From the World-Wide Resourses of the Western Australia
Reserch Senter(*)
OIL THE NEWS THAT FITS MY VIEWS #208
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In the Run-Up to World War III, Reliably Reporting the News Relevant
to Extreme Right-Wing Democratic Socialists Everywhere
(validated for RiteThink(tm) by the Office of Our Man in Can-berra).
Our Home Page:
The Undeniable Evidence:
Even More Uneniable Evidence:
US Centcom News Releases:
Iraqi Body Count: [9,211 as at 02 Jun 2004].
UN Mailing List:
Some Of The News, Some Of The Time:
This Stuff Blogged:
Also Kindly Archived:
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Selecting latest news stories and other data for you...
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I regret that incorrect information was provided to me, and through
me, to the Prime Minister.
-- Aussie Def Min Robert Hill, 16 Jun 2004.
Pass the buck. The AUS govt has blamed the military for not passing
on info about POW abuse, now known to have been known as early as last y.
The US is very kean to hand over the ex-Pres to the Iraqi authorities...
-- Interim PM Iyad Allawi, 14 Jun 2004.
There seems to be a disagreement over whether Saddam will or won't
be handed over to the new "sovereign" Iraqi govt.
You will see an improvement [in the security situation] [..] within the
next 2 wks.
-- Iraqi official, 14 Jun 2004.
The interim Iraqi govt is vowing to crack down on security problems
in the run-up to the hand-over.
For the foreseeable future, coal, gas and oil will meet Australia's
energy needs.
-- PM John Howard, energy white paper policy, 15 Jun 2004.
Fossil future. The Howard govt has unveiled its energy policy --
which aims to subsidise the burning of oil, coal and gas for the
foreseeable future.
Australia has to position itself for the longer term...
-- AUS Env Min David Kemp, "7.30 Report", 15 Jun 2004.
Brown credentials. While Kemp was reportedly pushing for a 5%
renewable energy target he was rolled in Cabinet.
The world will want to know whether there are cleaner coal
technologies... and that's what this is all about.
-- AUS Env Min David Kemp, "7.30 Report", 15 Jun 2004.
Kemp points out Australia is one of the world's biggest coal
exporters. Under the Howard package, taxpayers will subsidise
local consumption of petrol, oil and diesel to the tune of $1.5 bn
-- backdated to 1998.
I hope [to see a] return to the days when we argue who's right and
wrong... not who's good and bad.
-- Bill Clinton, 14 Jun 2004.
Clinton was taken aback by generous words from Pres Bush at the
dedication of Whitehouse portraits of Bill and Hilly.
----------------------------------------
Tue, 15 Jun 2004.
HEADLINES:
Brit soldiers face Iraq abuse charges
US said to give Iraq Saddam in 2 weeks
Iraq plans crackdown on insurgency
Blair limits NATO Iraq role to training
5 foreigners among 13 dead in Iraq blast
2 Turkish nat'ls abducted in Iraq: report
2 arrested over Madrid blasts
2 killed in Israeli air strike
3 asylum seekers in Nauru hunger strike
4 play mind games in US experiment
Afghan leader calls for NATO to send more troops
Applicants ditch plans for underworld tours
Aussie wheat crop to hit 24m tonnes
CIA can't determine if Al Qaeda suspect on tape
Car, gasoline sales boost May sales
Club not to blame for drunken accident, court finds
Cost of SYD living skyrockets
Court allows "under God" on technicality
Crowd rejoices as car bomb kills 13
EU demands Canada wheat board reforms -- Fischler
Emergency landing prompts safety investigation
Energy spending prompts early poll talk
European leaders firm in face of vote drubbings
First snow transforms alps
Foreigners blamed for Baghdad blast
Foresters defend report's findings
Former diplomats criticise "unsafe" US policies
Govt to invest in "green" energy
Insurer under investigation
Israeli court allows sale of pork
MP's rebellion halts medical record plan
Man freed from under 20 tonnes of glass
Markets jittery over interest rate speculation
Men want flexible workplaces too, ACTU says
Mobs attack Indian theatres over lesbian film
NT businessman forced out of E Timor
Native plants provide new hope for ulcer sufferers
Production slows as housing market cools
Protection cheaper than subsidies
SYD, Adel in solar home trial
Saturn moon Phoebe reveals battered past
Sharon bomb plot revealed
Siege ends as armed man surrenders
Somali charged over US bomb plot
Spaniard jailed for 30 y over Dickinson murder
Stocks fall before CPI data; Boeing jumps
Survey hints at strong employment growth
Teachers to meet Refshauge over pay rise "crisis"
Thompson won't give up portfolio for Garrett
US to hand Saddam over "within fortnight"
Web inventor Berners-Lee wins rich tech prize
Whale group warns of watching dangers
Youth welfare system unfair: ACOSS
Stocks fall before CPI data; Boeing jumps
NY (Reuters). US stocks retreated on Monday, as a
stronger-than-expected retail sales report and a key consumer prices
reading on Tuesday increased fears the Federal Reserve may take a more
aggressive stance toward raising interest rates.
General Motors Corp shares weighed on the blue-chip Dow, even after
the world's largest carmaker backed its quarterly and 2004 earnings
targets. Interest-rate-sensitive financial stocks also fell sharply,
with Citigroup and J P Morgan Chase & Co among the Dow's top 10% losers.
Communications gear makers like Cisco Systems Inc pressured the
technology-laden Nasdaq, dragging the S&P Communications Equipment
index down 2.5%.
Worries about rising interest rates intensified as investors braced
for May's Consumer Price Index , or CPI, due before Tue's market
open. Those worries were reinforced after the govt reported early Mon
that US retail sales in May rose a bigger-than-forecast 1.2%, spurred
by strong consumer demand and record gasoline prices.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 75.37 points, or 0.72%, to
10,334.73, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index gave up 11.21
points, or 0.99%, to 1,125.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index ended down
29.88 points, or 1.49%, at 1,969.99.
"Everything's focused on tomorrow's numbers, and how the Fed's going
to perceive it. That's put people on edge," said Michael O'Hare, head
of block trading at Lehman Brothers.
Recent comments from central bank officials signalled that the Fed
could raise interest rates more aggressively than anticipated, perhaps
as much as half a%age point at one of its meetings, O'Hare added. The
Fed's next policy meeting is scheduled for Jun 29-30, with any rate
decision expected on the 2nd day.
The strong retail sales report "means consumers are spending, no
matter what," said Ozan Akcin, chief market strategist at Puglisi & Co
"Everything's headed in a northerly direction in terms of inflation,
and the market's pulling back because people are worried the Fed could
raise rates more than expected."
Economists expect that the CPI, the most widely watched inflation
gauge, will show a gain of 0.4%.
A higher number for the overall May CPI could force the Fed Reserve to
lift rates faster than originally planned, economists said. Fed chief
Alan Greenspan said last wk that the central bank would do "what is
required" to keep inflation in check.
US Treasury bond prices fell, sending yields to fresh 2-y highs, as
bond traders also worried about the possibility of aggressive rate
hikes. The price of the benchmark 10-y note dropped 18/32 to 99-1/32,
pushing its yield up to 4.87% from 4.81% last wk, while the yield on
the 2-y Treasury note jumped to 2.94%, its highest level since Jun
2002. The 2-y note's price slipped 8/32 to 99-5/32.
In other economic news, the US trade deficit hit a record $48.3 bn in
Apr, prompting the dollar to weaken against the euro.
Late Mon afternoon, the euro was at $1.2063, up from about $1.2000
just before the US economic data was released on Mon morning.
On the NYSE, trading was moderate, with 1.18 bn shares
changing hands, below the 1.4 bn daily average for last y. About 1.38
bn shares were traded on Nasdaq, below last y's 1.69 bn daily average.
After Mon's closing bell, shares of Boeing Co, a Dow component, jumped
on news that the US Navy awarded the company a $3.9 bn deal to develop
a replacement for the Navy's fleet of submarine-hunting P-3 aircraft,
bypassing Lockheed Martin Corp.
Boeing's stock shot up 1.4% to $49.50 on the INET electronic brokerage
system from its close at $48.83 on the NYSE. The stock,
during Mon's regular trading, had risen just 8 cents, or 0.16%.
During the regular session, shares of GM, another Dow component, shed
97 cents, or 2%, to $47.09, even after it said the outlook for the
global auto industry remains strong.
Shares of J P Morgan gave up 1.7%, or 64 cents, to $37.16, while
those of Citigroup, the world's No. 1 financial services company, slid
1.3%, or 60 cents, to $46.75.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc also weighed on the Dow, even after the discount
retailer backed its Jun sales forecast. Shares of Wal-Mart, the
world's largest retailer, dropped 82 cents, or 1.4%, to $56.38.
99 Cents Only Stores topped percentage losers on the NYSE,
sinking 31% to a new low, after the discount chain operator slashed
forecasts last wk due to problems related to inventory controls and
rising costs. 99 Cents shares plunged $6.38 to $14.10.
On the mergers front, casino operator MGM Mirage shares fell, after
the casino operator raised its offer to buy rival Mandalay Resort
Group , hoping to seal a deal that would build the world's largest
casino empire.
MGM raised its bid to buy Mandalay to $71 a share from $68 a share.
MGM shares rose 60 cents, or 1.3%, to $48.20, while those of Mandalay
slid 82 cents, or 1.2%, to $67.60.
Among the Nasdaq's most-active stocks, Cisco fell 50.5 cents, or 2%,
to $23.315, while Intel Corp slipped 65 cents, or 2.3%, to $27.99.
Markets jittery over interest rate speculation
US stocks dropped overnight on interest rate worries.
NY/Sydney. Interest rate jitters have been stirred again on Wall
Street after a solid monthly measure of retail turnover in the US.
Retail sales surged 1.2% in May as people bought new cars and paid
more for petrol.
The latest figures reverse a 0.6% decline in Apr and have left the
market convinced the US Fed Reserve will raise interest rates at the
end of the month.
At the same time, the US trade deficit has ballooned to a record
$US48.3 bn in Apr, well above forecasts for a $US45 bn shortfall.
On the NYSE, the Dow Jones industrial average has closed 75 points
lower at 10,335.
The high-tech Nasdaq market has also been in decline, with the Nasdaq
composite index losing 30 points to 1,970.
On the Brit share market, there have been heavy falls and UK investors
are looking ahead to the possibility of higher US interest rates.
In the meantime, the situation in Iraq has been casting a shadow.
Banking stocks have led the way lower and London's FT100 index fell 51
points to finish trading at 4,433, which is a slide of 1.1%.
Yesterday in AUS, the market was closed for the Queen's Birthday
holiday however on Fri, the All Ordinaries index finished at 3,478.
On foreign exchange markets, the Aussie dollar has sunk below 69 US cents.
About 7.30 am it was quoted at 68.66 US cents, 37.81 pence Sterling,
56.97 euro cents; 76.21 yen and $NZ1.098.
The gold is worth $US383.40/oz and W Texas crude oil is at
$US37.58/bbl.
EU demands Canada wheat board reforms -- Fischler
Winnipeg, Manitoba (Reuters). The Canadian Wheat Board must stop
relying on govt guarantees and prove it does not subsidise exports if
Canada wants world trade talks to advance, the European Union 's
agriculture chief said on Mon.
It's unfair for Canada to ask Europe to end its farm export subsidies
unless it stops back-stopping the CWB's payments to farmers and credit
for export buyers, Franz Fischler said.
The CWB also needs to provide evidence it does not subsidise exports
because the returns it provides to farmers sometimes appear to be
higher than the prices it garners for wheat and barley on the world
market, Fischler said in an interview with Reuters.
"The concept is that the single desk seller has the authority to fix
the price on the export markets for the exported products," Fischler
said in the interview.
The Canadian Wheat Board is a farmer-run agency which has a
govt-granted monopoly on wheat and barley sales from W Canada to
millers, maltsters and export markets.
It is one of the world's largest sellers of wheat, with $C3.3 bn
[$US2.4 bn] in revenues last y.
Its monopoly has long irked US exporters and legislators, who last
year slapped high tariffs on Canadian wheat, keeping it out of US
milling markets.
Last year, the CWB overpaid farmers by $C85 mn for their crop -- an
unusual shortfall that was paid by the Canadian govt.
Fischler made his remarks after a spirited address to a Canadian grain
industry luncheon where he sat with Canadian Wheat Board chairman Ken
Ritter and Canada's chief agricultural negotiator Steve Verheul.
He said the European Union has made significant reforms to its
trade-distorting agricultural subsidies and has offered substantial
concessions in current World Trade Organization talks.
WTO members are feverishly trying to agree on a framework by the end
of Jul seen as key to the future of the current round of negotiations.
Last month, the EU said it was prepared to phase out the 2.5 bn to 2.8
bn euros [$US3 bn to $US3.4 bn] it spends annually on export subsidies.
"We have been told for y that the elimination of export subsidies is
the ... magic stick which unlocks the WTO round," Fischler told reporters.
But the offer is conditional on the US phasing out export credit and
some food aid practices, as well as Canada and AUS overhauling their
monopoly wheat exporting agencies.
"Now is the time for meaningful concessions to be made," Fischler
said. "You wanted reform: you got it. You wanted the abolishment of
export support: you will get it, provided we see an exchange of goods."
Allowing grain companies to compete with the CWB for farmers' wheat
and barley would remove some of the suspicion about its practices,
Fischler said.
"The risk that a monopoly is misusing its power is bigger than if
there is enough competition," Fischler said.
"What we need is the proof that there's no export subsidisation
involved in the way how they manage their wheat marketing," Fischler
said, not specifying what would constitute adequate proof.
Fischler met privately with Canadian Wheat Board officials on Mon and
was also slated to meet with Canada's Agriculture Min Bob Speller
before addressing the World Meat Congress on Tue.
Aussie wheat crop to hit 24m tonnes
Washington (AAP). Aussie wheat production will hit 24 mn tonnes this
season, the US Foreign Agricultural Service has predicted.
In its latest world markets and trade report, the service said AUS was
still on course for a 24 mn tonne crop -- well up on the official
forecast by the Aussie Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics
which last wk predicted a 23.2 mn tonne crop.
The service maintained its May prediction of Aussie wheat and flour
exports in the 2004-05 financial y of 17 mn tonnes which is up 21% on
the same period last y.
The service expects the European Union to become a net exporter of
wheat this coming season, creating extra pressure in markets of
interest to AUS such as Egypt.
"Domestic prices have fallen considerably in the last few months,
making EU exports more competitive," it said.
The service revised up its forecast for world wheat production to
537.3 mn tonnes, and also increased its forecast for world consumption
to 563.2 mn tonnes.
On rice, it pushed down its forecast for Aussie production by 16% to
500,000 tonnes, and cut the expected milled production by 26.6% to
550,000 tonnes.
The service pushed up its forecast for Aussie exports of coarse grains.
Barley production is tipped to climb on the back of better climatic
conditions, with exports expected to rise 300,000 tonnes to 4.5 mn tonnes.
Production of sorghum is expected to fall 300,000 tonnes to 1.9 mn tonnes.
The service kept steady its forecast on Aussie oat exports at 200,000 tonnes.
Car, gasoline sales boost May sales
Washington (AFP). American shoppers ramped up retail sales in May,
snapping up new cars and paying extra for high-priced gasoline in a
fresh sign that the economy is packing on muscle.
Retail sales surged 1.2%, the Commerce Dept said, reversing a 0.6% dip
the previous m and slightly surpassing private economists' forecasts.
Sales rose 8.4% from last y.
Stores sales are scrutinised by markets because consumer spending
accounts for 2/3 of US economic activity.
"Consumers are continuing to power the economy forward and upward,"
said Wells Fargo Bank chief economist Sung Won Sohn.
"Now there are 2 engines in the economy -- both consumers and
businesses -- pulling the US economy forward," he said.
"For a while we were concerned that the effect of the diminishing tax
cuts and reduced re-financing activity and rising mortgages rates would
slow consumer spending but that obviously is not happening," Sohn added.
"Consumers not only have the buying power, they have the willingness
to spend their money, and retail sales continue to be a significant
source of economic strength in the US economy.
He predicted the US economy would grow at an annual pace of 5% in the
2nd quarter of 2004, in part because of the solid performance by consumers.
A breakdown of the data showed sales of motor vehicles and parts
soared 2.7%, the steepest increase since Nov last y, while gasoline
station sales jumped 4.0%, a 15-m record.
Other gains were more modest. Clothing sales climbed 0.9%, health and
personal care store sales rose 0.9%, and food and beverage sales
advanced 0.9%.
General merchandise stores reported a 1.3% gain in sales, while sales
at electronics and appliance stores edged up 0.1%.
Sales related to housing weakened. Sales at furniture and home
furnishings stores dipped 0.6%, and sales at building material and
garden equipment stores dropped 0.8%.
Restaurant and bar sales fell 0.3%.
Protection cheaper than subsidies
Geneva (AFP). The creation of a vast network of protected marine
reserves to shelter fragile stocks of fish would cost less than states
are currently spending on subsidies to their fishing industries, the
conservation group WWF says.
A number of countries, including AUS, have backed a proposal by NZ to
eliminate such subsidies.
According to the internat'l environmental group the cost of managing
such reserves -- which would need to cover 30% of the world's oceans
to ensure the regeneration of stocks -- would be between $US12 and
$US14 bn [$A17.25 and $A20.13 bn].
"This is less than the $US15 -- $US30 bn already spent each year on
economically and environmentally damaging subsidies to commercial
fisheries," the report said.
WWF said that although the idea of creating special marine reserves
was 1st mooted at the UN-organised World Summit on Sustainable
Development in Johannesburg in 2002, this is the first time the scheme
has been costed.
The study showed that its proposed marine parks, which currently
represent just 0.5% of the world's oceans, would increase the value of
the catch to $US80 bn each year.
"These networks of marine protection areas would generate between
830,000 and 1.1 mn full-time jobs," the study said.
The group argues that the system of subsidising fishing fleets around
the world contributes to the over-exploitation of marine resources and
to over-capacity in the sector.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is currently discussing a proposal
by NZ to eliminate subsidies.
It has been backed by about a dozen countries including the US, Chile,
AUS and Norway, but criticised by the European Union and Japan.
Blair limits NATO Iraq role to training
London (Reuters). PM Tony Blair says he expects any further NATO role
in Iraq to be limited to training security forces, rejecting talk of a
split between the US and Europe over NATO involvement.
"I don't believe we will see further troops come through NATO," Blair
told parliament on Mon. "But I hope, and if the new Iraq govt wishes
it, we will see assistance with training provided for the Iraqi
security forces."
US Pres George W Bush and French Pres Jacques Chirac clashed over
NATO's role in Iraq at a summit of the Group of 8 industrialised
nations on Sea Island in Georgia last wk.
Bush said he wanted NATO to be more involved in Iraq and suggested
some NATO countries could send more troops. Chirac, a fervent opponent
of the US-led war, replied that it was not NATO's "mission" to
intervene in Iraq.
Chirac remained reticent about NATO involvement even when Bush sought
to clarify his earlier remarks by saying he expected NATO to train
Iraqi forces rather than offer more troops.
Blair said the idea had always been that NATO soldiers would help with
training. He said he did not think NATO members would oppose that role
provided the request came from the Iraqi govt.
"There may still be a disagreement about that, I don't know, but I
don't think so," he added.
The US-led invasion of Iraq split the alliance last y. Since then NATO
has limited itself to providing logistical support for a Polish-led
division in south-central Iraq as part of coalition occupation forces.
European leaders firm in face of vote drubbings
London (Reuters). Despite their poor election showings, European
leaders are vowing to push ahead with their agendas.
The leaders of Brit, France and Germany have suffered humiliating
defeats in the European elections but each has pledged to stand firm
and push ahead with their policies.
From Prague to London, parties opposed to the European Union
integration process made considerable gains in the 1st EU-wide polls
since the bloc's historic expansion to take in states once behind the
Iron Curtain.
Voters in Brit punished PM Tony Blair for waging war in Iraq and
vented their anti-European sentiment, pushing Labour to its lowest
level in a nation-wide election since World War I.
However, Mr Blair has urged worried Labour Party members to hold their
nerve in the run-up to the next general election, after suffering
historic losses in both the European election and local polls.
A party rep said Mr Blair told a meeting of Labour MPs: "We've got to
have confidence in our arguments, hold our nerve and believe we will win,
not just because of the campaign we will fight but because of our policies."
Many Labour MPs fear they will lose their seats in the next general
election, which is expected next year, and some have called on Mr
Blair to stand down as they worry Iraq has made him a liability.
Labour won just 23% of the vote in the European ballot, compared to
27% for the opp'n Conservatives.
The biggest winner was the UK Independence Party (UKIP) which came
third with 16% of the vote. The party advocates withdrawal from the
European Union.
Analysts said its success underlined the extreme difficulty Mr Blair
faces in winning a referendum he has pledged on a constitution for the bloc.
That vote may not be held until early 2006, well after the next
general election.
* Unprecedented reverse
The results followed a drubbing in local govt elections in which
Labour's share of the vote slid to 3rd place, an unprecedented reverse
for a governing party.
Mr Blair acknowledged Iraq had contributed to a "bad set of results".
But he declined an invitation from one MP to apologise for the war,
Labour sources said.
"The public needs to know that we are controlling events, not that
events are controlling us," Mr Blair told MPs.
Labour MPs put up a show of unity at the meeting and the main
dissenters kept quiet but unease persists in the party's ranks.
"Tony speaks, we all clap, that's what you expect at these meetings,"
one MP said.
Analysts say Labour can draw comfort from its 161-seat parliamentary
majority, which means an enormous vote swing would be needed for the
party to be ousted at the next election.
Labour was quick to point out govts across Europe were battered by
protest votes and Brit mid-term elections are traditionally used to
kick the incumbent govt.
In the 1999 European elections, the Conservatives soundly beat Labour
but 2 y later Mr Blair won the 2001 general election in a landslide.
* Chirac pledges continuity
French Pres Jacques Chirac has also pledged continuity from his Govt.
He is resisting pressure for change from the opp'n Socialists after
they trounced his ruling UMP party in the European vote.
"The Govt must and will continue its task," Mr Chirac told reporters
after meeting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the western
German city of Aachen.
He says France's economic reforms will continue.
Earlier, the Socialist Party urged Mr Chirac to dismiss PM Jean-Pierre
Raffarin and make policy changes, as opinion polls showed half of
French voters thought Mr Raffarin should quit.
The Socialists gave the UMP party its 2nd election drubbing in less
than 3 m in the elections.
Voters punished the Govt over high unemployment and cost-cutting, as
in regional elections in Mar.
"This colourless Govt has no legitimacy any more and common sense
should lead Mr Raffarin and his team to resign," Jean-Marc Ayrault,
leader of Socialist deputies in Parliament, said in a radio interview.
Mr Chirac's pledge for continuity shows he intends to pursue
controversial reforms, including an overhaul of France's costly health
care system.
