Maravot world news

Historical trend on the New Orleans debacle

09.22.05 Grim search for bodies continues; death toll expected to rise

(AP) September 22 – Searchers smashed through doors in New Orleans on Wednesday, bringing their hunt for the dead to homes that had been locked and to blocks hardest hit by Katrina's flooding. Behind those doors, officials said they expected a sharply escalating body count -- among them, more children. "There still could be quite a few, especially in the deepest flooded areas," said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jeffrey Pettitt, who is overseeing the retrieval of bodies. "Some of the houses, they haven't been in yet."

The death toll in Louisiana stood at 799 on Wednesday, a jump of 153 bodies since the weekend and nearly 80 percent of the 1,036 deaths attributed to Hurricane Katrina across the Gulf Coast region. Pettitt and other officials would not speculate on what the final tally could be. They said the effort could last another four to six weeks.

About 500 people are involved in the search of locked homes, the third and most intense phase of the recovery effort. Initially, authorities made a hasty sweep through neighborhoods to identify the living and dead. That was followed by a door-to-door search, though locked doors were off-limits. Previously, they had not entered unless they saw a body or heard someone inside. Now, even a high water mark on the side of a home was enough to allow them to go in. [More>>wwltv.com]

09.22.05 Massive traffic jams as Texans flee Rita

HOUSTON, Texas, September 22, 12:41pm EDT – Hundreds of thousands of people in Texas and Louisiana were loading up their cars and fleeing inland Thursday as Hurricane Rita menaced the Gulf Coast. But many weren't getting very far.

Houston resident Tim Conklin told CNN that he had been in bumper-to-bumper traffic for 13 hours and had only gotten about 48 miles. He said the drive to Dallas, where his father-in-law lives, usually only takes about four hours. On Highway 290, the main road between Houston and Austin, people were pushing their cars and minivans to save gas -- and were moving just as fast as the vehicles that were driving. Others were stopped on the side of the highway after breaking down or running out of gas.

Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Mark Cross told CNN that this is the first time that a mandatory evacuation has been issued for Houston -- a city of 3 million people. He said that traffic would be reversed on key roads leading into the city to speed the flow of traffic. Forecasters said that the storm had weakened slightly early Thursday, but warned that it was still a Category 5 storm.

At 11 a.m. ET, the storm was centered about 460 miles (740 kilometers) southeast of Galveston and was moving to the north-northwest at 9 mph (14 kph). [More>>cnn.com]

09.22.05 US oil supply damage due to Hurricane Ivan (2003) and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (TBD) and related damage

SAN FRANCISCO (Maravot News, Mel Copeland) September 22 – It goes without saying that the United States is the largest consumer of energy in the world and thus very dependent upon oil supplies from the US and abroad. In the opinions of many statesmen and news reports, George W. Bush launched his invasion of Iraq to secure Iraqi oil. That he thought of his invasion of Iraq as a "crusade" is also evident in the words he used when announcing the invasion as a crusade, which term has only religious connotations. So the war – lacking any evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq – turns out to be a war for oil and religious motives. Bush says he went to war to give Iraqis freedom and democracy. So far that war has cost 1,933 American lives and over 27,000 Iraqi lives.

Associated with the motive for oil is the Bush II administration's (and the former Bush I administration's) connection to the Carlyle Group, the Saudis and the bin Laden family, first exposed in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11." The Carlyle Group was formed as a holding company, a conglomerate that buys and sells companies, whose specialty was in the defense industries, industries that would benefit from an invasion of Iraq. The Bush family is a family that has made its livelihood from the oil business. Acquiring oil fields using US military might would thus seem logical to such a family. A double dividend is returned if such a family and its cronies controled companies that could profit from military operations in a foreign war.

The invasion of Iraq is now approaching its fourth year (launched March 20, 2002), and the consequences of the invasion have left Americans with a new vulnerability: bin Laden / Al Quaeda terrorists who expanded their operations from Afghanistan to the rest of the world. The training camps that were run in Afghanistan were moved to Iraq where devotees of the practice of suicide bombing would get on-the-job training. Propaganda released by the terrorists has been through Al Jezeera, a media company that grew and profited through its unique pipeline of Al Quaeda tapes. Recent news reports show that Al Quaeda has resorted to the internet as its base of operations, for recruitment etc., but still uses Al Jazeera to publish its propaganda, for some reason and by some process yet to be ascertained, hopefully by an international court of inquiry.

