From the World-Wide Resourses of the Western Australia
Reserch Senter(*)
OIL THE NEWS THAT FITS MY VIEWS #209
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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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What happens in other parts of the world affects our region.
-- PM John Howard, 18 Jun 2004.
But not when it is something that can be blamed on the govt!
I was requested by the director [of the CIA] to take custody of an
individual... believed to be a member of Ansar al-Islam...
-- Def Sec Don Rumsfeld, 17 Jun 2004.
XXX. Rummy has admitted hiding at least 1 POW from the ICRC for 7
m, in a possible violation of internat'l law.
He [Rumsfeld] was very nimble at handling the press corps at the briefing.
-- Edward Pound, US News and World Report, 17 Jun 2004.
Ed says Rummy cast very little light on "triple X", apart from
indicating he still has not been presented on POW lists to the Red Cross.
We do know there were "ghost detainees" at Abu Ghraib.
-- Edward Pound, US News and World Report, 17 Jun 2004.
Rummy cast little light on how many other POW's may remain
unregistered for "security reasons".
It's populist politics of the worst sort.
-- Tony Abbott, 17 Jun 2004.
Junk food ban. An Opp'n policy to ban junk food ads during
children's TV programs has sparked a bun-fight. A ban has been in
place in Sweden for years, and allegedly has made no difference in
obesity levels. I haven't seen the data myself -- from the parallel
universe where the bans had not been in place.
He [Saddam] had long established ties with al-Qaeda.
-- Dick Cheney, 13 Jun 2004.
Hopes and suspicions are evidence. VP Cheney has long played up
alleged links between Iraq and al-Qaeda as a justification for
invasion of the unilateral kind.
We have no credible evidence that Iraq and Al Qaeda cooperated on
attacks against the US.
-- 9/11 Commission report, 16 Jun 2004.
Blown apart. Much of the Bush Admin's reasons for attacking Iraq
have been negated by the Kay and and 9/11 Commission. The report
says OBL approached Iraq for assistance, but Iraq didn't respond.
That is not inconsistent with them having a [...] broader relationship.
-- Bush Admin mouth, 16 Jun 2004.
Denial mode. The Whitehouse and VP still claim there are "boarder
links" between Saddam Hussein's former regime and al-Qaeda.
The reason I kept insisting there was a relationship between Saddam,
Iraq and al-Qaeda was because there WAS a relationship between Saddam,
Iraq and al-Qaeda.
-- Pres Bush Jr, 17 Jun 2004.
Circular reason. Pres Bush is going his own way, as usual.
I see disarming Iraq as being part of the wider war on terrorism...
Because of Iraq's past and present assistance to terrorism.
-- Aussie PM John Howard, 2003.
Wayback machine.
I can't recall anyone [in Australia] any commentator, suggesting
[OBL/Saddam link].
-- FM Alex Downer, 17 Jun 2004.
The Howard govt maintains its case for GWII is still solid.
Osama bin Laden is now talking openly about a relationship with Saddam
Hussein... In other words, highlighting the danger of Saddam Hussein
transferring some of his weapons to al-Qaeda.
-- Aussie FM Alex Downer, 2003.
Wayback machine.
That material was WRONG Mr Speaker... And that is obviously of concern
to me...
-- PM Howard, 17 Jun 2004.
Blame the military. The Howard govt continues to blame the Aussie
military for not passing on info about POW abuse.
The minister [Sen Hill] should resign... the Prime Minister should
remove him if he doesn't...
-- Sen Bob Brown, 18 Jun 2004.
Gunning for Hill. Sen Hill has now admitted he saw an AI report
about POW abuse in Iraq as early as Jun 2003. But they're always
saying things like that, Hill told a Senate committee.
Needless to say, I don't want to be in this situation again.
-- Aussie Sec of Def Ric Smith, 17 Jun 2004.
The def dept doesn't like being blamed for everything all the time.
We need to look at the quality... of our reports [...] And we need to
look at the monitoring of those.
-- Gen Peter Cosgrove, 17 Jun 2004.
Translation: Don't worry, we're still maintaining the govt's
plausible deniability defence shield.
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Thu, 17 Jun 2004.
HEADLINES:
Oil drilling deal inked with Uzbekistan
Bank of Canada raises GDP outlook, frets over oil
Sabotage hits Iraq oil exports
US soldier charged over fatal Iraq shooting
Sept 11 report "destroys argument for Iraq war"
NATO chief leaves door open for Iraq role
Iraqi cleric signals end to Shi'ite revolt
Iraq war was over WMDs, says Hill
Iraq al-Qaeda terror link dismissed
Critics: US fell short of goals for Iraq
Bush praises democracy in Iraq
Ally or obstacle? Iraqi cleric deftly counters US moves
9/11 panel disputes Iraq link to attacks
"Beaut Blokes" planners find a feast of prime Mallee men
2 dead in SYD shooting
ABC board member warns of fragmentation
All Ords hits record high
Anti-gangland police arrest 2 men
Aust, Indonesia meet over counter-terrorism
Boaties try to herd whale from harbour
Bolkus to trade ballots for bouzouki
Brit considers human cloning request
Canada scientists try to move killer whale
Coalition MPs rally to support Hill
Corruption watchdog "should oversee public service"
Democrats welcome planned super changes
Family pleads for safety of US hostage
Global warming tipped to produce hot city nights
Grange fetches record price
Healthy outlook pushes USD higher
Hepatitis inquiry due to deliver findings
Hepatitis inquiry rules out compo increase
Hill forgives dept for keeping mum
Housing, industrial production show gains
Injection puts a stop to infidelity -- in voles
Iran threatens to resume uranium enrichment
Israel arrests Palestinian girls
Jackson paid $US15 mn over 1993 accusations: leak
Merchandise imports down 5.2%
Mini hydro station opens in Tassie
Murdoch bows to investor pressure
NSW Govt examines "damning" corruption report
Nepal bus accident claims 24
New bill targets terrorist associates
New laws outlaw bio-diesel home-brews
New method predicts speed of biological clock
Pakistan bus crash kills 38
Pakistan helped al-Qaeda: US report
Police hold 2 in gangland investigation
Police investigate meteorite reports
Police raid nets dinosaur fossils worth mns
RAAF Hercules makes emergency landing
Russia signs strategic partnership deal with Uzbekistan
Scientists demonstrate teleportation with atoms
Scrutiny on Kerry's VP Hunt Intensifies
Search fails to find meteorite
Sept 11 plot "split Al Qaeda"
Taliban supporter gets life sentence
Vicns want corruption commission, poll finds
Whale swimming freely in harbour
Williams trial faces delay
Young women more confident of financial future
Bank of Canada raises GDP outlook, frets over oil
Ottawa (Reuters). The Bank of Canada raised its economic growth
outlook for the 1st half of this y on Wed to "somewhat above" 3% from
the 2.75% forecast it issued in Apr, but it warned the impact of
higher oil prices was not clear.
Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge also said that central banks
around the world will "no doubt" have to raise interest rates over the
next y but made no specific mention of Canadian monetary policy.
Last week, the central bank held its key overnight interest rate
steady at 2%.
"Central banks in many countries will have to remove some of the
[monetary] stimulus, and interest rates around the world will have to
return to more normal levels," Dodge said in the text of a speech to
the Hamilton, Ontario, Chamber of Commerce.
The Bank of Canada cut interest rates by 75 basis points earlier this
y but held them steady this m.
8 of Canada's 12 primary bond dealers expect the bank to raise rates
as early as Sep. The bank's next rate decision is due in mid-July.
"The Governor's comments suggest the bank will begin its tightening
schedule later this y [likely in Sep], with a gradualist approach,"
Scotia Capital's Zubair Ladak said.
"The one caveat is inflation expectations. If expectation show clear
evidence of becoming 'dislodged' the tightening schedule will likely
ramp-up in line with market expectations," he added.
The Canadian dollar fell to $C1.3770 to the USD, or 72.62 US cents, on
Wed from the morning's opening level of $C1.3733 to the USD, or 72.82 US c.
"Total CPI [consumer price inflation] inflation over the next several
m will be higher than the bank expected in Apr," Dodge said, citing a
sharp rise in world oil prices, stronger-than-expected world demand
and heightened geopolitical uncertainties in the Middle East.
"This stronger [oil] demand has not yet been met by compensating
growth in the supply of crude oil -- although a recent agreement by
OPEC to boost production will help," Dodge said.
"Nor have we seen substantial efforts by price-sensitive consumers to
use less oil and gas."
Sabotage hits Iraq oil exports
Basra (AFP). Repeated attacks on S Iraq's network of oil pipelines
have halted exports for at least the next 2 days, depriving the
country of its economic lifeline.
The news came hours after insurgents gunned down the security chief
for a rich but largely untapped expanse of oil fields in the N of Iraq
and helped to push oil prices higher on the world market.
Oil exports from S Iraq will not resume for at least 2 days after
attacks on the main pipeline to the S port of Basra, 500 km from
Baghdad, the oil ministry official said.
"2 pipelines were hit -- one Mon night and the second Tue -- nr
Rumaila by pumping station number one which feeds Fao," an official said.
"It stopped all exports. It will take us 2 days to repair one of the
pipelines and 10 days to repair the second.
"Today, there are no exports."
The Rumaila oil fields in S Iraq feed pipelines that run down to the
Fao peninsula, where the fuel is stored in storage reservoirs before
flowing offshore to the Basra and Khor al-Amaya terminals used to load tankers.
The attacks virtually halted the country's petroleum exports, but the
oil official vowed to repair the damage.
"Everyone is mobilised to fix the pipelines," he said.
Iraq's S terminals have been the main gateway for oil exports since
last y, when insurgents launched a relentless campaign of sabotage against
the N city of Kirkuk's pipeline to a Mediterranean terminal in Turkey.
Until last m, the vital S oil artery had largely been left alone,
allowing Iraq to sell its petroleum to the world.
But with the date for Iraqi sovereignty fast approaching, saboteurs
have mercilessly struck the lifeline industry. In May, they tore open
a section of pipeline, briefly slashing by half the rate that tankers
were loaded at Basra's 2 terminals.
Iraqi PM Iyad Allawi warned last wk that the country had lost more
than $US200 mn [$A287.67 mn] over the past 7 m due to 130 separate
attacks on its pipeline network.
He blamed terrorists and foreign fighters for targeting the industry,
which generates more than 90% of Iraq's revenues.
Calling on Iraqis to help combat the saboteurs, the premier underlined
the fact that the country was poised to regain its sovereignty at the
end of Jun.
Healthy outlook pushes USD higher
NY/Sydney. The US dollar has been back in the ascendancy overnight
amid further healthy economic indicators, with American industrial
production in May registering its strongest growth for 6 y.
US factories, mines and utilities have ramped up output by 1.1% in
the month.
The data have inspired confidence in America's economic outlook,
creating demand for USDs.
Meanwhile, the latest "Beige Book" economic assessment from the US Fed
Reserve has indicated inflation remains contained amid continued
growth in economic activity across the nation.
The US dollar's recovery has pushed the Aussie dollar back below 69 US
cents.
About 7.45 am, the Aussie dollar was quoted at 68.87 US cents, 57.37
euro cents; 75.74 yen; 37.69 pence Sterling and $NZ1.094.
On Wall Street, investors have balanced the encouraging economic
signals against the prospect of interest rates rising at the end of
the m and there has also been some concern about global oil supplies
after the latest attacks on Iraqi pipelines.
On the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones industrial average
closed less than one point lower at 10,380 and the high-tech Nasdaq
composite index edged 3 points ahead to 1,998.
There has been another robust session on the Brit share market with
telecommunications group BT, and grocery chain Morrison, among the
keenly sought stocks,
Oil majors BP and Shell were also sought after.
London's FT100 index rose 32.5 points and finished trading at 4,491.
Enthusiasm pervaded the market yesterday in AUS as well with BP
Billiton leading the resource sector higher, and Telstra and Harvey
Norman had solid outings.
The All Ords rose 17 points to 3,484.6 which was a record closing high.
The Share Price Index 200 contract has closed down 4 points at 3,491
during overnight trade on the SYD Futures Exchange.
The 10-y bond contract is down 2 points at 94.10 and the implied yield
rose to 5.9%.
The gold price has slipped to $US384.75/oz and despite further attacks
on Iraqi pipelines, oil prices have risen only modestly, with the
market believing Saudi Arabia will make up any shortfall.
West Texas intermediate crude oil is worth $US37.33/bbl.
Murdoch bows to investor pressure
London (AAP). Rupert Murdoch has been removed from 2 key committees
at Brit satellite broadcaster BSkyB as the company bowed to
shareholder pressure to dilute the influence of the media mogul and
his family.
Europe's largest pay TV channel reorganised its board following
dissent from shareholders over the appointment last y of Murdoch's
younger son James, 31, as the company's chief executive.
Murdoch snr is BSkyB's chairman and his News Corporation owns a 35%
share in the broadcaster.
Investors protested vigorously at the annual general meeting last Nov
against a father-son combination at the head of the company and
questioned its corporate governance and the Murdochs' power over the board.
In the reorganisation, Murdoch and fellow News Corp executives David
DeVoe and Arthur Siskind have stood down from the audit and
remunerations committees.
The committees will be made up of independent non-executives, although
Murdoch, DeVoe and Siskind will be able to attend meetings in a
"non-voting observer" capacity only.
Major investor group the Association of Brit Insurers welcomed the move.
"This goes in the right direction but we have got to watch for the
follow-through in the operation of it all," the ABI's Peter Montagnon
told Brit newspaper The Guardian.
"It's a very good thing that BSkyB has clearly listened to the message
sent at the last AGM. It can't be good for a company to be at
loggerheads with its shareholders as BSkyB was then."
Following the AGM, BSkyB set up an internal committee to look at
corporate governance on its board.
The appointment of Nicholas Ferguson and Andy Higginson brought the
number of independent non-executives on the 15-strong board to 8.
Housing, industrial production show gains
Washington (Reuters). US housing data beat expectations in May as
prospects of rising interest rates did little to dampen demand, while
industrial production gained in a fresh sign of a strengthening
economy, reports released on Wed showed.
Adding to the picture of gradually gathering economic momentum, the
Fed Reserve's "beige book" report said hiring picked up in Apr and May
as potentially worrisome pressures on wages and consumer prices
appeared tame.
US housing starts fell 0.7%, a Commerce Dept report said, but the drop
was less than expected.
Permits, an indication of builders' confidence in future business,
rose to a 30-y high -- a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 2.077 mn
units -- as builders anticipated that higher interest rates would not
deter home-buyers. Permits for single-family homes reached a
record-high annual pace of 1.590 mn.
Output at US factories, mines and utilities rose 1.1% in May, the
biggest monthly gain in almost 6 y, the Fed Reserve reported.
"The housing starts and industrial production reports suggest that
economic activity is going to remain on the stronger side," said Parul
Jain, deputy chief economist of Nomura Securities.
The stronger-than-expected reports offset stock market worries about
world oil supplies after attacks on Iraq's oil pipelines. Broad market
gauges ended little changed, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index up
1.55 points, or 0.14 percent, to 1,133.56. The blue-chip Dow Jones
industrial average ended down 0.85 point, or 0.01%, at 10,379.58.
US Treasury prices weakened on the robust economic data, as investors
pocketed gains from a rally the day before.
The benchmark 10-y note slipped 10/32, taking its yield to 4.72
percent from 4.68%. Its yield had dived 19 basis points on Tue, the
biggest one-day drop since 2001.
Treasury losses were compounded by Atlanta Fed Reserve Pres Jack
Guynn's comment that interest rates are "several hundred basis points"
below what would be considered neutral -- neither stimulating nor
slowing -- for the economy.
His remarks were seen as a reminder that rate increases are on the way.
* RESILIENT HOUSING
Analysts said housing activity was surprisingly vigorous in the face
of likely rate hikes, which will drive mortgage rates up from
historically low levels.
"There's a possibility that higher interest rates may dampen housing
later this y, but we're not seeing it yet," said Gary Thayer, chief
economist at A G Edwards & Sons.
Homebuilders broke ground at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
1.967 mn units in May, down from 1.981 mn in Apr, the Commerce Dept
said. It was the 4th decline in the last 5 m, although the
single-family starts pace of 1.640 mn was the highest since Dec.
Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting starts to post a heftier dip
to 1.95 mn units.
Meanwhile, building permits jumped unexpectedly by 3.5%, the biggest
monthly rise since Oct. Analysts were expecting permits to ease to
1.97 mn units.
Mortgage interest rates are not far above 40-y lows reached last year
but have risen as the economic recovery gains strength, pushing
borrowing costs higher.
Applications for mortgages rose last wk as a re-financing index notched
its biggest weekly increase in 3 m, the Mortgage Bankers Association
reported.
The seasonally adjusted index measuring weekly mortgage activity rose
5.6% in the wk ended Jun 11. Re-financing requests jumped 8.5% while
new loan applications rose 4%.
* FACTORY REVIVAL
The 1.1% rise in industrial production was the biggest monthly gain
since Aug 1968.
"It is more evidence that the Fed has to raise rates in Jun and
continue to raise rates throughout the year," said Eric Green, a
senior economist at BNP Paribas.
While the Fed said unseasonably warm weather drove up utilities'
output, the gain in overall production was broad-based and reflected
the continued revival in the US factory sector.
Companies also operated at a faster rate in May, at 77.8% of full
capacity, up from Apr's revised 77.1% capacity use rate and the
highest pace since May 2001.
Wall Street had been expecting industrial production to rise only
about 0.8%, and capacity use to rise to 77.5.
Separately, the Fed said in its anecdotal "beige book" that hiring
increased in most districts but wages and salaries experienced little
upward pressure.
EVERYONE'S COURTING UZBEKISTAN:
Oil drilling deal inked with Uzbekistan
Beijing (People's Daily). As part of growing ties with Uzbekistan,
China's largest oil company will work with Uzbek Oil and Gas to widen
the scope of joint explorations.
The deal is one of ten agreements signed Tue to cap a visit by Chinese
Pres Hu Jintao to that country.
Hu and Uzbek Pres Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov signed a joint
statement that should see relations between the 2 nations improve further.
The agreement between China Nat'l Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and
Uzbekneftegaz (Uzbek Oil and Gas) aims to seek opportunities to
develop a closer partnership on surveying and drilling for oil and gas
between the 2 companies, said Chen Geng, general manager of the CNPC.
The CNPC, which has already exported US$80 mn worth of equipment to
drill 10 wells in Uzbekistan, plans to provide further engineering
services to the Uzbek company, said Chen.
As the 2 oil producers greased the wheels of co-operation, so did the
2 countries. Hu and Karimov signed a joint statement that touches on
economics, technology, education, culture and exchanges between the 2
countries. The statement also looks at bans of sales and use of
narcotics in both countries.
Both nations also agreed to continue developing friendly relations
that benefit both.
In 12 articles, the statement also covers more specific but wide
ranging areas such as high-level contacts, financial and trade
co-operation, environmental protection and the fight against the 3
forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism in the region.
The 2 sides pledged continued support of each other's efforts to
maintain sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and
promised not to belong to any union or group that harms those nat'l
rights of the other.
At the same time, both China and Uzbekistan will outlaw groups that
threaten their land or damage the sovereignty, safety and integrity of
the other, the joint statement says.
Meanwhile, the Uzbek side reiterated that Taiwan is an inseparable
part of China and the Uzbek Govt will never establish official
relations with the island, according to the joint statement.
Hailing Hu's state visit as having great significance, Karimov said it
would strongly push forward the development of friendly relations.
Hu agreed, saying China will work with Uzbekistan to push forward
bilateral ties.
The 2 nations should continue the trend of high-level contacts and
increase consensus so as to create a solid political foundation for
the development of relations, Hu said.
To maintain the safety and stability of the region, the 2 nations
should work closely to combat "the 3 forces" of terrorism, separatism
and extremism together as well as within the Shanghai Co-operation
Organization and other internat'l organisations, Hu added.
The 2 sides should upgrade the economic and trade ties by optimising
the trade mix and strengthening co-operation in communications, energy
and infrastructure.
Cultural exchanges should be promoted to bring the 2 peoples closer,
Hu said.
Karimov stressed that Uzbekistan stands side-by-side with China to
fight "the 3 forces" and on many other major internat'l issues.
Pres Hu arrived in the Uzbek capital on Mon for a state visit and
plans to attend the summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization here.
Uzbekistan is the last leg of Hu's 4-nation cross-continental tour.
Russia signs strategic partnership deal with Uzbekistan
Seeks to restore Central Asia sphere
Tashkent (AP). Pres Vladimir Putin signed a strategic partnership
deal Wed with Uzbekistan, seeking to restore Russian influence in the
Central Asian nation which had become a key US military ally since the
Sept. 11 attacks.
Uzbek Pres Islam Karimov has charted an independent course since the
1991 Soviet collapse and became a strategic partner of the US in 2002,
after the Uzbeks offered use of a key air base to 100s of US troops to
oust the hard-line Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan.
The Putin-Karimov deal calls for cooperation across a range of
economic sectors and closer diplomatic and academic ties. The move
seeks to restore Moscow as a major player in Central Asia, which was
considered part of the Kremlin's sphere of influence since Czarist times.
"We've signed a document that opens a new page in the history of our
relations," Putin said, Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency reported. "The
treaty has no time restrictions and lays down a solid foundation for
the Russian-Uzbek strategic partnership."
Karimov called the talks "significant" and added they would "open new
prospects for our long-term relations."
Without the lure of foreign aid, Russia has turned its mighty
state-affiliated energy companies to the task of making deals across
Central Asia to maintain ties.
On Wed, Russia's Lukoil and Uzbekistan's Uzbekneftegaz signed a 35-y
cooperation agreement that foresees about $1 bn of Russian investment
to exploit natural gas fields in central Uzbekistan.
Putin also said the gas giant Gazprom was working on a deal to invest
more than $1 bn in Uzbekistan's energy sector. He said he hoped other
Russian Investors would follow Gazprom's example.
Karimov said the energy deals would bring the total Russian investment
in Uzbekistan's energy sector to $2.5 bn, ITAR-Tass said.
In apparent response to the American military presence, Russia last
year opened a base its 1st abroad since the Soviet collapse in the
neighbouring Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan. US-led forces also
have a base there.
Karimov had also reached out again to Russia after apparently tiring
of W criticism of his regime's stalled reforms and human rights
abuses. He hosted Putin last summer in his hometown, Samarkand, in a
visit hailed as a breakthrough in Russian-Uzbek ties.
Foreign investors have also shunned Uzbekistan, the region's most
populous country, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development said this y it would limit investment here because of lack
of progress on democracy and economic liberalisation.
But Karimov said Wed he hoped Russia would bring needed investment and
help create jobs in his impoverished country.
Putin was in Tashkent also to participate in a Thu summit of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, which groups China,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Afghan Pres Hamid Karzai also will attend as an observer, and Putin
said the meeting would deal with Afghanistan and ways the SCO
countries could help it bolster stability, organise elections and
suppress terrorists.
Nepal bus accident claims 24
Kathmandu (AFP). At least 24 people were feared dead and 21 were
injured when a bus plunged over a ravine into a raging river in
Makwanpur district of central Nepal, police said. Police and soldiers
who rushed to the scene recovered the bodies of 8 people while 16
other passengers were missing, feared washed away in the river, a
police rep said. The bus, which left Kathmandu with 45 passengers
aboard, fell at least 150 metres down the ravine into the river. The
cause of the accident, which occurred between Singbhanjyang and
Alarekhola localities W of Kathmandu, was not immediately known, a
Home Ministry official said.
Pakistan bus crash kills 38
Islamabad (AP). A bus collided with a truck and fell from a bridge nr
Islamabad, killing at least 38 passengers and wounding 12, a police
official said. The accident took place at the 8-m-high Kaak bridge,
25 km E of the capital, police officials Mohammed Zafar said. Rescue
teams transported bodies and the injured to 3 area hospitals, he said.
Police were investigating the accident, Zafar said. Fatal road
accidents are common in Pakistan, where traffic rules are frequently
disregarded and public transport drivers often work long hours. On
Jun 6, a truck packed with pilgrims lost control and fell into a
ravine nr Abbottabad, about 200 km NE of the NW city of Peshawar,
killing 40 people and wounding 3 others.
NATO chief leaves door open for Iraq role
Brussels (Reuters). NATO would not "slam the door in the face" of
Iraq's new govt if a request came for military assistance to help
stabilise the country, the alliance's Sec-Gen said on Wed.
Pres Bush last wk said NATO ought to be involved in Iraq, but he was
quickly contradicted by French Pres Jacques Chirac who said he did not
think it was the "mission" of the alliance to intervene there.
The split at a Group of 8 industrialised nations' meeting in Sea
Island, Georgia, echoed last y's damaging dispute within NATO ahead of
the US-led invasion of Iraq.
But NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer seized on Chirac's comment that
he would be willing to consider a NATO role if the interim govt due to
take over in Iraq after Jun 30 requested it.
"I have heard, listened and seen very clearly the president of the
[French] republic," de Hoop Scheffer told news agency reporters at the
HQ of the 26-nation alliance.
"Certainly he did not exclude debate. That was clear from Sea
Island. You cannot say now that if a request came...that that would
lead to differences of opinion in the alliance."
So far NATO has limited itself to providing logistical support for a
Polish-led division in south-central Iraq as part of coalition
occupying forces.
De Hoop Scheffer said if any other countries among the 16 NATO allies
with troops in Iraq were to seek such indirect assistance the alliance
"would certainly say yes."
France and Germany have made clear they would not deploy troops of
their own to Iraq, and their resistance to a collective mission for
NATO has hardened in recent wk because of the unrelenting violence and
a prisoner abuse scandal there.
Diplomats say dismay over Bush's perceived support for Israel in its
conflict with the Palestinians has made some European nations even
less inclined to help Washington carry some of the military burden in Iraq.
Brit PM Tony Blair said this wk he expected any further NATO role in
Iraq to be limited to training security forces, adding he did not
expect disagreement on such a task.
De Hoop Scheffer said training was possible, but it would be up to the
new Baghdad govt to spell out what it wanted.
NATO is due to hold a summit in Istanbul on Jun 28-29, just 2 days
before occupying powers return sovereignty to Iraqis.
Diplomats said a statement spelling out that the alliance would be
willing to consider a role in Iraq if asked by the govt may be
released in Istanbul.
Scrutiny on Kerry's VP Hunt Intensifies
Washington (AP). John Kerry has begun interviewing potential running
mates, including Rep Dick Gephardt of Missouri who spent about 90
minutes in the Democratic presidential candidate's Capitol office Wed.
Democratic officials familiar with the discussions said Kerry planned
to meet with other candidates in the next several days. The officials
spoke on condition of anonymity because the Massachusetts senator has
insisted that his deliberations remain secret until he announces a
nominee in July.
"I'm happy to do it if he wants me to do it," Gephardt told The
Associated Press before the meeting. "I'm equally happy to not do it,
and just help in other ways."
The Gephardt meeting came as another candidate, Iowa Gov Tom Vilsack,
made the rounds in Washington but refused to say whether he was
meeting with Kerry. Gov Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, a Democrat
touted by some party officials as a potential candidate, also was in
Washington with Vilsack. She said she was not meeting with Kerry.