For his part, Chancellor Schroeder says he will not be swayed by the
European results, which delivered him one of the biggest electoral slaps.
His ruling Social Democrats suffered catastrophic losses blamed on
anger at their tough economic reform drive that includes social
welfare cuts.
"I can only continue with these policies and I want to continue only
with these policies," Mr Schroeder said, adding there was "no
alternative" to his program.
Former diplomats criticise "unsafe" US policies
Washington (BBC). A cross-party group of former American diplomats
and military officials has accused the Bush Admin of gravely damaging
Washington's foreign relations, especially over Iraq. In a letter to
be published later this week, the group says it believes the Admin has
undermined the US's world standing and alienated many of Washington's
closest allies, making the world a more dangerous place. One of the
signatories, former ambassador Princeton Lyman, is one of those who is
critical of the invasion of Iraq. "It was several aspects of it that
were disturbing to us," he said. "One, the bad use of intel, the
failure to mobilise sufficient internat'l support, leading us into
Iraq in a way that alienated a good deal of the world and may have
aggravated the terrorist problem."
Somali charged over US bomb plot
Columbus, OH (AP). A Somali native living in Ohio has been charged
with plotting with al-Qaeda operatives to blow up a shopping mall,
according to an indictment unsealed on Mon.
The 4-count indictment, returned by a grand jury in Columbus, Ohio,
the state capital, charges that Nuradin Abdi, 32, conspired with
admitted al-Qaeda member Iyman Faris and others to detonate a bomb at
the unidentified shopping mall after he obtained military-style
training in Ethiopia.
A-G John Ashcroft announced the indictment at a Justice Dept news
conference and used the occasion to warn anew of al-Qaeda's
threat. "Current credible intel indicates that al-Qaeda wants to hit
the US, to hit the US hard," he said.
Abdi is also charged with fraud and misuse of documents by claiming
that he had been granted valid asylum status in the US. In fact,
prosecutors say, he obtained that refugee document under false pretences.
There also is one count each of conspiracy to provide material support
to terrorists and conspiracy to provide material support to a
designated foreign terrorist organisation, in this case al-Qaeda.
The charges against Abdi, who has been in custody since Nov on
immigration-related violations, were handed up by the grand jury last Thu.
A govt motion seeking to keep Abdi in detention says he returned to
the US from Africa in Mar 2000 and was met at the airport in Columbus
by Faris. Those 2 and other unidentified coconspirators were involved
in the alleged shopping mall plot, prosecutors say.
One of the immigration charges contends that Abdi concealed his true
destination when he applied on Apr 27, 1999, for a US travel
document. He said he was going to Germany and Saudi Arabia to visit
Mecca and relatives.
In fact, "as the defendant well knew, he planned to travel to Ogaden,
Ethiopia, for the purpose of obtaining military-style training in
preparation for violent Jihad," the indictment says.
The training allegedly included use of guns, bombs and guerrilla warfare.
Faris is serving a 20-y fed sentence after pleading guilty last Jun to
providing material support to al-Qaeda. Faris, an Ohio-based truck
driver originally from Kashmir, admitted plotting to sever the cables
supporting the Brooklyn Bridge in NY and to derail trains in NY or
Washington.
Neither of those plots came to fruition.
Faris had received instructions from top al-Qaeda leader Khalid Shaikh
Mohammed for what might have been a 2nd wave of attacks to follow
those of Sep 11, 2001, investigators say. Mohammed, the alleged
mastermind of the hijackings, is in US custody at an undisclosed
overseas location.
2 arrested over Madrid blasts
Asturias, Spain (AP). Police in the N Spanish mining region of
Asturias arrested 2 more Spaniards accused of helping supply the
dynamite used in the Madrid train bombings attacks, authorities said.
The Interior Ministry said the arrests were made in the towns of
Aviles and Salinas mid-afternoon and both suspects were being
transferred to Madrid for further questioning.
The govt has said the alleged Islamic militant cell that staged the
Mar 11 attacks traded drugs and cash for 200kg of dynamite stolen from
a mine in the N Asturias region.
With these 2 new detentions the number of people arrested in
connection with the explosives theft rises to 10. 6 arrested last wk
were being questioned by Nat'l Court Judge Juan Del Olmo.
Spanish authorities have charged 20 people in the Madrid bombings,
most of them Moroccans, and blamed Islamic militants with possible
links to al-Qaeda.
One of the 14 people in jail for the Mar 11 attacks is a Spaniard who
used to work in a mine in Asturias.
The Mar 11 railway bombings killed 190 people and were blamed on
Islamic militants with possible links to al-Qaeda.
CIA can't determine if Al Qaeda suspect on tape
Washington (AFP). CIA analysts have been unable to determine whether
top Al Qaeda suspect Ayman al-Zawahiri's voice was on an audio tape
that aired last week criticising a US initiative in the Middle East.
"The CIA conducted a technical analysis of the brief audio tap that
aired on Arab television [on] Jun 11," the official said. "Given the
poor quality of the recording it cannot be determine if it is in fact
the voice of Ayman Zawahiri." Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV, which aired
the message late on Fri, said the recording was made by Zawahiri.
Brit soldiers face Iraq abuse charges
London (ABC, Fran Kelly and Kirsten Aiken). 4 Brit soldiers will be
court-martialled on charges of abusing Iraqi detainees.
The 4 Royal Fusiliers members are accused of assault, indecent assault
and prejudicing good order.
They are the 1st Brit officers to be charged over the alleged abuse.
Brit A-G Lord Goldsmith says the charge of indecent assault involves
making the victims engage in sexual activity between themselves.
In a statement, he says the abuse allegedly took place while the
civilians were temporarily held, but not in a prison or detention centre.
The allegations came to light a y ago when one soldier who had
returned from Iraq took his film in for processing.
The photo lab assistant was disturbed by the images and contacted police.
A date for the military trial is yet to be set but the proceedings
will be public.
The A-G says at least 4 other cases are likely to be referred to the
Army prosecutor in the nr future.
Another case concerning an alleged killing of an Iraqi during his
arrest has been referred to Crown prosecutors and the metropolitan
police are investigating.
US said to give Iraq Saddam in 2 weeks
Baghdad (AP). The US will hand over Saddam Hussein and all other
detainees to Iraq 's new govt over the next 2 wk as sovereignty is
restored, the interim PM said Mon.
US officials have said they plan to continue to hold up to 5,000
prisoners deemed a threat to the coalition even after the restoration
of Iraqi sovereignty at the end of this m. They say as many as 1,400
detainees will either be released or transferred to Iraqi authorities.
However, in an interview with Al-Jazeera television, PM Iyad Allawi
said Iraqi officials expect to take possession of Saddam and all other
detainees with the transfer of power.
"All the detainees will be transferred to the Iraqi authorities and
the transporting operation will be done within the 2 coming weeks,"
Allawi said. "Saddam and the others will be delivered to the Iraqis."
He said the former Iraqi president would stand trial "as soon as
possible" but gave no specific time frame. The detainees and "Saddam as
well will be handed to the Iraqi govt, and you can consider this as an
official confirmation," he added.
Saddam has been in American custody at an undisclosed location in Iraq
since his capture last Dec nr Tikrit. His status has been under
discussion as the formal end of the US-led occupation approaches.
The Baghdad-based rep for the Internat'l Committee of the Red Cross
said coalition authorities must file criminal charges against Saddam
or let him go when sovereignty is transferred.
Under internat'l and military law, prisoners of war and civilian
internees are supposed to be freed at the end of the conflict and
occupation, unless there are charges against them, Red Cross rep Nada
Doumani said.
Saddam was granted prisoner of war status after his capture.
Although he is alleged to have committed crimes against his own
people, he has not been charged with any offence.
"If he is not charged, then the law says that at the end of war, of
occupation, he should be released," Doumani told Associated Press TV News.
In Geneva, the chief rep of the internat'l Red Cross, Antonella
Notari, said the organisation was not calling for Saddam's release but
simply stating the rules under internat'l law.
"We're not making any ultimatums or calls for release," Notari said.
"What we're saying is: Saddam Hussein, as far as we understand today,
is a POW, prisoner of war, protected by the 3rd Geneva Convention as
all prisoners of war are.
"In theory, when a war ends and when an occupation ends, the detaining
force has to release prisoners of war or civilian detainees if there
are no reasons for holding them," she said.
But Notari added that "a prisoner of war who is suspected of having
committed a crime must not just be released. Of course, he must be
prosecuted, tried, through a legal proceeding."
She said it was up to US authorities to decide what they will do about
Saddam -- whether to charge him, or hand him over to the Iraqis for trial.
Although Iraqis will run their own affairs after Jun 30, tens of 1000s
of coalition troops will remain in the country to maintain security
under a resolution approved unanimously last wk by the UN Sec Council.
After the hand over of sovereignty, detainees held by the Iraqi
authorities will be subject to Iraqi law.
Mohammed Rashdan, a Jordanian attorney who claims to represent Saddam,
said the Red Cross's stand "violates internat'l and military law."
"Under the provisions of internat'l laws and conventions, ICRC should
have only called for Saddam Hussein's release," Rashdan told The
Associated Press in neighbouring Jordan.
He accused the Red Cross of serving the US "in every possible way."
"The ICRC should help Saddam's defence lawyers to meet with him -- the
minimum requirement of the due process in developed nations," Rashdan said.
US to hand Saddam over "within fortnight"
Baghdad (AFP). Iraq believes it will get custody of Saddam Hussein,
ready for trial, within 2 wk.
Iraq's interim PM, Iyad Allawi, says the US will hand former president
Saddam Hussein over to his new Govt for trial within 2 wk.
The Internat'l Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said the ousted
dictator must be freed or charged before the hand over of power to
Iraq's interim Govt on Jun 30.
Mr Allawi has told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television network that
the US will hand Saddam over to his Govt.
"The transfer of Saddam Hussein and the others [former Iraqi leaders
now in detention] will take place within 2 wk," he said.
"Saddam and the others will be handed over to the Iraqi Govt.
Their trial will begin as soon as possible, God willing."
ICRC rep Nada Doumani says holding Saddam without charge after the
transfer of power from the US-led coalition would be against
internat'l humanitarian law.
* Geneva Conventions
"If Jun 30 officially marks the end of the occupation, the coalition
must free Saddam Hussein, who is a prisoner of war, unless he has
already been charged before that date," Ms Doumani said.
"Holding prisoners of war, civilian detainees and security detainees
after this date is in contravention of internat'l humanitarian law if
there is no charge brought against them, or if [they are] not serving
a jail sentence" handed down by a judge from the coalition, she added,
citing the 3rd and 4th Geneva Conventions.
Saddam has been in US custody in an undisclosed location since his
capture on Dec 13 and is due to be tried by a special Iraqi tribunal.
He is likely to be tried for the persecution of the Shiite Marsh Arabs
in S Iraq in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as for alleged war crimes
against Kuwait.
Iran is also believed to be preparing a formal complaint against him
for the torture of Iranian prisoners captured during the 1980-1988 war.
A 20-member defence team appointed by Saddam's family has complained
about not being able to meet its client and accused US authorities of
holding him in breach of the Geneva Conventions.
5 foreigners among 13 dead in Iraq blast
2nd car bomb nr Baghdad kills 4 people
Baghdad (The Daily Star). A suicide car bombing sowed havoc in the
heart of Baghdad on Mon morning, killing at least 13 people, 5 of them
foreign contractors in a passing convoy.
A 2nd car bomb went off later in the day nr the town of Salman Pak SE
of Baghdad, killing 4 people and wounding 4 others.
Amid Mon's rumbling violence, Brit Def Sec Geoffrey Hoon began a
surprise 24-hr trip to the S city of Basra, where most of Brit's 8,530
troops in Iraq are deployed.
The bombings coincided with a wave of assassinations aimed at the new
interim govt appointed to take over from the US-Brit occupation
authorities on Jun 30.
Iraqi Interior Min Falah al-Naqib told Al-Arabiyya television that the
bombing was probably carried out by a foreigner.
"The initial info shows that the person who carried out the bombing
was not Iraqi and came from outside Iraq," Naqib told the Dubai-based
TV. "Most probably, [the perpetrator] came from a country not
neighbouring Iraq."
A bomber in a red 4wd vehicle set off the explosion, police said.
Crowds of shocked and angry Iraqis swarmed over the area, struggling
to pull survivors from the damaged building.
Dozens of people hammered on 2 Coalition Provisional Authority
vehicles caught in the blast, dancing on their roofs and chanting
"America is the enemy of God." They then set fire to their fuel tanks.
US tanks and other military vehicles escorted by soldiers on foot
later sealed off the area with razor wire. Truckloads of American
troops in riot gear arrived to control the crowds.
On Sun a suicide car bombing killed up to 12 Iraqis nr a US-Iraqi base
in Baghdad and gunmen killed a snr Iraqi civil servant and a university
professor. A top Foreign Ministry official was assassinated the previous day.
A wave of kidnappings have also compounded security concerns in Iraq,
and on Mon CNN Turk television said 2 Turkish nat'ls had been taken hostage.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell, acknowledging the difficulty of
protecting Iraq's new leaders, pledged to do "everything we can to
defeat this insurgency."
Interim Pres Ghazi al-Yawar described the latest assassinations as
"random killings" and said violence would diminish once Iraq had
rebuilt its own security forces.
In Basra, Hoon told a news conference that he had come to establish a
new Brit strategy in S Iraq, but that the level of Brit forces would
remain the same in Basra.
Meanwhile, Internal US military documents show an interrogation unit
reported mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib in Nov 2003, 2 m
before military officials have said they learned of prisoner abuses,
the NY Times reported.
But Yawar said there were no plans to destroy the prison despite an
offer by US Pres George W Bush to tear it down.
He said the prison, already notorious as a place of torture and
killing under Saddam Hussein, had cost more than $100 mn and such
money should not be wasted.
"We need every single dollar we have in order to rebuild our country
instead of demolishing and rebuilding," he said.
With the US-led coalition handing back sovereignty in barely two
weeks, daily car bombings and assassinations indicate that the insurgency
is now at its most dangerous and unpredictable, with no end in sight.
David Gompert, US overseer Paul Bremer's top adviser on Iraq's nat'l
security, warned there was no clear cut military victory on the
horizon and said the coalition and Iraq would have to weather the bad times.
"It's going to be a while. The terrorists are hardened. They are
professionals," Gompert said, looking to the Jan nat'l elections as a
key date in winning legitimacy for Iraq's post-Saddam Hussein
political order.
He said the insurgency would die out only when people looked to the
Iraqi govt as their own and backed the coalition-led security forces
in fighting the rebels.
With a legitimate govt, "people will be more inclined to not only
reject but to help apprehend and keep out these shadowy and
sophisticated enemies," he said.
Foreigners blamed for Baghdad blast
A suicide bombing in Iraq has killed 13 people.
Baghdad (AFP). Iraqi Interior Min Falah al-Nakib says the people who
carried out a suicide car bombing in Baghdad that has killed at least
13 people were foreigners from outside Iraq's immediate region.
The massive blast, thought to be a suicide car bomb, tore the front
off a building in the centre of the city, wreaking havoc on one of
Baghdad's busiest streets.
At least 13 people were killed and some reports put the death toll at
16. 5 foreign contractors were among those killed.
Mr Nakib has told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television station that
"according to initial info, those who carried out the blast were not Iraqis".
"They came from abroad ... They are not from a country neighbouring"
Iraq, he said.
But Mr Nakib did not specify the attackers' nat'lity.
2 of the foreign contractors killed were Brit, one French and one American.
More than 60 people were wounded when the blast ripped through the
busy Baghdad street in a targeted attack on a convoy.
Major Mohammed Saleh, the snr policeman at the scene, said a suicide
car bomber drove between vehicles in the convoy and blew himself up.
Mr Nakib says the nature of the terrorist attacks in Iraq and the
people involved suggest that the same mastermind is responsible.
Washington has fingered Jordanian militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, with
known ties to Al Qaeda, as the chief suspect behind a long list of
bloody attacks in the country.
Crowd rejoices as car bomb kills 13
Baghdad (AP). A powerful car bomb shattered a convoy of Westerners in
central Baghdad, killing at least 13 people, including 3 General
Electric workers and 2 bodyguards. Crowds rejoiced over the attack,
dancing around a charred body and shouting "Down with the USA!"
The blast, which occurred during the morning rush hour nr busy Tahrir
Square was the 2nd vehicle bombing in Baghdad in as many days and
marked the latest stage in an upsurge of violence in the capital only
2 wk before the formal end of the US-led occupation.
The dead included 3 employees of Granite Services Inc, a wholly owned,
Tampa, Florida-based subsidiary of General Electric, and two security
contractors, said GE rep Louise Binns in Brussels, Brussels. They
included one American, 2 Britons, one Frenchman and one foreigner of
undetermined nat'lity, officials said.
US officials said they were uncertain whether the bomb was detonated
by a suicide attacker.
"3 cars were speeding through the streets," policeman Ghahtan Abood
said. "One of the cars hit a 4x4 [vehicle] and the others drove
straight into the building and the building exploded and collapsed."
Moments after the thunderous blast, which shook the heart of the
capital, young men raced into the street, hurling stones at the
flaming wreckage, looting personal effects of the victims and chanting
slogans against the occupation as Iraqi police stood by helplessly
watching the rampage.
The chaotic scene was reminiscent of the orgy of violence and
anti-American hatred which accompanied the Mar 31 slaying in Fallujah
of 4 American security contractors, whose bodies were mutilated and
hung from a Euphrates river bridge.
As flames and smoke enveloped the stricken vehicles, youths taunted
American troops and threatened W journalists who rushed to the
scene. American troops beat one man with a stick, but after failing to
restrain the crowd, the troops and police withdrew.
Crowds chanted "Down with the USA!" and set fire to an American
flag. Young men gleefully displayed a Brit passport and identification
card issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority.
As the police left, the crowd poured kerosene into one of the vehicles
and set it on fire. Heavy black smoke poured from the vehicle. A group
of about 20 youths danced around a charred body.
"We deplore this terrorist act and vow to bring these criminals to
justice as soon as possible," PM Iyad Allawi said.
Allawi, who was close to the CIA and US State Dept during his y as an
exile leader, said his govt was preparing tough measures to deal with
the violence but offered no details.
He said the foreign victims were helping to rebuild power plants.
An interior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said 13 people were killed in the blast, including the 5 foreigners.
US officials said 62 people were injured, including 10 foreign
contractors. Hospital officials said many of the wounded had lost limbs.
The bomb went off as 3 SUVs carrying the contractors were passing
through the square. The blast destroyed 8 vehicles and turned nearby
shops and a 2-story house to rubble.
2 Turkish nat'ls abducted in Iraq: report
Istanbul (Reuters). 2 Turkish nat'ls have been taken hostage in Iraq,
local television station CNN Turk has reported, but there were no
immediate details on their identities or who seized them. A rep for
the Turkish Foreign Ministry said officials had not yet received any
info about a fresh abduction. 8 Turkish hostages held by suspected
Iraqi insurgents were released at the weekend in 2 separate incidents,
Turkish diplomats said earlier. 7 of those worked for a Turkish
contracting firm, while the eighth was a truck driver bringing in
supplies to Iraq. Dozens of foreign workers have been taken hostage
by Iraqi armed groups who are battling the US-led occupation in Iraq.
Some hostages have been released, but others have been killed.
Iraq plans crackdown on insurgency
The Iraqi Govt is planning a security crackdown in the wake of a
deadly car bombing in Baghdad.
Baghdad (ABC, Matt Brown). Iraq's interim Govt is planning a security
crackdown in the lead-up to the official hand over of power on Jun 30.
The hand over is just over 2 wk away but every day insurgents
demonstrate that the interim Govt and the US-led occupation cannot
guarantee Iraq's security. The head of public affairs for PM Iyad
Allawi has told the ABC the Govt plans to make a noticeable difference
to Iraq's security before the end of the month. Meanwhile, the
fledgling Iraqi security forces continue to come under attack. 5
Kurdish recruits in the new Iraqi Army have been killed nr the town of
Samara, N of Baghdad. They were ambushed when their car broke down
and their bodies were burned. They were heading home after completing
military training.
Afghan leader calls for NATO to send more troops
Washington (Reuters). Afghan Pres Hamid Karzai called on NATO on Tue
to get more peacekeeping forces into his country ahead of planned Sep
elections, but said he was not seeking additional US troops.
Karzai and Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld, in an outdoor news conference at
the spot where a hijacked plane slammed into the Pentagon on Sep 11,
2001, both also expressed confidence that Osama bin Laden , whose al
Qaeda network was blamed for the attack, will be captured, but did not
guess when.
Karzai was scheduled to meet on Tue with Pres Bush.
After a meeting with Rumsfeld, who has visited Afghanistan 6 times,
Karzai said he did not make a "specific request" for the US to add to
the roughly 20,000 troops it currently has in Afghanistan.
"The US is already busy in Afghanistan helping us in reconstruction,
and helping us fight terrorism and helping us secure our borders,"
Karzai said.
But he said he expected NATO "to fulfil the promise that we have been
made. We are hoping that NATO will come to Afghanistan especially
before the elections of Sep."
NATO took charge of the Internat'l Security Assistance Force, or ISAF,
troops last y. The alliance leads roughly 6,000 peacekeepers concentrated
in the capital Kabul, and a small civilian-military team in the N city
of Kunduz.
But NATO has struggled to expand its peacekeeping operation into
unruly provinces because of allies' reluctance to commit costly
military equipment such as helicopters and planes. Many NATO allies
argue that their militaries are over-stretched by operations around the
globe, including Iraq and the Balkans.
Karzai, picked to serve as president by a traditional Afghan council,
is seeking election as president in the elections originally planned
for Jun but now scheduled for Sep.
The US has roughly doubled its troop total in the country this y amid
an intensified effort to track down al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives
including bin Laden. US-led forces in 2001 toppled the Taliban regime,
which had harboured al Qaeda.
"All nations, yours and ours, have had fugitives in our histories.
And has a fugitive run forever? No, at least not in my country," said
Karzai, referring to bin Laden. "So he's a fugitive right now.
He's hiding somewhere. And he's on the run. And we're after him.
We'll catch him one day, sooner or later."
US officials have said they believe bin Laden is hiding in the rugged
Afghan-Pakistani border areas.
Karzai also emphasised his commitment against the cultivation of
poppies in Afghanistan, the world's top opium-producing country, but
called for "strong, consistent internat'l support." He did not
elaborate or fault any specific country's efforts.
"The fight against poppies is the fight for Afghanistan. And no matter
who or how, we will not allow this to continue. Poppies criminalise
the Afghan economy. Poppies prevent the institution-building in
Afghanistan. Poppies go hand-in-hand with terrorism," Karzai said.
2 killed in Israeli air strike
Jerusalem (ABC, Mark Willacy). An Israeli air strike has blown up a
car in the W Bank city of Nablus, killing 2 Palestinian militants.
