- Signs of the Times Archive for Thu, 01 May 2008 -




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May 1968 - a watershed in French life

Steven Erlanger
International Herald Tribune
2008-04-29 06:53:00

May day68
©AP
Students and helmeted police facing off on the Boulevard Saint-Michel in the Latin Quarter of Paris, 40 years ago. The French right calls May '68 "the events," while the left calls it "the movement."


Nanterre, France: Forty years ago, students in neckties and bobby sox threw cobblestones at the police and demanded that France's sclerotic postwar system change. Today, students worried about finding jobs and losing state benefits are marching through the streets demanding that nothing change at all.

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U.S. News
Major West Coast ports closed by war protest strikes

Jill Serjeant and Bernard Woodall
Reuters
2008-05-01 17:51:00

Ports along the U.S. West Coast, including the country's busiest port complex in Los Angeles, shut down on Thursday as some 10,000 dock workers went on a one-day strike to protest the war in Iraq, port and union officials said.

Twenty-nine ports from San Diego to Washington state that handle more than half of U.S waterborne trade ground to a halt, but shipping experts said the economic costs of the walk-out would be limited.



Comment: Thats right, its all about economics, no need to mention the political implications. Nothing to see here, move along.



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Teens Taken From New Mexico Doomsday Church

David Schoetz
ABCnews
2008-05-01 16:30:00

Report of Underage Sex Abuse Prompts Criminal Investigation Into Extremist Sect

Three teenagers have been removed from a remote New Mexico compound run by a self-described messiah in a new case involving a religious sect and allegations of sex abuse.

Wayne Bent
©Associated Press
This undated photo, supplied by the The Lord Our Righteousness Church, shows group leader Wayne Bent, 66, who is also identified on the church's Web site as Michael Travesser. New Mexico state police have removed three children from the church compound following an April 22, 2008, investigation.



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The Torture Election

Chris Floyd
Baltimore Chronicle
2008-04-28 17:02:00

As the presidential horse race grows more frenzied and absurd -- Flag pins! Bowling! Obliteration!-- it is important to keep in mind what the election is really about: torture.

Specifically, the use of torture as an openly admitted, formally recognized instrument of national policy, approved at the highest level of government. The Bush Administration has now dropped all pretense that it is not engaging in interrogation techniques and incarceration practices long recognized by both international and U.S. law as blatantly criminal. What's more, the Administration boldly asserts that the president can simply ignore laws prohibiting torture if he feels that circumstances warrant the use of "interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law," the New York Times reported over the weekend.

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RAF fighter jet crash lands without wheels

Stephen Adams
The Telegraph
2008-05-01 16:28:00

RAF Typhoon
©Getty
The pilot was taking part in a major training exercise


An RAF fighter jet has been damaged after it landed without the wheels coming down.

The new £69 million Typhoon was crash-landed during training in the US.

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Missouri: Newspaper carrier finds woman pinned by dead husband's body


Associated Press
2008-04-30 15:51:00

Newspaper carrier Bruce Pitts knew the elderly couple only by the prayers the wife made for him while he was working at night and in bad weather, but he felt something was wrong when the papers piled up outside their home.

"It was never like them to leave a newspaper in their tube," Pitts said Tuesday. "That wonderful, small voice inside me said, 'This isn't right."'

After his route early Sunday, Pitts went home, napped briefly and, with his wife, returned to Blanche and Fred Roberts' home, just outside Marion, Illinois.

They repeatedly rang the doorbells but got no answer. Pitts then eased open an unlocked side door and saw the couple about two feet inside, 84-year-old Blanche Roberts helpless looking right back at Pitts.

Her right leg was pinned beneath the body of her 77-year-old husband Fred, who apparently had died last Wednesday evening of a heart attack after mowing the lawn.

Image
©AP
Bruce Pitts stands outside the Marion, Illinois, home where he found a woman pinned by her husband's body.


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Families sue undertakers in body parts scandal

Jon Hurdle
Reuters
2008-05-01 15:48:00

PHILADELPHIA - Families who claim the corpses of more than 1,000 relatives were dismembered and sold in an illegal body-parts scandal sued funeral directors and others on Tuesday.

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House chairman threatens subpoenas on torture policy

LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press
2008-04-29 15:18:00

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee on Monday threatened to serve subpoenas on former Attorney General John Ashcroft and two others associated with the Bush administration's interrogation policies if they don't agree to testify.

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D.C. Madam found dead from "suicide"


WTOP and The Associated Press
2008-05-01 14:13:00

D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey has been found dead in a home in Florida, police say.

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U.S. has Mandela on terrorist list

Mimi Hall
USA Today
2008-05-01 13:24:00

Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the situation "embarrassing," and some members of Congress vow to fix it.

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Phoenix police officer arrested on child porn charges

Christina Boomer
abc15.com
2008-05-01 09:41:00

Phoenix police say one of their own, a homicide detective, is facing charges in connection to an Internet child pornography investigation.

The case against 26-year veteran Mike Polk was forwarded to the Phoenix Police Department by Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE.

