• The first of many Bush news conferences outside DC?
• Bush touts the economy; the jobs report doesn't cooperate
First glance
When it comes to convincing the public that the US economy is strong, President Bush is like Sisyphus, the guy in the Greek myth who's forever rolling the boulder up the hill. The president seems destined to tout evidence that the economy is performing well, only to see some other common indicator -- usually gas prices -- turn sour and undermine his efforts. Today in Chicago, at a breakfast with business leaders and in a presidential news conference at 10:50 am ET, he will once again try pushing the rock up the hill. Other Administration officials also participate in a carefully choreographed day of interviews and other events to promote the economy. The jobs report that Bush and his team had hoped to tout is not cooperating, however. It shows a mere gain of 121,000 jobs in June, not enough to keep up with population growth, along with a steady unemployment rate.Why Chicago? White House spokesperson Tony Snow told reporters yesterday, "The President likes going into a place -- and I think you're going to see a little bit more of this -- likes to go in and spend a little bit of time there, talk to local leaders, also build some events around a central theme... And one of the other things is to do a press availability, and this will be a press availability, obviously, for local and national press." (The White House pool reporter noted last night of Bush's dinner with Mayor Richard M. Daley that Daley is "one of the nation's most prominent Democrats and a man who once compared Bush to Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.")
Remember what's at stake for Bush in convincing Americans that the economy is doing well. His call for additional tax cuts is based on the argument that his initial tax cuts have boosted the economy. His goal of private accounts for Social Security -- which he and other Administration officials have begin to revive, at least rhetorically -- hinges upon a stable stock market. His call for a guest-worker program is grounded in his belief that immigrants fill jobs Americans don't need.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's office is circulating a list of national security-related questions for Bush pegged to his news conference today. The questions focus on the status of the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the capabilities of the US missile defense system, and the intensity of the Administration's approach to other national security hotspots beyond Iraq. Underscoring the party's constant grappling with how to approach the war in Iraq, the list does not include any questions on that topic.
Also underscoring Democrats' grappling with the war was last night's Democratic Senate primary debate in Connecticut, in which Sen. Joe Lieberman used the standard Republican attack on Democrats, casting anti-war challenger Ned Lamont as indecisive on Iraq and his own consistency in support of the war as a virtue. Lamont used the standard Democratic line against Republicans by accusing Lieberman of not asking the right questions about the war at the right time.
Also today, Bush devotes an event today to his competitiveness agenda, touring Cabot Microelectronics in Aurora, IL at 3:00 pm ET, followed by a statement about the agenda at 3:25 pm ET. And he takes a break to fundraise for Illinois gubernatorial nominee Judy Baar Topinka (R) at 1:15 pm ET. Topinka is waging an uphill fight to unseat Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D). Conservative columnist George Will wrote in early April, "Topinka says Karl Rove urged her to run, hoping to offset in Illinois a probable gubernatorial loss in New York. Would she like President Bush to campaign for her? An aide says not exactly: 'We just want him to raise money.' Topinka does not demur as the aide adds: 'Late at night.' Pause. 'In an undisclosed location.'" A follow-up AP article had the Topinka campaign insisting that the candidate was indeed looking forward to having Bush come.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3626796/
Civil Rights Group Says Neo-Nazis Infiltrating U.S. Military
July 7, 2006 4:05 p.m. EST
Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer
(AHN)-The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks domestic extremists groups, says Neo-Nazi and white supremacist hate groups are taking advantage of relaxed recruiting standards to infiltrate the US military to get combat training.
The civil rights group called on US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward white supremacist groups in the military, with Mark Potok, director of the center's Intelligence Project, saying, "Neo-Nazi groups and other extremists are joining the military in large numbers so they can get the best training in the world on weapons, combat tactics and explosives."
Potok goes on to say, "We should consider this a major security threat, because these people are motivated by an ideology that calls for race war and revolution. Any one of them could turn out to be the next Timothy McVeigh," referring to the decorated Gulf War veteran and white supremacist who detonated a truck bomb outside a federal office building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in April 1995, killing 168 people.
While, the Pentagon took steps to keep racist extremists from the ranks after the Oklahoma City bombing, standards have been relaxed because of wartime recruiting pressures, allowing large numbers of people with links to neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups to join the military.
It cited neo-Nazi and white supremacist publications that encourage their followers to join the military to get combat training.
Defense Department gang investigator, Scott Barfield, tells AFP, neo-Nazis "stretch across all branches of service, they are linking up across the branches once they're inside, and they are hard-core," adding that, "We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad. That's a problem."
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004147972
Megan's Law Expanded, Level 2 Sex Offenders On Internet
ALBANY---All level 2 sex offenders will now be listed on the Internet along with the level 3 sex offenders currently listed as the result of legislation signed into law by Gov. George Pataki. The law also expands public notice regarding level 1 sex offenders.
"We've fought for years to strengthen Megan's Law in a host of ways -- and in particular, to make the locations of all sex offenders easily searchable on the Internet -- so that New York families would have as much information as possible to keep their loved ones safe. So I am proud to sign a law that takes us yet another step toward that goal," Governor Pataki said. "Until now, you could not find out if a level 2 sex offender lived in your area unless you had both the offender's name and other specific personal information about that offender, such as a social security number or driver's license number. Because of this expansion, New Yorkers will soon be able to find out if any high or moderate risk sex offenders live in their neighborhoods by simply searching our website by geographic location, enabling all of us to be better informed and therefore better able to keep our families safe."
"In January, I signed an expansion to Megan's Law to ensure that all sex offenders remain on the registry for as long as possible - most for life. I said at that time that we must do even more to give every parent and family the tools to protect their children and families. This most recent expansion is certainly another step in the right direction, but there is still much work to be done," the Governor said. "We have strengthened Megan's Law significantly, but I would still like to see every single sex offender searchable on the Internet, so that parents can have the peace of mind to find out if anyone who has been designated a sex offender lives in their area."
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/070706MegansLaw.html
Ex-soldier charged in Iraq rape, killings enters not guilty plea
Updated 7/6/2006 7:56 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this
Steven Green
AP
LOUISVILLE (AP) — A former Army private charged with raping an Iraqi woman and killing her and her family entered a plea of not guilty through his public defenders Thursday.
Steven Green also waived a detention hearing and a preliminary hearing, and agreed that his case would be prosecuted in the Western District of Kentucky.
U.S. Magistrate Judge James Moyer set an arraignment date of Aug. 8 in Paducah for Green, who was arrested Friday by FBI agents in Marion, N.C. Green appeared in baggy shorts and flip-flops, and was wearing the same Johnny Cash T-shirt he wore to a hearing Monday in Charlotte.
Green answered Moyer's questions about his inability to pay for an attorney, saying he has about $6,000 in a checking account and owns a 1995 Lincoln Town Car.
"I don't have anything else," he told the judge.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Butler said the case would be presented before a grand jury sometime in mid-July, probably in Paducah. Butler and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Ford declined to comment on where Green would be held before his arraignment.
