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Overnight News Digest: Green Zone Under Siege, Sandstorm

by Magnifico

Sun Apr 27, 2008 at 08:59:49 PM PDT

Top Story

  • LA Times - Projectiles hit Baghdad's Green Zone

    A barrage of rocket or mortar fire was aimed at the fortified Green Zone on Sunday as this Iraqi capital was enveloped in a thick sandstorm.

    At least two Iraqis were killed and 25 wounded by projectiles that apparently missed their targets and landed in surrounding neighborhoods, police said. There were no immediate reports of casualties inside the enclave, which houses the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices...

    At least 16 people had been killed and 49 injured in clashes since Saturday night in Sadr City, the cleric's northeastern Baghdad stronghold, according to police and hospital officials in the vast neighborhood.

USA

  • NYT - Letters Give C.I.A. Tactics a Legal Rationale

    The Justice Department has told Congress that American intelligence operatives attempting to thwart terrorist attacks can legally use interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law.

    The legal interpretation, outlined in recent letters, sheds new light on the still-secret rules for interrogations by the Central Intelligence Agency. It shows that the administration is arguing that the boundaries for interrogations should be subject to some latitude, even under an executive order issued last summer that President Bush said meant that the C.I.A. would comply with international strictures against harsh treatment of detainees.

    While the Geneva Conventions prohibit "outrages upon personal dignity," a letter sent by the Justice Department to Congress on March 5 makes clear that the administration has not drawn a precise line in deciding which interrogation methods would violate that standard, and is reserving the right to make case-by-case judgments.

  • WaPo - U.S. and Allies See Progress in Selling Al-Qaeda As an Enemy to the Muslim World

    The top White House terrorism expert thinks some gains are being made in the worldwide public relations battle against al-Qaeda, as the administration and its overseas allies press efforts to show that Osama bin Laden's network is killing Muslim civilians rather than defending its interests.

    "More and more Muslim and Arab populations -- [including] clerics and scholars -- are questioning the value of al-Qaeda's program," Juan Carlos Zarate, deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism, said Wednesday at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

    The efforts he described are in line with plans that Michael E. Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, discussed in February before the same organization. Leiter, who is responsible for strategic communications planning in the fight against terrorism, said the goal is "to prevent the next generation of terrorists from emerging."

  • WaPo - Studies on Chemical In Plastics Questioned

    Despite more than 100 published studies by government scientists and university laboratories that have raised health concerns about a chemical compound that is central to the multibillion-dollar plastics industry, the Food and Drug Administration has deemed it safe largely because of two studies, both funded by an industry trade group.

    The agency says it has relied on research backed by the American Plastics Council because it had input on its design, monitored its progress and reviewed the raw data.

    The compound, bisphenol A (BPA), has been linked to breast and prostate cancer, behavioral disorders and reproductive health problems in laboratory animals.

  • NYT - Allegations Lead Army to Review Arms Policy

    The United States Army has begun a broad review of procedures used to supply security forces in Afghanistan and Iraq with foreign arms, prompted by an allegation of fraud and questions about the competence of the main private supplier of ammunition to Afghanistan...

    Known as the Gansler Commission, the panel sharply criticized the Army for failing to train enough experienced contracting officers, deploy them quickly and ensure that they properly manage billions of dollars in contracts to supply troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

    A new element of the Army’s review — the question of how to vet the ties between the Pentagon’s contractors and other businesses — is being conducted with the Department of Defense, [Lt. Gen. William E. Mortensen, deputy commanding general of the Army Materiel Command] said.

  • LA Times - Congress sees eye to eye on helping one immigrant group -- entertainers

    Twice in the last two years, Congress tried to overhaul the nation's immigration laws and failed, leaving the explosive issue for dead. But during an election year in which no action was expected, the House and Senate now are quietly helping certain groups of immigrants favored by both ends of the political spectrum.

    Even in polarized Washington, Democrats and Republicans can appreciate immigrants who throw a fast pitch, have a beautiful face or sing a catchy song. Bills to make it easier for athletes, fashion models and performers, such as British singer Amy Winehouse, to work in the United States have enthusiastic support, even from some of the most hard-nosed immigration critics.

