PACSnews

Millions awarded to Wal-Mart employees who were denied lunch breaks

2005-12-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

OAKLAND, California (AP) -- A California jury on Thursday awarded $172 million to thousands of employees at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. who claimed they were illegally denied lunch breaks.

The world's largest retailer was ordered to pay $57 million in general damages and $115 million in punitive damages to about 116,000 current and former California employees for violating a 2001 state law that requires employers to give 30-minute, unpaid lunch breaks to employees who work at least six hours.

Link to CNN.

Dogs laugh, and it calms other dogs down

2005-12-08T23:46:00.000-08:00

Researchers at the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service in Washington state say sometimes a bark is just a bark — but a long, loud panting sound has real meaning.

They say the long, loud pant is the sound of a dog laughing, and it has a direct impact on the behavior of other dogs.

Link to ABC News

Controversy grows in Europe over CIA jail network

2005-12-01T00:39:00.000-08:00

Six countries have launched judicial investigations, Europe's top human rights watchdog has begun a probe, and the European Union has formally asked Washington to clarify reports that the Central Intelligence Agency's network of clandestine jails extends to Europe.

Link to Christian Science Monitor

Private security guard video shows Iraq murders

2005-11-29T21:59:00.000-08:00

A "trophy" video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The video has sparked concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.

Link to Telegraph UK

1286 children still missing after Katrina

2005-11-21T12:12:00.000-08:00

As Katrina fades from public attention, the pain of separation continues for families wrenched apart during the upheaval of the evacuation.

There are some happy outcomes for sure. Twelve-year-old Emil, 8-year-old Ronell, 8-year-old Ronald and 3-year-old Treneka were separated from their parents when the family left the New Orleans Superdome in September. The parents hoped the children were with friends but could not find them for two weeks. Finally a social worker and staff of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) located the children, who were staying with family friends in Dallas. Those children were reunited with their parents in a relatively short period, but now two and a half months after Hurricane Katrina, there are still nearly 1,300 missing children registered with the NCMEC.

Link to AlterNet

Former FEMA director still being paid

2005-09-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

Brown told congressional investigators Monday that he is being paid as a consultant to help FEMA assess what went wrong in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to a senior official familiar with the meeting.

Brown also said he wished he had pushed more forcefully -- and earlier -- for federal troops to be brought in to restore order in New Orleans, the official told CNN.

Link to CNN.com

Police confiscate firearms from New Orleans residents, but not from private security guards

2005-09-11T00:37:00.000-07:00

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 8 - Waters were receding across this flood-beaten city today as police officers began confiscating weapons, including legally registered firearms, from civilians in preparation for a mass forced evacuation of the residents still living here.

No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police. "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.

But that order apparently does not apply to hundreds of security guards hired by businesses and some wealthy individuals to protect property. The guards, employees of private security companies like Blackwater, openly carry M-16's and other assault rifles. Mr. Compass said that he was aware of the private guards, but that the police had no plans to make them give up their weapons.

Link to nytimes (requires free registration)

Navy Pilots Who Rescued Victims Are Reprimanded

2005-09-10T02:20:00.000-07:00

...
"We're not technically a search-and-rescue unit, but we're trained to do search and rescue," said Lieutenant Shand, a 17-year Navy veteran.

Flying over Biloxi and Gulfport and other areas of Mississippi, they could see rescue personnel on the ground, Lieutenant Udkow said, but he noticed that there were few rescue units around the flooded city of New Orleans, on the ground or in the air. "It was shocking," he said.

Seeing people on the roofs of houses waving to him, Lieutenant Udkow headed in their direction. Hovering over power lines, his crew dropped a basket to pick up two residents at a time. He took them to Lakefront Airport, where local emergency medical teams had established a makeshift medical center.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Shand landed his helicopter on the roof of an apartment building, where more than a dozen people were marooned. Women and children were loaded first aboard the helicopter and ferried to the airport, he said.

Returning to pick up the rest, the crew learned that two blind residents had not been able to climb up through the attic to the roof and were still in the building. Two crew members entered the darkened building to find the men, and led them to the roof and into the helicopter, Lieutenant Shand said.

Recalling the rescues in an interview, he became so emotional that he had to stop and compose himself. At one point, he said, he executed a tricky landing at a highway overpass, where more than 35 people were marooned.

Lieutenant Udkow said that he saw few other rescue helicopters in New Orleans that day. The toughest part, he said, was seeing so many people imploring him to pick them up and having to leave some.

"I would be looking at a family of two on one roof and maybe a family of six on another roof, and I would have to make a decision who to rescue," he said. "It wasn't easy."
...

Link to nytimes (requires free registration)

FEMA delayed sending aid

2005-09-08T23:51:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - The top U.S. disaster official waited hours after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast before he proposed to his boss sending at least 1,000 Homeland Security workers into the region to support rescuers, internal documents show.

Part of the mission, according to the documents obtained by the Associated Press, was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims.

Link to AP story at Contra-Costa Times

U.S. agency blocks photos of New Orleans dead

2005-09-07T12:32:00.000-07:00

NEW ORLEANS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. government agency leading the rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina said on Tuesday it does not want the news media to take photographs of the dead as they are recovered from the flooded New Orleans area.

Link to Reuters.

Barbara Bush:

2005-09-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

"....image that's sort of scary is, they all want to stay in Texas....and so many of the people in the arenas here, you know were, uh, were underpriveledged anyway. This is, this is working very well for them."

Link to NPRs MarketPlace.

New Orleans' Times-Picayune: an open letter to the president

2005-09-06T23:27:00.000-07:00

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Link to Times-Picayune

Falluja Floods the Superdome by Frank Rich

2005-09-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

AS the levees cracked open and ushered hell into New Orleans on Tuesday, President Bush once again chose to fly away from Washington, not toward it, while disaster struck. We can all enumerate the many differences between a natural catastrophe and a terrorist attack. But character doesn't change: it is immutable, and it is destiny.