Green, who served 11 months with the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Ky., received an honorable discharge and left the army in mid-May. He was discharged because of an "anti-social personality disorder," according to military officials and court documents.
A psychiatric condition, anti-social personality disorder is defined as chronic behavior that manipulates, exploits or violates the rights of others. Someone with the disorder may break the law repeatedly, lie, get in fights and show a lack of remorse.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-06-ex-soldier-court_x.htm
New York terror plot is foiled, FBI says
Plan targeted tunnels on rail lines from N.J.
WASHINGTON -- The FBI in recent months foiled a terrorist plot to blow up transit tunnels leading into New York City after the agency spent a year monitoring Internet discussions between at least eight Al Qaeda sympathizers based on three continents, US officials said yesterday.
The suspected mastermind of the plot, Assem Hammoud , 31, was arrested a month ago in Beirut , the law enforcement officials said, while two more members of the group are in custody in other foreign countries. Five more suspects are being sought, but none are believed to be in the United States, the officials added, declining to provide further details because the investigation still is underway.
``We believe we interrupted this group early in their planning," Mark J. Mershon , the FBI's assistant director in charge of the New York office, told reporters yesterday after the case was first revealed by the New York Daily News. He said the terrorist plot, which appeared to be planned for this fall, ``has largely been disrupted."
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly quickly sought to calm public fears. ``There was a lot of discussion" of the plot on the Internet, ``but there was no indication of any movement toward" launching the plan, Kelly said at a joint news conference in Manhattan. ``There is no indication that materials were secured."
The foiled operation, which came to light on the first anniversary of the London transit bombings, apparently called for suicide bombers to detonate explosives inside transit tunnels leading from New Jersey into lower Manhattan, causing water to flood into the financial district near where the World Trade Center once stood. Officials said the group appeared to be ready to begin conducting surveillance of potential targets and acquiring explosives.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/07/08/new_york_terror_plot_is_foiled_fbi_says/
New Jersey Gambling Facilities Open as Government Shutdown Ends
July 8 (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey gambling operations, including Atlantic City casinos, the lottery and horse racing, opened today hours after Governor Jon Corzine signed an executive order to end a weeklong shutdown of non-essential state government.
Corzine ordered the shutdown of state government July 1 when the Legislature failed to pass a fiscal 2007 budget bill. The lottery machines stopped immediately while horseracing ended July 4 and the casinos closed their gaming floors July 5.
The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, a joint venture of MGM Mirage and Boyd Gaming Corp., reopened at 7 a.m, said Michael Facenda, a spokesman for the most lucrative establishment among the 12 Atlantic City casinos, grossing $1.9 million a day in gaming revenue.
``Our employees were very, very anxious to return to the workplace,'' Facenda said. ``Considering the circumstances, we're doing pretty good. In another couple of hours or a day, we should be very saturated.''
The casinos contribute about $1.2 million in tax receipts daily to the state, according to the Casino Control Commission. The casinos were forced to shut down after losing two court battles to have their state inspectors considered essential personnel.
Tracks Open
Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands racetracks opened their gates today; they also lost a court battle to remain open during the shutdown.
Monmouth Park in Oceanport, resumed thoroughbred racing at 12:50 p.m. today while and Meadowlands in East Rutherford started its standardbred card at 7:30 p.m. Both tracks had day and night simulcasting.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aTnzAazhJxjg&refer=us
Bush border plan for Guard hits snag
Deployments are running behind schedule; some governors reluctant to send troops
Susan Carroll
Republic Tucson Bureau
Jul. 8, 2006 12:00 AM
Logistical and bureaucratic snags have delayed the deployment of National Guard troops along the Southwestern border, leaving Arizona with little support so far from other states and putting a crimp in President Bush's security plan.
Nearly two months after Bush's announcement of plans to station 6,000 Guard personnel along the border with Mexico, U.S. Border Patrol officials said 898 Guard soldiers are actually working in direct support of agents in the four border states, freeing up 173 agents, about 1.5 percent of the patrol's workforce.
So far, the deployments have had "no impact at all" on arrests, mainly because of the long delay in getting troops from outside the border states prepared to deploy, said Maria Valencia, a Border Patrol spokeswoman in Washington, D.C.
"Once they deploy more forces, I'm sure we'll see the impact, but right now it's too early to tell," Valencia said.
Some federal and state officials are concerned that the National Guard deployment hasn't gone according to plan but say that they're confident adding troops at the border will help improve security. Defense and homeland security experts questioned whether the lack of troop commitments from many states and the short deployment of some Guard units will hurt the effort.
Christine Wormuth, a defense expert with the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic & International Studies, said the public seemed to have the misperception that the president could decide to dispatch thousands of Guard soldiers on the border and make it happen with "just a snap of his fingers."
The original plan
In May, military officials set an ambitious deadline to have 2,500 soldiers on the border by July 1 and fill 6,000 National Guard slots by August. The troops would serve as a stopgap until 2008, while thousands of Border Patrol agents would be recruited and trained to replace them.
Initially, Guard troops were supposed to arrive starting June 1 to work with the Border Patrol, but the first batch arrived two weeks late, Valencia said. The deployments were delayed by red tape, as state officials signed intergovernmental agreements. Some Guard officials also ran into logistical problems in small border towns like Deming, N.M., where they had to delay the dispatch of 50 out-of-state soldiers because they had no place to sleep.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0708borderguard.html
Most states fall short on student testing, government says
By Ben Feller, AP Education Writer | July 6, 2006
WASHINGTON --Most states are failing to pass muster with the government over student testing and may lose money unless they improve quickly.
The Education Department says 34 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have major problems with the tests that were supposed to be in place in the just-ended school year. They will get federal approval only if they correct the problems in the coming year.
In addition, Nebraska and Maine had their testing systems rejected outright.
They all face the threat of losing from $40,000 to more than $1 million of the money they receive to administer the No Child Left Behind law. In most cases, the total would be less than $100,000; Nebraska and Maine could lose one-quarter of their dollars.
The money would go instead to school districts, skipping state governments altogether.
The report card of the states, released Thursday, is intended to get them to finish the job.
President Bush's education law orders states to hold math and reading tests in the third- to eighth-grade, and once in high school. The deadline was the end of the 2005-06 school year.
Every state did have testing in the required grades. But many states still have significant problems, such as developing exams for disabled or limited-English students, or ensuring that tests are technically sound.
Texas, the home state of the president and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, fell short because of a number of federal concerns, including whether the tests match up to the content that students are supposed to learn.
Only 10 states won full approval. Four others are expected to get there soon.
Assistant Education Secretary Ray Simon said states' overall performances were positive. Even the 36 jurisdictions whose approval remains pending probably will get the federal OK within a year, he said.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/07/06/most_states_fall_short_on_student_testing_government_says/
One million patients victims of NHS blunders
By JENNY HOPE, Daily Mail01:00am 6th July 2006
Reader comments (26)
Nearly one million patients are victims of NHS blunders or near-misses each year - but the true figure is far higher, warns a hard-hitting report.
The number could be halved if the Health Service took on board lessons from previous accidents and acted promptly on safety alerts, it says.