ICE confirms its special agents made the discovery while working their Operation Predator program.
PHX Detective Mike Polk
©Unknown



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Want to Win the Immigration Debate? Start Talking About Illegal Jobs

Joshua Holland
AlterNet
2008-05-01 04:09:00

Immigration
©Unknown


We must focus on the unregulated and substandard jobs that migrant workers fill, rather than on the individuals who work them.

The often-overheated immigration debate in this country is a distraction that draws attention away from far deeper problems facing American workers, particularly those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.

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UK & Euro-Asian News
Austrian threatened incest victims with gas death

Sylvia Westall
Reuters
2008-05-01 17:22:00

Amstetten, Austria - An Austrian man who imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and fathered seven children with her had threatened to kill his victims by pumping gas into the cellar where he was holding them, police said on Thursday.

Police were also investigating a claim by Josef Fritzl that the locked door to the cellar would open automatically if he was away for an extended period.

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Russian doomsday sect members safe after 'cave-in'


RIA Novosti
2008-05-01 16:39:00

Members of a Russian doomsday sect who have been holed up in an underground shelter in central Russia since last November are safe after an earlier reported cave-in, a police source said Thursday.

Thirty-five members of the sect went underground in the Penza Region to wait for the end of the world, which they say will come in May or June. Two members of the sect have since reportedly died, their bodies apparently buried in the shelter. Another 24 members, including four children, left the dugout just over a month ago after most of the roof collapsed following heavy rain.

At 11:00 a.m. local time (07:00 GMT) a policeman standing watch at the dugout told journalists that a cave-in had taken place, adding that rescue workers were on their way to the scene.

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Six children injured as model train ride overturns in Moscow zoo


RIA Novosti
2008-05-01 16:35:00

A model train ride overturned in Moscow City Zoo on Thursday, injuring six children, a police source said.

"One of the model train's carriages went off the rails and overturned at about 11:00 a.m. [07:00 GMT]. Eight children were on board. Two children were subsequently hospitalized," the source said.

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'Second man' at Austrian cellar


BBC News
2008-05-01 14:29:00

A lodger at the Austrian house where a father allegedly imprisoned and abused his daughter says he saw another man go to the cellar where the abuse happened.

Alfred Dubanovsky told the BBC the man was introduced as a plumber.

His claim contradicts those of investigators who say the father, Josef Fritzl, had no accomplice.

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Greece: Mayday strikes to disrupt public transport, flights


International Herald Tribune/Associated Press
2008-05-01 06:49:00

Athens, Greece: Public transport services and flights by domestic carrier Olympic Airlines are likely to be disrupted Thursday as part of union protests timed coincide with the May 1 Labor Day public holiday.

Transport organizations said Wednesday that public bus services in Athens - including buses to Athens International Airport - would be halted Thursday, while the capital's metro system would only work between 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. (0600 and 1600GMT).

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Turkish police break up Istanbul May Day protests


Reuters
2008-05-01 06:46:00

Istanbul - Turkish riot police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse crowds gathering for an outlawed May Day rally in central Istanbul on Thursday, witnesses said.

Thousands of police were stationed across the city centre to block access to the main Taksim Square, where three major trade union confederations have pledged to mobilise up to 500,000 people in defiance of an official ban.

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Remains of Czar Nicholas' children confirmed

Mike Eckel
Associated Press
2008-04-30 22:47:00

romanovs
©AFP/Getty Images
Picture taken in 1917 shows Nicholas II, Czar of Russia, and his family, in one of the latest pictures taken before the Revolution. From Left: Princesses Olga and Maria, Nicholas II, Czarine Alexandra, Princess Anatasia, Czarevitch Alexei and Princess Tatiana.


DNA tests carried out by a U.S. laboratory prove that bone fragments exhumed last year belong to two children of Czar Nicholas II, putting to rest questions about what happened to Russia's last royal family, a regional governor said Wednesday.


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Around the World
World's longest sea bridge opens in China


Xinhua
2008-05-01 17:38:00

Hangzhou Bay Bridge
©Unknown


The world's longest sea bridge was inaugurated in the Yangtze River Delta in China on Thursday as part of its effort to boost economic integration and development.

The 36-km bridge - spanning Hangzhou Bay near Shanghai - links Haiyan, Jiaxing City, to Cixi, Ningbo City, in Zhejiang Province.

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Kenyans live in squalor as government spends millions on ministries

Mike Pflanz
The Telegraph
2008-05-01 16:39:00

Kenya church Kiambaa
©Reuters
The church in Kiambaa, where 18 people died in January


More than 150,000 Kenyans are trapped in tented camps and fear a resurgence of tribal violence, even as their "unity" government prepares to lavish hundreds of millions of pounds on new ministries.

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Afghan 'health link' to US depleted uranium use

Dawood Azami
BBC
2008-05-01 12:27:00

Doctors in Afghanistan say rates of some health problems affecting children have doubled in the last two years.

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Five die in Sydney harbour crash


BBC News
2008-05-01 06:46:00

Five people were killed and nine others injured when a small boat collided with a fishing trawler late at night in Australia's Sydney harbour.


