McClatchy Newspapers - Commerce, Treasury funds helped boost GOP campaigns
By Marisa Taylor and Kevin G. Hall
Top Commerce and Treasury Departments officials appeared with Republican candidates and doled out millions in federal money in battleground congressional districts and states after receiving White House political briefings detailing GOP election strategy.
Political appointees in the Treasury Department received at least 10 political briefings from July 2001 to August 2006, officials familiar with the meetings said. Their counterparts at the Commerce Department received at least four briefings — all in the election years of 2002, 2004 and 2006...
During the briefings at Treasury and Commerce, then-Bush administration political director Ken Mehlman and other White House aides detailed competitive congressional districts, battleground election states and key media markets and outlined GOP strategy for getting out the vote.
Commerce and Treasury political appointees later made numerous public appearances and grant announcements that often correlated with GOP interests, according to a review of the events by McClatchy Newspapers. The pattern raises the possibility that the events were arranged with the White House's political guidance in mind.
Washington Post - FBI Director's Notes Contradict Gonzales's Version Of Ashcroft Visit
By Dan Eggen
Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft was "feeble," "barely articulate" and "stressed" moments after a hospital room confrontation in March 2004 with Alberto R. Gonzales, who wanted Ashcroft to approve a warrantless wiretapping program over Justice Department objections, according to notes from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III that were released yesterday.
One of Mueller's entries in five pages of a daily log pertaining to the dispute also indicated that Ashcroft's deputy was so concerned about undue pressure by Gonzales and other White House aides for the attorney general to back the wiretapping program that the deputy asked Mueller to bar anyone other than relatives from later entering Ashcroft's hospital room.
Mueller's description of Ashcroft's physical condition that night contrasts with testimony last month from Gonzales, who told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Ashcroft was "lucid" and "did most of the talking" during the brief visit. It also confirms an account of the episode by former deputy attorney general James B. Comey, who said Ashcroft told the two men he was not well enough to make decisions in the hospital.
NY Times - "The Federal Reserve, saying for the first time that the recent disorder in the financial markets has raised the risk of an economic downturn, took the unusual step yesterday of encouraging the nation’s banks to borrow directly from the Fed, particularly to support home mortgage lending. ¶ The early morning announcement of a drop in the so-called discount rate, made even before the stock market opened, sent Wall Street soaring... ¶ The Fed, while not yet cutting a rate that wields more influence over the economy, moved to stimulate lending in part because it recognized that even well-to-do families with good credit ratings were having difficulty getting mortgages."
AP - "Officials in Texas and Mexico braced for a possible direct hit from Hurricane Dean, dispatching fuel trucks to coastal towns, clearing evacuation routes and sending out multi-lingual radio warnings. ¶ The hurricane strengthened into a Category 4 storm in the eastern Caribbean on Friday, ripping off roofs and flooding buildings. ¶ The National Weather Service forecast several potential tracks for the unpredictable storm over the next five days — some had it barreling into Mexico; others had it hammering the Texas coast."
AP - "Authorities in Memphis and Alabama reported 10 more heat-related deaths Friday, bringing the toll in the Southeast and Midwest to at least 47 since oppressive triple-digit temperatures settled over the region last week. ¶ In Memphis alone, heat has been blamed as a factor in 10 deaths, mostly elderly victims, in nine days... ¶ It reached 102 in Memphis on Friday, the seventh straight day of triple-digit temperatures. The local health department said the city's heat index — a measure that factors in humidity to describe how hot it feels — has broken 100 every day since June 27."
WaPo - "As the United States seeks to rapidly modernize and fortify its diplomatic missions around the world because of terrorism and other security concerns, the State Department's $5 billion construction efforts abroad have come under increasing strain. In a series of cables sent to Washington this summer, U.S. diplomats complained of building delays and shoddy workmanship, underscoring problems with State's one-size-fits-all approach to building that results in the same air-conditioning system being shipped to embassies in Africa and in Europe."