Massive under-reporting of deaths and serious incidents means the NHS 'simply has no idea' how many people are dying each year, says the influential Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
It estimates there could be almost one-quarter of a million more incidents - some of them serious - that go unreported each year, based on evidence from trusts.
Big differences between similarly-sized trusts in the number of incidents - from a few to many thousands - suggest some may be discouraging such reports.
PAC chairman Edward Leigh said official estimates show one in 10 patients admitted to NHS hospitals is unintentionally harmed and there has been insufficient progress in cutting the level of avoidable incidents.
Mr Leigh attacked the "dysfunctional performance" of National Patient Safety Agency - which costs £34 million a year to run - for delivering a national reporting system "several years late" and poor value for money for the taxpayer.
He strongly criticised trusts for failing to tell patients when things go wrong - only one in four routinely keeps patients informed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=394238&in_page_id=1770
Mom the criminal
Washington mother jailed for choosing alternative medical care
On Thursday, June 22, 34-year-old Tina Carlsen picked up her nine-month old baby, Riley Rogers, and the pair left Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. It's a perfectly normal scenario, except that Riley was hours away from a scheduled surgery to treat what media reports call a "serious kidney ailment." And because Carlsen and Riley's father believe in alternative medical care and had refused doctors' recommendations for surgery and dialysis for Riley -- recommendations the parents considered life-threatening -- the state of Washington had, two weeks before, taken custody of Riley Rogers. So when Tina, trying to protect the life of her child against the forcible intervention of doctors and the state, was pulled over by police 48 hours later, Riley Rogers was returned to his tiny hospital bed. And Tina is now facing charges of second degree kidnapping.
This story pushed my buttons for several reasons. I've been wrestling with serious, often life-threatening, illness for 15 years, the result of what media reports might call a "serious kidney ailment." I've had the same surgery that was performed on baby Riley, eight days after he was "rescued" from his loving mother. Western medicine, the kind Tina Carlsen abhors, saved my life, but before it did that it nearly killed me. I was in a coma three times, once for several days, and had nearly a dozen surgeries to fix complications arising from only 15 months of dialysis -- the same often-debilitating yet life-giving procedure doctors wanted for Riley, and that Tina Carlsen was terrified of.
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=21051
Climate change link seen in surge of Western blazes
Study correlates warming trend with wildfires
Dennis O'Brien, Baltimore Sun
Friday, July 7, 2006
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Rising temperatures and earlier melting of snowpacks have sharply increased the number of Western wildfires -- and scientists say to expect more of the same if the trend persists.
Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Arizona examined 34 years of forest fire reports in 11 Western states and found the number of fires increased in size and severity since 1987, the same year that spring and summer temperatures began to rise.
"It's a very good snapshot of what's been happening in the Western forests over the past three decades," said lead author Anthony Westerling, a fire climatologist at UC Merced.
Westerling conducted the research while at the Scripps Institution. The findings were published today in Science.
The researchers examined U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service records of every forest fire that burned at least 1,000 acres from 1970 to 2003. They found that of 1,166 fires in that period, four-fifths of them, or about 900, occurred after 1987.
They also found that air temperatures from 1987 to 2003 were 1.6 degrees higher than during the previous 17 years; that 6.5 times more acreage burned during that warmer period; and that the firefighting season increased by 78 days, the study says.
The reason is simple: Warmer springs and longer dry seasons are creating more kindling in the Western woods, the researchers say.
The biggest increase in forest fires was in the northern Rockies, in the mountains around Yellowstone National Park and the Bitterroot Range, at elevations between 6,000 and 8,000 feet, the study says. It is in those areas that melting snowpacks have the most significant role in determining forest fire risk, Westerling said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/07/MNG7JJR8521.DTL
Ocean acidity threatens sea life
•Scientists blame the rising levels of carbon dioxide
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Corals and other marine creatures are threatened by chemical changes in the ocean caused by the carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, a panel of scientists warned Wednesday.
Already blamed for a greenhouse effect on the climate, much of this added carbon dioxide is dissolving in the oceans, making them more acidic.
Such a change can damage coral and other shells and sea- life, according to the panel of researchers convened by the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Geological Survey.
"A most fundamental property of ocean chemistry, pH, is changing and will continue to change as long as CO2 emissions are increasing. That is not debatable," Joan Kleypas, the report's lead author and a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., said in a briefing.
The pH scale measures how acidic or alkaline a substance is, rating from 0 to 14 with 7 being neutral. The lower the number, the more acidic something is.
The oceans are normally slightly alkaline. Their average surface pH was 8.2 in 1800 and is headed for a predicted 7.9 by the middle of this century, she said. The researchers estimated that between 1800 and 1994 the world's oceans absorbed 118 billion metric tons of carbon.
Richard Feely, an oceanographer at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, said "this is leading to the most dramatic changes in marine chemistry in at least the past 650,000 years."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/4027104.html
Mac OS Update Sparks Privacy Concern
By Ed Oswald, BetaNews
July 6, 2006, 1:58 PM
Some Macintosh users are complaining about a new feature added in the latest update to Mac OS X that periodically checks in with Apple Computer without the user's knowledge. The feature checks to see if widgets on the Dashboard are authentic, and Apple says it is for security purposes.
Called Dashboard Advisory, the application is intended to protect users from malicious software. It checks to see if a widget installed on a user's machine is the same as the one advertised on Apple's download page. The check occurs every eight hours, and there is no way to shut it off.
In the release notes for the 10.4.7 update, Apple describes it as such: "You can now verify whether or not a Dashboard widget you downloaded is the same version as a widget featured on www.apple.com before installing it."
However, some are up in arms about the addition, characterizing it as an intrusion into their privacy.
"The mere act of 'checking in' lets Apple know that I'm here and I'm running 10.4.7. They didn't ask my permission to start making this regular checkin, and I'm not even sure what benefit I'm going to be getting out of allowing it," independent software developer Daniel Jalkut wrote in his blog on Monday.
Jalkut called on Apple to give the user the option to turn the feature off, and be more forthcoming in the future. "It's my computer, after all," said Jalkut.
Apple's actions come just weeks after Microsoft was criticized for a "phone home" feature built into Windows Genuine Advantage, and anti-piracy program. WGA's Notifications component connected with Microsoft's servers each day, sparking an outcry from users. Microsoft has since removed the daily check, but WGA will still contact the company "periodically."
http://www.betanews.com/article/Mac_OS_Update_Sparks_Privacy_Concern/1152207975
U.S. terms for missile talks
P. S. Suryanarayana
SINGAPORE: United States envoy Christopher Hill said on Saturday that Washington would be willing to enhance the scope of bilateral talks with North Korea within the framework of the six-party parleys.
Mr. Hill was speaking in Seoul after meeting South Korean authorities in a crisis-management exercise. He had earlier gone to Beijing to urge China to dissuade North Korea from conducting further ballistic missile tests. He will travel to Japan too.