News reports showed that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld et al. believed that the cost of the Iraq war would be paid for by the oil they produce out of Iraq. That, of course, has not been the case, and the cost of the Iraq war has now reached ~$200 billion, the same amount ($200 billion) that Hurricane Katrina is expected to cost, not taking into account the impending costs of Hurricane Rita.

The Bush administration planned that the expenditures for the Iraq War would be paid for by sales of US bonds. In that regard the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), estimated that by the end of George W. Bush's term of office the US national debt, from the process of borrowing to pay for the war as well as other expenses, will be $10 trillion. George W. Bush inherited a National Debt of $5 trillion. Interest on the debt is about $400 billion per year. Our greatest outlay, in fact, is the annual interest on the National Debt. Annual Interest on the debt and the annual deficits (caused by the Iraq War, etc.) have been about the same. That is to say, George W. Bush and his father discovered that they didn't have to pay for anything. They could promise you the world and not pay for it. They could invade Iraq without paying for it. Knowing that the debt they would run up would accrue interest on an annual basis (the money is not loaned to the US for free), they resolved to borrow the equivalent of the interest from the creditors. Thus, creditors were paid back in cash raised by the sales of more bonds to them. The only problem with this practice comes when the creditors own so much US debt they begin to fear not getting their money back.

Ronald Reagan showed the Bush family that the only consequence of this practice, called "Deficit Spending," would be added debt, accumulated through interest debt and other expenditures beyond the annual income of the US government (about $2 trillion per year, mainly through tax income). The pernicious theory these men operated under provided an outlook that "the debt would be passed on to our children." This is but one aspect of the debts they conspired to pass down to their children.

Being the greatest consumer of energy, bogged down in a war in Iraq that has moral implications, and also being a cause of Global Warming, together with an exponential debt that is reaching beyond our ability to finance, plagued by a sullied image among the nations of the world; adding to these affects from the Bush administration is the simple fact that our seat of oil and major cities have been hammered by hurricanes and the forecast of their affects is grim. The Bush administration already had us vulnerable, with our underbelly exposed, and now Mother Nature, in the guise of hurricanes, is feasting on us.

To appreciate this cost of Mother Nature, let us review what Hurricane Ivan did to us, as reported by eia.doe.gov:

..in late September 2004, Hurricane Ivan caused significant disruptions to Gulf of Mexico operations, resulting in a loss of over 29 million barrels of oil through November 9, with a continuing disruption of more than 200,000 bbl/d (down from over 1 million bbl/d on September 14 and around 450,000 bbl/d in October) due to damage at platforms and other oil infrastructure in the Gulf. According to an assessment by the U.S Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS), seven platforms were destroyed and six had major storm damage. According to the MMS states, "Of the 4,000 structures and 33,000 miles of pipelines in the gulf....150 platforms and 10,000 miles of pipelines were in the direct path of Hurricane Ivan. A substantial amount of the deferred production is directly attributable to damage that has occurred along pipeline routes rather than actual structural damage to the producing platforms. Pipelines in mud slide areas off the mouth of the Mississippi River experienced failures and will take a significant effort to locate and repair because the pipelines are buried by as much as 20 to 30 feet of mud. Overall, twelve large diameter pipelines (10� or larger) were damaged in Federal waters." The MMS expects that oil production will return to near-normal by the end of 2004, with output reaching 96% of normal within six months.

The US is a major world producer of oil and gas, with its production supplying about 40% of its needs (See chart on below link). Our production without the affects of Mother Nature – has been declining according to eia.doe.gov. [More>>Maravot News9.22.05]

09.22.05 Russia, China warn against antagonizing Iran

VIENNA, September 22 – Russia and China warned the United States and European Union on Wednesday against escalating the nuclear standoff with Iran, potentially blocking a Western drive to haul Tehran before the U.N. Security Council. Reuters reported. The European Union has circulated a U.S.-backed draft resolution calling on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) governing board to report Iran's secretive nuclear programme to the Security Council, which could impose sanctions.