    Congress has been able to make incremental changes to immigration laws, despite its overall paralysis, by focusing on narrow issues on which compromise proved possible.

Europe

  • BBC News - Ships bring extra oil amid strike

    Additional supplies of fuel have begun arriving in Scotland to cope with the Grangemouth strike oil refinery strike. More than 1,000 staff at Scotland's only oil refinery walked out for 48 hours on Sunday amid a pensions row. UK and Scottish ministers have urged the two sides to meet again in a bid to resolve the dispute.

  • Reuters - Turkish soldiers fight PKK in 2 operations

    Thousands of Turkish soldiers fought Kurdish separatists on Sunday in two large operations, military sources said, a day after Turkish warplanes launched air strikes on rebel targets in northern Iraq. Two soldiers were killed in Bingol, southeast Turkey, in an operation involving 7,000 to 8,000 soldiers. Further south in the provinces of Sirnak and Hakkari, which border Iraq, at least 15,000 soldiers were fighting Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas, the sources said.

  • Guardian - Far right close to winning vote for Rome mayor

    Romans voted in a run-off election yesterday that could see the Italian capital fall to the far right for the first time since Mussolini. The candidate of Silvio Berlusconi's Freedom People is Gianni Alemanno, whose career has been steeped in neo-fascism. Alemanno, 50, a former agriculture minister, has appealed to voters on a law and order platform that includes vows to shut illegal Roma encampments and expel 20,000 immigrants from Rome he says have broken the law.

  • NYT - Negotiations Put Europeans Closer to Pact With Serbia

    The European Union is moving closer to signing a long-delayed pact with Serbia after the Netherlands and Belgium said Sunday that they would drop their opposition under certain conditions...

    Under the new plan, the Stabilization and Association Agreement, which is considered a steppingstone to membership in the European Union, would be signed in June and not this week, as some members want. It would not take effect, however, until Serbia cooperated fully with the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

    Most members want to send a clear signal to the Serbs that they have a future in the union, which currently has 27 members, before the crucial elections in Serbia on May 11. Until now, the Dutch had resisted any commitment to sign the accord before the United Nations tribunal indicated that it was happy with Serbia’s cooperation.

  • Independent - Putin and Medvedev get Easter blessing at Orthodox ceremony

    Orthodox Easter ceremonies took on political undertones as the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his chosen successor celebrated the dominant church's most important holiday together ahead of a power handover that has prompted uncertainty about the future.

    Mr Putin and the President-elect Dmitry Medvedev stood side-by-side at a midnight ceremony led by the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II at Christ the Savior Cathedral near the Kremlin...

    The choreography of the celebration and remarks by Alexy II, who has supported Mr Putin, seemed designed to assure Russians that the outgoing president is driven by love for his country, not hunger for power.

  • NYT - Kremlin Joins Russians Keeping an Eye on Prices

    Though typically insulated from public criticism, the Kremlin has been particularly sensitive to the effects that rising food costs might have on Russians as their country begins to succumb to a global trend that has sparked street protests by hungry citizens in some countries.

    As inflation rates approached 12 percent last year, the government imposed export tariffs and introduced a price freeze on some staple goods amid fears of public dissatisfaction ahead of recent elections...

    Fears of a new spike in food costs, which could undermine the Kremlin’s previously unshakable popularity, remain evident. With a 6 percent increase in food prices since Jan. 1 and some economists warning that year-end inflation could reach 13 percent, concern among government officials is warranted, analysts say.

  • WaPo - Vote Fails to Save Historic Berlin Airport

    A grass-roots campaign to save Tempelhof Airport, the epicenter of the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49, fizzled Sunday after supporters failed to win enough votes in a citywide referendum.

    Voters endorsed a measure to prevent the closure of the Cold War landmark this year by a 3-2 margin. But election officials said they could not certify the results because turnout was too low. Only 22 percent of registered voters cast ballots in favor of the measure, just short of the 25 percent required.

  • Independent - EU launches Galileo satellite

    The European Union launched the second and final test satellite for its $5.3-billion rival to the US Global Positioning System yesterday, brushing off industry doubts over its viability.