Mr. Hill said North Korea should recognise that "the deal," now offered, was nothing more than the six-party "process." The prime focus of these multilateral parleys, stalled for months because of Pyongyang's objections to certain U.S. sanctions, is North Korea's nuclear-weapons programme.
However, hinting that the agenda could now be extended to cover Pyongyang's missile launches of July 5, he said the U.S. would be willing to engage North Korea.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/09/stories/2006070903121200.htm
7 suspected terrorists flee Saudi prison
By ABDULLAH SHIHRI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Seven suspected terrorists escaped from a prison in the Saudi capital, officials said Saturday - a rare jailbreak in the tightly controlled kingdom and U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.
The Saudi Interior Ministry described the fugitives as religious extremists and said they had been arrested in separate incidents during the past year.
"They are extremists, they believe in the takfiri thoughts," spokesman Mansour al-Turki told The Associated Press.
The radical takfiri ideology is followed by radical Sunni Muslims bent on killing anyone they consider an infidel, even fellow Muslims.
Al-Turki would neither confirm nor deny media reports that the fugitives were linked to al-Qaida, saying only they had been arrested on suspicion of terrorism.
One of the escapees had been detained for giving shelter to a wanted Moroccan militant, who was later killed in a firefight with Saudi forces, a security official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Al-Turki said the men - six Saudis and a Yemeni - escaped "a few days ago."
The Interior Ministry urged the fugitives to turn themselves in to avoid a postponement of their trial and to benefit from "the king's generosity," state-run Al-Ekhbariya television reported.
The network said the fugitives had been arrested for "security-related issues," a term used by Saudi authorities to describe terrorism charges.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Saudi_Prison_Break.html
Venezuela, Colombia, start building gas pipeline
Sat Jul 8, 2006 3:31pm ET
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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela and Colombia on Saturday began construction of a gas pipeline linking the two countries, another step in Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's efforts to promote Latin American energy integration.
Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, is seeking to reduce dependence on U.S. energy markets as part of a self-styled socialist revolution that promises to end poverty and unite Latin American nations.
Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe held a ceremony in western Venezuela to solder the first pipe of a 225 kilometer (140 mile) gas pipeline, projected to cost $335 million, linking Venezuela with Colombian gas fields.
"The axis that will be formed with this pipe ... should be like a central nerve for the integration of Colombia and Venezuela," Chavez said in a speech.
The pipeline, expected to be completed by next March, will send around 150 million cubic feet per day of gas from the Punta Ballenas fields in Colombia to the chronically gas-deficient areas of western Venezuela.
Within an estimated four to seven years, when Colombia's fields dry up and Venezuela's gas transport systems have been expanded, the pipeline will reverse flow to send around 200 million cubic feet per day of gas to Colombia.
Panamanian President Martin Torrijos was also present at the ceremony, since Colombia and Venezuela are seeking to expand the project to supply gas to Panama.
Chavez is leading an effort to build a massive gas pipeline stretching from Venezuela to Argentina with an estimated price tag of $20 billion.
A project to export liquid natural gas (LNG) to the United States has been delayed by several years, and Chavez has said Venezuela will supply Latin American countries before developing export plans to the United States.
http://today.reuters.com/business/newsArticle.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2006-07-08T193117Z_01_N08349851_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-ENERGY-VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA-DC.XML
Pakistan allows bail for female inmates
By MUNIR AHMAD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's president on Friday amended an Islamic law to allow hundreds of women facing charges for adultery and other minor crimes to be freed on bail.
The much-anticipated amendment by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf would affect 1,300 female prisoners currently awaiting trial, the minister for women's affairs, Sumaira Malik, said.
"President Musharraf has taken a bold decision to protect the rights of women and save them from the misuse of Islamic laws," said Malik, who announced that Musharraf signed the amendment but did not distribute copies of the document.
The president, a moderate, has sought to reform Islamic laws on blasphemy and women's rights in the past but backed off because of strong opposition in deeply conservative Pakistan.
Friday's amendment is the president's first to the Hadood Ordinance, legislation based on the Koran and Islamic tradition.
Since the ordinance was introduced in 1979 by the late dictator Gen. Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan has had two parallel and sometimes overlapping legal systems: one based on British common law, the other based on Islamic law.
Under the ordinance, women can be sentenced to death by stoning if found guilty of having sex outside of marriage. Drinking is punishable with 80 lashes, theft with the amputation of the right hand.
Such punishments have not been carried out in Pakistan, however, as courts from the Islamic and ordinary legal systems overturn each others' decisions in unresolved jurisdictional battles.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Pakistan_Women_Prisoners.html
Army surrounds Shi'ite mosque
08/07/2006 20:14 - (SA)
Tareq Aziz starts hunger strike
Pilgrims targeted in car bomb
Saddam has the 'final say'
Minister, 19 bodyguards abducted
Raghad 'under king's guard'
Saddam's wife 'wanted' in Iraq
Zarqawi buried in secret
Sunni's claim deadly blast
Baghdad - United States and Iraqi forces with armoured vehicles surrounded a Shi'ite mosque in southeastern Baghdad on Saturday, in what appeared to be the latest operation against Shi'ite militias.
There was no immediate comment from the US military or the Iraqi interior ministry, but a policeman at the scene outside the Sadrain Mosque in the Zafaraniya district said he believed they were trying to arrest members of the Shi'ite Mehdi Army.
The mosque is believed to be loyal to radical young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mehdi Army fighters have been the target of several recent operations by government and US forces, including a major raid on Baghdad's Sadr City area on Friday.
The US military said it had captured a major militant suspect, Abu Deraa, accused of kidnappings and murders, in the Sadr City raid.
Shi'ite political sources, however, said Deraa was still at large.
The sources said the raid was part of a hunt for a female Sunni Arab MP, whose kidnapping in a Shi'ite neighbourhood a week ago has prompted a parliamentary boycott by her Sunni colleagues.
The US military said it had seized a Mehdi Army leader on Thursday. The military said it suspects the leader of importing surface-to-air missiles from Shi'ite Iran.
Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said his national unity coalition, formed two months ago, will crack down on nominally pro-government Shi'ite militias as well as a Sunni Arab insurgency.
A major operation has been under way for the past month. Its goal is to restore security to Baghdad, where dozens of people are killed every day in sectarian violence.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1964866,00.html
Fox, CBS to fight FCC in court on indecency regs
By Brooks Boliek
WASHINGTON -- Major broadcasters are split over an impending court decision that would allow the FCC to take back from the federal courts the major case challenging the commission's revamped indecency rules.
In a series of motions filed Friday in federal court in New York, Fox and its affiliate group and CBS opposed an attempt this week by the FCC to get a key indecency case back from the court. NBC also may have filed a similar motion, but that could not be immediately confirmed.
"The commission's motion is a transparent attempt to continue its practice of shielding its new indecency enforcement regime from judicial review despite the persistent chilling effect the new regime is having on broadcasters' First Amendment rights," Fox attorneys wrote.