Western countries suspect Tehran is developing atomic weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear energy programme. Iran insists its programme is peaceful and intended to meet its energy requirements.

Both Russia and China, which as permanent, veto-wielding members of the Council could block any action, warned the West against antagonizing Iran. "While Iran is cooperating with the IAEA, while it is not enriching uranium and observing a moratorium, while IAEA inspectors are working in the country, it would be counter-productive to report this question to the U.N. Security Council," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. "It will lead to an unnecessary politicizing of the situation. Iran is not violating its obligations and its actions do not threaten the non-proliferation regime," he said in a speech in San Francisco reported by the RIA Novosti news agency. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn; See related article, khaleejtimes.com, "EU backs down on Iran under Russia, China pressure."]

09.22.05 Firms mull China-Russia gas pipeline

September 22 – OAO Gazprom, the world's biggest natural gas producer based in Moscow, said it is in talks with China's largest oil and gas producer to export gas to China through a cross-border pipeline. Of two possible routes, Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) are under discussion over "which has the priority," Alexander Medvedev, deputy chief executive officer of Gazprom told reporters at a Beijing press conference yesterday.

The finally recommended line may run through northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province or the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the west, Medvedev said. Each has an annual capacity of as much as 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year. "We are discussing figures of between 20 bcm and 30 bcm for each project," said Medvedev. Sources said the western route is expected to link with China's internal west-east Gas Pipeline, which will transport 12 billion cubic metres of natural gas from the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang to Shanghai, some 4,000 kilometres away. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn]

09.22.05 Iran-Pak-India pipeline not enough: ADB

SINGAPORE (Reuters) September 22 – Future gas demand in South Asia is projected to be strong enough to need imports via pipelines from both Iran and Turkmenistan, and possibly a third pipeline, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Thursday. India and Pakistan plan to finalize a $7 billion gas pipeline project from Iran to South Asia in December, which could be completed by 2010. They are also considering other pipelines from Turkmenistan, Qatar and from Myanmar to India.

"With long-term gas demand from India and Pakistan estimated at 50 billion cubic metres a year, there is a need for more than one pipeline," Dan Millison, a senior ADB energy specialist, said in a statement.

The ADB said recently released reserves information from Turkmenistan showed a lower-than-expected gas deliverability for the proposed $3.3 billion pipeline project to carry gas from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan to India and Pakistan. [More>>expressindia.com]

Editorial note: According to several emails from correspondents in India, drivers in India are being gouged compared to neighboring countries. They say that the differences in the price of petrol (gasoline) is at this moment*:

� Petrol in Pakistan Rs 17 per liter = ~ Rs 71.91 / gallon ($1.64 / gallon)
� Malaysia Rs 18 per liter = ~Rs 76.14 / gallon ($1.73 / gallon)
� India Rs 48 per liter = ~Rs 203.04 / gallon ($4.61 / gallon)

*1 litre is approximately 1 quart (actually 1.0567 quarts; = 4.23 liters / gallon). 1 US dollar = 43.95 Indian Rupees

Yesterday, I paid $2.88 / gallon for regular (COSCO) with prices at other stations ~ $3.00 / gallon.
Mel Copeland

09.22.05 Srebenica nine tried together

HAGUE, September 22 – Nine people charged over the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia 10 years ago would be tried together by the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague, the court ruled overnight. The court said it had accepted the request of chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte to lump together the cases of the Bosnian Serb military officers accused, eight of whom are in the court's custody.

About 8000 Muslim men and boys were killed when Bosnian Serb forces and irregular Serbian police units backed by Slobodan Milosevic's regime in Belgrade overran the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995, near the end of Bosnia's 1992-1995 war. Considered the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II, the massacre has led to genocide charges against suspects including Milosevic, former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic. Karadzic and Mladic, seen as two of the principle architects of the Serb wartime strategy of ethnic cleansing, remain at large in the Balkans with the help of a strong underground support network of hardcore nationalists. Milosevic himself is on trial in The Hague for his alleged overall responsibility for a string of actions committed during his rule, including Srebrenica.