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Seventeen dead in Hong Kong bus crash


BBC News
2008-05-01 06:44:00

Seventeen people have been killed and dozens more injured in a bus crash in Hong Kong, police say.

The accident happened at around 0900 (0100 GMT) in Sai Kung in the eastern part of the territory.

The driver appeared to have lost control of the bus on a hill, causing it to crash and overturn, police said.

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Nine tourists die in Egypt bus crash


BBC News
2008-05-01 06:43:00

Nine people have been killed and 28 injured after a tourist bus crashed and caught fire in Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

The bus was apparently rounding a sharp bend when it overturned about 40 miles (70 km) south of the city of Suez.

Russians, Egyptians, Britons, Canadians, Italians, Romanians and Ukrainians are said to be among the casualties - many of them badly burned.

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Mass Protests against GM Crops in India

Kavitha Kurunganti
Institute of Science in Society
2008-04-30 23:46:00

India-wide coalition against GM Brinjal in the wake of toxic GM cotton



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Big Brother
Microsoft gives police easy access into any PC

Patrick Goss
TechRadar
2008-04-30 14:27:00

USB drive that breaks through backdoor at crime scene

We're all for the end of evil things like child pornography and terrorism on the internet. But news that Microsoft's latest piece of hardware allows the police to quickly break through a PC's security to scan through the hard drive has to be described as a little Orwellian.

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Wireless Video Cameras Let Passersby Peer Into Your Personal Life


ABC News
2008-04-30 19:13:00

Millions of Americans have wireless cameras in their homes and cars, purchased for security or to monitor children, but it turns out the devices could be making those they're meant to protect more vulnerable.

Reporter Tom Regan of ABC News' Atlanta station, WSB-TV, investigated how video cameras may be providing an unwelcome window into your private life.

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Axis of Evil
Flashback: Five years of Iraq lies

Juan Cole
Salon.Com
2008-03-19 16:15:00

Bush Smilez
©Reuters/Jeff Mitchell
George W. Bush addresses soldiers and their families at Fort Hood, Texas, Jan. 3, 2003, as the military mobilizes for action in Iraq.


Each year of George W. Bush's war in Iraq has been represented by a thematic falsehood. That Iraq is now calm or more stable is only the latest in a series of such whoppers, which the mainstream press eagerly repeats. The fifth anniversary of Bush's invasion of Iraq will be the last he presides over. Sen. John McCain, in turn, has now taken to dangling the bait of total victory before the American public, and some opinion polls suggest that Americans are swallowing it, hook, line and sinker.

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US Justice Antonin Scalia: Torture Not Cruel and Unusual

Tim Dickinson
RollingStone.com
2008-04-28 15:34:00

Justice Scalie
©Unknown
US Justice Antonin Scalia


I wonder if he'd give the same answer after being water boarded:

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Guantanamo Bay - what 'Habeas Corpus'?

Matt Apuzo
The Associated Press
2008-04-30 15:09:00

The Bush administration assured the Supreme Court last December that Guantanamo Bay prisoners who felt they were unfairly being detained could have their cases thoroughly reviewed by a federal appeals court. Now, it's not so clear.

When the first case arrived at the appeals court, the Justice Department told the judges they could look at the evidence but should act on the assumption that the military made the right decisions at Guantanamo Bay.

That assertion led to a testy exchange recently between Appellate Judge Merrick B. Garland and Justice Department attorney Gregory Katsas. Garland wanted an explanation for the contradiction. Katsas said there was no contradiction at all.

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US considered using nuclear weapons against China in 1958

Barry Schweid
Associated Press
2008-05-01 14:38:00

President Dwight D. Eisenhower overruled some of his military commanders in the summer of 1958, ordering them not to use nuclear weapons against China if communist forces blockaded the Taiwan Strait, according to declassified Air Force documents.

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Psycho-logical: WH Says Funding Cut Could Prolong Iraq War

Mark Impomeni
AOL News
2008-04-30 14:14:00

In a new line of argument, the White House cautioned Congress that any funding cuts in aid for Iraq could wind up lengthening the war effort there.



Comment: 'Aid' invariably means 'military aid', making this a remarkable twist of logic that only a psychopathic mind could conjure up without batting an eyelid. All in a day's work for the White House.



This is the first time that the White House has used this reasoning in its annual battle with the Democratic-controlled Congress over war funding and could reflect a new confidence within the Administration about the eventual outcome of the war. In past funding debates, the Administration has focused its lobbying efforts around the strategic argument of completing the mission in Iraq and the moral imperative for Congress to provide resources to troops in harm's way. But with the success of the troop surge both at reducing violence in Iraq and shoring up the Iraqi government, the Administration sees a light at the end of the tunnel and is asking Congress not to throw the war's trajectory off track.


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American and Israeli War Crimes: Same Atrocities, Different Responses

Dave Lindorff
OpEdNews.com
2008-05-01 13:15:00



In the last few days, both the Israeli military and the US military have fired missiles into homes, in an effort to target what they said were terrorists, in the process killing many innocent civilians.