As always, the president's first priority, the one that sped him from Crawford toward California, was saving himself: he had to combat the flood of record-low poll numbers that was as uncontrollable as the surging of Lake Pontchartrain. It was time, therefore, for another disingenuous pep talk, in which he would exploit the cataclysm that defined his first term, 9/11, even at the price of failing to recognize the emerging fiasco likely to engulf Term 2.

Link to NYTime (free registration required).

Chief Justice Rehnquist dies

2005-09-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

Link to Reuters.

New Orleans' mayor to feds: 'Get off your asses'

2005-09-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

The following is a transcript of WWL correspondent Garland Robinette's interview with Nagin on Thursday night. Robinette asked the mayor about his conversation with President Bush:

NAGIN: I told him we had an incredible crisis here and that his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice. And that I have been all around this city, and I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshal resources and we're outmanned in just about every respect.

Link to CNN.com

Frank Rich: The Swift Boating of Cindy Sheehan

2005-08-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

CINDY SHEEHAN couldn't have picked a more apt date to begin the vigil that ambushed a president: Aug. 6 was the fourth anniversary of that fateful 2001 Crawford vacation day when George W. Bush responded to an intelligence briefing titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States" by going fishing. On this Aug. 6 the president was no less determined to shrug off bad news. Though 14 marine reservists had been killed days earlier by a roadside bomb in Haditha, his national radio address that morning made no mention of Iraq. Once again Mr. Bush was in his bubble, ensuring that he wouldn't see Ms. Sheehan coming. So it goes with a president who hasn't foreseen any of the setbacks in the war he fabricated against an enemy who did not attack inside the United States in 2001.

Link to NYTimes

Robertson Suggests U.S. Kill Venezuela's Leader

2005-08-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

Chavez assassination row erupts

A row has erupted over a call by US religious broadcaster Pat Robertson for the US to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
....

"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Mr. Robertson said Monday on his show, "The 700 Club." "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

Link to BBC (with video)
Link to NYTimes (with video)(free registration required)

Former CIA middle east specialist calls women's social rights "not critical to the evolution of democracy"

2005-08-24T00:35:00.000-07:00

Reuel Marc Gerecht is the Director of the Middle East Initiative at the Project for the New American Century

MR. GERECHT: Actually, I'm not terribly worried about this. I mean, one hopes that the Iraqis protect women's social rights as much as possible. It certainly seems clear that in protecting the political rights, there's no discussion of women not having the right to vote. I think it's important to remember that in the year 1900, for example, in the United States, it was a democracy then. In 1900, women did not have the right to vote. If Iraqis could develop a democracy that resembled America in the 1900s, I think we'd all be thrilled. I mean, women's social rights are not critical to the evolution of democracy. We hope they're there. I think they will be there. But I think we need to put this into perspective.

Link to "Meet the Press" transcript

Soldier 'instructed' to abuse Abu Ghraib prisoners

2005-08-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

One of the US soldiers convicted of mistreating prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison says his superiors made it clear those incarcerated were to be abused.

Sergeant Javal Davis was sentenced to six months in jail after admitting to having deliberately stepped on the hands and feet of handcuffed prisoners.

In an interview aired on Channel 7, Sgt Davis said he was instructed to make life as unpleasant as possible for those he was guarding.

Link to ABC News, Australia

Photo essay of nationwide vigils

2005-08-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

The most extensive photo archive of Wednesday night's vigils.

Michael Berg, father of slain businessman Nick Berg, who was beheaded in Iraq in 2004, holds a sign at Rodney square in downtown Wilmington, Del., in support of 'peace mom' Cindy Sheehan on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005. Sheehan, whose soldier-son was killed in Iraq, has sparked the support of anti-war movements all over the country including a group from Wilmington, since Aug. 6, 2005 when she began a vigil near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. (AP Photo/The News Journal, Ron Soliman)

People line a street along Milwaukee's lake front during a candle light vigil in support of "peace mom" Cindy Sheehan Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash).

Link to Cryptome.org (note: due to the high number of images load time is long, please be patient)

Dead Man's Family Criticize London Police

2005-08-18T05:42:00.000-07:00

LONDON (AP) - London's police commissioner came under criticism Thursday for reportedly stalling an investigation into the fatal shooting of a Brazilian man mistaken for a bomber.
....
But a leaked report made by public by Britain's ITV television Tuesday into Menezes' death suggested the initial police statements about what happened that day were riddled with inaccuracies.

Link to The Guardian.

She reopened debate about war, and, boy, is she hearing about it

2005-08-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

Vacaville resident Cindy Sheehan camped out near President Bush's vacation ranch in Crawford, Texas, in the hope of inspiring a national conversation about the war.

Her plea for Bush to explain what "noble cause" her son Casey died for in Iraq last year also has inspired a national conversation about Sheehan. And her name has become shorthand for what people think of the war.

Link to San Francisco Chronicle.

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff indicted

2005-08-12T01:47:00.000-07:00

Link to CNN.

IKEA goes organic

2005-08-09T18:09:00.000-07:00

IKEA started their project by launching organic coffee, followed by strawberry/ orange jam and blue cheese. The coming winter IKEA will launch organic snaps (schnapps), and the meat sauce that will be served at the Ikea restaurants will also be certified organic.

Link to Øresund Food Excellence

Art prankster sprays Israeli wall

2005-08-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

Secretive "guerrilla" artist Banksy has decorated Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side.

The nine paintings were created on the Palestinian side of the barrier.

One depicts a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side.

Banksy's spokeswoman Jo Brooks said: "The Israeli security forces did shoot in the air threateningly and there were quite a few guns pointed at him."

Link to BBC.

Mother of soldier who died in Iraq camping out to speak to Bush

2005-08-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

Ms. Sheehan has vowed to camp out on the spot until Mr. Bush agrees to meet with her, even if it means spending all of August under a broiling sun by the dusty road. Early on Sunday afternoon, 25 hours after she was turned back as she approached Mr. Bush's ranch, Prairie Chapel, Ms. Sheehan stood red-faced from the heat at the makeshift campsite that she says will be her home until the president relents or leaves to go back to Washington.