The eight in custody were named as Vujadin Popovic, Ljubisa Beara, Drago Nikolic, Ljubomir Borovcanin, Radivoje Miletic, Milan Gvero, Vinko Pandurevic and Milorad Trbic. A ninth man, Zdravko Tolimir, is still on the run but has pledged to surrender. [theaustralian.news.com.au]

09.21.05 Kuwait chastizes US over Guantanamo

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) September 21 – Kuwait's foreign minister has urged the United States to resolve the issue of hundreds of Muslim detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah said he told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that "Guantanamo represents a moral and legal challenge to the United States." He was speaking following a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers and Rice in New York Monday night. "It is not in the interest of the United States that Guantanamo detainees remain in such a situation," he said...The head of the society of families of Kuwaiti prisoners in Guantanamo, Khaled al-Ouda, said on Sunday that six of the 11 Kuwaiti inmates have joined the hunger strike in the camp. [Full story>>dailystar.com.lb]

09.21.05 Rita plows across gulf; patients evacuated

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) September 21 – Hospital and nursing home patients were evacuated and others gathered up their belongings and began clearing out Wednesday as Hurricane Rita intensified into a Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds and threatened to devastate the Texas coast or already-battered Louisiana by week's end.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered for Galveston and New Orleans, one day after Rita sideswiped the Florida Keys as a Category 2 storm, causing relatively minor damage. Having seen what Hurricane Katrina did just three weeks ago, many people decided not to take any chances. [More>>abcnews.go.com]

09.21.05 Ukraine ex-premier willing to return

September 21 – Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has said she is ready to offer President Viktor Yushchenko an alliance and create a new coalition government. Tymoshenko told reporters on Wednesday that she would be happy "to sit down with him [Yushchenko] today ... and suggest we unite forces and create a new government." Yushchenko sacked her government this month, and on Tuesday deputies including Tymoshenko's loyalists refused to support Yushchenko's appointment of Yuriy Yekhanurov as prime minister. [More>>aljazeera.net; See more details, kyivpost.com]

09.22.05 Update, 09.21.05 Iraq, Britain discuss Basra incident; Baghdad attack kills 8

BAGDHAD (AP) September 21 – Britain on Wednesday defended its decision to use force to free two British soldiers being held by Iraqi police, saying the men were first stopped by plainclothes gunmen, then moved by militiamen from a jail to a private home while British officials tried to negotiate their release with Iraqi officials. Britain�s position also appeared to be strengthened by Iraq�s national security adviser, Mouwafak Al Rubaie, who acknowledged that one problem coalition forces face in such situations is that insurgents have joined the ranks of Iraq�s security forces.

�Iraqi security forces in general, police in particular, in many parts of Iraq, I have to admit, have been penetrated by some of the insurgents, some of the terrorists as well,� he said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday night. But Iraqi Interior Minister Baqir Solagh Jabr disputed the British military�s account of how it freed the captured soldiers in the southern city of Basra on Monday...Meanwhile, violence continued in and around the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. Roadside bombs exploded near three US convoys, an official said. The attacks came one day after the death toll for US forces in the Iraq war rose to more than 1,900 since the invasion. In the worst attack, a roadside bomb exploded as a US military convoy drove through the Abu Ghraib area on the western outskirts of Baghdad, leaving two soldiers with minor wounds, said US Lt. Jamie Davis, a spokesman for the US Army.

Iraqi police 1st Lt. Mohammed Khayon said the US forces then opened fire on people in the area, wounding an Iraqi civilian, but Davis couldn�t confirm that. Roadside bombs also exploded Wednesday near two other US convoys in southwestern Baghdad and in the Taji area north of the capital. No soldiers were wounded, Davis said. [Full story>>khaleejtimes.com; See update, dailystar.com.lb, "Basra officials demand British apology."]

09.21.05 'India a new engine of world growth': IMF

WASHINGTON (Reuters) September 21 – India's booming but relatively closed economy could have a profound impact on the world economy at large if progress in boosting regional and global trade links continues apace, the IMF said on Wednesday. Revising up India's 2005 growth forecast by half a percentage point to 7.1 per cent, the International Monetary Fund said an opening Indian economy with a young population and rapid growth rates could become a key engine of world growth over the next decade.