Officials said Sen Bob Graham of Florida is among the Democrats
expected to meet with Kerry in the coming days. The Kerry-Gephardt
meeting sparked a raft of running mate rumours, a ritual in
presidential politics.
Kerry and his advisers aren't talking about the selection process, so
everybody else is. People outside Kerry's inner circle are dropping
the names of Vilsack, Sebelius and dozens of other politicians from
both parties. Pundits compare the ritual to a political mating dance
or high drama, with every public event a potential audition as Kerry
eyes his future partner from afar.
"Against the backdrop of the presidential campaign, you always have
this subtle, sometimes overt, unofficial campaign for vice president,"
said Michael Feldman, an aide to former VP Al Gore.
Gore watched a parade of ambitious Democrats, including Kerry, angle
for a spot on the 2000 ticket. Sen Joe Lieberman of Connecticut eventually
won the veepstakes that year, edging out Kerry and a 3rd senator, John
Edwards of N Carolina, who again is running hard for the No 2 job.
The last major candidate to bow to Kerry in the primary, Edwards has
urged his fund-raising team to help fill Kerry's coffers. The
Southerner has travelled the country on behalf of the nominee-in-waiting,
accusing Republicans of creating 2 Americas -- one for the wealthy and
one for everyone else.
A recent Associated Press poll conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs
suggested that a majority of registered voters want Kerry to pick Edwards.
4 y ago, few predicted that Bush would turn to Cheney, who headed his
search team, or that Lieberman would become the 1st Jewish VP-ial
nominee.
"The vice-presidential nomination almost always doesn't go to the
person who the people most expect. That doesn't bode well for John
Edwards," said Steve McMahon, adviser to former Kerry rival Howard Dean.
One certain surprise would be Dean. His campaign against Kerry was
bitterly fought, and advisers to the presidential candidate point to
Dean's low approval ratings among voters. Still, the former Vermont
governor is keeping hope alive by campaigning for Kerry in states
where independent Ralph Nader cut into Gore's vote 4 y ago.
Gephardt, another former rival, is well liked by Kerry and many of his
advisers. In the AP interview, he said Kerry's team has researched his
background. "They've done some work on that, but my background is
pretty well-known," he said.
Among those also doing VP-ial spade work: retired Army Gen Wesley
Clark, former Sen Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, Gov Mark Warner of Virginia
and Gov Bill Richardson of New Mexico.
It is bad form to lobby for the job, leaving hopefuls constantly
searching for fresh and creative ways to describe their ambivalence.
"There's a new one I am thinking of," Richardson said in Apr, "I would
not accept at gunpoint."
A gun-shy Vilsack wouldn't even say whether he was meeting with Kerry
on Wed. His advisers initially said he wasn't, then suggested they
couldn't be sure. Sebelius said she was meeting with only one member
of Kerry's team -- her 23-yo son, Ned, a Kerry staffer.
Her father, John Gilligan, was Ohio governor from 1971 to 1975.
Sebelius said he lost re-election in part because voters thought he
was flirting with the presidency instead of focusing on their interests.
Determined not to make the same mistake, the 56-yo freshman governor
said she plans to remain in Kansas -- a standard non-denial denial of
VP-ial interest -- but says there's a bright side to speculation about
Kerry putting a woman on his ticket.
"To have a number of women in the mix over and over again is good
news," she told The AP.
The veepstakes game has become tiresome for Republican Sen John McCain
of Arizona, who has rejected Kerry's overtures about a bipartisan ticket.
Ron Klain, who worked for Gore in 2000, likened the process to
dating. "You get limited glimpses at people and, ultimately, make a
lifelong decision. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn't."
Sept 11 report "destroys argument for Iraq war"
Canberra. The Fed Opp'n says a report from the official investigation
into the Sep 11 terrorist attacks "blows apart" PM John Howard's
argument that the invasion of Iraq is part of the war on terrorism.
The US investigation into the attacks on the World Trade Centre and
the Pentagon has found there is "no credible evidence" that Iraq
helped Al Qaeda in any operation against the US.
The commission reports that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden explored
possible cooperation with Iraq while he was based in Sudan in the
early 1990s, even though he opposed Saddam Hussein's secular regime.
It says there were also reports of contacts with Baghdad after bin
Laden returned to Afghanistan "but they do not appear to have resulted
in a collaborative relationship".
"2 snr bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that any ties exist
between Al Qaeda and Iraq," a report from the commission said.
"We have no credible evidence that Iraq and Al Qaeda cooperated on
attacks against the US."
Labor's foreign affairs rep, Kevin Rudd, says the findings destroy the
credibility of the Govt's argument for war in Iraq.
"It's quite plain from what's been produced in the US that the core
argument advanced by John Howard, that attacking Iraq was part of the
war against terrorism, has been blown apart by this report," Mr Rudd said.
"This report today torpedoes and midships any remaining credibility
that John Howard had in the arguments he took to the Aussie people
before the war," he added.
* Smear, innuendo
But FM Alexander Downer rejects Labor's claim the Govt made a link
between Iraq and Sep 11.
"That's a lie," Mr Downer said. "The Govt did not say that Saddam
Hussein had organised or coordinated the attacks on NY."
Mr Downer hypocritically accused Labor of being involved in smear and
innuendo on the issue.
Defence Min Robert Hill says the Govt went to war over WMD.
"Our reason for going to war, as you put it, was the inability of the
[UN] Sec Council to deal effectively with the weapons of mass
destruction issue," Sen Hill said.
"In their failure to address that and to assure the world that Saddam
Hussein had disposed of those weapons, they had failed and left a
security vacuum.
"As a result of that, a coalition of parties went in to ensure that
there would not be a threat from WMD."
No weapons of mass destruction have been found during the US-led
invasion and the US and UK have ordered investigations into failures
in the intel community.
Pakistan helped al-Qaeda: US report
[9/11 Commission finds Bush Admin "War on Terror" confused].
Washington (AFP). An official report into the Sep 11, 2001 attacks on
the US said that Pakistan helped the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to
give a haven to al-Qaeda in the face of internat'l pressure.
The report from the official investigation into the attacks by
al-Qaeda on NY and Washington said that Pakistan broke with the
Taliban only after Sep 11, even though it knew the Afghan militia was
hiding al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
"The Taliban's ability to provide bin Laden a haven in the face of
internat'l pressure and UN sanctions was significantly facilitated by
Pakistani support," the report said.
"Pakistan benefited from the Taliban-al-Qaeda relationship, as bin
Laden's camps trained and equipped fighters for Pakistan's ongoing
struggle with India over Kashmir."
Iraq al-Qaeda terror link dismissed
Washington (Nat'l 9 News, AUS). US officials say an investigation
into the Sep 11, 2001 attacks has turned up no evidence to support
claims of a link between al-Qaeda and the regime of deposed Iraqi Pres
Saddam Hussein.
The Sep 11 Commission found no credible evidence that al-Qaeda and Iraq
conspired in planning the attacks in NY and Washington, despite the
Bush Admin using the alleged association as one reason for going to war.
The commission also found that the 9/11 attacks were a scaled down
version of the original planned terrorist plot.
Khalid Shiek Mohammed, who is now in custody, says the initial
proposal involved ten planes being hijacked on both the E coast and
the W coasts of the US, where they were to crash into targets
including nuclear power plants.
Investigators discovered the date of the attacks was chosen less than
3 wk before Sep 11.
The Commission claims Osama bin Laden repeatedly pressured leading
hijacker Mohammed Atta to move the date forward, but he was told the
hijacking teams weren't ready.
The commission is preparing its final report for next m, but has
determined intel gaps failed stop the plot, which was hatched almost a
decade before it was put into action.
9/11 panel disputes Iraq link to attacks
Washington (AP). Rebuffing Bush Admin claims, the independent
commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said Wed no evidence
exists that al-Qaeda had strong ties to Saddam Hussein. In
hair-raising detail, the commission said the terror network had
envisioned a much larger attack and is working hard to strike again.
Although Osama bin Laden asked for help from Iraq in the mid-1990s,
Saddam's govt never responded, according to a report by the commission
staff based on interviews with govt intel and law enforcement
officials. The report asserted "no credible evidence" has emerged that
Iraq was involved in the Sept. 11 strikes.
Al-Qaeda is actively trying to replicate the destruction of that day,
the report said, though the terrorist network has been weakened by
losing its sanctuary in Afghanistan and many leaders to US strikes and
arrests. The terror organisation also is trying to obtain a nuclear
weapon and is "extremely interested" in chemical, radiological and
biological attacks, including the use of anthrax, it said.
"The trend toward attacks intended to cause ever-higher casualties
will continue," the report said.
The commission staff said that Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh
Mohammed initially outlined an attack involving 10 aircraft targeting
both US coasts. Mohammed proposed that he pilot one of the planes,
kill all the male passengers, land the plane at a US airport and make
a "speech denouncing US policies in the Middle East before releasing
all the women and children," the report said.
Bin Laden rejected that plan as too complex, deciding instead on 4
aircraft piloted by handpicked suicide operatives. The report said the
targets were chosen based on symbolism: the Pentagon, which
represented the US military; the World Trade Center, a symbol of
American economic strength; the Capitol, the perceived source of US
support for Israel, and the Whitehouse.
Training for the attacks began in 1999.
The attacks were planned for as early as May 2001, but they were
pushed back to Sep, partly because al-Qaeda sought to strike when
Congress would be at the Capitol. A 2nd wave of hijackings never
materialised because Mohammed was too busy planning the Sept. 11
attacks, according to the report.
Under questioning, John Pistole, the FBI's top counterterrorism
official, told the commission that the govt "has probably prevented a
few aviation attacks" in the US since Sept. 11 but that some
operatives in those plots are still at large.
The findings were released as the commission began its final 2 days of
hearings on the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. The
2nd day will focus on the Fed Aviation Admin and US air defences. The
commission's final report is due July 26.
The 1st day lacked the electricity of past sessions featuring
appearances by Nat'l Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, CIA Director
George Tenet, A-G John Ashcroft and other top officials.
Like previous hearings, the audience included family members of people
killed in the attacks, many bearing photographs of lost loved ones.
Commission member Bob Kerrey, a former Democratic senator from
Nebraska, expressed exasperation that the govt did not act with
greater urgency against bin Laden, given what was known about al-Qaeda
before 2001.
"I believe that we missed a tremendous opportunity very early in this
game to inform the Congress, inform the American people who bin Laden
was, what he was doing, what he had done and as a consequence I think
we simply didn't rally until it was too late," Kerrey said.
The conclusions that al-Qaeda and Iraq had no cooperative relationship
run counter to repeated assertions by Pres Bush, VP Dick Cheney and
other Admin officials. The claims that bin Laden and Saddam were in
league were central to the Admin's justification for going to war in Iraq.
As recently as Mon, Cheney said in a speech that the Iraqi president
"had long-established ties with al-Qaeda." And last fall he cited what
he called a credible but unconfirmed intel report that Mohamed Atta,
ringleader of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers, met in Prague, Czech
Republic, with a snr Iraqi intel official before the attacks.
The commission concluded no such meeting occurred.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said the report's findings
were evidence the "Admin misled America and the Admin reached too far."
"They did not tell the truth to Americans about what was happening or
their own intentions." he said on Detroit radio station WDET.
Sec of State Colin Powell, asked about the commission report, said the
Admin stands by its assertions that there were links between al-Qaeda
and Iraq.
"I think we have said, and it is clear, that there is a connection,
and we have seen these connections between al-Qaeda and the regime of
Saddam Hussein and we stick with that," Powell said in an interview on
the al-Jazeera television network. "We have not said it was related to 9/11."
The commission report said that bin Laden, then in Sudan, met with an
Iraqi intel officer in 1994 to request space for al-Qaeda training
camps and assistance in obtaining weapons, "but Iraq apparently never
responded." The meeting occurred even though bin Laden opposed
Saddam's secular govt and had sponsored anti-Saddam operatives in
Iraq's Kurdish region.
The camps that were established in Afghanistan after bin Laden moved
there in 1996 produced as many as 20,000 al-Qaeda operatives and
encouraged trainees to "think creatively about ways to commit mass
murder," the report said.
Some of the ideas included taking over a missile launcher and forcing
Russians to fire a nuclear device at the US, mounting mustard gas or
cyanide attacks against Jewish areas in Iran, releasing poison gas
into a building ventilation system -- and "last, but not least,
hijacking an aircraft and crashing it into an airport or nearby city."
The Sept. 11 plot gradually evolved from Mohammed's original vision
but was hardly a seamless operation, the commission report said.
Mohammed, who is in US custody at an undisclosed overseas location,
wanted up to 26 operatives for the 4-plane plot, but at least 10 were
prevented from entering the US because of visa problems, family
objections and other reasons.
There was disagreement between Mohammed, bin Laden and Atta about whether
the Capitol or Whitehouse should be targeted, a question the report
says apparently never was resolved. Bin Laden also had to overcome
objections to attacking the US from Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader
who was under pressure from his Pakistani supporters to contain al-Qaeda.
Omar, like bin Laden, has eluded US capture since the attacks.
Sept 11 plot "split Al Qaeda"
Washington (AFP). For all their coordinated carnage, the terrorist
attacks on Sep 11, 2001 sprang from a shifting and problem-plagued
plot that some terrorist leaders wanted to call off, according to an
official US report.
A preliminary report issued by the nat'l commission investigating the
assaults in NY and Washington that left 3,000 people dead said it
would be a mistake to consider them the result of a fixed plan
executed to nr perfection.
"The 9-11 conspirators confronted operational difficulties, internal
disagreements and even dissenting opinions within the leadership of Al
Qaeda," said the staff report released at the panel's last set of
hearings in Washington.
Conceived in 1996, approved by Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in 1999
and set in motion later that year, the plan triggered a rift among the
leadership of the Afghanistan-based group in the m before the attacks.
Several snr Al Qaeda figures thought they should defer to Taliban
leader Mullah Omar, who opposed attacking the US, the report said,
quoting statements by captured Al Qaeda members.
Others feared a massive US military response.
"Although he faced opp'n from many of his most snr advisers ... bin
Laden effectively overruled their objections and the attacks went
forward," the commission investigators said.
The report said the operation went through several changes in tactics
and timing before 19 Al Qaeda hijackers commandeered 4 airliners,
ramming 2 into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and a third
into the Pentagon.
The originator of the plot, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, had initially
envisioned hijacking 10 planes, with a target list including CIA and
FBI HQ, and blowing up several aircraft over the Pacific at the same time.
Bin Laden scaled the plan down and scrapped the Asian end as too
difficult to coordinate with the US attacks. But he urged on several
occasions that the timetable be moved up.
At one point, he pressed to launch the strikes in the summer of 2000,
shortly after Israel's soon-to-be PM, Ariel Sharon, made a highly
controversial visit to a disputed holy site in Jerusalem.
Bin Laden later pressured the hijackers to strike in May 2001 and in
Jun or July when Mr Sharon would be visiting the Whitehouse.
Each time he was told the commandos were not ready, the report said.
A few wk before Sep 11, friction developed between 2 of the "pilots"
from Al Qaeda's so-called Hamburg cell: Mohammed Atta, the presumed
ringleader of the hijackings, and Ziad Jarrah.
Jarrah even reportedly threatened to pull out, obliging Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed, who has since been captured by the Americans in Pakistan, to
bring in Moroccan-born Frenchman Zacarias Moussaoui as a replacement.
Moussaoui is the only person charged in the United States in
connection with the attacks that left the world's superpower reeling
and triggered its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
The commission report said the hijackers also came close to tripping
themselves up in the final stages of the operation.
Jarrah was given a ticket for speeding as he drove through the eastern
state of Maryland 2 days before he ended up on United Airlines Flight
93, which crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside after an apparent
passenger revolt.
Atta and one of his accomplices, Abdul Aziz al Omari, flew from the NE
US city of Portland to Boston and almost missed American Airlines
Flight 11 that crashed into the World Trade Centre. Their luggage did
not make it aboard.
The report said the operation cost $US400,000-500,000 to execute, with
$US270,000 dollars of that spent in the US.
That includes the cost of the Afghan camps where the attackers were trained.
The origin of the money is still not known.
The document released on Wed will be incorporated into a final report
to be issued next m by the commission of 5 Republicans and 5 Democrats
which will hold a final day of hearings on Thu.
Taliban supporter gets life sentence
Washington (AP). An American man convicted of travelling to Pakistan
and seeking to fight with the Taliban against the US just days after
Sep 11 has been sentenced to life in prison.
Masoud Khan was one of 3 people sentenced on charges they trained for
holy war against the US by playing paint-ball games in the Virginia
woods as part of a "jihad" network.
Prosecutors said Khan's actions were worse than the other suspects
because he also travelled overseas to train with a Pakistani militant
group after Sep 11.
"While the Pentagon is still smoking, Mr Khan decided now is the time
to fight against Americans in Afghanistan. He deserves every day he
gets," prosecutor Gordon Kromberg said.
A 2nd suspect, Seifullah Chapman, was sentenced to 85 y in prison, and
a third, Hammad Abdur-Raheem, was given 8 y.
The sentences against Chapman and Khan are among the longest prison
terms the govt has obtained in the war on terrorism.
Khan said before he was sentenced that he was innocent and that he was
prosecuted only because he is Muslim.
"To put it bluntly ... had I been a Zionist Jew or a Christian
training to fight [in Palestine], I would never have been charged with
violating the Neutrality Act," he said, referring to the seldom-used
US law that formed the basis for the govt's conspiracy charges.
The lengthy terms for Khan and Chapman resulted largely from mandatory
minimum sentences stemming from firearms convictions related to the
conspiracy.
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema said the sentences were "draconian,"
but she had no choice but to impose them under fed law.
"We have murderers who get far less time," she said. "I've sent
al-Qaeda members planning attacks on these shores to less time. This
is sticking in my craw. Law and justice at times need to be in tune."
Chapman's lawyer, John Zwerling, called the sentence "the greatest
miscarriage of justice of any case I've been involved in" in 34 y of
practice.
In all, the govt charged 11 men arrested as part of the "Virginia
jihad" network, and 6 entered into plea bargains, receiving prison
terms ranging from 4 to 20 y. 2 were acquitted of all charges.
Khan, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was convicted of the most serious
charges, including conspiracy to levy war against the US and
conspiracy to contribute services to the Taliban.
The militant group he trained with was called Lashkar-e-Taiba, which
espoused anti-American and anti-Indian rhetoric and was later
designated a terrorist group by the US.
Chapman admitted attending the Pakistani camp in Aug 2001 but said he
did so for the gruelling physical challenge in the country's rugged
mountains.
Abdur-Raheem never travelled to Pakistan but was convicted for his
role training other conspirators in military tactics in 2000 and 2001
in paint-ball games.
The defendants -- all native US citizens in their 30s -- said the
paint-ball games were innocent fun and fellowship among friends.
While the judge said she was upset about the lengthy sentences, she
also made it clear that she believed they were guilty and that they
knowingly supported a terrorist entity. In fact, it was Brinkema who
convicted the 3 defendants earlier this y in a trial in which all 3
waived their right to a jury.
"This case was not about paint-ball," she said.
"It was about something much more serious."
Family pleads for safety of US hostage
Trenton, NJ (AP). The son of an American kidnapped in Saudi Arabia
pleaded with the Saudi govt Wed to work to free his father, saying he
"does not deserve this."
Paul Johnson Jr, 49, a Lockheed Martin employee from Stafford
Township, was kidnapped Sat by a group calling itself al-Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula. The organisation is believed to be headed by
al-Qaeda's chief in the Saudi kingdom, Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin
al-Moqrin.
Paul Johnson III made his plea on CNN, appearing with an aunt and with
the 3-yo grandson his father has never met in person.
"I respect your country, I respect everything that everybody's done
and I just want to see my father brought home safely," the younger
Johnson said. "The Saudis, you can make it happen and I'm just asking
you please make this happen.
"He does not deserve this and he was just doing his job and, please,
just bring him home."
On Tue, an Islamic Web site showed a videotape of Paul Johnson Jr
wearing a blindfold. Johnson's captors threatened to kill him unless
Saudi authorities release al-Qaeda prisoners within 3 days.
The militants previously threatened to treat Johnson as US troops
treated Iraqi detainees, a reference to the controversy over sexual
and other abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.
In Washington, NJ Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Jon Corzine met for an
hour Wed with the Saudi govt's top foreign policy adviser, Adel
al-Jubeir, to learn more about the search for Johnson.
Lautenberg said he left the meeting discouraged.
"They're at a loss. He says they're using every resource that they
have to try to free him," Lautenberg said. "Right now the prospects
are gloomy."
The elder Johnson's sister, Donna Mayeux, told CNN that the family had
not informed their ailing 67-yo mother of the threat.
"I told her that he's alive and that this is serious, but we did not
discuss any of the demands with her because her health is fragile,"
she said.
A US official said the threat should be taken "very seriously" because
the posting appeared to be credible and militants have used the site
before. "It has been a good indicator in the past," the official said,
speaking on the condition of anonymity.
On the tape, the blindfolded hostage says: "My name is Paul Marshall
Johnson Jr I am an American. ... I work on Apache helicopters."
The tape also displayed his Lockheed Martin identification card.
In the television interview, Paul Johnson III said his father "sounds
good" on the videotape, and it appears he was "not being mistreated or
anything."
Family members said Paul Johnson Jr had worked in Saudi Arabia for
more than a decade and respected the country's culture and
traditions. He "always felt safe in Saudi Arabia" and never feared
living there, his sister said.
"He's always treated people with dignity and respect, and I'm sure
they were able to see that as they've spoken with him," Mayeux said.
"Our family just pleads for his safe return."
Paul Johnson III said that the family planned to reunite later this
year in his stepmother's native Thailand.
"He's building a house over there and we were all going to get
together of for the holidays and be there together as a family," the
son said.
The wait has been particularly difficult for his stepmother because
the rest of the Johnson family is in the US, the son said.
"She's waiting for my father to come through the front door and it's
hard for her being so far," Paul Johnson III said. "We're here and I'm
thinking about her constantly. I know what she's going through."
The militants' Web site was posted on the same day Saudi Arabia's
ruling crown prince warned Islamic militants that the kingdom planned
to deploy more security forces than they had ever faced before.
Westerners in Saudi Arabia are responding to recent attacks by moving
to high-security compounds or even to neighbouring Bahrain, and by
pushing for the right to armed private guards, according to diplomats
and real estate agents.
Western embassies in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, are negotiating with
the govt for a relaxation of the ban on private security guards
carrying firearms, a W diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Aust, Indonesia meet over counter-terrorism
Jakarta. Indonesian special forces military officers are in AUS for
the first regional counter-terrorism conference. Special forces
officers from 14 Asia Pacific countries are attending the meeting.
Defence Min Robert Hill is opening the 1st Aussie conference of
regional special forces. The countries include Indonesia, Malaysia,
Vietnam, Cambodia, India, China, PNG and the US. The 3-day meeting in
the NSW town of Bowral will discuss special forces
capabilities to deal with terrorism. Sen Hill says AUS is rebuilding
contacts with Indonesia's Kopassus special forces, but is refusing to
deal with individual officers identified as having committed human
rights violations.
US soldier charged over fatal Iraq shooting
Washington (Reuters). The United States Army is bringing murder
charges against a soldier who fatally shot an Iraqi man who was
already badly wounded after a high speed chase in Iraq.
"Charges have been preferred," Lt Col Pamela Hart, an Army rep at the
Pentagon said.
She did not specify the charges or name the 1AD soldier.
Another Army official said the soldier is being charged with murder
after the Army Criminal Investigation Division looked into the May 21
shooting nr Kufa, in S Iraq.
The incident took place after US forces engaged in a high speed chase
after coming across a motorcade in which the Iraqi was driving one of
the vehicles, according to a statement issued by the US Central
Command on Jun 4.
According to that statement, the man's vehicle was hit by gunfire and
he was seriously wounded while a passenger in the vehicle was less
seriously wounded.
The US soldier then approached the car and shot the wounded drive at
close range, according to the statement.
At the time, defence officials said the investigation centred on "a
potential violation of US rules of engagement".
They said the soldier may have shot the Iraqi to end the wounded man's
suffering, but one official added that soldiers "don't get to make
those kinds of decisions".
Iraqi cleric signals end to Shi'ite revolt
Najaff (Reuters). Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr sent his fighters
home on Wed in what may mark the end of a 10-wk revolt against US-led
forces that once engulfed S Iraq and Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines.
With the formal end of US-led occupation just 2 wk away, Sadr issued a
statement from his base in Najaff calling on his Mehdi Army militiamen
to go home.
"Each of the individuals of the Mehdi Army, the loyalists who made
sacrifices...should return to their governorates to do their duty,"
the statement said.
That call came a day after Pres Bush said the US would not oppose a
political role for Sadr -- only weeks after branding him an
anti-democratic thug.
Dan Senor, rep for the US-led Admin in Iraq, suggested Sadr caved in
to US military pressure and moderate Shi'ite clerics who brokered a
truce between his militia and American forces.
"He is seeking to save face. Iraqi political leaders are working out
agreements with him. He has expressed his support for the interim
govt, which was unheard of many wk ago," he told CNN.
Sadr's ragtag fighters, mostly from the slums of Baghdad and
impoverished S villages, had launched an uprising on Apr 4,
overrunning police stations and public buildings in several towns in a
bold challenge to US-led forces.
This m the unpredictable young cleric agreed a truce with the US
military and Iraqi authorities after wk of fighting in the Shi'ite
shrine cities of Najaff and Kerbala.
Sadr's office sent a letter to the Shi'ite religious establishment on
Wed, saying Iraqi police would be welcome back in his stronghold of Kufa,
nr Najaff, where he has frequently delivered fiery anti-American sermons.
Initially, Sadr took the US military by surprise with the scale of his
revolt, launched after occupation authorities closed the young
preacher's newspaper, detained one of his top aides and announced that
he was wanted for murder.
The Apr uprising, which coincided with heavy fighting between US
Marines and Sunni Muslim insurgents in Fallujah, W of Baghdad, pushed
Iraq closer toward bloody chaos.
But as the US military fought back, the Mehdi Army's RPGs and AK-47
assault rifles proved no match for warplanes, tanks and helicopter gunships.
Hundreds of Sadr's black-clad militiamen with green headbands were
killed in battles that spread to a sprawling ancient cemetery on the
edge of Najaff and damaged mosques and shrines sacred to mn of Shi'ites
across the world.
Apart from the huge casualty toll, Sadr was under pressure from
moderate Shi'ite religious leaders opposed to his firebrand ways and
appalled by fighting nr holy shrines.
As the truce calmed the streets of Najaff and Karbala, Sadr played a
new card, declaring conditional support for Iraq's interim govt and
announcing plans to form a political party that could fight elections
due to be held by Jan.
Some US officials insist Sadr must face Iraqi justice in connection
with the killing of a moderate cleric hacked to death in a Najaff
shrine soon after last y's US invasion.
But Sadr's unexpected flexibility seems to have opened political doors
just before planned Jun 30 hand-over.
Interim Pres Ghazi al-Yawar said Sadr's "smart move" could enable him
to take part in mainstream politics.