    The Galileo project, Europe's biggest single space programme, has been plagued by delays and squabbling over funding that ended only when the 27-nation EU agreed to funnel public funds into it.

Africa

  • Observer - Mugabe fails in bid to switch poll result

    Robert Mugabe has been unable to win back control of Zimbabwe's parliament after a partial recount of the 29 March election results failed to overturn any of the original results that gave the opposition the majority of seats.

    It means the first defeat in 28 years for Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party after Zimbabwe's electoral commission (ZEC) yesterday released seven more results from the recount, changing none. It brings to 13 the number of seats recounted, with 10 remaining to be declared - all in strong opposition-held areas. Zanu-PF would need to win nine to regain control.

  • NYT - Signs of Attacks on the Opposition Rise in Zimbabwe

    Evidence of widespread retribution against people who supported Zimbabwe’s opposition party in last month’s election has begun to stream out despite the government’s efforts to restrict press access to the worst of the violence...

    The questions have grown to the point that the United Nations’ top human rights official, Louise Arbour, publicly expressed worry on Sunday that violence could subvert any effort to resolve Zimbabwe’s political crisis.

    "The information I have received suggests an emerging pattern of political violence, inflicted mainly, but not exclusively, on rural supporters of the opposition M.D.C. party," she said in a statement from her offices in Geneva.

  • BBC News - UN troops 'armed DR Congo rebels'

    The UN has covered up claims that its troops in Democratic Republic of Congo gave arms to militias and smuggled gold and ivory, the BBC has learned.

    The allegations, based on confidential UN sources, involve Pakistani and Indian troops working as peacekeepers. The UN investigated some of the claims in 2007, but said it could not substantiate claims of arms dealing.

  • Observer - How savage pirates reign on the world's high seas

    The waters off Somalia are the most dangerous in the world. Last year, there were 31 attacks there, making the notorious bandits operating in the South China Sea and Malacca Straits look almost lazy by comparison. So far this year there have been 23 attacks by Somali pirates...

    Until five years ago, captains were advised to stay at least 50 miles away from Somalia's coastline. A spate of hijackings led to a doubling of the safety zone. Now, the recommended safe distance is 200 miles, but the Playa attack shows even that is no guarantee of safety. With the large ransoms allowing the pirates to buy faster boats, and more sophisticated GPS systems, they can strike even in rough waters several hundred miles out to sea.

    The surge in attacks coincides with the worst unrest in Somalia since the early Nineties - the last time the country had a functioning government. Insurgents are battling Ethiopian troops who toppled an Islamist authority from power in December 2006. More than half the population of Mogadishu has since fled the city.

  • WaPo - Mauritania, and Much of Africa, is Where Every Meal Is a Sacrifice

    Like most of the world's poorest nations, Mauritania is caught in a global food trap, producing only 30 percent of what its people eat and importing most of the rest. As prices skyrocket, those who can least afford it are squeezed the most as the world confronts the worst bout of food inflation since the Soviet grain crisis of the 1970s.

    Strong global demand and limited supplies are key factors driving up prices, but perhaps just as important is a massive disruption in the free flow of global trade. In recent months, food-producing countries from Argentina to Kazakhstan have begun to slam shut their doors to protect domestic access to the food they grow.

    Agriculturally challenged countries are left out in the cold.

Middle East

  • WaPo - A Storm of Sand and Shelling

    Shelling rocked the Green Zone as a sandstorm blanketed Baghdad on Sunday, days after U.S. commanders said they had nearly eliminated deadly rocket and mortar attacks on the heavily fortified government zone through a security crackdown in the eastern slum of Sadr City.

    Clashes continued over the weekend in Sadr City, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have confronted fighters tied to the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The U.S. military said drones fired Hellfire missiles, killing at least three men believed to be engaging in bomb attacks.

  • NYT - Peaceful Protest Mixes With Attacks in Sadr City

    The face-off between the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr and the Iraqi government unfolded Sunday on the streets of Sadr City where a peaceful demonstration against continued violence there was held by members of the Iraqi Parliament even as clashes went on a few blocks away.

    A few hours later, as a huge dust storm enveloped the capital, turning the sky a musky yellow, insurgents in Sadr City used the cover that stops American helicopters from flying to fire a volley of at least eight mortars at the Green Zone, the home of the American Embassy and many Iraqi government officials.