"If India continues to embrace globalization and reform, Indian imports could increasingly operate as a driver of global growth as it is one of a handful of economies forecast to have a growing working-age population over the next 10 years," it said. Some 75-110 million will enter India's labour force over the next decade, the Fund said in its twice-yearly World Economic Outlook.[More>>expressindia.com]

09.21.05 China unlikely to cut Venezuela's US oil supplies

(AP) September 21 – China's increased interest in the Venezuelan oil industry is unlikely to have any effect on US supplies, a top State Department official said Tuesday. China, the world's second largest petroleum consumer, has stepped up investment throughout Latin America, including increased buying of Venezuela's oil.

Charles Shapiro, a senior Western Hemisphere specialist at the State Department, told a Senate panel looking at China's role in Latin America that it would be economically painful for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to make good on a reported threat to cut off oil shipments to the United States. Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Venezuela, said Chinese imports represent only a fraction of the 1.4 million barrels of oil the United States buys daily from Venezuela. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn]

09.21.05 Debate brews over Seoul's expenses for North Korea

September 21 – Debate is simmering over the scope of expenses South Korea would need to bear when compensating North Korea for its nuclear dismantlement, along with additional funds needed for broader cooperative business projects envisioned by the government in light of the breakthrough in the nuclear standoff. The South Korean government affirmed in the joint statement agreed on Monday by the six parties to the nuclear talks its proposal made in July to provide 2 million kilowatts of electric power to the North as part of compromises to ensure North Korea's abandonment of all nuclear weapons.

South Korea is also to join other parties including China, Japan Russia and the United States to provide energy assistance, and may face more financial obligations when a discussion on building a light-water reactor begins at an "appropriate time." Added to this is a separate move piloted by President Roh Moo-hyun to prepare a comprehensive economic aid package for the North to further the amicable ambience now on the Korean Peninsula. [More>>koreaherald.co.kr]

09.21.05 Update, 09.20.05 Tidal waves force 12,000 to flee

September 20 – Six fishermen are missing and around 12,000 Bangladeshi villagers have been forced to flee their homes after rough weather hit the Bay of Bengal and tidal waves of up to 1.3m swamped some coastal villages, officials said. Nearly 10,000 people took refuge in cyclone shelters near their homes when a levee was breached in a low-lying area of the southern Sandwip island on Monday, said Golam Rabbani, head of the Chittagong Red Crescent branch.

Relief officials also evacuated a further 2000 people from the southern district of Barguna after floodwater up to four feet deep inundated their homes, said Shamsul Alam, the district relief officer. Two trawlers with a total of 20 crew on board capsized. Fourteen men were rescued by another boat although six are still missing, Alam added. "We also have other reports that some deep-sea fishing trawlers did not return to their landing stations but we think they might have anchored at remote islands or in other coastal areas," he added.

Relief officials said conditions in the Bay of Bengal were rough on Monday due to a depression which earlier hit the coast of India's Orissa state. In the coastal district of Cox's Bazar, some fishing trawlers had also failed to report to their landing stations. District relief officials said they did not intend to list them as missing yet as they expected them to turn up. Depression-induced tidal surges are a regular occurrence in Bangladesh's coastal areas which are home to 20 million. Bangladesh also suffers monsoon floods nearly every year. On average, 20 percent of the country is flooded annually. [theaustralian.news.com.au; See related story expressindia.com; 9.21.05 update, expressindia.com, "Coastal AP flooded, 1,300 people missing."]

09.20.05 July 7 bombers rehearsed suicide attacks

September 20 – Three of the July 7 suicide bombers visited London to map out their attack nine days before carrying out the atrocity, it emerged today. Detectives said today that the bombers scouted the underground system for three hours on June 28.

This CCTV still from June 28 shows Shahzad Tanweer, centre left, and Jermaine Lindsay in a blue cap, planning the bombing at King's Cross Tube station. The leader of the cell, Mohammad Sidique Khan, is obscured, wearing a light-coloured baseball cap (Met Police via timesonline.co.uk)

CCTV pictures, found among the 80,000 pieces of footage, show Mohammed Sidique Khan, the cell's ringleader, with Shehzad Tanweer and Jermaine Lindsay travelling to London during the morning rush hour following the same route they used on July 7.