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Former British Minister Clare Short Entertains the Possibility of Placing Bush and Blair on Trial in International Court


MEMRI TV
2008-05-01 12:13:00

Following is an excerpt from an interview with former British minister Clare Short, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on April 14, 2008. The translation is according to the Arabic voice-over.

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Break-ins plague targets of US Attorneys

Larisa Alexandrovna, Muriel Kane and Lindsay Beyerstein
Raw Story
2008-05-01 11:19:00

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA - In two states where US attorneys are already under fire for serious allegations of political prosecutions, seven people associated with three federal cases have experienced 10 suspicious incidents including break-ins and arson.

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Contrived threats and fake photos force Pentagon to order military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran


CBS
2008-05-01 10:42:00

A second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the planning is being driven by what one officer called the "increasingly hostile role" Iran is playing in Iraq - smuggling weapons into Iraq for use against American troops.

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Propaganda alert! Iran remains most active state sponsor of terrorism: US State Department

Lachlan Carmichael
AFP
2008-04-30 03:52:00

WASHINGTON - Iran remained the world's "most active" state sponsor of terrorism as it tries to build regional influence and drive the United States from the Middle East, a US government report said Wednesday.



Comment: Not exactly an impartial source, mind you.



The State Department report added meanwhile that Al-Qaeda and associates "remained the greatest terrorist threat" to the US and its partners especially now that it has a "safe haven" in Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas.

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Israel is suppressing a secret it must face

Johann Hari
The Independent
2008-04-28 18:08:00

How did a Jewish state founded 60 years ago end up throwing filth at cowering Palestinians?

When you hit your 60th birthday, most of you will guzzle down your hormone replacement therapy with a glass of champagne and wonder if you have become everything you dreamed of in your youth. In a few weeks, the state of Israel is going to have that hangover.

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Hypocrisy: Wolfowitz and Feith, Attack Bush and Rumsfeld


Middle East Times
2008-04-30 18:26:00

There is some entertainment value when former government officials fall out with each other, and this is now happening to President George W. Bush and former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

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Middle East Madness
Urgent interrogation: Police to question Olmert Friday

Roni Sofer
Ynet
2008-05-01 17:09:00

Dramatic developments in investigation against Olmert? Attorney General Mazuz issues special permit to question prime minister within 48 hours; Police to interrogate Olmert Friday, PM's Office confirms.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be questioned Friday at his Jerusalem residence, after Attorney General Menachem Mazuz issued a special permit allowing police to interrogate him within 48 hours.

The Prime Minister's Office confirmed the initial Channel 2 report no the matter after a long silence, and noted that Olmert was summoned to an interrogation that is only an hour long.

"The prime minister intends to fully cooperate with law enforcement officials, as he has done in the past. He is convinced that as the truth will emerge in the framework of the police investigation, the suspicions against him will dissipate," the PM's Office said.

The affair that prompted the interrogation or the reason for the urgent questioning session have not been revealed. Police officials have declined to comment on the report.

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Saudi editorial highlights report on Al-Qa'idah links to foreign intelligence


BBC Monitoring Middle East
2008-05-01 14:52:00

In its "Death Industry" programme the Al-Arabiya Television has reported very surprising news, citing a testimony by the deputy for the Iraqi Governorate of Salah-al-Din, who said that "there are documents proving that Al-Qa'idah is linked to the intelligence agencies of foreign countries." In short, the news report said that an Al-Qa'idah fighter, who belongs to a certain Iraqi tribe of the Al-Thartha area near Samarra, married his sister to one of the amirs of the fighting groups of the Al-Qa'idah organization in Iraq. The woman was surprised to find out that her husband was not circumcized and, therefore, he was not a Muslim. After her tribesmen made sure of the truth, they killed him and ceased their support for Al-Qa'idah. Important though this report by the Al-Arabiya Television is, we do not need such evidence to realize that Al-Qa'idah has, for some time, been used by and is useful for various foreign intelligence agencies.

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12 Israeli jets violate Lebanese air space, fly over Beirut


Haaretz
2008-05-01 12:42:00

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Lebanese army said Monday that Israel Air Force warplanes have violated their airspace by flying missions over Beirut and elsewhere in the country.


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Israeli Minister Mofaz to Rice: Hizbullah controls south Lebanon

Yitzhak Benhorin
Ynetnews
2008-04-29 17:49:00

Condi and Mofaz
© Shmulik Olmani
Mofaz and Rice in Washington


Minister Mofaz paints grim picture in meeting with secretary of state, warns against Golan withdrawal

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The Loan Gunmen
U.S. Layoffs rise 68 percent in April vs March: survey

Richard Leong
Reuters
2008-05-01 17:16:00

U.S. companies' planned layoffs jumped 68 percent in April from the prior month to the highest since September 2006, pointing to further deterioration in the labor market, a report showed on Thursday.

Planned job cuts in U.S. companies totaled 90,015 last month, up from 53,579 in March and up 27 percent from a year earlier, employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reported.

The April layoffs were the steepest since the 100,315 cuts announced in September 2006.

