday without Saddam Hussein and under a U.S. occupation that some say is little better than the ousted dictator's rule." -By Joseph Logan -Reuters via -MSNBC
20031123
- - "Two American soldiers pummeled by Iraqi teens; third killed in bombing." ... "Iraqi teenagers dragged two bloodied U.S. soldiers from a wrecked vehicle [in Mosul] and pummeled them with concrete blocks Sunday, witnesses said, describing the killings as a burst of savagery in a city once safe for Americans." ... "Another soldier was killed by a bomb and a U.S.-allied police chief was assassinated." ... "The U.S.-led coalition also said it grounded commercial flights after the military confirmed that a missile struck a DHL cargo plane that landed Saturday at Baghdad International Airport with its wing aflame." -By Mariam Fam -AP via -Boston/Globe
20031121
- - - - - - - - "Al Qaeda’s terror style spreading: Analysts see a form of franchising at work around globe." ... "Leaders of the al Qaeda terrorist network have franchised their organization’s brand of synchronized, devastating violence to homegrown terrorist groups across the world, posing a formidable new challenge to counterterrorism forces, according to intelligence analysts and experts in the United States, Europe and the Arab world." ... "The recent attacks in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Chechnya and Iraq show that the smaller organizations, most of whose leaders were trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, have fanned out, imbued with radical ideology and the means to create or revitalize local terrorist groups. They also are expanding the horizons of groups that had focused on regional issues." -By Douglas Farah and Peter Finn with contributions from Dana Priest, Dan Eggen, and Margot Williams -WashingtonPost via -MSNBC
20031120
- - "A new push to clean up the world's slums: A recent United Nations report puts the number of urban poor at 1 billion." ... "Growing numbers of rural poor are migrating to cities around the developing world, giving aid experts a new cause for anxiety -beyond just the deplorable conditions of the burgeoning slums." ... "The concern goes like this: living in such close quarters with the urban rich exacerbates the disparities between the "haves" and the "have-nots," fueling a global explosion in crime, street violence, and extremism. The urbanization of poverty, say development experts, could become as much a world-security issue as the hunt for Osama bin Laden or weapons of mass destruction." -By Gretchen Peters -CSMonitor
20031119
- - - "NYPD to Have Access to Interpol Data." ... "The NYPD will be the first police department in the United States to plug into a Interpol database that allows access to fingerprints, passports and pictures." ... "Ronald Noble, secretary general of Interpol, the world's largest international police organization, said the heavily encrypted system, named I-24/7, will put information about suspects anywhere in the world at police officers' fingertips." -By Daryl Khan -AP via -Newsday.com
- - - - "US to review police body armor: Justice Dept. to assess reliability of material that's used in vests." ... "One day after Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer of a popular bulletproof vest, the United States Department of Justice has launched an intensive review of the reliability of police body armor, which officials say may lose strength over time and potentially put police officers' lives at risk." ... "The review will focus on vests made with the bullet-resistant material called Zylon, manufactured by the Japanese-based company Toyobo." -By Jared Stearns -Boston/Globe
- "Human testing for Ebola vaccine: Testing has begun on humans for an experimental vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus, US researchers have said." ... "The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is administering the vaccine to 27 volunteers." ... "In August, the institute said the same vaccine had worked to protect monkeys from the virus in a single shot." ... "The virus for one of the world's most lethal diseases originated in Africa and the US has expressed fears that it could be used as a biological weapon." -BBC/News
20031118
- - - - - "The Wal-Mart You Don't Know: The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way to the unemployment line?" ... "The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000 suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas." ... "Of course, U.S. companies have been moving jobs offshore for decades, long before Wal-Mart was a retailing power. But there is no question that the chain is helping accelerate the loss of American jobs to low-wage countries such as China. Wal-Mart, which in the late 1980s and early 1990s trumpeted its claim to "Buy American," has doubled its imports from China in the past five years alone, buying some $12 billion in merchandise in 2002. That's nearly 10% of all Chinese exports to the United States." -By Charles Fishman 200312Issue 77 -FastCompany.com
20031117
- Sniper - "Sniper John Muhammad guilty on all counts." ... "John Allen Muhammad faces the death penalty after being found guilty Monday of capital murder and terrorism for his role in the sniper-style shootings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area last fall." ... "The Virginia jury returned the decision after only a few hours of deliberation. Mr. Muhammad, 42, was found guilty of all four counts, including conspiracy and using a firearm in a crime." -By Oliver Moore -GlobeAndMail
- "Yahoo back in X-rated business." ... "Yahoo Inc., which removed adult products and banner ads from its U.S. Web portal in 2001 after protests by conservative groups, is back in the pornography business." ... "Yahoo isn't the only Internet company doing business with the adult industry. For example, Google features adult ads for certain searches while EBay has created an adult products category, accessible only after users enter their credit card information." -By Verne Kopytoff -SFGate.com
- - - - Civil Liberties News - "U.S. calls him a Qaeda pawn; ex-deportee calls himself a victim." ... "Maher Arar has been back from Syria for five weeks now, with his wife and two children in their simple [Canadian] apartment, earnestly pleading to all who will listen that he is an innocent casualty of the Bush administration's war on terror." ... "As Arar tells it, U.S. officials detained him on circumstantial evidence during what was supposed to be a brief stopover at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. Within days, they packed him off to Syria, where, he says, he was locked in squalor and tortured for nearly a year. Though he holds dual Canadian and Syrian citizenship, he had not lived in Syria for 16 years." -By Clifford Krauss -NYTimes via -IHT.com
20031116
"Non-melanoma skin cancers may indicate higher risk." ... "Non-melanoma skin cancer is so benign that many people don't even regard it as cancer." ... "But a growing body of evidence suggests that people who develop basal cell or squamous cell skin cancers might also have an elevated risk of more serious malignancies such as melanoma, which can spread and kill." ... "The latest research, published Monday in the journal Cancer, comes from the government-sponsored Women's Health Initiative, or WHI." -By Rita Rubin -USATODAY
- - -ELECTION 2004 - "U.S. must catch Saddam and soon, Clark says." ... "Retired general Wesley Clark warned Sunday that the failure to capture Saddam Hussein was likely to undermine any new Iraqi government. And he said it was important to capture Saddam alive so he could be tried for war crimes." -By Susan Page -USATODAY
- - "Trucks Investigated in Turkey Blasts: At Least 23 Killed, 303 Wounded in Explosions Outside 2 Synagogues." ... "Security cameras recorded two pickup trucks slowing near separate synagogues before their drivers detonated up to 800 pounds of explosives camouflaged under packages of detergent, Turkish officials said Sunday." ... "The nearly simultanelous blasts during Saturday morning prayer services killed 23 people and injured another 303." -By Molly Moore -WashingtonPost
20031115
- "Iraq to get transition government by June-council: Iraq's interim Governing Council said on Saturday a transitional sovereign government would be in place by next June and an elected government would follow by the end of 2005 after the drafting of a constitution." -Reuters via -MSNBC
20031114
- - "Guerrilla force could number 5,000." ... ""The force of people actively armed and operating against us does not exceed 5,000," [Army Gen. John] Abizaid said at a news conference at his headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla." ... ""People will say, well, that's a very small number. But when you understand that they're organized in cellular structure, that they have a brutal and determined cadre, that they know how to operate covertly, they have access to a lot of money and a lot of ammunition, you'll understand how dangerous they are."" -By Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger -NYTimes via -SeattlePI.NWsource
- "IBM's builds TV-sized supercomputer: Prototype of Blue Gene L supercomputer is capable of 2 trillion teraflops." ... "IBM Corp. has built a 512-node prototype of its Blue Gene L supercomputer that has been ranked as the 73rd most powerful computer in the world. The machine, which is capable of a peak performance of 2 trillion floating-point operations per second (teraflops), is about the size of a 30-inch TV." ... "The project's goal is to ultimately build a computer capable of a petaflop, or one thousand trillion operations per second, about 25 times as fast as the most powerful computer today, the 41-teraflop Earth Simulator supercomputer." -By Robert McMillan -IDG.net via -InfoWorld
- - - - - "New urgency, risks in ‘Iraqification’: Some fear handover could look like abandonment." ... "At least four factors forced the administration to overhaul its military and political strategy in Iraq, despite the danger that a new approach might actually diminish U.S. control over the country’s future." ... "The foremost factor is security — from an Iraqi opposition that has become more intense, more effective, more sophisticated and more extensive. The other three are the failure of the Iraqi Governing Council to act, the looming U.N. deadline of Dec. 15 for an Iraqi plan of action and the U.S. elections just a year away, according to administration and congressional officials and U.S. analysts." -By Robin Wright and Thomas E. Ricks with contributions from Mike Allen -WashingtonPost via -MSNBC
20031113
- "Scientists create a virus that reproduces." ... "It is the stuff of science fiction and bioethical debates: The creation of artificial life. Up until now, it's largely been just that." ... "But an important technical bridge towards the creation of such life was crossed Thursday when genomics pioneer Craig Venter announced that his research group created an artificial virus based on a real one in just two weeks' time." -By Elizabeth Weise -USATODAY
- - "Camera-phones must 'click' in Korea." ... "The Korean government has ruled that by next year, domestic manufacturers must ensure that mobile phones emit a loud shutter-like click or noise when the camera is activated." ... "The move comes after a spate of reports in the country of camera users violating the privacy of others, especially in areas such as changing rooms and swimming pools. The image resolution of mobile phone cameras is also increasing rapidly, adding to the problem." -ZDNet.com.au
- "New power source: wall vibrations." ... "Imagine using a computer that runs on energy generated from your building's wall and window vibrations. Masayuki Miyazaki, a senior researcher at Hitachi Co. Ltd.'s central lab in Tokyo, is trying to do just that." ... "He recently made a tiny generator that converts building movements into electricity, creating enough energy to run a temperature or light sensor once an hour. Though the output is small right now, only about 10 microwatts, scientists predict the generator's potential could be huge in coming decades - possibly used in battery-free computing systems." -By Lori Valigra -CSMonitor
- - "Dipping into books online: Is it stealing? Amazon.com says its new 'Search Inside the Book' feature has boosted sales. But authors worry that people will read just what they need and not buy the book." ... "Late last month, Amazon.com opened a whole new portal to the world of books. The cyberretailer's new "Search Inside the Book" feature makes the entire content of books available -free - to anyone with a high-speed internet connection and a credit card." ... "Now, Web surfers can unearth, read, and even print recipes, travel tips, or anything else mentioned in the 120,000 books whose publishers have let Amazon make their texts fully searchable." -By John C. Ryan -CSMonitor
20031112
- - "Experts say report shows Iran wants atom bomb." ... "Arms experts say a U.N. nuclear watchdog report on Iran supports U.S. claims that Tehran has a secret atomic weapons programme by detailing a two-decade cover-up of research possibly linked to bomb making." ... "Despite Iran's secretiveness and the array of activities possibly associated with weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded there was no evidence to date Iran had a weapons programme. Iran has always denied the charge." -By Louis Charbonneau -Reuters -Reuters.co.uk
20031111
- - - "The phone is now peeping." ... "Armed with tiny camera-mounted cellphones, among the hottest-selling products in South Korea these days, voyeurs here have secretly been taking photographs of unknowing women in public places like staircases and subways." ... "That has led to mounting public concerns as many of these photographs have spread among pornographic South Korean Internet sites." -By Samuel Len -NYTimes via -IHT.com
- - - - - "Cheney’s Long Path to War: The Hard Sell: He sifted intel. He brooded about threats. And he wanted Saddam gone. The inside story of how Vice President Cheney bought into shady assumptions and helped persuade a nation to invade Iraq." ... "Of all the president’s advisers, Cheney has consistently taken the most dire view of the terrorist threat. On Iraq, Bush was the decision maker. But more than any adviser, Cheney was the one to make the case to the president that war against Iraq was an urgent necessity. Beginning in the late summer of 2002, he persistently warned that Saddam was stocking up on chemical and biological weapons, and last March, on the eve of the invasion, he declared that “we believe that he [Saddam Hussein] has in fact reconstituted nuclear weapons.” (Cheney later said that he meant “program,” not “weapons.” He also said, a bit optimistically, “I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators.”) After seven months, investigators are still looking for that arsenal of WMD." (1, 2, 3) -By Mark Hosenball, Michael Isikoff and Evan Thomas -MSNBC 20031117 -Newsweek
20031110
- "Government allows telephone customers to transfer numbers from home to cell phones." ... "Federal regulators approved rules Monday making it easier for consumers to go totally wireless by allowing them to transfer their home number to their cell phone." ... "These rules, which come on top of plans to allow people to keep their cell number when they change wireless companies, are aimed at boosting competition in the telecommunications industry." -By Jonathan D. Salant -AP via -SFGate.com
- - "Iranian official announces temporary suspension of uranium enrichment." ... "Iran has suspended its enrichment of uranium and sent a letter to the U.N. nuclear watchdog accepting additional inspections of its nuclear facilities, a top Iranian official said Monday." ... "The protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty allows IAEA experts to perform snap inspections and otherwise extend their probe of Iranian nuclear activities that previously were off-limits." -MSNBC
20031107
- - - - "POW Lynch was raped by Iraqi captors, biography says: Soldier has no memory of attack, but book cites medical records." ... "Jessica Lynch, the U.S. Army private whose capture and subsequent rescue made her the most famous soldier of the war in Iraq, was raped by her Iraqi captors, according to a family spokesman." ... "A new authorized biography of the soldier accurately cites medical records showing Lynch was sexually assaulted, said spokesman Stephen Goodwin. He said the 20-year-old former private had no recollection of the attack. The New York Daily News obtained a copy of the book, written by Rick Bragg and titled, "I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story." The News published excerpts Thursday ahead of the scheduled Tuesday release." -By William Branigin-WashingtonPost via -SFGate.com
20031106
- - "Sony and Bertelsmann Announce Plans for Merging Music Units." ... "Bertelsmann A.G. and the Sony Corporation said today that they had signed a preliminary agreement to combine their music divisions in a joint venture, becoming the latest dance partners in an industry roundelay that reflects the turbulent economics of recorded music." ... "The nonbinding letter of intent signed by Bertelsmann of Germany and Sony of Japan envisions a 50-50 venture to be called Sony BMG. It would be the world's second-largest music company, after Vivendi's Universal Music Group, with 25 percent of the global market and a stable of stars ranging from Elvis Presley and the Dixie Chicks to the cellist Yo-Yo Ma." (1, 2) -By Mark Landler -NYTimes via -Google-News
20031105
- - - "Fox starts diplomatic mission to three Southwestern states: Mexican President Vicente Fox stresses the importance of dialogue on a migration agreement with the United States." ... "In private meetings with [Arizona] Gov. Janet Napolitano, Arizona lawmakers and mayors, Fox said he is seeking an expanded U.S. program for Mexican guest workers and legal status for the more than 3.5 million undocumented Mexican migrants who now live and work in United States." -By Richard Boudreaux-LAtimes via -Miami/Herald