    The mix of peaceful protest and armed attacks has become characteristic of the many levels on which the Sadr movement and the government are locked in an all out fight for political advantage. At stake is the outcome of approaching provincial elections in which the Shiite parties in the government stand to lose seats to supporters of Mr. Sadr.

  • Guardian - Gaza's economic growth has halted, World Bank says

    Gaza's economic growth has ground to a halt and will continue to shrink unless Israel lifts its economic blockade on the beleaguered Palestinian territory, a new World Bank report says. After three years of warning that Palestinian businesses were on the brink of collapse, the World Bank yesterday reported that Gaza's economy had recorded zero growth in 2007.

    The report comes 10 months after Israel imposed tough economic sanctions to break Hamas's control of Gaza, after the Islamist militants ousted their political rivals, Fatah, in bloody clashes last year.

    It also warns that the West Bank, which is administered by the US-backed Palestinian Authority, will struggle to grow, despite the international community's pledge to inject $7.7bn (£3.9bn), over the next three years to bolster the economy.

  • Independent - Pro-reform Saudi blogger freed without charge

    A blogger arrested for his pro-reform opinions in Saudi Arabia has been released without charge after being imprisoned for nearly five months.

    Fouad al-Farhan, 32, the first online critic to be arrested by the Saudi government, was freed from Dahban prison in Jeddah at 5.30am on Saturday, according to his wife.

South Asia

  • NYT - Afghan Leader Criticizes U.S. on Conduct of War

    President Hamid Karzai strongly criticized the British and American conduct of the war here on Friday, insisting in an interview that his government be given the lead in policy decisions.

    Mr. Karzai said that he wanted American forces to stop arresting suspected Taliban and their sympathizers, and that the continued threat of arrest and past mistreatment were discouraging Taliban from coming forward to lay down their arms.

    He criticized the American-led coalition as prosecuting the war on terrorism in Afghan villages, saying the real terrorist threat lay in sanctuaries of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan.

  • Guardian - Karzai survives Taliban assassination attempt during military parade

    President Hamid Karzai survived an assassination attempt yesterday when Taliban militants fired gunshots and rockets at a military parade in central Kabul. Three people, including an MP, were killed...

    The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the attack disproved Nato claims that the insurgency was weakening. "Three of our attackers have been killed and three managed to escape. Small arms and RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] were used in the attack," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters from an undisclosed location...

    The assassination attempt was the third since 2001 and the first in Kabul. Karzai has survived several such attempts since he came to power after US-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.

Asia-Pacific

  • Guardian - China ridicules Dalai Lama, despite 'talks'

    The Chinese Communist party's official mouthpiece has poured fresh scorn on the Dalai Lama, only two days after the government's abrupt announcement that it would meet his aides within days.

    Tibetan exiles had greeted the announcement warily and the Dalai Lama's nephew, Khedroob Thondup, a member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, yesterday attacked it as a "ruse" designed "to deflect pressure and give false assurance to western leaders".

    Yesterday's People's Daily commentary claimed: "The Dalai clique have always been masters at games with words and the ideas that they have tossed about truly make the head spin ... Those who split the nation are criminals to history."

  • NYT - Olympic Torch Protesters Attacked in South Korea

    Thousands of young Chinese who assembled to defend their country’s troubled Olympic torch relay pushed through police lines here on Sunday, some of them hurling rocks, bottled water and plastic and steel pipes at protesters who were demanding better treatment for North Korean refugees in China.

    Two North Korean defectors living in South Korea poured paint thinner on themselves and tried to set themselves on fire to protest what they condemned as Beijing’s inhumane crackdown on North Korean refugees, but the police stopped them, according to witnesses and officials.

    The South Korean police and Chinese students also overpowered at least two other protesters who tried to impede the run along a 15-mile route through Seoul. The route was kept secret until the last minute and was guarded by more than 8,300 police officers.

  • NYT - Philippines Introduces Cash Subsidies and Cheaper Rice for the Poor

    Poor Filipinos who are reeling from high food prices not seen since the 1970s will get some relief this week when the Philippine government starts to distribute "rice passes" to the most impoverished families across the country, officials said Sunday.