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Citigroup to sell $3 bln in stock; shares fall

Jonathan Stempel and Dan Wilchins
Reuters
2008-04-29 16:09:00

Citigroup Inc said on Tuesday it plans to sell $3 billion of common stock to bolster its capital levels, sending its shares down in after-hours trading.

The largest U.S. bank is raising capital after suffering a $15 billion net loss over the last two quarters, and reporting more than $45 billion of write-downs and credit losses since June 30.

Chief Financial Officer Gary Crittenden said in a statement that Citigroup had received "strong" interest in the public offering. The company said the issue may grow in size.

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Gulf States May End Dollar Pegs, Kuwait Minister Says


Bloomberg
2008-05-01 16:06:00

Gulf states are considering dropping their pegs to the dollar after the U.S. currency's decline stoked inflation across the region, Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mustafa al- Shimali said.

''Yes, there are some'' Gulf Cooperation Council states considering dropping their pegs to the dollar, which has fallen 13 percent against the euro in the last 12 months, al-Shimali said in an interview in Kuwait late yesterday without naming the countries. ''Some countries will do what we are doing.''

Al-Shimali's comments may restoke speculation of a change in Middle East currency systems that eased after the United Arab Emirates and Qatar last month ruled out any revaluation or dropping the dollar peg in the short term. The issue will remain a key issue as long as inflation remains high.

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Airline's bankruptcy strands U.S. troops in Middle East

Michael Doyle
McClatchy News Service
2008-05-01 14:48:00

The abrupt collapse of ATA Airlines has left an untold number of U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines stuck in Iraqi and Afghan airports while they await a ride home. Some face travel delays of up to a week, military officials acknowledge.

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Extraordinary Times, Intentional Collapse, and Takedown of the U.S.A.

Richard C. Cook
Global Research
2008-05-01 13:02:00

Much has been written about whether a worldwide plan exists to control events and steer them in the direction profitable to an elite of the rich and powerful. Is this a "conspiracy theory"? While it is difficult to be specific about who exactly may be behind such a conspiracy, if it exists, it is at least clear that the privately-managed system of global financial capitalism gives ample opportunity for the world's richest people to combine for their mutual benefit. Further, global financial capitalism itself is based on the monopolization of money-creation by a world banking system that is largely privately owned, even while working through the central banks of the largest and most prosperous nations. This article postulates the existence of a coordinated and longstanding matrix set up by the controllers of money to dominate the movements of history. The article focuses particularly on what seems to have been an attack that has been going on for over a century against the independence of the nations of Russia and the U.S. The article also suggests a series of monetary reforms whereby the U.S. , or any other nation, can regain its economic identity and preserve its political freedom. The article was written a short distance from the reconstructed colonial capitol building in Williamsburg , VA. On this site on May 15, 1776, the Fifth Virginia Convention voted unanimously to instruct its delegation at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to enter a motion for independence. It may be time to do that again.

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"US, EU responsible for explosive food prices"


The Hindu
2008-05-01 12:53:00

The US and the European Union have taken a "criminal path" by encouraging use of food crops to produce bio-fuels and thus contributing to an "explosive rise" in global food prices, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food has said.

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The Savage Truth: How to Pay for College in the US

Terry Savage
TheStreet.com
2008-04-27 06:33:00

Imagine being a 24-year-old woman, graduating from college with more than $65,000 in debt.

Now you're looking for an entry-level job that -- if you can find it -- might pay $40,000 a year. And you're stuck with monthly payments of nearly $600 on your consolidated loans.

Those payments will consume more than a quarter of your after-tax paycheck, every paycheck, for 20 years.

Was that college education worth it?

It's a question many parents and children are asking themselves, as college costs keep soaring at twice the rate of inflation. In 2007-08, the average all-in cost of a private college education is $32,307 a year. At a public school the average is $13,589 annually. Many schools cost much, much more.

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The Living Planet
4.4-magnitude quake strikes in mountains near Bakersfield, California


Associated Press
2008-05-01 17:44:00

A moderate earthquake shook a mountainous area near Bakersfield, Calif., early Thursday, just hours after a quake some 230 miles to the southeast.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 4.4-magnitude quake struck at 1:11 a.m. and was centered 12 miles south-southeast of the resort town of Lake Isabella and 35 miles east-northeast of Bakersfield.

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Birdsongs give insights into learning new behaviors


Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2008-05-01 17:03:00

Young songbirds babble before they can mimic an adult's song, much like their human counterparts. Now, in work that offers insights into how birds - and perhaps people - learn new behaviors, MIT scientists have found that immature and adult birdsongs are driven by two separate brain pathways, rather than one pathway that slowly matures.

The work is reported in the May 2 issue of Science.

"The babbling during song learning exemplifies the ubiquitous exploratory behavior that we often call play but that is essential for trial-and-error learning," comments Michale Fee, the senior author of the study and a neuroscientist in the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and an associate professor in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

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Report: More than 100 hurt in western Iran earthquake


Associated Press
2008-05-01 16:33:00

An earthquake hit western Iran Thursday, causing minor injuries to more than 100 people, state TV reported.

The report said the magnitude 4.7 quake jolted three towns in Lorestan province at 4:45 a.m., but no one was seriously hurt or required hospitalization.