- - - "Federal Judge Blocks New Abortion Law for Some Doctors." ... "A federal judge in Nebraska on Wednesday blocked a new anti-abortion law from being enforced against some doctors and their affiliates, minutes after it was signed by President Bush." ... "Citing constitutional concerns, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf issued a temporary restraining order barring U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft and the Justice Department from enforcing the new law banning so-called partial birth abortions against four doctors who practice in or are affiliated with practices in more than a dozen states."-Reuters
20031104
- "Plaque-reducing protein shows promise." ... "Taking their cue from nature, researchers have developed the first treatment shown to dramatically shrink the fatty plaques that clog arteries, a study [in JAMA] reports Wednesday." ... "The experimental drug is a synthetic version of a protein discovered in a handful of Italian villagers who had healthy arteries and lived long lives despite having low levels of good cholesterol, called HDL." -By Steve Sternberg -USATODAY

20031105 - "Effect of Recombinant ApoA-I Milano on Coronary Atherosclerosis in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndromes." -By Steven E. Nissen, MD, et al. V.290, #17 JAMA
20031102
- - "EPA to ease sewage treatment rules." ... "The Bush administration is shifting policy so cities and towns can skip a required treatment procedure for sewage they pump into rivers, lakes and coastal waters during high rains." ... "The Environmental Protection Agency plans to propose the policy change this week, and there will be 60 days for public comment before it can be finalized." -By Peter Eisler -USATODAY
20031029
- - - "Satellite knocked out by solar flare; more disruptions expected." ... "Another spectacular eruption on the surface of the Sun sent charged particles hurling toward Earth today, and scientists said the cloud could significantly disrupt communications on Earth and may even hamper firefighting efforts in California." ... "The explosion of gas and charged particles into space from the corona, the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere, isn't harmful to people. But it can knock out satellite communications, which some emergency crews are relying on in battling California's wildfires." -By Joseph B. Verrengia -AP via -StarTribune.com
20031027
"Merger to create US banking giant." ... "Bank of America today agreed to buy FleetBoston Financial in a $47bn (£27.7bn) deal that will create one of the world's biggest banking companies." ... "The second biggest bank merger in the US, after NationsBank bought BankAmerica for $57bn in 1998 to create Bank of America, the deal also marks the largest in any industry since drug giant Pfizer completed its acquisition of Pharmacia for $60bn in April." -Guardian.co.uk
20031023
- - "Senate votes unanimously for do-not-spam list: A registry would block unwanted e-mail solicitation." ... "The Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to · build on the new do-not- call registry's success by adopting a plan for a national do-not-spam list to block the tidal wave of e-mail solicitations for everything from get-rich schemes to pornography that threatens to engulf the Internet." ... "But the effort faces an uncertain future in the House and the marketing industry pledged to fight the creation of an anti-spam registry -- even if it is technically feasible." -By Edward Epstein -SFGate.com
- - "Google considers online auction of IPO shares." ... "Google is considering holding a massive online auction of shares early next year in an initial public offering that investment bankers predict could value the internet search-engine company at more than $15bn." ... "An electronic auction would be designed to prevent a recurrence of the sort of financial scandals that have engulfed Wall Street since the collapse of the dotcom bubble, according to a person close to the company." ... "It could also slash the underwriting fees paid to investment banks, the person added, and in the process help to break Wall Street's hold on the lucrative IPO business." -By Richard Waters -FT.com
- "Patients given artificial blood: Doctors have for the first time successfully used artificial blood to treat patients." ... "The product is a powder which can be stored for years, say scientists at Stockholm's Karolinska Hospital." ... "It is made from donated supplies of real blood, which normally has a shelf-life of just 42 days." ... "The powder can then be mixed into liquid form when needed, and used immediately regardless of the patient's blood type."-BBC/News
- - "Attacks on Troops on Rise, Commander Says." ... "Attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq have increased sharply over the past two weeks, reaching a high of 35 a day, the commanding American general here said on Wednesday." ... "Over much of the summer, military officials had said there were between 10 and 15 attacks on U.S. soldiers most days. Since early October, however, the number of daily attacks has fluctuated between 20 and 35, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said at a news conference." ... "A summary provided by the U.S. military to private contractors working in Iraq listed 30 so-called security incidents on Tuesday, including two mortar strikes on American bases, nine attacks with roadside bombs and several drive-by shootings." -By Rajiv Chandrasekaran with contributions from Anthony Shadid -WashingtonPost
20031020
Osama bin Laden - "CIA says bin Laden tape probably authentic." ... "A CIA technical analysis has determined that the latest audio tape broadcast over the weekend is probably the voice of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden recorded during the past six months, a CIA spokesman says."-Reuters
20031019
- - - "Targets of File-Sharing Lawsuits Warned: Recording Industry Sends Out Warnings Before Next Wave of Lawsuits Over Illegal File Sharing." ... "The record industry's trade group has warned 204 people suspected of illegally swapping music over the Internet that it plans to file lawsuits against them." ... "The letters give the recipients 10 days to contact the RIAA to discuss a settlement and avoid a formal lawsuit. The RIAA declined to identify the individuals, but said they were sharing an average of more than 1,000 songs on their computers." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20031010
- - "A Young Hacker Buys Options, Borrowing an Investor's Identity." ... "A Pennsylvania youth has been accused of a complex scheme to unload worthless stock options by hacking into another investment account and using it to buy the securities from him." ... "According to court filings yesterday by the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors in Boston, Van Dinh, 19, a college student, used a singular blend of computer crime, securities fraud and identity theft to dump stock options in Cisco Systems last July, about a week before they were scheduled to expire and cost Mr. Dinh as much as $100,000." -By John Schwartz -NYTimes via -Google-News
20031009
- - - - - "Evicted Diego Garcia Residents Lose Case." ... "Hundreds of people who were evicted from an Indian Ocean island chain 30 years ago to make way for a U.S. military base have no right to return home or get compensation, a British judge ruled Thursday." ... "Still, Judge Duncan Ouseley at London's High Court said he was ``acutely conscious'' of the position of at least some of the claimants from the Chagos Islands. They were removed from the British territory between 1967 and 1973 to make way for the U.S. base on the island of Diego Garcia." ... "``It does appear that, in the absence of unexpectedly compelling evidence to the contrary, at least some claimant Chagossians could show that they were treated shamefully by successive U.K. governments,'' he said. " -By Michael McDonough -Guardian.co.uk
Judge's decision
- - "UN nuclear agency warns Iran 'time is running out'." ... "The chief United Nations nuclear inspector on Thursday called on Iran to accelerate its co-operation with his agency. He warned that time was running out for Tehran to comply with an end of October deadline and provide full transparency to allay international concerns over its nuclear programme." ... "Tehran insists its nuclear programme is aimed at peaceful energy production, but the US maintains it is a front for developing nuclear weapons." -By Roula Khalaf -FT.com
- "Lots in space: Orbiting junk, from old satellites to space gloves, has scientists worried for spacecraft - and engineers working on ways to clean it up." ... "If you want to get rid of an old fridge or an obsolete TV, you could call for curbside pickup. But an obsolete satellite? Or a spent rocket?" ... "Increasingly, the space about Earth is getting cluttered with such junk. And it's not just messy, it's dangerous. Full-size rocket bodies can destroy. Even smaller pieces - such as a 1965 space glove that zipped around for a month at 17,000 miles per hour - amount to more than a smack in the face. They can puncture space suits and cripple satellites." -By Peter N. Spotts -CSMonitor
20031008
- - - - Tucson News - "Limits of disability act tested: The high court considers Wednesday whether a former addict should be afforded employment protections." ... "Would a company that refuses to rehire somebody who says he's overcome his drug and alcohol addiction be guilty of violating the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)?" ... "That is the question the US Supreme Court takes up Wednesday in an Arizona case with major implications for companies with zero-tolerance hiring and firing policies." ... "The case stems from a lawsuit filed by Joel Hernandez, a 25-year employee of the Hughes Missile Systems Company in Tucson." -By Warren Richey -CSMonitor
20031007
- - "Bush Unsure if Name Leaker Will Be Caught: Bush Expresses Doubt That Leaker of CIA Official's Name Will Be Caught." ... "Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, urged some 2,000 White House employees to turn over any relevant documents by Tuesday night. White House lawyers will screen the materials and decide which ones to send to the Justice Department as part of a criminal inquiry into the leak, Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said." ... "Investigators are trying to determine who leaked to columnist Robert Novak and two Newsday journalists the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operations officer who has served overseas. She is married to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who publicly accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence to exaggerate the threat from Iraq." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Appeals Court OKs Do Not Call Registry: Federal Appeals Court OKs Do Not Call Registry Pending Court Challenge." ... "The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham's order barring the FTC from enforcing the law." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- - - "ITV merger gets go-ahead: Granada and Carlton can keep their advertising sales divisions." ... "The £4bn merger between Granada and Carlton TV, effectively creating a single ITV company, has been given the go-ahead by the government." ... "The merged ITV will control more than half of the commercial TV advertising market, but will have to sell airtime at guaranteed price levels to allay advertisers' fears that an ITV giant that controls 11 of the 15 regional companies would fix prices." ... "Creating a single ITV across England and Wales is a landmark in the 48-year history of the network, and will allow it to take on the BBC and commercial rivals such as BSkyB." -By Chris Tryhorn -Guardian.co.uk/media
20030905
- - - - "Panel Fires Shot Across FCC's Bow: Stevens Amendment Maintains Cap on TV Networks' Size." ... "The Senate Appropriations Committee dealt another potential setback to the Federal Communications Commission's new media ownership rules yesterday, adding an amendment to a spending bill that would prevent the agency from raising its cap on the size of large broadcast television networks." ... "The Senate action follows similar action by the House in July, in defiance of a threatened presidential veto. It comes one day after a federal appeals court issued an emergency stay preventing the new rules from taking effect until the court hears briefings and conducts a review of the rules' merits." -By Frank Ahrens -WashingtonPost
20030902
"Socioeconomic class affects IQs, study finds." ... "Now a groundbreaking study of the interaction among genes, environment and IQ finds that the influence of genes on intelligence is dependent on class. Genes do explain the majority of IQ differences among children in wealthier families, the new work shows. But environmental factors -- not genetic deficits -- explain IQ differences among poor minorities." ... "The work, to be published in the November issue of Psychological Science, is part of a new wave of research that embraces a more dynamic view of the relationship between genes and environment." -WashingtonPost via -StarTribune.com
20030901
- - "EPA lifts ban on selling PCB sites." ... "The Bush administration has ended a 25-year-old ban on the sale of land polluted with PCBs. The ban was intended to prevent hundreds of polluted sites from being redeveloped in ways that spread the toxin or raise public health risks." ... "The Environmental Protection Agency decided the ban was "an unnecessary barrier to redevelopment (and) may actually delay the clean-up of contaminated properties," according to an internal memo issued last month to advise agency staff of the change." -By Peter Eisler -USATODAY
20030812
- WEST NILE VIRUS - "West Nile found in Arizona mosquito: The virus is found in one pest in Cochise County near San Simon." ... "A single mosquito sample in Cochise County tested positive for West Nile virus, the first sign that the disease has entered Arizona, officials said yesterday." ... "Arizona was one of four states to emerge unscathed from the disease last year. Until this summer, no signs of the virus were ever detected in humans or animals." ... "The specimen came from the San Simon area near the Arizona-New Mexico border." ... "Only a small number of mosquitoes typically carry the virus. So a positive test doesn't indicate a certain likelihood for contracting West Nile, said state epidemiologist Dr. Bob England." -TucsonCitizen.com
- - Microsoft News - "Microsoft Vows To Crush The Mouse That Roared." ... "A federal jury ruled that Microsoft should pay tiny Eolas Technologies and the University of California $521 million for infringing on their patent for sending software applications over the Internet. But Microsoft, as is its habit, insists that the jury verdict is not the end of the story but the beginning, that it did nothing wrong and even if it did that the remedy is out of whack with the wrong. This is what Microsoft often says after losing a trial and before the inevitable appeals." -By Dan Ackman -Forbes
- - - "To Fox, 'Fair and Balanced' Doesn't Describe Al Franken." ... "In the dry corner of business law called trademark litigation, Fox v. Franken is an unusually lively document. Along with mundane accusations of unfair competition, the lawsuit includes some especially derisive remarks about the defendant, Al Franken, the political satirist." ... "The court papers were filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan and became public yesterday. In the lawsuit, a judge is being asked to decide an important question: who has the right to use the word "fair" and the word "balanced" together, connected by the word "and"?" ... "Lawyers for Fox News Network, part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, News Corporation, contend that Mr. Franken should not be allowed to use those words in the title of his new book due in stores next month, "Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" (Penguin)." -By Susan Saulny -NYTimes via -Google-News
- - - "Fox Sues Humor Writer for Using 'Signature' Slogan." ... "Fox News Network is suing humor writer Al Franken for trademark infringement over the phrase "fair and balanced" on the cover of his upcoming book, saying it has been "a signature slogan" of the network since 1996."-Reuters
20030811
- - - - "Get Your #@%!$ Paws Off My PDA!" ... "Traveling tech aficionados are agitated, even outraged, that airport security workers will be pawing through their belongings to more carefully scrutinize electronic devices." ... "Portable computers, cameras, PDAs, MP3 players and other gear are now subject to increased security checks at airports, in response to government warnings on Tuesday that terrorists may be planning to conceal weapons or bombs in electronic devices." -By Michelle Delio -Wired
- - "Racial initiative ignites medical worries: Researchers fear Prop. 54 will hinder collection of data." ... "Researchers are sounding alarms over the potential health effects of Proposition 54 -- the initiative to ban state government from collecting racial or ethnic data -- fearing it will jeopardize efforts to pinpoint cancer hot spots, keep tabs on disease outbreaks and fashion effective health messages." ... "Initiative backers say that opponents are using scare tactics and that they have no intention of interfering with legitimate health research -- including epidemiological studies and health surveys." -By Ulysses Torassa -SFGate.com
20030810
- - - "London Temps Hit 100 for First Time As Heat Wave Slogs On; Wildfires Rage in Seven Countries." ... "In more arid regions, wildfires have blackened forests in Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Croatia and the Netherlands." ... "Three separate fires were blazing in Portugal on Sunday, with the worst in the southern region of Algarve. Pinus Verde, an association of forest-product producers, analyzed satellite images from NASA to calculate forestland destroyed in two weeks of blazes: 741,316 acres, according to daily Publico." ... "Britons also gasped through a record-breaking day, watching thermometers climb above the 100 for the first time in Britain since temperatures have been recorded." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20030809