On Wednesday, the commission asked the same federal court for more time to consider affiliates' arguments the agency erred in March when it decided that variations of the words "fuck" and "shit" are likely to be indecent whenever broadcast.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002801841
• Bush touts the economy; the jobs report doesn't cooperate
First glance
When it comes to convincing the public that the US economy is strong, President Bush is like Sisyphus, the guy in the Greek myth who's forever rolling the boulder up the hill. The president seems destined to tout evidence that the economy is performing well, only to see some other common indicator -- usually gas prices -- turn sour and undermine his efforts. Today in Chicago, at a breakfast with business leaders and in a presidential news conference at 10:50 am ET, he will once again try pushing the rock up the hill. Other Administration officials also participate in a carefully choreographed day of interviews and other events to promote the economy. The jobs report that Bush and his team had hoped to tout is not cooperating, however. It shows a mere gain of 121,000 jobs in June, not enough to keep up with population growth, along with a steady unemployment rate.Why Chicago? White House spokesperson Tony Snow told reporters yesterday, "The President likes going into a place -- and I think you're going to see a little bit more of this -- likes to go in and spend a little bit of time there, talk to local leaders, also build some events around a central theme... And one of the other things is to do a press availability, and this will be a press availability, obviously, for local and national press." (The White House pool reporter noted last night of Bush's dinner with Mayor Richard M. Daley that Daley is "one of the nation's most prominent Democrats and a man who once compared Bush to Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.")
Remember what's at stake for Bush in convincing Americans that the economy is doing well. His call for additional tax cuts is based on the argument that his initial tax cuts have boosted the economy. His goal of private accounts for Social Security -- which he and other Administration officials have begin to revive, at least rhetorically -- hinges upon a stable stock market. His call for a guest-worker program is grounded in his belief that immigrants fill jobs Americans don't need.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's office is circulating a list of national security-related questions for Bush pegged to his news conference today. The questions focus on the status of the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the capabilities of the US missile defense system, and the intensity of the Administration's approach to other national security hotspots beyond Iraq. Underscoring the party's constant grappling with how to approach the war in Iraq, the list does not include any questions on that topic.
Also underscoring Democrats' grappling with the war was last night's Democratic Senate primary debate in Connecticut, in which Sen. Joe Lieberman used the standard Republican attack on Democrats, casting anti-war challenger Ned Lamont as indecisive on Iraq and his own consistency in support of the war as a virtue. Lamont used the standard Democratic line against Republicans by accusing Lieberman of not asking the right questions about the war at the right time.
Also today, Bush devotes an event today to his competitiveness agenda, touring Cabot Microelectronics in Aurora, IL at 3:00 pm ET, followed by a statement about the agenda at 3:25 pm ET. And he takes a break to fundraise for Illinois gubernatorial nominee Judy Baar Topinka (R) at 1:15 pm ET. Topinka is waging an uphill fight to unseat Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D). Conservative columnist George Will wrote in early April, "Topinka says Karl Rove urged her to run, hoping to offset in Illinois a probable gubernatorial loss in New York. Would she like President Bush to campaign for her? An aide says not exactly: 'We just want him to raise money.' Topinka does not demur as the aide adds: 'Late at night.' Pause. 'In an undisclosed location.'" A follow-up AP article had the Topinka campaign insisting that the candidate was indeed looking forward to having Bush come.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3626796/
Civil Rights Group Says Neo-Nazis Infiltrating U.S. Military
July 7, 2006 4:05 p.m. EST
Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer
(AHN)-The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks domestic extremists groups, says Neo-Nazi and white supremacist hate groups are taking advantage of relaxed recruiting standards to infiltrate the US military to get combat training.
The civil rights group called on US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward white supremacist groups in the military, with Mark Potok, director of the center's Intelligence Project, saying, "Neo-Nazi groups and other extremists are joining the military in large numbers so they can get the best training in the world on weapons, combat tactics and explosives."
Potok goes on to say, "We should consider this a major security threat, because these people are motivated by an ideology that calls for race war and revolution. Any one of them could turn out to be the next Timothy McVeigh," referring to the decorated Gulf War veteran and white supremacist who detonated a truck bomb outside a federal office building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in April 1995, killing 168 people.
While, the Pentagon took steps to keep racist extremists from the ranks after the Oklahoma City bombing, standards have been relaxed because of wartime recruiting pressures, allowing large numbers of people with links to neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups to join the military.
It cited neo-Nazi and white supremacist publications that encourage their followers to join the military to get combat training.
Defense Department gang investigator, Scott Barfield, tells AFP, neo-Nazis "stretch across all branches of service, they are linking up across the branches once they're inside, and they are hard-core," adding that, "We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad. That's a problem."
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004147972
Megan's Law Expanded, Level 2 Sex Offenders On Internet
ALBANY---All level 2 sex offenders will now be listed on the Internet along with the level 3 sex offenders currently listed as the result of legislation signed into law by Gov. George Pataki. The law also expands public notice regarding level 1 sex offenders.
"We've fought for years to strengthen Megan's Law in a host of ways -- and in particular, to make the locations of all sex offenders easily searchable on the Internet -- so that New York families would have as much information as possible to keep their loved ones safe. So I am proud to sign a law that takes us yet another step toward that goal," Governor Pataki said. "Until now, you could not find out if a level 2 sex offender lived in your area unless you had both the offender's name and other specific personal information about that offender, such as a social security number or driver's license number. Because of this expansion, New Yorkers will soon be able to find out if any high or moderate risk sex offenders live in their neighborhoods by simply searching our website by geographic location, enabling all of us to be better informed and therefore better able to keep our families safe."
"In January, I signed an expansion to Megan's Law to ensure that all sex offenders remain on the registry for as long as possible - most for life. I said at that time that we must do even more to give every parent and family the tools to protect their children and families. This most recent expansion is certainly another step in the right direction, but there is still much work to be done," the Governor said. "We have strengthened Megan's Law significantly, but I would still like to see every single sex offender searchable on the Internet, so that parents can have the peace of mind to find out if anyone who has been designated a sex offender lives in their area."
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/070706MegansLaw.html
Ex-soldier charged in Iraq rape, killings enters not guilty plea
Updated 7/6/2006 7:56 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this
Steven Green
AP
LOUISVILLE (AP) — A former Army private charged with raping an Iraqi woman and killing her and her family entered a plea of not guilty through his public defenders Thursday.
Steven Green also waived a detention hearing and a preliminary hearing, and agreed that his case would be prosecuted in the Western District of Kentucky.
U.S. Magistrate Judge James Moyer set an arraignment date of Aug. 8 in Paducah for Green, who was arrested Friday by FBI agents in Marion, N.C. Green appeared in baggy shorts and flip-flops, and was wearing the same Johnny Cash T-shirt he wore to a hearing Monday in Charlotte.
Green answered Moyer's questions about his inability to pay for an attorney, saying he has about $6,000 in a checking account and owns a 1995 Lincoln Town Car.
"I don't have anything else," he told the judge.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Butler said the case would be presented before a grand jury sometime in mid-July, probably in Paducah. Butler and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Ford declined to comment on where Green would be held before his arraignment.