On June 28 Khan met Tanweer and Lindsay at Luton train station at around 8:10am. Wearing casual clothes and carrying only two light rucksacks between them, the three men took a Thameslink train and arrived at King�s Cross at approximately 8:55am. The three men then apparently travelled back and forth between King's Cross and Baker Street underground stations for three hours, appearing at Baker Street at around noon before heading back to King's Cross and returning to Luton, arriving at 1:40pm. "The obvious suggestion is they possibly were conducting a reconnaissance on that day. We know that�s part of terrorist methodology," said Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch. "It was a dry run." [More>>timesonline.co.uk]

09.20.05 White House invites China for G-7 talks

WASHINGTON (AP) September 20 – The Bush administration, facing growing unhappiness in Congress over America's soaring trade deficit with China, will get a chance this week to present its concerns to top Chinese economic officials. AP reported. Both Finance Minister Jin Renqing and Zhou Xiachuan, the head of China's central bank, have been invited to attend a luncheon meeting on Friday where Treasury Secretary John Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will serve as hosts.

The discussions will be part of a gathering that the world's seven richest industrial countries will be holding to get the views of China and four other major developing countries — Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa.

In announcing the invitations to China and the other countries on Monday, Treasury spokesman Tony Fratto refused to go into details about what topics would be discussed. However, it was expected that currencies would play a role in the talks, given that the United States has made a major effort over the past two years to gain support from its G-7 allies for a united front in pressing China to allow its currency to rise in value. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn]

09.20.05 Al Jazeera sacks chief for 'insulting' Islam

MOSCOW (PTI) September 20 – The Moscow Bureau chief of Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV channel has been dismissed for allegedly making remarks insulting Islam. The channel management did not give any reasons for the dismissal of its Moscow Bureau Chief Akram Khuzam, who had been in charge of Al Jazeera Russia and CIS coverage since 1996, Interfax news agency reported. However, the head of Russia Islamic committee Geidar Jemalin made a statement posted on the Internet, which claimed that Khuzam had been sacked in connection with numerous complaints from Russian Muslims over insulting remarks made about Islam.

According to local media reports Khuzam was one of the TV reporters named by the Beslan school hostage takers last September through which they were ready to negotiate with the Kremlin the release of over one thousand hostages, most of them school children. [More>>expressindia.com]

09.20.05 Update, 09.19.05 Bush takes wait-and-see approach to North Korea pledge

WASHINGTON (Retuters) September 19 – President George W. Bush on Monday cautiously welcomed a North Korean promise to give up its nuclear weapons program as "a step forward" but said it remained an open question whether Pyongyang would adhere to the agreement. Bush and other senior administration officials said it was now critical to put in place a system to verify North Korea's compliance.

The Bush administration has been highly skeptical of North Korean pledges in the past, having accused Pyongyang of cheating on a nuclear accord it reached in the early 1990s meant to freeze its nuclear programs. Bush said it was important for the North Koreans this time to "understand we're serious about this and that we expect there to be a verifiable process."

"The question is, over time, will all parties adhere to the agreement?" Bush added. [More>>reuters.com; See update 9.20.05, koreaherald.co.kr, "Washington, Pyongyang differ on light-water reactor provision" : The United States and North Korea yesterday showed distinctively different interpretations on when to start discussing the light-water reactor issue just a day after the six parties agreed on a set of principles for North Korea's nuclear disarmament in Beijing, indicating that a tough negotiation process lies ahead.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry released a statement and said it will return to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and conform to International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards immediately after the United States provides it with a light-water reactor, which it called the basis of trust between the two countries...]

09.19.05 Jordan issues royal decree endorsing new Orthodox Patriarch

(AP) September 20 – Jordan's king on Monday endorsed the election of Jerusalem's new Greek Orthodox patriarch, whose predecessor was dismissed over his alleged role in a controversial East Jerusalem land deal with Israel. The royal decree supporting the appointment of Theofilos III was necessary under ancient church law, which dictates that any patriarch must have the blessing of the Holy Land's ruling powers Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Israel. "While Jordan renounced its claims to east Jerusalem in 1988, it remains in custody of holy shrines there." [Maravot News bold print].