Washington Post - Recruiting For Iraq War Undercut in Puerto Rico
By Paul Lewis
The political activists, brown envelopes tucked under their arms, staked out the high school gates just after sunrise. When students emerged from the graffiti-scorched streets of the Rio Piedra neighborhood here and began streaming toward their school, the pro-independence advocates ripped open the envelopes and began handing the teens fliers emblazoned with the slogan: "Our youth should not go to war."
At the bottom of the leaflet was a tear sheet that students could sign and later hand to teachers, to request that students' personal contact information not be released to the U.S. Defense Department or to anyone involved in military recruiting.
The scene outside the Ramon Vila Mayo high school unfolded at schools throughout Puerto Rico this week as the academic year opened. On this island with a long tradition of military service, pro-independence advocates are tapping the territory's growing anti-Iraq war sentiment to revitalize their cause. As a result, 57 percent of Puerto Rico's 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders, or their parents, have signed forms over the past year withholding contact information from the Pentagon -- effectively barring U.S. recruiters from reaching out to an estimated 65,000 high school students.
WaPo - "Federal mine safety officials said today that they are flying in experts in the ways ground can shift to discuss whether to continue tunneling safely toward six trapped miners in the wake of the explosive collapse of a mine wall that buried rescue workers. ¶ Three members of the rescue team were killed and six were injured in the accident Thursday night that brought the attempt to reach the trapped miners via a tunnel to a sudden halt."
Star Tribune - "After setting an ambitious goal in the late 1990s of keeping 65 percent of Minnesota's bridges in good condition, state transportation officials retreated from the target as they fell behind in their efforts to reach it. The top bridge engineer in the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) said the agency began discussing lowering the goal in 2003 and later dropped it to 55 percent, a reversal that came as MnDOT faced mounting financial challenges." Tim Pawlenty began his 1st term as Minnesota's governor in 2003.
Houston Chronicle - "The Endeavour astronauts today endorsed the decision by NASA's mission manager to forego spacewalking repairs to the heat shielding under the shuttle's right wing. ¶ Shuttle commander Scott Kelly addressed the decision by the mission management team at a news conference today. ¶ 'We agree absolutely 100 percent with the decision to not repair the damage,' Kelly said."
Houston Chronicle - "Houston oilman David Chalmers, accused of funneling illegal payments to Saddam Hussein's regime at at time when Iraq was the target of strict economic sanctions, pleaded guilty today to a conspiracy charge. ¶ Chalmers' business associate at Houston-based BayOil, Ludmil Dionissiev, pleaded guilty to one count of facilitating a shipment of merchandise into the United States, knowing that shipment to not be authorized by law."
AP - George W. "Bush wants the government to look for more room for hunters to hunt and to step up efforts to conserve places where wildlife roam... ¶ 'Clearly, he's catering to a constituency, because there's no biological or ecological justification,' said Jamie Rappaport Clarke, executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife, who directed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Clinton administration. 'It's selecting a group of species, only those that are hunted and fished, to give White House attention to,' she said."
NY Times - Officials of Lee County, Florida declined $10 million in federal construction money for a "highway interchange that just happens to abut the property of a major political fund-raiser" for Rep. Don Young (R-AK). The district never asked for it and "the interchange, on Interstate 75 at a place called Coconut Road, would be a boon to Daniel J. Aronoff, a Michigan real estate developer with adjacent property who helped raise $40,000 in donations to Mr. Young at a fund-raiser in the region shortly before Mr. Young inserted an earmark for the project in a transportation bill."
The Hill - "Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) announced on Friday that he will not run for another term and will retire from Congress in 2008, bringing an end to the congressional career of the longest-serving Republican Speaker in the chamber’s history." He needs the time to make money off of Hastert's Highway.
The Hill - "Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) confirmed late Thursday night that he would not seek a seventh term in the House, becoming the third senior GOP lawmaker this week to say he would retire. ¶ His decision came on the heels of the announcement by Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) Thursday afternoon that she would leave at the end of the 110th Congress".
AP - "White House press secretary Tony Snow said today he'll leave sometime before the end of the Bush presidency because of financial pressures."