Link to New York Times.

CIA commander: U.S. let bin Laden slip away

2005-08-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

[I]n a forthcoming book, the CIA field commander for the agency's Jawbreaker team at Tora Bora, Gary Berntsen, says he and other U.S. commanders did know that bin Laden was among the hundreds of fleeing Qaeda and Taliban members. Berntsen says he had definitive intelligence that bin Laden was holed up at Tora Bora—intelligence operatives had tracked him—and could have been caught. "He was there," Berntsen tells NEWSWEEK.

Link to Newsweek, via Slate.

Bolton appointed US envoy to UN

2005-08-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

US President George W Bush has formally appointed John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations, without waiting for approval from the Senate.

Mr Bolton will be in his job for the opening of the General Assembly

Mr Bush called Mr Bolton a "talented and successful diplomat", who would help strengthen the organisation. He said Democrats had forced him to bypass Congress, using "shameful delaying tactics" to prevent a vote.

Link to BBC News

Undercover Student Reporter Busts Recruiters

2005-06-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

The premise was simple: McSwane would try to join the Army as a high school dropout with an insatiable fondness for marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms. No matter how stoned and stupid McSwane acted, a pair of recruiters wouldn't wouldn't let him go.

McSwane's claim of being a dropout didn't discourage his recruiters either. He was encouraged to take a high school equivalency diploma exam, which McSwane deliberately failed. That's when he said one recruiter introduced him to the "home-school option."

McSwane was told to order a phony diploma and transcripts from an online diploma mill.

Cheney "offended" by Amnesty International report

2005-05-30T23:31:00.000-07:00

"Frankly, I was offended by it," Cheney said in the videotaped interview. "For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don't take them seriously."

AP story here.

Chiapas Training Center Given Sasakawa Prize at World Health Assembly

2005-05-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

Geneva, May 19, 2005 (PAHO)—The Center for Training and Education in Ecology and Health for Peasants in Chiapas, Mexico, today at the World Health Assembly received the Sasakawa Health Prize for 2005 for its outstanding work in health development.

Army recruitment halts for a day

2005-05-13T01:29:00.000-07:00

After David McSwane, a seventeen-year-old Colorado high school student reported that Army recruiters helped him obtain a fake diploma and a drug detoxification kit to circumvent regulations, the Army has ordered a one day "recruiting stand down" to address ethical issues in recruiting. Along with McSwane's complaint, other reports of aggressive tactics have recently surfaced. Link to Seattle Times, link to New York Times.

A brief history of the U.S.' involvement with Saddam Hussein

2005-05-09T11:07:00.000-07:00

An independent project by Eric Blumrich.

Link to iFilm.

N.M. School Locked Down After a Huge Burrito Was Mistaken for Weapon

2005-04-30T04:09:00.000-07:00

A call about a possible weapon at a middle school prompted police to put armed officers on rooftops, close nearby streets and lock down the school. The drama ended two hours later when the suspicious item was identified as a 30-inch burrito filled with steak, guacamole, lettuce, salsa and jalapenos and wrapped inside tin foil and a white T-shirt.
....
Russell said the mystery was solved after she brought everyone in the school together in the auditorium to explain what was going on."The kid was sitting there as I'm describing this (report of a student with a suspicious package) and he's thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, they're talking about my burrito.'"

The burrito was part of Morrissey's extra-credit assignment to create commercial advertising for a product. "We had to make up a product and it could have been anything. I made up a restaurant that specialized in oddly large burritos," Morrissey said.

Link to ABC News.

HEAVY TRASH INSTALLS VIEWING PLATFORMS AT LOS ANGELES GATED COMMUNITIES

2005-04-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

On April 24, 2005, Heavy Trash volunteers deposited bright orange viewing platforms in front of three Los Angeles gated communities; Brentwood Circle, Park La Brea and Laughlin Park. The purpose of these viewing platforms is to draw attention to the phenomenon of gated communities -- the fastest growing form of housing in the United States. "There are now more than 1 million homes behind such walls in the greater Los Angeles area alone," according to Setha Low, a professor at the City University of New York.

Link to heavytrash press release.

U.S. Considers Toughening Stance Toward Venezuela

2005-04-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

s President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela veers toward greater confrontation with Washington, the Bush administration is weighing a tougher approach, including funneling more money to foundations and business and political groups opposed to his leftist government, American officials say.

But it has found no allies so far in its attempts to isolate the Venezuelan leader, and it has grown more and more frustrated by Mr. Chávez's strident anti-American outbursts and policies that seem intended to fly in the face of Washington. On Sunday, Mr. Chávez ended a 35-year military cooperation agreement and ordered out four American military instructors he accused of fomenting unrest.

Link to NY Times (free registration required).

Water project cancelled.

2005-04-21T23:07:00.000-07:00

Christoph Bangert/Polaris, for The New York Times

Nuradeen Ghreeb, a civil engineer, dreamed of bringing clean drinking water to his hometown, Halabja, but the United States canceled its planned water project there this week.

By JAMES GLANZ

Published: April 16, 2005

ALABJA, Iraq, April 11 - For years Nuradeen Ghreeb has dreamed of bringing clean drinking water to his hometown. That town happens to be Halabja, where 17 years ago he and his parents cowered in a basement as Saddam Hussein's airplanes attacked with chemical weapons, killing at least 5,000 people.

But on Sunday, Mr. Nuradeen learned that his dream was over, because the United States had canceled the water project it had planned here as part of a vast effort to rebuild Iraq after the 2003 invasion. Ordinarily a quiet and reserved civil engineer, he sat on one of his beloved water pipes on hearing the news and wept, his tears glistening in the afternoon sun.

"If the Americans think that training the Iraqi Army comes before clean drinking water for the people of Halabja," he said quietly, "then we can't expect anything from them."

Link to NYT

Teachers and Classmates Express Outrage at Arrest of Girl, 16, as a Terrorist Threat

2005-04-14T00:02:00.000-07:00

...