One of the dead men was a snr leader of the militant Al Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's
Fatah movement. Looming over the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, the
Israeli helicopter gunship launched a missile at a car carrying
members of Al Aqsa. The blast tore the vehicle to pieces, killing 2
Palestinians inside and seriously wounding a third. One of the dead
men has been identified as Khalil Marshud, the cmdr of the Al Aqsa
Brigades in the Balata camp. Israel has repeatedly described the
Nablus refugee camp as a recruiting ground for Palestinian suicide bombers.
Sharon bomb plot revealed
Bomb plot targeted Ariel Sharon.
Jerusalem (ABC, Mark Willacy). A Palestinian man has reportedly
admitted to Israeli interrogators that he planned to blow up the
offices of PM Ariel Sharon. Hussam Nablusi was employed as a driver
and had permission to enter govt offices. Agents from Israel's Shin
Bet security agency arrested Nablusi 2 wk ago. After a gag order on
his case was lifted, it has been revealed that the 48-yo Palestinian
told his interrogators he planned to blow up a bomb inside the grounds
of Mr Sharon's Jerusalem office. The bomb was to be planted inside
Nablusi's delivery truck and detonated using a mobile phone.
Israeli court allows sale of pork
Jerusalem (ABC, Mark Willacy). Israel's High Court has overturned a
ban on the sale of pork in several cities and Israeli religious
leaders are warning that the decision will undermine the state's
Jewish identity. The Israeli High Court ruling means pork can now be
sold in the cities of Tiberias, Karmiel and Beit Shemesh. The local
councils had banned the sale of pork because it is regarded as a
non-kosher meat. But the High Court says pork should be available for
sale in neighbourhoods where the population wants to eat it. One
member of Israel's Nat'l Religious Party says the court ruling is akin
to the destruction of the 2nd Jewish temple by the Romans.
NT businessman forced out of E Timor
Darwin (AAP). A Darwin businessman has been forced out of E Timor
after a contract dispute, the NT News has reported. Jim Hendrie,
managing director of civil engineering firm Seanap, said his business
dealings had been marred by hostility towards Aussies resulting from
the negotiations over oil in the Timor Sea between the 2 nations. Mr
Hendrie said his plane was chased by a 15-strong mob as he left Dili.
"They were shouting that all Aussies should be locked up until they
stop stealing our oil," he told the paper. "Businessmen don't feel
safe there any more. There is an anti-Aussie sentiment running here --
we're not popular at all."
Court allows "under God" on technicality
Washington (AP). The Supreme Court on Mon allowed mn of
school children to keep affirming loyalty to one nation "under God" but
dodged the underlying question of whether the Pledge of Allegiance is
an unconstitutional blending of church and state.
The ruling overturned a lower court decision that the religious
reference made the pledge unconstitutional in public schools. But the
decision did so on technical grounds, ruling the man who brought the
case on behalf of his 10-yo daughter could not legally represent her.
It was an anticlimactic end to an emotional high court showdown over
God in the public schools and in public life. It also neutralises what
might have been a potent election-y political issue in which the Bush
Admin argued strongly that the reference to God should remain part of
the pledge.
The outcome does not prevent a future court challenge over the same
issue, however, and both defenders and opponents of the current
wording predicted that fight will come quickly.
For now, 5 justices said the court could not rule on the case because
California atheist Michael Newdow does not have full custody of his daughter.
"When hard questions of domestic relations are sure to affect the
outcome, the prudent course is for the fed court to stay its hand
rather than reach out to resolve a weighty question of fed
constitutional law," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.
Newdow, who has fought a protracted custody battle with the girl's
mother, was angered by the decision and the basis for it.
"She spends 10 days a m with me," he said. "The suggestion that I
don't have sufficient custody is just incredible."
3 other justices went along with the outcome, but seemed to accuse the
majority of using Newdow's legal standing as a fig leaf to avoid the
harder constitutional issue. The 3, Chief Justice William H Rehnquist
and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Clarence Thomas , made clear that
they would have upheld the religious reference.
The court's ninth justice, Antonin Scalia, removed himself from the
case after making off-the-bench remarks that seemed to telegraph his
view that the pledge is constitutional.
The phrase "one nation under God" is more about ceremony and history
than about religion, Rehnquist wrote. He likened the phrase to the
motto "In God We Trust" on US currency, and to the call that opens
each session of the high court itself: "God save this honourable court."
"All these events strongly suggest that our nat'l culture allows
public recognition of our nation's religious history and character,"
Rehnquist wrote.
Nathan Diament, policy director for the Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations of America, said most Americans would be relieved by the
ruling.
"There is a consensus in this country that there is an appropriate
place for expressions of religion in the public square," Diament said.
The First Amendment guarantees that govt will not "establish"
religion, wording that has come to mean a general ban on overt govt
sponsorship of religion in public schools and elsewhere.
The Supreme Court already has said school children cannot be required
to recite the oath that begins, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of
the US." The court also has repeatedly barred school-sponsored prayer
from classrooms, playing fields and school ceremonies.
Before 1954, when the US was in the middle of the Cold War, the pledge
did not include a reference to God. In adding it, members of Congress
said they wanted to set the US apart from "godless communists."
In a ruling last y, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in SF said the
language of the First Amendment and the Supreme Court's precedents
make clear that tax-supported schools cannot lend their imprimatur to
a declaration of fealty to "one nation under God."
That decision set off a nat'l uproar and would have stripped the
reference to God from the version of the pledge said by about 9.6 mn
school children in California and other W states covered by the appeals court.
Children were never barred from saying the full pledge, because the lower
court ruling was on hold while the Supreme Court considered the issue.
Like most elementary school children, Newdow's daughter hears her
teacher lead the pledge each morning. The case began when Newdow, a
lawyer, doctor and self-proclaimed atheist minister, sued his
daughter's Sacramento-area school district, Congress and Pres Bush to
remove the words "under God."
In one of the many odd twists to an odd case, Newdow served as his own
lawyer when the Supreme Court heard arguments in Mar. He argued that
each day his daughter hears the pledge is another day that a teacher
tells her, in effect, that her father is wrong.
The mother, Sandra Banning, told the court in legal filings that she
makes the decisions about the girl's education. Newdow can fight the
pledge on his own, but should not drag their daughter into it, Banning
argued. She added that she supports leaving the pledge as it is, and
wants her daughter to continue reciting it at school.
[The case is Elk Grove Unified School District v Newdow, 02-1624].
Mobs attack Indian theatres over lesbian film
New Delhi (Reuters). Hard-line Hindus hurled stones and damaged movie
theatres in India Mon to stop the screening of a film about a
relationship between 2 women, saying it violated Indian culture.
Nearly 100 activists of the student's wing of the Shiv Sena group
smashed window panes, ripped up posters and burned effigies at a hall
screening the Hindi film "Girlfriend" in Bombay, capital of India's
prolific movie industry, witnesses said.
The film show was stopped after the attack.
Shiv Sena members also attacked a hall screening the film in the
northern Hindu holy city of Varanasi, police said. There were no
reports of any injuries in either incident.
"The film has some lesbian scenes and we got many complaints from the
public, especially women, so we decided to take action," Nitin
Amberkar, a member of Shiv Sena's student wing, said in Bombay,
minutes before tearing up posters of the film.
About 20 Shiv Sena activists were detained in Varanasi after the
incident. The cinema proceeded to screen the film under tight
security, police said.
Arun Pathak, the Varanasi unit chief of the hard-line Hindu group,
said the film violated Indian traditions.
"This film is out to degrade Indian culture. We will not allow anyone
to do this," he told Reuters. The director of "Girlfriend" said his
film did not violate Indian culture but merely reflected a slice of
society that has long been brushed under the carpet.
"If my film doesn't not offend any religious or spiritual sentiments,
then why the breakage?" Karan Razdan told Zee News television. "I'm
just trying to show what's happening in society."
The box office response to the film, which opened on Fri, has been poor.
India turns out 1,000 movies a y -- the most in the world -- many of
them 3-hr boy-meets-girl candyfloss extravaganzas with lavish sets and
song-and-dance routines.
In recent years, some Bollywood film-makers have stepped off the
beaten track and made movies on themes considered unorthodox by
old-school producers. However, strict censorship still prevents
on-screen nudity and profanity.
"Fire," a 1998 Bollywood film that portrayed an intimate relationship
between 2 women, provoked the wrath of hard-line Hindus who said it
promoted what they called the alien practice of lesbianism and hurt
Indian culture.
Spaniard jailed for 30 y over Dickinson murder
Rennes, France (AFP). A French court has sentenced Francisco Arce
Montes, a 54-yo Spanish waiter, to prison for 30 y for the rape and
murder of Brit schoolgirl Caroline Dickinson in Jul 1996.
After 4 hours of deliberation, the Rennes court said that Arce Montes
should serve a minimum of 20 y before being considered for parole.
The 13-yo girl was smothered to death as she was sexually assaulted in
the dormitory she was sharing with 4 school friends at a
Pleine-Fougeres youth hostel in NW France.
During the week-long trial, the state prosecutor asked for life
imprisonment but the defence said Montes did not mean to kill and
requested the charge be reclassified as rape leading to death.
Arce Montes was shown in court to be a repeat offender who targeted
young girls in a series of attacks across Europe going back 25 y.
In 1997, he absconded after a conviction in Spain and fled to South America.
He was arrested after a new assault in Miami in Mar 2001 and
extradited to France after DNA evidence linked him to the Dickinson case.
Applicants ditch plans for underworld tours
A business has called off plans to capitalise on the grisly reputation
MEL has developed.
Melbourne. The operators of a business planning to launch bus tours
of MEL's gangland murder scenes have apparently had a change of heart.
Consumer Affairs Vic had received an application to register the
business name "MEL's Gangland Tours" but that has now been cancelled.
Victims of crime groups and the MEL City Council attacked the
proposal, saying it was tasteless.
Councillor Irene Goonan hopes the change of mind means MEL will keep
its reputation as one of the world's most livable cities.
"It is disappointing that we've got criminal elements in our city
anyway," she said. "Every city does have but it is not as though they
are trying to pick on innocent people, they are all fighting it out
amongst themselves."
"We should be looking at things more positively," Cr Goonan said. "We
don't want the rest of the world to see MEL as a gun-toting murderers
and muggers with the big criminal element."
The president of the Crime Victims Support Association, Noel NcNamara,
said the proposal was in bad taste and relatives and children of the
people murdered should not have to put up with it.
"To run those sort of tours, it [would be] no different to people
coming out of jail and writing books like Chopper Read did, and
profiteering," he said.
Cost of SYD living skyrockets
Canberra (AAP). AUS's cost of living rose faster than anywhere else
in the world in the y to Mar 2004 due mainly to the sky-rocketing
Aussie dollar, a survey found.
SYD climbed 47 places to 20th on the list of world's most expensive
cities to live, pipping Rome, Amsterdam and LA for wallet and
purse-draining potential.
MEL was more costly to live in than Dubai or Washington. MEL moved 44
spots higher to 67th position, Bris rose to 87th from 144th place in
2003 and Perth was 94th, compared with 121st last y.
The only other country to experience costs rising at the same pace as
AUS was NZ, the survey found.
Auckland was the costliest Kiwi city, ranked 80, up from 115 in 2003.
The cost-of-living survey by human resources company Mercer covered
144 cities and measured expenses such as housing, food, clothing,
transportation and entertainment.
The survey was designed for companies with multinat'l staff bases to
compare living differentials between cities when transferring people.
"Cities in AUS and NZ have risen most in the rankings this y due to
the significant appreciation of local currencies against the USD,"
Mercer principal Rob Knox said.
On Mar 1, 2003, the Aussie dollar was trading on the foreign exchange
market at about 60 US cents, but a y later it was worth 77 US cents --
a rise of 24%.
After topping 80 US cents in 2004 it has since eased to about 69 US cents.
Tokyo was the world's most expensive city ahead of London and Moscow.
Twelfth ranking NY is used as the base city.
A separate survey of 215 cities found Aussie cities continued to rate
among the highest for high quality of life.
As was the experience of AUS, many cities moved in the rankings due to
the comparative strength or weakness of their nation's currency over
the period.
"Chinese cities, though still relatively expensive, have dropped in
the rankings, as the Chinese currency is pegged to the USD and has
therefore been affected by its depreciation," Mercer said.
Production slows as housing market cools
A slowdown in the housing sector has hit manufacturers.
Canberra. AUS's manufacturing industry appears to be feeling the
effects of the housing downturn.
The latest Quarterly Survey of Aussie Manufacturing compiled by the
Aussie Industry Group and PriceWaterhouseCoopers shows production
growth is slowing, with the net balance of firms reporting production
increases falling from 20 to 17%.
Aussie Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout says while
overall growth remains moderate, manufacturers in the housing and
retail areas are suffering.
"The housing and retail areas are clearly softening quite
significantly and the other parts of the industry which are benefiting
from improved global demand, they're obviously holding up better," she said.
"But you'd have to say interest rate increases recently are starting
to have an impact on demand in the economy."
However, demand from China is helping boost activity for AUS's
metal-based manufacturing companies.
The survey showed metal-based manufacturing companies increased
production and had a big improvement in exports but Ms Ridout says the
boost is not widespread.
"We were hoping we'd see a re-balancing of growth towards the export
side and while that's evident for the basic metal products area and
other metal-related sectors, the consumer sectors are really getting
no benefit at all," she said.
The construction materials products sector reported its 1st decline in 3 y.
Combined with weaker conditions for clothing, footwear, paper,
printing and publishing companies, it was enough to drag the net
balance of firms reporting production increases down.
Youth welfare system unfair: ACOSS
Canberra. The Aussie Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is warning
urgent action is needed to fix youth poverty and disincentives for the
unemployed to improve their job prospects.
Its concerns are outlined in its submission to the Senate Committee
Inquiry into income support and social security for young people.
ACOSS president Andrew McCallum says there needs to be a modern income
support system that is flexible and fair.
"Combine payments for unemployed adults, trainees and students into a
single employment payment and that would assist people to actually
retrain themselves," he said.
"We are saying you should increase [the] Youth Allowance by $13 a week
for 16 to 17-yos living at home and $7.50 a wk for 18-yos.
"[We are also saying to] extend rent assistance for dependent young
people and also extend rent assistance to those who are on Austudy and
over 25."
Mr McCallum says many students are working long hours in addition to
full time study just to survive.
"We know that students are working 3 times more hours than they did a
number of y ago in terms of supporting themselves through study," he said.
"You know families of teenagers won't get the $600 that has been
provided to other families with children under 16 in the recent Budget."
Fed Youth Affairs Min Larry Anthony has dismissed the claims, saying
the Govt has increased support for students in recent years.
"$2.8 bn will be going out next financial y to support young people,"
he said.
"With the introduction of Youth Allowance, there are more young people
going on to support study today.
"Under the old Austudy system it was easier to get the dole than it
was to get Youth Allowance and to go into higher education.
"The system today is significantly better than it was in the past."
The committee is due to report back at the end of Nov.
Survey hints at strong employment growth
Many employers expect to put on staff.
Canberra. A new survey of hiring intentions is pointing to more solid
employment growth. Almost 2,900 employers around AUS have been
interviewed for the quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.
Revealing their plans for the 3 m to Sep, 22% of the employers
surveyed expect to put on more workers while just 5% think they will
be cutting staff. The resulting net figure of 17% is only one%age
point down on the previous quarter. Manpower AUS managing director
Varina Nissen says mining and construction is leading the industry
sectors. "The outlook that we hear from employers in that sector is
that that's going to continue on for at least the next 2 to 3 y," she
said. "We are also seeing very strong growth in services." Around
the states, the N Territory and SA have registered the best results.
Men want flexible workplaces too, ACTU says
The ACTU says men need workplace flexibility too.
Melbourne. The Aussie Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) says men want
more capacity to take time off work to handle family emergencies. It
says a recent Newspoll survey shows nearly 30% of men want workplaces
to accommodate short term emergencies and routine family time. ACTU
president Sharan Burrow says the study shows men and women need major
changes to help balance family and work. "What the research shows is
that men want emergency leave to be able to assist with family
emergencies and women want more flexible working hours," she said.
"This just confirms really what the ACTU test case is about, that if
we don't change the culture of workplaces then neither the employers
or working families win."
Man freed from under 20 tonnes of glass
Melbourne. A factory worker has been freed from under 20 tonnes of
glass after an incident at Clayton South, in MEL's SE, late last
night. A lifting device failed late last night, causing the load to
fall onto the 35-yo's leg. After being extricated by firefighters,
the man was taken to MEL's Alfred Hospital with a broken leg and cuts.
First snow transforms alps
Sydney. The 1st snowfall of the season has transformed the NSW alps
this morning. The ski season was officially opened at the weekend but
the only snow that was there to greet the 1000s of people who turned
up was the artificial kind. But last night a cold front brought
blizzard conditions to the alps, with up to 20 centimetres of snow
covering the main range. Perisher's Dave Kerwin says the change in
the weather has made a big difference on the slopes. "It's beautiful
dry snow as well and it's still going this morning," he said. "Minus
2 degrees at the moment. And the snow makers are still making snow on
top of it so the resort's totally transformed overnight."
3 asylum seekers in Nauru hunger strike
The Fed Govt has confirmed 3 Iraqis detained on Nauru have begun a
hunger strike.
Canberra. A rep for Immigration Min Amanda Vanstone says the group of
men did not eat yesterday but did accept water. The Internat'l
Organisation for Migration, which runs the detention centre on Nauru,
is monitoring the men. It has arranged counselling and medical
assistance, if required. The minister's office says all 56 Iraqis
detained on Nauru have been assessed by the Immigration Dept and are
not regarded as "refugees". The 3 are apparently demanding to be
released from detention. Labor Immigration rep Stephen Smith says
they should be offered appropriate and immediate medical attention.
"If it is the case that some of the Iraqis are on a hunger strike then
the Govt needs to learn the mistakes they made earlier in the year and
ensure that appropriate medical facilities and resources are made
available and made available forthwith," he said.
Native plants provide new hope for ulcer sufferers
Sydney (ABC, Sophie Scott). A substance found in native Aussie plants
may be the answer for many older Aussies suffering from painful ulcers.
The ulcers do not heal because of bad circulation but doctors are
trying out a new gel and the results are promising.
Jun McNamara battled painful leg ulcers caused by poor circulation for
almost 12 m.
Desperate to be pain-free, she enrolled in a trial of a new gel.
"My life is now not concentrated on the pain in my leg and worrying
about putting my foot to the floor," she said.
Aussie scientists developed the treatment from a fungus found in
native Aussie plants.
The gel is applied directly to the wound to speed up the healing process.
"It increases the immune reaction in the skin at the level of the
ulcer and increases healing rates, so in fact cells can activate and
work and function more efficiently," said Joseph Graiche, a vascular
expert based at Crows Nest in SYD.
In Ms McNamara's case, her wound has shrunk significantly and the pain
is almost gone.
"If you treat pain in the ulcer that is a good measure of the healing
response and healing reaction for the ulcer," Dr Graiche said.
Initial trials on 16 patients showed good results. Doctors are hoping
to recruit 60 more patients to test the gel more thoroughly.
Vascular experts say once ulcers have healed, procedures such as
ultrasound can help treat the underlying problem.
"One of the latest treatments is using ultrasound to guide a number of
injections which try to seal off the leaking veins underlying the
venous ulcer," said Dr Kurosh Parsi, a SYD dermatologist.
Ms McNamara says she is hoping to have that procedure once her ulcer
is completely gone.
MP's rebellion halts medical record plan
Canberra. The fed Health Min has put on hold a Bill designed to give
parents greater access to their children's medical records after a
Govt MP threatened to cross the floor of Parliament over it.
Liberal backbencher Mal Washer attacked the Bill, saying some
teenagers might not go their GP with a medical problem if they thought
that would get back to their parents.
Dr Washer warned that could leave some troubled teens with nowhere to turn.
"I think it's a tragic bill and I think it could cost lives," he said.
He said that if the Govt would not drop the Bill or allow a conscience
vote, he would have no option but to cross the floor.
"I don't want to be pushed by the party into having to oppose this
Bill but I will have to do that," he said.
Health Min Tony Abbott had argued that parents have a right to know
what their children are up to but a rep says he has decided the Bill
will not be introduced this wk.
Dr Washer says teenagers need to be able to talk confidentially with
their GP when they cannot or will not turn to their parents for advice.
"Children in desperate times, when they should be seeing doctors may
avoid that because of the fear their parents are going to know," he said.
"Sometimes at this age group, kids are very vulnerable in terms of
emotionally vulnerable, and the risk of suicide can be there.
"If kids don't go and see a doctor because of that, then the
consequences can be as sad as loss of life."
SYD, Adel in solar home trial
Canberra (AAP). SYD and Adel have been selected to trial solar
suburbs as the Fed Govt searches for alternative energy solutions.
The 2 cities -- both of which have regular and significant sunshine --
would trial solar homes that could put unused power back into state
power grids, the Daily Telegraph newspaper said.
PM John Howard would announce an allocation of $75 mn to equip homes
in new and existing suburbs with solar power equipment, the paper said.
The trial will evaluate the efficiency of the technology and ways for
home owners to sell their excess power.
The project will be part of a $500 mn plan to reduce fossil fuel
emissions by encouraging $1 bn of private research and development
into solar, wind and tidal power.
Private enterprise will be urged to develop new ways to run air
conditioners, heaters, fridges and cars to reduce harmful emissions.
Mr Howard, in an address to the Nat'l Press Club, will say he won't
reduce the 120,000 jobs created by traditional energy sources or the
$24 bn in exports they bring in.
Govt to invest in "green" energy
Energy package tipped to focus on coal.
[The Package budgets $1.5 bn subsidising fossil fuels for industry].
Canberra. Prime Min John Howard is expected to reveal a $500 mn plan
to encourage the private sector to develop energy technologies that
release low levels of greenhouse gases today.
Mr Howard will unveil the Govt's energy white paper in CBR as
Parliament returns for its final session before the winter break.
The white paper will set out the direction of the nation's energy
policy and its centrepiece is a $500 mn investment fund for
low-emissions technologies.
The white paper is expected to include more than $100 mn to help
companies commercialise renewable energy technologies such as wind and
solar power.
But it is understood Mr Howard will not lift the current mandatory
renewable energy target.
The policy is expected to focus on the coal industry and a large part
of the fund may be spent on a new technology called geosequestration,
which reduces emissions from coal-fired power stations.
It involves compressing the carbon dioxide produced by the stations
into a liquid and pumping it 800 metres underground.
* "Unproven"
AUS's chief scientist, Robin Batterham, supports the project, saying
carbon dioxide can be stored safely underground for tens of 1000s of ys.
But Greens Sen Bob Brown says renewable energy would be a better investment.
"It's unproven technology," Sen Brown told ABC TV's Lateline.
"It's got great hazards attached to it.
"But we've got proven technology in solar power in particular and that
doesn't run a risk.
"This doesn't create the hazard of having to put some polluting gas
somewhere into a hole in the ground."