- - "Our Mission In Liberia." ... "The past weeks of waffling in Washington over what role, if any, U.S. forces would play in bringing peace to Liberia has sorely eroded America's credibility in West Africa, a region that is supplying an increasing amount of oil to the United States. Besides calling for Taylor to leave the country and helicoptering in approximately a half-dozen Marines, President Bush has failed to adequately handle a humanitarian crisis in which timely and decisive American action could have saved countless lives." ... "The establishment of a humanitarian corridor in Monrovia and the funneling of aid supplies and staff to the city will not, by itself, dispel the overwhelming sense among Liberians that they were abandoned by the United States and left to die. Only visible and concerted U.S. leadership on the ground in Liberia can change the perception among the people of West Africa and the rest of the world that the indiscriminate shelling and shooting of civilians was not deemed in America's national interest to stop." -By Raymond C. Offenheiser and Kenneth H. Bacon -WashingtonPost
- "Anglican leader moves to halt split: Church's top clerics will meet to discuss gay bishop in U.S.." ... "The archbishop of Canterbury [Rowan Williams], spiritual leader of the world's 79 million Anglican Christians, said on Friday that he would convene an extraordinary meeting of church leaders here in October to avert a schism over the confirmation of the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church [Rev. Gene Robinson] in the United States." ... "His office declined to elaborate on the precise agenda for the meeting, which immediately drew sharp criticism from both supporters and critics of homosexual priests, underscoring the broader, emotional debate threatening a church spread across 164 countries from Africa and elsewhere to the United States." -By Alan Cowell -NYTimes with the -WashingtonPost via -SFGate.com
20030807
WEST NILE VIRUS - "West Nile virus cases triple in one week." ... "Cases of West Nile virus tripled in the past week and are well ahead of last year's pace, federal health officials said Thursday. Armed with the most recent data, they warned that the worst might be ahead." ... "Health experts urged Americans to take steps to protect themselves and head off an epidemic." -By Anita Manning -USATODAY
- - OPINION - "Is sin in? Centuries after the seven deadly sins [gluttony, anger, pride, envy, sloth, lust, and greed] became the ultimate measure of moral depravity, a new series of essays asks if they are still relevant." ... "The list that Pope Gregory I refined was first arrived at by a 4th-century monk named Evagrius of Pontus. He choose eight: gluttony, lust, avarice (greed), sadness, anger, acedia (spiritual sloth), vainglory, and pride. Gregory I added envy, and merged vainglory with pride and acedia with sadness (which eventually became sloth)." -By Kim Campbell -CSMonitor
20030806
- - - "Indonesia hotel was known target: Australian FM warns of more terror attacks in coming days." ... "Police on Wednesday said they seized documents last month showing terrorists had planned to target the area around Jakarta’s Marriott Hotel, where a powerful car bomb killed 10 people and injured nearly 150 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Australia’s foreign minister said his government had acquired intelligence indicating there could be further attacks in Indonesia in the coming days." ... "Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for last year’s deadly nightclub bombing in Bali, allegedly claimed responsibility for the hotel bombing in remarks published by Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper." -Ned Colt, Jim Miklaszewski, and Tammy Kupperman with the -AP and -Reuters via -MS-NBC
20030805
- "Deadly Blast: Bomb Rocks Marriott Hotel in Downtown Jakarta, Killing at Least 13." ... "A powerful car bomb exploded outside the Marriott hotel in downtown Jakarta today, killing at least 13 people and wounding nearly 149 in what an official said was likely a suicide attack. A Dutch citizen was reportedly among the dead and two Americans were believed hurt." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20030723
- - - "Free Suu Kyi now." ... "Burma's military junta is refusing to free Aung San Suu Kyi, the popular politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner ambushed and arrested by the regime's thugs at the end of May. Outraged western governments are threatening sanctions. Asian leaders say sanctions might backfire; they want discreet talks with Burma's generals and some even want Burma included in future Asia-Europe meetings." ... "So far, so normal. Fortunately, there is a chance of a diplomatic denouement very different from the usual slanging match between east and west." ... "One reason for optimism is that not all Asian countries are playing their usual roles. Japan has suspended new aid for Burma following the latest arrest of Ms Suu Kyi. Malaysia, more surprisingly, has also lost patience with the regime in Rangoon." -FT.com
20030722
- - "Back to Kashmir: Tourists Return to Himalayan Jewel, But Signs of War Linger." ... "For the first time since an Islamic insurgency erupted here in 1989, thousands of Indian tourists — encouraged by recent peace overtures between India and Pakistan — are leaving the sweltering summer plains to enjoy vacations in this picture-perfect place." -By Mujtaba Ali Ahmad -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20030719
- - "Weapons expert had slashed wrist: Police have confirmed that the expert at the centre of the Iraq dossier row bled to death from a slit wrist, as Tony Blair comes under increasing pressure over the affair." ... "Dr David Kelly, 59, was the suspected mole behind a BBC report that Downing Street communications director Alastair Campbell "sexed up" a dossier setting out the case for war." ... "Dr Kelly disappeared two days after being grilled by the Commons foreign affairs select committee as part of its inquiry into the use of intelligence in the run-up to the war in Iraq."-BBC/News
20030716
- "Fall Creek [Oregon] wildfire hits 1,200 acres, growing." ... "Word spread through the command center late Tuesday afternoon that crews battling the stubborn Clark Fire in rugged terrain along Fall Creek were no longer in danger of getting skunked." ... "After two full days of scratching fire lines through steep ravines and running an endless parade of helicopter water drops on the hottest flare-ups, firefighters made it onto the command center's scoreboard - the 1,200-acre blaze was 5 percent contained." ... ""They're trying to establish a line on the south end, just to give us a little bit of a foothold," said Nancy Lee Wilson, fire behavior analyst for the interagency command team." -By Joe Mosley -RegisterGuard
- - - - "Trust Betrayed? School Security Tapes of Kids Undressing Viewed on Net, Suit Says." ... "A Tennessee school district where security cameras were installed in a middle school's locker rooms is accused of allowing images of children changing their clothes to be viewed over the Internet." ... "The parents of 17 children, ages 10 to 12, have filed lawsuits in federal and state courts against the Overton County School Board and Edutech Inc., the company that installed the cameras in the district's Livingston Middle School. The suits seek more than $4 million in damages." -By Dean Schabner -ABCNEWS.com
- "Thousands flee Arizona wildfire." ... "The governor [Janet Napolitano] declared a state of emergency in two counties as a forest fire swept across an Indian reservation, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes as a precaution. Elsewhere in the Southwest, Mesa      Verde National Park in Colorado was closed to visitors for the second time in two years because of wildfires." ... "As many as 5,000 people had fled their homes in Whiteriver [Arizona], headquarters of the White Mountain Apache Tribe, and other communities on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. On Wednesday, the [Kinishba] fire was just two miles west of Whiteriver, threatening 700 homes." -AP via -MSNBC
20030715
- - - "Fellowship of the online gamers." ... "In such fantasy worlds, players who've never met in person form tight allegiances - and the ties are based on tests of individual character, not gender, class, or race. While critics decry the violence in many of these games, or worry about the social maladjustment of adolescents who spend hour upon hour playing them, the popularity seems rooted in the fellowship of the players, not in the virtual mayhem and carnage. In fact, even as video games become less violent and more interactive, more and more players are logging on." ... "This contradicts the widely held belief that violent onscreen images are what draw kids to video games." -By Elizabeth Armstrong -CSMonitor
20030711
- - - "CIA approved Bush remarks on Iraq: State of Union speech referring to nuclear weapons claim was cleared." ... "Amid increasing criticism and doubts cast on U.S. intelligence that led to the war against Iraq, the Bush administration Friday continued its defense of President Bush’s case for ousting Saddam Hussein. U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said the CIA had cleared Bush’s January State of the Union speech in its entirety, including a sentence — now labeled false — alleging Iraq was looking to buy uranium from Africa." ... "If CIA Director George Tenet had any misgivings about that sentence in the president’s speech, “he did not make them known” to Bush or his staff, said Rice." -Contributed to by David Gregory and -AP via -MSNBC
20030709
- - - "White House downplays role of faulty report." ... "The Bush administration defended on Wednesday its decision to go to war against Iraq and downplayed the role of discredited intelligence in the decision." ... "At a Washington news conference hosted by the Arms Control Association, a former senior official in the State Department's intelligence bureau said the problem was not bad information but the tendency of policymakers to exaggerate intelligence on Iraq." ... ""The administration has had a faith-based intelligence attitude: 'We know the answers, give us the intelligence to support those answers,' " said Greg Thielmann, who resigned last September as chief arms proliferation analyst." -By John Diamond -USATODAY
- - - "Bush Defends Iraq War as Nuclear Claims Called Wrong (Update1)." ... "In the United States, Joseph Wilson, the man sent by the Central Intelligence Agency to Niger to investigate the report of Iraq's effort to buy uranium, said the administration knew the information was wrong before Bush's speech." ... ""That information was erroneous and they knew about it well ahead'' of the president's Jan. 28 address, Wilson said." ... ""Either the administration has some information that it has not shared with the public or, yes, they were using the selective use of facts and intelligence to bolster a decision in a case that had already been made -- a decision that had been made to go to war,'' Wilson told NBC's ``Meet the Press'' on Sunday. He made similar comments on other news shows and in a New York Times op-ed article." -Bloomberg
- - - "White House Issues Retraction of Allegations in Bush State of the Union Address." ... "The White House has issued a rare retraction of allegations from the president's January State of the Union Address. Officials say President Bush's accusation that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium in Africa, was based on what turned out to be a forged document." ... "Making his case against Saddam Hussein six months ago, President Bush said British intelligence reported that the then-Iraqi leader had tried to buy significant quantities of uranium from Niger." ... "The United Nations later concluded that those documents were forgeries and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer now admits that the information should not have been included in the State of the Union." -By Scott Stearns -VOANews.com
- - - - "Bush touches down in Africa, denounces American slavery." ... "President Bush opened his five-day African trip Tuesday with a forceful denunciation of America's slave-holding past and a pledge to      work more closely with African nations to help them build a prosperous and peaceful future." ... "After meeting with the West African leaders and his host for the day, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Bush rode Wade's presidential yacht across Dakar's harbor to Goree Island, the westernmost tip in Africa and the point of embarkation centuries ago for at least 1 million slaves." ... ""At this place, liberty and life were stolen and sold," the president said. "One of the largest migrations of history was also one of the greatest crimes of the century."" ... "Bush condemned slavery in strikingly religious terms. "For 250 years, the captives endured an assault on their culture and their dignity," he said. "The spirit of Africans in America did not break. Yet the spirit of their captors was corrupted. . . . Christian men and women became blind to the clearest commands of their faith and added hypocrisy to injustice. A republic founded on equality for all became a prison for millions."" -By Richard W. Stevenson -NYTimes with contributions by the -WashingtonPost via -StarTribune.com
20030708
- - - "CIA Calls Hussein Recording Authentic." ... "The Central Intelligence Agency said yesterday that a taped message broadcast Friday from Saddam Hussein appears to be authentic, the most definitive indication that the former Iraqi president survived the war and is seeking to rally opposition to the U.S. occupation." ... "As anti-American attacks grow in number and sophistication, inflicting additional U.S. casualties daily, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is reviewing whether troops are needed beyond the 146,000 in Iraq and 63,000 in neighboring Kuwait or whether U.S. forces can safely be reduced." ... "Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is urging President Bush to at least keep total U.S. and international troop levels near the current number until the danger has passed and Iraq is stable, according to U.S. officials familiar with Powell's thinking. They added that his preference is to recruit more forces from foreign countries." -By Thomas E. Ricks and Walter Pincus with contributions by Peter Slevin -WashingtonPost
20030707
- - - "British Panel Clears Blair of Charges of Doctoring Iraq Data." ... "A House of Commons committee cleared the government today of charges that it doctored evidence of Iraqi weapons, but the committee criticized the government's handling of intelligence findings, saying it resulted in Prime Minister Tony Blair's unknowingly misinforming Parliament." ... "The committee is one of two parliamentary panels looking into allegations that the government may have exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq before the war. The other, an intelligence panel, will take its testimony behind closed doors and submit its report to the prime minister for revisions before making it public." -NYTimes via -Google-News
- - - "Iraq weapons claims criticised: Claims about Iraq's weapons were given too much weight by the government, MPs have ruled - but they have cleared media chief Alastair Campbell of "sexing up" intelligence." ... "The all-party foreign affairs committee says a suggestion that Iraq could deploy chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes should not have been given such prominence by the government." ... "But in their 54-page verdict on how ministers made the case for war in Iraq, the MPs - in a split decision - say Mr Campbell did not make changes to a dossier on Iraq's weapons, as alleged in a BBC report." ... "In another finding upon which the committee were divided, the report says ministers did not mislead parliament over Iraq's weapons."-BBC/News
- - Civil Liberties News - "Unpopular Hong Kong Bill Derailed After Huge Protests." ... "In a stunning victory for this city's pro-democracy opposition, Hong Kong's leader retreated in the face of huge street protests and agreed early today to delay an internal security bill that critics said threatened civil liberties in the only corner of China where residents are free to challenge the country's Communist government." ... "The surprise reversal by the city's chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, was announced shortly after 2 a.m., following statements from Beijing urging Hong Kong officials to pass the measure as scheduled. Tung himself had promised as recently as Saturday to bring the bill to a vote this week despite the public outcry, which included a demonstration last Tuesday that attracted about a half-million people." -By Philip P. Pan -WashingtonPost
- Tucson News - "Firefighters take to hills above Tucson." ... "Officials urged residents and guests of a desert resort to evacuate an exclusive enclave on the city's northern fringe Sunday after a wildfire sped downhill, surprising firefighters and threatening about 200 homes." ... "The area, called Ventana Canyon, is a high desert enclave in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. It includes upscale homes and the 400-room Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, said George Heaney, a bureau chief with the Pima County Sheriff's Department." -AP via -CNN
20030706
- - - "Blair furious at BBC's attack on integrity." ... "Both Downing Street and the BBC were standing firm over their interpretation of the Radio 4 Today programme story by defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan on May 29, which alleged that intelligence officials were unhappy about the September 2002 dossier." ... "Downing Street insisted it had been accused of lying in Mr Gilligan's report by deliberately inserting information that Saddam Hussein could launch a biological or chemical weapons strike within 45 minutes." -FT.com