The head of Lorestan's emergency department, Reza Ariai, was quoted as saying that at least 70 of the wounded lived in Boroujerd, about 200 miles southwest of Tehran.

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'Sonic boom' preceded 5.2 quake near Burnt Ranch, Northern California

Carol Harrison
The Eureka Reporter
2008-05-01 14:10:00

A magnitude-5.2 earthquake, centered 11 miles east southeast of Willow Creek, jolted the North Coast at 8:03 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Unites States Geological Survey termed it a level VI temblor with a strong shake and light damage.

A magnitude-2.0 aftershock hit five minutes later, 16 miles to the east of Willow Creek.

"It was sort of like a sonic boom," said Brenda Simmons of SkyCrest Lake resort in Burnt Ranch. "It was a very loud noise before the house started shaking. It was pretty scary, the biggest thing I've ever felt here. (It) lasted 10 seconds max. I didn't feel the aftershock."

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Fairly strong earthquake jolts Chiba Prefecture


Mainichi Daily News
2008-05-01 13:46:00

A fairly strong earthquake jolted Chiba Prefecture on Thursday morning, the Meteorological Agency said.

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Global warming may 'stop', scientists predict

Charles Clover
The London Telegraph
2008-05-01 09:56:00

Global warming will stop until at least 2015 because of natural variations in the climate, scientists have said.

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Pacific Decadal Oscillation Has Shifted to Cool Phase, Reducing Global Temperatures: NASA


NASA
2008-05-01 10:00:00

A cool-water anomaly known as La Niña occupied the tropical Pacific Ocean throughout 2007 and early 2008. In April 2008, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that while the La Niña was weakening, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation - a larger-scale, slower-cycling ocean pattern - had shifted to its cool phase.

PDO
©NASA
La Nina and Pacific Decadal Oscillation Cool the Pacific




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Maine flooding 'greater than a 100-year event'


Associated Press
2008-05-01 09:21:00

FORT KENT, Maine - The raging St. John River spilled its banks, flooding more than 100 homes as emergency management officials feared the region could face its worst flooding in modern history Thursday.

Fort Kent, ME
©Shawn Patrick Ouellette / AP
A man walks his dog past flooded Main St. in Fort Kent, Maine, on Wednesday.




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Health & Wellness
Suspected Carcinogenic Chemicals Used To Make Teflon, Scotchgard, Found In Human Milk


Science Daily
2008-05-01 17:32:00

Chemicals used to make nonstick cookware and stain-resistant fabrics are spreading around the world and turning up in surprising places, everywhere from wildlife and drinking water supplies to human blood. Now, a team of researchers including Kathleen Arcaro of the University of Massachusetts Amherst has found these suspected carcinogens in samples of human milk from nursing mothers in Massachusetts.

"Perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs, are found in human blood around the world, including the blood of newborns, but this is the first study in the United States to document their occurrence in human milk," says Arcaro, a professor in the department of veterinary and animal sciences and a member of the environmental sciences program. "While nursing does not expose infants to a dose that exceeds recommended limits, breast milk should be considered as an additional source of PFCs when determining a child's total exposure."



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Young children rely on one sense or another, not a combination, studies find


Cell Press
2008-05-01 17:15:00

Unlike adults, children younger than eight can't integrate different forms of sensory input to improve the accuracy with which they perceive the world around them, according to a pair of studies reported online in Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press, on May 1st.

The findings suggest that the perceptual systems of developing children might require constant recalibration - through the use of one sense to fine-tune another and vice versa, according to the researchers. They might also reflect inherent limitations of the still-developing brain.

" Kids have to stay calibrated while they are growing all the time - their eyes get farther apart and their limbs longer," said David Burr of Università Degli Studi di Firenze, who led one of the studies. Under these conditions, "they may use one sense to calibrate the other."

" It could be adaptive for humans not to integrate sensory information while they are still developing," agreed Marko Nardini of the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck College, University of London. "But there might also be constraints on what children can do. It's possible that brain development needs to take place to make integration possible." Nardini led the other of the two studies with colleagues at Oxford University's Visual Development Unit.

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Canada: The 'choking game,' psychological distress and bullying


Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
2008-05-01 16:57:00

Ontario's youth are experiencing a different kind of high -- approximately seven percent (an estimated 79,000 students in grades 7 to 12) report participating in a thrill-seeking activity called the "choking game", which involves self-asphyxiation or having been choked by someone else on purpose. The 2007 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) revealed these new data, as well as indicators and trends on the psychological health of Ontario's youth, in the Mental Health and Well-Being Report released today by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) for Children's Mental Health Week.

Other new topics in the 2007 OSDUHS showed that approximately three percent (or 35,000 students) reported a suicide attempt in the past year. About one in ten students rate their mental health as poor, with females more likely to do so than males (16 percent versus 7 percent). About nine percent of students may have a video gaming problem (indicated by symptoms such as loss of control, withdrawal, and disruption to family or school), with males significantly more likely than females to indicate this problem (16 percent versus 3 percent).

