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"Kurds have taken issue with a new provision that was quietly packaged with the draft oil law by the Shiite-led Oil Ministry last month. The measure would essentially cede control of the management of nearly all known oil fields and related contracts to a state-run oil company to be established after passage of the law... Sunni Arabs were also worried that the law would give foreign companies too large a role in the country’s oil industry." "The White House was hoping for quick passage".
The IRS is "curtailing audits of many people who use offshore tax havens, even when agents see signs of tax evasion, because agents fear they cannot meet a three-year deadline for finishing an examination."
Ten Republican presidential wannabes held a revival at the Ronald Reagan Crypt and Zombie Reagan kicked their butts. Not one word said about Hurricane Katrina or New Orleans.
USA
Astronaut Wally Schirra died at age 84. Schirra's missions were Mercury 8 (1962), Gemini 6A (1965), and Apollo 7 (1968), which made him the only man to fly on all three of NASA's early programs.
The House passed, by a 237-180 vote, to extend "federal hate crime categories to include violent attacks against gays and people targeted because of gender." George W. Bush has threatened to veto the legislation.
Barack Obama has been placed under the protection of the U.S. Secret Service. "A Department of Homeland Security spokesman said Obama had requested the Secret Service protection." Caution expressed by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) to Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) lead to the Secret Service being assigned to Obama. "I gave him what I thought to be the facts of the matter. I asked him, based on his experience, to make a judgment if it should be brought up for consideration," Durbin said.
A congressionally-mandated report by the National Research Council was critical of "the lack of any truly coordinated planning" in the nation's wind farms and "called on federal, state and local governments to pay more attention to the effects of turbines on wildlife and scenic landscapes." Michael Fry, of the American Bird Conservancy, told a House subcommittee last week that "30,000 and 60,000 birds are killed by turbines a year".
Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) said William Mercer, Montana's U.S. Attorney, should resign "after revelations that he worked to alter federal law so that he and a handful of other senior aides could escape residency requirements that governed their assignments as federal prosecutors."
Queen Elizabeth is visting Virginia on an official state visit. "The Queen is arriving by plane and her carbon footprint will be calculated and offset for the first time for a state visit."
Telluride, Colorado is "$2 million short of its goal to raise $50 million to buy 570 acres of wetlands, old mining land and pasture at the entrance to town." The valley is home to herds of elk, coyotes, and Gunnison prairie dogs. More information and a place to donate can be found at the Valley Floor Preservation partners website.
Florida's legislature voted to "spend nearly $28 million to scrap the ATM-styled machines used in 15 Florida counties, including Miami-Dade and Broward and replace them with ones that use paper ballots." Governor Charlie Crist is expected to sign the bill. The bill also moves Florida's presidential primary to January 29, 2008.
Scientists have discovered a gene that helps determines longevity. "Scientists believe that the findings could unlock a genetic treasure-chest of potential pharmacological targets for developing drugs that can extend the human lifespan without having to follow a rigorous and difficult diet."
Washington state will destroy two aging hydroelectric dams on the Elwha River. Among other goals, the state hopes the dams' removal will help restore salmon runs and wildlife habit.
Warmer winter weather is allowing subtropical plants to be grown more farther north than ever before. The Hardiness Zone Map, used by gardeners, has been updated to reflect the climate changes by the National Arbor Day Foundation.
Warmer temperatures help pests as well as plants, and studies have shown that weeds and invasive species receive a greater boost from higher levels of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas, than desirable plants do. Poison ivy becomes more toxic, ragweed dumps more pollen, and kudzu, the fast-growing vine that has swallowed whole woodlands in the South, is creeping northward.
Africa
Asia-Pacific
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants Japan revise its constitution to allow it to maintain a military for warfare.
Mao Lijun, the general manager of Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company, "one of the companies accused of selling contaminated wheat gluten to pet food suppliers in the United States", is being held by Chinese authorities in Jiangsu Province. Charges have not announced.
An international agreement on how to combat climate change was reached in Bangkok, Thailand. "The closed-door debate over everything from nuclear power to the cost of cleaner energy ran into the early morning hours with quibbling over wording. But consensus was eventually reached on a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N. network of 2,000 scientists and delegates from more than 120 nations." Both China and the United States were resistent on the goals, claiming they were too stringent.
South Asia
Europe
Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism branch investigated ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan five months before the July 7, 2005 London bombings. "The discovery that Khan was reinvestigated... appears to contradict claims from MI5." Prime Minister "Tony Blair said an independent inquiry would 'undermine support' for the security service."
In response to Turkey's top court invalidating a parliamentary vote for the ruling party's candidate, Abdullah Gul, parliament voted to hold early elections that are expected to take place on July 22, 2007.
Middle East
The "Bremer" walls in Baghdad are being painted with murals by Iraqi painters. "Hopefully it will remind some people that there is good news in this country, not all bad," said Baqir al-Sheik, one of the artists, to USA Today. "They need some joy in their life, because it's decreasing day by day," he said. Laura Bush must be pleased.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with her Syrian counterpart, Walid Moualem. "The high-profile diplomatic encounter in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh was the first of its kind since Syria, Iran's only Arab ally, was accused of being behind the murder of the former Lebanese prime minister." Scattered reports claim Syria emboldened by the meeting.
Demonstrators filled Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel "to protest against the government's handling of last year's conflict in Lebanon."
Americas
The Canadian government had intelligence, an electronic intercept, indicating an attack "just days in advance of the Air-India bombing in 1985 that one of its aircraft would be targeted flying out of Canada" according to Ontario Lieutenant-Governor James Bartleman.
Canada has signed a "new detainee transfer agreement with Afghanistan that includes stringent safeguards for follow-up monitoring to prevent torture and abuse that were previously absent."
President Hugo Chávez vowed he intends Venezuela to quit the IMF, which could lead to the country "defaulting on as much as $21 billion of debt as investors fear." The announcement left Venezuelan ministers scrambling for an explanation and Chávez did "not directly repeat his vow to withdraw" in a later speech.
"Two Cuban military officers were killed when three young recruits deserted their base and then tried to hijack a plane to the United States Thursday, according to reports from Havana."
Planktos, an eco-restoration organisation, has a ship near the Galapagos Islands where they are about to begin a project to "'seed' the oceans with the iron in the hope of stimulating blooms of phytoplankton, the microscopic marine plants that soak up the energy of the Sun to convert carbon dioxide into organic matter." Hrmmm, not sure what to make of this — seems goofy.
By the numbers
As always, treat this as an open thread.