Environmentalists warn that unless the Govt increases renewable energy
targets, innovative, environmentally friendly initiatives will move offshore.
Greenpeace rep Francis Maguire says the focus of today's package is wrong.
"If the Govt refuses to increase AUS's renewable energy
target, the industry itself will actually stall and we'll see
companies that develop wind and solar and bio-energy leaving
AUS," she said.
"We actually won't be able to get the kinds of projects we should see
over the y ahead."
Energy spending prompts early poll talk
Canberra. A boost in Fed Govt spending on energy and the environment
has sparked renewed talk of an early election. Some fed MPs think the
next 2 parliamentary sitting wk could be the last before Aussies go to
the polls. Prime Min John Howard will unveil the Govt's energy white
paper this afternoon. Its centrepiece is $500 mn to develop
greenhouse gas reduction technologies and $100 mn will also go to
develop renewable energy. Industry Min Ian Macfarlane said: "There
are further significant sums of money in terms of fuel excise relief,
the list goes on and on but it is a multi-billion dollar package." But
Labor MPs including Wayne Swan think the boost in spending is just
another sign of a looming election. "Santa Claus with the environment
on the eve of the election, Scrooge for the previous 9 y," Mr Swan
said. Mr Howard has consistently said an election will be held
sometime in the 2nd half of the year.
Foresters defend report's findings
Hobart, Tas. A new report funded by the Forest Industries Association
of Tas into the proposal to ban clear-felling in old-growth forests
has sparked questions about its independence.
The report shows more than 1,300 Tasns would lose their jobs if the
proposal were to go ahead.
It says one in 8 forest workers would lose their jobs and saw milling
profits would halve because of rising costs and falling prices.
It also says 10% more native forests would be harvested each year and
suggests the woodchip industry would be the least affected by the ban.
The association's chief executive officer, Terry Edwards, says the
organisation paid about $10,000 for the report.
"That's money well spent as far as we're concerned because it very
clearly needs to be pointed out what the impact of these sorts of
policy settings will be," he said.
The report's co-author, economist Bruce Felmingham, says his
professionalism was not compromised.
"It's a full account, an open account of what we've found," he said.
The forest industry is calling on the State Govt to abandon its
proposal to ban clear-felling by 2010.
Whale group warns of watching dangers
Canberra. Aussie Whale Conservation Society president Paul Hodda says
"Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin potentially put his life at risk by
swimming with whales in Antarctica. Footage of Irwin swimming very
close to the protected animals has aired in the US, prompting an
investigation by Aussie Govt agencies. Mr Hodda says whales should
not be regarded as harmless. "Anybody in the ocean with a wild
creature is at risk and from whales, regardless of them being called
gentle giants, people are killed almost every y in whale watching
areas around the world," he said. "Ultimately if they can't predict
your movements you can get in their way. "If they have young, or
... some other social thing going on that we don't understand, they
can lash out as well, they know how to protect themselves."
Teachers to meet Refshauge over pay rise "crisis"
Sydney. The NSW Teachers Federation will meet Education Min Andrew
Refshauge today over what it is calling a "crisis in education" after
snr Catholic teachers were awarded higher pay rises than their public
school counterparts. Teachers in public and Catholic schools got a
12% increase but senior Catholic teachers got more. Dr Refshauge says
the union did not seek extra increases for senior public school
teachers. But federation president Maree O'Halloran says the snr
Catholic teachers only received more because they are effectively
being funded by the Govt. "I don't know how he could see it as other
than damaging to public education to know that anyone looking for a
promotions position will look outside of the public sector because
more money can be earned doing exactly the same job," she said.
Thompson won't give up portfolio for Garrett
Canberra. Fed Opp'n environment rep Kelvin Thompson has indicated he
will not be giving up the portfolio for Labor's star recruit Peter
Garrett. Mr Garrett has refused to say what, if any, frontbench
position he would want if Labor wins this y's election. But Mr
Thompson is determined to be the Environment Min in a Latham Govt.
"I've had a discussion with Peter Garrett, he'll become the
environment rep and I'll become the lead singer for Midnight Oil," he
said. "I'm intending to be environment minister in a Latham Govt."
Emergency landing prompts safety investigation
Canberra. The Aussie Transport Safety Bureau is investigating an
emergency helicopter landing at the Finke Desert Race in central AUS
yesterday afternoon. The helicopter was carrying a paramedic and
injured race competitors when it suffered engine failure about 7 km
from Alice Springs Airport. The pilot was able to safely land the
chopper and no-one suffered any further injuries in the incident. The
safety bureau has not sent any investigators to the site and is
waiting for a report from the helicopter's operator before filing a
report on the incident.
Siege ends as armed man surrenders
Melbourne. A stand-off between police and an armed man at
Craigieburn, in MEL's north, has ended without violence. The 36-yo
man gave himself up after holding police at bay for 24 hours. The man
walked into the Shell service station at Craigieburn at 9.30 on Sun
night armed with 2 firearms, one a high-powered rifle. He told
customers to leave the store but kept a female employee inside with
him. He released her 2 hr later. Police say the man was threatening
to harm himself during the stand-off but about 10.30 this evening he
surrendered to police and no one has been hurt. He has been taken to
Broadmeadows Police Station for questioning. During the siege police
searched the man's home and seized a number of other firearms. It is
believed the man has been visiting an attendant at the store several
times a wk for a few months.
Insurer under investigation
Canberra. It has been confirmed that general insurer Zurich AUS is
under regulatory investigation. The Aussie Prudential Regulation
Authority (APRA) says it is investigating certain reinsurance
transactions carried out in the past in Zurich's general insurance
business. APRA has appointed an inspector under Section 52 of the
Insurance Act to investigate the history of the transactions. In the
meantime, the regulator says Zurich AUS Limited more than adequately
meets minimum regulatory capital requirements. APRA says it is
confident the company's obligations to policy holders are adequately
protected.
Club not to blame for drunken accident, court finds
Sydney. A NSW woman has lost her High Court bid to blame a serious
accident on a club which served her alcohol when she was drunk.
Rosellie Jonnell Cole had attended a regular Sun champagne breakfast
at the S Tweed Heads Rugby League Football Club. After being asked to
leave around 5:30pm, she was struck by a car and seriously injured.
Ms Cole claimed the club had breached its duty of care by continuing
to serve her alcohol when she was drunk. But in a 4-2 ruling, the
High Court has rejected the appeal, noting an adult like Ms Cole would
know the effects and risks of excessive drinking and the club had done
all it could to ensure her safety.
Saturn moon Phoebe reveals battered past
Pasadena (Reuters/AFP). There are apparently many craters smaller
than 1 km, indicating that projectiles probably smaller than 100
metres once pummelled Phoebe.
Interplanetary debris has battered Saturn's moon, Phoebe, for bns of y
and the signs of past violence are clear in images snapped by a
spacecraft headed for orbit around the ringed planet.
Looking at new pictures taken by the robotic Cassini space probe
during a close pass by Phoebe, scientist Torrence Johnson said he saw
"an extremely battered object".
"This thing's been hit by interplanetary debris for probably a couple
of eons; that's a poetic way of saying several bn years," Mr Johnson
said in a telephone interview from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
California, where he monitors images from Cassini.
Phoebe, discovered in 1898 by the American astronomer William Henry
Pickering, is 220 km wide and is about 13 mn kms from Saturn.
Phoebe was probably pulled into Saturn's orbit around the time the
solar system formed, about 4.5 bn y ago, he said.
This means this moon might be related somehow to comets or objects
from an area at the outer fringe of the solar system known as the
Kuiper Belt.
"What we are seeing is very neat," Mr Johnson said. "Phoebe is a
heavily cratered body. We might be seeing one of the chunks from the
formation of the solar system 4.5 bn y ago."
* Spectacular
Cassini imaging team leader Carolyn Porco said: "What spectacular
images, so sharp and clear and showing a great many geological
features, large and small."
Gerhard Neukum, an imaging team member from Freie University in
Berlin, added: "It is very interesting and quite clear that a lot of
craters smaller than a km are visible.
"This means, besides the big ones, lots of projectiles smaller than
100 m have hit Phoebe."
The origin of the projectiles that slammed on the moon is unknown.
"Looking at those big 50-km craters, one has to wonder whether their
impact ejecta might be the other tiny moons that orbit Saturn on paths
much like Phoebe's," said Joseph Burns, another team member and prof
at Cornell University in NY.
The latest images were snapped when Cassini drew to within 2,068 km of
Phoebe on Fri.
That is much closer than the last look taken by earthly instruments, a
1981 glimpse by the Voyager probe in 1981, which viewed Phoebe from
2.2 mn km away.
* "Like a golf ball"
Cassini's pictures of Phoebe show a dark and lumpy body, "kind of like
a golf ball with all the dimples really exaggerated", according to Mr Johnson.
Beyond its shape, the new images show what appear to be layers of dark
and light material.
This moon, one of Saturn's largest, has previously been known as an
extremely dark object that reflects only about 6% of the light that
reaches it.
"There's dark material which appears to have light material underneath
it," Mr Johnson said.
"We have strong suspicions based on telescopic data that the light
material is water ice but there may be other volatiles there too."
The pass by Phoebe was part of Cassini's mission to take a 4-year look
at Saturn and the objects around it.
The spacecraft has been on its journey for 7 y and is scheduled to
begin its orbit around Saturn on Jun 30.
To prepare for orbit, Cassini is set to let some of its scientific
instruments go quiet this wk as the craft performs a move to correct
its trajectory.
Cassini is expected to conduct 76 orbits around the Saturn system and
execute 52 close encounters with 7 of Saturn's 31 known moons.
Web inventor Berners-Lee wins rich tech prize
The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, has picked up a
$1.75 mn prize.
Helsinki. World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee has won the
inaugural $1.75 mn Millennium Technology Prize, presented by the
Finnish Technology Award Foundation.
The foundation awards the prize to acknowledge "outstanding technological
innovation that directly promotes people's quality of life, is based
on humane values and encourages sustainable economic development".
Pekka Tarjanne, chairman of the Internat'l Award Selection Committee,
says Mr Berners-Lee deserves the prize for inventing the web.
"The web has significantly enhanced many people's ability to obtain
info central to their lives," Dr Tarjanne said in a statement.
"The web is encouraging new types of social networks, supporting
transparency and democracy and opening up novel avenues for info
management and business development."
Mr Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web while working at CERN, the
European Particle Physics Laboratory, according to his website biography.
He also wrote the 1st web browser, editor and server in 1990 and his
invention 1st became available to the public in 1991.
Mr Berners-Lee has also been credited by many in the technology community
with keeping the web free by not applying a patent to his invention.
He is now director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston.
He took out the rich new prize ahead of 77 other innovators nominated
from 22 countries.
The prize was awarded in conjunction with the inaugural Millennium
Technology Conference, 'Future Society -- Future Technology' in Helsinki.
4 play mind games in US experiment
Volunteers have managed to control a video game using thought alone,
according to US researchers.
St Louis (Reuters). With some electrodes placed on the surface of
their brains, the volunteers simply had to think the word "move" to
play the simple video game.
Eric Leuthardt, a neurosurgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St Louis
who worked on the study, said: "We are using pure imagination. These
people are not moving their limbs."
The findings add to work being done at several centres and are aimed
at finding ways to help people control computers or machines using
brain power alone.
Potentially, people paralysed by disease or accidents could use such
devices to work, read, write and even move around.
Dr Leuthardt says the study tested 4 patients with epilepsy.
"These electrodes are placed on peoples' brains on a routine basis for
seizure localisation," Dr Leuthardt said.
The patients have their skulls opened and the electrodes placed on the
surface of the brain to find out where their seizures are originating,
so the connections in that area can be cut in the hope of a cure.
"We piggy-backed our study on that," Dr Leuthardt said.
Other researchers have worked with implanted electrodes in both
monkeys and humans.
But Dr Leuthardt says this approach does not require putting anything
deep into the brain.
"There is the potential for it to be very much less invasive," he said.
Writing in Mon's issue of the Journal of Neural Engineering, Dr
Leuthardt and Daniel Moran, an assistant professor of biomedical
engineering at Washington University in St Louis, said the patients
learned in minutes how to control a computer cursor.
"It took 6 minutes of training and they all achieved control in less
than 24 minutes," Dr Leuthardt said.
"After a brief training session, the patients could play the game by
using signals that come off the surface of the brain," Prof Moran said.
"They achieved between 74 and 100% accuracy, with one patient hitting
33 out of 33 targets correctly in a row."
During the study their patients were forced to stay in bed tethered to
a computer for up to 2 wk.
However, Professor Moran and Dr Leuthardt hope to develop electrodes
that can transmit signals without physical connections.
"You can't keep wires directly from the brain to the outside world
indefinitely because of the increased risk of infection," Dr Leuthardt
said. "We have to create a wireless system."
Dr Leuthardt and Professor Moran centred about 32 electrodes over the
sensory motor cortex of the brain and a region called Broca's area,
which is associated with speech.
The pair did their work on a small amount of money -- about $20,000
for the whole study, they said.
"We really built this from matchsticks and paperclips," Prof Moran said.
"There will have to be a rigorous study on monkeys for an
indeterminate number of y before we can consider permanent implants in
human subjects, but we're really excited about this advance," he added.
A team at Duke University in N Carolina reported in Mar they had used
electrodes implanted deep in the brains of Parkinson's disease
patients to transmit signals that might someday be used to operate
remote devices.
{{
8 am
In Nepal, at least 21 people have been killed in a Maoist ambush of a
convoy in the country's W.
An Israeli chopper has opened fire on a car nr Nablus, killing at
least 2 people. One of them was a local al-Aqsa leader. Israel says
he was responsible for multiple attacks in Israel. Earlier, Pals
protested nr Ariel -- saying Israel was illegally seizing their land
to build the barrier.
Wall St closed down 2% on fears of CPI data out tomorrow. Markets
were also spooked by a record US trade deficit. The current account
blew out $48.3 bn for May, blamed on a surge of imports from China.
But oil was down, as traders begin to discount threats of attacks in
the Middle E and a belief that OPEC production increases are set to
stay. West Texas crude is trading at $US37.59/bbl.
Midday.
2 Turkish nat'ls have been taken hostage in Iraq, local television
station CNN Turk has reported, but there were no immediate details on
their identities or who seized them.
4 Brit soldiers will be court-martialled on charges of abusing Iraqi detainees.
A boost in Fed Govt spending on energy and the environment has sparked
renewed talk of an early election.
A new survey of hiring intentions is pointing to more solid employment growth.
An Israeli air strike has blown up a car in the W Bank city of Nablus,
killing 2 Palestinian militants.
Brit PM Tony Blair says he expects any further NATO role in Iraq to be
limited to training security forces.
Internal US military documents show an interrogation unit reported
mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Nov 2003, 2 m before
military officials said they learned of prisoner abuses, the NY Times
reported.
Iraq's interim Govt is planning a security crackdown in the lead-up to
the official hand over of power on Jun 30.
Iraqi Interior Min Falah al-Nakib says the people who carried out a
suicide car bombing in Baghdad that has killed at least 13 people were
foreigners from outside Iraq's immediate region.
Israel's High Court has overturned a ban on the sale of pork in
several cities and Israeli religious leaders are warning that the
decision will undermine the state's Jewish identity.
Officers at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay have turned over to
military authorities more than 500 hours of videotape showing guards
subduing prisoners and forcibly moving them from cells, snr officials said.
The US military has freed scores of Iraqis from Abu Ghraib, the prison
at the heart of a scandal over abuse by American soldiers.
6.30 pm
The Iraqi PM says the US will hand over Saddam -- along with all other
high-profile US prisoners -- within 2 wks. He says Saddam and other
regime officials will then be put on trial ASAP. But the US says it
has no plans to surrender the former dictator to the interim Iraqi
govt. Elsewhere, the ICRC says Saddam must either be changed or freed
by the end of the m.
The number of dead in yesterday's Baghdad bombing is now put at 16.
The Israeli orthodox Jewish population has been dealt a blow with a
court ruling pork will not be banned. The court has overturned bans
in at least 3 Israeli cities.
EU leaders have vowed to forge ahead with integration and expansion,
despite the low turnout and voter backlash against pro-European
parties in the EP elections.
Pres Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder were parading for the cameras today.
Chirac said the elections had been "very disappointing". Citizens
must be mobilised for the European dream, he added.
Schroeder said it "pained" him, but he "couldn't stop believing in
European integration".
In Brussels, alarm bells are ringing. Only 46% of eligible voters
cast ballots -- even fewer in the newly-joined 10 E European countries.
Mainstream parties were trounced across Europe.
In Brit, the anti-EU UKIP won 12 seats -- just 4 less than the Labour
govt. It's now seen as the "new political force". Reps say the EP
result reflects the public mood -- anger and resentment.
Tony should start talking practical things, say Blair critics in the
Labour Party.
The UNSC has warned that the DRC threatens to become the biggest
humanitarian disaster in recent history. 3 mn people are presently
under threat in the E of the country. Feeding stations for 4,000
children had to be abandoned because of fighting. 1000s are now
fleeing into neighbouring Burundi.
SW Sudan crisis. UNICEF says donations are desperately needed. More
than 1 mn people have been uprooted from the Darfur region -- most of
them women and children. The UN accuses the govt of promoting ethnic
cleaning by Arab militias. For 15 m the region has been wracked by
fighting. Most refugees are too afraid to return home. Their
villages have been burned. The UNICEF chief says the tragedy is
growing. She had seen no-one on the local roads. The 2 sides are
Muslim -- attacks are along ethnic lines. The persecution has been
"relentless and brutal" say UNICEF reps. The wider civil war has
raged through Sudan for more than 20 y.
Sudan is on the US list for sanctions for human trafficking. Sec of
State Powell says victims incl girls as young as 6. Sudan, Burma,
Cuba and N Korea are also on the US list, along with Bangladesh,
Turkey and Japan.
UN Sec-Gen Kofi Annan has chastised wealthy countries for not doing
enough to combat poverty. Annan says he shares developing nations'
concerns about their access to markets where products from developed
nations were heavily subsidised.
100s have demonstrated in Canberra as legislation to kill off ATSIC
went through the Senate. Protesters accused the Fed Govt of
disenfranchising Australia's indigenous population.
7 pm
A 36 yo West Meadows man has been remanded in custody after a 25 hr
standoff with police. He's been charged with firearms offences,
holding hostages, and creating public disorder. He will appear in the
Magistrate's court in Sep.
4 Brit soldiers will be court martialled for POW abuse. They are
charged with physical and sexual abuse of prisoners during their
detention in S Iraq. The cases resulted from pictures developed in a
photo shop last May. They group are the first Brit case of prisoner
abuse, but 7 other cases could also result in charges.
After a FOI request from the ABC, the Dept of Immig has revealed the
bill for keeping an immigrant family in detention. The family was
held in a suburban hotel in Adel from Sep last y until Tue, last wk.
It cost taxpayers $80,000 pm -- a total of $3/4 mn. Labour says it's
another case of "extraordinary govt waste", worth over 3000 GP bulk
billed consultation each m. Immig Min Sen Vanstone was reportedly
"unavailable for comment".
But the bill pales into insignificance compared with the "Pacific
Solution". One Iraqi immigrant -- who has now been granted an Aussie
visa -- was detained by himself on Manus island, off PNG, for 2 y at
the cost of $250,000 pm.
9.30 pm
Tonga has agreed to send 44 soldiers for Iraq -- more than 10% of its
defence force -- after a request by the US. Reps for the Tonga govt
said the country had a debt to the US for its support during WWII.
11 pm
In AUS, McDonald's has launched an unprecedented ad campaign to
combat negative publicity. The company had initially not commented
on the release of Spurlock's "Supersize Me". But market research
showed McD's the popular doc was having a negative impact on sales and
consumers were starting to think silence was an admission of guilt.
The new ads criticise Spurlock for doubling his caloric intake as well
as cutting back on exercise.
AUS is the first country in the world McD's has opposed the $65,000 doc.
The doc has broken 1st wk box office takes for any documentary.
Supersizing was never available in AUS. After the doc, it's no longer
available in the US, either.
Oil is lower at $US37.15/bbl. In London, the markets are quite --
awaiting comments from Alan Greenspan in a few hrs.
11.15 pm
BBC World News. Brig Gen Karpinski -- former cmdr of the Abu Ghraib
prison -- says Gen Taguba's investigation of the abuse case must have
been handed a decision and went in search of evidence to support it.
She says some of the evidence she knows was not presented in the
report and she was made a scapegoat.
In Washington, Rummy yesterday denied there was no room in his mind or
the President's mind for torture. That was not allowed by the Geneva
Conventions, he added.
[Of course, Rummy once insisted Geneva Conventions didn't apply to prisoners].
Karpinski says she and her men were following orders that prisoners
had to be "softened up". A part of that policy was the appearance of
Gen Miller from Guatmo. Reporters say Gen Miller last Aug was
telling them he was happy with the large amount of useful intel they
were getting from Abu Ghraib prisoners using his techniques.
Karpinski said Miller told her prisoners must be "treated like dogs".
It's quieter on the Korean border, with the giant loudspeakers that
used to broadcast non-stop propaganda falling quiet for the first time
in decades.
11.30 pm
A US gen says more damaging info is yet to emerge in the trial on POW
abuse charges of MP's under her command. Gen Karpinski rejects
accusations she turned a blind eye to the abuse, and says she was
deliberately misled.
Gen K says Aussie Maj George O'Kane was aggressive in warning about
violations of Geneva Conventions at Abu Ghraib, but she doubts he knew
of the full extent of POW abuse at the prison.
She's called on PM Howard to allow the major to give testimony.
[PM Howard later rejected the call].
The Major has been under a gag since Aussie journalists discovered
he'd helped author a report on Geneva Convention violations last y.
The AUS govt has been embarrassed by several govt and military
officials, who said they knew of the abuses before the time the govt
had tried to maintain it had been informed.
The meeting of the Islamic Conf in Istanbul has issue the interim Iraq
govt a message of support.
In Iran, Pres Khatami has warned Brit, France and Germany that if they
continue to criticise Iran's nuclear program Iran would "reconsider its
options".
The High Court in London has ruled schools have the right to ban
certain Islamic dress. The court ruled human rights were not
contravened when a 15 yo girl had been banned from wearing a robe that
covered everything but her hands and face. The school said it banned
the robe for "safety reasons".
}}
----------------------------------------
Wed, 16 Jun 2004.