- - "Lies and half truths on Iraqi streets complicate America's mission." ... "Lies and half-truths -- readily believed by a nation of people who learned long ago to be skeptical of rulers' motives -- are complicating America's mission in Iraq, fueling anti-U.S. sentiment as troops struggle to quell a growing uprising." ... "When a newspaper reported that American night vision equipment can be used to see through women's clothing, U.S. civil affairs troops visited the editors personally to let them look through the goggles." ... "Despite these efforts, Iraqis, who grew up on a steady diet of anti-American rhetoric, are being bombarded by a fresh wave of disinformation, much of it coming from an explosion of new newspapers. The country now has about 150 newspapers, up from 14 before the war." -By Steven Gutkin -AP via -SFGate.com
- "Last 'Adieu' to French as World Language?" ... "It was meant as a jibe, but when a U.S. senator recently branded French a "near forgotten" language he hit Gallic sensitivities right where they hurt most." ... "Yet instead of outraged denials, the remark has triggered soul-searching among French intellectuals who not only concede English's pre-eminence as world "lingua franca" but fear French is being shoved off the international scene altogether." ... "For a country which in the past has proclaimed its tongue the language of love, global diplomacy and the universal rights of man, that would be bad news." -By Mark John-Reuters
- "New Wildfire Erupts In Arizona." ... "Crews battled a wildfire Sunday in a ponderosa pine forest in central Arizona where residents were urged to evacuate about 100 homes, while a 2½-week-old mountaintop blaze in the southern part of the state destroyed six cabins." ... "The latest fire erupted late Saturday about eight miles south of Prescott near Walker, a community of cabins and houses in the Prescott National Forest, said forest spokesman Steve Sams." -AP via -CBSNews
- - - "Turmoil in Liberia [CNN Fact Sheet]." ... "Violence and tension has gripped Liberia since Samuel Doe seized power in a 1980 coup that left President William Tolbert dead. Doe, an ethnic Krahn, was the country's first leader not descended from the freed American and West Indian slaves who founded the West African country in the early 19th century. He ruled as a dictator, and the election he won in 1985 was widely regarded as rigged." ... "In 1989, Charles Taylor -- once a member of the Doe government and a descendant of the freed slave ruling class -- led a revolt that resulted in Doe's execution and triggered a civil war involving several factions that blighted Liberia for seven years. An estimated 200,000 people died before a shaky peace agreement was mediated in 1996. Taylor's faction emerged from the fighting as a dominant force, and when special elections were held in 1997, he and his National Patriotic Party won an overwhelming victory." -CNN / Fact Sheets
20030705
- Road Map Peace Plan - "In defiance, settlers build more outposts." ... "Israel's religious Zionists, who are responsible for most settlement activity in the occupied territories where Palestinians hope to have a state of their own, are erecting new, illegal outposts faster than their government can tear them down in an effort to block compliance with a commitment Israel made to the United States and the Palestinian Authority under the ''road map'' for peace." ... "Peace Now, an Israeli group that monitors settlement activity, says that so far Israel has demolished eight of the 62 outposts Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged to take down when he met last month in Aqaba, Jordan, with his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, and President Bush to launch the peace plan." ... "But 10 new outposts have been created, said Peace Now secretary general Yariv Oppenheimer." -By Charles A. Radin -Boston/Globe
20030704
- - "Scientists Enhance Ability to Feel: Method Might Restore Sensory Function in Elderly, Improve It in Young." ... "The enhanced sensitivity, achieved with a tiny stimulating device and a single dose of a drug, has reversed fingertip numbness in older people, many of whom have trouble performing everyday tasks such as buttoning shirts or turning switches on and off. Researchers said they suspect it could also help blind people read Braille. And applying the technique to the feet might prevent falls in diabetics who have lost sensation in their toes, which are crucial for balance.": ... "The ability to boost sensory sensitivity, scientists said, could even allow people with normal function to achieve bionic supersensitivity -- for work or recreational purposes -- enhancing the senses of taste or smell or adding to the tactile pleasure of a romantic caress." -By Rick Weiss -WashingtonPost
- Tucson News - "Wildfire Spreads in Ariz.; Trees Thinned." ... "The fire pushed toward the foothills of the Catalina Mountains, coming within about three miles of the visitor center of Sabino Canyon, a popular recreation area. Heavy smoke forced the canyon's closure Wednesday, and fire officials were asking residents of about 50 upscale homes in the area to evacuate." -AP via -Guardian.co.uk
20030703
- - - - - "U.S. sanctions Chinese company for sales to Iran." ... "The United States has imposed sanctions on one Chinese company and extended sanctions on five companies from China and North Korea for sensitive arms sales to Iran, the State Department said on Thursday." -Reuters via -MSNBC
20030701
- - "'Road map' for Mideast peace leads nowhere." ... "Successful negotiations are impossible when one side won't recognize the other's right to exist." ... "The new peace process, just like its predecessors, is premised on the notion that Israelis and Palestinians need to make mutual concessions to end their war: The Israelis need to give up the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the Palestinians need to stop terrorism. The problem is that most Israelis are willing to meet their obligations, but most Palestinians aren't." ... "... while some radical groups may make a show of a temporary cease-fire, they remain committed to a strategy of annihilating the "Zionist invaders." Hamas' charter still states: "There is no solution to the Palestinian question except through jihad."" -By Max Boot -USATODAY
20030630
- - "Court: Anonymous P2P no defense: Operators of peer-to-peer networks cannot escape copyright infringement claims by giving their members the ability to mask the content that changes hands on their networks, a federal appeals court ruled Monday." ... "Calling the tactic a form of "willful blindness," the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld a lower court's injunction against the Madster file-swapping network that had ordered the service shut down pending a trial. But, in a mixed decision, the court also bolstered a key defense argument invoking a comparison between file-swapping software and personal home video recording." -By Paul Festa -CNET/News
20030626
- - Tucson News - "Calmer winds help out Arizona firefighters: Benefiting from calmer winds, firefighters made progress Wednesday against a wildfire northeast of Tucson, Arizona, that has charred more than 30,000 acres since it began last week and has destroyed more than 300 homes and businesses." ... "Thursday's forecast calls for more of the same with winds at 10 mph to 20 mph, instead of the 40 mph to 50 mph gusts seen only a few days earlier." -CNN
20030625
& - "Needed: road map for the marital journey." ... "Convinced that the skills needed for a successful marriage can be taught, Ms. Sollee, a marriage and family therapist, founded the organization [Coalition for Marriage, Family, and Couples Education] in 1996. She describes it as nonpartisan, a blend of conservatives and liberals, "the churched and the unchurched."" ... "When she started, the term "marriage education" didn't even exist, Sollee says on the phone, her voice still registering amazement. Now she wants all states to follow Florida's lead in mandating marriage classes in high school. She is also urging the federal government to create a public education campaign, explaining the benefits of marriage and outlining what to expect in a good marriage." -By Marilyn Gardner -CSMonitor
- - - "Musharraf to U.S.: Appease Muslims: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has urged the United States to do more to ease Muslim grievances around the world, which he described as the "root causes" of terrorism." ... "Musharraf said Washington's war on terrorism needed to focus on the cause of terrorism rather than just the symptoms, adding that the conflicts in Kashmir and the Middle East were important in improving the United States' image in the Muslim world." -CNN
- - "Research: Teens victimized in police Explorers program: At least a dozen teenagers assigned to work with police departments as part of the Boy Scouts' Law Enforcement Explorers program have allegedly been sexually abused by officers during the past year. In the past five years, such molestations number at least 25, according to criminologists' research being released Wednesday." ... "Law Enforcement Explorers is a co-ed program affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America. The broader scouts Exploring program also places 14- to 20-year-olds with firefighters, medical providers, lawyers and others to learn about those careers. In 2002, about 43,000 Explorers were assigned to police and sheriff's departments around the United States." -AP via -CNN
- - - - "Nuke component unearthed in Baghdad back yard: U.S. officials: Find is not smoking gun." ... "The CIA has in its hands the critical parts of a key piece of Iraqi nuclear technology -- parts needed to develop a bomb program -- that were dug up in a back yard in Baghdad, CNN has learned." ... "The parts, with accompanying plans, were unearthed by Iraqi scientist Mahdi Obeidi who had hidden them under a rose bush in his garden 12 years ago under orders from Qusay Hussein and Saddam Hussein's then son-in-law, Hussein Kamel." ... "U.S. officials emphasized this was not evidence Iraq had a nuclear weapon -- but it was evidence the Iraqis concealed plans to reconstitute their nuclear program as soon as the world was no longer looking." -CNN
- Tucson News - "Wildfire's growth rate slows: Arizona firefighters increase containment." ... "The growth rate of a southern Arizona wildfire slowed Tuesday evening as conditions improved and firefighters slowly built a containment line around the fire that has raged for a week." ... "Firefighters have faced six straight days of extreme fire conditions, the longest stretch anyone involved in the firefighting effort can remember, said Rick Barton, a spokesman for the firefighters. Conditions on Wednesday are forecast to moderate." -CNN
20030624
- - - - GENETICS - "UK babies may be genetically screened." ... "Every child born in the UK could be genetically screened and the data stored to plan their future healthcare under government proposals for a massive expansion of genetic testing." ... "The controversial proposal for testing newborn babies was announced in a White Paper that promised £50m to expand the ability of the NHS to cope with the rapid advance in genetic testing. It is likely to be studied by the Human Genetics Commission, the government advisory group, as well as the National Screening Committee before firm proposals are made on what diseases would be tested for." ... "The proposals were welcomed by medical researchers, but opponents of genetic testing said they raised the prospect of a world where imperfection was illegal and a "genetic underclass" was unable to obtain health insurance, jobs and mortgages." -By David Firn -FT.com
- Tucson News - "Arizona wildfire now covers 19,500 acres: Blaze roars through new timber, brush." ... "Despite the work of more than 900 fire personnel, a wildfire northeast of Tucson has roared through new mountain timber and desert brush, increasing its size dramatically, a fire official said." ... "From Monday afternoon into Monday evening, the Aspen fire grew from 12,400 acres to 19,500 acres, according to Dave Root, a spokesman for the National Incident Management Team, an increase of 57 percent. He said the blaze is 15 percent contained. (Satellite image)" -CNN
- Tucson News - "Arizona Fire Only 15% Contained." ... "Firefighters moved bulldozers north of Mount Lemmon on Monday to try to stop a raging wildfire that destroyed more than 250 homes in a vacation community." ... "The blaze has charred more than 19,500 acres of pine forest on the mountain just north of Tucson and was only 15 percent contained, firefighters' spokesman Gerry Engel said." ... "Crews planned to use the bulldozers to fight the blaze's northward spread by digging a firebreak connecting roads, natural features and an area that already was burned over last year." -AP via -CBSNews
20030623
- - "ALA denounces Supreme Court ruling on Children's Internet Protection Act." ... "The American Library Association (ALA) today expressed disappointment in today's very narrow decision from the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the Children's Internet Protection Act." ... ""The decision, however, is very narrow in that Justices Kennedy and Breyer did not join Chief Justice Rehnquist's opinion, they only joined the judgment," said Judith Krug, director of the American Library Association s Office for Intellectual Freedom. "Justices Kennedy and Breyer joined the judgment because they believe adult patrons need only ask the librarian to please disable the filter and need not provide any reason for the request. In light of this, we expect libraries that decide they must accept filters to inform their patrons how easily the filters can be turned off."" ... "Justice Kennedy's opinion requires that filtering companies create filters that can be immediately and easily dismantled to meet the information needs of library users." ... "The American Library Association again calls for full disclosure of what sites filtering companies are blocking, who is deciding what is filtered and what criteria are being used. Findings of fact clearly show that filtering companies are not following legal definitions of "harmful to minors" and "obscenity." Their practices must change." ... "To assist local libraries in their decision process, the ALA will seek this information from filtering companies, then evaluate and share the information with the thousands of libraries now being forced to forego funds or choose faulty filters. The American Library Association also will explain how various products work, criteria to consider in selecting a products and how to best use a given product in a public setting.    Library users must be able to see what sites are being blocked and, if needed, be able to request the filter be disabled with the least intrusion into their privacy and the least burden on library service." ... "The ALA will do everything possible to support the governing bodies of these local institutions as they struggle with this very difficult decision." -ALA.org - American Library Association -ALA.org/oif - Office for Intellectual Freedom
Supreme Court Opinion: United States V. American Library Association, 02-361-SupremeCourtUS.gov
Search Google:
<United States v. American Library Association, 02-361 -[News]>
- - "Supreme Court upholds use of Internet filters in public libraries." ... "A divided Supreme Court ruled today that Congress can force the nation's public libraries to equip computers with anti-pornography filters." ... "The blocking technology, intended to keep smut from children, does not violate the First Amendment even though it shuts off some legitimate, informational Web sites, the court held." ... "The court said because libraries can disable the filters for any patrons who ask, the system is not too burdensome. The 6-3 ruling reinstates a law that told libraries to install filters or surrender federal money. Four justices said the law was constitutional, and two others said it was allowable as long as patrons were not denied Internet access." -By Gina Holland -AP via -StarTribune.com
Supreme Court Opinion: United States V. American Library Association, 02-361-SupremeCourtUS.gov
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<United States v. American Library Association, 02-361 -[News]>
- - - "Galloway seeks inquiry after papers exposed as fakes." ... "George Galloway yesterday demanded a government inquiry after documents alleging that he took more than $10m (£6.3m) from Saddam Hussein were exposed as forgeries." ... "The suspended Labour MP claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy and rejected an apology from the Christian Science Monitor, threatening to extend his legal action to British newspapers, including the Sun, which repeated the Boston-based title's accusations." ... "Paul Van Slambrouck, editor of the internationally circulated Monitor, published an apology on its website after ink tests found two of the "oldest" documents, dated 1992 and 1993, on which the paper based its incendiary allegations in April were in fact written a few months ago." -By Kevin Maguire -Guardian.co.uk
20030622
- - - - "Iraqis may be given oil profits share-out." ... "Some of the profits from Iraq's oil sales could be distributed to its citizens as dividends, Paul Bremer, (pictured) the US civil administrator for Iraq, said on Sunday as he set out a goal of transforming the country into a free-market economy." -By Roula Khalaf -FT.com
- - "The MP3 Economy: How labels and artists divvy up your MP3 dollar." ... "The Artist's Cut: Twelve percent is average, but successful bands often hammer out better contracts. In many major-label contracts, charges for "packaging" and promotional copies are subtracted from the artist's cut, leaving the talent with a measly 8 percent." -By Nancy Einhart 200306 Ed. -Business2.0
20030621