Under a deal announced by the interim govt this m, private militias
are to be disbanded and members of illegal militias banned from
political office for 3 y.
Despite Bush's olive branch for Sadr, some US officials say Sadr
should be barred from politics.
"There is an Iraqi arrest warrant issued against Moqtada al-Sadr that
ties him to a brutal murder, and I don't see how he would be eligible
for political office before that matter is resolved," US rep Dan Senor
said on Tue.
Nat'l elections are due to be held by Jan 31 under a US-backed plan
for Iraq's political transition.
As Iraqi leaders brace for the challenge of running a country
suffering from violence and economic hardships, it seems Sadr may keep
the interim govt guessing.
"Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr enters into political matters. But this does
not mean he will enter elections," Sadr's rep Qais al-Khazali told
Reuters on Wed.
"Our position is clear, Sadr's entry into politics will not be direct
but we have ideas...There are no nominees or names suggested."
Ally or obstacle? Iraqi cleric deftly counters US moves
Op/Ed (USA Today). Question: Who's the most influential man in Iraq
right now? Answer: Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. For more than a
year, the reclusive religious leader has been amassing influence
that's every bit as potent -- for good or darker ends -- as the
"force" in Star Wars. Just last weekend, he used his power for the
good. He persuaded a volatile cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, and his Mehdi
army to stop fighting US and Iraqi security forces.
That was no mean feat. The US, along with Iraqi forces, had tried and
failed to overwhelm the Mehdi army in the S towns of Najaff and
Karbala. Now, Sadr is backing the interim Iraqi govt that takes over
from the US on Jun 30. No doubt, he still wants everything the US
doesn't, by violence if necessary. But he now says he wants to stand
for office in elections as early as Jan, and he has indicated that he
will disband his militia.
Sistani's move was sorely needed amid continuing violence. During the
past few days, 2 snr officials in the transitional govt were
assassinated. On Mon, a suicide bomber slammed into a convoy of
foreign workers in Baghdad, killing 13, including an American.
But Sistani's power is a mixed blessing. It represents just as much of
a risk to US efforts to craft an Iraq exit strategy that leaves behind
a stable, representative govt.
Certainly, Sistani is no fanatical fundamentalist like Ayatollah
Khomeini, a fellow Shiite who brought a tyrannical regime to
neighbouring Iran. But neither is he a fan of the kind of govt the US
has tried to create for Iraq, one guaranteeing that power is shared
among all groups: the 60% Shiites, 20% Sunnis and 20% Kurds.
For months, Sistani has used his influence to force the US to make
changes designed to give Shiites more power. After bringing tens of
1000s of protesters to the streets last y to show his influence, for
example, he got the US to abandon plans for regional assemblies. He
demanded one-person, one-vote elections.
Last week, his objections kept power guarantees for minority Kurds out
of a UN resolution on Iraq's future.
Sistani insists that he is working for a stable future for all Iraqis.
He says clerics should not hold political power. He has persuaded
fellow Shiites, for the most part, to work within the system. At the
same time, though, his Web site (www.sistani.org) offers disturbing
glimpses into the behaviour he expects. Not only are women restricted,
but there's more than a hint of a prejudice against Christians.
Expecting Sistani to promote the kind of democratic model that the
Bush Admin has said it wants in Iraq is simply naive. The US needs to
use its waning influence to protect the more limited,
terrorism-related goals the US had in going to war.
First among those is preventing Iraq from becoming a haven for
terrorists or a threat to its neighbours. That can best be negotiated
with aid as a lure and force as a threat.
Second is to provide some sort of model of democratic and economic
success for the surrounding Arab world, a tougher task. Sistani is
playing a patient game, knowing time is on his side. In a poll
commissioned by US authorities last m and disclosed Tue, 92% of Iraqis
saw Americans as occupiers. A majority said all Americans are like
those in the Abu Ghraib prison photos and they'd feel safer if US
troops left.
But Sistani's history suggests a participatory govt with an Islamic
flavour is a possibility. That wouldn't look like democracy as
Americans know it. But it would be far better than seeing Sistani take
a full Darth Vader-like turn for the worse.
Critics: US fell short of goals for Iraq
Washington (NPR). The goal of the US Coalition Provisional Authority
was to put Iraq on a path toward democracy and a market economy. But
as the United States prepares to hand over sovereignty to Iraqis,
critics say the CPA has fallen far short in its efforts to ensure
Iraq's economic, political and security future.
Bush praises democracy in Iraq
Bush's speech was also seen by troops overseas.
MacDill AFB, Florida (CNN/AP). Democracy is being born in Iraq even
though insurgents are killing Iraqi officials and blowing up oil
pipelines, Pres Bush said Wed.
"We have come not to conquer, but to liberate people and we will stand
with them until their freedom is secure," Bush told several thousand
troops in a hanger at MacDill Air Force Base, home of the US Centcom.
"By helping the rise of democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan and
throughout the world, you are giving people an alternative to
bitterness and hatred, and that is essential to the peace of the
world," Bush said in a speech broadcast via satellite to troops in
Iraq and Afghanistan and being carried on Armed Forces Radio and TV.
Bush outlined the upcoming transfer of political control to the new
Iraqi interim govt. He said Iraqis will gather next m for a nat'l
conference which will choose a nat'l council to advise and support the
interim PM and his cabinet.
In a hot and humid hanger where walls were decorated with camouflage
nets, Bush repeatedly praised troops for their sacrifice.
"By fighting the terrorists in distant lands, you are making sure your
fellow citizens do not face them here at home," he said.
Bush also met with relatives of 10 soldiers killed in Iraq and
Afghanistan and "expressed how sorry he was for the loss of their
loved one," said Whitehouse rep Scott McClellan. Some of the families
gave the president pictures of their loved one, McClellan said.
Much has changed since Bush visited MacDill on March 26, 2003 when the
war was just 6 days old, Saddam Hussein was still in power and the US
death toll stood at 2 dozen. In that speech to troops, Bush said: "We
are treating Iraqi prisoners of war according the highest standards of
law and decency."
Now, the world has seen pictures of US troops abusing and humiliating
Iraqi detainees. More than 830 US troops have died in Iraq, where an
interim govt is to take over political control in 2 wk. This month,
gunmen have killed a top security official for the state-run N Oil Co,
an education ministry official and a deputy foreign minister.
John Kerry, Bush's Democratic rival in the Nov's presidential
election, has consistently said that in order to succeed in Iraq, the
president must do more to reach out to US allies and mend strained
relations so that the US doesn't have to fight the war on terrorists
alone. Kerry claims the Bush Admin misled the American public about
the need and reason for going to war in Iraq.
In making the case for war, Bush Admin officials frequently cited what
they said were Saddam's decade-long contacts with al-Qaeda
operatives. On Mon, VP Dick Cheney asserted in a speech in Orlando,
Florida, that Saddam had "long-established ties" with the terrorist network.
Admin officials have stopped short of claiming that Iraq was directly
involved in the Sept. 11 attacks, but critics say Bush officials left
that impression with the American public. The commission investigating
the Sept. 11 attacks, however, reported on Wed that it has found "no
credible evidence" of a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda in attacks
against the US.
"There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda also
occurred after [Osama] bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan, but they
do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship," the
report said.
Bush is midway through a wk of travel to Missouri, Florida, Washington
and Nevada. The presidential race is as close in Florida as it was 4 y
ago, when only 537 votes tipped the state and the presidency to Bush.
Iran threatens to resume uranium enrichment
Vienna (Reuters). Iran has threatened to resume uranium enrichment, a
process that could be used to make atomic bombs, if the UN nuclear
agency passed a toughly-worded resolution rebuking Tehran for poor
cooperation.
The US immediately accused Iran of trying to bully the board of the
Internat'l Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting in Vienna, and said
such tactics increased suspicions that Tehran was secretly making weapons.
"The basic message that Iran is sending is that they have something to
hide and they're going to use any means they have, including
intimidation, to keep things from coming to light," US ambassador to
the UN in Vienna, Kenneth Brill said.
"People who are trying to produce electricity for light bulbs don't
engage in this kind of behaviour," he said.
In his toughest warning to the IAEA yet, Iranian Pres Mohammad Khatami
described a resolution drafted by Brit, Germany and France that
"deplores" Iran's inadequate cooperation with the agency as "very bad".
"If this resolution passes, Iran will have no moral commitment to
suspend uranium enrichment," he told reporters.
But Mr Khatami, aware that Washington wants its case sent to the UN
Security Council for possible sanctions, balanced his tough line with
assurances that Iran's aims were peaceful and Tehran did not plan to
kick out UN inspectors.
"We have no intention of using nuclear technology for military use,"
he said. "We will continue our cooperation with the agency in the
framework of the law and our rights."
A newly revised draft resolution was circulated late on Wed, but
Iran's chief delegate said the changes were minor and the draft was
still unacceptable.
"There are some positive changes but they are very minor," Hossein
Mousavian, secretary of the foreign policy committee of Iran's Supreme
Nat'l Sec Council, told Reuters.
"Not much has changed, which is not at all acceptable."
Iran denies seeking weapons and says it wants to produce low-grade
enriched uranium as fuel for nuclear power reactors.
But Washington and many European states fear it could use the
technology to make highly-enriched, bomb-grade uranium.
Some 900 protesters, many of them members of a hardline Islamic
volunteer militia, gathered at 2 Iranian nuclear plants vowing to
defend with their lives Iran's right to develop nuclear technology,
the official IRNA news agency reported.
Israel arrests Palestinian girls
Nablus, W Bank (AP). Israeli forces have arrested 2 young girls from
the W Bank city of Nablus who were planning a suicide bomb attack,
Israeli security officials said.
The girls, 14 and 15 y old, were arrested by Israeli forces, the
officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Their fathers were
also taken into custody.
Relatives said the Israelis arrested Majid Kuhan, 15, and her
schoolmate Atzeel Hindi, 14. The families said they were not aware
that the girls were involved in any militant or political activity.
Palestinian militant groups have been trying to recruit women and
teenagers to ferry explosives and carry out attacks, because an
Israeli barrier going up along the W Bank and stepped up security
measures have made it increasingly difficult for men to operate.
During nearly 4 y of conflict, dozens of Palestinians have infiltrated
into Israel to carry out suicide bombings, killing 100s. However, the
last suicide bombing in Israel that originated in the W Bank was in Feb.
The Israelis said they learned of the plot with the arrest on Tue of a
20-yo militant from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot
of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. He identified
the 15-yo as the bomber and the 14-yo as the recruiter, the officials
said, without referring to the names of the girls.
During interrogation, the would-be bomber said she had changed her
mind about the attack because she was frightened, the Israelis said.
They would be among the youngest Palestinians accused of involvement
in a planned suicide bombing, and the youngest girls.
In the past, Palestinian human rights activists and relatives have
harshly criticised militant groups for recruiting children as attackers.
Jackson paid $US15 mn over 1993 accusations: leak
LA (AFP). Michael Jackson agreed to pay $US15.3 mn to a teenage boy
who accused the pop star of molesting him in 1993 to settle a damaging
civil suit, a secret pact leaked to a website reveals.
Under the settlement, the contents of which had been the subject of
media speculation for a decade, the boy and his family agreed never to
talk publicly about the allegations or the terms of the huge pay-off.
Media reports said that in addition to the $US15.3 mn that Jackson
paid to his 1993 accuser, now 24, he also paid $US1.5 mn to each of
his parents and $US5 mn to his lawyer -- a total of $US23.3 mn.
But large parts of the 31-page agreement signed in Jan 1994, which
contained a promise by the accuser's family to drop their lawsuit
against him, were blanked out in the document posted on the website
smokinggun.com.
The allegations by the 13-yo were made 10 y before a 12-yo boy last y
claimed Jackson had molested him. Jackson has pleaded not guilty to a
criminal indictment and is awaiting trial.
In the settlement, Jackson stated that the cash was to settle claims
for "damages for alleged personal injuries arising out of claims of
negligence" and not for "claims of intentional or wrongful acts of
sexual molestation".
Jackson chose to settle the suit instead of fight it "in view of the
impact the action has had and could have in the future on his earnings
and potential income," the document said.
Though it has always been known that Jackson settled the suit, the
leaking of the confidential document detailing the payout is still
damaging ahead of the star's trial on a fresh set of molestation charges.
"Whoever released this agreement, whether it is actual or not, did it
deliberately and wilfully, with the intent of influencing potential
jurors -- which is outrageous and an act of desperation," said Jackson
rep Raymone Bain in a statement.
A tentative Sep 13 trial date has been set for Jackson, 45, on charges
of molesting a young cancer patient at his Neverland Ranch in Cal last y.
The "King of Pop" pleaded not guilty in Apr to a 10-count indictment
that included charges of child molestation, conspiracy to falsely
imprison and abduct someone, and extortion.
His 1993 accuser was called to testify to a secret grand jury that
handed down the indictment against Jackson.
A criminal investigation into the 1993 allegations was dropped after
the young accuser refused to testify following the sealing of the
hitherto secret civil settlement with Jackson.
"Beaut Blokes" planners find a feast of prime Mallee men
Western Vic. Organisers of an upcoming 'Beaut Blokes' weekend in W
Vic's Mallee region say they have gone from a famine to a feast,
thanks to last-minute interest from eligible bachelors throughout the
region. The Beaut Blokes movement attempts to introduce single women
from the cities to life in the country through social events. Rep
Kate Nixon says while interest from women wanting to take part has
been high, registrations from eligible Mallee males had stalled at
about 40 until early last wk. She says a waiting list has now been
formed after a last-minute rush of applications exceeded the cut-off
of 80 registrations. But she says even before the Beaut Blokes
weekend on Jun 25, it is bringing positive results for the local town
of Ouyen, an hour outside Mildura. "Just bringing people into the
town is always good," she said. "Hopefully they'll enjoy it and come
back another day and long-term relationships would be good and
hopefully we'll end up with some new girls in town."
Young women more confident of financial future
Sydney. Young Aussie women appear to be more confident about their
financial prospects than young men. For the new Sensis Consumer
Report, 1,500 Aussies were interviewed in Apr and May about a range of
issues. The study found that while overall, men are more confident
about their financial prospects than women, that is not the case in
the 20 and 30-yo age brackets. A net 59 per cent of women in their
20s are confident about their financial future, compared with 54% of
men of the same age. Report co-author and Sensis chief economist
Steven Shepherd says: "there was a perception of females aged in that
20 to 29-yo age group that issues relating to security of their
current job was quite paramount". "So that really underpinned their
confidence level."
ABC board member warns of fragmentation
Sydney. Departing ABC board member Maurice Newman has warned that the
board will fragment if confidentiality cannot be strictly enforced.
Mr Newman is also the head of the Aussie Stock Exchange and went
public about his resignation yesterday, citing the leaking of a letter
from him to the chairman about independent monitoring of ABC broadcasts.
Mr Newman says the refusal of staff-elected director Romana Koval to
sign a code of conduct triggered his resignation.
"The risk is that the board will fragment, you lose mutual trust and
respect, which is a critical issue in any organisation like a board or
a committee," he said.
"It means that controversial issues or sensitive issues which might
otherwise be discussed in an open forum in the confidence that the
issues will be kept confidential will not be discussed."
Ms Koval has released a statement on her position, saying: "I stand by
my recent letter to the chairman of the ABC board raising concerns about
political pressure on the board and the way the ABC carries out its duties.
"I have always acted on legal advice every step of the way in
accordance with my obligations under the ABC Act and under the
corporations law.
"I have always acted properly and will continue to do so."
Grange fetches record price
Adelaide. A SA wine collector has paid a record price for a bottle of
1951 Penfolds Grange. The buyer paid just over $50,000 in an auction
for the bottle, one of about 20 thought to be left from the vintage.
The vendor is an Adel wine collector. A rep for Oddbins wine
auctioneers says the price is the highest ever paid for a bottle of
red wine in AUS.
Merchandise imports down 5.2%
Canberra (AAP). Merchandise imports slipped 5.2% in Apr to $10.8 bn,
the Aussie Bureau of Statistics said.
Imports across almost every sector fell during the month.
Machinery and transport equipment imports dropped 8.1% to $4.7 bn,
miscellaneous manufactured articles imports fell marginally to $1.4
bn, animal and vegetable oil imports dropped $21 mn to $1.4 bn and
manufactured goods classified chiefly by material dropped $4 mn to $1.3 bn.
Food and live animal imports dropped 7.5% to $398 mn.
Imports of mineral fuels and lubricants improved 3.8% to $995 mn,
while imports of beverages and tobacco increased 5.6% to $75 mn.
Merchandise imports figures are not seasonally adjusted.
All Ords hits record high
Sydney. The Aussie share market has hit a new all time high during
morning trade. The All Ordinaries peaked just above 3,499, almost one
point higher than the previous record set last wk. Around midday
(AEST) the index had slipped back to just above 3,497.
RAAF Hercules makes emergency landing
Tamworth. Engineers are expected to begin repairs today to a RAAF
Hercules which made an emergency landing at Tamworth airport in the NW
of New South Wales overnight. The plane, with 16 people and 8 police
dogs aboard, landed safely after the pilot reported smoke in the
cockpit. The smoke dissipated after the engines were switched off.
Emergency services were sent to the airport including 2 ambulances, a
rescue vehicle, 3 fire units and police.
New bill targets terrorist associates
Canberra. It will be illegal to intentionally associate with a member
of a listed terrorist group in a way which helps the organisation
continue to exist, under new counter-terrorism laws introduced to Fed
Parliament today. The new offence will carry a maximum 3-y jail term.
It is already an offence to be a member of a listed terrorist group
but A-G Philip Ruddock wants to make it illegal to communicate or meet
with a member of banned organisation if that association in some way
helps the group continue to exist or expand. "The offence is directed
at people who cannot be proved to be directors, members, recruiters,
trainers or financiers of a terrorist organisation under existing
offences," he said. But Mr Ruddock has told Parliament there will be
exceptions for close family members, those providing humanitarian aid
or legal advice and associations for the religious purposes. The
Opp'n wants to examine the bill before deciding whether to support it.
Hepatitis inquiry due to deliver findings
Canberra. The Senate inquiry on the transmission of hepatitis C
through blood transfusions is due to deliver its recommendations today.
The inquiry heard nearly 9,000 living Aussies have acquired the
disease through transfusions.
During the inquiry, the Tainted Blood Action Group argued that the Red
Cross Blood Service was negligent in not screening for Hepatitis C
after it was identified in 1978.
But the service said the tests available before 1990 were non-specific,
inaccurate and may have led to a severe shortage in blood donations.
Independent Blood Council rep Charles Mackenzie, who represents a
number of women who contracted the disease from transfusions during
childbirth, says they need and deserve compensation.
"The harsh reality is that they really do need to put food on the table
and put kids through school as well as pay for their medical expenses,"
he said,
"That means it's going to cost money, so we really feel that the only step
forward here is to do what's been done in virtually every other country
that's come across this issue and that is to provide financial compensation."
Hepatitis inquiry rules out compo increase
Canberra. A Senate Inquiry into the transmission of hepatitis C
through blood transfusions has recommended an apology be given to
victims but has not supported calls for an increase in compensation.
Nearly 9,000 Aussies are living with the disease, having acquired it
through transfusions. During the inquiry, the Tainted Blood Action
Group argued for an increase in compensation saying the Red Cross
Blood Service was negligent in not screening for hepatitis C after it
was identified in 1978. But the inquiry's chairman, Jan McLucas, says
the Commonwealth and state govts should set up a fund to assist
victims instead. "Let's not go down the legal path, lets simply get
you some support," she said. "There are varying levels of support
across the country and there are many people who are not getting the
levels of support that they need."
Mini hydro station opens in Tassie
Hobart (AAP). A mini hydro-electricity development capable of
powering 800 homes has been opened in remote western Tas.
Dubbed Nieterana, the Aboriginal term for little brother, the 2
megawatt development lies below the 12.5 megawatt Butlers Gorge Power
Station on the Upper Derwent Power Scheme.
Hydro Tas chief executive officer Geoff Willis said it was an
important innovation in terms of developing technology that captured
incremental increases in energy capacity.
"These small hydro developments allow us to generate more energy from
existing water storages, often with favourable environmental impact,"
he said in a statement.
"The Butlers Gorge mini hydro will add 2 MW of hydropower into
the system, which will be enough to power about 800 homes.
"We are investigating the potential of other projects in Tas and
interstate."
Hydro completed a similar development last y in Adel, SA, in a joint
venture with SA Water.
Inter-island move for endangered bandicoot The N Territory's
Environment Dept is looking at spreading an endangered native golden
bandicoot population to 2 islands in attempt to save it from extinction.
The bandicoot weighs no more than 600 grams and has been wiped out on
the Territory's mainland, with only a small number in Western AUS's
Kimberley and a few islands.
The only Territory population is on Marchinbar Island, off the Arnhem
Land coast.
Dept rep Robert Taylor says wildlife officers will travel to the
island in Aug to assess if the bandicoots are healthy enough to move
to 2 other islands.
"There's 2 islands to the S of Marchinbar ... have very similar sort
of open sandy heath land vegetation but we just have to take it step
by step," Dr Taylor said.
"The N Land Council and the traditional owners have to give their
permission for that to occur."
He says their success of relocating quolls to 2 islands to escape the
cane toad has set a precedence.
"Certainly I guess it's made us more confident that we can do these
sorts of things successfully," he said.
"This 1st step is simply to look at the status of the species still on
Marchinbar."
Iraq war was over WMDs, says Hill
[Howard govt returns to fallback position No 2].
Canberra (AAP). AUS went to war in Iraq because of the UN' inability
to do anything about the country's WMD, not because of any terrorist
links, Defence Min Robert Hill said.
He was responding to a report from the commission investigating the
Sep 11 attacks which found no credible evidence of a link between Iraq
and al-Qaeda in attacks against the US.
This contradicted US Pres George W Bush's assertion that such a
connection was among the reasons it was necessary to topple Iraq
dictator Saddam Hussein.
"Our reason for going to war ... was the inability of the Sec Council
to deal effectively with the WMD issue, in their failure to address
that and to ensure the world that Saddam Hussein had disposed of those
weapons," Sen Hill told Channel Nine.
"They had failed and left a security vacuum.
"As a result of that, coalition parties went in to ensure there would
not be a threat from weapons of mass destruction."
No such weapons have yet been found.
Pres Bush and VP Dick Cheney this week reiterated pre-war arguments
that an Iraqi connection to al-Qaeda, which is blamed for the Sep 11
attacks, represented an unacceptable threat.
However, the commission said in a staff report, "We have no credible
evidence that Iraq and al-Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the
United States."
"There is no convincing evidence that any govt financially supported
al-Qaeda before 9/11 -- other than limited support provided by the
Taliban after bin Laden 1st arrived in Afghanistan," it added.
Counterterrorism officials from the Fed Bureau of Investigation and
Central Intel Agency testifying at the hearing said they agreed with
the staff report's conclusion.
The report was issued at the start of the commission's final 2 days of
public hearings into the hijacked-plane attacks, which killed nearly
3,000 people. The hearings were called to find out how the US failed
to prevent the attacks and what it can do now to improve security.
The report stood in contrast to comments this wk by Mr Cheney, who
said that Saddam had "long-established ties" to al-Qaeda.
Mr Bush, asked about his deputy's comments, cited the presence in Iraq
of Islamist militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as "the best evidence" of an
Iraqi connection to al-Qaeda.
The president said Saddam had "sheltered terrorist groups" and America
was safer because of his ouster.
Although Mr Cheney and other officials had suggested Iraq might have
played a direct role in the Sep 11 attacks, Mr Bush acknowledged after
the war that there was no evidence of this.
Hill forgives dept for keeping mum
Canberra. Def Min Robert Hill has ruled out a review of his dept,
despite its failure to pass on info about prisoner abuse in Iraq. The
Labor Party is calling for Sen Hill to resign over the matter. In a
statement to Parliament yesterday, Sen Hill said Aussie military
officers in Iraq knew of concerns about the treatment of prisoners as
far back as Jun last y but that info was not passed on to the Govt.
But Sen Hill says there is no need for a review of the Defence Dept.
"Forgive a mistake to a background where the dept as a whole has
worked so well over the last few years," Sen Hill said. But the Opp'n
wants Sen Hill to resign and Labor's Kevin Rudd thinks For Min
Alexander Downer should also make a statement about "the precise
chronology of his dept's awareness". The Govt is likely to face
further questioning on the issue this afternoon.
Coalition MPs rally to support Hill
Canberra (AAP). Coalition MPs rallied to support Defence Min Robert
Hill, who has come under increasing pressure to resign over his
handling of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.
Labor called for Sen Hill to resign after his long-awaited statement
on Wed, on when Aussie officials 1st knew of the prisoner abuses,
failed to make the issue clearer.
Sen Hill told the Senate that Aussie Defence Force (ADF) personnel in
Iraq had no detailed knowledge of the prisoner abuse at the notorious
Abu Ghraib prison.
But he did not explain why it took defence officials almost 3 wk to
realise that they had copies of vital Red Cross working papers.
Sen Hill also failed to apologise for misleading the parliament and
the public, saying only that he regretted his dept had given him bad advice.
Education Min Brendan Nelson scoffed at suggestions the Defence Min
should resign.
"I think Robert Hill's statement is quite appropriate," Dr Nelson said.
Govt backbencher Warren Entsch said he was satisfied by Sen Hill's account.
"I have absolutely no issue at all with it. As far as I'm concerned,
what AUS has done in Iraq has been outstanding," Mr Entsch said.
"He said that he was disappointed that he wasn't provided with that
info but the fact that he wasn't provided with it didn't in any way
suggest that he was deliberately trying to conceal anything and I
think that's the point.
"He was responding on advice that was given to him and he's put that
on the table."
Liberal MP Peter Dutton said voters were more concerned with other
issues such as interest rates and how much they would have to pay back
on their home loans.
"Of course Robert Hill shouldn't resign -- this is another Labor Party
stunt," he said.
"Labor running around trying to put out all of these distractions
doesn't help people in the suburbs at all."
Labor foreign affairs rep Kevin Rudd stepped up calls for Sen Hill's
resignation and said For Min Alexander Downer had tried to avoid the issue.
Democrats welcome planned super changes
Canberra. The Fed Govt is expected to compel superannuation funds to
disclose their fees and charges to prospective customers from next
year. The Aussie Democrats have signalled their support for the Fed
Govt's plans to provide greater choice in superannuation. Democrats
superannuation rep John Cherry says the decision comes after 7 y of
political wrangling on the issue. Sen Cherry says the fee disclosure
clears a major hurdle in the move towards providing full choice of
funds. "We always said to the Govt there is 2 big things you've got
to clear," he told Channel Seven. "One is you've got to give people,
particularly same sex couples, the right to choose where their
superannuation goes when they die, they cleared that one earlier this
m. "The other was this issue of trying to get simple disclosure of
fees and charges, we've got that one."