NY Times - "Federal safety officials have called for a $2.78 million penalty against the Cintas Corporation, the nation’s largest supplier of uniforms, for violations at its Tulsa plant, where [Eleazar Torres Gomez,] a worker, died when he was pulled into a large dryer. ¶ The penalty that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Thursday evening is more than four times any previous safety penalty leveled against a service-sector company."
WaPo - José "Padilla and co-defendants Adham Hassoun, a Lebanese-born Palestinian, and Kifah Jayyousi, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Jordan, were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim overseas, an offense with a maximum penalty of life in prison. They also were convicted of one count of conspiracy to provide material support for terrorists and one count of material support for terrorists. Sentencing is set for Dec. 5."
AP - The state of Iowa "has agreed to pay $925,000 to unwitting subjects of an infamous 1930s stuttering experiment — orphans who were badgered and belittled as children by University of Iowa researchers trying to induce speech impediments."
Bloomberg - "Fifteen people have died out of the 444 infected with the West Nile Virus in the United States this year, slightly ahead of last year's pace, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. ¶ In 136 cases, the virus infected the brain or spinal cord, and 49 people who tried to donate blood were found to be infected, the agency reported yesterday. The report covered cases through Aug. 14."
Telegraph - "Expensive anti-bacterial washes are no better at cleaning hands than ordinary soap and may actually encourage superbugs, scientists have warned... ¶ Allison Aiello of the University of Michigan School of Public Health and her team found that washing hands with an anti-bacterial soap was no more effective in preventing infectious illness than plain soap and did not clear dangerous bugs such as E. coli."
WaPo - "Food and Drug Administration officials said yesterday they are bringing to doctors' attention the potential usefulness of getting a patient's genetic profile before prescribing warfarin, one of the most widely used -- and most dangerous -- drugs on the market."
NY Times - "The White House plans to use a report next month assessing progress in Iraq to outline a plan for gradual troop reductions beginning next year that would fall far short of the drawdown demanded by Congressional opponents of the war, according to administration and military officials. ¶ One administration official made it clear that the goal of the planned announcement was to counter public pressure for a more rapid reduction and to try to win support for a plan that could keep American involvement in Iraq on 'a sustainable footing' at least through the end of the Bush presidency. ¶ The officials said the White House would portray its approach as a new strategy for Iraq, a message aimed primarily at the growing numbers of Congressional Republicans who have criticized... Bush’s handling of the war"
Independent - "The humanitarian disaster in Iraq is being compounded by a mass exodus of their medical staff fleeing chronic violence and lawlessness. A report by Oxfam International shows the lack of doctors and nurses is fracturing a health system on the brink of collapse. ¶ The research revealed that many hospitals, and medical teaching facilities in Baghdad have lost up to 80 per cent of their teaching staff. The dossier says Iraq is suffering from an appalling and largely hidden humanitarian crisis, away from the daily bombings, with millions of people in desperate need of help."
WaPo - "In a report to be released next week, the Fund for Peace calls for the 'managed' break-up of Iraq into three separate states with their own governments and representatives to the United Nations, but continued economic cooperation in a larger entity modeled on the European Union. ¶ Prospects of Iraqi leaders being able to establish a multiethnic democracy are now 'fanciful,' the nonpartisan Washington think tank says in its report titled 'A Way Out: The Union of Iraqi States.' Based on data tracked monthly since before the U.S. invasion in 2003, the report authored by Fund president Pauline Baker concludes that Iraq is now 'near total collapse.' ¶ ...Working out a transition that divides political power while continuing to allow Iraq's three major communities -- Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds -- to share economic wealth may be the only way to bring U.S. troops home in the near future, the report concludes."
LA Times - "Iraq's Kurdish president and Shiite Muslim prime minister hailed a governing alliance forged Thursday as a major stride toward reuniting the country's ethnically fractured leadership. ¶ But with Sunni Arabs refusing to take part in the coalition, it remained doubtful that significant progress toward resolving Iraq's myriad problems would come soon. ¶ The political maneuvering in the capital promised to further frustrate efforts by U.S.-led forces to bring security to a population traumatized by four years of a deadly insurgency and unbridled sectarian violence."