- - "Iran to keep limits on work of UN inspectors." ... "Iran said yesterday it would continue to limit the operations of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, setting the stage for a confrontation with the United States." ... "The International Atomic Energy Agency has said it expected Iran ''to grant the agency all access deemed necessary'' to defuse suspicions that Tehran is operating a nuclear weapons program." ... "In London, a senior US official said that while military action against Iran to stop it from developing nuclear weapons is far from the thoughts of Washington, it is an option as a last resort." -By Ali Akbar Dareini -AP via -Boston/Globe
20030619
- - "In volatile Iraq, US curbs press: US issues an order against inciting attacks on minorities or US troops." ... "At least some of the fuel for the anti-American fire, US officials here charge, is being pumped out by new Iraqi media outlets." ... "L. Paul Bremer, the top US official here, says a new edict prohibiting the local media from inciting attacks on other Iraqis - and on the coalition forces - is not meant to put a stopper on the recently uncorked freedom of speech." -By Ilene R. Prusher -CSMonitor
20030617
- - - - "Judge: Millions of CD buyers owed money: A judge has approved a settlement agreement in a music antitrust lawsuit that will result in more than 3.5 million consumers receiving nearly $13 each." ... "The lawsuit, signed by the attorneys general of 43 states and territories and consolidated in Portland in October 2000, accused major record labels and large music retailers facing competition from discounters like Target and Wal-Mart of conspiring to set minimum music prices." ... "The defendants -- Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music Distribution, Warner-Elektra-Atlantic Corp., Universal Music Group and Bertelsmann Music Group, and retailers Tower Records, Musicland Stores and Transworld Entertainment -- deny any wrongdoing. Attorneys representing the companies declined to testify in court." -AP via -CNN
- "Backlash brews over rising cost of college." ... "A new, feisty mood appears to be developing in Congress toward higher education, a quest for accountability on cost and quality not seen in recent memory." ... "Take Howard "Buck" McKeon. For years, the Republican congressman from California has watched the price of higher education race ahead of inflation, and he aims to slow it down -somehow." ... "In March, he floated the idea of a new college-affordability index that would track tuition increases. Any institutions that raised tuition more than twice the rate of inflation two years in a row would see their eligibility cut for federal student aid." -By Mark Clayton -CSMonitor
20030616
- "22 States Limiting Doctors' Latitude in Medicaid Drugs." ... "In one of the most successful efforts to rein in the fast-rising cost of Medicaid, the government health plan for the poor, states are limiting which drugs doctors can prescribe for Medicaid patients." ... "Two years ago, only three states had authorized the use of lists of preferred drugs for such patients; since then, 19 other states have done so, though not all their programs are up and running, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures." ... "Preferred drug lists steer doctors away from some of the most expensive drugs and toward different, less expensive ones that the state deems equally effective, a practice that many private insurance companies and employee health plans have adopted and that is being considered by Congress as part of a government-subsidized drug benefit for 40 million Medicare recipients." (1, 2) -By Richard Pérez-Peña -NYTimes via -Google-News
- - "Iran protests appear to die down on 7th night." ... "Demonstrations against Iran's clerical rulers appeared to be dying down on their seventh night on Tuesday with uniformed police reining in Islamic militants who attacked protesters with clubs and chains on previous nights." ... "While the Islamic militants report ultimately to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, the police are responsible both to the government of President Mohammad Khatami and Khamenei." -By Jon Hemming-Reuters via -MSNBC
- - "Clean air at the Internet truck stop cafe: Hookup lets drivers turn off engine, go online at night." ... "Trucks pull into bays that feature long, flexible tubes hanging from the roof. Each tube ends in a control panel and vents for heated or cooled air. Drivers pull the apparatus into their window and fasten it there. A touch- sensitive screen on the control panel will let them set the thermostat, check maps of the area or surf the Internet." ... "Basic services cost $1.25 per hour for truck owners or fleets that have signed agreements with IdleAire, with fees payable through a credit-card reader above a computer screen." ... "The fees should be cheaper than idling a truck. Because federal law requires long-haul truckers to take eight hours off for every 10 spent on the road, most drivers will pay about $10 per day with the IdleAire system, Everhart said. Without it, they spend about $15 to $20 per day on diesel burned while the truck is idling, he said." -By David R. Baker -SFGate.com
20030615
- - "Iran dissidents raise their voices: An influential group of Iranian dissidents have issued an unprecedented declaration defending the right to criticise their leaders." ... "Following five nights of violent protests around Tehran University, the 248 reformists said the people of Iran had "the right to fully supervise the action of their rulers"." ... ""Sitting or making individuals sit in the position of divine and absolute power is a clear heresy towards God and a clear affront to human dignity," said the strongly-worded statement."-BBC/News
- "Iran student protests spread to other cities." ... "Anti-regime protests in Tehran, led by students, have spread to other cities, while Iran's Islamic establishment has slammed US support for the demonstrators as interference in the country's internal affairs." ... "Domestic media on Sunday reported gatherings by thousands of students and other people in the cities of Isfahan, Shiraz and Ahvaz in support of the Tehran protests." -By Najmeh Bozorgmehr -FT.com
20030613
- - "Tehran's violent protests spread." ... "A third night of student protests outside Tehran University's dormitories exploded early on Friday into the surrounding middle-class neighborhoods, with large gangs of students fighting running street battles against vigilantes armed with sticks and chains." ... "At one major intersection, demonstrators hurled bricks at trucks of riot policemen who were rushing to lift barricades and douse fires that protesters had ignited in the streets. The protesters chanted "Death to Khamenei" a slogan that can bring a jail term in this country, where Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme religious leader, goes unquestioned." -By Neil MacFarquhar-NYTimes via -IHT.com
- - "U.S. is behind protests, Iranian cleric asserts: Khameni says no mercy will be shown" ... "Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme cleric, accused the United States on Thursday of trying to foment disorder in the Islamic Republic, warning after a second night of protests outside Tehran University that the government would show no mercy toward those acting in the interests of foreign powers." ... "The sudden appearance of hundreds of protesters on the capital's streets, although disorganized and insignificant in number, evidently contributed to a case of jitters within some circles in Iran's jigsaw of a government." ... "The unease was certainly increased by the fact that opposition-run Persian language television stations beamed into Iran from the United States helped swell the protests by calling on people to go out into the streets, although their reports on the numbers and the extent of the demonstrations proved wildly exaggerated." -By Neil MacFarquhar -NYTimes via -IHT.com
20030612
- - - "U.S. copter shot down in Iraq raid." ... "Iraqi forces shot down a U.S. helicopter gunship in western Iraq on Thursday, just hours after U.S. fighter jets bombed what they said was “a terrorist training camp” in central Iraq." ... "Thursday's events marked a sharp escalation of U.S. military operations in central and western Iraq, where guerrillas have intensified attacks on U.S. troops in recent weeks. The incidents occurred as U.S. ground troops wound up a massive sweep of a Sunni Muslim enclave north of Baghdad aimed at rooting out the organizers of attacks on occupation forces. “It’s one of the largest operations since the war,” U.S. Central Command spokesman Lt. Ryan Fitzgerald said." -AP via -MSNBC
20030608
- - "Poles Return to Europe With EU Vote: Poles Vote 'Yes' to Join EU, Fulfilling Aspirations to Return to Europe." ... "With 38 million people, Poland would be the largest country to join the 15-nation bloc, leading the largest wave of EU expansion and holding voting power equal to Spain and behind only Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy." ... "Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Lithuania have already approved EU membership with referendums. The Czech Republic votes next week, followed by Latvia and Estonia in September. Cyprus is leaving the decision to parliament." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20030605
- - - "U.S. stands by Iraq intelligence." ... "A senior Pentagon official on Wednesday pointedly dismissed mounting criticism that U.S. military officials might have manipulated intelligence to bolster an administration argument for war with Iraq. The reports amounted to "urban legend" based on a "goulash of inaccuracies," he said. Those strong comments from Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy, came amid reports that the Central Intelligence Agency had begun an internal review to see whether a major, top-secret U.S. intelligence report last autumn had overstated the threat from Iraqi weapons programs." ... "The agency's prewar analyses - including the finding in the secret October report that Iraq had biological and chemical weapons and was working to restart a nuclear program - have been questioned by some intelligence officials and lawmakers. House and Senate committees are planning inquiries." -By Brian Knowlton -IHT.com
20030604
- - - "Experts raise red flag over oceans: U.S., others urged to overhaul pollution, fishing policies." ... "Making waves like never before, conservationists this week issued appeals for mankind to save its oceans and the marine life that live there, from pollution, overfishing and too many people. The biggest waves came from a report — released Wednesday after three years in the making — that urges the United States to overhaul an ocean policy dating back to 1969 and reflecting what it calls a “frontier mentality.”" ... "Having "Focused on oceans as a frontier with vast resources ... we have failed to conceive of the oceans as our largest public domain, to be managed holistically for the greater public good,” the Pew Oceans Commission report concluded." ... "Financed by the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts, the commission billed its work as the most thorough review of U.S. ocean policy since 1969, when another commission laid out what was to become guiding principles." -By Miguel Llanos -MSNBC
PewOceans.org/oceans
20030603
- - "Mob Eyed in Internet Sex Fraud Case: The Mob Is Behind a Massive Internet Sex Fraud Case, Federal Prosecutors Say." ... "The $230 million Internet fraud scheme believed to be the largest ever prosecuted produced a series of recent arrests of alleged members and associates of the Gambino organized crime family in New York and Florida." ... "According to documents filed in federal court in New York, the Gambinos' foray into the lucrative world of Internet porn began in 1996 when the defendants opened an adult entertainment business based in Manhattan." ... "The sites offered "free tours" for anyone who presented credit card information as proof of age, promising in a message, "Your card will not be billed." But thousands of consumers in the United States, Europe and Asia were still charged recurring monthly rates of $90 before they realized they had been cheated, prosecutors said." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- - "With deal and concessions, Ariz. bishop avoids prosecution." ... "Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien, the leader of the Catholic diocese in this city [Phoenix, Arizona] for more than 20 years, has avoided criminal charges by admitting that he knowingly allowed priests accused of sexually molesting minors to continue working with children, and by giving up some of his authority over the diocese, under an extraordinary agreement announced yesterday by local prosecutors." ... "''I acknowledge that I allowed Roman Catholic priests under my supervision to work with minors after becoming aware of allegations of sexual misconduct,'' O'Brien said in a signed statement that is part of the agreement. ''I further acknowledge that priests who had allegations of sexual misconduct made against them were transferred to ministries without full disclosure to their supervisor or to the community in which they were assigned.''" ... "But if O'Brien was contrite in his statement, he took a more defiant stance when he met with reporters last night. ''Have I committed a crime? No . . . I certainly never intentionally placed a child in harm's way. To suggest a coverup is just plain false,'' he said." -By Michael Rezendes, -Boston/Globe
20030529
- - - "Relief for U.S. troops lacking." ... "The Pentagon's search for troops from other nations to replace U.S. soldiers in the force that is stabilizing postwar Iraq has fallen short of expectations, and U.S. officials face the prospect of keeping more U.S. forces in Iraq than they had hoped, diplomats and military officials say." -By Tom Squitieri -USATODAY

- - - "Pillaging the cartoon universe: Fred Flintstone as a mob boss! Yogi's pal BooBoo as a terrorist! Jonny Quest as the subject of a gay child-custody battle! All these outrages and more can be found on Cartoon Network's hilarious, hallucinatory "Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law." ... "Forget for a second that we're talking about an animated short on Cartoon Network that airs around the witching hour, a time when not one kid in North America is burning the midnight oil -- at least not with his parents' permission. And forget also that we're talking about an ornithological superhero who wears a three-piece suit and litigates for a living." ... "Rather, pretend we're witnessing a bizarre discourse on popular culture, fictional systems (including their explosion) and psychosexual norms. Because it is then that Larry McCaffery's theories on metafiction and intertextuality -- the mechanisms of postmodernism outlined in his seminal work of literary criticism, "The Metafictional Muse" -- come into play. If, as McCaffery argues, "we inhabit a world of fictions and are constantly forced to develop a variety of metaphors and subjective systems to help us organize ... experience," then metafiction is the pomo tonic for our time, a Derridean (the name-dropping will end soon, I promise) playfulness that "becomes a deliberate strategy used to provoke readers to critically examine all cultural codes and established patterns of thought."" -By Scott Thill -Salon
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<"Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law">
"Harvey Birdman." CartoonNetwork's -AdultSwim.com
- CLONING NEWS - "Mule foal is first member of horse family to be cloned." .. "The first member of the horse family to be cloned is a mule named Idaho Gem, the genetic brother of a champion racer. Researchers say two other mule clones are expected to be born this summer." ... "The May 4 birth of Idaho Gem adds mules to the barnyard of cloned animals that already included sheep, cows, pigs, cats and rodents." ... "Cloning a mule is particularly unusual because such animals, hybrids from a donkey and a horse, are almost without exception sterile and unable to produce young." -By Paul Recer -AP via -SFGate.com
- - "Dallas teen wins National Spelling Bee." ... "A 13-year-old eighth-grader from Dallas nailed "pococurante" to win the 76th Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee on Thursday." ... "It was Sai Gunturi's fourth time in the competition." ... ""I studied it," a beaming Sai said of the word after winning the contest, $12,000 and other prizes. "That's why I was kind of laughing." The word means indifferent or nonchalant." -By Darlene Superville -AP via -SFGate.com
SpellingBee.com
- - - "Online divorce grows in popularity, despite skepticism." ... "Offering a simpler and cheaper path to divorce, an ever-growing array of dot-coms, computer-savvy lawyers and state court officials are encouraging unhappily married Americans to arrange their breakups online." ... "For fees ranging from $50 to $300 - a small fraction of what most lawyers charge even for an uncontested divorce - couples are being provided with the appropriate forms and varying degrees of help completing them." -By David Crary -AP via -StarTribune.com
- - - "Report links Iraqi trailers to weapons." ... "A report from two US intelligence agencies yesterday said a pair of Iraqi trailers filled with laboratory equipment was the best evidence that Saddam Hussein's government had a biological weapons program." ... "Although they still lack solid evidence of any biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons in Iraq, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded in a six-page ''white paper'' that each trailer was part of a larger two- or three-trailer facility for production of the weapons." ... "But the report, which comes more than six weeks after the Pentagon declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, also underscored that US officials have been unable to prove their assertions that the Hussein regime developed weapons of mass destruction. Although they have found circumstantial evidence to suggest a possible program, US officials have not yet uncovered actual weapons." -By Robert Schlesinger -Boston/Globe
20030528