According to a government document provided to The New York Times by a federal official earlier this week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has asserted that both girls are "an imminent threat to the security of the United States based on evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers." No evidence was cited, and federal officials will not comment on the case.

...

"I just can't fathom this," said her art teacher, Kimberly Lane, who has repeatedly called the youth detention center but like Ms. Carr was not allowed to speak to the girl, who has no lawyer. Among the unanswered questions they raised was why, if she was really a suspect, no F.B.I. agent had shown up to search her school locker or question her classmates, who sent her letters of support.

Link to the New York Times

Massacre in Rio Getting Little Attention

2005-04-08T23:50:00.000-07:00

...

But even by the brutal standards of Nova Iguacu, last week's massacre of 30 people apparently by a band of rogue policemen was shocking, starting with the severed head thrown over the gate of a police station.

"It's beyond shocking really," said Tim Cahill, a researcher from the London office of the human rights group Amnesty International who arrived to investigate the slayings. "It just shows how cheap human life has become."

...

AP story here.

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

2005-03-31T19:47:00.000-08:00

from the New York Times:

INCE 1977, the United States State Department has issued an annual global report card called the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

The document has long been a thorn in the side of authoritarian governments, including China's, which responds with a nettled review of its own, called "The Human Rights Record of the United States," the 2004 version of which was recently released.

link to full text of the report in English at China's People's Daily.

Iraqi 'justice' by television

2005-03-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

'Self-confessed' insurgents are portrayed as morally bankrupt

Every night the government-run al-Iraqiya television station carries lengthy confessions, under interrogation, from people like Ibrahim, who it says are captured insurgents.

The broadcasts have stirred a lot of interest among the Iraqi people, but unease among foreign observers who see it as an echo of the ousted Baathist regime's discredited practices.

The televised confessions, on a programme called "Terror in the Hands of Justice", are shown at prime time every night, and are clearly aimed at shocking the Iraqi public.

Link to BBC.

Congressman calls for IRA to disband

2005-03-13T16:18:00.000-08:00

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER


	Sinn Fein party leader Gerry Adams, center, wearing glasses, is welcomed as he arrives, Saturday, March 12, 2005, in Cincinnati. Adams went to the United States on Saturday in search of foreign support, but back home in Northern Ireland a controversy over the IRA's killing of a Catholic man refused to go away. (AP Photo/David Kohl)

DUBLIN, Ireland -- In a major departure, Sinn Fein's leading backer in the U.S. Congress called Sunday for the Irish Republican Army to disband because it was standing in the way of peace in Northern Ireland.

Representative Peter King, who for more than two decades has been an ardent supporter of the Sinn Fein-IRA movement, accused the outlawed IRA of making a series of poor decisions that have fueled growing hostility within Irish-American circles.

King said IRA activities were preventing a potential new power-sharing deal between Sinn Fein, which represents most Catholics in Northern Ireland, and Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists, the territory's major British Protestant party.

AP story here.

Children as young as 11 were held at Abu Ghraib

2005-03-11T16:29:00.000-08:00

US held youngsters at Abu Ghraib

The US military says no children suffered abuse at Abu Ghraib

Children as young as 11 years old were held at Abu Ghraib, the Iraqi prison at the centre of the US prisoner abuse scandal, official documents reveal.

Brig Gen Janis Karpinski, formerly in charge of the jail, gave details of young people and women held there.

Her assertion was among documents obtained via legal action by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The Pentagon has admitted juveniles were among the detainees, but said no child was subject to any abuse.

Brig Gen Karpinski made her remarks in an interview with a general investigating the abuses at the prison.

AP story here.

Taco Bell, tomato pickers reach agreement

2005-03-09T18:39:00.000-08:00

A group of tomato pickers from Florida announced an end to a boycott of Taco Bell yesterday after the fast-food chain and its parent company agreed to meet demands to improve wages and working conditions for the farmworkers.

In what both sides called an unprecedented agreement, the fast-food company said it will increase the amount it pays for tomatoes by a penny per pound, with the increase to go directly to workers' wages. Taco Bell said it will help the farmworkers' efforts to improve working and living conditions.
---
Washington Post story here.

John Bolton chosen as U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

2005-03-08T18:38:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) - John R. Bolton, President Bush's choice to be U.N. ambassador, once said it wouldn't matter if 10 stories of the world body's headquarters simply vanished. He has also said the United States is the world's only real authority.

AP story at the Guardian here.

Carlos Mesa pondrá su renuncia hoy ante el Congreso de Bolivia

2005-03-07T20:57:00.000-08:00

"No habrá muertos sobre mi espalda", dice, y reta a Evo Morales a gobernar el país

Se mantienen los bloqueos carreteros; alteños ratifican su decisión de radicalizar el paro

Manifestaciones de apoyo al mandatario en La Paz y anuncian movilizaciones para este lunes

La Paz, 6 de marzo. El presidente de Bolivia, Carlos Mesa, anunció este domingo en un mensaje radiotelevisado que presentará el lunes su renuncia a su investidura ante el Congreso nacional en medio de un rebrote de las demandas sociales y del llamado a la radicalización de los bloqueos en todo el país.

"He decidido presentar a la consideración del país, a la consideración de ustedes ciudadanos de Bolivia, como manda la Constitución, mediante el Congreso nacional, mi renuncia al cargo de presidente de la República", señaló Mesa en un mensaje desde el palacio de gobierno.

Link to La Jornada.

2nd test, this time with title

2005-03-06T17:18:00.000-08:00

2005-03-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

OFW's Remit a Record 8.5 Billion Dollars in 2004

2005-03-04T10:52:00.000-08:00

According to the Philippine Central Bank remittances by Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), reached an all time high in 2004. A total of 8.5 billion dollars were sent home to the Philippines from cities and towns around the globe. From the Americas, the EU, the Middle East, and Asia, OFWs remitted their hard-earned cash, and in the process kept the country's economy afloat. This loyal army of overseas benefactors, forced by cruel circumstance to leave their towns and barrios and travel to the far reaches of our planet just to earn a living wage and feed their family, has once again delivered--as expected.