McClatchy - "The U.S military will begin pulling out the additional troops it sent to Iraq as part of the so-called surge next spring and will have completed their withdrawal by next August, the No. 2 American commander in Iraq said Friday. ¶ Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno also said that Shiite factions now are producing nearly as much violence in Iraq as the Sunni extremist group al Qaida in Iraq. When the surge began, the military said al Qaida in Iraq was responsible for most of the attacks."
News & Observer - Above Iraq, pilots race death
By Jay Price
The pilots of Fort Bragg's 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry recently returned from a one-year tour in Mosul, Iraq. Jason Anderson and Leif Neely, charged with providing cover for ground troops from their two-seat Kiowa Warrior helicopter, flew so low May 16 that they smelled the enemy's gunpowder. This is the story of their most harrowing mission.
Even before pilots Jason Anderson and Leif Neely were caught in a race against two ways to die, it had been a bad day in Mosul.
So many car bombs had detonated it was hard to keep track. Two bridges had already collapsed into the Tigris River when a huge explosion leveled a three-story building, creating a shock wave that buffeted the two little helicopters...
NY Times - "An Interpol arrest order for Saddam Hussein’s eldest daughter and his first wife has been circulated, Iraqi officials said Friday. ¶ The move came a year after the Iraqi authorities put the daughter, Raghad Saddam Hussein, and her mother, Sajida Khairalla Tulfa, on a 'most wanted' list of 41 people accused of providing support to insurgents in Iraq."
Guardian - "The Palestinian electricity company that supplies most of Gaza will cut power to the area later today because Israel has shut a crossing through which fuel supplies are transported. ¶ 'For two days we have not received fuel,' the chairman of the Gaza Generating Company, Rafik Malikha, told a press conference today. 'The Israeli side is preventing vehicles from approaching the crossing.'"
McClatchy - "As [George W.] Bush escalates the United States' confrontation with Iran across a broad front, U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East are growing worried that the steps will achieve little, but will undercut diplomacy and increase the chances of war. ¶ In the latest step, Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are considering designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the elite military force that serves as the guardian of Iran's Islamic state, as a foreign terrorist organization. ¶ News of the decision was leaked to newspapers in what a senior State Department official and Washington-based diplomats said was a sign of an intensifying internal struggle within the U.S. government between proponents of military action and opponents, led by Rice."
LA Times - "The reconstruction of Lebanon after last summer's war was meant to strengthen the U.S.-backed Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Hundreds of millions of dollars poured in from U.S.-friendly Persian Gulf countries. ¶ Instead, as government officials acknowledge, the rebuilding effort in badly damaged areas of southern Lebanon, south Beirut and the Bekaa Valley has mostly highlighted the government's weakness. ¶ At stake is control over volatile pieces of real estate, some abutting Israel, that have been key battlegrounds over the last three decades in the proxy wars waged by Iran, Syria and the United States and its allies. ¶ Though the state is distributing most of the donated funds, Iran and Qatar have decided to directly contribute and supervise their aid. Over the last year, these two countries have spent millions of dollars on flashy projects without the government's imprimatur. ¶ In the eyes of many Lebanese, their government has had little role in rebuilding the country."
Telegraph - "The Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez has anointed himself president for life by proposing sweeping changes to the country's constitution. ¶ Setting out his plans for completing his socialist revolution in the oil-rich Latin American nation, he proposing radical constitutional reform which has at its centre indefinite re-election for himself." What an idiot.
LA Times - "Across Latin America, commentators expressed concern that the region's most colorful and controversial leader was undermining democracy here. But democratic leaders from Mexico City to Buenos Aires chose not to comment. ¶ Chavez has become Latin America's most polarizing figure. His supporters at home and abroad hail him as a bold leader who has challenged Venezuela's elite and countered the U.S."
Independent - "Aid agencies that are trying to reach survivors of the powerful earthquake that shook southern Peru warned yesterday that the death toll, already at more than 500, could rise sharply because of severe winter temperatures as well as a lack of food, clean water or medical supplies. ¶ The rescue effort has been severely hampered by a breakdown in communications, including damage to bridges and major roads, as well as the loss of electricity, phone lines and other vital services. Great, jolting aftershocks, including one measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale that hit the area yesterday, have also delayed the arrival of rescue crews."