Bolkus to trade ballots for bouzouki
Adelaide. South Aussie Labor Sen Nick Bolkus has announced he will
quit politics when his term in the Senate expires midway through next
y. He is the 2nd Labor Sen in SA to announce his departure, after
Whyalla-based Geoff Buckland said he was leaving the Upper House at
the next election. Elected in 1980, Sen Bolkus was on the frontbench
under the Hawke and Keating govt, serving in several portfolios
including consumer affairs, administrative services and immigration
and ethnic affairs. He is currently the chairman of the Senate Legal
and Constitutional Affairs Committee. Sen Bolkus says he is 54 and
wants to spend time with his 2 young children rather than face another
pre-selection battle. "I would have been confident going into any
ballot but I think this way I've put in life choices first," he said.
"All I'm really thinking about is learning to play the bouzouki [a
stringed musical instrument] down at Joe's Cafe down out at Henley Beach."
Anti-gangland police arrest 2 men
Melbourne (AAP). Anti-gangland police in MEL are believed to have
swooped on the home of a man targeted in an abortive underworld hit
last wk.
Purana taskforce police were on Thu morning believed to be at the
Brighton home of alleged hit target Mario Condello, where they are
reported to have taken Condello and another man into custody.
Police confirmed Purana detectives had taken 2 men into custody, but
would not name them.
According to a report on radio station 3AW, Condello was one of the 2
men arrested.
On Wed last wk, police conducted a string of raids across MEL,
including in their arrests 2 men outside Brighton Cemetery nr Mr
Condello's home.
2 loaded handguns, walkie-talkies and a can of petrol allegedly were
found at the scene.
After the raids, 4 men were charged with conspiracy to murder,
including alleged underworld figure Carl Williams, 33, who is already
on bail on charges arising from a $20 mn amphetamine manufacturing
operation and for allegedly making threats to kill police.
In an interview on the 9 network's Sun program last wk, Mr Condello
said he was confident the foiled hit attempt on his life would prove
the catalyst for a break in the gangland wars.
"For the 1st time, I've heard the birds singing in the trees," he said.
"So let's hope these birds continue to sing and everything becomes
more peaceful than it has over the last ... however many y
... because, after all, we are not going to be here forever."
Mr Condello, a Calabrian-born former lawyer, is said to be a close
friend of accused murderer Mick Gatto, charged with the shooting of
Andrew "Benji" Veniamin in a Carlton restaurant on March 23.
Mr Condello was once jailed for conspiracy and trafficking in Indian hemp.
A 3AW reporter filing from outside Mr Condello's house said 10 Purana
task force officers were searching the house and its gardens.
The radio station said Mr Condello and another man had been taken to
St Kilda Road police complex for questioning.
Police left Mr Condello's Brighton E home about midday.
Police hold 2 in gangland investigation
Purana task force makes 2 more arrests.
Melbourne. Members of the Purana task force which is investigating
MEL's gangland murders have arrested 2 people this morning.
Detectives are also at the home of underworld identity Mario Condello.
Purana detectives set off the house alarm at Mr Condello's house in
the SE MEL suburb of Brighton this morning. Mr Condello is an
associate of accused murderer and fellow underworld figure Mick
Gatto. Both are part of MEL's so-called "Carlton crew". More than 10
police and detectives have been searching Mr Condello's property but
no details of the operation are yet available. Purana detectives have
taken 2 people into custody and are interviewing them at the St Kilda
Road police complex. Their identities have not been released.
Williams trial faces delay
Melbourne. Lawyers have foreshadowed possible attempts to delay the
trials of accused MEL drug dealer, Carl Williams. Williams, his wife,
father and 3 alleged associates are facing drugs trials in the MEL
Supreme Court. The 1st trial was due to start next m but a lawyer for
Williams has told the court he may have to seek a lengthy delay. He
said adverse media publicity was one reason, while another involved
alleged police corruption. He said the prosecution had not responded
to requests for info about any allegations or charges against police
officers involved in the cases, which would be critical to his
client's defence. He also told the court Williams was being held in
23 hr a day lock down in prison following his arrest last wk, which
was making it almost impossible to prepare his case.
Corruption watchdog "should oversee public service"
Canberra. The Commonwealth Govt is being urged to consider widening a
new corruption watchdog to take in fed public servants. The Govt has
announced plans for a new body to investigate corruption in nat'l law
enforcement agencies such as the Aussie Fed Police and the Aussie
Crime Commission. Law Council of AUS president Bob Gotterson has
urged the Govt to set the agency up quickly and ensure it is well
resourced. He says there is scope for the new watchdog to take a
broader approach and include other fed agencies. "[There is] no
reason why it should be confined just to one particular narrow area
because that area where it's detected at present," he said. "To do
its job properly it may be a body that isn't limited to complaints
concerning the Aussie Crime Commission, or perhaps even the Aussie Fed
Police, it may have to look at all aspects of Fed Govt."
NSW Govt examines "damning" corruption report
Sydney. The Carr Govt says it is examining the corruption watchdog's
recommendation that ministers be banned from starting private
consultancies straight after leaving politics.
NSW's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) made
the call after its damning report into the actions of former Cabinet
minister and former Charlestown MP Richard Face.
The ICAC investigated the former gaming and racing minister over
claims he had used his taxpayer-funded staff to help set up a private
consultancy for life after politics.
The fact he lied to the watchdog about his actions has seen him
declared corrupt and could result in criminal charges.
But the ICAC has also urged the Govt to bring in new rules restricting
the range of employment that ministers can take up immediately after
leaving office.
Acting Prem Andrew Refshauge says the Govt is closely examining the
recommendations, which include mandatory cooling off periods for
ministers going into an area of work similar to their ministerial portfolio.
"We'll consider them and respond accordingly," he said.
The NSW Opp'n wants a cooling-off period of at least 12 m.
The Greens say the report sends a clear message that the Parliament's
code of conduct for MPs carries no real weight.
Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon says she is stunned by the findings.
"This report has serious implications for any future cases of
misconduct against MPs," she said.
"ICAC's findings send a clear message to MPs that their code of
conduct doesn't carry much weight.
"MPs need boundaries, they need to know what is right and wrong. At
the moment the code of conduct is a guide and we are being told
effectively by the ICAC report that it isn't that important."
Vicns want corruption commission, poll finds
Melbourne. A new survey shows Vicns overwhelming support a royal
commission into allegations of police corruption.
An ACNielsen poll for the Age newspapers shows 81% of those surveyed
are in favour of a royal commission or similar independent inquiry.
Only 16% are against the idea.
The poll also reveals 67% of Vicns believe corruption in the state's
police force is "limited to a few bad apples" while 73 per cent think
police corruption in Vic is about the same as in other states.
Vicn Police Min Andre Haermeyer remains adamant the state does not
need a royal commission into the allegations.
State Opp'n leader Robert Doyle says there is mounting pressure for
the Govt to act.
But Mr Haermeyer says a royal commission would be expensive and could
compromise ongoing investigations.
"We are determined to ensure that crooked police, that gangsters are
put behind bars which is where they belong," he said.
"The processes we have in place, the independent ombudsman and the new
powers that he has will help us to ensure that. A royal commission
will make sure that doesn't happen.
"A royal commission is a guaranteed way to cost the public a lot of
money, make a lot of lawyers very rich and see crooks and corrupt
police walk off scot-free."
The new poll also reveals that support for the Bracks Govt has risen.
The survey indicates the Govt could have a won a Jun state election
with 56%, in a 2 party preferred vote.
Labor's primary vote has risen from 41 to 44% and the combined vote
for the Liberals and Nat'ls has slipped by one point to 40.
Police raid nets dinosaur fossils worth mns
Aussie Fed Police have uncovered $mns worth of fossils.
Perth. Fed police have seized dinosaur eggs and fossils worth mn of
dollars during raids on 3 properties at Mandurah, S of Perth.
They say the raids, conducted last week, netted more than 1,300 fossils,
including fish fossils from China believed to be up to 300 mn y old.
Fed police are yet to decide if charges will be laid over the seizure.
Kevin Wohlers from the fed Dept of Environment and Heritage says
police carried out the raids after a request from the Chinese Govt.
"It's a large seizure to be sure," Mr Wohlers said.
"The Aussie Govt is very committed to ensuring that both our natural
and cultural heritage -- and not only AUS's but in a global sense --
is preserved for the benefit of current and future generations.
"The Aussie Govt is very pleased to be able to assist China with this
seizure."
Mr Wohlers says the range of fossils seized in the raids is extensive.
"They range from fossil fish to dinosaur eggs to rhino skulls, basically
the whole gamut of fossils, fossil dinosaurs and the like," he said.
2 dead in SYD shooting
Sydney. There has been another fatal shooting in SYD's west. At
least 2 people have been shot dead at a home in Cabramatta in SW SYD.
The incident took place around 12.30 in Gidgee St.
Canada scientists try to move killer whale
Toronto (AP). Scientists on Canada's W coast were attempting on Wed
to relocate a killer whale they fear will injure itself or humans if
it continues to swim around boat propellers and docks.
The orca whale, nicknamed Luna, has become alarmingly fond of humans
in the small former mill town of Gold River on Vancouver Island, Brit
Columbia, about 200 km N of the US.
He routinely bumps up against boats and last wk, surfaced in front of
a landing floatplane.
But a group local Indians were opposing the scientists' efforts,
saying they believe the whale is the reincarnation of a late chief.
17 Indians took to canoes in Nootka Sound, and a tribal elder said
they hope to sing to Luna and draw him away from where scientists plan
to capture him later Wed.
"We believe that the spirit of our late chief is in him," Chief Jerry
Jack said.
Scientists from the Vancouver Aquarium and Canada's Dept of Fisheries
and Oceans believe Luna's pod, from which he became separated in US
coastal waters in 2001, will pass by the southern coast of Vancouver
Island, nr Vic, 350 km to the S of his current location, this summer.
The scientists plan to use a boat to lead Luna into a net pen, where
he will undergo medical tests. If he is found to be healthy, Luna will
be coaxed into a sling, crane-lifted into a container of water and
driven along S along the coast to a bay nr Vic.
The whole operation is projected to cost roughly $C402,000 [US$550,000].
Once there, Luna will be kept in another net pen there until his pod
swims by. The scientists plan to release him once he hears his family
and recognises them, in the hope that he will rejoin the pod.
Dr Lance Barrett-Lennard, a zoologist with the Vancouver Aquarium,
said the net pen is low enough for Luna to jump over easily.
"But Luna hasn't seen the movie Free Willy and that's not something
killer whales do in the wild, " he said. Instead, the pen will be
opened to allow the whale to swim away.
The region's killer whale pods are fish-eaters that spend m in the
waters between Vancouver Island and the inland US and Canadian
coasts. It is not known where they spend winters, though they have
been seen off California and Alaska.
Although it would be ideal to reunite Luna with his original pod, any
of the pods would likely accept him, biologists say.
The US and Canadian fisheries agencies worked together in summer 2002
to move another young orca -- a 2-yo female called Springer -- back to
Canadian waters from busy Puget Sound in the US, where she had
wandered after her mother died.
Authorities have been aware of Luna since 2001, when the whale arrived
in Nootka Sound.
In the last y, however, he has become overly friendly. Some visitors
to the pier at Gold River have tried to pet him. There have been
reports of someone trying to pour beer down his blow hole and of
someone else trying to brush his teeth.
New laws outlaw bio-diesel home-brews
[Subsidise diesel: outlaw bio-diesel -- Howard govt's "green credentials"].
Canberra. The Aussie Democrats have attacked the major political
parties for refusing to support the non-commercial production of
"home-brewed" bio-diesel.
Democrats energy and resources rep Lyn Allison says up to 3,000
Aussies use the fuel, most commonly made from recycled fish and chip
oil, in their vehicles.
She says it is ironic the Govt passed legislation introducing an
excise on bio-diesel on the same day it released its environment policy.
"When the Govt has announced that it'll drop excises on petrol and
diesel but we're seeing them imposed effectively on all of the
alternative fuels, and the legislation we dealt with was on
bio-diesels, one wonders where the Govt's priorities are," she said.
"They're certainly not with cleaner fuels and not with renewables."
She says the new legislation effectively makes people who run their
vehicles on the fuel outlaws.
Sen Allison says a small number of dedicated Aussies have been using
home-made bio-diesel for years, actively promoting renewable fuels and
clean air.
"Home-brewers will not produce bio-diesel, or if they do, they'll be
doing it outside the law [and] they'll be effectively tax cheats," she said.
"One of the reasons they won't continue to produce bio-diesel is the
cost of licensing and testing which means 1000s of dollars in many cases.
"Not only will it not be viable but it would be very, very expensive."
Global warming tipped to produce hot city nights
[UH, OH! MORE BAD NEWS FOR MOSLEY!]
London (Reuters). Summer nights in cities may get hotter and sweatier
because of the impact of global warming, according to scientific analysis.
Researchers at Brit's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction in Exeter
say the so-called "urban heat island" effect, of heat generated from
buildings and vehicles being retained by asphalt and concrete at
night, will intensify.
"Cities that now release an average of 20 watts of heat per square
metre will in future release 60 watts more," New Scientist magazine said.
Urban night air is hotter than in the countryside because fields
absorb less heat during the day.
Sweltering nights in London have been infrequent in the last few decades.
There have been only 20 nights in the past 30 y when the minimum
temperature did not drop below 20 degrees Centigrade. But that may change.
"Doubling carbon dioxide levels will be likely to quadruple that
figure. But add in the exaggerated urban heat island effect and it
soars to 6 times that number -- an extra 3 nights per year," the
magazine added.
The research supports the findings of another study which predicted a
warming effect in cities in China.
Boaties try to herd whale from harbour
Macquarie Harbour. A 14-metre sperm whale has become stranded inside
Macquarie Harbour on Tas's W coast.
Rescuers expect it will take all day to herd a stranded sperm whale
out of Macquarie Harbour on Tas's W coast.
An expected worsening in the weather could make the task more difficult.
Parks and Wildlife and marine conservation officers returned to the
whale at 1st light to find it in good condition and heading towards
the harbour's entrance.
Since then it has moved further into the harbour but is now making
progress with 5 boats encouraging it in the right direction.
However, the task is being made harder by the incoming tide and
strengthening winds.
5 boats and 20 rescuers yesterday managed to move the strander whale
about 500 metres out into the harbour.
The Parks and Wildlife Service says the whale will face being
re-stranded if rescuers cannot herd it into the S Ocean today.
Nature conservation officers will today begin post mortem examinations
of 4 beached whales on nearby Ocean Beach.
Whale swimming freely in harbour
Macquarie Heads, W Tassie. A sperm whale stranded in Macquarie
Harbour on Tas's W coast yesterday is swimming freely in the harbour
channel this morning. The 14-metre whale became stranded inside
Macquarie Heads on Tue. 5 boats and 20 rescuers yesterday managed to
move it about 500 metres into slightly deeper water before darkness
suspended the operation. The Parks and Wildlife Service says the
whale is still in the channel this morning but it will face being
re-stranded if rescuers cannot herd it into the S Ocean today. The
rescuers say there is still a long way to go to rescue the whale.
Post mortems will be conducted today on 4 dead sperm whales found on
nearby Ocean Beach yesterday.
Police investigate meteorite reports
Wollongong, NSW. Police are investigating reports of a meteorite
falling between Menangle and Bulli, N of Wollongong in S NSW,
overnight. Police say a motorist travelling S on the Hume Highway
near Menangle saw an object fall from the sky shortly after 9.00 pm.
They say the object fell to the E of the highway and possibly on an
escarpment nr the top of a hill at Bulli. The object has been
described as glowing silver in colour and similar to an artillery
shell exploding with a bright flash on impact. The SYD Airport tower
also confirmed the meteorite. Police patrols of the area could not
locate the object.
Search fails to find meteorite
Wollongong. Police have given up the search for a meteorite seen
above the Illawarra escarpment S of SYD. ABC Illawarra received
numerous reports of sightings from members of the public. The
original report said the meteor was the size of a house. Police say
they found no trace of space rock.
Scientists demonstrate teleportation with atoms
London (Reuters). It is not quite the "Beam me up Scotty"
teleportation of Star Trek, but teams of scientists said Wed they had
made properties jump from one atom to another without using any
physical link.
Physicists in the US and Austria for the 1st time have teleported
"quantum states" between separate atoms.
The breakthrough may not yet make it possible for people to disappear
and reappear somewhere else, like actors in a science fiction
television show. But it could help lead to "quantum computing"
technology that would make super-fast computers.
Quantum states include physical properties such as energy, motion and
magnetic field.
"We've done it for the 1st time with massive particles, with atoms,"
Rainer Blatt, of the University of Innsbruck in Austria, told Reuters
in a telephone interview.
2 y ago scientists at the Aussie Nat'l Uni announced they had
teleported a laser beam of light from one spot to another in a split second.
Blatt and his colleagues and another team of scientists at the Nat'l
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado,
reported the 1st teleportation of atoms in 2 reports in the science
journal Nature.
The basic theory of quantum teleportation was outlined in 1993 by
physicist Charles Bennett and his colleagues.
Quantum computing requires manipulation of info contained in the
quantum states of the atoms.
"Using teleportation as we've reported could allow logic operations to
be performed much more quickly," physicist David Wineland, the leader
of the NIST team, explained in a statement.
The research involved quantum entanglement -- in which the quantum
states of 2 or more particles are linked without physical contact.
"There are quite a few implications ... more on the scientific side,"
Blatt said. "We are far away from beamers, like beam me up Scotty," he added.
Injection puts a stop to infidelity -- in voles
Atlanta, GA (Reuters). Scientists have come up with an injection that
stops meadow voles from cheating on their partners, something many
human lovers may covet.
Scientists say a single gene inserted into the brain can change
promiscuous male rodents into faithful, monogamous partners.
It may not be quite that simple to rein in human philanderers -- many
genes as well as other factors are probably involved in relationships
among people.
But researchers at the Yerkes Nat'l Primate Research Centre of Emory
University and Atlanta's Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) in
the United States say their rodent results could help to explain the
neurobiology of romantic love.
"Our study ... provides evidence in a comparatively simple animal
model that changes in the activity of a single gene profoundly can
change a fundamental social behaviour of animals within a species,"
said Larry Young, a researcher at Emory Uni.
He and his colleagues, who reported their research in the science
journal Nature, used a harmless virus to transfer the gene for a key
hormone involved in sexual behaviour from monogamous prairie voles
into the brains of their randy relatives, the meadow voles.
After the gene transfer, the previously promiscuous meadow voles had
less of a roving eye and showed a distinct preference for their current
partners.
Earlier research had shown that prairie voles, which form life-long
partnerships, had higher levels of receptors for the hormone vasopressin
in an area of the brain called the ventral pallidum, than meadow voles.
Introducing the gene increased the natural levels of the receptor and
enhanced the meadow voles' ability to form pair bonds.
Previous studies have also suggested that the receptors may play a
role in disorders such as autism, and that brain pathways involved in
romantic relationships also play a part in drug addiction.
"It is intriguing to consider that individual differences in
vasopressin receptors in humans might play a role in how differently
people form relationships," Mr Young said.
Brit considers human cloning request
London (ABC, Kirsten Aiken). Brit's reproductive science regulator is
considering the country's first request to clone human embryos. A
team of scientists from Newcastle has made the application to the
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. If the request is
approved, the scientists will clone human embryos as part of stem cell
research into a treatment for diabetes. Therapeutic cloning is legal
in Brit but so far research has centred on embryos left over from
fertility programs. Cloning advocates argue embryonic cloning could
advance research into a number of conditions which are currently
considered incurable, such as Alzheimer's and spinal cord injuries.
Opponents say it is unlikely to be medically useful and could lead to
the cloning of children.
New method predicts speed of biological clock
Edinburgh (Reuters). Scientists have developed a method that aims to
predict how fast a woman's biological clock is ticking and when she is
likely to go through menopause.
By measuring the volume of ovaries with ultrasound, researchers in
Scotland say they can predict the reproductive age of a woman aged 25
to 51, or how many eggs she may has left, which could dramatically
change fertility treatments.
Hamish Wallace, a paediatric oncologist and lecturer at the Uni of
Edinburgh, was involved in the study.
"What we have done is to come up with a method that may allow us to
predict for a woman what ovarian reserves she has and at what age she
is likely to experience the menopause," he said.
Women are born with an estimated 800,000 eggs but the number dwindles
with age.
At about 37, when there are about 25,000 eggs left, the decline speeds
up and the ovaries shrink until most of the eggs are depleted and
menopause occurs.
The age of menopause is generally about 50, plus or minus 7 or 8 y.
Knowing a woman's reproductive lifespan will enable doctors to predict
how long she will be fertile and whether she will have an early menopause.
Thomas Kelsey, a computer expert at the University of St Andrews, said
the main benefit of the research will be to improve fertility treatment
and planning and to provide doctors with info about the likely success of
such treatments.
"The ultrasound measurement is taken to work out the volume of the
ovaries. If the ovaries are larger than average for her age, then she
is likely to have a later menopause and if they are smaller she is
likely to have an earlier one," he said.
"Essentially we try to quantify by how much, by how many years."
Dr Wallace and Mr Kelsey, who reported their research in the journal
Human Reproduction, showed a strong relationship between ovarian
volume and the number of egg cells.
"It is going to be useful for couples who have fertility problems
because it is an easy way for the fertility clinics to work out
essentially whether it is worth doing IVF [in-vitro fertilisation] or
whatever treatment," Mr Kelsey said.
If a woman has many more fertile y it may be better to try to conceive
naturally or to space out fertility treatments or, if the egg supply
is low, not to waste time.
But the method will not work for women taking oral contraception
because it decreases the size of the ovaries or for women suffering
from polycystic ovarian syndrome, a disorder that causes infertility.
The researchers are conducting clinical studies on women who have been
treated for cancer, which can impair fertility, to provide info on
their fertility.
They are also planning long-term studies to follow young women until
they reach the menopause.
"It opens the door to the possibility of screening women for early
ovarian ageing. These women may be at increased risk to their general
health from the effects of having an early menopause," Dr Wallace
added in a statement.
{{
5 am
2 US soldiers and several civilians have been killed in a rocket attack
in Balad, Iraq.
4 people have been killed in a market in Kunduz, Afghanistan.
Insurgents apparently were targeting German troops who were passing
nearby at the time. 10 Chinese workers were killed nr Kunduz earlier
this m.
Aceh rebels have vowed to continue their fight for independence,
despite the arrest of GAM leaders in Sweden. 2 of the GAM's exiled
leaders in Sweden are under arrest, "suspected of crimes violating
internat'l law". A 3rd man was not arrested due to health reasons.
Indonesia says the men were behind a Sep blast that killed people in
Jakarta, arson and scores of kidnappings. The GAM Info Officer in
Sweden says it's a fabricated case to weaken the resolve of the
independence group. The Indon military campaign, that's killed
"thousands of people" in Aceh, has been unsuccessful, he said. All 3
men have Swedish citizenship, which means they can't be extradited
to Indonesia.
5.30 am
14 people have been killed and around 100 injured in W Maharashna
state, India, when a train derailed after floods washed away tracks.
6 am
An American scientist says the Dutch are now the tallest people in the
world, taking the title from Americans who has become the world's
tallest nation in 1945. The research has put the result down to good
public health in the Netherlands.
7 am
A series of "loud booms" have been heard nr the Green Zone in Baghdad.
8 am
Richard Perle says the 9/11 Commission has not contradicted his
claims there were links between the Iraqi regime and al-Qaeda.
Midday.
Gold is lower on a stronger greenback at $US384.10/oz. The AUD is
down to 68.37 US c. Oil is higher at $US37.32/bbl.
Hill faces heat over abuse 'whitewash'. The Federal Opposition is
intensifying pressure on Defence Minister Robert Hill to resign over
the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Sen Hill yesterday delivered a
statement to Parliament explaining when the Government became aware of
the prisoners' mistreatment but Labor says it was a "whitewash".
Commission finds no Iraq-Sept 11 link. The official investigation
into the September 11, 2001 attacks says in a report there is no
"credible evidence" that Iraq helped Al Qaeda in any attacks against
the United States. But it does say Pakistan helped the Taliban regime
in Afghanistan to harbour Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before the
US war to overthrow the hardline Afghan militia in late 2001.
Britain considers human cloning request. Britain's reproductive
science regulator is considering the country's first request to clone
human embryos. A team of scientists from Newcastle has made the
application to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
Teen girls arrested over suicide bomb plot. Two Palestinian girls,
aged 14 and 15, have been arrested in the West Bank town of Nablus on
suspicion of plotting a suicide bombing, according to an Israeli
source. "Soldiers spotted 2 Palestinian activists, one of them armed
with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and the other a pistol, and opened
fire at them," the source said.
US soldier charged over fatal Iraq shooting. The United States Army
is bringing murder charges against a soldier who fatally shot an Iraqi
man who was already badly wounded after a high speed chase in Iraq.
"Charges have been preferred," Lieutenant Colonel Pamela Hart, an Army
spokeswoman at the Pentagon said.
Corruption watchdog 'should oversee public service'. The Commonwealth
Government is being urged to consider widening a new corruption
watchdog to take in federal public servants. The Government has
announced plans for a new body to investigate corruption in national
law enforcement agencies such as the Australian Federal Police and the
Australian Crime Commission.
Injection puts a stop to infidelity -- in voles. Scientists have come
up with an injection that stops meadow voles from cheating on their
partners, something many human lovers may covet. Scientists say a
single gene inserted into the brain can change promiscuous male
rodents into faithful, monogamous partners.
6 pm
A car bomb in Baghdad has killed 35 people and wounded at least 130.
The bomb exploded nr a line of men queueing in front of an army
recruitment centre in the Iraqi capital. US military reps say it was
a suicide attack. Mark Kimmitt has condemned the incident, saying it
was a a "dreadful occurrence". It's the 2nd attack on the same
recruitment centre. 47 were killed there in a Feb bomb attack.
The US Army is bringing murder charges against a soldier who fatally
shot an Iraqi man who was already badly wounded after a high speed
chase in Iraq.
The official investigation into the Sep 11, 2001 attacks says in a
report there is no "credible evidence" that Iraq helped Al Qaeda in
any attacks against the US.
For all their coordinated carnage, the terrorist attacks on Sep 11,
2001 sprang from a shifting and problem-plagued plot that some
terrorist leaders wanted to call off, according to an official US report.
The Fed Opp'n is intensifying pressure on Def Min Robert Hill to
resign over the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Sen Hill has indicated
he had info about POW abuses in Iraq as early as mid-2003, but did
nothing about it and requested no clarification from Aussie military
on the scene.
3 US soldiers have been killed and 25 people wounded, including 2
foreign civilians, in a rocket attack in the city of Balad, 75 km N of
Baghdad, the US military says.
A new survey shows Vicns overwhelming support a royal commission into
allegations of police corruption.
Lawyers have foreshadowed possible attempts to delay the trials of
accused MEL drug dealer, Carl Williams.
The Commonwealth Govt is being urged to consider widening a new
corruption watchdog to take in fed public servants.
9.30 pm
The Iraqi PM has accused "foreign states" of being behind the latest
recruiting stn attack in Baghdad. Young recruits queueing up were killed
when a car exploded at the gate of the compound. There has been no
claim of responsibility. The US had warned of increased violence in
the lead-up to the arbitrary Jun 30 hand-over of "sovereignty".
The EU has pledged $100 mn for Sudan. 1/2 the money will be committed
to the Darfur region.