HEADLINES:
US claims Saddam, al-Qaeda links
US replaces Iraq cmdr
Oil pipeline, contractors convoy attacked in Iraq
Bush touts Afghanistan as model for Iraq
Auditors take aim at Halliburton's work in Iraq
Attackers sabotage Iraqi oil industry
Army's No 2 nominated to head Iraq force
American optimism still abounds on Iraq
"Al Qaeda" threatens to execute US hostage
"Do not e-mail" list no spam killer
"Softly, softly" approach tipped on rates
APEC mining conference begins in Chile
Age discrimination laws passed
Al Qaeda-linked group claims Baghdad blast
Anti-terror laws likely to get Labor's support
Aussie wins Brit literary award
Brit airports to experiment with iris scanners
Colombian rebels massacre peasants
Date set for N Korea nuke talks
Diabetes group calls for more funding
Domestic violence biggest risk factor for Vic women
Economy heading for mid-y trough
Experts concerned over children's mental health
FTA may threaten Aussie inventions
First mobile phone virus discovered
Gen's views shine favourable light on O'Kane: PM
Govt defends record in fighting sex slave trade
Govt to handout science grants
Govt to set up nat'l anti-corruption body
Greenspan soothes emerging rates fears
Hill defends US over prisoners
Hollywood urges film swappers to end downloads
I'm Abu Ghraib scapegoat: general
Jail sentences reduced for Chinese newspaper workers
Joyce's Dublin in spotlight on 100th "Bloomsday"
Lees to vote against energy plan
McDonald's bites back at doco
Mitsubishi awaits rescue package news
O'Kane won't [be allowed to] give evidence: PM
PM hits back at energy plan opponents
Perth escapees suspected of robbery
Petrol-ethanol car seen as right mix in Brazil
Police guard cinemas showing lesbian film
Rescuers work to save stranded whale
Russia's richest man set to go on trial
Sea change brings jobless downside
Sep 11 themes hit the big screen
Sharon spared indictment in corruption scandal
South Korea partially lifts ban on chicken imports
Spanish judge charges 15 over 9/11 attacks
US awaits right time for Saddam transfer
WA escapees suspected of hold-up
Yahoo acts to head off Google webmail challenge
Oil pipeline, contractors convoy attacked in Iraq
Basra (NCA). 2 explosions on oil pipelines in S Iraq have severely
curtailed exports. An official in the Iraqi S Oil Company said the
blasts overnight near the S oil terminal of Al-Basrah cut exports from
the south by more than 1/2. The S pipeline has been Iraq's main
export route ever since the US-led invasion. Repeated sabotage attacks
have forced Iraq to curtail exports from oil fields in the N of the
country. Also today, a 3-car convoy of contractors came under attack
nr Baghdad airport. The US military said a number of people were
believed killed in the attack which came after a car bomb next to a
contractors' convoy in Baghdad yesterday killed at least 12 people,
including 5 foreigners.
Attackers sabotage Iraqi oil industry
Iraqi firefighters have extinguished a blazing patch of spilled oil
after saboteurs damaged a pipeline nr Basra.
Baghdad (ABC, Matt Brown & Reuters). Iraq's petroleum exports have
virtually halted after insurgents blew up part of a pipeline at Basra
in the country's south, shutting down the country's 2 main oil terminals.
Saboteurs also attacked an oil pipeline serving domestic needs near
the city of Kirkuk in Iraq's north, affecting supplies to local refineries.
Oil workers had to shut down the crucial oil exporting terminal at
Basra after saboteurs blew up part of a key pipeline.
Attempts to use a 2nd pipeline to keep the oil flowing failed because
it was in a state of disrepair.
Northern Oil Co director general Adel Kazzaz said: "An oil pipeline
connecting the fields in Kirkuk and a processing station in Bajwan, 20
kms N of the city, was sabotaged and a fire broke out."
He says the explosion could affect supplies to refineries.
There have been several attacks on Iraq's oil infrastructure over the
last wk and a half. Oil accounts for about 90% of Iraq's revenue.
The attacks step up pressure on Iraq's new interim govt just 2 weeks
before a formal end to the US occupation.
Iraqi leaders are fighting a wave of assassinations, bombings and
sabotage by guerrillas who are trying to prove the new interim govt
cannot rule effectively after the Jun 30 hand over of power.
In other violence, Shiite protesters say 6 people have been killed and
mutilated by Sunni Muslims in the town of Fallujah.
At a demo in Baghdad, Shiite protesters said that a group calling
itself the Mujahidin detained 6 young Shiite men at Fallujah.
A cousin of one of the dead men says they were in Fallujah to make
deliveries and went to the local police chief when they saw a
Mujahidin road block.
But the police chief handed the men over to the Mujahidin, who then
killed them and mutilated their bodies, he said.
Greenspan soothes emerging rates fears
Washington (AFP). US Fed Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has calmed
creeping fears of an interest rate shock braking the economy,
indicating a rate rise expected this m will be small.
However, he warned that central bank policy-makers would move more
aggressively if prices got out of control.
Dr Greenspan was speaking ahead of a near-certain rise in key
short-term interest rates on Jun 30.
"Our best judgement is that the economy is growing in a solid fashion,"
the 78-yo Fed Reserve chief told the Senate banking committee.
"Our general view is that inflationary pressures are not likely to be
a serious concern in the period ahead," he said.
"Therefore, we concluded in our policy statements that the removal of
an increasingly unnecessary degree of accommodation in monetary policy
is very likely to be measured over the quarters ahead."
Fed Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy-makers are expected to raise
key short-term interest rates for the 1st time in 4 y, probably by
0.25 points, at the end of the month.
The fed funds target rate, which commercial banks charge each other
overnight, now stands at a 1958 low of 1.0% and the Fed Reserve has
said it must return to a more normal level.
Dr Greenspan warned, however, that the central bank's benign inflation
outlook could be wrong.
"If our judgement as to how the economy is going to evolve and how
inflation is going to evolve turns out to be mistaken, we will change
because our fundamental goal is ... to maintain price stability over
the long run as a means of creating maximum sustainable growth," he said.
"Softly, softly" approach tipped on rates
Alan Greenspan has made re-assuring comments on rates.
NY/Sydney. Global financial markets have 2 more good reasons to be
confident that a "softly softly" approach on interest rates will be
the path taken by the US Fed Reserve.
There has been a reasonably benign measure of American inflation released
overnight and at the same time, US Fed Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan
has been making reassuring comments before a Senate banking committee.
Dr Greenspan says the central bank's general view is that inflationary
pressures are not likely to be a serious concern in the period ahead,
restating the conclusion that interest rates increases are "very
likely to be measured over the quarters ahead".
The US Fed Reserve is widely tipped to raise rates for the first time
in 4 y at the end of this m.
Meanwhile, the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation has
risen 0.6% in May.
While that is the biggest increase since Jan 2001, underlying
inflation, which strips out volatile energy and food costs, is up a
much more subdued 0.2%.
On foreign exchange markets, the CPI outcome and Dr Greenspan's
comments have triggered a slide in the value of the USD as investors
take the view that the looming interest rate increase will be 0.25 of
a point rather than 0.5.
The greenback weakness has sent the Aussie dollar shooting back
towards 70 US cents.
After getting down to 67.98 US cents in London trade overnight, it has
since been as much as 2 cents higher, peaking at 69.93.
At about 7.15 am the dollar was being quoted at 69.64 US cents and on
the cross rates it is buying 57.29 euros; 76.23 yen; 38.02 pence
Sterling and is worth $NZ1.092.
The DJIA has closed 46 points higher at 10,380 on the NYSE and the
high-tech Nasdaq composite index has gained 26 points to 1,996.
There has also been a solid advance on the Brit share market with
London's FT100 index is up 25 points at 4,459.
Yesterday in AUS, investors returning from the Queen's Birthday long
weekend sent the All Ords down 11 points to 3,468.
The gold price has risen to $US389.15/oz and West Texas Intermediate
crude oil has eased to $US37.18/bbl.
APEC mining conference begins in Chile
APEC conference examines sustainable mining and trade barriers.
Santiago (ABC, Clinton Porteous). The 1st mining conference of the
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has started in Chile. The
conference's twin themes are sustainable mining and lowering trade
barriers. AUS's delegation chief John Hartwell is one of those
attending the 1st ever APEC mining conference and said it was a
positive development. "Maybe that has been something that has been
missing from the APEC agenda and Chile is to be congratulated on
taking this initiative to host this 1st meeting," he said. One issue
not on the official agenda but being widely discussed is a Chilean
Govt plan for a 3% royalty on companies mining in Chile. Major
investors such as BHP Billiton are strongly opposed to the plan.
Colombian rebels massacre peasants
Bogota (Reuters). Suspected leftist rebels have killed 34 peasants in
a jungle hamlet in Colombia, in the worst massacre since Pres Alvaro
Uribe took office nearly 2 y ago, officials said.
Survivors said the killers pulled the victims from their homes at
dawn, bound their hands and feet, then shot them execution-style.
Gunmen from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) gunned
down the peasants after accusing them of picking coca leaf for
right-wing paramilitaries, police said.
Coca leaf is the raw material for cocaine, which fuels violence in a
4-decade war.
The killing occurred nr La Gabarra, close to the Venezuelan border,
460 km NE of the capital, Bogota.
"They [the peasants] were at the farm, the guerrillas came, bound them
and mowed them down with gunfire," a woman who said she witnessed the
attack told reporters.
Andres Hoyos, governor of Norte de Santander province, blamed the FARC
for the killing. Massacres of peasants is a common war tactic used by
outlawed groups to terrorise civilians suspected of cooperating with fighters.
Pres Uribe, a US ally, has boosted military spending since he took
office in Aug 2002 and violence has decreased.
Poor peasants in Colombia pick coca leaf and sell the drug to both
rebels and right-wing paramilitaries, a dangerous trade which makes
them targets.
Auditors take aim at Halliburton's work in Iraq
Washington (Reuters). Pentagon auditors took aim at VP Dick Cheney's
old company Halliburton on Tue and said they found "significant
deficiencies" in its handling of $bns of work in Iraq.
In testimony at a hearing on Iraq contracts on Capitol Hill, the head
of the Pentagon's audit agency cited problems with the Texas-based
firm's billing system and sub-contracts and potential over-charging
for meals served to troops.
Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root has the potential to
earn more than $18 bn under 2 major contracts in Iraq, one to handle
logistics for US troops and another to restore Iraq's oil infrastructure.
"DCAA has identified significant deficiencies in KBR's estimating
practices related to the award of subcontract costs," said William
Reed, director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, in prepared testimony.
He said these deficiencies led to potential over-pricing at dining
halls in Kuwait and Iraq for US troops and that the military was
holding back on paying $186 mn for meals.
The company's own internal analysis found KBR probably over-estimated
meal charges by about 19% but military auditors said this could be as
high as 36%, Reed told the House of Representatives Committee on Govt Reform.
Halliburton, which is being investigated by several govt depts for its
contracts in Iraq, has vigorously defended its work there.
The company is a popular target of criticism by Democrats during this
presidential election year, a focus the Republicans say is driven by a
bid to damage the credibility of the VP, who ran Halliburton from 1995-2000.
* TENSIONS
Democratic Rep Henry Waxman of California told Cheney in a letter last
weekend that one of Cheney's key staffers, Lewis Libby, and other snr
Admin officials were briefed about the Defense Dept's plan to award
Iraq deals to Halliburton.
Cheney's office denies any wrongdoing and says the VP did nothing
improper and played no role in getting his former company lucrative
Iraq business.
Waxman was expected at Tue's hearing to blast the committee's chairman,
Rep Tom Davis of Virginia, for not allowing former Halliburton
employees to give testimony about alleged overspending and waste by
the company in Iraq.
A report by the General Accounting Office, which was presented at the
hearing, found some problems with the use of Halliburton's logistics
contract to do work in Iraq.
"We found the use of the LOGCAP contract in Kuwait and Iraq was not
adequately planned, nor was it planned in accordance with applicable
Army guidance," said David Walker, comptroller general of the GAO,
which conducts investigations at Congress's request.
He said work plans, or task orders, were frequently revised which made
oversight difficult. For example, a task order supporting troops in
Iraq was revised 7 times in less than a year. Another for logistical
support for troops in Kuwait was changed 18 times between Sep 2002 and
Dec 2003.
Auditors also found problems with other contracts in Iraq including
billing issues in a $420 mn deal given to SD-based Titan Corp to
provide translators.
One of Titan's employees and a subcontractor were named in a prison
abuse scandal in Iraq and Reed said the company had told the govt it
would "adjust" previously billed work done by these people amounting
to over $178,000.
Auditors are also looking at a contract held by CACI Internat'l, which
provided interrogators for Iraq and which has been named in the prison
abuse scandal.
Jail sentences reduced for Chinese newspaper workers
Beijing (Reuters). China has reduced the jail sentences of a former
manager and an editor of an outspoken newspaper. He was charged with
corruption. Yu Huafeng, former manager of the popular S Metropolis
Daily in the city of Guangzhou, had his jail term pared to 8 y in his
appeal against a Mar ruling that condemned him to 12 y in prison.
The 11 y sentence for Li Minying, the newspaper's former
editor-in-chief, was cut to 6 y. Li has also been convicted of
corruption, including taking 970,000 yuan in bribes.
American optimism still abounds on Iraq
[Howard Mortman is a producer for "Hardball with Chris Matthews"].
Op/Ed (MSMBC). As the 101st Airborne Division marched into Najaff,
Iraq, early in Apr 2003, the NY Times caught up with a liberated
local. What, the man was asked, did he hope to see now that the Baath
Party had been driven from power in his town? What would the Americans
bring? The man told the Times: "Democracy. Whiskey. And sexy!"
Clearly, while we've been exporting American democracy, we've also
sent over America's penchant for 3-word political
slogans. "Democracy. Whiskey. And Sexy!" ranks right up there in
pantheon of political rhetoric with "read my lips," "where's the
beef," and "make my day." Or, more in line with what was on this
Iraqi's mind: rum, romanism and rebellion.
Democracy. Whiskey. Sexy. Yes, 3 of the 4 freedoms Pres Roosevelt pushed.
But the guy left out one other thing Americans are known for -- polling.
After our forces secured Iraq, the pollsters quickly launched their
own invasion. Soon we learned how the war played in Iraq. And how
Iraqis are anticipating the upcoming milestone --the return of
sovereignty on Jun 30. One year after the freedom-loving,
whiskey-drinking Najaff chap in heat talked to the NY Times, Gallup
found this: Although Iraqis are divided on whether their country is
currently better (42%) or worse (39%) off than before the invasion,
"there is striking optimism regarding the country's long-term future"
after Jun 30. Nearly 2/3 of all Iraqis say they believe their country
will be either somewhat or much better off 5 y from now than it is at
present, "while just one Iraqi in 10 foresees the country being worse
off 5 y hence." Also worth noting: "the fact that these positive
expectations were expressed by Shiites and Sunnis alike." Only 12% say
they expected Iraq to be worse off 5 y from now.
Not a scientifically valid survey. Click to learn more.
A public opinion poll of Iraqis done by Oxford Analytica (and touted
by the US govt) showed similar results: a majority of Iraqis feel that
they are better off today than they were a y ago. And 70% said they
think they'll be even better off in 2005.
Americans are a notoriously optimistic people. Are we exporting
optimism with our fifths of Jack? As we prepare for this fall's big
vote, and amid otherwise gloomy current polling on Iraq, Americans at
the least seem to share the Iraqis' rosy view of the future.
A Washington Post poll in May found 62% hopeful about Iraq, but 67%
worried. Over half say they're optimistic about the situation in Iraq.
A May Time magazine poll found 60% say we can win the war in Iraq, and
52% say we will win the war in Iraq.
* 72%: Iraq's better off
A May Gallup poll found nearly 3/4 [72%] of us believing that Iraq is
better off than before the war.
And an Apr Pew Research Center poll found over 1/2 [54%] rejecting the
notion that Iraq would end up being another Vietnam -- they think the
US will accomplish its goals in Iraq.
On the other hand, only 42% in a May Newsweek poll were confident that
the US will successfully establish a stable democratic form of govt in
Iraq over the long term. A m earlier, it was 50%.
In May 2004, the NY Times found 2 more Iraqis, this time in Baghdad,
Ghazi Muklif Hamdan and Adel Abdul Mehdi: "For people like Mr Hamdan
-- and the numbers of those who share his opinion seem to be growing
-- pride and dignity trump any fears for the future." The Times
continued: "For Americans grasping for a reason to stay optimistic
about their experiment in Iraq, it may be this: There are still far
more people in Mr Mehdi's camp, people who are skeptical of, and maybe
even hate, the Americans but see them as the only way to save themselves."
As the nation mourns the passing of Pres Reagan, this is a good time
to reflect on, as the Times put it, Americans staying optimistic. Pres
Reagan was a master of soaring, optimistic language. A sample of his
State of the Union addresses:
"Don't let anyone tell you that America's best days are behind her,
that the American spirit has been vanquished. We've seen it triumph
too often in our own lives to see it stop now."
"America is too great for small dreams."
"Let history say of us: These were golden y -- when the American
Revolution was reborn, when freedom gained new life, and America
reached for her best."
"Future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted. It belongs to the brave."
In 1995, USA Today reported on a plan written by longtime Reagan
political adviser Stuart Spencer during the 1984 re-election
campaign. The memo said, "The tone of the campaign should be upbeat,
but not so confidently optimistic that we are vulnerable to the charge
we believe things are better than facts warrant.
The future vision the Pres established should include challenges, but
reaffirm our faith in the country's ability to progress and meet those
challenges."
Pres Bush's re-election campaign is trying to re-capture that
spirit. A recent Bush-Cheney '04 ad has Pres Bush saying this about
the economy: "I'm optimistic about America because I believe in the
people of America." The ad accuses John Kerry of "pessimism."
Meanwhile, there's Iraq. Looming large.
Iraq consistently ranks in the top 2 issues Americans will think
about, or what they want the candidates to speak about, when
considering their Nov presidential votes. The outcome of the
presidential race just might balance on which kind of voter shows up
at the ballot booths -- an optimist or a pessimist.
An Apr CBS News/NY Times poll found nearly half of us thinking that
Iraqis were resentful of the US being in Iraq right now. Tell that to
the man the NY Times found in Najaff a y ago. Democracy, whiskey, and
sexy. Now there's a rosy scenario.
[If the presidential election were held this wk, who would you vote for?
George W Bush: 46%
John Kerry: 51%
Ralph Nader: 3%
277,269 responses].
Sep 11 themes hit the big screen
Nearly 3 y later, Sep 11 is coming to Hollywood.
LA (Reuters). 3 new films starting with last wk's debut of Steven
Spielberg's The Terminal ask Americans to look at who they have become
since the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, and the
subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The other movies, Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and the
Disney-backed America's Heart and Soul are far different from
Spielberg's film.
To start, both are documentaries. Moore's film claims Americans were
duped by the Bush Admin into supporting the war in Iraq.
Heart and Soul features uplifting stories about people living
unconventional lives.
Spielberg's film is a romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks as a
foreigner stranded for 9 m in New York's John F Kennedy Internat'l
Airport. Catherine Zeta-Jones is his love interest.
But beyond all the Spielberg romance and comical situations, its
message is just as serious as the other films.
"One of my reactions when I read the script ... was to say, 'here's a
chance, in the shadow of 9/11, to show people from all walks of
life'," Speilberg said.
"If we spend enough time getting to know what they are are all about,
it will assuage our fears and turn us back into trusting human beings."
The film looks at a US that has closed its borders to one man, Viktor
Navorski (Hanks) of the fictional Eastern European country of Krakozhia.
Viktor lands at NY's JFK airport just as his country is overrun by rebels.
Since his Govt is no longer in power, the US will not recognise his
entry visa. But because the new Krakozhia has sealed its border,
Navorski cannot go home either.
Frank Dixon, as a representative of the Homeland Security Dept, puts
Navorski in the internat'l traveller terminal, where he is free to roam.
But he cannot leave. Dixon, played by Stanley Tucci, makes that clear.
The terminal is filled not only with foreign travellers but also by
immigrants and working-class employees of the fast-food restaurants
and gift shops who earn minimum wages.
"The Internat'l terminal is a microcosm of the early immigrant
experience coming here to America," Spielberg said.
The serious message about a nation founded by immigrants closing its
doors to visitors does not stop Terminal from having many light moments.
Navorski has to find places to sleep, bathe and eat in the terminal.
He also falls for Zeta-Jones and is a go-between in another airport
love affair.
Spielberg admits some of the serious ideas "will go right over
audience heads".
But maybe not. A pivotal moment comes when Navorski does Dixon a
favour, then puts his overseer in a bad situation. Dixon enforces his
authority but does so in a show of inhumanity.
The twist is that Dixon, although the villain, is not a bad guy.
He is doing his duty, being responsible and trying to earn a
promotion. "Post 9/11, people want Dixon to do his job and they want
him to be good at it," Spielberg said.
Beyond Terminal, Heart and Soul -- which opens in US cinemas on Jul 2
-- profiles people who have chosen lifestyles outside normal bounds.
But one of its themes is that these people are free to pursue and
enjoy their individuality.
Director Louis Schwartzberg said he did much of the filming before Sep
11 but now is a better time to release the film.
"We have some important decisions to make on what direction we want to
take our country in," he said.
And that is exactly one of the questions posed by Moore's Fahrenheit
9/11, which hits cinemas in the US on Jun 25.
Generally, films can take 2 or more y to get from idea to screens. Moore
told Reuters he 1st decided to pursue Fahrenheit 9/11 in Nov 2001.
Spanish judge charges 15 over 9/11 attacks
15 face charges over Sep 11 attacks.
London (ABC, Kirsten Aiken). In Spain, 15 suspected Al Qaeda members
have been ordered to stand trial for the Sep 11, 2001 attacks in the
US. Judge Baltasar Garzon has indicted 40 people on terrorism
charges, including Al Qaeda's chief Osama Bin Laden. His
investigation into the terrorist network began before the Sep 11, 2001
attacks in the US and helped authorities to arrest 11 people 3 m after
they occurred. Judge Garzon has ordered 14 being held in Spanish
custody and a Syrian-born Spanish journalist for television network
Al-Jazeera to face trial on a series of charges, including mass
murder. The trial is expected to be held within a year.
"Al Qaeda" threatens to execute US hostage
Riyadh (AFP). A posting on an Islamist web site shows the photo of Paul
Marshall Johnson, who Al Qaeda militants say they have kidnapped.
An Islamist website has carried a statement purportedly from a branch
of Al Qaeda threatening to execute a US hostage if its supporters held
in Saudi Arabia are not released within 72 hr.
The statement's authenticity could not be confirmed but was signed "Al
Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula".
"If the tyrants of the Saudi Govt want their master, Paul Marshall
Johnson, to be released, they must release the mujahedeen held in the
prisons in Haer, Ar-Ruwais and Allecha within 72 hr," the statement said.
"Otherwise, we will execute him to avenge our Muslim brothers whose
blood has been spilled freely in several parts" of the world.
It warned that "rivers of the blood of other Crusaders would be
spilled this y in the Arabian peninsula", unless its supporters were freed.
Mr Johnson, a 49-yo aeronautical engineer, has been missing since Sat,
the same day another American was killed in Riyadh in an attack also
claimed by Al Qaeda.
His abductors used websites to identify him as an employee of US defence
contractor Lockheed Martin but the US embassy said both he and the US
nat'l who was killed were employees of the Advanced Electronics Company.