Guardian - "She was wearing a Mayan dress, the traditional attire of indigenous people in central America, and the hotel's response was also traditional: throw her out. ¶ Staff at Cancun's five-star Hotel Coral Beach appear to have assumed this was another street vendor or beggar, so without asking questions they ordered her to leave. Except the woman was Rigoberta Menchú, the Nobel peace prizewinner, Unesco goodwill ambassador, Guatemalan presidential candidate and figurehead for indigenous rights."
Spiegel - "Glamorous Argentine first lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner wants to become the country's next president. As wife of the current president, she has a lot in common with Hillary Clinton: Both rose to power in the provinces, both are attorneys and both are conscious of the power they possess."
AP - "A married couple who lead one of Brazil's largest evangelical churches were sentenced to nearly five months in prison Friday after pleading guilty to smuggling more than $56,000 into the United States hidden in luggage, a child's backpack and a Bible case. ¶ Estevam Hernandes Filho and his wife, Sonia Haddad Moraes Hernandes, must serve an additional five months of house arrest in the United States and pay $60,000 in fines under a sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno."
Reuters - "The United States pays Cuba $4,085 a month in rent for the controversial Guantanamo naval base, but Cuba has only once cashed a check in almost half a century and then only by mistake, Fidel Castro wrote in an essay published on Friday. ¶ The ailing Cuban leader, who has not appeared in public for more than a year, said he had refused to cash the checks to protest the 'illegal' U.S. occupation of the land which he said was now used for 'dirty work'."
Canadian Press - "Canada has 950 known organized crime groups operating across the country, a jump of nearly 20 per cent from the past year, says an annual report by the Criminal Intelligence Service. ¶ But RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said the increase is probably due more to better reporting of their activities by police than to an actual change in the number of criminals."
Canadian Press - "The collapse of this summer's sockeye run on the largest salmon-producing river system in the world means no commercial or recreational fishing of the fish and seriously curtailed access for First Nations. ¶ But a senior official with Fisheries and Oceans Canada is confident there will be enough sockeye entering British Columbia's Fraser River to ensure good spawning, which is the bottom line... The forecast had been for 6.3 million sockeye to swim up the Fraser River from the Pacific this year, but the bottom has fallen out of that prediction. ¶ Based on test fishing and monitoring, Fisheries has revised that forecast steeply down to just 1.6 million sockeye."
Telegraph - "Compulsory water meters could be installed within three years in millions of households across southern England under new government plans. ¶ Twelve water companies, serving 23 million people, have been designated as areas of 'serious water stress' and can now consider metering as a weapon in their attempt to conserve water."
Guardian - "Demonstrators from the Heathrow Camp for Climate Action today glued themselves to the Department of Transport in the latest action to highlight their protest against the airport... ¶ Police and paramedics arrived on the scene shortly afterwards and released the protesters from the doors. ¶ 'You will see we are all quite young. We are the people who will have to deal with the consequences of climate change,' Miko Minio, a 26-year-old who had been at the Heathrow camp since Saturday, said."
Independent - "Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced he is reviving the Soviet-era practice of sending bomber aircraft on regular patrols beyond its borders, due to current threats to 'security.' ¶ Last night there were reports that eleven Russian military planes carried out maneouvres west of Norway the biggest show of Russian air power in the North Sea since the early 1990s."
Telegraph - "The BBC World Service has been banned from broadcasting on Russian FM radio in what is seen as the latest diplomatic swipe at the UK. ¶ The state licensing authorities ordered Bolshoye radio in Moscow to remove all BBC programming by 5pm tonight or face being taken off air."
Guardian - "Radical plans for the Tories to free British business from a 'lethal and toxic' mix of tax and burdensome regulation were unveiled by former cabinet minister John Redwood today. ¶ His wide-ranging report proposes measures to achieve a low-tax, lower-regulation, competitive economy, including the abolition of inheritance tax and a reduction in business taxes."