Green, who served 11 months with the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Ky., received an honorable discharge and left the army in mid-May. He was discharged because of an "anti-social personality disorder," according to military officials and court documents.
A psychiatric condition, anti-social personality disorder is defined as chronic behavior that manipulates, exploits or violates the rights of others. Someone with the disorder may break the law repeatedly, lie, get in fights and show a lack of remorse.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-06-ex-soldier-court_x.htm
New York terror plot is foiled, FBI says
Plan targeted tunnels on rail lines from N.J.
WASHINGTON -- The FBI in recent months foiled a terrorist plot to blow up transit tunnels leading into New York City after the agency spent a year monitoring Internet discussions between at least eight Al Qaeda sympathizers based on three continents, US officials said yesterday.
The suspected mastermind of the plot, Assem Hammoud , 31, was arrested a month ago in Beirut , the law enforcement officials said, while two more members of the group are in custody in other foreign countries. Five more suspects are being sought, but none are believed to be in the United States, the officials added, declining to provide further details because the investigation still is underway.
``We believe we interrupted this group early in their planning," Mark J. Mershon , the FBI's assistant director in charge of the New York office, told reporters yesterday after the case was first revealed by the New York Daily News. He said the terrorist plot, which appeared to be planned for this fall, ``has largely been disrupted."
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly quickly sought to calm public fears. ``There was a lot of discussion" of the plot on the Internet, ``but there was no indication of any movement toward" launching the plan, Kelly said at a joint news conference in Manhattan. ``There is no indication that materials were secured."
The foiled operation, which came to light on the first anniversary of the London transit bombings, apparently called for suicide bombers to detonate explosives inside transit tunnels leading from New Jersey into lower Manhattan, causing water to flood into the financial district near where the World Trade Center once stood. Officials said the group appeared to be ready to begin conducting surveillance of potential targets and acquiring explosives.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/07/08/new_york_terror_plot_is_foiled_fbi_says/
New Jersey Gambling Facilities Open as Government Shutdown Ends
July 8 (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey gambling operations, including Atlantic City casinos, the lottery and horse racing, opened today hours after Governor Jon Corzine signed an executive order to end a weeklong shutdown of non-essential state government.
Corzine ordered the shutdown of state government July 1 when the Legislature failed to pass a fiscal 2007 budget bill. The lottery machines stopped immediately while horseracing ended July 4 and the casinos closed their gaming floors July 5.
The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, a joint venture of MGM Mirage and Boyd Gaming Corp., reopened at 7 a.m, said Michael Facenda, a spokesman for the most lucrative establishment among the 12 Atlantic City casinos, grossing $1.9 million a day in gaming revenue.
``Our employees were very, very anxious to return to the workplace,'' Facenda said. ``Considering the circumstances, we're doing pretty good. In another couple of hours or a day, we should be very saturated.''
The casinos contribute about $1.2 million in tax receipts daily to the state, according to the Casino Control Commission. The casinos were forced to shut down after losing two court battles to have their state inspectors considered essential personnel.
Tracks Open
Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands racetracks opened their gates today; they also lost a court battle to remain open during the shutdown.
Monmouth Park in Oceanport, resumed thoroughbred racing at 12:50 p.m. today while and Meadowlands in East Rutherford started its standardbred card at 7:30 p.m. Both tracks had day and night simulcasting.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aTnzAazhJxjg&refer=us
Bush border plan for Guard hits snag
Deployments are running behind schedule; some governors reluctant to send troops
Susan Carroll
Republic Tucson Bureau
Jul. 8, 2006 12:00 AM
Logistical and bureaucratic snags have delayed the deployment of National Guard troops along the Southwestern border, leaving Arizona with little support so far from other states and putting a crimp in President Bush's security plan.
Nearly two months after Bush's announcement of plans to station 6,000 Guard personnel along the border with Mexico, U.S. Border Patrol officials said 898 Guard soldiers are actually working in direct support of agents in the four border states, freeing up 173 agents, about 1.5 percent of the patrol's workforce.
So far, the deployments have had "no impact at all" on arrests, mainly because of the long delay in getting troops from outside the border states prepared to deploy, said Maria Valencia, a Border Patrol spokeswoman in Washington, D.C.
"Once they deploy more forces, I'm sure we'll see the impact, but right now it's too early to tell," Valencia said.
Some federal and state officials are concerned that the National Guard deployment hasn't gone according to plan but say that they're confident adding troops at the border will help improve security. Defense and homeland security experts questioned whether the lack of troop commitments from many states and the short deployment of some Guard units will hurt the effort.
Christine Wormuth, a defense expert with the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic & International Studies, said the public seemed to have the misperception that the president could decide to dispatch thousands of Guard soldiers on the border and make it happen with "just a snap of his fingers."
The original plan
In May, military officials set an ambitious deadline to have 2,500 soldiers on the border by July 1 and fill 6,000 National Guard slots by August. The troops would serve as a stopgap until 2008, while thousands of Border Patrol agents would be recruited and trained to replace them.
Initially, Guard troops were supposed to arrive starting June 1 to work with the Border Patrol, but the first batch arrived two weeks late, Valencia said. The deployments were delayed by red tape, as state officials signed intergovernmental agreements. Some Guard officials also ran into logistical problems in small border towns like Deming, N.M., where they had to delay the dispatch of 50 out-of-state soldiers because they had no place to sleep.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0708borderguard.html
Most states fall short on student testing, government says
By Ben Feller, AP Education Writer | July 6, 2006
WASHINGTON --Most states are failing to pass muster with the government over student testing and may lose money unless they improve quickly.
The Education Department says 34 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have major problems with the tests that were supposed to be in place in the just-ended school year. They will get federal approval only if they correct the problems in the coming year.
In addition, Nebraska and Maine had their testing systems rejected outright.
They all face the threat of losing from $40,000 to more than $1 million of the money they receive to administer the No Child Left Behind law. In most cases, the total would be less than $100,000; Nebraska and Maine could lose one-quarter of their dollars.
The money would go instead to school districts, skipping state governments altogether.
The report card of the states, released Thursday, is intended to get them to finish the job.
President Bush's education law orders states to hold math and reading tests in the third- to eighth-grade, and once in high school. The deadline was the end of the 2005-06 school year.
Every state did have testing in the required grades. But many states still have significant problems, such as developing exams for disabled or limited-English students, or ensuring that tests are technically sound.
Texas, the home state of the president and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, fell short because of a number of federal concerns, including whether the tests match up to the content that students are supposed to learn.
Only 10 states won full approval. Four others are expected to get there soon.
Assistant Education Secretary Ray Simon said states' overall performances were positive. Even the 36 jurisdictions whose approval remains pending probably will get the federal OK within a year, he said.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/07/06/most_states_fall_short_on_student_testing_government_says/
One million patients victims of NHS blunders
By JENNY HOPE, Daily Mail01:00am 6th July 2006
Reader comments (26)
Nearly one million patients are victims of NHS blunders or near-misses each year - but the true figure is far higher, warns a hard-hitting report.
The number could be halved if the Health Service took on board lessons from previous accidents and acted promptly on safety alerts, it says.