    The government has also set in motion an unprecedented relief program in which monthly cash subsidies, up to 1,400 pesos (about $33), will be distributed to the poorest families.

  • Guardian - Country for sale

    Almost half of Cambodia has been sold to foreign speculators in the past 18 months - and hundreds of thousands who fled the Khmer Rouge are homeless once more...

    Shortly after Hun Sen, Cambodia's prime minister, came to power in 1985, frenzied landgrabbing began: influential political allies and wealthy business associates raced to claim land that the Khmer Rouge had seized, gobbling up such large chunks of the cities, forests and paddy fields that Cambodians used to say the rich were eating the country. By 2006, the World Bank estimated that 40,000 had been made homeless in Phnom Penh alone. But, until now, no one had bothered with the coast...

    In July 2007, Hun Sen, gambling on his people's tenuous connection with the land, changed the designation of the southern islands so they could be sold. The forests, lakes, beaches and reefs - and the lives of the thousands of residents - were quietly transferred into the hands of private western developers. Arguing that Cambodia could become a tourist magnet to challenge Thailand, the prime minister began a fire sale of mainland beaches. By March this year, virtually all Cambodia's accessible and sandy coast was in private hands, either Cambodian or foreign. Those who lived or worked there were turfed out - some jailed, others beaten, virtually all denied meaningful compensation.

  • SMH - Australian Government urged to cut fossil fuel subsidies

    The federal government is being urged to scrap billions of dollars in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry ahead of likely cuts to education and health in next month's budget.

    Treasurer Wayne Swan is expected to make good on his promise of delivering a surplus equivalent to 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product when he hands down his first budget on May 13. He has also promised it will be a tough budget intended to curb inflation and reduce the upward pressure on interest rates.

    Cuts to spending in the key areas of health, education and welfare are likely as the government seeks billions of dollars in savings. But community advocacy group GetUp says the government should first consider cutting billions of dollars worth of subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.

  • SMH - Cars now no more efficient than '60s

    Cars are no more fuel-efficient today than they were in the 1960s, a transport expert says. In research for the Garnaut climate change review, Paul Mees, of Melbourne University, has used Bureau of Statistics figures to show fuel efficiency has remained practically unchanged since 1963. The average Australian car then used 11.4 litres of petrol to travel 100 kilometres. In 2006, the bureau's Survey of Motor Vehicle Use shows, it was unchanged...

    While engine efficiency has increased since 1963, car size and extra features - air-conditioning, power steering and windows, safety and entertainment systems - mean petrol consumption per 100 kilometres has not budged. Freeways had also reduced fuel efficiency, Dr Mees said. "If you drive at 110kmh you use more fuel than if you drive at 70kmh."

  • BBC News - Squid thaw set for a fresh start

    Technicians in New Zealand are set to begin defrosting a rare colossal squid, following a day's postponement.

    Having removed the creature from the freezer on Sunday, the team realised it would defrost too early for a planned examination by scientists on Wednesday.

    They now aim to begin operations at 1500 (0300 GMT) in Wellington.

Americas

  • NYT - In Argentina’s Grain Belt, Farmers Revolt Over Taxes

    When the government decided in March to raise taxes on farmers’ profits, it set off a rural revolt in Argentina. For three weeks enraged farmers blocked roads nationwide, paralyzing grain and meat sales and causing food shortages.

    Since then, the government has been trying to quell Argentina’s restive farmers at the negotiating table. But farmers like Marcelo and Pablo Marchetti, brothers in this country’s lush grain belt west of the capital, say the talks are going nowhere and are yet more proof that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, in office just four months, does not understand them.

    They are preparing to resume crippling strikes of grain exports once the deadline for the talks expires on Friday.

  • AP - Venezuela's Chavez threatens to expropriate Sidor

    President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to expropriate Venezuela's largest steel maker unless the soon-to-be-nationalized company revises what he called excessive compensation demands.

    Chavez dismissed a request made by Sidor's parent company, Luxembourg-based Ternium SA, for US$4 billion (euro2.6 billion) in exchange for its 60 percent stake in the steel maker.