Guardian - "A former member of Germany's Red Army Faction, who was convicted of murdering a US soldier as part of the gang's violent campaign against capitalism, has been released from jail after 21 years. ¶ The decision to free Eva Haule comes as Germany prepares to mark the 30th anniversary of the climax of the extreme left-wing militant group's bloody campaign in the autumn of 1977." Spiegel has more coverage: Killer of US Troops Released.
Independent - "French police say they have broken up a high-class prostitution ring operating in the yachts and luxury hotel rooms of Cannes. ¶ Dozens of young women, including former models and beauty contestants, and their wealthy Middle Eastern clients were briefly held after a series of raids on flats and hotels on the waterfront."
Spiegel - Aside from politics, "there may be other motivations for setting fires in Greece. According to a senior researcher with Greece's Forest Research Institute, the country's forest management policies themselves may be a contributing factor. Forest protection is written directly into the Greek constitution... As such, it is difficult to rezone forest land for other uses -- even on the edge of growing cities like Athens. ¶ Because there are no official maps indicating the boundaries of forests, though, once the trees have been reduced to ash, developers come in to claim land."
DW-World - "Campaigners from the World Wildlife Fund have said that the Baltic Sea north of Germany is turning into a 'death zone,' warning that around 70,000 square meters of water are uninhabitable... ¶ The main culprit polluting and strangling the waters is fertilizer".
Times of India - "A powerful typhoon slammed into Taiwan on Saturday, washing out roads, uprooting trees and killing at least one person... ¶ Typhoon Sepat- by far the most powerful storm to hit the island this year- made landfall at 5:40 a.m. (2140 GMT Friday) near the eastern city of Hualien, packing sustained winds of 173 kph (109 mph)."
Guardian - "China has ordered its media to report only positive news and imprisoned a pro-democracy dissident amid a clampdown on dissent ahead of the most important meeting of the Communist party in five years. ¶ Media controls have been tightened, AIDS activists detained and NGOs shut down as the president, Hu Jintao, prepares for the 17th party congress, when the next generation of national leaders will be unveiled in a politburo reshuffle."
Reuters - "More than 170 coal miners were trapped underground in eastern China on Saturday after heavy rains brought floods to the area, inundating an old shaft of the mine they were working in. ¶ The official Xinhua news agency said 584 miners were rescued after Friday's accident at Xintai in Shandong province, but attempts to reach the remaining 172 were being hampered by heavy rain. ¶ It was not known whether the trapped miners were still alive."
LA Times - U.S. Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen arrived in China today. The U.S. is insisting on more access to Chinese military sites. Mullen's "trip will include not only Beijing, but also naval facilities all along China's northeastern and eastern coasts, including its prestigious naval academy in Dalian... ¶ Beijing's failure to allow more wide-ranging access during high-level trips, [Pentagon officials] argue, is symptomatic of China's failure to explain the direction of its military buildup."
China Daily - "Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries wound up their largest-ever joint anti-terror military drill on Friday in the presence of their heads of state. ¶ President Hu Jintao flew to Chelyabinsk, Russia, on Thursday after attending the SCO summit in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital, to observe the final phase of the 9-day exercise held in Russia's Urals Mountains with his counterparts from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan."
WaPo - "More than a million cars were banned from Beijing's notoriously clogged streets Friday in a test run for all-out measures to reduce pollution during the 2008 Olympics. ¶ The experiment, scheduled to last four days, meant that about a third of the more than 3 million cars registered to operate in Beijing were obliged to stay parked, city officials said. By its scope and its top-down imposition without public consultation, the ban dramatized the determination of China's authoritarian government to do whatever is necessary to enhance next summer's Beijing Games."
Telegraph - "An environmentally-friendly washing machine that cleans clothes without detergent will be launched next year. ¶ The WasH20 passes an electric current through the water used in the cycle to create acid and alkaline atoms that take over the role of washing powder, liquid or tablets. ¶ Researchers at the Chinese company Haier claim their invention is greener and cleans around 25 per cent more effectively than current models."