Ford AUS has recalled 230,000 vehicles over concerns with their
steering. It's the biggest recall in Aussie history. Ford says there
have been no reported accidents related to the suspected fault.
MEL. Investors in the world's first publicly listed brothel -- the
Daily Planet -- have decided to sell the business because of poor
returns. Dirs have blamed govt red tape for cutting into profitability.
Oil is trading around $US37.72/bbl.
A letter dated Nov 6, 1940 has been unearthed at the US nat'l
archives. It's a request for money, written by a 14 yo boy to
FDR. The boy asks for a $10 bill, because he's never seen one.
Signed, Your friend, Fidel Castro.
10.30 pm
An Iraqi army officer says the attack on the army recruiting post in
Baghdad today was a suicide car bombing, making it less likely to be
the work of former Baathists. This is the 2nd attack on the same
recruitment centre, giving the lie to earlier claims the building was
being made "safe".
11 pm
Belgium's most hated man has been found guilty. Marc Dutroux
has been found guilty of child murder, kidnap and rape. He's been
found guilty of leading a band of criminals who were charged on more
than 200 counts. Dutroux admitted kidnapping some of the girls, as
well as sex abuse while keeping them prisoner in his house. He's been
found guilty of 3 counts of homicide.
}}
----------------------------------------
Fri, 18 Jun 2004.
HEADLINES:
Oil price climbs on Iraq attacks
Oil chief raises greenhouse fears
Summit to combat rising child abuse rate
Labor demands full disclosure on Iraq abuse
Rush to hand Saddam over to Iraqis helps no one
Pentagon Acknowledges secret detention in Iraq
More questions over Iraq war
Foreigners blamed for Iraq attacks
Bush tells troops "life is better" in Iraq as hand-over nears
Bush insists Iraq, al Qaeda had 'relationship'
As bombers strike, UN says Iraq too dangerous
Al-Qaeda rebuffed by Iraq in 1990s
"We have some planes": Sept 11 tapes revealed
9/11 Commission: officials slow to react
APEC meeting finishes with indigenous declaration
AUS boosts aid to Sudan
Abbott urges mothers not to delay delivery
Bad weather hampers whale rescue efforts
Canada's Conservatives, Liberals in a dead heat, SES poll says
Cane growers receive grants but urged to diversify
Church tribunal told former priest should be de-frocked
Court told of underworld murder plot
Drive-by shooting hits Fenech's home
Fast food fine in moderation, PM says
Former pro athlete appeals against tax decision
Gaza moat plan aims to stop weapons smuggling
Gibson tops 'Forbes' powerful celebrity list
Govts increase spending on disease prevention programs
Hazzard lights Miles Franklin judges' fires
Hopes stranded whale may return to the sea
Investigations continue into recovered paintings
Islamic militants urged to free hostage
Israel plans Gaza-Egypt trench
JI does exist: Indon think-tank
Letters shock interim Anglican head
Min issues weeds warning
Nats accuse Qld Govt of funding obscenity
Penguin banding likely to be outlawed
Petro-Canada to buy back as many as 21 mn shares
Police called in over Brit "Big Brother" blue
Police quiz group over stolen "Cezanne"
Prisoner's identity concealed to prevent Red Cross access
Raids net illegal plant, animal products
Roche appeals expected to be heard together
SA Oppn airs court sentencing concerns
Sadr loyalists begin Najaff withdrawal
Senate votes to add 20,000 troops to army
Sex slavery targeted in $20m plan
Telstra reaches deal over Reach debts
Theophanous fails to clear name over corruption
UN chief opposes US bid for war crime immunity
US dollar slips despite positive signals
US has secret prisons: rights group
WA lawyers back Indigenous consideration in sentencing
Welfare groups call for ban on foreign betting exchanges
Women urged not to delay breast checks
Oil price climbs on Iraq attacks
Saudi Arabia's plan to increase production has cooled record prices
London (BBC). The price of crude oil has climbed after saboteurs
attacked pipelines across Iraq, all but halting output.
Investor concerns were also amplified by the bomb attacks that on Thu
claimed more than 40 lives in and around the capital, Baghdad.
Oil-cartel OPEC is planning a boost in production to soothe market
nerves but fears persist that a major disruption to supply will lead
to a shortages.
Crude rose 1.3% to $37.80 in NY and was trading at $35.64 in London.
* Cool off?
While that is well below the record of almost $42 set last m, analysts
are wary of predicting a drop in crude prices and many have said that
the days of cheap oil are over.
OPEC admitted on Thu that the world's thirst for crude had taken it by
surprise and forecast that demand would increase even further in the
2nd half of this y.
"Fuelled by the remarkable pace of growth in the world economy, the
strength of the ongoing surge in oil demand was not fully anticipated
until rather late," the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries said in a report.
"The surprising record rise in consumption has led to continuous
upward revisions to demand projections for 2003 and 2004, and has
created a time lag in the entire supply chain."
"For now, the market still appears to be able to absorb rising crude
oil supply."
Petro-Canada to buy back as many as 21 mn shares
June 17 (Bloomberg). Petro-Canada, the third-largest Canadian oil
company, will buy back as many as 21 mn of its shares, which have
fallen 14% in the past 5 m.
The buy-back of as much as 7.9% of outstanding shares would cost the
Calgary-based company a maximum of $C1.24 bn [$US900,000] at today's
closing price. It comes after announcements by Petro-Canada of $1.37
bn in oil and natural-gas acquisitions in the past month.
"Our strategy is to fund profitable growth and to increase shareholder
value," Petro-Canada rep Michelle Harries said in an interview. "This
is the 2nd part of our strategy that we are now executing."
Shares of Petro-Canada rose 75 Canadian cents to $C59.15 on the
Toronto Stock Exchange.
The stock has fallen from a record close of $C68.65 on Jan 23. It
plunged 12% on Jan. 29 after the company reported a 44% drop in
first-quarter profit and said production of oil and natural gas would
fall 3.2% this year.
The company last bought back stock starting in Nov 2000, acquiring
13.3 mn shares over the following year.
* 'Cheaper Way'
Petro-Canada last wk agreed to buy Denver-based Prima Energy Corp for
$534 mn to tap natural-gas reserves in the US Rocky Mountains
region. On May 25, the company agreed to acquire a 29.9% stake in the
N Sea's Buzzard oil field for $840 mn in cash.
Buying back shares "is a much cheaper way to create some per-share
growth over the next couple of y than going out and buying an asset or
a company," said Amir Arif, an analyst at Friedman Billings Ramsey &
Co, who rates Petro-Canada shares "outperform" and owns none. "To make
an acquisition to achieve per-share production growth would be very expensive."
The Prima acquisition will add a relatively small amount to
Petro-Canada's production right away, while the oilfield purchase
isn't expected to have an impact for a couple of years, Arif said.
Prima produces the equivalent of 55 mn cubic feet a natural gas a day,
compared with Petro-Canada's average Q1 gas output of 869 mn cubic
feet a day [whatever in metric].
Petro-Canada is 18% owned by the Canadian govt, which said in March
that it would consider selling its stake within a year.
Imperial Oil Ltd is Canada's largest oil and gas producer by sales,
followed by EnCana Corp.
US dollar slips despite positive signals
NY/Sydney. The rally in the USD has run out of steam overnight
despite more reasonably positive signals on the US economy.
The Philadelphia Fed Reserve's measure of manufacturing activity in
the mid-Atlantic region has turned in a stronger than expected reading.
However, some of the components of the overall index have been a
little shaky, with lower numbers for new orders, prices paid and employment.
Meanwhile, the private sector Conference Board's leading indicators of
economic activity have exceeded the forecasts of market economists,
lending some support to trade in the USD.
Elsewhere, wholesale inflation has risen more than expected and US
producer prices are up 0.8 per cent in May. It is the sharpest
increase since March last y.
After some bouncing around in the American dollar's value, it is now
broadly weaker against other major currencies, but that has not done
much to help the AUD.
At about 7.45 am AEST the local currency was being quoted at 68.05 US
cents and on the cross rates, it is at 56.51 euros; 74.48 yen; 37.09
pence sterling and is worth 1.092 against the NZ dollar.
On Wall Street there has been little overall change in prices on the NYSE.
The producer price figures and rising oil prices are keeping the focus
on inflation prospects while US investors also remain wary amid the
ongoing attacks in Iraq.
The DJIA has closed 2 points lower at 10,378 and the high-tech Nasdaq
composite index has fallen 14.5 points to 1,984.
There has been a small advance on the Brit share market with London's
FT100 index up 2 points at 4,493.
The Aussie market yesterday continued on its record breaking path with
the All Ordinaries index hitting another all-time high and finishing
22 points up at 3,507.
The resources sector performed strongly and BHP Billiton shares rose 9
cents, Rio Tinto rose 22 cents and WMC Resources rose 16 cents.
Building materials heavyweight Rinker also climbed 17 cents higher to
finish trading at $7.92, with its Readymix subsidiary swallowing up 2
small concrete Qld companies.
The 3 listed Westfield vehicles all gained more than 2% in value.
The gold price has risen to $US388.90/oz and W Texas crude oil has
jumped to $US38.51/bbl.
APEC meeting finishes with indigenous declaration
KL. The 1st Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) mining
ministers' meeting has finished with a joint declaration calling on
the industry to do more for indigenous populations affected by mining
operations.
The joint declaration said the industry should reach out and work with
local communities and it specifically called for the promotion of "a
culture of harmony between the mining industry and local populations".
The bid to improve relations was part of a wider demand to promote
sustainable mining in the Asia Pacific region.
The ministers are also planning to protest to the European Union (EU)
over a move to restrict the use of chemicals in mining.
In a joint declaration, the ministers have said the move could amount
to a trade ban and increase the cost of mining in the Asia Pacific region.
The ministers said that Europe's proposed tough new chemical policy
was over the top.
They said the plan was not proportional to the size of the problem and
it would hurt the industry and raise costs.
The EU effectively wants to ban, or restrict, the use of some chemicals
that are widely used in the mining industry and could refuse to buy
products that did not comply.
APEC nations dominate the mining industry and all the major players,
including China, Japan, AUS and the US, signed the latest declarations.
Oil chief raises greenhouse fears
The new chairman of Shell has raised fears about carbon dioxide emissions.
London (ABC, Kirsten Aiken). The head of one of the world's biggest
oil companies has revealed he fears for the planet's future if carbon
dioxide emissions cannot be controlled.
The new chairman of Shell, Lord Ron Oxburgh, says he sees very little
hope for the world unless carbon dioxide emissions are dealt with.
He told the Guardian newspaper the consequences resulting from the
current level of emissions cannot be predicted and are "probably not good".
Lord Oxburgh suggests the only way forward is to embrace sequestration --
a technique involving the trapping and underground storage of greenhouse
gases.
But he admitted there might not be enough time for it to work.
A rep for Shell says while the company agrees with Lord Oxburgh's
concerns, it has no plans to enhance its greenhouse gas reduction program.
Senate votes to add 20,000 troops to army
Washington. Defying the Bush Admin, the Senate voted overwhelmingly
Thu to add 20,000 troops to an Army stretched thin by the war in Iraq
and other commitments around the world.
The 93-4 vote in the Republican-led Senate -- following a similar
action by the House -- reflected the anxieties lawmakers have been
hearing from families of service personnel whose tours in Iraq keep
getting extended and whose return to civilian life is repeatedly postponed.
Sen John McCain, R-Ariz, said the lack of troops at the end of major
combat in Iraq cost the military an opportunity to stop the violence
that continues today.
"We didn't have enough people on the ground, and now we are paying a
very, very heavy price for that incredible mistake on the part of the
civilian leadership in the Pentagon of the US," he said.
The increase was approved as an amendment to a $447 bn defence
authorisation bill. Under the proposal by Sen Jack Reed, D-RI, the
size of the Army would increase by about 4%, to 502,400.
Congressional aides estimated the cost at $1.7 bn.
Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va, supported the
amendment after it was modified to specify that the money would come
from a $25 bn fund within the bill for Iraq and Afghanistan operations
or from a future emergency spending bill.
"The Army needs this active duty strength. We are in agreement, I
think, on this point," he said.
Army leaders oppose a permanent increase in troop strength, saying they
can do the job with the current force once it is organised more efficiently.
The Army also had a higher cost estimate for the additional troops.
Army Chief of Staff Gen Peter J Schoomaker told reporters this week
it costs the Army $3.6 bn a y to keep 10,000 soldiers trained and
equipped, and the Army would struggle if given 1000s of extra troops
without the money to pay for them.
"Congress can only fund us one y at a time," Schoomaker said
Tue. "They can encumber us forever. We are very reluctant to be
encumbered by more than is necessary."
Earlier this y, Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld approved temporarily
increasing in the Army's strength by 30,000 more than its congressionally
authorised size of 482,400. Army officials have said that was
necessary only so the Army could fight in Iraq and Afghanistan and
reorganise at the same time.
As originally drafted, the Senate bill would have given the Army the
flexibility to add 30,000 troops, but wouldn't have required it to do so.
The House version of the defence bill, approved last m, would add
30,000 Army soldiers and 9,000 Marines over 3 y.
The Whitehouse criticised the House provisions. "A mandatory increase
would lack flexibility and could leave troop levels higher than
needed, especially after several [Defence Dept] initiatives to reduce
demand on the force have had time to work," it said in a statement.
Voting against the Reed amendment were Republicans Gordon Smith of
Oregon, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Larry Craig of Idaho and Craig
Thomas of Wyoming. Not voting were Sens. John Kerry , D-Mass, and
Republicans Robert Bennett of Utah and James Inhofe of Oklahoma.
On another amendment, Senate Republicans defeated a proposal by Sen
Joseph Biden, D-Del, to roll back some of Pres Bush 's tax cuts for
the wealthiest Americans to help pay for the Iraq war. A similar
proposal by Biden was also rejected last year. The 53-44 vote was
largely along party lines.
Biden said, "The idea that if we ask the wealthiest Americans among us
to contribute to the war effort, the idea that they are unwilling to
do that is preposterous."
But Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Biden's
bill would hurt small businesses. "It's a tax increase during an
economic recovery," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said he hopes the overall bill will
be ready for final approval Tue. The House and Senate language will
have to be reconciled before the bill is sent to Bush.
Bush tells troops "life is better" in Iraq as hand-over nears
MacDill AFB, Fla (NY Times News). 2 wk before the hand over of
sovereignty to a new Iraqi govt, Pres Bush told 1000s of American
troops here and around the world on Wed that "a democratic, free Iraq
is on the way," and insisted that despite the daily toll of the
insurgency the country's economy is growing and "life is better."
Bush's speech here at the HQ of the US Central Command, which oversees
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, came only a day after a poll of
Iraqis commissioned by the American-led Coalition Provisional
Authority painted a very different picture -- one in which the
occupation is overwhelmingly unpopular and sentiment is rising for
American troops to leave the country.
Yet to the cheers of troops here, and others connected via a video
link in Bagram, Afghanistan, and a hangar at the Baghdad airport, Bush
insisted that over the long run Iraqis will be grateful for the
occupation, which he likened to the American reconstruction of
Germany. After the hand over of power on June 30, he said, American
troops will take on the role of "supporting" Iraqi forces, and he
insisted it will become clear that the insurgents are "not fighting
foreign forces, they're fighting the Iraqi people."
Bush has repeatedly returned to Florida, a state he narrowly won in
2000 and that is widely viewed as up for grabs this y, to drive home
the major themes of his campaign. So it was no surprise that he chose
Centcom, as it is known, for another of his speeches explaining his
goals in Iraq.
Local TV coverage was heavy, and Air Force One was parked as a
backdrop outside the hangar where he spoke. His welcome was
overwhelming, as it often is when he visits military bases, though
this time he referred to the strain that long deployments are creating
among families here.
Bush's aides are increasingly apprehensive about the drop in his
approval ratings that polls indicate are largely attributable to his
handling of Iraq and the prison abuse scandal. Publicly, they express
confidence those numbers will recover once Iraq settles down. Privately,
they say they are uncertain it will settle down in time for the election.
On Wed, Bush focused on the best news he could find in the 14 days
before the hand over: He argued that 1000s of schools have reopened and
that electricity has been restored, not mentioning that electricity is
being generated far below the levels his own Admin set as a goal. He
described the country as a thriving start-up venture in democratic capitalism.
"Markets are beginning to thrive, new businesses have opened, a stable
new currency is in place, dozens of political parties are organising,
100s of courts of law are opening across the country," Bush
said. "Today in Iraq more than 170 newspapers are being published."
Of the violence in Iraq, he pledged that "the traitors will be defeated."
"Their greatest fear is an Iraqi govt of, by and for the Iraqi
people," he said. "And no matter what the terrorists plan, no matter
what they attempt, a democratic, free Iraq is on the way."
Bush's expected opponent in this y's election, Sen John Kerry, shot
back with a critique of the war. "The US should never go to war
because it wants to," Kerry said.
"The US should only go to war because it has to. This president failed
the test in Iraq."
In a Whitehouse that usually prides itself on exquisite political
timing, Bush's speech came only an hour or so before the 9/11
commission declared that there had been no cooperation between
al-Qaeda and the now-deposed regime of Saddam Hussein. That alleged
collaboration, and the prospect that the 2 could share weapons of mass
destruction, was one of the arguments the Admin marshaled last y to
lend a sense of urgency to confronting Hussein. And in his talk to the
troops, Bush melded the fights in Afghanistan and Iraq into a single,
broader struggle against "terrorists in distant lands."
Bush's effort on Wed to merge those conflicts under the umbrella of a
war on terror led to an immediate response from 2 of Kerry's top nat'l
security advisers: former defence secretary William Perry and Sen Bob
Graham, Democrat of Florida.
Graham, who has spent y on the Senate Intel Committee and is
considered a VP-ial contender, said Bush had "essentially ignored the
war on terror" in Afghanistan once he began to divert troops to Iraq,
a country that Graham argued posed no terror threat to the US until
the fall of Saddam Hussein made it a haven for terrorism.
Perry, who has been informally advising the presumptive Democratic
nominee, told reporters in a conference call that "the reality is that
we do not have enough boots on the ground in Iraq to maintain security
in a country as large as Iraq in the face of insurgent operation."
Canada's Conservatives, Liberals in a dead heat, SES poll says
Ottawa (Bloomberg). Canada's governing Liberal Party and the
Conservative Party, its main opp'n, remained in a dead heat in the
latest daily poll by SES Research, suggesting 2 TV debates
this wk had little affect on front-runners for the June 28 election.
PM Paul Martin's Liberals and Stephen Harper's Conservatives each had
the backing of 32% of 600 people surveyed June 14-16, SES reported on
its Web site. The Conservatives had 34% and the Liberals 32%
yesterday. The poll's margin of error is 4.1 points.
The New Democratic Party, led by former Toronto municipal councillor
Jack Layton, gained the most after a televised debate in French in Mon
and another in English on Tue, the SES survey suggests. The party's
support rose to 21 percent from 19% yesterday.
Bush insists Iraq, al Qaeda had 'relationship'
Washington (CNN). Pres Bush on Thu said that there were "numerous
contacts" between Iraq and the terror network.
Bush, in a brief appearance before reporters, was asked why the Admin
insists that Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda had a relationship "when even
you have denied any connection between Saddam and Sep 11, and now the
Sep 11 commission says that there was no collaborative relationship at all?"
The president answered:"The reason I keep insisting that there was a
relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al Qaeda, because there was a
relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda."
Bush reiterated that the Admin never said that "the 9/11 attacks were
orchestrated" between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. "We did say there
were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda," he said.
He referred to meetings in Sudan between Iraqi intel agents and al
Qaeda and said Saddam had connections with organisations considered by
the US to be terror groups -- including Abu Nidal. That group is a
spinoff from the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
In the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, Bush had made stronger
statements alleging cooperation between Iraq and al Qaeda. In a Oct
2002 speech, he said, "Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in
bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases."
The initial report from the 9/11 commission, which held a public
hearing Wed and Thu, said Osama bin Laden "explored possible
cooperation with Iraq during his time in Sudan, despite his opp'n to
[Saddam] Hussein's secular regime."
It says the contact was pushed by the Sudanese "to protect their own
ties with Iraq." After bin Laden asked for space in Iraq for training
camps, the report said, "Iraq apparently never responded."
It also said:"There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and
al Qaeda also occurred after bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan,
but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship."
"I always said that Saddam Hussein was a threat," Bush said. He was "a
threat because he provided safe haven for a terrorist like [Abu Musab
al-] Zarqawi, who is still killing innocents inside of Iraq."
Al-Qaeda rebuffed by Iraq in 1990s
Hussein rejected alliance y before 9/11 attacks
Washington (Baltimore Sun). Osama bin Laden and his associates tried
to build a relationship with Iraq in the 1990s but were rebuffed by
Saddam Hussein, who refused to help al-Qaeda set up training camps and
obtain weapons, the commission looking into the Sep 11 attacks said yesterday.
The bipartisan commission concluded that Iraq and al-Qaeda never
developed a "collaborative relationship," even though Pres Bush and
VP Dick Cheney have long argued that they did. The Bush Admin
made that argument to justify, in part, Bush's decision to invade Iraq
and topple Hussein.
As recently as Mon in a speech in Florida, Cheney referred to
Hussein's "long established ties with al-Qaeda."
Whitehouse aides downplayed the new finding, arguing that even if Iraq
and al-Qaeda did not collaborate closely, there was enough evidence of
ties between the 2 to have caused alarm. These officials say, for
example, that Hussein offered haven to some al-Qaeda operatives. They
insist that Hussein's links to al-Qaeda and other terrorists made him
a dangerous threat.
"This was a terrible man who did very terrible things to his own people,
to his neighbouring countries" Dan Bartlett, the Whitehouse communications
director, said on CNN. "He had close ties to terrorist organisations.
He was a threat, and it was important that we remove that threat."
* 'Reached too far'
The commission's report could fuel criticism of the president at a
time when a growing number of Americans are expressing doubts about
whether invading Iraq was worth the cost. The failure to find weapons
of mass destruction had already undercut the principal argument Bush
used to go to war.
Sen John Kerry, Bush's likely opponent in Nov, charged that the Bush
Admin "misled America" and "reached too far."
"They did not tell the truth to Americans about what was happening, or
their intentions," Kerry said.
According to the commission, al-Qaeda operatives, and in one instance
bin Laden himself, met with a snr Iraqi intel officer in Sudan in 1994.
They asked for assistance from Hussein's regime in finding locations
to train and in procuring weapons. At the time, bin Laden was reaching
out to a handful of Islamic govts for help in expanding his network.
Hussein "apparently never responded" to bin Laden's overtures, the
report said. Since then, it said, "two snr bin Laden associates have
adamantly denied that any ties existed between al-Qaeda and Iraq."
Meanwhile, the commission also found "no credible evidence" that Iraq
cooperated with al-Qaeda to plan and carry out the Sep 11 attacks or
any other attacks on Americans. They reported that the 9/11 ringleader,
Mohamed Atta, did not meet with Iraqi officials in Prague in Apr 2001,
as the Bush Admin initially asserted. Months ago, the Whitehouse
acknowledged there was little evidence such a meeting ever took place.
The commission said it had cell-phone records placing Atta in Florida,
when the meeting with Iraqi agents was supposed to have happened in Prague.
* A tenuous link
On Tue, Bush was asked for the best evidence of a relationship between
Iraq and al-Qaeda. He noted Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born
terrorist whom Admin officials placed in Baghdad before the war in
Iraq and who has been tied to some attacks carried out in Iraq since
Bush declared major combat over last y.
US officials have testified that Zarqawi has a loose affiliation with
al-Qaeda but that he operates autonomously and chooses targets on his own.
The president referred Tue to a letter Zarqawi wrote more than a y
after the 9/11 attacks to al-Qaeda operatives. In that letter,
obtained by US agents, Zarqawi said he would swear allegiance to bin
Laden if al-Qaeda worked with him to fight American occupiers in Iraq.
"Zarqawi is the best evidence of connection," the president said. He
reiterated his argument that Hussein "was no doubt a destabilising
force, and we did the absolute right thing in removing him from power."
Some of Bush's critics had maintained that contacts between the 2
seemed all but impossible because bin Laden is an Islamic
fundamentalist, while Hussein's regime was secular Muslim, and the
Iraqi leader had publicly criticised bin Laden in the past.
While the commission report showed that there was minimal contact
between Iraq and al-Qaeda, Bush and Cheney and their surrogates have
repeatedly portrayed a much cozier relationship, often by commingling
language about the 9/11 attacks and Iraq in speeches.
Last year, Cheney said in a television interview, "If we're successful
in Iraq ... then we will have struck a major blow right at the heart
of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who
had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11."
The president has since said his Admin does not believe Hussein was
involved in 9/11.
* Rumour persists
Still, polls taken last y found a majority of Americans believed
Hussein helped plot Sep 11, despite no known evidence. Random
interviews with voters, meanwhile, have suggested that Americans who
believe Hussein helped plan the Sep 11 attacks were more likely to
support Bush's decision to invade Iraq.
Yesterday, Secretary of State Colin L Powell said the Admin was
maintaining its position in light of the new report.
"We have seen these connections between al-Qaeda and the regime of
Saddam Hussein, and we stick with that," Powell said. "We have not
said it was related to 9/11."
More questions over Iraq war
Canberra (The Australian). More questions have been raised about
AUS's involvement in the Iraq war after a US report found no links
between terror group al-Qaeda and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Opp'n foreign affairs rep Kevin Rudd said the US report into the Sep
11 attacks had torpedoed PM John Howard's reasons for joining the
coalition of the willing. But Defence Min Robert Hill said AUS joined
the campaign because Iraq failed to comply with UN resolutions on
weapons of mass destruction rather than links to Sep 11. Sen Hill
said the war had more to do with what the world believed were Iraq's
chemical and biological weapons, and its aspirations for nuclear
weapons. "Our reason for going to war ... was the inability of the
Security Council to deal effectively with the WMD issue, in their
failure to address that and to ensure the world that Saddam Hussein
had disposed of those weapons," Sen Hill said.
JI does exist: Indon think-tank
Jakarta (AAP). An Indonesian political think-tank says it has proven
the deadly Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network does exist in Indonesia,
despite claims to the contrary by the govt and the country's likely
next president.
The Yogyakarta-based Siyasa Research Institute, which traces Islamic
radicalism, said an 18-m investigation into JI's operations had proved
what most people outside Indonesia already believed -- that the
network's tentacles spread right across SE Asia.
"Although many still doubt the existence of the organisation, JI is a
radical movement and it is established in Indonesia," institute
director Agus Maftuh Abegeriel told AAP.
"I have traced its roots right back to its 1st establishment in Egypt."
While Indonesian police have blamed the al-Qaeda-linked JI for a
string of terrorist attacks across Indonesia since 2000, including the
Bali bombings, the govt and many leading figures claim there is no
evidence of the network's existence.
It's alleged spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir is facing a fresh trial
on terrorism charges in Jakarta after a previous trial failed to prove
JI links.
The issue is sensitive in Muslim Indonesia, because Jemaah Islamiah
translates as "Islamic community" and the govt fears a backlash from
Islamic voters if they outlaw the organisation, particularly in an
election year.