"The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has bestowed a royal acknowledgment and endorsement on the election of Patriarch Theofilos III, who replaced Irineos I," the decree said. "The patriarch will be officially installed with all the authorities, rights and privileges that belong to the Orthodox patriarch's seat. Monday's decree seals the approval given by Jordanian Interior Minister Awni Yirfas to Theofilos III to become patriarch on August 30.

Theofilos, the metropolitan of Tabor in Galilee, was elected August 22 by the church's Holy Synod after serving previously as a Greek Orthodox Church envoy in Qatar. He reportedly has close ties to the Orthodox leadership in the United States. The church chose him to replace Irineos I, who was ousted in May over claims of being involved in the unsanctioned sale of church property in Jerusalem, including two hotels, to an Israeli company. [More>>haaretzdaily.com]

09.19.05 New worry found in India: CD with bomb manual

SRINIGAR, India, September 19 – The Army is now facing a new breed of militants. Highly trained in firearms, this fresh lot of hardcore militants are tech-savy, and use computers to learn the art of manufacturing sophisticated explosive devices, including car bombs. This new trend came to light when Army seized a CD (compact disc) along with a huge cache of arms and ammunition during a raid in the remote Gurez sector along the LoC where militants had hidden it in a natural cave.

The CD contained formulas, manuals to assemble various types of IEDs, bombs and rockets. ��It also contained arms training manual and bomb-making techniques,�� said Major General Mukesh Sabarwal, General Officer Commanding 28 Infantry Division.

Besides the CD, Army claims to have recovered explosive material used to manufacture 50-100 car bombs. These explosive accessories included pre-fabricated board, printed circuit, RDX sticks, detonators, battery-operated IEDs and a large number of remote devices, said Maj. Gen. Sabharwal. The haul also included 14 AK rifles, rocket launcher, rocket-propelled missiles, under-barrel grenades, Chinese grenades and 5,000 round of AK ammunition. The recovery was made from a jungle near the Kishan Ganga river. [More>>expressindia.com]

09.19.05 Avian flu hits Jakarta zoo – Vigiliance urged in Indonesia

JAKARTA, September 20 – The [Indonesian] government declared on Monday that the outbreak of avian influenza in the country was an "extraordinary" situation after it reported a fourth human fatality and two new cases of humans infection.

BIRD FLU TEST: A health official takes a saliva sample from an employee of Jakarta's Ragunan Zoo. The authorities began to test the zoo's employees on Monday following the discovery that 19 birds in the zoo were infected with avian flu. The authorities also closed the zoo indefinitely starting Monday following the finding. (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama, [from>>thejakartapost.com])

Minister of Health Fadilah Supari said the status had been imposed to alert both the public and authorities to the risk of the bird flu spreading... Siti said children were more vulnerable to the virus than adults.

"Keep your surroundings clean, keep your birds clean. If you show flu-like symptoms -- your temperature is high and you have breathing difficulties – go to the hospital immediately and tell the doctors there"... The government has allocated Rp 158 billion (about US$15.8 million) to battle bird flu but Siti said more funds would be needed... Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyanto said his office needed more money to handle sick birds, but acknowledged that the government lacked the money to carry out a mass cull as suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO requires that poultry within a radius of three kilometers from any bird flu outbreak be killed... Jakarta's Ragunan Zoo remains closed following the discovery of infected birds there. During its closure the area will be sterilized. [Full story>>thejakartakpost.com]

09.19.05 North Korea demands light-water reactors from US before it gives up nukes

TOKYO, September 20 – North Korea said Tuesday it will not dismantle its nuclear weapons and not return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty until it is given light-water nuclear reactors. Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura immediately criticized North Korea's insistence as "unacceptable." The statement from a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was issued a day after North Korea agreed in a joint statement adopted at the six-nation nuclear talks in Beijing to give up all its nuclear weapons and programs, rejoin the NPT and allow safeguard inspections under the International Atomic Energy Agency in exchange for energy aid and security assurances.