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New study shows race significant factor in death penalty cases


University of Denver
2008-05-01 16:48:00

New research by Scott Phillips, associate professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Denver, finds that in Harris County, TX the District Attorney (DA) was more likely to pursue the death penalty when the defendant was African American and less likely to pursue the death penalty when the victim was African American. The study, "Racial Disparities in the Capital of Capital Punishment," will be published in the Houston Law Review this fall.

"Conventional wisdom holds that the race of the victim is pivotal," Phillips says. "But, current research suggests that the race of the defendant and victim are both pivotal."

Phillips studied whether race influenced the DA's decision to pursue a death trial or the jury's decision to impose a death sentence against defendants indicted for capital murder in Harris County, located in the Houston area. He spent several years looking at more than 500 capital murder cases that occurred between 1992-1999. Although Texas has a reputation for executing a large number of people, Harris County executed more people than any other state but Texas.

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Researchers explore altruism's unexpected ally -- selfishness


Binghamton University
2008-05-01 16:42:00

Just as religions dwell upon the eternal battle between good and evil, angels and devils, evolutionary theorists dwell upon the eternal battle between altruistic and selfish behaviors in the Darwinian struggle for existence. In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), evolutionary theorists at Binghamton University suggest that selfishness might not be such a villain after all.

Omar Tonsi Eldakar and David Sloan Wilson propose a novel solution to this problem in their article, which is available in the online Early Edition of PNAS. They point out that selfish individuals have their own incentive to get rid of other selfish individuals within their own group.

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Japan detergent suicide sparks panic due to deadly fumes

Shino Yuasa
Associated Press
2008-05-01 14:42:00

A man triggered panic in a northern Japanese city Thursday when he killed himself by mixing detergents in his house, releasing toxic fumes that drove 350 people from their homes - the latest in a series of such suicides.

The panic in Otaru came just hours after national police urged Internet providers to crack down on Web sites that have spurred a wave of detergent-related suicides. Some 50 people have reportedly killed themselves over the past month in Japan by mixing household chemicals to produce hydrogen sulfide.

Image
©Kyodo News / AP Photo
Police officers in protective gear enter an apartment in Konan, southern Japan Thursday, April 24, 2008. A Japanese girl gassed herself to death by mixing laundry detergent with cleanser, releasing fumes that sickened 90 people in her apartment house, police said Thursday as they grappled with a spate of similar suicides.


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Flashback: Japan: Girl's suicide leaves dozens ill from fumes


CNN
2008-04-24 13:32:00

A 14-year-old Japanese girl killed herself by mixing laundry detergent with cleanser, releasing fumes that also sickened 90 people in her apartment house, police said Thursday as they grappled with a spate of similar suicides.

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Drug Contamination that Killed 81 May Have Been Deliberate, F.D.A. Says

Gardiner Harris
New York Times
2008-05-01 11:47:00

Federal drug regulators believe that a contaminant detected in a crucial blood thinner that has caused 81 deaths was added deliberately, something the Food and Drug Administration has only hinted at previously.

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FDA report shows 49 problems at Merck vaccine plant, including failure to follow good manufacturing practices

Karl Stark
Philadelphia Inquirer
2008-05-01 07:57:00

Federal inspectors documented unwanted "fibers" on the stoppers of vaccine vials at Merck & Co. Inc.'s vast vaccine plant in Montgomery County.

They also found instances of contaminated children's vaccines and complaints that were not always investigated at the West Point plant.

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Flashback: Drug giant Merck accused of deaths cover-up

Jim Giles
New Scientist Magazine
2008-04-15 13:58:00

It is perhaps the biggest drug scandal of recent years. Before Merck withdrew Vioxx in 2004, the popular painkiller was linked to heart attacks in tens of thousands of people. Now researchers have alleged that Merck knew of the dangers years earlier, but tweaked statistics and hid data so that regulators remained in the dark.

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Flashback: Vaccine companies investigated for manslaughter

Thierry Leveque
Reuters
2008-02-06 11:16:00

French authorities have opened a formal investigation into two managers from drugs groups GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur over a vaccination campaign in the 1990s, a judicial source said late on Thursday.

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Science & Technology
Astronomers Discover New Type of Pulsating White Dwarf Star


NSF
2008-05-01 17:23:00

University of Texas at Austin astronomers Michael H. Montgomery and Kurtis A. Williams, along with graduate student Steven DeGennaro, have predicted and confirmed the existence of a new type of variable star, with the help of the 2.1-meter Otto Struve Telescope at McDonald Observatory. The discovery is announced in today's issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Delaware Asteroseismic Research Center.

Called a "pulsating carbon white dwarf," this is the first new class of variable white dwarf star discovered in more than 25 years. Because the overwhelming majority of stars in the universe--including the sun--will end their lives as white dwarfs, studying the pulsations (i.e., variations in light output) of these newly discovered examples gives astronomers a window on an important end point in the lives of most stars.

Image
©NSF
Changes in light output over time of the first-discovered pulsating carbon white dwarf star.


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Google diving into 3D mapping of oceans

Elinor Mills
Cnet
2008-04-30 16:23:00

We've got Google Earth and Google Sky. Next up will be a map of the world below sea level--Google Ocean.