Link to INQ7.net

Cuban Cardinal Questioned By Homeland Security

2005-03-04T10:07:00.000-08:00

Cuba's highest ranking Catholic official Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the Archbishop of Havana, released a statement yesterday confirming weekend press reports that he was harassed by Homeland Security officers in the Miami International Airport last Friday when he arrived on a charter flight from Havana. News reports said that Ortega was questioned about issues unrelated to his travel, including his views on the Castro government and the U.S. economic blockade on the island. Ortega said that an agent indicated that he was opening a file on Ortega reserved for "dangerous persons" and that in order to enter the U.S., the Cardinal had to answer his questions. The Cardinal carries a diplomatic passport issued by the Vatican and has a multiple entry visa issued by the U.S. State Department.

Link to Periodico 26 Las Tunas, Cuba.

UPDATE Self-censoring media: Her Syndicate Runs Edited Version of Ann Coulter Column

2005-03-04T10:01:00.000-08:00

Ann Coulter, no stranger to controversy, stirred the pot some more this past week, when she took up the the still-simmering story of ex-White House reporter James Guckert, better known as Jeff Gannon, formerly of Talon News.

Writing in her Feb. 23 column for Universal Press Syndicate, Coulter observed, among other things, that Guckert/Gannon was a better reporter than The New York Times' Maureen Dowd and his "only offense is that he may be gay." Nothing unexpected there, but Coulter also wrote: "Press passes can't be that hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the president."

Link to Editor & Publisher.

Arab Americans Criticize "Racist" Writer's Remarks

2005-03-04T09:38:00.000-08:00

Arab Americans have taken a swipe at "racist" and "outrageous" remarks against Helen Thomas, one of the first female journalists and the dean of the White House Press Corps, because of her Arab descent.

"Ann Coulter uses this context as an opportunity for Arab bashing and perpetuating Arab phobia," Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) (ADC) said in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net, on Thursday, March 3.

In an article published on February 23, Coulter, a syndicated writer and journalist, said that "press passes can't be hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the president."

Link to Islam-Online.

The American Witness

2005-03-04T09:33:00.000-08:00

American soldiers are trained to shoot at the enemy. They're prepared to be shot at. But what young men like Brian Steidle are not equipped for is witnessing a genocide but being unable to protect the civilians pleading for help.

Link to The New York Times (free regiistration required).

Five acquitted in Mukhtar Mai case

2005-03-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

A division bench of the Lahore High Court Multan
Bench on Thursday acquitted five of six men
sentenced to death in the Mukhtar Mai gang-rape
case, quashing the judgement of an anti-terrorism
court (ATC) in Dera Ghazi Khan.

Link to Pakisatn Daily Times.

UPDATE: Carlos Mauricio

2005-03-04T09:18:00.000-08:00

For more information on Carlos Mauricio's case visit the Center for Justice and Accountability.

Link to CJA.com

A federal appeals court has reversed a multimillion dollar 2002 verdict by a West Palm Beach jury against two former Salvadoran generals.

2005-03-04T09:11:00.000-08:00

A federal appeals court has reversed a $54.6 million verdict against two retired Salvadoran generals -- one of them a Broward County resident -- accused of turning a blind eye to the torture of citizens during their country's bloody civil war two decades ago.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said Monday that the three plaintiffs -- a church worker, a rural doctor and a university professor who were labeled subversives and brutalized by Salvadoran soldiers -- waited more than 10 years, or beyond a statute of limitations, to bring legal action.

The court said the statute of limitations had expired before the generals were sued in a U.S. court in 1999 under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, which allows U.S. courts to assess damages against perpetrators of human rights abuses committed abroad.

The ruling reverses a civil verdict reached by a federal jury in West Palm Beach in July 2002 after listening to weeks of chilling testimony from the three torture victims.

The jury decided the generals were liable for the brutality carried out by their men against those perceived to oppose the Salvadoran government.

''It's the right decision. I'm just surprised it took the court this long to rule,'' said Miami attorney Kurt Klaus, who represents the two generals, José Guillermo García, 72, of Plantation, and Carlos Vides Casanova, 67, of Palm Coast.

Link to The Miami Herald article hosted on CJA.com

Health: Deaths Outnumber Births As Aids Ravages Southern Africa

2005-02-27T17:36:00.000-08:00

The HIV/AIDS epidemic, which continues to devastate mostly the world's poorer nations, has increased the rate of mortality and slowed population growth, according to a new U.N. report released Thursday.

"As a consequence, population growth in the region is expected to stall between 2005 and 2020," says the study titled "World Population Prospects: the 2004 Revision".

In Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland, population is projected to decrease as deaths outnumber births.

Link to AllAfrica.com

Chavez Accusses US of Considering Assassination

2005-02-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denounced that the U.S. government is preparing "new aggressions" against him and against the Venezuelan people. "Before the world, before our people, before the Latin American people, and before the people of North America, for whom we have respect, I accuse the government of the United States of continuing their aggressions against Venezuela," he said during his weekly live TV show.

Link to Scoop Independent News.

UPDATE 'Landowners ordered nun shot'

2005-02-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

A group of Brazilian landowners may have pooled $US19,000 ($24,000) for the murder of a US-born environmentalist nun who helped poor farmers defend their lands.

Link to The Australian.

Activist nun slain in the Amazon

2005-02-27T13:24:00.000-08:00

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- With the help of two murder suspects and a witness, police re-enacted the killing of Dorothy Stang, a 73-year-old American nun authorities believe was shot because of her work defending rain forest communities.

Link to CNN.

The Marketplace Report: 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Costs Money

2005-02-27T13:21:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of personnel have left or been forced out of the U.S. military because of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy first instituted by former President Clinton a decade ago. A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds the loss of key military personnel has cost the U.S. armed forces nearly $200 million. John Dimsdale of Marketplace reports.

Link to audio on NPR.

No German Flowers for Bush

2005-02-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

This time George Bush is not visiting Berlin. His last visit here in 2002 resulted in an unfriendly demonstration of close to 100,000 people from all over Germany. Although he was carefully kept away from the crowds (on Berlin’s famous Unter den Linden boulevard) he certainly heard about it.