NY Times - "Thailand takes another step into its uncertain future on Sunday with a nationwide vote on a new constitution that analysts say is likely to weaken democratic processes and return power to traditional centers of authority. ¶ Most opinion polls and analysts predict that the proposed constitution will pass as people vote to move forward from 11 months under a military junta. That would allow the country to proceed with a promised election and a return to civilian rule."
AP - "The United Nations atomic monitoring agency and the United States reported progress Friday in the international effort to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear program. ¶ The International Atomic Energy Agency said North Korea was cooperating with United Nations experts overseeing the mothballing of important nuclear installations, and a senior American diplomat said talks with North Korea had produced a 'consensus on the way forward.'"
Independent - "Australia is making sweeping changes to its immigration policy in an attempt to attract skilled British workers to move Down Under. The changes - which will target workers in the medical profession, the IT sector and tradesmen and women - will result in the country's points-based immigration system being adapted to make it easier for fluent English-speaking professionals between the ages of 30 and 35 to gain work visas."
SMH - "An alarming 400,000 Australians aged 70 or over were prescribed at least one drug in 2005 that is considered potentially harmful to the elderly - and for which there is a safer alternative, a major study has revealed... ¶ The Australian study reviewed medicines dispensed to more than 192,000 veterans and war widows. It found 21 per cent of them had been prescribed at least one of the potentially harmful medicines in the first six months of 2005."
SMH - "The state-of-the-art Baxter detention centre, modelled on a Supermax prison and designed to quell detainee protests and keep human rights activists at bay, will close on Monday after five years. ¶ The [Australian] Government will return the $40 million facility to the Department of Defence, which previously operated the El Alamein army training camp on the site."
SMH - The Australia government has announced it will study the health and welfare of around 200,000 parents and children. "Vietnam veterans' children have long been thought to be vulnerable to the effects of the defoliant Agent Orange and other health problems. Agent Orange, which includes the deadly compound dioxin, has been suspected of having an effect on human stem cells and thereby on future generations. ¶ Groups like the Victorian-based Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Study Inc say there is plenty of evidence now of children's susceptibility to serious problems, including psychiatric illness and a higher propensity than others to suicide."
Telegraph - "A tribe in Papua New Guinea has apologised for killing and eating four 19th century missionaries under the command of a doughty British clergyman."
Guardian - "South Africa's former law and order minister, Adriaan Vlok, today became the only senior politician in the country's white regime to be convicted of apartheid-era crimes when he pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a prominent cleric. ¶ Mr Vlok received a 10-year suspended prison sentence under a plea bargain by admitting he ordered the security police to kill the Reverend Frank Chikane, a leading anti-apartheid activist, in 1989."
Guardian - "A mass free distribution of mosquito nets in Kenya that has nearly halved child deaths from malaria in high-risk areas has led the World Health Organisation to recommend for the first time that nets should be given away, rather than sold, in the developing world. ¶ ...the number of children sleeping under a net increased from 5% to 52% in less than five years."
Telegraph - "Kenya's Masai Mara game park faces a disastrous surge in tourism after a government decision to give away land around its borders. ¶ Unscrupulous investors looking to sidestep a freeze on new hotels inside the reserve have rushed to offer new Masai landowners a relative fortune of up to £12,000 each for their 150-acre plots."
LA Times - "For five years, the Washington-based World Bank Group has been trying to save one of Earth's last great forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But the bank's private-sector arm is also an investor in a company that is drawing criticism for its connections to logging operations there... ¶ Now the Congolese government has commissioned a reexamination of the allotments and also has pledged to cancel contracts for companies that don't report their timber harvests. ¶ The World Bank's website says that its private credit organization, the International Finance Corp., 'has no client in the field of forests in DRC.' But the IFC has invested millions in Singaporean-based Olam International. ¶ Congolese officials said that this month, two cargo boats owned by Olam and two partners were discovered to have underreported the amount of timber they were carrying."
NY Times - "The Bush administration is considering designating Eritrea as a state sponsor of terrorism, accusing it of running arms to Islamic insurgents in Somalia, the State Department’s top official for Africa said Friday."