A statement signed by the same group late last m vowed to "cleanse the
Arabian Peninsula of infidels", after a series of attacks and a bloody
hostage-taking in the Saudi oil city of Khobar left at least 19 people dead.
Attacks on W targets in Saudi Arabia have escalated despite a massive
crackdown which has netted 100s of militants since a wave of suicide
bombings began in May 2003.
Brit airports to experiment with iris scanners
London (AFP). Brit is to introduce an experimental iris recognition
system at major airports for foreign visitors who volunteer for the scheme.
Volunteers from outside the European Union who live in or regularly
visit Brit would be interviewed and have their irises scanned and
stored, the Brit Immigration Office said.
Visitors who register would confirm their identity by passing through
an iris recognition channel equipped with cameras, rather than joining
queues at immigration desks.
The Iris Recognition Immigration System (IRIS) will be installed at
London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports, as well as
Manchester, N England, and Birmingham in the centre of the country.
Describing the system as "watertight", Immigration Min Des Browne said
over 90 mn people pass through Brit airports each year and that figure
is set to rise, requiring a faster system to allow visitors into the country.
The technology will be in place within a year, Mr Browne added.
"We need to ensure that our controls are robust enough to let in only
those with the right to be here, and efficient enough to process
legitimate passengers quickly," Mr Browne said.
McDonald's bites back at doco
Sydney (AP). McDonald's is taking its beef with a US documentary film
to AUS's TV screens in an ad campaign biting back at suggestions that
its food is unhealthy.
In the film Super Size Me, American filmmaker Morgan Spurlock eats
only McDonald's fare for 30 days, and in the end piles on 12 kgs and
gets sick.
The film grossed AUS's highest-ever opening weekend takings for a
documentary, raking in $353,700 in 4 days.
McDonald's Aussie arm hit back quickly.
"We did some research with our customers, and because of the fact that
we were silent in regards to the film, they took it that our silence
basically meant guilt," Guy Russo, McDonald's chief executive in AUS,
told Sky News television.
"I think he's providing false claims to Aussies," Russo said of
Spurlock. "I won't take that sitting down."
McDonald's campaign attacks the film as being "about someone who
decides to overeat".
In the TV ads, Russo derides Spurlock's claim that eating nothing but
McDonald's for 30 days can make you sick.
"Surprise, surprise," he said. "He finds out it was an error. I could
have told him that."
McDonald's has been trying to revamp its worldwide junk food image,
launching healthy alternatives to its long-famous burger meals.
It's added low fat milk and fresh apples to its menus in the US. It
has also brought in options like Fish McDippers in Japan and sliced
fruit in Brit.
In AUS it introduced salads and yoghurt 18 ma. It lists the
nutritional contents of each meal on food wrappers and posters.
Russo said he eats at McDonald's about 3 times a wk but wouldn't
overdo it, like he insists Spurlock did.
"I'm of Italian descent," Russo says, "and I couldn't eat Spaghetti
Bolognese every day."
Hill defends US over prisoners
[Wed night, AEST, Hill is being pressured to stand down as Def Min].
Canberra (AAP). The govt was confident US authorities in charge of
Iraqi prisoners of war complied with the Geneva Convention, the Senate
was told.
John Faulkner (ALP, NSW) asked Defence Min Robert Hill whether he had
taken any steps to ensure the prisoners captured by Aussie troops in
Iraq, but detained by US authorities, were being treated fairly.
Sen Hill declined to say whether he had sought specific advice, but
defended the US detaining authorities.
"The US is party to the Geneva Convention and AUS has every confidence
that the US would comply with the obligations that it has accepted,"
Sen Hill said.
He said he did not believe it was possible to opt out of the convention.
"AUS wouldn't seek to opt out -- I don't think you've got a choice,"
he said.
"If somebody is held other than under a Geneva Convention then it
would be the attitude of the Aussie govt that basic humanitarian
standards should nevertheless prevail."
I'm Abu Ghraib scapegoat: general
Washington (AP). The American general who was in charge of prison
guards at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison said she was told by a snr officer
that Iraqi prisoners were "like dogs".
In an interview with the BBC, Brig Gen Janis Karpinski said she was
being made a scapegoat for the abuse of detainees at the jail.
Karpinski said Maj Gen Geoffrey Miller -- who was in charge of the
Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba and now oversees US prisons in
Iraq -- had told her prisoners "are like dogs, and if you allow them
to believe at any point that they are more than a dog then you've lost
control of them".
Karpinski was suspended last m from command of the 800th Military
Police Brigade after she and other officers were faulted by army
investigators for paying too little attention to the prison's
day-to-day operations and not acting strongly enough to discipline
soldiers for violating standard procedures.
Several soldiers are facing courts-martial over abuse allegations at
the jail, which flared when pictures of troops abusing and humiliating
Iraqi detainees were published in the media.
In her defence, Karpinski has said that interrogations at the prison
were not under her command but were run by a military intel unit.
"I believe that I was a convenient scapegoat," she said.
"The interrogation operation was directed, it was under a separate
command and there was no reason for me to go out to look at Abu Ghraib
at cell block 1a or 1b or visit the interrogation facilities."
O'Kane won't [be allowed to] give evidence: PM
Canberra (AAP). PM John Howard defended his refusal to call Maj
George O'Kane before a Senate inquiry, despite claims the military
lawyer had warned of prisoner violations in Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail.
Brig Gen Janis Karpinski, who was suspended from duty as head of the
jail after the prisoner abuse scandal, has said Maj O'Kane, an Aussie
army officer, had aggressively warned about Geneva Convention
violations at Abu Ghraib.
Gen Karpinski also said she was told by a military intel cmdr that
detainees should be treated like dogs.
She said she and her soldiers were being made scapegoats for abuse
ordered by others.
Mr Howard stressed the issue did not involve any Aussie personnel.
"That's a matter for the American authorities. Of course, if that
happened, it would be appalling," he told ABC radio.
"You're dealing here with Americans talking about Americans. I'm not
responsible for the Americans.
We didn't have any prisoners.
"The only relevance to AUS from Gen Karpinski's latest comments is
that she actually praised, according to The Australian [newspaper],
Maj O'Kane for being very active in relation to the Geneva Conventions
on the treatment of prisoners of war.
"If that version of events is correct, that speaks favourably of the
role of Maj O'Kane."
Mr Howard said Defence Min Robert Hill would release a statement on
the issue of what people knew.
"The question of what happens in relation to Maj O'Kane will be
something that is determined by his commanding officer," he said.
"His commanding officer is not Gen Karpinski.
His commanding officer is Gen [Peter] Cosgrove.
"It is not normal in Senate inquiries for somebody in that position to
be interviewed."
Gen's views shine favourable light on O'Kane: PM
Canberra. Prime Min John Howard says there is growing evidence that
Aussies serving in Baghdad at the time Iraqi prisoners were being
abused were working to improve conditions at the notorious Abu Ghraib jail.
Def Min Robert Hill will deliver a statement to Parliament on the
matter this afternoon.
The Opp'n has questioned why Govt ministers did not know about the
abuse of Iraqi prisoners until this y when some Aussie military
officers were aware of concerns about their mistreatment last Oct.
But Mr Howard says there is no suggestion any Aussies were involved in
the abuse and he has seized on reported comments from the jail's
former cmdr, Brig Gen Janis Karpinski, commending the role of AUS's
Maj George O'Kane.
"She praised Maj O'Kane for being very active in relation to the
Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war," he said.
But Mr Howard has again rejected suggestions Maj O'Kane should front a
Senate inquiry to answers questions about his role in Baghdad, saying
it is not normal for someone in that position to do so.
Gen Karpinski has accused a superior officer of ordering military
police to treat detainees like dogs.
The Gen was suspended from her command of Abu Ghraib after the abuse
scandal was 1st uncovered.
She now says she has been made a scapegoat and has accused Maj Gen
Geoffrey Miller -- the officer once in charge of interrogation at
Guantanamo Bay -- of bringing inappropriate prisoner treatment
guidelines to Iraq.
"He said they are like dogs and if you allow them to believe at any
point that they're more than a dog then you've lost control of them,"
she said.
A US Army rep has described the allegations against Maj Gen Miller as
categorically false.
Gen Karpinski told the BBC she was cut out of the loop on the
treatment of some detainees after Maj Gen Miller took over control of
interrogation operations at Abu Ghraib.
US claims Saddam, al-Qaeda links
[Later, the 9/11 Commission found there was no evidence for the links].
Washington (AP). US Vice-Pres Dick Cheney said Saddam Hussein had
"long-established ties" with al-Qaeda, an assertion that has been
repeatedly challenged by some policy experts and lawmakers.
The VP offered no details backing up his claim of a link between
Saddam and al-Qaeda.
"He was a patron of terrorism," Cheney said of Hussein during a speech
before the James Madison Institute, a conservative think-tank based in Florida.
"He had long established ties with al-Qaeda."
In making the case for war in Iraq, Bush Admin officials frequently
cited what they said were Saddam's decade-long contacts with al-Qaeda
operatives.
They stopped short of claiming that Iraq was directly involved in the
Sep 11, 2001, attacks on the US, but critics say Bush officials left
that impression with the American public.
Cheney listed what he described as the accomplishments of the Bush
Admin in the war on terror, including fledgling democracies in
Afghanistan and Iraq; and the decision by Libya's leader, Muammar
Gaddafi, to abandon his nuclear ambitions.
But Sen Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat, said the Bush Admin had "a
sorry record in the war on terror."
Graham, former chairman of the Senate Intel Committee, spoke in a
conference call arranged by John Kerry's presidential campaign in
anticipation of Cheney's speech.
The State Dept said last wk it was wrong in stating that terrorism
declined worldwide last year in a report that the Bush Admin initially
cited as evidence it was succeeding against terrorism, Graham noted.
Both the number of incidents and the toll in victims increased
sharply, the dept acknowledged.
US awaits right time for Saddam transfer
US wants security assurances before handing over Saddam.
Washington (ABC, John Shovelan and agencies). United States Pres
George W Bush says he is seeking security assurances from the interim
Iraqi govt before handing over former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Pres Bush has refused to guarantee he will hand Saddam over to the
Iraqi authorities by the official transfer of power on Jun 30.
Pres Bush says he is seeking assurances from the Iraqi interim govt
that Saddam will remain in custody and face trial before handing him over.
"I just want to make sure that when sovereignty is transferred Saddam
Hussein stays in jail," Mr Bush said.
"I'm confident that, when it's all said and done, he will stay in
jail. I just want to be assured."
The US has held Saddam at an undisclosed location since his capture on
Dec 13 last y.
The Internat'l Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said the ousted
dictator must be freed or charged before the hand over of power.
And interim Iraqi PM Iyad Allawi has expressed confidence that the US
will turn him over "within 2 wk".
But Mr Bush has refused to commit to that time-frame, saying the
transfer will occur at "the appropriate time".
* Tougher security
Pres Bush says the interim Iraqi govt must enact tougher security
measures before US forces will hand Saddam over for trial.
Mr Bush says US officials are in talks with Iraqis about how to
provide "appropriate security".
"[What] we don't want -- and I know the Iraqi interim Govt doesn't
want -- is there to be lax security and for Saddam Hussein to somehow
not stand trial for the horrendous murders and torture that he
inflicted upon the Iraqi people," Mr Bush said.
"He's a killer, he's a thug, he needs to be brought to trial. We want
to make sure that the transfer to a sovereign govt is done in a timely
way and in a secure way. That's what we're discussing."
Despite the Red Cross comments, Whitehouse rep Scott McClellan says
US-led forces could hold Saddam and other detainees indefinitely under
a UN Sec Council resolution passed early last wk.
The resolution "provides authority for the multinat'l force to
continue to detain individuals in Iraq after Jun 30 and to detain new
individuals where it is necessary for security purposes", he said.
Saddam is likely to be tried for the persecution of Shiite Marsh Arabs
in S Iraq in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as for war crimes against
Kuwait during and after the Aug 1990 invasion which triggered the 1st
Gulf War.
Iran is also believed to be preparing a formal complaint against him
for the torture of Iranian prisoners captured during the 1980-1988 war.
US replaces Iraq cmdr
Washington (AFP). US Pres George W Bush has nominated Army Gen George
Casey to command the US-led multinat'l force in Iraq, replacing Lt Gen
Ricardo Sanchez. Gen Casey is currently vice chief of staff of the
Army. His nomination heads a list of top appointments which also
include a new chief of the US Strategic Command responsible for US
strategic missile forces. Mr Bush nominated Gen Casey for
"re-appointment to the rank of general and assignment as cmdr,
Multi-Nat'l Forces Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq," a Pentagon notice said.
Officials have insisted the move is part of the normal rotation of
cmdrs in Iraq and has been under discussion for a long time. They say
it is not a response to the scandal over prisoner abuse at the Abu
Ghraib prison.
Army's No 2 nominated to head Iraq force
Washington (AP). Gen George W Casey, Jr, the Army vice chief of
staff, has been nominated for a newly created post that would make him
the top US cmdr and only 4-star general in Iraq.
The nomination, which had been expected, was announced Tue by the
Pentagon along with several other major command assignments, including
Navy Vice Adm Timothy J Keating to be cmdr of N Command, the military
command that was created after the Sep 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks. Keating was the cmdr of naval operations during the initial
phase of the Iraq war.
The nominations have to be confirmed by the Senate.
Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez is currently the top American cmdr in Iraq.
His role in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse case has come under question
recently, and although there is no accusation against him, snr Pentagon
officials believed he could not be confirmed quickly by the Senate for
the newly created position of cmdr of Multi-Nat'l Forces Iraq. Casey,
who has been Army vice chief only since last Oct, is not expected to
encounter Senate opp'n.
As a 4-star general in Iraq, Casey would be responsible for overseeing
the US-led military operation and interacting with the new Iraqi govt
that takes over Jun 30 as well as the US ambassador in Baghdad, John
Negroponte. A 3-star, Lt Gen Thomas F Metz, would manage day-to-day
military activities.
Gen John Abizaid, head of Central Command, will remain the top
military officer responsible for the Iraq mission, although he is
based in nearby Qatar and also has responsibility for US military
operations in Afghanistan and other countries in that region.
Abizaid and Casey have worked together before and their Army careers
have had some recent parallels. Both were assistant cmdrs of the 1st
Armored Division in Germany in 1996-97, both were division cmdrs in
Germany in 1999-2000, and Casey was head of strategic plans for the
Joint Staff in the Pentagon in 2001 while Abizaid was director of the
Joint Staff.
When Abizaid was promoted to deputy cmdr of Central Command in Jan
2003, Casey succeeded him as Joint Staff director. Casey, whose first
duty assignment in the Army was as a mortar platoon leader in Germany
in 1971, has never before commanded troops in combat.
Replacing Casey as Army vice chief of staff would be Lt Gen Richard
Cody, who currently is the Army deputy chief of staff for
operations. Cody was nominated for promotion to 4-star rank.
Among other command assignments announced Tue:
* Marine Corps Lt Gen James E Cartwright to be promoted to 4-star rank
and be cmdr of US Strategic Command, replacing Navy Adm. James O
Ellis Jr The Strategic Command is in charge of American nuclear
forces and military space operations as well as missile defence.
* Navy Vice Adm. John B Nathman to be appointed to the rank of admiral
and assigned as vice chief of naval operations, the Navy's No. 2
position in the Pentagon.
* Marine Corps Maj Gen John Sattler to be given a 3rd star and
assigned as cmdr of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, replacing Lt
Gen James Conway, who has held the position since Nov 2002. The 1st
Marine Expeditionary Force was the Marine element of the US ground
force that invaded Iraq in Mar 2003 and toppled the Saddam Hussein
regime in Baghdad. Sattler is currently the director of operations
for Central Command, based in Doha, Qatar.
Al Qaeda-linked group claims Baghdad blast
Baghdad (Reuters). A group headed by suspected Al Qaeda operative Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi have claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing
in Baghdad on Mon that killed 13 people, 5 of them foreign contractors.
"By the Grace of God, members of the martyrdom squadron of Jama'at
al-Tawhid and Jihad were able to ambush a convoy of mercenary
parasites in the centre of the Iraqi capital," a statement claiming to
be from the group said.
The statement was dated on Mon and posted on an Islamist website on Tue.
"Several cars were destroyed and the body parts of the infidels were
seen flying in the air," it said.
"These operations are a clear message to the Americans that their path
in Muslim countries will not be as easy as they believed."
It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the
Arabic-language statement.
Mon's attack was the 2nd suicide bombing in the Iraqi capital in 24
hours and coincided with a wave of assassinations aimed at the new
interim Govt appointed to take over from Jun 30.
Zarqawi's group has claimed responsibility for many of the attacks.
Iraq's Interior Min, Falah al-Naqib, said on Mon that a foreigner had
carried out the bombing.
Iraqi police said a bomber in a red 4wd set off the blast, which
devastated a busy street and ripped the front off one building.
The 5 foreign contractors that were killed were 2 Britons, a Frenchman
and an American.
They were employees of a subsidiary of the US conglomerate General
Electric or security contractors working with the company.
The US military said 10 contractors had also been wounded.
In the statement, Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad vowed to carry out more
attacks against Americans in Iraq, saying their battle was "until
death and would not end nor will our fire die down before the country
is liberated completely from occupation".
"The Americans with all their high-tech surveillance and military
might will not be able to stop what God has ordained upon them," it added.
Bush touts Afghanistan as model for Iraq
Washington (Reuters). US Pres George W Bush has lauded Afghanistan as
a model for Iraq as he tried to paint the US involvement there as a success.
With Afghan Pres Hamid Karzai at his side, Mr Bush listed strides in
children's health care, women's rights and education as signs Afghanistan
has been lifted up "from the ashes of 2 decades of war and oppression".
"Out of, kind of, the desperate straits that the Afghan people found
themselves is now a welcoming society beginning to grow," Mr Bush told
a joint news conference with Mr Karzai in the Whitehouse Rose Garden.
"And the same thing's going to happen in Iraq. These aren't easy
tasks," he said.
Mr Bush, seen as vulnerable on Iraq in the run-up to the Nov 2 US
presidential election in which foreign policy could be a decisive
issue, is eager to paint Afghanistan as a success despite escalating
violence there.
Mr Karzai is favoured to win a Sep election but concerns have mounted
about worsening provincial violence and threats from the Taliban and
allied Islamic militants.
US Democrats have accused Bush of diverting needed attention and
resources from Afghanistan with last y's war in Iraq.
A US-led military campaign ousted Afghanistan's militant Islamist
Taliban rulers from power in late 2001.
An internat'l peacekeeping force provides security for Mr Karzai's
fragile govt in Kabul but govt control outside the capital is limited,
with parts of the country in the grip of regional warlords and
militant fighters.
But Mr Karzai was in lockstep with Mr Bush in his portrayal of
Afghanistan as a success story.
He touted economic growth in the country of more than 25% last year
and projections this y of growth of 20%.
"This could not have been possible without your help, without
America's assistance," Mr Karzai told Pres Bush.
Although he did not specifically speak of a request for more US aid at
the news conference, Mr Karzai told politicians earlier that democracy
would require "sustaining and accelerating the reconstruction of
Afghanistan through long-term commitment, and providing incentives to
the private sector for investing in Afghanistan".
The US so far has committed about $US2.2 bn to rebuild Afghanistan, an
amount some politicians have criticised as too low and a result of the
Bush Admin's emphasis on Iraq, where $US18.6 bn has been committed for
reconstruction.
"To succeed, we ask for your continued investment. Afghanistan is open
for business and American companies are most welcome," said Mr Karzai,
who cited the country's potential to produce hydro-electricity and
reserves of minerals, oil, natural gas and coal.
Without pledging anything specific, Mr Bush promised American support
for the country's "journey to democracy and peace".
At both the Whitehouse and on Capitol Hill, Mr Karzai lavished praise
on the US for toppling the Taliban.
He said atrocities against the Afghan people under the Taliban
"continued for many y and the world remained un-engaged" until the Sep
11, 2001, attacks.
"You came to Afghanistan to defeat terrorism and we Afghans welcomed
and embraced you for the liberation of our country," Mr Karzai said on
Capitol Hill.
The Afghan leader received several ovations at a joint meeting of the
House of Representatives and the Senate.
Date set for N Korea nuke talks
Beijing (AP). China says that a new round of 6-nation talks on N
Korea's nuclear program will be held in Beijing on Jun 23-26.
"China hopes that the parties concerned will show the spirit of
flexibility and cooperation," Foreign Ministry rep Zhang Qiyue said at
a briefing.
Lower-level meetings will be next Mon and Tue to set the agenda for
the talks, she said.
The standoff was sparked in Oct 2002, when the US said N Korea
admitted operating a nuclear program in violation of a 1994 agreement.
2 previous rounds of discussions involving China, the 2 Koreas, the
US, Japan and Russia ended without settlement.
China has said that stark differences remain between the negotiating
partners.
Washington demands a "complete, verifiable and irreversible
dismantling" of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons facilities.
North Korea says it is willing to freeze its nuclear program in return
for economic aid and will only dismantle it if the US promises not to invade.
South Korea partially lifts ban on chicken imports
Seoul (AFP). South Korea has partially lifted a ban on imports of
chickens from Thailand and China imposed after a deadly bird flu
outbreak, officials said Tue. South Korea will now take cooked
chicken from the 2 countries The Agriculture Ministry approved the
resumption of imports of Chinese cooked chicken on Jun 2 and took the
same step for Thai cooked chicken on Tue, the officials of the
ministry said. "We have decided to give a green light to imports of
Thai and Chinese cooked chicken which are processed at plants equipped
with proper facilities," an official of the ministry's quarantine
service said. "But the ban on imports of unprocessed chicken from the
2 countries and imports of birds from other Asian countries is still
in effect," he said. South Korea imposed the ban on Thailand and
China in Jan. It imported 43,500 tonnes of chicken from Thailand and
a few hundred tonnes from China last y.
Sharon spared indictment in corruption scandal
Ariel Sharon ... no evidence of wrongdoing.
Jerusalem (Reuters). Israel's A-G has dropped a bribery case against
PM Ariel Sharon, a move which could boost his plan to pull out of the
Gaza Strip.
A-G Menachem Mazuz told a news conference he had found no evidence of
a reasonable chance of conviction, despite the chief prosecutor's
recommendation that Mr Sharon be charged.
The decision is likely to help Mr Sharon overcome resistance within
his party to his blueprint for "disengagement" from the Palestinians
and forge a "unity" coalition with Shimon Peres's opp'n Labour Party
if needed to carry it out.
"As a friend, I was pained by the opening of the case [against Mr
Sharon] and I am happy he got out of it," said Mr Peres, who has known
the former general for decades.
An indictment could have toppled Mr Sharon, 76, and sunk the Likud
Party leader's plan to remove all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza
Strip and 4 of 120 in the W Bank.
Prosecutors had looked into the payment of 100s of 1000s of dollars to
Mr Sharon's son Gilad by Israeli land developer David Appel, who hired
him in the late 1990s to help plan an Aegean island resort which was
never built.