- - - "Russia Dismisses U.S. Criticism of Iran Atom Deals." ... "Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was quoted as saying on Wednesday that the United States could not in any way object to Moscow's plans to proceed with the construction of a nuclear power station in Iran." -Reuters
20030527
- - "EPA faulted on water pollution: Internal watchdog says computer monitoring system is faulty." ... "In a report dated May 20, the Office of Inspector General criticized the agency for devoting insufficient funds to upgrade the Permit Compliance System, or PCS." -AP via -MSNBC
Search Google: <Permit Compliance System>
20030526
- - - - "Spanish Peacekeepers Killed in Turkey Plane Crash." ... "A plane carrying 62 Spanish peacekeepers returning from Afghanistan crashed in Turkey early on Monday and all aboard, including 13 crew, were killed, officials and Turkish media said." ... "The Ukrainian Yak-42 crashed as it tried to land in thick fog near Turkey's Black Sea city of Trabzon." ... "The soldiers were mostly members of an engineers regiment based in Burgos and had been in Afghanistan serving with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) monitoring Kabul for four months, Spanish newspaper El Mundo's Web Site said." -By Enis Yildirim-Reuters
20030525
- - - "Arms teams seek new information: Frustrated hunters move away from outdated Iraqi intelligence." ... "Frustrated weapons hunters are turning away from outdated U.S. intelligence leads, which have failed to turn up any evidence of chemical, biological or nuclear arms in Iraq after 10 weeks. Teams are now moving toward their own intelligence gathering, based on interviews with Iraqi scientists, factory workers and even neighbors who lived near shadowy operations once run by Saddam Hussein." -AP via -MSNBC
20030507
- - - - - "Iraqi Documents on Israel Surface on a Cultural Hunt." ... "What began today as a hunt for an ancient Jewish [Talmud] text at secret police headquarters here wound up unearthing a trove of Iraqi intelligence documents and maps relating to Israel as well as offers of sales of uranium and other nuclear material to Iraq." ... "In one huge room in the flooded basement of the building, American soldiers from MET Alpha, the "mobile exploitation team" that has been searching for nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in Iraq for the past three months, found maps featuring terrorist strikes against Israel dating to 1991." -By Judith Miller -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News
20030506
- - - "The little TiVo that could: Can it survive cable's attack?." ... "[TiVo CEO Michael] Ramsay talks as though his tiny San Jose, Calif.-based upstart is about much more than powering a better VCR   offering far more control and flexibility in finding, storing and replaying TV shows on digital video recorders, or DVRs." ... ""We felt from Day 1 that what we're doing goes beyond DVRs," Ramsay says. "We're revolutionizing TV."" ... "... to many of the company's 624,000 subscribers, the "TiVolution" — as some of the cultlike followers call it — is not so far-fetched. Their ranks are expected to hit 1 million by year's end as devotees spread the word of how the computerlike devices changed their lives — or at least that part devoted to watching TV. With nearly half of the DVR service market, TiVo has outlasted rivals both big and small. Last year, Microsoft quit producing boxes for its UltimateTV DVR service. This year, Sonicblue collapsed after Hollywood pummeled its ReplayTV service with copyright lawsuits. D&M Holdings, maker of Denon and Marantz electronics, bought ReplayTV last month in a bankruptcy auction." -By David Lieberman -USATODAY
20030504
- - - - "Software Bullet Is Sought to Kill Musical Piracy." ... "Some of the world's biggest record companies, facing rampant online piracy, are quietly financing the development and testing of software programs that would sabotage the computers and Internet connections of people who download pirated music, according to industry executives." ... "The record companies are exploring options on new countermeasures, which some experts say have varying degrees of legality, to deter online theft: from attacking personal Internet connections so as to slow or halt downloads of pirated music to overwhelming the distribution networks with potentially malicious programs that masquerade as music files." (1, 2) -By Andrew Ross Sorkin -NYTimes via -Google-News
20030502
- - - - "Hail to the Chicks! Dixie gives the Dixies a warm welcome." ... "Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines began the band's U.S. tour with an open invitation to heckle her. "If you're here to boo, we welcome that because we welcome freedom of speech," she said from the stage of Greenville, South Carolina's Bi-Lo Center Thursday night. "So we're going to give you fifteen seconds to get whatever you have out."" ... "Instead, the 15,000-strong crowd erupted in cheers." ... "It was the Dixie Chicks' first U.S. concert since Maines told a London audience on March 10th that they were ashamed the president is from their home state of Texas." -By Andy Paras -RollingStone.com/news
- - "Eastern Iowa counties had highest ozone levels [in Iowa], [American Lung Association] study shows." -AP via -WQAD
20030501
- - - - "State of the Air 2003: Nearly Half the Nation at Risk from Smog - Overshadows Temporary Improvement. American Lung Association Forecasts Continued Unhealthful Air from Coast to Coast." ... "New York) Nearly half the American population—more than 137 million Americans—continues to breathe unhealthy amounts of the toxic air pollutant ozone (smog), according to the American Lung Association State of the Air: 2003 report released today." ... "The annual report cites that moderate improvements in smog levels are due to a break from summer heat, not air pollution cleanup activities, further illustrating the urgency for Americans to fight for cleaner air in the face of potentially devastating changes in the nation’s environmental policies. The Lung Association anticipates increasing numbers in its 2004 report, which will include data from the hot 2002 summer." ... "The report was released in the shadow of the Administration’s rollback of key Clean Air Act provisions and additional proposals that would weaken public health protections of that law, thereby denying tens of millions of Americans healthy air for the foreseeable future." ... "The AmericanLung Association urges Americans to contact members of Congress to oppose any bills that would weaken the Clean Air Act and to contactEPA by May 3, 2003 to oppose the proposed changes that would weaken the New Source Review provisions. Americans can log on to www.lungusa.org to make their voice heard to Congress and EPA on these critical issues." -American Lung Association -Action Network
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<American Lung Association -[News]>
- - - STEM CELL NEWS -CLONING NEWS - "Stem cell advance may fuel cloning dispute." ... "Scientists in the US and France have used stem cells from mice to form eggs capable of being fertilised, an advance likely to fuel controversy over stem cell research and cloning." ... "The technique, if successfully applied to humans, would raise the possibility of using stem cells for fertility treatment. Eggs produced by stem cells could be fertilised by donated sperm, creating new life." -By Victoria Griffith -FT.com
- - - - "4 students to pay fines for 'Napsterlike' sites." ... "Four college students will pay the major music labels fines ranging from $12,000 to $17,000 each for sharing music on campus networks, the first time file-swapping individuals have agreed to pay damages to the music industry for copyright violations." ... "Students at Princeton, Michigan Tech and Rensselaer were sued in early April for setting up what the Recording Industry Association of America called "Napsterlike" internal networks that shared up to 1 million songs on campus servers. The RIAA asked for $150,000 a song; the four settled out of court Thursday for $60,000." -By Jefferson Graham -USATODAY
- - - "Cisco enables Internet wiretaps." ... "Addressing a major concern of law enforcement, Cisco Systems has developed a way for police to listen in on Internet-based phone calls without detection." ... "The world's largest maker of networking equipment is testing surveillance products in its labs and making the service available to customers on request, spokesman Jim Brady said." -AP via -USATODAY
- - - "Some fear loss of privacy as science pries into brain." ... "Using magnetic resonance imaging machines that detect the ebb and flow of brain activity, researchers have become so good at peering into the workings of the human mind that their work is raising a new and deeply personal ethical concern: brain privacy." ... "What if scans could be used to check a soldier for homosexuality? Or a potential parolee for lingering violent impulses? Or a would-be employee for a susceptibility to major depression?" ... "Such questions are part of neuroethics, as the field is called by many participants in the fast-growing discussion of ethical implications of the explosion of knowledge about the brain." -By Carey Goldberg -Boston/Globe
20030430
- - - - Israel Palestine Roadmap - "A Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." ... "The following is a performance-based and goal-driven roadmap, with clear phases, timelines, target dates, and benchmarks aiming at progress through reciprocal steps by the two parties in the political, security, economic, humanitarian, and institution-building fields, under the auspices of the Quartet [the United States, European Union, United Nations, and Russia]. The destination is a final and comprehensive settlement of the Israel-Palestinian conflict by 2005, as presented in President Bush’s speech of 24 June, and welcomed by the EU, Russia and the UN in the 16 July and 17 September Quartet Ministerial statements." ... "A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will only be achieved through an end to violence and terrorism, when the Palestinian people have a leadership acting decisively against terror and willing and able to build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty, and through Israel’s readiness to do what is necessary for a democratic Palestinian state to be established, and a clear, unambiguous acceptance by both parties of the goal of a negotiated settlement as described below. The Quartet will assist and facilitate implementation of the plan, starting in Phase I, including direct discussions between the parties as required. The plan establishes a realistic timeline for implementation. However, as a performance-based plan, progress will require and depend upon the good faith efforts of the parties, and their compliance with each of the obligations outlined below. Should the parties perform their obligations rapidly, progress within and through the phases may come sooner than indicated in the plan. Non-compliance with obligations will impede progress." ... "A settlement, negotiated between the parties, will result in the emergence of an independent, democratic, and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors. The settlement will resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and end the occupation that began in 1967, based on the foundations of the Madrid Conference, the principle of land for peace, UNSCRs 242, 338 and 1397, agreements previously reached by the parties, and the initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah – endorsed by the Beirut Arab League Summit – calling for acceptance of Israel as a neighbor living in peace and security, in the context of a comprehensive settlement. This initiative is a vital element of international efforts to promote a comprehensive peace on all tracks, including the Syrian-Israeli and Lebanese-Israeli tracks." ... "The Quartet will meet regularly at senior levels to evaluate the parties' performance on implementation of the plan. In each phase, the parties are expected to perform their obligations in parallel, unless otherwise indicated." READ THE REST OF THE STAT.GOV'S PRESS RELEASE -State.gov

- - - "Patterns of Global Terrorism 2002." ... "Patterns of Global Terrorism." -Counterterrorism Office -Releases -State.gov
- - - "WHO lifts warning as Canada halts SARS gains." ... "WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway and a medical doctor, said the magnitude of the SARS outbreak in Toronto has decreased. Speaking at a press conference in Geneva after meeting with a delegation of Canadian health officials, Brundtland said: ''It has now been 20 days since the last cases of community transmission, and there are no confirmed new export cases out of Toronto or Canada. We will be lifting the travel advice for Toronto, Canada.''" ... "In Asia, the disease continued to spread. Hong Kong reported 12 new deaths, China nine, and Singapore one. The global death toll climbed to at least 355, with more than 5,300 infections in more than 20 countries, including probable cases reported for the first time in South Korea, Mongolia, and New Zealand." -By Colin Nickerson -Boston/Globe
20030429
- - - - "Gilgamesh tomb believed found: Archaeologists in Iraq believe they may have found the lost tomb of King Gilgamesh - the subject of the oldest "book" in history." ... "The Epic Of Gilgamesh - written by a Middle Eastern scholar 2,500 years before the birth of Christ - commemorated the life of the ruler of the city of Uruk, from which Iraq gets its name." ... "Now, a German-led expedition has discovered what is thought to be the entire city of Uruk - including, where the Euphrates once flowed, the last resting place of its famous King." ... ""I don't want to say definitely it was the grave of King Gilgamesh, but it looks very similar to that described in the epic," Jorg Fassbinder, of the Bavarian department of Historical Monuments in Munich, told the BBC World Service's Science in Action programme." -BBC/News
- - - - "Recording industry targets users of Kazaa, Grokster with warnings." ... "The Recording Industry Association of America, a trade association, will collect the user names of those it suspects are offering copyright material with the Kazaa and Grokster file-sharing services, RIAA President Cary Sherman told reporters during a conference call Tuesday." ... "He called the effort "educational" and said "there's no enforcement connected to this."" ... "In a separate action, the RIAA has sued four college students who allegedly offered more than 1 million recordings over the Internet, demanding damages of $150,000 per song." -By Alex Veiga -AP via -SFGate.com
- - "South Carolina allowed to catalog data on women seeking abortions." ... "The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for health authorities in South Carolina to collect names, addresses and other information from clinics and doctors about women seeking abortions." ... "South Carolina is the only state whose law allows regulators to see, copy and store abortion patients' medical records without stiff requirements that the information be kept confidential, lawyers said. The court's action, taken without comment, ends a legal challenge that had kept the 1995 law on hold." -AP with contributions by Josephine Marcotty via -StarTribune.com
- - - "Higher Espionage: The CIA finds a warmer reception on campus since 9/11, as it openly seeks scholars' expertise. But critics say such close ties compromise academic values." ... "The promise of closer university/CIA ties is a better-informed government, perhaps resulting in a US foreign policy that is wiser or more grounded. But concerns abound - especially when it comes to preserving the standard of scholarly objectivity and meeting the CIA's demand for secrecy." ... "... many on campus voice concern about the lifetime secrecy agreements scholars must sign in order to see classified material. From then on, they must submit for agency review anything that bears on the topics covered by the pact." -By Mark Clayton -CSMonitor
20030428
- - - - "Judge rules file-sharing tools are legal: A US federal judge has reversed many of the recording industry's previous victories over peer-to-peer services, comparing Morpheus and Grokster software to VCRs and photocopy machines." ... "In an almost complete reversal of previous victories for the record labels and movie studios, federal court Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that Streamcast -- parent of the Morpheus software -- and Grokster were not liable for copyright infringements that took place using their software. The ruling does not directly affect Kazaa, software distributed by Sharman Networks, which has also been targeted by the entertainment industry." -By John Borland with contributions by Lisa Bowman -CNET/News -ZDNet.co.uk t>News
- - "Intel's sights on lip-reading software: Intel has released software that lets computers read lips, a step forward that could lead to better voice recognition applications." ... "The Audio Visual Speech Recognition (AVSR) software tracks a speaker's face and mouth movements. By matching these movements with speech, the application can provide a computer with enough data to respond to voice recognition commands, even when these are given in noisy environments. The AVSR program is part of the OpenCV computer vision library, a collection of open-source applications and tools that help computers interpret visual data." -By Michael Kanellos -CNET/News
- - "Intel gives away lip-reading speech recognition code." ... "Intel has released lip-reading visual speech recognition software under an open source licence." ... "Called Audio Visual Speech Recognition (AVSR), the software is part of Intel's OpenCV computer vision and facial recognition code library. Essentially, it tracks the speaker's mouth movements as individual character and syllable sounds are formed. Intel reckons the technique to be far more accurate than traditional speech recognition algorithms, which analyse sounds rather than images." -By Tony Smith -TheRegister.co.uk
Discussion - - - "Reading Lips In Software." -Slashdot