On Wed, presidential election frontrunner and former top security
minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he could not outlaw an
organisation which had never been proven to operate in Indonesia.
Agus said JI's existence in Indonesia was proven by its operations
manual, known as the PUPJI, or General Guidelines of Jemaah Islamiah's
Struggle, which listed its strategies and ultimate aim of a regional
Islamic super-community or nation.
Backed by evidence from militants jailed in Indonesia and several
neighbouring countries, he said JI wanted to turn Indonesia into a
hardline Islamic state, drawing in Singapore, Malaysia, the
Philippines and N AUS as well.
The institute's findings back info obtained on JI by the Internat'l
Crisis Group, which was recently expelled from Indonesia after
clashing with the country's intel chief over several reports detailing
security failings.
The report was released as police beefed up security at the Aussie and
other foreign embassies and housing complexes after intel reports
suggesting Islamic militants were planning to assassinate Aussie and
other foreign diplomats.
Authorities said they were hunting a team of JI assassins who had
recently arrived in Indonesia to kill foreign business people and
ambassadors, prompting fresh travel warnings about the country.
Investigators said they also arrested a dentist who made death threats
against expatriate workers at a Sulawesi mine, prompting their
evacuation amid fears of a JI attack.
The Far Eastern Economic Review this wk claimed the dentist's arrest
was unrelated to the upgrading of travel warnings and, citing
unidentified W sources, claimed the assassination squad was working to
a six-wk timetable for its 1st attack.
9/11 Commission: officials slow to react
Washington (AP). Blindsided by terrorists and beset by poor
communications, officials were so slow to react on Sept 11, 2001, that
the last of 4 hijacked planes had crashed by the time VP Dick
Cheney ordered hostile aircraft shot down, a bipartisan commission
reported Thu.
In an unflinching report, the panel depicted the Fed Aviation Admin as
slow to alert the military to the hijackings -- even failing to pass
along word that one of the planes had been seized.
In testimony before the panel, Gen Ralph Eberhart said military pilots
would have been able to "shoot down the airplanes" if word of the
hijackings had been immediate. The commission, though, made no such claim.
Some military pilots "were never briefed about the reason they were
scrambled," the panel said. The Secret Service, worried about a plane
approaching the capital, went "outside the chain of command" to ask
for warplanes to be sent aloft.
Pres Bush, in Florida when the terrorists struck, was not immune to
communications woes. The cmdr in chief later told interviewers he had
been frustrated that day at delays in establishing secure phone links
with officials in a capital city feared under attack.
"There was a real problem with communications that morning," the
commission's chairman, former NJ Gov Thomas Kean, told reporters.
"There were a lot of people who should have been in the loop who were
not in the loop."
The commission sketched its picture as it neared the end of an
exhaustive investigation into terrorist attacks that killed nearly
3,000. Terrorists seized 4 planes on a single day, flying 2 of them
into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon.
The 4th, headed for Washington, DC, crashed in the Pennsylvania
countryside after passengers struggled with their hijackers.
"The nation owes a debt to the passengers. ... Their actions saved the
lives of countless others and may have saved either the US Capitol or
the Whitehouse from destruction," the commission's report said.
It noted that officials at NORAD -- the N American Aerospace Defense
Command -- maintain they could have intercepted and shot down the
plane, United Flight 93. "We are not sure," the commission said.
Eberhart, the NORAD cmdr, made an even bolder claim as he testified
before the panel. He said all 4 planes could have been shot from the
sky if the FAA had informed the military as soon as it knew of each hijacking.
"If that is the case, yes, we could shoot down the airplanes," he said.
It was a claim the panel steered clear of making, and none of the
commissioners responded when he made it.
As is its custom, the commission had its staff report read aloud, a
recitation spiced by snippets of taped audio conversations that most
Americans were hearing for the 1st time.
"We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you'll be OK We are
returning to the airport," says one voice, believed to belong to
Mohamed Atta, the alleged ringleader of 19 hijackers.
Those few chilling words, heard at the FAA's Boston Center, were the
first the govt knew of any of the hijackings.
Moments later, there was more. "Nobody move. Everything will be OK.
If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the
airplane. Just stay quiet."
On the ground, there was skepticism bordering on disbelief. "Is this
real-world or exercise?" an unidentified NORAD official said when told
by the FAA there was a need to send F-16 fighter planes aloft.
"No, this is not an exercise, not a test," came back the reply.
In a tunnel beneath the Whitehouse, Cheney talked later to the
president. The VP subsequently told commissioners Bush had authorised
orders for military pilots to shoot down hijacked aircraft that
refused to follow orders.
Cheney issued the orders on several occasion, the report said, unaware
that the last of the 4 hijacked planes -- heading for Washington --
had already crashed in Pennsylvania.
A half hour later, Cheney erroneously told Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld he
believed military pilots had "already taken a couple of aircraft out."
Adding to the woes were reports of additional terrorist activities.
"We fought many phantoms that day," testified Gen Richard Myers,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He noted that reports of car
bombings and other terrorist acts spread quickly -- and falsely.
About a half hour after the last of the 4 seized planes crashed came
word of another intruder aloft. "Eventually, the shelter received word
that the alleged hijackers 5 miles away had been a Medevac helicopter,"
the report said.
"The front line civilian and military agencies struggled to "improvise
a homeland defence against an unprecedented challenge they had never
encountered and had never trained to meet," the panel said.
Whatever the problems, the panel praised the actions of govt personnel
forced to make split-second decisions. Air traffic controllers brought
nearly 4,500 planes safely to the ground, for example, juggling many
more aircraft than usual once the skies were ordered cleared.
The commission held its final day of public hearings as Bush
challenged its day-old finding that there had been no "collaborative
relationship" between Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaeda terrorists
responsible for the attacks.
"There was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda," Bush
insisted. "This Admin never said that the 9/11 attacks were
orchestrated between Saddam and al-Qaeda."
"We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and
al-Qaeda, for example, Iraqi intel agents met with [Osama] bin Laden,
the head of al-Qaeda in the Sudan."
The commission had investigated the meeting, and said it did not
indicate the terrorists and Iraqi president were forging ties.
The difference is potentially a significant one, since Bush and top
Admin officials cited ties between al-Qaeda and Saddam in the run-up
to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Neither Kean, nor former Democratic Rep Lee Hamilton, the
commission's vice chairman, showed any inclination for a public spat
with Bush on the issue.
Hamilton said, "The sharp differences that the press has drawn ....
are not that apparent to me."
"We have some planes": Sept 11 tapes revealed
Transmissions reveal Sep 11 confusion.
Washington (AFP). Officials investigating the Sep 11 terrorist
attacks have revealed radio transmissions of the hijackers addressing
passengers and authorities scrambling to decide on a response.
The official inquiry into the attacks has also revealed that the
plotters initially planned to hijack 10 planes and attack targets on
the E and W coasts of the US.
The plan also involved hijacking planes flying from South-East Asia
and exploding them in mid-air, or flying them into US targets in
Japan, Singapore or Korea.
A report by the US commission examining the terrorist attacks made
public some unnervingly calm radio transmissions from the hijackers of
the 4 airliners used to kill nearly 3,000 people in 2001.
"We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you'll be okay. We are
returning to the airport," one of the hijackers of American Airlines
Flight 11 from Boston said just 22 minutes before it crashed into New
York's World Trade Centre.
Seconds later came a followup: "Nobody move. Everything will be okay.
If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the
airplane. Just stay quiet."
10 minutes after that: "Nobody move please. We are going back to the
airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves."
* 'We have a problem here'
By this time, Boston controllers began to realise what they were up
against and desperately phoned around for military help, finally
reaching the Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) at 8.37 am.
"We have a problem here. We have a hijacked aircraft headed towards
New York and we need you guys to, we need someone to scramble some
F-16s or something up there, help us out," a controller said.
"Is this real-world or exercise?" came the response.
"No, this is not an exercise, not a test."
9 minutes later, the Boeing 767 slammed into the trade centre's north
tower and the US's nightmare had begun.
About the same time, United Airlines Flight 175, also en route from
Boston to Los Angeles, was slipping into New York airspace and
changing its transponder codes to avoid detection.
New York controllers tried to alert their managers but were told they
were too busy dealing with the 1st hijacking. In a voice tinged with
panic, one official called the Fed Aviation Admin (FAA) command centre
in Virginia.
* 'Escalating big time'
"We have several situations going on here. It's escalating big, big
time. We need to get the military involved with us," he said. "We're
involved with something else, we have other aircraft that may have a
similar situation going on here."
Just over a minute later, at 9:03 am, United 175 barrelled into the
south tower of the trade centre, confirming for all the world that the
US was under a major terrorist attack.
Meanwhile, American Airlines Flight 77, which took off from Washington's
Dulles Airport bound for LA, had turned around and was bearing down on
the capital, unbeknownst to air controllers who were spinning in confusion.
The military scrambled fighters to intercept what they thought was
American Flight 11 coming down from NY. But instead of flying north,
the jets headed E over the Atlantic Ocean.
When American 77 was finally spotted, a cargo pilot flying in the area
for the Nat'l Guard was ordered to track it. The pilot reported drily a
few minutes later: "Looks like that aircraft crashed into the Pentagon, sir."
The final drama was unfolding over the mid-western US where United
Airlines Flight 93 en route from Newark, NJ, to San Francisco, had cut
its transponder and turned back toward the nation's capital.
Local controllers suggested calling in the military and the FAA's
Command Centre in Virginia bounced the recommendation off to the
agency's HQ. The reaction was far from comforting.
* Scrambling aircraft
"Do we want to think about, uh, scrambling aircraft?"
"God, I don't know."
"That's a decision somebody's gonna have to make probably in the next
10 minutes."
"Uh, you know, everybody just left the room."
United 93 crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside at 10:03 am after an
apparent passenger revolt and just before VP Dick Cheney, huddled in a
Whitehouse shelter, gave the order to shoot it down.
But all sorts of wild stories were still circulating, including
several reports of additional hijackings.
Mr Cheney himself erroneously told Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld that US
forces have "already taken a couple of aircraft out".
In a late scare, Mr Cheney gave the order to shoot down an aircraft
sighted just a minute or 2 from the Whitehouse. But it turned out to
be a Medevac helicopter and was spared.
The final word of the day, however, came from US Pres George W Bush,
who sat grim-faced in a Florida school classroom as he learned of the
attacks and later called Mr Cheney.
"We're at war," Mr Bush said. "Somebody's going to pay."
Islamic militants urged to free hostage
Riyadh (AP). A letter signed "The Believer" urges militants to spare
American hostage Paul M Johnson Jr, saying killing him would violate
Islamic law. "I will curse you in all my prayers" if he is harmed, it warned.
The letter was posted late Wed on Web sites where al-Qaeda supporters
and other militants leave messages, and aired on a Saudi-owned
television network, al-Arabiya.
Meanwhile, a snr Saudi official in the US directly familiar with the
investigation said Thu night that US and Saudi officials have had few
promising leads in their search for Johnson, who was kidnapped Sat by
a group calling itself al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The
organisation is believed to be headed by Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin
al-Moqrin, the top al-Qaeda figure in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi official said there had been no communications from the
kidnappers except for a video and written statement they posted Tue on
a Web site. In the statement, Johnson's captors threatened to kill
Johnson if al-Qaeda prisoners in Saudi Arabia were not freed within 72 hr.
The 72 hr ends sometime Fri; the kidnappers did not specify what time
the countdown began or when it ends. Saudi newspapers on Thu quoted
unidentified govt officials as saying the kingdom would not give in to
the demands of terrorists.
The letter Wed, signed by Saad al-Mu'men -- a pseudonym meaning "Saad
The Believer," -- identified the writer as a Saudi friend of Johnson's
and said he had bestowed his protection as a Muslim on the American hostage.
If Johnson is harmed, it read, "I will never forgive you. I will curse
you in all my prayers." It pointed to a saying by Islam's Prophet
Muhammad: "If they were granted [Muslim] protection, then killing or
taking their money or harming them is forbidden."
The Saudi official in the US, who spoke to The AP only on condition of
anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the probe, said the FBI
had sent a team of
about 20 specialists in hostage rescue, hostage negotiations, profiling
and other specialities who were working directly with Saudi officials.
More than 15,000 Saudi officers have been conducting a citywide search
of Riyadh, going door-to-door in some neighbourhoods considered hotbeds
for terrorist sympathies and conducting surveillance in other parts of
the city.
"We are even using the fire dept, for instance, because they have
knowledge of their neighbourhoods, and districts," the official
said. Mor than 1,200 Saudi homes had been searched as of Thu night,
the official said.
The Saudi official also said the chief suspect in Johnson's
kidnapping, al-Moqrin, is also the main suspect in the shootings of a
German citizen and an American in the kingdom recently.
Johnson, 49, had worked in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade.
The official said the Saudi govt has directly communicated with
Johnson's son in NJ to apprise him of the full extent of the search.
The son, Paul Johnson III, made a plea Thu for his father's safe
return, telling AP: "I want my father home."
In an interview on NBC's "Today" show, Johnson said he had received no
indication that authorities have made any progress in the search for
his father.
Security has been increased in and around Riyadh as the hunt for
Johnson continues.
In the letter, al-Mu'men said Johnson -- who works for Lockheed Martin
on targeting and night vision systems for Apache helicopters -- had
expressed opp'n to US foreign policy and an interest in converting to Islam.
"He was interested in reading Quran translations ... I swear to God
that once he said to me in public -- in a popular restaurant in
Riyadh: 'I hate my country's politics. I am interested in Islam. If I
convert, I will go and live with my wife in E Asia," al-Mu'men
wrote. Johnson's wife is Thai.
Al-Mu'men said he was a colleague of Johnson but did not give any
details about his job. He said he often invited Johnson for dinner and
gave the American books on Islam as presents.
The letter was posted on Web sites know for Islamic extremist writings
and was subsequently posted on the Web site of the Saudi-owned
satellite television channel Al-Arabiya, http://www.alarabiya.net.
Al-Arabiya said that al-Mu'men said in an interview that he chose
Islamic Web sites known for airing radical views because he was sure
the kidnappers would monitor them.
Other contributors to the sites where the letter was posted ridiculed
the message and called for Johnson's death.
Al-Arabiya told the AP that al-Mu'men had contacted the station but
agreed to be identified only by the pseudonym. The station said it had
confirmed the man it interviewed was the author of the letter, but it
did not say how.
Al-Mu'men refused an interview with the AP in a message relayed
through the station.
Amid concern over Johnson's fate, the US State Dept updated a 2-mo
travel warning for Saudi Arabia, pointing out that attacks on
Americans there have resulted in deaths and injuries and, in a
reference to Johnson, a kidnapping.
A dept statement reminded American citizens of "the continuing serious
threat to their safety while in Saudi Arabia." It noted that private
American citizens are being strongly urged to depart the country.
US has secret prisons: rights group
Human Rights First says alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib prison must not
be seen in isolation.
Washington (Reuters). The US is holding terrorism suspects in more
than 2 dozen detention centres worldwide, about half of which operate
in total secrecy, according to a new human rights report.
Human Rights First said in a report that secrecy surrounding the facilities
made "inappropriate detention and abuse not only likely but inevitable".
The director of the group's US law and security program, Deborah Pearlstein,
potential abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad and the
Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba "cannot be addressed in isolation".
"This is all about secrecy, accountability and the law," Ms Pearlstein
told a news conference.
The report coincided with news that Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld ordered
military officials to hold a suspect in a prison nr Baghdad without
telling the Red Cross.
Mr Pearlstein says that would be a violation of the Geneva Conventions
and Defence Dept directives.
She says the US is holding 1000s of security detainees in Iraq and
Afghanistan, as well as locations elsewhere which the military refused
to disclose.
"The US Govt is holding prisoners in a secret system of off-shore
prisons beyond the reach of adequate supervision, accountability of
law," the report said.
* Pakistan, Diego Garcia, Jordan
Ms Pearlstein says multiple sources report US detention centres in,
among other places, Kohat in Pakistan nr the border with Afghanistan,
on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia and at Al Jafr prison in
Jordan, where the group said the CIA had an interrogation facility.
Prisoners are also being held at the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston,
S Carolina, and others were suspected of being held on US warships.
A Defence Dept rep told Reuters he would comment when he had more info
about the report.
Ms Pearlstein called for US authorities to end "secret detentions",
provide a list of prisoners, investigate abuses and allow the
Internat'l Committee of the Red Cross unfettered access to detainees.
US treatment of detainees came under the spotlight after disturbing
photos were leaked to the media showing US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners.
The US is conducting several investigations into the abuses but Ms
Pearlstein says they are not enough and a full court of inquiry should
be ordered.
Families of suspects detained by US authorities have complained
strongly about the lack of info about detainees.
Pakistani Farhat Paracha said via a telephone link-up at the news
conference that she tried for wk to find her husband, Saifullah
Paracha, who disappeared last June when he took a business trip from
Pakistan to Thailand.
Ms Paracha said she asked the US and Pakistani govts to track him down
and only learned about his whereabouts when the Red Cross contacted
her 6 wk later to say her husband was being held at Bagram Air Force
Base in Afghanistan.
"I feel disgusted. It makes my heart sink. I feel so powerless and so
helpless," Ms Paracha said.
Human Rights First was formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for
Human Rights.
Pentagon Acknowledges secret detention in Iraq
Rumsfeld says man treated fairly
US to formally notify Red Cross
Washington (WJACTV). At the request of CIA Director George Tenet, Def
Sec Donald Rumsfeld ordered the military to secretly hold a suspected
terrorist in Iraq, the Pentagon acknowledged Thu.
The suspected terrorist has been held since Oct without being given an
identification number and without the Internat'l Committee of the Red
Cross being notified, a Pentagon rep Bryan Whitman said. Both
conditions violate the Geneva Accords on treatment of prisoners of war.
In a Pentagon news conference, Rumsfeld defended the decision, saying
Tenet had the authority to make the request. The defence secretary
said such a call would be to prevent the prisoner's interrogation from
being interrupted.
"He wasn't lost in the system," Rumsfeld said. "There is no question
at all he received humane treatment."
A Pentagon rep said the military made a mistake in the case, adding
that the prisoner will be given a number and the Red Cross will be
formally notified soon.
The Bush Admin has argued that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to
suspected terrorists who do not follow the conventions themselves --
by not fighting for a recognised state and not fighting in a recognised
uniform, for example.
But Rumsfeld and other Admin officials have said the Geneva
Conventions applied to all US military activities in Iraq since the
March 2003 invasion.
Prisoner's identity concealed to prevent Red Cross access
Washington (AFP). US Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld, acting at the request
of the CIA, ordered that a suspected Iraqi insurgent leader be
detained off the books to conceal his identity from the Internat'l
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Pentagon has confirmed.
CIA director George Tenet requested in late Oct that the prisoner, a
suspected military planner for the Kurdish militant group Ansar al
Islam, be held by the military in a way that he "not be assigned for
the purpose of access to the ICRC," Larry DiRita, the Pentagon's chief
rep, told AFP.
Mr Rumsfeld approved the request and issued the order the same day, he said.
"He was asked to do that. He did," Mr DiRita said.
The prisoner then languished in secret military custody until late
May, when Stephen Cambone, the Undersecretary of Defence for Intel,
decided to return him to the general prison population, he said.
An investigation by Maj Gen Antonio Taguba had noted in March the
practice of keeping certain "ghost detainees" off the rolls at Abu
Ghraib prison and denounced them as "deceptive, contrary to Army
doctrine and in violation of internat'l law".
Mr DiRita said the Geneva Conventions allow prisoners to be held
secretly for reasons of "military necessity" for a period of time.
He acknowledged, however, that "nobody believes those provisions allow
you to do this for 7 m".
A US intel official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the CIA
had been holding the prisoner, who was captured in northern Iraq in
June, at an undisclosed location outside Iraq since July.
But after receiving legal guidance that as an Iraqi he should be
returned to Iraq, Mr Tenet asked the military to take custody of him
without registering him, he said.
"He was believed to be a combatant engaged in hostilities or
supporting a force hostile to the US. He was actively planning
operations specifically targeting US forces both inside and outside of
Iraq," the official said.
Yet neither the CIA nor the US military followed up by questioning the
prisoner after he was back in custody in Iraq.
"Now, in Jan, officials inquired about him to the military. They were
unable to locate him. Frankly, it's a case where people lost track of
him," the intel official said.
"The normal review procedures that would kick into play didn't in this
instance and it fell between the cracks," he said.
Mr DiRita disputed that the military lost track of the prisoner after
taking custody of him but admitted that neither the CIA nor the
Defence Dept took further action, despite periodic questions about his
status from those holding him.
"The question is, did the CIA then come back to us and say, 'We want
this guy back'? The answer is no," said Mr DiRita.
"Did the CIA then determine further disposition and tell us, 'Keep
him, or we'll take him'? The answer is no," he said.
"Did people lose track of him? The answer is also no. Because the
people who had custody of him, by all indications, 2 or 3 times came
back up the chain of command and said, 'We still have this guy.
Will somebody tell us [what to do with him]?'"
The prisoner, who has not been identified, was held at Camp Cropper, a
detention facility for high-value prisoners nr the Baghdad Internat'l
Airport.
"The people who were holding him basically did all they should have
done," Mr DiRita said.
"What didn't happen was that, at a higher level between this dept and
the CIA, further disposition of his case was never made, until finally
it got to the attention of intel professionals in both depts," he said.
Meanwhile, the Army announced that General Paul Kern has been
appointed to oversee an investigation into prisoner abuse at Abu
Ghraib replacing Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez.
Labor demands full disclosure on Iraq abuse
Robert Hill will face a censure motion next wk.
Canberra. Labor says it will move a censure motion against Defence
Min Robert Hill after it was revealed he learnt of concerns about
Iraqi prisoner mistreatment in June last y.
There is growing pressure for the Fed Govt to release a 60-page
document outlining what and when it knew of prisoner abuse.
Sen Hill has admitted he received reports from Aussie defence
officials serving in Baghdad in June and July last y, which mentioned
an Amnesty Internat'l document raising allegations about prisoner abuse.
Those reports also went to the Dept of the PM and Cabinet.
Greens Sen Bob Brown wants to know if PM John Howard saw them.
"What did PM John Howard know a y ago?" he asked.
The minor parties are joining Labor and calling for the release of the
internal defence report outlining when the Govt 1st knew of abuse
allegations.
Independent Sen Meg Lees is supporting those calls.
"The community is going to read [that] reluctance to put something on
the table as actually hiding something," she said.
Labor says it will move a censure motion against Sen Hill on Mon.
UN chief opposes US bid for war crime immunity
UN. UN chief Kofi Annan has come out firmly against efforts by the
United States to get an extension of immunity for its citizens being
prosecuted for war crimes. Washington is lobbying hard for a 3rd
year's exemption but diplomats at the UN say it does not yet have the
required support of at least nine members of the Sec Council. Mr
Annan was outspoken in his opp'n to the US being allowed to protect
its peacekeepers from prosecution by the Internat'l Criminal Court and
said it would be unfortunate given the prisoner abuse allegations in
Iraq. He told reporters it would discredit the Sec Council to grant
the exemption once again and added it was of dubious judicial value.
The Internat'l Court will prosecute war crimes and genocide if nat'l
courts are unable or unwilling to do so. However, the US says the court,
which began operating last y, can not prevent politicised investigations.
Rush to hand Saddam over to Iraqis helps no one
Op/Ed (USA Today). Call it the mother of all custody battles. Just
who is going to take charge of Saddam Hussein when the US hands power
to a temporary Iraqi govt in 2 wk?
New Iraqi leaders say they want him handed over to them. But the US is
reluctant -- for the good reason Pres Bush gave on Tue: "I just want
to make sure that -- when sovereignty is transferred, Saddam Hussein
-- stays in jail."
Bush has that right. As reasons for going to war have been
discredited, from Iraq 's possession of banned weapons to its links to
terrorists, Saddam's ouster and subsequent capture have become the
shining triumphs for the US It removed a dictator who brutalised his
own people and menaced his neighbours.
In fact, while the war has bitterly divided the US and many of its
allies, all can agree that Saddam should be tried for his crimes.
But Saddam can face justice only as long as he's held under the kind
of impenetrable security the US has established at a secret location
in Iraq. Iraqis can't yet provide that.
Sympathetic jailers or insurgents could attempt to free Saddam. He
could escape. Relatives of his victims could try to mete out instant
justice. Or he could become a potent symbol of hope for those
determined to return him to power.
Refusing to give up custody of Saddam to Iraqis carries a different
risk. It can signal that the "full sovereignty" they've been promised
on June 30 is a bogus pledge. The US and some members of the new Iraqi
govt are working on a way to get around that impression by giving
Iraqis "legal custody" as the US keeps him in physical custody.
That compromise can work if "legal custody" is not merely clever
lawyers' lingo. Iraqis have to become engaged in something more
fundamental to their future: how the former dictator will be charged
and tried for his crimes.
That process has already started. Iraqi prosecutors at a special
tribunal in Baghdad say they plan to charge Saddam with genocide,
crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Their tribunal has a better chance of rebuilding nat'l identity and
spurring reconciliation than earlier postwar trials. For one thing, it
avoids the pattern of victors sitting in judgement of the vanquished,
such as the Allies' war trials of Nazi Germany after World War II. And
it sidesteps the downside of internat'l tribunals: Former dictators
are tried in foreign lands by foreign judges in trials that lose
meaning back home. That has been the case with former Serbian leader
Slobodan Milosevic, who is on trial in the Netherlands.
The US has helped the Iraqi cause by withholding the charges it has
wanted to bring against Saddam, even though the Internat'l Red Cross
said this wk that the US has to release him or charge him under
internat'l law. US officials say they want to give Saddam's crimes
against Iraqis priority, including his use of poison gas against
Kurdish villages in 1988 and bloody retaliation against a Shiite
uprising after the 1991 Gulf War.
The US and the Iraqi people win if Saddam remains in the most secure
custody to face the mother of all justice.
Sadr loyalists begin Najaff withdrawal
Baghdad (ABC, Matt Brown). Fighters loyal to the rebel Shiite leader
Moqtada al-Sadr have been withdrawing form Iraq's holy city of Najaff.
Members of Sadr's Mehdi army left Najaff chanting their leader's name
and referred to themselves as "ticking bombs". They declared they
would obey Sadr's directive to return to their homes. Sadr has done a
deal with Iraqi authorities and moderate Shiite leaders to end the
bloody rebellion he started in early Apr and is now looking at turning
his paramilitary profile into political influence. But a local Amara
police chief in S Iraq claimed Sadr's men had launched a mortar attack
on Brit troops stationed in the region. A rep for the Brit forces in
the area was unaware of the attack.
Foreigners blamed for Iraq attacks
Baghdad. Iraq's political leaders say they believe foreigners are
responsible for the wave of terrorist attacks in the country.
In the latest attacks, bombers have killed 41 people in 2 strikes on
Iraq's security forces.
Iraq's Defence Min Hazem al-Shalan, Interior Min Falah al-Naqib and
Prime Min Iyad Allawi all say foreigners are responsible for the
recent terrorist attacks.