They investigated whether Mr Sharon, foreign minister when his son was
given what Mr Mazuz described as a snr administrative role in the
project, used his position to help Mr Appel, a Likud activist, promote
the enterprise.
* Absence of proof
"For over 2 years, police listened to Appel's 2 phone lines, recording
1000s of conversations," Mr Mazuz said.
"These wiretaps yielded no evidence, direct or indirect, for
substantiating the suspicion that Sharon was bribed by Appel.
"This absence of proof is ... a deafening silence," he said in a
statement devoid of any criticism of Mr Sharon.
Mr Mazuz also closed the case against Gilad Sharon, noting payments
for his services had not begun until late 1999, when his father was no
longer foreign minister and in the opp'n.
The A-G said he treated Mr Sharon no differently from any other
suspect and Mr Sharon has denied misconduct.
Mr Mazuz's word lifted a cloud of uncertainty enveloping Mr Sharon's
political future, at least for now.
However, Opp'n figures vowed to challenge the ruling in the High Court
and Mr Sharon could also face charges in 2 other corruption probes in
which he denies wrongdoing.
* Defections
Political analysts said those charges could take up to 2 y to complete.
Mr Sharon's immediate challenge will be to survive politically
following defections that have erased his parliamentary majority after
the Cabinet approved the Gaza pullout plan in principle on Jun 6.
Under a Cabinet compromise, no settlement evacuations can begin until
a further ministerial vote is taken in 9 m and Mr Sharon vowed to hold
on to parts of the occupied W Bank permanently.
Palestinians welcome "disengagement" but say the W Bank element will
deprive them of land they want for a viable state.
Mr Sharon is expected to try to regain his governing majority with
Labour on board.
Labour wants out of Gaza but said coalition talks had to await Mr
Mazuz's ruling on Mr Sharon.
Asked about a political partnership now, Mr Peres told reporters: "We
have not received an invitation nor have we sent a request to be
invited into the Govt."
But he added: "At this moment ... toppling the Govt would also cause
the collapse of the Gaza evacuation."
Police guard cinemas showing lesbian film
Delhi (Reuters). Policemen will guard dozens of cinemas across India
to deter violence after a Hindu hardline party vandalised movie
theatres to protest against a Bollywood film about a love affair
between 2 women.
Police officers will be posted outside dozens of cinemas, including
many swanky multiplexes, that are showing the Hindi film Girlfriend in
Bombay, New Delhi, the N towns of Lucknow and Varanasi and the central
town of Bhopal.
Delhi police rep Ravi Pawar said: "We are mounting a close watch on
theatres showing Girlfriend in view of the incidents in other parts of
the country."
On Mon, nearly 100 student activists of the Hindu right wing Shiv Sena
smashed window panes, tore up posters and burnt effigies at a theatre
showing Girlfriend in Bombay, the capital of India's hugely popular
Bollywood film industry.
Shiv Sena members said the movie went against the grain of Indian
culture by portraying scenes of lovemaking between 2 women.
They also attacked a theatre screening the film in the N Hindu holy
city of Varanasi.
There were no injuries in either incident.
Members of the Shiv Sena said they plan more protests over Girlfriend.
"We'll not allow such a film to be screened," Arun Pathak, a leader of
the group, told Reuters.
"What one does in the bedroom and bathroom should not be displayed publicly."
Authorities in several cities said they were ready to tackle further
attempts to disrupt screenings.
"The film has been passed by the censor board," Dharam Singh, a senior
govt official in Varanasi, said.
"We will deal with troublemakers firmly. We've deployed enough police
outside movie halls."
Some critics have panned the film, with one reviewer saying it was
"redolent with cliches" and filled with "C grade raunch".
Joyce's Dublin in spotlight on 100th "Bloomsday"
Dublin (Reuters). Irish writer James Joyce once boasted that if
Dublin were ever destroyed it could be rebuilt from the pages of
Ulysses, his epic novel which will be celebrated across the city on Wed.
The book charts the movements of Joyce's unlikely hero Leopold Bloom
through the Dublin of Jun 16, 1904, a date celebrated as "Bloomsday"
and about to mark its centenary.
Joyce was in self-imposed exile when he wrote his masterpiece -- for
many the greatest novel in the English language -- and made close use
of a Dublin street directory to ensure the precision of his locations.
However, while most of the banks, churches, pubs and public buildings
mentioned in the book still stand, the city has changed dramatically
in the intervening years, hit by political violence, civil war and
more recently by rapid new development during the country's "Celtic
Tiger" boom.
Frank McDonald, author of several books on the planning and
architecture of Dublin, said Joyce's city had altered radically.
"What we have now is an increasingly European-style city centre
surrounded by a vast American-style suburban sprawl," he said.
"Joyce's Dublin was a much smaller, more intimate city."
He dismissed the notion that Dublin could be recreated from Joyce's
famous tome.
"He never described a building -- the book is just full of addresses
and the names of buildings. You would have as much chance of
rebuilding 1904 Dublin from the street directory."
Nevertheless, many of the 1000s of Joyce aficionados in Dublin this wk
for the 100th Bloomsday will set out to follow in Bloom's footsteps,
ticking off landmarks along the way.
They will find that the city-centre site of the dept store Brown
Thomas in whose window Bloom admires "cascades of ribbon" and "flimsy
China silks" is now occupied by Brit retailer Marks & Spencer.
Thornton's shop in the same street, where Blazes Boylan, the lover of
Bloom's wife, buys port, potted meat and fruits for her, is now part
of Irish retail chain Dunnes Stores.
The Clarence Hotel, which Bloom passes on his journey, was bought and
refurbished in the 1990s by members of Irish rock group U2 and now provides
a chic watering hole for the city's well-heeled young professionals.
Number 7 Eccles Street, the protagonist's house in the book, has gone,
along with the "Freeman's Journal" newspaper office -- where Bloom
calls briefly on business.
However, Olhausen's, the butcher's where Bloom purchases "a lukewarm
pig's crubeen" (trotter), and Sweny's chemist shop, where he buys
lemon soap for his wife, are still trading.
Many of the grand Georgian houses from Joyce's time fell foul of town
planners who regarded them as reminders of Brit colonial rule.
While attitudes have largely changed, the council continues to make
controversial decisions, most recently approving the demolition of the
riverside Ormond Hotel where Bloom indulges his appetite for "the
inner organs of beasts and fowls".
Other aspects of Joycean Dublin are coming full circle. Trams, on
which Bloom travels during his day, are due to begin running in the
city again this m after a 55-y absence.
Aussie wins Brit literary award
London (Reuters). An Aussie author has won one of Brit's top literary
awards for a book about how E Germany's notorious Stasi secret service
infiltrated the lives of ordinary citizens.
Anna Funder won the #30,000 [about $AUD79,000] BBC 4 Samuel Johnson
Prize for non-fiction with Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin
Wall, based on interviews with residents of the former communist state.
"Anna Funder's Stasiland is a fresh and highly original close up of
what happens to people in the corrosive atmosphere of a totalitarian
state," said writer and broadcaster Michael Wood, the judging panel's
chairman.
It is Funder's 1st book and was chosen from a shortlist of 6 books that
also included Anne Applebaum's Gulag: A History about Soviet concentration
camps and Jonathan Bate's biography of English poet John Clare.
Popular science book A Short History of Nearly Everything by United
States author Bill Bryson, former journalist Aidan Hartley's African
memoir Zanzibar Chest and Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the
Roman Republic by Tom Holland made up the rest of the shortlist.
Previous winners of the prize, now in its 6th year, include historian
Anthony Beevor for his account of the siege of Stalingrad, historian
Margaret MacMillian for a portrayal of the Versailles peace conference
at the end of World War I and music critic David Cairns for a
biography of French composer Hector Berlioz.
Russia's richest man set to go on trial
The trial of Russia's richest man is set to begin in Moscow today.
Moscow (ABC, Emma Griffiths). Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been charged
with tax evasion worth nearly $1 bn in a case widely seen as a test of
Russian democracy.
Khodorkovsky was arrested last Oct and has been in jail ever since.
He has been charged with a range of offences including forgery, tax
evasion and fraud, and if found guilty faces up to 10 y in prison.
The billionaire denies he has done anything wrong and his supporters
claim he is a victim of political persecution, targeted because he
funded political parties and organisations opposed to Russian Pres
Vladimir Putin.
Mr Putin denies there has been any political interference in the case.
Despite Mr Putin's assertions, if there has been interference it has
the support of most Russians who are still angered by the way
Khodorkovsky made his money by picking up state assets in the
mid-1990s at bargain prices.
FTA may threaten Aussie inventions
Canberra (AAP). Scientists warn the nation's most promising
technology firms could be cherry-picked by their American competitors
under the AUS-United States free trade agreement (FTA).
The Federation of Aussie Scientific and Technological Societies
(FASTS) said the agreement could pose an enormous risk to the nation's
research and technology sectors and also undermine fed govt policy.
The US Congress is likely to vote on the FTA next month, while fed
parliament is expected to consider up to 9 separate pieces of
legislation in coming weeks.
Both countries hope to have the agreement operating from the start of
next y.
But there has been debate over the benefits of the agreement to AUS,
with a govt-commissioned study estimating it will boost the economy by
$6.1 bn.
Other studies, including one commissioned by a Senate committee, has
found the benefits range from almost nothing to a potential loss of
$52 bn over 20 y.
FASTS president Snow Barlow said under the trade deal, the govt would
be unable to control the transfer of inventions and discoveries by
publicly-funded research and development back to another country.
It also makes it much easier for American firms to buy out their
Aussie competitors.
Professor Barlow said AUS was giving up the power to control important
domestic discoveries while the US had retained the right to keep out
Aussie firms.
"There is a real threat the FTA will result in jobs, production,
research and development capacity and export opportunities being taken
offshore," Prof Snow said in a statement.
"The problem is the FTA significantly reduces the capacity of the govt
to exercise control of foreign takeovers or apply conditions that will
deliver benefits to AUS."
Prof Garnaut, in evidence to the Senate committee examine the FTA,
said part of the problem with the agreement was that it had not been
examined by an independent organisation.
He said an aura of mystic and political spin had been used by the govt
to support a deal that had not been properly examined to determine its
real impact on AUS.
Prof Garnaut, who helped push the liberalisation of Aussie trade
policy through the 1980s and 1990s, said he feared a new wave of
protectionism was returning because of the FTA.
"I worry that we are losing in AUS the broad base of support for
liberal trade because of the corrosion of the processes," he said.
Economy heading for mid-y trough
Latest predictions say economic growth is likely to be more modest in
the m ahead.
Melbourne (ABC, Adrian Thirsk). A key forward indicator is suggesting
that economic activity in AUS is headed for a mid-y trough.
The Westpac-MEL Institute leading index of economic activity is a
pointer to the 6 to 9 m ahead.
The latest reading is for Apr and is at an annualised growth rate of 2.7%.
Although that is below the long-term trend again, it is above last
Oct's low point of 2.3%.
Westpac says the index is indicating that economic growth will lower
in the 2nd half of the y before a modest pick up at the end of the year.
Westpac snr economist Justin McCarthy says AUS is in the midst of the
slow down which the Oct index had predicted.
"What the index is saying is that this slowdown will be quite modest
and now it's suggesting that, probably from late 2004, the economy's
going to pick up a touch," he said.
"But of course we're still growing at a below-trend rate."
That is why Westpac believes official interest rates will remain on
hold for at least several months.
Age discrimination laws passed
Canberra (AAP). Employers will no longer be able to discriminate on
the basis of age under laws passed by parliament.
Labor and the Aussie Democrats backed the Age Discrimination Bill 2003
in the Senate despite the govt rejecting their amendments in the lower house.
Under the laws it would be illegal for employers to discriminate on
the basis of age.
Access to goods and services, including health and medical services,
education and accommodation would also be protected.
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission will also be given
powers to deal with age discrimination complaints.
The govt rejected a number of amendments including the extension of
the laws to cover voluntary work and the setting up of an age
discrimination commissioner.
Brian Grieg (AD, WA) told the Senate it was disappointing the govt had
not backed the amendments.
"It's long overdue in AUS and we've taken the view that it's better to
have a weak prohibition against age discrimination then to have none
at all," Sen Greig said.
Joe Ludwig (ALP, Qld) called on the govt to revisit the laws at a
later date.
"Labor's amendments would have given younger and older people greater
protection in the workplace," he said.
Parliamentary secretary Judith Troeth said the amendments were
unnecessary.
"The govt's objective is to encourage and foster attitudinal change
without imposing unnecessary and unrealistic restraints on decision
making in business and other sectors of public life," Sen Troeth said.
Sea change brings jobless downside
Unemployment has been identified as one of the problems arising from
the "sea change" phenomena.
Canberra. The latest facts from the Aussie Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
have dispelled some myths about what is pushing coastal growth.
Retirees and cashed-up city dwellers are the ones usually blamed for
the high growth of coastal areas.
They have been accused of everything from rising real estate prices to
pressure on the sewerage system.
But the ABS says they are not the ones driving the growth.
Between 1996 and 2001, 4 out of 5 new coastal residents were under the
age of 50.
In fact, 25% were dependent children.
The director of social analysis at the ABS, Marelle Rawson, says that
shows that most who move to the coast are families who need to be fed.
"They're looking for work according to our figures rather than being many
retired people who are happy to be out of the labour force," she said.
"Because they're a younger age profile than probably was expected,
then a lot of them, in fact, are looking for work and the labour force
participation rate for these new residents is about 64%, which is
about the Aussie average, but they have a relatively high unemployment
rate of 18% in the new coastal areas," she said.
"So that means then that there's quite a few of them, in fact, who are
keen to be employed and who are looking for work, but actually haven't
found work yet."
Despite the dream, only a 3rd of city dwellers actually make the
lifestyle move to the coast.
Mitsubishi awaits rescue package news
Adelaide. Mitsubishi AUS says it is awaiting news today from Japan on
the future of the rescue package but says any new development is
unlikely to affect its Adel plants. Internat'l news reports say
Mitsubishi Motors in Japan is amending its emergency recovery plan in
the wake of a new crisis concerning a cover up of defects in its cars
and trucks, along with falling sales. The Internat'l Herald Tribune
newspaper has quoted company president Yoichiro Okazaki as saying that
a new recovery plan would be put together before a shareholders
meeting on Jun 29. Under the restructure announced 3 wk ago, 700
jobs will go with the closure of Adel's Lonsdale plant next y.
Another 350 jobs will be lost from the Tonsley Park car assembly
plant, also in Adel. But a Mitsubishi AUS rep has told ABC news it is
likely that the restructure plan already announced last m may be
brought forward but will not involve changes that will affect the
Tonsley Park or Lonsdale plants.
Govt defends record in fighting sex slave trade
Canberra. Fed Justice Min Chris Ellison says a US report which lists
AUS as a destination country for sex slaves also recognises the Govt's
efforts to fight sex trafficking. For the 1st time, the US Govt has
named AUS as a sex slavery destination after an investigation found
there were more than 300 women and girls forced into the work across
AUS. But Sen Ellison says a lot is being done to stop the practice
and AUS can not be singled out. "There are other countries listed in
the same category: Canada, the UK, Italy, France, just to name a few,"
he said. "We're not dismissive of it of course, this is an issue we
take very seriously but AUS's put in strong measures to fight sex
trafficking. "That was recognised by the US and we will continue to
crack down on this criminal practice."
Anti-terror laws likely to get Labor's support
Sydney. The Fed Govt is likely to get Labor's support for new
measures to strengthen AUS's anti-terrorism laws.
The Govt wants to legislate so terrorism suspects only get bail in
exceptional circumstances and to extend the non-parole period of any
sentences imposed on convicted terrorists.
A-G Philip Ruddock has given the Opp'n a copy of its bill and Labor
MPs will hold an urgent party room meeting this afternoon to consider it.
Mr Ruddock says under changes he is proposing, terrorism suspects
would only get bail in exceptional circumstances.
If they were convicted they would be required to serve at least 3
quarters of their primary sentence.
"If you had an offence in which somebody was sentenced to 10 y jail,
the parole period could only be 2 and half years, not a parole period
which reduces the sentence to say 2 y as we've seen recently," he said.
Labor's Robert McClelland says it appears the measures are justified.
Experts concerned over children's mental health
Mental health professionals are calling for more resources to deal
with young people suffering from depression.
Canberra. The call follows the release of a pharmaceutical company's
research which shows certain anti-depressants can cause suicidal
thoughts in children.
Aussie College of Psychiatrists rep Dr Louise Newman says it is not a
new finding.
However she says it highlights important issues surrounding the
prescribing of anti-depressants, with 1000s of teenagers currently
taking them in AUS.
"The majority of prescribing of these drugs is not actually done by
child psychiatrists or paediatrics specialists," she said.
"The majority of prescribing is done by general practitioners and I
think it highlights the need for GPs to have increased and better
access and support by mental health specialists, particularly with
some of the complicated cases."
She says the mental health system is failing young people and requires
more funding.
"We have got a mental health system for children and adolescents which
is under resourced and not ideal," she said.
"Maybe it's an open question whether some prescribing is actually done
because we don't have access to other sorts of treatments which we
know are effective for mild to moderate depression."
Diabetes group calls for more funding
Canberra. Diabetes AUS has called on the Fed Govt to double funding
for diabetes research over the next 5 y and establish a medical
concession card for people with the disease. The organisation has
released an action plan which demands all govts do more to combat
diabetes. Executive director Brian Conway says people with the
illness visit doctors twice as often as other Aussies and need access
to bulk billing GPs and subsidised medicines. Mr Conway says the plan
also calls for the creation of a healthy lifestyle program for school
children and education campaigns to raise awareness of the condition.
"We recommend that a public education campaign be run in work places
about the legal requirements relating to unfair work practices and
that all schools adopt standard practices when dealing with students
with diabetes," he said.
Govt to handout science grants
Canberra. The Fed Education Min will today announce science grants
worth up to $30 mn. 25 scientists will each receive grants of nearly
$1.2 mn over 5 y as part of the Federation Fellows program.
WA escapees suspected of hold-up
Perth (AAP). Police are convinced the thieves were escapees 2 of 3
dangerous fugitives on the run since overpowering Perth Supreme Court
guards last wk are believed to have staged an armed hold-up at a
betting agency, police said.
A group of 9 men on remand for charges including armed robbery broke
out of a holding cell at the 101-yo court building in Perth's central
business district last Thu morning.
4 of the prisoners were recaptured by police within hours of fleeing
the court, and a further 2 men were recaptured late Fri night.
3 of the prisoners -- Laurie Dodd, James Sweeney and Robert Hill --
are still on the run.
A police rep said one man armed with a handgun and wearing a balaclava
entered the TAB adjoining Rosie O'Grady's Hotel in S Perth about 2 pm WST.
A shot was fired during a struggle with a staff member but no-one was
injured, the rep said.
Police said the man escaped with a sum of cash, but declined to
specify how much.
The description of the getaway driver matched that of Dodd, and police
suspect the man in the balaclava was either Sweeney or Hill.
All 3 men were on remand for armed robbery charges at the time of
their escape.
Meanwhile, angry Supreme Court security guards are still considering
strike action, claiming they are being used as scapegoats for the mass
breakout.
Justice Min Michelle Roberts said an interim report into the escape
indicated a "systemic failure" in the way AIMS Corporation managed
security at the court.
But Paul Aslan of the Transport Workers Union, that represents about
250 AIMS workers, said his members were angered by Ms Roberts' accusations.
"Our members are extremely angry over what has been said ... because
they are a pack of lies," he said.
"What has been stated by the Dept of Justice in terms of what happened
there on that day when those 9 prisoners escaped is just absolute
nonsense and can be proven to be such."
Ms Roberts, who has been under pressure to resign, said AIMS had been
immediately relieved of all custody and guard duties at the Supreme Court.
She said the company's future involvement in the Supreme Court was at
the sole discretion of the Director Gen of Justice, Alan Piper.
"What we've seen so far in the interim report does not look good for
AIMS, nor does it look good for the dept [of justice] in terms of its
monitoring role," Ms Roberts told reporters.
She said if AIMS cooperated with the Dept of Justice and police, and
contributed fully to the inquiry, "there may be a way forward that
doesn't involve them being terminated".
Prem Geoff Gallop continued to defend his embattled minister as the WA
Opp'n moved a no confidence motion against her in parliament.
Perth escapees suspected of robbery
Police are still hunting for 3 of 9 men who escaped from a holding
cell in Perth last wk.
Perth. Police suspect 2 men who escaped from a holding cell at the
Supreme Court in Perth last wk were behind the robbery of a TAB
yesterday and have stepped up their manhunt.
3 of 9 men who broke out of the court building last Thu are still at large.
Police believe 2 of them, James Sweeney and Laurie Dodd, were
responsible for an armed hold-up at a TAB in S Perth yesterday.
A shot was fired during the robbery but no-one was injured.
Police say the hold-up demonstrates the 2 men are desperate and dangerous.
Anyone with info about the men is urged to contact police but officers
are again warning against approaching the escapees directly.
Acting Insp Greg Medhurst says the men will be caught.
"Certainly these people would be considered as being desperate," he
said. "They're on the run and they're going to do everything they can
to stay out of custody.
"But I can assure the public that we have our people out there and
it's only a matter of time before we'll have them back behind bars."
Inspector Medhurst has warned those assisting the escapees to expect
to be charged.
"Harbouring these people is definitely against the law and anybody
that is contributing to keeping them concealed or is harbouring them
will be charged," he said.
Domestic violence biggest risk factor for Vic women
Melbourne. A new report into the effects of domestic violence on Vicn
women shows it is responsible for more ill health and premature deaths
than any other risk factor for women aged between 15 and 45.
The report found partner violence accounts for nearly 9% of the total
Vicn disease burden, and was a bigger risk factor than smoking or high
blood pressure.
VicHealth chief executive officer Rob Moodie says the effects are far
reaching.
"It causes an enormous amount of depression, anxiety, suicide
attempts, chronic pain syndrome, psychosomatic disorders, obviously
physical injury as well," he said.
"It really does produce a lot of very harmful outcomes and it also
affects the children involved as well, so it affects not only this
generation but affects into the next generation as well."
Dr Moodie says the research team was not expecting such shocking findings.
"We had to go back and check our data again and again, and what it is
really saying to us is that it is much more common than we thought,"
he said.
"It has much more severe and persistent effects on women's physical
and mental health."
The Women's Domestic Violence Crisis Service has welcomed the study.
Service director Rhonda Cumberland says she hopes the findings mean
the health sector listens to women affected by domestic violence.
"I am astounded, as the level of the relationship that has been
established in this report between what women tell us and now what the
science is backing up -- that domestic violence is common," she said.
"Women don't report it to health professionals and the health sector
is treating the symptoms, not the cause."
Govt to set up nat'l anti-corruption body
[The Howard govt claims the move was not prompted by an ABC "Four
Corners" program this wk that indicated the ACC had been infiltrated
by corrupt state police officers].