20030427
- - - "You Have a Voice in Bringing Executive Pay Back to Earth." ... "It appears the directors of AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines, are shocked -- shocked! -- that the millions the company lavished on chief executive Donald J. Carty and other top executives enraged the workers from whom the company was demanding major wage and benefit concessions." ... "One director, the only one talking late last week, seemed to be saying that Carty should have been fired, had he not resigned, for failing to tell the unions about the executive package while letting the board think he had." ... "Other than the moral malodorousness of it all, an executive compensation system that detaches pay from performance to the extent that you get a bonus if you lead your firm into bankruptcy does not seem likely to function in investors' best interests." -By Albert B. Crenshaw -WashingtonPost
20030425

- - - "US seizes Saddam's deputy." ... "Tariq Aziz, the most internationally recognised face of the fallen Iraqi regime after Saddam Hussein himself, was in US custody last night after surrendering to American forces, Pentagon officials said." ... "Mr Aziz, the eight of spades in the Pentagon's deck of cards, is unlikely to possess information about weapons of mass destruction or Saddam's current whereabouts, intelligence experts said." ... "However, the fact that Mr Aziz had been found alive increased the chances that Saddam and his sons were also still alive. He might also possess explosive information on the extent of past support for the regime in the west." -By Oliver Burkeman -Guardian.co.uk
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20030424
- - - - "Right to Read: Librarians, Booksellers Take on Feds Over Patriot Act Provisions." ... "The threat, according to booksellers and librarians, comes from the federal government and a provision of the USA Patriot Act in Section 215 that authorizes the FBI to obtain "certain business records" based on warrants from secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act courts, which under changes instituted by USA Patriot do not require that the government show probable cause." ... "The law, passed by Congress less than two months after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, also makes it illegal for a business — including libraries or bookstores — whose client records are demanded to tell anyone about it, even the person whose purchase or borrowing records are demanded." -By Dean Schabner -ABCNEWS.com
- - - "SARS travel warning stuns Toronto: WHO also cites areas in China." ... "In a warning that could have devastating economic consequences for Canada's largest city, the World Health Organization advised yesterday against all nonessential travel to Toronto. It was the latest effort to curb the global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, the virus better known as SARS." ... "China's capital city, Beijing, and Shanxi province were also added to the health organization's list of regions with levels of infection high enough to warrant the unusual advisories. Earlier this month, the Geneva-based WHO warned against travel to Hong Kong and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, where SARS is believed to have originated in November." -By Colin Nickerson -Boston/Globe
20030423
- - OPINION - "Shiite power and Iranian intentions: Weighing the chances of an Islamic state in Iraq." ... "Soon after the “liberation” of Iraq, or more correctly, the collapse of organized resistance from the regime of Saddam Hussein, many in Iraq’s majority Shiite community began demanding not only their share of power in a new government, but also the establishment of an Islamic republic. Such developments evoke the specter of another Iran — an oil-rich, anti-West theocracy. What are the prospects that this might happen?" -By Rick Francona -MSNBC
- "Democratic candidate Dean calls for Republican [Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum] to resign leadership post." ... "Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean on Wednesday called for Republican Sen. Rick Santorum to resign his leadership post after the lawmaker compared homosexuality to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery." ... ""Gay-bashing is not a legitimate public policy discussion; it is immoral. Rick Santorum's failure to recognize that attacking people because of who they are is morally wrong makes him unfit for a leadership position in the United States Senate," Dean said in a statement." -AP via -SFGate.com
- "White-powder scare proves to be false alarm: Tacoma postal center evacuated for suspicious substance." ... "The incident had all the elements to inspire chills: a mysterious powder dusting a table at a mail processing center, some odd-looking envelopes and a preliminary test indicating a possible biological hazard." ... "But like dozens of similar scares around the region in the past few months as the nation has focused on war and the possibility of bioterrorism, yesterday's discovery proved to be a false alarm -- although that took a legion of emergency workers and investigators, the shutdown of a major mail center and a battery of subsequent tests by the National Guard and a state Health Department laboratory." -By Elaine Porterfield with contributions by Jeffrey M. Barker and -AP -SeattlePI.NWsource
- - - "Iraqi Shiite strength surprises U.S.: Rise of anti-U.S., fundamentalist government a possibility." ... "As Iraqi Shiite demands for a dominant role in Iraq’s future mount, Bush administration officials say they underestimated the Shiites’ organizational strength and are unprepared to prevent the rise of an anti-American, Islamic fundamentalist government in the country." ... "Some U.S. intelligence analysts and Iraq experts said they warned the Bush administration before the war about vanquishing Hussein’s government without having anything to replace it. But officials said the concerns were either not heard or fell too low on the priority list of postwar planning." -By Glenn Kessler and Dana Priest -WashingtonPost via -MSNBC
- - Special Report - GENETICS - "Double Helix: 50 Years of DNA." ... ""This structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest"" ... "In April 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick wrote these words as part of the opening paragraph of a Letter to Nature. As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the publication of the structure of DNA, Nature presents this web focus, containing a collection of overviews celebrating the historical, scientific and cultural impacts of the discovery of the double helix. All content is free, and over 2003 will include news, special features, and an archive including all the classic papers from 1953." -Nature.com
20030422
- - GENETICS - "Stunning creativity of DNA pioneers: Professor Adrian Hayday of King's College London tells the story behind the discovery of DNA's structure in 1953." ... "A remarkably short scientific paper, known officially as a letter, was published on 25 April 1953 in Nature, by James Watson and Francis Crick." ... "It was perhaps the most momentous paper of the modern era, proposing a structure for the chemical, DNA (Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid), which composes the hereditary material of all living cellular organisms." -BBC/News
- Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster News - "Columbia investigators: Wing seal source of breach." ... "A seal from Columbia's left wing was apparently the mystery object that floated away in orbit and it was almost certainly struck by something like a chunk of foam before it came off, accident investigators said Tuesday." ... "The investigators also said numerous defects have been found in insulating foam on a fuel tank practically identical to the one on Columbia. A chunk of the foam peeled away from Columbia's fuel tank shortly after liftoff and slammed into the leading edge of the left wing, believed to be a key element of the Feb. 1 disaster that killed all seven astronauts." -AP via -USATODAY
- - - - "Shiites gaining momentum." ... "After being suppressed for 35 years by Saddam's Baath Party, the leaders and faithful of the Shiite branch of Islam, who represent perhaps 16 million Iraqis, are asserting themselves and moving into the power vacuum left by the almost overnight collapse of Iraq's secular government." ... "The U.S. military may control the roads, ports and skies of Iraq, but in any neighborhood where Shiites are in the majority, one is likely to find white-turbaned sheiks and imams who have begun making the day-to-day decisions and policies." ... "The Shiites' emerging power will be on display this week, when they converge in massive numbers on Karbala, where Saddam was martyred in a decisive 7th-century battle that became the symbol for suffering and self-sacrifice among Shiites for 1,300 years." -By John Daniszewski-LAtimes via -RegisterGuard
- - "OPEC confronts leaderless Iraq." ... "For the 11 nations of OPEC, the end of the war in Iraq is the beginning of the new petroleum order. But when OPEC oil ministers gather Thursday in Vienna to try to keep oil prices from collapsing, the most talked-about seat at the table will probably be empty." ... ""Crude oil prices already have come down from their pre-war high of nearly $38 a barrel. But after falling to $27 after the war began, the price has climbed and was just under $31 in New York trading Monday. That's higher than the price has been for most of the last two years." -By Warren Vieth-LAtimes via -RegisterGuard
- - "Corporations co-opt Earth Day." ... "Earth Day, which began 33 years ago today as a nationwide rally to clean up the planet, has become the latest victim of the corporate takeover." ... "While some in advocacy circles consider the commercialization of Earth Day "greenwashing" (think Earth Day Inc. or McEarth Day), others, including the day's founder -- former Sen. Gaylord Nelson -- consider the melding of Wall Street with Mother Earth proof of the celebration's success." -By Dina Capiello -HoustonChronicle.com
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<Earth Day -[News]>
- "Every Unhappy Family Has Its Own Bilinear Influence Function: Researchers propose a mathematical model of marriage." ... What was modeled "was not "marriage" per se, but the dynamics of marital conversations. Before looking at data from any real-world couples, they [the authors of The Mathematics of Marriage: Dynamic Nonlinear Models (MIT Press)] began with some very simple hypotheses: the idea, for example, that spouses will react emotionally to the most recent comment made by their partners. At this early stage they sketched crude "influence functions" -- calculus equations that described a dynamic system in which a snarky comment by one spouse would result in negative emotions in the partner, sometimes resulting in a downward spiral. When they tested those first equations against the Love Lab's data, however, they did not match at all." ... "The scholars soon realized that they needed to add a constant that represented each partner's "uninfluenced steady state" -- that is, the person's general level of cheerfulness or gloom, independent of the spouse's behavior on a particular day. "In retrospect, we should have thought of that at the very beginning," says Mr. Murray. "But once we added that constant, everything fell in just beautifully."" -By David Glenn Issue 20030425 -Chronicle/free
20030421
- - "Missing: 5,000 years of history." ... "ABYLON, Iraq -- The roots of Western law and writing sprang from the Mesopotamian cradle of civilization here, the site of the resplendent Hanging Gardens of Babylon -- one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The palace of Hammurabi and King Nebuchadnezzar -- like antiquities throughout this country -- has met a fate that has devastated Iraqis and archeologists throughout the world." ... "Armies not of fighters but of looters, capitalizing on a security vacuum after war, have pillaged Babylon, ancient ruins in the northern Iraqi cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, and worst of all in the eyes of specialists in Mesopotamian archeology, they ransacked the Iraqi National Museum, which housed most of the country's important artifacts." -By Thanassis Cambanis and Charles M. Sennott -Boston/Globe
- - - - "Reconstruction time again: Burned libraries make Iraq's history a war casualty." ... "According to news reports, the burned libraries (with contents described by [Islamic art bibliographer for Harvard's Fine Arts Library, Andras] Riedlmayer) include:" ... "• The Awqaf Library (Library of the Ministry of Religious Endowments), which contained 8,500 Islamic manuscript codices (an ancient type of book) in Arabic, as well as hundreds of manuscripts in Persian and Ottoman Turkish. It also contained ancient illuminated Korans. Its oldest work was a scriptural commentary by the ninth-century scholar Ibn Qutayba, copied in 1079." ... "• The National Library of Iraq and National Centre for Archives, known as the House of Wisdom, comparable to the US Library of Congress. It held 417,000 books, 2,618 periodicals from the late Ottoman era and modern times, and a collection of 4,412 rare books and manuscripts." ... "Also looted, if not burned, were the University of Mosul library, which had 890,000 volumes, including many rare books and manuscripts, and the University of Basra library, with 190,000 volumes and 700 manuscripts." -By David Mehegan -Boston/Globe
- "Fake hate emails mar activists' reputations: Arab-American activist Nawar Shora checked his e-mail one day and found scores of angry messages asking why he hated Americans and Jews. The messages were responding to e-mails marked as coming from him. Only one big problem: Shora never sent the hate mail." ... "Shora, a legal adviser to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, was the victim of a new form of harassment in which fake e-mail is sent using real addresses." -AP via -CNN
- - - - "Illicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, an Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert." ... "A scientist who claims to have worked in Iraq's chemical weapons program for more than a decade has told an American military team that Iraq destroyed chemical weapons and biological warfare equipment only days before the war began, members of the team said." ... "They said the scientist led Americans to a supply of material that proved to be the building blocks of illegal weapons, which he claimed to have buried as evidence of Iraq's illicit weapons programs." ... "The scientist also told American weapons experts that Iraq had secretly sent unconventional weapons and technology to Syria, starting in the mid-1990's, and that more recently Iraq was cooperating with Al Qaeda, the military officials said." -By Judith Miller -NYTimes via -Google-News
- - "Prepare to Meet Thy Doom: John Carmack's game engines set the standard for PC graphics - and legions of gamers and the industry love him for it. Now he's brought the world to the brink of Doom III." ... "A $108 million brand (counting the first two titles and various expansion packs), Doom napalmed the path for everything that followed: the first-person shooter action of Halo, the Internet play of EverQuest, the ultraviolence of Grand Theft Auto III. Doom was the first product to invite gamers to get under the hood and fiddle around with accessible, adaptable code that allowed for modifications, or mods, and there are versions based on everything from Star Wars to Aliens. As Doom and its successors became gaming standards, companies like Valve and Raven licensed id's graphics engines to create their own shooters." ... "Eventually, Carmack says, real-time rendering will be so dynamic that animators will be able to produce films using game engines. Motivated modmakers will have the tools - for free, if Carmack has his way - to bring to life a vision as compelling as the new film Finding Nemo (see Swimming With Sharks). In his book Pattern Recognition, William Gibson writes about a "Garage Kubrick." Carmack foresees a Basement Disney." (1, 2, 3) -By David Kushner 200305_Issue 11.05 -Wired -Magazine
20030420
- - - - "Kim plays a nuclear game he cannot win." ... "Whether North Korea has started reprocessing plutonium for nuclear weapons, or (depending on the translation) simply completed preparations, the regime's statement on Friday was a deliberate provocation ahead of this week's talks with the US and China in Beijing." ... "Mr Kim is trying to have his cake and eat it. The regime demands negotiations to obtain security assurances and aid from the US and its allies, but it also wants to pursue a nuclear weapons capability. The reprocessing declaration, coming after a US commitment to talks, epitomises this dual strategy. If this is North Korea's new game, then no one in the region is likely to play. For the US, a North Korea that is reprocessing plutonium and hiding fissile material in the country's thousands of caves (and which could then be sold to a third party) poses an unacceptable threat to homeland security." -By Victor Cha -FT.com
- - - - "Israel seeks pipeline for Iraqi oil: US discusses plan to pump fuel to its regional ally and solve energy headache at a stroke." ... "Plans to build a pipeline to siphon oil from newly conquered Iraq to Israel are being discussed between Washington, Tel Aviv and potential future government figures in Baghdad." ... "The plan envisages the reconstruction of an old pipeline, inactive since the end of the British mandate in Palestine in 1948, when the flow from Iraq's northern oilfields to Palestine was re-directed to Syria." ... "Now, its resurrection would transform economic power in the region, bringing revenue to the new US-dominated Iraq, cutting out Syria and solving Israel's energy crisis at a stroke." -By Ed Vuillamy -Guardian.co.uk
20030419
- - - - IRAQ PLAYING CARDS: Iraq card deck, Gulf War Two. Pentagon's "Personality Identification Playing Cards," Iraq Playing Card Deck of Saddam's Iraqi Regime.