Massive under-reporting of deaths and serious incidents means the NHS 'simply has no idea' how many people are dying each year, says the influential Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
It estimates there could be almost one-quarter of a million more incidents - some of them serious - that go unreported each year, based on evidence from trusts.
Big differences between similarly-sized trusts in the number of incidents - from a few to many thousands - suggest some may be discouraging such reports.
PAC chairman Edward Leigh said official estimates show one in 10 patients admitted to NHS hospitals is unintentionally harmed and there has been insufficient progress in cutting the level of avoidable incidents.
Mr Leigh attacked the "dysfunctional performance" of National Patient Safety Agency - which costs £34 million a year to run - for delivering a national reporting system "several years late" and poor value for money for the taxpayer.
He strongly criticised trusts for failing to tell patients when things go wrong - only one in four routinely keeps patients informed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=394238&in_page_id=1770
Mom the criminal
Washington mother jailed for choosing alternative medical care
On Thursday, June 22, 34-year-old Tina Carlsen picked up her nine-month old baby, Riley Rogers, and the pair left Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. It's a perfectly normal scenario, except that Riley was hours away from a scheduled surgery to treat what media reports call a "serious kidney ailment." And because Carlsen and Riley's father believe in alternative medical care and had refused doctors' recommendations for surgery and dialysis for Riley -- recommendations the parents considered life-threatening -- the state of Washington had, two weeks before, taken custody of Riley Rogers. So when Tina, trying to protect the life of her child against the forcible intervention of doctors and the state, was pulled over by police 48 hours later, Riley Rogers was returned to his tiny hospital bed. And Tina is now facing charges of second degree kidnapping.
This story pushed my buttons for several reasons. I've been wrestling with serious, often life-threatening, illness for 15 years, the result of what media reports might call a "serious kidney ailment." I've had the same surgery that was performed on baby Riley, eight days after he was "rescued" from his loving mother. Western medicine, the kind Tina Carlsen abhors, saved my life, but before it did that it nearly killed me. I was in a coma three times, once for several days, and had nearly a dozen surgeries to fix complications arising from only 15 months of dialysis -- the same often-debilitating yet life-giving procedure doctors wanted for Riley, and that Tina Carlsen was terrified of.
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=21051
Climate change link seen in surge of Western blazes
Study correlates warming trend with wildfires
Dennis O'Brien, Baltimore Sun
Friday, July 7, 2006
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Rising temperatures and earlier melting of snowpacks have sharply increased the number of Western wildfires -- and scientists say to expect more of the same if the trend persists.
Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Arizona examined 34 years of forest fire reports in 11 Western states and found the number of fires increased in size and severity since 1987, the same year that spring and summer temperatures began to rise.
"It's a very good snapshot of what's been happening in the Western forests over the past three decades," said lead author Anthony Westerling, a fire climatologist at UC Merced.
Westerling conducted the research while at the Scripps Institution. The findings were published today in Science.
The researchers examined U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service records of every forest fire that burned at least 1,000 acres from 1970 to 2003. They found that of 1,166 fires in that period, four-fifths of them, or about 900, occurred after 1987.
They also found that air temperatures from 1987 to 2003 were 1.6 degrees higher than during the previous 17 years; that 6.5 times more acreage burned during that warmer period; and that the firefighting season increased by 78 days, the study says.
The reason is simple: Warmer springs and longer dry seasons are creating more kindling in the Western woods, the researchers say.
The biggest increase in forest fires was in the northern Rockies, in the mountains around Yellowstone National Park and the Bitterroot Range, at elevations between 6,000 and 8,000 feet, the study says. It is in those areas that melting snowpacks have the most significant role in determining forest fire risk, Westerling said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/07/MNG7JJR8521.DTL
Ocean acidity threatens sea life
•Scientists blame the rising levels of carbon dioxide
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Corals and other marine creatures are threatened by chemical changes in the ocean caused by the carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, a panel of scientists warned Wednesday.
Already blamed for a greenhouse effect on the climate, much of this added carbon dioxide is dissolving in the oceans, making them more acidic.
Such a change can damage coral and other shells and sea- life, according to the panel of researchers convened by the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Geological Survey.
"A most fundamental property of ocean chemistry, pH, is changing and will continue to change as long as CO2 emissions are increasing. That is not debatable," Joan Kleypas, the report's lead author and a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., said in a briefing.
The pH scale measures how acidic or alkaline a substance is, rating from 0 to 14 with 7 being neutral. The lower the number, the more acidic something is.
The oceans are normally slightly alkaline. Their average surface pH was 8.2 in 1800 and is headed for a predicted 7.9 by the middle of this century, she said. The researchers estimated that between 1800 and 1994 the world's oceans absorbed 118 billion metric tons of carbon.
Richard Feely, an oceanographer at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, said "this is leading to the most dramatic changes in marine chemistry in at least the past 650,000 years."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/4027104.html
Mac OS Update Sparks Privacy Concern
By Ed Oswald, BetaNews
July 6, 2006, 1:58 PM
Some Macintosh users are complaining about a new feature added in the latest update to Mac OS X that periodically checks in with Apple Computer without the user's knowledge. The feature checks to see if widgets on the Dashboard are authentic, and Apple says it is for security purposes.
Called Dashboard Advisory, the application is intended to protect users from malicious software. It checks to see if a widget installed on a user's machine is the same as the one advertised on Apple's download page. The check occurs every eight hours, and there is no way to shut it off.
In the release notes for the 10.4.7 update, Apple describes it as such: "You can now verify whether or not a Dashboard widget you downloaded is the same version as a widget featured on www.apple.com before installing it."
However, some are up in arms about the addition, characterizing it as an intrusion into their privacy.
"The mere act of 'checking in' lets Apple know that I'm here and I'm running 10.4.7. They didn't ask my permission to start making this regular checkin, and I'm not even sure what benefit I'm going to be getting out of allowing it," independent software developer Daniel Jalkut wrote in his blog on Monday.
Jalkut called on Apple to give the user the option to turn the feature off, and be more forthcoming in the future. "It's my computer, after all," said Jalkut.
Apple's actions come just weeks after Microsoft was criticized for a "phone home" feature built into Windows Genuine Advantage, and anti-piracy program. WGA's Notifications component connected with Microsoft's servers each day, sparking an outcry from users. Microsoft has since removed the daily check, but WGA will still contact the company "periodically."
http://www.betanews.com/article/Mac_OS_Update_Sparks_Privacy_Concern/1152207975
U.S. terms for missile talks
P. S. Suryanarayana
SINGAPORE: United States envoy Christopher Hill said on Saturday that Washington would be willing to enhance the scope of bilateral talks with North Korea within the framework of the six-party parleys.
Mr. Hill was speaking in Seoul after meeting South Korean authorities in a crisis-management exercise. He had earlier gone to Beijing to urge China to dissuade North Korea from conducting further ballistic missile tests. He will travel to Japan too.