Canberra. The Fed Govt says it wants to establish an independent
nat'l anti-corruption body to improve accountability in organisations
like the Aussie Fed Police and the Aussie Crime Commission.
The body would have royal commission powers and be permitted to
intercept phone calls.
A-G Philip Ruddock and Justice Min Chris Ellison have put forward the
plan to establish the anti-corruption watchdog.
Mr Ruddock denies it is a direct reaction to an ABC 4 Corners program
which raised allegations that the Aussie Crime Commission had been
contaminated by corrupt detectives.
"It is more abundant caution that you would take the steps to ensure
that if allegations of this sort might arise, you have a proper basis
for ensuring they are able to be addressed," he said.
Commonwealth ombudsman John MacMillan says efforts to stamp out
corruption will depend largely on internal mechanisms within the
police services.
Prof MacMillan says he is yet to see the detail of the new body.
He says he is not yet sure how it will affect the work of the ombudsman.
"Up until now there hasn't been ... any perceived need in the
Commonwealth for an external oversight body other than the role being
played by parliamentary committees, ombudsmen and the like," he said.
"We'll wait to see what kind of external oversight mechanism the Govt"
comes up with, he said.
The chief executive of the Police Federation of AUS, Mark Burgess, has
told the AM program he hopes the decision is not just a reaction to a
TV story.
"It certainly isn't the 1st we've heard about this issue and I just
hope it's not simply a knee-jerk reaction to a 4 Corners program on
Mon night," he said.
"We'd be more than happy to sit down and talk to the Fed Govt about
what it is they're proposing, bearing in mind there's police officers
from every jurisdiction in AUS in a whole range of levels at a nat'l level."
The Fed Opp'n says it will support the Govt's move to establish a
nat'l law enforcement corruption body.
Details of how the body will operate are still to be finalised but the
Opp'n's Robert McClelland says Labor will be supporting it anyway.
"This is an issue that should be above politics and we'll work
cooperatively with the Govt," he said.
Petrol-ethanol car seen as right mix in Brazil
Brisbane. The general manager of Bundaberg Sugar has returned to Qld
from a visit to Brazil predicting that country will increasingly use a
car that can run on any mix of petrol and ethanol. Grant Maclean says
a car that can handle between zero and 100% ethanol is on the market
in Brazil and is no more expensive than models that handle up to 25%
ethanol. He believes the "flex-car" will gain popularity because it
allows people to choose between petrol and ethanol, according to what
is cheaper at the pump. "I think what is going to make a big
difference to the car market in Brazil will be the introduction of the
flex-fuel car and that occurred a y ago and the sales of these cars
has been incredible," he said. "Eventually they will swamp the new
car market and we have got 2 car manufacturers making the flex-fuel
cars and I understand another 4 will eventually produce them."
Rescuers work to save stranded whale
W Tassie. More than 20 people are making a net which will be used to
rescue a 14-metre sperm whale stranded in Macquarie Harbour on Tas's
west coast.
The net is being made by local fish farm workers and wildlife officers
from the state's nature conservation branch.
The whale is stranded on a sandspit at Fraser Flats which is a km
inside the heads of the W coast harbour and is being monitored by
water police.
The W district snr ranger for the Parks and Wildlife Service, Chris
Arthur, says the whale remains in good condition.
"Hopefully by early afternoon or mid afternoon with cooperation of the
fish farms we'll be able to use their vessels to place the net one
side of the live animal and gently move the animal off the bottom," he said.
Mr Arthur says 4 sperm whales have also been found dead on nearby Ocean Beach.
He says the 4 dead whales beached themselves this morning.
"These are big animals, they're between 10 and 12 metres and we don't
really know why they strand but scientific work will be undertaken
with these animals during the day," he said.
Lees to vote against energy plan
Canberra. A key Independent politician has signalled her intention to
vote against most of the Fed Govt's $1.5 bn cuts to fuel excise in the
Senate. The changes are part of the Govt's new energy strategy and
provide a full excise credit on fuels used "off road" by farmers,
miners and for all other business activities. Labor, the Democrats
and the Greens are all unimpressed with the package. Progressive
Alliance Sen Meg Lees says the changes are a backward step and
undermine fledgling industries like solar and wind power. "This has
to go through the Senate, the whole of the diesel package will need
legislation and I will work as hard as I can to ensure that a couple
of the measures that are needed in this package get through," she
said. "But for the rest of it, that we re-focus on renewables and
help business in other ways."
PM hits back at energy plan opponents
Canberra. The Fed Govt has hit back at criticism of its energy
package from environmental groups.
But the Greens, the Democrats and a key Independent have all signalled
they will vote against some of the changes in the Senate.
Progressive Alliance Sen Meg Lees hopes the Govt's $1.5 bn cuts to
fuel excise will not pass the Senate and will vote against the changes.
The Aussie Greens agree, as does Democrats rep Lyn Allison who
described it as "a disaster for greenhouse emissions from transport".
The Aussie Democrats say the white paper contains only token measures
to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.
NSW Democrats leader Sandra Kanck says financial support for
commercialisation of renewable technologies is welcome but believes
the white paper mistakenly emphasises greenhouse gas containment.
She says it fails to recognise the size and range of environmental
problems attributed to greenhouse gas emissions.
"There's this strange view that provided you can store those emissions
that it's okay and that's crazy," she said.
"It's like you break wind and you put it in a bottle somehow that
you're more polite, it's just not that way."
Labor has described the fuel excise cuts as a rural vote buying
exercise but is yet to decide if it will vote against them.
Prime Min John Howard meanwhile has attacked green groups for
describing the energy package as a "shocker".
"I look broader for responses to the environment than bodies such as
the Aussie Conservation Foundation, after all their president has just
signed up with the Labor Party," Mr Howard said.
That comment was in reference to Labor's new recruit Peter Garrett.
"Do not e-mail" list no spam killer
[It's easy to set up certified mail -- but "Hotmail" doesn't understand it].
Washington (AFP). The US Govt's main consumer protection agency has
concluded that a "do not e-mail" registry proposed as a solution to
spam would not work, and could not be effectively enforced.
A Fed Trade Commission report to Congress says such a plan -- based on
the US's "do not call" telephone registry -- would fail to reduce the
amount of unwanted e-mails and might even increase the amount of spam.
The commission says such a registry cannot work because there is no
effective system for "authentication" of e-mail that could trace its
origins.
The FTC said anti-spam efforts should focus on creating an authentication
system that would prevent spammers from hiding their tracks and
evading Internet service providers' anti-spam filters and law enforcement.
"Without effective authentication of e-mail, any registry is doomed to
fail," the FTC said.
The agency's report was required by Congress when it passed the
Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act
(CAN-SPAM Act), which took effect in Jan.
Analysts say the new law has provided some tools to crack down on spam
but that the volume of e-mail solicitations has not decreased.
The FTC report was based on proposals from and discussions with
experts, major Internet firms and consumer groups.
The 60-page report said enforcement would be a major problem because
of spammers' ability to hide their tracks.
Additionally, a breach in security of the list could lead to an
increase in spam "because spammers would use such a registry as a
directory of valid e-mail addresses".
"Instead of implementing a registry that would, at best have no impact
on spam and, at worst, cause it to increase, the FTC's plan recognises
the need for an authentication standard," the agency said, calling for
a summit later this y to develop systems for authentication.
Hollywood urges film swappers to end downloads
LA (AFP). Recent-release movies like Shrek 2 often pop up on Internet
download sites even before they debut.
The main trade group for Hollywood's movie industry has announced it
is stepping up a campaign to curb illegal downloading of films and
warns it will take action in the courts if necessary.
The Motion Picture Association of America says it will place ads in
daily newspapers and consumer magazines, as well as in more than 100
college newspapers, seeking to discourage illicit Internet film downloading.
Additionally, anti-piracy messages will appear in movie theatres
across the US in the coming months, it said.
MPAA president Jack Valenti says he hopes the effort will curb piracy
but adds that "we will keep all of our options open, including legal action".
The MPAA is facing some of the same problems as the music industry,
which blames Internet file-swapping for a recent slump in music sales.
The motion picture group says it is "in the process of significantly
increasing its monitoring of illegal film-swapping levels online" and
is assessing the effectiveness of legal action by the Recording
Industry Association of America.
"If we don't react promptly to an ascending curve of illegal uploading
and downloading soon to be reinforced with dazzling speeds rising from
file-trafficking networks, we will live with an intense regret," Mr
Valenti said.
"We have to do more to convince that minority of people who are engaged
in this unlawful and infringing activity of the wrongness of their conduct.
"We have to stem the tide of film theft online before it is too late,
before it puts to peril the creative energy of the industry and the
jobs of the nearly 1 mn Americans who work within the movie industry."
The MPAA estimates losses due to bootlegging are $US3.5 bn annually,
not including illegal downloading.
But digital piracy is growing and some surveys indicate between
400,000 and 600,000 films are being illegally downloaded each day, the
MPAA said.
Yahoo acts to head off Google webmail challenge
Yahoo offers extra space to users of its free web-based e-mail service.
SF (AFP). Internet portal giant Yahoo has moved to head off a
challenge from rival Google by boosting its web-based e-mail capacity
for both free and paying customers.
Yahoo has informed its customers with free e-mail accounts that it is
increasing their storage capacity from 4 megabytes to 100 megabytes,
representing about 50,000 pages of e-mails.
Those Yahoo customers who pay for a "premium" e-mail service and
subscribers to Yahoo Internet services will get "virtually unlimited"
storage at 2 gigabytes, or about 1 mn pages.
This capacity is "far in excess of any major e-mail service and 200
times the amount offered by most other Internet service providers",
Yahoo said in a statement.
The move comes as Google, which is in the process of offering stock to
the public, prepares a free e-mail service with 1 gigabyte, or about
500,000 pages, of storage.
The Google plan has drawn criticism from privacy activists because it
will target advertising to users based on the content of e-mails.
The battle for free e-mail -- which is also offered by Microsoft
through its Hotmail service, and many others -- highlights the falling
cost of storage capacity but also a rush to direct customers to
portals and search services, which can generate revenue.
"With the new Yahoo Mail, consumers won't have to think about mailbox
size," said Yahoo vice-president Brad Garlinghouse.
"When they judge webmail value, they'll continue to look at all the
things that make Yahoo Mail number one, including privacy practices,
superior spam and virus protection and integrated calendaring and alerts."
Yahoo also said it was releasing more than 50 mn e-mail addresses that
have been dormant for many years.
First mobile phone virus discovered
Virus writers turn their attention to mobile phones.
Paris (AFP). The 1st computer virus that can infect mobile phones has
been discovered by researchers in France.
Anti-virus software developers say the virus, called Cabir, appears to
have been developed by an internat'l group to show that no technology
is safe from attack.
Cabir infects the Symbian operating system that is used in several
makes of mobiles, notably the Nokia brand, and propagates through the
new bluetooth wireless technology that is in some new mobile phones.
If the virus succeeds in penetrating a mobile, it writes the
inscription 'Caribe' on the screen and is then activated every time
the phone is turned on.
It is able to scan for phones that are also using the Bluetooth
technology and is able to send a copy of itself to the 1st handset
that it finds.
Anti-virus software developer F-Secure says the discovery of Cabir is
proof that the technologies are now available to create viruses for
mobile phones and that they are now known to the writers of computer viruses.
Anti-virus experts have been warning for m that mobile phone viruses
are set to multiply, given the increasingly diverse uses of mobile phones.
{{
Midnight.
The head of the Iraqi war crimes tribunal says a prison to hold Saddam
will soon be ready.
1.30 am
The US State Dept has confirmed it's discussing Saddam's hand over with
the Iraqi interim govt, but denied there's been a decision on the timing.
2 militant Pal groups have claimed responsibility for car bomb. The
Israeli army says soldiers had opened fire on a car and it blew up nr
Nessarim in the Gaza Strip. Soldiers opened fire on a suspicious
vehicle and it immediate blew up -- indicating it was full of
explosives, say Israeli cmdrs. There were no reports of Israeli cas.
In the N of the W Bank, a Pal teen was shot dead by Israeli troops. 3
other people were wounded.
10 climate scientists in the US have called on the Bush Admin to do
something about GW. They say the data has been pointing to the same
conclusion for some time now, and it's time politicians took notice.
2 am
Afghan Pres Karzai is in Washington for discussions with Pres Bush on
the progress since the fall of the Taliban 3 y ago. He was greeted
with a standing ovation in an address to Congress.
Elsewhere, dozens of Afghans in Kabul demonstrated against the Pres,
calling for Karzai to stand down. They say his term of office under
the peace deal has expired. About 100 protesters were led by 2
candidates who plan to run against Karzai later this y.
An Iraqi oil pipeline S of Basra has been blown up. It's the 4th
attack in 9 days. The interim PM has blamed foreign fighters and
terrorists for the attack. Oil generates 90% of Iraq's revenue. A
rep said the blast would cut oil exports to 1/3 of their present
level. There are many attacks on the oil infrastructure, but this is
one of the most serious. Repairs will take several days. The price
of oil rose $1 on the news.
In early morning raids in the Paris region, police have arrested more
than a dozen men. Weapons were seized. Under French terror laws
suspects can be questioned for 96 hrs without charge.
2.10 am
The US is pressuring the Iraq interim govt to grant immunity to US
soldiers and workers after the hand-over. The news confirms the
suspicions of many Iraqis about the "sovereignty" granted after Jun 30.
The Iraqi press says the US won't give up their control of the country
so easily.
3 am
Baghdad. Gunmen have fired on a convoy nr the Baghdad airport,
killing a number of people. US officials have not yet disclosed
details of the cas.
The Rumanian govt has passed a law restricting adoption of children
by foreigners.
8 am
A worrying sign of growing sectarian violence. In Fallujah, Sunni men
have executed 6 Shiite men on orders of local clerics. In Baghdad,
Shia demonstrated, telling reporters the young men had gone to
Fallujah on a sales job. They had been threatened by a local group,
then gone to US-installed police. But the police had delivered the
men up to a mob, who had killed them and then mutilated their bodies.
Insurgents in Iraq have targeted a 2nd oil pipeline. A pipeline
supplying domestic oil has been blown up nr Kirkuk.
Despite the sabotage in Iraq, oil continues it's downward trend. West
Texas crude was trading around $US39.17/bbl at the close.
Midday.
US Pres George W Bush has lauded Afghanistan as a model for Iraq as he
tried to paint the US involvement there as a success.
US Pres George W Bush has nominated Army Gen George Casey to command
the US-led multinat'l force in Iraq, replacing Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez.
A group headed by suspected Al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
have claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing in Baghdad on
Mon that killed 13 people, 5 of them foreign contractors.
Iraq's petroleum exports have virtually halted after insurgents blew
up part of a pipeline at Basra in the country's south, shutting down
the country's 2 main oil terminals.
A snr Iraqi justice official says a detention centre for former
dictator Saddam Hussein will soon be ready.
Def Min Robert Hill is expected to make a statement to Parliament
later today on the findings of an internal inquiry into when Aussie
officials 1st learned about the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.
9.30 pm
US forces have arrested 6 members of the new US-trained def force in
connection with a car bombing that claimed 9 lives in Ramadi. 4 of
those killed were foreigners. The 6 arrested are now being
interrogated at a US base.
Meanwhile, a new survey shows deep and growing resentment of US
troops in Iraq. More than 1/2 those questioned said they would be
safer if the US forces left now. 92% of respondents saw the US as an
occupying force. 54% think all Americans behave like the guards in
the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Insurgents have attacked an oil pipeline in S Iraq for a 2nd day.
Repairs will now take 2 wks. Elsewhere, a snr oil official in Kirkuk
has been assassinated outside home. He was the main official in
charge of security for the oil fields. Vital oil exports have come
to a virtual halt. Damage is estimated in the $100s mns. The latest
attack coincides with a visit to Baghdad from US Def Under-sec and
GWII architect Paul Wolfowitz.
Militant cleric al-Sadr has called on fighters not residents of Najaff
to go home. He has reacted positively to US comments saying he could
enter politics provided the militias are disbanded and he's found not
guilty of involvement in the murder of a rival cleric.
Canberra. The Fed Opp'n has called for the resignation of Sen Hill
after his latest explanations of what the Howard govt knew about POW
abuse in Iraq and when they knew it.
The Opp'n claims Hill's shown "incompetence and gross cowardice".
Today, Sen Hill said there were no more corrections to be made to the
govt's version of the POW abuse scandal. He told Parliament there
was no record of defence papers detailing the abuses being passed up
the chain of command to the govt.
But the Opp'n has accused the govt of being "supine" during the scandal.
Meanwhile, the Howard govt still won't allow Maj O'Kane to give
evidence before a Senate committee. It has emerged O'Kane wrote at
least 1 report on POW abuse last y.
The Dems say as long as the gag is in place, the public will suspect
another govt cover-up.
In any case, the govt had a legal and moral responsibility to know
what was happening in Iraq as a very willing member of the Coal'n of
the Willing.
Security at the Aussie Embassy and other premises in Indon is being
beefed up tonight after new intel emerged that JI militants are
targeting foreign diplomats.
A new survey out today shows 90% of Arab and Muslim women in AUS have
suffered racial or other abuse or violence since 9/11. The authors of
the report say the results confirm anecdotal evidence that racism has
increased since the WTC attacks.
The ABS says there are 280,000 Muslims in AUS, about 1/2 of them
living in SYD.
Israeli troops have shot dead 2 militants in separate raids in the W
Bank. One of the dead was a local member of the al-Aqsa Brigade. He
was shot dead in a restaurant by soldiers disguised as Arabs. 6
other men were arrested.
The Israeli raids came as the A-G confirmed PM Sharon would not face a
trial over a corruption scandal.
The A-G's decision paves the way for the Labour Opp'n to join a govt
coal'n after Sharon sacked 2 Cabinet members who would not support his
Gaza pull-out plan.
An anti-corruption group has filed a petition with the courts, asking
it to reconsider the A-G's decision.
A new survey has confounded the experts. The survey of Aussie women
shows that violence in a relationship poses the biggest health risk
for women under 45. Violence comes ahead of smoking and alcohol abuse
as a cause of death. In 9% of Vic women under 45, dom viol greatest
risk factor ahead of harm caused by illicit drugs, alcohol, easting
disorders and smoking. The report finds 59% of respondents suffer
depression as a result of violence, 22% abuse alcohol or drugs. The
Vic police say domestic violence complaints are rising about 20% pa.
Howard govt plans to disband ATSIC have been delayed. An
investigation into the move has been ordered by the Senate.
10 pm
In Moscow, Mikhail Khodorkovsky has arrived at the central court,
ready to begin what critics are calling a show trial. Mr K's lawyer
expects his client to be convicted and to get a 10 y sentence.
[Nothing like a positive Russian attitude in the defence team!]
Oil has risen on fears of more sabotage in Iraq. it's presently
trading around $US37.29/bbl, after hitting a 7 wk low during the day.
The All Ords also closed at a record high. The AUD is trading higher
at 69.44 US c. Gold is trading around $US389.10/oz.
Park rangers in the ACT have started shooting feral horses that are
coming into the nat'l park from NSW. 2 animals were destroyed today,
and rangers say they will probably have to shoot 2 more tomorrow.
11 pm
In news coming out of the UK, billionaire Rupert Murdoch has been
forced out of 2 key committees at BSkyB. The board is under pressure
to remove the influence of the billionaire and his family from the
management of the company.
BBC World News. The war of word over efforts to police Iran's nuclear
programs has heated up, with Pres Khatami saying Tehran will react
negatively if the IAEA passes a motion as it's currently worded. It's
the 2nd statement the Pres has made in 2 days. Elsewhere, the US says
Iran is trying to bully the board of the UN nuke agency. The basic
message is they have something to hide, says a US rep.
Chinese news media says Beijing will open the first orphanage
specialising in AIDS victims in Hunan prov -- the area worst affected
by the disease. Many villagers in the region became infected through
sales of tainted blood in the 1990s. The news is one of the most open
pronouncements on what has been a tabu in China.
The Brit agency regulating stem cells and cloning is considering its
first submission to trade in stem cells.
The meeting of FM's from the Islamic Conf has ended in Istanbul with a
pledge to help Iraq in its transition. The statement also pledges to
help the Iraqi people. We have decided to actively assist Iraq in its
transition and in meeting it needs, says the statement. There is no
outline of exactly what assistance will be provided. There has been
much talk of reform in Islamic countries over the past 3 days of the meeting.
A Parliamentary investigation into the Madrid train attacks has kicked
off in Madrid. The Socialists say their aim is to ensure a similar
attack never happens again.
A survey of public opinion in 8 African countries has found 1/3 feel
worse off this y. Zimbabweans are the most pessimistic. The survey
also finds most respondents don't believe their govts reflect the will
of the people and have more trust in their religious leaders. But
2/3 of Ghanaians do think their govt reflects their will. The
majority of Kenyans think corruption is declining after the ousting of
their Pres.
Some analysts are warning that the unspecified methods that will be
used by the interim Iraq govt to "control the insurgency" may hark
back to techniques from the Saddam Hussein regime. While the CPA
and US cmdrs are blaming al-Qaeda for the attacks on the oil
infrastructure, some observers say the attacks would need a large deal
of support from Iraqi society, and are likely to be carried out by a
diversity of groups, incl Iraqis themselves. The geographical extent
of the attacks seem to be spreading, some analysts say. Iraq had been
exporting 1.6 mn bpd and had been aiming to expand that to 2 mn bpd
before the hand-over. That has been put on hold after the latest
series of pipeline attacks and assassinations.
11.15 pm
The trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been adjourned again. The
prosecution case for the 7 charges he faces reportedly runs to 20
volumes. About 100 supporters gathered outside the court with the
billionaire's photo on their T-shirts. The 3 judges could sentence Mr
K for up to 10 y jail or a labour camp for "economic crimes". The oil
giant Yukos also faces court 2 times this wk. The first case involves
the payment of $bns in back taxes . The company says the payments
could bankrupt it. The 2nd case is investigating whether bankruptcy
proceedings can proceed immediately.
11.20 pm
News just coming in. The 9/11 Commission in Washington has found
there is "no credible evidence" that Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaeda
carry out the Pentagon and WTC attacks. The Commission found while
OBL had approached the Iraqi regime for help in setting up training
camps, Iraq had never responded. 2 bin Laden associates have also
denied there were links. Pres Bush and key Admin figures had alleged
before GWII there were links between the Iraqi regime and al-Qaeda.
While most have now backed away from the idea, VP Dick Cheney still
regularly mentions it in his speeches. His last allegation came just
3 days ago.
5 people who falsely accused a Paris airport baggage handler of
planning a terrorist attack have been sentenced to jail. They had
claimed they saw the man brandishing a weapon in an airport car park.
It later turned out they'd been paid by relatives of the baggage
handler's late wife, who'd died in a fire some time earlier.
}}
========================================
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