That is why he chose Mainz this time. Mainz, a small city on the Rhine river with about 300,000 people, has a big advantage: it is across the river from Wiesbaden, right in the middle of a concentration of US troops. They can provide as friendly and safe a backdrop for Bush as they did yesterday for Laura Bush, who carefully chose the US Army high school as a venue.

But Bush and his backers, American and German, want to play it very safe, and this has become a nightmare for the people of Mainz. All air traffic to the nearby Frankfurt airport is being suspended for part of the day (today, Wednesday). Boat traffic on the Rhine will be suspended despite all economic losses involved. The autobahns surrounding the city and connecting it with the airport will all be closed to traffic.

Link to Common Dreams News Center.

No Child Left Behind law blasted by states

2005-02-27T13:07:00.000-08:00

Concluding a yearlong study on the effectiveness of President Bush's education law, No Child Left Behind, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers drawn from many states yesterday pronounced it flawed.

The panel characterized the program as a convoluted and unconstitutional education reform initiative that has usurped state and local control of public schools.

The report, based on hearings in six cities, praised the law's goal of ending the gap in scholastic achievement between white and minority students. But most of the 77-page report, which the Education Department rebutted, was devoted to a detailed inventory and discussion of the program's flaws.

Link to Seattle Post Intelligencer.

President's Uncle Bucky emerges as a big winner from Iraq war

2005-02-27T13:05:00.000-08:00

The Iraq war has produced many winners and many losers. And one small but significant winner is a certain William "Bucky" Bush, brother of one president and uncle to the current occupant of the White House.

Link to The Independent UK.

Wal-Mart's Profits: Nearly $20,000 (Per Minute, That Is)

2005-02-27T13:02:00.000-08:00

al-Mart's Profits:

Nearly $20,000

(Per Minute, That Is)

Say what you will about Wal-Mart - and critics say plenty, about its wages, its working conditions and its bulldozer impact on smaller "old economy" stores unlucky enough to lie in its path - but it has created an astounding money machine.

Link to The New York Times (free registration required).

Developer Drops Plan for City's First Wal-Mart

2005-02-27T13:00:00.000-08:00

Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times

Whatever eventually rises on this site in Rego Park, Queens, the city's first Wal-Mart will not be part of it.

acing intense opposition, a large real estate developer has dropped its plans to include a Wal-Mart store in a Queens shopping complex, thwarting Wal-Mart's plan to open its first store in New York City, city officials and real estate executives said yesterday.

Link to The New York Times (free registration required).

Analysis: Transatlantic tensions remain

2005-02-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

Bush is less popular in Europe than at home...

George W Bush's visit to Europe to "extend the hand of friendship" has provoked a generally sceptical response in the French press, despite the welcome it has received from diplomats and politicians in France.

Link to BBC News.

The Gloves are Off: The European Press on Bush's Visit

2005-02-27T12:47:00.000-08:00

Bush has arrived. The plain-spoken US President flew into Brussels on Sunday, the first stop on a five-day fence-mending trip though Europe that will take him to Germany and Slovakia as well. The European press has plenty to say about the latest battlefront in the American charm offensive.

Link to Der Spiegel.

Egypt leader allows opposition on ballot

2005-02-27T12:36:00.000-08:00

In a surprise and dramatic reversal, President Hosni Mubarak took a first significant step Saturday toward democratic reform in the world's most populous Arab country, ordering the constitution changed to allow presidential challengers on the ballot this fall.

An open election has long been a demand of the opposition but was repeatedly rejected by the ruling party, with Mubarak only last month dismissing calls for reform as "futile."

Link to China Daily.

Transplant tourists flock to Pakistan, where poverty and lack of regulation fuel trade in human organs

2005-02-27T12:30:00.000-08:00

Skint, depressed and with moneylenders banging on his door, Muhammad Iqbal decided four months ago to transform his fortunes by selling his last valuable possession - a kidney. The labourer went to the motorway that runs past his one-room house and took a bus to Rawalpindi, the home of Pakistan's powerful military. He checked into a hospital, took a series of tests and, after two days, went under the scalpel.

Link to Guardin UK.

Botswana holds beauty pageant to choose miss HIV

2005-02-27T12:27:00.000-08:00

There is a cat walk banquet, hordes of journalists, traditional dancing and time-consuming hair styling -- but at Botswana's beauty pageant every competitor must be HIV positive.

At a palm tree-studded resort and conference centre in the capital Gaborone, 12 girls are competing this weekend for the title "Miss HIV Stigma Free".

Link to Rueters AlterNet.

New Hope for Justice! Haitian women sue Toto Constant for rape and Torture

2005-02-24T17:27:00.000-08:00

CJA served Haitian death squad leader Emmanuel "Toto" Constant with a lawsuit accusing him of responsibility for torture, crimes against humanity and the systematic use of violence against women, including rape, for the purpose of terrorizing the Haitian population during that country’s brutal military regime in the early 1990s.

Link to the Center for Justice and Accountability.

19 - No work, no pay on EDSA holiday

2005-02-22T12:05:00.000-08:00

It's no work, no pay on February 25, the 19th anniversary celebration of the EDSA People Power Revolution, for workers in the private sector, the Department of Labor and Employment said Friday.

According to Memorandum Circular No. 1 issued by Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, "no work, no pay policy shall apply unless there is a favorable company policy, practice, or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) granting payment on a special day even if the day is unworked."

Link to balita.org

GMA calls for new revolution against corruption in country

2005-02-22T12:03:00.000-08:00

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday called for a new revolution against deep-seated corruption which, she said, continues to derail economic growth and further sink the country in poverty.

Link to Manila Bulletin.

Mark leads kabalens in remembering People Power

2005-02-22T12:02:00.000-08:00

Some 5,000 Kapampangans joined Governor Mark T. Lapid and other provincial officials Tuesday in commemorating the People Power uprising in Edsa.

"We support GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) vs corruption!," read streamers, placed in buses, which trooped to Edsa to join the whole nation and its leaders in "praying for peace" throughout the country.