Mr. Hill said North Korea should recognise that "the deal," now offered, was nothing more than the six-party "process." The prime focus of these multilateral parleys, stalled for months because of Pyongyang's objections to certain U.S. sanctions, is North Korea's nuclear-weapons programme.
However, hinting that the agenda could now be extended to cover Pyongyang's missile launches of July 5, he said the U.S. would be willing to engage North Korea.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/09/stories/2006070903121200.htm
7 suspected terrorists flee Saudi prison
By ABDULLAH SHIHRI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Seven suspected terrorists escaped from a prison in the Saudi capital, officials said Saturday - a rare jailbreak in the tightly controlled kingdom and U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.
The Saudi Interior Ministry described the fugitives as religious extremists and said they had been arrested in separate incidents during the past year.
"They are extremists, they believe in the takfiri thoughts," spokesman Mansour al-Turki told The Associated Press.
The radical takfiri ideology is followed by radical Sunni Muslims bent on killing anyone they consider an infidel, even fellow Muslims.
Al-Turki would neither confirm nor deny media reports that the fugitives were linked to al-Qaida, saying only they had been arrested on suspicion of terrorism.
One of the escapees had been detained for giving shelter to a wanted Moroccan militant, who was later killed in a firefight with Saudi forces, a security official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Al-Turki said the men - six Saudis and a Yemeni - escaped "a few days ago."
The Interior Ministry urged the fugitives to turn themselves in to avoid a postponement of their trial and to benefit from "the king's generosity," state-run Al-Ekhbariya television reported.
The network said the fugitives had been arrested for "security-related issues," a term used by Saudi authorities to describe terrorism charges.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Saudi_Prison_Break.html
Venezuela, Colombia, start building gas pipeline
Sat Jul 8, 2006 3:31pm ET
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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela and Colombia on Saturday began construction of a gas pipeline linking the two countries, another step in Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's efforts to promote Latin American energy integration.
Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, is seeking to reduce dependence on U.S. energy markets as part of a self-styled socialist revolution that promises to end poverty and unite Latin American nations.
Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe held a ceremony in western Venezuela to solder the first pipe of a 225 kilometer (140 mile) gas pipeline, projected to cost $335 million, linking Venezuela with Colombian gas fields.
"The axis that will be formed with this pipe ... should be like a central nerve for the integration of Colombia and Venezuela," Chavez said in a speech.
The pipeline, expected to be completed by next March, will send around 150 million cubic feet per day of gas from the Punta Ballenas fields in Colombia to the chronically gas-deficient areas of western Venezuela.
Within an estimated four to seven years, when Colombia's fields dry up and Venezuela's gas transport systems have been expanded, the pipeline will reverse flow to send around 200 million cubic feet per day of gas to Colombia.
Panamanian President Martin Torrijos was also present at the ceremony, since Colombia and Venezuela are seeking to expand the project to supply gas to Panama.
Chavez is leading an effort to build a massive gas pipeline stretching from Venezuela to Argentina with an estimated price tag of $20 billion.
A project to export liquid natural gas (LNG) to the United States has been delayed by several years, and Chavez has said Venezuela will supply Latin American countries before developing export plans to the United States.
http://today.reuters.com/business/newsArticle.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2006-07-08T193117Z_01_N08349851_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-ENERGY-VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA-DC.XML
Pakistan allows bail for female inmates
By MUNIR AHMAD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's president on Friday amended an Islamic law to allow hundreds of women facing charges for adultery and other minor crimes to be freed on bail.
The much-anticipated amendment by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf would affect 1,300 female prisoners currently awaiting trial, the minister for women's affairs, Sumaira Malik, said.
"President Musharraf has taken a bold decision to protect the rights of women and save them from the misuse of Islamic laws," said Malik, who announced that Musharraf signed the amendment but did not distribute copies of the document.
The president, a moderate, has sought to reform Islamic laws on blasphemy and women's rights in the past but backed off because of strong opposition in deeply conservative Pakistan.
Friday's amendment is the president's first to the Hadood Ordinance, legislation based on the Koran and Islamic tradition.
Since the ordinance was introduced in 1979 by the late dictator Gen. Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan has had two parallel and sometimes overlapping legal systems: one based on British common law, the other based on Islamic law.
Under the ordinance, women can be sentenced to death by stoning if found guilty of having sex outside of marriage. Drinking is punishable with 80 lashes, theft with the amputation of the right hand.
Such punishments have not been carried out in Pakistan, however, as courts from the Islamic and ordinary legal systems overturn each others' decisions in unresolved jurisdictional battles.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Pakistan_Women_Prisoners.html
Army surrounds Shi'ite mosque
08/07/2006 20:14 - (SA)
Tareq Aziz starts hunger strike
Pilgrims targeted in car bomb
Saddam has the 'final say'
Minister, 19 bodyguards abducted
Raghad 'under king's guard'
Saddam's wife 'wanted' in Iraq
Zarqawi buried in secret
Sunni's claim deadly blast
Baghdad - United States and Iraqi forces with armoured vehicles surrounded a Shi'ite mosque in southeastern Baghdad on Saturday, in what appeared to be the latest operation against Shi'ite militias.
There was no immediate comment from the US military or the Iraqi interior ministry, but a policeman at the scene outside the Sadrain Mosque in the Zafaraniya district said he believed they were trying to arrest members of the Shi'ite Mehdi Army.
The mosque is believed to be loyal to radical young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mehdi Army fighters have been the target of several recent operations by government and US forces, including a major raid on Baghdad's Sadr City area on Friday.
The US military said it had captured a major militant suspect, Abu Deraa, accused of kidnappings and murders, in the Sadr City raid.
Shi'ite political sources, however, said Deraa was still at large.
The sources said the raid was part of a hunt for a female Sunni Arab MP, whose kidnapping in a Shi'ite neighbourhood a week ago has prompted a parliamentary boycott by her Sunni colleagues.
The US military said it had seized a Mehdi Army leader on Thursday. The military said it suspects the leader of importing surface-to-air missiles from Shi'ite Iran.
Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said his national unity coalition, formed two months ago, will crack down on nominally pro-government Shi'ite militias as well as a Sunni Arab insurgency.
A major operation has been under way for the past month. Its goal is to restore security to Baghdad, where dozens of people are killed every day in sectarian violence.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1964866,00.html
Fox, CBS to fight FCC in court on indecency regs
By Brooks Boliek
WASHINGTON -- Major broadcasters are split over an impending court decision that would allow the FCC to take back from the federal courts the major case challenging the commission's revamped indecency rules.
In a series of motions filed Friday in federal court in New York, Fox and its affiliate group and CBS opposed an attempt this week by the FCC to get a key indecency case back from the court. NBC also may have filed a similar motion, but that could not be immediately confirmed.
"The commission's motion is a transparent attempt to continue its practice of shielding its new indecency enforcement regime from judicial review despite the persistent chilling effect the new regime is having on broadcasters' First Amendment rights," Fox attorneys wrote.
On Wednesday, the commission asked the same federal court for more time to consider affiliates' arguments the agency erred in March when it decided that variations of the words "fuck" and "shit" are likely to be indecent whenever broadcast.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002801841
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