    "I'm not going to pay $4 billion for that company," Chavez said during his weekly radio and television program. "If they don't want to reach an agreement with us, I'll sign an expropriation decree. I'll take immediate control."

  • AP - Richardson says Chavez can help with US hostages in Colombia

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is "ready to help re-engage in negotiations" for the release of three American hostages held captive by rebels in Colombia, a visiting U.S. governor said late Saturday.

    Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., [said] that he plans to put forward a proposal for the release of the three U.S. defense contractors in the coming weeks and that Chavez is willing to work with him as a "primary mediator."

    The Democratic governor met with Chavez on Saturday night to discuss the issue. The president did not release any statements following the meeting.

  • MercoPress - Opposition promise support for Paraguay president elect

    Paraguay’s President Nicanor Duarte revealed that he had talks with president elect Fernando Lugo "to ensure governance" for the country, and if the incoming administration proposes a constitutional review, he will support it from Congress, according to reports in Asunción Sunday press.

    Although not many details were advanced Duarte said that last Friday he met with Lugo and vice president elect Federico Franco and talked about the "necessity to ensure governance for Paraguay". But he also cautioned that before, agreements must be reached at Congressional level.

    None of the three leading forces in Paraguay has a majority in Congress.

  • Miami Herald - Haitian president nominated prime minister

    After more than a week of consultation with the leading political parties and the heads of both houses in parliament, Haitian President René Préval has nominated economist Ericq Pierre to be his new prime minister. Pierre, currently serves as Haiti's representative to the Inter-American Development Bank and has a lenghty career working for the international lending institution.

    Pierre was nominated for the post back in 1997 during Préval's first presidential term after then Prime Minister Rosny Smarth resigned. But he was not approved by the then-opposition-controlled Chamber of Deputies.

  • BBC News - Castro raises pensions and wages

    Cuban president Raul Castro has said he will raise state pensions by up to 20% and increase wages for court employees. Raul Castro said the increases, which will come into effect next month, were "fair recognition" of workers' effort. But the government said it did not have the resources to increase salaries for all workers.

  • LA Times - Draining the basin that's Mexico City

    The enormous expanse of concrete and asphalt known as Mexico City was once a lake. And each year, starting about this time, it seems hell-bent on becoming one again...

    Since the days of the Aztecs, inhabitants have labored to manage the waters of the basin cradling modern-day Mexico City. Now they're trying again, with a much-touted, $1.3-billiongovernment effort to revamp the massive but overwhelmed sewer system.

  • Guardian - 13 dead in shootout and car chase as drug war erupts in Tijuana

    At least 13 people were killed and five others injured over the weekend in gun battles and car chases between drug gangs in Tijuana, one of the most violent flare-ups in the country's increasingly bloody drug war and despite a major government crackdown.

    Saturday's pre-dawn battles left a trail of dead strewn along the streets of the Californian border city, some with their weapons still clasped in their hands. Others died slumped inside brand new cars left riddled with bullets.

    The Baja California state attorney general, Rommel Moreno, said 54 guns, 21 vehicles, and more than 1,500 cartridges were recovered at five different locations in Tijuana. Initial reports suggested that the gun battles involved feuding factions of the once-powerful Arrellano Felix cartel.

  • CBC News - Ontario aboriginal judge to head Indian residential schools commission

    An aboriginal judge with Ontario's Court of Appeal will head a commission looking into abuse at Indian residential schools...

    Justice Harry LaForme, a member of the Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation in southern Ontario, is expected to lead the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that the federal government promised as part of an out-of-court settlement with former students of Canada's Indian Residential Schools.

  • Canadian Press - Nova Scotia writes off 2.1 million dollars of student debt

    Nova Scotia has written off $2.18-million in bad student debts, a figure student leaders say is the latest sign graduates are struggling to pay off the soaring cost of education.

    The figure covers 400 loans given from 1999 to 2004 and is found in a March 26 cabinet order-in-council detailing a total of $3.7-million being written off the province's books.

    Mike Tipping, president of the Dalhousie University Student Union, said in a recent interview that the figures show that graduates aren't coping with the large debts being run up to pay for tuition.

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