Link to Sun-Star Pampanga.

Red guerrillas in Phillipines perform gay marriage

2005-02-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

DARE to struggle, dare to win ... as married gays. After raiding a few Army camps, two communist guerrillas hid in a forest gorge and fell in love.

Deeply.

That was three years ago. On Friday, under a romantic drizzle in a muddy clearing in Compostela Valley province in Mindanao, Ka Andres and Ka Jose exchanged vows in a heavily guarded ceremony before local villagers, friends from the city and their comrades in arms.

They are considered the first homosexual couple in the New People's Army (NPA) who were wed by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Link to Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Frank Rich: The White House Stages Its 'Daily Show'

2005-02-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

HE prayers of those hoping that real television news might take its cues from Jon Stewart were finally answered on Feb. 9, 2005. A real newsman borrowed a technique from fake news to deliver real news about fake news in prime time.

Let me explain.

On "Countdown," a nightly news hour on MSNBC, the anchor, Keith Olbermann, led off with a classic "Daily Show"-style bit: a rapid-fire montage of sharply edited video bites illustrating the apparent idiocy of those in Washington. In this case, the eight clips stretched over a year in the White House briefing room - from February 2004 to late last month - and all featured a reporter named "Jeff." In most of them, the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, says "Go ahead, Jeff," and "Jeff" responds with a softball question intended not to elicit information but to boost President Bush and smear his political opponents. In the last clip, "Jeff" is quizzing the president himself, in his first post-inaugural press conference of Jan. 26. Referring to Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton, "Jeff" asks, "How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?"

If we did not live in a time when the news culture itself is divorced from reality, the story might end there: "Jeff," you'd assume, was a lapdog reporter from a legitimate, if right-wing, news organization like Fox, and you'd get some predictable yuks from watching a compressed video anthology of his kissing up to power. But as Mr. Olbermann explained, "Jeff Gannon," the star of the montage, was a newsman no more real than a "Senior White House Correspondent" like Stephen Colbert on "The Daily Show" and he worked for a news organization no more real than The Onion. Yet the video broadcast by Mr. Olbermann was not fake. "Jeff" was in the real White House, and he did have those exchanges with the real Mr. McClellan and the real Mr. Bush.

Link to The New York Times (free registration required).

'06 elections pose trouble, Goss warns

2005-02-18T17:06:00.000-08:00

CIA Director Porter Goss said Wednesday that a series of upcoming elections in countries such as Colombia, Haiti and Venezuela are a potential cause of instability in the region.

Testifying before the Senate on the security threats facing the United States, Goss noted that Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela will hold presidential elections in 2006, an unusual concentration of electoral events.

Link to Miami Herald (free registration required)

Army Destroyed Mock Execution Pictures

2005-02-18T16:57:00.000-08:00

Pictures of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan posing with hooded and bound detainees during mock executions were destroyed after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq to avoid another public outrage, Army documents released Friday by the American Civil Liberties Union show.

Link to ABC News

Annan Urges Security Council to Take Action Against Killings, Displacement in Darfur, Sudan

2005-02-16T16:11:00.000-08:00

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, saying the evidence pointed to crimes committed by the Sudanese Government, militia and rebel forces, today urged the Security Council to act urgently to stop further death and suffering in the strife-torn Darfur region and "to do justice for those whom we are already too late to save."

Link to allAfrica.com

On Maneuvers With the Army's Game Squad

2005-02-16T15:52:00.000-08:00

"The whole idea is for the designers to get a feel of what it's like to be with soldiers, what they do for a living, what it sounds like, what it feels like, even what it smells like," said Col. Casey Wardynski, who dreamed up America's Army as the director of the Army's Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis, at West Point. "You can't put a lot of that into the game, but the experience helps make the game more realistic."

The Army has no detailed figures on the game's success in encouraging young men and women to enlist, but a 2003 survey indicated that the game, which costs the Pentagon about $6 million a year, is more effective at delivering the Army's messages to young people than the hundreds of millions of dollars a year the Army spends on advertising, Colonel Wardynski said.

Just about every Army recruiting station stocks copies of the game, and some recruiters are organizing America's Army tournaments. The game's latest update, to be released online shortly, is called Firefight. The focus of the update is adding administrative tools to streamline online tournament play.

....

The emphasis on technical minutiae is all part of what Mr. Chambers called the game's mandate to "strategically communicate the Army's values to the American public."

In the game, if players try to run off on their own rather than work with their team, they will almost surely lose. If players consistently kill civilians or their own teammates, they end up in Leavenworth.

"We don't expect that a young person is going to play the game and run out and join the Army," Mr. Chambers said. "That was never the point. We want the game to help us form a more long-term connection with the young person."

Link to Circuits, in The New York Times (free registration required).

Historic Kyoto treaty to save world from warming takes effect without US

2005-02-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

KYOTO, Japan (AFP) - The Kyoto Protocol, the landmark treaty requiring cuts in gas emissions which cause global warming, took effect with the support of 141 nations but a boycott by the biggest polluter, the United States.

Link to Turkish Press.

Kyoto pact commences

2005-02-16T09:54:00.000-08:00

KYOTO, Japan (CP) - The Kyoto global warming pact went into force Wednesday, seven years after it was negotiated, imposing limits on emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases scientists blame for rising world temperatures, melting glaciers and rising oceans.

Link to Cnews

Ghana: West Africa: HIV And Family Planning Should Be Better Integrated - Health Authorities

2005-02-16T09:48:00.000-08:00

Health Authorities from 15 West African countries are meeting in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, to see how family planning and HIV/ AIDS interventions can be more closely integrated for greater impact.

"Both Family Planning and HIV/AIDS share the same clientele by affecting the same reproductive age group except in a few cases," Dr Wilfred Ochan of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)'s Africa Division and a Conference Facilitator told IRIN.

Link to allAfrica.com

Report Critises Govt Policy On Refugees

2005-02-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

The Refugee Law Project (RLP) has launched a new report critical of the government's continued practice of looking after refugees in under-serviced camps.