They have promised to retaliate against the foreigners they believe
are responsible for yesterday's terrorist attacks.
Mr Shalan has promised house-to-house searches in a bid to track down
those responsible for the attack.
But the minister also says there are regional parties involved and he
has threatened to take the fight to them in "their homes".
The brother of a Saudi man who belonged to a group allied to Al Qaeda
says his brother was martyred on Mon, the day a car bomb claimed the
lives of 13 people in central Baghdad.
Khaled al-Shimri told Reuters that his brother was a member of a group
headed by suspected Al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and had
been in Iraq for 2 m before the attack.
6 members of the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps have been killed in a car
bomb attack at the N town of Yethrib and the 1st Hungarian soldier to
be killed in Iraq lost his life in a suspected roadside bomb attack in
Iraq's south.
US Deputy Def Sec Paul Wolfowitz, who is visiting Iraq, says the
country's security forces are not ready to take control and they will
need the help of the US for some time to come.
As bombers strike, UN says Iraq too dangerous
Dozens killed in Baghdad blast.
Baghdad (AFP). The death toll from 2 car bomb attacks against Iraq's
army and civil defence corps has risen to 41 people, with 145 wounded.
As violence continues, UN Sec-Gen Kofi Annan has warned the security
situation is too dangerous for the world body to return to Iraq.
It is not clear how his announcement will affect the crucial UN role
in helping prepare Iraq for Jan elections, the cornerstone of US
ambitions to create a showcase for democracy in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, an Egyptian and and a Turkish hostage have been released wk
after they were kidnapped nr the flash point Iraqi city of Fallujah,
according to media reports.
In the deadliest attack this m, a suicide bomber rammed a white
vehicle packed with artillery shells into a Baghdad army recruiting
centre, killing 35 people and wounding 141 others.
"A suicide bomber, his hands clutching the steering wheel, launched
his car, loaded with explosives, against the people who were waiting
in front of the centre," said army cmdr Khaled Jamal Said.
"It is criminal, that is all I can say."
In Feb, a car bomb targeted the same recruitment centre, killing 47
people, most of them young volunteers.
* Surge in violence
The US-led coalition has warned of a surge in violence as the clock
ticks down to the hand over of power to an Iraqi Admin on June 30.
Iraq's interim PM, Iyad Allawi, battling attempts to discredit his new
govt, visited the bombing site, surrounded by a host of security guards.
He and interior minister Falah al-Naqib accused foreign countries,
without naming them, of being behind the devastation.
Defence minister Hazem al-Shalan blamed "foreign, regional groups"
without being more specific.
However, the US boss in Iraq, Paul Bremer, linked the attack with Al
Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.
"It certainly is consistent exactly with what Zarqawi said he would do
back in Jan," Mr Bremer said, referring to a letter purportedly from
the fugitive Islamist detailing plans to foment civil war in Iraq.
Bloodied and battered bodies, many of them volunteers who had been queueing
up to join the New Iraqi Army, lay tangled in the street after the blast.
Jamal al-Ani, director of emergency operations at Iraq's health
ministry, said the casualty toll stood at 35 dead and 141 wounded.
Since a new Iraqi caretaker govt backed by the US was unveiled on June
1, Iraq has seen at least 20 car bombs and the deaths of more than 180 people.
* Second bombing
3 hr after the Baghdad attack, 6 Iraqi civil defence soldiers were
killed and 4 wounded in a car bombing N of Baghdad, a military rep said.
The 2nd bomb exploded in front of a council building in Yethrib, a
city north of the capital, a military rep said.
It was unclear whether the car bomb was a suicide attack or detonated
with a remote device, the rep added.
Insurgents have also targeted the nation's oil infrastructure and
exports were shut down on Tue after a pair of pipelines leading to the
southern port of Basra were blown up.
Oil minister Thamer Ghadban has pledged to resume exports as quickly
as possible. A coalition rep said it would take 5 days.
In a major setback for Iraq, Mr Annan said the UN would not return to
the war-battered country any time soon.
"On the security situation on the ground in Iraq, obviously I am
extremely worried," Mr Annan told reporters at the UN HQ in NY.
"I am grateful to the Sec Council that they inserted the phrase that
we could go in 'as circumstances permit'.
"As of today circumstances do not permit and we are monitoring the
situation extremely carefully."
But there was good news for lorry drivers Bulent Yanik, a Turk, and
Victor Tufic Gerges, an Egyptian Coptic Christian, who were released
wk after they were abducted, the Anatolia news agency and Egyptian
state television said.
In Kirkuk, 2 veterans of Saddam Hussein's defunct security service
were arrested for murdering the security chief for Iraq's N oil field
and his bodyguard, police said.
Israel plans Gaza-Egypt trench
Jerusalem (AP). Israel has detailed a bid for a 25-m-deep trench
between Egypt and Gaza that would block Palestinian arms smuggling
after Israel withdraws from the coastal strip next y.
The trench would cost mns, and military officials said it remains
unclear whether more Palestinian homes would have to be demolished to
make room for it.
Israel has razed 100s of Gaza homes in recent years, including in a
large offensive last m, to expose smuggling tunnels.
In the Rafah refugee camp on the border with Egypt, the demolitions
have displaced more than 13,000 Palestinians.
Palestinian officials denounced the trench plan, saying Israel is
trying to choke Gaza on all sides.
"Ditches and canals in Gaza, that's how you turn the Palestinians into
prisoners in their own cities," said Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat.
The plan still needs Cabinet approval.
The Defence Ministry published a tender for a trench that is 4km long
and 25 metres deep.
Military officials said the trench would be nearly 120 metres wide and
perhaps be lined with cement, but for ecological reasons would not be
filled with water.
Once the bids are received in a m or 2, the Defence Ministry will
decide whether a trench is feasible, a military official said on
condition of anonymity.
The trench would run along an Israeli military patrol road between
Gaza and Egypt that is up to 200 m wide and cuts into the Rafah camp.
One security official said Israel would have to widen the road to at
least 300 metres to make room for the trench, meaning 100s more
Palestinian homes would have to be demolished. However, the military
official said it would only become apparent after bids have been
received whether homes will have to be razed.
In more than 3 y of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Palestinian
militants have dug dozens of tunnels under the patrol road to smuggle
weapons from Egypt to Rafah. Israel, in turn, has repeatedly raided
Rafah in search of the tunnels.
The trench idea will be presented next wk to Egyptian intel chief Omar
Suleiman, who is mediating between Israel and the Palestinians on the
Gaza withdrawal, which is to be concluded by the end of Sep 2005.
Israeli PM Ariel Sharon refuses to negotiate directly about the
pullout with the Palestinians. Suleiman will meet separately with
Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Egypt has agreed to send dozens of military advisers to Gaza to
re-train the Palestinian security forces as part of a withdrawal, and
there were growing signs that Cairo would also play an increasingly
active role in the W Bank as well.
Gaza moat plan aims to stop weapons smuggling
Jerusalem. Israel is calling for tenders for the construction of a
moat along part of the Gaza Strip border. The moat will be used to
stop Palestinians digging weapons smuggling tunnels under the border.
The Israeli Defence Ministry says the moat will be 4 kms long, 16
metres deep and will run along a section of the border between Egypt
and Gaza. Israel plans to offset the cost of building the moat by
selling the sand dug up during construction. Israeli defence chiefs
hope the giant trench will prevent Palestinians smuggling weapons
through tunnels dug under the border. Israel has already attracted
internat'l condemnation for building a security barrier through parts
of the W Bank, which is designed to stop suicide bombers.
Police called in over Brit "Big Brother" blue
London (AFP). Police have been called in to the Brit edition of
popular reality TV show Big Brother to investigate a drunken brawl
between contestants.
Police went to the site of the show, in which a dozen ordinary people
are locked up in a small house for 11 wk and filmed 24 hr a day, in
the early hours of the morning, a rep said.
They were called after horrified viewers watching a live feed from the
home saw simmering tensions between housemates spill over into
scuffles and exchanges of abuse.
Officers left after talking to production staff at the
specially-erected house nr London, but have requested a videotape of
some incidents, including a near-fight between a male and female contestant.
"Following a number of calls from members of the public regarding an
alleged incident in the Big Brother house last night, Hertfordshire
Constabulary can confirm it will be obtaining a videotape of the
incident later today," the police rep said.
"Officers are currently liaising with members of the Big Brother
production team to see what further action needs to be taken."
Now in its 5th Brit series, Big Brother is facing declining public
interest and low ratings, which production staff have endeavoured to
combat though a series of stunts.
Over the past week, 2 female contestants whom the others thought had
been ejected from the house were placed in an adjoining so-called
"bedsit", from which they could secretly watch their fellows make
disparaging comments about them.
On Thu evening the duo were returned to the main house to face the
others -- with turbulent consequences.
The live television feed was cut for an hour as security guards had to
be called in after one contestant threatened to tear another's head
off and another duo almost came to blows.
The show originated in Holland and has proved hugely successful in a
series of countries.
Gibson tops 'Forbes' powerful celebrity list
NY (Reuters/VNU). Mel Gibson, whose controversial film The Passion of
the Christ paid off big at the box office, is the year's most powerful
celebrity, according to Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100 power rankings.
Gibson, who directed, produced and co-wrote the violent movie about
the last hours of Jesus, earned $US210 mn and tremendous media buzz
from the project, according to Forbes magazine, which factors in media
attention to compare the biggest money-makers from various fields of
entertainment.
Magazine covers, press clippings, TV and radio coverage and Internet
hits are all factored into the rankings formula. Money earned in the
last 12 m was used to identify the finalists in each category.
Golf star Tiger Woods, the leading money-maker among athletes with
$US80 mn, was 2nd on the list, followed by talk-show host Oprah
Winfrey, who matched Gibson in earnings.
Actor Tom Cruise [$US45 mn] was 4th, followed by venerable rock
group Rolling Stones [$US51 mn]. "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling was
6th on the list, boosted by her earnings of $US147 mn.
"Very broadly, it's a combination of money and fame," said Peter
Kafka, who wrote the Forbes story on the rankings.
"We divide the celebrity world into categories and we find the top
earners in each category. The power list compares them."
Actress Jennifer Aniston, who topped the rankings last y, slipped to
17th place on the 2004 list.
Casualties from the previous list included singer/actress Jennifer
Lopez, who ranked 5th last y, and her former fiancee and movie bomb
Gigli co-star Ben Affleck, rated 7th in 2003. Both failed to make the
2004 list.
Other power-list dropouts were Eminem and Dr Dre, the performer and
record producer who shared last y's No 2 spot, and former reality show
darlings The Osbournes (12th).
Former US president Bill Clinton ranked 51st this y with an income of
$US6.3 mn that qualified him in the "speakers" category.
Despite his relatively low income, Clinton ranked 1st of all 100
contenders in TV/radio attention, press clippings and Internet hits.
Clinton will likely climb higher in the power rankings next y when
earnings and media attention from his hotly anticipated memoir, to be
published next wk, is factored in.
Hazzard lights Miles Franklin judges' fires
Canberra (ABC, Michael Vincent for AM). Author Shirley Hazzard has
won AUS's richest literary prize, the Miles Franklin award, for The
Great Fire, the 1st novel she has written in 23 y.
Hazzard's book won the $42,000 prize ahead of strong competition,
including shortlisted works by Nobel prize-winning author John Coetzee
and Booker Prize-winning Peter Carey.
The 73-yo winning author, who now lives overseas, says she was proud
to be shortlisted with writers whose work she holds in such high regard.
Hazzard, who could not attend the ceremony, spoke from London. She chose
to quote from Shakespeare about the self-destructive aspect of the
world, a theme in her novel, which is a love story set in Asia post-WWII.
"How with this rage can beauty make a plea, whose action is no
stronger than a flower," she said.
"And somehow this filament of beauty which is art and life and
consideration and civilised behaviour among people -- it somehow
persisted in the face of all the contrary instincts of mankind and
also all the contrary events and the difficulty of any life in its
circumstances.
"I am so happy to be part of a celebration of that on this occasion."
The judges said the impressive competition on the shortlist made it
very hard to choose.
One of the panel of 5, Professor Elizabeth Webby, says it shows AUS
has writers up with the world's best.
"This y of course we had the 1st novel from Shirley Hazzard ... for
over 20 y, so I guess that was perhaps a bit unfortunate for the other
people that she happened to produce this y," Prof Webby said.
* Why the novel matters
She says The Great Fire reminds readers of the joy of a good book.
"In the judges' report, we refer to it as a novel which shows in the
digital age why the novel still matters," she said.
"We were exactly thinking about the particular pleasures that you get
from wonderful literary fiction which you don't get from any other media.
"That is, the way in which she's able to create scenes and characters
in really minimal words and the fact that she ... really leaves a lot
of it up to your own imagination to fill in the gaps."
The award's guest presenter, Aussie actress Cate Blanchett, says
supporting Aussie authors is important, especially promoting them
properly overseas "in a way that they stand uniquely and absolutely on
their own 2 feet".
"It's not that they need to be 'thrown on the barbie' anymore. Our
sense of Aussie literature is much, much more sophisticated."
One of the other authors shortlisted, Peter Goldsworthy, has heaped
praise on the winner.
"My money was on John Coetzee but I think it's a fitting prize for
Shirley Hazzard too, for her 1st novel for 23 y and it is a very
beautifully written book so congratulations to her," he said.
Hazzard's previous novel, The Transit of Venus won the Nat'l Book
Critics Circle Award in 1981.
Reviewer Ron Charles in the Christian Science Monitor wrote that The
Great Fire's "careful poetry" suggested "perfectionism rather than
writer's block consumed those 2 decades" between the releases.
This year's Miles Franklin shortlist included Peter Carey's My Life As
A Fake, JM Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello, Annamarie Jagose's Slow Water,
Peter Goldsworthy's 3 Dog Night and Elliott Perlman's Seven Types of
Ambiguity.
Church tribunal told former priest should be de-frocked
Brisbane. An Anglican tribunal in Bris has been told a former priest
should be de-frocked for sexual misconduct. Donald Norman Shearman,
77, has been accused of seducing a teenage girl 50 y ago. The woman,
who is now 64, claims Shearman had sex with her regularly between 1954
and 1956. The relations occurred while she was a teenager living in
an Anglican hostel in Forbes, in central W NSW. Shearman, who went on
to become the Bishop of Rockhampton and Grafton, did not attend last
night's hearing in Bris. He has been charged under church law with
sexual misconduct. The counsel for the complainant said Shearman's
conduct was disgraceful and had produced scandal and evil report. The
tribunal, headed by Supreme Court Justice Debra Mullins, will now
consider whether to strip Shearman of his holy orders.
Letters shock interim Anglican head
Ian George resigned following a scandal over his handling of child sex
abuse claims.
Adelaide. The interim head of SA's Anglican Church, Archdeacon John
Collas, says he is shocked at details of correspondence between former
Archbishop Ian George and disgraced former St Peter's College chaplain
John Mountford.
Copies of the correspondence have been leaked to the ABC.
The Reverend Mountford was sacked from the college in 1992 after
allegedly molesting a student and until recently worked at St
Stephen's School in Bangkok, but is believed to have fled to Cambodia.
In the letters, Dr George writes to Reverend Mountford saying he is
glad Reverend Mountford was not subjected to the humiliation and the
public spectacle of media attention in his case.
"I am glad that you were not subjected to the pain, the humiliation
and the public spectacle which the media would have relished in your
case," he writes in the letter.
One of the letters is dated the March 31 1993, the y after Rev Mountford
fled AUS over allegations he sexual molested a St Peter's student.
In the letter Dr George tells Reverend Mountford: "You will see that I
have done everything I can both to support you, and preserve your reputation."
Furthermore, Dr George writes: "There is every likelihood that you would
have been charged with an offence," had Reverend Mountford stayed in AUS.
Archdeacon Collas says he is personally shocked by the letter but
people will have to decide themselves how it reflects upon Dr George.
"Gobsmacked would be the right word, I'm just totally shocked," he said. "
"Especially as there is a clear understanding that any person who has
abused children must face the criminal courts."
Archbishop George resigned earlier this m after intense pressure over
his response to a report detailing allegations of sexual abuse by
staff from Anglican agencies in SA.
He was also criticised for not fully investigating the allegations or
reporting them to police.
AUS boosts aid to Sudan
Canberra (ABC/AFP/CNN). AUS is to give an extra $3 mn for victims of
the Sudanese conflict.
This follows $5 mn in aid last m to help displaced people in Darfur,
in SW Sudan.
Foreign Min Alexander Downer says the latest contribution is for
Sudanese in eastern Chad refugee camps.
Mr Downer says it is estimated up to 200,000 Sudanese are now in the
Chad camps and the aid will help meet the urgent need for shelter,
food, water and sanitation.
UNICEF activities will receive $1.5 mn and $500,000 each is being
allocated through World Vision, Care Internat'l and Oxfam.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Sec-Gen Kofi Annan says he cannot
describe the situation in W Sudan as genocide but he admits there may
be a need for what he's termed "humanitarian intervention" in the
Darfur region to prevent one.
In Feb 2003, a rebellion broke out in Darfur and since then, the
Sudanese Army and pro-Govt Arab militias have been accused of killings
and massive human rights abuses.
The violence has left at least 10,000 people dead and up to 1 mn
others displaced.
Senior UN officials have characterised the violence as the ethnic
cleansing of Darfur's black population, but Mr Annan says he will make
up his own mind after visiting the region.
"Based on the reports I have received, I can't at this stage call it a
genocide. There is massive violation of internat'l humanitarian law,
but I am not ready to describe it as genocide or ethnic cleansing yet.
Welfare groups call for ban on foreign betting exchanges
Canberra. 3 major welfare organisations have called on the Fed Govt
to ban all access to foreign Internet betting exchanges, saying they
could create more problem gamblers. Most Aussies can legally access
the exchanges over the Internet, but Betfair, a Brit company, is
currently lobbying states and territories for a local gambling
licence. Groups like Odyssey House, the Salvation Army and the Wesley
Mission say the Howard Govt should act to stop Betfair getting a
toehold in AUS. John Dalziel from the Salvation Army says foreign
betting exchanges are worse than other forms of Internet gambling.
"It is bad because it takes gambling into the home and in the home any
number of people can use it," he said. "This is going to be much,
much bigger than anything that's occurred in Internet betting in the
past if we are to judge by what's occurred in England."
Cane growers receive grants but urged to diversify
Brisbane. Peak sugar lobby group Canegrowers says the 1st round of
Fed Govt sustainability grant payments to farmers should silence skeptics.
In the 1st round of grants, more than $70 mn has been divided between
cane growers in Qld, W AUS and NSW, at an average of around $7,500 each.
Canegrowers chairman Alf Cristaudo says the payments will add to
current positive factors in the industry's favour such as higher
prices and lower overseas production.
But he says the industry still needs to diversify.
"We are looking at alternatives such as ethanol, such as bio-plastics,
co-generation, anything at all that will be an alternative to take
away the base from raw sugar," he said.
"There are a number of positive factors there that we need to look at,
we are talking to [the] Govt, we want to continue to talk to [the]
Govt about the economic policy frameworks that surround things like
ethanol in particular, [and] things like co-generation."
Cane farmers could receive the money as early as today as part of the
reform package and Mr Cristaudo says he expects the grants will
deliver a needed boost to morale.
"That is not a large amount of money but it will certainly go a long
way for paying for some of the input costs towards growing a crop for
the 2005 season," he said.
"More importantly, it's going to give quite a big lift in morale, it
will boost the confidence of growers out there, knowing that the Govt
is interested in the sugar industry's survival and wants to see a
viable sugar industry in to the future."
Meanwhile, Mr Cristaudo has urged sugar farmers not to be afraid of
agreeing to the Fed Govt's Statement of Intent paper as part of the
grant payments.
In the paper, the Fed Govt says it wants to see evidence of regional
industry planning before the 2nd round of payments are made at the
start of next y.
Mr Cristaudo says there is nothing for farmers to worry about it.
"There is nothing specific, nothing threatening in that Statement of
Intent to any position of any conditions on individual growers to
perform at any level," he said.
"All it is a commitment on behalf of the industry to a reform and
rationalisation process."
WA lawyers back Indigenous consideration in sentencing
Perf [sic]. The W Aussie Law Society says the racial backgrounds of
Aboriginal offenders should be considered by the courts during
sentencing. The society was responding to a case decided in SA this
week, where a man had his sentence reduced after appealing on the
grounds he is an Aborigine. The society says though race is not an
excuse for any crime, a person's background can be used to influence
the court's judgement during sentencing. Society president Ian Weldon
says a sentence must be fair to the offender, and as many Aborigines
are from disadvantaged backgrounds, the courts should consider their
situation. "But at the end of the day you actually have to take into
account the particular person, so you take into account as well as the
offence, the background, the attitude and the circumstances of the
offender," he said.
Telstra reaches deal over Reach debts
AUS's dominant telecommunications carrier, Telstra, has confirmed it
is spending 100s of $mns to acquire the debts of its struggling Asian
submarine cable joint venture, Reach.
Sydney. Telstra and its HK partner, PCCW, will pay $US311 mn to
settle a $US1.2 bn loan facility with Reach's banking syndicate.
Telstra says it is the best possible solution for all stake-holders,
given the challenges and competitive market environment facing the
submarine cable industry.
Telstra's chief executive officer, Ziggy Switkowski, says the
arrangement will give Reach a viable capital structure, providing it
with a good chance to succeed.
"We're pleased with the outcome," he said. "I acknowledged that the
last few wk and m have been periods of difficult but always
professional negotiations between the shareholders and the banks.
"We have an outcome that we believe is an appropriate one all round."
He added: "Today's arrangements reflect the commitments of both of the
shareholders, Telstra and PCCW, to this joint venture.
"They give Reach a viable capital structure now and provide it with a
good chance to succeed."
Telstra's management will recommend a further $US143 mn write-off of
its investment in the Reach business.
Meanwhile, the ANZ Bank says it will be making a further bad debt
provisioning of $AUD50 mn following the settlement agreement.
Roche appeals expected to be heard together
Sydney. 2 very different appeals against the sentence given to
convicted Aussie terrorist Jack Roche are expected to take up to 6 m
to be heard. Roche was sentenced to 9 y jail after admitting to the
Supreme Court in Perth he conspired with Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah
to bomb the Israeli Embassy in CBR. Yesterday, Roche's lawyer lodged
documents with the Court of Criminal Appeal for a reduction on the
grounds Roche did not get sufficient credit for his cooperation with
authorities. During his trial, Roche detailed meetings with snr Al
Qaeda members in Afghanistan and told Fed Police he had met terrorist
leader Osama bin Laden. Last week, the Commonwealth launched its own
appeal against the jail term claiming it was too lenient. The appeals
are expected to be heard at the same time.
Govts increase spending on disease prevention programs
Canberra. A report on public health spending shows Aussie govts are
becoming more committed to disease prevention programs. The Aussie
Institute of Health and Welfare study found health depts spent $987 mn
on public health activities in 2000-2001, which is an increase of 8%
over 2 y. Such programs include breast and cervical cancer screening,
immunisation and anti-smoking campaigns. Spending to prevent
hazardous drug use grew by nearly 30%. Institute rep Tony Hynes says
the benefits will be evident in the long-term. "Govts have recognised
that if they intervene before people actually get ill they can
actually achieve gains further down the road," he said. The
Commonwealth's public health expenditure increased by 18% and in the
states and territories, Vic and the ACT recorded the highest growth
rate and the N Territory the lowest. Funding for better food
standards and drug use prevention expenditure grew by around 30%.
Fast food fine in moderation, PM says
Everything in moderation ... John Howard says fast food is okay to
eat, just not all the time.
Canberra. PM John Howard says there is nothing wrong with fast food
if it is eaten in moderation.
Mr Howard says childhood obesity is a big problem and it must be
tackled in an intelligent way.
In a few weeks, Mr Howard will outline a plan to combat child obesity
which involves the community and parents.
But he would not confirm today whether the strategy will include a
primary school scheme of organised activity, involving playtime breaks
and nutritional food.
Mr Howard says it will not include a blanket ban on junk food
advertising which Labor leader Mark Latham has called for.
The PM argues that policy is ill-prepared and ill-judged.
"There's nothing wrong in a fast food meal itself, there's nothing wrong
in having a McDonald's -- it's how many McDonald's you have," he said.
"If you ban McDonald's advertising you might as well say 'let's ban
Panadol' because if you take too many Panadol, it's bad for your
kidneys I think."
Mr Howard does not resile from his comments that Mr Latham's policy
indicates his inexperience and unfitness for office.
"He is demonstrating yet again that he's more interested in a
television grab than a sensibly thought-out policy and that's the
basis of that claim and I don't retreat from it," the PM said.
Tasn Sen Guy Barnett, who has campaigned on child obesity for several
years, says Labor's proposal to ban all food and drink ads is a policy
gimmick that would take over the rights of Aussie parents.
Labor wants to stop children seeing ads for junk food but because that
is hard to define, it is proposing to ban all food and drink ads
during children's viewing times.
Sen Barnett says Labor's policy is not needed as there is already a
Code for Advertising to Children, adopted by the Aussie Association of
Nat'l Advertisers.
He says the advertising industry is a responsible body and the code
works well.
"The code sets out the fact that advertisers must not encourage an
inactive lifestyle, unhealthy eating or drinking habits, misleading
nutritional info," he said.
"So there's only been one complaint under the advertising standards
bureau since Jan 2003."
Women urged not to delay breast checks
Canberra. Newly released research has shown that about 10% of Aussie
women cannot identify the symptoms of breast cancer. This morning,
the PM's wife, Janette Howard, launched a new campaign with the theme
that "any change is worth talking about." It is part of the Nat'l
Breast Cancer Centre's 10th anniversary. Mrs Howard says that women
should not delay seeing their doctor if they identify any changes to
their breasts. "Don't wait for your daughter's HSC to be over, or
after an important work review or say that you'll do it after your
son's wedding," she said. "If you have a change in your breast, it is
important that you speak to your doctor without delay. "Early detection
is the positive step that you can take on your road to survival."
Abbott urges mothers not to delay delivery
Canberra. The Fed Health Min has urged expectant mothers not to put
the life of their babies at risk by delaying delivery so that they can
receive the Govt's new $3,000 maternity payment. From July 1, all
mothers will receive the payment when they have a child. There are
reports that some mothers are trying to postpone giving birth until
that date so they can receive the money. Tony Abbott says he can not
change the date on which the payment begins and mothers should accept
the advice of their doctors. "No one who is expecting a child should
do anything other than take the advice of her obstetrician and I would
urge families that are expecting children in the next few wk to accept
medical advice and act in accordance with it," he said.
Hopes stranded whale may return to the sea
Macquarie Harbour, W Tassie. A whale that is stranded in Macquarie
Harbour on Tas's W coast is still in good condition and there are
hopes it may be returned to the sea today. There was some success
yesterday with the whale moved about one-and-a-half km towards Hells
Gates. However, weather conditions and currents were unfavourable by
late yesterday, with water coming into the harbour. Chris Arthur from
the Nat'l Parks and Wildlife Service says as sperm whales are not used
to fighting currents, it was decided to leave it where it was. Mr
Arthur says hopes are high that today's weather and currents will be
more favourable. "It's in the lap of the gods, but we've got an
animal that is very strong," he said. "The animal is not attached to
the soft surface at all anymore and is swimming and floating quite freely."