20030417
- - - "Why Bush Will Go Back to the UN on Iraq: It may sound like geopolitical Groundhog Day, but cutting a deal with France and Russia may be the only way to free up Iraq's oil revenues. And the war has brought a more obliging tone in Paris and Moscow." ... "The UN Security Council is probably the last place many would expect the Bush administration to go to discuss the next step in Iraq. But the White House wants international sanctions against Iraq lifted immediately, in order to free up Iraqi oil revenue for reconstruction. And the UN Security Council is not only the sole body legally empowered to lift those sanctions; it is also legally in control of Iraq's oil revenues right now. That's why the U.S. plans next week to take its call for lifting sanctions to the same Security Council that failed to authorize its invasion of Iraq." -By Tony Karon -TIME.com
- - - "Interpol team headed to Iraq: Experts see ‘deliberate planned action’ behind art plunder, and police work could help crack case, they say." ... " Interpol, the international police organization, announced Friday it is sending a special team to Iraq to help track down pillaged art treasures, joining a legion of groups worldwide offering assistance in the recovery efforts. Some experts say that part of what seemed like random looting was, in fact, a carefully planned theft, and the stolen artifacts may already be on the black market." -By Jim Maceda and Betsy Steuart with -AP and -Reuters via -MSNBC
- - - "FBI joins hunt for looted Iraqi treasures." ... "The FBI announced Thursday that it had sent agents to Iraq to assist in recovering antiquities stolen from museums by looters." ... "The FBI announcement followed assertions by experts at an international meeting that some of the looters who ravaged Iraqi antiquities had keys to museum vaults and were able to take pieces from safes. Cultural experts, curators and law enforcement officials are scrambling to track down the missing antiquities and prevent further looting of the valuables." -Contributions by Donna Leinwand and -AP via -USATODAY
20030416
- - "Looters Ransack Iraq's National Library." ... "Looters and arsonists ransacked and gutted Iraq's National Library, leaving a smoldering shell Tuesday of precious books turned to ash and a nation's intellectual legacy gone up in smoke." ... "They also looted and burned Iraq's principal Islamic library nearby, home to priceless old Qurans; last week, thieves swept through the National Museum and stole or smashed treasures that chronicled this region's role as the ``cradle of civilization.''" -AP via -Guardian.co.uk
20030415
- - - - "Overseas Pundits See Real Threat of War With Syria." ... "Is Syria next?" ... "The Bush administration's warnings to the government in Damascus not to harbor Iraqi leaders or weapons of mass destruction are reverberating in the international online media. From Paris to London to Beirut to Tel Aviv, the possibility of war with Syria is seen as real, if not desirable." -By Jefferson Morley-WashingtonPost
- - - "Experts warned of museum looters: But U.S. military says it made no promises for site." ... "The experts met privately with Pentagon officials as early as January to warn that the impending war could pose grave risks to Iraq's archaeological treasures. They renewed the warnings by e-mail in the days before the U.S. attack on Baghdad began, some of the experts said Tuesday." ... "But Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made clear at a briefing at the Pentagon on Tuesday that the protection of the museum had been assigned less importance than the combat operations that were continuing sporadically in Baghdad on Thursday and Friday while the museum was being sacked." -By Douglas Jehl and Elizabeth Becker -NYTimes via -HoustonChronicle.com
- - - - - "Calif., high-tech firm target more wind for grid." ... "U.S. utilities have been buying wind power since the 1980s, but it has proven difficult to reserve space for wind on the transmission grid because no one could accurately forecast when it would be available." ... "But the California Independent System Operator, which must balance energy supplies with demand on the state grid, and TrueWind Solutions, an Albany, New York-based computer modeling firm, are betting they can make wind a more "predictable" power source scheduled for transmission shortly before it's needed." -By Leonard Anderson -Reuters via -Forbes
- - - - "U.S. Seeks to Shut Down Pipeline to Syria." ... "Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that U.S. forces have shut down a pipeline used for illegal oil shipments from Iraq to Syria, but he could not assure that oil is not still flowing between those two countries." ... "During a question-and-answer session with reporters, Rumsfeld denied that coalition forces had destroyed any pipelines. ``We have preserved infrastructure in that country,'' he said." -AP via -Guardian.co.uk
- - - "Personality Identification Playing Cards." The playing card deck released by the US military of the 52 most wanted Iraqi government and military leaders from Saddam's administration includes head shot photos of many of the faces of those wanted. Saddam Husayn Al-Tikriti is the ace of spades, his son Uday Saddam Husayn is the ace of hearts, his son Qusay Saddam Husayn Al-Tikriti is the ace of clubs, and the Presidential Secretary Abid Hamid Mahmud Al-Tikriti is the ace of diamonds. Two joker cards are included. One includes "Arab Titles" which explains that "Qadi - [is the] Judge for Islamic Sharia Court," and "Shaykh - [means] literally an elder." The second joker card lists "Iraqi Military Ranks" with the US military equivalent, for example, "Muhib" is the "General of the Army." A 55th card showing desert camouflage is included for the back of the cards. [20030410] -DefenseLINK.mil/news
20030414
- "Analysis / Two-step deception." ... "A foreign statesman who recently held a long conversation with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was asked afterward if he had the impression that Sharon would be ready for a deal with the Palestinians that would involve Israeli concessions. "Not a chance," said the statesman. "Sharon believes security depends on holding onto the territories."" ... "Sharon never says "no" on diplomatic issues, preferring to wrap his tough line with "yes, but...." Any hint or promise for a future concession is always attached to a costly price the other side has to pay first. Every speech or interview that includes a mention of flexibility and concessions, is always accompanied by a toughening of positions." -By Aluf Benn -Ha'aretzDaily
- - - - - - "After Iraq, where will Bush go next: 'fascist' Syria, theocratic Iran, or communist North Korea?" ... "The mission begins in Baghdad but it does not end there. Were the US to retreat after victory into complacency, new dangers would soon arise. War in Iraq represents but the first instalment."" ... "With US troops securing positions in Baghdad, it is hard to imagine a more concise formulation of what so unnerves much of the world about the possible direction of 21st century America than this last sentence of a new book co-written by an influential Washington conservative and a liberal internationalist." ... "William Kristol and Lawrence Kaplan, in their recently published War Over Iraq, argue for a course of action that has come to be seen by many outside America as the settled course of US foreign policy after Iraq. Mr Kristol is the founder of the Project for the New American Century, the neo-conservative think-tank that has among its friends in the Bush administration Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defence secretary and architect of the Iraq strategy. Mr Kaplan is a senior editor at the left-leaning New Republic." -By Gerard Baker -FT.com
- - - "North Korea softens on talks: War in Iraq may be prompting Pyongyang to agree to multilateral talks on its nuclear program." ... "If North Korea really does want the multilateral talks now hinted at by Pyongyang officials, it would mark the first major concession by hard-boiled Korean negotiators since the North admitted a secret uranium program last October." ... "If genuine, North Korea's shift toward a softer policy may be an important diplomatic consequence of a US campaign in Iraq that has suddenly featured graphic images of Saddam Hussein's statue being toppled in a city square in Baghdad, analysts say. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who has nearly as many public statues of himself, has been touring military bases in the North for two weeks." -By Robert Marquand -CSMonitor
20030411
- - - "US takes on Syria in war of stern words: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld charged again this week that Syria is harboring Iraqi regime members." ... "Syria's support for the collapsed regime of Saddam Hussein may have goaded Washington into seriously considering the use of military force against Damascus." ... "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld charged on Wednesday that Syria is taking in fleeing members of Hussein's regime and continues to supply Iraq with military equipment, an accusation he first leveled two weeks ago." ... ""I have accurately advised that they not provide military assistance to Iraq," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "They seem to have made a conscious decision to ignore that." ... ""Senior regime people are moving out of Iraq into Syria, and Syria is continuing to send things into Iraq. We find it notably unhelpful," he said." -By Nicholas Blanford -CSMonitor
- - "Mosul falls quickly; U.S. eyes Tikrit: In quick order, the northern Iraqi cities of Kirkuk and Mosul have fallen under the apparent control of American and Kurdish fighters, leaving Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit as the last holdout in the 3-week-old war to oust the Iraqi leader. Meantime, U.S. forces stepped up the hunt for regime leaders who may be attempting to flee the country. On Friday, Central Command said it has issued a most-wanted list of 55 officials who must be captured or killed by American troops." ... "The White House welcomed developments in Iraq, while repeating its mantra that the war is far from over." -Contributions by Preston Mendenhall, Chip Reid, Tom Aspell, David Shuster, Jim Miklaszewski, and Jeannie Ohm, -AP and -Reuters via -MS-NBC
20030410
- - - - "Kirkuk's oil fields loom as possible flashpoint for Kurds, Turks." ... "Kurds, Turks and Americans sought Thursday to avert any violent scramble for control of the prolific oil fields around Kirkuk after Iraqi defenses appeared to collapse in the strategic northern city." ... "As advancing Kurdish fighters poured into the city, neighboring Turkey dispatched military observers to the area stoking fears the two sides could blunder into a local war within the larger Iraqi conflict." -By Bruce Stanley -AP via -Boston/Globe
- - "American Flag Flap: Stars and Stripes on Saddam’s Doomed Statue Strikes a Sensitive Chord." ... "It took Cpl. Edward Chin just seconds to hang an American flag on the head of Saddam Hussein's statue in central Baghdad, but it's a move that's likely to be debated for years to come." ... "The mood of Iraqi civilians was briefly muted in Baghdad Wednesday as Chin climbed up and covered Saddam's face with an American flag." ... "The crowd's loud cheers faded, and in less than a minute the Stars and Stripes was removed from the massive statue and replaced with Iraq's black, white and red flag." -ABCNEWS.com
20030409
- - "Tikrit may be regime’s last holdout: As Baghdad falls, U.S. forces focus on Saddam’s hometown." ... "U.S.-led forces on Wednesday pounded President Saddam Hussein’s desert hometown, where they said the regime’s loyalists were making a last stand as resistance in Baghdad crumbled. U.S. military commanders were assessing a buildup of Iraqi forces around the city." ... "Saddam, if he is still alive, may try to flee to his birthplace in the hope that tribesmen with blood ties to him will fight to the death for their leader. Even if he is dead, experts fear Tikrit would remain a hotbed of resistance long after a new government is installed." -MSNBC
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20030408
- - - - - "Analysis: Three stages to a new Iraq." ... "The British have proposed that the UN should give its approval to a three-stage process under which Iraq will move from essentially military rule through an interim Iraqi administration to a representative government." ... "Stage one: Military rule." ... "US and UK military will be in charge of security and in overall command." ... "Stage two: Interim Iraqi Administration (IIA)." ... "This is where the British Government wants the UN to take a leading role by organising a conference in Baghdad which would appoint members of the IIA." ... "Stage three: Representative government." ... "It could be a year or so before this is organised. And the phrase "representative government" will have to be defined." -By Paul Reynolds -BBC/News
- - - "BP maps out Iraq strategy: World's No. 3 oil company is getting ready to work on the world's second largest reserves of crude." ... "British oil company BP PLC has put a team to work on a strategy for its future in oil-rich Iraq, people familiar with the situation said Tuesday." ... "The news follows a meeting in London at the weekend where Iraqi exiles and U.S. state department officials agreed that international oil firms should take a leading postwar role in reviving Iraq's oil industry."-Reuters via -CNN /fn
- - "The Latest Iraq Snapshot." ... "U.S. forces tighten grip on Baghdad, blitzing targets in heart of city and seizing an airbase." ... "Two cameramen, from Reuters and Spain's Tele 5, killed after U.S. tank fires on Baghdad hotel housing foreign media; al-Jazeera cameraman dies after U.S. air raid on Baghdad" -Reuters
- - "Baghdad running low on medicine: Aid agencies warned Tuesday that overwhelmed Baghdad hospitals were running low of life-saving medicines and that civilian casualties were mounting in Iraq's besieged capital." ... ""Nobody is checking every single hospital, nobody is adding up all the numbers ... (but) there clearly is a large volume of civilian casualties," World Health Organization spokesman Iain Simpson told a United Nations briefing." --Reuters via -CNN /World
- "Readers mad that Chronicle ran ad to impeach Bush: Antiwar group paid about $45,000." ... "Monday's ad, which typically would cost about $45,000, called for the impeachment of Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft." ... "The phones at The Chronicle also went into overdrive a few years ago when the paper ran an ad calling for then-President Bill Clinton's impeachment." -By John Wildermuth -SFGate.com
- - - "Marines find bloodstained U.S. uniforms." ... "U.S. Marines raiding an Iraqi military prison in Baghdad found bloodstained uniforms belonging to at least two American prisoners-of-war, officers here said Tuesday." ... "The Marines attacked a sprawling 54,000 square foot compound at Rashid airfield in the southeastern corner of the city after receiving intelligence reports that up to seven POWs were being held there." -By David J. Lynch -USATODAY
- - - "Saddam’s Voice? Intercept Believed to Be of Saddam’s Voice Led to Airstrike; Heavy Fighting in Baghdad." ... "U.S. intelligence intercepts, including one believed to be of Saddam Hussein talking to his advisers about how to flee the capital city, led to a U.S. "leadership strike" on an upscale Baghdad neighborhood, ABCNEWS has learned." ... "One intelligence intercept, believed to have been carried out by the NSA (National Security Agency), indicated that a person who may have been the Iraqi leader was having a conversation with his advisers about how and when they could leave Baghdad." -Contributions by Richard Engel, John Donvan, John McWethy, Martha Raddatz, and Don Dahler -ABCNEWS.com
- - - "Troops ignore Saddam death report: Marines: ‘Sure — Osama and Jimmy Hoffa were there, too!’" ... "U.S. officials said they had intelligence information from an extremely reliable source Monday that Saddam and other top Iraqi leaders, including at least one of his sons, were meeting at a building in the upscale Al Mansour neighborhood of Baghdad." ... "Acting on the tip, a lone U.S. B-1 bomber dropped four 2,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs on what U.S. officials described as a residence." -By Chip Reid -MSNBC
20030407
- - "Ambush shatters sense of ease." ... "Before dawn yesterday, advance parties for the Second Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment's four gun batteries moved to scout what they figured might be the unit's final location of the war. As the convoy rolled through the eastern Baghdad suburbs, the Marines shared a sense of relief that the end of their piece of the war seemed near." ... "Then, just as the sun came up, the Marines drove into an ambush." -By Scott Bernard Nelson -Boston/Globe
- - "British troops move into Basra." ... "ASRA, Iraq - The Ba'ath Party was giving up its last stronghold in southern Iraq, jubilant residents reported yesterday, as coalition forces seized territory within the city for the first time." ... "After a two-week bombing and shelling campaign from the city's outskirts, British troops moved into central Basra. The attacks have targeted the Ba'ath party leadership, but reportedly killed dozens of civilians." ... "British officials said that they had not yet taken the city, but that they had decided that it was safe enough to secure an area where some troops would stay the night and plan their next move." -By Thanassis with contributions by Anne Barnard Cambanis -Boston/Globe
20030407
- - - - "Analysis: Show of strength in Baghdad: With television pictures showing US forces inside a presidential palace in the heart of Baghdad, there can be no doubting the dramatic advance made by US forces during the early hours of Monday morning." ... "But this operation has as much a psychological as a purely military purpose." ... "We are told here [US Central Command, Qatar] that it is all part of a carefully orchestrated plan to try to persuade ordinary Iraqis that the messages that they are getting from the regime's leaders are simply wrong." -By Jonathan Marcus -BBC/News
- - - "Analysis: British dominance in Basra signal to rest of Iraq: Saddam's finished." ... "The British thrust into the center of Basra is a signal achievement in its own right." ... "But it is also important for the larger campaign to topple Saddam Hussein and win the battle for Baghdad." ... "American and British commanders hope the capture of Iraq's second-largest city will be a vivid demonstration that Saddam's government is fast losing control of major population centers and that the fate of Saddam is sealed. That, they hope, will encourage resistance to Saddam throughout Iraq, including in Baghdad." -By Michael R. Gordon -AP via -StarTribune.com
20030406
- - - "U.S. [C-130] Plane Lands at Baghdad Airport." ... "A U.S. military cargo plane landed at Baghdad's international airport late Sunday, the first known U.S. aircraft to arrive in the Iraqi capital, the U.S. Central Command said." -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
20030404