"The United States should not even dream of the issue of the DPRK's dismantlement of its nuclear deterrent before providing light-water reactors, a physical guarantee for confidence-building," said the statement, which was carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name. [More>>japantoday.com]

09.19.05 What has happened to Iraq's missing $1billion?

BAGHDAD, September 19 – Patrick Cockburn, independent.co.uk, reports: One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons. The money, intended to train and equip an Iraqi army capable of bringing security to a country shattered by the US-led invasion and prolonged rebellion, was instead siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared.

"It is possibly one of the largest thefts in history," Ali Allawi, Iraq's Finance Minister, told The Independent. "Huge amounts of money have disappeared. In return we got nothing but scraps of metal."

The carefully planned theft has so weakened the army that it cannot hold Baghdad against insurgent attack without American military support, Iraqi officials say, making it difficult for the US to withdraw its 135,000- strong army from Iraq, as Washington says it wishes to do. The sum missing over an eight-month period in 2004 and 2005 is the equivalent of the $1.8bn that Saddam allegedly received in kick- backs under the UN's oil-for-food programme between 1997 and 2003. The UN was pilloried for not stopping this corruption. The US military is likely to be criticized over the latest scandal because it was far better placed than the UN to monitor corruption.

The fraud took place between 28 June 2004 and 28 February this year under the government of Iyad Allawi, who was interim prime minister. His ministers were appointed by the US envoy Robert Blackwell and his UN counterpart, Lakhdar Brahimi.

Among those whom the US promoted was a man who was previously a small businessman in London before the war, called Hazem Shaalan, who became Defence Minister.

Mr. Shalaan says that Paul Bremer, then US viceroy in Iraq, signed off the appointment of Ziyad Cattan as the defence ministry's procurement chief. Mr. Cattan, of joint Polish-Iraqi nationality, spent 27 years in Europe, returning to Iraq two days before the war in 2003. He was hired by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority and became a district councillor before moving to the defence ministry. For eight months the ministry spent money without restraint. [More>>independent.co.uk]

09.19.05 Suicide bombers strike as Shia pilgrimage underway

KARBALA, Iraq (AFP) September 19 – Two suicide car bombers on Monday struck checkpoints south of Baghdad on a road used by thousands of Iraqi Shia pilgrims making their way by foot to the holy city of Karbala. At least 10 Iraqis were killed, including seven policemen and a soldier, when the suicide car bombers struck two separate checkpoints, half-way between Baghdad and Karbala, a defence ministry official said.

At least 12 people, including a number of Shia pilgrims, were wounded, he added.

Meanwhile, Iraqi demonstrators clashed with British soldiers in the southern city of Basra, setting two tanks on fire, according to an AFP photographer at the scene. The incident came shortly after British troops had fired warning shots at demonstrators who were throwing stones. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

09.19.05 Mayor, feds at odds over New Orleans repopulation

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, September 19 – New Orleans residents began trickling back into one neighborhood on Monday as part of Mayor Ray Nagin's plan to repopulate the city, but President Bush and other federal officials expressed concerns about the timing of the move.

The Algiers neighborhood, which was relatively unscathed by Hurricane Katrina, was opened to residents on Monday, and other areas were scheduled to follow suit.

Sally Forman, a spokeswoman for Nagin, said the mayor would watch the return carefully to decide whether he needs to reassess that plan, which has come under fire from the federal government for being too much, too soon. President Bush said it was up to the mayor to decide when to re-open the city, but said there were still concerns.

"The mayor – you know, he's got this dream about having a city up and running, and we share that dream," Bush said. "But we also want to be realistic about some of the hurdles and obstacles that we all confront in repopulating New Orleans."

One of many concerns, Bush said, is that the city could face flooding again if another storm were to come along. The levees that broke could break again. [More>>cnn.com]

(2) The name, Allah, in Arabic is an expression of surprise. It is not unusual for the God of the Bible to be known by many names. Jewish Midrash quotes passages in the Old Testament (Torah) that cite as many as seventy names of God (and more). But they can all be reduced down to one name.
(5) The Law of the Locrians: "In the legislation of the Locrians, the proposer of a new law, with a halter round his neck, to be instantly tightened if the public assembly did not, on hearing his reasons, then and there adopt his proposition." [Mill, On Liberty, 2.475].

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