Bad weather hampers whale rescue efforts
The 14-metre sperm whale was beached and now remains inside Macquarie Harbour.
W Tassie. Efforts to herd a sperm whale out of Macquarie Harbour on
Tas's west coast have been put on hold because of adverse weather conditions.
Rescuers have been trying to push the whale out into the Southern
Ocean since it became stranded in Macquarie Harbour on Tue.
But the Dept of Primary Industries, Water and Environment says it is
pointless continuing the operation because of rain, strong SW-erly
winds and a large swell.
Dept rep Warrick Brennan says one boat will continue to monitor the
14-metre whale, which is still about one-and-a-half kms inside the
entrance of the harbour.
"Maybe later on they might look at just making sure it can move around
and things like that," he said. "But we'll just monitor the whale's condition.
[If the] weather improves, maybe having another look at another
attempt to see if we can move it out towards the ocean."
On Wed, 4 other sperm whales were found dead on nearby Ocean Beach.
Raids net illegal plant, animal products
Sydney. Endangered plant and wildlife products used to make
alternative medicines have been seized in police raids across 3 Aussie
states. Officers found products allegedly containing bear bile, tiger
bone, rhinoceros horn and parts from other endangered animals and
plants at retail outlets in SYD, MEL and Bris. It follows a joint
operation involving the Dept of Environment and Heritage, Aussie
Customs and Fed Police. Officers raided 5 outlets in 3 states,
netting large quantities of illegal imports derived from rare animals
and plants.
Min issues weeds warning
Canberra. A Fed Govt Min has warned AUS is at risk of becoming
overrun by noxious weeds. Conservation Min Liberal Sen Ian Macdonald
has finished a 2-day tour of regional Qld and says people living in
cities do not have a true understanding of AUS's weed problem. He
says weeds cost AUS around $4 bn a year, but more needs to be done at
all levels of govt to contain and eradicate the plants. "If we don't
contain the weeds, a lot of Qld's currently productive land will be
laid waste, and in some cases like parthenium, if that weed does get
closer to the capital city, not only will it destroy land and
bio-diversity, but it could have a very serious health impact on the
general population," he said.
SA Oppn airs court sentencing concerns
Adelaide. The SA Opp'n says it would be deeply disturbing if courts
started giving sentencing discounts based on a person's race.
The SA Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday reduced the jail sentence of
a man who broke into an elderly Port Pirie couple's house because he
is Aboriginal.
The court ruled Aborigines are at greater disadvantage in society than
whites and cut his non-parole period from 23 to 17 m.
But S AUS's Shadow-A-G, Robert Lawson, says a court should not take
into account a person's race when deciding on sentences.
"To be of a particular race is not a mitigating circumstance and it
certainly does not excuse criminal behaviour," he said.
"The sentencing guidelines that are relayed down in our law require a
sentencing court to have regard to the antecedents, the age of the
character, the previous criminal record and all the rest of it of an
offender," he said.
"It does not specifically say that a court should have regard to
racial origin, and it shouldn't."
Meanwhile, the decision has sparked anger in some sections of the
business community.
Traders in nearby Port Lincoln have been battling a spate of thefts
and other crimes by young Aborigines.
A local business owner, who does not want to be named, says the
decision could encourage Aborigines to feel they can break the law.
"[If] we don't treat everyone equally, the situation gets worse. Just
because they're an Aborigine doesn't make them any less capable of
doing the right thing than somebody else," he said.
"That's how strongly I feel about it now and because people take this
stance about Aborigines being marginalised like they are, it makes the
situation worse, it really does."
The Law Society says the 3-judge appeals panel took into
consideration a number of factors when reducing the sentence and it
was not a decision based solely on the man's Aboriginality.
Nats accuse Qld Govt of funding obscenity
The Qld Opp'n has accused the State Govt of funding obscenity.
Brisbane. Opp'n MP Howard Hobbs says a publicly funded recording
company has used a Govt grant to produce a vulgar song.
Mr Hobbs has asked Development Min Tony McGrady to explain.
"Min, I refer to a $140,510 grant from your dept to a Gold Coast
recording company. Their 1st production is a song entitled 'My Dad is
a F...... Porn Star'.
"Min, is this an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars?"
Mr McGrady has promised to investigate and Training Min Tom Barton
says he will look at the funding guidelines.
But Mr Barton says obscenities are common in young people's music today.
"I'm aware that there's a 2nd version, for want of a better term, that
does use an expletive in the title instead of the word funky," he said.
"I'd prefer that that type of language wasn't used -- I guess I'm
showing my age, a bit like the concerns my parents had with songs like
[I Can't Get No] Satisfaction from the Rolling Stones."
Opp'n leader Lawrence Springborg says it an unacceptable use of public
funds.
"If you're going to have these sorts of lyrics in songs, then write
the songs and produce them with your own money," he said.
"I didn't say they couldn't do it but i just said don't expect to use
taxpayers' money to do it."
Theophanous fails to clear name over corruption
Melbourne. The High Court in MEL has rejected an attempt by disgraced
former fed MP, Andrew Theophanous, to clear his name over corruption
convictions. Mr Theophanous was the 1st fed MP to be jailed for
taking bribes. He was found guilty in 2002 of 2 counts of conspiracy
against the Commonwealth and 2 of bribery. He was sentenced to 6 y'
jail but the Court of Appeal overturned one of the conspiracy charges
last y. He has since been released from jail after serving his term.
Mr Theophanous sought the High Court's permission to try to overturn
the remaining convictions. His lawyer told the court cross
examination on a speech Mr Theophanous made in Parliament should not
have been allowed and he objected to the Nat'l Crime Commission's
methods. But the court has refused to grant leave for an appeal
saying there were insufficient prospects of it succeeding.
Court told of underworld murder plot
George Defteros and Mario Condello appeared in court on charges
including conspiracy to murder.
Melbourne. Alleged MEL underworld figure Mario Condello has spent his
first night in custody after he and criminal lawyer George Defteros
were charged with planning 3 underworld murders.
Condello, of Brighton, and Defteros were yesterday charged with
conspiracy and incitement to murder.
The MEL Magistrates Court was told Defteros arranged a meeting between
Condello and an informer who was to kill high-profile identity Carl
Williams, his father and a 3rd person.
Williams was last wk charged with planning to kill Condello.
The court hearing the charges against Condello and Defteros yesterday
was told that the informer was to receive $150,000 per killing, with a
deposit of $50,000 to be paid up front.
The court granted Defteros bail but Condello's application was refused.
Police told the court that Condello is now the head of the underworld
group known as the 'Carlton crew', that he has Calabrian crime
connections and may try to leave the country.
In opposing bail for Mr Condello, police alleged that a loaded gun was
found in his apartment after he was arrested yesterday morning.
Police told the court that the weapon was loaded with 7 bullets, one
in the breach, that the serial number had been removed and that the
weapon was fitted for a silencer.
The pair will face court again in July.
One of the 3 intended targets of the alleged murder plot has told the
ABC he is disappointed Vicn police did not warn him of any potential threat.
Carl Williams's father, George Williams, was one of those named in
court as an alleged target. He says police have not given him any details.
"How long have they known about [it] ... because they haven't told me
anything about it," he said.
"[I'm] very disappointed. They said on radio that there was 3 of them
... you know 3 names but they only give 2 names out."
Vicn Police Min Andre Haermeyer says yesterday's arrests prove police
are making significant progress in investigating MEL's underworld killings.
He has again dismissed Opp'n calls for a royal commission into the
gangland slayings and alleged police corruption.
"We are making significant progress here and all [Opp'n leader] Robert
Doyle can do is call for is a royal commission.
"What a royal commission will achieve is to delay their trials and
ensure that justice is not done."
Meanwhile, the Vicn Law Institute may decide as early as today whether
it will suspend Defteros from practising law.
Council members at an institute meeting last night expressed concern
over the charges the MEL lawyer faces.
Institute chief executive officer John Cain says staff will today
consider whether Defteros's certificate will be suspended.
"We haven't made a final decision in relation to whether we should
suspend that practising certificate or not," he said. "Under the Legal
Practice Act we have the power to suspend the practising certificate.
"We are at the moment gathering info to enable us to make that
decision. It is a decision we will have to consider over the course of
the day or over the weekend."
Sex slavery targeted in $20m plan
Canberra. The Fed Govt has launched a plan to target people
trafficking as part of a $20 mn package aimed at eradicating sexual
slavery. Justice Min Chris Ellison says the Govt is making progress
in the fight against people trafficking with 20 investigations and 10
prosecutions currently underway. Sen Ellison says the plan outlines
the action taken by 5 govt depts to battle the trade. "We will
continue in the fight against sex trafficking, this is just another
step in that fight and of course this is an issue the Aussie Govt
takes very seriously," he said. "We've put in place penalties up to
25 y imprisonment for those who are found guilty and we have further
laws being drafted which we'll be introducing in the Aug sittings."
Summit to combat rising child abuse rate
Canberra. The increasing rate of child abuse in AUS will be
highlighted at a nat'l summit at Parliament House in CBR today. The
latest figures from the Aussie Institute of Health and Welfare reveal
the number of confirmed cases of child abuse increased by 30,000 in
the 2 y to July 2003, with the number of suspected cases rising to
200,000. Families AUS rep Sandie de Wolf says there needs to be a Fed
Govt commitment to deal with the problem. She says child abuse takes
many forms. "From physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and
neglect, neglect is an increasing problem," she said. Ms Wolf says
there is a number of possible reasons for the increase. "There's
definitely increasing substance abuse in families, increasing domestic
violence, mental health issues, certainly poverty doesn't help, so
it's a range of different of reasons."
Police quiz group over stolen "Cezanne"
GC, Qld. Police are interviewing a number of people over the
discovery of paintings, claimed to be worth $mns, in a Gold Coast
garage. They include a piece said to be the work of renowned French
artist Paul Cezanne. Artist and art restorer John Opit reported the
paintings stolen from his Limpinwood property nr Murwillumbah in N NSW
four m ago. He told police they included a Cezanne piece valued at
more than $50 mn but art critics questioned its authenticity. Police
yesterday found several paintings in the garage of a Robina duplex.
NSW police rep, Norris Smith says they are undergoing forensic
tests. "No arrests have been made at this stage, however detectives
from Burleigh Heads and also NSW are continuing their
investigation," he said.
Investigations continue into recovered paintings
Investigations are continuing into the discovery of mn of dollars
worth of paintings thought to have been stolen from a northern NSW property.
GC, Qld. Police yesterday discovered the artworks in a Robina garage
on the Gold Coast.
4 m ago, John Opit reported that several paintings, including one he
claimed was a valuable Cezanne, had been stolen from his Limpinwood property.
Art critics have since questioned the authenticity of the Cezanne, but
Mr Opit says he is sure it is genuine.
"This painting appears to be over 100 y old. Who was painting like
this in an impressionist [style] over 100 y ago? Cezanne, wasn't he?
That's about it," he said.
Insp Ian Fitzsimmons of NSW police says forensic tests are being
carried out on the painting.
"We're confident that it is the Boy in the High Chair which is
attributed to the artist Paul Cezanne but will still have to confirm
that with art experts," he said.
"We will obviously be speaking with people who located them and we
will be carrying out other inquiries in relation to the premises."
No arrests have been made at this stage.
Drive-by shooting hits Fenech's home
Jeff Fenech ... fears for safety of his family.
Sydney. Police are investigating a drive-by shooting at former Aussie
boxing champion Jeff Fenech's home in SYD. At least 6 shots were
fired into the front of the house at Lilyfield in SYD's inner W but
no-one was there at the time. Fenech returned this morning and
inspected the scene with police. At least 6 bullets appear to have
hit the home and a security guard told police he saw a car drive away
from the area. Fenech says he has no idea why the shooting happened
and will not return to live there at the moment. "I don't fear for my
life, I fear for my wife and children," he said. "I'm certainly not
going to stay the night because I don't want to bring my kids home to
see holes through their bedroom and though the house." Inspector Sue
Trusty says forensic police are now searching for clues. "Obviously
these are specialised police trained in crime scene techniques," she
said. "They'd be looking at trying to recover the projectile and take
inquiries further."
Former pro athlete appeals against tax decision
Canberra. The High Court of AUS is set to review when prizes and
grants won by sports people should be considered as a taxable business
income. Former Olympic javelin thrower, Joanna Stone, last y won an
appeal to the Full Bench of the Fed Court, which found that 1000s of
dollars she had received from her sport should not be added to her
police officer's salary as part of her taxable income. The High Court
has today granted the Commissioner of Taxation special leave to appeal
against that decision. Outside the court Ms Stone's lawyer, Richard
Gelski, said the test case could have important ramifications for
competitors who do not earn enough money to live off their sport. "I
think an answer to this, to say an Ian Thorpe is in the business of
sport, and anything he wins or gets paid for turning up constitutes
income," he said. "I don't think that translates into athletes like Joanna."
Penguin banding likely to be outlawed
Studies suggest banding penguins can shorten their lives.
Melbourne. Banding Aussie penguins for scientific research is likely
to be banned following research showing it lowers survival rates.
Research on fairy penguins on Phillip Island off Vic has found
survival rates for flipper-banded penguins is significantly lower than
for micro-chipped penguins.
The Dept of Environment is awaiting a copy of the study it commissioned
from Peter Dann before deciding whether to extend a moratorium on banding.
It has been used for decades to study habits and survival rates.
The assistant director of the wildlife conservation branch, Anne-Marie
Delahunt, says a final decision will be made when the report is delivered.
"The dept's always very concerned to ensure that we're not supporting
research activities that have an impact on the very animals that we're
trying to conserve," she said.
Recent research on king penguins, which are 15 times bigger than fairy
penguins, has also shown that banding halves the survival rates of
chicks and lowers breeding rates.
{{
Midnight.
The 9/11 Commission has given an account of the chaotic response of US
officials to the WTC and Pentagon attacks. They found the US air def
system only had 9 mins to track the 1st aircraft that attacked the
WTC, and had no info at all about the remaining 3 aircraft.
Geneva. The UNHCR says there's been a sharp fall in the number of
refugees world wide. Last y, there was a global refugee pop'n of 9.7
mn -- a drop of 10% over the prev y. The fall was due to internat'l
efforts to find solutions to conflicts. The return of refugees to
Afghanistan was reportedly "phenomenal". There is now a program
underway to repatriate 2 mn African refugees. Some have been in camps
for ys. Contrary to popular opinion, EU countries are not at the top
for numbers of asylum seekers. There were 1.2 mn asylum applications
in Pak in 2003.
EU officials are optimistic about thrashing out a deal on a new
Const'n. The bargain fell through last time because members could not
agree on the weight of individual national votes. The Finnish FM told
the BBC before the start of the meeting that the 10 smaller states
still could not accept new proposals on voting rights.
The IAEA says it missed an admission by Iran it had importing special
magnets for use in nuclear processing. The UN agency had mistakenly
said Iran had concealed the transaction. Iran says it's a "big
mistake" by the agency. But IAEA chief ElBaradei says it was a
"minor error".
5 am
Def Sec Don Rummy has been quizzed by a Senate committee over his
secret orders not to list an Iraqi prisoner, in violation of Geneva
Conventions. He kept the prisoner off the lists so he could not be
interviewed by the Red Cross. The orders had been uncovered by the NY
Times this wk. Rummy said he'd agreed to CIA requests to withhold the
name, but could not explain why he had agreed. It was [reminiscent to
MJ3 explanations] "probably" so the interrogation would not be
interrupted, he said. Rummy insisted there had been no abuse in
this case. He had to think about protecting the American people, he
said, in a manner that was "legal and consistent with treaty
obligations". "And we do", he insisted.
The first civilian [CIA employee] has been charged in the US in
connection with the beating death of an Iraqi POW. The Iraqi had
turned himself in for a rocket attack on a US base in Iraq. The
defendant is accused of using his hands, feet and a large "flashlight"
to beat the prisoner. The prisoner died a couple of days after the
beating. A-G Ashcroft said each of the 4 charges the defendant faces
carries 10 y and a $1/4 mn fine. He maintained POW abuse was carried
out by a small number of individuals. But observers say the charges
filed indicate prisoner abuse is widespread.
6 Iraqi soldiers have been killed in a bomb attack, N of Baghdad. 4
others were wounded. The latest attack brings to at least 41 the
number of people killed in attacks around Baghdad in the past 24 hrs.
A former Rwandan mayor has been jailed for 30 y for his part in the
1994 genocide. He was accused of ordering his men to kill 20,000
people in E Rwanda in Apr 1994. He was also found guilty in arming
the militias, and personally taking part in the killing.
Kofi Annan has blamed Greek Cypriot leader Papadopoulos for
torpedoing the UN peace plan for the island nation.
Despite a stronger greenback, NY gold is up $US4.50 to $US389.50/oz.
An English soccer goon has been jailed for 2 y after violent clashes
in Portugal. 34 fans who were arrested after England's thrashing by
France will leave the country within the next 2 days after they
agreed to voluntary deportation.
The Aussie Dept of Env is awaiting a report that says survival rates
of banded penguins is significantly less than penguins tracked by
implanted chips.
A missing Cezanne that was allegedly one of 20 paintings stolen
from a rural farmhouse on the NSW N coast has turned up. There is
still some doubt about the authenticity of the painting. The owner
had claimed the Cezanne -- which he says he inherited from his
parents -- is worth $50 mn. It's reputedly one by the artist when he
was still a student. If true, it's one of artists first know works,
as well as one of the first impressionist paintings.
The AUD has hit a high of 69.14 in London o'night.
11 am
For all their coordinated carnage, the terrorist attacks on Sep 11,
2001 sprang from a shifting and problem-plagued plot that some
terrorist leaders wanted to call off, according to an official US report.
The Fed Opp'n says a report from the official investigation into the
Sep 11 terrorist attacks "blows apart" PM John Howard's argument that
the invasion of Iraq is part of the war on terrorism.
The official investigation into the Sep 11, 2001 attacks says in a
report there is no "credible evidence" that Iraq helped Al Qaeda in
any attacks against the US.
US air defences were completely unprepared for the Sep 11, 2001,
attacks and plagued by poor coordination and communications as they
cobbled together a hurried response, a nat'l inquiry commission has said.
US Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld, acting at the request of the CIA, ordered
that a suspected Iraqi insurgent leader be detained off the books to
conceal his identity from the Internat'l Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), the Pentagon has confirmed.
US Pres George W Bush has insisted Saddam Hussein had a relationship
with Al Qaeda, contradicting an independent commission's report that
there is no evidence of collaboration between Iraq and Osama bin
Laden's militant network.
Fighters loyal to the rebel Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr have been
withdrawing form Iraq's holy city of Najaff.
Midday.
The 9/11 Commission has released its definitive reports into the WTC
and Pentagon attacks 3 y ago. Audio tapes released today show the
confusion among air traffic controllers and military commanders during
the attack. They show officials had no chance to track the rogue
aircraft, let along intercept them. An order from VP Dick Cheney was
only passed to fighter pilots after the attacking aircraft had all
crashed. While people working in the Pentagon just before the attack
they believed military pilots were patrolling the area with orders to
"take out" any incoming aircraft, in fact pilots had only been ordered
to ID and tail incoming aircraft. When air defence officials called
the FAA to request a scramble of fighters within 10 mins, they were
told that "everyone has just left the room" .
The Iraq interim govt may institute martial law to crack down on the
worsening violence. Ministers have blamed fighters from outside Iraq
for car bombings that have killed dozens during the wk. Martial law
would only apply for a limited time, and only in the most dangerous
parts of the country, say govt reps. Newly-graduated Iraqi soldiers
will patrol the streets, with the power to impose curfews and arrest
suspects. One Iraqi told reporters he would kiss the hand of anyone
that could enforce martial law. In AUS, PM Howard told reporters the
sit'n in Iraq was exactly what he expected after the invasion.
The Parliament will attempt to censure Def Min Robert Hill over his
part in the POW abuse scandal. After wks of denials, Sen Hill
admitted earlier this wk he had know of allegations of POW abuses as
early as mid 2003. He said he had not acted on the reports from
Amnesty Internat'l because they were not detailed enough. AI was
always commenting on human rights issues in the middle of conflicts,
Sen Hill told a Senate committee.
5 pm
PBS News Hour. In its final days of hearings the 9/11 Commission has
painted a portrait of confusion and conflicting orders. It found the
US communications system was so overloaded, Pres Bush was reduced to
using a cell phone after the attack because no more secure system was
available. Mr Bush appeared in private before the Commission last m.
That was a serious problem, said one commissioner. The US is under
attack and the Commander in Chief is hit by communications problems.
In Air Force One the Pres was unable to reach many officials on the
secure communications system.
The Number of high school students who smoke in the US has dropped to
1 out of 5.
6.30 pm
SBS TV says there are reports the US is holding prisoners of the War
on Terror in a dozen secret detention centres. The report, from a
human rights group, warns that prisoner abuse under the circumstances
is not only likely, but inevitable. Elsewhere, Kofi Annan has come
out against a request to extend US immunity from prosecution for war
crimes in its war on terror he said such a move would discredit the UNSC.
Sydney. Accused terrorist Belal Khazaal is free on bail tonight,
after he volunteered to abide by new, stricter, bail conditions. He
promised to keep his mobile on him so police could monitor his
where-abouts, and not to connect to the Internet or public any web
material. He will face court against early next wk. He's charged
with making a document that was likely to facilitate terrorist acts.
Mr Khazaal gathered material about assassination techniques and
published it on his web pages. He faces up to 15 y jail if convicted.
7 pm
Al-Sadr's militias have tangled with US forces in Baghdad, despite a
ceasefire still holding in Najaff.
9 pm
Indonesia has lodged a written complaint that 2 Indon fishing boats
were fired on and then destroyed after being intercepted in the Gulf
of Carpentaria last m. The For Aff Dept says no weapons were drawn
during the exchange, and the boats were destroyed because they were
un-seaworthy. This m the Howard govt unveiled a new "get tough" policy
with fishing vessels intercepted in Australian waters.
9.30 pm
Mecca's highest imam has called for an end to attacks on non-Muslims in
Saudi Arabia. He also said good Muslims can't accept anything less than the
release of all hostages. He called on all al-Qaeda militants to "repent".
US forces have clashed with militants in Balad for a 2nd day. The US
military says latest clashes broke out when a patrol returned fire after
being attacked by small arms and RPG's. Several Iraqis are believed
to have been killed. Civilians fled their homes during the exchange.
CBR. The AUS Fed Police (AFP) has wound up its investigations into the
leaking of secret ONA reports earlier this y. A rep said the leak
couldn't be definitely connected with any of the recipients of the
report, including disaffected analyst Andrew Wilkie. No further
action will be taken.
Gen John Abizaid has been touring some of the hot-spots around
Baghdad. He says the US has had "cultural blinders" on, in its
selection of who should become members of the new Iraqi SDF. But he
indicated to CNN he was up-beat about the prospect for peace after the
Jun 30 hand-over.
Pak forces have killed a former Taliban cmdr in the S Waziristan
region nr the Afghan border. The dead man -- Nek Mohammed -- was
accused of sheltering foreign fighters. He had been one of the tribal
leaders embraced by Pakistani generals in Mar, in an apparent peace
settlement [see OIL 24mar04]. Pakistan has congratulated itself on
the success of what it indicated was a targeted killing. A cmdr said
a rocket fell on the tribal leader's house during the night, killing
him and 4 other people.
Fighting has broken out on the border of Darfur and Chad. Observers
are worried the low-level civil war in W Sudan is set to spread.
Officials in Chad says nearly 70 Sudanese were killed in the fighting.
They accuse the Sudan forces of crossing the border to raise recruits.
Brussels. A meeting at the EC has failed to nominate a successor to
Pres Romano Prodi. The Belgian candidate favoured by France and Germany
has been black-balled by Italy and Brit because he was against GWII.
California state is suing Enron, claiming it manipulated electricity
prices after power privatisation. The move comes after telephone
conversations were released last wk, that showed execs from the failed
company deliberately started Cal of power to hike up prices. The suit
claims $100s of mns in damages.
10.30 pm
NPR, Miami. Gov Jeb Bush of Fla announced that 20,000 former felons have
had their right to vote restored. The number follows from a huge 60,000
back-log of applications. In Florida, prisoners don't automatically have
the right to vote even after they serve their sentences. Gov Bush
couldn't say whether the 20,000 new voters would be able to cast a ballot
in Nov. Civil rights groups say about 1/2 mn former felons living in Fla
still don't have the right to vote.
11 pm
BBC World News. Pres Putin has announced after 9/11 Russia passed
info to Washington that Iraq was preparing terror attacks on the US.
The a surprise statement, Putin has said the KGB had rec'd info that
Saddam was planning to attack US targets in America and around the
world. But there were no direct links between Saddam and 9/11, Putin
added. The Russian Pres said Mr Bush had personally thanked a Russian
security chief for the info. Observers are surprised by the revelation.
Putin was a vocal opponent of GWII.
A Lebanese construction worker kidnapped in Baghdad has been released.
Another man still being held.
Vienna. Iran has been censured by the board of the IAEA for
insufficient co-operation with the UN agency. A number of issues
remain outstanding, said the motion. There remained concern that info
about Iran's centrifuge capabilities has been "incomplete and
unclear". The IAEA calls for Iran to resolve that issue, as well as
explain Uranium contamination found at several sites around the
country. The Res imposes no sanctions on Iran. IAEA officials say
the case should be wrapped up in several ms.
The Spanish govt has shelved a plan to divert bns of L from the Ebro to the
S of the country. The plan involved building 100s of dams. The govt says
it's abandoned the idea because of high costs and environmental concerns.
11.30 pm
The FTSE is up 8 pts. Gold has leaped to $US392.10/oz. Oil is higher
at $US38.46/bbl. The AUD is trading around 68.48 US c.
The US is unhappy with the IAEA's Iran resolution, saying it is "too
weak". The Whitehouse had wanted Iran reported to the UN Security
Council, which would have triggered sanctions. Reps for the IAEA
Board say the facts are presently ambiguous, and the organisation
needs to gather more info to decide whether Iran is on the brink of
developing nuclear weapons, as the US maintains.
Howard Dean has arrived in London, to rally Democratic ex-pats to vote
for John Kerry. The anti-war former NH Gov is unapologetic about his
opposition to the war. But he says now US forces are engaged, the
Coal'n must be expanded beyond the effectively 2 nations -- US and
Brit -- that have troops deployed now. Dean said National Guardsmen
who've been deployed to Iraq have no business being there, and should
be returned to the US ASAP. Most of the new troops should be from
Islamic countries, says Dean. He told the BBC that Kerry would be a
different kind of Pres, and would listen to the US public and the
world. Bush's disapproval rating in foreign policy is now over 60%.
}}
========================================
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sandgrubbers, bannana-lickers and 5th columnists on the run from
support payments and sundry legalese in their home countries. Mention
us at any Uncle Harry's Suburban Bunker and get a 10% discount on cop-killers!
Special discount for multiple sock puppets!
All speling macroizated for correctitood by Mcrosotf Speelchek.
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