The company has assembled an advisory group of oceanography experts, and in December invited researchers from institutions around the world to the Mountain View, Calif., Googleplex. There, they discussed plans for creating a 3D oceanographic map, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The tool--for now called Google Ocean, the sources say, though that name could change--is expected to be similar to other 3D online mapping applications. People will be able to see the underwater topography, called bathymetry; search for particular spots or attractions; and navigate through the digital environment by zooming and panning. (The tool, however, is not to be confused with the "Google Ocean" project by France-based Magic Instinct Software that uses Google Earth as a visualization tool for marine data.)

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Namibia: 500-year-old shipwreck found by diamond firm


The Telegraph
2008-05-01 16:16:00

A shipwreck, believed to be 500 years old, containing a treasure trove of coins and ivory has been discovered off the southern African coast.

A Namibian diamond company, Namdeb, said on Wednesday that it found the wreck during mining operations in the Atlantic.

"The site yielded a wealth of objects including six bronze cannon, several tons of copper, more than 50 elephant tusks, pewter tableware, navigational instruments, weapons and thousands of Spanish and Portuguese gold coins, minted in the late 1400s and early 1500s," said Hilifa Mbako, a company spokesman.

Dieter Noli, an archaeologist, identified the cannon as Spanish, dating from about 1500.

Image
©Reuters
The site yielded a wealth of objects including thousands of Spanish and Portuguese gold coins


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Cracks In The Foundation: Fundamental Geological Assumption Relating To Planet Earth Not Quite True


Science Daily
2008-04-29 14:06:00

Chondritic meteorites have a similar chemical composition to the sun and are therefore reliable witnesses as to what the solar nebula, from which the planets formed, was composed of. This can be used to deduce what the Earth consists of chemically. However, ETH Zurich researchers have now discovered that strictly speaking this fundamental geological assumption is not true.

Image
©NASA
This artistic impression shows what the solar system could have looked like once upon a time. However, how homogenous the solar nebula actually was is debatable.



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Our Haunted Planet
'It shot off and left a long orange trail behind'

Ben Langford
Northern Territory News
2008-05-01 13:59:00

FIVE mine workers are convinced they saw a UFO fly over them on a remote Territory island.

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Don't Panic! Lighten Up!
Flying Vet Maurice Kirk lands in trouble at George Bush's ranch

James Bone
The Times
2008-05-01 15:58:00

An eccentric Welsh aviator known as the Flying Vet has been placed in a psychiatric ward in Texas after landing near George Bush's ranch to try to thank the US President for his rescue from sharks in the Caribbean.

Maurice Kirk, 63, from Llantwit Major in the Vale of Glamorgan, was handcuffed at gunpoint by police on Saturday before he could pin a thank-you note to the President's front gate, his wife said.

Kirstie Kirk, 48, said her husband wanted to express his gratitude to Mr Bush after the US Coast Guard fished him out of the sea in February when his Piper Cub light aircraft went down on the Caribbean leg of his round-the-world trip.

Image
©Unknown


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Jesus Sighting Alert: Found In A Womb


MyFox
2008-04-28 14:31:00

Is it a blessing from above?

A Lorain, Ohio, woman got an ultrasound in preparation for her first baby, but instead of seeing the image of an infant, Monet Sledge saw something else.

"I was shocked like really," said Sledge.

She showed the picture to her sister Tequoia Smith, a married mother of four who has seen her share of ultrasounds.

"I was expecting to see little body parts," said Smith. "Like a face, arms and legs." But instead she too saw the image of Jesus on the cross. "As soon as I saw it I was like oh my gosh."

Image
©MYFox Cleveland



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Flashback: It's going to take an asteroid falling out of the sky and landing on Barack Obama


MSNBC - 'Verdict with Dan Abrams'
2008-04-23 13:52:00

Extract from the transcript of 'Verdict with Dan Abrams' for Wednesday, April 23:



[...]

Abrams: So, true or false, Norah O'Donnell, the tide is turning for Clinton?

Norah O'Donnell, MSNBC Chief Washington Correspondent: I think it is true that she's gained some momentum in her campaign announcing today, that they believe that they're going to raise some $10 million online in 24 hours. That would shatter all records, even Obama style records. She does have some momentum. She can keep going in this campaign and she did have a decisive win in Pennsylvania among women, white working class, older Americans.

And so, she can take that to some superdelegates and say, "I'm sticking in this race, I am a fighter."

Abrams: Roy Sekoff, true or false.

Roy Sekoff, The Huffington Post: Dan, that would have to be false. You know, it's going to take a lot more than a turning tide. It's going to take an asteroid falling out of the sky and landing on Barack Obama. I mean, that's where were at right now and it think that's what Hillary Clinton is staying in the game for. She's hoping to use the word of the day that he obliterates himself with some mistake.

But he's already weathered quite a few storms with Wright, and you know, Ayers, and the lapel pin and "bitter." So, I think, she's hanging in there waiting for him to step on a land mine but I just don't thing it's going to happen.



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