The organisation's Research/Advocacy Officer, Mr Moses Chrispus Okello, said encampment of Sudanese and Congolese refugees restricts their movement and undermines their ability to fully exploit their potential for economic emancipation.

Link to allAfrica.com

Rights: World Still Blind to Genocide, Warns Former UN Officer

2005-02-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

Ten years after Western nations silently watched the senseless murder of 800,000 Tutsis in Rwanda's genocide, the international community is going "the same route" in Sudan, warns Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, former Force Commander of the U.N.'s mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR.)

Link to allAfrica.com

Ghana: Gas Prices to Rise Due to IMF/World Bank Agreement

2005-02-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

MONTHS AFTER President John Agyekum Kufuor had personally brought his huge personal influence to bear on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to allow for a short postponement of the date for the implementation of fuel price rationalizing agreement, the commitment by Kufuor for 15th February, has arrived.

Link to allAfrica.com

NAACP Spars with IRS over Tax Status

2005-02-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

The NAACP refuses a request by the IRS to turn over information related to a speech given last July by the civil-rights group's chairman Julian Bond. The IRS says Bond violated the NAACP's tax status by delivering the speech, which was critical of President Bush.

Link to audio of Julian Bond on NPR.

Elliott Abrams to lead democracy efforts worldwide

2005-02-07T19:56:00.000-08:00

Elliott Abrams, a key figure in the Iran-Contra affair, has been promoted to deputy national security advisor, with a special emphasis on promoting democracy. Washington Post story here (requires free registration.)

Beyond The Headlines: The Top Ten Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories of 2004

2005-02-07T14:38:00.000-08:00

Medicins Sans Frontiers releases its 7th annual report through its U.S. web site. The top ten are:

*Intense Grief and Fear in Northern Uganda
*No End in Sight to Devastating Conflict in Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC)
*Civilians Caught in Colombia's Crossfire
*Tuberculosis Spiraling Out of Control
*Somalia Shattered By Anarchy and Chaos
*The Trauma of Ongoing War in Chechnya
*User-Fee System Excludes Burundi's Poorest From Basic
Health Care
*North Koreans Endure Massive Deprivation and Repression
*Constant Threat of Hunger and Disease in Ethiopia
*The War is Over, But Liberians Still Live in Crisis

Link to articles.

AlterNet: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2003

2005-02-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

Since 2004's "winners" excluded the prior years Top Ten....

Expanding the boundaries of corporate malfeasance to new lows of dirty dealing, these ten companies are the worst offenders in a year that saw a lot of offenses.

2003 was not a year of garden variety corporate wrongdoing. No, the sheer variety, reach and intricacy of corporate schemes, scandal and crimes were spellbinding. Not an easy year to pick the 10 worst companies, for sure.

Link to Alternet.

AlterNet: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2004

2005-02-07T14:21:00.000-08:00

The year's most egregious price gougers, polluters, union-busters, dictator-coddlers, fraudsters, poisoners, deceivers and general miscreants.

It is never easy choosing the 10 Worst Corporations of the Year – there are always more deserving nominees than we can possibly recognize. One of the greatest challenges facing the judges is the directive not to select repeat recipients from last year's 10 Worst designation.

Link to AlterNet.

Northern Irish peace process threatened

2005-02-03T16:47:00.000-08:00

After being accused by Ireland's prime minister, Bertie Ahern, of being involved in a £26.5m bank robbery, the IRA has withdrawn its offer to decomission.

Soldiers wounded in Iraq are being charged for hospital meals

2005-01-31T19:22:00.000-08:00

A new policy is forcing some soldiers who are hospitalized at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center to pay cash for each meal. Link to Salon here. (Requires clicking through a brief ad.)

Frank Rich update: two links

2005-01-30T19:41:00.000-08:00

Link to the FoxNews clip hosted in iFilm.com

Link to the Washington Post article by Roxanne Roberts (free registration required).

Frank Rich: Forget Armor. All You Need Is Love

2005-01-30T19:24:00.000-08:00

AN. 30 is here at last, and the light is at the end of the tunnel, again. By my estimate, Iraq's election day is the fifth time that American troops have been almost on their way home from an about-to-be pacified Iraq. The four other incipient V-I days were the liberation of Baghdad (April 9, 2003), President Bush's declaration that "major combat operations have ended" (May 1, 2003), the arrest of Saddam Hussein (Dec. 14, 2003) and the handover of sovereignty to our puppet of choice, Ayad Allawi (June 28, 2004). And this isn't even counting the two "decisive" battles for our nouveau Tet, Falluja. Iraq is Vietnam on speed - the false endings of that tragic decade re-enacted and compressed in jump cuts, a quagmire retooled for the MTV attention span.

Link to New York Times (free registration required).

South Korea to stop calling North Korea "main enemy"

2005-01-29T01:24:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to improve North Korea-South Korea relations, South Korea will stop referring to North Korea as its "main enemy." AP story here.

A third paid columnist.

2005-01-28T14:45:00.000-08:00

Joining Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher, Michael McManus has been identified as another columnist paid by the Bush Adminstration to promote its policies. (From Editor & Publisher, link.)

Mueren 36 soldados de EU a sólo cuatro días de los comicios en Irak

2005-01-27T08:46:00.000-08:00

Bagdad y Shaiba, 26 de enero. A sólo cuatro días de las históricas elecciones iraquíes, 36 soldados estadunidenses murieron hoy en lo que fue el día más mortífero para las fuerzas de ocupación desde que invadieron Irak, hace casi dos años. Las mayores pérdidas ocurrieron al estrellarse un helicóptero de transporte en el desierto occidental del país. Los 31 marines a bordo murieron.

Link a LaJornada.

Darfur cease fire broken

2005-01-27T08:38:00.000-08:00

It has been confirmed that the village of Hamada was nearly totally destroyed and that up to 105 civilians may have been killed, with the majority of victims being women and children," UNAMIS Deputy Spokesperson George Somerwill told IRIN on Thursday.

Link to U.N. Integrated Regional Information Network on allAfrica.com